I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-349

Ch-349. **The Demon of Greed**

—

One by one, the knights began to open their eyes.

“What on earth happened…?”

“The colosseum is gone?”

“What about the Forgotten God? The Druid of the Golden Scale? No—what even happened here?”

But it was the same for both the Order of the Golden Scale and the White King’s Order.

None of them remembered what they had experienced.

They had merely closed their eyes and opened them again—yet everything had changed.

‘…Did we lose?’

The White King let out a self-mocking smile.

In the end, they had lost.

From the faint fragments of memory that surfaced, it seemed he had been able to do nothing.

Against the Druid of the Golden Scale.

Worse still, he had been controlled while being swallowed by the darkness of the Forgotten God.

‘How humiliating.’

More humiliating than defeat itself was the memory of being controlled.

And there was something else—something he could not recall no matter how hard he tried.

He was certain he had seen Wilhelm, sensed the Fifth-Pillar Authority, and encountered something else entirely.

“Ugh…!!”

The White King’s body trembled in fine shivers.

As though something had been forcibly blocked.

Yet the shudder he felt at that moment seemed to remain.

At this point, only one thought came to mind.

…Just what was that thing?

The amount of darkness the Druid of the Golden Scale possessed was beyond imagination.

It was a conglomeration of ominousness he had never felt even from the Fifth-Pillar.

That unbearably unpleasant stench he had sensed—something he had never smelled before—must have come from that.

And yet—

‘It was unmistakably the aura and stench of the Fifth-Pillar.’

That, at least, he remembered clearly.

That being carried the scent of the Fifth-Pillar, and he had even felt traces of it in its soul.

‘It must have devoured it.’

He had tried to avenge that grudge—but failed.

The being was simply too incomprehensible.

Having failed once already, Albino and Raiga would surely be watching closely.

It wouldn’t work a second time.

‘I’m sorry, Fifth-Pillar.’

The White King was one who repaid grudges and debts without fail.

And he still had a debt to repay to Fifth-Pillar.

Failing to do so filled him with regret.

But the biggest problem of all was—

“Where did the Commander go?”

“D-don’t tell me… against the Forgotten God…?”

…the Druid of the Golden Scale had vanished.

The Order of the Golden Scale was in complete confusion over this.

Everyone thought the same thing.

Had he died fighting the Forgotten God?

Was that why the entire colosseum had disappeared?

The White King wore an uneasy expression.

Though it was a shame he hadn’t killed him personally…

“The Druid of the Golden Scale is alive.”

Albino spoke at that moment.

He was nowhere to be seen—yet alive?

Albino looked around and continued.

“If something had happened to the Druid of the Golden Scale, the World Tree of Honor itself would have withered away.”

“…The World Tree doesn’t exactly look fine either,” someone replied.

Rumble!

Craaaash!

Just as Hudson said.

The World Tree was shaking violently from its very roots.

All the remnants of the World Tree around them were shriveled and dried.

Raiga spoke.

“…We keep moving up the tiers.”

“But shouldn’t we look for the Commander first—”

“There’s no need. He went on ahead, leaving us behind.”

“What? What do you mean by that?”

“All of us have been granted divinity. That means after defeating the Forgotten God, he bestowed the ‘Forgotten Knight Souls’ upon all of us.”

“Ah…!”

Hudson’s eyes widened.

He opened his status window and confirmed the granted divinity.

He had been so flustered that he hadn’t even grasped the most basic fact.

The Prestige required to obtain divinity was 500 points.

A score reachable only by defeating a Forgotten God.

In other words, Park Hyun-myung had won, raised the Prestige score, and then left on his own.

“Why would he go ahead alone?”

“There must be another reason. Either way, we have to move on in our own way.”

They still had to finish the Incomprehensible Feats.

It was a trial that only ended after competing with other orders and reaching the roots.

In the end, to bring everything to a close, they had no choice but to press forward.

Then Raiga turned his gaze to the White King.

“Will you continue, White King?”

“……”

“The Druid of the Golden Scale spared you. For everyone’s honor.”

“…He spared me?”

The White King’s eyes grew complicated.

He had tried to kill him—yet that same person had spared his life.

“Yes. White King, it was the Druid of the Golden Scale who saved you.”

The Tyrant Grizzly testified.

And he wasn’t the only one.

The looks in the others’ eyes said the same.

“Since he spared you, I too see no point in further fighting. That said, if you still wish to fight, I won’t stop you…”

Raiga spoke in a razor-edged voice.

An unspoken pressure—this time, he would kill him for sure.

‘He spared me?’

Why?

The White King still couldn’t understand it.

He had tried to erase even that man’s soul.

And yet, he was shown mercy and spared.

Was it not him who devoured Fifth-Pillar?

Or had he suddenly felt guilt?

“If there are no objections, we’ll be leaving.”

Taking his silence as agreement, Raiga started moving.

With long, swift strides.

He spoke as though it were nothing, but inwardly, he must have been uneasy.

Reaching the roots as quickly as possible was the only way to escape this place.

‘…Why?’

Regardless.

The White King remained standing there, lost in thought, his eyes still tangled with confusion.

*

*

 

Among the Forgotten Gods, there was a story often told as a joke.

That if all the Forgotten Gods gathered here were to be resurrected, they could threaten even the heavens.

That they themselves could become **Destruction**.

But those who had actually experienced Destruction scoffed at the notion as nonsense.

—Destruction is like an unbeatable truth.

—It is the pinnacle of infinity, something that even gods cannot see or judge.

They shuddered.

As if they never wanted to think about it again, they turned their heads away.

Of course, there were Forgotten Gods who refuted them.

—If Destruction truly had infinite power, shouldn’t Pangaenia have been destroyed?

—It’s not something that could be stopped just because a goddess sacrificed herself, is it?

Because of the sacrifice of the twin goddess **Leah**, Destruction failed to annihilate all of Pangaenia.

When Leah died, Destruction’s acts of devastation came to a halt.

Most of the land sank into the Abyss, but thanks to that, the other twin goddess **Pina** succeeded in lifting the remaining continent into the sky and preserving it.

Still, if Destruction’s power were truly infinite, it should have been impossible to stop it.

Leah’s sacrifice alone should not have been enough.

A natural question—but another rebuttal followed immediately.

—Because not all Destructions are the same.

—There are different kinds of Destruction dispatched by the heavens.

—Ruin, Annihilation, and Destruction.

—They are a kind of punishment imposed by the heavens.

—Though all are called ‘Destruction,’ their applications differ.

—They all destroy worlds, but the aftermath differs.

—For example, Ruin shatters souls; Annihilation leaves nothing behind; Destruction casts everything into the Abyss.

—Among them, the cruelest punishment should be Destruction.

—And yet, the Destruction that faced Pangaenia was… different.

—…It gave birth to the Demon King.

—Then who gave birth to the Demon King?

—We believe it was the goddess Leah.

Absurd nonsense.

Yet some evil gods insisted that otherwise, there was no reason for Destruction to suddenly stop.

The idea that Destruction—a mere weapon—would act together with a goddess was unimaginable.

—So Destruction suddenly changed its stance and sided with a goddess?

—You’re writing fiction. Destruction has no such self-awareness.

—Ancient gods… you’ve forgotten your names and lost your memories, and now you’re distorted. Tsk.

—So even gods can fall into the swamp of oblivion—I thought that was reserved for mortals.

They mocked them relentlessly.

Those spouting such nonsense were always the ancient gods.

Indeed, existing in a forgotten state for countless ages often led to oblivion.

Oblivion caused distortion, and distortion bred strange beliefs and convictions.

Their behavior fit that pattern perfectly.

If their words were true, then the Demon King should have possessed the goddess’s sacredness as well.

Perhaps for that reason—

No further rebuttals followed.

It seemed the discussion had ended.

But then, the oldest of the Forgotten Gods, who had remained silent, finally spoke.

—…Destruction wished to create.

—It sought to combine the power of creation with the power of Destruction to give birth to the **End**.

—However, it failed.

—As a result, Destruction committed the great sin of failing its duty.

—And the heavens do not leave failure unpunished.

—A new Destruction will appear.

—Perhaps… it already has.

That Destruction wished to give birth to the End.

No one believed it.

Not even the ancient evil gods who spoke of Destruction.

Only the oldest Forgotten God claimed this.

Which was understandable—*the End* was treated even among gods as something akin to myth or legend.

The End literally meant the end of all things, regarded as the only means of extinguishing immortality.

A power that makes the impossible possible.

Another truth beyond Truth itself.

That was the End.

Even they merely *assumed* the End existed somewhere in the heavens.

If Destruction is the god that destroys worlds,

Then the End is the god that destroys gods.

The only means capable of opposing the heavens.

Which was why they believed the heavens would keep it hidden away.

And yet—

—O End…

…It appeared.

The End.

The only existence capable of opposing the heavens!

The oldest Forgotten God quietly knelt.

Realizing his thoughts had not been wrong.

Neither Ruin, nor Annihilation, nor Destruction can directly destroy a god’s symbol.

Thus, they steal gods’ names and force them into oblivion.

After countless ages pass, the Forgotten God’s symbol degenerates and disappears—only then does the god truly perish.

That was the only way to destroy a god.

And yet—

—N-no!

—Stop!

—I-I’m still…!

—This is unjust!

Crunch!

With a crisp sound, the god’s symbol shattered.

**The End** is the only existence capable of destroying a god’s symbol.

As expected, it possessed the power to extinguish immortality.

Most of the Forgotten Gods here had lost their names and degenerated to the point where they could not wield even one-thousandth of their former power.

All they could do was set ‘rules’ and fight within those confines.

So there was no way they could respond to the sudden appearance of the End.

And furthermore—

—How dare a mere puppet grab a god’s ankles!

—Let go! Let go, I say!

There was another reason they couldn’t fight properly.

**Lilith.**

That was the primal puppet.

One of the vessels that must never fall to Destruction.

Because the moment it regained a soul and became a retainer of Destruction, it gained the power to oppose gods.

Ssshhhh—!

Countless shadows spread from Lilith, gripping the Forgotten Gods by the ankles.

Preventing them from fleeing.

The Prison of Gods.

The absolute authority Lilith had awakened!

Only now did they understand.

*Survive.*

—So you want to see this through to the end?

—Even if you truly are the End, this is our world!

—How dare you toy with us like this!

Realizing they could no longer flee, the Forgotten Gods began to gather together.

Centering around those not long forgotten—gods still capable of wielding some authority.

More than twenty of them.

If defeated one by one, they would stand no chance—but together, it was a different story.

—Ancient!

—Have you truly gone senile? Why are you kneeling there doing nothing?!

But one alone—

The oldest Forgotten God, called **Ancient**, did not join their ranks.

Offering no resistance, no opinion.

He merely knelt there, silently gazing upon despair.

Perhaps because he had lived too long after being forgotten.

Or because he had suffered for a span of time too long to remember.

He simply—

—My End…

He wished only to accept the End that had finally come.

*

*

《You have destroyed the ‘Symbol of a Forgotten God’.》

《You gain 1 Destruction Point.》

《You have destroyed the ‘Symbol of a Forgotten God’.》

《You gain 1 Destruction Point.》

……

《You currently possess 24 Destruction Points.》
《Remaining Forgotten Gods: 1》

After the battle ended, I quietly looked at the Forgotten God kneeling before me.

The only god in this World Tree dungeon who had done nothing against me.

“Do you have any last words?”

I asked, sensing there was something he wanted to say.

The Forgotten God, bearing the form of an old man, spoke.

—End me. I wish to rest now.

He calmly took out his symbol, as if to hand it over.

And then—

—Demon of Greed. The oldest of demons… and the one who transformed Destruction.