Eternal Spire
Cheonwol muttered in an annoyed voice.
“That Zeus bastard finally showed his true colors.”
“Not surprising. That’s just how he is.”
Tiamat sighed tiredly.
“The problem is that he’ll definitely target Jin Seoyoon. He got his pride crushed last time, so he’ll try to get revenge no matter what.”
Cheonwol nodded as well.
But right now there was nothing they could do. They were trapped in the barrier with their hands and feet tied, unable to even know what was happening outside—this frustrating situation.
At that moment, a cautious presence approached. Athena spoke quietly.
“May I speak with you for a moment?”
Tiamat and Cheonwol looked at each other, then nodded.
“What is it?”
Tiamat spoke first.
Athena glanced around and lowered her voice.
“I have a proposal for you two.”
“A proposal?”
“What kind of proposal?”
“We can escape this barrier.”
At Athena’s words, the two goddesses looked at her in shock.
“…How?”
Tiamat’s eyes narrowed.
Athena continued carefully.
“I found a weakness in the barrier with my authority of wisdom. Loki’s barrier looks perfect on the surface, but it actually has one blind spot. My father’s Olympian power and Loki’s power didn’t fully fuse.”
“Didn’t fuse?”
Tiamat repeated.
“Yes. Because the natures of the two powers are different, a tiny gap formed. If we use that gap, a few gods can escape. At most three or four.”
“I see.”
Tiamat stroked her chin.
“But why are you telling us this?”
Cheonwol asked cautiously.
Athena answered without hesitation.
“Because you two are the most rational, and above all, you have a connection to Jin Seoyoon. We absolutely need his power to stop Zeus.”
Tiamat and Cheonwol looked at each other for a moment, then silently nodded.
“What about the remaining gods?”
Tiamat asked quietly.
“Honestly, the remaining gods won’t be much help. It would be safer for everyone if they stayed in the barrier.”
Athena continued with a serious face.
“Besides, Father will definitely try to take the system. He’ll go after the sealing orb.”
“Even if the system isn’t normal, it won’t be easy for Zeus to get the sealing orb… right?”
Athena cautiously revealed what she knew.
“Father has been researching ways to interfere with the tower without the system noticing for a long time. And one of those methods was using participants.”
“Using participants?”
Tiamat narrowed her eyes.
“Not real participants—artificial fake participants.”
“Fake participants?”
“Yes. Puppets with easily controllable souls implanted in manufactured bodies.”
The two goddesses’ faces hardened at Athena’s explanation.
“Then… Zeus can directly influence the tower even now, at this very moment.”
“Exactly.”
“But how did they fool the system?”
“I don’t know the exact method. Only Hermes and Father know.”
Tiamat sighed.
“Still as cunning as ever… very Zeus-like.”
Cheonwol nodded too.
“We need to move now.”
“Then please follow me.”
Athena continued quietly.
“If we move openly, someone will definitely interfere, so let’s move quietly.”
The three goddesses exchanged glances and began moving silently.
***
Athena, Tiamat, and Cheonwol successfully escaped the barrier.
“Phew…”
Cheonwol let out a sigh of relief.
“We really got out.”
“Athena, thank you.”
Tiamat expressed sincere gratitude.
“No need. I have to stop my father too.”
After escaping the barrier, the three goddesses moved to a secluded place.
“Athena, what now?”
Cheonwol asked.
“We should enter the tower too.”
“What do you plan to do by entering the tower directly?”
Tiamat frowned.
“We’d only weaken if we went in.”
She was right.
Gods were restricted in power inside the tower. The tower’s rules suppressed them. Even gods with immense power outside were only slightly stronger than normal participants inside.
“I know.”
Athena nodded.
“But staying here is dangerous. The moment they notice we’re gone, they’ll try to catch us.”
“Knowing Zeus’s personality, if he finds beautiful goddesses who escaped the barrier, he’ll definitely try to violate us.”
Cheonwol said with a disgusted expression.
Zeus was infamous for lust. In mythology, he had pursued countless goddesses and human women. In this situation, if he found escaped goddesses, his actions were predictable.
“So hiding in the tower is safest for now. And we help Jin Seoyoon.”
Athena was right.
Staying outside carried a high risk of being discovered by Zeus. But inside the tower, even Zeus couldn’t act easily.
“…With our lowered system authority, do we even have a way to enter the tower?”
Tiamat hit the core issue.
With the system having taken most authority, theirs had been drastically reduced. They couldn’t enter the tower freely anymore.
“Don’t worry. The system allowed it.”
“The system?”
Tiamat and Cheonwol looked at Athena in surprise.
“Yes, and she prefers being called Luna rather than ‘system,’ so keep that in mind.”
“When did you get close to the system—no, Luna?”
Tiamat asked with a puzzled expression.
The system originally never communicated with gods. It simply operated by fixed rules, showing no emotion or will.
“We’re not particularly close. I just spoke to her a few times, and interestingly, she reacted whenever Jin Seoyoon was mentioned.”
Athena explained calmly.
“Jin Seoyoon?”
“Yes. The moment I mentioned his name, Luna reacted immediately. As if that name held special meaning.”
At Athena’s words, Tiamat and Cheonwol looked at each other.
They realized the system had some kind of relationship with Jin Seoyoon.
“…Could Jin Seoyoon have given her the name Luna?”
Tiamat cautiously guessed.
“That’s a plausible story…”
Cheonwol nodded too.
“She just confirmed it when I asked.”
Athena answered.
“……”
The two goddesses were momentarily speechless.
“So Jin Seoyoon was the root cause.”
Tiamat muttered with a sigh.
The system becoming unstable, the gods losing authority—perhaps it all started when Jin Seoyoon gave the system a name.
At that moment.
[The Tower System Luna says not to badmouth Seoyoon.]
A system message suddenly appeared.
“…Huh.”
Tiamat made a dumbfounded expression.
“The system personally sending a warning.”
“She definitely has emotions now.”
Cheonwol also looked surprised.
“And she really cherishes Jin Seoyoon.”
Athena smirked.
“Now you understand why we can enter the tower, right?”
“……”
Tiamat made a complicated expression.
“How the hell did that guy seduce the system?”
“I don’t know, but one thing is clear—Luna sees him as special.”
Athena said seriously.
“And that can work in our favor. We can get Luna’s help.”
Cheonwol nodded.
“We can keep Zeus in check more easily. And Zeus probably doesn’t know any of this.”
Tiamat smiled.
“Things might be easier than expected.”
Athena agreed.
“Exactly.”
“Before entering the tower… I should contact my priestess about the current situation.”
Tiamat said.
“To contact Jin Seoyoon in advance through the priestess?”
“Yes, it would be good to explain the situation beforehand.”
“Good idea.”
Athena nodded.
***
We had to take a longer break than expected.
It was because of the unexpected boss battle on floor 78.
In the original story, it was just written as “someone other than Yoon Jae-ho cleared it,” so I didn’t know the exact details. But when we actually faced it, the boss battle on this floor turned out to be a siege war.
[Floor 78 Boss Battle: Immortal Fortress]
[Participation Conditions]
* Minimum participants: 500
* Maximum participants: 1,000
* Required class composition: At least 100 tanks, 100 healers, 300 damage dealers
“Our guild has about 100 members right now, right?”
“Of them, only about 40 can actually fight.”
At Tia’s answer, I sighed.
Night Bloom was an elite guild with few members, and only beautiful women. That definitely had the advantage of keeping my cock happy, but this time it became a fatal weakness.
“Can’t we just recruit from other guilds?”
Seo Eun-ha asked cautiously.
“That’s the problem.”
I scratched my head.
“Other guilds are too weak.”
On floor 77, even the ones considered strong were used as mercenaries, but only a handful were actually useful. Some even died in the boss room.
“And with just our members, the numbers are way too short.”
The side effect of monopolizing boss rooms had hit us now. Luna had raised the average strength of all participants, but since Night Bloom had essentially hogged the boss fights, the growth gap had only widened.
Simply put, if Night Bloom was S-rank, other guilds were B-rank or lower. The gap was too big to fight together.
Trying to clear fast had backfired and was now holding us back.
“No choice. We have to make it public to other participants.”
“Public what?”
Ryu Seol looked at me.
“Martial arts.”
“Is that okay?”
Seo Eun-ha asked worriedly. She had grown tremendously after learning martial arts from me.
‘She’s probably worried that participants who learn martial arts might eventually turn their blades on me.’
Even if they got stronger from martial arts, they’d still just be bugs.
“Don’t worry. Because of the side effects, none of them will last long anyway.”
“Side effects?”
“Yeah, what I’m giving them is demonic arts.”
Demonic arts—martial arts of the demonic path.
A dangerous power that allows rapid growth but always comes with a price.
“Demonic arts…? What happens if you learn them?”
Han So-young asked cautiously.
“You get strong. Very quickly.”
I continued explaining.
“But the side effects are severe. You lose your mind, your body breaks down, or both.”
“Aha, so it’s a dangerous power…?”
“Exactly. Completely opposite from the orthodox martial arts you’ve learned.”
I crossed my arms and explained.
“Demonic arts focus on rapid growth and destruction. Instead of steadily building up like orthodox methods, you become explosively strong in a short time, but it eats away at your body and mind.”
“So… they’ll eventually die?”
Seo Eun-ha asked in a trembling voice.
“Most will.”
“……”
“But that’s their choice. The desire to become strong and the price for it. It’s up to them what they choose.”
I looked at the three in turn and said,
“So no matter how badly you want to get stronger fast, never touch demonic arts. Especially you, Ryu Seol.”
“Why me specifically?”
Ryu Seol asked expressionlessly.
“You cried like a baby after losing to Jessica last time.”
“I-I didn’t cry!”
At that moment, Tia suddenly stiffened and said,
“Seoyoon-ssi, I’ve reconnected with Lady Tiamat.”
******
Cheonwol
Tiamat
