The Mage Who Devours Disasters - Chapter 97
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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 97.
Not long after, the Pilgrimage Group from the Orga Kingdom arrived at the 61st Floor.
“We are honored to behold you, great Rag.”
Led by the King of Orga, heavily armored Knights and Priests prostrated themselves flat upon the floor of the Golden Temple.
They bowed their heads as though their foreheads would crack against the marble.
“We are deeply grateful for your gracious audience with such humble servants as ourselves.”
The King of Orga expressed his gratitude in a trembling voice.
Though he wore resplendent silken robes, his complexion was gaunt, and a palpable anxiety hung about him.
At the king’s gesture, Knights carried forward heavy chests.
Clang! Boom!
As the chests opened, brilliant light spilled forth.
Treasures of every conceivable kind.
Rare mana stones, meticulously crafted jewels, weapons imbued with the essence of ancient traditions.
“These are the tributes our Orga Kingdom has gathered with utmost devotion. We pray they find favor in your eyes.”
The king spoke with a voice strained with anxiety, searching for my reaction.
I gazed down at the treasures with my chin resting in my hand, unmoved.
The quality was undoubtedly excellent.
“I accept the tribute.”
At my indifferent response, the king’s expression brightened somewhat.
He pressed further.
“What is your purpose in seeking me out?”
The king bowed his head deeply once more.
“Though it shames us to ask, we have come to beseech you to become the Guardian Deity of our Orga Kingdom.”
Seria’s prediction had been accurate.
Yet I was puzzled.
“Why did you seek me out?”
At my question, the king answered hastily.
“There is no one in Asgard who does not know of your great renown, Rag.”
His voice was thick with reverence.
“You who became master of the 61st Floor in a single stride, who shook the Tower itself with your might and miracles—such is your greatness. We came seeking you, grasping at straws upon hearing these tales.”
My reputation had clearly spread beyond these walls.
The King of Orga, who had hesitated briefly, continued.
“…In truth, the Guardian Deity who once protected our kingdom vanished quite suddenly not long ago.”
The vanishing of a Guardian Deity.
For a mortal nation, the absence of a god was tantamount to a death sentence—the decree of inevitable ruin.
“What was the name of your previous Guardian Deity?”
I asked abruptly, and the king hesitated before answering.
“The great Deity of Earthquakes…’Kartal.'”
In that instant.
I nearly choked.
‘…Kartal?’
Kartal, the lesser earthquake deity who had once ruled the 34th Floor.
The very first god I had devoured with relish after my regression to Earth.
‘What are the odds of such a coincidence?’
The priests of the god I had consumed had come of their own volition to serve me as their new master.
I swallowed a hollow laugh.
The world truly was small.
The King of Orga continued urgently.
“If you would become our Guardian Deity, we shall offer you the finest treasures and mana stones each month!”
His voice grew desperate.
“Furthermore, we shall regularly select and present pure maidens and strong youths to place upon the Altar!”
“Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue openly.
‘So human sacrifice is the standard in this world.’
A rotted realm where burning one’s own kind to appease the gods became accepted wisdom in times of hardship.
The dominion of the Deities had seeped into their very bones.
The King of Orga’s shoulders flinched.
“W-what displeases you, my lord?”
“I have no need for living sacrifices.”
When I spoke plainly, the king swallowed hard.
A deity who refused offerings.
By his understanding, it was a response he could scarcely comprehend.
His expression was one of terror—perhaps I would demand an even more horrific price.
“If there is anything you desire… please, speak it. We would offer everything our kingdom possesses…”
I stroked my chin.
“You appear suddenly and ask me to become your Guardian Deity? Without any reason? Does that not strike you as strange?”
Merely because the previous master had died, they would not have risked their lives climbing all the way to the 61st Floor to kneel before me.
There had to be an urgent crisis pressing down upon them this very moment.
At my sharp observation, the King of Orga’s face crumbled.
“…Please, understand our plight.”
He spoke in a choked voice, prostrate upon the ground.
“A kingdom without a Guardian Deity will inevitably be invaded by other Deities and ravaged by wild beasts until it falls to ruin.”
The harsh reality of Asgard.
“Moreover… the Dungeon is our greatest threat.”
“A Dungeon?”
“Yes. Only divine power can eliminate a Dungeon… Recently, a massive rift opened near the Orga Kingdom, and a vast Dungeon was spawned.”
The king’s body trembled.
“The beasts pouring forth from it have already laid waste to two of our Outer Territories. If this continues, it is only a matter of time before the Royal Capital falls.”
They had come seeking aid.
Asking a new deity to handle a calamity their own strength could never withstand.
“I understand well enough.”
I waved my hand dismissively.
“Remain here for one day and await my answer.”
The King of Orga and the Pilgrimage Group bowed their heads once more, their expressions mingling relief with tension.
“Your grace is boundless!”
I gestured to the Elf handmaidens standing beside me.
“Provide them with lodgings and see they are fed.”
The Elves escorted the Pilgrimage Group out with utmost courtesy.
Silence returned to the Divine Temple.
I leaned back against the armrest.
“Master.”
Seria approached my side.
Her azure eyes gleamed with interest.
“This is an excellent opportunity.”
“An opportunity, you say.”
“Yes. It is rare for a lesser deity to become a kingdom’s patron god.”
Subtle excitement colored Seria’s voice.
“Monopolizing the blind faith of an entire kingdom is a most reliable and effective method for a deity to dramatically strengthen their divine power.”
She smiled.
“Surely they heard the rumors of your recent renown throughout Asgard and sought you out. Even Cryos, the Frost Deity himself, never commanded an entire kingdom.”
“You mentioned they previously served a deity named Kartal?”
Kartal was the god of the 34th Floor.
Despite being from a lower floor than Cryos, he had become their patron god.
Seria shook her head at this.
“Kartal is the god of earthquakes. The Orga Kingdom, by its geography, experiences frequent tremors. They likely enshrined him as their patron to reduce their frequency.”
“Does becoming the patron god of earthquakes reduce how often they occur?”
“Yes.”
Asgard.
Truly a peculiar place.
And admittedly, a tempting proposal.
Becoming a patron god is akin to entering into a massive sponsorship.
One gains vast tributes, information networks, and forward bases.
“Since you do not lack Nectar, Master, you could repurpose the tributes they offer for other uses.”
Seria’s counsel was sound.
Yet I stroked my chin, lost in thought.
‘Dungeons.’
The massive Dungeon said to have spawned near the Orga Kingdom.
When Heimdall taught me three methods of earning Nectar, the second he mentioned was Dungeon conquest.
-Throughout Asgard, Dungeons spawn in real time. Conquer them and claim that land as your territory. Extract the Dungeon’s core, and you shall reap a handsome amount of Nectar.
It appeared only a deity could extract a Dungeon’s core.
However, Nectar is already abundant.
What I’m curious about is something else.
“Seria.”
I cut through my reverie and asked.
“Why do dungeons appear in Asgard?”
At my question, Seria opened her mouth with measured composure.
“Originally, Asgard is the land of the Deities.”
Her gaze drifted momentarily outward.
“But countless foreign races dwell here. Including we of the Frost Tribe.”
“That’s true.”
“We are not the natives of this place. We are ‘immigrants’ who crossed over from the Destroyed World.”
Immigrants.
Survivors of the Destroyed World.
The weight of Seria’s words settled upon me.
“Over countless ages, we adapted to Asgard and took root here, yet our very existence is said to summon the ‘remnants of destruction.'”
“Remnants of destruction?”
I narrowed my brow.
“They are things that remained in the Destroyed World.”
Seria explained.
“Ruin, lingering resentment, or fragments of collapsed dimensions. It is said that following the roots of immigrants, when these things touch the Ground of Asgard, they create fissures in space and generate dungeons.”
I see.
It made sense.
“So all the inhabitants of Asgard are survivors from the Destroyed World.”
If that were the case.
‘If Earth had been destroyed and time had simply continued.’
I too might have survived death and become a wandering immigrant on the fringes of Asgard.
A wretched mortal begging the Deities for my life, offering sacrifices to eke out an existence.
My chest tightened with unease.
I asked again.
“Do you know anything more detailed about the remnants of destruction?”
“…I apologize, Master.”
Seria bowed her head.
“It is merely what I heard from the Elders in my childhood. Since it is such an ancient myth, no one knows its true origin or nature.”
As she looked genuinely apologetic, I waved my hand lightly.
“It’s fine. No need to apologize.”
I truly know nothing.
The history of Asgard, the genealogy of the Deities, information about the Destroyed World.
All of it remains unknown to me.
To overturn this vast board, strength alone is insufficient.
‘I need to study.’
I needed to delve deeper into the workings of Asgard, the loopholes in the System, and the rules governing the Deities.
After all, knowledge of one’s enemy and oneself ensures victory in every battle.
And studying the unknown was something I cherished above all else.
* * *
Meanwhile, in the Golden Temple Annex.
Within a luxurious guest chamber prepared for the Pilgrimage Group.
The King of Orga sat upon a plush sofa, yet squirmed as though perched upon thorns.
He gnawed at his fingernails ceaselessly.
Anxiety seeped from his very being.
“Your Majesty, please compose yourself.”
The Guard Captain standing beside him spoke with measured caution.
“Rag will surely give this favorable consideration.”
“It is not so simple a matter.”
The King of Orga exhaled a heavy sigh.
Rag.
He was currently the center of the hottest discourse within the Tower of Gods, and regarded as the most promising Deity.
Beginning as a lower-tier Deity, he had ascended to the 61st Floor in a single breath.
Most notably, rumors of his overwhelming victory against Cryos, the ruler of the Northern Territory, had shaken all of Asgard.
“Should Rag refuse our entreaties….”
A deep shadow fell across the king’s face.
“We would need to seek another Deity. Yet it is inconceivable that any Deity of intermediate rank or higher would deign to become the patron god of a minor kingdom such as ours.”
A weak nation with meager tributes and endless demands.
To mid-tier and higher Deities, the Orga Kingdom was merely a burdensome nuisance.
“The true problem lies in the scale of the Dungeon that has emerged.”
The king trembled visibly.
“It is a rift so vast and ferocious that even an ordinary lower-tier Deity could not manage it alone. Even had Kartal lived, resolution would have been beyond guarantee.”
“…Then.”
The Guard Captain swallowed hard.
“No matter how exceptional Rag may be, can a lower-tier Deity truly resolve such a Dungeon?”
Doubt.
They understood it well.
Rag’s renown was great, yet his objective standing remained that of a ‘lower-tier Deity.’
“Must we simply await the kingdom’s destruction beneath the claws of demons….”
The knights murmured in grim tones.
It was then.
“Insolent words!”
The King of Orga thundered forth.
He rose abruptly from his seat, pointing toward the colossal pillar rising beyond the window.
“Do you not see the World Tree standing tall before us!”
The World Tree.
A resplendent azure radiance blessed the entire Floor.
“The World Tree is a treasure that only an infinitesimal few among the higher-tier Deities can possess!”
The King’s eyes gleamed with fervent excitement.
“To think that one would already establish such an absolute divine artifact upon this Layer!”
He cast his gaze toward the Knights and continued.
“And did you witness the Elves who guided us? The aura and mana density they radiated.”
“…Indeed, they were far beyond the level of ordinary mortals.”
“Precisely!”
The King of Orga clenched his fist tightly.
“They were qualitatively on an entirely different dimension from the beasts that escorted Kartal. Nay, even to compare them would be sacrilege!”
He murmured as if entranced by the landscape beyond the window.
“The magnitude of the Divine Temple, the mana radiating forth, even the fragrance of Nectar drifting through the air. This is no territory of an ordinary lower-tier Deity.”
To be honest, I harbored doubts at first.
Rumors are prone to exaggeration, after all.
But after witnessing Rag, the King became certain.
That the lifeline he had grasped was no rotted cord.
If it were Rag.
If it were that monster who wielded such overwhelming miracles as though they were mundane!
…He held firm conviction that the Orga Kingdom could be saved from the brink of annihilation.
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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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Saddicht
Fucking dumbass knights istg