Those Who Face the Gods (9)

I gazed at the system message floating before me with a thoroughly satisfied expression.

"Hell yeah~ That's our seniors for you! I believed in you bastards all along!"

Teasing those little shits had been worth it. Well, honestly, I'd just twisted the knife for the fun of tormenting them…

Anyway — I got to mess with the ones who'd been bullying our kids without knowing their place, and I made coins off it. Two birds with one stone.

Which brought me to the next problem.

"When the hell is this snake bastard showing up?"

Thirty minutes had already passed since we'd finished thrashing the Japanese lot. And yet Yamata no Orochi, the King of Disasters, still hadn't shown his face.

Clairvoyance.

I expanded my field of vision to check how far Orochi and Yoo Joonghyuk had gotten.

Mana gathered in my optic nerves and began stretching the range of my sight. Past the royal castle Veronica, across the wide clearing right in front of us, deep into the distant forest — a massive form was slowly, steadily crawling this way.

…That's Orochi. At that pace, it'll be here in ten minutes at the least.

My expression hardened at the sight of Yamata no Orochi's dark-crimson body and eight heads smashing through the trees as it advanced.

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠turned my head toward the royal castle Veronica and spoke.

"The King of Disasters is coming. Minimum ten minutes until arrival."

"…Everyone heard Park Jinwoo, right?! Take your positions and prepare for battle!"

—Yes, ma'am!

The moment Han Sooyoung — treated as a goddess here in Peace Land — gave the order, the little people's movements shifted with startling precision.

Whether they trusted me after the days of help I'd given them, or simply obeyed the woman they called their goddess, I couldn't say — but they checked their weapons in perfect unison, faces taut with tension as they stared past the clearing I was watching.

Kim Dokja and the rest of our party likewise gave their weapons a quick once-over, then climbed onto the walls and set their expressions, ready for the final fight.

Exactly ten minutes later—

Shasasasak—!

Beyond the vast clearing, the King of Disasters finally revealed itself, its long body moving with swift, sinuous grace as it closed the distance.

KWOOOOOOOOAAAAA——!!!

"About time you got here, snake bastard."

We were the ones who'd been waiting, yet the latecomer itself was the one roaring in fury. I grinned at the snake.

"I nearly died of boredom babysitting your little minions."

Click.

I drew my Star Relic — Der Freischütz — which I hadn't pulled out much these past two weeks, and muttered toward the King of Disasters, the Eight-Headed Lord.

Fwoosh!

I poured mana into Der Freischütz, then poured more. Fierce blue flames bloomed along the gun's body.

Blue flames then flickered over my shoulders. A cloak of blue and gold light settled across them, and blue ghost-fire bloomed in my right eye.

Shaaaaaaaak——!!!

At the blue mana aura rising from my entire body, Yamata no Orochi let out a sound thick with wariness and began concentrating mana at its jaws.

A smirk tugged at my lips. The shadow of the strongest great yokai — the one even Susanoo, one of Japan's Three Noble Children and the god of sea and storms, was said to have avoided facing head-on — was openly hostile toward me.

Tsutsutsut!

Once the mana for Der Freischütz's first bullet was fully charged, a blue magic circle began drawing itself in the air before me.

And as ominous, sinister dark-crimson mana overflowed from all eight of Yamata no Orochi's heads in answer to my relic, I leveled the muzzle straight at it.

"…Blackening. Amplify."

A black aura layered itself over the blue aura flowing from my body. Then formless mana of no color at all wrapped the frame of Der Freischütz.

Preparations complete, Yamata no Orochi and I unleashed the skills we'd each readied to take the other's life.

KWAOOOOOM——!!!

CHAAAAAA——!!!

A magic bullet that leapt through space itself, its penetration rate pushed to the absolute limit, streaked toward the sinister disaster.

The wave of mana gathered at the jaws of the strongest great yokai — a being one of a nation's highest gods had refused to face head-on — blasted toward the insolent Incarnation.

KWAOOOOOM—!!

The two attacks collided, and a massive explosion tore the air. The blue mana concentrated in the magic bullet scattered in every direction; the dark-crimson mana the disaster had fired spread outward just the same.

"Uwaaagh…!"

"Get down, you idiot!"

The shockwave from the clash of two disasters sent a violent gale slamming into the little people gathered on Veronica's walls, making them stagger.

"……………."

Shrrrk….

We stared each other down, both of us analyzing the other's combat power in our heads.

…Something's off.

I glared at Yamata no Orochi and thought.

…It's stronger than what I saw in the webtoon.

The scale of power felt subtly greater than what I'd seen in the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint webtoon. And that question resolved itself almost immediately.

"…Shit. I ran my mouth for nothing."

Petty little bastards. They were dumping what little Probability they had left just because I'd teased them that much? Absolute lunatics.

Back in the fifth Main Scenario, among the many Constellations who'd shared Probability with Baul to trigger the Scenario Enforcement Authority, there had been Constellations of Japanese yokai origin as well.

I'd figured they had nothing left and mocked them mercilessly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for it. Apparently the ones who'd gotten pissed had scraped together every scrap of usable Probability they could find and funneled it into Yamata no Orochi.

Thanks to me, the scenario difficulty had ticked up a notch.

"Tch…."

Having grasped the situation, I clicked my tongue and glared at the Yamata no Orochi before me.

KWOOOOOOOOAAA—!!

Bad news kept coming. Of all times, Yamata no Orochi had just received a scenario buff.

Its body, empowered as a Disaster, swelled larger than before, and the scale of the Status radiating from it rose by a small but unmistakable degree.

"U-ugh…."

At the sound from behind me, I turned. A great many of the little people on the walls were staring at Yamata no Orochi with the fight drained from their faces.

And that included our party's youngest — our adorable little ones, Lee Gilyoung and Shin Yooseung — as well as Grandma Lee Bok-sun.

I looked around further. Han Sooyoung, Asuka Ren, Lee Hyunsung, Gong Pildu, Lee Jihye, Min Jiwon — all the same.

In a situation where everyone's Status was still lacking, even a partial glimpse of a Fable-grade Constellation's shadow had overwhelmed them the moment it was right in front of their eyes.

The only one among them whose expression still held firm resolve was Kim Dokja alone.

"We're only on the sixth scenario. You really gonna flinch at some radioactive snake bastard like that?"

A cold chill coiled around my body, and white breath slipped from my lips. The blue mana flowing through me began to shift, slowly changing color.

In part, the season of an entire world was changing. Black storm clouds gathered across a sky that had been full of sunlight, and snow began to fall.

Grrrk…?!

Whether it had seen the system messages appear before its eyes or not, Yamata no Orochi's massive body flinched.

KWOOOOOOOOAAAAA—!!

"Kyaaaaagh…!!"

"Kieeeek…?!"

The Disasters bound to the iron stakes driven into the ground thrashed and wept tears of blood.

As their knocked-out consciousnesses returned, they writhed in agony from the fire-chicken sauce I'd smeared under their noses and across their lips — then, somehow, wrenched the stakes free and tore off the ropes that had bound them. I watched with eyes gone cold.

"So it comes to this after all."

They had low-grade yokai Constellations as their Sponsors, which was why their bodies had twisted into yokai forms. And because they'd chosen to become Disasters, they couldn't refuse the King of Disasters' commands. I'd known that, and I'd tried not to kill them if I could help it — but there was no other choice left now.

I slowly raised one hand toward the sky.

High above, frigid cold air gathered and gathered into a single point. The compressed chill knotted together like clay and slowly took shape.

At last the mass of cold assumed the form of a greatsword. A colossal greatsword of pure white, transparent ice hung high in the sky with majestic presence.

And not just one — more than ten of those giant greatswords.

"If I had to name this technique, Giant Sword Descent would do nicely."

I glanced at Yamata no Orochi staring up at the ice greatswords in what looked like shock, then at the Disasters charging me and the ones racing toward the royal castle Veronica — and slowly lowered my hand.

At their master's command, the giant greatswords began to fall.

KWOOOOOOOOAAAAA……!!

Yamata no Orochi fired breath attacks at the four greatswords dropping toward it. Three more greatswords streaked toward the Disasters charging me, and the remaining three flew at the Disasters rushing to smash Veronica's walls and gates.

KWAGAGAGAGAGAK——!!!

"Kyaaaaagh!!"

A giant greatsword slammed down with perfect accuracy onto one Disaster's body, then split that body clean in two as it drove into the earth.

And when the massive ice greatsword buried itself in the ground, a great cloud of dust billowed out in every direction.

"Kraaagh!!"

"Keong!! Keong!!"

Was it the Absolute Throne the King of Disasters had activated? Several Disasters, completely stripped of reason and howling like beasts, began charging straight at me.

Yokai who had abandoned all rational human judgment, their combat instincts bare and fearless, swung their weapons and their own claws and talons at me.

Chang!

I barely glanced at the Disasters' attacks and casually activated Ice Ghost Dragon's Scales, my only defensive active skill.

The moment it triggered, thick pure-white dragon scales sprouted across my entire body and casually turned their blows aside.

"So when is our Joonghyuk supposed to show up?"

I left the Disasters hammering their weapons against me without mercy and looked around.

This damn Ways of Survival protagonist was nowhere to be seen.

"Honestly… our Joonghyuk really is slow as hell, just like a proper protagonist."

As if someone had scripted the main character to appear only at the most dramatic moment, Yoo Joonghyuk still hadn't shown herself. I grumbled about it while grabbing the face of a Disaster still pounding me with a club, hauling it up in front of me, and lifting it toward the front.

Pusok!

With perfect timing, one of Yamata no Orochi's heads lunged to swallow me whole — and the Disaster I'd lifted took the hit instead.

"Ahh… and so I lose a friend. Truly a sad day…."

"How could you doubt me? I'm genuinely sad. My meat-shie— I mean, one of the besties I just made this time is gone. I'm sad. Me. So much."

And so I kept dodging Yamata no Orochi's heads as they lunged at me, grabbing my "besties" by the face and politely tossing them into the gaping maws of the heads diving toward me.

"Hey, hey! What kind of king eats his own subordinates?! You're a full-blown tyrant!"

Having stuffed exactly eight of them into its jaws to match the number of heads, I wiped my forehead with one arm and spoke.

"Whew. Felt just like a snake keeper at the zoo. Don't you think so too?"

KWOOOOOOOOAAAAA——!!

Orochi roared at the sky as if agreeing with me, and I smiled sweetly.

"See, I knew you'd agree! You're a good snake who'll become my snake wine! Sure, you're soaked in radiation and look like some kind of mutant, but I — I alone!! — can deliciously drink the snake wine made from you!!"

I ignored the Constellations' indirect messages and eyed its tail and heads with a greedy look. Then I licked my lips.

"I've never had snake wine before, but wine made from the shadow of a Fable-grade Constellation like you should be something special."

For a moment I recalled the snake wine from the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint webtoon — the one male Kim Dokja had made by offering the byproducts from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠killing Orochi and the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi Yoo Joonghyuk had obtained as sacrifices — and smacked my lips.

"Ha… I really want that snake wine already."

Shaaaaaaaaak———!!!!

With that enormous maw — which looked like it would reek of filth — stretched wide open, Orochi hissed with the wariness unique to snakes. I smiled sweetly and looked up at the sky.

"Okay. I've stalled long enough. Come on in."

I looked up at a certain figure high in the air and spoke.

"Joonghyuk."

KWAOOOOOM!!

With a thunderous crash, one of Orochi's heads slammed into the ground without so much as a scream.

"…Park Jinwoo."

A woman's voice came from within the dust cloud. As the dust cleared, a woman stood there, one foot planted on the Orochi head driven into the earth.

Yoo Joonghyuk was staring at me with those cold, arrogant eyes of hers.

Seeing her for the first time in two weeks, I waved both hands in greeting.

"Hey, Joonghyuk! You're late! Did you catch protagonist disease and wait for the dramatic timing?"

"It wasn't that. Shut up."

Yoo Joonghyuk's face twisted hard at my words. She glared at me with murder in her eyes, then glanced past my back.

Tak!

At the sound of someone landing behind me, I turned. Kim Dokja had leapt down from Veronica's walls and was running this way.

"You're late, Yoo Joonghyuk."

Kim Dokja smirked at the woman looking at her and spoke.

Kwo, kwoooooooaaa…!!

Just then, the Orochi head under Yoo Joonghyuk's foot roared and tried to lift itself. She casually stepped back and took her place at Kim Dokja's left.

The three of us quietly glanced at one another, then turned as one to face Orochi and locked eyes on it.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

"Is this a confession? You want me to drink you as snake wine, is that it?"

Shaaaaak……!!!

"In what possible way?"

"Have you finally lost your mind for real."

Ignoring the two beauties on either side of me, I stared at Orochi. Then I pulled out a peculiar liquor bottle I'd bought from the general store.

"Don't worry, Eight-Headed Lord! Once I turn you into snake wine, I'll put you in this rare bottle!"

It was a liquor bottle shaped like a coiled snake. A peculiar bottle I'd bought solely for this moment.

"How about it?! Like it? A snake bottle that looks just like you?"

""………………….""

Undaunted by the flood of indirect messages from the Constellations and the pitying looks from the two beauties beside me, I held the bottle high toward Orochi as if showing it off.

KWOOOOOOOOAAAAA——!!!!

"Kwoooo, shaaaak — is that all you can say? Even if you're a snake bastard, you're still a Constellation."

I deliberately provoked it, mimicking its cries with ridiculous body language.

"Ah. I get it now. I can speak snake. Kwoooo~ kwoooo~ shaaaak~ How's that? Same species, so you understand, right?"

KWOOOOOOOOAAA—!!

Orochi's patience seemed to have finally hit its limit. Crimson flame bloomed at its jaws.

"Hey, talk with me a little more. Why are you so impatient?"

"…Provoke it moderately and get ready to dodge, Park Jinwoo."

"Jinwoo, focus."

"Yeees…. Wait, more importantly — when did you two climb onto me?!"

I asked in shock at Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk, who had somehow settled on both of my shoulders. The two women answered as if it were nothing.

"While you were provoking that thing."

"While you were provoking that bastard."

"Son of a… so that's why it was only staring at me."

"No, I think it would've only stared at you even if we hadn't climbed on."

I ignored Kim Dokja's look of pure exasperation and started running toward the side of Veronica's walls that had no fortifications.

Orochi turned its heads to follow me as I fled.

KWAGAGAGAGAGAGA……!!!

As a wave of crimson flame poured toward me, I activated Flight Maneuver and Path of Wind and fled into the sky.

Pat!

"Fly toward it, Park Jinwoo."

"You sure? It got a buff earlier and got stronger."

"…You think I can't take down a snake like that?"

"Right, right. My bad. Our Overlord can do whatever she wants!"

"When this scenario ends, you're next."

Just for a little teasing, veins stood out on Yoo Joonghyuk's face as she glared at me with a murderous look. I clamped my mouth shut and flew toward Orochi the way she wanted.

Shaaaaaaaaak——!!!

As I flew toward it, Orochi moved its heads and lunged at me.

The moment Acceleration triggered, everything around me seemed to move in slow motion.

Orochi's head shooting toward me with its jaws wide open, and Yoo Joonghyuk on my shoulder drawing her weapon and preparing to leap down at Orochi — both were crystal clear.

In that slowed world, I alone moved fast, diving toward Orochi, then released the Acceleration skill.

"Joonghyuk, no taxi fare this time. Jump!"

"Somewhat useful."

On my signal, Yoo Joonghyuk leapt from my shoulder.

Yoo Joonghyuk's body, diving toward Orochi, swelled in midair. Her frame grew larger and larger until she returned to her size from before the miniaturization, eyes gleaming as she gripped the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi hard.

The power of Breaking the Sky Energy — a brilliant blue — layered itself over the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi.

Blue energy blade, shining radiantly as if flaunting its presence, swept toward Orochi.

CHAAAAAAAK——!!!

The blue flash extending from Yoo Joonghyuk's blade tip split into dozens of strands and completely shredded one of Orochi's snake heads.

Cheolpeok!

From the snake head severed by the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, thick purple blood flowed, and it began to slowly rot away.

"Aigoo! That precious thing!"

I stared in genuine horror as the precious byproduct rotted, slowly turning to powder and scattering into the air — then sprinted toward the Orochi head that had fallen to the ground.

"Hehehehe…."

Having safely secured the precious wine ingredient, I shouted at Yoo Joonghyuk as she charged Orochi to take the second head!

"Joonghyuk! While you're at it, cut off ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the tail too!"

"Shut up!! Park Jinwoo, Kim Dokja — are you two just going to watch?!"

"Weren't you going to handle it alone?"

"I'm saving the last hit."

"You sons of bitches…?! I will kill both of you for sure!!"