Sinhyeok pondered for a long time within a structure where metals of opposing properties coexisted.
— *Sigh.* What would good-for-nothings know even if they tried?
— That’s what I’m saying. Created beings who haven’t even achieved transcendence are struggling. Struggling so hard.
— Stop teasing the kids. They’ll get scared and cry.
— Kekeke.
Taunting remarks intended to break their morale continued relentlessly.
Baek Arin shook her head with a dazed stare.
“Did they install motors in their mouths? Why don’t they ever rest?”
— Hahahahaha.
— You lot should try being trapped for tens of thousands of years too!
— In the end, it means only us loudmouths are left!
— It was boring even with the five of us chattering away, so this is perfect.
— I told you to give up. It’s not something you can handle. What could pathetic weaklings who haven’t even reached the threshold of transcendence possibly do?
Sinhyeok advanced toward the multi-metal orbits as if swimming.
“I think I can try something with this.”
— What?
— What did he just say?
— What?
He placed his hand on it.
*It’s been a while.*
Lately, Sinhyeok had been outsourcing all matters of alchemy, so it felt slightly awkward.
But soon, a familiar sensation returned.
“Huu.”
As he exhaled lightly and focused, the surface he touched gleamed.
*Bang!*
It immediately pushed Sinhyeok back roughly, sending him flying hard toward the inside.
“Kuk.”
Sinhyeok raised his hand; it was numb and bruised.
“Ugh, damn. That hurts like hell.”
Baek Arin sprang up and swam over.
“Mister, give me your hand. Why would you touch something you know nothing about so recklessly?”
She shared what little spiritual power she had.
“Still, I can interfere with it a little.”
At those words, Baek Arin looked at the multi-layered metal orbits on the outskirts.
“That?”
She snorted at the barely visible trace.
“As if that’s anything.”
Sinhyeok suddenly felt something strange about the quiet atmosphere.
*Why are these motor-mouthed things so quiet?*
Looking around, he saw materialized Origins huddled together, quietly conversing among themselves.
“Mister. Do you know what that is?”
Sinhyeok looked at the outer structure again.
“Well, it’s a wave I’ve never seen before. I can barely even see it.”
He had felt something like this once before.
*When synthesizing life for the first time.*
He had experienced this when he touched something made by a god’s own hands for the very first time.
“It would be easy if only there wasn’t something on the outside pushing me away like a security device.”
But even now, at this very moment, the Origins held by the two of them were being extracted.
She poked her dantian with her finger and sighed.
“Mister. I’m drained.”
Baek Arin was drained faster than Sinhyeok.
“Damn.”
Baek Arin’s expression was gradually darkening.
Seeing her face, Sinhyeok realized the severity of the situation.
*It’s extracting everything.*
Not just Origin, but even her life was being devoured.
*At this rate, we’re finished.*
They couldn’t remain in this space for long.
“We need to find a way.”
The Origins that had been whispering among themselves approached.
Various lights creeping closer slowly took on human forms.
*What? Do they want to fight? Should I prepare?*
Baek Arin also began tensing up as she watched them.
— Ahem.
— Hem hem.
— You there, the good-looking couple.
Baek Arin bristled at being paired with the mister just like that.
“Do you want to die! Why are you pairing me with the mister!”
— S-sorry!
— If you were siblings, I would apologize.
At the word “siblings,” her expression soured even more.
“Kuh.”
Sinhyeok just laughed.
“Haah.”
Baek Arin simply ignored them.
— Hey. You two.
A god with the form of a beast’s head intricately fused with a human body approached.
*What the hell is that?*
— Don’t you want to get out of here.
Sinhyeok flinched at their blunt proposal.
*Why? Can I consider them allies for now?*
He could clearly tell they were fellow prisoners, but.
*I can’t say they aren’t enemies.*
You learn a thing or two from breaking Gates.
Are gods purely good?
Can they be trusted?
Not at all. You can tell by looking at Earth.
There are several gods who show themselves under the guise of alliance.
They thoroughly demand a price.
In other words, gods are not purely benevolent beings.
— Well, we can stay like this forever. It’s fine since we don’t die.
— Indeed. We thought your pitiful struggling was so admirable that we considered granting you grace.
— This is why inferior mortals are called fools.
They sneered and pretended to leave.
Sinhyeok looked at them strangely.
*They have an agenda.*
And he pondered the moment their gazes shifted.
*When I touched the ring of that multi-layered structure.*
He instantly realized what it was they were conscious of.
“I suppose stupid mortals should just die.”
He tossed the remark out casually.
He could see their movements, deliberately turning away to leave, come to a halt.
— Hey. What if he really dies?
— No way. Self-preservation is a mortal’s basic instinct.
— Don’t you know there are crazy bastards sometimes? Anyway, those with beast heads on top really think like beasts.
— What? He wants to die?
— Hey, hey. He’s jumping in there again!
Sinhyeok took it a step further and leaped toward the outskirts as if to commit suicide, and they startled, whirling around.
— Hey!
— Stop!
Sinhyeok paused his movement and looked back.
“Aha. You want to get out, don’t you?”
— …….
He had struck a nerve.
— Mortal. We could crush you to death with a finger.
“Then kill me.”
They fell silent again.
“You can’t, can you?”
Sinhyeok more or less grasped the function of this ring, even if only slightly.
*One is absorption. It sucks in all energy with powerful attractive force.*
The main target of this function is gods.
Transcendents who possess Origin are the targets.
From that perspective, they couldn’t be all that pleased with this space.
— Hehehe. A mere mortal.
— Foolish insect. Can you fathom the heavens with that head?
— Eliminating you is no effort at all.
Threats were hurled, but Sinhyeok smirked.
“Oops.”
As he slightly shifted his body toward the outskirts with exaggerated movement, they flinched and reached out.
“H-hahaha. Hahahaha!”
Sinhyeok laughed and taunted those gods.
“You’re trapped here, aren’t you? And you roughly know how to get out, but either can’t, or don’t know at all.”
— That damned bastard.
— What an unpleasant face.
— We should have just killed him.
Seizing the momentum, Sinhyeok proposed to those in the same predicament.
“We’re trapped together anyway. Shall we cooperate?”
— H-haha. That rotten mortal.
— Shall we just kill him?
— Cooperate? Ridiculous! You should offer yourself up to the Master! Along with that woman!
He heard remarks with a rather classic, old-fashioned mindset.
Sinhyeok dug his ear and blew the earwax away.
— You!
— You, right now!
“I’m an alchemist? The kind that often appears in legends? That sort of thing.”
The gods were bewildered by the sudden self-introduction.
— What are we supposed to do with that!?
— What is that? Ah!
— Huh?
— Ah……!
They flustered, then suddenly fell silent.
“You can’t get out anyway.”
At Sinhyeok’s words, the surroundings fell silent.
Sinhyeok grinned and reined them in.
“I’ll get you out. So tell me everything you know.”
— Damn.
— Of all places, someone like him had to show up here….
— Haah.
The voices of those who seemed to have given up could be heard.
Sinhyeok looked at Arin and smiled broadly.
*There’s no rule saying we have to just die.*
Sinhyeok approached the gathered gods and spoke with a smile.
“Then please break it down and explain in detail.”
— I suddenly don’t feel like talking.
— I’m leaving.
— Someone explain to him.
— Hey. That’s dirty. Trying to pawn off your shift?
— You worthless bastard, you handle it.
They all scattered, and in the end, only a single god remained.
“And you are?”
His features were extremely hazy.
He held a cloak and a staff.
The staff was shaped like two intertwined snakes.
*I’ve heard a lot about him.*
— It’s Hermes. As you can see, I’m the one with the lowest divinity who got beaten into taking this shift.
He glared at Sinhyeok with an annoyed face.
— Tch. I was going to toy with you a bit. Got tangled up. But can you really touch that? Those pigeon bastards are the only ones who can touch that.
Sinhyeok shrugged at Hermes’s boastful words.
“I have to try it to know.”
— What? Is this a scam!? You—!
Sinhyeok placed his hand on the metal surface behind him.
*Szzzt!*
Light flashed, trying to erase Sinhyeok’s hand.
*Deftly evading—*
He concentrated and bound even the approaching energy.
He broke through even the barrier that seemed to serve as a security device.
— Y-you insane!
As his hand finally touched the metal surface, it immediately stopped.
The sensation of picking apart particles faded.
*It seems to pull everything in.*
He felt that only a simple method would suffice to repel this and hold his ground.
*I need to give something up and maintain the alchemy.*
He removed his hand and spoke to the surprised Hermes.
“It’s not all bluster. Was that proof enough?”
— Hahahaha! Yeah! This is enough! Wow! In all my divine life, I never thought I’d actually see a real alchemist!
He was extremely excited.
— Yes! What should I tell you first!?
“Please start by telling me what this thing is.”
— Good. I’ll tell you everything.
Though Sinhyeok couldn’t see his face well, he seemed to catch a glimpse of emotion that looked very excited and thrilled.
— This is called the Astra Ring. It was made by those winged celestial god bastards.
*Winged?*
— Ah. You don’t need to know who. There are really stuffy and boring bastards. The ones who go “Lord, Lord” all the time.
“Ah, yes.”
— Anyway, those guys made it. It has two functions. Blocking the attractive force flowing from the center.
“Hmm.”
Sinhyeok looked at the central sphere.
The thing inside, surrounded by metal.
*Probably what is presumed to be Jormungandr.*
— The second is spatial separation. Currently, this area including that thing is another dimension. Think of it as a subspace.
He explained it as simply as possible.
— It’s their specialty. Creating sub-dimensions to hide in. Anyway, they’re gloomy. That’s the function. That’s what I’m saying.
“Hmm.”
After hearing who made it and its functions, Sinhyeok asked again.
“But how were you planning to use me to break through it?”
— Well. Because you seemed to be able to interfere with it. Were you planning to throw you in and run?
The method was more crude than he thought.
“That thing absorbs power too, though?”
— We all have some hidden reserves, so to speak.
In other words, despite looking this pathetic, they had a trick up their sleeves.
“You’re dumber than I thought.”
Hermes, who had been explaining, flew into a rage.
— So what! What! How great a trick do you have! It may look like that, but it’s a divine artifact possessed by the celestial race! It’s at that level! That’s what’s holding back the End!
*The End.*
He heard another piece of information flow from him.
*Holding back the End?*
The identity of this sphere was roughly taking shape.
*Inside that sphere is the End. This structure is a device to stop the End. The power source for that device is Origin, that is, transcendents.*
One more thing.
The one in the outer temple belongs to the personnel assigned to guard and manage this.
*Meaning it can’t be rashly touched.*
But Sinhyeok wasn’t very impressed.
To be precise, he didn’t greatly sympathize with their logic.
*Is it real?*
He doubted it.
The so-called End, and how they had trapped it.
— So what’s your method?
“We’ll have to bypass it and break through skillfully.”
Sinhyeok smiled meaningfully.
His eyes shone as usual.
*By offering you lot as sacrifices, that is.*