Ch-272 **Randolph, Summoned**
—
*Is he insane?*
Hugh of the Dersian family thought so as he stared at Aaron.
Aaron—the son of Cardinal Johansson of the Church of the Goddess.
That man was a thug.
No, not just any thug—a complete, irredeemable one.
So notorious that stories about him had spread all the way across the Empire.
When Hugh first heard that Aaron had entered the tournament, he was honestly dumbfounded.
Aaron should know better than anyone how fiercely the Reaper Cult opposed the Church of the Goddess—so why would the Church go out of its way to officially send him?
*I thought it was just a political show.*
Aaron, with his flower-filled head, likely never even imagined it—but to anyone with eyes, he was obvious bait.
Outwardly, it was for diplomatic exchange with the Empire.
But internally, the Church must have been certain the Reaper Cult would never leave Aaron alone.
To the Reaper Cult, Aaron was bait wrapped far too prettily.
They couldn’t *not* bite.
*Sending him together with Batrtash is basically begging us to kill him.*
Batrtash, a top-tier holy knight.
He didn’t even consider those who didn’t believe in the Goddess to be human.
He had a history of mercilessly slaughtering Imperial citizens and Reaper Cult followers alike.
And that wasn’t all.
Aaron was the same.
He deliberately targeted anyone who wasn’t a follower of the Church of the Goddess, committing every kind of degenerate act imaginable.
That way, his father—Cardinal Johansson—could decisively cover it up.
*Originally, I planned to kill them myself…*
What else could their intention be, sending those two together?
No Imperial citizen truly believed the Church had sent Aaron for genuine diplomatic exchange.
They just needed an excuse.
An excuse that the Empire had killed Aaron.
In any case—
It didn’t matter.
That’s why I intended to kill him.
If they sent him begging to be killed, wouldn’t it be stranger *not* to kill him?
Since when did the Arhon Empire care about the Church’s feelings?
*And yet—to latch onto that monster.*
At some point, Aaron clung to “Hyun,” someone from the same holy city.
At first, Hugh was sure Hyun would kill Aaron.
Watching him lose a limb at every floor was even mildly entertaining.
Dying at the hands of someone from the same city didn’t seem like such a bad ending for Aaron, so Hugh left it alone.
But after the 14th floor, every situation—and every relationship—reversed.
*That black halo… it was clearly a mass of mana formed from sword aura.*
A presence that could only be generated when swordsmanship reached its absolute extreme.
That was sword aura.
And he had formed it into a massive halo.
Just being near it drained mana and rendered one unable to move.
But that wasn’t normal power.
It was clearly heretical power—something the Church of the Goddess should have rejected.
And yet—
“Praise be! O inheritor of the Goddess’s will! Holy Saint who spreads the Goddess’s will across the world! I swear to believe ever more steadfastly, and in nothing but the Goddess alone!”
…He had truly gone mad.
Even after reaching the 16th floor, Aaron’s insanity continued.
Crawling on all fours like a dog, praying nonstop, exalting a single man.
Hyun of Adrium.
Hadn’t they been enemies just a short while ago?
*Doesn’t look like the other side plans to help him.*
One thing was clear: neither Hyun of Adrium nor Aaron showed any interest in the 16th floor.
Especially Hyun—he had his eyes closed, completely motionless.
As if meditating.
Hugh clicked his tongue and turned his head.
Everyone’s gaze was fixed on the same place.
There stood the **Ancient Demon**.
“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Sansha, the *former champion*.”
At first glance, he looked like an ordinary man.
But his *body* was anything but ordinary.
*A chimera?*
Parts of his flesh had been cut away, grafted, and recombined.
Some sections were crudely stitched together.
It was grotesque enough to make one nauseous.
Yet the man who introduced himself as former champion Sansha displayed that body with confidence—
Utterly relaxed amid hundreds of powerful challengers.
Was the 16th floor’s trial to defeat the former champion?
“The former champion…!”
“Ah, the one who held the champion’s seat in the Tower of the War God for years?”
“I heard he stopped showing himself altogether.”
“His name was Sansha?”
Naturally, some people recognized him.
A man who had reigned as champion for a long time before the tower’s reorganization.
An existence no one could defeat—so overwhelming that he became a legend of the Tower itself.
And now he stood on the 16th floor.
Introducing himself as the *former* champion.
“From now on, I will show you every technique I possess.”
Sansha’s words were completely unexpected.
Was defeating him not the goal?
The former champion continued.
“After watching, you will have thirty minutes to think and choose a technique you believe you can block. I will adjust my power to your level.”
“So… you’re saying you’ll spar one-on-one?”
“Correct.”
Sansha nodded.
Then, slowly assuming a stance, he spoke again.
“I will demonstrate one hundred *unique techniques*. If you block even one, you may proceed to the next floor.”
“One out of a hundred?”
“Yes. Block it just once. Then you pass the 16th floor.”
“Isn’t that too easy?”
No matter how legendary a former champion he was—
Blocking just *one* technique tailored to their level?
Compared to the blood-soaked struggles from the 11th floor onward, this seemed almost laughably easy.
Then someone asked,
“Has anyone ever blocked all one hundred techniques?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
Sansha raised his right hand, extending his index and middle fingers.
“Two.”
“Two? One of them must be the current champion, Randolph?”
Sansha nodded.
“That’s right. One of them is Randolph.”
“Then who was the other?”
Sansha smiled.
Everyone leaned in.
The current champion Randolph—
Most people wouldn’t even recognize his name if you told them.
But the next name Sansha spoke was known to everyone present.
“The Knight King, Wilhelm.”
Wilhelm.
…Wilhelm.
That name was undeniably legendary.
Yet it was also a name slowly fading into obscurity.
No matter how many legends and myths Wilhelm had created—
In the end, he was the *loser* of the Grand Expedition.
The man who annihilated over a hundred thousand soldiers and knights.
And now, more than a year later—
The world was in upheaval, producing ever more powerful figures.
As hidden powerhouses like Raiga or King Friedrich of the Iron Kingdom emerged, the world steadily forgot Wilhelm.
And yet—his name resurfaced through Sansha’s lips.
“Wilhelm is not the Knight King.”
Hugh of the Dersian family stepped forward, rejecting it outright.
Sansha turned his gaze toward Hugh, who pointed his sword forward.
“The true Knight King is Lord Raiga.”
“Raiga? Who’s that?”
“……”
“Is he here?”
“He is not a participant in the tower—”
“Why should I know the name of a coward who doesn’t even climb the tower?”
“He is no coward!”
At Hugh’s fierce protest, Sansha snorted in amusement.
“I do recall hearing that name somewhere. About fifty years ago, I fought a man who pissed himself—pretty sure his name was Raiga.”
“You bastard—!”
“If that makes you angry, then prove it.”
Sansha took a stance toward Hugh, who had leveled his sword.
In the next instant—
*WHOOM—!*
A wave of mana erupted from Sansha, engulfing the entire 16th floor.
“……!”
“M-My… mana…!”
No one could move.
As if bound by invisible restraints, their bodies refused to respond.
It felt nothing like the mana of that monster Hyun of Adrium on the 14th floor.
This was different.
Sticky. Viscous.
Like filthy sludge coating the entire body.
It felt as if one’s body—no, one’s very *existence*—was being stolen away.
*If two people blocked all of them, then blocking one should be easy.*
*What, is he actually not that special?*
They *had* thought that.
Only then did the challengers change their minds.
But the shock didn’t end there.
“Azure Dragon Pavilion. Four Dragons’ Sword. Unity of Divine Sword.”
One by one—
With each technique Sansha unleashed—
They couldn’t look away.
Every technique was overwhelming.
Each more refined than any technique they had ever seen.
That a single being could complete and transcend *so many* techniques!
*You expect us to block that?*
*How are we supposed to stop something like that?*
The challengers’ souls were stolen by Sansha—the former champion, the ancient demon.
—
—
War God Karas.
He welcomed Sansha’s appearance.
*The Demon of Envy, Sansha, was devoured—by Randolph.*
After being devoured, he awakened the Demon of Greed.
Thus, Sansha should have been a name that could not exist.
And yet here he was—existing within the tower.
How was that possible?
*But he wasn’t devoured completely.*
The Demon of Envy, Sansha, *was* devoured.
But Sansha the Champion remained.
From the beginning, the two had separate egos.
The existence and ego of the Demon of Envy were devoured, but the existence and ego of the Champion were not.
Had Karas left things alone, even the Champion would have vanished eventually.
But Karas revived him—
As a *trial* of the tower.
*Champion Sansha, resurrected as a tower trial. He recovered all his memories—and grew even stronger.*
Champion Sansha was now bound to the Tower of the War God.
He could not leave this place.
But because of that, he became even more complete.
First, the memories sealed by the Demon of Envy were restored.
Second, by reflecting on his duel with Randolph—and his defeat—he took another step forward.
How many would pass the trial of the now-complete Sansha?
*But more importantly…*
War God Karas lifted his gaze toward the top of the tower.
In order to fulfill the champion’s role, the tower had *summoned* its champion.
Champion Randolph.
The problem was Randolph’s behavior after being summoned.
“…What is he doing?”
—
—
…We’re screwed.
Seriously screwed.
*I can’t log in.*
Randolph is inside the tower.
The tower clearly forcefully summoned Randolph’s physical body.
He’s probably at the very top—the 30th floor.
But I can’t log in.
Is it because I’m here?
Because we’re inside the same tower?
*I can’t even leave the tower.*
The problem is that forfeiting isn’t an option either.
To leave, I’d have to die.
But if I climb the tower, my own presence will be completely erased.
It’s a dead end.
I never imagined the tower would forcibly summon Randolph’s body.
*But how is that even possible?*
Even the Dragon God Einhasar couldn’t summon Randolph.
Normally, upon reaching Main Quest 10, the system forcibly summons you—but Randolph’s rank was too high.
In the end, Dragon God Einhasar personally carried him on his back to move him.
And now, Randolph’s rank is even higher than it was back then.
So how did War God Karas—and the tower—manage to forcibly summon Randolph’s body?
*Damn it.*
A paradox of fate.
The closer Randolph grows in Pangaenia, the more Park Hyun-myung’s presence fades.
Now I finally understand what that means.
*My left arm won’t move.*
My body is being forcibly paralyzed.
Especially my left arm—it wouldn’t move at all.
“Aaagh!”
“Ghk—!”
The Ancient Demon Sansha.
The resurrection of the former champion was shocking enough, but he was clearly stronger than before.
Most challengers were dying in a single strike.
And the techniques he was using…
They irritated my eyes.
He was freely reinterpreting Wilhelm’s swordsmanship—the principles of Heaven-and-Earth Genesis—and weaving them into his own style.
Could I really face Sansha with just my right arm?
Even if I could, climbing the tower itself was the problem.
In other words—
“Aaah, I believe! O Supreme Absolute One! Please spread the Goddess’s words! Reveal the Goddess’s will! Truly! With a sincere heart! This lowly servant will offer his life in devotion!!”
This was the greatest crisis of my life.
