Ascending to the 9th floor was unusually sluggish. The people ahead weren't moving forward, causing those behind to voice their complaints, but even those complainers, upon reaching the 9th floor, stood still without stepping aside.
"Excuse me, let people through. Move aside."
I forced my way through the crowd and reached the 9th floor. The moment I took a step forward, I too stopped walking, just like everyone else.
A gentle breeze blew. The green grass spread across the vast plains swayed softly.
Soil and grass? Things rarely seen in a tower. But it wasn't impossible. An eccentric with peculiar tastes could lay down soil and plant grass in a tower.
However, the light shining down from that dizzying height was unmistakably alien.
"The sun?"
At a ceiling as high as the sky, a light as bright as the sun shone down.
I doubted my eyes. No matter how high the ceiling, it couldn’t reach the sky, and no matter how bright a lamp, it couldn’t outshine the sun. But the 9th floor of Babel Tower made that a reality. The ceiling was as high as the sky, and that light was as bright as the sun. It felt exactly like standing on a prairie at midday.
But I couldn’t shake the instinctive sense of alienness. I asked Shay, the most instinctive person here.
“Mr. Shay. We haven’t gone outside, have we?”
“No. This is still inside Babel Tower.”
“Even if it’s a tower with spatial anomalies... I didn’t know such a vast space was hidden here. That it could even exist. That sun is as bright as the actual sun.”
“It’s an artificial sun.”
Rancart, who had followed me out, muttered while looking up at the sky.
“Without a doubt. That light is the light of an artificial sun that emits only refined heat and brightness.”
“An artificial sun? Like the one at the center of the Floating City?”
“Yes. The Floating City passing through the sky at an incredibly high altitude cannot receive sunlight. Light that isn’t filtered through the sky is no different from poison. So the Demon Lord created an artificial sun at the center of the Floating City to illuminate the inside.”
I had seen it too. The massive sphere of light at the center of the Floating City was as bright as the real sun. The reason the artificial sun didn’t fall from the center of the Floating City was because the Tower of Babel piercing through it supported it from both sides.
We who climbed Babel Tower now had the artificial sun above our heads.
This place is the 9th floor. Above our heads is the artificial sun. This meant one thing. I stepped forward and looked at everyone as I spoke.
“Now, everyone. I’ve found the problem of the 9th floor.”
The mages who had been looking around for the problem asked in surprise.
“Already?”
“What is the problem?”
“You all know the structure of Babel, I assume. The Demon Lord’s magic tower, Babylon, is the axis of the Floating City that supports the artificial sun.”
The Tower of Babel pierces the Floating City vertically. At the exact center where the towers growing from above and below meet, the artificial sun illuminates the Floating City. The Tower of Babel is virtually a fixed axis that supports the artificial sun so it doesn’t fall or drift away.
In other words, there’s an artificial sun at the top of the Tower of Babel.
“And yet, an artificial sun is shining down on us above our heads. What does this mean?”
“It means we’re at the top of the Tower of Babel.”
“The Tower of Babel wasn’t this wide when seen from the Floating City.”
“It’s a spatial anomaly. The fact that its scale is this large is astonishing. The Tower of Babel might be a giant pocket of Rene.”
The mages who came down from the Floating City nodded and conversed. However, the mages who came up from the lower world couldn’t understand their words.
“What? Why do those people know the structure of the Floating City? This is the Gate of Ascension! A test for qualification to ascend to the Floating City!”
“Are those people mages who came down from the Floating City?”
“Pulling up the ladder, what? Why are mages of the Floating City at the Gate of Ascension?”
The mages slowly divided into two groups. The quality of the Floating City mages was higher, but the number of mages from the lower world was far greater. The mages of the lower world glared at the Floating City mages with jealousy and hostility.
So the group has split into one more faction. Even if we combined our strength it wouldn’t be enough. I looked around at the mages and continued speaking.
“Strictly speaking, the top of this Babel Tower is not here. Because we still have one floor left.”
“One floor...? Hughs. Above this, there’s only the artificial sun.”
“That’s exactly it, Senior Avangarde!”
I clapped loudly toward Avangarde who had spoken the correct answer. Avangarde’s face turned red from receiving the attention.
“It means the top of Babel, the 10th floor, is inside that artificial sun. In other words, the problem of this floor is finding a way to enter that sun.”
If it were a real sun, it would be an absurd story, but if it’s an artificial sun, it’s possible. That’s a magical artifact. Inside, there would be magic circles inscribed that generate enormous magical power to produce light and heat.
It’s a place worth exploring. One mage from the Floating City stepped forward confidently.
“Using gravity magic will work.”
“Gravity magic?”
“Yes. Mages of the Floating City can use gravity inversion magic. If you use gravity inversion here, reaching the artificial sun is easy. Though I’ll need to finish the calculations properly...”
It was when he was slowly explaining and trying to draw up his magic power. A magic light flashed from among the crowd and a mage’s figure soared into the air. Having completed her magic one step ahead of the others, she laughed loudly and shouted.
“Kakaka! You slugs! Rene’s legacy is mine!”
“Icarus! That bastard!”
While we were having our conversation, she had torn a mole scroll and infused magic power to complete the gravity inversion magic.
Mages were indeed fast at calculations. The mage called Icarus scoffed at the mages who were one step behind.
“Don’t you know yet? The Gate of Ascension always closes once one person passes through! The one who grabs it first seizes all the glory!”
“Who said we don’t know that...!”
“Follow her!”
“Hughs! What are you doing? Why aren’t you stopping that!”
“Why should I do that? She’s the one who acted rashly.”
While I muttered in disbelief, Icarus’s figure began to ascend even higher. Gravity inversion magic differed in trajectory from flight magic. Seeing Icarus, who was now closer to the sun, several other mages also leapt up with reverse gravity magic.
However, gravity inversion magic, by its nature, could never catch up to someone who had gone up first. Icarus’s speed now approached that of lightning. Icarus, flying through the wind, reached her hand further toward the artificial sun.
“I will claim Rene’s legacy and ascend to an even greater realm...”
Faster and faster, hotter and hotter, brighter and brighter. Icarus’s body became drenched in light. The permeating light finely fractured her shadow.
That was neither an optical illusion nor anything else—it was exactly as it appeared. Before Icarus could even realize something was wrong, she let out an exclamation.
“Ah...! The light!”
The exclamation she breathed out didn’t even reach here. At a distance where even my mind-reading grew faint, with a snap, a human body disintegrated.
Death? No, closer to annihilation. She was sucked into the artificial sun without leaving a corpse or debris behind. The cunning mage who tried to cut in line was enveloped in light and simply vanished.
The mages who witnessed Icarus’s death canceled their gravity inversion magic in horror. However, it didn’t go as smoothly as expected.
“W-wait! Gravity anomaly! The gravity anomaly is disrupting the spell!”
“Cancel the gravity magic and use another spell to descend...!”
Of the five mages who had flown up, two with quick situational judgment and superior magical ability returned safely. One died like Icarus, and the other two flew off in wrong directions and fell far away. One died with a broken neck, and the other was destined for nearly the same fate, but—
“Tch, fools! What are you doing!”
Thanks to Shay creating wind to save them, they escaped with minor injuries.
The situation settled as quickly as it had begun. However, the people’s agitation only grew.
It wasn’t because someone had died. If anything, the opposite. It was a tragic misfortune, but people’s reactions were cold, if not harsh.
“Serves you right for cutting in line. Should’ve just died!”
“That wasn’t even cutting in line. It’s cheating that a mage like that participated in the Gate of Ascension in the first place!”
The mercenaries mocked the dead mage, and the knight order clicked their tongues while offering brief prayers. And the mages, who should have been the closest to the deceased, spat out verbal abuse.
A Floating City mage who returned confronted them.
“A chosen one just died, is that something you should be saying?”
The Floating City mages were older, more skilled, and more solemn. They rebuked the lower world mages with dignity, but the hot-blooded mages instead rebelled.
“Something to say? That’s rich. Who benefited from gravity magic that can only be learned on the Floating City?”
“This is one of our few chances! You’re the ones trying to steal it!”
“I studied my whole life to ascend to the Floating City!”
Gradually, harsh words were exchanged. The two groups became violent, ready to clash at any moment. As loud voices went back and forth, some secretly prepared lethal magic.
When infighting broke out among the mages, the remaining two groups looked at each other.
The mercenaries.
And the knight order.
The two were originally in a position where they should have fought. However, they couldn’t wield their weapons carelessly because they were mindful of the mages who had the largest numbers. If they used force first and the mages, who feared violence, banded together, they wouldn’t be safe either.
But now, the mages divided into two factions fighting each other couldn’t serve as a deterrent for the mercenaries and the knight order.
“Your Eminence.”
“Yes.”
A subtle current flowed among the knight order, and the priest group slowly retreated. As the knight order naturally formed their battle formation, the mercenaries glanced nervously at Kuram. They too were ready to move immediately if an attack order was given.
At that moment, Kuram called Dokjine.
“Dokjine.”
“...Huh?”
“Just for a moment.”
Having called Dokjine like that, Kuram grabbed her head and kissed her. Dokjine’s eyes widened enormously. The two continued their intense kiss, and the sound of their lips smacking leaked out.
Shay exclaimed in surprise.
“W-what, what, what! Why are they doing that?”
“It seems they suddenly wanted to exchange bodily fluids.”
“What are you talking about! That can’t be!”
“Living, such desires can arise.”
“...That, might... not be... impossible...?”
I don’t know either. That’s not what’s important right now.
Dokjine’s eyes gradually narrowed. She smiled with half-moon eyes, looking utterly satisfied and happy. That appearance was alluring and precarious.
Then slowly, Kuram parted his lips and muttered.
“There. I’ve passed on happiness.”
Long strands of saliva connected between them as if reluctant to part. But only for a moment, Dokjine snatched it and hastily licked it up. Having even sucked that dry, Dokjine let out a moan with her tongue hanging loose.
“I’m happyyyy—.”
Kuram’s bodily fluids are poison. Among them, saliva is the sweetest narcotic. During the years he was imprisoned in Tartarus, Kuram had provided narcotics to her. Now Dokjine is steeped in Kuram’s drug, and Kuram also changed his body to create a drug that suits Dokjine.
And Dokjine can only use her techniques when she takes the drug. That is her demonic art.
“Dokjine. Let’s kill them.”
“Eheheheh!”
In the eyes of the drugged Dokjine, she could see neither friend nor foe. Music echoed in her ears, and a dizzying floral scent brushed her nose. Her body felt as light as if flying, and she felt she could run for a hundred days without tiring. Intoxicated with euphoria, Dokjine finally discovered a butterfly flying alluringly and chased after it.
“A butterfly... Butterfly, where are you going?”
Dokjine’s charmed motion sliced the butterfly in two. Crunch, leather tears and flesh rips. The white butterfly instantly dyed red and, like magic, multiplied into hundreds to fly through the air.
“Kyahaha! The butterfly! The butterflies multiplied!”
Behind her, who laughed like a child chasing butterflies, a knight fell to his knees. Blood gushed from his half-severed neck.
A knight with combat precognition died absurdly easily. The knight who stood beside him looked in horror at his now-dead comrade.
“Torius! Heavenly God, what is this...”
“What on earth is that butterfly...?”
“Why didn’t the combat precognition activate?”
The power of the knights, combat precognition. The ability to read an opponent’s attack half a step ahead makes the knights an iron wall. The eyes of the heavenly god that watch over them in any situation have protected the knights’ bodies and faith.
Yet not only could the knights not follow Dokjine’s movements with their eyes, they couldn’t read her with combat precognition either. Her principles rendered even combat precognition useless.
Kuram muttered as he unwound the bandages binding his body.
“That’s because. Dokjine didn’t cut you down.”
Dokjine’s technique, Illusory Sleepwalking.
When she falls into hallucination from taking drugs, that hallucination becomes reality. Unrealistic and unpredictable movements, strength beyond imagination, and the confidence that she can accomplish anything. That becomes reality.
Dokjine merely cut a butterfly in her hallucination. No matter how stern the heavenly god may be, even they cannot foresee the principles within Dokjine’s hallucination. How could any principle foresee the hallucination of an addict?
And what manifests in reality isn’t just the euphoria from taking the drug.
The reality swept up by Dokjine is encroached upon by hallucination. The knight’s blood transforms into hundreds of red butterflies, and the wind pushing at her back blows in reality as well. The dizzying floral scent Dokjine smelled now filled everyone’s noses. A few weak-stomached people collapsed and vomited from the sensation of their five senses intertwining.
A Master who has reached the level of principles. Even limited to when she takes the drug, that power is real.
Even giving it her all wouldn’t be enough. The remaining knights gripped their cross swords and shouted.
“O God. Give us strength!”
“Today, a pitiful lamb departs to Your side!”
Having realized that combat precognition didn’t work, the knights charged at Dokjine prepared to die.