Ubo-Sathla, the Creator of Life
After confirming that Yujin and his party had safely crossed from Zone B to Zone C and were heading toward the Meias planetary group, I let out a sigh of relief. Then, out of nowhere, someone came looking for me.
[ ...? ]
It had a horrific form like an amoeba scaled up to the size of Jupiter. From information out of other universes, I could identify what it was. Ubo-Sathla. A colossal single-celled organism called the origin of all lifeforms... an Outer God literally seen as the creator god of life. Naturally, one of the top-tier Outer Gods like Nyarlathotep. It had countless creations akin to its own avatars scattered across each universe, and the number of its progeny ranked first among all Outer Gods. Supposedly trillions upon trillions were active across every universe. Well... that was just from some other universe's records, so the exact count was probably beyond numbering.
But it claimed I'd wiped out one of its creations. What the hell was this about all of a sudden...? The only lifeform I'd personally erased recently was that giant monster from moments ago... Oh.
Ubo-Sathla seemed seriously pissed. Probably because I'd offed the giant monster it'd carefully crafted with a single gesture.
...It wasn't like I'd meant to do it that way. That thing threatened my avatar first, didn't it? Well, no, it hadn't actually threatened me—it just felt like it might. I had no idea it was one of your creations.
When situations like this pop up, an apology is the way to go. No point letting it escalate into some annoying conflict.
But then, Ubo-Sathla seemed to notice something and peered behind me. Ah, right—I'd materialized a screen to watch the Yujin drama like it was a real show, instead of just in my head. But this was basic stuff any Outer God could do. No reason it should catch its interest...
Huh? Oh. It wasn't the screen—it was interested in Yujin inside it. Well... yeah, since I'd even implanted a full personality, it kinda is my creation.
Why the sudden interest? It wasn't about to pull some bullshit territorial claim over life creation, was it...?
It said that and suddenly lunged right up close. Ugh...! Don't shove that slimy, sticky-looking body at me...!! Sure, my own form was this writhing, gooey horror show too, but I still had an instinctive revulsion to this crap. Why did every damn Outer God have to look so grotesque and nasty? I dodged away on reflex since I didn't want it touching me, but it just pressed in further, staring so intently at the screen it might dive right in.
...That interesting, huh? It's just your standard overpowered isekai protagonist, isn't it...?
With that, Ubo-Sathla turned back to me.
Hm... what? A powerful gut feeling told me I was about to get dragged into something extremely annoying.
An Outer God known as the origin of all lifeforms in the universe. True to that name, it had created countless progeny. According to scriptures from one universe that worshipped it, its children alone numbered in the trillions across the cosmos. Of course, even that was a rough estimate from their texts. In truth, its creations spread across the multiverse were beyond counting.
For reference, my own sci-fi world had plenty of Ubo-Sathla's progeny too. That giant monster I'd smashed, along with hordes of others, and even several species in the Galactic Union—which had practically conquered the universe—weren't naturally evolved. They were its handiwork. Hell, even the Rubaran tribe was a lifeform and civilization directly crafted by Ubo-Sathla.
The reason Ubo-Sathla had seeded so many universes with its creations was simple: to harvest and absorb the lifeforms living there as sustenance.
I asked why bother absorbing sustenance when Outer Gods didn't even need it.
...Just the taste. It also said watching its creations dominate and trample other lifeforms was pure joy. Turns out, demon kings in fantasy worlds, ultimate space horrors conquering galaxies—all those destroyers of tales were actually Ubo-Sathla's progeny, made to rule and raze universes so it could slurp up the life energy.
This absolute mad bastard... You're the hidden hand behind every story's demon lord...!!
You might wonder why not handle it personally instead of this roundabout method. Well... that's just how Outer Gods roll. If Ubo-Sathla showed up directly, lifeforms' minds would shatter on sight. A mere touch disintegrates them at the atomic level. By the time it tried anything, they'd all be dead or gone before it could harvest much—and even that would get tainted by its own power leaking out.
So instead, it made proxies for its universe-wrecking fun. And yeah, that was more entertaining too. I'd admit it myself—personally steamrolling everything was so overkill it wasn't even funny. Way more fun to play universe-domination sims through game avatars I'd crafted.
Ubo-Sathla explained with examples. Like how universes would spawn rivals to thwart its fun, toppling the demon kings or destroyer gods it'd slaved over, turning victory sour. Sometimes it'd get mad and make stronger progeny or intervene itself.
To dodge that cosmic interference, it'd experimented with methods. One was building powerful civilizations instead of lone overpowereds. Enter the Rubaran tribe in this universe.
But that plan bombed spectacularly. You could tell from how they formed the Galactic Union and started protecting the universe.
It figured heavy meddling would just trigger more interference, so it'd created a gifted species and mostly left them alone. But they advanced science, formed alliances, and became space cops instead of conquerors.
...Yeah, from the universe's POV, they were a godsend. Even for me, a space opera beat hordes of psycho demon races any day.
So it tried giant monsters to assault the Union, but that hit snags too. Even sending a near-Outer-God demon lord only bloodied their nose before they won.
...Ah, that lower Outer God the Union was bragging about bagging? That was one of its too...
Anyway, Ubo-Sathla had accidentally forged its own arch-nemesis guardian of the universe. Worse, the universe's will hadn't spawned a rival yet. Ramp up interference beyond monsters, and it'd face both the Rubarans and whatever counter the cosmos cooked up.
The Union's stewardship left the whole universe brimming with tasty life-sustenance. Sure, the Rubarans made it self-sabotage harder, but that bulked up the quantity and quality.
What it wanted: lifeforms like Yujin. Start feeble to evade cosmic rivals, then grow into demon-lord tier.
Had it never made that type before? Or since it was born an Outer God, did it just suck at grasping "growth"?
Basically, it was asking me for help. To create a universe-conquering demon king for domination and destruction.
[ ...... ]
The story was so damn intriguing and fun I kept listening... but...
...Why the hell would I help with that...?