Chapter 33: What is this silver hair

The day after the community was set ablaze

Inside Rudera

The 6th floor of the Tower of Labyrinth

Albus floated high in the air, waving his hands like an orchestra conductor. 

His movements seemed random, as if he was merely flailing in the void.

But if one were to witness the earth rising and the waters parting in response to his gestures, they would never think so.

“Whew, I never expected them to make it this far.”

Albus muttered to himself as he fashioned an immense colosseum, large enough to cover dozens of football fields. 

Just the day before, after subduing the community, a world notification echoed throughout Rudera.

Ding!

– The Tower of Labyrinth’s 5th floor, the Castle of the Unbeliever, has been cleared by player ‘Kenyon’ and 12 others.

– Ownership of the Castle of the Unbeliever is awarded to the main quest’s top contributor, player ‘Kenyon’.

The notification indicated that the 5th floor of the Tower had been cleared.

The Tower of Labyrinth created by Albus had only the first five floors and the very top floor completed. 

The intervening floors were yet to be built.

Albus had set the difficulty of floors two to five extremely high, planning to add the higher levels as he monitored the players’ progression. 

However, the players had surpassed his expectations. 

In less than a month, they had defeated the boss of the fifth floor.

“The difficulty of the fifth floor was significantly higher than the previous levels, yet they cleared it already? This is unbelievable.”

The fifth floor was a place filled with thousands of undead, centered around a level 200 Vampire Lord. 

The boss was immensely powerful, but the real danger lay in the Vampire Lord’s ability to command the undead. 

He could turn fallen players into undead minions.

As players formed raiding parties to tackle the boss, fallen comrades would rise again and stab them in the back. 

The fifth floor was designed to be a brutal challenge, with players not only having to fight the boss but also be wary of their fallen friends.

Unlike the second, third, and fourth floors, which had hidden mechanisms to aid players, the fifth floor had no such gimmicks.

Despite the numerous powerful players on the continent, Albus thought this level’s difficulty would be insurmountable.

Yet, the time between the fifth floor’s opening and its clearing was less than three days.

The sixth floor was still unfinished. 

When Albus saw the notification of the fifth floor being cleared, he hurriedly blocked the gate between the fifth and sixth floors and started working on the sixth.

Fortunately, the players who cleared the fifth floor remained there for some reason, not advancing to the sixth. 

This gave Albus some much-needed time.

“Whew! This should be enough.”

After a long while of waving his hands in the air, Albus completed the arena and looked down upon the world he had created. 

The sixth floor’s theme was a dueling tournament. 

Players would face each other one-on-one in PvP battles for special rewards.

If this tournament succeeded, Albus planned to expand it with new dueling content. 

After completing the construction, Albus took a moment to rest before opening the gate to the sixth floor and pulling up the status window of the player who had cleared the fifth floor.

Ding!

Kenyon

Title: Pathfinder of the Divine, Second Apostle of the GM

LV 211

Class: Hardhugaðr

Hardhugaðr, huh?’

This hidden class could only be obtained by completing a hidden achievement: ‘Defeat ten non-living enemies of level 100 or higher within ten seconds using a hammer.’

Albus had an idea of how Kenyon had cleared the fifth floor so quickly. 

‘While fighting the Vampire Lord, Kenyon must have lost his comrades, and in the process of defeating them, he achieved the hidden accomplishment and obtained the hidden class.’

The Hardhugaðr class derived from Norse mythology, representing one of Thor’s epithets, allowing the user to wield Thor’s power and weapons temporarily.

‘Even a human with the power of a god would find it easy to defeat the Vampire Lord.’

Kenyon was the second player to obtain a hidden class, following the first emperor. 

‘I included that hidden achievement and class for the fun of creating dramatic situations, but I never expected it to accelerate the players’ progress this much.’

Albus cursed his past self.

With weary eyes, Albus opened his dormitory door after a night spent working on the Tower of Labyrinth.

“Hey there, friend. Did you sleep we—no, I guess not.”

In front of him stood Balt, greeting him with a raised hand and a bright smile.

“Did you stay up all night?”

“Spot on…….”

“I can see how Rudera makes you lose track of time. 

Sometimes I just want to skip classes and play all day too,” Balt nodded, eyes closed.

“Of course, I shouldn’t. If my father found out… Just imagining it is terrifying.”

Balt shuddered at the thought.

‘Is his father a senator or something?’

Seeing Balt scared was unusual. 

Albus grew curious about Balt’s family.

“Or maybe you spent the night doing something improper with the Saintess! You can’t, friend. You might incur divine punishment. She’s the god’s woman.”

Balt grinned mischievously.

“Seriously…”

“Just kidding. Let’s head to class. We’ll be late at this rate.”

Balt sprinted ahead.

On the way to the lecture hall,

“000” 

Passersby glanced at Albus, who stumbled beside Balt.

But their stares weren’t due to Albus’s condition.

“Friend, shouldn’t you ask the Saintess to heal you? You two are quite close.”

The incident in the academy restaurant where the Saintess had called him her beloved and dragged him away had made Albus famous as her lover throughout the academy.

A man who seduced the god’s woman was bound to draw attention. 

Despite his sister Adelina’s efforts to curb it, the interest in him had reached its peak.

“It’s not like that….”

The Saintess had suddenly appeared, claiming they had been lovers in a previous life and had fought the GM together. 

Then, she vanished, saying she needed to investigate something.

Several days had passed with no word from her. 

Could this really be called a close relationship?

“I told you, the Saintess must be mistaken. I only met her for the first time then.”

Though he didn’t believe someone like the Saintess would lie, he was convinced she had told the truth about their past relationship and her time travel. 

But not contacting him since was excessive.

Maybe she had something urgent to attend to?

***

The Holy Kingdom

The Pope’s Office

Knock, knock.

“Come in.”

The door opened to reveal Saintess Eclesia.

“It’s been a while, Your Holiness.”

The Pope’s eyes widened in recognition.

“…Eclesia? Weren’t you at the academy? Why are you here?”

“I had urgent matters to investigate. Whew! Thankfully, everything seems fine here.”

Eclesia searched the office as if looking for eavesdropping spells.

“Could you explain, Eclesia? This is hard to understand.”

The Pope watched in bewilderment as she used holy magic to scan the room.

“Many things have happened. So many things.”

Eclesia approached the Pope’s desk.

“I will explain everything. What will happen in the future? The sacrifices you made to protect me and my beloved.”

“The future…?”

“Please believe me, Your Holiness. I have returned from the future.”

“Eclesia, what are you saying…?”

“We have no time. We must act quickly to prevent the calamity god GM from destroying the continent’s order.”

Her eyes were deeply serious. 

The Pope could only stare in silence.

***

Academy Research Lecture Hall

Outside the main lecture room

“Hehe!”

A silver-haired girl rubbed her face against Albus’s chest.

‘Who is this?’

A girl he had never seen before. 

She had the features and porcelain skin that suggested she would grow into a stunning beauty.

“Hello! I’m a god!”

‘Is she unwell?’

Claiming to be a god out of the blue. 

She must be someone’s child working at the academy. Perhaps she was lost.

Should I take her to the student council?

As Albus pondered this,

“Daddy!”