CH 213

Boom!

Even as Ji-Cheok stretched out his Sword Qi really long, he only used a third of his Qi, and while maintaining it, there was almost no additional Qi consumed. This was all thanks to the World Tree behind him, which was suffusing the air with essential oils!

Ji-Cheok was using Sword Qi, but at the same time, he was also recovering his Qi. That was the effect of the newly learned cultivation skill called [Northern Darkness Divine Art]! Since he had the World Tree backing him, there was almost no consumption of Qi. In other words, he could plow the ground without worrying about his Qi.

Boom!

In just a few minutes, Ji-Cheok had dug up a tenth of the dungeon’s total area. At that moment, he realized something—there were still quite a few monsters alive. Most of them were plant-type monsters, plants with tentacles or venom that were torn apart by his Sword Qi. The survivors of the Cannibal faction that had been hiding here and there had also jumped out and fled. Ji-Cheok did not bother with them, however; he had more important things to do. He wanted to investigate the island first.

“Really, you are hilarious, Mr. Umji. You are not even a Wizard, but you’re still doing things like this,” Reable said.

“Do Wizards do this a lot?”

“The Wizards in my world do. They are needed for heavy construction like this! Oh, don’t get me wrong, a Wizard does not do this alone. It’s a team effort, with a bunch of tools to help.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter if I’m a Wizard or not, I’m doing it all by myself.”

‘This God is talking out of his ass.’

“Still, it’s strange to see a Warrior do this kind of thing.”

“Well, let’s break that stereotype, shall we?”

Rumble—

He was not just razing the surface, he was also digging deep into the ground. He was quite literally turning the earth upside down as he dug on a massive scale. He was even able to dig down into the mini dungeon that he had conquered before, the [Cave of Discarded Beings]. The corpses of the monsters he had defeated were still there, and they were instantly swept away by Ji-Cheok.

“But Mr. Umji, you’re digging like crazy. Do you think it’s going to be okay?”

“It’s fine.”

“Why do you think that?”

“The thing I’m looking for is literally a couple of pieces of Gods that have merged together, and there’s no way something like that is going to be damaged by my Sword Qi. And it’s not just about the Fragment of the God. Whatever is fragile enough to be destroyed by my Sword Qi just like that is definitely not worth my attention.”

“But you’re losing money if you do that.”

“Money isn’t important right now.”

‘Money? Of course it is important, but some things are more important than money.”

“Are you talking about righteousness?”

“No, Likes.”

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Reable laughed hysterically at his comment.

‘Come to think of it, Reable is not doing much of anything but talking beside me.’

«Indeed, Master. He is a nuisance.»

‘I know. Anyway, this area is all dug up. Let’s move on to the next area.’

«Yes, Master.»

Ji-Cheok kept digging and digging.

Crumble!

In the northern part of the island, he had dug up everywhere except for the rocky mountain.

As he kept digging, however, a completely unexpected message popped up.

[[Slowly_growing_forest_shade] is outraged by your murder of vegetation!]

‘Wait, what?! I thought you were dead!’

* * *

Inside one of the mini dungeons, [Labyrinth of Choice], Ji-Han and the team were stopped in their tracks by a sudden message.

True to its name, the Labyrinth of Choice looked like a standard labyrinth. It had thick walls made of stone, the ceiling was about four meters high, and the corridors about five meters wide. Sometimes there were four paths, and sometimes there were five. However, the paths were not the only thing that made this labyrinth true to its name.

Along the way, they encountered dungeon quests that seemed to be a direct manifestation of the powers of the God. There were traps, monsters, and bizarre phenomena produced by the power of the God. As the team pushed forward through all of them, the message that appeared during a brief respite was surprising to everyone.

[[Slowly_growing_forest_shade] is outraged by your murder of vegetation!]

“Huh? What the hell is this?”

Ha-Na had been about to take a sip from her water bottle when the notification appeared out of nowhere.

“If it says [Slowly_growing_forest_shade]... Isn’t that the God of Forest Shade that was broken into fragments in a fight with another God?”

As Ji-Byeok extrapolated the information from what she knew, Mu-Cheok paused in thought with a troubled expression on his face.

“Didn’t you say… that they were mixed with fragments of the God of Choice?” Seong Kwang asked cautiously.

Ji-Han’s eyes narrowed slightly and he looked as if he was in deep thought.

‘This is the first time I’ve ever seen such a thing. But… [Slowly_growing_forest_shade] can’t possibly be alive.’

In this dungeon, Ji-Han had extinguished the [Forest Shade that Grows from the Twisted Choice] countless times. That was the being created by the fragments of the God of Choice and the God of Forest Shade fusing together. They were the Twisted God.

‘How can the [Slowly_growing_forest_shade] act by themselves?’

Since Ji-Cheok didn’t know everything, at this moment, he was perplexed, but also amused.

‘A new change. Whether it will lead to a better future remains to be seen, but a positive—hm?’

[[Decisive_moment_of_choice] urges [Slowly_growing_forest_shade] to make a choice.]

[[Slowly_growing_forest_shade] paid the price and made a choice.]

[The imperfect God [Slow Forest Shade] has descended.]

‘Slow Forest Shade? No way…’

Ji-Han jumped to his feet. He knew what phenomenon that was. He also knew exactly what that was.

It was a Spirit Fall, which was the degradation of a Spirit into a lesser being. The God of Forest Shade had died in a battle, and though they had been broken into fragments, the fragments had retained their godly status. Now, however, they were attempting to descend by forcibly lowering the very level of their existence.

‘For what reason?’

“Everyone, we need to clear this dungeon at full speed. I don't know what Um Ji-Cheok is doing out there, but it’s urgent—”

Rumble.

The labyrinth shook.

[The [Labyrinth of Choice] will disappear.]

[Beings inside the dungeon will be moved outside.]

Before the team could react, they were all engulfed in light and transported outside. When they came to their senses, they were back in the ruined city, outside the entrance of the mini dungeon.

“What the hell? We’ve been kicked out! Where’s our dungeon reward? Goddamnit! This… Huh?”

Ha-Na got angry at the sudden development, but then she let out a strange sound as if she had sensed something.

She wasn’t the only one who felt it. Everyone was looking around with serious faces.

Rumble.

The ground was shaking and plants were growing everywhere. There were even some plants that looked like animals. The dead, black trees that they had seen at the entrance of the dungeon were squirming and moving around, and the mushrooms that had been growing among them were growing even larger.

At the same time, the bugs and other monstrous creatures that looked like a mix of plants and animals began to distort and cling to each other. The entire island was covered in them, and the team couldn’t help but doubt their eyes.

“What kind of crazy… Wait, what about my brother? Hyung!”

“He is safe, don’t worry, Mu-Cheok,” Ha-Na said.

Mu-Cheok’s gaze shifted to Ha-Na.

“It’s true. Your brother is probably flying with Reable. But this…”

“They’re fusing…”

Seong Kwang was right.

All life on the entire island was merging into one.

* * *

«They seem quite angry, Master.»

‘I know. But can they go from [Slowly_growing_forest_shade] to Slow Forest Shade? What the hell happened?’

«I think they have undergone Spirit Fall.»

‘Spirit Fall?’

«Yes, Master. It is similar to what happened to Reable. It seems that they gave up their status as a God to become a lesser being. Maybe… they were fusing with the God of Choice, and they underwent Spirit Fall to get out of it.»

‘I don’t know much about Gods, but if that’s the case, why didn’t they do that before? Was it better to be fragmented and be fused with the God of Choice? I have no idea…’

“Hahahaha! This is funny. This is too funny!”

“Maybe you could tell me why you are laughing so that I could laugh with you, because I don’t know what’s going on and it’s not funny.”

“Gods can die too, right? But it’s rare for them to die completely. Usually, they are broken into fragments… There are a few ways for them to come back fully formed.”

“Ways? What kind of ways?”

“They can find the fragment of another God, absorb it, and voilà! Resurrection!”

“Ah…”

“Well, in the case of this dungeon, the fragments from the two Gods are almost identical in power, so they must have been fighting for dominance, otherwise there wouldn’t be a dungeon like this. But…now, [Slowly_growing_forest_shade] is pissed off and wants to descend. I can’t believe [Slowly_growing_forest_shade] would even think about Spirit Fall… It’s too funny!”

“Wait, just because I cleared the forest and renovated the dungeon a bit? Is that such a big deal?”

“Well, it wouldn’t be a big deal normally, but what if, coincidentally, all the vegetation in this forest was part of the God’s body?”

“Excuse me?”

“What I’m saying is, what if you were skinning the God alive and sprinkling salt on their flesh? And what the God wakes up and sees a madman who doesn’t seem to have any intention of stopping skinning them in front of their own eyes?”

“Wait, are you talking about me?”

“Hahahaha! Who else would I be talking about, Mr. Umji? I’m not the one flaying a God and shredding their flesh!”

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‘You psychopathic Gods, stop sending me Likes for this kind of thing! Jesus… Someone should’ve told me that beforehand…. Wait, no. This is better. So this God is trying to descend directly, right? One of the fragmented Gods, who was said to be asleep, is trying to descend into a lesser being! Alright, this is good! I can solve the problem directly! I just wish the God of Spirits gave me more details. So if that God is coming down directly, how should I go about saving the Tama people?’

“By the way, are you just going to leave that thing alone?”

The forest was disappearing, as well as all the living things. Ji-Cheok glanced over and was relieved to see that the Tama people seemed unharmed. The problem was that the creatures were swarming into one place like amoebas.

“You are right. I guess we don’t have to wait for the transformation to end.”

Ji-Cheok summoned the Mono Bike G and created the usual ectoplasmic road in the sky. He also put the World Tree back into the Shadow Pouch. In an instant, the preparations were complete.

“Hop on!”

“Okay~”

Reable jumped right on the backseat and fastened his feet to the footrest.

‘Cheok-Liang! Take the wheel!’

«Leave it to me, Master!»

‘Let’s go!’

“Acceleration!”

Vroooom!

Ji-Cheok raced through the sky at top speed. Now was the time to be as fast as he could!

Swoosh!

Ji-Cheok cut through the air. In an instant, he was traveling at four hundred kilometers per hour. The pressure of the air overwhelmed him.

‘For times like this… Soul Telekinesis!’

Roar!

He created an invisible cone-shaped shield in front of him with Soul Telekinesis to eliminate air resistance. In an instant, he was flying through the sky, heading straight for the ground.