Episode 321: Underdogma (1)
-Titling!
[Leaved the ‘familiar land’ on the 3rd floor]
[Enter the ‘Island of the Black Sea’ on the 4th basement level]
The ecliptic zone on the third basement level gradually fades away.
Even the huge tsunami that soaked me right up to my heels couldn’t follow me anymore.
All 68 survivors were scattered through the single-person gate.
… … And the place where Bikir opened his eyes was the world of the 4th floor underground.
“Ugh. Is it the sea?”
Bikir swept the dry sand from his face.
Where the humid sea breeze blows.
Bikir was on an island in the middle of the vast, dark sea.
It looked like an earthen mound sprouting out of the sea.
Bony dead trees appear and disappear like bones in the gray mist.
with a splash-
Bikir went to the beach and dipped his hand in the water.
The water was generally a black color.
Even if you submerge your elbows in water, you will soon lose sight of the back of your hand.
There was almost no buoyancy, so even hair and clothes did not rise to the surface and sank.
Splash- Splash-
When I stir my hand, the movement becomes extremely slow.
The water itself also feels much heavier than normal water.
“… … Is this the ‘black water’?”
Bikir nodded.
The end of the world, a sea that is somewhere in the ocean very far away.
It is said that the seawater there is black and heavy and does not float anything.
Whatever falls into this black sea water, thick and heavy like melted lead, does not float and sinks.
That’s why it’s a taboo area that sailors should never enter.
“but. A ship that was sailing fine would suddenly sink for no reason.”
Looking up, I saw a fierce storm raging beyond the black horizon.
A storm raging around the island as if it were enclosing it.
Bikir shook off the water and returned to the beach.
After passing the sandy beach made of black sand and returning to the forest of dead trees, now you can see white soil.
“This is hyphae.”
Between grains of soil, sticky white threads like chungkukjang hang down.
Half of the island is black sand and the other half is white soil.
It was indeed a strange ecosystem. It is as if the pieces were taken from a completely different world and forcibly sewn together.
“… … The soil dries up and the trees die. Is it the result of the forcible mixing of two terrains with different properties?”
It’s obvious who created this strange world.
[Amdusias is a world view absorber.]
Dekarabia on the chest opened its mouth.
[It travels all over the world, taking off parts of the world that it likes and storing them in the Naraksu. There are various rag spaces in it, and this is one of them.]
Considering the Colosseo Academy seen from upstairs and the city of the zodiac, it was quite understandable.
“So what happens to the creatures that inhabit it when it absorbs parts of the world?”
[It will be dragged along. To the position of a challenger who challenges the tower.]
That means that there may be former owners and guests who entered this tower before Bikir.
Whether it be a human or a monster.
at that time.
“… … !”
Bikir found a strange thing near the center of the island.
It was a tall tree standing tall in the middle of a world of black and white where everything withered.
“Is it the root of Naraksu?”
It was just a gigantic twist, with no branches, no stem, no leaves, rising from the ground.
It seems that it probably grew out of Naraksu’s main body, then lost its way and sprouted to this place.
Bikir climbed up the tree roots and tried.
After climbing the black hard bark for a while, I saw a knothole.
There, blood-red sap gushed out and formed a pool.
Bikir tried to eat it with his finger.
“I can eat it.”
In terms of taste, it was slightly sweet.
Although the concentration of the sap was thin and the amount was not much because it was at the tip of the root, it was enough for one person to live on.
Even in the memoirs of the great heroes I read before returning, I could often find records that they survived by eating the sap from the root of the Naraksu, so it would be good to take it.
Bikir put his head into the knothole and sucked the sap. I felt like a bug, but that doesn’t matter in survival.
Moderately sweet and moderately bland liquid quenched Bikir’s dry throat.
The intestines, which seemed to have dried up, swelled up moist and tight after a while.
however.
“… … That was enough.”
Bikir drank moderately and cleared his mouth of the sap.
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There was still quite a bit of sap still dripping from the knothole, but Bikir didn’t take any more of it.
Decarabia said.
[Thought well, human. There is a fixed amount of Naraksu’s sap that can be drunk at one time. If you pass that, you are likely to become a monster.]
“Know.”
When Bikir is just coming down from the tree roots.
“hey! What are you!?”
A sharp cry was heard from below.
From the direction of the hill on the other side, several students were sending wary glances.
The faces I couldn’t see on the 3rd basement floor.
However, since they were students of the same Colosseo Academy, they all knew each other.
They continued to shout at Bikir.
“Who drank the sap without permission!”
“It was our turn this time!”
“Someone who came from somewhere to eat steals our food!”
They seemed to have landed on this floor before Bikir did.
Originally, Vikir should have landed here after spending more than 68 days, but the fairy spontaneously ended the mission, so it seemed like she was mixed with the others.
‘Hmm. Then, did these guys clear the mission on the 3rd basement level before me?’
In the tower, the concept of time is arbitrary for each floor, so I thought it might be like that.
Bikir looked around at the students below.
Of course they weren’t all.
“what? What’s going on?”
“Eh? A new guy has arrived.”
“Who’s here? Are you from aristocracy? Or the Baron?”
Students appearing one by one from the top of the hill.
All of them were skinny, and their eyes were bloodshot.
Even though they encountered a daylily of blood on the 3rd basement floor, they must have been poisoned as much as they survived.
At that time, one of the students who seemed to be the leader stepped forward.
“I am a 3rd year dogma of the Colosseo Academy fever donation club. I am the vice president of the student council. You know my face, right?”
It was a line that felt strangely conceited.
Of course Bikir knew his face and name.
‘Dogma. commons. From Underdog City. He is a third-year student of the Fever Army Club and is second in grade. He must have been the one who lost to Dolores in the final exam.’
He is a male student who has a sense of inferiority because he is from a commoner, and has a great sense of rivalry and admiration for Dolores, who is the president of the student council, the top of the grade, and also from a noble family.
Dogma said to Bikir.
“I know who you are. Donation of cold weapons, right? Apparently, he joined ‘our floor’ belatedly.”
He continued speaking in an overbearing manner as if the entire floor were theirs.
“There are rules here. Since the amount of sap in Ongdalsaem is not large, set a time and drink the sap one by one. You broke that rule.”
“… … Who made those rules?”
When Bikir asked, Dogma said it was natural.
“That’s right, we ‘common people’.”
“… … Commoners?”
Bikir tilted his head.
There are three factions in the Colosseo Academy.
The official organization, the Student Council. And the aristocratic faction and the noble faction, which are informal organizations.
However, there was no organization called the common people party. There was no way they could form a faction based on their status as commoners in the first place.
‘Right. Is it a newly created concept within the tower?’
Outside the world, rich and powerful people rule. Nobles, barons, and elites.
This governance structure, which had been passed down for a long time, would not change forever, and it was gradually recognized that movement between classes was impossible.
Although there were extreme cases such as the 47-man unrest, all such attempts were brutally and completely suppressed.
In other words, beings of a lower hierarchy can never ascend to a higher hierarchy.
“… … But it is different here.”
Dogma grinned.
The logic of the power that dominates the outside world, the system that seemed to last forever, has no power here.
zero base. A world where everything is perfectly fair.
A lot of money, pretty, handsome, high status, good at studying, strong… … All the standards that made me stand on top in the world are all returned to 0, a fair starting point here.
perfect equality of opportunity. A world where anyone can rise to the top if they try.
Low status, ugly appearance, weak body, poor talent, poor family… … All of these things can be overturned.
You have your first and last chance to rise higher than the ones that always look down on you!
“We have been disadvantaged since we were born due to the original sin of meeting poor and powerless commoner parents. But what about now? All levels and stats! And the reward that comes back honestly as much as the effort! Now, the opportunity has come for us commoners too!”
Dogma spread his arms around him.
All of these twenty or so people gathered were commoners.
Dogma held out her hand toward Bikir in a strangely warm voice.
“Are you a commoner too? I know everything. It must have been sad for a while.”
“… … .”
“I was like that too. Aristocrats and nobles can’t just look at what a commoner is good at. Even though I never got the first place because of Dolores, I’ve never missed the second place until now. And by the time he was in his third year, he even became the vice president of the student council. In the meantime, he has suffered countless contempt and humiliation.”
“… … .”
“okay. Even if you don’t say anything, I know everything. Aren’t you the one who watered the nobles and barons at the auction? I’ve been paying attention to you ever since. I always felt sorry for the stupid idiots who were only sitting there after meeting their parents. I wanted to help in my own way, but at that time, I too was too busy taking care of myself. But now it is different!”
“… … .”
“I can help you, Vikir. let’s hold hands How long will only blood be sucked under the exploitation structure created by the older generations?”
After hearing Dogma’s speech, all the students around him nodded and brought tears to their eyes.
There was an unusually warm atmosphere on the island.
“… … What about the rest of the survivors?”
That is, until Bikir splashed cold water on her.
At least 50 people must have survived and fell from the 2nd basement level to the 3rd basement level.
Those who luckily escaped the hellhound would have encountered a dried bloodstained daylily and would have had to make a choice.
And the twenty or so commoners gathered here are those who survived that choice.
Bikir asked again.
“What did you do with your non-commoner classmates?”
Then Dogma answered.
“That’s obvious. Didn’t you also have to go through the 3rd basement floor? They all became prey.”
“Someone’s?”
“… … .”
Dogma just grinned at Bikir’s repeated questions without answering.
“Don’t be too demanding. This is the land of status order reversal. This is perfect for the fate of nobles who are worse than dogs and pigs.”
Before long, the students split left and right following Dogma’s gesture.
Cheol-guk-chul!
Several students pulled chains that appeared to have been picked up from the ruins.
Then, several humans appeared from beyond the pile of dead black fire.
Dog collars around their necks, long chain collars, and traces of beatings and abuse all over their faces and bodies.
“… … .”
Bikir narrowed his eyes.
They were all familiar faces.
