I Became a 6★ Gacha Character-Chapter 556: Ashes 1

The day after receiving a revelation from the enlightened orc Akutuhum, obtaining a sacred wooden statue, and personally updating the Goddess's quest, we left the Empire.

There was nothing more to hear from Akutuhum, and with a statue that continuously emitted holy power, we had no need for Temple knight support. Thus, the Temple knights who had been moving to help us rejoiced that this was all part of the Goddess's plan and settled in the city to participate in theological debates. freewebnøvel.com

According to Irene, nobody was really arguing against accepting the orcs; they were just debating how to redefine terms like "monster" and "barbarian race."

"We had a good day of rest, but it doesn't really feel like we came to the Empire. Maybe because of the Magic Tower's gate?"

"Definitely... it feels more like we just visited a neighboring village from the adventurers' city."

Since we had no reason to get involved in theoretical battles between theologians that had nothing to do with conquering the Tower, we zipped back to the Kingdom through the Magic Tower's gate with our companions. Since nothing particularly noteworthy had happened, the party members seemed to view it as a light break between adventures.

Now it was time to do what needed to be done. While we were visiting the Empire, our extraction request was approved, and the gilded skull head had been transferred from the Grand Temple to the adventurers' city, where we collected it like a package delivery.

The lich's head had been beautifully decorated, starting with a golden symbol neatly embedded in the skull's forehead, probably because leaving it unadorned would have been aesthetically unpleasant. It looked more like the skull decorations for Mexico's Day of the Dead, making it seem not so much creepy as ornate.

—Pl...please...kill me...

"But with the Goddess statue, will we even need this?"

"Even though our plans have changed a bit, it'll still be useful to keep in the inventory. We could use it to heal others beyond our party."

"It would be good for taking care of forest fairies or friendly animals. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I'm not confident in my healing sacred law..."

—Void space...n-not the abyss...arrrrggggh!

Although our original plan to use it as a totem to drive away wraiths by manipulating the holy power and life force mechanism in reverse had been scrapped, we could still use it as a potion while it waited in a corner of Han Se-ah's inventory.

Ignoring the ghastly screams of the skull as it entered the inventory, pretending to be some kind of skeleton, we continued our adventure preparations.

This time we had no sticky oil in the inventory and had gathered countermeasures against wraiths, so we needed to prepare for long-term exploration. Food, tents, cloth, rope, and various consumables, plus Han Se-ah picking out a couple of gunpowder kegs—no more than that since it would be disappointing not to bring any.

After completing all our preparations and moving from the city to the Tower, what greeted us was—

"...It burned this far?"

"Something doesn't seem right here."

A wasteland of ashes.

The 62nd floor, now a sea of ashes.

※

In my opinion, our arson should have had a much smaller impact.

That was the impression I had of the adventurers' Tower. Even the 1st floor plains, which had nothing but goblins—let alone the deep forest of the 62nd floor—boasted an area so vast that even superhumans with mana couldn't manage it all.

It was an expansiveness that stretched hundreds of kilometers in each direction from the gate. Thinking about it, wasn't that larger than the Korean peninsula? It wasn't an area that could be handled with just the few dozen cans of gasoline we had in our inventory.

Common sense dictated that an arsonist could burn down an apartment building with gasoline, but who would believe that someone could burn the entire Gangwon Province with just a few cans of gasoline?

"The fire must have reached all the way here?"

"It spread much further than we thought."

"No, this is really strange..."

But that's exactly what had happened before our eyes.

We had clearly created two firebreaks by cutting down the forest, but for some reason, there was an acrid smell that hit our noses as soon as we exited the 62nd floor gate. Instead of the dense, dark forest, blackened, burned land greeted us. 𝔯АＮɵＢÊs̈

It was obviously the aftermath of a forest fire, and the heat still rippling in the air, prickling our skin, made me unconsciously summon mana. Though there were no visible flames, it was clearly a landscape that had been licked by the god of fire.

Without thinking, I turned around slightly and saw that the area on both sides of the gate, and even behind it, had also been reduced to ashes.

"No, this, uh, I mean."

-You said you'd only burn a little! Only a little, you said!

-I knew this would happen from the moment you started liking fire bombs and gas LOLOL Did you burn down the whole floor?

-This goes beyond fiery, it's completely gone off the deep end? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

-Wow, if we'd come a day earlier without knowing this, would we have been instantly roasted heroes? Game over right after crossing the gate?

-But Roland cut down hundreds of meters of forest, and there's no strong wind in the Tower—how did the fire spread?

Han Se-ah was speechless at the devastating scene while viewers teased her mercilessly.

The trees that had once stood tall enough to block the sunlight were now gone. The tallest remnants were tree stumps that didn't even reach our knees, let alone our calves. Even those crumbled like poor-quality charcoal when touched to check their condition.

A vast area that couldn't be fully seen even with superhuman vision had burned. The place we'd come from, the place we needed to go, the places we hadn't visited.

All directions—north, south, east, and west—had burned black, and with nothing to obstruct the view, even superhuman vision could see the wide horizon. A horizon visible in a forest—what a contradiction! Though it could no longer be called a forest...

"In this case, um, it seems like it would be hard to find beasts, let alone wraiths?"

"Let's decide which direction to begin exploring."

The party members also seemed startled as they looked around, apparently not expecting the burning to be this thorough. They might have expected the fire to reach the gate vicinity, but not to burn beyond it.

Still, there was no reason to halt our adventure out of sadness for the burned forest. As we discussed which direction to head, we decided to go in the direction we'd already been. We didn't know what it looked like now, but wraiths had appeared in that direction before, so we wanted to check it out.

And so our exploration of the ash wasteland began.

"Watch your step, you sink deeper than you'd expect."

"Did the burning leaves and twigs turn into something like mud?"

"If not for these enchanted boots, I would've sprained my ankle and been unable to walk."

Where the deep forest had once impeded our steps with fallen leaves and twigs, what should now be called the "ash forest" made our feet sink in up to our ankles, like walking through heavy snow.

Fortunately, even Irene and Han Se-ah wore boots made of oiled leather with enchantments to handle the treacherous paths within the Tower. Ordinary leather boots would have allowed the heat from the ash to damage their skin.

Crossing through the ash piles that made us sink like walking through the northern snowfields, we occasionally spotted mana stones. Even the monsters of the 62nd floor couldn't survive the burning of the entire layer, it seemed; they had all perished.

"...Oh, this is sweet automatic hunting. If this were an RPG with experience points and leveling up, we'd get a massive level boost all at once. It would be recommended as a power-leveling spot."

-Is "sweet mana stones" really what you have to say about this devastating scene?

-Don't ever complain about being falsely accused, because this isn't false accusation, it's a brutal fact-check

-Is this a hero? Is this a hero? Is this a hero? Is this a hero? Is this a hero? Is this a hero? Is this a hero? Is this a hero? Is this a hero?

-You should set fires too, you'll make money LOL You should set fires too, you'll make money LOL You should set fires too, you'll make money LOL

-No wonder the forest fairy was crying and wailing about what she saw in her prophecy LOLOLOLOL

Thanks to this, the party members collected the gleaming mana stones from the ashes as if it were harvest season. Though they had to use gloved hands because the ashes still retained heat for some reason, nobody was going to pass up mana stones worth dozens of silver each.

The wide-open view and the crackling, drifting ashes made ambushes absolutely impossible. We proceeded forward, collecting mana stones with clean cloths from our inventory tied around our faces like masks.

"My goodness, these mana stones must be worth at least 15 silver each? It's literally like finding gold on the street."

"When you put it that way, I feel like we can't afford to miss a single mana stone..."

"Ahaha! Grace! When you wiped your cheek, you looked like a cat with a mustache!"

"Be careful, Katie. Even though you've covered your face with cloth, ash might still get into your throat."

Grace had nearly sneezed while picking up mana stones and rubbed her nose, Katie giggled at this and started playing pranks with the ashes, and Irene smiled at their intimate teasing while still managing to express concern.

If the scenery hadn't been a post-inferno ash forest, it would have been a truly beautiful sight. The viewers seemed to agree, snickering and laughing at the party members playing around harmoniously while Han Se-ah stood a bit apart from them.

...But seriously, nothing was showing up at all. What exactly had happened here?

The forest fairy had mentioned a prophecy—was the player's arson also one of the gimmick triggers?

Enjoy the chappy!