Chapter 136: The Tower’s Omen

“Kugugugugu”

A colossal Tower soared up from the center of the city.  

How could one possibly describe it?  

Its breadth was enough to swallow an entire mountain, and its height surpassed even the Lotte World Tower, known as the tallest building in Korea.  

No comparing it to any building was meaningless.  

The Tower stretched endlessly, piercing through the clouds, its top impossible to discern.  

If the Tower of Babel—built by humans to reach the heavens—were ever completed, wouldn’t it look exactly like that?  

It was so immense and lofty that just looking at it inspired awe.  

“So this is a Tower…?”  

It was my first time seeing the Tower properly like this.  

The entrance I had seen back in Zone 5 was only a tiny fraction of the entire Tower.  

I never imagined the Tower to be this overwhelmingly massive.  

Well, I expected it to be big, but not to this degree.  

And the problem was, this wasn’t even the end.  

“Kyaaahhh!”  

“Grrrrr.”  

“Karrrk!”  

Monsters of all kinds began pouring out of the Tower.  

An enormous horde of goblins, zombies, kobolds, orcs, ogres, and more streamed out through the first floor’s exit.  

It was just like when I first set foot in Zone 5.  

Monsters of every variety kept coming out without pause.  

“Shiit-.”  

From the Tower’s core, a colossal serpent crawled forth, winding around the Tower’s base.  

“Kyooot-.”  

From the upper levels, gigantic birds, wyverns, even monsters resembling whales and sharks appeared, blotting out the sun as they swarmed the sky.  

“Eeeeeeeng~!!”  

The wailing siren echoed loudly.  

And louder still than the siren, screams filled the air as people began fleeing in the opposite direction of the Tower.  

Monsters attacked those fleeing people.  

Hunters rushed in to hold the monsters back.  

“Kraaaah!”  

But the monsters were powerful.  

Above all, their numbers were overwhelming.  

The hastily gathered hunters failed to hold the monsters back properly.  

They were pushed back by the sheer volume, getting injured, collapsing, and retreating.  

Around the Tower, waves of destruction slowly spread.  

This was the ‘Age of Destruction.’  

The beginning of ruin brought about by the sudden appearance of the Tower in reality.  

“No… no…”  

Though the Tower seemed right in front of me, it wasn’t actually that close.  

It was quite a distance away.  

But the monsters were steadily expanding their territory.  

At this rate, they would reach my home without a doubt.  

The Ballista I had built before?  

The Crossbow I used?  

All meaningless.  

The moment those monsters reach my home, it would be reduced to rubble.  

And so would I.  

“I need to contact the Guild…”  

I had to call for support from the Vulcanus Guild.  

Hunters from our Guild, including Berserker Park Kang-chul.  

The Shadow King, who had volunteered to be my personal bodyguard.  

The Changcheon Guild and Mir Guild allied with Vulcanus—to stop those monsters.  

But for some reason, my body wouldn’t move.  

Only then did I realize.  

This wasn’t reality.  

Or more accurately, it was the near future.  

I was looking through the White Feather Fan, seeing the future.  

Just as I thought that, a monster flying down from the sky locked eyes with me, crashing down onto my house.

“Kroooooo~!!”  

 “Huagh!”  

I snapped back to reality.  

My forehead was drenched in cold sweat.  

I gasped for air, heart pounding as if it would burst.  

Future Observation through the White Feather Fan?  

No, this went beyond that.  

It felt as vivid as if I had traveled into the future itself.  

“That can’t be too far off, can it?”  

The future I saw through the White Feather Fan.  

The room was slightly different, but there were no major changes.  

There was nothing to pinpoint the exact time, but no matter how I thought about it, it didn’t seem like a distant future.  

At most, one or two years from now?  

Or maybe just a few months.  

Perhaps even weeks.  

“No, more importantly, is this White Feather Fan even accurate?”  

A power that shows the future.  

After seeing the Tower, I couldn’t help but doubt that ability.  

Maybe I wanted the White Feather Fan to be wrong.  

If the future shown by the White Feather Fan was true…  

Then the moment the Tower rose, I was as good as dead.  

Please let the White Feather Fan be false.  

Or if not, at least let me change the future I saw through it.  

And there was only one person I could ask about this.  

No, more precisely, only two Statues.  

“I guess I’d better bring plenty of chicken.”  

***

The Mining Team was busy extracting ore, so I gathered the entire Combat Team who were leisurely training in Zone 5.  

I handed each of them a handful of chicken as we arrived at Zone 5.  

“I’m here!”  

“Oh! Seo Jun, you’re here!”  

“You even brought a lot of seasoned chicken! Thank you so much! I’ve been craving it lately!”  

“I told you it’s not seasoned chicken, it’s fried chicken.”  

“As long as we understand each other, that’s what counts!”  

“Bring it here quickly! Oh! What’s this? There’s a lot of white powder sprinkled on it!”  

“Ah, that’s Supreme fried chicken. I heard Dark Aglio Chicken has been popular lately, so I brought some.”  

“Dark Aglio? Who would dye chicken that black to ruin its appetite? Hmph. Can’t just throw it away either. Well then… hmm… oh? Oh oh?”  

“Tasty, right?”  

“A deep and rich blend of soy sauce and savory garlic! Truly marvelous!”  

As soon as we arrived, the two began looking for fried chicken.  

The Sword Statue and the Spear Statue.  

Today, I had brought dozens of chickens with me, so I was able to feed them generously.  

After each of the two Statues ate about ten chickens and their livers finally got some notice, they paused their meal briefly and looked at me.  

“So, what brings you here this time, Seo Jun?”  

“Do I have to have a reason to visit? We even had a party here a few days ago.”  

“That may be, but seeing your restless, uneasy eyes, I can only assume you do have a purpose.”  

“Don’t underestimate the wisdom born of our long lives.”  

A sigh escaped my lips involuntarily.  

If I was going to lie, I had to lie well.  

There was no way I could fool these two.  

Thinking so, I took out the White Feather Fan from my bosom.  

At once, their eyes began to sparkle.  

“Oh! That’s it!”  

“The White Feather Fan!”  

“You know about the White Feather Fan?”  

“Of course. It’s the fan used by the little one of the Zhuge Family. It feels like just yesterday he was following the Great Spiritual Bird Jajo around, picking up feathers.”  

“Huh? He wasn’t hunting, he was just picking feathers?”  

“No matter how clever the Zhuge Family is, they couldn’t possibly capture the Great Spiritual Bird Jajo. Not without consequences, at least.”  

“Ah…”  

According to NaWiki, Zhuge Liang captured the Great Spiritual Bird Jajo and made the White Feather Fan from its feathers.  

Looks like I shouldn’t trust NaWiki.  

Also, calling Zhuge Liang “the little one”… how old are these two anyway?  

No, age isn’t the issue.  

I’d know they lived in a different dimension from me.  

I had no idea how or why they knew about the Zhuge Family’s White Feather Fan.  

“Hmm? Looking closely, this is a bit different from the White Feather Fan I know. Could it be that you have  crafted this one yourself?”  

“Yes, I just made a new one recently. You could say I reproduced it.”  

“Reproducing the White Feather Fan! Amazing! Though it isn’t a divine relic, it’s incredible to create something as spiritual as the White Feather Fan!”  

The two Statues praised my skills.  

I shrugged my shoulders proudly, but I hadn’t come here to brag or receive compliments.  

“I’m glad you know the White Feather Fan. Actually, I wanted to ask you something about it.”  

“What is it? If it’s about a fan we know, we’ll tell you everything.”  

“Not even the seasoned chicken could repay that.”  

Fortunately, they both responded positively.  

I opened the White Feather Fan and showed the blackened feathers, explaining my situation.  

No need to explain its power to observe the past or present.  

The important part was its ability to observe the future.  

Was that power real?  

And if so, was it possible to change the future?  

I prayed that it was.  

If I went down to the first floor the moment the Tower appeared, wouldn’t the future be different from what I had seen?  

Thinking this, I asked, and the two Statues exchanged looks before answering right away.  

“To start with the conclusion, it’s not exact.”  

“Phew.”  

A sigh of relief escaped me.  

If the future the White Feather Fan showed was accurate, I was already as good as dead.  

“To put it simply, it’s not future observation but future prediction. The White Feather Fan was made by the Zhuge Family to avoid future threats.”  

“I’ve heard it often overestimates dangers. The little one of the Zhuge Family saw futures where he died more than once.”  

“Because the fan had to avoid threats, it often exaggerated them.”  

“Phew…”  

With their explanation, I breathed another sigh of relief.  

The future shown by the White Feather Fan was an exaggerated prediction.  

In other words, the likelihood that I’d be crushed by monsters the moment the Tower appeared was very low.  

The White Feather Fan.  

I trembled at the sight of the future, but it turned out to be just this kind of item.  

“Not so terrifying after all.”  

Just then, the Sword Statue spoke again with a more serious look.  

“However, the White Feather Fan’s predictive ability surpasses any other known object in existence.”  

“Seo Jun, isn’t there something in your world called a weather forecast? It’s like that.”  

“Honestly, even the weather forecast in our world isn’t very reliable.”  

“Think of it like that. It analyzes various factors to predict the closest possible future. If there’s even a small chance of rain, it’ll say rain is coming, even if the probability is low.”  

“In the same way, if there’s even a slight chance of danger, the fan will clearly express that risk.”  

“But you said the chance of exact replication is low, right? If I prepare a bit, the future will change.”  

“Yes, the future can be changed.”  

“But there are futures you cannot change.”  

“There’s one future you saw that you won’t be able to handle. It’s very important.”  

Their words made me nervous for no reason.  

Regardless, the Statues maintained their serious expressions as they continued.  

“The timing of the Tower’s appearance.”  

“You said it was a prediction with low probability.”  

“No. While many things the White Feather Fan predicts are exaggerated, it’s uncannily accurate about the timing of floods or enemy ambushes.”  

“So that means…”  

“Yes. Though the exact time is unknown… Seo Jun, the time you saw the Tower’s creation is probably very close to accurate.”  

A chill ran down my spine.  

The future I saw through the White Feather Fan.  

No matter how I thought about it, it wasn’t that far off.  

Even if my death by monsters was exaggerated, the Tower’s emergence in the near future was certain.  

“There’s not much time left.”  

Until the Tower rises.  

Until the Age of Destruction arrives.  

There’s not much time left.