The Community of the Dead, on the ninety-eighth floor.

[Light Su-Hyeok! Light Su-Hyeok! Light Su-Hyeok! Light Su-Hyeok!]

[This is fucking sick.]

[Is he even human?]

[Human? Are you out of your mind? Su-Hyeok is a god.]

[Lmao.]

[Why does the thirty-ninth—no, the ninety-eighth floor look easier?]

[Easier? Are you tripping? 💀]

[Does it look easier to the person who’s been fighting for up to two days straight? You wanna die?]

[No. I mean... I just mean Su-Hyeok got stronger!]

[Hmm...]

[It sounds like this dude’s making excuses.]

[... I’m just dumb! I don’t use my brain before speaking. Light Su-Hyeok! God Su-Hyeok! King Su-Hyeok!]

[Alright, I'll let it slide this once.]

[Don’t fight, pray. Prayer’s all that’s left. It’s the only thing we can do to help.]

[Lol. Su-men—]

[Su-men.]

[Su-men...]

[SU-MEN!!]

***

[Eliminate or survive against the incoming enemies. Remaining time: 115 hours, 21 minutes.]

Although my decision looked simple, I hadn’t chosen to carve a path forward on a whim. There were undeniable risks involved.

First, the gods and apostles who had previously avoided me—whether out of fear or disinterest—were now combining their power to stop me. Second, the disinterested parties had stepped forward to warn me, apparently for my own good.

Those two things lingered at the back of my mind.

Well, hidden missions have always been this way, haven’t they?

Most of the time, I had completed one without even realizing it, but they all resulted from taking a more difficult path. I naturally accepted that risk; that was simply how the Tower of Ordeal operated.

Enduring greater hardships resulted in greater rewards.

My biggest saving grace was that the Tower of Ordeal didn’t create impossible trials. Even so, I couldn’t deny the faint sense of unease that lingered within me. Of course, that didn’t mean I lacked confidence. I simply couldn’t say for certain that I would succeed this time.

After facing countless gods, I was in a flow state, and my mana and divine energy were abounding. Even if I didn’t know why, the Abyss undoubtedly strengthened me, the complete opposite of what it did to the gods trapped here.

I may be getting ahead of myself, but here goes nothing.

Stacking Flash Strike four times, I further boosted my speed with Lightning Transformation. The Cloak of Dominion rippled dramatically behind me in slow motion as I moved forward. In my periphery, I caught sight of the Abyss’s ceiling, which was thirteen meters high, so not exactly low. Using the cloak’s blink ability, I leapt toward an opening in the crowd of prisoners, my cloak fluttering as it activated. I repeated the move once, then again.

“Huh?”

By the time I heard the echo of a startled interjection, I had already traveled several hundred meters. Naturally, chaos erupted below. The apostles couldn’t match my speed, but the gods were another matter. They began their pursuit at once. Some even glided through the air.

Beams of light, energy waves, and countless other attacks filled the sky. I teleported again.

Thud!

The attacks crashed against the ceiling, sending faint tremors through the structure that had withstood far greater impacts.

They are getting desperate, too.

The distinction between sky and ground meant little to the gods. The air soon grew thick with divine energy. They started trying to predict where I would appear, some attacking randomly while others erected barriers of divinity. I abandoned the idea of directly breaking through the crows and shifted to the side instead. It would have been easier had there been no ceiling, but that couldn’t be helped.

Whenever the group shifted to block my new path, I would take sharp turns toward the least dense group.

Eleven o’clock, two o’clock, nine o’clock, three o’clock.

The Cloak of Dominion flared unceasingly.

Even as I chained spatial leaps, their pursuit remained relentless. These weren’t mere underlings. Some gods caught on to my strategy and started leaving deliberate gaps while secretly infusing their divinity into the empty air. Even while moving at near-impossible speed, my thoughts never slowed.

Strangely, their sheer numbers are working in my favor. It keeps them from moving freely at full speed.

Whooom—

A massive barrier of divinity, appearing like a glowing wall, unfolded ahead of me. Teleporting beyond it was impossible. Instead of dodging, I charged head-on and swung Soulbound. Lightning infused with the power of annihilation surged through the air.

Crack!

A gleaming line split the barrier apart. Rather than shattering, it unraveled like a split veil and scattered, allowing me to slip through the gap. It was just as much of an opening for the gods, however. The moment I was forced to stop momentarily, they seized the opportunity to rapidly bombard me with attacks from behind. I could avoid most by teleporting or using other gods as shields, but some had locked onto my essence, making it impossible to evade them.

Even with my armor, divinity, and causality, I couldn’t completely nullify them. There were simply too many. Moreover, some were too sharp and fast to avoid entirely.

This isn’t a bullet-hell game with attack patterns and designated spots to dash to.

I accumulated injuries as I cut through the air. Still, I didn’t stop. My divine energy went into overdrive as I healed myself and continued my advance.

After several charges, the Abyss devolved into utter chaos. I caught glimpses of gods striking each other by mistake, causing tempers to flare. It was a shame it didn’t escalate into full-blown combat, though. Moreover, the Abyss’s all-consuming darkness seemed almost laughable now, as divine light from countless overlapping spells had set the sky ablaze in a multicolored display. It was terrifying to think that all of it was aimed at me.

Only one question filled my mind.

What can possibly be so important that they would go through all of this effort?

The god who had stepped forward had simply told me not to go—for my sake and for those trapped in the Abyss. I had no reason to believe him. After all, this place was nothing more than a prison for sinners. There was no guarantee any of them would tell the truth. Judging by how desperate they were to stop me, whatever lay beyond was disastrous for them. On the other hand, for me, it wasn’t necessarily the same.

Perhaps it concealed an exit, one only outsiders could use.

Or maybe there is an irregular existence among the prisoners.

I didn’t know why such a being would stay silent, but if that were true, it could prove troublesome. I couldn’t tell whether it would treat me as a friend or an enemy. Regardless, I didn’t intend to turn back. Not because it was a hidden mission, but because retreating now would be meaningless.

When the gods had first tried to stop me, I hadn’t realized how many of them there were or how desperately they would resist. Using the Cloak of Dominion and Flash Strike, I continued teleporting at maximum speed, practically carving through the air.

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before I saw it: a colossal black gate.

What is that?

Gods were densely clustered before it, standing guard as if to protect whatever lay beyond. Whatever it was, that gate was certainly the reason behind their alarm.

There wasn’t much time to think. The gods ahead blocked my path, while those behind were closing in fast.

I need to choose now.

If I continued, then I would be forced into committing to breaking through. If I wanted to retreat, then I had to do it now. Waiting any longer would leave me trapped between both sides. My greatest concern from the start had been that the gods would unite against me, and not even I could withstand that.

Even earlier, when I had clashed with them, the horde had been significantly smaller. There were at least twenty times as many enemies surrounding me now.

Break through.

At this point, it was far too late to turn back. I hadn’t expected such fierce resistance. Each time I teleported, I was struck by how many more gods had gathered. Even if I tried to withdraw now, the power I had already spent breaking through would leave me vulnerable to their pursuit.

Given their numbers, their bloodlust would only continue to build.

The dice have been cast.

I steeled myself. To open that gate, I would first have to deal with the gods standing in my way.

***

[Eliminate or survive against the incoming enemies. Remaining time: 115 hours 13 minutes.]

The gods imprisoned in the Abyss all knew of the danger the quarantine zone posed. Only a few had learned the full details by offering pieces of their divinity to the gods who had stayed in the Abyss the longest. Regardless, everyone had heard the warning.

As soon as the Tower of Ordeal imprisoned a god in the Abyss, it would warn them that if the quarantine zone opened, disaster would follow. Those trapped couldn’t open that gate. Only someone from outside could. Because of that, even the gods and apostles who had shown no interest in Kwon Su-Hyeok were suddenly alarmed and called out in haste.

With a quadruple-stacked Flash Strike, Kwon Su-Hyeok didn’t even need a hundredth of a second to decide and strategize his next moves. His cloak fluttered as he paused for a fraction of a moment in mid-air, after which his residual presence vanished an instant later.

“Here he comes!”

Before the shout finished echoing, he appeared right in front of the gods guarding the black gate. Soulbound flashed golden.

Shhhhk!

A four-meter-long streak of blue lightning surged toward the front line. The gods—arranged in a haphazard mass before the gate—tried to stop it, but they couldn’t. They had arrived only because the others had warned them, not because they had wanted to risk themselves. They didn’t know of Kwon Su-Hyeok’s power to erase matter.

The lightning carved through their defenses with ease, instantly slicing down three gods.

At that moment, Kwon Su-Hyeok’s cloak fluttered again, and he teleported once more. The attacks of the gods chasing him hit the front ranks of those defending.

“Damn it!”

Amid a multitude of cursing gods, Kwon Su-Hyeok, who had appeared in mid-air, descended again.

Boom!

Along with a massive shockwave, a storm of lightning laced with causality swept through the area. Blue-golden light filled the Abyss as several more gods fell beneath Soulbound’s might. This wasn’t a fight; it was pure carnage, followed by short and sharp death throes.

Still, gods kept arriving to reinforce the black gate’s defence. They were there to block the door, not to attack. Despite the pandemonium of divinity and causality, they tried to track Kwon Su-Hyeok’s location by his unique signature.

However, their senses couldn’t lock onto him inside the lightning.

“What, what is this?”

Bang!

Contrary to their expectation, lightning erupted from further away, where the pursuing force stood. Currents of electricity burst outward in all directions. Faced with lightning steeped in causality, the gods struggled and raised their divinity. At the same time, they thought fast.

Kwon Su-Hyeok, who had already reached the gate, suddenly turned toward the pursuing force.

***

Did he see us and give up?

That was what Fire Veil, a fourth-class god, hoped. He had rushed over in panic when he heard the challenger was nearing the quarantine zone. However, just because he feared what lay behind the gate didn’t mean he wanted to lay down his life to defend it.

His sentence wasn’t eternal.

He had roughly twelve hundred years of his lifespan remaining. By the time he was released, he would likely have only dropped to the level of a prospective fifth-class god. Unlike the high-ranking gods who had been imprisoned here for millennia, the prospect of leaving this place alive truly mattered to him.

He had rushed out simply because he refused to die before his time. Blue-golden light continued to flicker in the direction of the pursuing force. Though it shifted back and forth, it seemed to carry the desperate energy of someone struggling to escape at all costs.

To Fire Veil’s sensibilities, Kwon Su-Hyeok had given up.

At that moment, blue-golden light filled the Abyss, creating a spectacle of light spectacularly different from before. Fire Veil furrowed his brow at the lightning steeped in causality.

Why is he pouring out all his power at once?

Raging North Wind, the third-class god beside him, kicked off the ground and shot toward the black gate.

Huh?

Fire Veil followed Raging North Wind with his gaze. There, Kwon Su-Hyeok floated in mid-air with one hand on the black gate, looking down at the gods. Immediately realizing that he was already too late, Raging North Wind halted in mid-air. The gods and apostles who had intended to strike stopped in their tracks as well, seemingly frozen solid.

Fire Veil realized that the frantic lightning had been nothing more than a momentary feint to draw attention.

Kwon Su-Hyeok smiled. “If I open this, you're all screwed, right?”

The god who had tried to stop Kwon Su-Hyeok earlier rushed forward and shouted, “It isn’t just us who will suffer!”

“Hmm.” Kwon Su-Hyeok’s smile lingered as he shrugged. “Well, I doubt you all will simply let me be if I don’t open it.”

Seemingly refusing to listen to them, he tightened his grip.

Screeeeek—

The black gate of the quarantine zone—which the gods and apostles had unsuccessfully tried to budge for countless millennia—began to open very easily.