Sending to the Goddess
Park Seona’s message arrived.
She wasn’t suited for underwater combat, so she had remained behind as the Equator’s commander. ‘Good.’
In the worst case, the First Elder might fail. Even then, the plan I had laid out would not fall apart. If he were caught stealing the jar, Al-Alsa-da would plunge straight into civil war. Valuro belonged to the city’s foremost clan. That meant the Master of Gold would have no choice but to send reinforcements to support the Fourth Elder. No matter the outcome, the surprise attack would succeed.
A low rumble rolled through the water. El Dorado had reacted. Word of the sea-ghosts’ disappearance must have reached them. From the surrounding seas, a massive army of fishmen began marching toward the Equator.
‘They claimed heavy losses, yet they’re still swarming.’ The smaller ones were countless, but the number of truly massive specimens had clearly dwindled. Thanks to the deep-sea monsters. I closed my eyes in quiet gratitude.
‘Thanks to you, I made it this far. I’ll come retrieve you soon, so rest easy.’
I roughly calculated the remaining fishmen’s strength and grinned. In the past it might have been different, but with only the smaller specimens, they could never breach the Equator’s defenses. ‘With this pitiful force, you thought you could become a patron?’
Before obtaining the Ocean’s Operator and receiving the Goddess’s grace, I hadn’t felt the gap so clearly. Now I knew—the Master of Gold was nothing more than a deserter. He was no longer my equal.
“Let’s go.”
Inside the city, scattered enemies appeared. The same deep-blue creatures I had seen when leaving the Stormy Strait. Their color was darker now, and they had sprouted arms in every direction like sea urchins—near-deep-sea monsters.
‘Still hideous.’ At first I had wondered why they evolved such inefficient forms, but now I understood. Summons gradually came to resemble their summoners as they evolved. These were no different. The Master of Gold was a seahorse, so his fishmen had grown countless arms.
‘How pointless.’ What was the point of mimicking the appearance of a race suited for ghost arts while ignoring its actual strengths? The Master of Gold had clearly chosen the wrong direction. He must have undergone transcendence at Stage 6 in the distant past, just like the Goblin Summoner. Yet, like that fool, he had only passed on useless traits to his summons.
‘Just another Lucky Cha Uyoon.’
I thrust forward the spear I had prepared in advance—a high-grade weapon specially crafted at the factory. The blade pierced the blue fishmen with ease. Thanks to Siling, underwater combat was no longer a disadvantage.
Thrust after thrust, my seafood zombies and I methodically erased the remaining defenders. The fight was straightforward. The Filth Jar must have been extremely important; the Master of Gold had withdrawn most of his forces.
‘His troop management is a mess.’
The reason the Master of Gold had become one of the three sea kings despite his obvious shortcomings lay elsewhere. His power was never his own. The Goddess had been one of the top rankers in the previous world. Even before her world’s extinction, her love for it had remained. Just as she had done for me, she distributed her abilities to the heroes who would fight alongside her. The shameless deserter known as the Master of Gold had been one of those beneficiaries.
Because so many heroes had received her grace, the Helper had not recognized him at first. After checking the records, however, he discovered the truth: after the Goddess’s disappearance, the Master of Gold had plundered other heroes to amass power. Not content with fleeing with what he had been given, he had stolen from others as well.
The Helper had been furious. The reaction he showed when he first tried to reject me was nothing compared to this. He had wept tears of blood on the spot and immediately began praying to the Goddess, sacrificing parts of his own existence to create a new ability.
‘Take me before the traitor.’
Besides my personal revenge, I was also on my way to fulfill the Helper’s request. Passing through the glittering golden architecture, a massive altar soon came into view. Among the fishmen, one figure stood out.
‘A seahorse.’
A seahorse clad entirely in gold was hiding among the fishmen, manipulating something. The moment I confirmed the summoner, I shouted without hesitation.
“All units, charge!”
My zombies and the fishmen clashed in a violent underwater battle. The Master of Gold spotted me and let out a low cry.
[Foolish thief, you’ve walked right into my hands!]
I answered through intent.
[You talk big for a traitor.]
[What…?]
He was visibly shaken.
[Why? Can’t refute it? When the world was in crisis, while your comrades risked their lives in battle, you fled to the deep sea, didn’t you? Eyes shut, head buried, praying everyone would lose?]
The seahorse’s eyes widened as he screamed.
[Don’t make me laugh! What do you know, spouting nonsense like that? A clueless worm like you dares—!]
I approached him. The small fishmen left in El Dorado couldn’t stop my charge.
[I know nothing? Maybe. But why don’t you tell that same story to this one?]
I pulled No. 100 from my robes. The Master of Gold, thinking it was an attack, stretched out his arms to block the orb. The Helper, whose will resided within No. 100, reached him.
[You bastard! Master of Gold—no, Daldaran!]
Daldaran flinched, his eyes growing larger. He had recognized the speaker.
[You… you, you are…?]
[How dare you! Did you not swear to lead this world to victory with us? Yet not only did you turn your back on everyone and flee, you even orchestrated this? Have you truly… truly betrayed this world, Daldaran?!]
The seahorse’s hands trembled. Before him stood only a program, yet the dignity of the priest who had once served the being that ruled the world pressed down on him. Crushed by memories of the past, the Master of Gold could barely speak, stammering.
[I, I… We couldn’t win!]
[So this is the ending you chose? To remain the ruler of this tiny sea and become a swindler who preys on new generations? Is that all Daldaran amounts to?]
A brief silence. Then Daldaran let out a piercing shriek.
[Don’t mock me! So you want me to give up everything? This power is mine! That demand is absurd!]
[I see…]
The Helper’s voice turned ice-cold. No anger remained in his intent—only a deep sorrow for the comrade he had once known.
[Then I will take back everything the Goddess granted you. It was meant for heroes… and does not suit a traitor like you.]
[What are you—?!]
At the Helper’s words, everything began to collapse. The city built of gold crumbled. The strange golden light that had glowed at Daldaran’s fingertips faded away.
Thud— Thud-thud—
The ability the Helper had created by sacrificing himself was the power of reclamation—the right to retrieve everything the Goddess had bestowed. Daldaran felt the strength draining from his body and screamed.
[No…! No! What are you saying now, of all times? This is mine! The power I seized!]
Rumble— Rumble—
[You are no longer the Master of Gold. Seahorse.]
Rumble— Rumble—
[Nooooooo!]
Watching the scene, I felt like screaming too.
‘No! My gold!’
Once I captured Daldaran, all of this was supposed to become my wealth. Yet it was all turning to dust. Not merely collapsing—dissolving into powder and vanishing entirely.
“M-my gold…!”
The Helper, seeing my expression, spoke.
[Do not worry, Holy One. There was a revelation: all that is reclaimed shall be distributed to the rightful owner.]
‘Huh? Ah, of course.’
I felt relieved. Even if the gold itself disappeared, the power that had sustained it would become mine. That meant no loss. Daldaran, who had overheard, charged at me with murderous intent.
“You bastard! That’s mine! You thief!”
I swatted his arms aside. Stripped of the Goddess’s power, he no longer radiated the same presence. He was merely a slightly stronger fishman. Seeing him reduced to nothing, I sneered and shouted.
“No, it’s not yours. You’re the thief, so why do you keep calling me one? What’s wrong with you!”
Daldaran pointed a trembling finger at me and shrieked.
“Y-you lot! Kill him! Kill him and take it back!”
“What a joke.”
I grabbed the finger and twisted it backward.
Crack—
“You never learned to do anything with your own hands, did you? Not fighting, not growing, not even revenge. You lack both the ability and the will to do anything yourself. So why do you keep insisting everything belongs to you?”
Crack—
I twisted the broken finger’s arm in the opposite direction until it snapped. Daldaran howled.
“Aaaagh!”
“Stop whining.”
I kicked the joint where the ruined arm met his body and tore it off. For a high-level user, his physique was fragile. Yet his mental fortitude matched his level—he glared at me even after losing an entire arm.
“Kgh… Y-you lot, quickly—? Huh?”
Despair filled Daldaran’s eyes. The nearby fishmen were already corpses rolling on the seabed. My zombies had achieved total victory.
“My… if only I still had my army…”
Muttering, he soon began cursing me.
“You! You may have won by luck this time, but I haven’t lost! I will return! I will devour your kin and steal your world—I will definitely come back! Tremble in fear!”
He knew he had been cloned. He believed his copy in another user’s world would succeed and come for revenge. But that was good news for me, wasn’t it? This idiot didn’t realize that stealing the Goddess’s power from him again would only benefit me.
I twisted the fingers of his remaining hand backward.
Crack—
“Aaaagh!”
“Hmm. I can hear it. Can you hear it too? The Goddess is telling me to rip off all your arms as an offering.”
“W-what nonsense! She would never say such a thing—!”
Crack—
“You can’t hear it? How faithless! I’ll tear them off for you!”
Crunch—
I considered myself the type who took customer service very seriously. The Goddess had given me so much support—how could I, as a beneficiary, fail to repay her? I twisted another finger and murmured softly.
“I offer this to the Goddess.”
Crack— Crack— Crunch— Crack— Crack— Crunch—
That day, one seahorse returned to the Goddess’s embrace. It was the greatest hymn I could send to a Goddess who no longer existed.