Conquering the Tower Even Regressors Couldn't-Chapter 343: Eighty-First Floor, Starfish (3)

In the end, this was nothing more than a farm for divinity.

I needed time to think. Fortunately, she didn’t press me, and an awkward silence settled between us. Perhaps it was because of Starfish’s descent, but no other yokai approached.

The stillness lingered until Starfish took a few quiet steps forward.

She didn’t appear hostile. “Would you be willing to give me the Celestial Bell?”

My thoughts were still a tangled mess.

Instead of answering, I raised my hand. “Hold on. I’m kind of overwhelmed. Can you explain it a bit more clearly?”

“I believe I’ve explained it thoroughly enough.”

I nodded slowly—she had a point. While her explanation hadn’t been exactly detailed, it had been enough for me to understand the gist of the situation. What was difficult, however, was accepting what I had heard.

“So, when you say that this is all just to gain divinity, are you saying that the yokai and celestials were created solely for that purpose?”

“That’s right.”

“Then you’re basically servants of god? Apostles or something?”

“Correct. You have quite the knack for making people repeat themselves.”

Although it had sounded sarcastic, judging from her expression, she hadn’t meant it that way.

Not that it mattered, as my mind was too occupied to care about tone. The truth was simply too shocking.

Yokai, monks, and celestials.

A god—who governed this world—had deliberately plunged it into danger and conflict, all for the sole purpose of harvesting divinity.

I couldn’t wrap my head around it. However, only now did I understand why the celestials hadn’t killed Starfish and why they had merely banished her.

Because she is one of them, an apostle.

Thinking about the child behind her, I realized that both a yokai’s and a monk’s energy stemmed from the same divine source.

Then, a new thought crept in. Perhaps Starfish really was an undying being. After all, she was the leader of the yokai.

If she had been designed specially by the god, it made sense. As a deliverer of ruin, she couldn’t be allowed to die. The fear she instilled in humans would feed into the belief they held toward the celestials.

Faith toward the celestials, who were apostles, would ultimately empower the god’s divinity.

“Huh.” My laugh came out hollow.

So, the reason all those yokai I fought seemed deranged is because that god made them that way?

Come to think of it, Ha-Seon had mentioned something like that. Prolonged exposure to their form of energy could corrupt the mind.

The god had likely planted something insidious within the energy itself. Starfish was likely resistant to that corruption, shielded by the divine energy within her.

What an absolute lunatic.

It was disgusting. The disgust I had felt on the fifty-first floor when I learned the truth about Camadenu and the Camadeni returned.

Camadenu had stripped the Camadeni of their intellect, exploiting them to create Amrita.

This was the same. To obtain divinity, the god created yokai and celestials, then unleashed them to threaten and oppress the human world. In other words, this world was essentially a divine energy factory.

Flashes of various gods I had met passed through came to mind.

Some nurtured others with warmth, while others watched from afar. All kinds of individuals.

In hindsight, the ones who stood back were preferable. At least then, people were left to sort things out for themselves.

To exploit one’s own world and people for divine gain, however? That was unfathomable. It was revolting. The god of this world repulsed me.

I couldn’t begin to understand it, and even if I could, I didn’t want to.

“So, will you give me the Celestial Bell?”

“What do you need it for?”

“I have to meet god.”

“Huh? Isn’t that bell meant for performing rituals to summon the celestials?”

“You’re mistaken. The Celestial Bell is a tool for offering rituals to the god atop Mount Suchal. It is the god who sends the celestials.”

I was starting to see the bigger picture. Contrary to what people believed, the bell didn’t just summon celestials, but was a medium to connect with the god of this world.

The celestials were sent as divine proxies because people wished for protection from the yokai. They had been created for that very purpose. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

I didn’t know why so many had been made, but thinking back on the past, I could make a reasonable guess. Perhaps it had something to do with wars against other worlds. That would explain why the celestials rarely interfered and why they only descended when absolutely necessary.

Starfish, as an apostle who was a yokai, was one of the few permanently rooted in this world.

“So let me ask again. Why do you need to meet god?”

Starfish didn’t respond at first.

After a moment, she met my gaze, then cast a glance toward the child behind her. “Because he is this child’s father.”

I was stunned into silence, unable to find a response for a few seconds. “What?”

It hadn’t even crossed my mind. At most, I had considered that Starfish had formed a relationship with a celestial. To assume she was the god’s consort, however...

As I reeled from the revelation, I sensed an undercurrent of resentment in her voice.

Having spoken her truth, Starfish now gave off an inexplicable aura. There was something I didn’t know—something hidden beneath the surface.

I felt compelled to dig a little deeper. “But why send the child away?”

“She is god’s offspring. She cannot grow properly in this world. She should be by her father’s side.”

“Then why doesn’t the god come get her himself? Doesn’t he know his child was born?”

“He knows. This, too, must be part of his design. He told me to bring the child to him.”

Ah. I was starting to understand.

“To send the child to the god, you need the Celestial Bell. And since you’re undying, you were bound to obtain it, even if it meant plunging the surface into chaos.”

So even her own child was used as a tool to harvest divinity.

Starfish nodded quietly. “Correct, except for the part about me being undying.”

“You’re not Bulgasal?”

“To the beings of this world, I am. But not to god or to entities from other worlds.”

That meant I could kill her.

Still, one question remained.

“But wouldn’t it be a problem for you to perform the ritual? I thought humans had to conduct the ceremony for the celestials to descend.”

“Oh, that’s something I can work around. It happens all the time. A yokai attempts to invade the Celestial Realm and is repelled. That’s all people need to hear.”

Now that she mentioned it, it made sense. They could simply frame it as a failed attempt by a yokai to invade the Celestial Realm. As long as one celestial being showed themself to the humans in the process, that would be enough.

Hmm.

The real question was, what exactly did the hidden mission want from me? None of this required my involvement, so there had to be a role I was meant to play.

If I am supposed to stop Starfish, would the god really let his consort and child die?

I was certain my mission didn’t end with saving the king.

As I pondered, her voice pulled me back to the present. “I do not wish to fight you in front of the child. That’s the real reason I’ve spoken with you for so long. So I ask you once more. Will you give me the Celestial Bell?”

Hmm. What should I do?

I was conflicted. I had wanted to wipe out every last yokai, but a part of me felt sympathy for her situation.

If they were simply like that from the beginning—designed to be this way—could I really hold them accountable?

This wasn’t about the old debate of innate goodness versus evil. In every world I had traveled to, there were kind people and cruel ones. Their personalities had never been dictated by a divine being, however.

Therefore, while I couldn’t bring myself to defend the yokai, I still couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sorrow.

My bias is split clean down the middle.

As I listened to her speak, the strange feeling of sympathy continued to well up inside me. Part of me felt inclined to hand over the Celestial Bell, but another part resisted.

The latter wasn’t solely because of the hidden mission.

“If the god is the kind of being who extracts divinity from even his own child, wouldn’t it be better if you raised the child yourself?”

Of course, I already knew what she had said.

“He didn’t even come when the child was born. I get that he’s your husband, so maybe it’s not my place to say, but even if the child can’t grow up properly, wouldn’t it still be better for you to raise her?”

Starfish held her silence for a moment. Then, in a low, heavy voice, she declared, “I feel no affection for this child, and you’re wrong for saying that god is my husband.”

The child standing behind her shrank back, and I finally understood where my mysterious sense of sympathy stemmed from. It aligned with the faint resentment in her voice earlier, when she had spoken of the god.

A child born without love.

She clearly resented the god and grieved her situation. The relationship between a god and an apostle... was one defined by power imbalance. There was no doubt that it wasn’t something she had chosen, but one she had been coerced into.

I knew it would be rude to ask directly.

Still, the disgust I felt toward that nameless god grew more vivid. I didn’t even know his name, but I was furious.

Even so, one thing stood out with undeniable clarity: one of her statements was clearly false.

Also, from the look in her eyes, she didn’t even seem to realize it herself.

Maybe I was overstepping, but I couldn’t help but expose it.

“Liar.”

Her hand, tightly gripping the child’s forearm, said it all. She was afraid I would attack, that I could harm the child the moment her guard slipped.

“You care for her, don’t you?”

“I do not.”

I shrugged. “Be honest with yourself. It’ll be easier that way.”

I wanted to help, just as I always had. Their situation reminded me of the people enslaved in the factory, or of Natalie locked away in the ice castle.

Suddenly, my divinity began to stir with a fierce intensity. I instantly recognized the feeling; Savior had been activated.

New, unfamiliar, and vivid knowledge surged into my mind from the influx of divine energy. It told me exactly how to wield it.

This hasn’t happened for any of the other apostles I have met. Is it because she hates her god? Because somewhere deep in her heart, she yearns for someone to save her?

The divine energy spun like a storm within me.

I realized, without a shadow of doubt, what I was meant to do. “Do you really need a god to raise this child?”

“She needs divine energy to grow. That is why I must take her to him.”

She paused, then continued, “I am his apostle. If I defy his will, I lose my worth. I will die.” Her gaze dropped to the ground. “So much for the name Starfish. I am not Starfish.”

“What if you didn’t have to die?”

At my question, she looked up. Hope flickered faintly in her eyes.

I began to release the divinity raging within me. Crackling bolts of lightning flared around me. The force was overwhelming, so immense it even startled me.

Starfish jumped back, instantly raising her guard.

To be honest, I was just as surprised. After saving Aoshi’s world, my divinity had grown immensely, but this was the first time I had drawn it out all at once.

That isn’t even factoring in the Savior skill, either.

Just off presence alone, I had assumed I only held a slight advantage when it came to Starfish’s strength. Now, I was certain that I was far stronger. Perhaps that was the true purpose of the hidden mission on the eighty-first floor—to awaken this new understanding of Divine Power.

Or maybe Savior skill reached a new pinnacle.

Either way, it didn’t matter.

Without further ado, I ignited the divine energy in my palm. The energy surged outward, coloring the entire world gold. It blazed so brightly that nothing else was visible.

As the light slowly receded, a massive sphere of lightning floated before us.

“If you accept this, your bond with your god will vanish. However, in exchange, you’ll become my apostle.”

“W-what?”

“Don’t worry. I’m not like him. I won’t oppress you. I’ll send you away from this world to somewhere new.”

Starfish didn’t speak for a long time. She simply held the trembling child’s arm and shielded her from the overwhelming power.

At that moment, a massive ripple erupted in the sky. A storm of divine energy swept down with the wind, tainted by traces of the energy used by monks and yokai. The god of this world was trying to descend.

Starfish anxiously scanned the sky.

The presence was suffocating, but strangely, I wasn’t afraid. I didn’t even have a reason for it. I just felt it would be fine.

I was right.

The divine energy that had been roiling in the sky vanished without a trace. The entire space felt severed and completely sealed off.

I couldn’t say for certain, but it felt like the tower had intervened.

“See? He can’t come here either.”

“W-who... Who are you?”

“Kwon Su-Hyeok.”

Starfish hesitated briefly, then stepped forward while still holding the child’s hand. “I’ll accept it.”

“Good. I think you’ve made the right choice.”

She approached slowly and placed her hand on the sphere of divinity I had created.

“My name is Gehenna.”

***

「Invisible message: Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has completed an act of goodwill! Savior is now lvl 30. Savior has merged into Divine Power.」

「Invisible message: The second-class god ‘The Immortal of Ideals’ has attempted to interfere with the trial. They have breached the World Provision Pact, and the Tower of Ordeal has intervened.」

「Invisible message: Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has completed the hidden mission ‘The Apostle and the Child of God.’ All stats increased by 10.」

「Invisible message: Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has obtained his first apostle.」

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