Chapter 149
Chapter 149
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 148
Chapter Title: Apostle Appointment Denied
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"Can't appoint an apostle...?"
With a playful expression.
The Game Master was looking at me.
'What the hell does that mean?'
My mind raced.
Apostle appointment impossible.
Truth be told, it made no sense. The Game Master was a god who didn't force faith. Priests of gods of justice, truth, and honor—or even believers in alien deities—could become priests of the Game God without issue!
Of course, if the god in question found the Game Master's authority distasteful and rejected it, that could happen... but that was something only higher beings could pull off.
Most faith-hungry gods were merely upper gods. How could such a thing occur?
The Game Master stared at me as if seeing right through me.
"A truly bizarre case. No title, no name... Just the level visible. Level 18, but with some extra on top, huh? Effectively Level 19.5."
He circled me slowly, inspecting me from every angle.
"Hey, can you hear me?"
I could hear him.
But I couldn't respond. I could perceive the frozen time, but that didn't mean I was free from it.
The Game Master spoke.
"You can hear, but can't control it, looks like. Focus on your senses then. How are you perceiving me?"
It was incomprehensible. Obviously with my two eyes—what else?
But the Game Master shook his head.
"Perceive properly. I'm standing behind you right now. You can't see me with your eyes."
'...?!'
It was true. Discarding preconceptions and refocusing my perception, I could [see] him standing behind me.
'No, what is this? How can I see like this?'
"And how are you hearing sounds? Concentrate."
I focused my mind on his words. And realized.
'W-what is this?'
In this frozen time, I wasn't seeing the world with my eyes.
Nor hearing words with my ears.
In this severed slice of time, what allowed me to perceive the world wasn't physical senses. It was some [perspective] I'd never imagined—a something transcending sight, touch, and sound.
"Feels like reading a book, right?"
"No way!!"
"Oh, you got it quick. You've got talent."
"Hah... hah... What is this?"
I opened my mouth. That didn't mean the time stop had ended. My body was still frozen, and only my [perspective] remained, facing the Game Master.
The Game Master chuckled in amazement.
"Having your own timeline—super rare case. Actually, not even that. With dimensional coordinates too, looks like you've got your own personal world."
"Game Master."
"Call me Gwandaeha."
Even as he spoke familiarly, tension stiffened my body. The supreme god with no equals in the greater universe. A superhuman who transcended even his bloodline's limits. The savior who rescued a doomed Earth and made his name echo across the cosmos.
A being straight out of textbooks.
'I figured I'd meet him eventually, but not like this.'
Ever since gaining this power, I'd thought about him nonstop. My ability was just too far beyond common sense.
The power to bring game abilities and items into reality via cash.
Impossible not to think of the god of games with such a power.
"You probably know this already, but. Your power didn't come from me."
"As expected."
It wasn't about the power itself, but its reason. Bestowing it on a mere societal misfit... The potential was far too immense.
"Right. Been too busy lately for any spare time."
His unexpected words drew a puzzled look.
"Busy? You, Daeha?"
It had been ages since the Game Master last did anything official. Why would someone who could shake the greater universe with a mere opinion be busy?
"Supreme gods have their own burdens, each in their way. Even that idiot Grotesque couldn't escape it—think I'd fare better? I pop into the material realm now and then to make do... Finding you made squeezing this time worthwhile."
"Doesn't seem like you were looking for me."
"Of course not. What I was after was a clue to why those rare events suddenly spiked like crazy... Ah, this chat's getting awkward. Let's sit and talk."
Daeha's words left me dumbfounded.
"Sit? I don't even have a body."
That very instant.
Flash!
Boom!
"Argh!"
With a sharp yelp, Daeha collapsed. Startled, I supported him.
"You okay?"
"No, what was that!? Feels like I got smacked with a Go board!"
"..."
As I reeled at the oddly specific description—
[Human!!! Human!!! Finally caught you!! I'll kill you! Kill you!!!]
A menacing shout rang out, and a massive shadow engulfed us both.
[Kill you! Kill you! Kill you! Kill you! Kill you! Kill you! Kill you! Kill you! Kill you! Kill you! I'll tear you to shreds, hang you, smash your skull, burn your body...!]
The dark monster, dozens or hundreds of meters tall, had a horrific form. Thousands, tens of thousands of twisted heads screamed, and darkness like tentacles writhed to devour all.
A figure as savage as a hellish demon king.
[Hahaha!! Now you can't escape!! You'll spend eons...!]
"Ah... My head."
And then Daeha rose from his spot.
[...]
Hyperion, who had been raging madly, froze like stone. I realized.
"Ah, so we're in my inner world."
Where else would Hyperion be waiting? With 133x time acceleration left running, she was pissed.
"Ah! Damn! This auntie's a total thug, isn't she? Even if so, game's my domain—makes no sense she'd peek!"
Daeha grumbled, and the massively swollen darkness and demonic energy shrank instantly.
Hyperion, now back to a little girl in a black dress, slunk backward stealthily.
Spotting her at last, Daeha asked.
"What are you?"
[Greetings. I am the girl Hyperion.]
"So what is that?"
[A mere evil spirit dwelling in a worthless stick. A lowly, wretched trash of a bitch. I don't know who you are, but even my poor eyesight can tell you're supremely great and dignified. Meeting one like you is the glory of three lifetimes—an undeserved blessing for scum like me.]
"Wow. Rapping now."
Her flattery was so embarrassing it burned, but Hyperion ignored it completely, not even glancing my way.
Still in her dress, she bowed so low her head touched the ground.
[It was truly an honor to meet you. No need to waste time on trash like me—please handle your business. Then! I'll be off. Totter totter.]
She backed away with ridiculous onomatopoeia.
Daeha asked.
"Is this your pet?"
At the question, Hyperion looked at me. Her eyes brimmed with desperate tears.
I answered.
"The evil spirit of the magic sword."
[!...]
"Figured. Since I'm here, want me to kill it and turn it holy?"
[!...?]
I nodded at her bulging eyes in shock.
"That sounds good."
"Yeah. Oh, magic sword possible too. How about a sorceress-type sword spirit wielding ultimate magic? Mature woman look for the form?"
[Spare me...!!]
Hyperion, who had fled to the distant horizon, rushed back, knelt, and slammed her head to the ground.
[Unfair! Evil spirit? Peacefully living in darkness, evil mages captured and sealed me in this sword! Sure, bad things happened while I was a sword, but I didn't lure them on purpose! It's humanity's fault for picking me up!]
"Ah, I see."
Daeha nodded understandingly, then said.
"Still, a holy sword with healing?"
[Hwahhng! No! My fault! Trapped in this tiny space in the vast universe, I was so mad! Didn't even know it was wrong at first! Waaah!!]
Her outburst of tears made me inwardly click my tongue.
'Wow, that scared?'
I was tense too, knowing his deeds, history, and power. Wipe away biases, and he just looked like a young guy in his early to mid-twenties.
But apparently not to Hyperion.
"Hmm. Tricky."
Muttering that, Daeha turned to me with a grin. I knew he was messing around.
So I played along casually.
"Well, you're busy—no need to trouble yourself."
[!...]
Hyperion, sunk in despair, snapped her head up. Daeha tilted his.
"Not much trouble."
[!...]
She despaired again. I smiled.
"No harm done to me. If it becomes a problem, I'll let you know later."
"Yeah, we'll meet again anyway."
With that, he waved. Hyperion vanished, and a tea table appeared between us.
'No, this is my inner world?'
Absurd, but what couldn't a supreme god do? Daeha sipped prepared cola and explained.
"Hmm. Where to start... Right. In the beginning, there was the void."
My jaw dropped.
"No, starting from there?"
Too grand. But Daeha was nonchalant.
"Relevant stuff. You know the basics on universe birth and the Creator God? I had it added to the curriculum, so yeah."
"'Greater Universe and Earth' as required—now I get why..."
This universe was originally nothing. Not empty space—complete nothingness, where even the concept of absence didn't exist. The so-called void.
And from that void, [He] was born.
The great existence without a name. Known to all, met by none. The absolute.
The Creator God.
"You know it well. Well, no one knows the real details anyway."
Daeha smiled and continued.
"[He] suffered loneliness. Natural. No being could endure eons alone, no matter how grand. So [He] made this world."
But "made" wasn't like crafting from materials.
Because the only thing existing was [He].
Daeha said.
"Extremely, it's like a loner imagining friends in his room. Solo flight of fancy. Vast world, countless beings within, all sorts of events and mishaps..."
For mortals, mere delusion.
But [He] was the universe's sole Creator God.
His imagination.
Became reality.
"Right. This world is [His] fleeting dream. A book [He] wrote, myriad random thoughts [He] imagined."
His imagined characters became universe lords. Settings became laws. Dimensions formed; unfinished or discarded became [Unnamed], cast under thoughts.
"Essentially, only He—one being—existed in this world."
Textbooks shocked many with this. Some felt our existence illusory, sinking into nihilism.
Teachers explained we weren't illusions—the Creator God's imagination was real world-creation at such heights.
"No, wait."
But suddenly, I sensed something off in his words.
"One being..."
"Yeah. Not anymore. [He]'s not alone now."
Daeha sighed deeply.
"[She] appeared."