Descent (2)

“What’s this sound?”

“What’s going on?”

Bewildered, Han-bin and his group looked around.

On the other hand, Kibie’s expression was stiff.

“Genovia, you…”

Dust was flying.

It fluttered to form a beautiful human-like figure.

“Arc Mage!”

Artis shouted in amazement.

Ryu Han-bin lifted the Gigant.

“Didn’t she die?”

Kibie shook her head.

“I’m sure she’s dead.”

She just never went back to the flow of the world.

Something was holding her soul down.

Ghastly particles ran through the air. They heard a faint laugh.

“Hohoho…”

The dark laugh of someone who let go of everything resonated.

“Oh, I thought it was over!”

“What the hell is that?”

They didn’t know, but they felt something unusual.

Raising their guard, Han-bin and his group prepared for combat.

But they didn’t attack right away. They weren’t foolish enough to behave frivolously even though they hadn’t completely grasped the situation yet.

Leon Hart raised a question with Prana in both hands.

“… What have you done?”

Genovia’s apparition spoke.

“We also had a last resort.”

Leon Hart was surprised.

Neither Hollien’s story nor Kibie’s Shadow-Reading skill had that information.

That was because Genovia figured it out after Hollien had been beaten.

“It’s the last resort I didn’t want to choose, and it started with death.”

There was nothing to be desired in the past. She had just committed herself to being divine.

But after Hollien was beaten, there was a need to be prepared for the worst. She studied the Guidelines deeper and seized the power of indirect acquisition of experience.

The problem was that Genovia was overly competent.

She had dug too deep, reaching something she shouldn’t.

She heard a voice that she shouldn’t have heard.

It was filled with temptation. Even though Genovia knew she should not be swayed, she had no choice.

“Garhan seems to have finally given up and chose death.”

Genovia didn’t do that.

Life was too precious to let go of.

Death didn’t have enough value to give up her life.

So she chose the other option.

At the very moment the Goddess of Darkness regained her strength, she made a devil’s contract related to her death.

Kibie burst into lamentation.

“… You have sold your soul to yourself.”

Even if Genovia didn’t become a Goddess, the possibility to gain eternal life didn’t completely disappear.

If she had the necessary skills, she could get it. It didn’t matter who had the divine power.

“I can’t die politely anyway, can I? What have I got to hold back now?”

Pity filled Kibie’s eyes.

“So you chose to live as an enslaved soul instead? Did you think that’s better than death?”

She looked sympathetically towards a fool who would never be in the world again.

Genovia responded unwaveringly.

“You never know which way is right until you walk down the paths.”

Despite becoming an apparition, she still had a strange heat in her eyes.

“Once you take a road, you can’t stop until you reach the end.”

Bam!

The night sky cracked with a roar. Light shone on the world through the gaps.

The basin was full of darkness, while the sky shone down radiance as bright as daylight.

“Gasp!”

“Oh, my God!”

It wasn’t normal light. It was transcendent and sacred, pure and holy splendor.

Han-bin’s party had their knees trembling under the pressure of light.

In particular, Ryu Han-bin was the most astonished.

‘This is!’

Decades later, it was as if he had experienced it just yesterday. That day when he was suddenly thrown into the pits of hell.

‘It’s them! It’s them!’

Soon, a man appeared from the pillar of light.

It was a gentle and handsome young man. There was no sense of hostility coming from him.

Like an old friend, the man with a comfortable impression smiled brightly at Kibie.

“I’m confused whether I should say nice to meet you or long time no see.”

Kibie’s expression became even more distorted.

They had never seen and never met before, but they knew each other.

The perception of deities transcended that of mortals, after all.

“Both of us are incarnations, far from our true selves.”

He bowed politely.

“But it would be polite to introduce me first.”

He put his hand on his chest and bowed gracefully. There was no deviation from Latna’s manners.

“I’m Omphalos of the Kaldera divine race.”

And yet, the eyes of the man were indeed shining insolently.

“Kybriel of the Ars divine race.”

* * *

Han-bin’s party was shocked.

They couldn’t help but be shocked.

“… Omphalos?”

“D-devil?”

“Oh, my God…”

What their predecessors instilled upon them while growing up all their life was the fear of the devil Omphalos.

He wasn’t without substance, like a monster in a closet. He was the real terror that ruled the curse of Latnains’ life.

Plater found it hard to stand properly.

No matter how high his level was, he was just a scholar.

“Oh, my Goddess, my Goddess…”

Genovia’s apparition spoke with an extremely conservative, awe-inspiring voice.

“Dear Omphalos…”

The incarnation of Omphalos looked back at her with a surprised look on his face.

“Oh? are you using honorifics on me? That wasn’t the title you gave me when I whispered into your ears.”

Then he rested his chin on his hand and pretended to be thinking.

“I thought you said, ‘Get out, Omphalos, you son of a bitch!’”

“Well, that’s…”

The dust shook as if embarrassed by the blatant sarcasm.

“Relax. I keep my word.”

Omphalos grinned.

“It’s quite reprehensible to change your attitude only after you regret ignoring me so hard….”

Light soared behind him.

“Feeling reprehensible is also a mortal feeling.”

Strands wrapped and interlocked to create an angelic madman out of him.

“The contract has been made.”

Sacred language flew through the air as a word of power.

“You will not be old or ill, and you will escape the curse of life. I’ll do that for you.”

Omphalos flicked his fingers from side to side.

“It’s not difficult for me at all…”

A myriad of glowing threads emanated from his fingertips.

“I don’t even have to care about the balance of the world like the cruel Goddesses.”

Genovia’s apparition turned to dust.

Scattered, it then began to twirl around the thread of light, turning into a giant cocoon of light.

Brilliance exploded and covered the basin.

Pazizik!

Han-bin’s group stepped back and covered their eyes.

“Ugh!”

“Ugh!”

Before they knew it, the cocoon of light had disappeared. Genovia also did.

“You’re all pretty aggressive, aren’t you?”

Shaking his head, he looked back at Han-bin and his group.

“You don’t have a chance, but you are always eager to take advantage of the situation.

While Omphalos cared for Genovia, Han-bin and his group did not just stare. Under pressure, everyone tried to move somehow.

However, invisible energy overpowered them.

Feeling pressure on both shoulders, Ryu Han-bin gritted his teeth.

‘God damn it, is this divine power?’

Only one person was free before him. Kibie.

“Do you want a friendly title, Omphalos? Then I’ll do it.”

With disgust and hatred, she pointed the finger.

“Get out of our world, you filthy devil!”

Omphalos mumbled as if sulking.

“I think that’s too unfriendly. Isn’t the title ‘devil’ too much? Like you, I’m just conforming to my natural destiny.”

“If I don’t call a man who covets others, slaughters and plunders, the devil, what should I call him?”

“… Humane?”

Omphalos had remained calm throughout, compared to the fiery Kibie. He showed blatant ridicule and composure.

Trying to calm down, Kibie spoke.

“You don’t have long anyway, Omphalos.”

They were in Latna.

It was a world under the protection of six Goddesses.

“This world doesn’t accept your existence. How long do you think you can remain as an incarnation?”

On the surface, the Omphalos seemed to exist here, but he didn’t.

The light did not shine on him, and the darkness did not cast a shadow.

The wind phased through him, and the earth did not accept his steps.

There was no blood or warmth in his body. There was only power.

Yeah, there was no need to get carried away.

The incarnation of the devil was just a reflection of the world of Latna’s essence.

Although the invasion was allowed for a while, it could be resolved soon.

Omphalos asked Kibie a question.

“Didn’t you ever wonder, Kibriel?”

It was a question that felt ominous.

“The final mission of the Guidelines.”

* * *

All Earthlings who fell into Latna were given a common mission.

[Final Mission: Slay one of the six Goddesses of Latna.]

“Why one of the six Goddesses? Why not all of them?”

Ryu Han-bin frowned.

‘What’s wrong with that?’

There didn’t seem to be anything strange about it. Han-bin accepted it as is.

‘Isn’t it because the odds of success are low if they were told to kill them all?’

That mission wasn’t the only thing he left to the Aliens.

Omphalos also prepared an obvious trap.

“Now you know, don’t you, Kybriel?”

The person, who took their divine power, would go back to Omphalos by blowing himself up, regardless of his will.

It was a passive skill behind the Guidelines, the God’s Possession.

It seemed to be natural at first glance.

If they killed any of the Goddesses, their essences would be used as consumables in the most efficient way possible.

“But if the purpose is to acquire the power of the six Goddesses…”

The voice of Omphalos followed.

“It’s a stupid thing to do.”

The existence of a suitable person powerful enough to kill a Goddess was nothing short of a miracle.

None of the Earthlings that had fallen into Latna had succeeded in killing the deities.

In the first place, to get the power of six Goddesses under that condition…

“Six miracles should happen, right?”

Unlike Earthlings, who were expendable, the absolute power needed to remove the Goddess was different.

Why waste such precious resources in vain?

‘Are you afraid that the fitter who gained strength will escape the influence of the devil?’

What was the difference between saying that if they didn’t make mistakes, they wouldn’t make anything?

The premise was wrong in the first place.

“Goddesses of Latna,”

Staring at Kibie, Omphalos twisted his lips.

“I don’t need your power.”

There was no need to take all the power of the six Goddesses.

Even the power of one Goddess was not entirely necessary.

“Because what I want is not power. I’m strong enough. Hahaha.”

All he needed was information included in the divine power.

He decomposed and deciphered the Goddesses’ skills. By doing so, he could steal the credentials of the transcendent who had created this world.

“The power of a Goddess, or a part of it, is enough.”

Omphalos glared into space.

“But before my eyes is a part of you.”

There was a black current in the air.

It was the ‘power of the devil’ and ‘Kybriel’s divine power’ that had fallen from Genovia.

Kibie turned pale.

“No way…”

Omphalos reached out.

“Such beautiful darkness.”

His fingers grasped the black current.

Darkness quickly permeated his entire body.

“No way!”

The light of Althea illuminated the incarnation of Omphalos.

Kybriel’s darkness became a shadow and hung at his feet.

The fire of Yessen warmed his body, and the water of Rhamniana served as his blood, coursing through his veins.

The man exhaled.

Preleu’s air entered his lungs and began to circulate.

The man took a step forward.

Sorondi’s earth accepted his movements obediently.

“Hahaha…”

Standing with his feet on the ground, Omphalos laughed.

“It’s a good world. I can feel that you’ve worked hard.”

“What?”

Kibie trembled, her expression stiffer than that of a corpse.

He was no longer an Alien or an out-of-touch presence.

“This beautiful world.”

Looking around, the new god of Latna thanked her with all his heart.

“Thank you for the meal.”