Chapter 19 – What Settled in the Forest

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The forest near the village was bizarre.

There was a smell as if this and that were tangled together, and something that made one’s stomach turn.

However, the people who actually entered the forest were completely fine. It was a strange sensation only I was feeling.

It was ominous.

I felt certain that it was not simply a dying forest. This was the reason I hurriedly flew over as soon as I heard the scream.

The gods of Last Comet were not omnipotent.

I was also chewing over the fact that even I was no exception here while doing so.

However, when I actually went to the place where the sound was heard, what waited for me was not an attack by monsters.

A man groaning while clutching near his ankle.

Centered around the injured man, Ad and the party were gathered in a circle clicking their tongues.

“Tsk tsk, you got cut by grass. You might catch grass poison.”

“Ouch ouch ouch… Tie it slowly!”

“Making such a fuss over being cut by grass.”

As the wounded area was bound tightly with torn cloth, a wailing sound burst out.

Ad scolded him every time the man let out a moan.

Most of the children who gathered at the sound of the scream also just laughed giggling.

Only a few children, including Debra, worried while carefully raising their eyes.

“Mister… Does it hurt a lot?”

“Huh? A, no. I am just acting like this to ask you to let me rest.”

Only then did he belatedly flex his biceps, pretending to be fine.

Ad let out a scoff at that sight and stood up.

“Do not make me laugh. Acting like that after screaming loudly because it hurt.”

“Hiss. There is nothing you cannot say in front of the kids.”

Is it really fine?

Just in case, I thoroughly inspected the nearby forests, but there were no enemies.

As if Corpse Demons had passed through at one point, only a faint malice lingered.

However, the intuition felt by a god could never be ignored.

Intuition was like precognition that let you roughly guess what will happen in the future.

Although we could not reap much harvest… I judged that we should not take any more risks.

“That is enough. Return and help with the work to reorganize the shelter.”

The words I spoke were conveyed no matter where the opposing party was.

It was the same even inside a forest covered with tall, lanky trees.

“It, it is O Star Creation’s words.”

“Already? I don’t think we picked up much…”

“Isn’t He worried because you made a fuss over being cut by grass?”

“No, it really hurt, I tell you.”

Ad and the party bickered with each other but still followed my words.

The people began to transfer the harvest the children brought into baskets.

“Uncle, I brought the strawberries you mentioned!”

“Oh, mock strawberries. With this, the soup tasting like lye will at least be a bit better. Good job, Debra.”

They even brought edible mushrooms, not to mention branches used to give off scents.

The forest exploration the people led on their own initiative for the first time was quite successful.

But my gaze kept heading elsewhere.

“Are you sure you are okay? You screamed earlier.”

“Are you going to keep doing that in front of the kids? That is, well. A little. Hmm. I am telling you it is because I was a little surprised?”

“A little my foot…”

“Yes, a bit! I was a bit surprised! You happy?”

The people still bickering amidst the group packing their luggage and moving.

The man mixed in there, wrapping the cloth tightly around his ankle, did not leave my eyes.

Eventually, upon returning from the forest, I immediately met Hwen and conveyed my concerns.

“Quarantine, You say?”

I could not explain the reason otherwise.

It was too trivial of a wound to heal with my breath. The basis for needing to quarantine him was entirely my intuition. It was natural for Hwen to ponder deeply as the leader of the organization.

Even if a god said so, doubting it at least once was befitting of someone leading people.

“Quarantine him in one of the empty houses. Maintain distance and absolutely never get close.”

However, my thoughts were firm.

If we acted complacently, we did not know when we might fall into ruin.

One of the countless variables I had already experienced while playing Last Comet was rummaging through my head.

“There is a possibility a demon intervened.”

***

Last Comet was a game aiming for roguelike.

Abundant randomness, required prior knowledge and physical control, and a consistently high difficulty curve from the early to late game.

These three elements were precisely the characteristics of roguelikes that encouraged multiple playthroughs.

It meant it was an incredibly hardcore game.

Even so, due to its dark fantasy sensibility and pure gameplay fun, it enjoyed a maniacal popularity, and surprisingly many people were deeply immersed in it.

Because of this, to take pride in being a veteran in related communities, you had to clear the most difficult achievement, ‘All Slayer’, at least three times.

It was not simply a matter of pride.

Because depending on the set probability for event triggers, aside from how much the world was ruined, various situations occurred.

In the game called Last Comet, the condition to be a veteran was to quickly grasp what kind of event was happening.

It lay in the speed of noticing the so-called ‘omens’ and preparing.

The situation I was worrying about right now was the linkage and cooperation between Great Demons.

The omens had already been revealed.

The demon of the heteromorphic lineage, Omotl, appearing to help the Holy Mother of Stillborns who leads the Corpse Demon lineage.

Now it was time to pull out the sense of crisis I had folded away in a corner of my head and verify it.

The moment I was about to go down wondering if the quarantine was gradually over.

“No, I am telling you I am really fine!’

The man who said his ankle was cut by grass was jumping around wildly inside the house.

It was understandable he would be angry being treated as a sick person.

He even looked perfectly fine on the outside without any problems.

To the extent that the vigilantes guarding the house were yawning widely.

“He said there is something He needs to check. Endure it a bit. He is doing this for your own good.”

“Good my foot, haah.”

“It’s not something to sigh about. You should cry and rejoice that a god is paying attention to you.”

It was exactly at this moment that I revealed myself.

I naturally and silently approached the yawning vigilante member and patted his shoulder.

“Huh? It is already the shift change.”

“He, hey! W, we greet the Great Star Creation!”

The vigilante member, who looked back thinking the relief personnel had arrived, stiffened stiffly.

However, I did not approach to scold him.

“It might be dangerous. Step back ten more paces and keep guard of your surroundings.”

“”As You will!””

Strength entered the eyes of the vigilante members who had been sluggish until now.

I passed between them and exchanged greetings with the man who was stammering while quarantined.

“Your name is?”

“It, it is Shek.”

“Be at ease. I shall tend to your wound.”

“Is… Is it serious?”

He thought it was simply a grass cut, but seeing me come in person, it seemed he was suddenly struck with fear.

Worry and dread. A sour smell was wafting out from Shek.

“We will know once we examine it. It will be over if you lie down.”

Gulp.

Shek swallowed his saliva once and lay down flat.

It would be good if the worry ended as an unfounded fear.

It was the moment I rolled up Shek’s pant leg with a small sigh.

Bzzzt.

“A, ouch!”

“…I will loosen the bandages.”

I only rolled up the pants, but Shek, who had been completely fine until now, felt pain.

As I motioned to cut off the bandages wrapped with cloth, it was even more of a spectacle.

Even if it healed, blood scabs should still be sitting there.

However, new flesh had already sprouted on Shek’s ankle, filling the wounded area completely.

If it were simple new flesh, it would rather be fine.

It was a pale bluish-gray to the extent that blue veins looked murky purple.

Just in case, as I brought my hand close to it.

“Uwaaaaaaaah!!!”

I pressed down on Shek, who was trying to run wild as if dying, with my golden hands.

Shek was writhing his whole body while letting out a horrifying scream.

And understandably so.

Bzzzzzzt-.

Something that had been hiding under the bluish-gray flesh sprouting on the wound under the bandage until now began to move.

Something was swelling up inside the thin capillaries and climbing up his leg.

The moment I urgently tried to press it down with divine power, thinking I shouldn’t leave it be.

“Kkeu-ah, aaaaaah… Aaaaaah!!!”

From his sides, from his thighs, and even his collarbone, the bluish-gray skin spread.

I had experienced a similar symptom in the game.

I put strength into my eyes to see what is unseen.

Only then was the gruesome sight hidden beneath the perfectly fine exterior laid bare truthfully.

“Heo-keuk, keo-heuk, heok.”

Despite the gasping sounds, there were not many things I could do.

It was a flat bug similar to a bedbug.

This bug was stuck to the right atrium of his heart and was slowly melting it away.

While spewing out the eggs it harbored in all directions, that is.

Thanks to that, I quickly recalled the true identity of this atrocious bug.

Corpse Poison Bug.

It was a bug created by mixing Corpse Demon flesh and living bugs.

A monster that appeared when the Holy Mother of Stillborns and Blood-Soaked Mud worked in tandem.

“Kkeu-heu-heuk, heu-eu-euk, eu-euk.”

The moment I realized this fact, sitting within the panting breathing sounds, I felt a familiar gaze.

[Night is originally our time, so… It is a miscalculation if you thought your feeble starlight would protect your people.]

The Holy Mother of Stillborns ground her teeth fiercely and suddenly burst into laughter.

[The children who sought their way into this mother’s embrace are too many to count, after all.]

“Keo-heuk, kkeu-heu-eu-eu-euk.”

Shek was dying, turning into a bug’s nest alive.

All while his entire body was turning into a Corpse Demon.

Like this, the viciousness of the Corpse Poison Bug lay in not only being difficult to grasp, but also in digging into the heart first.

Because it moved to reproduce as a living bug, it was not classified as evil.

Because it was classified as a demon’s creation rather than life, it was free from the world’s law that it could not conceive future generations.

It was a monster intentionally created to bypass the established rules, forcing the most terrible death.

A wound was fine if you cut it out. But the heart could not be dealt with that way.

The Holy Mother of Stillborns laughed, savoring the dilemma I faced.

[They only keep leaving from your side.]

…However, I was a god.

Regardless of my original origins and abilities, I was a god who had to make the impossible possible.

If only freer manipulation had been possible. If only I could have solved it with a more creative method.

I retraced in my head the things I felt regrettable about while playing the game.

I raised my right hand amidst the mockery the Holy Mother of Stillborns sent.

The place where its tip aimed was none other than Shek’s chest.

“Shek, it might hurt more than now. Are you okay with that?”

“Heu-eu-eu, heu-eu-eu.”

Shek, who was pouring out cold sweats, could not say anything.

I accepted this silence as affirmation.

“Heu-eu-eu-eup!!!”

Shek, who had been dying, opened his eyes wide as if he were truly dying.

Stopping even his trashing, only his fingertips were barely trembling violently.

“It is good that it hurts.”

Thump thump.

With this hand, I gripped the heart that was dyed bluish-gray and slowly fading.

The heart had long lost its proper function, eaten into and parasitized by bugs.

I gathered divine power into the right hand gripping the heart.

“It ends soon.”

Crunch-.

They were words thrown while crushing the heart with the pressure that created a star.

Presently, the moment the crushed heart crumbled into golden dust.

I opened my hand once more and then clenched it, compressing that dust.

[…Your power. Your attitude.]

Like that, I created a new heart.

For the newly made heart that could not beat, I even performed the pulse in its stead with this hand.

Thump, thump.

Every time rotten blood returned to the heart, it crumbled into golden dust.

The dust crumbled like that turned into vivid red-colored blood when the heart beat again, and returned.

Thump, thump.

The Corpse Demon’s bluish-gray skin that had been overlaid on top of his flesh fell off like dead skin cells.

The Corpse Poison Bugs moving along the veins were crushed just like that and reduced to nutrients.

Thump, thump.

Presently, when I detached my hand from the created heart.

Even if Shek collapsed fainting from the pain, he was breathing.

[Seeing it so many times, now I am certain.]

The Black Sun had not risen yet.

However, the world was still thrown into darkness.

[Star Creation, your journey must end here.]

The gaze departed.

And not long after, Hwen’s shout came through.

“O Star Creation, swarms of bugs are swarming in!”

The biggest reason why newbies got annihilated in Last Comet.

It was also the reason why I had been constantly vigilant.

Night was originally a time without sunlight.

-Even if the Black Sun did not rise, demons attack.