Chapter 346

Chapter 346
## Chapter 346

However, such measures were no longer required.

Besides, when had I ever been one to play by the library of regulations?

A faint, silent smirk played on my lips.

“……I shall demonstrate the nature of authentic abyss, O Forgotten God.”

【The vestige of ‘Randolph’ etched upon the Sinister Gauntlets manifests!】

A different Ruin, and the reality of its essence.

‘…Regardless, he remains a mere creature of flesh and blood.’

The ‘Forgotten God’ steadied her wavering spirit.

The primordial strength of the Origin held by Lilith was an absolute that no one could hope to challenge.

Once her own malediction was woven into it, the momentum of the struggle swung entirely in her favor.

It was the natural order of things.

He was a being shackled by the destiny of a mortal—a doom that even the adoration of a celestial goddess could not rewrite.

There was no logical way an entity marked for inevitable decay could endure the combined pressure of Lilith and a deity of malice.

‘He carried a degree of sacred power that defied expectation, but…… even so, the salvation of everyone is beyond his reach.’

To be fair, he had been full of surprises.

Under normal circumstances, no mortal could possibly hold their ground against the weight of the original shadow.

They were fated to be swallowed whole, transformed into mindless marionettes dancing to her whims.

After all, was every other soul present not already under her thumb?

The sovereign of the Northern lands, the Druid of legend, the titan of the Empire—it made no difference.

Every being tethered to a mortal expiration date was helpless when faced with the ‘Origin’.

Only the Druid of the Golden Rule stood as an anomaly.

He likely survived the onslaught through the protection of the Nameless Repair and the credentials of his myriad divine traits.

In the end, divinity was the sole currency that could trade against the darkness of the Origin.

Yet, it fell short.

Even that formidable sanctity could only shield the Druid of the Golden Rule himself.

His reservoir of holy power was not deep enough to extend a lifeline to every individual gathered in this place.

The evidence was written in the desperate scene playing out before her.

“Surrender your will and embrace the blackness.”

A smile touched the lips of the ‘Forgotten God’.

While the Druid of the Golden Rule had managed to catch her off guard on several occasions, it was now obvious that he was faltering, buried under the sheer mass of her influence.

His strange trick of pulling an entity from beyond the boundaries of Truth had been a remarkable display.

And yet.

“Your performance as a ‘deity’ was quite convincing. But you are no celestial, little one.”

Her certainty was now absolute.

He wasn’t an undying pillar of the heavens; he was a human man.

He simply held the ‘credentials’ required to wield the power of a god.

But possessing the credentials didn’t rewrite the fundamental DNA of his soul.

He was a pauper clutching a shard of a diamond, not the diamond itself.

…Ha.

It was almost comical.

Genuinely pathetic.

To think she had felt even a moment of trepidation while engaging him until this point.

She had been thoroughly swindled by his charade.

He was a vessel for significant divinity, certainly, but not enough to withstand the dual assault of herself and Lilith.

That was the source of her confusion.

‘How did someone with only this much manage to bypass the Trial of Truth?’

It defied logic.

The Ordeal of Truth was a test categorized as ‘unachievable’ since the dawn of existence.

It was a peak that could not be scaled, a barrier that had driven even the most ancient gods to the brink of hopelessness.

The very foundation of the cosmos turned upon ‘Truth’ because its authority was so suffocating.

…She understood this better than most, having felt its weight herself.

Thus, the fact that the Druid of the Golden Rule had conquered the Ordeal of Truth and pulled a shadow from the void might actually be…

‘Evidence that the authority of Truth has begun to fray.’

Perhaps the concept of ‘Truth’ itself was losing its grip.

At that realization, a spark of ambition ignited within her.

‘If I emerge victorious here, I shall seize back everything that was stripped from me.’

The Forgotten God.

She could not recall her own identity.

Her name had slipped through the cracks of her memory.

She was convinced she had once reigned as a terrifying god of evil, but she only possessed the memory of being scrubbed from existence by ‘Truth’.

Furthermore, while her rank among the numerous ‘Forgotten Gods’ trapped within this World Tree’s dungeon was high, even she had found the path to reclaiming her identity to be fraught with obstacles.

There was only a single route.

She had to reach the deepest roots of the World Tree.

However, for the ‘Forgotten Gods’ to traverse that distance, they were bound by specific laws.

Primarily, they had to triumph over ‘challengers’ and harvest no fewer than 100 ‘Souls of Forgotten Knights’.

The insignias of rival ‘Forgotten Gods’ were also mandatory.

Only with those could they recover their names while slipping past the vigilant gaze of ‘Truth’.

But if the power of ‘Truth’ was truly failing…

‘I can restore everything that was stolen and buried!’

Reaching the roots of the World Tree would do more than just return her name.

It wasn’t merely about regaining self-awareness and waking up to her own being.

‘Truth’ had taken far more than a name from her.

It had cast everyone who worshipped her, and every object bearing her mark, into the fires of oblivion.

And was that all?

Every relic and symbol of her dominion had vanished.

She might be able to summon them back.

The process for this reclamation was also straightforward.

She would confront the Trial of Truth without hesitation.

She would descend to the World Tree’s roots and stare ‘Truth’ directly in the eye.

She would refuse to flinch.

In that instant, ‘Truth’ would be forced to acknowledge her.

It was then.

“You have won. I concede my loss.”

The Druid of the Golden Rule, backed into a corner, finally spoke.

To think he would surrender so pathetically.

Then again, since his bluff had been called, he likely saw no other path forward.

However.

“You are too late, child. Perish in silence.”

Had he taken the Forgotten God’s original bargain, things might have ended differently, but that window had slammed shut.

If he had agreed to become her counterpart, he might have touched true eternity.

He had gambled on the wrong hand.

【The ‘Confrontation’ persists.】

【The regulations are being rewritten.】

【Only the ‘Annihilation of Existence’ shall dictate the victor and the vanquished.】

The Forgotten God manipulated the rules as she saw fit.

This was a move that broke away from the structure established by Truth.

‘Truth’ might turn its gaze toward her now, but she was beyond caring.

She was certain that the strength of Truth was in decline.

What she thirsted for was total erasure.

To wipe that pretender from the fabric of reality for all time.

By doing so, she would claim every scrap of power for herself.

She harbored a particular hatred for those two wretched goddesses.

‘That throne belongs to me. That status was rightfully mine from the start.’

The specific reason eluded her.

Yet, a profound sense of mourning and fury toward the goddesses burned within her.

Perhaps if she snatched back her name, the memories of her grudge would return as well.

What she knew for sure was that she was destined for the goddess’s seat.

Initially, she had planned to prove her dominance over the two goddesses by claiming this boy, the Druid of the Golden Rule, as her own…

‘Once I have restored my full power, I shall ascend to my rightful station.’

…There was no longer a need for such games.

She would simply usurp the positions of the two goddesses directly.

If she could reclaim everything from Truth, it was well within her reach.

If anyone questioned how a dark god could transition into a goddess, the answer was standing right in front of her.

The one favored by two divine beings.

The one whose massive divinity could mimic the aura of a god!

If she could just slay him and keep his shell as a puppet, ascending to goddess-hood would be trivial.

‘Die. Die and serve as my hollow vessel.’

There were no more wild cards.

There was no exit.

Feeling the thrill of certain victory, the ‘Forgotten God’ gave a radiant smile.

…It was in that heartbeat.

“…I shall demonstrate the nature of authentic abyss, O Forgotten God.”

What was this sudden rambling?

Authentic abyss?

Was he suggesting that the shadows cast by the Forgotten God and Lilith were mere imitations?

‘He is talking nonsense.’

She assumed he had finally snapped, his mind breaking under the weight of his failure.

Furthermore, how could a creature made of pure light and divinity comprehend the ‘authentic abyss’?

But the ‘Forgotten God’ found her smile dying on her face.

‘Is he undergoing another metamorphosis…?’

His physical shape was beginning to shift once again.

It was a preposterous thought, but it appeared as though he was evolving yet again.

It was a futile effort.

Nothing more than the final thrashing of a dying man.

However, the Forgotten God quickly realized her mistake.

*Fssssss—*

His holy aura was evaporating.

Fissures split through his form.

And through those jagged openings, ‘darkness’ began to leak out.

It wasn’t just a change in his skin or clothes.

His entire spiritual alignment was being inverted.

Light was instantly devoured by shadow.

In a heartbeat, the radiance was consumed and vanished, leaving nothing for the eye to track.

In its place, a void took hold.

No, that wasn’t quite right.

This wasn’t a shadow that had merely stepped into the vacuum left by light.

It was a darkness so colossal that it made his previous holy form look like a dim candle—a void so vast it stripped away any meaning from the sacred majesty he had shown until now.

And so, the ‘Forgotten God’ froze.

Every entity in the vicinity ground to a halt.

It felt as though the gears of time itself had seized up.

And this ripple was not confined to this single room.

*Krrrrrrung!*

【’???’ has materialized.】

【All ‘Forgotten Gods’ sense the arrival of the presence.】

【The trials of every floor are hereby halted.】

【The foundations of the World Tree are convulsing.】

【The aura of ‘???’ has begun to saturate the World Tree’s Dungeon.】

The world was reeling.

The entirety of the World Tree.

The Forgotten God’s pupils shook with terror.

“You… you are…”

The realization hit her the moment she laid eyes on it.

The truth of what that ‘existence’ represented.

In the same breath, she understood.

“The one who conquered the Trial of Truth wasn’t the Druid of the Golden Rule, it was…”

It was this specific being.

This specific darkness.

The force that had shattered the Trial of Truth was that ‘Ruin’.

*Brrrrr!*

The ‘Forgotten God’ shuddered.

She took an instinctive step backward.

She had felt the touch of ‘Truth’.

Consequently, she was also familiar with Ruin.

Because among the tools used by Truth, there existed the authority of ‘Ruin’.

‘I need to flee.’

The Forgotten God was paralyzed by dread.

This was the first time such a sensation had ever touched her.

It was more than simple panic.

‘I don’t want to cease existing…!’

…To fear death.

Was that not a sentiment reserved for mortals?

Living things like humans, whose stories were written with a final period.

But she was a deity.

Born of the divine, a spirit that should never face an ending.

Yet, was it not bizarre?

Why was the thought ‘I want to live’ screaming in her mind?

Was it purely fear?

Because that entity was the one who had defeated the Trial of Truth?

It couldn’t just be from sensing the strength of ‘Ruin’.

‘This is fundamentally different. That thing… that thing might be a different kind of Ruin entirely!’

…It was a different species of power from the start.

Standard Ruin could strip away the names of gods and exile them to the void, but it lacked the bite to completely erase a god’s soul.

However, this thing was ‘another’ Ruin.

It shared the name, but it shared nothing else.

‘Ah!’

The truth dawned on her.

She perceived what that was.

And how it had managed to slip through the fingers of Truth!

“You are…!”

The Forgotten God tried to retreat again.

But her feet would not move.

His shadow had already wound itself tightly around her.

This, too, was a logic-defying event.

A darkness that dwarfed the shadow of an evil god.

How could such a thing be possible?

But this entity was more ancient, something that sat at the true conclusion of things.

Something that was Ruin, yet stood apart from it.

A darkness capable of murdering a god.

What title could possibly be given to such a being?

And if such a creature truly walked the earth.

“You… you are The End…!!!”

…It could only be ‘The End’.

—

Ruin is the destruction of things.

But The End is the announcement that all things have finished.

Even the immortal gods are not exempt from this sentence.

The one who exists as the natural predator of the undying.

That is precisely what ‘The End’ is.

Ruin can tear the world apart, but it cannot declare the finality of the world itself.

But The End can.

‘This place is a separate realm.’

As the transformation into Randolph took hold, the reality of the world became transparent to him.

He realized the fact that the World Tree’s Dungeon was a sovereign ‘world’.

It was the domain of the Forgotten Gods.

A broken, distorted world that they had twisted into a chaotic mess.

‘From the beginning, this place has been nothing but a graveyard for failed and erased evil gods.’

Why did these forgotten deities reside within the sacred World Tree?

Why did they kidnap the spirits of noble knights and force them into oblivion?

The explanation was simple.