Chapter 345: Eighty-Second Floor, Waiting Room (1)
I returned to the trial and made my way toward Ha-Seon.
Earlier, I had only managed to return the Celestial Bell in haste, without giving anyone a proper explanation. They had all looked at me with confused and baffled looks. It was understandable, considering what they had witnessed.
A pillar of fire had erupted from the earth, monkly energy had spread from the Celestial Bell, and the sky itself had cracked open. It had likely left them deeply unsettled.
The situation wasn’t exactly urgent; I simply didn’t know what to say.
Should I share what I learned?
Instead of teleporting back to the king and Ha-Seon, I was walking to buy myself more time to think. I had weighed my options carefully and come to a decision, but it still didn’t feel entirely right.
This wasn’t the first time I had found myself wrestling with such a dilemma. I had faced something similar back on the fifty-ninth floor when I had obtained Soulbound.
After defeating the molten creature born of fragmented souls, I had stood at the same crossroad.
Back then, I kept quiet at first, thinking that the inhabitants used soulsteel to imprison the souls of their predecessors.
When I realized that wasn’t the case, however, I shared the truth and even proposed a rite to lay the lingering spirits to rest.
However, I had no intention of saying anything this time—a god was directly involved. For the people of this world, the truth could be more of a curse than a revelation.
Of course, some would want the truth despite the pain, but this was a different situation altogether.