Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Radiant Stars
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Side Story) Radiant Stars.
The hero parties addicted to the subtle dung aroma of a certain dungeon, and thanks to the global power structures having their water quality adjusted due to the aftermath of the Great War.
As all dimensional rifts across every realm slammed shut in an instant.
The gods' minions, who had infested every domain from the Heavenly Realm to this world, could scarcely contain their awe upon beholding the mortal realm.
"Wh-what is this?!"
"My goodness... No damage at all?!"
"As expected of Mother and Father! To have foreseen such an outcome!"
"Damn it all! No wonder we worship them!"
Among them, the angels of the Heavenly Realm had successfully dealt with the alien invaders that breached their own domain, just as in the mortal realm, without issue.
Soon after, the Archangel, who had been leading the angels in the Celestial God's stead, flew beyond the world's edge to relay the joyous news from the mortal realm to the being she served.
And there—
Piiiiing!!!
The Celestial God, fully armed, was turning colossal, mountain-like monstrosities into cube steaks in the blink of an eye.
"Mother!"
"Hm? Archangel, why are you in such a dangerous place..."
"Th-that is—!"
Once the Archangel delivered the tale of the mortal realm, the Celestial God clapped a hand over her mouth.
"O-our children have grown so much!"
"At last, we need only concern ourselves with our enemies, Mother..."
What sort of place was the mortal realm from their perspective!
It was where they endlessly did the very things they were told not to.
Wasn't it full of spoiled brats who twisted every piece of advice or counsel like a monkey's paw!
Yet those very brats had handled the perilous dimensional rifts—without borrowing their hands—in the span of a moment.
Only now could they finally breathe easy.
And as the Celestial God shared this glad tidings with her siblings.
The gods battling at the world's periphery.
With no need to reserve power for resolving mortal realm crises brought on by this invasion.
Began sweeping away the encroaching foes with their full might.
Even—
Kwaaaaaang!!!
"Oh, so the rabble from the demonic realm has finally shown up."
"With that thug joining the fray, let's clean them up quick."
Even the Demon God, among the mightiest of the gods, had entered the battle.
And with the Celestial God swiftly obliterating what seemed to be the leader of the aberrant lifeforms, the star-cursed monstrosities withered away pathetically.
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Having eradicated all aberrant lifeforms approaching this world.
And repaired the dimensional punctures across every corner of the globe, the gods gathered in the newly remodeled Heavenly Realm for a feast.
Celebrating their total victory and flawless triumph over the enigmatic foes that had tormented them for so long.
Excluding the Earth Mother God, who seemed utterly listless after her favorite plant died, and the Demon God who bolted midway through the feast.
The gods convened to chart the course for future plans.
"Ugh... my stomach..."
"You should've paced yourself."
"You fed me yourself..."
"Heh heh heh, no complaints when you were gobbling it down."
Even amid the meeting, the gods bared their unpolished selves to one another, chatting idly about this and that.
When talk turned to the states of the heroes blessed by the Celestial God, and various other beings.
"I never imagined the mortal realm's children would grow so strong so quickly."
"Indeed. And for the upper echelons to be that pristine, no less."
"Sigh... those wars didn't bring only harm to the mortal realm, it seems."
"But Ilusia, if this was all part of your and the World's Will's scheme, couldn't you have given us a heads-up?"
"Quite right. We suffered needlessly—"
"W-well, you see..."
Honestly, even Celestial God Ilusia found the current situation utterly bewildering.
Who could have foreseen her children—and other beings—growing this powerful?
The outcome diverged entirely from the glimpse of the mortal realm's fate she'd once caught!
After taking some flak from her siblings, she finally spilled what she knew.
"Does that even make sense?"
"Ilusia, weren't you close with the World's Will?"
"It's downright bizarre. You tried twisting the fate you'd seen before, and it went completely off the rails?"
"But it veered in a fantastic direction for us, so isn't that good?"
"Even for us, bad brings good... What nonsense."
"Hahaha..."
The fate Celestial God Ilusia had glimpsed for the mortal realm.
Owing to the interspecies Great War waged there.
Most of the powerful heroes perished, along with the mid-tier powerhouses.
Unable to stem the mounting dimensional rifts, the mortal realm gradually eroded, ultimately forcing the gods to reset it.
Thus, Ilusia had exceptionally rallied her siblings to avert that fate...
But now—
'Ah, nothing to do.'
'Shall we dive into the Abyssal Pit? Or go skydiving.'
'Oh, that's a great option.'
'This time, I'm definitely checking out that Dungeon Shelter!'
It had veered into territory the Celestial God knew nothing about!
The present-day hero parties, whom she'd rated far weaker than those of the Great War era.
Were bizarrely potent, to boot.
And with the mortal realm's power brokers—all self-serving idiots—thoroughly culled.
Not a single mudfish clouded the waters.
Thus, the gods' plan to elevate the mortal realm to self-sufficiency—predating the Abyssal Pit's creation—had long been achieved.
And the longer time passed, the more prosperous the mortal realm would grow beyond even the Great War days.
They could pinpoint the biggest cause of this fateful derailment right away.
'Oneee!!!'
'I ammm!!'
'Twoooool!!!'
'A warriorrrr!!'
'You wrecked my dungeon, yet your voice is quieter than mine?! What kind of spineless grit is that?! I, Warrior Ballack, will whip you into shape!!!'
"Kraaaah!!!"
The gods watching over the dungeon's first floor exchanged awkward glances.
"...They torment him with real creativity."
"With the first floor's difficulty that absurd, I can't fathom where that creativity comes from."
"But Ilusia, how on earth did you stick that demon in there? On the first floor, no less..."
"We helped build the dungeon, but the beings assigned to each floor were handled by you and the World's Will, weren't they?"
"Yes...? I helped build the dungeon alongside you all. And when I acted with the World's Will, it was just to lend power because placing beings on each floor was tricky."
"Wait. That was my role too."
"Huh? This feels off from what we remember..."
Sensing something amiss, the gods unpacked everything they knew.
And reached one conclusion.
"No way... The World's Will fooled us all?!"
"But why?"
"Was there any need for such secrecy?"
"If it'd just been upfront with us, things could've gone smoother..."
The World's Will—whom they'd been chummy with—had deceived them.
Of course, this lie brought them immense gain, pure as driven snow, bleaching all to blank slates.
But for the gods who'd been surprised, the sense of betrayal felt... off somehow.
They tried reaching out to the World's Will using their powers, but.
"No response?"
"M-me neither."
"Even Ilusia, who was so close... I'd ghost them too, honestly."
"Hmm... Probably realized too late what it'd done."
Indeed! The World's Will had ignored all their contacts and gone dark!
Thus, the gods tabled the matter for later discussion with the World's Will.
And turned to events unfolding in the Abyssal Pit.
"What do we do about that?"
"What is there to do? Just leave it be."
"Sigh..."
The dungeon's bosses were seizing the Abyssal Pit from them while.
Hunting down the artificial lifeforms they'd created, eyes blazing. The gods were in quite the bind.
"Loathsome as they are, we shoved them in there to die..."
"Seeing self-preservationists from the mortal realm brought so low is... uncomfortable."
"Those guys weathered our curses, our seals, whatever we threw at them. And now they're banding together like this..."
From the gods' standpoint, the near-100 bosses were utterly loathsome.
Top-tier powerhouses in the mortal realm.
Even granting they owed no aid.
Not only did they fail to help amid the gods' busyness.
Lacking the capacity to rule the world themselves, they eyed the divine thrones.
Ignored mortal crises or escalated them while.
Feathering their own nests. Small wonder the gods despised them so!
Hence their unanimous vote to sacrifice them forcibly.
And!
"But what about that place now?"
"Did we... make it for nothing?"
For the plan they and the World's Will devised together.
Forcing those beings' sacrifice felt truly regrettable, so.
They'd warned them before entering the Abyssal Pit and granted a full decade.
Dungeon life auto-satisfied basic needs.
Gave the bosses enough autonomy that even united, they'd pose no threat.
Even crafted a paradise for bosses upon death.
They'd truly done everything!
But the inhabitants knew none of this, so the gods—amid communication failures and past appeals to the greater good.
Saw it as retribution for forcibly sacrificing mortal beings. They soon concluded.
"""Just... leave it be..."""
They could no longer touch the Abyssal Pit. Only two paths in now.
One via this world's native spirits—but spirits ignored gods outright, and the separate dimension nullified influence. Automatically ruled out.
The other: their avatars contacting dungeon artificial lifeforms...
'Damn... guts up!'
'Thaank yooouuuu!!!'
Straight into the clutches of that ultra-powerful demon on floor one.
And if their avatars entered? Those wisdom-hoarding beings wouldn't notice?
"Poor kids born in the dungeon for nothing..."
"Then repurpose it as a place for those kids to go upon death?"
"Oh?! Brilliant idea!"
"Or send both there. Not a bad notion."
Without infighting, the bosses—superior in experience and wisdom—would inevitably dominate the artificials. All they could feel was pity.
As the gods discussed the dungeon's denizens.
They spotted one oddity.
"But how long do they plan to lie to that demon?"
"Indeed. Better to spill that it's just the first floor soon. Dragging it out risks schisms like ours—"
"No need; that's why they're silent. They're just using each other from the start."
"A byproduct of info asymmetry between factions strengthening the mortal realm... Best leave it."
"Anyway, it's beyond our meddling. Can't interfere now; treat it as an independent dimension."
"Agreed. And if by some chance—"
Even if, by some wild chance...
Relations with the dungeon denizens mended someday.
And those beings understood the gods' burdens in ruling the world.
They might even become allies.
At last, these vast dimension-rulers gained the absurd luxury of "leisure."
"Thanks to that demon on floor one granting them time as an absolute resource, we've gained our own absolute resource."
"Who knew spare time could feel this good... If the mortal realm had breached now, we wouldn't have this leisure to chat so calmly."
"So we must prepare. Cull those desire-corrupted drifters haunting the mortal realm. Find the homeworld of those presuming to invade from above."
"Heh... They've hounded us here diligently. Time we paid them a visit."
"And our plans accelerating is truly heartening."
"Excellent news."
Celestial God Ilusia and the others rose from the council chamber. They gazed upon the mortal realm, where all life breathed freely.
"This sight never fails to inspire awe, no matter how often we see it."
"Do those children grasp that each blooming and withering life down there is a miracle to us?"
"Watching them fight, love, and revive unaware... It's wondrous."
Every being filled a book with their tales and memories.
Blossoming lives in harmony with nature—the gods' sole treasure.
And their ultimate purpose in crafting colossal dungeons like the Abyssal Pit was one.
"For allies to fight beside us to emerge from those children..."
"A moment to anticipate."
"So we mustn't falter before those sprouts bloom into radiant stars."
They could only hope the mortal realm's buds, endlessly nurtured there, would one day shine as solitary, brilliant stars.