The Created God
'I was too complacent.'
Searing pain and lingering phantom aches.
Floating in the hazy space between the two, that was Del Roan's very first thought.
He couldn't put any strength into one of his arms, its muscle completely eaten away.
He had already scraped off the maggots that had been gnawing at his flesh.
But that didn't undo what had already happened.
'I underestimated it just because of its size. It's still a harbinger of ruin, plain and simple.'
It was one of the many sparks destined to reduce the continent to ashes.
Back then, there had been seven of them to face it. Now, they were only three.
'And here I swore I wouldn't have any regrets.'
Yet, regret caught up to him instantly.
A mistake.
A poison capable of claiming human lives.
'It's always like this.'
Just because he had regressed didn't mean he was suddenly omniscient.
Before long, he would probably let his guard down again, only to drown in the exact same regrets.
That was why the only thing he could do was stop dwelling on the past and look forward.
"Alright."
He did not back down.
Tightening his grip on his shield, he stared straight at the Created God.
Its face, cobbled together from discarded junk, seemed to sneer at him. The stench of wastewater seeped into his limp wrist.
"Let's end this quickly."
"What? End this quickly in that state?! Just stay back and—"
"I'm fine."
It was a flat assertion.
Jane opened her mouth to argue, but the sheer, unyielding determination on his face made the words die in her throat.
"...If things go south, don't you dare blame me."
She stepped back, reforming their line.
Roan offered a silent nod of gratitude and charged straight to the front line.
—Kwoooooooh!
As if it had been waiting for this exact moment, Serenar unleashed a relentless barrage.
Projectiles dripping with a foul stench rained down, painting the sky.
Yet, even against this seamless onslaught, Roan's stance did not waver. If anything, he stood firmer than before.
'How did we defeat it back then? Its attack patterns seem similar to before...'
Even as he shielded the other two with a single arm, his mind raced.
—Boom! Crash!
A flurry of fire magic struck the enemy's body repeatedly, but it left no lasting damage.
"This is ridiculous! Even when its body gets blown to pieces, it just regenerates. Doesn't this thing have a core or something?"
Jane muttered in sheer disbelief.
"...I think I hear a song."
Erian Belgard's soft voice drifted from behind, reaching Roan's ears.
'The song.'
The faint melody he had been sensing for a while now.
What had been a quiet background hum suddenly filled his mind.
'The song sung by the people who threw themselves into the river.'
The memory began to resurface.
Back then, brute force hadn't worked, forcing them to observe until they discovered its unique trait.
It was no different this time.
"Jane! Belgard!"
Having pieced his memories together, Roan called out to his comrades.
In his past life, they had been so in sync that words weren't necessary. But now, they were strangers to that bond.
Especially Belgard.
She was still hesitating, lost in doubt. He needed to give her clear, direct orders.
"Stop the fire magic!"
"What? Where is this coming from? Are you telling me to manage my mana? Who else is going to provide firepower if I stop?!"
"Firepower isn't what we need!"
At his shout, Jane's chanting ground to a halt.
—Splat!
Sssss...
The attacks kept coming.
Focusing entirely on the incoming strikes—any of which could prove fatal if they connected—Roan barked out his command.
"I need a spell to drown out the sound! That song playing in the background!"
He didn't wait for an answer.
He didn't even look back.
He would know she complied simply by the sound of her next chant.
"Belgard!"
Before Jane could finish her incantation, Roan quickly called out to Belgard.
"The song!"
"A—a song?"
"Yes! Infuse it with holy power! A hymn, anything, it doesn't matter!"
Asking an exiled priestess to sing a holy hymn.
It was an incredibly insensitive request, but they had no other choice.
Belgard began to sing an old hymn, pouring her holy power into the melody.
—♩♪
A sacred melody echoed through the chaotic battlefield.
The faint, cursed song of the monster swelled, trying to drown out her voice.
At that exact moment—
White Flame
Debi Jane's magic erupted.
A barrier of white fire erupted, centering around Serenar.
The cursed song leaking from the creature began to wither away.
As if the flames were consuming sound itself.
—Splash! Sssss...
Even when the churning, oily river water splashed against it, the white flames only blazed with greater fury.
"...Always making me do the hard work... Next time, I'm the one bossing you around..."
Her face was pale, drained from the sudden, heavy expenditure of mana.
"Still... that thing seems rooted to the spot now. I think it's over. Though I still don't get why you wanted a song."
Jane let go of the tension that had gripped her entire body.
—Whoosh! Crackle!
And as if waiting for that exact moment of vulnerability, something pierced through the wall of fire and entered her field of vision.
A writhing, blazing white mass.
It was the very same maggots that had melted Roan's arm earlier.
They were still alive.
In fact, thrashing violently against the flames, they flew straight toward Jane.
"Huh? Wa—"
Death.
In a filthy, wretched place.
Eaten alive, piece by piece.
Terrifying fragments of thoughts flashed through her mind in that split second.
—Clang! Crash!
Sssss...
The incoming maggots sizzled and burned to ash against the surface of a shield.
Hearing the sound of the creatures burning away, their target missed, Jane looked up.
Two legs planted firmly on the ground.
A raised shield.
And an arm that had melted even further.
"Ro... Roan!"
Jane finally found her voice and cried out.
"I told you. I won't let you get hurt."
Even though he was the one grievously injured, his voice remained rock-solid.
And indeed, he stood as unyielding as his words.
Everything thrown at them lost its momentum, completely neutralized by his defense.
In the midst of this living hell, the two women behind him were perfectly shielded from the chaos.
And within that absolute safety,
—♬♪
Belgard's hymn continued to echo.
Her voice was rich with holy power.
Though her emotions occasionally choked her up, forcing her to hum the melody without lyrics, the effect was undeniable.
Through the gaps in the silent, blazing heat, the silhouette of Serenar became visible.
Its massive body was twisting in agony.
—Kwoooooooh!
The colossal entity squeezed out the last of its strength, but stripped of its cursed melody, it had nothing left to sustain it.
—Crack! Squish!
The monster's body split wide open.
Black sludge, human corpses, and debris swept down by the river—all of it collapsed back into the water, drifting away harmlessly.
The remnants sank beneath the surface, carried away by the slow current.
The riverbank fell silent.
Realizing that it was truly over this time, Jane let out a ragged breath.
"Pant, pant... Is... is it really over?"
"It's over."
Roan replied.
The tranquil flow of the river bore witness to his words.
"What do you mean, over?! We still have the most important part left!"
Stopping her song to catch her breath, Belgard rushed over and gently took hold of Roan's arm.
It was the arm that had been hanging limply by his side.
"Doesn't it hurt?! How could you keep moving like this..."
She channeled her holy power, running her hands along his wrist.
It was a delicate process that required absolute focus and time.
This was why it couldn't be used in the heat of battle.
The corroded flesh began to knit back together.
While it wasn't a perfect restoration, it was enough for him to regain mobility.
Roan flexed his fingers and muttered to himself.
"You haven't changed a bit. Just like before."
Her selfless devotion of holy power for others, backed by an incredibly potent healing ability.
There was no need to hesitate.
This was exactly what he had come for.
"Erian Belgard."
"Yes?"
"I'll keep it brief. I need you."
"...You need me?"
"Soon, harbingers of ruin like this will appear all across the continent. We have to stop them before they can sprout."
Roan pointed to his healed arm.
"I'm not perfect. No matter how hard I train, I'm bound to get hurt."
Therefore...
"Lend me your strength so we can save more lives."
Belgard fell silent.
The children of the slums.
The elderly man swallowed by the river.
The spark of destruction she had witnessed with her own eyes.
Her compassionate nature screamed at her to join him.
But...
"...Would someone like me really be of help? I'm just an exiled priestess..."
At her words, Roan nodded vigorously.
"Of course! In fact, that's even better!"
"Pardon?"
"I only recruit people with baggage!"
Jane's brow furrowed at his blunt statement.
"What are you talking about? I don't have any 'baggage.'"
"...A lack of manners, perhaps?"
"Do you want to die? Seriously?"
The two bickered back and forth, their solemn battle-hardened personas vanishing in an instant.
Watching them, Belgard let out a soft chuckle.
Then, she nodded.
"Alright, I understand. But... I have one condition."
"A condition?"
"...Just because you have a priestess with you doesn't mean you can treat your body so recklessly."
Her gentle nature shone through, worrying over the health of a man she had only met today.
Roan felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him at her familiar warmth.
⊳ Name: Erian Belgard
⊳ Class: Exiled Priestess
"So... what is our next move?"
As Belgard asked, her resolve already hardening, Roan gave her a thumbs-up as if he had been waiting for the question.
"We wash!"
"Ah."
Only then did the two women realize the state they were in.
And for some reason, once they became aware of it, the stench seemed to grow ten times worse.
"Let's rinse off in the river for now, then head up and take a long, well-deserved rest."
In truth, Roan wanted to set off immediately to find the rest of his former comrades, but he held himself back.
'Because I've realized the future can change.'
They had crossed paths in the same place by chance this time, but there was no guarantee the next ruin would sprout in the exact same location.
It was an unexpected variable.
Still, he had gained something valuable.
'We need to build our foundation.'
A sense of vigilance.
They needed the strength to respond no matter when or where destruction reared its head.
"...I think we need to build our foundation."
"What?!"
Roan let out a genuinely startled gasp.
It was because Jane had just voiced his exact thoughts word for word.
"I used to think I was the best, but once we got into a real fight, I realized how lacking I am. I need to increase my mana pool, get better gear, and build up my physical stamina."
Every single word she said was correct.
It was exactly what Roan had been thinking.
"Listen up, Belgard! We're not just resting—we're starting physical training!"
Jane pointed a finger at Belgard, riding the momentum of her own speech.
She was practically promising a hellish training regimen.
...
Up in the city above.
In an inn located within that peculiar city, where a refreshing fragrance blanketed the streets.
There, Jane was—
"Ugh... *groan*..."
"Um... Jane? Are you already done?"
She had completely collapsed, utterly defeated by the hellish training.