Chapter 153
As the night began,
Ahheta looked down upon the earth through the moon and thought.
‘Archmage. You will undoubtedly choose the Mage Faction.’
The Archmage who had stolen [Baal’s Belt] from his treasure vault.
No matter how he thought about it, that man was audacious beyond belief.
He didn’t know how the Archmage managed it, but every kind of anomaly and miracle had unfolded during the [Second Night].
It was as if the man had no fear at all—as if he dared to ignore the very Lord of the Moon himself.
Truly intriguing.
That confidence. That shamelessness.
So, Ahheta decided to provoke him openly.
That was why he mentioned [Mystery] and divided the factions.
He was certain the Archmage wouldn’t refuse such a direct challenge.
If he truly saw himself as the Archmage, he wouldn’t choose any other faction.
‘He’ll try to push his power to its limit again. He knows he can’t fully utilize his magic if he chooses another faction.’
Each faction required different strengths.
If one joined a faction that didn’t align with their class, it was almost impossible to perform well.
Any intelligent being could predict that much.
And the Archmage was clever enough to see through all of Ahheta’s tricks hidden within the Night.
There was no way he wouldn’t understand the Creator’s intent.
He clearly used magic, after all.
He would certainly accept the challenge.
‘I’ll find you.’
Ahheta’s gaze fixed firmly upon the [Mage Faction].
He had prepared meticulously for this [Third Night].
His purpose was twofold—punish the thief and fulfill the conditions necessary to summon the [Temple of Death], letting death spread across the entire planet.
Ahheta had not forgotten the humiliation of the First and Second Nights.
He had been mocked and ridiculed by the other Creators.
To erase that shame, he needed victory—absolute and final.
And with it, he would erase humanity itself.
‘Whoever your god may be, every miracle that happened on Earth was wrought by you.’
Ahheta was convinced the Archmage was an Incarnation.
But even if the man was the Incarnation of a Demon God, he didn’t care.
Even if he served one of the Great Nine Lords, it made no difference.
As long as Ahheta held dominion over the “Night,” none of them could directly oppose him.
And Ahheta believed every so-called “miracle of humanity” stemmed from the Archmage alone.
There was no such thing as “human potential.”
Only that man.
The Archmage.
If he killed him, humanity’s potential would vanish altogether.
With the [Super Blue Moon] now in play, humanity’s extinction was inevitable.
Ahheta smiled, eyes gleaming as he watched the [Mage Faction].
‘Where are you, Archmage?’
—
Contrary to Ahheta’s expectations, Park Chan-woo had chosen the [Warrior Faction].
There was no need to accept the challenge head-on.
All that mattered was victory.
As soon as he entered, Park Chan-woo looked around.
“Why’s it so huge?”
“Are these rocks the [Black Iron]?”
“Wow, there’s so many.”
“How big is this Abyss supposed to be?”
Before everyone stood massive rocks called [Black Iron], each with unique shapes and sizes.
…The scale was staggering.
Like a vast Go board, countless rocks were lined up at regular intervals.
Each participant had been summoned before one.
There were at least half a million of them.
“So we’re supposed to cut these black rocks?”
“They’re ridiculously hard!”
“I can’t even scratch it! My arm’s about to fall off!”
The test was simple—make a scratch on the rock.
People immediately grabbed their weapons and struck, but the results were disappointing.
Only about 5% managed to leave even the faintest mark.
Park Chan-woo silently examined the [Black Iron] before him.
‘Black Iron. The most common and useless mineral in the Abyss.’
It was the most abundant ore within the Abyss, but also one of the least valuable.
Hard to process, low quality, not even worth taking for free.
So, of course, Ahheta used it as test material.
Ding!
《[Death Knight Gula] shakes his head at the challengers’ pitiful skills.》
《[Death Knight Gula] speaks.》
《“All living things are weak.”》
《“And among them, humans are the most pathetic.”》
From afar, the voice of [Death Knight Gula] echoed through the air.
He probably couldn’t oversee everyone directly, so this was how he communicated.
Or perhaps he simply saw no need to show himself before such feeble beings.
‘He’ll show up eventually, once the trial progresses.’
Still, one thing was certain—the content of this [Third Night] was different from what Park Chan-woo knew.
Ahheta had reshaped the entire scenario.
The memories of the future no longer gave him an advantage.
‘But this land… it’s far more valuable than the one from the original Third Night.’
That was actually good.
An enormous territory.
Though filled with “worthless” Black Iron, that limitation only applied to the mineral itself.
The land beneath it brimmed with power.
The magical energy flowing through it was immense—fertile enough to give birth to numerous [Mysteries].
‘Cygnus will love this.’
This wasn’t just another [Creator Abyss]—this was on a completely different level.
If Cygnus could consume the territory of the [Third Night], he could ascend at an unmatched pace, beyond the reach of other divine beasts.
“Does this count as a scratch?”
“It didn’t even leave a mark!”
“My Strength’s over 60, and still nothing!”
Everyone gritted their teeth, pounding away at the rock.
Even meeting the Strength requirement wasn’t enough—it was simply too hard.
That was why [Black Iron] was considered the worst mineral in the Abyss.
CRACK!
CLANG!
“M-my sword!”
“Damn it!”
“It broke!”
The mineral was so stubborn that even weapons suffered.
Their durability dropped at an alarming rate—blades cracked and shattered all around.
While it was sometimes used to build fortress walls, the Abyss was full of far better materials.
There was no reason to use such a troublesome ore.
“They said all you need is Strength 50!”
“What kind of stupid test is this?!”
“Argh! Do you know how hard it was to get this sword?!”
Even with enough Strength, few succeeded in leaving a proper mark.
Just as frustration began spreading among the ranks—
Ding!
《Duplicate scratches will not be counted.》
《Only the single deepest mark per participant will be recorded.》
《Current Rankings》
《1st – Lee Hyuk-soo (25cm)》
《2nd – Amelia (23cm)》
《3rd – Lim Chang-yeol (19cm)》
《4th – Gato (18cm)》
……
《10th – Han Min-oh (7cm)》
A sudden leaderboard appeared, showing names and scratch lengths.
‘Familiar faces.’
Many past powerhouses were there.
Three of them were Korean—Lee Hyuk-soo, Lim Chang-yeol, and Han Min-oh.
‘Lee Hyuk-soo and Lim Chang-yeol make sense—they’ve handled weapons for years. But Han Min-oh just started using a sword.’
Barely a beginner, yet already in 10th place—among hundreds of thousands of warriors.
Even for someone blessed with talent, that growth was extraordinary.
……Perhaps the blood of Han Shin truly ran strong.
《3 minutes remain until the end of the first trial!》
《After 3 minutes, rankings will be finalized.》
A timer appeared.
It was a simple test, after all.
Park Chan-woo rolled his shoulders.
Shrrng!
He drew his sword.
A plain iron blade.
He’d bought it in a rush from the Demon Merchant Dagon.
No attributes, no enchantments, no special traits—just a sword.
‘Until I find a proper one, a basic blade will do.’
As long as it worked in the Abyss, that was enough.
He steadied his breath.
And then—
Swoosh!
He swung down in one clean motion.
—
[Death Knight Gula] clicked his tongue, watching the feeble mortals from afar.
“Pathetic. You think you can stand against the [Temple of Death] with such frail skills?”
It would be a miracle if they weren’t slaughtered before even reaching the temple.
He couldn’t even be bothered to show himself.
“The only reason you live is because this is the Third Night.”
The domain of the Night.
A realm balanced for contest and trial.
If this were a normal [Creator Abyss], every single human would have been pulverized upon entry.
‘Hardly anyone understands how to read Black Iron’s grain.’
The trick to handling [Black Iron] lay in reading its grain.
Only by cutting along those microscopic lines could one leave a real mark.
But fewer than a hundred participants knew how to do so.
And even then, the scratches they made were pitifully small.
The thought of waging war alongside such weaklings made Gula shake his head.
He could probably annihilate them all by himself.
Even if they tried to match the power of the [Legion of Death], beings who had honed themselves over eons, it was laughable.
“Only death is supreme.”
That was why the living were worthless.
They were inferior by nature.
Their lives were fleeting; their training limited by time.
The [Legion of Death], however, was eternal.
Their growth unbounded, so long as they served their Lord, Ahheta.
Gula himself had once been a noble knight—but by accepting death and swearing loyalty to Ahheta, he had attained limitless power.
Thus—
“You too shall join the temple and… hmm?”
He stopped mid-sentence.
The rankings had just been updated.
“What?”
Gula blinked repeatedly at the new result.
But no matter how many times he looked, it didn’t change.
He muttered in disbelief.
“He… destroyed the Black Iron?”
—
《Rankings Updated》
《1st – Park Chan-woo (Destroyed)》
《The first trial has ended.》
《Among 895,921 participants in the [Warrior Faction], 95,491 successfully damaged the [Black Iron].》
《However, a special condition—[Black Iron Destroyer]—has been achieved, increasing the completion ratio by an additional 100,000 participants.》
《The top 10 challengers will receive a [Death Box] as a reward.》
《The higher your rank, the greater the chance of obtaining rare rewards from your [Death Box].》
《The second trial for the Warrior Faction is [Running].》
《You must traverse a 500km plain.》
《There is no time limit, but if you do not reach the [Temple of Death] before the Third Night ends, your faction will be deemed defeated.》
《Only those who complete the run within 24 hours will earn the chance to receive [Death Knight Gula]’s instruction.》