CHAPTER 12: CHAPTER 12: AUTHORITY OF THE 7 SINS [8]

Unlike its appearance, the inside of the temple was a whole different story.

When he was a gamer, Kael had read a passage that said that the inside was an extremely disgusting place, but since they were two different worlds, he couldn’t understand the protagonist’s feelings at that time.

But now, he understood somewhat.

Just like Hans Varun had described, this place smelled even worse than a garbage dump.

Maybe even worse than shit.

But that was understandable.

Because this was the temple that would bestow humans with 7 Abilities related to the Seven Deadly Sins, and how could the Seven Deadly Sins smell like perfume?

The corridor they were walking on was getting narrower and narrower.

Becoming colder and scarier, too.

But even so, Kael and Hans had to move forward. Because the reward they would receive at the end of this corridor was completely worth it.

Step, step, and step.

Somewhere in the corridor, strange sounds began to echo directly from their brains.

Mixed together, without any connection.

— You are the only one worthy of worship. The entire world must revolve around you.

— It will never be enough. Everything must belong to you.

— All the women in this world must belong to you.

— Humans are all just tools for you to use. Here, victory is everything.

— Why is Hans Varun the main character? You deserve it too, right?

— Why bother trying? Death isn’t that bad. When you’re dead, you won’t have to worry about troublesome matters anymore.

...

Each sentence represented a sin of humanity, and all had the same purpose: Brainwashing Kael Draven and Hans Varun.

And in fact, they were doing their job very well, because for a brief moment, he had actually lost himself.

He didn’t know what Hans was feeling, but since he was the main character, these words and temptations wouldn’t be able to trouble him, right?

"Gulp."

***

7 minutes later.

This seemingly endless hallway seemed to have finally come to an end, as it slowly expanded, returning to normal, and those strange voices could no longer be heard.

Everything began to become much brighter, as if welcoming Kael and Hans to receive their reward for all the trials they had gone through.

After walking a few dozen more steps, he saw the end of the hallway.

It was... another world?

Literally.

Currently, the place where he and the protagonist were standing was a field of flowers, with all kinds of different types and colors, stretching to the horizon, with no end in sight.

The sky was vast and clear, without a single cloud.

Together, everything looked like it came straight out of a painting by a world-famous artist.

Giving everyone an indescribable sense of peace.

Making all of them forget all the bad things in the world.

Only in this place could humanity understand what happiness was.

’So this is... freedom?’ Kael thought, spreading his arms wide to welcome the air.

But very quickly, when he remembered the current situation of both of them, he forced himself to suppress those unrelated emotions and focus on the main thing.

Damn, was that considered hypnosis?

’Alright, now how do I get my Ability?’

As far as Kael could remember, the end of the corridor should have been a damp room, not a stunning place like this.

One detail had changed.

But this change was good, right?

The answer was no.

In the Tower of Glory, in order to get his Ability, the main character, Hans Varun, had to touch a stone pedestal in the middle of the room.

But here...

Despite searching everywhere, Kael still couldn’t find that stone pedestal, or anything similar to it.

’Tch.’

This change didn’t make things better, it only made things more complicated.

’Damn it, what am I supposed to do now?’

If he couldn’t find the Ability in this temple, Kael would definitely die under the blade of Shadow Slayer.

He was in a race against time.

That thing could come here at any moment, and it would definitely kill both him and Hans right away.

Every second that passed brought his end closer.

’Use your brain, you idiot! You’re Kael Draven, the one who loves Tower of Glory the most, right? So use all your brainpower!?’

He frowned, scanning the area.

Then, his eyes stopped at the flowers, and at the same time, a flash of an idea came to him.

’Could it be?’

Kael slowly lowered his body, reaching out to the first flower that caught his eye - a rose, hoping to pluck it from the ground.

Not realizing that disaster was getting closer than ever.

When his two fingers were less than 10 cm away from the beautiful rose, the ground, no, the entire reality began to shake violently.

As if hundreds of titans were trampling.

With no warning of this coming, Kael lost his balance, falling face first into the sweet-smelling flowers.

To the point of feeling unpleasant.

It seemed that too much of anything was always bad.

"Kael!" Hans shouted, anyone could sense the anxiety in his voice.

Kael didn’t reply, just immediately stood up and looked around, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

Everything was changing.

Gloomy clouds began to roll in, covering the entire sky, blocking out all light, plunging the entire world into dreadful darkness.

He wasn’t sure if it was due to the lack of light, but the next moment, all the flowers on the ground began to wither at a dizzying speed.

"What the hell?"

Now, this place no longer looked like a painting, but more like the end of the world.

A shiver ran down both of their spines, giving them goosebumps.

Shadow Slayer was approaching.

No, maybe it was already here.

"Kael! Be careful!" Once again, the main character shouted as loudly as he could.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" He was stunned, speaking in a very small voice.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but that he no longer had the energy to do so.

At this moment, Hans’ expression was like that of someone who had just experienced a terrible nightmare, pale and panicked.

The protagonist’s eyes flashed with worry and resentment, for some reason Kael was unaware of.

Why did he have that expression?

Did something happen?

The next second, blood began to spurt out of Kael’s mouth, enough to fill a bucket.

’Huh?’

Following that, he felt a sharp pain in the middle of his chest.

And when he looked down, Kael saw a jet-black blade - the one that Shadow Slayer had summoned before, piercing through his body, through his heart.

It hurt, it really hurt, it hurt so much that he wanted to die.

Wait, was he going to die?

No way! Kael was still young, still had a bright future ahead of him, and he was about to die, just because of a Fiend rank Tower Creature?

That was absurd!

Kael’s expression shifted, no longer the puzzled look from before, but a distorted one, wanting to cry but unable to.

Like a child, he groaned:

"...It hurts... Save me..."

Unfortunately, no one came.

With that, his mind gradually blanked.

But then suddenly, his blood dropped from the tip of the sword.

Just like that, a drop of blood fell down, until it touched a rose that was slowly dying, just like Kael’s life.

A reaction, or something like that happened.

[The Seven Deadly Sins felt very satisfied.]

[Please choose 1 Ability that you desire.]