Chapter 229

‘…Come to think of it.’

‘I’d never heard any stories about the Heavenly Demon dying.’

He was the former master of the Grail, and the Pandarian King had merely mistaken Park Chanwoo for his “descendant.”

Yet no stories ever surfaced about the Heavenly Demon’s final moments or his end.

The demons had erased the tales of the Heavenly Demon, but that was all.

So this emaciated old man before my eyes could very well be the real Heavenly Demon.

「He is not the Heavenly Demon.」

Chronos spoke with certainty.

Chronos—a Shadow Spirit and Grim Reaper—was an Ancient Being who had been active even during the Great War.

Having lived through eons, it was no surprise he knew the name “Heavenly Demon.”

“Then what? Is he his descendant?”

「The Heavenly Demon did not take disciples. He is likely just a later-generation Supreme who merely inherited the name. But I have no idea why he is imprisoned in a hell like this.」

So there was no bloodline or disciple relationship—only the name and qualifications had been passed down.

Even so, it was still unclear why someone who had once stood at the pinnacle of the Arahan—a Supreme—was trapped inside an endless maze, withering away.

「This place is far too gloomy to be called the ‘Land of the Golden Nuck.’ Why would the ‘Will of Magic’ lead you here?」

Chronos continued to ponder.

Park Chanwoo felt the same.

A place devoid of dreams or hope.

It was far too distant from the utopia called the Land of the Golden Nuck.

If not for the Radiant Sage’s Stone, I would have wandered here for a lifetime.

…And maybe I was still wandering even now.

‘Did the Will of Magic mean to imprison and kill me?’

I shook my head.

‘The Will of Magic acknowledged me.’

When I cleared the 20th floor of the Tower Of God, I remembered the words that appeared then.

【One who treads countless adversities to create a “beginning,” who climbs the tower without ever giving up and challenges ever higher stages, who does not avoid trials and digs into the truth, even surpassing the “Traces of God.”】

【One of the five masters of the tower, the “Will of Magic,” acknowledges you.】

【True magic is the grade of existence and the nobility of the soul.】

【The path to the “Land of the Golden Nuck” is now open.】

On the 20th floor of the Tower Of God, while embracing Arcana’s soul, Park Chanwoo had surpassed Traces of God.

Because of that, the Will of Magic acknowledged the grade of his existence and the nobility of his soul.

Therefore—

‘Traces of God is here. The Will wants me to surpass that intent this time as well.’

Perhaps it guided me here believing Park Chanwoo would find “another path.”

The Tower Of God.

That place held only the remains of those who had failed.

And not just the Tower Of God—most of the beings I’d encountered so far had “failed.”

Park Chanwoo was no different.

But “failure” was only a result.

There was beauty in the process.

If that process was sublime and noble, could it truly be dismissed as mere failure?

Traces of God was here.

A story waited to be unearthed.

I still didn’t know what it was.

‘I have to dig into it.’

Dig into it, take it, and reach the true “Golden Nuck.”

“Are you regaining consciousness?”

I asked the old man.

There was still no response.

A living corpse that had lost all reason.

What was clear was that he had been like this for a very long time.

It seemed he had survived using only the bare minimum of energy.

I hoisted the old man onto my back.

「He is practically dead already. Judging by the remaining Mana, even if you take him, he won’t live long.」

“The fact that he’s survived until now means he hasn’t given up hope.”

Not for a day or two.

Decades, centuries—maybe even longer.

And everyone trapped here had likely been imprisoned around the same time.

When everyone else gave up and ended their lives, only this old man kept living.

A transcendent will.

And if he hadn’t given up on life, that meant he hadn’t lost hope.

How could I abandon someone clinging to life with nothing but will, holding onto hope?

With the old man on my back, I stepped into the next area once again.

—

There was no end.

This cave had long since surpassed being merely terrible.

Before I knew it, the eleventh skeleton lay before me.

As if by some unspoken agreement, letters were written on the wall in blood.

But it was slightly different from the skeletons I’d encountered before.

To begin with, its posture.

It sat properly, like a Buddhist monk, hands clasped together.

Unlike the others, it seemed to have accepted death quietly and peacefully.

Perhaps because of that, the writing on the wall was also relatively normal.

—Heavenly Demon, please look kindly upon these lowly servants.

—I coveted power, but I did not believe that in itself was a sin.

—The Way of Heaven Reverses at Its Peak. When things reach their extreme, they reverse. I still believe that I, who coveted power, was all the more pure.

—Revealing one’s desires is the beauty of life, the purpose of existence, the law of all things and the universe.

—If one hides and avoids what is natural, can that truly be called enlightenment?

After reading it in silence, I stroked my chin.

“A fallen monk?”

No matter how I looked at it, he seemed like a fallen monk.

It felt far removed from orthodox teachings.

He treated coveting power and revealing desire as natural, and it seemed he’d twisted the teachings to suit his own conclusion.

Ding!

[You have encountered ‘High-Dimensional Non-Learning Material.’]

[Your insight broadens.]

[Your Intelligence increases by 5.]

Just by reading it, my insight grew.

That alone meant it was another form of non-learning.

And the term “Heavenly Demon” appeared here for the first time.

I wondered if it was related to the old man on my back.

I pulled out the book I’d kept close—specifically, the final chapter of the incomplete book once titled Divine Art.

Swish. Swish.

I wrote one of the phrases from the wall into it.

This wasn’t the first time.

As I moved through the cave, I’d been picking out striking words from the sentences I found and writing them down.

‘The Way of Heaven Reverses at Its Peak.’

The skeletons had condensed their realizations into a single phrase.

All of them did.

No matter how insane they became, they always left behind at least one cryptic line.

As if their entire enlightenment was contained within that one set of words.

This time was no different.

To be honest, I still didn’t understand what it meant.

But there had to be a reason they’d left those words behind so desperately.

“Interesting.”

「…You find it interesting?」

Chronos clicked his tongue.

There was no telling how long we’d been walking.

Yet as time passed, Park Chanwoo was treating this cave with growing interest.

“It feels like I’m exploring and completing a hidden magic.”

…As expected.

Even when he was with Transcender Lil, he’d realized it—he really was a madman when it came to magic.

He had to admit, that unchanging attitude was something else.

「…They are all close to evil spirits. Taking in their realizations will do you no good.」

Chronos was being as restrained as possible.

But the insights left behind by the skeletons were uniformly dangerous.

They ran counter to the “truth” of magic Park Chanwoo pursued and followed.

In a way, it made sense why they were trapped in a place like this.

Perhaps they met their end after taking what should never have been taken.

It wasn’t the Heavenly Demon’s ability, nor even an Arahan’s technique—it was closer to absurd evil.

Chronos couldn’t tell whether these studies would truly benefit Park Chanwoo.

That was why he finally spoke up.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Park Chanwoo shrugged.

He wasn’t unaware of Chronos’s concern.

But whatever Chronos said, he was already hooked.

All these realizations were connected like a single formula.

Like an equation for manifesting magic.

He was too curious what shape it would take when completed.

So Park Chanwoo didn’t stop.

Once he had a goal, he couldn’t stop.

—

The twelfth skeleton.

More precisely, it was eleven skeletons and one old man, but—

Either way, after walking for a long time, he encountered another.

A mural.

But this time, it wasn’t writing—it was a drawing.

It depicted a man and an infinitely massive, pure white whale.

“Charpham?”

White Whale Charpham.

A Dimensional Interloper, an Outer God that emerged from the Great Rift.

It was definitely that guy.

‘Then that man must be the real Heavenly Demon.’

He looked nothing like the old man on my back.

In the mural, the man rode Charpham and ascended into the sky.

“Gu… ardian……”

In that moment, the old man spoke for the first time.

“…Are you regaining consciousness?”

“Hea… venly… De… mon…!”

Shudder-shudder-shudder!

The gaunt old man’s body shook violently.

Thump.

He struck my shoulder, as if asking to be put down.

I carefully set him on the ground.

Drip-drip-drip!

With his eyes now open, the old man wept as he approached the mural.

Leaning against it, he caressed it—then bowed with solemn respect.

After several minutes passed—

“Who are you?”

Vitality returned to the dead eyes of the old man.

His aura and presence had shifted completely.

An intensely piercing gaze.

Just being looked at made my body tremble involuntarily.

Profound.

I couldn’t even begin to grasp what level he had reached.

“There should be no one else who has entered this ‘Endless Hell’ besides us. Moreover—”

His voice was filled with dignity.

But at the same time, it carried wariness.

Intense suspicion and hostility seeped through.

“…You clearly said ‘Charpham.’ How do you know the Guardian’s name?”

Hearing Charpham’s name and seeing the mural had awakened him.

But calling Charpham a “Guardian” was news to Park Chanwoo as well.

After a brief pause, he answered.

“I am Charpham’s contractor.”

“…Nonsense. The Guardian disappeared along with him. It must be another of those bastards’ strange tricks. I absolutely won’t fall for—”

“Charpham.”

In an instant—

Sssss— Sssssssss!

A magic circle was engraved on the floor.

Here, in the Land of the Golden Nuck, pets and summons could not enter, but strictly speaking, Charpham was not a summon.

Though expressed as a contractor, there was no formal contract binding them.

It was Authority and magic itself—perfected by Park Chanwoo along with Ajos into an exceptional rank beyond dimension.

Above all, Charpham was a being that had once been inside the Sealed Demon God’s Grail.

An Outer God directly sealed by the Heavenly Demon, bearing extreme hatred for him.

[Did you call me?]

Soon, White Whale Charpham revealed itself before the two.