The Mage Who Devours Disasters - Chapter 17

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 17.
The skies across the entire world turned golden.
A System Message was forcibly broadcast to the retinas of every Awakened.
The Hall of Fame.
Those brilliant names.
Each time a nation’s name appeared, the people of the world erupted in cheers.
But then.
“NONAME?”
“Why does the first-place name look like that?”
“Insane. Look at the score. It’s double the second place!”
An overwhelming first place that emerged amid the sudden upheaval.
Its very existence was salvation for humanity.
Yet the first-place holder refused to reveal their name.
Behind the scenes, those lurking in darkness shared similar reactions.
The Deities’ avatars.
“…990 points?”
“That’s impossible.”
“It’s systemically impossible.”
They couldn’t comprehend it.
Countless avatars had engaged in battles bordering on massacre, scraping together points by any means necessary.
Yet 990 points.
A score nearly perfect.
“What kind of madman could possibly….”
But the shock didn’t end there.
Soon after came the Episode 2 rankings.
[1st Place: NONAME]
[Score: 1,100]
The avatars rubbed their eyes.
They thought the numbers were wrong.
“Eleven hundred points?”
“Is that even a possible score?”
“That can’t be. 1,000 points is the limit.”
It made no sense.
It was a systemically impossible figure.
The maximum score obtainable per episode was set at 1,000 points.
No matter how perfectly one played, it was impossible to exceed 1,000 points.
“Is it a bug?”
No, the System had no bugs.
Then there was only one answer.
‘Breaking through the limit.’
It meant I had achieved an Achievement that transcended even the standards set by the System itself.
“NONAME….”
Who in the world was this?
What deity’s avatar possessed such power?
This was no ordinary lower-tier or mid-tier deity.
To display this level of rank, it would require at minimum.
Beings from the deepest reaches of the Garden of Gods.
No—entities that surpassed even them.
‘Could it possibly be one of the Twelve Chief Deities?’
…Choi Tae-min’s brow furrowed.
I couldn’t even imagine who this could be.
Even at the conclusion of Episode 2, the gap was staggering.
Choi Tae-min, who had claimed fourth place, had merely 500 points.
And he was the avatar of a high-tier flame deity.
He had directly triggered calamities and slaughtered every summoned monster he could.
Yet first place had 1,100 points.
More than double the difference.
This made no sense.
It was as though a being of an entirely different dimension was looking down from above.
Unless they were truly one of the Twelve Chief Deities.
But surely a Twelve Chief Deity wouldn’t participate in a ‘game’.
“Who is it? What kind of bastard….”
Choi Tae-min ground his teeth.
His pride was wounded.
I had believed I would lose to no one in this Episode 2.
Yet someone appeared, crushing me with overwhelming superiority.
Jealousy. Envy.
Avatars across the entire world were thrown into turmoil.
Then it happened.
Before their bewildered eyes, another message materialized.
This time, it was not golden.
A blood-red, ominous warning message.
Ding!
[We bring grave tidings.]
Every avatar’s gaze locked onto the message.
Grave tidings?
The following words froze their minds.
[Caligo, the master of Tower Floor 27 and a lower-tier blizzard deity, has been slain.]
[His existence has been completely erased from Asgard.]
“…!”
Silence.
Everyone held their breath.
After Kartal, even Caligo had fallen.
And he had been ‘murdered’.
The timing was almost too coincidental.
Each time an episode began and ended, another deity died.
…Was someone deliberately hunting the Deities?
Yet, none of them had suspected that what was happening on Earth was the cause.
An avatar on Earth couldn’t possibly kill a Deity.
The only way to kill a Deity was to annihilate them directly within the Tower of Gods.
At least, that was what their understanding dictated.
* * *
The 34th Floor of the Tower.
And the 27th Floor.
The Divine Investigation Team swept through the crime scenes in silence.
They combed the ground and analyzed the magical energy suspended in the air.
But the results were devastating.
“…There’s nothing.”
The Deity of Tracking, who led the investigation team, shook his head.
“Nothing at all. Not a speck of dust, not a drop of blood remains.”
It was extraordinary.
A battle between Deities.
Naturally, there should be catastrophic phenomena, torn space, and remnants of divine essence left behind.
But both locations were immaculate.
As if they had always been empty houses without an owner.
“They vanished. Both Kartal and Caligo.”
A Unit Member’s hands trembled as he wrote the report.
“There are no traces of external intrusion, nor any signs of internal combat.”
Had it not been for the System Message declaring them murdered, one might have thought they had fled in the dead of night.
“What are the commonalities?”
The Unit Commander asked.
“Two things, sir. First, both belonged to the Natural Faction.”
Earthquakes and blizzards.
They were clearly Deities of natural disasters.
“Second, both were participating in the ‘game’ currently underway on Earth.”
Silence fell.
It was the most promising lead.
Someone was targeting Deities engaged in the game.
“Is there any possibility that what happened to their avatars on Earth affected their true forms?”
“Theoretically impossible, sir. Avatars are merely terminals—separate entities from their true forms. Even if backlash occurred, it wouldn’t inflict damage severe enough to cause the annihilation of the true form.”
It was a reasonable deduction.
That left only one possibility.
Someone was conducting covert assassinations from within the Tower.
“The problem is… we don’t know their avatars.”
The Unit Member sighed.
“No deity knows what names Kartal and Caligo use on Earth, or where they are.”
The anonymity of the Deities.
It was the fundamental rule of the game, and the bare minimum safeguard against one another.
Concealing one’s hand.
Now it had become poison.
“We must secure a list of avatars for all Deities currently participating in the game.”
An Investigator suggested.
“As things stand, we’re helpless. We don’t even know who the target is or where they’ll be struck.”
“It’ll be rejected.”
The Unit Commander spoke flatly.
“No deity will reveal their information just because two lesser Deities died. They’re arrogant. They’ll believe themselves different.”
A skeptical atmosphere pervaded the room.
There still wasn’t enough evidence.
Whether the killer was targeting game participants or the Natural Faction.
The investigation was going nowhere.
A case lost in a labyrinth.
The only remaining possibility was.
“…Find out which Deity’s avatar ‘NONAME’ is.”
There might be a connection to ‘NONAME’, who had recently entered the Hall of Fame.
But even this was merely a possibility.
And there was no clear way to find out.
Thus the investigation stalled without even catching the shadow of the culprit.
* * *
Ding!
[The hierarchy adjusts to fill the vacant seat on Floor 27.]
[The master of Floor 26 is promoted to Floor 27.]
[The master of Floor 25 is promoted to Floor 26.]
…
[The master of Floor 1 is promoted to Floor 2.]
A domino effect.
With the middle spine broken, the Deities below were forcibly pushed upward.
Rag was no exception.
Mere days since becoming the master of Floor 1.
Without lifting a finger, I had become the master of Floor 2.
And.
[The First Floor has been vacated.]
[Preparations are complete to receive a new Deity.]
The First Floor, now empty once more.
But there was a problem.
Not much time had passed since the previous trial ended.
There wasn’t enough time to gather and screen new Seeds.
The System made an efficient decision.
[The interval is too brief to conduct a trial.]
[Authority is transferred to the runner-up of the previous trial.]
[Darakan is appointed as the master of the First Floor.]
Underground Waiting Room.
Darakan’s eyes snapped open, drowning in defeat just moments before.
“…What?”
Was this a dream?
No, the System Message was crystal clear.
Second place.
A humiliating score of two points.
I, who had been thoroughly trampled and abandoned by that monster Rag, had become the master of the First Floor.
“Kahahaha!”
Darakan burst into uncontrollable laughter.
It was destiny.
This was surely proof that the heavens had not forsaken me.
Darakan confidently opened the door leading to the First Floor.
Light poured forth.
I stepped forward, intoxicated by the euphoria.
“Just you wait, Rag.”
Darakan ground his teeth.
“How dare you disrespect me?”
I would never forget this humiliation.
I would find that bastard and crush him beneath my heel.
I am now the undisputed master of the First Floor.
Our starting points are now equal.
No—if I cultivate my floor more brilliantly than him and earn the recognition of the Deities, that would be enough.
“A mere one floor difference—I’ll catch up in no time.”
Darakan clenched his fists and opened his eyes wide.
And then.
“…?”
Words failed me.
It was completely empty.
There was nothing at all.
A white expanse. A white sky.
A barren wasteland devoid of monsters, devoid even of a single blade of grass.
“What… what is this?”
Darakan’s voice trembled.
It was overwhelming.
What was I supposed to do here?
I felt like a small wooden raft cast adrift upon an endless sea.
* * *
Meanwhile.
A sharp whistling sound pierced the air.
I blinked my eyes.
The scenery remained unchanged.
Still the white expanse, still the white sky.
The only difference was perhaps the density of the air itself.
It felt heavier, suffused with a sacred aura.
‘Floor 2, then.’
I felt dazed.
I’d only captured a single avatar on Earth, and I’d been promoted as a bonus.
This was truly a windfall.
A new message window materialized before my eyes.
A chime sounded.
[Congratulations on your promotion to Floor 2.]
[From Floor 2 onward, you will receive ‘Nectar’ on a periodic basis.]
Nectar.
The drink of the divine.
The moment I saw that word, a memory flashed through my mind.
Kim In-soo.
Caligo’s avatar.
That murky golden radiance he’d unleashed when he forcibly drew upon divine power in his final moments.
-Did you feed Nectar to your avatar?
His words echoed in my memory.
The puzzle pieces fell into place.
Nectar was no mere beverage.
It was an energy source that sustained and amplified divine essence.
When fed to an avatar on Earth, it served as a conduit through which the deity’s power could temporarily manifest.
It functioned much like the Fragment of the Shattered Golden Rule that I wielded.
[You receive 100 Nectar as a promotion gift.]
[On Floor 2, you will receive 100 Nectar every 30 days.]
A metallic chime rang out.
Numbers appeared in my inventory.
100.
I couldn’t gauge whether that was a small amount or a large one.
I approached the crystal at the center of the floor.
And I activated the shop function.
[Shop]
·Ordinary Grass (1 pyeong): 1 Nectar
·Oak Sapling: 2 Nectar
·Summon Lower-Tier Goblin: 5 Nectar
·Clear Stream Water (10m): 10 Nectar
“…Tsk.”
My expression darkened.
100 Nectar.
With this, I could lay some grass in the front yard and plant a few trees, and that would be the end of it.
Let alone assembling a goblin battalion, I could barely afford to install a single fountain.
And this was supposed to be a month’s salary.
Did the world of the Deities also follow the principle of the rich growing richer and the poor growing poorer?
‘At this rate, when will I ever decorate my floor and ascend further?’
One of the conditions for climbing the Tower was ‘floor prosperity.’
How well one decorated their floor and established a powerful ecosystem was the key to advancement.
Once I reached the threshold, I could challenge the next floor.
But my capital was in this pitiful state.
Just as I was about to sigh.
Ding!
A new notification glimmered at the corner of my vision.
[The ‘Exchange Office’ has been unlocked.]
[You can exchange special items you possess for Nectar.]
An exchange office?
Curiosity drove me to tap on it.
A list of exchangeable items appeared.
[Heavenly Demon Armor]↔[5,000 Nectar]
[Heart of Bitter Cold]↔[5,000 Nectar]
‘So only Mythic-grade items and above can be exchanged.’
Indeed, was this how I was supposed to scrape together Nectar?
‘Wait.’
But there was one more item listed that caught my attention.
‘The Shattered Fragment of the Golden Rule can be exchanged too?’
I casually checked the exchange rate.
And.
“…?”
I doubted my own eyes.
I looked again.
I counted the zeros.
[Fragment of Broken Golden Rule x1]↔[1,000,000 Nectar]
“…This is insane.”

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