TMWD 02

Chapter: 02

Returning

Ever since I was young—

“You’re one stubborn bastard, Kim Jeong-seok.”

I had always been single-minded.

Once I set my sights on something, I pursued it to the very end.

Because of that, people often called me narrow-minded and inflexible.

“You want to draw a magic circle across the entire world?”

“What the hell is the Philosopher’s Stone, anyway?”

“Do you really think it’s worth mobilizing this many people?”

Everyone was against it.

No one wanted to join my plan.

Naturally. I understood.

The world was collapsing.

Everyone was too busy trying to survive.

But after desperately persuading them—

It took more than ten years to complete a single magic circle spanning the world.

A total of 27,384 people participated.

Every one of them was extraordinary.

They were masters who had reached the pinnacle of their respective fields.

“Let’s stop already, Jeong-seok.”

“Our country is being destroyed!”

“How long are you going to cling to something this meaningless?”

The disasters never stopped.

Monsters overflowed everywhere.

Every day was stained with screams and despair.

Despite everyone’s criticism, I continued drawing the magic circle.

For one reason only.

To blow the Tower to pieces.

The bastards who had reduced us to this deserved to experience the same thing.

Even if all I managed to do was sever one of their arms or legs, that would be enough.

If humanity was going to die, then they wouldn’t escape unscathed either.

I wanted them to understand that clearly.

In other words—

Let’s all die together.

I detonated the completed Philosopher’s Stone.

The Tower was annihilated along with Earth.

The Irresistible Force vanished as well.

As everything returned to nothingness—

Ding!

A message appeared before my eyes.

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Everyone was dead.

What did titles and awakenings matter now?

But then something felt strange.

“…”

I looked around.

A familiar ceiling.

Wallpaper blackened with mold.

A cramped apartment room that smelled musty.

I sat up on the bed and looked around.

I’m… alive?

Impossible.

I had destroyed both Earth and the Tower.

Yet if this were a dream—

Or my life flashing before my eyes—

…it felt far too real.

Could it be…

“I… traveled back in time…?”

At that moment—

Ding!

[Would you like to create a character?]

Create a character?

I couldn’t make sense of it.

Reality wasn’t some game, so what the hell was this?

Still, I needed to investigate this phenomenon.

I’ll create one.

The moment I nodded, another window appeared.

[‘The Strongest Calamity’ has entered.]

[Soul Points (SP) Owned: 100,000,000]

[You can increase your Talents using SP.]

[Available Talents are as follows:]

【Light】【Darkness】

【Fire】【Water】【Earth】【Wind】【Air】

【Curses】【Tao Arts】【Forbidden Arts】【Illusions】【Spirit Arts】

【Alchemy】【Divination】【Necromancy】

【Death Arts】【Summoning】【Creation】

【Void】【Nothingness】【Space】【Shadow】

What…

…was this?

The list continued endlessly.

The number of talents I could enhance seemed limitless.

Instinctively, I understood.

These are the talents assigned to a character when starting a game.

Like an RPG.

You could determine your character’s natural aptitudes.

You simply invested according to the direction you wanted to develop.

However—

I was given one hundred million points. That means I can upgrade talents one hundred million times.

Why?

Why had I been given one hundred million points?

It was undeniably an enormous amount.

Could it be because I destroyed the Irresistible Force?

The Irresistible Force.

The being that could never be defeated.

Was this the reward for erasing an existence that should have been impossible to kill?

…I don’t know what’s going on, but one thing is certain.

I couldn’t afford to ignore this.

Every instinct I possessed as a magician…

As a seeker of truth…

…was screaming.

A turning point.

Perhaps I was finally about to reach the truth I had pursued my entire life.

I spent SP to raise a talent.

[1 SP has been spent on the talent 【Light】.]

[1 SP has been spent on the talent 【Light】.]

…

[This talent cannot be increased further.]

[The maximum value of 【Light】 is 10,000.]

Then I realized.

The maximum value of a single talent is ten thousand. Which means…

I could maximize ten thousand different talents.

The problem was—

There aren’t even ten thousand talents.

At most, there were around one thousand.

Even if I maxed them all out, I’d only spend 10,000,000 SP.

I’d still have ninety million SP left.

I stroked my chin.

These categories…

They looked familiar.

…They’re every elemental attribute, every mystical art, every branch of magic.

Everything I had once tried—and failed—to master.

All the countless disciplines that had been too vast for me to even attempt.

There were even categories I had never known existed.

Yet mastering all of them would only cost ten million SP.

My fingers moved rapidly.

How much time had passed?

[Amazing! Incredible!]

[All talents have reached their maximum value!]

[Hidden Piece ‘Without Equal’ has been achieved.]

[Remaining Soul Points will be assigned randomly.]

[This includes unassignable attributes such as racial traits, innate limits, luck, charm, charisma, and more.]

…So SP wasn’t only for increasing talents?

Apparently there were hidden attributes—things you normally couldn’t see or improve through ordinary means.

But I had no time to think about it.

[Character creation complete.]

[Logging into Asgard, the Land of the Gods.]

[You may log out after raising your level.]

My vision flashed.

…Where am I?

“I-It’s a calamity!”

“The God of Calamity is enraged!”

“Run!”

Chaos erupted around me.

People clad in golden armor fled in every direction.

And I…

Chains?

I was bound.

And imprisoned.

It looked as though I had been transported somewhere.

Quite a few others were imprisoned alongside me.

The problem was that our escorts were far too busy running for their lives.

“S-Save us!”

“That’s the Massacre Typhoon!”

“We’re all going to die!”

Even the prisoners screamed.

They trembled violently, tears streaming down their faces.

Rumble! KWAAAAAAAAH!

An unimaginably massive typhoon approached.

Living up to the name Massacre Typhoon—

It devoured everything in its path.

I looked over my body.

It’s similar… but different.

It was my body…

Yet it wasn’t.

I could move it however I wished, but this definitely wasn’t Kim Jeong-seok’s body.

It was much larger.

Much stronger.

Over two meters tall.

Solid muscles.

Even the hair shining atop my head was golden.

If only I had a mirror, I could have examined myself properly.

But from the glimpses I could see, there was no way this body belonged to Kim Jeong-seok.

I didn’t know where I was.

I didn’t know what was happening.

But one thing was certain.

…It said I logged in.

Kim Jeong-seok’s real body remained in reality.

I had seen it.

I had felt it.

Yet the moment I logged in, my body changed.

Was this some kind of virtual reality?

There was something else that struck me as odd.

Why am I so calm?

I was strangely composed.

I wasn’t panicking at all.

Unlike everyone else, I wasn’t terrified.

If anything, I accepted the situation faster than anyone.

So this place…

Asgard.

This had to be Asgard, the Land of the Gods.

I’d clearly seen the message.

Which meant this body was the “character” I had created.

But—

Every one of my senses was telling me something.

This wasn’t a game.

It was reality.

“The God of Calamity… the Massacre Typhoon…”

The fleeing people all cried the same thing.

That the God of Calamity had become enraged.

They had even given that typhoon a name.

No…

That’s not it.

I know that typhoon.

Long ago.

…I definitely saw one just like it.

It was one of the divine authorities wielded by one of the strongest gods who ruled the Tower.

But something didn’t make sense.

I had destroyed the Tower.

The Irresistible Force had been erased.

Could the Gods of Calamity still be alive?

Or had I truly gone back in time?

We always wondered where the beings who erected the Tower on Earth came from.

Then I arrived at one undeniable truth.

…So Asgard is their homeland.

Asgard.

The Land of the Gods!

Their birthplace.

The place where those monsters had lived.

The moment I understood, I nodded.

I stood up.

Then—

Crack!

I flexed my muscles and shattered the chains.

Creeeak!

I bent the iron bars apart with both hands.

Power surged through me.

It felt like I could do anything.

If this really was the character I had created—

The one whose every talent had been raised to the absolute limit—

And if every message I had seen was true—

Status Window.

Ding!

Level: 1

Class: Devourer of Calamities

Strength: 50 Vitality: 50 Agility: 50

Intelligence: 50 Mana: 50

Titles: Absolute Godslayer, Strongest Calamity, Omnipotent One

Just as I expected.

No…

Even beyond what I had imagined.

This was…

A monster.

A normal human’s maximum Level 1 stat was only around 10.

Even then, it was impossible to have every stat at 10.

Yet this thing—

Started with every stat at 50.

Considering that Level 10 was normally the highest attainable level, these numbers were absurd.

And besides—

Right now, I’m logged in.

Using the avatar I had created.

Meaning this wasn’t my real body.

It said I can log out after leveling up. So logging out must return me to reality.

Back to Earth.

Back to Kim Jeong-seok’s real body.

I opened my right hand.

A golden rune.

It had been itching for a while now.

More precisely, ever since that typhoon appeared.

So this golden rune had been the cause.

The shining letters were reacting to the typhoon.

Devourer of Calamities.

I understood this instinctively as well.

I was a magician.

One who sought truth.

One who approached the fundamental laws of existence.

See one thing, and you understand its essence.

Normally, running away would be the wisest option.

But—

Let’s try it.

I’d already died once.

I was the mad magician who had tried to destroy Earth and the Tower together.

“H-Has he lost his mind?!”

“He’s walking toward the Massacre Typhoon!”

The prisoners shouted.

As they said—

I walked straight toward the storm.

The moment the typhoon swallowed me—

Whoooooosh!

The golden rune in my palm reacted.

Then—

Swooooooosh!

It was absorbed.

As if being devoured.

Before long—

“…T-The typhoon disappeared?”

“Impossible!”

Silence fell over the world.

[You have devoured the ‘Massacre Typhoon.’]

[You can now use the ‘Massacre Typhoon.’]

A remarkably simple message.

But it wasn’t over.

KRAAAAAAACK!

Suddenly, the sky turned black.

BOOM!

A bolt of black lightning struck before me.

Then—

“…Interesting.”

A man appeared.

The instant I saw him, I knew.

This was—

A God of Calamity.

The god who had unleashed the Massacre Typhoon.

And I also knew—

I can’t beat him.

I had to flee.

Every instinct I possessed screamed at me.

But I couldn’t run.

The moment I turned my back, he’d devour me.

Then the man spoke.

“You… are you a Son of God?”

A Son of God?

I considered my answer.

He was waiting for a response.

He must have been questioning the miracle I had just performed.

Should I act boldly?

Or pretend to be humble?

A half-baked act won’t fool him.

He was a god.

A God of Calamity.

It would be better to be honest.

“I was honorably discharged after completing my military service.”

“…?”

“…That was a joke. What do you mean by ‘Son of God’?”

The man looked at me as though I were absurd.

“You’re an amusing one. To think you can crack jokes in my presence.”

Indeed.

Ever since he appeared, the world had gone completely silent.

I couldn’t even hear the breathing of the people behind me.

Everyone had become mute with fear.

I alone stood facing him.

Naturally, that intrigued him.

After shaking his head once, the man spoke.

“Go to the Tower. If you truly are a Son of God, then you must undergo the process of becoming a true god within the Tower.”

“…?”

“You don’t know? The Tower of Gods. The tower where beings like us ascend into genuine divinity.”

He shrugged.

“You possess considerable talent, seeing as you erased my typhoon. Once you begin climbing the Tower, come find me.”

“How am I supposed to find you if I don’t even know your name?”

“…Your arrogance has been reaching the heavens from the moment we met. Do you have a death wish?”

Whoooooosh!

The wind began swirling once more.

Yet I never looked away.

Strangely enough…

I wasn’t afraid.

My heartbeat remained perfectly calm.

This body felt no fear toward a God of Calamity.

Not even the slightest trace.

Besides—

I had already witnessed the end of everything.

The experience and willpower I forged at the world’s end were still with me.

“…You.”

After a long moment of locked gazes, the man’s eyes gleamed.

“I like you.”

He smirked before continuing.

“I am the God of Storms and Sovereign of All Phenomena…”

“Heimdall.”

“…”

…Wait.

Heimdall?

The God of Storms?

I knew that name.

One of the Gods of Calamity who existed within the Tower.

One of the supreme beings standing at its very pinnacle.

I alone knew their names.

The ancient tome that described how to create the Philosopher’s Stone also listed the names of the Gods of Calamity.

So I asked.

On the off chance—

One chance in ten million—

That what I had experienced wasn’t actually reality.

“What happened to Earth? Has it been destroyed?”

“Hm? It’s perfectly fine. It’s probably still within the Protection Period.”

Perfectly fine?

…And the Protection Period?

The gods who invaded Earth…

They hadn’t destroyed it immediately.

Instead, they called the first year the Protection Period, allowing humanity enough time to awaken.

Which meant—

No way…

The impossible had become reality.

Did I really travel back in time?

I had truly returned to the past.

But one question still remained.

Why had I created a character and started in Asgard, the Land of the Gods, the moment I returned?

I took a deep breath.

Then asked my final question.

“Does the Tower of Gods contain the Irresistible Force as well?”

Only after dying had I learned that the Absolute God’s true name was Irresistible Force.

Since Heimdall was a god too, he should know that name.

And—

If the Irresistible Force is still alive, then I really have returned to the past.

It was the surest way to confirm whether I had regressed.

I deliberately avoided asking whether it was alive.

Such a question would only arouse suspicion.

If it existed, then it lived.

If it didn’t, then it was dead.

This was my final confirmation.

I watched his reaction.

…But something was wrong.

Heimdall frowned.

The god who had remained relaxed the entire time…

Spoke for the first time without any composure.

“How… do you know His name?”