The Flare of Salvation
“Let’s see if you can still be so stubborn when you’re starving and dying of thirst again.”
I gritted my teeth at the nuns on the screen, who were murmuring amongst themselves while staring at the ashes of the burnt contract.
“If this were just a game, I would’ve laughed it off and gone looking for another event, but I don’t have that kind of luxury right now.”
With a time limit hanging over my head, I didn’t have the patience to be hung up on one picky Saintess.
The lambs here feel extreme fear at your reaction!
Public Order Index has decreased significantly.
An event window popped up in the corner of the screen, but I just stared blankly and closed it.
“Fine. If that’s how it is, I’ll just have to find someone else. I’ll look for others. The world is huge—there’s got to be another race, a settlement, or a shelter left somewhere, right? At least they’ll be smart enough to cooperate better than those lot.”
Without hesitation, I gripped the mouse and pressed the camera control key. The angle zoomed out rapidly from the chapel, passing over the swarm of Kappa prowling around the castle walls, crossing the filthy river polluted by their green sludge, and dragging the view out toward the mainland.
But contrary to my expectations, the movement speed was frustratingly slow. It was barely faster than pedaling a bicycle, let alone driving a car. Furthermore, when I reached the edge of a forest in the distance, I couldn’t move forward any further.
A thick, ominous gray mist blocked my vision completely, like a massive wall.
You have been blocked by the Fog of War.
The Fog of War is always active, except for the initial start.
The current player's Divinity level is insufficient to lift the vision restriction in this area.
I let out a dry laugh. They showed me the whole world map as a sample at the start, and now they’re telling me to raise my Divinity level to see it? My anger exploded like a volcano.
“Hey, you crazy bastard! Isn’t this a trap you set up on purpose? You make me take out a loan, but then you lock the tutorial to that one stubborn nun? If you block me from going elsewhere to do business, how the hell am I supposed to pay back the interest!”
I swung my fist at the monitor and screamed at the top of my lungs. Even as I threw a tantrum, the monitor remained silent for a while. The gray mist didn’t budge.
Just as I was catching my breath after fuming for a long time, the system, as if acting against its will, popped up a new notification.
System Adjustment
Due to the contract rejection by the most viable Apostle candidate (Aria), it has been determined that smooth progression is impossible for the player.
The 'Fog of War Breakthrough' function is being temporarily supported to search for other Apostle candidates.
“Yeah, you should’ve done that from the start. You have to at least open up a way for me to make a living if you want me to do business.”
Zzzzing— With a mechanical hum, the gray mist that had been filling the monitor screen began to part like the miracle of Moses. It wasn’t perfect, but a narrow gap opened up, enough for me to push my view through.
I hurriedly moved the mouse and pushed the camera into the mist. The landscape of the other world revealed as the fog cleared was nothing short of horrific.
The raw, wretched face of apocalypse and death struck my vision without filter.
“Man… I really wonder if anyone else is even alive in this vicinity.”
Sweat beaded on the hand holding the mouse. Throughout the entire time I scanned the screen, I couldn’t feel a trace of survivors, not even a hint of warmth. It felt like a miracle that Saintess Aria had managed to hold out in that place with those freeloaders.
I had been moving through the gruesome fields of corpses and contaminated land for a while when I saw dust rising from between a narrow canyon in the corner of the screen.
“Oh? There’s something there.”
I quickly turned the angle and zoomed in on the canyon. The monitor screen was filled with the sounds of blood and clashing metal as a fierce battle unfolded.
Clang! Crack!
Three dwarves, typical of this other world with their small stature and thick beards, were fighting a desperate battle together. They held heavy warhammers and axes, but their bodies were already covered in blood.
And the monsters surrounding and attacking the dwarves from all sides were so grotesque they made me want to vomit. It was a horrific form, as if the upper body of a human and the lower body of a giant spider had been forcibly stitched together. The monsters’ arms were made of huge, sharp bone blades like the forelegs of a praying mantis.
I leaned in close to the screen, watching the blades of those bizarre spider-humans tear through the dwarves’ shields. It was a hopeless battle. The dwarves’ eyes were already filled with the venom of those prepared to die.
Clang! Kaaang—! K-k-k-k!
Backing themselves against the narrow rock crevices of the canyon, the three dwarf warriors attempted a desperate resistance. Every time the spider-humans’ sharp bone blades struck the dwarves’ thick iron shields, red sparks flew with ear-piercing friction.
“Grrrgh! Hold the line! If the formation breaks, we’re finished!”
The oldest dwarf, the largest with a white, bushy beard, roared while swinging his weapon. His shoulder armor was already half-torn, and dark red blood was streaming down his forearm.
“You dog-like spider bastards! I’ll crush every one of your heads!”
The young dwarf standing next to him swung his twin axes like a madman, pinning down one of the monster’s forelegs. But there were too many monsters. Instead of the severed leg, another spider-human behind it wiggled its disgusting lower body, climbed over the canyon wall, and tried to plunge its blade down onto the dwarves’ heads.
In the center of the dwarves’ formation, busy with defense, a supply wagon lay overturned. Underneath that wagon, I could see five or six dwarf children huddled together, trembling and wailing. The children were covering their ears, sobbing, watching the scene of their elders’ blood splattering with eyes full of terror.
“We must protect them at all costs! They are our only hope!” the old dwarf screamed as if spitting blood. “Damn it all! We should’ve just stayed buried in that dark mine! I thought it would be safe if we fled to the human village, but this upper world is just the same hell!” The young dwarf spat out grief-stricken rage while barely deflecting a monster’s blade with his tattered shield.
Their stamina had already reached its limit. The speed of their weapon swings had noticeably slowed, and the hands holding their shields were trembling minutely. On the other hand, the spider-humans swarming from all sides were stabbing their blades mercilessly, like tireless machines.
“Torch! Is there a torch! These damn shadow bastards fear the light!” the old dwarf shouted, looking around desperately. “We’ve already used them all! Even if we try to light the wagon, there isn’t a drop of oil left!”
The one-eyed dwarf, who had been fighting while protecting the children on the left, answered desperately. The wooden torches rolling around them were already burnt black, not even a small spark remaining. The narrow canyon, having lost its light, was slowly being swallowed by deep darkness as the sun set.
As the darkness deepened, the spider-humans’ movements became faster and more grotesque. They would slip into the pitch-black shadows, then pop out in an instant to stab their blades from blind spots in a horrific hunting style.
“Ah, gods of the Pantheon… have you truly forsaken us?” A deep resignation seeped into the old dwarf’s eyes.
At that moment of suffocating despair, a notification window with red text popped up in the center of my screen, where I had been watching the whole scene from outside the monitor.
Those 'Shadow Creatures' are extremely vulnerable to light wavelengths.
Lead the lambs despairing in the darkness toward the great light!
“Oh, so they’re weak to light, huh?”
I quickly racked my brain while holding the mouse. The dwarves in the monitor were looking for nothing more than pathetic torches made by smearing oil on tree bark. But I was an Outer God in a room. I had no intention of bestowing something as trivial as a wooden spark.
“If you need light, I shall bestow light upon you.”
I pushed my chair back, stood up, and ran out quickly. Normally, I could have sent it directly through the inventory or manipulated it after sending, but there was a better way right now. Among the junk, I saw the item I was looking for.
They were emergency supplies I had purchased online to prepare for contingencies back when I was obsessed with survivalism. Several small tactical flashlights that fit in one hand. And a long, bright red stick-type vehicular emergency flare.
“Yeah, this will give them a proper flashbang.”
I hurriedly grabbed one red flare and twisted the cap open violently. It was a method of igniting it by scratching the friction plate built into the inside. The situation in the canyon, playing in slow motion on the screen, was urgent—every second counted. One spider-human had slipped into a gap in the formation and was about to slice the old dwarf’s back with its bone blade.
“Damn it, there’s no time!”
I didn’t care if the fire alarm in my room went off; I roughly scratched the flare’s friction plate.
Sssss— Pop!
An intensely bright, deep red flame and thick smoke began to pour out from my grip, so strong I couldn’t keep my eyes open. This was easier and more certain than dropping an item into the inventory window and lighting it there. Holding the burning flare in one hand, I gripped the mouse with the other and frantically spammed the [Bestow Tribute] button.
◈ High-Intensity Light Source
◈ Shadow-Repellent Effect
“Send it! Throw it now!”
Click! The moment the left mouse button was pressed as if to break it, the deep red flare burning madly in my hand vanished into thin air with a cheerful pop. At the same time, the sky of the narrow canyon in the monitor distorted bizarrely, and a red stick spewing a storm of red flames fell like a meteorite with a thud.
“Keeeeeeek—!”
The spider-humans rolled on the ground, letting out ear-piercing screams at the overwhelming red flash that seemed to swallow the entire canyon. Even those hiding in the shadows writhed in pain as if their skin were burning, and they all retreated at once.
The deep red beam of light, seemingly carrying the thousands of degrees of heat emitted by burning chemicals, was on a different level from the clumsy torches of this other world.
“W-what kind of miracle is this!” the old dwarf shouted in astonishment, looking at the small but intense red pillar of fire that had fallen to the ground. But he was a veteran warrior who had seen it all. There was no time for religious contemplation about where this red miracle had come from.