Chapter 201: The Tower of Babel
[A quest initiated!]
[The final quest – A true god]
[Difficulty – Immeasurable]
[Reward – Unknown]
*You have arrived at the entrance of the final destination which every god wanted to conquer. Enter through the middle one of the three doors, in the secret place of the demon king’s castle, by using the key. And when you reach the top of the tower, there, you will understand the power of a true god.
“….I’m not sure what to expect.”
They were the messages that appeared before Vulcan’s eyes as soon as he entered the demon king’s castle.
Vulcan could not hide the chaotic emotions when he read it.
He was walking towards the secret place of the demon king’s castle, but his head was filled with many different thoughts and it made him feel confused.
Among all the things, the thing that he was most concerned with was the ‘difficulty level’ of the quest.
‘What, immeasurable……’
Back tracking his memory, Vulcan thought about the most difficult quest which had been offered to him.
The main quest ‘Be recognized by the ultimate god’ of Act 3 was level X, so it has been perhaps the most difficult quest, ever.
‘….Then just a level below that was ‘Naraka’s ruler’ which was pursued in Naraka, having been an A+ in Naraka demon world’s standard.
However, even those two quests did not have the description of ‘immeasurable’ attached to them.
Vulcan could only cringe as he felt it did not make any sense.
It was only one of the main quests of Act 3, yet it had higher difficulty level than the main quest which could be considered as the Act 3, itself.
If this reality was a game, the situation called for letting the operator have it due to the unimaginable imbalance as far as common sense was concerned.
“…..”
Of course, it was a reality, not an imaginative reality game, and having no knowledge of the system, Vulcan had no idea what was going on.
All he could do, at his juncture, was whether to accept or reject the quest.
And as he was already here, returning to Asgarde was not an option, at all.
‘Immeasurable might not only mean incredibly difficult, and….even if it was difficult, there would be no giving up. To become even more powerful, I just have to go forward.’
Vulcan moved quicker as he made up his mind.
Soon, he encountered three doors which he often saw whenever he had visited Naraka.
He already knew what was behind the two of the three doors.
As he always used the door on the left, he even felt quite attached to it.
He was surprised by finding King Athildeau’s collections, after having had pushed open the door on the right as he was curious as to what he might find behind it.
However, the door in the middle did not open no matter what he tried to use to open it, and so Vulcan was always curious about that door.
‘…..I sort of knew it as it offered a quest as soon as I entered the demon king’s castle, but.’
The outside appearance did not seem ordinary to begin with.
Geometric shapes were drawn with golden strings, in black and white background.
He felt an entity of indestructible nature, even if he was to use all his powers to fight it.
What great being could have made such an incredible thing, anyway?
Could it be made by the ultimate god, or demon godly beings?
‘….I suppose, I’ll find out when I walk in.’
Taking heavy steps, Vulcan came to the center door.
Then without any hesitation, he inserted the key to the center of the door.
At that moment.
Without any hint, the scenery of the area has instantly changed.
“…..!”
The situation was so sudden that even Vulcan, who had 1,650 physical and deity combined level, could not sense what was to happen.
Vulcan had a rather stiff look on his face, but recovering quickly, he began to approach the huge tower, in the distance.
He already knew that there were incomprehensibly powerful, great beings, since a long time ago, already.
Just because he did not comprehend something, encountering the same thing did not necessarily shock him.
Although he was concerned with respect to how high a level he had to reach, in order to qualify to just to be standing by the beings that he thought were impossible and felt insufficient in comparison to….
‘Like going from level 1 to level 99, and level 99 to level 500, and level 1,000 to level 1,500…..I might reach it someday.’
Holding the thunder and lightning sword in his hand, Vulcan was warming up by using simple magic.
In no time, he reached the entrance of the huge tower, and began to read the writings written on the large stone tablet.
[O, you foolish ones who seek the power of true gods, climb to the top of the Babel Tower.]
“….Just tell me how many floors there are.”
Vulcan released his built up tension by making a light complaint, and opening up his chest, he walked towards the entrance of the tower.
Clunk.
In synchrony to his pace of walking, the door of the Babel Tower opened.
Vulcan slowly walked into the entrance which was as dark as the inside of a monster, and as if it was a living being, the huge door of the tower closed by itself.
Kwang!
* * *
The interior of the tower did not deviate too far from what Vulcan thought.
The monsters of greater powers than he has ever run into before continually dashed out to attack him, and Vulcan showed off his fierce swordsmanship and magic against them.
The monsters’ appearances were a smorgasbord of all different shapes.
Some of the bastards displayed dark red physique and huge horns as if they were the demon kings of the demon world, and there were others, dressed in white, that were putting on gracious expressions like the gods of Asgarde.
Also, the monsters of having indescribably grotesque forms, of the most beautiful women as if gods have made them, of gigantic beasts with enough power to crumble a castle with a single strike, and of all different shapes and forms were aggravating Vulcan.
[The ancient goblin Wathangkoo]
[1533Lv]
[Characteristics: None]
[Potential: None]
* The monster of the lowest floor of the Babel Tower.
* Due to its lowly rank, it has fallen to the monster of the lowest level of the Babel Tower.
‘This is terribly callous and strict explanation…..’
As if to prove ‘impossible to estimate the level of the difficulty’, Vulcan hardened his countenance and managed the magic power in a way that he could be at the ready to release magic at any moment as he ran into incredibly powerful monsters, from the 1st floor.
It was because he could not stay careless as he faced the very hard to find, powerful monsters of the entire demon world.
However, the situation turned better and much easier than Vulcan had expected.
Sheeek.
Shook.
Puuuuung!
Aaack!
The lighting sword and magic were executed with more power than the usual times.
Watching the monsters fall like the falling leaves, Vulcan who had a blank expression exclaimed a moment later.
“….Ah, I could even use the power of deity, here.”
Awkwardly, Vulcan examined himself.
Unlike when he was in Naraka or demon worlds, he felt the unrestrained, prevalently flowing power of deity throughout his body.
‘As deity power had always been sealed inside, I have been fighting without the sense that I was a god….At any rate, I feel I can clear the 1st floor much easier than I had expected.’
Having reaffirmed his capabilities, Vulcan, more confidently, annihilated the monsters.
It wasn’t that the monsters of the Babel Tower were weak.
Every one of the monsters were faster, tougher, and more powerful than any of the monsters he had run into up to now, and they all showed off their appropriate power levels.
However, they could not even show that they were more than ordinary monsters.
With a combined level of 1,600, Vulcan could not lose to these monsters, with only the elevated specs, attacking him with extremely simple offensive maneuvers.
Hence, Vulcan successfully cleared and reached the 10th floor without any resistance, in 10 years, and he earned comparable amount of experience as he had earned in all of his time in Naraka.
However, Vulcan did not look pleased.
As if something was bothering him, Vulcan stopped at the entrance of the 11th floor.
With a short breath, he sighed.
“Phew. This is just too tiring.”
Vulcan even shook his head wildly.
In fact, the monsters of the Babel Tower weren’t that ordinary to cause him to show such an attitude.
Of course, it could not be compared to the lively monsters he had fought against in Naraka, the monsters of the Babel Tower were certainly more and fundamentally difficult than the other monsters.
However, perhaps, he had too much anticipation to the words of ‘impossible to estimate the level of difficulty’.
Or, perhaps, he was too nervous about the words which were written on the tablet, at the front of the Babel Tower.
Having been fighting the bastards that did not meet his expectations, Vulcan automatically felt tedious.
Besides, there was another problem.
Vulcan cringed, and manipulated the system in order to activate the system window, then sighed again.
This time, he sighed a bit longer than before.
That was only natural.
Despite all the experience level which he was able to obtain, all that he could raise was only 3 levels.
He thought that it was a terribly slow pace in terms of leveling up, as it was even less than the half of what he was used to, at this experience level.
Of course, it wasn’t the fault of the tower.
It was because as soon as he went over the 1,500 level, the required level of experience quantity shot up acutely, and the experience given by the monsters could not keep pace with that rise.
‘Leveling up by 3 was possible because it was the tower….Had it been other hunting grounds, even that leveling up would not have happened.’
Vulcan raised his head as he consoled himself.
After making a swooshing sound from his nostrils, he audaciously walked towards the next floor.
There wasn’t any other way, anyhow.
There would not be any better hunting grounds than here, with monsters ranging well beyond 1,500 levels, and even if there was one, he would not know it anyway.
He could only go up to the higher part of the tower, until he was to reach the final floor.
Determined once again, Vulcan has arrived at the 10th floor after walking up the long stairs, and he was met with many messages that filled his vision.
Ring.
[You have passed through the lowest ranked region of the Babel Tower.]
[You are entering the lower level of the Babel Tower.]
[Reward is being given to the player who has passed through the lowest ranked region.]
[The energies of thunder god and arrival of the hell king, and the hell king explosive bomb are combined to create a new skill ‘the wrath of the god of destruction’ is being created!]
[Five resurrection opportunities are given to the player the moment he enters the lower region and move up the tower!]
[Bid you good luck as you face the ancient beings with the powers which are beyond all beings in all other dimensions!]
‘…..Did it hear me, complaining or something.’
It was the reward which swept away the boredom he was feeling, so far.
And the latest warning that renew his anxiousness.
Unable to walk as he was so caught up in all of these explanations, Vulcan finally opened the skill window.
In the place of three skills, there was, now, the ‘wrath of the god of destruction.
[Mythological skill – Wrath of the god of destruction]
[Level limit: 1,500 Lv]
[Proficiency limit: Above SSS-level of lighting mastery, above SSS-level of fire mastery]
The skill was created by combining the thunder god energy which overlays a thunder and lightning type buff, arrival of the hell king which overlays a flame type buff and hell king explosive bomb which overlays a combat type buff. Like that ancient beings with the name of the god of destruction, it gave incredible amount of skill when executing lightning and fire.
Attack speed +30%
Moving speed +20%
Thunder and lighting, flame attack skills +30%, efficiency of flame type training +20%, ‘Good’ stability when using thunder and lighting, flame type skills! Much better! And magic power stability, on top of that…..!’
Vulcan tested out the wrath of the god of destruction with a sense of floating on the clouds.
However, the smile on his face became blurred as time went by, and after less than 10 seconds, it has completely faded away.
The unimaginable amount of rewards and the five opportunities to resurrect gave him so much advantage in battles.
Despite the fact that there was nothing to disadvantage Vulcan, with respect to what has just transpired, Vulcan was feeling nervous.
It was because he felt that this, special rewards, was an ominous warning for the hard times to come.
Of course, he was looking forward to facing even more powerful monsters than the monsters which were like getting manufactured from an assembly line….but
‘I have to be aware of the lurking dangers.’
Vulcan lightly tapped his chest 2 times by trying to stay more alert, after easily penetrating through the first 10 floors.
After steadying himself, internally, he walked through a dark passage.
The long passage went on forever, and as Vulcan was contemplating whether to use the spirit of lightning in order to move forward faster, a powerful light appeared before his eyes with a whirl.
Even he, having reached a very high level, could not open his eyes, and about 1 minute of time passed before the light faded.
Only then, Vulcan was able to narrowly open his eyes, and flustered, he surveyed the area.
The scene has changed as if he has entered through a dimensional gate.
Vulcan was a pariah in the center of an expansive green pasture, and he discovered a giant being when he decided to fly high in order to see what was happening.
Then he laughed in vain, realizing that his expectation was warranted.
[Shiba the god of destruction]
[1615Lv]
[Character: Was confident and meek, but has been eroded by the tower]
[Potential: Ultimate]
* He was constrained to the tower now, but was a deity being in the ancient Baramoon Dimension.
* He feels hatred towards all those who climb up the tower.
* He is cursing you.
With the suffocating presence beyond his level, the god of destruction Shiba was fiercely looking at Vulcan.
Vulcan put on a slight smile as he met those cold eyes.