Episode 63.
Jung Si-woo naturally wondered one question after becoming an underground player, exploring Ant Caves, and even visiting the world after receiving a quest. The traces of this world were so clear, but why is it that they couldn’t see other humans in dungeons? Humans and monsters worship God, but why is it that only monsters come to this world under God’s command? Why didn’t humans appear as enemies? Perhaps Jung Si-woo was facing the answer to that question at this moment.
“Si, Si-woo, Mr. Dong-il is acting weird!”
“No, they’re all weird.”
Jung Si-woo sternly picked on Lee Seo-hee, who was embarrassed and backing away. The human being called Chun Dong-il was just the beginning. The change was also taking place in the other humans who were crazy about God’s power. Blue scales rose above their cheeks, on the back of their hands, and their abdomen, covering their whole body. The human eye was bloodshot and torn vertically. The humans possessed by God’s power were turning into lizards.
[Follow me.]
They heard a voice then. The epicenter was the temple that tore up the barrier and proudly revealed itself. A small building made of blue-white stone with a statue built in it was speaking directly to him. The man’s deep voice contained terrifying authority and power to dazzle the listener, but Jung Si-woo thought that it felt a little less powerful than the woman’s voice he heard when transferring from his previous quest.
[If you believe and follow me, you will win.]
“Scales?”
[Victory!]
“Oh, God! My colleagues are weird!”
Unlike Jung Si-woo, who already roughly understood their true intentions, Lee Seo-hee was embarrassed and questioned the God. But the God spoke calmly.
[Their appearance doesn’t matter. Their bodies were so weak that they abandoned what they had accumulated in the process of accepting me. If they are mine, they will find their new self.]
“So that means you turned them into monsters.”
“Why my guild members? No matter how powerful they are, they aren’t themselves anymore!”
[Kuuaaaaaaaaa!]
The players who had become lizards bared their teeth and attacked Jung Si-woo and Lee Seo-hee. The appearance was no different from the monsters they had fought against earlier. Only then did Jung Si-woo realize that their wings were missing from them. He sarcastically commented in his mind that he heard this God could turn humans into players.
[Kugaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!]
[Humaaaaaaan…!]
“Eiiiikk!”
However, when Jung Si-woo was wondering if he should knock them down like this, he saw the light flashing in Lee Seo-hee’s hand, and the lizards stopped moving. Lee Seo-hee, who couldn’t kill them, sealed them with a small barrier. They would be stuck for at least five minutes. It was grace like a thousand gold.
“You said you’d make Si-woo a player! Did you mean to turn Si-woo into a monster!? And you were so confident that you could do anything!”
After temporarily suspending the situation, she turned straight to the temple and shouted anew. But the statue snorted.
[Player? You don’t have to be so vain. It doesn’t matter what form of power it is. But if you want wings, I’ll give them to you. Of course, the power in it will be as great as those of a doll! I didn’t lie to you because you can make anything you want possible with that power.]
“That’s…a lie…!”
Lee Seo-hee’s shoulders trembled. It was the moment when she perfectly escaped the temptation of God’s voice. But does he not understand how she felt? The God replied back.
[You don’t have to worry about being like them. You and your man have both proved your qualifications, and you will be able to accept my power in your present vessel fully. You are different from them. The chosen one is you, not that trash.]
Proved their qualifications. Jung Si-woo thought quietly. Perhaps it was the process of destroying monsters that were surrounded by the barriers. Those lizards, who passed their souls to Jung Si-woo while dying, were once human beings like the lizards that were now floundering here.
[So come to me. You will follow me. Didn’t you already swear?]
“…Whoo.”
Had it not been for Jung Si-woo’s existence, Lee Seo-hee, like the other guild members, might’ve accepted his proposal, delusional with immediate power. No, she might have faced a moment of mutilation with the guild members without having to go through this process. As a result, they may have been able to maintain their human form on the outside, but they would be reborn as something else that no longer could be called human.
“No, I’ve never sworn such a thing.”
[What…?]
However, she was already recovering her senses when she realized that her opponent’s promise was a lie. Her goal was to share rights, not absolute power.
“I don’t believe you. You’re the one who breaks people’s earnest wishes!”
It left her as a human being.
[You’re stupid…!]
“Si-woo, I’m sorry. I’ve believed in this, but…I think it’s a bummer.”
To Lee Seo-hee, who was prepared for battle and spoke up, Jung Si-woo nodded back as if he didn’t care much.
“It’s okay. I didn’t even believe in it from the beginning.”
“What…?”
“I’m not saying I didn’t trust you.”
Jung Si-woo reached into the air. Lee Seo-hee and the statue opened their eyes as they saw the weapon coming out of his hands. Until then, neither Lee Seo-hee nor the God could detect mana from Jung Si-woo. Jung Si-woo didn’t know how great this was. He wasn’t interested.
“I don’t believe in such things like a god!”
Shortly afterward, the hammer swung at a speed that no one could react to and shattered the body. Although the statue contained a fraction of God’s power, it wasn’t fragile enough to break. Yet, it could be destroyed by Jung Si-woo’s great power.
[Ho, how dare you undermine my divinity!]]
“You, what…so you were the Chinese restaurant rider!”
“I’m sorry, but can you not call me that?”
Jung Si-woo broke the statue in a heartbeat and lifted the hammer again, and this time, he added mana to make it huge. In no time, it quickly grew to more than 5 meters, casting shadows around the area.
“How, it’s full of mana…!”
[Ahhhh…!]
The God’s consciousness remained there even after he destroyed the statue, immediately recognizing what he was going to do. His voice trembled. Things that he thought would never happen on Earth were slowly happening!
[This ungodly man…I can’t let you get away!]
“The most thrilling moment is when you tell me to stop!”
[Stooooop!]
Regardless of whether the temple was engulfed in blue lightning and caused an explosion, Jung Si-woo destroyed the temple with the hammer!
[Yes…now I understand…you…!]
“These bastards’ voices usually buffer when they’re about to leave.”
[Ka…ji…]!]
“Rather than making me feel uncomfortable, let’s talk about it when we meet again. Bye, Zai jiàn!”
He tried to become the foreshadowing master somehow, but Jung Si-woo crushed the temple to powder so that there was no trace of the God. Still, Lee Seo-hee was just stunned by the sight of the fairly large building turning into a handful of dust in an instant.
“How did you do that to the temple…”
“Whoo.”
She followed the voice of God because she and her guild members couldn’t do anything about the temple. But now, Jung Si-woo had crushed it…!
“Now I’m feeling a little refreshed now.”
“Ha…haha.”
“By the way.”
Jung Si-woo turned away from Lee Seo-hee, who was smiling in despair, and frowned as he looked back at the lizard humans who were still trapped in the barrier and couldn’t move.
“I expected it, but God’s power can’t bring them back to their human form. This is a problem…”
“I’ve been focusing on them since a while ago, but…they’re completely monsters, Oppa. I don’t know how that’s possible, but…they’re in their ‘normal’ condition now. If they can be returned to humans, that means that other monsters can be turned into humans too.”
Soo Ah-rin was an expert in this field, so she spoke out. As a priest, she had skills that specialize in detecting and healing her opponents. But she didn’t think they could be turned back into humans. Jung Si-woo said yes, clicking his tongue.
“Yes, I can see that. The fact that their existence has been reversed… damn it, and they listened to that God.”
“God’s power…is to turn humans into monsters.”
Meanwhile, she was mumbling in a desperate tone because she believed in the existence of God quite seriously and couldn’t believe what happened before her eyes. She desperately wanted to be blessed by him. Jung Si-woo gave her a bitter smile and patted her.
“Good thing you realized before it was too late…but we can’t change anything from here.”
Jung Si-woo’s eyes turned to the lizard humans drooling. Even though the signs of God disappeared, their hostility and hatred only continued to escalate, but there was no room to sink. This means that they have become monsters independent of God’s power.
[Keehee…!]
[Po, power…hu, man…!]
Conversation wouldn’t work. And if they only moved with hostility toward humans, they were no longer humans. Or at least Jung Si-woo thought so. They were the enemy.
“…Wait, wait a minute Si-woo.”
However, as he took a step forward, squeezing the hammer back to its original size, Lee Seo-hee, who realized what he was going to do, rushed out and grabbed him.
“I can’t hold you responsible. They’re the ones I’ve been leading, so I’m responsible…”
“You don’t have to take responsibility for anyone else, Seo-hee. Of course, it’s the same for me.”
However, Jung Si-woo didn’t hesitate to lift his hammer.
“They are responsible for themselves.”
[Kuaaak!]
[Kkkek!]
The hammer split the air, leaving no trace of blood. The sledgehammer, which contained creepy concentrated mana, erased the once-human lizards and the barrier that they were held in.
“Ah, ahh…”
Lee Seo-hee knelt on the spot. Jung Si-woo recovered his hammer and clicked his tongue, feeling that their souls were absorbed by the tattoos on the back of his hands. He was busy earlier, so he let it slip, but the lizards he had killed earlier were also players. Perhaps they were the rest of Lee Seo-hee’s guild members who weren’t here right now.
“If I hadn’t found the temple. If I had destroyed it as soon as I found it…”
“Tsk.”
He told her that she didn’t have to take responsibility, but Lee Seo-hee started blaming herself. In fact, Jung Si-woo, who maintained a steel mentality in this situation, was like a superhuman.
“…Whoo.”
He sighed and put the hammer in his inventory. At the site of the temple’s collapse, in the seemingly unfeeling space, the explorer reacted violently, signaling that there was a ‘pathway of intruders’…he thought they would have to put off exploring for a while.
“Seo-hee, let’s rest first. Let’s think about it next time…I’ll tell you about what happened to me then.”
“…Okay.”
Lee Seo-hee nodded helplessly. Jung Si-woo had to carry her on his back because she didn’t seem to have any intent to move on her own, but she sighed a little and calmed down after being carried on his back.
“Thanks, Si-woo…”
He could hear the sound of grinding teeth.
“You should take care of your gums.”
“…So what are they?”
“I’ll explain that to you later.”
Jung Si-woo came down the mountain, leaving behind the vacant lot. Other players had no idea about the commotion that happened at Mount Tengu.
