TL/Editor: raei
Schedule: 5/week
Illustrations: Posted in discord
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In a corner of the temple, away from the chaotic situation outside, Grace climbed up a column like a monkey and smiled.
Watching her, I thought I might be able to push off and jump up too. I tapped the column with my gauntlet-covered hand and realized it wasn’t just a simple pillar but a symbol with a religious purpose and a perch for noble harpies.
“This... the walls are densely engraved with sothing.”
“The stone dwarves' craftsmanship seems a bit odd….”
The harpies wouldn’t look down at the column walls from up there, so what was the point? Or maybe it was a craftsman’s subtle rebellion, putting their best work on the parts harpies wouldn’t see.
These idle thoughts passed, but the important thing was what Grace had discovered. It was sothing hard to see from below, visible only from the top of the column.
Katie, agile as she was, could climb up on her own. I was deciding whether to carry Irene and Han Se-ah on my shoulders or lift them one by one when I heard a rumbling sound. Turning my head, I saw Han Se-ah waving her staff.
“Alright, let’s go up… huh, what?”
-Does the mage have no awareness? She’s acting all proud while everyone else is climbing.
-Lol, she’s definitely doing it for content. Don’t fall for it, it’s all a money grab.
-Forbes’ #1 for not understanding romantic opportunities.
-You said you’d support her!
“You see? I made stairs… what, why?”
Han Se-ah, collecting stones from the empty floor, quickly created a spiral staircase up the column. Proud of her magic control, she puffed out her chest and bead, but was quickly overwheld by the barrage of comnts from the viewers.
As she turned, Han Se-ah found herself face to face with Irene, who had naturally co to my side to lean on . Irene, who had planned to be carried like Grace before, was now blushing awkwardly because of the sudden appearance of stairs.
“Let’s go up.”
“Ah, right, eek!”
Seeing her hesitation, I found it cute and crouched down, offering my arm as a seat and supporting her gently. Lifting her easily, I ford a steady perch for her, with my arm as a sturdy seat.
Startled, she let out a small scream but soon clung to my shoulder, balancing herself against my chest. As I stepped onto the spiral staircase Han Se-ah made and jumped up, I saw Katie, who had already climbed up out of curiosity.
“Anyway, those two can go up together, and I’ll follow. Don’t we have any flight magic for wind magic users? It would be so convenient to just fly up in tis like these.”
Below, Han Se-ah’s muttering drifted up, still managing to control the viewers’ reaction smoothly. But the three of us who had climbed up paid no attention to the party’s leader and brilliant but eccentric mage, Han Se-ah.
Even Irene, who was now on the column and blushed, looked in one direction with her mouth agape.
The three of us looked at a mural similar in structure to the previous altar. It wasn't simply painted; it seed carved into the upper part of a tall church wall and then dyed. Tentacle-like snakes reached toward the sky, and spear-like lightning bolts struck downward.
Like the altar we found inside the previous cave, sothing had been transford into a pincushion bristling with spears. However, this ti the quality was on a whole different level.
‘…Creation of Heaven and Earth?’
Michelangelo’s masterpiece, the Creation of Adam, was a fresco painted on a cathedral ceiling. Here, it was carved into the upper wall and closer to a sculpture, but nonetheless, it evoked a similar feeling.
It felt like admiring a historical masterpiece in a museum. Compared to the crude altar a child might have made, this was a work of art. If it weren't for its harpy empress-worshipping content, nobles might have traded their villas, not just gold coins, to buy it.
Even I, who lacked sensitivity, stared at it blankly for a few seconds. It was natural that the won, who lived in a dieval world without the internet and had rich religious sensitivities, were moved.
“Wow, that’s amazing. So, those weren’t lightning bolts but spears? Judging by the design, one looks like the real boss, and the other a fake boss.”
However, Han Se-ah, who had beco a cyber ghost drenched in internet culture, viewed it from a different perspective.
Grace, marveling at the delicate craftsmanship of the stone dwarves, noted that it must have been uncomfortable to carve sothing so beautiful at such a height.
Katie assessed that even the nobles who loved to boast wouldn't have such an art piece. anwhile, Irene felt a peculiar sadness that such beauty was dedicated to the harpies instead of the Goddess. Han Se-ah, however, viewed the mural from a gar’s perspective.
“This is the second ti, right? Since the content is similar, it must be information about the 50th floor. Whether the real boss is the monster from underground or the harpy empress, judging by how things are going, we’ll probably have to fight both in order.”
“Why can’t we ally with the Empire? Didn’t the harpies proclaim themselves goddesses of the sky and lightning? If they deify their leaders, it’s impossible to form an alliance with the kingdom. We know this from the guy living up north.”
-Rocket Man from the north of the Korean peninsula is famous XD
-Isn’t the design team at BB Gas too dedicated? Is there a similar sculpture sowhere?
-There's no portal connecting Earth, so why would there be a sculpture of harpies hunting tentacle monsters in real life?
-Does the Harpy Empire stretch from Adolf to Rocket Man? That’s a terrifying thought.
-Lol, what percentage chance do you think there is that Kim Jung-soo would actually say, “I’m not of Baekdu bloodline, I support an alliance with the U.S.”
Here, the dictatorship has lasted for four generations.
Putting aside the international politics of Earth-4, Han Se-ah's muttering made a lot of sense. The bizarre tentacle monster that appeared on the 45th floor had a slimy body similar to a sli.
There were elite versions of the subterranean bugs that crawled out of the ground. The harpies, who had turned from monsters to NPCs, had elite versions known as red harpies. If the mid-boss on the 45th floor was an immature entity, there might be an ancient tentacle worm related to the founding myth of the Harpy Empire deeper underground.
As an adventurer, it was a bit hasty to make such assumptions with only two clues, but as a gar looking at a quest log, it was a reasonable deduction.
[Secret Place Found Deep in the Cave]
[Inside was a poorly crafted altar]
[Who made the crudely drawn mural of harpies?]
[The beautifully constructed harpy city exploited stone dwarves]
[The harpy empress’s temple had beautiful murals]
[Could the creature in the painting be related to the monster we encountered underground last ti?]
The quest log, activated at the altar in the hidden cave, progressed to the next content as we climbed up to the top of the temple columns.
-If the sa thing appears twice in a ga, it's usually emphasizing sothing.
-But isn't there only one temple in the city?
-Temples aren’t like local churches fighting for believers. There's only one.
-This place isn't like Korea, where crosses are everywhere.
-I visited Korea once, and the sheer number of red neon crosses was overwhelming
While we each had different thoughts and admired the stone dwarves' masterpiece, we heard the sound of wings. Along with the fierce wind, a large harpy appeared.
"Who are you!"
A large red harpy of commander rank, appeared while we were quietly appreciating the artwork. Her sharp voice imdiately treated us as enemies, and her tense, uncovered thighs seed ready to throw a spear at any mont.
There had been no particular obstruction until we reached the temple. Why suddenly appear here and cause a ruckus? The rcenaries outside were still creating chaos.
I was ready to jump into action, having left my large shield at the base of the column, but the commander-level harpy pulled out handcuffs instead of a spear.
“That’s a seat for the high-ranking ones! You wingless things!”
There was only one reason for the commotion.
The hierarchy system.
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