Chapter 438

Chapter 438: Outside the Standard

Paaaaat―!

The massive cluster of light cleared, opening up their vision.

The Grand Rest Stop where the survivors who broke through the 3rd trial stay. It was a vast marble square incomparably larger than the place they gathered after the 1st trial ended, but the air pressing down on it was terribly heavy and desolate.

"Heok, heo-eok……."

"I lived. Damn it…… I barely made it……."

Here and there in the square, people covered in blood were coughing up rough breaths. The space was massive enough to easily accommodate tens of thousands of people, but the number of survivors who actually stepped foot here was ridiculously small.

As the trials repeated, the number of dropouts skyrocketed exponentially.

From District 2 to District 6.

Even the powerhouses who had some sway, called heroes or superhumans in other dimensions, crumbled helplessly before the cruel rules of the 3rd trial.

A middle-aged man, who must have been a Sword Master in some dimension, was barely supporting his body using his broken sword as a cane. One of his eyes had already burst and bloody water was flowing down, and his armor had become rags stuck to his flesh.

"Cough……!"

The name of the 3rd trial was the Corridor of the Abyss.

It was a trial of running through an endless corridor of darkness alone.

All the enemies they had cut down in their lives endlessly revived looking twice as strong as in life, blocking their path. To reach the end of the corridor, they ultimately had to cut down all the specters that had fallen under their own sword once again.

The longer the years lived as a swordsman, the greater the number of specters they had to cut.

In exchange for dedicating his entire life to the sword, that man had to face his tens of thousands of pasts.

The survivors of other districts were not much different.

An archmage whose one arm was torn off down to the shoulder stared blankly into the empty air, having given up even on stopping the bleeding.

He was one who had passed through the Labyrinth of Reversal, which one could only escape by unraveling magic circles honed their entire life. A holy knight whose armor was crumpled like paper seemed to have lost his mind in a kneeling posture.

He had just escaped from the Altar of Apostasy, where he had to personally cut down the god he served.

Those who had reached the apex in their respective worlds had trampled with their own hands the beliefs and pride they had built up their entire lives, stepped on the corpses of their comrades, and crawled up while having their flesh torn off, barely arriving with their breath hanging by a thread.

It was the reason why the survivors of the Ascension Ritual had to be an extremely small minority.

Companionship or the like is not allowed on the path to becoming a god. Only the extremely few powerhouses who survived by grinding everything into the extreme survival competition had the qualification to step onto the next stage.

It was that time when the survivors were continuing a miserable silence while resting their exhausted bodies.

Uung―!

In the exact center of the square, the most massive teleportation gate wavered, and a blue light soared up announcing the joint teleportation of District 1 and District 7.

"Of all things, those two are coming up together."

The gazes of the powerhouses who had arrived first simultaneously focused on the gate.

Both districts were places where unusually grim rumors were flowing out in this Ascension Ritual.

It was said there was someone in District 1 claiming to be the apostle of the God of Death.

There was a formidable swordsman who gathered believers amidst the trials and established a sect.

District 7 was also formidable.

Stories wandered between the districts that numerous rookies survived under the command of a strong leader.

On top of that, an even more interesting rumor flowed out.

After the 2nd trial ended, the two sides clashed at the rest stop while keeping each other in check, and eventually got caught in a test where they clashed head-on, district versus district.

"……Whichever side it was, they must have mostly been ground up."

Someone muttered coldly.

That was the essence of the Ascension Ritual.

A cruel weeding out over the seat of a god. A stage where, like themselves, only an extremely small minority barely sustained their breath after trampling on their lifelong beliefs and crawling up while tearing off the flesh of their comrades.

There was no way they would be different.

A picture where after mutually destroying each other, a few bloodied ones barely crawl up. It was the scenery the people gathered in the square pictured in their heads.

In fact, it wasn't that they didn't have the desire for it to be so.

Wanting to suck up sweet honey and come up clinging to someone else's back in this hell called the Ascension Ritual?

Honestly, it was something that twisted their stomachs.

Just as everyone was holding their breaths and staring at the gate, wondering how many bloodied people would survive and crawl in.

Cheok. Cheok. Cheok. Cheok.

"……?"

Bizarrely orderly and heavy footsteps pressing down on the marble floor.

Seueueuk―.

At the sight revealed as the light completely cleared, the breathing of the survivors from other districts gathered in the square stopped.

"Wh, what is this……."

"Nonsense. Is it an illusion?"

A crowd where the end could not be seen.

A massive legion was lined up, covering half of the square pitch-black.

Unlike themselves who were tattered and covered in blood, their appearances were so neat it was unbelievable they were people who had just gone through the hellish 3rd trial until just a moment ago.

"How……. How did that many personnel come up perfectly fine?"

"Don't tell me they didn't fight each other?"

"Spout something that makes sense. Is there any way the Ascension Ritual would be that kind?"

"Then what is that? It looks like the personnel of District 1 and District 7 are all combined."

Ungseong―!

Agitation spread throughout the square.

The pupils of the powerhouses wavered violently as if an earthquake had struck.

Someone who absolutely could not endure their curiosity staggered their steps.

It was a huge man limping on one leg.

It was a physique that seemed capable of sweeping away a battalion with a single axe in some dimension, but right now his lips were dry, making that majesty meaningless.

"……Hey."

The man grabbed someone standing at the edge of the legion and asked.

"What exactly happened? How did those personnel all come up perfectly fine. District 1 and District 7…… which side won in the end?"

The person who received the question made an odd expression for a moment before opening his mouth.

"There is no winning side or losing side."

"……What?"

"Because no one died."

Kwaang―!

At the single sentence that felt like it slapped his ears, the man's jaw dropped wide open. The faces of the powerhouses listening nearby also distorted one by one.

"What kind of nonsense is that. I heard it went as far as a district versus district clash, but no one died?"

"Literally. District 1 absorbed District 7 whole. Without a single casualty."

"……."

The air in the square froze.

"W-wait. Then what happened to that…… the one called the Apostle of Radiance or whatever? I mean the leader of District 7."

The Sword Master leaning on his broken sword intervened. A powerful leader who commanded the rookies in District 7. That name was being quite talked about even among the powerhouses.

The person who received the question smiled with a pishik.

"Would there be anyone who dares to win in front of him?"

"……Him?"

"I mean Lord Park Hyunsung. The one called the Apostle of Radiance was beaten like a dog by him and fled with his tail between his legs. No one knows where he crawled into."

Gulp―.

The sound of swallowing dry saliva leaked out from all over the square. They too were superhumans who held up the sky in their own worlds.

As those who passed up to the 3rd test, they were also people who were more confident in their skills than anyone else.

However, even for such strictly selected powerhouses, reviving over 10,000 weaklings like that man named Park Hyunsung just did was an area they couldn't even dare to attempt.

Yet that boss of District 1 achieved that impossible miracle as if it was nothing.

"……Park Hyunsung."

Someone muttered that name with a voice mixed with awe.

A man walking out from the exact center of the formation while receiving worship. The air wrapping around him was bizarrely heterogeneous.

Unlike the other challengers who were exhausted going through the trials, his eyes harbored a distant composure as if looking down at even this bloody stage from beneath his feet.

The powerhouses, instinctively realizing that overwhelming difference in status, merely swallowed dry saliva, unable to even carelessly think of raising their weapons.

Breaking that heavy silence, the beastkin warrior Nasar strode forward grandly holding a massive skewer.

"By the looks of it, everyone's appearances are a mess."

Nasar's voice echoed loudly through the square.

"The gods you believed in did not protect you. The result of hanging your necks on false salvation is exactly those terrible wounds and the corpses of your comrades rolling around behind your backs."

At the undeniable fact, a few survivors clenched their teeth and bowed their heads.

"But look. Our great Lord is different."

Nasar opened his two arms pointing at the swarm of believers.

"True faith is not proven by empty doctrines, but by actual power and divine protection. Under the shade of the Lord, any trial is merely a plaything."

Seureureuk.

Behind Nasar, the believers scattered silently and dug in between the wounded survivors.

In their hands were top-grade elixirs capable of recovering health and mana.

"Choose."

Nasar's eyes flashed deep blue.

"The trials that will follow will become even harsher. Will you hold onto your rotten faith and die a dog's death here, or will you offer your souls before the true Lord and obtain eternal rest and salvation."

Although they were proud superhumans, their bodies having reached their limits and their broken spirits slowly began to crack in front of that absolute martial prowess.

A few survivors accepted the elixirs as if possessed, and soon knelt on the floor, starting the bizarre spectacle of joining the ranks of District 1.

＊ ＊ ＊

Watching that fanatical proselytizing scene from a bit of a distance, Kim Minwoo was resting his chin and staring into the empty air.

"……Apostle. The atmosphere is not bad. We are currently sorting out the useful ones among them and incorporating them into the Cult's forces."

At Nasar's report, Kim Minwoo gave a small nod.

Since being revived, Nasar was conducting proselytizing activities very passionately.

It was the same right now.

"Is the proselytizing going well?"

"Yes. It seems about 30 percent will be won over."

30 percent.

It was a rather satisfactory figure.

'30 percent is excellent.'

Even the guys who aren't won over right now, as they go through the 4th and 5th trials in the future and get their bones broken and their blood dried up, will eventually entrust their bodies to the Cult.

If not, whatever.

Since the number of heads to work with just the personnel saved now was overflowing anyway.

'……But why is it so quiet.'

Kim Minwoo, whose nerves had been leisurely appreciating the sales performance, soon focused on the empty ash-gray sky.

It had already been several hours since the 3rd trial ended and they moved to the Grand Rest Stop.

According to the rules, it was normal for a notice announcing a rest or a message foretelling the next 4th trial to pop up and the gate to open simultaneously as the survivors' merging ended.

However, the empty air was as quiet as a dead mouse.

No system messages appeared.

A thick sense of incongruity as if a massive system cog had been forcibly stopped.

'Is it suffering from some kind of server lag?'

It was exactly that moment when Kim Minwoo clicked his tongue tteut-tteut and was about to raise his body from his seat.

Seueueuk―.

The time of the square dyed in ash-gray completely stopped as if the pause button was pressed.

The fluttering flags, the survivors gulping down elixirs, and even Cedric standing nearby stiffened like stone statues. Leaving only Kim Minwoo alone.

And right in front of Kim Minwoo's empty vision.

A pitch-black window like the abyss, qualitatively different from the bright red hologram windows the system had been popping up so far, soundlessly cleaved the empty air and floated up.

[System General Manager No.1 requests a conversation with you.]

'……Huh?'

This suddenly?