Becoming a God Starts with Acting

At the same time, on Silvanus’s personal livestream screen, tens of millions of Happy TV Network viewers were holding their breath. The chat exploded at a terrifying speed, with countless comments rapidly flashing by:

[It’s over! All three directions are completely surrounded! How is he supposed to dodge without making a sound?!]

[Aaaah! Don’t look at those CDs! It’s about to grab Silvanus by the neck!]

[Shut up, all of you! The great Lord Erebus’s priest will never fall in a mediocre place like this! He is absolute!]

[One swipe from those six arms and even iron armor would be shredded. It’s game over saos]

And yet, standing at the boundary between life and death, Silvanus was completely unlike his panicked audience.

His black hair fell over half his forehead, while his deep green eyes remained as calm as an autumn lake. Not a single hurried breath, not one unnecessary blink. His silence seemed to merge with the labyrinth’s deadly laws, and Silvanus had already noticed the difference.

The surfaces of all the other CDs clearly reflected the grotesque image of Gorin. However, the only exception was the large CD lying at an angle on the left. Its surface rippled with faint waves, like water disturbed by a passing breeze. It did not reflect the figure of the six-armed man; instead, it emanated an abnormal spatial rhythm.

Silvanus exerted force with his arms, swung his body forward, and leapt directly toward the strange disc, as though the clue had deliberately presented itself right before him.

Whoosh——!

The instant his fingers touched the metallic surface, a terrifying spatial suction force erupted from the center of the CD. It was like a void monster tearing open its maw, swallowing his arm and then dragging Silvanus’s entire body inside!

Gorin’s silhouette twisted for a split second before collapsing into wisps of black smoke, as though it were hurriedly retreating.

Sizzle... sizzle...

The livestream screen on Silvanus’s channel suddenly became severely distorted by interference. The millions of viewers could see only constantly flickering bands of static, accompanied by chilling crackling noises.

[Was the connection cut off? Did the monster swallow him?!]

[No, Silvanus’s health bar on the system interface is still intact.]

[Wait! The signal is coming back!]

Just three short seconds later, the image from the Happy TV Network system’s third camera angle immediately returned to clarity. However, the scene that appeared on the screen left the entire audience gasping in astonishment.

There was no longer any cold metallic CD maze. No longer was there the cramped studio space of Happy Audio.

Silvanus now stood in the middle of an endless space, where the entire landscape was shrouded in a bewitching scarlet red, as though woven from dark velvet and fresh blood. Beneath his feet was neither tile nor metal, but a transparent surface like glass. Every step he took sent rings of red ripples spreading outward like waves across water.

The place was eerily silent. There was no roar of monsters, nor the whistling of wind through the blades of the CDs.

Even stranger, countless floating apparitions of Gorin surrounded Silvanus. Some took the form of an elegant host smiling as he greeted the audience, while others appeared as the rampaging six-armed monster, roaring furiously. Yet none of them rushed forward to attack Silvanus. They were merely like wisps of mist, like gentle breezes brushing past his body before silently dissolving into the crimson void.

[What the hell is this?! Is this the world inside the CD?]

[That red color is seriously creepy... But why aren’t those monsters attacking him?]

[Does everyone see this? Silvanus isn’t surprised in the slightest! He already anticipated all of this!]

[That’s the wisdom of the one who represents the god Erebus! How could those filthy hosts of Happy TV possibly compare?!]

[I’ve noticed that the ID above has been praising Silvanus like crazy from the very beginning. Come on, tell us already—who the hell are you?]

Silvanus had no time to look over at the livestream room either. He stood motionless in the crimson space, his blue eyes flickering slightly.

Thump... Thump...

From deep within the heart of this scarlet world, a strange calling sound began to echo. It was deep, rhythmic, and filled with a primitive quality, like the heartbeat of an ancient creature trapped in captivity. The sound repeatedly vibrated against Silvanus’s eardrums, as though guiding him toward a certain direction. It was far stronger than it had been when he was outside.

"Is the energy source sustaining the maze over there?" Silvanus murmured, his low voice just loud enough for himself and the stream viewers to hear.

He leisurely began walking, drifting past the floating phantoms of Gorin around him without the slightest ripple in his heart, heading straight toward the source of the sound.

The deeper he ventured into the center of the scarlet space, the fewer Gorin phantoms there were, until they disappeared completely. The surrounding environment became so still that one could almost hear the sound of dust particles falling.

After several minutes of walking, Silvanus stopped before a vast expanse of empty space.

At the very center of the maze’s central axis, a pitch-black energy stone hovered in midair. The stone was about the size of an armful, its rough surface covered in sharp, jagged edges like an unpolished meteorite. From the heart of the black stone, pale violet sound waves continuously contracted and expanded, spreading throughout the surrounding space. This was the heart—the core energy source controlling the entire Happy Audio program and powering the CD maze.

Strangely enough, despite being such a crucial location, there was not a single gatekeeping monster in sight. No magical traps, no fiendish puzzles, not even a protective barrier. The central axis was laid completely bare, exposing all of its vulnerability before Silvanus.

[Good heavens, that’s the core of the maze! It’s that simple?!]

[Could this be a trap? Happy TV Network wouldn’t make it that easy!]

[It’s not a trap! This maze was designed to kill people with sound from the outside. The designer never imagined that someone would actually dare touch the CD and infiltrate all the way in here!]

[Exactly! An ordinary person would think entering here meant facing Gorin. Who would know that the Gorin inside is merely an illusion, and that he’s only truly powerful and terrifying when he appears outside?!]

Silvanus looked up at the pitch-black stone hovering before him. He did not hesitate in the slightest, nor did he waste time speculating or wavering. He simply raised his slender, pale hand forward.

Wooooo——

From the depths of his palm, a dense darkness as deep as an abyss suddenly erupted. It was the primordial power extracted from the God Realm. The darkness twisted around his fist, radiating a divine pressure so overwhelming that the crimson space around him rippled violently.

"How dull. You dare challenge me like this and expect me to summon Him?"

Silvanus spoke in a flat, indifferent tone. Once again, he flawlessly performed the role of a Priest devoted wholeheartedly to his deity before the livestream cameras.

"Return to the void, in the name of Lord Erebus."

BOOM!

Silvanus swung his arm and drove his fist straight into the center of the black energy stone.