Traces of Forgotten Gods

He had seen through the fact that the other had not given his all.

But the wolf shook his head.

"If you had, one of us would be dead. And weren't you the same, Giant of Ruin? Or did you ever intend to win in the first place?"

"······ One cannot kill a Druid."

Had he fought with the intent to kill, the outcome would have been different.

But from the very beginning, the Giant of Ruin had no intention of killing the Druid of the Golden Rule.

"The World Tree is dying. All of nature is dying. And likewise, countless beasts—even the power of our mythical species—grows weaker with each generation."

The continent that had risen into the heavens.

The problem was that as time passed, the power of the land itself was weakening.

As the land weakened, nature died, and as nature died, the beasts grew smaller and smaller.

And the mythical species were not free from that influence either.

The Giant of Ruin spoke with a desolate heart.

"······ At this rate, we will one day become nothing more than mindless beasts. Unless the Druid restores the power of the land······."

People commonly knew druids as "those who make seeds bloom."

But their most important role was restoring the power of the land.

Thus, from the start, the Giant of Ruin had no intention of killing the Druid of the Golden Rule.

Those believed to have gone extinct had returned—how could one draw a line between life and death when one could not even welcome them with open arms?

He had simply······ seen it.

His potential.

His will.

"How did he seem?"

When the wolf asked, the Giant of Ruin nodded.

"He did not seem of a different nature from us."

"Mm. Well, from the start it seemed his only goal was subjugation. In that regard, he was the same as us."

He does not kill needlessly.

It meant he understood well the reason the Star Guardians existed, and each other's needs.

Moreover, the Star Guardian Knights likewise had no intention whatsoever of opposing the Knights of the Golden Rule.

So they had tried to subdue them as quickly as possible and settle the matter.

"However······ he is extraordinary."

"Extraordinary?"

Extraordinary.

Meaning he was far from ordinary.

The Giant of Ruin recalled the earlier situation and opened his mouth.

"He knows what results his actions will bring. As if he has read the future, as if he has experienced countless situations······."

"Does he possess future sight? Then is he a prophet?"

Occasionally there were such people.

Those born with future sight.

Beings blessed by the gods.

Those who could not read a certain future but correctly predicted the outcome seven times out of ten.

They were called prophets and performed countless miracles.

But the Giant of Ruin shook his head.

"No, it is not that. He has experienced so many situations and so much that it merely appears like future sight. Every action and choice was masterful. If he simply possessed future sight, he would not be able to make so many choices so quickly."

His decisions were swift.

His actions were without hesitation.

And yet every result manifested solely to his advantage.

Growing and combining his sword.

And even the weapon of an entirely different caliber that appeared as a result.

And that was not all.

It seemed he even knew how the Giant of Ruin himself would act.

He had strongly felt that the other had been waiting for him from the very beginning.

He arranged the knights' numbers, distributed them, and made every situation advantageous to himself.

But the Giant of Ruin was seeing the Druid of the Golden Rule for the first time.

One who had never experienced it, yet was as certain as if he had.

What should one call this?

The wolf pondered for a moment before speaking.

"Well······ since the future changes with choices, those with future sight tend to hesitate over their choices. But he has none of that at all?"

"None whatsoever. And yet he knows. Do you understand what this difference means?"

"······ That he is a true god, is that it."

God.

It was not simply referring to divinity.

Whether demigod or quasi-god, those who possessed divinity were not absent from this world.

The Giant of Ruin himself was a sacred being who possessed demigod divinity.

The "god" they spoke of was a god in the truest sense.

The gods who had existed at the beginning, when heaven and earth were created.

But most of them had vanished.

Destroyed by Ruin, or having lost their names and been forgotten.

The most representative among them were the two goddesses, Rhea and Fina.

"He was clad in the Blessing of Creation."

"······!!!"

The wolf was stunned.

All the Star Guardians listening wore expressions of disbelief.

How could a druid's god inherit the goddesses' blessing?

And the blessing of Law Zero at that!

"That is not all. When the Druid of the Golden Rule pierced through my chest, I felt other gods as well."

"······ So that is why you could not move?"

"Indeed."

The Giant of Ruin nodded.

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

The sword he had tried to pull free, yet could not.

The reason he had fallen was not simply because he had lost his footing.

Could a being of his caliber fall from his place merely by stumbling?

It was impossible.

It was simply because, for but an instant, he had felt it.

"Gods who died and were forgotten. He seems to be receiving the love of such beings."

The will of the gods.

Their existence.

That was why even when the other had planted his foot upon his chest and climbed up, he had not dared to move.

Not only ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the two dead goddesses.

And not only the god of the druids, said to have been destroyed in the distant past.

There is more. Traces of even more gods were within him.

Facts that only the Giant of Ruin, guardian of the Mother Star, could know.

He was one who had encountered countless gods and watched them fade away.

And so he could be certain.

Gods who had existed since the beginning, yet vanished for some reason······.

Why did their traces remain within him?

Why had they left such marks upon him?

As if begging him to recognize them.

As if pleading for him to resolve their grudges.

Was it not as if the gods were passionately courting him?

Even the goddesses, no less.

Therefore, he might not be merely a god of the druids.

Rather, the qualification of "god of the druids" might well be only one among the many qualifications he possessed.

In that case.

······ There seems little benefit in making an enemy of him.

As long as he was not evil, drawing close would be far more advantageous than keeping him at a distance.

"Should we have fought him properly?"

The wolf smacked his lips as if regretful.

The Giant of Ruin snorted a laugh.

"Even if we had fought properly, victory would not have come easily."

"True······ that one, Albino was it? He did not look easy."

To be honest, he was a monster.

Had they fought a war of mutual slaughter, it would ultimately have been the Star Guardians who were annihilated.

Albino. That one alone would have killed half of them.

Even the Giant of Ruin had no certainty of victory against Albino.

Even fighting with death in mind, at best it would be six to four······ no, perhaps seven to three.

The odds of his own defeat seemed higher.

"What of Raiga?"

"······."

At the Giant of Ruin's question, the wolf momentarily closed his mouth.

He did not wish to admit it, but that human too was a monster no less than Albino.

He had protested that he had no choice because of the hostages, but in truth he had simply been unable to stop the combination of the two.

The Giant of Ruin nodded.

"Humans grow strong quickly. We blink for but a moment, and before we know it they have pulled ahead. It was not for nothing that the goddesses held them dear."

"Are you saying we have fallen behind?"

"Wolf, it means we too must move. We have stagnated too long under the name of Star Guardians. It is time for a generational change."

The Giant of Ruin casually turned his gaze to one side.

The massive serpent that met his eyes, Dramut, trembled finely.

Dramut had been the first taken hostage, and was classified as a weakling even among the Star Guardians.

The Giant of Ruin continued.

"With the experience of the World Tree's dungeon as our catalyst, we Star Guardians will leap higher. Those without qualification will lose their place, and those with qualification will take it instead."

The Knights of the Golden Rule.

Having seen them, having clashed with them, he understood clearly.

At this rate, the name Star Guardians would become empty.

They might hand over the qualifications of every star to someone and vanish.

But the ultimate purpose of the Star Guardians was to protect the stars—the bodies of the goddesses.

So that the unworthy could not use the goddesses' power.

So that it would not fall into the hands of the wicked, like the Demon King.

The Abyss is rising, and the Demon King is beginning to move in earnest as well.

Those who coveted the stars would only increase.

The Star Guardians must grant the goddesses' power only to those who possessed the qualifications.

Therefore······ of course they had to grow stronger.

The fortunate point was that among the later generations of mythical species, there were quite a few with potential.

The moment they left the dungeon, a full-scale generational change would begin.

Not every knight order will be like us······.

But what worried him was the Druid of the Golden Rule and his knights.

Seven knight orders had entered the dungeon.

They would not all be the same as themselves.

They would inevitably clash, and inevitably be worn down.

In particular, there were a few who grated on the eyes.

The White King was one of them.

The way that one looked at the Druid of the Golden Rule was far from ordinary.

Take care of yourself.

The Giant of Ruin wished him fortune in battle.

Beyond the door lay a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠vast grassland.

A place impressive for the rabbits hopping about.

But not a single knight was in sight.

A solo play disguised as a team battle.

I understood the intent.

Each would raise their Monster Soul, then meet on the final battlefield.

There would be various mechanisms, but ultimately the goal was the same—to become the final victor.

So this is a Monster Soul.

A pebble.

One with runes inscribed upon it.

I looked down at the Monster Soul that had fallen right in front of me.

A summon matching the user's attribute.

The method of using the Soul was simple.

Thuk!

I nicked my finger with the blade and smeared the falling blood across the runes.

Then—

Ssssshhh!

Baby Hydragon?

It seemed the Hydragon Soul I already possessed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had influenced it.

Looking at the identical runes that had risen above the pebble, I was certain.

Soon a Hydragon the size of a three-year-old child was summoned before me.

Nine heads joined to a dragon's lower body.

Waddle, waddle!

It was so small that the way it toddled around was rather funny.

The manifestation of a Hidden Trait.

Beast Lord, true to its name, was a trait specialized in taming pets.

But it seemed that was not all.

I stared hard at the space above the Baby Hydragon's heads.

At the same time—

"······."

Faced with the endless parade of additional stats, I was left speechless.

Every last one of those additional stats was identical to my own.

Looking especially at the natural regeneration amplified by obtaining Patience, a shiver ran through me.

At the same time, I had a sense of how I needed to raise this thing.

Kyung?

Kyaaeng!

The Baby Hydragon looked up at me with something like fear in its eyes.

All nine heads recoiled, but it was far too late for that.

As long as it doesn't die in one hit.

As long as it avoided instant death, it could regenerate with that overwhelming natural regeneration.

In other words—

There's no need to bother with beginner hunting grounds.

I left the grassland of hopping rabbits without a second thought.

And that day, the Baby Hydragon tasted hell.