Chapter 226: God (1)

It signalled the beginning of the contest. Upa’s death was a great opportunity for the other grand dukes. It was a perfect opportunity to reinforce their weakened troops and gain Upa’s achievements.

I moved faster than anyone else.

I swept through Upa’s dungeon with Maxium.

If I took it over then I would have problems managing it, but I wasn’t in the position to worry about that right now. It was better to have a poorly managed dungeon than to have Ariel or Pandemonium occupy it.

The three remaining grand dukes fought over the dungeons belonging to Upa’s faction.

The humans also started some major movements. They also seemed to know about Upa’s absence. They succeeded in preparing the Awakened and conquering one of the dungeons.

The dungeon cores...they were a very useful energy source for humans. And the fact that one dungeon disappeared meant that new heroes could possibly appear. Dungeons were overflowing with products that humans could use.

But I didn’t really care about the activities of the humans. I wanted to prevent the remaining grand dukes from absorbing Upa’s dungeons. If humans destroyed the dungeons then it would also benefit me.

I stirred up the Awakened in Korea. The girin selected Edward Windsor as the king and he led them to conquer the dungeons. The titles and buffs given to Edward Windsor after he became the king made him humanity’s strongest Awakened.

Korea was safer than any other country in the world. Monster waves didn’t happen often and they could steadily gain resources from the dungeon. Once Edward started his career, many foreign refugees came to Korea.

Humans truly gained hope. The most inspiring place was Korea. Korea was recovering and growing remarkably quickly.

And I...I was doing my best to pressure Pandemonium.

From Africa to Asia, these places were Pandemonium’s main stage. Most of his demons were there and his army was like a solid wall.

With strong bonds and superior intelligence, they weaved a spider web from Africa to Asia.

While Ariel Diablo of North America and Upa Bullenon of South America were fighting, Pandemonium was able to accumulate his power.

Once the fight between Upa and Ariel was over, he would rise as a new power.

But that was a story of the past.

He suffered huge losses at Greenwich Observatory. The loss was half of his original army.

Upa was dead and Ariel’s damage wasn’t that great. In the aftermath of Hope, Pandemonium was the one who suffered the most damage.

And Africa was the place where one of Pandemonium’s most powerful vassals, Duke Beilla was stationed.

He was one of the demons who didn’t participate in the meeting at Greenwich Observatory. He had been in charge of support from the rear.

Of course, Duke Beilla was one of Pandemonium’s strongest followers.

“My Dungeon Master.”

Egypt. It was a wide, open land where the wind was blowing.

Chrisley knelt down and waited for my next command.

I moved my gaze.

There were 100,000 creatures lined up in an orderly manner.

It was the result of using my points and achievement points.

Originally I had two to three times as many creatures, but the rest were at the dungeons or assigned to Maxim. Occupying Upa’s dungeons was also important.

Besides Chrisley, there was a three metre tall human with a bald head.

‘An evolved homunculus.’

Gaparam finally received a clue after studying Gustarte. After examining the flesh of a god, Gaparam’s skills in the field of life increased by several times. The result of his work was strong enough to chew on the strongest high class creature.

Although mass production wasn’t possible due to materials and time, he added a considerable amount of force to my army.

I moved my gaze back to Chrisley.

"The preparations?”

"It is done.”

I nodded.

If Chrisley said it was done then it would be.

My crimson cloak waved around me. Then I walked through the creatures.

Kung. Kung. Kung.

Words weren’t necessary.

Chrisley and the 100,000 creatures quietly followed behind me.

The successive victories continued. Pandemonium was on the defensive. Ariel also put pressure on Pandemonium so it was inevitable.

At this point, I controlled half of Pandemonium’s dungeons. My army increased by more than 200,000 to reach 280,000 and many of them were advanced creatures.

I now had room to breathe. I rearranged the army and dealt with issues that had been postponed.

After a long time, I returned to the Korean dungeon and took out five pieces from my magic bag.

They were the pieces that Chrisley, Tashmal, Hash, Yoo Eun-hye and Edward brought out from the advanced training room. They were divided like a puzzle.

I joined the pieces of the puzzle together.

-The Piece of Balance, Piece of Enlightenment, Piece of Growth, Piece of Faith and Piece of Valour have been combined.

-The interpretation...

-The five pieces mean five types of balance.

-The interpretation...

-The pieces have combined and transformed into one seed.

-‘Seed of Creation’ has been acquired. The Seed of Creation is a necessary item to qualify as a true ‘god.’ The species born from this seed will belong to the owner of the seed. The creator is their god and has the responsibility to lead them.

I touched my jaw.

‘The Seed of Creation.’

It was an unexpected result. I was convinced.

This was an item that the Hell Monarch deliberately hid.

After he was resurrected as a god, he had been thinking of creating his own species.

Thus, he had a plan to be reborn as a true god.

I smiled thinly. It might seem useless, but it was an item necessary to become a god. This was the first time I had seen something like this.

‘Tree of Origin.’

At that moment, I thought of the Tree of Origin. I had gone there hoping to be qualified. I wanted to test myself against my shadow and make myself perfect.

Perfection!

What was perfection?

It was often said that only a god was perfect.

Then did the Tree of Origin want me to become a god?

I stood up. I was curious to see how the Tree of Origin would react to the Seed of Creation.

Tree of Origin.

A huge tree situated in the centre of the dungeon with long roots stretching out.

I walked near it. Then the stems wrapped around me like it had been waiting. I accepted the stems without any hostility and was sucked into the Tree of Origin’s inner consciousness.

A dark space.

A small light appeared.

The light soon looked like me.

"It has been a while."

I recalled the bitter memories of my confrontations with the shadow hunters, but shook them off.

The clone in front of me was just an illusion created by the Tree of Origin.

It was a virtual image that was different from the main body.

It was something I didn’t know about before now.

That shadow was the Tree of Origin itself!

"You have realized.”

"Is this the world of your consciousness?”

“That’s right. This is the closest place to the origin.”

The man who looked exactly like me spoke without hesitation. I didn’t scold the Tree of Origin and asked.

“Do you know what this is?”

I pulled out the Seed of Creation. The seed was about the size of a palm and kind of looked like a human fetus.

"It is one of the items that acts as a god’s qualification.”

Indeed.

The Tree of Origin seemed to know what it was.

"Then I might become a god now.”

The Tree of Origin shook his head.

“No. To become a god...your divinity is lacking to become a god. You are at a weak level. And there is a way to fill it up.”

"Fill it up?”

I was confused. Divinity wasn’t something that could be easily gained. But the Tree of Origin spoke like I could fill it up.

The Tree of Origin opened his mouth with a smile.

“Don’t you possess an intermediate god?”

“Gustarte...”

I muttered.

I succeeded in capturing Gustarte.

Thanks to that, Chrisley’s skills advanced and Gaparam completed his homunculus. But that was all.

"He is a god who has already entered the hands of a mortal once. Divinity is easy to lose but difficult to gain. Once lost, it is rare that the person would wake up. You can wake up the god’s will once again with the Moon Arrow, but what will happen to the god who has lost his direction?”

His opinion was different from 0001’s who I met in the Reverse World. 0001 said that the Moon Arrow would fix the man. Yet the Tree of Origin said it was already too late.

"You seem to know a lot.”

“Nothingness is a place where those who failed to become gods go. And the origin...those who lose their divinity are sent there. Gustarte’s soul is already halfway to the origin.”

The Tree of Origin told me something that I hadn’t known.

But I still had a question.

"Who are you?"

"The administrator of the origin. All the Trees of Origin are controlled by me. I have to lead the former gods here and create new god candidates. And I am now watching the birth of a new god.”

Tree of Origin.

No, the administrator of the origin didn’t hide anything. He spoke honestly.

A god. The Tree of Origin said that I could become one.

My eyes narrowed.

"So I should absorb Gustarte?”

The administrator of the source slightly bowed his head.

"This is all according to the gods’ will.”

He was acting like I was already a god.

If I earned the divinity and used the Seed of Creation, I could become a true god.

It certainly was an enticing offer.

If I became a god then I could easily become the demon king. It wouldn’t be hard to defeat both Ariel and Pandemonium.

But that wasn’t all I thought about.

"Don’t I have to die to become a god?”

The administrator of the origin laughed.

“That’s right. Once possessing divinity and having the appropriate qualifications, death is required to become a god.”

"It sounds like you are telling me to die.”

“It is worth becoming a god. It is much more valuable than being a demong king.”

"I understand your thoughts.”

I was curious to some extent.

I closed my eyes and opened them again. My connection to the origin was disconnected and I returned to reality.