I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-281

Ch-281. **The Chronicle of Randolph**

—

A hint.

An element meant to make solving the answer easier.

Everyone who climbed the tower expected it.

They believed that, through the “hint,” they would be able to uncover the weakness of the Blade Dragon God.

At the very least, they thought they could make a reasonable inference.

However, the hint that appeared shattered those expectations head-on.

“Randolph is the hint?”

“Well, I mean… *Randolph* is at the top of the tower, so there must be some connection.”

“The Four Calamities Baal, and now the Blade Dragon God? What do both of them have to do with Randolph?”

They couldn’t figure it out at all.

With just the name “Randolph,” there was nothing they could deduce.

And so, those who had climbed the tower began spreading the hint, hoping to arrive at a more accurate inference.

Within just a few hours, people all over the world learned about it.

On Earth and Pangaenia alike.

“Alright, let’s organize this according to the timeline.”

“So, when did the Blade Dragon God appear?”

“When Issera invaded. It didn’t show up from the beginning. All of a sudden, a dragon vein formed in Korea, and a world message appeared telling us to defend it.”

“And after that?”

“While we were defending it, Union and the ‘Reaper of the Black Egg’ appeared. The Demon King’s army was forcibly warped away.”

“And then we fought a fierce battle against the Demon King’s army until the dragon vein was completed… Even after Issera absorbed Earth’s original Dragon God, Lucaria, the Blade Dragon God still repelled Issera.”

“The problem is that it went berserk. And then *something* subdued the berserk Blade Dragon God and brought it back to the dragon vein.”

“Right. That was probably the ‘God of the Black Egg.’”

“And that ‘God of the Black Egg’ is also the one who killed the Four Calamities Baal.”

“What if that ‘God of the Black Egg’ is Randolph?”

What did this imply?

At the very least, Baal and the Blade Dragon God—both of which had appeared so far—were deeply involved with the “God of the Black Egg.”

Of course, there was no certainty that the “God of the Black Egg” was “Randolph.”

However, considering that Randolph was the tower’s champion and the current last boss designated for subjugation, it was a sufficiently plausible theory.

Only then did people’s eyes begin to light up.

“Could it be that the ‘mid-bosses’ appearing right now are things Randolph defeated… or was deeply involved with?”

“That’s possible.”

“So we’re basically experiencing the ‘Chronicle of Randolph’ right now?”

The Chronicle of Randolph!

The tower itself was depicting his life story.

One by one, opinions began to converge.

Still, there were clearly puzzling parts.

“How do you explain the sudden appearance of the trials from the ‘Mysterious Tower’ in Cramdel? Are those trials related to Randolph too?”

“A new Fifth-Pillar Power that appeared under the White King—Randolph. I thought it was just a coincidence that the name was the same, but according to what I’ve found, that Randolph is the first crow to completely conquer the Mysterious Coffin.”

“The Fifth-Pillar, the Mysterious Tower, ominous calamities, Baal, the Blade Dragon God… All of that is Randolph? No—are they all related to ‘Phantom’?”

“You think that’s all? There’s probably more.”

“If this is true, then Phantom must be a god.”

Phantom is a god.

That was the only conclusion possible.

A human couldn’t possibly be connected to all of those things.

And Phantom hadn’t even been around for that many years.

Yet in that short time, he had achieved overwhelming martial power beyond anyone’s reach, and even built myths.

And if all of these speculations were true—

“Just how strong… is Randolph, then?”

Gulp.

People swallowed.

They couldn’t even begin to estimate it.

It was something their common sense simply couldn’t comprehend.

Randolph wasn’t merely someone who held five stars.

At the same time, they realized the seriousness of the situation.

“What happens if time passes and the tower collapses?”

“The curse is released. It means everything inside the tower comes pouring out.”

“Don’t tell me… Randolph too?”

“Yes, Randolph as well. But not the Randolph we know.”

“…Are you saying Randolph is being consumed by the tower’s curse?”

“Yeah. That’s why we have to purify the curse before the tower breaks free. We need to climb the tower, raise the phases, and reach Randolph. Only then will we get answers, one way or another.”

“And if we reach him, and it still doesn’t resolve anything?”

“……Then we’ll have to truly subjugate him. No matter what it takes.”

They even considered the worst-case scenario.

Naturally, standing still wasn’t an option.

Massive guilds and alliances began sharing information with one another in a frenzy.

“Bring everything you know about Randolph—everything you’ve investigated!”

“Get in touch with other guilds too! Especially the Hero Alliance in Korea! They must know something more!”

“What? You can’t get in contact with Park Taewoo? Then go meet him in person if you have to!”

“Damn it. I’ll go myself!”

—

—

 

Calls poured in like rain.

Yet Park Taewoo, the leader of the Korean Hero Alliance, didn’t budge from his office.

“…….”

Tap. Tap.

Drumming his fingers on the desk, he sank deep into thought.

“Hudson knows the answer.”

At the end of all these hints and deductions, Park Taewoo believed Hudson was waiting.

Back when the dragon vein appeared.

Hudson had confronted him, demanding that he bring Dragon God Lucaria.

In return, hadn’t he handed over the ruins city of Rundella, which had originally been ruled by the Fifth-Pillar Randolph?

“No one knows Hudson’s identity on Earth.”

That was the problem.

Hudson was a descended entity.

Not his true form, but a transformed appearance using fragments of the Golden Scale.

No one knew Hudson’s real identity.

And the same went for Randolph.

“Hudson knows about Randolph. He might even know Randolph’s identity on Earth.”

There had once been rumors.

Rumors that the newly emerged “Oliver” in the UK was Randolph.

But no one had ever confirmed it.

What was true, and what was false?

With the information they had now, it was impossible to tell.

He had to find Hudson.

Still, there was one more thing that nagged at him.

“If the hint about the Blade Dragon God’s weakness is Randolph…”

Back when Issera invaded.

When everyone else—including Darkstar—fled, Park Taewoo alone remained.

He stayed until the end and fought.

Even when the Blade Dragon God went berserk and killed Issera, he was there.

And he saw it.

Not directly, perhaps—but maybe because he was the one who had brought Lucaria.

Or maybe it was because of his class, *Dragon Spirit Master*.

…He felt it.

The pain spreading from the berserk Blade Dragon God’s chest.

“Randolph… himself is the weakness.”

That the Blade Dragon God had attacked the “God of the Black Egg,” and that the pain had been shared.

Only Park Taewoo knew this.

But he also knew that saying it out loud would be useless.

“To meet Randolph, we have to subjugate the Blade Dragon God… and to subjugate the Blade Dragon God, we have to meet Randolph……”

The hint itself was the answer.

It was, quite literally, an open-book exam.

But even though the answer was given, it couldn’t be solved.

Did that make any sense?

A problem you can’t solve even when you know the answer!

That’s why—

Telling them wouldn’t help anyway.

“Haah……”

Park Taewoo fell into deep anguish.

—

—

Raiga.

He climbed the tower.

Breaking through the 20th floor, he reached the 21st.

“…….”

Yet his expression showed no sign of easing.

“The Four Calamities Baal was summoned—and subjugated.”

He couldn’t understand why.

Why had Baal been summoned to the Tower of the War God?

There was no need to even verify it.

The Baal that had been summoned was real.

“Manifestation Realm……”

Clatter.

Clatter.

Countless skeleton soldiers stood before him.

But he didn’t care.

More than that, the tower itself intrigued him.

The Manifestation Realm.

A domain he had encountered several times even within the Abyss—a realm that caused peculiar phenomena.

A unique world where imagination and thought were given form.

That was the Manifestation Realm.

Everything manifested there was real.

Indistinguishable from the genuine article.

However, all things summoned and shaped within it could never exceed the limits of the “master” who ruled the Manifestation Realm.

Which meant that everything existing in the tower right now was within the limits of “Randolph.”

Furthermore, it meant these were things Randolph had personally experienced deeply enough to give them form.

Mere delusions had limits, even in the Manifestation Realm.

In other words—

“This place is Randolph’s dream.”

The inside of a dream where Randolph relives his experiences.

Naturally, a question arose.

Randolph.

Who is he?

Who could he be, to manifest such vast and diverse experiences?

Raiga knew that, among the “Sinners,” he was spoken of like a legend.

But the summoning of Baal bothered him.

Because he himself had seen Baal not long ago.

“The Golden Goat.”

The Four Calamities Baal summoned by that figure’s lineage as a reaper.

The Golden Goat had confidently established himself as an executive of the Reaper Cult.

And then—he vanished.

He entered the Abyss with Raiga, and then disappeared without a trace.

Perhaps that man, who might even be deeply connected to Raiga’s own “missing memories,” was the key.

That was why Raiga was curious.

“What’s the relationship between Randolph and the Golden Goat?”

Randolph was a sinner.

A player.

But the Golden Goat was not.

The Reaper Cult wasn’t so incompetent that it couldn’t distinguish a sinner when appointing an executive.

Above all, with an “Archangel” present, it would have been impossible for a sinner to roam freely within the palace.

So… they couldn’t be the same person.

It made more sense that they shared a deeper connection.

“Randolph. Who are you, really?”

……He’d have to find out.

《‘Park Hyunmyung’ has cleared the 21st floor of the Tower of the War God!》

《‘Park Hyunmyung’ has cleared the 22nd floor of the Tower of the War God!》

Messages suddenly appeared before his eyes.

Raiga’s expression stiffened even further.

“Cleared them simultaneously?”

The moment the 21st floor was cleared, the 22nd was cleared as well.

Even Raiga couldn’t understand this phenomenon.

His head already ached from pondering who Randolph was and where the Golden Goat might be.

Park Hyunmyung.

For a moment, Adrium’s “Hyun” crossed his mind—but no matter how you looked at it, this meant facing ten thousand skeleton soldiers of the same-level standard, constantly growing stronger.

And how could one clear two floors at the same time?

Even Raiga, with his vast experience, couldn’t conceive of such an irregularity—such a miracle.

The crease between his brows deepened.

—

—

 

Boom!

Ruuuumble!

Crash! Crash! KABOOOM!

“…….”

I quietly watched as skeleton soldiers toppled over like dominos before me.

Skeleton soldiers of giants, each towering nearly ten meters tall.

If they swung their arms or fired arrows of light, it would have been an impossible situation.

Yet at some point, the giant skeleton soldiers began falling, one by one.

When the foremost skeleton collapsed, it triggered a chain reaction, causing them to tumble and shatter like dominos.

It happened the moment I reached the 22nd floor.

“So it’s the same here.”

The giant-type skeleton soldiers were only level *4*.

A level utterly insufficient for maintaining such massive bodies.

They barely had the stats to support those bloated frames.

And they certainly lacked the strength to endure and brace against collapsing giants in front of them.

Boom! Boom! Boom! KABOOOM!

—This is a scam, caw!

The God of Ashes muttered bitterly as he watched the absurd spectacle.

I agreed.

It really was a scam.

But it was reality.

What could I do when my level was low?

Even after hunting tens of thousands of skeleton soldiers, my level was still *4*.

“Sorry for having a constitution where my level barely rises.”

I shrugged.

A bonus stage.

And yet, the rewards were still sweet.

《You have overcome the ‘Trial of Ashes (4)’!》

《As a reward, you may obtain the Unique-grade Mystery ‘King of Ashes’.》

《If you choose not to obtain it, you will proceed to the next trial.》

《15,000 God Points (GP) have been awarded.》

《Using God Points, the level of ‘Advanced Ashen Crow Summoning’ increases to 10.》

《‘Advanced Ashen Crow Summoning’ has reached its maximum level (10Lv).》

《‘Advanced Ashen Crow Summoning’ transcends into ‘Ash Crow Summoning (1Lv)’.》

Even the God of Omen, who had been silently watching, spoke up.

—Isn’t this a bit too generous?

—Luck is also skill. In the end, this happened because *our child* is extraordinary, caw!

—Didn’t you just call it a scam?

—Shut up, you ominous bastard. I never said that, caw!

—Still… it’s faster than I expected. I should start preparing the “other side” soon.

—Kahaha! No matter what you bring out, you won’t be able to handle our ‘Child of Ashes’!

—Such confidence. Caw.

The God of Omen chuckled.

As if he intended to see how long that confidence would last.

 

Whooooooo—

In that instant—

Something enormous was summoned before my eyes.

“…….”

Seeing it, I was left momentarily speechless.

It wasn’t a skeleton soldier.

It couldn’t even be compared to those trials.

The massive monster standing before me—

It was somehow familiar, yet incomparably more vicious.

A true monster among monsters.

《‘Trial of Ashes (5)’ — ‘The Terrible Omen’ has appeared.》