Chapter 274

Chapter 274

The whole world became silent.

The strange and beautiful fragments of the universe vanished from the sky. All that remained in the “Dream Amusement Park” were parts of the castle floating bobbing in midair, and the broken ornaments of the amusement park and the like.

Without a trace of the curse that had gnawed at body and mind, only clear air...

“...”

At that dreamlike sight, the hunters were momentarily left dazed.

“...It’s... over...”

Someone opened their mouth.

“...Is it, over...?”

“...Seems like it?”

“Fuck, we lived.”

Thud—!

A middle-aged hunter collapsed to the ground.

“Like hell I’m ever fighting an evil god again...!!”

“Honestly, this time we weren’t the ones who fought the evil god, though, Captain.”

“Did you really have to say that right now?”

“We basically just dealt with the stragglers that came out of the evil god...”

“You bastard, can’t you read the room.”

Maybe thanks to the bickering hunters, the atmosphere gradually loosened.

Hunters who looked exhausted sat down on the floor one by one. They let out deep breaths. The air, now refreshing and light compared to before, was truly welcome. Breathing almost felt sweet.

“Ah, shit... I’m hungry...”

“...Now that I think about it, yeah...”

“I really survived? Wow, this is insane.”

And after a little more time passed like that.

“...Huh, but wait a second.”

Someone raised a question.

“Then why is the clear message still not popping up?”

“Please don’t do this.”

It was an extremely valid question.

* * *

Aram looked at the dungeon that had turned into a dreamlike scene. Only the land barely floating in the air like an island remained; otherwise, she couldn’t even distinguish where up and down were.

And the bone graves of the little dragons lying here and there...

“...”

But it looked peaceful.

All the curses and poisons that had created a precarious atmosphere were gone, and only tranquility remained. A tranquility like dreaming, that kind of tranquility.

“It remains an unchanging fact that we defeated the evil god.”

Aram spoke.

“...To begin with, most of what made up the evil god was rage—rage, at that, of the little dragons who had been sacrificed in the Black Forest all this time. With the efforts of my seniors inside the Moon, we unraveled that rage.”

“Are you saying all those dragons calmed their anger and forgave humans?”

“No. The end of rage can’t always be forgiveness. It can be resignation, or enlightenment, or dissipation. But perhaps... yes, it could also be forgiveness.”

A lukewarm warmth could be felt from the Moon where the little dragons’ stories were recorded.

“But what’s important right now isn’t that. No, it is important, but everyone will be wondering why the clear message still hasn’t appeared.”

“Yes, for some reason...”

Gazing into the void, the vice guild master of Justitia, Kang Eunsung, continued.

“...By now the system would have sent a notification, but it hasn’t. Isn’t it a bit strange that there’s no response at all even after we dealt with the evil god?”

Soon after, he said, “Ah.”

“Of course, we didn’t annihilate the evil god, did we?”

“That is what the evil god wanted, but yes, we didn’t annihilate him.”

Aram, holding the Moon in her arms, held great authority. Because she could receive permission from her seniors inside the Moon and use that divinity. And divinity can kill divinity. The evil god wanted that.

But the reason Aram had caused all that commotion was so that she would not do that.

“The little dragons only released their rage and returned to nature; they did not vanish within their own providence. The death of divinity is only annihilation... and if that had happened, there wouldn’t have been dragon bones left like this.”

Aram looked at the dragons’ bones sleeping quietly on the small floating patch of land. The pure white bones shone like marble under the dungeon’s sunlight. Like the color of well-polished ivory, they resembled jewels.

And in the nearby ground, tender flowers and grass were blooming. Life belongs to providence. It was a scene that meant they, who had fallen due to rage, had returned to the providence of order. It was beautiful, too.

“If I had continued violent conflict using the Moon’s divinity, I couldn’t have produced a result like this. But I didn’t want to commit a tragedy like the one in that world, and so...”

“You breathed strength into people to endure, used the animals here to seize the advantage, and then made Hero Ather a part of the evil god, guiding the dragons to return to order.”

“It was a precarious plan that required the help of many people and trust in one another. But in the end, it produced such a good result. It seems courage to just do it first is necessary, too.”

“Ah, yes...”

The vice guild master looked at Aram with a subtle expression.

“But in the end, didn’t we defeat this dungeon’s final boss? Yet the dungeon clear wasn’t completed, which is strange. In cases like this, usually it means there’s still something left to do.”

“I think so, too. I have some ideas. This was the evil god’s dungeon, after all.”

“Mm, yes...”

Kang Eunsung nodded as if he understood.

“Dungeons created by divinity sometimes don’t have Earth’s system apply properly. Because they’re a tremendous mystery that possesses a separate providence, I suppose—something the mystery of order surrounding Earth cannot handle...”

“I thought the same as Vice Guild Master Kang Eunsung. In that case, even if the clear is effectively complete, the system notification might not come, or it might just come a bit late.”

“Which case do you think it is, Saintess? Either there’s still an uncleared condition left, or the clear is complete but a system error occurred. It seems like one of the two.”

“I think it’s both, but...”

Aram trailed off and stroked the Moon. When the noble sphere twinkled with a faint light, Aram blinked once as if conversing, then spoke again.

“...We’ll know if we go a bit further. Will you follow me?”

“I’ll listen carefully. What should I do?”

“Then first, we’ll move to the ruins of the underground world’s Black Forest and the evil god’s tomb beneath it...”

“Ah, wait a moment.”

Adjusting his glasses, the vice guild master asked.

“...Weren’t we just facing the final boss?”

“We were, weren’t we?”

“Is there another battle planned?”

“I don’t think so. Trust me, I’m the Saintess.”

“I’ll believe it as if it were a saint’s prophecy.”

Seo Seohui, who had only been listening, approached.

“Then there’s no need for me to pick up my weapon again, Saintess?”

“All the fallen rage has returned to its place in providence, so we won’t need violent means anymore. The dragons here have already released all their rage.”

“Then we’ll need dialogue.”

“That’s right.”

Aram, hugging the Moon—now much warmer—tight to her chest, said,

“...If we don’t go, something regrettable might happen.”

They headed for the Black Forest ruins.

* * *

“S- Saintess...”

“I’m glad you each seemed to be doing your own work while I was away.”

“...It’s one of the things our Moon Church priests are best at.”

The Moon Church priests who had remained at the ruins welcomed Saintess Aram with delight.

“Is that, perhaps...”

“It’s the Moon.”

Aram lifted the Moon she was holding like a baby.

“...”

The elder of the Moon Church gave an awkward smile as if about to cry.

“...You no longer call Him Teacher.”

“The Moon was nothing more than a storehouse of knowledge and wisdom.”

“Of course, yes. Even so, it’s warm now.”

“It wasn’t only the Moon that was there all this time.”

“...Is that so...”

The elder slowly bowed his head.

“...We greet you, Teacher.”

“We greet you, Teacher.”

Following behind the elder, all the Moon Church priests bowed their heads.

“Please take us in.”

It was toward their Saintess, Aram.

“Will you do that for us?”

“Of course. That’s why I held the Moon.”

Aram smiled brightly.

“But it seems there’s still something left to do.”

“Yes, Earth’s system didn’t notify us of a clear. Did you come to these ruins to finish that?”

“Yes. I want only a small number to come with me.”

“Our Moon Church will follow behind Teacher.”

“...Only some of you with stamina left, please. The rest should rest.”

At those words, leaving behind the Moon Church as they began a round of rock-paper-scissors full of scheming, Seo Seohui called her friend, the vice guild master.

“Kang Eunsung.”

“Yes.”

“It looks like the Saintess has something to show us.”

“It does look like she’s gathering spectators.”

As both were experienced, seasoned hunters, they were gradually beginning to guess what was going on.

With something progressing in the air, a few hunters who still had energy hauled their heavy bodies up from where they were. When the group grew to a certain size, Aram nodded. It meant any more was unnecessary.

“Then let’s move.”

When Aram set the moon afloat, it drifted leisurely toward the underground tomb.

“I’ll follow.”

“Oh, that really is...”

“There won’t be anything dangerous.”

The path to the underground tomb was smooth. All the curses that had wrapped around the ruins for so long—and even magic—had been dispelled. Seo Seohui looked up at the ceiling of the ruins.

Then she marveled.

“It’s a night sky.”

The ruins, where not even torches burned, were a night sky densely studded with stars. It wasn’t as intoxicating as the universe the Moon Church Saintess had shown, but there was a stillness that soothed some corner of the heart.

And so they soon arrived at the underground tomb. The Moon Church priests wore slightly surprised expressions.

“Up until just now, it wasn’t a sight this quiet...”

“...It’s gone...”

“The bloody water is gone, too.”

The blood that had formed a shallow lake inside the tomb had vanished before they knew it.

They were Moon Church priests who had investigated the ruins in place of the Saintess. They remembered what a horrific state this tomb had been in. A space full of curses and irrationality. Completely different from now.

But now, a peaceful energy—different from mere silence—permeated the place. Those who came here for the first time were surprised that, despite being the evil god’s tomb, it felt this stable.

“...It’s quiet.”

“Yeah.”

An old stone floor, stone walls, and stone ceiling, all slightly worn and mossy. Between them, torches crackled faintly, lighting the tomb. Inside the huge coffin that had looked only ominous, unfamiliar children were sleeping one by one atop soft beds of flowers.

The Moon Church recognized them at once.

“They are little dragons.”

“...Thankfully, their faces look peaceful...”

“It really is fortunate.”

They didn’t look very old. Unless they stopped growing at a certain age like the saints of the Moon Church, they would be exactly the age they appeared. It seemed that more than half hadn’t even passed their mid-teens.

And at the end, there was a man.

“...”

“...”

A man with an extremely gaunt body, wrapped tightly in bandages so that not a sliver of bare skin could be seen. With a body dried like deadwood, he sat on the cold stone floor and absentmindedly stroked the carcass of a deer with its throat torn out.

He soon opened his mouth.

“...Yeah.”

In a hoarse, heavily rasped voice, the man asked the visitors.

“Did you come to see me?”

“Yes. We came to see you.”

After glancing once at the Moon floating between himself and the man, Aram continued. She had to speak of this man’s story before everyone.

Under tacit permission, Aram recited the man’s story.

“As the last dragon, you knew from the beginning how to forgive.”

That was why he tried to forgive.

“And yet you raged. Because you were swept up by the rage of the little dragons who died before you, and because you respected that rage. Above all, within that immense rage, the forgiveness of a single dragon... could have had no effect at all on the mystery of calamity.”

But the situation changed.

“For some reason, a crack formed in the seal that had firmly held the evil god of rage.”

After that came the sequence Earthlings knew well.

“From there, the evil god of rage began to influence Earth. He placed under his command the merfolk, who were humanoid monsters, and the evil god named Sancalut. Fortunately, with the help of the Black Cloak, all of those calamities were suppressed early... but you yourself would have remained.”

And so the evil god acted directly.

“The evil god tried to reach his hand toward Earth. The Black Cloak’s apostle, Hunter Seo Gio, embraced the evil god. While one saint was organizing and refining the evil god’s fallen rage, a variable arose.”

Ather—he was the culprit.

“One wraith called calamity. A hero named Ather, one of those who once sealed the evil god. He was suffering pain for eternal ages due to the greed of the humans of that world. Begging for that pain to end, the hero called the evil god’s name.”

With his true name spoken, the evil god gained authority over the world.

“Because of that, Hunter Seo Gio was struck and went into seclusion. Only Guild Master Visabel of Collection would know his exact condition, but at the very least... it won’t be good. And so the evil god of rage began in earnest to erode Earth using dreams.”

What happened after that wasn’t exactly a secret.

“A religion’s Saintess is kidnapped, that Saintess meets an ancient hero and prepares to oppose the evil god, and countless people from Earth come to help them...”

Aram stretched out her hand.

“...”

Over her hand, the Moon gently settled into place, as if saying its rightful place was atop the Saintess’s hand, not the evil god’s.

“...But all of this is ultimately nothing more than a shell.”

“How do you think so?”

“You ultimately only wanted the rite for the dead that those angry children could not have.”

“And?”

“And you must have wished for your own end as well.”

Aram hugged the Moon like a child.

“That I could dare to embrace the Moon in a human body was, in the end, thanks to you...”

It was the evil god Argio who had made the Moon this small and gentle. If he hadn’t wanted it, how could she have taken the Moon from the bishop’s arms, and handled it this well?

“You would have wanted me to kill your divinity with this power.”

“It would have been an end that was neither the most miserable, nor desperate, nor filthy.”

“But now all that rage has subsided, and only you remain.”

“Yeah, that’s right...”

The hoarse voice laughed.

“I rage when I want.”

“And then?”

“And I forgive when I want.”

It was the laughter of the last dragon.

“My rage is a weapon and a fortress—how could I possibly be unable to handle that one thing?”

Because his young ancestors raged, he raged with them. And now all that rage had ended, and his brothers had fallen asleep. Soft, tiny breathing sounds gently wrapped this quiet underground cavern.

The man filled their coffins with flowers. Filling them with colorful, sweet-scented flowers, he made them into soft beds.

“So the time has come for my rage to end as well.”

“You already forgave humans a long time ago.”

“Rage shines in value when you can forgive.”

“Truly, you are the divinity of rage.”

Aram lowered her head with her eyes closed.

“...You’re not an evil god.”

The noble master of the emotion called rage.

“I came to recommend that you return home, as the mystery of rage.”

“Yeah, I see. Haven’t I been asleep for a very long time? Yes, right, so... hmm.”

Though the voice was heavily hoarse, a pleasant rhythm flowed out.

“Dreams are truly a good thing. Isn’t that so, friends. No matter what hard and painful things you go through, when you wake up they blur from memory, and the depths of thought do not grow any deeper...”

“...Just like rage.”

“You flatter me. You need not define it as a single thing. Joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, love, hatred, desire—all are like a single dream. You should let life enjoy them to the fullest.”

“And we will learn.”

“And so the value of being human shines. How admirable.”

At their conversation, the hunters stirred quietly. Because they had read all the evil god’s thoughts and his convictions. It bore an aspect completely different from the evil god commonly known.

The man, detached from that small commotion, smiled slowly.

“...Good.”

When the man waved his hand, the deer’s carcass soon became soil and lay down upon the floor. What remained after it sank was the deer’s skull. The man held it in both hands as it shone properly like a chaste jewel.

And another hand lowered the sheep’s skull that had been above his head for some time.

“Yeah, I like it.”

Instead, the deer’s skull rose atop his head.

“It’s an utterly peaceful day...”

The first hand lifted the deer’s head above his own. The second hand lightly bore up the sheep’s head atop it. The palm of the third hand faced the ceiling so that he could look up rather than down.

From the deer’s antlers, green leaves sprouted like the branches of a budding tree.

『...Rage is a weapon and a fortress, but its value exists because forgiveness lies beneath it. I will keep my eyes turned upward, so show me the sky you humans will make.』

“...”

『On the day you do, I will affirm you.』

A middle-aged hunter swallowed.

“...How can the evil god...”

It was the face of someone who had witnessed an impossible miracle.

“...C- Captain. What is happening right now?”

“...The evil god returned to providence.”

The deer’s green antlers symbolizing life, the sheep’s head that could be held up at any time but was now held close, and the golden eyes of the third hand that now looked upward rather than down.

All of it announced that the fallen mystery had stabilized.

『I hope it became a painful dream.』

The lips of the half head wrapped in bandages drew a wide arc.

The divinity of rage that has finished its trial returns to the natural order

You have completed the clear of the dungeon: ‘Dream Amusement Park¿’

Please check your reward

『Right?』

Reward

A gift for you who survived until the end, “Call our friend, the little dragon!”

For a friend and benefactor, they will grant a single modest wish

* * *

The clear was completed, and all those who had not been able to return from the ‘Dream Amusement Park’ returned to reality.

“Wow, insane.”

That included people who had died in the dungeon.

“So it was a dream, and it really was a dream...”

“No, so I really died?”

“You said you didn’t remember.”

“Not that much—only my memories right before dying are a bit blurry...”

“It’s fine as long as you didn’t forget completely.”

The hunters who safely returned let out sighs of relief.

“...That was really hard.”

Humans won peace.

Probably?

(To be continued in the next chapter)