Chapter 548: [A Godless World] (16)
Despair filled John’s heart as he remembered what he was kneeling before. Clinging to the last shred of hope he had left, he shouted without hesitation, pleading for God to descend, to accept him, and to shelter him.
He had seen the Hiers before—those beings favored above all others. He could not understand what he lacked compared to them.
If I have truly come here... then please... please...
Whatever stands before me—whether a God or something else entirely—
Please... please save me. Please!
Crack... crack... crack...
Suddenly, the sound of bones twisting echoed through the air.
The agony John had been dreading never came.
His index finger twitched.
Only then did he realize that he could move again.
Almost instantly, he raised his head. Sweat, tears, and mucus dripped from his chin. His brows twisted together as he forced his eyes open and timidly turned around.
Behind him, the monster that had terrified him beyond reason had been twisted into an unimaginable shape. Its five heads let out an endless chorus of agonized moans.
Based on the clues the dungeon had given them, no matter how slow John might have been, he could now guess that these were the vengeful spirits of the victims from Room 601. He had assumed that once these spirits appeared, they would be the dungeon’s final boss.
He had never imagined they could be subdued so effortlessly.
John’s gaze immediately returned to the shrine as he repeatedly kowtowed before it.
"I shall grant you one chance to leave this place alive..."
Suddenly, a mysterious voice echoed—not through the air, but from the deepest recesses of John’s mind.
John immediately slammed his forehead against the floor again and again, frantically displaying his devotion.
"It was You who saved me. It was You who saved me! If it is Your will, I’ll do anything. Please... I want to live."
"I desire many... many people to die willingly. As long as they do not realize they are walking toward their own deaths, then it is considered voluntary. Do you understand?"
John couldn’t help recalling what had just happened. He hurriedly replied, nodding over and over,
"Y-Yes... of course. I’ll offer their lives to You!"
No answer came.
In an instant, everything before him dissolved like mist. When his vision cleared, he found himself standing before the tightly shut door of his bedroom. The corridor was silent, completely deserted.
Only then did John clutch at his chest, where waves of pain were wracking his heart. He struggled to breathe. As he forced himself to his feet, he realized his clothes were completely soaked, and the cold night breeze sent chills running through his body.
Damn it... This dungeon isn’t normal!
He had to finish everything as quickly as possible and get out of this place.
With that thought, John hurried back into his room.
...
Not long before, while John had been struggling on the brink of death, inside Room 606...
Ember searched every corner of the room but found no clues whatsoever. The room was spotless and completely empty, save for a thin layer of dust. Its owner had evidently been gone for a very long time.
Creak...
The window at one side occasionally rattled in the night wind, causing the curtain to flutter gently as it swept across Ember’s shadow.
There was no shrine.
No mirror.
Not even a single clue.
It seemed he would have to return empty-handed.
Just as the thought crossed Ember’s mind, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind him.
"See? I told you. Without me, you wouldn’t find anything, you arrogant jerk!"
Adrian always walked without making a sound. Aside from the first time, when he’d startled him badly, Ember had long since grown used to it.
His expression turned cold as he looked back at Adrian.
"Didn’t I tell you to stay in your room and wait for me?"
Ember’s face was always intimidating.
When he was angry, that intimidation multiplied severalfold.
Seeing his expression, Adrian instinctively shrank back a little.
"I-I just wanted to help you..."
Before he could finish speaking, Ember suddenly shot out a hand and clamped it tightly around his throat.
Ember’s gaze was terrifyingly cold.
"You’re not Adrian."
As he spoke, his grip tightened without the slightest hesitation or doubt.
"N-No! Have you gone crazy, Ember—"
Before he could finish, his voice became hoarse, strangled by the crushing force around his neck.
The next instant, his body abruptly dissolved into a mass of pitch-black spirit energy, from which countless black hands shot toward Ember’s throat.
At such close range, Ember should have had no chance of surviving.
But the creature had clearly underestimated him.
Ember suddenly leaped backward, and in the blink of an eye, he had appeared behind it.
At the same time, a massive baseball bat materialized in his hand.
Bang!
The bat came crashing down, and the grotesque creature instantly scattered into smoke.
It was the very first low-tier item every Artist saw upon opening the Store for the first time—a Ghost-Smashing Bat, priced at a mere 5 Credits.
It was capable of crushing low-level vengeful spirits, though it had two obvious drawbacks: it was ridiculously heavy, and it lacked any sense of style whatsoever.
Besides, once inside a dungeon, most people prioritized items that enhanced their Skills or possessed overwhelming destructive power.
Other than Ember, only three people had ever bothered buying it.
[Every time I see Ember ignoring his Skill and just using that bat, I’m speechless.]
[Well, water can’t exactly attack anything. At best, it can put out fires. LOL.]
[Still... I can’t accept that Ember’s Skill is just water manipulation. Seriously, it’s so disappointing.]
[Exactly! At least give him something like volcanic eruption or whatever.]
[Maybe he’s being this frugal because he wants to save up and replace his Skill later.]
[Ember has never once said he dislikes his Skill. Stop making things up.]
Meanwhile, Ember had already slung the baseball bat over his shoulder and hurried out of the room.
That thing had managed to disguise itself as Adrian and approach him.
There was no guarantee that something else wouldn’t disguise itself as him and approach Adrian in return.
The thought made Ember’s expression grow even colder.
He immediately quickened his pace.