/
“...”
Silence descended upon the clearing…
Scratch, scratch!
Rahmadat scratched his shoulder and asked, “What are you talking about?”
“What? You don’t know about the Age of Glory?” Skaya asked.
“Nope. I haven’t even watched the show called The Wild Ages or whatever that frost kid keeps on recommending to me.”
“Wrong. It’s not the Wild Ages, it’s the Age of Barbarians,” the Frost Queen complained.
“This is absurd…” Skaya sighed and started her lecture on the Age of Glory.
“All right. The Age of Glory is a brilliant ultra-ancient civilization. It is the foundation of today’s Ruben Empire.”
“I think I’ve heard of it before,” said Son Chae-Won with a nod. It wasn’t strange that she had heard of it because she was an intellectual as well. “I heard that the magic circuit techniques and arts that the people of Frontier are currently using have been greatly influenced by the records made during the Age of Glory…”
“Yep! Now, we’re talking! You all know about the very first archmage, right? I’m talking about the archmage who built the Magic Tower hundreds of years ago and the one who established Blackfield.”
Everyone nodded.
“He’s not technically the very first archmage,” Skaya said. She shook the book of Chaos Magic in her hand before continuing. “His knowledge of magic actually came from this book.”
“Hmm… did magic truly develop to that extent back then?”
“Yes. Magic at the time had developed enough for them to start dreaming of becoming gods.”
Everyone smirked at Skaya’s words.
They all thought that she was merely exaggerating.
A Player raised his hand and asked, “Skaya-nim. If people during the Age of Glory were that smart, how did they get wiped out?”
“There are two main theories about that…”
The first theory was that a furious god manifested a Gate containing extremely powerful monsters to punish the arrogant humans at the time. The second theory was that they ended up destroying themselves for some reason.
“Isn’t the first one the widely accepted theory in Ruben? The Ruben Empire has also acknowledged that the first theory is correct, and they have been insisting that it’s true.”
“I don’t think so. Think about Frontier’s current ecosystem.”
‘The ecosystem?’
Seo Jun-Ho naturally thought of beings like orcs, kobolds, dwarfs, and elves.
They were definitely powerful compared to humans.
“Didn’t you say that their magic at the time had developed enough for them to start dreaming of becoming gods? In other words, the members of the other races should be no match for them.”
“Exactly. And that is why I personally support the second theory...”
‘Humans ended up destroying themselves for some reason…’
Seo Jun-Ho nodded and asked, “Let’s take a deep dive into this, then. First of all, the giant in the action cam was using a language that is ubiquitous during the Age of Glory, is that correct?”
“Correct. It still exists in Frontier, but it is considered an ancient language.”
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“Ancient language… I wonder what happened.”
They fell into deep contemplation upon recalling the unbelievable incident of Players encountering a monster that could talk in the ancient language of Frontier, even though they were on the 7th Floor.
“In that case, there are two main hypotheses, then.” Mio’s expression turned grim as she said, “The first one is that the survivors left the universe before the collapse of the Age of Glory.”
If the survivors had ended up settling on the 7th Floor, then everything would make sense. However, everything would change if Mio’s second hypothesis ended up being correct.
“...the second hypothesis is that we have time traveled to the Age of Glory.”
It would be an unprecedented situation for the Players.
***
Every single Player was summoned to participate in the meeting the next morning. The leaders of every team nodded upon hearing the information that Seo Jun-Ho and Silent Moon’s team had gathered last night.
“Everything makes sense now. I do recall feeling like they were talking to each other.”
“So that was an ancient language, huh…”
“Now that we know the identity of our enemies, we should be able to clear this Floor without that many issues.”
The Players muttered to themselves.
“Clearing this Floor? I think we need to think twice about doing that,” someone protested. It was Christin Lewis, the Guild Master of Silver Constellation. He was wearing a pristine white cassock.
Rahmadat crossed his arms and frowned before asking, “What bullshit are you spouting? What do you mean, think twice?”
“Hey! You’re a Hero, but don’t be so rude to Master!”
“It’s fine.” Christin stretched his hand out to calm his guild members down. Then, he smiled at Rahmadat before saying, “The fact that they can communicate and speak a language means that they’re intelligent. If we hunt them down, wouldn’t we become like the monsters who had invaded Earth through the Gates back then?”
“We’re here to clear the Floor.”
“If those giants are truly the ancestors of the people of Frontier, then they’re probably humans like us.”
“Humans? Hah.” Rahmadat snorted. “You’re more imaginative than you look. I really can’t think of those giants as human beings.”
“Anyway, I’m sure we can have a conversation with them. In short, we have the option of negotiating with them.”
“Negotiate? Are you going to ask the giants to give up their Floor Master?”
“If it means less bloodshed, then yes.”
Christin Lewis’ words appealed to the Players as well. Otherwise, the Players would have dismissed his words as a mere opinion rather than a suggestion.
“Hm. If they are intelligent, then we can try and have a conversation with them. Is it possible?”
“There is already a precedent in Frontier and Neo City.”
“I actually feel like an invader. I don’t like this feeling.”
Many Players were shaken by the option of peace which could be achieved through a simple conversation. Of course, the majority of the Players were crying out for battle.
“Has everyone gone mad? We’re talking about those monsters!”
“They killed my friend—right in front of my eyes!”
“The enemies definitely want to kill us, but you want to talk to them? What nonsense is that?!”
The advance party was immediately split into two factions, and the air between the two factions quickly grew heated.
At the sight, Son Chae-Won hurriedly spoke, “We should give it a try. If we end up succeeding, then it would be great. Otherwise, we can just hunt them without feeling guilty. What do you all think? It’s pretty reasonable, isn’t it?”
“I agree!” Skaya raised her hand and said, “I’ll try talking to them. I think I’m the only one who knows how to speak that ancient language, anyway.”
The public’s opinion quickly tilted in favor of Skaya.
The decision to try and communicate with the giants first before hunting them down if the attempt failed was a win-win situation.
After all, if they could really talk to those giants like what had happened when they first stumbled upon the denizens of Frontier, then they would have a lot to gain.
Seo Jun-Ho stood up and said, “It seems that we have come to a conclusion. My team will visit those giants today.”
Honestly, Seo Jun-Ho had no expectations at all.
Actually, he hoped that they couldn’t communicate with them.
‘Because…’
It was all because he would feel less guilty about killing them.
***
“Do not look directly at him,” a demon firmly warned before walking ahead of the Heavenly Demon.
The Heavenly Demon felt indifferent about his death at the hands of Specter back then, but he felt nervous at the moment.
‘This is making me anxious.’
The Heavenly Demon felt like he would disappear into nothingness the moment he got close enough to the existence just up ahead. The Heavenly Demon gulped and gnashed his teeth before following after the demon.
Eventually, they arrived in front of a throne facing away from them.
The demon bowed with utmost respect before reporting, “I have brought the Heavenly Demon.”
The throne slowly turned around.
And there was a man sitting on the throne with his eyes closed.
‘So he’s the Archduke of Underworld…!’
The Heavenly Demon abruptly collapsed to the floor. He had forgotten the demon’s warning earlier about how he should not look directly at the Archduke.
“Keuk, keakkkk…!”
The Heavenly Demon screamed for a while as he writhed while desperately trying to catch his breath. The Archduke hadn’t even done anything; the Heavenly Demon simply looked at the Archduke directly, but the Heavenly Demon immediately collapsed.
He felt as if his fleshly body and soul were being torn apart.
“Did you not warn him?”
“I-I certainly did...”
“I see.” The Archduke nodded.
He turned his throne around and stared at the universe unfolding in front of his eyes.
“Human. What comes to your mind when you look at that universe?” asked the Archduke.
The Heavenly Demon raised his head slightly to look straight ahead. He saw a universe packed with dense stars. The universe he was looking at was so vast that it made the Heavenly Demon feel as though his efforts so far and even his mere existence were insignificant compared to the universe in front of him.
“Emptiness.”
“Is that so? That sounds about right.” The Archduke nodded and said, “The players have gone up to the 7th Floor, and it means that the end of this story is nigh.”
“What is it that you want from me?”
“How dare you talk like that to His Grace! Know your place!” The demon next to the Heavenly Demon glared at the latter.
“Stop it,” Archduke said calmly. He turned his throne around and asked, “Human. Do you know the difference between fate and destiny?”
“One’s fate is decided upon birth, and it cannot be changed. However, enough effort can change one’s destiny,” replied the Heavenly Demon.
“Then, let me ask you!” The Archduke opened his eyes. At the same time, the vast universe expanded even more, creating a kaleidoscope of lights that were brighter than any other stars in the universe.
A rumble echoed throughout the vast universe.
“Are you the fate or the destiny of this world?” asked the Archduke.
“I-I am…”
‘I don’t know. I have no idea. I don’t know the reason behind that question...’ The Heavenly Demon instinctively lowered his head and trembled. He strongly felt that he would die if he were to look at the Archduke. ‘No… it’ll definitely be something worse than death.’’
“P-please forgive me… I have no idea…”
“Then, you should go and find out for yourself.” said the Archduke. “The answer is on the 7th Floor.”
With that, the Archduke closed his eyes. The trembling of the entire universe stopped at once as if it had never trembled at all. As the rumbling died down, the Archduke turned his throne once again.
“Kill Seo Jun-Ho by any means necessary.”
The Heavenly Demon went silent many questions popped up in his head, but he didn’t dare to ask any questions. He wanted to ask why the Archduke couldn’t kill Seo Jun-Ho by himself, but the Heavenly Demon knew that he could only give one answer.
“Yes, Your Grace...”
***
Seo Jun-Ho had to repeatedly watch the videos that the ambushed Players had submitted to them before finally coming to a conclusion. “They definitely know how to hide their presence, and in a very clever way, too.”
The Players whom the giants had successfully ambushed were either killed or severely injured. However, the giants weren’t particularly strong if they were caught in the open.
In fact, they hadn’t been able to do anything other than die once the furious Players had surrounded them.
“They’re intelligent.”
The giants knew that they could only hunt the weak, so that was what they were doing.
As proof, the teams of the Big 5 or the teams with a Heaven had not stumbled upon even a single giant.
“So… are you really okay with this?”
“Y-yes. I’m fine,” Cha Si-Eun answered, but she quickly gulped a mouthful of her own saliva. It wasn’t strange that she was nervous. After all, she had just volunteered to be Rahmadat’s bait.
“I’m sure the giants will attack me rather than Rahmadat-nim.”
“But it’s too dangerous…” muttered Seo Jun-Ho.
“I placed many layers of Defensive Shield over her,” Skaya said.
“How many layers?”
“Twelve layers.”
‘That’s a lot…’ Cha Si-Eun smiled, feeling slightly relieved.
“It’s fine, really. Besides, all of you will protect me as soon as the giants appear, right?”
“Yes. Anyway, fine. We’ll leave it up to you.”
The rest of the team left Cha Si-Eun alone in the forest and concealed themselves in the nearby trees or branches. In addition to using their own skills and techniques to hide, Seo Jun-Ho also cast Night Walking on them.
“Ugh, Uaaaaahhh…!” Cha Si-Eun shouted, copying what Rahmadat had done yesterday. If there were any giants around, they would definitely run like crazy toward her.
‘The most important variable here is speed.’
Seo Jun-Ho gulped. He was as nervous as Cha Si-Eun. He wouldn’t be worried if Rahmadat were the bait, but Cha Si-Eun was the bait.
‘She can easily get seriously injured if something goes wrong.’
The 5 Heroes and the Frost Queen didn’t dare to look away from Cha Si-Eun.
Rustle.
“Hm?” A shadow suddenly loomed over Cha Si-Eun.
She turned around and was met with a giant grinning at her.
Grin.