The Mage Who Devours Disasters - Chapter 78

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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 78.
Heimdall.
He had remained on Layer 387 for countless eons.
Once, he was the sovereign of all things who ascended the Tower more relentlessly than anyone else.
He was the one who tore through every layer blocking his path like a tempest, climbing with breathtaking speed.
But.
His unstoppable surge came to a halt precisely before the 388th Floor.
The reason was simple.
The master of the 388th Floor happened to be his perfect natural enemy.
‘Venus, the Deity of Suffocation.’
For Heimdall of the Natural Faction who wielded tempests, Venus was an insurmountable wall of despair.
Venus’s authority lay in suffocating the very atmosphere itself.
An overwhelming power that severed and solidified not only oxygen, but the mana forming wind and the flow of currents themselves.
No matter how colossal a tempest he summoned, in a vacuum where breath was choked away, not even a whisper of breeze could blow.
Venus was one of the monsters standing at the apex of the Material Faction.
The Material Faction.
Compared to the Natural Faction or Biological Faction, their numbers appeared fewer and their power seemed weaker.
But the Material Deities who had reached the Highest Realm were all elite few.
They possessed grotesque authorities that twisted and nullified primordial phenomena like water, fire, and wind, and thus their factional cohesion was extraordinarily unshakeable.
And yet.
Heimdall, one of the foremost figures of the Natural Faction, had declared open war against Venus, whose power was perfectly antithetical to his own.
“It’s suicide.”
“Is this leading to a factional war with the Material Faction?”
Asgard’s power structure trembled on the brink of upheaval.
Even other Supreme Tier Deities were flustered and attempted to dissuade Heimdall from his course.
Even Deities of the same Natural Faction sent secret letters warning him.
-Aren’t you getting too arrogant just because you’ve cultivated one Apostle Deity well?
-Don’t stake the fate of the faction on a war without victory.
But.
Heimdall’s answer was clear and arrogant.
“Don’t misunderstand.”
He declared it decisively through the official channel where all Deities watched.
“It is not a factional war. It is a ‘Divine War.'”
A Divine War.
The inter-layer conflict to ascend the Tower.
“I will tread upon the 388th Floor and climb even higher.”
The most primordial and sublime ritual a Deity performs, staking their divinity to leap toward a higher realm.
That is what is called a Divine War.
No one in Asgard had the authority to obstruct a legitimate Divine War.
If one challenged.
I must accept it without question.
The moment I refuse, my divine dignity crumbles.
“Kekeke.”
388th Floor, Vacuum Temple.
Venus, the Deity of Suffocation, smiled coldly as she heard Heimdall’s declaration of war.
Not even the sound of breathing could be heard around her.
A space of perfect silence.
“So Heimdall has finally lost his mind.”
Venus’s eyes grew murky and dull.
She was certain there was not a single way for Heimdall to defeat her.
In a place where wind cannot blow, the god of storms is merely a large target.
“Very well.”
Venus reached out and pressed down on the System window floating in the void.
“I shall gladly twist that arrogant neck of yours.”
Ding!
[The master of Floor 388, ‘Venus, the Deity of Suffocation’, has accepted the Divine War.]
[A ‘Divine War’ between Floor 387 and Floor 388 is hereby declared!]
[The Tower’s principles tremble.]
Golden text blazed across the sky of Asgard.
War was now certain.
There was no turning back.
The victor would ascend to a higher floor.
The defeated would lose their divine status, plunge into oblivion, or cease to exist.
* * *
“….”
I stared blankly at the golden message floating in the air.
I doubted my own eyes.
Honestly, I wanted to smash this insane System window with my fists.
‘Divine War.’
Floor 387 and Floor 388.
Heimdall and Venus.
There was no way I could have missed such sudden news.
I couldn’t pretend not to see the massive message windows plastered across all of Asgard.
Throb.
My head began to ache.
I pressed my temples firmly.
“…I’m going to lose my mind.”
A curse escaped my lips unbidden.
I had only just secured Floor 55, gathered the Priestesses, and was in the process of stabilizing my territory by planting the World Tree.
I was about to solidify my position as an Irregular at the Divine Banquet and prepare for the next chapter while catching my breath.
But Heimdall, my steadfast shield and backing, had committed an incomprehensible catastrophe at the most critical juncture.
The problem was that it wouldn’t end with just Heimdall’s death.
If Heimdall were to lose this war, my own position would become precarious.
With nothing but the title of his Apostle Deity, I had been defending myself against the enmity of countless Deities, including Skadi.
But if Heimdall were shattered and his prestige plummeted to the ground?
If by some chance he were to vanish entirely from this Divine Temple.
‘I would become like a duck’s egg cast adrift on the Nakdong River.’
Even a duck’s egg would be fortunate compared to that.
Floor 55 would immediately become prey for the Superior Tier Deities.
The Winter Queen, Skadi, would be the first to come rushing like a starving beast, attempting to freeze me alive.
She would never remain idle.
Even if Heimdall didn’t vanish and merely managed to survive, it would still be a problem.
A defeated Supreme Tier Deity.
His Divine Faction would waver, and his words would carry no more weight.
‘Wait.’
I steadied my breathing and searched through the memories of my past.
Had this happened before in my previous life?
Before the regression, the ‘Philosopher’s Stone’ I had desperately created to prevent humanity’s annihilation.
The ancient tome that contained the method for synthesizing that miraculous artifact.
I had studied that book so thoroughly I could recite it from memory.
It clearly recorded the names of the major Deities existing in Asgard and the specific ‘Floors’ they inhabited.
‘Heimdall was on Layer 387.’
The memory was vivid.
Until the moment of annihilation, until just before my death.
Heimdall, the Deity of Tempests, was recorded as the ruler of Layer 387.
Which meant.
In my past life, Heimdall either never challenged the 388th Floor, or.
He had challenged it, suffered ‘defeat’, and remained in his original position.
“….”
My lips had gone dry.
If the flow were identical to the past, he could never win.
Venus’s power of suffocation was a horrific matchup that would erase the tempest itself.
I immediately headed toward Layer 387.
Uuuuuung.
Upon crossing the gate and arriving at Heimdall’s Territory, it was different from usual.
The endless storm that had been raging was instead settling with an eerie, unnatural calm.
The stillness before the storm of an impending war.
Heimdall sat upon his throne with his eyes closed.
The quiet before the storm, on the eve of war.
Heimdall sat on the throne with his eyes closed.
The divine power emanating from his colossal frame had already been compressed to its absolute limit, sharp enough to cut with the merest touch.
He was already preparing for war.
“You’ve come.”
He opened his eyes as he sensed my approach.
His expression was serene.
There was no trace of fear in the eyes of one facing death.
Only the gaze of a warrior yearning for combat.
“Seven days from now.”
Heimdall spoke in a low voice.
“In seven days, we march toward the 388th Floor.”
I met his gaze with a hardened expression.
“Can we win?”
At my blunt question, Heimdall chuckled softly.
“Do not worry.”
He waved his hand with ease.
“This Heimdall’s tempest shall never be eternally bound by such suffocation. My winds will tear asunder all things.”
Confidence.
Yet to me, it seemed nothing but recklessness.
I asked cautiously.
“Is there nothing I can do to help?”
“There is not.”
He refused flatly.
Heimdall fixed me with a steady gaze and continued.
“You are but a lesser deity who has only just entered the 55th Floor. There is not even a speck of room for you to interfere in the divine war of the Supreme Tier Deities.”
His words were true.
Our standings were different.
A realm entirely separate from my brutal clashes with the higher Apostle Deities.
Should a lesser deity like myself be caught in the collision of power unleashed by the Supreme Tier Deities, the shockwave alone would crush me to death.
Like a shrimp’s back breaking in a whale’s fight, I would be flattened without a trace remaining.
“Rag. Remain on the 55th Floor and await word of my victory.”
Heimdall closed his eyes again, as if unwilling to continue the conversation.
Inwardly, I felt frustrated.
‘Heimdall will lose.’
I was certain of it.
No matter how mighty his tempest, reversing the matchup bordered on miracle.
The records of the past proved it.
There was no defeating the Deity of Suffocation, Venus.
‘I need a variable.’
A massive variable to overturn this predetermined defeat, to twist the rules themselves.
And.
‘Only I can create that variable.’
Throughout all of Asgard, I was the sole Irregular who transcended the System’s limitations.
Yet I couldn’t afford to act rashly.
The danger was too great.
One misstep and I could die.
…Should I risk it, or remain hidden and safe?
Logically, hiding was the right choice.
There was no reason to stake my life.
But.
If Heimdall fell, I would die anyway.
The conclusion was singular.
“It would be shameful for an Apostle Deity to hear news of victory from Floor 55.”
I broke the silence.
Heimdall’s eyebrows twitched as his eyes opened.
He slowly gazed down at me.
“What did you just say?”
“Exactly as I stated, sir.”
I lifted my head confidently from beneath the throne.
“I cannot allow my pride to hear of your victory only from afar, through mere hearsay.”
It was an excuse.
But it was perfectly packaged to suit Heimdall’s tastes.
“Allow me to stand beside you and bear witness.”
I knelt on one knee, pleading.
“I wish to see that glorious moment of triumph with my own eyes and be the first to revere it.”
Silence fell.
Heimdall’s eyes narrowed sharply, piercing through me.
An Apostle willing to rush headlong into danger like a moth to flame.
Any ordinary lesser deity would have fled trembling.
The Heimdall of old would have certainly granted permission.
But.
“Denied.”
Heimdall shook his head.
His expression was utterly cold.
“Why, sir?”
“It is no battlefield a lesser deity can endure.”
Heimdall remained resolute.
He made clear his absolute refusal, no matter what.
* * *
I had no choice but to return to Floor 55.
Immediately after, I began organizing information about Venus.
‘The Deity of Suffocation.’
When I climbed the Tower with the Fellowship in the past, I had definitely heard that name before.
But I had no memory of fighting him directly.
We never reached that height.
‘The rarest of the Material Faction’s Deities.’
Among them, a heavyweight within the top three.
It was hopeless.
Venus had reigned as a Supreme Tier Deity far longer than Heimdall.
The depth of accumulated divinity was incomparable.
What was even more terrifying was his primary legion.
‘The Undead.’
Vampires, Liches.
And entire legions of rotting Death Knights.
Not ordinary living creatures.
Monsters with near-immortality, beings that didn’t even need to breathe.
‘The worst possible matchup.’
Suffocation.
Venus’s divine authority that severed and solidified oxygen and mana in the atmosphere.
When that authority engulfed the battlefield, every living creature that drew breath would suffer and collapse.
Even Heimdall’s tempest would be trapped in a vacuum and dissipate.
But Venus’s undead legion?
Within that suffocating space, they swung their blades and unleashed magic without hesitation.
After all, they didn’t breathe.
Meanwhile, what of Heimdall’s legion?
‘They are living creatures.’
Though ancient trees of high rank and colossal beasts formed the core, they were ultimately organisms that required respiration.
In a space of suffocation, they would be rendered utterly useless.
A Deity who dominated the atmosphere and suffocated, and an undead legion completely unaffected by that environment.
Against them stood the Deity of Tempests and his legion of living beings.
It was the worst possible arrangement imaginable.
The more I investigated, the more I delved into memories of my past life.
Heimdall’s victory seemed utterly impossible.
‘What confidence did he have to declare war?’
It was absurd.
There was no way Heimdall himself was unaware of this terrible matchup.
Perhaps because he understood this fact better than anyone, he had remained on Layer 387 all these long ages.
Of course, he wouldn’t have declared war without any preparation whatsoever.
He must have honed his blade, and surely prepared some trump card to pierce through Venus’s suffocation.
But.
‘The problem is that it’s not a one-on-one fight.’
The Material Faction’s deities excel particularly in one-on-one combat.
Their dominion over twisting physical laws, detonating them, and suffocating them demonstrates overwhelming efficiency against a single opponent.
Even if Heimdall were to drive Venus into a one-on-one confrontation, it would never be an easy battle.
Moreover.
The most despairing variable lay elsewhere.
“Venus has five Apostle Deities.”
I rubbed my eyes upon seeing the number displayed in the information window.
Five.
And three of them were Superior Tier Deities.
Tch.
I pressed my hand to my forehead.
Heimdall is a thorough lone wolf.
He trusted only in his own power and never cultivated a Divine Faction.
He had never kept a single Apostle Deity until recently, when he took me under his wing.
And even then, three of them are Superior Tier Deities who have lived for eons incomparable to me.
They too would participate in this war.
Naturally.
The defending side always held a systemic advantage over the attacking side.
The main fortress of the 388th Floor, bristling with defensive towers and traps.
Venus and her five Apostle Deities would never let this opportunity slip away.
‘They would see it as the perfect chance to hunt Heimdall.’
A golden opportunity to crush the leader of the Natural Faction and elevate the Material Faction’s standing.
They would charge at Heimdall with genuine intent to take his life.
That overwhelming disparity in military strength—the only Apostle Deity on Heimdall’s side who could counterbalance it was…
nonexistent.
He had even forbidden my observation, the only Apostle Deity he possessed.
‘Should I simply stand aside and do nothing?’
…It was a peculiar feeling.
Heimdall was my enemy.
He was someone I would eventually have to kill.
The thought that he might die at another deity’s hands left me feeling strangely suffocated.
But.
My concerns proved entirely misplaced.
The war ended in anticlimactic fashion.
Seven days passed, and merely one day after the war began.
Ding!
[A tragic report is transmitted.]
[The Deity of Suffocation, Venus, has been slain.]
[All five Apostle Deities have been slain alongside her.]
[Heimdall, the master of the 387th Floor, has achieved victory in the war.]
[The hierarchy trembles violently.]
…A truly overwhelming conclusion.
Heimdall had annihilated them all, alone.

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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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