Chapter 194
Chapter 194
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 194
Chapter Title: Fake God Strategy
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-Bang!
The gunshot echoed through the tunnel.
The kobold overseer spewed blood from his temple and collapsed.
"Who the hell... Gah!"
Lamine emerged from behind the flustered guards and thrust his sword at them.
None of the guards even managed to draw their swords from their sheathes before they died.
Lamine shook the blood off his blade into the air and sheathed it.
"I said to shoot after I gave the signal."
"It was a dire situation, wasn't it? Lady Hwi-kyung almost got shot."
"They weren't going to shoot right away anyway."
"We killed them all regardless, didn't we?"
Lamine shook his head as he walked over to Hwi-kyung.
Hwi-kyung looked back and forth between Juran and Lamine.
"You two... no, Lamine? ...The real Lamine?"
Lamine ripped off the cloth Hwi-kyung had been using to cover herself.
"What are you doing here right now?"
"I should be the one asking that. How are you... here?"
Lamine started to say something to Hwi-kyung but turned to Aganin instead.
"Elf, will the gunshot carry far?"
"Probably? But they won't be sure it's a gunshot."
"We need time to talk."
Aganin sighed.
"Fine. I'll buy us some time somehow. If it's just the overseer level, I can spin it as a gas explosion making it dangerous and send them away."
With that, Aganin approached the group of laborers, led them, and headed down the tunnel that Lamine and Juran had come from.
Lamine pushed Hwi-kyung down onto a pile of small rocks.
"Your foot's okay, right?"
"See, it's fine now. It's the power from the god."
"Then come with us. The gods need you."
Hwi-kyung gave him a puzzled look at those words.
"The gods?"
"More precisely, Lord Yacheon, the Blue Insect God."
Hwi-kyung glared at Lamine for a moment before staring intently at Juran.
More precisely, at the horn attached to Juran.
Hwi-kyung spoke.
"No. I'm staying here."
"Why?"
"Because that's exactly what the Blue Insect God wants."
Lamine realized something had gone wrong.
After fleeing Heukrin, Hwi-kyung had wandered for a long time.
She even made it to the western continent, which was new territory back then, but nothing changed.
The only difference was that vampires were less known on the western continent, making it easier to move around.
That's when she met Lamine.
To the lonely Hwi-kyung, Lamine was a comfort, but their meeting didn't last long.
Especially since Hwi-kyung had resolved not to harm innocent people, she couldn't help but feel guilty about the way Lamine had revived her.
"So I decided to die."
The suicide method Hwi-kyung chose was starvation, the same as her vampire ancestors.
Vampires were said to have returned to Yacheon through that method, so Hwi-kyung chose it too.
After digging a hole and holing up for ten days without food, she couldn't move. After half a month, her consciousness faded.
That was when it happened.
In a haze where she couldn't distinguish dream from reality, Hwi-kyung saw a god.
More precisely, she couldn't see the god.
The god was behind her back, speaking to her endlessly.
"It was the one I knew. He knew everything about me."
"Yacheon?"
"Yes."
Hwi-kyung nodded.
"He said He couldn't forgive me. Even if I died, it wouldn't go my way."
"..."
"But if I followed His will, He said I could be forgiven for my sins."
Lamine said,
"So that's why you've been doing this? Letting yourself become a slave and waste away? Just enduring all of this?"
"Yes. This is my atonement, Lamine."
Lamine grabbed Hwi-kyung's shoulders.
"Snap out of it. Torturing yourself because you think you're guilty won't change anything. It won't count as atonement."
"Maybe not."
"Then why?"
Hwi-kyung avoided Lamine's gaze as she spoke.
"I told you I had someone I loved."
"Yes. It's been a hundred years, but I still remember."
"I also said the god took that person."
"Yes."
"And that I went against the god's will."
"Yes."
"I'm afraid of gods."
Hwi-kyung said.
"Gods can toy with any life. On the gods' go board, even the noblest and most precious lives become cheap. The gold, jewels, treasures, and technologies we value mean nothing by their standards. Lamine, imagine if I reject the god's will. Think of it as a bug they've been playing with escaping their grasp."
"...So it wasn't about atonement?"
"No. If my suffering makes someone else okay, if the god playing with me draws attention away from someone else, that's fine."
Lamine muttered.
"...A sacrifice, then?"
"Perhaps."
Lamine stammered.
"H-ha, but no. Something's wrong somewhere. Or maybe the Pantheon is trying to fix it now. Lord Yacheon is looking for you. He might have forgiven you."
At those words, Hwi-kyung said,
"No, you two are my test."
"A test? Why do you think that?"
"If it weren't a test, He would have spoken to me directly, like He does every day."
Lamine locked eyes with Juran.
Juran looked just as confused.
Lamine said,
"What... Lord Yacheon doesn't even know where you are, that's why He sent us. I'm the last person from the empire who saw you, and this guy is a descendant of Hwi-kyung. He said he has that spirit in his horn."
This time, Hwi-kyung's expression crumpled.
"...Really? Then who is that coming now?"
Lamine realized Hwi-kyung's gaze was directed behind him.
Hwi-kyung drew her sword and turned.
It was a dark tunnel.
Nothing was visible yet.
Soon, with footsteps, something emerged from the shadows.
It was a form Lamine knew well.
Statues of it weren't common, mostly appearing in symbolic illustrations, but it closely matched the descriptions in many books.
The being wearing a water buffalo skull on its head—Yacheon.
"It's the fake god strategy."
In the Pantheon meeting room, Seong-un said.
Solongos, the god of the centaurs wearing scale armor with arms crossed, spoke.
"Could you explain in detail, brother?"
"...Um, you know about variant faith systems?"
The other players seemed to know, but Solongos looked clueless.
Seong-un explained.
"Even if an individual doesn't believe in a god directly, as long as they maintain faith in that god's creation, the faith still goes to the god. And conversely, if they're maintaining that kind of faith, the god individual can consume it too."
Solongos nodded.
Seong-un was a bit suspicious but continued.
"The fake god strategy exploits the loophole in this variant faith system."
"Exploits the loophole how?"
"For example, there's God A. God A is a good god, but like all religions, it's hard to satisfy everyone. Some hate God A. Let's call that group Group B."
Solongos nodded again.
Seong-un explained.
"But God A wants to pull Group B, who hates them, into their forces. So God A creates a fake God B tailored to Group B's tastes. Then this fake God B, though a creation and not a player, harvests faith from that group."
"Ah."
"He really doesn't get it, does he?"
No one answered aloud, but they all nodded in agreement.
Seong-un ignored Solongos and continued.
"This strategy can get very complex if you dig into it, and thanks to the circumstances aligning perfectly, Hegemonia pulled off a pretty sophisticated version. They made the fake god not some fictional entity, but me—well, Yacheon."
Seong-un pondered how Hegemonia had pulled off this strategy.
It probably wasn't some elaborate plan.
Vampires weren't common on the second continent, so Hwi-kyung would have stood out.
And around the time Hwi-kyung and Lamine parted, Hegemonia likely noticed due to Lamine's innocent killing spree.
'And thought they could use her.'
Killing a potential threat was one option, but Hegemonia would have thought of the fake god strategy.
Because Hwi-kyung had high priest levels and other strong stats.
Above all, as a vampire, she didn't age—immortal potential—so it made sense to utilize her rather than kill her.
'Impersonating me wouldn't have been hard.'
By then, Hegemonia had most domains, so mimicking Seong-un with bug-creation miracles would be easy.
'Read her history, figure out the details, and piece it together roughly.'
That's how the Shadow Cult was born.
To Hegemonia, it was just for farming faith.
These things players call faith farms or faith factories come in so many varieties, and players make them whenever they can, so Hegemonia had probably forgotten about it by now.
Beings that perform miracles are great for gathering faith.
The problem is miracles consume faith, but with this complex strategy, the faith Hwi-kyung consumes via miracles comes from Seong-un, while the harvested faith goes to Hegemonia. A perfect faith factory.
Seong-un had no regrets about Hegemonia's strategy.
If anything, it was a sophisticated play unlike Hegemonia's usual animalistic style.
"...In the end, I provided the opening for this faith leak."
Runda raised her hand.
"Nebula."
"Speak."
"W-we get the problem now. But how do we fix it?"
As Seong-un looked puzzled, Runda continued.
"That's basically the heart of the Allied Kingdoms, and our forces are too far. Even supporting with faith, it's Hegemonia's territory, so we'd take penalties entering."
"Ah, don't worry about that. I expected it to some degree; this was just confirmation."
"What do you mean?"
"I didn't ask that vampire for much, right? Just to find her. That's enough."
Runda looked confused at first, then nodded as realization dawned.
Solongos raised his hand next.
Seong-un pointed at him.
"What?"
"I don't get it, brother."
Seong-un said,
"So... the opponent used the fake god strategy. What happens when it's exposed?"
"Ah."
Seong-un tapped the map of the labor camp with the back of his hand.
"From now on, this is our territory."