Humans Who Fight Gods

The sharp-eyed Dre scanned his surroundings... and soon realized one crucial fact.

The gods he usually interacted with, the ones who mingled with the players he knew, weren't actually present here.

They were merely reflections, like images in a mirror.

The only ones directly revealing their presence were those labeled as Evil Gods.

"Did you all call me here?"

"Indeed."

When Dre had first encountered the gods, their forms had been blurry, but he could still make out their general shapes.

But the beings here now appeared only as pitch-black smoke or shadows.

Though the haze was slowly clearing….

"Impressive. Already adapting, are you?"

"?"

"Truly not very human-like…."

"Why did you call me?"

The furious shouts erupted from the faction of gods responsible for the otherworlders on the opposite side.

Dre turned his head.

In the center stood All-Nist, smiling faintly, with Heston beside him looking slightly anxious.

Dre sensed that they didn't particularly harbor any hatred toward him.

That was enough.

There was no need to concern himself with other gods he'd had no real connection with until now.

"Did you call me here with similar thoughts in mind?"

"Something like that."

One of the evil gods seated in the center slowly approached.

Dre knew.

This god was horrifically powerful. He understood that very well.

In terms of rank... he judged this being to be on par with the highest-tier gods he'd encountered so far.

So what?

That was Dre's honest thought.

"Though our factions and beliefs differ, many find it unpleasant to see a fellow god reduced to such a state."

"And you don't?"

"Who knows?"

It was an evasive answer.

But Dre read indifference in his response.

"Simply put... unlike those useless gods over there running their little race, our restrictions are quite loose."

"......?"

"It means it's easy for us to harm you."

It was a threat, but Dre only grinned.

The evil god stood silently for a moment before speaking again.

"Do you know the difference between gods and evil gods?"

"Not interested."

"Gods support otherworlders. We support the people of Elyunaru."

"......"

I said I wasn't interested? Dre's face twisted in disgust, and the evil god chuckled softly.

"To be more honest, I couldn't care less whether that idiot gets beaten or not."

Boom.

The smoke parted slightly, revealing the evil god's eyes.

Mysterious eyes where burning red and freezing blue swirled together like a taegeuk symbol.

"However, he is still a god, no matter how rotten. There are those who believe that if the quests engraved by 'them' unlock any related to gods... things will spiral out of control."

Are you talking about something like defeating a god?... Instead of asking, Dre declared unilaterally.

"Not my problem."

"Yeah. I figured you'd say that."

Crack. Craaack.

Starting from Dre, cracks began spreading through the very space itself.

Shock rippled through both the noisy gods and the indifferent or displeased evil gods watching from the other side.

"Wow. You really know how to wield divine power."

"......"

"Yes. Go ahead and do whatever you feel like. I won't stop you. My contractor, the Archmage, will probably try to restrain you, but I won't intervene."

"......?"

"I'll be watching your little show, Yeo Deure."

Crash!

The world returned to normal.

At the same time, countless messages rang in Dre's ears.

Dre considered blocking the messages but simply tuned them out.

As he closed the distance toward Poseid, who lay twitching on the ground, the messages grew even more frantic.

He ignored even the neutral or friendly opinions.

He simply closed the distance.

Heston's message was cut off, and Dre found All-Nist's words very much to his liking.

Dre couldn't help but snort.

Summon me to the divine realm?

One thing was certain: neither gods nor evil gods could touch him.

It was because of causality.

Dre didn't know much about causality, but he knew it made it difficult for them to interfere with him.

His judgment was accurate.

Even if they forcibly summoned him to the divine realm and toyed with him a little, inflicting serious harm?

That would give the gods of 'the other faction' the perfect excuse to interfere.

And besides... right now, Dre was emitting something that was very difficult to touch.

The gods could not accept it.

For eons, gods had been inviolable beings.

They believed breaking that unwritten law was impossible.

Eventually, Dre reached right in front of Poseid.

"Huk... huff..."

"What a hopeful face you have."

"......"

"Why? Did you really think I'd stop just because your little friends threw a tantrum?"

Bam!

"Guhhhk!"

Crack! Thud!

What ridiculous nonsense.

By now, such voices no longer even reached Dre's ears.

What he heard was Poseid's terrified groans and breathing. The sound of blood spurting. The beautiful resonance of bones breaking. The pleasure of violating a god.

[Wait... Yeo Deure...!]

Almiraj, who had regained her senses, cried out in alarm.

She knew what this was.

The terrible act that had turned her, who knew the Forgotten God and understood this race, from the greatest mage into a mere otherworlder...

Confiscation.

Confiscation meant exactly what the word implied.

It stripped away everything an otherworlder had enjoyed until now.

One of the reasons players could not challenge gods.

If they interfered with the race, their accumulated power would be taken away.

Of course, the players hadn't just sat idly by over the years.

There were ways to resist this tyranny.

After Almiraj, players who feared it had found methods.

But... Dre, who was completely disconnected from the otherworlder community, had no way of knowing them.

How could someone who didn't even know the basic knowledge injected into otherworlders possibly know such methods?

Rooooar!

From Dre's body, Runar, power, everything began to vanish.

And yet... Dre...

"Kuh, kuhahahahaha! You stupid fool! That's why you should've— Gueeeek!"

Crunch.

Completely unfazed, he shattered Poseid's nose and reached out to rip out his teeth.

There was no change whatsoever in his strength.

Nakamura from the main branch, who had been secretly hiding since the start of the fight between Poseid and Dre, saw it.

Dre... right now... was Level 1.

He had been perfectly confiscated.

'B-but how... how is there no change at all?'

The community was in an uproar as well.

Everyone's question.

The one who answered it was Dre himself, unintentionally.

"W-why…."

"Why what, Poseid?"

Grabbing the god's head with both hands, Dre grinned so widely his ears nearly tore.

"The only things I ever received were pretty much useless anyway, and everything else I achieved on my own. Confiscating it doesn't change shit."

"......"

"Ah, the stats and levels are a bit of a shame though, fuck."

Bam!!

Feeling his skull being crushed by the fist, Poseid realized something was wrong.

Dre's... body.

This body... was not that of an otherworlder.

'This can't... be.'

It wasn't the divine body prepared by the gods to cross stages. It was probably... his original body from his home world.

'Then how... how could he have done all of that?!'

With the body of an ordinary Earthling, he had stopped Frostia's descent, subdued Almiraj who wielded the power of the Forgotten God, and annihilated the Dream Demon King Inris.

Could such a thing even be possible?

'Just what the hell is this guy...!!'

Unable to comprehend this incomprehensible being, Poseid's pupils trembled... and then... he grit his teeth.

"Uwaaaaaah!"

Swoosh.

Along with Poseid's scream, rose thorns suddenly drew themselves in the air.

Dre froze at the familiar pattern.

"This is…."

"Heh, hehehehehehe! You don't know what this is, do you? This is..."

"Were you the god who gave Rikka the Rose Thorn formula?"

"......"

Rose Thorn.

That formula was quite a famous topic among players.

The reason the leadership of the Golden Sun Clan — considered a disgusting group even among the violent otherworlders — could remain intact wasn't just because of Inris. Rikka's pain-sharing formula was definitely one of the reasons.

The effect was very simple.

Pain was shared with the enemy, and destroyed bodies regenerated during the formula's activation.

Since it was activated by a god, the effect was naturally maximized, multiplying the pain several times over.

Originally it could only be activated in a designated location, but Poseid had arbitrarily modified it with divine power, making it apply only to Dre.

"Uahahahahaha...!"

Poseid laughed like a madman, and the Fire God tightly shut his eyes.

It was a thought shared by both gods and players, but they could also understand.

In that situation, what else could he do?

Poseid just had to endure until his summoning was released...

Crunch!!

"Gehk...!"

The fist that pierced his eye like lightning left Poseid speechless.

More than the excruciating pain that nearly brought tears to his eyes, what terrified him was Dre, who prepared the next attack without the slightest hesitation...

"W-wait! Doesn't it hurt you too— Gyaaaah!"

Bam! Thud! Crack!

After all, Dre was the one who hadn't batted an eye even when sharing the pain of thousands from the Golden Sun Clan.

To him, this pain was annoying but brought far more joy.

Because now he could continue his violence against the lives inside Poseid without any guilt.

"That's right, that's how it should be, Poseid. Go on, act even more pathetically."

"Guhk..!"

Beating. Beating.

Dre didn't stop at all.

No, now he even picked up a weapon.

A long rod made from the stone of the Sea God's Cave. He kicked Poseid in the stomach, forcing him face-down, then tore the clothing around his rear.

"W-what are you trying to do...?!"

"I was curious if gods had assholes too. Wow. You really do."

"W-wait...!"

Crunch!

"Gup...!"

The rod didn't go in right away.

But it was only a matter of time.

After resisting and resisting... it eventually forced its way inside.

"Kyaaah! Kyaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Whoa!! This hurts like fucking hell! Right, Poseid?!?!"

Bang!!

"...Tsk. I was trying to make a skewer come out of his mouth."

The rod that had pierced through his stomach and emerged from his back.

Marks appeared on Dre's body as proof of the pain-sharing.

Yet he acted as if it were nothing.

This time, Dre grabbed the intestines protruding from Poseid's abdomen.

"Ah, ah... aaaah.. s-stop...! Stop...!"

"Fuck off."

With calm hands as if pulling noodles.

Blood and a foul stench spread everywhere.

"Ugh…."

Someone retched.

It was that kind of scene.

"Wow! Even as a god you're pretty tough, Poseid! You're still not dead?!?!"

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

"Hey you fucking bastard! Answer me!!"

After completely pulling out the intestines, he shoved his hand into the abdomen and ignited...

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaah! Stop, stoooooooop!!"

"Stop! Stoooop! Lololololololololol"

Maniacal laughter echoed through the cave.

The community window, which had been flooded with comments calling him crazy or fake laughter, and even the furious messages from the gods fell silent.

Only the evil god who had warned him earlier spoke, sounding utterly fed up.

None of that mattered.

Mangshin laughed as if finding it amusing, as if agreeing that Dre was right.

And... Meiyal, Rena, and Emily who were still unconscious... and Almiraj who could barely move...

They were the only ones who mattered.

"It stinks, Poseid. Is it because you're a fish-like bastard? Things like that should be burned away."

He smashed the stone, heated it, and shoved it into Poseid's stomach.

Sizzle. Kyaaaaah! A spine-chilling scream.

Poseid, flopping like a live fish, begged.

"Stop, please stop! I beg you!!!"

How often would a god ever experience pain?

Pride? That didn't matter anymore.

He just wanted it all to end.

"My children's lives... aren't their lives disappearing?!"

"Oh? So the children were important? Then... how about this?"

"U-uh?"

Looking at the trembling Water God, Dre gave a kind smile.

"Offer all your children to me."

"......"

"Then I'll stop."

And then the beating continued. Beating. Beating.

In his fading consciousness... Poseid thought.

The children are precious.

But if he himself wasn't there, how could he save the children?

"...My children! I'm sorry! I will definitely revive you all later...!"

Having shouted that, Poseid cried out to Dre.

"Just as you said, I'll offer them all— Gek?!"

Because of the mace driven into his mouth, Poseid's jaw was crushed.

Looking at him rolling on the ground, Dre sneered.

"As expected, you pathetic son of a bitch. Every time you open your mouth it's all for the children, but in the end you're the most important one lolololol"

"Kuh, kuhuk... t-that's not what you said…."

Not only the Rose formula, but combined with the god body's exceptional regenerative power, the recovery speed was truly astonishing.

But Poseid couldn't even think of fighting back.

He could only flail his arms with a terrified face like an ordinary human.

"Why? Aren't you going to get angry again?"

"U-uhh…."

"Now that all your support is gone, you can control your anger properly, you son of a bitch?"

Poseid tried to get angry.

But it was as if all his emotions had dried up; he couldn't even feel rage.

Instead of anger, his pants grew wet...

Rather than revenge, the only thought in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his mind was how to escape this situation.

'There's only one way.'

He had to take a hostage.

Poseid suddenly turned into water with a roar and vanished.

Dre would chase him immediately, but once was enough.

Poseid charged at Raeband, who had been watching with a pale face nearby.

"Come here!"

"Hup!"

But Raeband was a thief and an excellent warrior.

She dodged while slashing his wrist.

"Graaaah! You insolent bitch! How dare you! How dare you avoid the hand of a god?!"

Poseid didn't know what to do.

He was terrified of Dre's upcoming attack.

And... he was also terrified that the woman's attack had worked.

There was only one reason.

His rank as a god had fallen.

But Raeband didn't realize her attack had worked.

Because 'screams' were ringing in her head.

'Aaaaah.'

'Why... us...!'

'O god...!'

These were the voices of the creations inside Poseid's body.

The people who had lived in the dimension where Poseid had once been the supreme god.

She had only swung her blade ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠once... just once, yet Raeband felt that billions of lives had vanished.

Her body trembled at the realization that she had taken so many lives with her own hands.

'He's been enduring... this?'

The screams were hard enough, but Dre terrified her even more.

Just how many lives had Dre taken right now, and yet he felt nothing?

No, it wasn't that he felt nothing. He was actually enjoying it.

To her, Dre seemed like an even more incomprehensible monster than Poseid.

Poseid quickly tried to charge at the others, but was blocked by a sacred barrier.

Cardinal Rafnir, who had been hiding and watching the situation, spoke with a cold face.

"How dare someone like you impersonate a god."

"Y-you bitch!! Nanar's dog, do you even understand the current situation to say such—"

Then, Poseid's knees buckled.

Because the back of his knees had been slashed.

In that position, Poseid trembled violently.

"Y-you cold-blooded monster!! Don't you feel my children's lives disappearing— Gyaaaaaaaaah!!"

A knife was driven into his eye at the end of his sentence.

Looking at Poseid rolling on the ground, Dre said.

"I told you, didn't I? Total annihilation."

"......"

That's right.

Dre had indeed declared total annihilation.

Dre... had said that while fully aware of all the lives inside Poseid.

That he would kill even the innocent ones who were merely being used by Poseid...

"They're not exactly innocent, are they? They lent you their strength."

"Gyaah...!"

Grabbing his head, Dre did something strange.

"Still, I'll give you a chance."

"......"

"If you abandon Poseid and come over to this side, I'll spare your lives... huh?"

"A-ah, aaaaaaaaa...!"

Poseid... felt the lives that had been inside his body rapidly disappearing.

They were all following the path Dre had created and heading to some unknown place.

Mangshin grumbled.

"A-ah... what are you... what... are you doing...!"

"A-aaa…."

How did things end up like this?

When he had been summoned, he thought he could become the greatest god.

'This... this is too much.'

Unconsciously, he glared at Dre with hatred, and Dre grabbed that face tightly.

"Look at those eyes?"

"U-uaaah... s-stop…."

"Still using casual speech, you stupid bastard."

Dre's thumb moved toward Poseid's eye socket.

And then, crunch.

"Gyaa! Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"

Every time the thumb dug into his eye, his flailing legs kicked the floor and bloody tears spurted out.

The light that proved the formula was activating shone in Dre's eyes... but rather than proof of shared pain, it made him look like a monster.

"S-stop it!! Stop! Stop!! Please stop! Please! Pleeeease!!"

Seeing Poseid beg in honorifics, Dre laughed with glee, kuh kuh kuh kuh.

And so... Poseid endured destruction for about ten minutes before voluntarily releasing the formula, just like Rikka had before.

The reason was the same as then.

He didn't want to go against Dre's mood.

Pride? Anger?

Those things had disappeared long ago. Poseid begged desperately.

"P-please stop... I will never... target you again…."

"Wow. Your attitude has finally become proper."

Dre healed the bloodied Poseid.

Then, grabbing him, he walked toward the others.

The Dre who had just saved the people and eliminated the monster had looked like a savior or hero.

But now...

A demon.

There was no other way to describe it.

Dre walked among the preliminary participants who were frozen stiff and watching, then threw Poseid down as if showing off.

"Do as you please."

"...H-huh?"

Seeing the bewildered Mineu, Dre spoke.

"Your arm was torn off, you were bitten all over... anyway, you suddenly suffered terribly, didn't you?"

"No... but…."

The words 'Haven't you already done enough?' disappeared with Dre's next statement.

"If I hadn't been here, you all would have died. It would have been judged an unknown cause of death that no one knew about."

"......"

"Just the possibility of that would have made you cry in fear and fall into despair. Dying here, how desperately you must have wanted to live, how regrettable the future must have seemed."

Looking around at the participants' faces, Dre put on an understanding expression.

"The choice is yours. I will understand if you stop here. Everyone thinks differently, after all."

Mineu blankly recalled.

The despair when her arm was torn off... the helplessness and emptiness of dying here... the terror.

And the situation where the cause of that terror was now trembling, waiting for judgment... awakened her sadistic tendencies.

But the first to step forward wasn't her.

"You said you were a god."

I-Pung of the Wind and Wave Brothers.

The man who had been quietly respecting Dre's words until now stepped forward, and Dre respectfully took a step back.

"...H-huh?"

"If you're a god, revive my little brother."

Fierce words. Blasphemous language.

Normally he should have been struck by divine punishment, but the current Poseid had no power...

Even if it was his main body in the divine realm rather than his power in the mortal world, he probably couldn't draw any strength now.

"If you do that, I will become your dog and work for you."

"......"

"What? You can't?"

"I-I can... do it...!"

At Poseid's hopeful reply, I-Pung smiled faintly.

Then slammed his club into his face.

"Gyaaaaaaaaah!!"

"I'm ignorant, but I can tell when someone is lying."

And... while Dre had simply beaten him ignorantly, I-Pung began to use all his knowledge to target only the most painful spots as he mutilated Poseid.

"You son of a bitch! Die! Die! Die! My little brother because of a monster like you!!"

"Gyaak! Gyaaaaaaaaa!"

Starting with him... the other participants joined in.

Musha, Rigel, Bulgeo and others stabbed wildly with their swords.

Mineu wrapped him with a thorned whip, then spun him around and ground him up.

Chai sat there blankly as if saying he was done, but the look in his eyes toward Poseid was by no means friendly.

Mukamuka and Trulim, who had just woken up from fainting, raised their fists.

"You did well earlier, didn't you."

"Now it's your turn to get crushed...!"

Bam! Crack!

"Keek. Kek...!"

If it was damage from Dre... he could understand.

Because he was a human with an incomprehensible talent for handling divine power.

But... no matter how high-ranking an Elyunaru citizen they were... being beaten by mere creations dealt a massive blow to his pride.

"Aaaaaaaaa…."

And Poseid... endured another ten minutes of concentrated destruction.

"A-aaaaaaaaa…."

Poseid, who could only let out screams like a dead fish, deeply regretted it in his heart.

Why had he picked a fight with Dre?

She... Gaia wouldn't have chosen him for no reason.

And he thought of one more thing.

Why... hasn't that bastard... shown up even in this situation?

Then, he felt it.

He felt it at last.

A brilliant golden light.

"...Aaaaaaaaa...!"

In that light, Poseid felt... relief, salvation, and divinity.

The descent of a god who would punish the demon called Yeo Deure.

For him, who could no longer even be properly called a god, it was a very fitting way of thinking.

***

I continued the torture.

But I couldn't.

Because Rena was starting to regain consciousness.

If it were Remi cowering in the corner, or Almiraj who had been through everything, or the hero party who didn't seem particularly interested, it might be fine. But I didn't want her to see this.

Meiyal, another person I didn't want to show this horrific torture to, was still asleep. Thank goodness.

"Consider yourself lucky, Poseid."

Looking down on him from the bottom of my heart, I raised my sword.

To be honest, I wanted to completely annihilate him, but it seemed impossible with my current level. If only I had my sword...

Then, someone burst out from the opposite side of the cave.

It was a water dragon with Rius riding on top.

"...What's going on?"

[Hmm...]

Everyone tensed at the appearance of the massive, sacred dragon, but soon relaxed as they felt the holiness radiating from it.

What kind of combination is that...

Then I saw that Rius was holding my sword.

"Did you bring it for me?"

"Y-yeah... but it looks like you didn't need it...?"

"No, thank you."

When I gestured for him to throw it, Rius did so with a slightly awkward expression.

And then….

"Now it's time to die, right? Poseid."

"U-uhh?!"

Both Poseid and I knew.

Originally, gods could not be killed. They were designed that way.

But... I had obtained a power capable of breaking that design.

I had obtained divine power that could shatter a god's defenses.

With my current self, if I had this sword forged by Heston, not only could I send this worm back, I might even be able to kill him completely. It would be hard for him to become a threat later anyway, and I had zero intention of letting a piece of shit like this live.

Anyway, things had gone according to plan.

If you ask if I even had a plan, well, I did have one about whether weakening his mind might allow me to kill him.

Now that his divine rank had fallen and he'd been tortured by others, making both his mind and body extremely weak, a simple attack should be enough to kill him and send him back to the divine realm.

I looked around to see if anyone still had a grudge, but I-Pung, who seemed the angriest, had sliced him into tiny pieces yet still didn't seem satisfied. However, he seemed completely drained and was just breathing heavily.

Good.

Let's kill him.

While scaring him as much as possible.

"You are going to die, Poseid."

"......"

"You can feel it too, can't you? Using the application of divine power you personally showed me, and stabbing with this sword forged by Heston, you will..."

"Kuhuhu..."

"...You're laughing?"

Has this bastard gone mad?

At that moment.

Slowly...

Makia stood up.

"...Ah."

She's troublesome.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

To be honest, she seems hundreds of times stronger than Poseid after I used Equality.

She might even be stronger than the fully intact Poseid from before.

Excluding her strangely weak or strong mentality, she was practically a god herself.

"Could you wait just a moment, Makia? I'll finish what I was doing... then we can talk slowly."

Of course I wasn't going to fight her.

I'd just kill Poseid and bounce.

She probably wouldn't kill anyone except me anyway—

Hummmm.

"......"

Light.

A soft... golden light... flowed from Makia.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I had seen it before.

I had felt it before.

It was a light that shouldn't be here.

Goosebumps erupted all over my body.

"I had a dream."

It was Makia's voice.

But layered over it was a voice carrying a holiness whose gender couldn't be determined.

"A dream of meeting you again."

Thump. Thump.

My heart beat rapidly.

The sound of my heartbeat echoed in my ears.

"After parting with you, I felt an oddly hollow emptiness."

"......"

Thump. Thump. Thump.

My accelerating heart showed no signs of slowing.

A sense of crisis incomparable to anything before... pierced my entire body.

Cold sweat flowed down.

"Meeting you again, I'm surprised at how much happier I am than I imagined. Dre."

That wasn't Makia.

It was a god.

I had expected it.

That another god might come in anger, but that I would still be able to win again.

But... this... I had to admit my thinking had been wrong.

Flash—!

A light that could even be called sacred illuminated the entire cave.

In the center of it, the pattern in Makia's eyes changed.

It was the pattern I had seen in a book I had opened while trying to build up basic knowledge.

The pattern depicting a wolf from the Holy Kingdom of Narnia spewing light from its mouth.

And the symbol of the Holy Kingdom... represented the chief god, the mad god.

"To think you would overwhelm Poseid... You always manage to surprise me, Dre."

"......Nanar?"

"Ding dong dang!"

The chief god Nanar laughed with immense joy.