I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-282

Ch-282. **Killing Phantom**

—

In the end, Park Taewoo held a press conference.

Phase 2.

He couldn’t keep hiding the Blade Dragon God’s weakness forever.

However, upon hearing Park Taewoo’s announcement, the people’s despair only deepened.

“Randolph himself is the weakness?”

“Does that even make sense…?”

“Isn’t it a basic rule that you defeat the mid-boss to meet the last boss?”

“But the last boss is the weakness?”

It was something that simply couldn’t exist unless you’d completely lost your mind.

If someone made a game like this, the developer would be pelted to death with stones.

The design was utterly broken from start to finish.

It wasn’t a game made to be cleared.

The Blade Dragon God was a mid-boss.

Yet to defeat that mid-boss, you had to defeat the last boss first.

But to even *meet* the last boss, you had to defeat the mid-boss.

The formula itself didn’t work from the outset.

“How are we supposed to clear this?”

“It’s truly invincible…”

“So that’s why Issera couldn’t find the weakness.”

“Of course he couldn’t. Randolph wasn’t there.”

“Wait. Then are you saying the Blade Dragon God’s birth was Randolph’s doing?”

During Issera’s invasion, a dragon vein had suddenly formed.

Players had desperately defended that dragon vein, giving birth to the Blade Dragon God.

But if the creation of the dragon vein and the birth of the Blade Dragon God were both Randolph’s will, then this was no trivial matter.

“…Main Quest 10, you know. Around the time when the trial of ‘Mad Dragon Einhassar’ changed into the trial of ‘Dragon God Einhassar,’ right?”

“Did Dragon God Einhassar help with the birth of a new Dragon God?”

“That might’ve been the reward.”

“Has anyone cleared Dragon God Einhassar’s achievement recently? Can’t we ask them?”

“To ask Einhassar, you have to clear Main Quest 10 and use your reward to ask a question. Who would give up all the other good rewards just to ask *that*?”

Upon clearing Main Quest 10, the reward allowed you to ask Einhassar a single question.

If used well, it was a question that could even lead to a unique-grade blueprint, so everyone who cleared it chose their question with extreme care.

Naturally, no one would waste such an important question on something like the birth of the Blade Dragon God.

But if Randolph truly was the Blade Dragon God’s master?

…Then Randolph would instantly ascend as the one and only “Guardian of Earth.”

Randolph.

Who was he?

They couldn’t just sit around doing nothing because there was no weakness.

People began investigating Randolph more fervently than ever—and the more they investigated, the more shocked they became.

“This is all the information you brought?”

“How is there not a single solid piece of data?”

…There was simply nothing.

Truly nothing—to an absurd degree.

No matter how quietly and covertly Randolph had acted, someone who had achieved such feats should have left traces somewhere.

Someone who had completed countless myths as effortlessly as breathing.

And yet—there were none.

No trace of Randolph anywhere.

As if someone had meticulously erased them.

“We really knew too little about Randolph…”

“Despite all those achievements, we were too busy calling it bugs, cheats, or admin interference—just rationalizing it away…”

“We instinctively didn’t want to admit it. The gap between Randolph and ourselves.”

“It didn’t fit within our common sense.”

“We looked away and turned our backs… In the end, we tacitly went along with the Hero Council’s ‘Kill Phantom’ agenda.”

“Honestly, doesn’t the Hero Council know more about Randolph than we do?”

That was exactly it.

They constantly cursed the Hero Council for spreading false information and manipulating players, yet never truly tried to learn about Randolph themselves.

Subconsciously, they thought, *Maybe the Hero Council is right.*

That Wilhelm’s Grand Expedition had ended in utter failure.

That everything Randolph did was a lie.

That Phantom was nothing but a hypocrite without blood or tears.

*Killing Phantom.*

Everyone had tacitly gone along with it.

And so, they didn’t know.

Where Randolph had started, and how far he had gone.

Even though he had built countless absurd legends and myths.

At that point, players began to step forward of their own accord and voice their convictions.

Through social media, through broadcasts, through every channel of communication.

“This tower is the karma we brought upon ourselves by turning away…”

“Cause and effect. We corrupted our own hero.”

“…I stayed silent. It wasn’t my problem. I knew it was a lie, but even so, I couldn’t fully believe Randolph’s chronicle was the truth either.”

“This tower is showing us. That everything ‘Randolph’ did was real. It’s making us experience it firsthand.”

“Everything the Hero Council said was a lie! They trampled on our idol, and we stayed silent, effectively empowering their claims. This reality we’re facing now is the result! Look at that cursed tower!”

“No more silence. Rise up! Rise, and climb the tower! Let’s all experience the ‘Chronicle of Randolph’ together!”

They raised their voices.

They would no longer look away.

They faced Randolph head-on.

The moment when not only players, but everyone, etched the name Randolph into their minds.

Second-generation awakened beings on Earth began climbing the tower one by one, and in Pangaenia as well, more challengers flocked to the Tower of the War God.

《The number of challengers currently climbing the Tower of the War God has exceeded 100,000.》

A total of one hundred thousand!

At that very moment, as the message appeared before everyone’s eyes—

《The tower’s curse weakens.》

《Phase 2: The combat power of the ‘Blade Dragon God’ has been reduced by 20%.》

It was weakened.

But even so, it was still impossible to clear.

“Is there really no answer?”

“Even after all this?”

“What must we do to appease your anger…!”

Some players began defining this phenomenon itself as “Randolph’s wrath.”

They believed that if enough people climbed the tower and empathized with his life, his anger would subside.

But there was still no answer.

No path was visible.

Just when everyone was sinking into despair—

《The ‘weakness’ has been released.》

《The ‘invincible’ state of the Blade Dragon God has been temporarily lifted.》

Suddenly—out of nowhere—

…the Blade Dragon God’s invincibility was lifted.

—

—

 

—As expected of that ominous bastard, he only does ominous things!

The God of Ashes exploded in rage.

The entity summoned by the God of Omen for their contest—

Of all things, he had summoned the “Terrible Omen.”

That cursed omen was not an ordinary member of the Omen Clan.

Like the sun and moon, it was a mass of curses that existed behind the Omen Clan itself.

The young crow, who had only just become part of the Ash Clan, stood absolutely no chance against such a monster!

—Don’t worry. I intend to make it a perfectly “fair match,” caw!

—In what world is this fair? Is there a hole in your head, caw?!

—It’s a contest of who clears more ‘trials’ faster. Isn’t that fair enough, caw?

—…Oh?

Only then did the God of Ash nod.

A competition to see who could defeat ten thousand skeleton soldiers of the same level faster.

On top of that, even more “hidden traits” would be added.

—Void, Giant, Druid. Three traits added to the skeletons.

—Not enough, caw. Add Dexterity, All-Master, and Weapon Master too.

—Hmm. They’ll die, you know?

—That’s what makes for a clearer sample, doesn’t it? Caw.

—That’s true.

The God of Ash went a step further.

They decided to deploy ten thousand skeleton soldiers with *six* hidden traits.

But the real problem lay elsewhere.

《‘Paradox of Fate’ has activated.》

《‘Park Hyunmyung’s’ presence grows faint.》

…My body won’t move at all.

The moment the Terrible Omen appeared,

I froze, as if time itself had stopped.

Only then did I realize.

That thing was the Terrible Omen—and at the same time—

《‘Terrible Omen , Randolph’》

…Randolph.

More precisely, it was one of the forms Randolph had directly transformed into—the form that had driven Baal to the brink of death in the Abyss.

One of Randolph’s forms had been manifested.

It was fake, yet not fake.

A part of Randolph, realized within this tower.

“The tower itself has become Randolph’s hands and feet.”

The Tower of the War God.

Everything that exists within the tower is a part of Randolph.

And among them, that concretely manifested “Terrible Omen” could easily be called Randolph’s hand or foot.

That was why the Paradox of Fate had activated.

—Now, begin.

—Child of Ashes, I believe you can do it!

Whether they knew or not,

the two gods were absurdly carefree.

KWAANG!

At the same time, a transparent wall rose at the center of the world.

The wall perfectly separated me from the Terrible Omen.

Then—

Clatter!

Clatter!

At my side, and at the Terrible Omen’s side, massive skeleton soldiers appeared.

Ten thousand on each side.

And this time, they didn’t fall.

With six hidden traits, even insufficient stats were more than compensated for.

Wielding various weapons, summoning spirits, overwhelming with countless classes.

It was far more difficult than when climbing the Mysterious Tower or the Mythic Coffin to the end.

Even back then, skeleton soldiers with six hidden traits hadn’t appeared.

“So no more luck?”

Is that what it meant?

Only now did it feel like a real trial had begun.

Compared to this, all previous trials felt like child’s play.

KRAAAAW—!

From the opposite side, the Terrible Omen let out a howl.

Caw!

Cawaaak!

At the same time, a black sun rose, and countless “Taoist Crows” appeared.

From the “Black Sun,” tears of blood streamed endlessly.

As that blood soaked into the ground—

CRACK!

BOOM! THUD!

The skeleton soldiers began collapsing one by one.

Absolute death.

Even Baal had been forced to reveal the “Fragment of Ruin” just to avoid that death.

Without the Fragment of Ruin, Baal would have met his end before that black sun.

I can’t win.

No—at this rate…

“I’ll die.”

…Without a doubt, I will die.

—

—

 

Blade Dragon God Hana.

Someone facing her head-on let out a quiet murmur of admiration.

“What an incredible divinity.”

A new challenger.

Hana slowly turned her gaze toward him.

There—

stood an “ant,” roughly the size of a human.

A variant, or perhaps a mutant.

Yet the aura it gave off could never be dismissed as that of an ant.

That presence was far stronger than that of the challenger who had come before.

Still, having climbed this far, it was nothing more than an enemy to be exterminated.

Shing—

The ant drew his sword and spoke to Hana.

“My name is Pheromone. I am the King of Ants.”

Pheromone, King of Ants!

A mutant created by the Black King.

Countless insects, granted mutant hidden traits, had been imprisoned like solitude itself—and he was the sole survivor among them.

The sword Pheromone wielded was highly unusual.

A blade steeped in an abhorrent curse, with red energy flowing through it like a lake.

A demonic sword—the complete opposite of a holy sword.

When Hana’s gaze fell upon it, Pheromone explained with the innocent cheer of a child.

“For reference, this sword seals a demon. Um… what was it again? Some kind of sin.”

Pheromone waved his antennae wildly,

as if he couldn’t quite remember.

It didn’t matter much anyway.

“But you’d be a waste to seal inside a sword. So I’ll eat you instead.”

Having made his decision, Pheromone nodded.

Then he continued.

“Just like I devoured the Four Calamities—‘Despair.’”