A heavy silence fell over the crater.
Mad and Odd were no longer laughing boisterously.
Katman and the tribesmen, who had been worried about Jinhyuk, also stopped voicing their concerns.
It was because everyone was busy.
Busy holding onto their dropped jaws that seemed to have no bottom.
Only two people, Jinhyuk and Kamela, were waiting with relaxed expressions for Odd and Mad's next reaction.
"Why isn't there any more soup?!"
Ah, make that three people. Momo, who was chugging a bowl of soup, completely unconcerned whether the barrier was destroyed or not.
Jinhyuk, who had been waiting patiently, rubbed his chin.
Judging by how wide the two gatekeepers' mouths were hanging open, it didn't seem like he could just wait forever.
To provoke a reaction, he took a step forward like a sly instigator.
"W-wait!!!"
Only then did Mad and Odd, as if on cue, spring up from their seats.
The two gatekeepers gasped for breath.
Even though they hadn't been running or fighting, their heads and backs were already drenched in cold sweat.
The gatekeepers looked around with trembling eyes.
It was completely gone.
As if the barrier had never existed in the first place.
'H-how in the world...!'
Even after decades, there hadn't been a single crack, not even a scratch.
In a way, it was only natural.
After all, it was the great Patriarch himself who had personally set it up.
"You wouldn't be going back on your word now, would you, great gatekeeper?"
"Th-that is..."
"That was a condition that idiot Odd made on his own! Utterly pathetic!"
At Mad's shout, Jinhyuk lowered his voice.
"Kamela, did you hear that? He was laughing along with us just a moment ago, and now he's saying he never agreed to it. Damn."
"Hmm, that's certainly unsightly. A gatekeeper is supposed to value loyalty and take responsibility for their own words. But to abandon the comrade you were guarding together and even change your words..."
Sweat poured down Mad's back.
Meanwhile, Jinhyuk called out to Momo, who was licking her soup bowl clean, to add another comment.
"Momo, what do you think? Now that the barrier is broken, he's changing his tune."
"What's with this mouth lighter than a dumpling skin!!!"
Was it because the Great Empress had roared?
Mad, who had been squeezing his eyes shut, lifted the table behind him.
"Since the barrier is broken, as promised, that idiot Odd will permit your passage! I, too, as a fellow gatekeeper, know I bear responsibility for not stopping him! However! The command of the Patriarch who entrusted me with this place is also important, so I have a duty to verify your qualifications!"
Mad raised his arm onto the table.
"I won't demand a duel because of Odd's mistake! Instead, I'll request a contest in the way of our race!"
"What's with this gatekeeper with a conscience the size of a grain of sand, asking us, who are as small as sand grains despite his mountain-like size, to an arm wrestle!!"
Even the Great Empress seemed to think this was a bit much.
She let out a rough shout.
Of course, regardless of that.
"Sure."
He accepted the contest.
An arm wrestle? How simple and good was that?
"Y-you're agreeing?"
More sweat trickled down Mad's side.
He thought they'd get scared and run away if he said that!
"We'll have this friend do it."
Mad frowned.
Where did she suddenly appear from?
A woman with ashen skin and bright silver hair leisurely climbed onto the table.
"You'll do it?"
"Is there a problem?"
Gatekeeper Mad glanced at Jinhyuk.
What was that human thinking?
Entrusting the match to such a slender girl.
Did he really intend to pass through here?
'You chose this.'
He extended a hand the size of a house.
"I'll stay still for one minute. Use all your strength."
"Fine."
"Start when you're ready."
Seira nodded, placing her hand on Mad's palm.
"Start."
Bang!
Before the word "start" even finished echoing, a thunderous roar erupted.
"Kuh-eo-eok...!!"
This time, it wasn't Odd letting out a gasp.
It was Jinhyuk and his friends.
"Where did the gatekeeper go!!!"
Just as Momo said.
Mad's hand didn't hit the table.
Instead, his entire body flew like a missile in that direction and crashed into the crater.
Jinhyuk swallowed dryly as he looked at Seira.
That friend... she doesn't know. She definitely doesn't know.
How to arm wrestle.
Whether she knew this or not, Seira looked back at him with a triumphant face.
He gave her a trembling thumbs-up along with his friends.
It was a bit excessive, but they got through it, so it should be fine, right?
Thud!
From the shattered barrier to the comrade who went flying with a *whoosh*.
It seemed Odd couldn't take it anymore.
His legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground.
Now, he even looked a little pitiful.
Ding!
[You have overwhelmingly won the arm wrestling match proposed by Gatekeeper Mad!]
[Gatekeeper Mad, who should have acknowledged your qualifications, has lost consciousness! It might be better for Mad to stay unconscious for a while!]
[Clear conditions met!]
[You have cleared Floor 27 of the Tower of Myth!]
He breathed a sigh of relief.
He had been worried he'd have to wake the unconscious Mad with cold water, sit him back at the table, and force him into another arm wrestle.
But there was no need for such cruelty.
He leisurely walked toward the crater.
Odd stumbled backward.
Especially when Seira approached, he flinched and pressed himself against the wall.
Seeing what happened earlier, that reaction was perfectly understandable.
"You don't have to worry about Lord Mad. My friend went to wake him up."
"Is she a doctor?!"
"Hmm... Not a doctor, but she can perform a similar role, I guess?"
"That's a very uncertain tone."
"Sharp, aren't you?"
He hoped Gatekeeper Mad would wake up safely.
"Now that the barrier is gone, the people behind you can pass through too, right?"
"Th-that's not allowed! We must protect the seed!"
So there really was something down in the crater.
"Could we possibly take a look at that seed...?"
"Whoo-hoo-oot!! Master! I found something amazing!"
Elia came running excitedly, holding something like a giant pumpkin in both hands.
"Gyaaah!!!"
Seeing that, Odd screamed in terror like never before.
That must be it.
The seed that Odd had just said he had to protect.
"Master. I feel like we're the villains somehow."
He looked up at Seira, who had just spoken.
He decided not to say, "Is that something the person who just slammed Mad into a crater should be saying?!" Because she was still looking pleased with her overwhelming victory.
"C-careful! You can't drop it! Stop right there and stay still! Calm down!"
Odd rushed forward, holding out both hands to block Elia.
"Only the gatekeeper friend needs to calm down, right?"
He walked over to the two of them bickering.
"Elia. Did you wake up Lord Mad?"
"I gave him some medicine."
"Guaaah!"
"See?"
He looked toward where the scream came from.
The medicine seemed to be working properly.
He quietly took the seed and examined it from all angles.
"What do you think, Momo?"
"Hmm."
Momo rubbed her chubby chin and tilted her head.
"It seems good. And it doesn't. It's ambiguous. For now, it's not expensive!"
Even the Golden Eye seemed to have trouble identifying it.
"This dumpling-like thing is right! It's just a worthless seed normally!"
At that moment, Momo's Golden Eye flashed.
"That's suspicious. If it's nothing, why are you so restless!"
He instinctively covered his mouth.
As far as he knew, this was the first time.
Momo had ever been this sharp.
"It's a seed left by the Patriarch to prepare for a calamity! Even if you take it, it's completely useless!"
"Then who is this Patriarch you keep talking about?"
"You don't know the Patriarch!?"
"We don't know, so we're asking. What's with the gatekeeper asking obvious questions!!"
After being scolded again, Odd broke out in a cold sweat.
The smallest and chubbiest one had the fiercest temper.
He looked around and then lowered his voice significantly.
"De Par le Roy Du Coel. Surely you know what that means?"
"Daepa?"
Odd frowned and continued.
"It means 'In the name of the Sky King.' Anyone who dwells in the tower cannot be unaware of it. It's a saying left by Khan, the Lord of the Sky and Patriarch of the Barzali family."
"Oh..."
He wasn't pretending not to know; he genuinely had never heard it before.
"Elia, have you ever heard of it?"
"Daepa?"
Even Elia, a walking encyclopedia, was no different from him.
"Putting green onion in ramen is delicious!!"
He decided not to ask Momo.
"So, this person named Khan entrusted the seed to you two?"
"Yes! When the Patriarch was leaving, we asked him. What if the things that fell into the abyss crawl back up? Then the Patriarch said, 'That won't happen, but use this seed to figure something out.'"
"So he never told you to guard it, did he?"
"Nonsense! He even set up this barrier for us to guard it easily! Though it's gone now."
He raised his hand.
"What is it?"
"Those things that fell into the abyss. Are they perhaps creatures whose insides are rotting like undead, but whose outsides are wrapped in light?"
Odd's eyes shook violently.
"How do you know that...?"
"I killed one. Its name was Marvin Rodogus."
Odd's mouth fell open again.
He never expected the name Marvin to come out of that small human's mouth.
And Marvin was dead? That cunning bastard who had survived even the Patriarch's bombardment!?
Odd swallowed dryly and continued.
"Their name is Lumend. Lumend feeds on faith and worship."
"And they must be impersonating light to receive faith and worship more easily."
"Exactly. No one knows when, where, or how they appeared. At first, no one paid them any attention. But at some point, before we knew it, they had spread like mold and grown to an absurd size. My kin who guarded this land at the time fought back, but suffered near-total annihilation."
Odd let out a groan and clenched his fist.
"It was when our defeat was certain and we were waiting for death. That was when Patriarch Khan Barzali cast them all into the abyss in one fell swoop."
"So that's when the Patriarch used this seed."
"Yes. The Patriarch was extremely reluctant to touch them directly. So after one bombardment, he threw this seed into the ground. Unknown beings were born from the seed. Beings that only pursued and exterminated the Lumend."
Listening to the continuing story, Jinhyuk stared at the seed in his hand.
A seed that only annihilates the Lumend.
He smirked.
This might make things interesting.
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T/N:
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