A Divine Spirit.
I had sensed that the giant was dangerous, but this was beyond my common sense.
Spirits could not descend to the lower realm directly.
They were beings of the upper realm, and the system strictly separated and distinguished the upper and lower realms.
Even if they were Divine Spirits born from this world, they could not fully come down to their own world.
They had to receive all kinds of adjustments to be able to send down their avatars, their split or incarnated bodies, to the lower realm.
But what I just saw was not something that could be called an avatar.
True body.
The Divine Spirit I just saw was its own self.
âWhat the hell is going on?â
âI donât know either.â
Lean was also confused by why the author was here.
âI heard that Georen sent the great five sisters to leave his power behind and gather candidates.â
Georen, the god of Glacalis.
The ruler of the northern continent, the idol of the guardians, and the Divine Spirit of this world.
Such a Georen was left in the lower realm in a hideous form like a frost giant.
âWhy is Georen⊠there? And why is he like thatâŠâ
ââŠWhatever happened, itâs not a normal situation.â
I recalled the red jewel embedded in Georenâs chest.
In the center of it, where others could not see, there was a fragment of the Codex.
It had a sinister aura that made me uneasy.
âThis is crazy.â
I found the fragment. But it was not simply lying on the road.
It was stuck in the chest of the Divine Spirit of this world, who was said to be dead.
I compared Georen and the frost giant.
The frost giant looked like a degraded copy of Georenâs current appearance.
No matter how I tried to think positively, I could not help but think that the existence of the frost giant originated from Georen.
Then it was the same for this frozen landâs curse.
âLetâs go back. Itâs better than staying here like this. We have to explain to the othersâŠâ
âHow?â
âWhat?â
âHow do you expect us to explain?â
Lean still could not erase Georenâs image from her mind.
To them, Georen was the god of this world.
Especially Lean, who was one of the candidates who had decided to succeed Georen as the god of this world, knew him well.
The god of great warriors.
He was the one who led them to the land of salvation when they died.
How would people believe it if they said that Georen was actually the root of this worldâs curse and had degenerated into a monster?
No, even if they believed it, what then?
How would they react to the fact that the great god was trying to kill them himself?
âPeople will be in chaos.â
âSo you want us to just sit back and do nothing?â
I frowned.
âYou said youâve been looking for it for 32 years. The cause is right in front of you, and you want to just ignore it? Besides, thereâs a traitor inside⊠Sigh. Anyway, we canât just leave it like this after weâve finally found out.â
âThen what do you want to do?â
âWe have to tell them. Thereâs a traitor, and the god of this world has become a monster.â
âThere will be chaos. The people who are barely holding on to hope, what do you think theyâll do when they hear that?â
âWe have to do it anyway. Or else weâll all die.â
âWe canât fight Georen! Heâs the god of this world!â
âIf we donât fight! Then do you want us to live for another 68 years without dying and then perish?!â
I couldnât help but yell at Lean.
At my shout, Lean clenched her fist.
He knew that too. If they continued like this, the survivors of Gardian would inevitably face extinction.
But fighting Georen was another problem. They would die anyway if they fought against such a being.
It would be better to endure somehow with 68 years of grace than that.
Georen was absolute to them.
âGeoren is a god. And we canât win against a god.â
âGod. God. Youâve been saying god since before.â
I glared at him with a scowl and bared my teeth.
âThe ones you serve are Divine Spirits, not gods.â
âThen what are you saying if Divine Spirits are not gods?â
âThey are just superior to us, not omnipotent. They obtained the power of stars by breaking out of their rank, but they are not immortal gods. They also die and decline in the end, and are crushed by greater powers.â
âBut in this world, they are omnipotent.â
âOmnipotent? Such an omnipotent being sensed his end and chose candidates for his successor?â
I snorted at his absurd words.
âYou and the others are all deluded. You think the Divine Spirits are great gods that you canât resist.â
I didnât like that word from the beginning.
It was the same when I was on Earth.
I hated seeing people who claimed that the World of Thought was a punishment from God and that they had to obey his will.
They were not gods.
They were just wearing the shells of gods.
âIf everything is according to Godâs will, if we, mere mortals, can never resist God, then why are we living?â
The weak want to be dominated.
Those who lack self-reliance or want to escape from the harsh reality look for something to lean on, and reaching the end of it is their blind worship of God.
They claim to serve them with faith and devotion, but
To Yu-hyun, it was all nonsense.
âTheyâre all just running away.â
They were ultimately relying on a colossal power.
How was that different from turning their backs and fleeing from the hard reality?
They submitted to the power and hoped that the God who ruled them was good. They wrapped their own weakness of being unable to resist them in faith, and drove away those who could not do the same as unbelievers.
They were like cowards.
The Divine Spirit is not God.
There is no God in this world.
There are only people who create the illusion of God and depend on it.
There was never a firm absolute being that humans could rely on absolutely from the beginning.
âThen, what do you want us to do?â
âWe have to fight. Until the last one of us falls.â
ââŠNot everyone can be that strong. Some might prefer to die by conforming to that power rather than resisting it.â
âI know. Thatâs why I wonât force you. I wonât stop those who run away, and Iâll respect those who make that choice. But I will fight.â
Nothing can change without fighting. People had to break the wall that blocked their way with a hammer at some point.
Even in the past, in the midst of the apocalypse, Yu-hyun saved people to resist the world that wanted them all dead. đđłâŻâŻđâŻđ«đđđđđ”.đ€đ°đ¶
That was his fight. His struggle to resist the world that oppressed him with power.
That march of hardship could not stop even in this place that boasted a coldness that could freeze even his lungs.
âYouâŠâ
When Ryan met Yu-hyunâs unwavering eyes, he felt himself shrinking.
His appearance was no different from when he walked around with his head down, thinking he was worthless.
âI havenât changed even after decades.â
Ryan was ashamed of himself.
What was his effort for?
What did he endure until here for?
âWhat do I want to do?â
He wanted to save them. He wanted to restore this world to its former state.
He wanted to send the souls that were frozen and killed in this present world back to the land of salvation.
It was not Kairaâs will or someone elseâs coercion.
He just wanted to do it himself.
ââŠGive me some time.â
âThatâs surprising.â
Yu-hyun loosened his tense forehead.
âI thought you would just vaguely escape from reality.â
âI realized that I shouldnât. Or maybe I knew it from the start. So give me some time to answer.â
ââŠI canât give you much time. Time is passing by, and people are getting exhausted. You and me.â
âI know. It wonât take long.â
Ryan said so much that Yu-hyun didnât press him any further. He didnât even have any intention of doing so in the first place.
âMaybe Kaira really trusted you and left her traces like this.â
Kaira led her sisters and candidates to the source of the curse.
She must have done that. She must have recognized Georen. Kaira must have fought him. She must have given courage to her sisters who despaired in front of Georen, and stayed until the end to protect this world.
But she didnât come back. She lost in the end in her fight against Georen.
But her traces remained.
She made a deal with the system, and used her appearance to save this world.
She still had hope.
Because Ryan, who could be called the last key of this world, was still alive.
ââŠâ
Ryan neither denied nor affirmed Yu-hyunâs words.
***
After that, the two returned to Guardian.
After learning such shocking facts today, they had no energy left to explore other areas. They didnât need to explore other areas since they already knew the truth.
They found out where the curse of frost came from and who caused it.
It should have been a happy thing to find out the cause they had been looking for desperately for 32 years, but solving it was a completely different thing.
Especially after realizing that there was a traitor inside, they had to be more careful than ever.
After parting with Ryan at the gate and plaza, Yu-hyun went straight back to his inn and locked himself in his room.
âWho is it? Who deliberately erased those traces and blocked the way?â
He pondered as he lay on the bed that smelled of rags.
The traitor didnât go to that place just once. He wandered around the area at least ten times, checking if anyone had noticed the secret passage.
The traitor was more careful and meticulous than he thought.
I had been hiding from others for a long time, so I could figure out the patterns of the scoutsâ movements.
âThe first ones to suspect would be those who claimed to have explored this area.â
The key was whether there was a record at the scout headquarters. But what came to my mind was what Lean had said.
âThe Emperor of Frechen and his knights often wandered around there.â
What did the Emperor of Frechen want, leading his followers around the outside?
Could he be thinking of reviving the fallen empire?
If so, he was doing well in this Guardian, except for being hostile to Lean.
Without the magic circle, he couldnât overcome the curse of the frozen land, no matter how much he reclaimed the empireâs territory.
Was he trying to restore a hollow empire? Or did he have another way?
âThe most suspicious one was the Emperor of Frechen. But I couldnât be sure.â
More than anything, even if he was really a traitor, it would be hard to make him pay for it.
Considering the number and power of his followers, it wouldnât be strange if the Guardian was split in half.
Even if his followers were shocked by Frechenâs betrayal and turned their backs on him, the imperial knights who had served him for 32 years were unlikely to do so.
Maybe they knew and kept silent.
If I accused Frechen of being a traitor as it was, a big fight would be inevitable.
Many people would die.
When I might have to fight with Geon as well, I couldnât afford to cut my own flesh.
âWhat does Lean think?â
I had a lot of conversations with Lean, but I still didnât know what he really wanted.
What I knew was only the truth that I had guessed by forcing a few clues together.
Even if the rough things matched, I couldnât know the details.
âKaira! Come down and eat!â
Bellaâs loud voice reached the second floor from below.
I didnât feel like eating because my head was complicated, but I couldnât refuse it.
Bella didnât compromise on anything but starving. She couldnât stand wasting this precious food.
As I went down the stairs, Bella greeted me and asked me when she saw my face.
âHuh? You donât look so good?â
I smiled and shrugged it off lightly.
âItâs nothing. I just went too far and got a little tired.â
âThat doesnât sound like it.â
Bella said that and put a large pot of soup on the center of the table.
As I sat at the table, I wondered about Bellaâs situation.
âBy the way, Iâm curious about something.â
âYeah? What is it?â
âBella, why did you open an inn here?â
There was nothing left in this world but Guardian. Well, maybe there were survivors in other parts of the continent, but for now, Guardian was everything.
The people who lived here had their own homes. So there was no need for an inn.
It wasnât a place where outsiders would come.
âOh. Iâm sorry if it was a difficult question to answer.â
âNo? No, donât worry. Itâs not like that. Yeah. You asked me why I run an inn?â
âYes.â
âItâs because of my husband.â
âYour husband? You were married?â
Bella chuckled at my honest question.
âYeah. I was married. A long time ago. When I was a young maiden.â
âBut, your husbandâŠâ
âHe died. More than 20 years ago. He didnât come back after working as a scout.â
ââŠâ
âI run this inn because of that. It was his dream originally. He wanted to run an inn and I wanted to cook in the kitchen. That was our goal, to welcome guests.â
Even though her husband didnât come back and died.
She couldnât quit this job.
It was not only hers, but also his dream that she loved.
âI believe that spring will come someday. I did before, and my mind hasnât changed now. The dead man wonât come back. But someday spring will come back, and the country will prosper, and people will increase. Then I will continue this inn business.â
She inherited the will of the dead person.
So she couldnât stop.
For them, as well as for the living people, they had to keep living.
âItâs not just me. Everyone who lives in Guardian probably has a similar thought. Some may have given up already, but at least there are some who havenât. Even if the world freezes over, we are still alive.â
âI seeâŠâ
I nodded quietly and ate the soup.
The soup that I always thought was delicious and warm filled my body with more warmth than usual today.