Chapter 269

To wish for something from the Lord is not something that needs to be loudly muttered.

Rituals, communion, and prayers. It’s not like our wishes reach His ears only through such things. Speaking a lot doesn’t mean He will listen to my story. He already knows what I need before I even ask.

He led me here, yet I see nothing. Only this massive thorn, piercing the earth with the force to tear the world apart, catches my eye.

Whether this is good, evil, or merely a colossal ruin, I do not know. But I could guess one thing: this is what I need.

“Be careful, my Lord! Your body is frail, and if you’re not careful, your arm might freeze, or worse.”

Contrary to Roka’s worries, I harbored no such concerns.

I spread my palm and placed it on the thorn. I didn’t even worry about my arm being torn off. Even if it happened, so what?

Fear is a natural instinct for any living being. It’s neither bad nor something to be condemned. But just as a soldier charges at the enemy with courage despite fear, a priest has their own kind of courage.

If I hesitated now, afraid of something as trivial as my body being harmed, it would be no different from committing a sin as a believer. I felt a chill in my hand, but it wasn’t painful. Not even slightly.

The pain wasn’t mine; it came from beyond where I touched. Only then did I realize this thorn was alive. I couldn’t sense life, but I felt its pain. The reason wasn’t hard to guess.

Realizing that the Lord’s protection still lingered over me, I shook off the last remnants of fear. As I infused Divine Power into it, I understood why I couldn’t sense life from it. The thorn contained a faint trace of life, but it was so sparse that it couldn’t be called alive.

Something that once lived had been torn apart across the world, and naturally, the life it held was shattered into countless fragments. Though a bit remained in the thorn, it was no more than a bloodstained pebble. That’s why it appeared lifeless from the outside.

‘The pain of having one’s existence torn to pieces…’

I swallowed hard, not out of tension but surprise. The pain of the soul and the pain of the flesh are both incredibly hard for humans to endure.

Existence encompasses both body and soul, so the pain of being torn apart surely includes both. Such pain cannot be overcome by will alone.

Who, and why, had to endure such pain?

I felt I could find out. The Divine Power I infused began to gather the shattered fragments. Piece by piece, it reconstructed them, forming something that could be called a spirit.

As each fragment passed before me, I saw glimpses of a life. Sometimes a child, sometimes an adult, the appearance changed little despite the varying attire. This was the record of a single life, though the order was jumbled.

‘Amin.’

Someone I never knew.

Not just me, but no historian on the continent would know of this hero.

A figure who lived long before our time, lost in the flow of history, leaving no trace.

No one knew of his deeds, so no records were left for posterity. Even if there were, they likely vanished over time. The result is the same. I didn’t know this person, but I lived within the legacy he left behind.

‘This thorn was created to freeze the Primal Body, to halt its cycle.’

He drove this thorn into the Primal Body, freezing it. Though it didn’t freeze completely, it slowed the Primal Body’s metabolism.

The cycle lengthened, and its frequency decreased. A lifeform the size of a continent didn’t stop moving, but its movements slowed significantly. Without this thorn, the current cycle would have happened much sooner, and I might not have been born. Nor Roka, nor Yanid. Most of the people I know might not have existed.

Perhaps it was a meaningless act.

The terrible price he paid, tearing his own life apart, yielded only this much.

But I know that’s not the case. It’s not.

What he left us wasn’t just a thorn, but hope. Hope passed down from his era to ours. A spark from one era to another.

-Look at this hope. Is it truly useless?

No one whispered to me, but I heard a voice. Not the holy voice of the Lord, but a voice I gave to myself.

The voice was but a whisper. I knew it myself. This might be hope, but perhaps not for our era. When this arrangement will bear fruit, no one knows.

Perhaps in the next era, or the one after? Or maybe it will remain a thorn forever.

Before I could dwell on such worries, the world began to tremble. The ground shook, but it was more violent than usual. Not the earth, but the thorn itself quivered.

It began to shrink, slowly at first. As I stared in shock, it continued to shrink until it was small enough to hold in one hand.

The thorn floated in the air, unmoving, no longer shrinking. A hand reached out and grasped it. He held the thorn and silently gazed at me.

-Light. It’s something special.

A man who once existed across the world. Someone I only knew through memories.

Though his scattered spirit had gathered and revived, I could tell at a glance. The man before me was entirely different from the one I had seen in my memories.

-But I don’t remember why this is special. I don’t know you. I don’t know why I was awakened. And now, I’m not even curious.

His eyes showed no lingering attachments. He was no longer human, but something beyond. Desiring nothing, accepting even destruction as a natural order. A being once merged with an Ancient God is never the same as a human.

Though this change wasn’t something he desired, it’s not entirely bad. That’s why the Divine Power didn’t return him to a human state. From our perspective, he became inhuman, but from another viewpoint, it could be seen as a form of liberation.

-All I know is one thing. You must take me to the core.

His final will as a human.

A demand to take this thorn to the core.

Core. The center of something. Humans and animals don’t have something called a core, so it’s not a word commonly used in daily life.

But some demons possess a source of magical power called a demon core. Certain magical beasts also have something that can be called a core.

A typical example is the slime. Some are composed solely of mucus without a core, while others have one. Neither is necessarily better, as each has its pros and cons.

Having a core makes it easier to use magical power. Even if other parts of the body are damaged, as long as the core remains, recovery is possible.

But conversely, if the core is damaged, no matter how intact the rest of the body is, it’s useless. Just as a human dies if their heart is pierced, the core is both a vital point and a weakness.

What should this be taken to as a core?

That goes without saying.

“Should I take the thorn to the core of the Primal Body?”

He didn’t answer, but nodded slightly.

-And stab it. Unless you cool it from within, what you call the Primal Body won’t die. Don’t repeat my mistake. I overestimated my hunter’s intuition and achieved nothing.

“Does it have something that can be called a core?”

-Yes. Definitely. I didn’t know, and you don’t know, but he knew from the beginning.

The man, now empty-eyed, stared at me and murmured softly.

-That has always been my regret.

If the Primal Body has a core, and only one person knows its location,

then it’s obvious who that ‘he’ is.

The Demon King Grimudo. It can’t be anyone else. If he knows the core of the Primal Body, should I seek him out? But how, when he’s already left the Arctic and could be anywhere?

‘He’s already left the Polaris Fortress and disappeared to who knows where. Wait, the Polaris Fortress?’

Suddenly, something flashed through my mind.

The Demon King was here to study the Primal Body.

And the best way to study a living being is to study its core.

If the Primal Body truly has a core, there’s no way the Demon King Grimudo, who spent countless years observing it in the Arctic, wouldn’t know. He must have wanted to observe the Primal Body’s core from the closest possible distance. Right beside it.

‘Could it be…’

So he built his residence above where the core is located,

dedicating himself to studying the Primal Body from there.

I might have already stepped on the Primal Body’s core twice.

“Is the Polaris Fortress… above its core?”

He simply nodded,

and that was enough.

Now I knew where I had to go.