Day in and day out, the routine continued: as soon as the morning sun rose, he was relentlessly beaten down by the rod that monster wielded, only to be granted a reprieve when night fell. In the beginning, he had tried ambushing him in his sleep, but the man didn't possess the slightest opening, leaving Girimehkala with nothing to show for it but pointless agony.
His spirit had long since frayed to the brink of collapse, and any will to resist the bastard had entirely vanished. Lately, all he did was meekly submit to the torture that went by the name of training.
Kai Heinemann—just what in the world was he? The very vessel of his strength was fundamentally different from Girimehkala's. Challenging him was akin to a gnat biting a great dragon. It wasn't even a contest anymore. Indeed. That sense of sheer despair was identical to what he had felt when facing his master, Lord Mara.
This labyrinth, the Gods' Ordeal, was a gateway—a game—where talented gods who met the criteria staked their lives and pride to become a chief god representing a mythological pantheon. Failure meant destruction, while clearing it promised ascension to chief god. It was an utterly insane trial.
In other words, this game was merely a means to acquire the power needed to become a chief god. If one already possessed power rivaling a chief god, defeating that guy residing in the deepest depths of this dungeon should be well within reach. If that was the case, Kai Heinemann's actions were rather contradictory.
Now, there were two ways to clear this dungeon. One was the regular route of descending through each stratum. On this path, one simply needed to make that guy at the deepest depths acknowledge them with a passing mark; victory was not strictly necessary.
The other route was to use one's divine access code to challenge the final trial and subjugate that guy in the deepest depths. That figure was obnoxiously powerful, even among the gods. Normally, taking the regular route was the best option, and using an access code was the act of a fool. However, Kai Heinemann possessed more than enough power to subjugate him, so that did not apply here.
These rules should have been paramount knowledge provided in advance to every god eligible for the challenge. In short, there was virtually no point in Kai Heinemann challenging this dungeon.
Just as he reached that very question, the morning sun illuminated the surroundings in a soft, rosy glow, and Kai Heinemann stepped out of the small wooden building.
"Aaa-tten-tion!!!"
He bellowed at the top of his lungs.
"Yes, sir!"
Springing up as if propelled by a spring, Girimehkala straightened his posture and snapped a salute, placing his right hand to his brow.
"Hey, what are you?!"
"Sir! I am a crawling dung beetle, sir!"
He barked the commanded response that had become his daily routine of late. Though he had found the words humiliating at first, he now felt nothing of the sort, reciting them of his own accord with bizarre eagerness.
"Mm. Over these thirty years, you've done well for a spineless weakling. As of today, you are officially graduating from being a worthless dung beetle and becoming a warrior."
"Sir! I-I am unworthy of such bliss, sir!!"
Why was this happening? His voice was trembling. And were these... tears? A hot stream ran down his cheeks, dripping onto the ground, plop, plop.
As he shivered at the inexplicable surge of intense emotion swirling within him, the corners of Kai Heinemann's mouth curled up wide.
"Girimehkala, as a warrior, I shall grant you a reward. What kind of world do you desire?"
He asked an incomprehensible question.
"A world, sir?"
"Yeah, that's right. Apparently, that's how this compendium's system works."
"I have no idea what you mean..."
"What, you don't have a preference? In that case, let's go with an otherworldly land with those creatures called elephants I read about in a book before."
The moment Kai Heinemann muttered those words under his breath, Girimehkala's field of vision twisted and warped.
And there stood the nostalgic scenery of his homeland. Across the plains before his eyes, a palace-like structure rose solemnly into the sky.
"T-This is..."
He was struck dumb. Truly, no words could more accurately capture Girimehkala's current state of mind.
Kai Heinemann could create worlds? No, that should be a miracle granted only to a select few even among chief gods. To create such a boundless world out of nothing should be utterly impossible.
Then his vision warped once more, and Girimehkala found himself standing before Kai Heinemann again.
"Well? Will something like that do?"
"Did you... create that world with your divine power?"
"Nah. What you just saw was a world generated by this compendium excavated from the dungeon. It's not my power."
That was impossible. This dungeon was strictly a trial for cultivating a chief god, nothing more. By no means should an item from this place be capable of producing such an absurd realm.
However, Kai Heinemann had no reason to lie. If so, then the book truly had to be the cause.
The only plausible explanation was that the item itself had mutated simply by being in Kai Heinemann's possession.
What an extraordinary entity. He already possessed power rivaling a chief god, yet he had even acquired the power of world creation. Girimehkala had never heard of anyone wielding such boundless strength. That was why he felt compelled to ask the question that had puzzled him for so long.
"What is it that you seek to accomplish in this dungeon?"
Clearing this place wouldn't pose the slightest obstacle for Kai Heinemann. Yet he deliberately refrained from finishing it, choosing instead to walk the dungeon's regular route step by step. At this moment, Girimehkala desperately wanted to know why.
"Hmm. To become stronger, I suppose."
Kai Heinemann's reply was something Girimehkala had never even conceived.
"Y-You can become stronger than you are now?"
He could become something greater than his current self? Did he truly believe that, even while wielding power on par with a chief god? Such ambition was far too greedy, entirely beyond the bounds of sanity.
"Of course. I'm still far from mature. Luckily, I recently obtained gloves that restrict my abilities. If I limit my power with these, I'll be able to savor far more severe, thrilling battles."
He was insane. Without a doubt. The being before his eyes had a screw completely loose. Girimehkala had never witnessed such a god before. Yet looking at that pure, unadulterated madness, he realized that he was harboring an overwhelming sense of awe and adoration.
(I see. So that's what those tears were for.)
Having finally understood his own heart, his hesitation, his bewilderment, his doubts, and even his loyalty toward his former master were completely blown away. In their place bloomed an intense, irresistible faith toward the existence standing before him.
And so—
"This dung beetle swears absolute loyalty to you from this moment forth."
Girimehkala sank to his knees upon the earth, and invoking the very title his supreme master had first bestowed upon him, he gave voice to an oath forged from the depths of his soul.