Chapter 215
Chapter 215
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 212
Chapter Title: Reception - 1
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“……Really?”
Lize pulled my head to her chest and tilted her neck back. Her face was upside down. She was staring straight down at me with her head bent forward.
I could feel gazes filled with shock from all around. Everyone except me was reacting the same way. Meeting a god in person wasn’t something you could just brush off as an achievement, so it made sense.
“No way I’d lie about something like this. I might get divine punishment from the god themselves.”
“But still……”
Lize trailed off. It seemed she not only understood why the popes had been so relentlessly demanding me, but was even starting to worry.
If that method didn’t work, they’d drag me to their country by any means necessary.
“How on earth did you meet them? Explain that first.”
Aurora, who had been clinging to my right arm, suddenly poked her head in. Another face appeared next to Lize’s.
“Well, for starters……”
I drove Wingless Nightmare into the throat of the tree root demon. The blade tip entered through the right side of its neck, churned through the insides, and burst out the left side.
A sensation of stamina recovery washed over me as I kicked the demon’s body and yanked the sword free. The tree root tumbled backward, shattering into fine pieces from the impact. The dust that had once been tree roots seeped into the ground.
That one was the last for now. I turned around. Black flames still raged fiercely on Wingless Nightmare.
Lucifer was still staring at me with its single remaining eye.
The window for a one-on-one was short. New ones would pop out soon. I had to do everything I could in that time.
Lucifer didn’t move even as I slightly bent my knees to prepare for a dash. I didn’t know why, but it was good for me anyway.
‘……?’
Just as I was about to push off the ground, that sensation of something gazing down at me hit again. Instinctively, I hesitated. I didn’t know why, but it felt like something I couldn’t ignore.
Lucifer was still standing in place. It didn’t seem to have any intention of actively attacking me at all. The only attacks I’d taken so far were a few spear thrusts. That said it all.
‘Come to think of it, it started acting like this after I first felt something from the sky.’
Maybe the World Eater had ordered it not to kill me.
‘……What’s that?’
A massive red silhouette appeared in the sky. The colors around it deepened, and the thickened hues took on a scale-like pattern, forming something in midair.
A vertical pupil.
I knew that eye. I could never forget it, and I shouldn’t. I’d confirmed it right in front of my face, after all—impossible to unsee.
Soon, an image formed that looked like one of a dragon’s eyes had been sliced off and placed in the air. The sharply embedded pupil was fixed on me.
‘What the……’
Unlike my shocked self, Lucifer prostrated itself flat on the ground and bowed its head as if in worship. I wasn’t even on its radar.
That awkward feeling from earlier was definitely because it had been watching me.
Now the question was why it was doing that. It had flown right at me in the imperial palace, so why now?
The eye in the sky looked far larger than the one at the palace, just at a glance. If that was the World Eater’s true size, then what the hell was that previous one?
Fortunately, despite the confusion, my mind stayed cool. I started pondering how to deal with it rather than panicking.
Of course, no solutions came to mind. How do you kill something where even one eye looks bigger than the palace? My sword would be like a toothpick.
‘……’
The standoff lasted quite a while.
The red eye floating in the sky just looked down without doing much else. My head was too tangled in thoughts to move. Lucifer stayed frozen with its head bowed.
How long did that go on? The World Eater made the first move. The red vertical pupil in the center of the scales drew closer to the ground.
Soon after, a thought slammed into my head.
─That human……
Just the thought echoing was enough to make the river of blood boil far more violently, and the sky’s red hue thickened poisonously. The sky and river blended into one indistinguishable color.
I started to clap my hands over my ears, then remembered it was pointless and dropped my arms. I’d been fine last time, so I’d be fine now. No way my head would explode.
─Reason for the goddess’s intervention…… Understood……
I decided to let it mutter to itself. No point asking—it’d never tell me.
Fortunately, this soliloquy was relatively short. The thing, which had been arbitrarily slamming thoughts into my head while rambling, suddenly addressed me directly.
─Human…… I propose……
I blinked in confusion and asked back.
“Propose?”
─Direct that faith of yours…… Toward me……
“……What do you want me to do?”
─The goddess nears…… Destruction…… Faith in vain……
“Destruction? What do you─”
Before I could even grasp the situation, a massive holy power erupted, dyeing everything white. Being holy power, it didn’t blind me at all. Thanks to that, I could survey my surroundings.
The blood river boiling like lava evaporated clean. The blood-red sky cleared to a bright blue day sky, or a starry night sky. Day and night now coexisted in the heavens.
The barren wasteland, dry as bone, transformed into lush greenery.
Dew-laden grass sprouted up, crystal-clear streams like glass flowed where the blood river had been, and dense trees formed thick forests.
A breeze carrying the scent of earth and grass blew in. Birds chirped faintly. Hell had turned to nature in an instant.
Who did it? Obvious—the one who appeared before me, the source of this immense holy power.
‘……The Saint Kingdom’s god?’
I’d never seen a pope at full power, but even they probably couldn’t turn a space crafted by Lucifer himself into nature in a heartbeat.
That left only one option.
I tried to peer deeper into the light. But the glow made it hard. It wasn’t blinding, just physically enveloping my body.
─To come this far…… That human…… Your reverse scale……
“Shut your mouth.”
─The ugly loser’s…… Final tantrum……
“I said shut your mouth!”
A roar burst out. The voice trembled with rage, its tone different, but it matched the one from my memory.
It was definitely the voice from the Saint Kingdom that had said it wasn’t time yet.
Light spread, clashing space against space. Things mixed chaotically, unleashing destruction beyond human comprehension. I was watching with my own eyes, but I couldn’t process it.
─Wrath of the powerless…… Meaningless……
This time, emotions came with the thought. Not inferred from tone—the thought itself carried the World Eater’s raw feelings.
The emotions that hit me were mockery and derision.
The light shimmered faintly, but that was it. Despite the blatant scorn, it only quivered with a groan, unable to retort even slightly. The power gap was clear.
─Listen…… Human……
The World Eater’s voice turned to me again.
─Your existence…… Intriguing…… Catches my interest…… The special human…… The goddess needs……
“Do not listen to that.”
Hearing those words confirmed the light’s identity. The light urgently tried to deny it.
─Then…… Serve me……
A recruitment offer, following Lucifer’s.
─One human…… Infinitely small…… Futile struggle…… Changes nothing……
“You can change many things. Ignore it.”
The goddess’s voice grew more desperate.
─Serve me…… And need nothing more…… Only…… Wait…… That is all……
“That’s not a lie, but it’s not the truth either. Of course you’d just have to wait. The world would end, after all.”
I already knew that. Lucifer had told me. Its so-called salvation was devouring and destroying the world.
“I need you. Absolutely. But that thing is just spewing nonsense for its amusement. It’s different from me.”
I’d never intended to accept from the start, but I was curious why it wanted me specifically. I glanced at the vertical pupil in the sky.
A motion tiny as a grain of sand under its fingernail, yet the World Eater caught it and projected a thought.
─The goddess’s final struggle…… Crushing it completely…… Most intriguing…… Satisfying……
“See? Even if you go under it, the future’s obvious. Don’t fall for it. You’ll just die.”
─Even under me…… That fate awaits…… Pitiful…… Weak thing……
The World Eater and the goddess. The gap between them was huge. It kept pouring out mockery without a single rebuttal from her.
I stayed silent to the end. Taking my refusal, the eye in the sky began to fade.
─Time…… Little remains…… Once absorption of other worlds ends…… Only one left……
Soon, the pupil vanished completely. The blood-stained sky turned to day and night clear to the horizon. Its final thought echoed.
─Clinging to destruction…… Futile act…… Remember that……
And with the thought gone, a horrific shriek rang out. Lucifer, head still bowed to the ground, started writhing and screaming.
A mere demon king couldn’t withstand the Saint Kingdom’s god’s holy power head-on. It was inevitable.
The light approached me, ignoring Lucifer as if it meant to let it slowly burn away in the holy power. Even up close, its form remained invisible.
“You must have much to say, and many questions. I understand completely.”
“Yes. A ton. You know it well. First off, I’m pretty sure, but just to confirm. You’re the Saint Kingdom’s god, right?”
“What else would I be?”
“Then, sun or moon……?”
The color suggested sun, but with night sky and moon up there too, it was a bit ambiguous.
The light paused, then gave a completely off-topic answer.
“Think whatever you like. That’s not what matters now.”
Golden and silver light enveloped my hand.
“First, what I can answer is limited.”
“……Why?”
“Because your body couldn’t withstand more. Why do you think the popes hold such immense power? Only then can they receive my voice unharmed.”
“What about this conversation we’re having?”
“It’s not a path to the world’s truths, is it?”
The light felt like it smiled softly. World’s truths? Were my questions that profound?
“Your body can only handle so many now. I’ll answer just those. I don’t want to lose you.”
Hearing that felt oddly strange. Calling me “you” and saying it didn’t want to lose me.
Anyway, my feelings were one thing—duty another. I asked the light.
“What kind?”
“About that cute little witch by your side.”