Ranker Who Lives Twice

Crack! Both Gabriel's body and soul were crushed entirely. The laws of causality that supported her incarnation had disappeared after Malach banished her, and after her true body and incarnation were forcibly merged, her existence grew precarious. She couldn't even scream or cry.

『What a nice sound. Hahaha!』

Even the faces of the envoys who helped capture Gabriel had turned stiff. A couple of them turned away, unable to continue watching. They had fought in countless battles, but it was their first time to see such a pointless annihilation or death.

[All gods of death smile.]

[All demons of death nod.]

Only floating feathers and a white orb remained of Gabriel. Yeon-woo pulled the chains to bring the orb to himself. It was the Fruit of Good.

『And this.』 Agares tossed a black orb to him. 『It's the master of this place called Samigina that my army just annexed.』 Samigina was the location that Grand Marquis Gamigin, ranked fourth in L'Infernal, ruled. 『He was acting up recently and grew annoying. It was a relief to get rid of him.』

Yeon-woo clucked his tongue. As expected, Agares and the East Demon Army had withdrawn with Baal's unspoken permission. However, since he'd managed to obtain high-quality Fruits of Good and Evil from Gabriel and Gamigin, he was satisfied. 'Things are working out better than I hoped.' Yeon-woo smiled with pleasure and combined the two fruits. As they merged, they turned into a red apple.

[The 'Fruit of Good and Evil' has been created!]

* * *

"Haa, haa." Nohite was exhausted. His head was spinning from fatigue. 'H-how did things end up like this?'

Everything had been ordinary just a few days ago. He'd run an errand to bring food to Valdebich, skipping over excitedly to find out what story Valdebich would tell him that day. He appreciated Valdebich, who was the only visitor in this world, apart from the otherworld gods who roamed around the sky on occasion. Everything about Valdebich was interesting to Nohite, who grew up without any friends.

Nohite had always been frustrated with the village elders, who didn't seem to have any thoughts of leaving this barren world. It was why he was the first to open up to Valdebich when all the village people were wary of him. He also became Valdebich's closest friend. Valdebich was affectionate to Nohite as well. The child reminded him of the little brother he'd left behind in his hometown.

Whenever Nohite visited, Valdebich told him exciting tales of climbing the Tower, as well as tales of memorable events from the Tower's history that Cha Jeong-woo had told him. Nohite's eyes always sparkled when he listened to the legends of spectacular heroes. His heart beat faster as if he were witnessing everything in person, and his hands were sweaty as he clenched them. Whenever Valdebich reached the part where the hero won, they would shout in exhilaration together. Whenever the hero faced despair, tears dripped down his eyes.

Nohite wanted to be that kind of hero, too. He wanted to be someone who rose above numerous trials and difficulties! A world filled with the bonds of friendship, loyalty of comrades, and true love—it was like a fantasy. One day, Nohite would leave this depressing world to climb to the places that Valdebich called "stages".

The person Nohite respected the most was someone named "Heaven Wing", who had been just like Nohite. Heaven Wing rose to the peak of the Tower with nothing else but faith in himself. Although he'd fallen at the end, betrayed by countless people, that was why Nohite liked him the most. Nohite wanted to fulfill Heaven Wing's dream on his behalf. 'But Heaven Wing…is here.'

He met someone who looked exactly like Valdebich's descriptions of Heaven Wing. Of course, it was the first time he'd ever seen a human, so he couldn't accurately distinguish human features, but he had a strong impression that the man really was Heaven Wing. 'But…it's a demon! Heaven Wing disappeared after leaving a demon behind!'

The man left with Valdebich after leaving something scary behind. 「Hey, hey. Get to it. Why are you so slow? What are you doing? Get up and run!」 Every time the eyes of the undead entity who was as hulking as the half-giants flashed, Nohite felt chills run down his back. He had gotten goosebumps when he saw Valdebich train, but this undead entity was beyond Valdebich. Was Valdebich weak, or was this undead just too strong?

It was hard for Nohite to make a comparison as he didn't know how strong people in the outside world were, but since Valdebich managed to defeat the otherworld gods, he knew that Valdebich definitely wasn't weak. Then how strong was this undead entity? And who was the black-coated man who commanded him, the man who resembled Heaven Wing? 'Is he like the Crawling Chaos?'

The Crawling Chaos was an entity of absolute power to Nohite, so that was all he could think of. This person had offered to train their tribe, and it was a rare opportunity that their tribe would likely never see again. There was finally a way to escape being treated like cattle! As Nohite dreamed of leaving, his only thought was to grab onto the opportunity.

However, when training began, he realized how unrealistic he'd been. The training was extremely difficult. Did all the people who climbed the stages have such grueling lives? It was incredible. He was embarrassed that he used to think he could be a shining sun like Heaven Wing someday.

The undead Shanon pushed the villagers to their limits. He made them run, lift their swords, and forced them to spar all day. There was no exception; elders and children were included. Naturally, the villagers soon lost interest. They had no motivation since, unlike Nohite who wanted to leave, they were already used to their routines.

They lived in poverty and destitution, but it was normal to them. The idea of fighting the otherworld gods and being freed from the Crawling Chaos only incited fear in them. They didn't show much passion in training and even saw it in a negative light. Some even said these outsiders only ruined the peace of the village.

This attitude was why Valdebich had given up training them. However, Shanon just kicked their butts and forced them to train, not caring about their complaints.

「Faster, faster. OK?」 Listening to Shanon's terrifying voice, Nohite gritted his teeth. His legs trembled, but he forced himself to move. He wanted to become as strong as Shanon. Hardening his resolve once again, he ran.

* * *

「Master.」

There was no reply.

「Master!」

There was only silence.

「Argh! You should answer if someone talks to you!」

'You're probably just going to complain about how impossible your task is.'

「T-true, but…」

'Then I'm going to cut off the connection.'

「That's not it! Let me finish!」 Shanon complained every hour or so that it was impossible and that it was his first time seeing bastards with this kind of attitude. He tried to convince Yeon-woo to turn them into Spirit Guai instead.

The half-giants showed no inclination of improving. In fact, they were becoming worse. Half of them acted like they didn't care what Shanon made them do anymore. In their eyes, dying from exhaustion or dying like cattle was the same. The otherworld gods were like a fortress that could never be breached, and their master, the Crawling Chaos, was the sky itself—unreachable.

Breaking the sky and escaping? It was impossible. The half-giants were pessimistic about everything and forcing them to train didn't have any effect. Shanon was becoming tired as well. As long as the half-giants had a defeatist mentality, they'd never change.

'What is it you want to say? I'm busy, so if it's nothing, I'll listen to it next time.'

「I'm asking you in all seriousness. Do you really think they can change?」

Yeon-woo didn't reply.

「I know the scenario quest is important and resurrecting the giant race will be useful in catching Allforone. I also get you'll be able to obtain more parts of the revelations and use the guys in the heavenly world. I know there are a lot of benefits, but do you really think the answer lies in them? You'll be destroying whatever peace they have because of your greed.」 Shanon's voice was serious. Although he complained that it was impossible to train them, he never said he wouldn't do it. No matter how he grumbled and griped, he always followed his master's orders. If he was asking like this, it meant he had thought it over deeply.

It was possible Shanon was right. Unlike Yeon-woo and Valdebich, whose comprehension had expanded from seeing many worlds, the half-giants had only ever lived in this place. Yeon-woo's requests seemed little more than tyranny. They might even think it was a trick to finally end their race for once and for all. Yeon-woo felt like he needed to reply seriously this time. 'Shanon.'

「What?」

'Gods don't abandon their followers.'

「What?」 Shanon seemed a bit taken aback. He hadn't expected a response like this.

'They said they'd serve me as my followers, and I said I'd save them. As their god, I need to fulfill my role and lead them to hope. That's what I have to do.'

Shanon was speechless.

'Of course, they might not see hope now, but I believe that they'll be able to see what I see in the near future. That will become their hope. Work at it a bit longer.'

Followers who could see what their gods saw? Shanon was speechless for a while. He repeated Yeon-woo's words in his head. From what he'd seen so far, the relationship between gods and their followers was more transactional. It was like an exchange: gods received the faith of their followers and the followers received an equal amount of strength. The followers who didn't receive anything worked hard to be noticed by the gods. That was how it had been for Shanon in Red Dragon, when he'd struggled to stand out to the Eighty-One Oculus.

After meeting Yeon-woo, he saw new worlds, and his thinking began to change because they were looking through the same eyes. Yeon-woo was planning on doing this with his followers as well. Shanon cleared his thoughts and spoke again. 「Master.」

'Why? Are you moved?' Sensing Shanon's wavering emotions, Yeon-woo grinned.

Shanon spoke in a solemn voice. 「Don't you think you're being a pushover to…」

'I'm cutting it off.'

「Aaack!」

Yeon-woo blocked his connection with Shanon. He could never guess the direction Shanon would take. It was a wonder that he was still the same even after training for a thousand years. Yeon-woo clucked his tongue and looked down when he felt a gaze from below. A puppy panted as it furiously wagged its tail.

"Did you find it?"

Woof!

"Then, let's go."

Woof! Woof! The puppy nodded and began to run forward. Yeon-woo tsked as he followed the puppy. 'It's unbelievable that it's Fenrir, who has swallowed gods and eaten heroes.'The strongest wolf in Niflheim, Fenrir, had been in its wolf form when it first arrived as an envoy. Its howls had shaken the atmosphere then, but that seemed far away now.

The envoys had reduced their forms to minimize how much of the laws of causality they used in order to maintain their incarnations. Fenrir had chosen to take the form of a puppy. It had really become a dog after what Yeon-woo said. Yeon-woo was incredulous, but that was how important the revelations were to them.

After that, Yeon-woo gave a single command to the envoys: "Find all the stories and records related to the giant race from each society. And anything related to the sites on this stage."

The envoys moved busily, scanning through their society's records to find anything related to the giant race and using their powers to search for any hidden sites. They partly wanted to get on Yeon-woo's good side, but also partly because they'd seen what happened to the archangel Gabriel. They didn't want to be used like that. Yeon-woo could see fear start to enter their eyes.

The information they found allowed Yeon-woo to learn more details about the secrets and culture of the giant race. The societies that had once clashed with the giant race provided especially useful information, and even Valdebich learned more of his history.

Yeon-woo explored the hidden sites using the gods and demons, and he finally managed to reach the last site on the stage.

"Why are you so late? I've been waiting for you." At the entrance of the last site, a young child about five years old, younger than Sesha, pouted as he complained. The child looked adorable and pretty to the point that it was hard to tell whether he was a girl or a boy. However, it was a little awkward for Yeon-woo since the child was Agares.

The demon that smiled as he ripped Gabriel apart had chosen a form that made Yeon-woo feel like sighing. From the puppy Fenrir to the child Agares... Yeon-woo ignored his question and was about to walk past him when Agares glowered at Fenrir, who was rubbing itself against Yeon-woo's legs.

"What's that dog? Why is it with you?"