Conqueror - Chapter 223

“Is that everything?” Yurid asked.

“Yeah I guess so.” As I said that, the bright white light coming from the door were opening up slowly. The place it opened was dark, and I couldn’t see through it. Not even the illuminating light of the doors couldn’t pass through it.

“The… its the void. I’m guess this is sending us a floor higher.”

Pure darkness, not even light passes through. I don’t want to touch it out of curiosity since I know what’s going to happen when I’m about to do that thing. “I guess that’s our cue.”

“Of course that’s our cue. If you dare enter that door, I will either grab your neck and drag you out of here or leave this place myself.”

“Fine, fine.” I looked at the door, opposite of where the next floor’s door was. It was just a dark circular portal opening up outside. I looked at Yurid and nodded.

“Let’s go back. I’m tired of this place.”

We both walked to the portal silently. But before I went in, I stopped for a moment. “Go on. I’ll be there.”

“You better not go to the next floor.”

“No I won’t don’t worry.”

Yurid passed through the portal and once she touched the darkness that was inside, she disappeared.

I looked back at the portal that was connected to the second level of the Tartarus. I’m so close yet… so far at the same time. I beat the first boss of the tower yet there’s still this fear implanted onto me.

Now I understand the fear and the overacting about safety of Herold. The Archangel was powerful. Extremely… powerful. I didn’t feel too… overpowered by the monster. But I still felt fear. And the pain that I felt in that fight made me realize… How little my existence is.

I just continue to fight and fight since that’s the only thing I’m good at. And… I’m doing this for my future. A place to live peacefully with everyone. That’s all I’ve ever wished for.

When I came to this world, I thought it’d be fun. The words leveling, system and monsters just popped in my mind. Realizing that, ‘holy crap I’m in a game.’

A game, that’s all it was in the first place. I played the game… I played and I played and I played until I’ve come to the point that… This life sucks in every way. It was as if reaching for a happy ever after that was never there in the first place. This place is just… a never ending battlefield. Everything was preset and only the player’s choices matter.

And now, I made a difference. I controlled my fate for once and the direction the gods have planned for us. I made a difference. I beat the first floor of the unbeatable towers. And that’s a step of many steps.

I made a difference.

I looked back at the portal to the exit. I took a step forward and darkness enveloped my body and then as I open my eyes, I was back, in front of the Tower of Babel.

“You beat it!?” Herold then suddenly asked.

“Y- yeah.” I didn’t think that he’d wait here. “We beat it.”

“What!? Congratulations! This just proves that you all are nearly ready. But not for… the Tower of Babel. But for Tartarus. The strengths of these two towers may differ, but what you can do here, you can also do here.”

“I guess so…” I sat down and dispelled everything I had. I then opened up my inventory and showed Herold the key to the Tower of Babel.

“So this… this is the key of the Tower of Babel?” Herold took it from my hands and began to inspect the white keys of the tower. He then walked up to the gate of the Tower of Babel and inserted the key in the hole.

“That’s going to be difficult. Getting out of there I mean.”

“I know. But I can handle myself. I have been battling through hundreds of years. And a gatekeeper won’t be a trouble. More than… an annoyance.” Herold turned the key and something clicked. But… nothing happened.

“Hmm…”

“What?” Herold tried again and the click of the door was heard but it wouldn’t budge nor open. Herold tried again and again and several clicks was heard but nothing was happening.

“It seems that I’m the only one, a player who can enter that place.”

“You must recruit more players Zieglind.”

“No.”

Yurid then spoke, “All right I have to butt in, but yes. You do need to have more people supporting you Zieglind.”

“No. I won’t bring any player with me in that tower. If its any of you I would accept. But no player can be trusted.”

“I know that. But you charging in there would be suicidal. We just finished the first floor of the tower and you needed my help. So I suggest for you to get more players. Since once you go in there, you’ll just die.”

“Players can’t be trusted. None of them. This game of the gods is just one giant inevitable death to all 999,999 of us. Only one can stand on top. If I bring in… one or more than that in the Tower of Babel and we all somehow cooperated until the end… Then what then? This battle royale will not finish. It will just be prolonged because of the conflicted feelings that we will all get. The show must go on. And it won’t end unless only one of us is left alive. So getting players to our side is just meddlesome and a waste of time. I’ll just need to kill them later.” I changed into my Gazer Form and flew back to Izgoy.

Everyone was questioning me but I told them that I’ll explain everything later. Everyone went ahead and got some rest and so do I.

I called everyone in the meeting room, same with Herold. I began to explain everything. “We found a new tower. Similar to the Tartarus. As you all know, we’ve confirmed that its the same tower with some differences here and there. Its named Tower of Babel, the complete opposite of the Tartarus. So what’s the difference? The Tower of Babel releases monsters at the world but at a faster rate than Tartarus. But these monsters won’t attack any of you. They’ll prioritize hostility, demons and… players.”

“How long exactly do they release monsters here?” Precia asked.

“Half of the time of the Tartarus so… around a month? I’m not sure. But that’s the conclusion we’ve gotten so far. And we also discovered something. The Tower of Babel doesn’t allow non players to enter. Only players and…”

“Weapons. Just say it clearly.” Yurid then said.

“But wait, how did you confirm this?” Helga asked.

“I entered.” I put it out bluntly. I couldn’t hide it and lying will just be too bothersome.

“What!?” Everyone said in unison except Herold and Yurid. It seems that they didn’t expect that. They were rowdy and began to ask many questions on how and why. So I began to explain more about this.

“Only for one floor. I tried to enter myself and tried to scout the early levels and then just leave after all that.” Herold explained. “But when I touched the door, it didn’t open or budged. I used everything I had but the door was just plain indestructible. So I called on Zieglind. The moment he touched the doors of the Tower of Babel, it was like the tower accepted him. It opened and no matter how much I tried to pull him out of there, I couldn’t do anything. He was just dragged in the first floor of the Tower of Babel.”

“Exactly.” I added. “The enemy that I encountered is a gatekeeper. And this gatekeeper was an Archangel. A being closest to the gods. And… me and Yurid were able to defeat it.”

“An Arch-” Rize was about to talk.

But Neco interrupted. “Wait, you just told us that non players can’t enter. And yet Yurid was there with you?”

I let out a deep sigh and then said, “I told you. Weapons are allowed in the Tower of Babel. And… Yurid is one of them. She’s not any species or anything. She’s just a doll and… she’s considered as a weapon. But she has her own thoughts.” I took a glance at Yurid but she just seemed expressionless on the outside. I know it must be tough being called by that but everyone needs to know that. And I don’t have to dig through her past to know more about her. “So now that the world is now continually changing and changing… We must act. I’ll explain everything again with Herold in here so that anyone can pitch in their ideas.”

Its time… For a revolution against the gods. This isn’t a battle between men versus men. Its now a battle against the gods. And they will all fall.