The Demon King and the Humans
While the clone in charge of humanity wallowed in anguish and the ones handling the community and meeting rooms busied themselves with networking and information gathering, the rest of my clones were hard at work.
I was the terrain-management clone. My job was to use World Shaping to inflate the enemy world and bring it into harmony with my own.
Acquiring Mitomok’s world had both advantages and disadvantages.
The good news was that everything matched the information I’d received. The opponent had indeed been connected to the Great Firmament. On top of that, after defeating an opponent linked to the Great Boundary in the eighth collision, I had gained the Great Boundary exploration trait, and the flow of mana had improved considerably.
The bad news was that jungle terrain was the exact opposite of desert. In short, it was a material-realm landscape with almost no flow. Life flourished in abundance, yet I was still suffering from mana depletion.
Especially since any area I hadn’t chosen for expansion couldn’t be further enlarged through divinity, only through World Shaping to increase its size.
First, I checked the Great Firmament. A vast current of air currents, humidity, and warmth blanketed the sky. It wasn’t merely an “atmosphere,” but a space that carried a more philosophical meaning of “sky.”
I inflated it to the maximum possible size with World Shaping and granted the region to Yogur-tosoth.
【Creator! This Yogur-tosoth is starving!】
“Starve, then.”
【B-but if I grow weak, who will fight in the next collision?!】
“So even after you messed up, I’m supposed to keep indulging you? How impressive. I suppose I can never punish you. Stop spouting nonsense and live on less food.”
【Hwaaaah!】
Yogur-tosoth fought on the power of meals. That wasn’t a joke. The creature genuinely grew larger and stronger just by eating.
At first, it had been nothing more than a tiny bubble floating slightly above the ground. Now, in proportion to its stats, it had grown into something resembling a cumulonimbus drifting across the sky. If I kept feeding it, it would eventually become a cataclysm that could stir storms hundreds of meters in the air.
But right now, I honestly had no Nectar to spare. The more it ate, the bigger it grew, and the bigger it grew, the more it wanted. Since I had already given Abhojuth strict orders not to hand out any more, it would probably just recover a little and stop there.
Instead, the vast amounts of Nectar taken from Yogur-tosoth were being used to restore the dead creatures.
Shuc-rimmurath was absorbing an enormous quantity of Nectar and roaming the world, carrying out repairs.
【More!】
She was as energetic as ever. As always. She devoured every living thing in Mitomok’s world, stored their genetic information, mixed it together, and kept producing new offspring.
The biology clone would handle the adjustments. Since I was the terrain clone, I only needed to look at Mitomok’s landscape… Honestly, the structure and completeness of the terrain were already extremely high. Even if I left it alone, it would make an excellent ecosystem.
Rather than touching it and causing more problems, I decided to increase the species diversity as much as possible and merge it with the Great Nature no-man’s land to turn it into an even harsher jungle.
Desert, wetland, jungle, grassland, volcano, hills—every kind of terrain was present. In the end, the foundation was still desert, but the variety of landscapes was a welcome addition.
The terrains still missing were cold tundra or snowfields, as well as more hilly and alpine regions… In other words, terrain like my homeland, the Korean Peninsula, or even the Himalayas and Andes.
There seemed to be quite a few decent mystical terrains on Mitomok’s side as well, but they were honestly uncontrollable. I didn’t know them well enough, and meddling might ruin them.
【Creator. If you grant me that region, I shall create excellent lifeforms!】
“Why don’t you finish that climate lifeform you said you’d make last time? When’s that coming out?”
【Hwaaaah!】
So I left it alone. Shuc-rimmurath would handle the practical use, connecting everything to Creamland as she roamed and releasing various types of mana.
I created several variants of the milk spirits that would live there. I hoped they would evolve on their own and become new breads. Since the breads possessed great potential, I wanted them to grow properly as mystical lifeforms.
Terrain management only required diligence. Maybe I should shift my consciousness to the biology clone.
──I am the biology-management clone. While examining the lifeforms of Mitomok’s world, I discovered something strange.
These creatures had already completed their Dessert Legion conversion?
Their digestive systems and body structures were optimized for preying on the Dessert Legion, and they had evolved to specialize in countering each species within it.
The biological completeness was so high that when I asked the Angel, she told me Mitomok had possessed a trait that allowed him to create perfect creatures. Not only that, but it was a trait that forced continuous evolution in a specific direction.
I see. So the snakes that appeared early on, and the tigers and other creatures, had all been deliberately created to oppose the Dessert Legion. If the fight had dragged on into a long war of attrition, things might have turned unfavorable.
When a player leaves, the effects of their traits disappear. If I left, all the land I had inflated with World Shaping would revert to its original state. Mitomok’s eternal curse would also vanish the moment he exited.
But why had the lifeforms here remained? Because their adaptation to the Dessert Legion wasn’t the result of a trait’s power. These creatures had naturally developed such functions.
Mitomok’s trait had merely granted him the ability to create such creatures.
Therefore, they would no longer evolve in an ideal direction on their own. But what did that matter? I was going to make them evolve.
The jungle lifeforms Mitomok had created were so complete that simply pitting them in equal survival competition with the Dessert Legion would likely allow them to adapt to the ecosystem.
However, there were few lifeforms that utilized mysticism, so I wanted to teach caramelization to the creatures here as well. I would have to ask Mihun for a method.
The fish living in the lake beneath the city were diverse in species, and there were many large, delicious, or useful lifeforms. Because they had been selectively bred to the extreme for civilization, if I let them undergo repeated evolution to regain their wild nature, these fish would become tyrants of my wetland regions.
I should also introduce the crocodiles and hippos that originally existed in my ecosystem. Giant freshwater crocodiles. And a hippo legion. Not bad, right? After all, the jungle region had been a nightmare that even modern U.S. forces couldn’t penetrate, and I was simply making it even stronger by adding mysticism.
Many of my existing Dessert Legion had already adapted to the jungle region. The breads adapted easily, and the puddings and other jelly-types had switched from Nectar to a carnivorous diet and were living well.
However, the camels had eaten and lived well at first, but the jungle didn’t suit their diet, so they returned to the Nectar springs… The flying creatures—gamchi, bats, and birds—were attempting various strategies to adapt to this ecosystem and changing in size…
In particular, there were countless individuals that had evolved specifically to hunt the enormously proliferating gum amphibians. Excellent.
Overall, it seemed I didn’t need to add new species or drive existing ones to extinction. I only needed to ensure harmony. This, too, would require one clone.
──My consciousness shifted again. I was the clone observing a group hiding in the mountains and caves of the jungle. There were quite a few of them. Roughly six hundred, it seemed. The terrain was riddled with complex caves, which explained their survival.
They were Mitomok’s race. Unlike my sugar lumps, they were tailless primates—apes. Their tremendous spirit had been impressive, but now they had fallen into a wretched state, with only a fraction surviving.
I could see traces of a legendary-grade trait still lingering on them.
They had probably created the most ideal individuals among their kind, bred them, and passed down the bloodline. In other words, the entire race had converged and evolved toward the personality Mitomok considered most ideal.
Mitomok had united his civilization not through politics or religion, but through biological instinct. And that instinct and social nature still remained.
They had not broken. Even now, they were desperately trying to survive in their homeland, crafting tools and struggling to fight back.
A group of sugar lumps approached them. Mitomok’s race had higher individual combat power, but the sugar lumps had greater numbers. Whether Mitomok’s race went extinct here or the sugar lumps were all wiped out, neither outcome was desirable.
I revealed myself before Mitomok’s race, who were stubbornly crafting slingshots in an attempt to reclaim their territory with unyielding will.
【You’ve all worked hard.】
“Huk! The Demon King!”
【That’s right. Mawang Biin. Put down the slingshots. Honestly, they pose no threat at all. They’ll just pierce through.】
Mitomok’s race wore extremely reluctant expressions. They seemed to acknowledge the truth of my words.
No matter how high their spirit, they had no choice but to accept the fact of their defeat. How bitter that must feel. Standing tall here wasn’t about upholding their pride—it was simply denying reality.
【I didn’t come here as the victor to mock you. Since you, unlike your gods, are still alive, I have a proposal.】
“What kind of proposal…?”
The one speaking as their representative was a young male. He was a heroic individual, but that was all. He wasn’t an Ascendant, nor was he unique.
【There are three options. The first is that I do nothing. The second is to send you to another world. That would essentially mean selling you to another world for money, but it would at least be more comfortable than living in this hellish place. (Truth certified) The third is to turn you into sugar lumps like the others.】
“Sugar lumps?”
【The monkey race you fought against are the sugar lumps. They, too, are the defeated of the previous battle who evolved.】
“You’re saying you’ll make us the same as them?”
【Sugar lumps are not human.】
“?”
I explained what sugar lumps were. I told them what they had originally been and what kind of evolution I had put them through to turn them into that race.
When I finished, their faces all turned deathly pale.
“Y-you’re saying you’ll turn us into beasts with lowered intelligence?!”
【I’m only saying I’ll change the direction of your intelligence.】
“We absolutely refuse!”
【Understood. I respect that. It really doesn’t matter to me. (Truth certified) As a god, I only do the minimum for intelligent beings. If you need help, call for me. I’ll change you however you wish.】
“……The fact that you’re saying this out of genuine goodwill makes it even more vicious.”
【Anyway, regardless of that, is there anyone who wants to leave their homeland and go to the civilized world? It will definitely be more livable. It’s not exactly comfortable, but… honestly, it’s better than here. (Truth certified)】
Mitomok’s race hesitated. Deeply. Tremendously. Extremely.
“We’d like to discuss it…… Is that all right?”
【Do as you please. Separate from my dislike of intelligent beings, as long as you possess intelligence, I respect you.】
I then concealed myself from their sight and eavesdropped on their conversation. They were whispering cautiously, but a god’s ears could hear everything.
The only heroic individual spoke.
“Honestly, it’s not that I don’t want to protect our homeland…… but we can’t live in this hellish place.”
“……I agree.”
“But becoming beasts that have had their intelligence stripped away and only possess language is something we absolutely refuse. Are we supposed to live like that? What meaning is there in living in our homeland that way……? It would mean deleting ‘ourselves’!”
For a moment, I fell silent.
Preserving oneself. Mitomok’s race spoke of it as if it were the most important thing in the world.
To someone like me who wanted to completely discard myself, it was…… a somewhat embarrassing thing to hear.
“So I’ll be honest. Everyone, cross over to another world. The god swore on his own existence. Of course that place will be hellish too, but if you stay here, you’ll all die eventually.”
“Y-you?”
“I’m an immortal superhuman. I’ll just stay in this world. When this world’s god is eventually defeated, even if it’s far in the future, I’ll tell that world that our race once existed—as a member of our species.”
“……”
After a long deliberation, Mitomok’s race nodded.
Spirit was, in the end, resolve. They had cut away a part of themselves—their homeland—in order to preserve who they were.
They would now live in Mihun’s world of immortal heroes. Some would become monks, others would become criminals exploited by civilized society.
Still, it was better than dying here. Except for the heroic individual who chose to stay, they all declared their intention to move. I sold the group of six hundred survivors to Mihun.
【Living alone must be lonely.】
“Demon King. My entire race has moved, correct?”
【It is certain. I asked everyone’s will and relocated them. According to my authority, the only member of your race left in this world is you. (Truth certified)】
Jumito, the last surviving heroic individual of Mitomok’s race, let out a sigh of relief at those words.
Jumito was not a legendary-grade creation like Tademoira, who had been reborn as Nyaltartep, nor did he possess remarkable stats. He was merely a heroic individual whose only trait was the absence of a lifespan limit.
But he said that was enough and chose to live here.
I didn’t know how the end of his spirit would unfold. But honestly, I was a little curious.
Would Jumito, like Tademoira, come to affirm my world and actively cooperate?
Or would he be devoured by the Dessert Desert and melt into Nectar?
I didn’t know the answer. Either way was fine.
Jumito remained in my ecosystem as the final survivor.
As a biological heretic who could neither breed nor reproduce nor die—an anomaly that could not truly be called a member of the ecosystem.