Chapter 13 – Traces of a Dead God

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Gods were not omnipotent.

At least the gods of the Last Comet universe were like that.

Basically everyone could do things to some extent, but they each had their own specialized domains, and the deviation in abilities was also considerable.

However, since there was not a complete lack of standards, users who played Last Comet largely classified them into the side proficient at combat and the side that was not.

The side proficient at combat was specialized in dealing with enemies.

On the contrary, the side that struggled with combat gained advantages in taking care of survivors instead.

For the most part, you could clearly classify them just by hearing their Divine Names.

The most representative example was ‘Fists Like Rocks’. Even for someone hearing it for the first time, it was a name that gave the immediate feeling of their fists being truly hard.

And I, the Godfather of Stars, Star Creation…

If I had to classify myself, it was as a non-combat type.

Feeling people’s emotions in a colorful variety was the proof.

Gods proficient at combat could not properly feel emotions other than the ones related to their domains.

Courage, fear, anger, hatred…

Emotions that seemed different from each other yet were closely related, emotions close to instincts.

To go one step further, even the senses to feel them were restricted.

Although it was only mentioned as settings in the actual game, and it was passed over with a question mark popping up inside the game, reality was different.

There were no system messages or user interfaces given to help the player.

To find out my power, I had to contemplate my own inner self.

Ordinarily I planned to put it off until the shelter was stabilized, but the moment I heard Madam Hwen’s words, I could not hesitate.

Survivors using a shield drawn with a lion as their symbol.

Madam Hwen was a dismounted knight who had once fought alongside them in the past.

“Meunt is an upright man. To think he made a deal with the Holy Mother of Stillborns…”

“Cannot you believe it even if I am the one saying it?”

“Because it is words spoken by You, I am trying my best to accept them.”

Hwen called them this.

The Lion Shield Legion.

When the country demanded military service, Hwen had served as a dismounted knight because she could not afford it financially, and thanks to that, she was able to join the Lion Shield Legion.

Hwen also added that the Lion Shield Legion was an honorable army that did not plunder the cities and villages that surrendered first, even amidst several wars.

However, I remembered them by a different name.

The Lion Shield Fanatics.

In Last Comet, they were merely a hostile group swept away by eschatology, attacking survivor groups.

“Hwen Achrat, you may pity them, but you must not hesitate to defeat them.”

“That is.”

“My Divine Name is not insight or precognition, wisdom or knowledge, but I am not so feeble as to fail to recognize the influence of a demon.”

Nevertheless, I could fully understand the reason she pitied them.

What the Holy Mother of Stillborns had to have demanded of them, and why the Lion Shield Legion accepted the deal, I could guess all of it.

However, in a situation where I had to save even a handful of time, I could not explain everything.

“I will tell you the detailed circumstances after this attack passes.”

“…I can only be grateful for the Great One’s consideration.”

Although Hwen still looked unpersuaded.

It was around the time the star was setting toward the horizon when Bartol approached.

Sitting straddled on the roof of the mill and moving my hand, I opened my mouth first at the approaching footsteps.

“Have you come out of concern for Madam Hwen?”

“Meunt is someone I have also met. I recall him being a truly rare man to find.”

I could not coldly brush off a heart worrying for others.

Furthermore, Bartol came looking for me not only due to the curiosity Madam Hwen had, but also for another reason.

I further reduced my imposing aura so that Bartol could ask questions, and softened the atmosphere.

Noticing that this was permission, Bartol asked slowly, yet with a weighty resonance.

“What did the Holy Mother of Stillborns promise Meunt?”

As always, I was not stingy with the truth.

“She promised people and took people.”

“That means…?”

The Holy Mother of Stillborns was a cunning Great Demon.

Her tolerance was directed only toward the dying and the dead. It was also the minimum qualification to have made a deal with the Holy Mother of Stillborns.

Bartol, who had been tracing his religious knowledge, soon furrowed his brow and raised his voice.

“…Is she taking the lives of other survivors as the price for preserving the lives of the legion?”

“Most of the surviving human armies were like that.”

“What do you mean by most, then the Lion Shield Legion is.”

Settings and stories regarding the Lion Shield Legion in Last Comet were brief.

However, because it left quite an impression, I remembered it.

The Legion Commander wanted to keep his duty as an honorable soldier, and as a result of failing to protect it, he became corrupted.

“Bartol, if you wished for the dead to return and embrace you, would you be able to embrace them back?”

“….”

“The Holy Mother of Stillborns made the deal knowing the fact that they could never be accepted by the living.”

And as we all knew, a person’s heart broke no matter how solid it might be.

I could not go as far as telling such a story to Hwen, who held good memories of the Lion Shield Legion.

Even more so since there was the one-in-ten-thousand chance that things unfolded differently. Although it was a truly faint possibility, I did not want to subject her to false hope unnecessarily.

Even Bartol, who heard the whole story, closed both his eyes and sighed in lamentation.

“As I thought, he is foolishly steadfast.”

Bitterness mixed with the metallic scent of blood.

Bartol had already lost his words in devastation.

Even if I did not know in detail what kind of person Meunt was, he probably had been famous for possessing popularity when the world was fine.

I deliberately spared my words until Bartol pulled himself together.

Presently, around the time the first star I made slightly touched the horizon.

I intuited that the meager, momentary rest was drawing to a close.

“Bartol, rally the people right this instant and prepare for an attack. I will try to scatter light as much as possible to block the Dark Light.”

The star was setting.

The tyrant who would not tolerate even a single faint ray of starlight was returning.

I could not just obediently be attacked. The stars inside my flesh began to revolve, drawing traces.

-Protection miracle, Comet Tail

The trace was drawn manifesting a comet descending with a long tail attached.

Unlike the barrier I used before, it was a miracle focused purely on driving away the Dark Light.

With hands shining white, I laid out the tails of comets around the mill.

Leaving only a very tiny gap.

-Protection miracle, Barrier

-Bestowal miracle, Stability

I filled the part where the light could not reach with a barrier, and even bestowed stability so it could withstand a prolonged battle.

“The Black Sun is rising! Everyone move to your assigned positions!”

“Star Creation shines upon us! Do not fall away from the light!”

As soon as Madam Hwen’s husky shout was heard, everyone ran around busily.

The children, who still could not fight or properly help, were huddled together closely beneath the light.

‘Please let us pass through safely.’

‘I hope Uncle does not get hurt.’

The people who had been repairing the barrier also took up tools instead of lacking weapons and kept vigilant of their surroundings.

Ad, who was originally a carpenter, growled after hammering nails into wooden planks.

“If they come, they are going to get pierced by nails and die!”

It was anger meant to comfort himself.

The grimy stench of a sewer.

The foul stench of fear was steadily creeping out all over the surroundings.

The last thing I had to do was exactly alleviating their fear.

Phew…

I did not have to worry about having bad breath.

Because this breath merely played the role of dispersing the fear.

“…Huh? Has the trembling in my hands lessened somewhat?”

“Inhale, phew. Good.”

With much better complexions, they headed to their respective roles with clearly opened eyes.

However, no matter how unwavering one’s courage might be, they could not stop the Black Sun’s tyranny.

Once again, the world submerged into the Dark Light.

Under a freezing darkness that lacked even a water surface, only the place where I stood and illuminated was maintaining the outlines of objects.

Amidst everything becoming crushed and scattered, I felt a gaze glaring this way.

The master of the world. The god above all gods.

[There was none among you who did not receive My grace.]

The scorching dark purple halo did not only obscure the world.

The boundary of the world melted down mushily again and spat out hideous monsters.

[Now I shall take back what I have bestowed.]

…However, it was different from before.

The number of Corpse Demons increased steeply, but they did not lunge forward.

Rather than being mindless monsters, they looked more like a pack of wolves circling their surroundings and waiting for the right time.

Have they given up?

No, that could not be the case.

There had to be a reason why the Corpse Demons were glaring at the mill while quietly leaving only footprints.

Thump-thump…

It was then that the faint sound of a pulse was heard.

Just when I wondered if someone was already paralyzed by fear right after I exhaled my breath.

“Kiyaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!”

A tearing scream resounded from the riverbank.

Crack, splash, along with the sound of wooden pieces getting smashed, Bartol’s urgent voice was heard.

“H, High-grade miracle! Sound of Thunder!”

An electric strike shot out following the arm Bartol thrust forward.

However, the shot electric strike failed to hit the opponent and bounced off.

[“Stars cannot defeat the sun. Star Creation, you must have known this as well.”]

A familiar woman’s voice echoed from the riverbank.

Skin covered with sleek slime without a single scale, prickly fins, and a human-shaped upper body attached atop it.

A monster that looked like a half-and-half mixture of a snake and a catfish tightly coiled around the woman who was doing laundry.

“Keo-eok, keok, keok…”

[“Witness the powerlessness of your god. Know that the god you believe in and rely on is also nothing but a dying one.”]

It was the Holy Mother of Stillborns.

Seeing how she even captured a hostage the moment she noticed my power was strong, it was one hundred percent certain.

Her voice was coming out borrowing the mouth of a monster.

No… she was not a monster.

At least the upper body part was a far nobler and superior existence.

“God?”

Bartol’s brief exclamation.

That explained everything.

The reason the high-grade miracle Sound of Thunder bounced off, the reason the monster could convey a Great Demon’s words.

[“Lacking the sun, what is there for you to fear?”]

The monster the Holy Mother of Stillborns created using the remains of a god hissed and licked the captured woman’s cheek.

-Punishment miracle, Sound of a Thousand Thunders

Even if it used the remains of a god, half of its torso was still impure.

The moment I realized that, I tried to wield my miracle, but…

The catfish snake monster showed the captured woman’s face and sneered.

[“Despite being powerless, you arrogantly try to save everyone.”]

“S, save…!”

[“If you are coming, come.”]

She was using her as a shield, having noticed that Sound of a Thousand Thunders was overpowered.

As if that was not enough, perhaps worried that I might resolve to sacrifice one in ten thousand chances, the catfish snake monster jumped straight into the river just like that.

“It is a trap!”

The fact that Madam Hwen’s words sounded like a scream was absolutely not a delusion.

“The Corpse Demons are still surrounding us! The moment You step away, they will storm in!”

They had set the stage quite meticulously.

It was clear they had aimed for the fact that if I fried the water with electric strikes, the captured woman would also die simultaneously.

Furthermore, the Black Sun’s Dark Light had already dyed even beneath the rippling water surface blackish.

“Move away from the water! Something keeps moving beneath the surface!”

Women running away following Bartol’s desperate instructions,

Now if I just ignored one single person, I could win easily.

That was if I turned a blind eye with the excuse that I could not help the woman drowning and dying in the water.

“Pray.”

I might be able to drive away the Dark Light with the miracles I knew, but I could not illuminate beneath the water surface dyed by the Dark Light.

“My Divine Name is Star Creation!”

There was no such thing as eternity.

Even stars faded away as time passes.

There was no need for it to shine for a long time.

“I shall illuminate the sky and even beneath the water surface containing the sky!”

Even just one second was enough!

Sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle-.

The memories engraved in people during a short period became a dust storm and headed toward the water surface.

A star that originally should have been created with the pressure of these hands was being created with the water pressure crushed by the Dark Light.

Even though it was a star that would only twinkle for barely a few seconds before disappearing.

Kiyaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!

It was a flash of light that would evaporate the flowing river water just for a brief moment.

It was the power I realized while introspecting myself just earlier.

My Divine Name was Star Creation, but there was no law that a star absolutely had to be only in the night sky.