Chapter 124 - Mission (4)

Chapter 124: Mission (4)

[The trial of the 16th floor is beginning.]

[Trial: In countless stories and legends, there is always a fate that covers the skies, and it is said that the world is one of the many turning cogs in this mechanism.

There are many words for this. Heavenly society, Fruit of Good and Evil, Yggdrasil…

And in this place, there are three goddesses who watch over that fate.

They spin life’s wheel of fate, measure fates and cut them, and even look at the fates of gods and demons.

But because of that overexertion, they aren’t able to walk, and always wait for people to come to their temple.

Please respectfully visit the three goddesses’ temple. You can only visit the temple, and you can only ask one question, so please be thoughtful.]

Laplace kept his words.

On the way to the 16th floor, Yeon-woo didn’t see a single person or a Guardian.

Like someone had interfered so no one could bother him. So Yeon-woo thought it was all thanks to Laplace.

‘Or was it that demon.’

He didn’t have a way of knowing.

Why Laplace or that nameless demon was so interested in him.

Rather than being thankful, Yeon-woo felt uncomfortable with help. Getting help from strangers definitely wasn’t in goodwill.

But there wasn’t a way to reject the help as of now, so Yeon-woo just accepted their help and got to the 16th floor.

The 16th floor’s stage actually wasn’t that large.

Following a large forest in the centre, there were three different paths that led to different places.

Each path led to a different path, and one you went on a certain path, there was no turning back.

So when choosing a path, you had to be extremely careful.

Urd of the past.

Verdandi of the present.

Skuld from the future.

From Asgard’s legends, they were the three goddesses that lived under the well beneath the tree called Uroarbrunnr.

They spinned the wheel of fate. So their temple was always full of believers who followed them, and a few gods and demons wanted to meet with them.

No matter how powerful you are, you’ll be curious about your fate.

But these goddesses avoided the gods and demons of the 98th floor and always stayed on the 16th floor.

They were surrounded by mystery.

But from what I saw…..they were nothing more than old grandmas.

The Three Norns [TN: They’ll be referred to as Three Norns and Platform Three Goddesses] were beloved, but also hated.

If fate was decided, and if decisions and opportunities were already set in stone, that meant free will and the ability to change things were nonexistent.

In a way, this was something that players who wanted to be gods lost motivation from.

Since only chosen ones could become gods. And so his brother was in the latter.

There was a famous incident related to him that made the three goddesses the laughingstock of the Tower, while he was able to pass the 16th floor at the same time.

Most people sought advice from the Three Norns before climbing the Tower.

However, Yeon-woo wasn’t that interested.

To him, fate was to be something that was decided, but also undecided at the same time.

‘Because whatever happens, my goal will never change.’

So normal people never would’ve even thought of messing up a temple. Also, it was the reason why he disregarded the warning of the nameless demon.

[You have earned 182 of the ‘Jewel of Fire.’]

[You have earned 35 of the ‘Ice Crystal.’]

[You have earned 91 of the ‘Snowy Field Rose.’]

….

Using the mercenaries, Yeon-woo was able to collect all the hidden pieces. He placed them all in his interdimensional pocket.

It was the present Bahal had given him before he left the 11th floor. It was a small pocket that was quite an expensive artifact.

‘It’s nice because it’s like an inventory.’

It was a present given to make things easier for him so he didn’t have to carry each individual item.

But Yeon-woo already got rid of everything that was on it on the 12th floor, and he filled it with hidden pieces.

It was obvious, but the hidden pieces were priceless. And with Yeon-woo’s knowledge, they were of an astronomical value.

Although the mercenaries felt like they were going to burst in tears watching the items they had done everything to get taken right from under their nose.

Yeon-woo ignored them, and locked the pocket to put it around his waist.

“Then. If you’re ready, we’ll start moving now.”

The mercenaries all sighed one by one listening to him. Their mental and physical conditions were completely healed thanks to Holy Fire.

Checking the state of their weapons, they turned to look at Yeon-woo. Because no one knew exactly what the mission was about.

“But where is the base of Cheonghwado?”

As they knew there were only 3 temples on the 16th floor, they couldn’t imagine where the base would be.

Yeon-woo answered like it was nothing.

“The temple of Skuld.”

Everyone was shocked.

“…..!”

“T, that….!”

“A, are you s,saying that we’re about to go attack a temple?”

The mercenaries were all appalled. Some even shouted. A temple was a holy place for a god. To dirty a temple was to buy the god’s anger. Obviously, it wasn’t something to react calmly at.

“Why? Is there a problem?”

“That’s nonsense! Even if the Three Norns don’t move from the 16th floor, they are also divine beings. If we make them angry, they’ll definitely punish us….!”

“No. You don’t have to worry about that. They can only tell one’s fate and not physically do anything. That’s also why they can’t move.”

The reason why they were called the Platform Three Goddess was because they’re body prevented them from physical movement. They couldn’t move their legs, hence the reason for ‘platform.’

With great powers come great consequences, and this was its consequence. That was the system of the Tower.

That was also why the Guardians couldn’t interfere in the player’s businesses although they could move freely throughout the Tower.

But the mercenaries were still scared.

“Also. To deny this mission is a breach of contract, so you’ll have to take responsibility for the penalty.”

Yeon-woo got out a few of the players’ contracts from his interdimensional pocket and shook them around.

Expecting this to happen, Bahal had given him their contracts beforehand.

In return for their high commission rate, the mercenaries promised to do anything Red Dragon commanded of them.

And they had even pledged on a demon’s name.

If they breached the contract, their souls would be bound to the demon.

They all knew what it meant to be bound to a demon.

At the end, they didn’t have any other choice than to follow Yeon-woo.

And since they were already here, they weren’t confident in running away from Yeon-woo.

“Then let’s get going.”

So the nervous mercenaries followed Yeon-woo into the forest.

[You have chosen the path to the temple of the future, Skuld.]

The forest was vast, so it was easy for a group of 250 to move. But because of that, they felt extremely pressured.

In order to hide their nervousness, the mercenaries covered it up with their intent to kill, and Yeon-woo amplified this with his magic power.

So to anyone that might’ve seen them, they looked like warriors heading to a battle to die.

“Huh? Huhhh?”

“W, What’s that?”

“R, Red Dragon? But why is Red Dragon….?”

The path to the temple started turning into pandemonium.

The people that had been waiting for their turn tensed up at the appearance of Red Dragon.

Yeon-woo and Team 2 didn’t hide the fact that they were from Red Dragon and confidently headed down the path.

As if saying that no one could stop them. And that if they tried to, they would regret it.

So the believers and the visitors had to get out of their way.

The meaning of the Red Dragon was that great.

The strongest clan.

The controller of the Tower, led by the Summer Queen.

So one wanted to be involved with them in a bad way.

The apostles of Skuld became frantic. The head apostles quickly ran out.

“W, Why is Red Dragon here? I don’t know what your business is, but this is the residence of a goddess. Please conceal your weapons.”

The head priest bowed his trembling head.

He seemed to be a high ranking player. But even he wasn’t able to stand straight in front of Red Dragon and Yeon-woo’s aura.

Yeon-woo barely glanced at the head priest and looked past him at the temple.

It was a round temple with multiple marble minarets.

A holy aura emanated from the place.

It was also completely different from the aura of Yeon-woo’s Black Bracelet.

He ignored his vibrating bracelet and looked at the head present with indifferent eyes.

The head priest unintentionally flinched after looking at Yeon-woo and stepped back.

He had received the blessing of a god, but he felt like he was going to be crushed at any moment.

He felt like something was going to pop out the unknown abyss and drag him in.

It was damp and dark. But it was a depressing feeling that made him feel like he was going to be swallowed up.

“Are you saying that because you don’t know why we’re here?”

At Yeon-woo’s low voice, the head priest stiffened.

“W, what are you….”

“If you don’t know, it means they’re looking down at us because they sent you, and if you’re pretending not to know, they’re still looking down at us. How should I interpret it?”

Yeon-woo didn’t have any enmity with the Skuld temple. But that didn’t mean he looked upon them with favor either.

Since he was here on behalf of Red Dragon, the bigger the fight, the better.

Also.

‘The more I wreck this place, the bigger the story will be when Cheonghwado and the Saber God hear.’

Yeon-woo completely released his aura that he had been hiding, and wind whipped around him.

The high apostles and priest that had come out to dissuade him paled and fell to the ground.

The believers and visitors quickly began to escape from the place. There were screams from everywhere.

And so amidst all the confusion. Yeon-woo pulled out Vigrid and swung it around.

The blessing of the sword. Yeon-woo chose the temple as his enemy, and so the sword became stronger as the apostles, priests, visitors, and believers were all recognized as his enemies as well.

And with the power of the Four Legendary Beasts, he had a colossal amount of magic power.

The strong winds lashed around like they were going to rip the sky into pieces and flung the roof of the temple off.

There should’ve been many defenses and spells in place to protect the temple, but none of them worked.

Seeing the broken temple, the apostles, priests, and all the visitors that were running away looked at it with their mouths hung open.

They were so surprised that they couldn’t move.

And during that time, the mercenaries acted on orders given beforehand to enter the destroyed building. They disarmed the soldiers of the temple with ease and entered.

Yeon-woo followed them, walking through the path they had made.

The high priests and apostles ran at him saying he shouldn’t do that, but he ignored them and stood in front of the 13th room.

He burst the door open to where the Saber God was. And it was then.