I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-279

Ch-279. **The Trial of ‘Eternity’**

—

Raktusha’s instincts screamed at him.

*You can’t win.*

That no attack would work.

*At least—not in his current state.*

He was certain.

That woman—the Blade Dragon God—was invincible.

There was nothing more foolish than fighting an invincible opponent.

Still… probing was possible.

Zwaaaak!

Sword aura extended.

Continuously, endlessly, it grew massive.

Until it covered the sky—then Raktusha unleashed it in a single strike.

Kwaaaaaaaaang!

An unavoidable attack.

The Blade Dragon God merely stared at it, unmoving.

The moment the attack reached her—

*Forced Nullification.*

Only the sword aura in the area that touched the Blade Dragon God vanished into nothingness.

To nullify even sword aura…

Then what remained was pure skill.

Raktusha thrust his right foot forward.

Whiiing!

In a single bound, his blade sliced toward the Blade Dragon God’s head.

Cha-chang!

Her wing bones elongated instantly, blocking Raktusha’s slash.

*She blocked it.*

A strange light flashed in Raktusha’s eyes.

She had nullified the sword aura, yet physically blocked the direct strike.

Meaning—she reacted to direct attacks, at least to some extent.

*She’s attacking.*

Invincible didn’t mean she had no attacks.

It meant only that her defensive power was infinite.

Since the Blade Dragon God had been summoned here, she had to defeat Raktusha.

Sha-shak!

Swaaaaaak!

Long bones burst out from her back, attacking Raktusha.

Like tentacles.

Countless tendrils surged at him from the front.

Jjeooooeok!

In response, Raktusha’s muscles swelled instantly.

*Pure defense. I abandon the very thought of attacking.*

Even if she was invincible, her offensive power wouldn’t match her defense.

Raktusha condensed all his energy into defense alone.

*Try piercing it, if you can.*

Armor that could never be pierced.

In this state, Raktusha himself was truly invincible.

Even the crude, overwhelming attacks of the Four Calamities Baal hadn’t been able to break his armor.

He wanted to see what would happen if both sides became invincible.

Shuuuuuk—!

*Blocked—*

Thuk!

Thup-thup-thup!

—

—

 

“Union. Are you conscious?”

The Golden Ratio Mage, Union.

At someone’s voice, he slowly opened his eyes.

“Ugh…”

As he did, his brow naturally furrowed.

A place where Randolph’s golden statue shone blindingly, like the sun itself.

*The entrance of the tower.*

This was the entrance to the War God’s Tower.

But his body wouldn’t move an inch.

*Baal’s curse.*

The reason was obvious.

Baal’s curse had seeped through his entire body.

At least he wasn’t dead—that much was fortunate.

“…Gracia.”

Union spoke while looking at the man seated beside him—Gracia.

Gracia replied with the same emotionless tone and expression.

“You did something stupid.”

“…How am I even alive?”

“You don’t remember?”

“Remember what?”

At the question, Gracia’s brow creased slightly.

“The fight with Baal. You challenged him the moment you entered the tower, didn’t you? And then you escaped on your own—that’s why you’re alive.”

The fight with Baal!

Union had indeed challenged Baal the moment he entered the War God’s Tower.

But even he—a master of unconventional attacks using his inventory—had only managed to shave off about 15% of the Four Calamities Baal’s HP.

That monster possessed durability and strength that surpassed even his tricks.

Yet Baal’s truly terrifying aspect lay elsewhere.

“Ah…”

Union’s body trembled finely.

Only then did he remember why he was still alive.

To be honest, the combat itself had been absurdly simple.

With overwhelming firepower—or enough preparation—cutting down Baal’s HP wasn’t difficult.

The problem came after.

“The curse… y-you mustn’t challenge him. You mustn’t subjugate Baal…!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Baal is… merely a sacrifice to gather curses.”

“To gather curses? For what?”

“To *summon* something even more terrifying into this tower!”

Union’s face turned pale.

The reason he had escaped on his own—

Baal was nothing more than a massive chunk of flesh with enormous HP.

If he wanted, Union could have reduced Baal’s HP even further.

He didn’t, because he realized Baal was *bait*.

The Four Calamities Baal summoned here was a concentration of curses.

A prepared sacrifice meant to enact something far greater and more horrifying.

No one knew how massive a curse required a sacrifice like Baal.

But if Baal were subjugated without purifying the curses while climbing the tower—

an uncontrollable *cataclysmic curse* would begin.

That was why Union stopped fighting and chose to escape.

Compared to what would come next, Baal’s subjugation was nothing.

Gracia asked with a grave look.

“What’s being summoned after him?”

“…I don’t know. What I’m certain of is this—if Baal is subjugated thoughtlessly, everything that exists and everything that doesn’t will be summoned together. All will twist, and in the end, *calamity itself* will engulf the tower and cover the world.”

Union.

A man who had lived for countless years and witnessed the extremes of magic as the Empire’s first court mage.

He had seen even curse-type magic.

But the curse being enacted here, in the War God’s Tower, was on a scale he had never experienced.

A curse worthy of the mythological age—yet it was happening *now*.

He still didn’t understand why.

*Baal isn’t the only sacrifice.*

All forms of curses were gathering here.

He realized it only after attacking Baal.

They were so vast and powerful that even the Golden Ratio Mage couldn’t perceive them.

*Could they be trying to summon one of the Four Great Evil Gods?*

Balacaas.
Angra Mainyu.
Gaz.
Diablo.

Were they trying to summon one of those evil gods themselves?

If so, Pangaenia would once again face a new form of *destruction*.

Without the Goddess, Pangaenia could never withstand such an evil god.

“Baal has already been subjugated.”

“…What?”

Union’s eyes trembled violently.

“A Swordmaster named Raktusha did it.”

“Without properly purifying the curse?”

“Seems so.”

“Ah…”

Union’s face twisted in despair.

The offering had been completed.

Why do you think Baal was made so easy to challenge even on the first floor?

Looking back, it was obviously a trap—

yet they cleared it anyway.

Biting his lip, Union asked,

“What was summoned next…?”

“The Blade Dragon God.”

“The one newly born on Earth?”

“Seems so.”

“…Then they’ll need to find the condition behind her invincibility. Otherwise, subjugation is impossible.”

The second commander of the Demon King’s Army.

Even Issera—who devoured two other Dragon Gods—had failed to find the Blade Dragon God’s weakness.

If even she couldn’t, how could those climbing the tower?

Unless everyone pooled their minds, it was impossible.

And even then—could it truly be cleared?

A Dragon God that had held a natural advantage over Issera from birth.

Now, she would be far stronger than back then.

So strong it defied prediction.

“Union. Do you have any idea why the Blade Dragon God responded to the summoning?”

It was then.

Gracia asked with a serious gaze.

Even he couldn’t understand it.

The Four Calamities Baal—and the Blade Dragon God.

Why those two had been summoned together.

Union shrugged, half in resignation.

“If you’re curious, ask her yourself. Why she answered the summon.”

The Blade Dragon God was Earth’s guardian.

A sacred being.

Only she would know why she responded to a curse-mediated summoning.

Had it been lords of the Abyss, that would be one thing—

but the Blade Dragon God possessed an entirely opposite nature.

Her summoning was undeniably abnormal.

“Wasn’t she said to be invincible?”

“Gracia. If you’re that curious, climb the tower. You might learn the condition.”

All the keys were in the tower.

Those who didn’t climb it would never solve this problem.

Of course—it wouldn’t be easy.

*Other tower trials are mixing in.*

With Baal’s death, even the tower’s trials were in upheaval.

The difficulty had spiked sharply.

Thus, Union gave up on climbing the tower.

Even if other trials mixed in, a trial was still a trial.

As long as challengers didn’t give up, a possibility would exist.

But there was one exception.

*Why did it have to be that tower’s trial…*

Of all things, it was the trial of *that* tower.

The trial that was absolutely impossible to clear—

the Trial of **‘Eternity.’**

—

—

Former Champion, Sansha.

Seeing the changes in the tower, he made up his mind.

*I will climb to the top of the tower and challenge Randolph again!*

This was a chance granted by the heavens.

A chance to fight Randolph once more.

Like Randolph, he would climb to the very top, challenge him as a contender, and reclaim the champion’s seat!

“Hm…?”

Upon reaching the 20th floor, Sansha froze at the trial before him.

《The level of 10,000 “Skeleton Soldiers” matches the challenger’s level.》
《The use of all tools except equipped gear is prohibited.》
《All blessings and protections are stripped away.》

Clatter.
Clatter.

Ten thousand skeleton soldiers stood before him.

And the problem was—they were nothing like ordinary skeleton soldiers.

Faced with this completely unexpected situation, Sansha muttered unconsciously,

“Why is *this* trial in the War God’s Tower…?”

A mysterious tower whose trials grew harder the stronger one became.

A trial from the tower that only Cramdel’s monsters had challenged—

now stood before him.

—

—

 

Time passed.

Relentlessly, mercilessly.

《48 hours have passed.》

《Clear the War God’s Tower!》

《In 13 days, the War God’s Tower will collapse and release the curse.》

《Clearing the 20th floor will grant a hint for clearing “Phase 2.”》

《The higher the floor, the more concrete the hints become.》

Notices kept piling up.

The situation grew more dangerous by the minute.

Only by climbing higher could they find hints to clear it.

But once Phase 2 began, everyone gave up trying.

—*Didn’t they say the Dragon God can’t be cleared without finding her weakness?*

—*What is that Mysterious Tower trial? Wasn’t that in Cramdel?*

—*Climbing past the 20th floor is impossible.*

—*That’s classified as the worst difficulty even in the Mysterious Tower. Myth-level, I think…*

—*How are you supposed to fight 10,000 skeletons at your own level?*

—*No matter how good your gear is, 10,000 is just insane…*

This wasn’t just about the Blade Dragon God anymore.

The real problem was the phenomenon itself—the *change in tower trials* occurring beyond the 20th floor.

The Mysterious Tower.

Even monsters struggled to climb it.

And among its trials, this was considered the worst of the worst.

The atmosphere in *Player Talk* grew grim.

But everyone reached the same conclusion.

—*There’s no answer…*

No solution existed.

Three days passed. Then four.

The Blade Dragon God’s HP remained at 100%.

Shadows crept across people’s faces.

Until the fifth day—

when a single new message appeared.

《‘Park Hyunmyung’ has cleared the 20th floor of the War God’s Tower!》

 

 

 

---