You Have Been Invited to the Auction House of the Gods - Chapter 103

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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103

 

 

 

‘What?’

 

Time had stopped.

 

The beeping medical equipment,

the dust floating in the air,

even the sound of breathing.

 

This was different from Lee Seo’s space-time magic.

 

Time hadn’t slowed down—it had completely stopped, as if someone had pressed a ‘pause button.’

 

That’s when it happened.

 

“Who’s there…”

 

I aimed Galmu toward where I sensed a presence.

 

If there was someone other than me who could move in this stopped time,

that person was the culprit behind this situation.

 

What was reflected on the blade’s edge was a black child.

 

It wasn’t because of skin color.

I’m not a racist.

Literally, their entire body was black.

Like the silhouette of a culprit commonly seen in detective stories.

With a slight ‘blur effect’ applied over it.

 

If a shadow took human form, this is exactly what it would look like.

 

I could soon guess their identity.

 

A being from another dimension, not the Human Realm, who could use ‘Divine Authority Level’ time stop.

 

As far as I knew, or could guess, there was only one such person.

 

“…Cult Leader.”

 

At my words, the corners of the black child’s mouth stretched upward like a tear.

 

White teeth revealed on the black face gleamed eerily.

 

“Correct.”

 

My grip tightened on Galmu.

 

The bastard I’d been trying to track down until just moments ago had appeared on his own.

 

In the brief moment I blinked, the Cult Leader had somehow moved next to Liu Chen.

 

“This child wasn’t meant to suffer like this…”

 

The Cult Leader slowly stroked Liu Chen’s face.

 

At the same time, Liu Chen’s blood-stained clothes and bed became instantly clean.

 

His face, which had been contorted in pain, had also changed to a peaceful expression.

 

“Take your hands off.”

 

I ignited Karmic Fire and gave a low warning.

 

“Whoa, whoa, calm down. I didn’t come here to fight today.”

 

The Cult Leader raised both hands and moved away from Liu Chen.

 

“Originally, our meeting was supposed to be much later.”

 

“So what?”

 

I ignored the Cult Leader’s words and swung Galmu.

 

Karmic Fire drew a crescent moon as it poured toward the Cult Leader.

 

“Haah… Such an impatient personality…”

 

When the Cult Leader waved his hand once, the sword energy pouring toward him scattered into pieces.

 

“You know that level of power can’t subdue me. So…”

 

I immediately tried to continue my attack.

 

Seeing this, the Cult Leader urgently spoke up.

 

“Wait, wait, I really came here to talk. I’ll answer three questions for you instead.”

 

At the Cult Leader’s words, I stopped swinging my sword.

 

“You know you can’t subdue me in this situation either.”

 

At those words, I lowered Galmu.

 

The Cult Leader’s words were somewhat true.

 

I hadn’t intended to subdue the Cult Leader here in the first place.

 

I was merely trying to gauge the Cult Leader’s abilities with moderate attacks.

 

If both the Cult Leader and I unleashed our full power, neither the people nor the goblins here would remain unharmed.

 

“What’s your purpose for coming here?”

 

“Is it okay to ask questions so hastily? You only have three chances.”

 

It wasn’t a hasty question.

 

Questions about the Cult Leader’s identity or the location of the cult headquarters were ones he could easily evade anyway.

 

Even if the Cult Leader only spoke the truth, those answers would be meaningless.

 

Let’s suppose he answered a question about his identity with the real name ‘Kim Min-soo’.

Even if that were the truth,

it would be as ineffective as trying to find every Kim Min-soo in the world.

 

The cult headquarters was the same.

 

He could just give an answer and then move it elsewhere.

 

That’s why I asked a simple question that could reveal the Cult Leader’s purpose and strategy.

 

“Just answer what I’m asking.”

 

“Well, fine.”

 

The Cult Leader shrugged his shoulders and continued his answer.

 

“I felt sorry for my poor little lamb suffering.”

 

For such a trivial reason, the leader recklessly revealed himself in the heart of enemy territory?

 

Not a chance.

 

“There’s no need to glare at me with such frightening eyes.”

 

I immediately continued with the next question.

 

“How did you know the location of this place?”

 

This question got a little closer to the Cult Leader than the previous one.

 

“Wow, I knew you were stubborn, but I didn’t know you’d only charge straight ahead like this.”

 

The corners of the Cult Leader’s mouth turned up.

 

“Well, to answer that, it’s because Liu Chen tried to reveal my identity.”

 

And even without me asking, detailed information flowed from his mouth.

 

“The moment anyone tries to speak my name, I can know that person’s location.”

 

Was it like an advanced version of ‘he who must not be named’?

 

But there was one problem.

 

Could I fully trust the Cult Leader’s words?

 

And as if reading my thoughts, the Cult Leader opened his mouth.

 

“Whether you believe it or not is your problem. You wouldn’t believe me even if I told the truth anyway.”

 

It wasn’t wrong.

It would be foolish to blindly believe an enemy leader who claims to speak only the truth.

 

“Only one left already. Try being a little more careful this time.”

 

The Cult Leader had a delighted expression, as if playing an entertaining game.

 

“What is your next goal?”

 

“Hmm, that’s a bit unexpected.”

 

The Cult Leader tilted his head.

 

“You’ve been looking at the future from the beginning.”

 

Suddenly, the Cult Leader’s face came right up to my nose.

 

“But a promise is a promise.”

 

Before I could react, the Cult Leader’s palm covered my eyes.

 

“Well then, see you again later.”

 

With the Cult Leader’s voice whispering in my ear as the finale, a scene played out in my vision.

 

It was a familiar place where massive gorges stretched endlessly.

 

My vision quickly dove between the gorges.

 

And then appeared a massive door.

 

The ominous-looking thing was a dungeon entrance.

 

‘It’s different from a typical dungeon entrance.’

 

My vision passed through the entrance of the dungeon.

 

A neat corridor stretched out before me.

 

At both ends of the corridor, giant statues were positioned.

 

Passing between them, what unfolded in the place I entered was a massive city.

 

However… everything was huge.

 

The buildings, the objects, and even the monsters there.

 

‘Giants…?’

 

I passed between the giant’s legs and entered a temple.

 

Inside, there was a giant who appeared to be a priest.

 

And an altar placed before him.

 

I could tell that this was the Cult Leader’s next objective.

 

At the same time, I felt a gaze upon me.

 

When I raised my head to look up, the Priest Giant was looking at me.

 

‘He made eye contact with me?’

 

In this illusion the Cult Leader was showing me, the Priest Giant was definitely looking straight into my eyes.

 

Then he made a clicking sound with his tongue and crushed me with his massive foot.

 

That was the end.

 

My vision went dark.

 

And with a faint sound, I returned to reality.

 

“Lord. Please wake up.”

 

Through my gradually clearing vision, Yamyeong was shaking me awake.

 

I had returned to reality where time flowed again.

 

“Lord, are you alright?”

 

It wasn’t just Yamyeong.

 

Both the Association President and Sister An Hyeon-su were surrounding me.

 

“What happened?”

 

“As soon as you took out the Staff of Rest, you froze as if time had stopped.”

 

“I froze? Me?”

 

“Yes.”

 

So it was me who was stopped, not Yamyeong.

 

“What happened to Liu Chen?”

 

“Well…”

 

Yamyeong couldn’t easily open his mouth.

 

But that itself was already an answer.

 

“Tsk.”

 

I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

 

The Staff of Rest was definitely in my hand.

 

Within the staff’s domain, it grants immortality.

 

This is a Divine Authority.

 

And to break such Divine Authority, corresponding power was needed.

 

But there were no traces of such power remaining here.

 

If the Cult Leader had done it, everyone here would have noticed.

 

However, there was a way to neutralize abilities without necessarily countering with the same power.

 

‘Was it an illusion from the moment the Divine Authority spread?’

 

Certainly in my memory, the domain of rest made Liu Chen immortal,

and then Yamyeong’s interrogation followed.

 

I might have entered the world the Cult Leader created from that point.

 

Since the domain of rest didn’t reach Liu Chen.

 

‘He pretended to be innocent, but he was a complete scoundrel.’

 

“There’s a place we need to go next.”

 

“Where to…?”

 

The Giant tribe’s dungeon that the Cult Leader showed me.

 

‘I thought it looked familiar somehow.’

 

That place where a vast gorge stretched out.

 

A place whose very name carries the meaning of a massive gorge.

 

“United States.”

 

The place the Cult Leader showed me was the Grand Canyon.

 

I should give that Cult Leader bastard a good hit too, shouldn’t I?

 

Whether it’s a trap or a scheme.

 

***

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