The Divine Twilight's Return

Chapter 445: Star, Jotunheim (5)

Wooosh!

An Inferno Sight blazed up in Chang-Sun’s eye. Using his [Gnostic Eye] to locate the trace of Odin’s divine power, he found runes disintegrating in a corner, indicating the activation of a rune magic spell.

‘It’s not Odin,’ Chang-Sun concluded. Judging from its structure, however, whoever used rune magic was certainly connected to Odin in some way.

Paah!

Chang-Sun darted toward the runes before they could completely disappear.

「Master?」

「Where are you going?」

Surprised, Sinmara and Jin quickly turned to Chang-Sun, but they were forced to return their focus to the Yeti due to its thickening Anomaly.

Tap!

Arriving just before the runes disappeared, Chang-Sun waved his hand to check where their trace led.

‘Is it over there?’

The trail was so faint that Chang-Sun would have failed to follow it if it weren’t for the gnosis that he had accumulated through his [Gnostic Eye].

Swoooosh―!

Chang-Sun climbed over a snowy mountain in pursuit of the trace, finally reaching where the large-scale magic spell was activated.

“... Hmm.”

Entering a palace, he found dozens of Yeti corpses covered in blood, each one with a blown limb and severe burn marks on their perpetually grimacing faces. The bloody footsteps and traces left all over the place evidenced that they were killed by a single being.

‘They were strong enough to annihilate these Anomalies?’

Mystery, Anomaly, Abomination, and Anathema. Mephistopheles had created four stages that would lead Chang-Sun to becoming an Outer Celestial. Every time Chang-Sun reached a higher stage, he gained more control over his power.

However, the Anomalies Chang-Sun had come across were a lot different. His visit to the <Star Grave> and encounter with the <Incendiary Burial Whale> evidenced that.

An Anomaly couldn’t be defined. After all, it was akin to a phenomenon created whenever one’s disintegration distorted the laws of nature. It could be as powerful as Chang-Sun or the Seven Wonders but could also be so weak that it wouldn’t even leave an impression on people. Either way, an Anomaly was still an Anomaly.

The Frost Giants were warriors who proclaimed themselves to be Bestla’s descendants. They used to bring terror to Worldline #801. Such beings being overwhelmed with despair and fear were bound to become powerful Anomalies. Perhaps that was why a lone Yeti managed to hold its ground against Sinmara.

There were over thirty corpses here. If the culprit overpowered these Yetis all at once, then they had to be quite powerful. They were probably even as strong as Chang-Sun.

‘Is this why I didn’t find any monsters in the Dungeon?’ Chang-Sun wondered.

It seemed his second hypothesis was right. Bergelmir and Frost Giants were in a crisis that prevented them from paying attention to the Fire Giants entering their world.

‘Their situation is related to Odin.’

He had finally found a lead to Odin, who had been missing for over a hundred Rollbacks now.

“I’m not just looking to restore <Asgard>. Bestla was practically my teacher and mother. I’m going to conquer <Muspelheim>, <Jotunheim>, and <Niflheim> to be like her.”

“I’m going to create a colossal castle that no one would be able to approach and become so strong that no one would dare challenge me! I will be completely free!”

“That is my ultimate goal and dream!”

Chang-Sun recalled the time Odin had openly expressed his desires. In some way, Odin pursued something similar to him, but he believed Odin wouldn’t be able to restore <Asgard> any time soon.

‘Was I wrong?’

Chang-Sun shook his head. He had to focus on reaching the central area, which was where Bergelmir probably was.

[The <Central Management Bureau> has dispatched an Administrator to the Main Server #802!]

Dispatch? Wondering what was going on, Chang-Sun looked up in the sky, finding a thick pillar of light beaming down from the sky.

[An Administrator has arrived!]

A snow-white rabbit-headed man stood where the light pillar hit.

Herald the Administrator, whom Chang-Sun was acquainted with, looked very different from how he remembered him.

“Arggggggh! You fucking manager! Fire me now! Fire me! Stop giving me more work! My life motto is to have peace and fun! Why can’t you let me live that life?!” Herald slammed his first on the snowfield several times. He then looked up and gave the sky the finger.

From what Chang-Sun remembered, Herald had always been confident. Although Chang-Sun had always swayed him in every encounter, he had never shown weakness due to his elitism. It had left quite an impression on Chang-Sun.

Herald looked nothing like that today. He had huge, dark bags under his eyes, and his fur was no longer silky. More importantly, his clothes were so dirty and he reeked so much that Chang-Sun couldn’t even guess when he had last taken a shower. Chang-Sun couldn’t help but pity him for some reason.

‘... Father was like that when he worked for three days straight in the hospital.’

The sky didn’t respond no matter how many times Herald screamed at the top of his lungs. On the contrary, as if someone was coldly locking up its doors, the light pillar disappeared. He eventually looked down at the ground, his shoulders drooping as he choked up with emotions. Chang-Sun just quietly watched him from behind.

“This is...” Herald’s shoulders trembled. “This is all...”

“...?”

“This is all your fault!!!” Herald sprang to his feet and pointed his fingers at Chang-Sun, his already red eyes turning bloodshot. “Because you kept stirring up trouble, everyone kept looking for me! Every time a problem starts, they give me a hard time and say that I don’t manage you properly! You’re the reason I have to keep working overtime! I can’t even go home! My potential romance has crashed and burned, and no one wants to set me up on a blind date anymore! I’m already so old yet I still haven’t properly dated anyone!”

Herald was tearing up. Chang-Sun had a feeling that his last remark was the biggest reason behind his fury.

“On top of that! Brother-in-law? Brother-in-laaawww?! Shit! How in the world did you become my employer’s brother-in-law and bring me this kind of tribulation?! Waaaaaaaa!” Herald sank to the ground and started bawling.

Chang-Sun didn’t know what exactly was going on with Herald, but he could piece things together on some level. With a faint smile, he said, “My brother-in-law must have summoned you in private.”

“You too? You toooo?! You’re a demon! A demon!!!” Herald screamed.

Meeting the head of the Supreme Management Council was enough to make Herald’s heart sink, but as if that wasn’t enough, he also met President <Deus Ex Machina>, who was far more superior. <Deus Ex Machina> had even reassuringly tapped his shoulders and asked him to take good care of Chang-Sun, turning him into Herald’s shackles.

He desperately wanted to cry. Why did he keep being given such difficult tasks? He probably didn’t feel this way in the past since he was still so full of ambition back then, but he only wished for peace now. He hated getting involved with major incidents like this.

“Anyway, he asked you to deliver me a message, didn’t he?” Chang-Sun casually asked.

“This’s the problem with you! You got me into this mess! The least you can do is act sorry!”

“Just tell me the message. Otherwise, I’ll tell my brother-in-law that I would like to put in a good word for you for being such a stellar worker.”

“... Fuck!” Herald cursed, convinced that Chang-Sun was truly a demon.

He trembled for a moment, imagining the horror that would ensue if he turned out to be right. However, he soon took as many deep breaths as needed to calm himself down. He needed the strength to run after delivering the message. Despite everything that he had gone through, he still decided to deliver the message because it was from <Deus Ex Machina>, his employer and creator.

“Then listen up.” After clearing his throat several times, Herald began, “‘Listen, my fucking brother-in-law.’”

Chang-Sun nodded.

“‘Do better, okay?’”

Chang-Sun quietly laughed, thinking that <Deus Ex Machina> hadn’t changed at all.

Hating his reaction, Herald slightly frowned. “‘And...’”

Chang-Sun started paying more attention, instinctively realizing that this was where the message truly began.

“‘We’ve detected <Darkness> from this Rollback loop.’”

Chang-Sun was confused. <Darkness> was the last thing he expected to hear. However, before he could ask more about it, Herald had gestured at him to stop because the message wasn’t done yet. Hence, he stayed quiet.

“‘For reasons we couldn’t understand, Rollback had been occasionally activating. We used to believe that it was the System—no, the law of causality’s error, but we have now determined otherwise. We’ve discovered that you’re at the center of this Rollbac and that it’s different from the others.’”

Chang-Sun’s Rollback being different weighed down on his heart. He couldn’t quite grasp how Bel-Marduk and other Lee Chang-Suns’ Rollbacks could be different from his.

‘No, there is one explanation.’

Hsan, the Outer Celestial from Cha Ye-Eun’s old memory, had been bugging Chang-Sun.

‘He mentioned a turning point.’

Did that have something to do with what was going on?

“‘We’ll look for the cause on our end since I have a rough idea about what’s going on... In any case, focus on what you’ve been doing, and don’t get involved with anything weird.’”

“... That’s the end of the message,” Herald said.

Chang-Sun nodded. He couldn’t stop laughing. The message overall seemed like a bunch of grumbles, but Chang-Sun could feel that <Deus Ex Machina> was worried about him. That was also the reason behind the last part of the message. ‘Anything weird’ clearly referred to the Heavenly Dragon Emperor and Bel-Marduk.

‘He’s finally decided to stop hesitating,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Chang-Sun had told <Deus Ex Machina> some things in the Changgong Library.

“Who cares about duties and responsibilities?”

“So what? Everyone is responsible for their own life.”

“Do what you want. When you let obligations and responsibilities get the better of you, there won’t be a ‘you’ left anymore.”

Bound to the law of casualty that he had established, <Deus Ex Machina> had been reluctant to intervene in Eros’ affairs. However, after spending some time contemplating, he seemed to be trying to break free from those restrictions now. An Emperor’s active intervention could ruin the law of causality, though, so he would have to keep his involvement to the minimum.

Nevertheless, openly declaring his support for Chang-Sun was already a significant improvement. The recent Rollback loop had rendered him mentally fatigued, but receiving <Deus Ex Machina>’s support made him feel warmth for the first time in a long while.

“Oh, wait. I left out one part from Mr. Machina’s message,” Herald said.

“What is it?”

“‘Trryyy. Trrryyyy harder. Do you really think your efforts right now are going to cut it? Pain makes the youth! Tryyyyy hardeeeer and improveeee. Improooooove! You know, when I was your age, I couldn’t even imagine...’”[1] Herald chattered.

Chang-Sun wasn’t sure how to respond.

1. This is just a comedic device to show <Deus Ex Machina> is old(boomer). ?