Awe
Isaac and Isabella exchanged glances.
‘They’re getting more and more, aren’t they?’
‘······.’
‘Don’t you think we should bolt, at least the two of us?’
Shake, shake.
When Isabella shook her head, Isaac furrowed his brow.
The situation was turning strange.
As soon as the Tower of Mystery began to change, monsters from all across Kramdel started gathering.
And not only that.
Qiongqi showed up, and now even all of the Great Masters, the practical rulers of Kramdel, were here together.
There wasn’t a single hole to slip through.
‘They might recognize my transformation······.’
Isaac was anxious inside.
Among this many monsters, there might be someone who could tell he was human.
If that happened, it was instant death. There was no way he’d leave alive.
But it wasn’t only him who was in danger.
‘This feels like we’ve been dragged into something nasty.’
The half-dragon woman before his eyes, and the King of Corpse Crows.
The moment those two appeared, Isaac’s everyday life changed in an instant.
For the last year, not a single soul had found him, and yet.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that his leisurely life in Kramdel was over.
Still, he’d received something from them, so he couldn’t just back out.
And so, Isaac wanted to ask, so badly it made him crazy.
‘Did the King of Corpse Crows really make this situation?’
To the half-dragon woman.
Isabella. Because there was a strange certainty in her eyes.
But he couldn’t ask.
The instant he opened his mouth, even if it was the tiniest sound, they would catch it.
They’d be reading even the subtlest movements of the tens of thousands of monsters gathered around them.
The moment a suspicious sign appeared, his neck would be cut.
Or he might turn to stone and be hung on the door forever.
Either way, it was the worst.
‘I need to figure out how to get out.’
Isaac rubbed his chin.
The self-proclaimed Star Bearer. He wracked his brain for a way to slip the King of Corpse Crows away.
The moment the tower opened, the 100 monsters already inside would burst out all at once.
Among them, he needed to peel out only the Star Bearer.
A way to move while dodging the eyes of the Great Masters and the eyes of nearly a hundred thousand monsters······.
‘There’s no way something like that exists.’
He shook his head inwardly.
No matter how good Isaac was at running, he couldn’t escape the Great Masters.
Even if he poured in everything he had, he’d be caught within ten seconds.
···Honestly, it probably wouldn’t even take five.
He had zero intention of racing the world’s fastest Qiongqi.
Dodging Medusa’s eyes spreading across a wide area was impossible too, and if Great Earth Dragon breathed even once, every retreat route would be sealed.
If the Death King grabbed his soul, he’d meet an even more miserable end.
There were thousands, tens of thousands of ways to run, but not a single one of them would work here.
Gulp!
‘But······.’
After swallowing, Isaac studied the Great Masters closely and tilted his head.
‘It feels like all of them are tense······?’
Something was off.
The Great Masters gathered in front of the tower felt oddly tense.
But that made no sense.
What were the Great Masters?
Each one was an absolute monarch.
Monsters that could wipe out an entire city alone.
For example, the Death King once erased the metropolis called “Necro Valley” in one sweep.
That place, once the capital of a flourishing kingdom, became a heap of corpses in just a single day at Death King’s hands.
So now it has become a city of the dead, left with nothing but corpses and graves.
After that, humans never set foot in Kramdel, where the Great Masters reside.
And now, four beings on Death King’s level had gathered.
Monsters that looked like they could kill even a Demon King, were tense?
Because of a mere change in the tower?
‘The moment the rings become five.’
One thing was certain, when there were four rings, they weren’t this tense.
The moment the rings became five, they were visibly, greatly tense.
No matter how much this was a trial of myth, could that change really carry a meaning big enough to make the Great Masters tense?
Hwi-aaaaaaah!
That was when it happened.
A change occurred in the five rings hanging at the top of the tower.
All five rings shone with an even brighter light, and began to merge.
One ring changed shape like a crown.
······ But that crown.
He felt like he’d seen it somewhere before.
‘Star Bearer······ that’s the crown the King of Corpse Crows wears.’
Damn it.
No matter how he looked at it, it was clearly the King of Corpse Crows’ crown.
So all those “maybe, maybe nots” were real, this change really was made by the self-proclaimed Star Bearer?
That one guy drew the attention of every demon beast in Kramdel, and the Great Masters too?
“Here they come!”
“The tower opened!”
With the monsters’ shouts, the monsters who had entered the tower appeared one by one.
The moment they stepped out, they had no choice but to panic.
“G-Great Masters······!”
“Why are they all gathered here?”
Countless monsters including the Great Masters.
But not the same kind of monster.
Especially compared to the Great Masters, the very tier was different, just looking at them was enough to be crushed.
You could safely say there wasn’t a single monster here who wouldn’t tremble before them.
The mythical species including Imoogi, and the fantasy species like Phoenix, were a bit better off, but even so, they couldn’t move a muscle.
One by one, the Great Masters examined the frozen monsters that came out from the tower.
Among them, there had to be a Transcendent Species.
The true monster who formed five rings, who far surpassed the White King’s achievements!
“······ Were you all waiting for me?”
That was when.
Everyone focused their gaze on the one who came out of the tower.
Even with the Great Masters right in front of him, he didn’t shrink at all.
Rather, he was so relaxed he even tossed out a joke.
The monsters watching from afar murmured quietly.
“Imoogi!”
“If it’s Imoogi, it’s not impossible.”
The monster who appeared was Imoogi, a mythical species.
An Imoogi right on the verge of becoming a dragon!
As if proving it, the Wish Orb embedded in his chest was swollen as if it would burst.
‘As expected of the Great Masters. Looks like they’ve noticed my potential.’
Imoogi puffed out his chest.
The Great Masters, and this many spectators.
The reason such a spectacle had formed was obvious.
It must have been a reaction to the mystery he had obtained.
If they weren’t gathered to recognize his potential and take him in, what else could it be!
“The mystery I gained is proof of a king. It is the qualification itself to surpass even the Great Earth Dragon! What more is there to say? It’s the legendary mystery, ‘Illusory Dragon’s Mist’!”
Mist spread around Imoogi.
Inside the mist, seven colors poured out like a rainbow blooming.
Illusory Dragon’s Mist!
A legendary-grade mystery, and the remnant of the Illusory Dragon spoken of like a legend.
By mentioning Great Earth Dragon, one of the Great Masters, he was practically declaring his ambition.
Watching the overconfident Imoogi, the Great Masters spoke in turn.
“No.”
“Not him.”
“Hm. Definitely not.”
“······.”
Unanimous.
Great Earth Dragon, Qiongqi, Death King, and Medusa all shared the same opinion.
That Imoogi was not a Transcendent Species.
After him, a member of the True Bloodline Race came out, but they shook their heads again.
“None.”
At Great Earth Dragon’s words, the Great Masters agreed.
The 99 entrants came out one by one, but all were disappointing.
Every last one of them was nowhere near a Transcendent Species.
They didn’t stir a single feeling in them.
Even the mythical species and fantasy species, whose very racial value was on a different level, were the same.
Utterly underwhelming.
But it wasn’t completely over yet.
‘The last one out will be the Transcendent Species.’
The one who came out last would surely be it.
And then.
Thud.
The tower’s final entrant revealed himself.
The moment they saw the last entrant, all of the Great Masters had to swallow their disappointment.
“Hm······?”
“A Corpse Crow······?”
The King of Corpse Crows.
······ Among all the entrants, he was the most pathetic-looking of them all.
***
《You have cleared the trial ‘Wall of Species (5)’.》
The words saying the trial had been cleared floated before my eyes.
And it was the fifth trial.
It meant the five-stage trial, from Corpse Crow to emptiness, giant, druid, and finally Celestial Race, had at last ended.
‘Was the trial about the Celestial Race really just refusing the last reward?’
The previous four trials were all battles.
I’d been adding traits one by one, strengthening the skeleton soldiers.
I didn’t have the strength to even twitch a finger, so there was no way I could clear the Celestial Race trait that reached a racial value of 20.
That was when the words “last reward” appeared.
That phrase, “completed myth.”
They even called it a unique-grade mystery and put my name on it.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted.
Anyone, a hundred out of a hundred, would’ve taken the reward and ended it.
If there were no more rewards beyond that, why would anyone keep challenging? Everything up to now had been for one reason, to raise the reward’s tier.
But because it felt unsettling, because my heart couldn’t accept it, I refused.
‘······ Don’t tell me that was actually the right answer?’
If that was the answer, that was a problem in its own way.
‘Then what is the Heavenly trait?’
What I ultimately wanted to see was the trait relating to the Celestial Race.
What on earth were Celestial beings, for their trait to be priced at double the points of other hidden traits?
Or was this choice itself connected to “Heavenly”?
At that moment.
《Unyielding challenger who runs toward the end you chose for yourself.》
《The tower feels Awe toward your choice, which sought to be wholly complete.》
《You have achieved the feat ‘Challenger who became Myth itself’.》
《Honor increases by 500.》
《The tower promises. Your challenge will be recorded forever in the Hall of Mystery.》
《As a reward, you have obtained the Out-of-Standard-grade mystery ‘Eternal Randolph’.》
Out-of-Standard.
A grade I’d never seen in my life.
It meant anything beyond unique-grade could not be defined.
So it was outside the standard.
As if further challenge or choice was meaningless, it had been granted.
《All Constellations of the Pantheon doubt their eyes.》
《At your completion, which made the impossible exist!》
《The Constellations begin to tremble at the ultimate mystery.》
《‘Main Quest 5: Obtain mystery’ has been completed.》
《You have obtained 300h (200+100) of ‘a very large Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule’.》
At last, I’d achieved my purpose for coming to Kramdel.
To complete Main Quest 5 with an overwhelming score!
The Constellations’ chatter didn’t even register.
Right now, I was focusing all of my mind on one thing.
《Calculating contents.》
《Out-of-Standard grades cannot be calculated.》
But······ it couldn’t be calculated.
Because a non-existent standard couldn’t be converted into points.
As I frowned, another message appeared.
《By unanimous decision, the highest score is granted.》
《Total score: 500 points》
《Updated to the ‘hall of fame’.》
《The ‘Constellation of Luck’ raises a thumb. The reward is further upgraded.》
《The ‘Constellation of Adventure’ repeatedly chants your name. The reward is further upgraded.》
《The ‘Constellation of Clockwork’ acknowledges your merit. The reward is further upgraded.》
《The ‘Constellation of Eternal Moon’ nods its head.》
《The ‘Nameless Constellation’ quietly lends a hand.》
······.
······.
······.
《Your level has risen!》
Overwhelming.
At the same time.
Every player in the world was dumbfounded.
“Are my eyes deceiving me?”
“Has anyone ever seen a score like this?”
“What the?”
“No······ This is possible?”
“I thought 250 points was the cap?”
With the words that the rankings for Main Quest 5 had changed, those who checked the hall of fame witnessed an unbelievable score.
“500 points? Not even a question mark, just 500 points?”
Main Quest 5.
Obtain mystery.
No one stakes their life on a quest this simple.
It cleared even if you just bought any mystery from a mystery-caster found all over the city.
Besides, the mysteries used by humans of Pangaenia were originally trifling.
Unless it was a mystery on the level of a king who built a kingdom, or the ruler of a major city, mysteries usually didn’t even have special options.
“······ Master.”
And the original 1st place of Main Quest 5 had been “Master.”
240 points.
The strongest monster in the human world, who held 1st place firmly with a 50-plus point lead over 2nd!
He was the lord of the relic city Rundela, a king who commanded the largest number of players and was no different from someone who’d already built a kingdom.
He’d been certain this record would never be broken.
Even Gracia had given up, so who would dare covet his achievement?
But someone did. Surpassed it. By an overwhelming margin.
An unreachable—