Chapter 381: The Garden of God - Part 4

The white-clad figure continued to stare at Noah without saying a single word. There was something about its gaze that made him instinctively cautious.

It did not feel like the gaze of a person who was angry or afraid.

Instead, it felt like he was standing in front of something that had never needed to understand either of those emotions.

Noah narrowed his eyes and decided not to rush things.

‘This thing feels dangerous.’

He had already seen what happened when he tried to interfere with it before.

His magic had been swallowed without any resistance, and even the souls around them had been treated as nothing more than something to be consumed.

If he made another careless move, there was a chance that he would end up being swallowed as well.

So Noah slowly reached out with his magic.

He did not attack. Instead, he carefully wrapped his magic around the white-clad figure and tried to sense its thoughts, memories, and emotions.

If this being was connected to the system, there had to be something inside it that could tell him what this place was.

But the moment his magic touched it, Noah realised one important fact—there was nothing for him to extract. There were no memories in this thing’s mind, nor was there any magic.

The only sensation it could feel was this bottomless hunger that kept it going. This endless hunger that seemed to have no beginning or end was what governed the survival of everything in this place.

Noah’s expression slowly changed as he realised what he was dealing with.

‘I was wrong. I won’t be able to do anything here.’

He had assumed that the white-clad figure was some kind of guardian or administrator of this place, something that understood the rules and carried out the will of whoever controlled this strange garden.

But it was nothing like that.

It was simply an entity that existed to consume.

Perhaps it did not even understand why it was consuming these souls. Perhaps it had never questioned its purpose in the first place.

‘Then there is no information inside you for me to extract.’

Noah withdrew his magic and stared at the figure for several seconds, and the white-clad figure continued to look at him, completely unmoved by what he had just done.

Noah glanced towards the enormous crack behind him.

The hole was still there.

It looked different from before, almost as if the darkness inside it had become deeper. There was no bottom that he could see, and the strange hunger coming from within it made even Noah’s instincts scream at him to stay away.

It was not going to close until it had its sacrifices for today. But he was not sure if one or two souls would be sufficient.

He would have to sacrifice everyone, including himself, if he wanted to appease this hunger.

‘If this place is designed to swallow everything, then perhaps the answer is somewhere inside that hole.’

Noah clenched his fists.

He knew there was a very good chance that throwing himself into that hole would be the end of him. But remaining here would eventually lead to the same result.

And if he could not find a way out, then he had no reason to remain cautious anymore.

He took a deep breath and stepped backwards.

The white-clad figure tilted its head slightly.

Noah looked at it one final time before turning towards the hungry darkness behind him.

‘Let’s hope this is enough… for now.’

Then he stepped backwards and allowed himself to fall into the hole. And as soon as he fell, his magic disappeared, causing everyone else to fall into that hole as well.

He noticed that more than a few people had smiles on their faces, finally feeling relieved after letting go of their burdens and being able to put it all down.

Perhaps, even they knew that it was their final moment.

‘I wonder what will await me at the bottom of everything. Will I finally have peace? Ah, but those kids…what about those kids? I hope they find a solution from here on.’

Even now, Kael’s last thoughts were about the kids he was leaving behind.

Ah, but none of them were kids anymore, right? It was wrong of him to call them that. Or rather, it was wrong of him to call them kids in the first place.

“If I get another chance, then I would like to face them all once and for all.”

Kael closed his eyes and waited for the end.

…

“Are you sure you want to do this? Once you use your power, you likely won’t be able to separate your souls or go back to being individuals. You will likely even share a body for the rest of your lives.”

Leon pointed out one last time, trying to get Lyra, Seraphina, and Iris to change their minds. But the three shook their heads as they looked at Leon.

“I am sure it’s fine. We will need to do this much if we want to go up against a god. Besides, we are sparing Elena and only taking her power. So she would likely lose it all after this. You should ask her if she’s alright with it.”

Iris pointed out and shot an apologetic look towards Elena.

If they could have done it without her power, they would have. But there was no other way right now.

“Tsk, I am not that stingy and selfish. I want to do my share of helping as well, so I will step forward. You better keep your end of the bargain, alright? Bring Kael back at all costs.”

Elena sounded like she was struggling to say these words, but she still powered through her emotions and said this.

She would miss her power terribly, but for the sake of this world, she needed to hold on strong.

“Alright, let’s do it. It’s finally time to face Goddess Aria and ask for her help.”