Chapter 1233 – #288_Fable (7)

#1227

1.

Like a climber who said he climbed the mountain because it was there.

Siwoo also just walked and walked the path laid out in front of her.

As if expressing the notes accumulated in the body.

I climb the stairs again and again, savoring the sweet melody in my ears.

Paradoxically, this is an act of going up but also an act of going down.

As the level of magic increases, it becomes possible to manipulate deeper levels of the ‘world setting’ that is layered like pastry.

We have overcome the wall of the 24th hierarchy that was blocking our view, and have now moved towards the 25th hierarchy.

What is at the center of my heart is myself.

However, the will to protect precious people, not stubbornness and self-righteousness.

“Whoa…”

I even said a cheesy line to Erelim, like ‘This is the answer I found,’ but at this point, I slightly regret it.

I should have said it a little less nicely.

It’s not that my mindset has changed.

It’s not that I’m being swallowed up by the mind and going wild, nor is this act not enjoyable.

Magic is so free and beautiful.

My heart is so full that I feel like I love every moment of realizing that fact.

However, limits come equally regardless of mindset.

I gradually felt heat and overload in my head.

My body doesn’t have much strength, as if I ran out of fuel.

It is a path to enlightenment that would have been difficult even if it had been in perfect condition from the beginning.

After a clash with Erelim, his tattered body and exhausted mental power anesthetize his consciousness into a hazy state, like altitude sickness.

The stairs became increasingly precarious and broke easily.

The abyss that spread out beneath the narrow stairs was deep, and it seemed as if a strong wind was blowing, threatening to keep falling down the stairs.

“…”

Erelim looked at Shin Si-woo’s back.

Unlike Erelim’s already well-paved path, Shin Si-woo is pioneering her own path at this moment.

In a randomized space.

The stairs that stretch side by side, symbolizing will and realm, inevitably each person’s ‘magical path.’

The path of Erelim is the path of a monk who quietly commits himself to asceticism.

It is a path that commemorates the will of forgotten witches and gathers their will for magic.

A world colored in dark green. Ashes fluttering like snowflakes. Gravestone. Eulogy. The hopes of those who left. The desire for transcendence. Self-righteousness. Absolute certainty that witches exist for magic. A spirit that will not break even in the face of death.

The path that was built by bringing all of this together.

Without a single doubt or delusion, quenched by one desire.

Therefore, the stairs were able to build up to the high feat of the 25th rank.

This is the magic drawn by Erelim.

So what about Shin Si-woo?

Indeed, foolishly, she did something that no other witch could do: giving up the stairs she had already acquired.

I chose the dangerous path of building a new path every moment.

That’s why Shin Si-woo’s magic power is truly in jeopardy.

Compared to the stairs of Erelim that stretch straight up to the sky, they stagger back and forth like the steps of a drunkard.

It does not stretch out as wide as the highways of the holy kingdom, but as narrow as a path.

There is no confidence in oneself, and one hesitates and agonizes ceaselessly.

The result was fully realized beneath his feet, and if you count the number of times he lost his footing and nearly fell, it’s already well over ten.

If things continue like this, it is a truly unsightly and insignificant path that makes it questionable whether it will be possible to reach the 25th level, let alone reach the ‘system’.

In the eyes of Erelim, who is the closest to the most complete form among existing witches, it is a defective product with nothing to refer to.

“…”

But.

Why can’t I take my eyes off this?

I know the reason.

The path he wants to take is warm.

As pure as the optimism of a child who only sees the world as beautiful.

It shines with such a brilliant golden light that it is so dazzling that you have to squint to look at it.

It is a sight that Erelim has never been pictured, and at the same time, it is a brilliance that completely denies her life.

I laughed hard.

The world we have observed for a thousand years has always been full of tragedy.

God is cruel, and the world was even crueler.

It is probably not a place that can be overcome with such vague warmth and optimism.

The scenery he can embrace is a childish fantasy that he can embrace because he does not yet know the heartlessness of the world.

So, why are you shaking like that even though no one has touched you?

The answer you said you were going to show me was ultimately nothing more than a failure that seemed plausible.

I won’t be able to do it anyway.

-Poseok

“Ah.”

Whether it was expected from Erelim or not, Siu lost his footing in the end.

It’s been a shaky step up until now, but this is the final blow.

The stairs under his feet were broken without being formed properly, and Siwoo’s tilted gaze was filled with a pitch-black abyss.

If you fall into the darkness that you can never return to, as much as you push yourself for enlightenment.

“Fucked…”

At that time.

Her cold hands wrapped around her wrists.

The body that was tilted is pulled back.

“Catch it.”

When I looked back, I saw someone who shouldn’t be here holding Si-woo who almost fell.

This is something that cannot happen.

The stairs in this landscape are parallel.

It is a straight path where no one can interfere with anyone else.

But Erelim is the owner of the secretariat. She is a great sage who can use more magic more skillfully than anyone else.

That is why she is revered by so many witches.

“Thank you for your help, but it would be difficult if you fell in love with me.”

“Gibberish. I can’t stay for long. I will induce magical power, so please accept it.”

Siwoo, who was joking, gathered his startled mind and received the magic flowing through the skin he touched.

“Oh.”

Something amazing happened.

As new flesh grows, the once tattered magic circuit is restored against time.

My head, which was overheated and throbbing, becomes cool as if I had put on a water cooler, and my condition, which was once a mess, is restored.

This was unnecessary for Erelim.

Even though she knew it was true, she couldn’t help but impulsively help him.

There was an expectation that Shin Si-woo might find the answer that she couldn’t find in a completely different form.

“Show me. “Your correct answer.”

2.

Si-Woo finally crossed the 25th hierarchy barrier.

“… I’m dying.”

Climbing up the huge wall was his life’s hardship.

On top of a huge barrier that seems to connect the end of the horizon.

Looking down from below, I can see why so many climbers risk their lives to reach the summit.

But this is not normal.

To put it bluntly, the base camp is somewhere in the middle.

In order to face the system, to convince Erelim, you must go to a higher place.

You must reach the 26th level and show a brilliant way to break through the limitations of the system.

My steps are twice as heavy as before.

The jazz melody that resonates in your ears is many times more complex, and the task of gaining enlightenment within it is also extremely arduous.

It seems like he will fall into a coma for a moment, but he regains consciousness and climbs again.

————

After coming this far, I was finally able to find my traces.

The traces of a ‘system’ that blocks witches from transcending, that even Kether gave up trying to overcome on their own, and that will cause countless witches to fall into despair in the future.

It is not visible.

The space that stretched beyond the stairs was like an infinite void that even my excellent eyesight could not see through.

However, it is certain that an indescribably gigantic being is looking this way.

Every time its dull gaze passes over my body, I get goosebumps all over my body.

As he climbs the stairs, Siwoo feels the gaze and concentration becoming more intense, but he silently moves forward one step at a time.

“…”

Eventually, when she reached the end of the stairs, a vast plain spread out before her eyes.

In front of it, a huge wall that fills the field of vision stands tall beyond the fog.

The 26 Hierarchy Wall, which even Erelim could not explore, though he only briefly glimpsed the other side in exchange for the penalty of being unable to inherit.

No matter how great the enlightenment you have achieved before, you must eventually overcome that wall in order to overcome the hierarchy.

Erelim and Siu walked side by side toward the wall.

As they crossed over the fog, different images of walls appeared in their eyes.

To Erelim, that wall was the ‘end’ of a pile of badly broken tombstones.

If you can’t jump over it, it’s a wailing wall that will kill all the witches who have left.

Even if you jump over it, you will face a slow death like Kether.

Meanwhile, Siwoo saw a slightly more modern art scene.

All kinds of signs regarding ‘crisis’ and ‘warnings’ among the unconsciously acquired information pop out on the huge wall.

Signs such as [Warning], [接近禁止], [DANGER], And [Danger] Written all over the wall in bright red and scarlet letters.

A radiation caution mark, a skull symbol with an

All of them stimulate a sense of crisis in human instinct.

A collection of decorations that are so threatening that even a primitive person would think, ‘Ah, this place is a bit weird’ and turn away.

“… “I’m scared.”

Siwoo can only guess what awaits him when he opens this.

There is no certainty about the details.

But let’s think about it.

What is a system?

Why does it try to prevent the witch’s transcendence?

All witches are originally from the witch of creation. In other words, it is a foreign object that came from another world line.

Therefore, the system accepted witches as ‘dangerous factors.’

Even Siu, who inherited the brand of Kether, albeit imperfectly, cannot escape the filter.

In light of this prior information, Siwoo thought when he came into contact with the system a little while ago.

It is said that Keter gave her one name in a funny way.

What was lurking behind this door was literally just a system.

In itself, there is no free will and no ego.

It is simply a base and device that supports the setting of the world and performs its role.

Here’s the strange thing.

Is the system restricting witches because they are beings with too much power?

If so, there are so many things that must be restricted.

No witch has as much power as the sun.

No witch is as powerful as a black hole, a neutron star, or an exploding supernova.

Even if you reach the 32nd level, aren’t you an insignificant being, worse than dust, compared to the infinite world?

So why are only witches subject to surveillance and restrictions by the system?

“How about this? “Isn’t it strange?”

He looks back at Erelim and says.

“No. There are definitely sanctions in the system.”

Erelim shook her head.

I couldn’t believe it.

She saw the fall of Keter, sanctioned by the system.

It is unbelievable that such a terrible fate occurred without external intervention.

The moment she stepped onto the 26th level of Lelimdo, didn’t she feel that creepy presence all the way up to this wall?

“It’s not that there is no system. It’s there, right? However, it is said that she is a witch who called in a system that originally would have just watched in silence and put it on alert.”

There are rules for the movement of celestial bodies in the vast universe, but there is no will.

It just exists there like a system.

Therefore, it is a passive being that cannot choose and cannot struggle to change what has been decided.

On the other hand, witches have a firm will.

She looks at ‘magic’ more tenaciously and intensely than any other intelligent life form, to the point of giving up her own life.

Blindness, obsession, and desire for that magic become karma and live the boundaries of the system.

This is because, from the system’s perspective, it is impossible to predict what vector will act if a being with such a strong purpose is given enormous power.

Therefore, neither the queen who wanted to challenge the feat of God nor the queen who tried to embrace the forgotten by pursuing the same feat can overcome the wall.

It’s ironic.

Just as the strong desire for enlightenment becomes an obsession and causes enlightenment to go away.

A witch only pursues her magic, so she is unable to obtain true magic in her hands.

This is Siwoo’s hypothesis.

And the magic that Siwoo has accumulated to get to this point is not magic as a goal, but as a means.

The desire to protect what is in the midst of it.

-Kugugung

Siwoo pushes the huge wall with both palms.

A roar follows, as if a giant beast made of steel is shaking its neck, and the heavens and the earth shake.

Erelim saw Siwoo moving beyond without blinking an eye.

Her imagine her soon pictured a giant hand grabbing him and throwing him away.

————!!!

The system is coming.

To judge those who exceed the restrictions that should not be exceeded.

Shin Si-woo is so far away that he can only look up at the sky.

Confidently, without averting your head or lowering your gaze.

“How is it? “Keter is wrong, right?”

Shin Si-woo, wiping away cold sweat and smiling slightly.

Only then could Erelim see the wide road shimmering with golden light behind him.

A warm and beautiful road like a wheat field in the late fall harvest season.