Raided The God’S Warehouse [EN]: Chapter 653

“For the first time?”

“You must be confused. To explain this, I need to talk about the Trial of the 100th Floor.”

“So, you’re not going to fight anymore?”

“I didn’t want to fight. I had no choice but to fight. That’s what the Trial of the 100th Floor *is*.”

“Then, now?”

“As you can see, I’m not in a state to fight, so the restrictions are lessened. But stay vigilant. I might attack you by surprise without even realizing it.”

The system’s restrictions—it’s clear he was born from the Trial of the 100th Floor.

Since the trial was practically over, and Se-un still had many questions, he remained vigilant as instructed and listened to the explanation.

“The Trial of the 100th Floor, Confrontation. As you might have guessed, it’s a trial where you face yourself and overcome your limits.”

“I figured that much, but you know that’s not what I’m curious about, right?”

“One.”

“What?”

“The enemy you have to face in the Trial of the 100th Floor is only one. Literally, ‘Confrontation’.”

His words didn’t make sense.

Se-un had defeated dozens of doppelgangers.

No, maybe over a hundred, but the original trial was just about defeating one person?

“The reason is simple. The system copies and recreates the player’s information the moment they reach the 100th Floor. And…”

“…Could it be?”

“Everyone who appeared before you was your form when you reached the 100th Floor. Due to that error, you had to face not one, but many versions of yourself.”

The doppelgangers Se-un had defeated flashed through his mind.

Assassins, martial artists, archers, each specialized in various weapons.

But they weren’t just specialized in one weapon.

Some, like Se-un, used both swords and magic, and some, though not as much as Se-un, possessed stigmata [marks resembling crucifixion wounds, often associated with divine power] and used divine powers.

They were all Se-un himself?

“Are you truly my master?”

Suddenly, Ruin’s words from the 99th Floor came to mind.

Was that question related to this?

“How is that possible? Does that mean there are parallel universes or something?”

“Parallel universes? I don’t believe in such things.”

“Then…”

“Haven’t you already understood in your mind? You’ve been regressing over a hundred times… no. Maybe hundreds, even thousands of times.”

Se-un was on the verge of information overload from the sudden revelation.

What was all this about?

He wondered if the doppelganger was lying, but there was no reason to.

He wondered if this was another confusion inflicted by the Trial of the 100th Floor, but that couldn’t be.

“What you saw were only those who reached the 100th Floor. If you include the times you failed to reach the 100th Floor, it would be even more.”

“I have no such memories.”

“That’s because her power is closer to future measurement than time reversal.”

“Her? Who are you talking about?”

“The only constellation you followed.”

“I didn’t believe in constellations.”

“It’s just been erased. If you overuse power, divinity disappears, and the constellation’s very existence is erased.”

Chronos’ case came to Se-un’s mind.

The god of time, known to have disappeared from Olympus [the home of the Greek gods in mythology].

Presumably, he had overused his divinity to turn back time for his apostle, Ella, causing his existence to fade or disappear.

According to the swordsman, the god Se-un followed had also been forgotten in the same way.

Even by Se-un, the apostle who followed him.

“She tried to change the future by introducing slight variables into the measurement. Thanks to those slight variables, you grew into various forms, as you saw earlier.”

“That can’t be…”

“However, the problem… started with me.”

The swordsman lowered his head.

He bit his lip so hard that blood was streaming down.

“I should have ended it. I, who reached the 100th Floor for the first time, should have ended everything.”

“…You failed?”

“Yes. I failed to surpass myself. And I didn’t expect such an error in the Trial of the 100th Floor.”

He seemed to understand what he meant.

An error.

Like what Se-un experienced, not just himself, but even past versions of himself appearing.

In other words, those who reached the 100th Floor after the swordsman had to face their own doppelgangers, including the swordsman.

Then Se-un, who arrived next, had to face three doppelgangers.

Then four.

Then five.

“Every time a new version of me came up, every time a new version of myself was created, I endlessly blamed myself. But there was nothing a failure bound to the tower could do.”

Then Se-un arrived.

Facing countless doppelgangers, the swordsman naturally expected Se-un to fall this time as well.

But he didn’t.

Se-un defeated all those enemies.

Using items he had never seen before, using all the powers he had reached, wielding the power of hope.

“Thank you. Thank you so much. Another me.”

Crack.

A crack formed in the swordsman’s Durendal [a legendary sword in the Matter of France cycle].

Durendal, the sword that split rocks.

As a sword like Se-un’s, it possessed the characteristic of not having its durability consumed by any attack, yet the swordsman’s Durendal was breaking.

Whether the sword’s abilities were lost due to the long battle, or whether its existence was simply disappearing as the trial ended, he didn’t know.

“Although there was little I could do as a past self bound to the trial, I prepared a small gift in the small hope that such a case might come.”

“Wait.”

Se-un abandoned even his vigilance and approached the swordsman.

Gifts weren’t important right now.

Se-un had a question he needed to hear the answer to.

“What is the name of that god?”

He still couldn’t fully accept the swordsman’s words.

But instinctively, he felt he had to hear this one thing.

The constellation Se-un believed in.

Now, most of its existence was scattered, disappearing from Se-un’s memories, but it was definitely there.

“Her name is…”

But before the swordsman could give his last answer, as if Se-un wasn’t meant to hear that name.

Fwoosh-

The swordsman’s body completely scattered.

In the end, he didn’t hear the name.

But why?

Clang-

In his mind, the outline of someone faintly appeared.

The moment Se-un tried to focus on that outline and the faintly heard sound, an unknown force began to be absorbed into Se-un from the space of the 100th Floor.

“This is…”

Someone’s knowledge seeped into his mind.

Swordsmanship.

It was the swordsmanship of the swordsman who had been talking to Se-un until just now.

Was this the gift he was talking about?

Unfortunately, he couldn’t obtain his memories, but the swordsmanship knowledge he possessed was enough to enhance the Nihil Black Divine Martial Arts.

Moreover, this wasn’t the end.

“Archery, spear techniques, blunt weapon techniques…”

The knowledge of all the doppelgangers he had faced on the 100th Floor seeped into Se-un.

Even though they were inferior to Se-un in overall combat power, they possessed knowledge that, in their respective fields, surpassed Se-un.

And Se-un, who had recently reached the realm of Mythic Realm, was able to fully accept that knowledge and incorporate it into his own martial arts.

Wooong-

Was it because there were those among them who possessed stigmata?

Not only did knowledge seep in, but divinity closer to Se-un’s than any other divinity was absorbed into the stigmata.

Due to the high assimilation rate, the absorbed divinity was not wasted and was completely absorbed into Se-un.

– My master.

“…Ruin?”

Just when he thought all the power had been absorbed, Ruin’s voice was heard from the stigmata.

Before he could ask what was going on, Ruin’s words from the 99th Floor came to mind once again.

“Was this the question you were talking about?”

– Yes, my master.

Only then did all the words he had exchanged with Ruin become clear.

The three divine powers Se-un possessed.

These were not simply obtained from the experiences of this life.

As the swordsman said, it was the power that had been accumulated through hundreds, perhaps thousands, of regressions, experiences, emotions, and strength.

– You are the true, one and only master.

Fwaaa!

The stigmata emitted an intense light.

A crimson aura spread from the stigmata to Se-un’s entire body.

His pupils were assimilated with the light, turning crimson, and his hair also turned crimson.

Tattoos that had erupted from the stigmata were engraved all over his body, and his body was heated as much as the rising power.

A power that seemed to burst out at any moment.

At this rate, the vessel seemed like it would break.

Not only Se-un’s body, but the space itself seemed unable to withstand Se-un’s power.

Was this how a constellation felt when trying to forcibly descend upon the tower?

Just as he had that thought.

– The Trial of the 100th Floor, ‘Confrontation,’ has been successfully completed.

A message announcing the end of the trial appeared.

With it, Se-un felt a slight dizziness, like when moving between floors, and his body felt like it was floating.

Millions, billions of lights began to appear in the surrounding scenery, which had been only black.

* * *

The power that seemed to burst out was gradually stabilizing.

It wasn’t that the power had weakened.

It felt like a fish that had grown too large to stay in a small pond had moved to a river. Beyond the river, to the sea.

Then where on earth was this?

“Umm…”

Se-un opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was his fingernails, sharpened like a beast’s from deeply accepting Ruin’s power, and his more solid muscles.

It was different from when he reached the Mythic Realm.

It felt like he had transcended the realm of humans.

“Here is…”

The next thing he saw was a vast emptiness.

It was a black darkness, like the Trial of the 100th Floor.

No, that was only if he was referring to that small space.

As he widened his view a little more, countless lights came into view.

Stars, planets, and numerous satellites.

Of course, it was the first time he was seeing them directly, but he could roughly guess where this was through books or conversations with constellations.

‘The Galaxy.’

Furthermore, it was a place called the universe.

It was known as the place where those who had reached the constellation emitted brilliant light and illuminated those who looked up to them.

In other words, Se-un had already passed the 100th Floor and obtained divinity.

Because the only being who could arrive here was one who had risen to the constellation.

“Have you finally opened your eyes.”

A voice suddenly rang out.

Turning his head, he saw a woman in a splendid but familiar outfit.

“Mammon.”

“It took longer than I thought. To stay on the 100th Floor for so long. Do you know how frustrating it was not being able to observe you?”

“Did you come out to greet me?”

“How could I not come out when I heard that my thing had arrived?”

Mammon, whom he met in space, felt completely different from the one he saw in the tower.

Even when he met her in the tower, she had a power so strong that he could no longer look up to her, but now an even greater power was flowing out endlessly.

Indeed, Mammon’s appearance in the tower, which Se-un had felt so strongly, seemed to be a form in which her power was lowered to the limit by the restrictions of the tower.

However.

“You seem calm. Many people are quite confused when they first arrive here. As expected, you are my treasure.”

Even in front of such a presence, Se-un did not tremble.

He looked very natural.

As if he had already been here before.

Judging from his conversation with the swordsman he met on the 100th Floor, that couldn’t be the case.

“Follow me first.”

“Is there somewhere to go?”

At Se-un’s question, Mammon spread her black wings wide and answered with a captivating smile.

“Doesn’t a lost child need a guardian?”

Chapter 654