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Chapter 74

[Using the trumpet was a good idea,] Legba said.

I nodded. Simply showing a miracle was not impactful enough. Therefore, I used the trumpet to first blind their vision and create confusion, and then appeared before them by impersonating ‘God.’ By impersonating God, I had the strongest ethos one could have.

This ethos naturally fulfilled pathos and logos. Since it came from a god, the natives had no choice but to listen to me and be convinced by my logic.

"───! ───!"

"──! ────!"

The natives, still kneeling and bowing their heads under the tower, shouted in excitement.

Although I still had not fully mastered their language, I could easily understand what they were saying. They were praising me, the impersonated god, while shouting in obedience and reverence.

"I wonder if this is blasphemy," I muttered to myself, looking down at the prostrated indigenous people from the top of the tower.

Even if it was an act committed to pass the test, blasphemy was still blasphemy. After all, I had impersonated a god. Hoping that the judging panel would consider my actions, I sat in the middle of the tower and leaned against a wall. I had used the power of both Marinette and Soba to aid in my impersonation. It was the first time using the power of two Loas at once, so it had put quite a burden on my body.

Crunch.

At that moment, a chilling sound echoed from behind me. Startled, I turned my head to look, but all I could see was darkness. It seemed like the noise was caused by the wind or some kind of wild animal. Although I was a little suspicious, I made an effort to dismiss my doubts and stood up from my seat. Brushing off the dirt and dust clinging to my clothes, I glanced briefly down at the bottom of the tower.

"...Oh my."

A pitch-black darkness was spread out below the cliff, greeting me. The cliff was so high that I couldn\'t even gauge how far up I was properly. All I could do was vaguely guess that I was pretty far above the ground.

Bossou.

I called out Bossou in a whisper so small that no one could hear me. As I used Bossou\'s power, my body, which had been chilled by the cold of the desert, suddenly burned hot. My heart raced, and I could feel my blood boiling. Along with that, the bubbling rage for battle drove away my fear.

Tast!

The moment fear had been driven away from my body, I threw myself down the tower. The air, filled with the darkness and coldness of the desert, brushed against my body. Soon, the darkness faded away, and I was greeted by a pure white sandy beach. Just before I landed in the desert head first, I twisted my body and landed on the ground on my feet.

Thud!

"Ouch, ugh."

I had expected it, but it seemed like my legs were broken. Although it was just phantom pain, it still felt quite real. Holding onto my broken left leg, I forced myself to suppress the groans and slowly moved away from the construction site.

Anyway, the construction had stopped. I had fulfilled the condition stated in the note. However, strangely enough, I didn\'t hear any announcements about passing the test or crossing a checkpoint. It wasn\'t an error. It simply meant that the test had not yet ended.

"..."

In order to finish the test, I had to fulfill another condition besides stopping the construction. I already knew what that condition was.

"Ugh, my leg," I groaned and sat down in the middle of the desert.

I found a dry branch and used it as a brace for my leg. It wasn’t the best, but it was better than nothing. At the same time, I clenched my hands and filled them with desert sand.

‘Be careful of your back.’ That was the prophecy and advice that Baron Samedi had given me.

Remembering that, I turned my head back.

Shaaa—!

Immediately, I scattered sand into the air. The sand grains rode the wind and scattered, but something invisible soon blocked them. Eventually, the form of something that had been spying on me from beyond the darkness throughout the test was revealed.

"... I was wondering how long you were going to keep pretending not to know,” the figure said as he nonchalantly took off his coat.

He had taken off the holy artifact called The Gown of the Shem Brothers. It altered the sight of others, making the wearer practically invisible. Although their performance could not be compared, The Gown of the Shem Brothers was a holy artifact that rivaled the Fourth Angel\'s Horn in terms of price alone.

"How did you know? I was being so careful," Jun-Hyuk asked roughly as he brushed off the dust on his coat.

I could vaguely make out a smile in the darkness.

"We’re in a desert, and you left footprints in the sand."

"Huh? But I only moved when it was windy to cover up my steps. You saw my prints through that?”

"Well... yes."

"Amazing, truly amazing," Jun-Hyuk exclaimed, clapping briefly.

Jun-Hyuk had only moved when the wind blew, so he left no footprints. I figured that out, and I focused on the footprints that appeared and disappeared the moment the wind blew.

"That thing, with the lightning and the pillar of fire. How did you do that?" Finally, Jun-Hyuk brushed off all the sand from his coat and crammed it into his backpack.

"All thanks to a holy artifact." I made up a suitable excuse.

"Really? How much is it worth? It seems like it would be very expensive based on what it was doing."

"It\'s extremely expensive. You can’t buy it with money.”

“...Ey? Can’t buy with money? Then how’d you get your hands on it?” Jun-Hyuk said, clearly taken back. “Anyway, you knew from the beginning that I was following you. Why did you pretend not to know until now? I don\'t understand.”

“I didn\'t know what your intentions were. But now I do.”

“...What do you mean?” Jun-Hyuk tilted his head.

Shortly after the second checkpoint began, a note had fallen from the sky. There was a sentence at the top of the note: Overcome numerous obstacles and halt the construction of the <Babel Tower>! The keywords were, of course, to stop the construction of Babel Tower, but at the same time, it was also about overcoming numerous obstacles.

Jun-Hyuk had been following me for no reason, and the note said to overcome numerous obstacles. Combining these two clues, I came to a single conclusion.

"Your goal is not to halt the construction of the tower but to get in my way, right?"

Jun-Hyuk and I had been given different goals from the start.

My goal was to stop the construction of the tower. The test was structured in a way where if I stopped the construction of the tower within the time limit, it would be my victory, and if not, it would be Jun-Hyuk\'s.

"Oh... Wow, you\'re sharp," Jun-Hyuk said, seemingly slightly surprised. He pursed his lips pursed and nodded his head.

Judging by his reaction, it seemed like my deduction was somewhat accurate. Silence filled the air.

Snap!

"Well, here\'s a question for you!" Jun-Hyuk said, flicking his finger. With that cheerful sound, the silence in the desert crumbled.

"...What do you mean question—?"

"If my goal was to hinder you, why didn\'t I stop you earlier?" Jun-Hyuk said, smiling innocently and brightly like a child amidst the thick and sticky darkness.

I couldn\'t easily give an answer to Jun-Hyuk\'s question. I got lost in my thoughts while trying to ignore the pain of my broken left leg.

According to my theory, Jun-Hyuk\'s goal was to hinder me or, in other other words, prevent me from stopping the construction process. If that were the case, he should have done something to stop me before the construction came to a halt. However, Jun-Hyuk only followed me without any interference or sabotage while I was persuading the indigenous people to stop the construction of the tower. If my theory was correct, then Jun-Hyuk\'s behavior was definitely odd.

"..."

No, at this moment... it was more reasonable to think that my theory was wrong rather than to label Jun-Hyuk\'s behavior as strange.

"It’s weird, right?" Jun-Hyuk said.

I stared at Jun-Hyuk\'s faint face that hung in the darkness without nodding or shaking my head. The silence seemed to become even thicker and heavier as it mixed with the darkness of the desert. Gulp. The sound of me swallowing saliva felt extremely exaggerated.

"If your deduction is correct, then I should’ve lost by default the moment the construction stopped... But why did I stay still while you were stopping the construction?" Jun-Hyuk asked with a hint of mockery in his tone.

He rummaged through his bag, looking for something. Instinctively, I felt the need to run away. However, my broken leg defied me. I was struggling to keep my body standing straight, let alone get away from him.

"Even if you were successful in stopping the construction... Ah, here it is." Jun-Hyuk took something out of his bag.

It was a holy artifact. I couldn\'t tell what it was exactly, but it had a menacing appearance, resembling a cannon that had been shrunk down.

He unleashed divine power into the holy artifact.

Tsssk...

A sound like a burning fuse came from the holy artifact. The sound increased menacingly as seconds passed. Soon, the holy artifact began to tremble like a cannon moments before firing.

"Anyway, in conclusion, my goal was not to \'prevent you from stopping the construction of the tower,\' but to \'defeat you\'~ You know what I’m saying?"

TSSSSK–!

The sound of the burning fuse grew louder. Jun-Hyuk’s canon was aimed at me.

“The conclusion is, whether you stopped the construction of the tower or not, it was none of my concern. I only had to deal with you. Easy peasy, right?”

Thud.

The sound of a match being struck stopped. Instead, it was replaced by a dry sound that a pistol made after pulling the trigger. The sound felt incredibly eerie and terrifying.

─Bossou.

There was no response. It was too late.

"Anyway, I’ll see you outside!"

Boom!

A shot echoed. Along with it, a cannonball that had sprung out from the holy artifact cleanly passed through my forehead.