Ranker Who Lives Twice

The two Valdebichs silently looked at each other. The small Valdebich was amazed to see the Great Warrior's soul. The legendary being he'd only heard about was right in front of him. He had heard stories about this great hero from his parents when he was a child—stories that began with "A long time ago" and ended just like any other tale about an unfortunate hero who sacrificed everything for his people only to die in vain.

Although this hero had fallen, he still remained in the memories of many. His parents said they'd named him "Valdebich" so he could also be the hope and light of others. The butler who'd taught him various martial arts and fighting styles also spoke of him often. It was a strange feeling for Valdebich to meet the hero he'd always admired when he was young.

「You've grown up well.」 The larger Valdebich, the Great Warrior's soul, smiled warmly at him. His eyes were soft, as if Valdebich were a son he'd been separated from a long time.

Valdebich's eyes widened. 『You… know me?』

「Of course.」 The Great Warrior's soul smiled wryly. 「You can even say I'm the one who summoned you here.」

『What…?』 Valdebich's eyes grew bigger at the unexpected words.

「Long ago, in addition to the king, the giants had a spiritual leader. A prophet. Were you aware of this?」

『I…have heard about it.』

「The prophet who had ruled with me told me that the luck of the universe was no longer with our race, so we had to prepare an ark for our coming extermination. Then, when the prophecy began, luck would return to us, and we would be able to rise again.」

Valdebich couldn't grasp all of the Great Warrior's words, but he understood what he was trying to say. The "extermination" referred to the downfall of the giants, and the prophecy most likely had to do with Yeon-woo's arrival. Did that mean someone had foretold that Yeon-woo would someday appear to save the giants? 'Is that possible?'

It was hard to believe that a prophet had seen a future thousands of years away. Even the gods and demons of precognition couldn't achieve this feat. If it were possible to predict the future, societies with this power would already have taken control of the heavenly world.

The Great Warrior's soul grinned, understanding Valdebich's disbelief. 「I had the same thoughts. I thought the prophet was crazy to talk about something thousands of years in the future. If that were possible, why couldn't we simply stop the extermination?」 The Great Warrior's soul seemed unaffected as if he had already distanced himself from the situation. 「But the prophet said that the dream of the great being only lasts a moment, and no one can interfere with it. It sounded like nonsense. I asked the prophet if fate really existed and how free will could be possible if it did…it was confusing, anyhow.」

『Is that so?』 Valdebich felt like he might know who the great being the prophet referred to was.

「At the time, I was scared of nothing and didn't think too much of it. Truthfully, I didn't have the attention to concern myself with such things, either. While searching for a new dimension to invade, we discovered something called the Tower, and we prepared to attack it.」

Valdebich became nervous as he listened to the long-lost secret history of the giants. At the same time, he was curious. What did the Great Warrior's soul mean when he said he knew him?

「After observing for a long time, we decided that the Tower was worth challenging. We decided that some of us would move into it, but not everyone.」

Valdebich tensed. He understood why there was a restriction like this.

「We had to leave behind the old and injured giants. And the prophet decided to stay behind in our motherland with a few of his followers.」

This motherland was the birthplace of giants. It had probably been Valdebich's as well…

「The prophet told me this before we left and that he would prepare an ark. Something about being able to see the future by giving up parts of his soul even though the great being's dream only lasted a moment?」

Thump. Thump. Valdebich's heart beat faster as he listened to the Great Warrior's soul talk.

「The prophet also said my stupid name would be passed down and that person would someday be sent to us…from the beginning, you were already destined to come here.」 The Great Warrior's soul smiled warmly. 「You are my descendant, and you've been promised to our god as an Apostle from a long time ago, young Valdebich.」

Valdebich clenched his fists.

「It might appear that our god has just been born, but he has been looking over us from far away in the past. You have become his child and succeeded in rescuing us from suffering and pain to find our promised land. This is only the beginning. The responsibility of leading the giants to greatness again lies on your shoulders.」

Pwoosh! Suddenly, the Great Warrior's soul began to crack.

『Your body…!』 Valdebich moved towards him in surprise, but the Great Warrior's soul lifted his hand to stop him. He smiled warmly at Valdebich.

「Don't be shaken, and follow your principles as you always have.」

『You do it! You can be the one to do it!』

「Death isn't the end. It can be the foundation of new life. Death and life are cycles that only last a short moment. It's like a dream that is forgotten but can be dreamt again. My generation's death has already come, and your generation has been born, so even in death, I will be with you.」 The Great Warrior's soul smiled faintly. He was exhausted. He had spent ages suffering in a world that even transcendent beings didn't want to enter, waiting for a hope he wasn't sure would come.

However, he had seen the giants rise again, just as the prophet had said. Now that he was assured a new Valdebich would follow in his footsteps and lead the giants, he no longer had any regrets. All he wanted to do…was rest. 「Allow me to make one request.」

『Please…go ahead.』 Valdebich dropped his head. Now that he had looked into the mind of the Great Warrior's soul, he couldn't muster up the strength to stop him.

「Someday, if we follow our god and leave this prison-like Tower and return to our motherland…bury me next to that person…」 That person…had the prophet been his lover or wife? With those words, the Great Warrior's soul scattered in the air, flowing into Valdebich.

The lingering attachments and achievements of the last king, who had led the giants to a golden age and their downfall, entered his young descendant and settled inside him permanently.

* * *

"Boh, this should be enough for you."

『What is the meaning of this! Do you think we worked that hard just for this much?』

[The godly society <Boh> protests against your decision!]

Yeon-woo was giving the revelations to the envoys as he promised. If he could get away with it, he would have just ignored them, but the contract was both a command and a quest based on the Tower's system. He couldn't go back on his word.

However, nothing was specified about the amount of the reward, so it was up to Yeon-woo to decide. Of course, the envoys protested, saying a few sentences were insufficient for the amount of work they had put in after descending to the lower world.

"I heard you announced you were neutral when things went down."

『What does that matter…!』

"I said from the start that the rewards will be based on contribution."

『But…!』

"You weren't that active during the site exploration. I know you didn't stand on the traitors' side when they schemed against me, but that doesn't mean you were with me either, so of course your contribution should be considered small."

The envoy from Boh, Les, was about to protest further, but the gazes of the large societies fell on him, and he wasn't able to say more.

[The godly society <Deva> says ### isn't wrong and urges you to move on quickly.]

[The godly society <Chan Sect> nods in agreement with <Deva>.]

…

[The demonic society <Jie Sect> smirks.]

…

『You…!』 Since Yeon-woo was technically in the right, Les turned back sharply.

Yeon-woo looked at the envoys behind him without any concern. "Next." There were some complaints, but overall, the process went smoothly because everyone thought it was reasonable to allocate rewards according to contribution. The societies didn't receive as much as they would have liked, but it was still an amount that could help them.

[The godly society <Malach> is satisfied with their reward. They are happy now that they have found a clue to finishing the Book of Enoch.]

[<Malach> has announced their solidarity with you.]

[An invitation to Eden has arrived.]

[A message from Metatron has arrived.]

[Message: We had some concerns, but we are satisfied with the outcome. We wish to engage in more exchanges like this in the future. Is that possible? Please consider it carefully.]

[A message from Metatron has arrived.]

[Message: Additionally, please visit Eden when the opportunity arises. If you wish, we'll leave Gabriel's spot empty for you.]

Malach's pleased response even including a declaration of their solidarity with Yeon-woo.

『Hmph! You don't need to listen to those dirty angels. You're more like us than any other being, so come look for us. We'll give you whatever you want.』

[Baal agrees with Agares and nods.]

L'Infernal tried to recruit Yeon-woo through Agares once more before returning to the heavenly world.

After all the payments were completed, the envoys speedily returned to the heavenly world, as if they had arranged everything in advance. They had already used too many laws of causality descending to the lower world, and they needed to report back to their societies as soon as they could. Besides, remaining in Yeon-woo's holy territory any longer was like sticking your head between a snake's jaws.

The crowded and gloomy hidden stage of the sixtieth floor instantly turned quiet.

「Impossible…!」 Shanon, who'd been watching the envoys to make sure they didn't try to pull any tricks, muttered in a shocked voice.

Yeon-woo's forehead creased as he wondered what Shanon's problem was this time. "What's impossible?"

「Why didn't you do it?」

"What?"

「Stab them in the back.」

Yeon-woo was speechless.

「You're giving them rewards just like that? Impossible! There's no way! 'Fess up now. You're not King Temper, are you?」

Yeon-woo still couldn't reply.

「It's clear some other guy has disguised himself as King Temper!」

For a moment, Yeon-woo seriously wondered what he would do to Shanon. However, it was more trouble than it was worth, and he just snorted and replied, "It doesn't matter."

「What?」

"I gave them pieces without any context, so it will take a while for them to interpret it."

This time, Shanon was speechless.

"Besides, do you think you can become stronger and interpret the revelations just by looking at them? They need background knowledge, and if they're starting from scratch, that'll take some time too." Yeon-woo had been taught by Brahm, who knew more than any being when he was in the heavenly world. He'd also learned from a few other scholars while researching the Emerald Tablet to create the Philosopher's Stone, which no one had ever done before. But even with that much background knowledge, it had taken him 200 years to comprehend just a few pages of the revelations in the Changgong Library.

Would it be possible for societies to suddenly change with just a few sentences or pages of the revelations? Yeon-woo didn't think so. Of course, the gods and demons had broad knowledge from living such long lives, so it was possible they might learn and interpret the revelations faster than Yeon-woo could. "But most importantly, I don't think those beings born from order will be able to grasp knowledge from chaos."

It had been a long time since the beings of the heavenly world had become transcendents, so they had grown even more tightly bound by the laws of nature. The more their domains and legends were spread, the more they'd be tied to order. The knowledge of outer space meant learning entirely new laws. It would be like poison.

Since Yeon-woo could see this, he was willing to give the revelations to them. Even if they somehow managed to interpret it, they'd need to readjust their domains and legends to learn. It would take them close to a hundred years to do so and that wouldn't be of much help with the upcoming war against Allforone.

It was enough for Yeon-woo to buy the time he needed to grow stronger, which meant he wasn't concerned.

「That's more like it.」 Shanon shook his head.

Pretending he didn't hear him, Yeon-woo turned around. 'But if someone reads the laws of the otherworld and succeeds in learning the information after disbanding their domains and legends… they might be truly dangerous.' His eyes darkened.

* * *

Kalatus returned a few hours later. Flutter!「I see everyone has gone back.」

Yeon-woo nodded. "And so has the Summer Queen?"

「We had a long conversation. We're still not done.」

Yeon-woo didn't know what had gone on between the Summer Queen and Kalatus, but he knew well it wasn't something he ought to interfere in. Besides, he had more important topics to discuss. There were many things he wanted to ask Kalatus.

「You must have many questions.」

Yeon-woo nodded.

「Ask away.」 Kalatus nodded as if he were prepared for any questions that Yeon-woo might ask. What wouldn't he do for his savior, who had rescued him from the swamp of despair?

"Do you remember what you told me before you became the Dragon of Chaos or whatever you were called?"

「I told you to go to darkness.」

"Yes. Where is Jeong-woo?"

「You've already seen where he is.」

Yeon-woo's face stiffened as Kalatus' eyes grew dark. 「The abyss within your unconscious. That is the darkness.」