The Heavenly Demon Destroys the Tower - Chapter 116

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 116
“When you consider all of humanity, am I truly among the most wicked? Kings who slaughtered tens of thousands are legion, and slave traders have existed in every age. How could an adventurer like me possibly rank among the Seven Deadly Sins?”
Columbus, voicing his grievances on the B1 Map in the Sea of Darkness.
And then he added:
“I am told I am guilty of erasing a certain ‘Possibility.'”
He revealed the charge that had made him one of the Seven Deadly Sins of the First Tower.
What possibility could Columbus, discoverer of the New World, have destroyed?
At that moment, Lee Kang-han couldn’t pinpoint anything specific among the many possibilities.
‘But afterward, through the eyes of an adventurer, I liberated three Constellations.’
The three Constellations Lee Kang-han had freed back then were:
‘The Feathered Serpent,’ ‘The Smoking Mirror,’ and ‘The Hummingbird of the South.’
The three were deities from Aztec Mythology.
Though no one believes in them as gods now, they once held prominence as principal deities of the American Continent.
‘Could it be that the Possibility Columbus erased was referring to these three gods?’
Because he discovered the New World,
the native peoples were ultimately wiped out, and their faith vanished.
After clearing the B1 ‘Sea of Death,’
when the hidden reward was unlocked, the gods that emerged were precisely them.
It was a deduction worth considering.
But then.
‘Nero, on the other hand, cultivated Possibility…….’
If erasing Possibility caused gods to disappear,
then did Nero, who cultivated Possibility, actually create gods?
‘Or perhaps he merely developed an existing religion further.’
Lee Kang-han made his own conjectures about the matter of cultivating Possibility, then
turned his gaze toward Nero.
“Did you ever promote any particular religion?”
[Religion……?]
“Yes. Whether you had people believe more strongly in a certain god, for instance.”
[Not particularly……? Ah. Of course, as an artist, I did favor Apollo, the god of the arts, but that was merely a personal preference. As Rome’s ruler, I never showed excessive favoritism toward any particular deity!]
Even though he favored Apollo, patron of the arts,
it seemed he hadn’t actively promoted any god in particular.
‘Hmm. I can’t be certain for now.’
Lee Kang-han had never been particularly versed in history to begin with.
And this ‘Possibility’ might have nothing to do with gods at all.
It felt premature to fix his thinking so firmly on the divine.
“Well, then. I suppose you’ve answered what I needed to ask. Shall we part ways cleanly?”
[Wha…… What? Haven’t you gotten all the answers you asked for!]
“So you wanted to stay alive for this? Now it’s time to say goodbye.”
[Wait……! A performance opportunity, I can’t just throw this away……! Just once, couldn’t I play the Lyre?]
How persistent.
Columbus had died cleanly enough,
but Nero was clinging desperately to life.
“Your Highness! He might revive if you hand him over! I think it’s better to just crush him!”
[No, no! I swear it as an emperor! Even if the audience is only five hundred, a modest number! Still, before these spectators, I’ll perform just one final piece and depart……!]
Incredibly persistent.
Still,
‘If I grant him this last wish, might my Clear Evaluation Rank improve?’
This B2 Floor felt as though he’d cleared it too easily.
His intuition suggested he might receive a Clear Rank of S.
But if he let Nero perform and then killed him,
perhaps his Clear Rank would rise even higher.
“Fine, then. But if you try anything funny, you die on the spot, understood?”
[With that insane inferno from the wings around……, how could I possibly resist…….]
Nero, thoroughly intimidated by the sight of the Flame Angel Wings,
showed not the slightest hint of resistance.
Whoosh!
Lee Kang-han tossed the Lyre to him.
[Excellent……!]
Click!
Nero took it in hand.
[Wreathed in pure white flames, an artist making their final performance with the instrument of my death. How splendid!]
He delighted in his own company and began plucking the Lyre.
Ting. Ting!
An ancient instrument.
Lee Kang-han wondered what sound it would produce.
‘……something feels off about this.’
Though Lee Kang-han knew little of music,
Screech. Screech.
Throughout the piece,
no—most of it rang with sour notes and discordant screeches.
He couldn’t help but question whether this was truly a performance by an emperor who’d waxed so poetic about art.
And Lee Kang-han wasn’t alone in feeling this way.
-This guy’s seriously something else!!!
-Getting an urge to leave the channel…
-He can’t even play properly—why are we listening to this?
-If he weren’t smiling so cheerfully, I’d have blocked the channel ages ago!!!
-Human, execute him at once! That’s an order!
-I already muted it…
The viewers from beyond were reacting intensely to Nero’s performance.
[Is that instrument supposed to sound like that?]
“Beats me. But he seems like he can’t actually play, right?”
[Yeah…… it’s pretty bad.]
“Heh heh. Didn’t I tell you this man is an artist emperor?”
“Well, think what you like.”
Meanwhile, despite the mockery from without,
Nero, already intoxicated by his own fervor,
[Oh! Apollo most glorious……! My fingertips still burn with fire! O Time, why are you so stingy! The world’s stage is too small to contain my passion. Lyre, oh Lyre! Your strings cry out in harmony with me……!]
Unable to pluck the Lyre’s strings properly,
he was lost in his own world, singing passionately.
[I, Nero, now! Move toward the pinnacle of performance alongside death! My soul shall sing brilliantly even within these flames……!]
And with that, Nero spread his arms wide within the inferno.
[I am! Rome itself! And also flame! Ah, let all hear my final moment!]
As he attempted to hit a high note, his voice cracked and screeched with pitch problems.
“Ugh. Lee Kang-han, this is a bit…… much.”
[Ah. This is getting uncomfortable…… When will it end?]
Even the Goblin Chieftain and Shin Nyeo, who’d merely thought “he’s worse than I expected” when he first began playing the Lyre,
were now desperately wishing for it to end.
Given how even they felt this way,
-Kill him
-Kill him please!!!
-If you don’t kill him, I’ll kill you!
The chat was in complete chaos.
‘I really can’t take any more of this.’
To be honest, if it were just for the Clear Evaluation Rank,
he could simply plug his ears and endure for a while.
‘How long is this song going to be?’
The lyrics Nero was improvising on the spot seemed endless.
At this rate, he’d be singing until Lee Kang-han’s time in this place ran out.
“Hey, stop.”
Lee Kang-han ordered Nero to cease,
[O heavens, O stars! This final moment……!]
but the artist emperor, lost in his own world, seemed not to hear.
“I said stop.”
Whoosh!
Lee Kang-han drew his blade once.
Only then did Nero’s movements halt.
[No! Why! I was just reaching the crescendo!]
“Don’t you see how the audience is reacting?”
[What……?]
He looked around.
Nero turned his gaze toward the chat window that Lee Kang-han had been watching.
‘So he can see my chat too?’
Well, he’d sung about the audience, the audience.
He had to let them react to the chat.
Nero was reading the chat when—
[Me? They’re telling me to die……?]
Seeing the insults plastered across the chat window, he stopped playing the Lyre.
* * *
-Wait, can he see the chat?
-Nice one—is that supposed to be playing?
-We usually respect other species’ music and art, but this is just unbearable
-He doesn’t have the basics down!
-And that singing? Just lost in his own world……!
The moment Nero realized he could see the chat.
The insults came flooding in faster.
But this time, instead of pure “die,” people were offering actual reasons for their criticism.
[Wait, no……! That, well, yes! I’m a bronze statue right now! I’m not human! So there were just a few mistakes!]
Couldn’t play because he was a bronze statue?
That hardly made sense.
‘His fingers moved just fine, though.’
The singing was weak, sure.
But it had been human vocal cords.
-Then why perform at all, geez
-If you can’t do it because you’re bronze, just shut up and burn away already
-What confidence made you pull in 100,000 spectators? I don’t get it
-We’re all busy here—stop fooling around and just die
-Yeah, die quickly! We don’t have time for trash like you!
The chat window was saying all the things Lee Kang-han wished he could say to Nero himself.
[What, what……?! Trash……?]
Nero seemed shaken by it.
The confidence drained from his voice.
[That can’t be…… The citizens of Rome praised me, and so did the citizens of Greece! I won at the Olympics!]
“That’s because you were Emperor. They were just being careful.”
[No! That’s not true……!]
Even as he denied Lee Kang-han’s words.
Whoooosh.
Nero kept growing smaller and smaller.
[That’s…… right. We lived in different ages. So you can’t understand. The art of our time, the beauty of Rome…… You people of the future couldn’t possibly know!]
“I see. But since no one in this age will appreciate you, could you just die for me now?”
There was no one to acknowledge him anyway.
What was the point in performing more?
Lee Kang-han made his proposal so politely.
[But, if you just listen a little more to my performance……! Your heart might change……!]
Nero kept resisting to the end.
‘Man, I miss Columbus.’
That guy, even though he was an alcoholic and kept calling the indigenous spirits slaves—
He’d said everything he needed to say at the end and died coolly.
But why was this one so clingy?
‘SSS+ or not, maybe I should just get rid of him.’
The stay at the First Tower really seemed like it was going to run out of time.
When Lee Kang-han decided to just erase him—
-Hey human, try pressing this
-What is this?
-I fixed the off-key notes from the performance
-Why bother helping that guy?
-I just find it funny when someone doesn’t know what they can’t do ㅎ
An extraterrestrial viewer.
Uploaded something to the chat, telling him to play this.
When he took a look—
A file with play and pause buttons.
‘TowerTube has this function too?’
Human viewers couldn’t do this.
Aliens sure know how to pull off surprising tricks.
Lee Kang-han pressed the play button.
Ding. Ding. Ding…….
Music similar to the melody Nero had played moments earlier flowed from the chat window.
[Uh…….]
Music that stood in stark contrast to what Nero had just performed.
The piece seemed to be the same, clearly enough.
Yet the difference between flawless execution and slippage was unmistakable.
No.
The gap in skill level was far more pronounced than that.
“Well, this is worth listening to. Heh.”
[The composition itself wasn’t at fault.]
“Exactly. The performer was the problem.”
The Goblin Chieftain and the spirit ghost Shin Nyeo.
And Lee Kang-han himself all agreed unanimously that the ‘composition’ itself was fine.
[Ugh…… It’s because I’m a bronze statue…….]
“Then why play at all?”
[Yes, art cannot be judged so carelessly! There are times when it diverges from public taste……!]
“Then why did you ask for a hundred thousand spectators? If you don’t need public opinion, what’s the point?”
[That’s…… that’s…….]
Faced with Lee Kang-han’s rebuttal.
Nero scrambled to find some excuse.
But.
Whoooosh…….
His body gradually shrank smaller and smaller.
Before long, he was no bigger than a finger.
For all his talking, it seemed even he had realized deep down that something was wrong.
[Ah…… you fools……. That’s right, what would the rabble like you understand! I’d sooner die than play before Apollo……!]
Ah. So he hadn’t actually grasped that his playing was terrible.
He was simply engaging in wishful thinking.
Apollo, the god of the arts.
Perhaps he believed it would be different if he performed before him?
Then.
-Me? I don’t want to listen? ㅎ I only like talented people
-??? Are you Apollo?
-ㅎㅎ Who knows?
The viewer who had been chuckling ‘ㅎㅎ’ and uploading the audio file.
Directly contradicted him, as if they were Apollo himself.
-And not even a pretty boy ㅎ just some grotesque bronze statue ㅎ utterly worthless really
-So.
Sizzle.
Sparks flew lightly from the chat window where the play button had been pressed.
[Would you just die for me?]
Then a high-pitched male voice rang out.
Languid and sluggish in tone.
Yet there was a peculiar power woven through it.
“Yes, yes……! I understand……!”
Thud! Thud!
The Goblin Chieftain and his kin.
All slammed their heads to the ground in unison.
[Urgh…… urgh…….]
Nero, who had endured even at finger-sized scale.
Could only utter groans now.
Whoosh!
His entire body was consumed by flames and vanished.
“This is…… surely Word Command?”
Just as Gersch had done.
A Word Command—an order spoken aloud that cannot be resisted.
Can you even broadcast this through the chat window?
-Our channel owner is perfectly fine? Lol classic
-Still, from now on you can’t just hit whatever pops up in the chat window without thinking. Got it? Lol
The one who had uploaded the file offered Lee Kang-han that advice,
then posted nothing further to the chat.
And then.
Ding.
[You have cleared the B2 Floor battlefield, ‘Golden Palace’.]
In that same instant,
a clear message appeared before Lee Kang-han’s eyes.
The Heavenly Demon Shatters the Tower (Serialized)
Author | Yeom Bi
Publisher | Kim Ju-hyung
Published by | J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing | Han Jae-hyuk
Address | 204, 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Daeloong Post Tower 1st)
Email | [email protected]
Website | www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Yeom Bi 2025
※This work has been published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder. The content may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from our company and the author.
Violation of this will result in criminal and civil legal liability.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————