Side Story 30
'You have to focus.'
Lee Ye gripped the bow tightly.
He had been a Ranker for thousands of years, but he had never faced a crisis like this.
Above were the Administrators and thousands of their Envoys.
And right in front of him, Asura and Taishang Laojun.
It was like walking on thin ice.
Suddenly...
"Hey, you."
At Asura's call, Lee Ye startled and looked at him.
"Stand on that side."
"That side?"
Lee Ye looked in the direction Asura was pointing.
There were Kim YuHun approaching the Administrators, and Tsukoyomi, Pandora, and Hargan forming a team one by one.
And the Rankers of the Celestial Realm joining Lee Rangjin.
They were already prepared to fight against the Administrators.
'So...'
Lee Ye looked at Taishang Laojun, who was in a close duel with Asura.
Due to the rocky start caused by Zeus's Lightning Bolt, he exuded a hostile aura different from the beginning.
"I'll take care of this guy."
A smile formed on Asura's face.
Facing the impending large-scale battle against Taishang Laojun, he was concentrating his Arcane Power to the fullest.
Lee Ye nodded at the energy emanating from the two and took a step back.
*Pat-.
Lee Ye walked past Taishang Laojun.
But Taishang Laojun didn't pay him any attention.
No...
He couldn't pay attention.
"The little one has grown quite a bit."
"Your era is over, old man."
A red aura emanated from the tip of the spear.
Two heads and four arms materialized behind Asura, imbued with Arcane Power, revealing Asura's true form.
"I'll show you."
-----------------------
Initially, the Administrators' target was the Great Celestial Realm Guild, one of the most significant in the Tower.
The absorption of the Great Guild and the Great Celestial War provided a favorable scenario for them.
However...
"It's definitely The Nameless Mist."
"Didn't they all disappear?"
"N'yog-Sothep has been eliminated. Shub-Niggurath too."
"Then, how...?"
The fact that lightning fell from the sky was astonishing, but what concerned them more was the mist that concealed the onlookers.
The three Administrators couldn't have been mistaken. That meant the mist that had just appeared was indeed N'yog-Sothep.
And the owner of that name was none other than...
"What has you so intrigued?"
At this very moment...
It was the nameless player who appeared among the three Administrators.
*Slash-.
A rather fast swordplay. But more lethal than the sword's power was its strange nature.
Swish, swish, swish-.
The Administrators dodged the sword quickly, creating distance. They felt an inexplicable oppression as they watched the sword wielded by YuWon.
Chills, chills~
The Administrators focused on YuWon's sword with an unsettling feeling, as if their entire bodies were being sliced.
And at that moment...
"It has split very well."
Kwaaaat-.
A Black Woods spread around the two Administrators.
"What...?"
"This can't be..."
Seeing the woods that unfolded before their eyes in the courtyard where The Nameless Mist appeared, only one thing came to mind.
A dark landscape devouring the two Administrators.
And as expected.
['The Black Goat of the Woods' invites you.]
Entering the woods that had swallowed the two Administrators, YuWon greeted them.
"Welcome."
Swoosh.
The two Administrators and YuWon disappeared in an instant.
The Black Woods that had appeared for a moment swallowed the three of them in the same moment, then disappeared without a trace.
Only one remained...
Only the robed Administrator, whose body had been cut by YuWon.
"Something... is wrong."
The appearance of The Nameless Mist and Black Woods.
The Names that should have disappeared had returned.
'I should return immediately, but...'
Clang.
Before the Administrator's eyes, the General Chief on horseback appeared.
Riding a flying Celestial Horse, General Chief Lee Rangjin and the soldiers of the Celestial Realm surrounded the Administrator.
"Is your answer a no?"
In response to the Administrator's question, Lee Rangjin nodded.
"To reflect on myself, who wavered for a brief moment..."
Boom.
Lee Rangjin's body, mounted on the Celestial Horse, soared into the sky, and the Unbreakable Sword in his hand drew a blue line.
And so...
Kwaaaat!
Lee Rangjin's Unbreakable Sword split the Administrator's body in two.
"I will fight you with my life at stake."
It was the moment when the flame that had flickered in Lee Rangjin's heart reignited.
------------------
At that moment...
At a considerable distance from the stadium and the streets of the Grand Tournament, a large number of spectators had gathered.
"What's happening?"
"Until recently, Asura and Tsukuyomi were fighting..."
"Where are we?"
As if they were watching a match, they sat in a large vacant lot.
They were sure they had followed the right path.
There was no way they couldn't find the enormous stadium resembling the Colosseum, and they had checked the seating map and sat in their seats correctly.
But, what is this?
Suddenly, the landscape of the stadium that stretched before their eyes disappeared completely.
The fierce battle between Asura and Tsukuyomi vanished without a trace, and a wide vacant lot was revealed.
Even some of them were Rankers who had spent a lot of money to see the Grand Tournament in person.
"What is this?! Have we all been deceived?"
"Where did Tsukuyomi go?! Our beautiful Tsukuyomi!"
"Were the preliminaries also a scam?"
The spectators gathered in the vacant lot were indignant.
With the disappearance of The Nameless Mist, they began to doubt whether the Grand Tournament itself was a farce from the beginning.
It was natural for them to be angry, as they had traveled long distances and spent a lot of money to see the duels.
Among them, a spectator jumped into the center of the stage where the match was originally supposed to take place.
"Let's all go to Celestial Realm! We have to get to the bottom of this!"
The man raising both hands high gradually looked up.
"We have to get to the bottom of this..."
His words faded.
In the sky.
Something small was seen as a dot approaching rapidly.
And at that moment...
Baaaaaaang!
It fell swiftly into the center of the stadium.
Kwaaaang!
“Uwaaaaah!”
However, being a Ranker, the man quickly dodged the attack. In the spot where he was, a dense dust cloud rose into the sky.
The identity of the object that had fallen to the ground wavered in the swirling smoke.
Gulp.
The man closest opened his eyes in surprise.
“It, it, it… It…”
The smoke dissipated slowly.
Whoosh.
With a burning red eye shining, Son OhGong, riding on a cloud, appeared holding by the neck the Administrator whose head was half broken and had lost consciousness.
“The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal?”
The Administrator with the half-broken helmet was unconscious.
And the little trembling child on Son OhGong's shoulders.
Son OhGong shook the Administrator's neck with one hand while scratching his head with the other, puzzled.
"Isn't this the place?"
----------------
In the Black Woods.
The two Administrators looked at the black trees surrounding them.
"It really is the Black Woods."
"Is his Name still there?"
The being that rules the Black Woods.
Shub-Niggurath.
Even among the Outer Gods, she is one of the three most powerful, and she received a Name from Azathoth that gives her the power to rule the Black Woods.
That is...
Beeeeeeh-.
The name of "The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young."
"Did you hear that?"
"Yes. I'm not even surprised anymore."
They had long abandoned complacency.
From the moment The Nameless Mist appeared, they were prepared to fight against the Outer Gods.
Footsteps sound~
Crack-.
The two Administrators turned towards the sound.
In the center of Black Woods, countless eyes and legs approached their location.
And among them...
"...They've arrived."
"The Nameless Player."
Surrounded by Black Woods Goats, YuWon, the shepherd, stood there.
"Nameless, you say. Clearly, I am active under the name Kim YuHun."
Petting the heads of the goats one by one, YuWon shrugged.
"Oh, right. This is just the beginning."
Beeeeeeh-.
The goats bleated in response to YuWon's words.
The goats were easily more than dozens.
Probably, in this vast woods, there were many more goats hidden than were visible.
"So, you know this name? Kim YuWon."
"Kim YuWon?"
The Administrators locked eyes.
Although the memory grazed them, they failed to recall YuWon's name.
At that reaction, YuWon nodded.
It seemed that even after hearing his name directly, neither of the Administrators remembered it.
'That's all I needed to confirm.'
There was no need to continue talking to them.
YuWon directed the goats with a gesture.
Beeeeeeh-.
The goats surrounded the two Administrators.
The Administrators began to swell in the overwhelming presence of the goats absorbing YuWon's Divine Power and growing in size.
Woo~
The two Administrators revealed their true forms.
An Administrator with green scales and jaws, and another that was a giant sphere with dozens of eyes and thin legs.
Enormously increasing their sizes, they looked down at YuWon and the goats and released their Arcane Power.
[How do you have those Names?]
[Are you also part of the Outer Gods?]
The reason they became interested in YuWon was simple.
It was because of the Names he possessed.
However, they didn't know.
That those weren't the only Names YuWon possessed.
"Dagon. Ihot."
The two administrators staggered at the names YuWon mentioned.
Dagon and Ihot.
Those were the real names of the two, the Administrators of the 17th and 21st floors respectively.
[How...?]
[Our names?]
The Administrators were baffled.
And rightfully so.
They couldn't even imagine that within the Tower there existed a being who knew their Names.
They had assumed that YuWon was a remnant of the Outer remaining in the Tower.
But if he were just an Outer God, he wouldn't have a way to know their Names.
"Why are you the ones deciding the distinction between an Inner and Outer?"
Inner and Outer.
Words that had been used for a long time, when the fight against the Outers lingered.
Back then, Tower players called themselves Inner.
At that time, the term Inner was used as a concept opposed to Outer, and the Tower, with its brief and tumultuous history, was heading towards destruction at the hands of the Outers.
However, long before that...
There were those who used the word Inner.
"What makes you think you can call yourselves owners of the Tower when you cowered in terror?"
Beeeeeej-.
YuWon stroked the fur of an approaching goat and mocked the two Administrators.
"Has it gotten to your heads?"
A Name born from the arrogance of believing themselves the owners of the Tower.
Inner.
The only ones entitled to use that name were the Players, not the Administrators.
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LWTG (Novel)