After Ten Millennia in Hell

Side Story Chapter 151 - Tower of Creation (9)

‘Holy shit, this is frickin’ insane!’

Oh Kang-Woo’s eyes widened as he stared at the sponsor messages before him.

‘Six hundred— no, seven hundred thousand?’

The amount of Nebula he was sponsored in total would add up to around that much. Not even Kang-Woo expected to be sponsored this much.

‘Are they still swimming in Nebula?’

He wondered if he had even made a dent in the Constellations’ wallets.

‘No, I expected them to have reserves they haven’t been using.’

However, Kang-Woo had not expected them to be hiding this much.

“Fuuu,” Kang-Woo exhaled heatedly.

Of course, even this amount of Nebula was nothing to gush over.

‘Because I’m sure it’s not their entire savings.’

If an individual possessed one million won to their name, they naturally wouldn’t donate all of it to a streamer just because they found the stream entertaining.

‘Well, I’ve heard there were people like that.’

But Kang-Woo did not think Constellations would make such stupid choices.

‘In other words.’

The Constellations still had heaps of Nebula left over.

“Hehehe,” Kang-Woo chuckled in a way no one could hear him.

His ultimate goal was to conquer the tower in one month as he promised his Darling and suck as much Nebula from the Constellations as possible in the process. He would need to cloud the Constellations’ judgment and induce them into making illogically stupid decisions.

‘But doing something like this makes it feel like I’m hosting an illicit stream.’

For example, sleeping with a viewer who donated to them the most.

‘But streamers like that tend to make the most money.’

People were reluctant to spend money if they received nothing in return for it but it was a different story if there was a clear reward in sight— the opportunity to make Kang-Woo their apostle.

‘I’ll have to think of more ways to extort them.’

Kang-Woo held himself back from bursting out into laughter.

“I’ll be going, then,” he said to the apostles.

He managed to get a lot more Nebula from the Constellations than expected. It might come back to bite him in the ass if he pushed it further.

He stared at the apostles, eyes full of frustration and resentment, and said, “I hope you won’t prepare something like this again.”

“...”

“...”

There was no response. They did not want to go through this farce either.

“Well,” Kang-Woo said as he smirked. “I suppose it doesn’t matter since we won’t ever meet again.”

“What... do you mean?” asked Rebecca, the apostle of the God of Compassion, as she flinched.

Her eyes widened as she stared at Kang-Woo, having realized something.

“N-No way!! Are you planning on climbing to the forty-first floor right away?!”

“Of course.” Kang-Woo shrugged as if it was no big deal.

Rebecca bit her lip and shook her head. “You know you have to fight a boss monster to reach the forty-first floor, don’t you?!”

“Of course, I do.”

Kang-Woo learned from climbing the tower that boss monsters appeared every ten floors.

“Th-The boss of the forty-first floor is on another level compared to the bosses below!! Even when we challenged it... we just barely fulfilled the failure condition after dozens died...”

Rebecca clenched her fists as she shut her eyes tightly, not wanting to remember. The forty-first floor had not been cleared yet so the challengers couldn’t give up whenever they liked. In other words, no matter how unbeatable the enemy was, sacrifices needed to be made to fulfill the failure conditions.

Rebecca advised, “You need to make ample preparations on the fortieth floor before you attempt it.”

According to Kang-Woo’s research on the first floor, there was a saying among the apostles.

‘The clue to climb to the next floor always exists on that floor.’

In other words, one could never clear the Trial Zone that led to the forty-first floor if they did not make ample preparations on the fortieth floor.

“It might be necessary for you people, not for me,” Kang-Woo remarked.

“You...”

“Whoa, there. Let’s not make such scary faces. Why don’t you calm down?”

“How can I stay calm in such a situation?! If you challenge the trial without any preparation and die... the great God of Compassion will...”

“That dude doesn’t like me that much.”

“H-How could you call the great Constellation dude?!”

“In any case, you don’t have to worry about that.” Kang-Woo pointed to the ceiling with his index finger. “I’m going all the way to the top.”

“Where... is that confidence coming from?”

“That gentleman named Vincent is one of the Seven Stars or whatever they were called, right?” Kang-Woo asked as he pointed at the apostle who tried to punch him and was sprawled out on the ground covered in kimchi stew.

He had already gathered heaps of information about the Seven Stars, the most powerful apostles, on the first floor.

“Yes... that’s right.” Rebecca nodded in a daze.

She had taken a while to realize it because of the chaos but the man in front of her had neutralized one of the Seven Stars in one move.

“Did all the Seven Stars participate in the forty-first-floor trial?” Kang-Woo asked.

“Yes... all except one.”

“In that case.” Kang-Woo leisurely turned around. “Who do you think would win? Me, or all of the Seven Stars combined?”

“...”

Rebecca recalled Vincent fighting valiantly with nimbus clouds against a white dragon in the Trial Zone that led to the forty-first floor. However, such a strong person was utterly defeated.

“Who... are you?” Rebecca asked as she bit her lip and shakingly stared at Kang-Woo. “How can you possess such power... when you’re not even an apostle?”

Climbers occasionally possessed powers like magic or martial arts before entering the tower. They accomplished great feats in the tutorial and managed to be sponsored greatly by the Constellations. However, none such as Kang-Woo had ever appeared in the centuries worth of the tower’s history.

“I am...” He turned slightly to look at Rebecca as he walked to the temple exit. He said as if it was nothing, “The Demon King.”

“Pardon...?”

“Haha! It was just a joke.”

Kang-Woo turned away from the frowning Rebecca and walked out of the temple.

***

“Is that him?”

“Yeah, he climbed to the fortieth floor in only a week.”

“That’s crazy! There’s no way!!”

Apostles were mumbling in front of the temple entrance. Kang-Woo walked past the apostles who were looking at him as if he were a monkey in a zoo and headed to the Gate that led to the next floor.

‘I’m halfway there, huh?’

He was planning on slowing down his climb a little from now on.

‘I won’t be meeting any apostles from now on anyway.’

No one had yet set foot on the forty-first floor; it was a completely uncharted zone. The Constellations’ interest in him would skyrocket once he set foot on the new floor.

‘That’s when the real shit begins.’

Kang-Woo kept walking as he thought of ways to suck the Constellations dry.

“Right, then! Here’s to another day of tower climbing!!!” he shouted as he turned around and raised his arms high.

[The ‘God of Games’ stomps in excitement!]

[The ‘God of Heaven’ stares at you with his fists clenched!]

[The ‘God of Adventure’ is excited by the uncharted adventure!]

The Constellations also seemed to be looking forward to the forty-first floor based on the barrage of messages.

‘Man, it looks like I’ll get tons of sponsors once I reach the next floor.’

Kang-Woo smirked as he read through the Constellations’ messages. Just then, he got a message that was different from the rest.

[The ‘God of Compassion’ stares at you with concern!]

[The ‘God of Compassion’ brings you a revelation!]

[The ‘God of Compassion’ has brought a revelation to a climber who is not their apostle. Applying a restriction to the ‘God of Compassion.’]

“Hm?”

‘A revelation?’

[It is too dangerous to climb the tower now.]

“Eh?”

‘The hell? What’s up with this guy this time?’

“Are you worried I’ll die in the Trial Zone?” asked Kang-Woo with a frown.

He wasn’t complaining; he was genuinely curious about why the God of Compassion was acting like this.

‘There’s no way he doesn’t know I can reach the forty-first floor after seeing what I’m capable of.’

He could understand the apostles' actions in the temple but the Constellations saw Kang-Woo’s climbing journey.

‘He knows I can easily reach the next floor.’

[No, I am well aware you can reach the forty-first floor.]

“Then... why are you telling me not to?”

[If you climb so soon, that bitch— I mean... ahem. I apologize for my language.] n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“No, it’s okay.”

[Anyway, that crazy old hag will dig her bony-ass fingers into you at this rate.]

“I think you should’ve stopped at bitch, great Constellation. Who are you referring to?”

[The—]

Riiing!

[The ‘God of Depravity’ shows interest in you!]

‘Oh? Is it finally happening?’

The God of Depravity was the highest-ranking Constellation who only accepted the demons of Pandemonium as her apostles. She was the closest one to becoming the brightest star. She was so famous that Kang-Woo had heard even the God of Heaven and Adventure yielded to her.

‘Yeah, I was expecting her to come.’

Kang-Woo couldn’t help but smile. He had heard she only made demons of Pandemonium her apostles but she was bound to take an interest in Kang-Woo after all of his feats.

‘Well, I doubt she knows I’m a demon too.’

He could perfectly conceal his identity using the Deific Essence of Lies, so those whose Deific Essence were of lower rank than him couldn’t figure out his true identity. Of course, that applied to the God of Depravity as well.

[The ‘God of Depravity’ examines you from head to toe as she licks her lips.]

‘Come to think of it, I’ve heard the God of Depravity is a bit of a freak.’

Kang-Woo even wondered if the God of Compassion was talking about the God of Depravity when he was talking mad shit.

‘How bad could she be?’

Kang-Woo chuckled. He was a king who ruled over the demons of the Nine Hells. However much of a freak she was, she wouldn’t come close to those crazy demons.

Riiing!

[The ‘God of Depravity’ brings you a revelation!]

[The ‘God of Depravity’ uses Nebula to force the revelation!]

[The ‘God of Depravity’ has brought a revelation to a climber who is not their apostle. Applying a restriction to the ‘God of Depravity.’]

‘She even forced it? How important is it?’

[Underwear color?]

[The ‘God of Depravity’ is curious about the color of your underwear!!!]

“...”

‘What’s up with this bitch?’