Chapter 20 – Swarm of Bugs

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The sight I faced as soon as I ran out after tending to Shek was disgusting enough to make me want to throw up.

“Wh, what is that?”

The vigilante members surrounding the house also noticed the change.

The forest that had been submerging in humus and dying was undulating.

To the point that, looking from afar, it looked as if the forest had regained its vitality and was swaying in the wind.

However, the reality was different.

All sorts of bizarre bugs that had been hiding inside rotten fallen leaves and gaunt branches were forming a swarm.

“It is Corpse Poison Bugs! Absolutely do not approach, and do not get hurt either!”

To drive away the Corpse Poison Bugs, it was necessary to maintain distance.

As soon as I gave the instruction, I revolved the stars inside my flesh.

The traces of the moving stars formed a familiar shape.

A water drop pointed at the end.

-Exercise of rights, Freshwater.

A light infinitely close to white color spewed out from my hand.

It was proof that the power had properly manifested itself.

I pointed at the river with my shining hand. Then, the flowing river water also began to brightly shine in tandem. In that state, I swung my hand making sure the stroke did not become crooked.

I had to guide the river water carefully so it would not splash out arbitrarily, so it would not harbor dissatisfaction… and protect the people.

A new tributary stretched out from the river that had been flowing like that.

Digging up the dry ground following my hand gestures, that is.

“Hwen, pull the people back! If push comes to shove, block them even if it means setting a fire!”

Worried that she might not make it in time, I called Hwen separately.

Hwen, who had been intimidated by the creepy swarm of bugs, only snapped out of it after hearing my voice.

“I, I understand. As Star Creation wills!”

Even Hwen, who said she worked in the military, is in this state.

The people who faced the swarm of bugs directly were already half-panicked and scattering in all directions.

“It is bugs! Bugs are coming!”

“There are too many… Th, this cannot be…!”

Even Bartol, who should be soothing the people, was no exception.

Although the Holy Mother of Stillborns handled bugs well, there had been no case of using them against the living.

Having a lot of knowledge as a priest, he was even more bewildered by the unexpected situation.

While hurriedly guiding the evacuation, Bartol looked at me with a gaze full of confusion.

“O Star Creation. Is it perhaps the other demon You mentioned?”

Time was too pressing to answer that question.

Because beyond the people running away throwing even their torches, the true identity of the bugs approaching while forming a dark shadow could be seen.

=Gratitude to the benevolent Mother.=

Every single bug forming the swarm was a human’s flesh and organ.

Fingers with dozens of pairs of centipede legs, pupils of clear irises with spider legs, crushed flesh approaching using thin membranes like amoebas as pseudopods.

=The grace bestowed upon your child, I shall certainly repay.=

Rumble rumble.

I moved my hands a bit faster.

I didn’t mind even if the flowing river water tore up the ground haphazardly. It was not the time to care about the ground getting smashed up right now.

Presently, the moment the moat created with river water wrapped around half the vicinity of the village.

A shadow continuously vomiting out bugs revealed itself from inside the forest.

=My brothers and sisters. Do not fear. Be embraced in Mother’s bosom.=

…It was a demon made of bugs.

It was a monster repeating the action of vomiting and swallowing the endlessly squirming bugs.

The moment that demon looked at me, the attention of the bugs that were rushing in as a swarm was also drawn this way.

=After all, a feeble starlight cannot grant life. It is right to offer everything you possess to Mother and enjoy immortal time.=

This time it was a familiar existence.

It was befitting of the demon possessing the most horrific appearance under the Holy Mother of Stillborns’ command.

That appearance was famous even in the Book of Demons, which recorded all sorts of demons.

Flowing Flesh, Huatra.

It was a guy infamous for throwing its own flesh even before Corpse Poison Bugs were created.

The reason demons introduce themselves was to instill fear into humans.

It meant they would torment you using such and such methods, so be afraid.

Flowing Flesh, Huatra was the exact opposite.

Huatra felt pity while rolling the protruding eyeballs inside its melting flesh.

=You are distancing yourself from eternal rest, fearing what is new.=

This demon was quite amicable towards the people running away.

Naturally, Huatra’s amicable appearance was not directed towards the living.

Not only the Holy Mother of Stillborns but also demons under her command never showed tolerance to the living.

If anything, the one who seemed like you could talk to them was more vicious.

I did not harbor any illusion that I could persuade the demon.

While just maintaining a standoff like this, I completed the moat.

Swoooosh-.

A tributary that began flowing vigorously following the roughly dug waterway.

It was a water current fierce enough that the moment mere bugs tried to cross it, they would be swept away and washed off just like that.

Only after the moat was completed did the people who had scattered in panic calm down.

Belatedly snapping out of it, the people were picking up the weapons they had thrown away again.

“I told you to hold your positions! Guard the torches! I am telling you to swing torches if the bugs come!”

“Yes, yes!”

“Torches. Right, bugs cannot beat fire!”

It was also thanks to Hwen yelling at the top of her lungs with veins standing out on her neck.

Encouraging the people while enduring her repulsion toward the creepy swarm of bugs played a big part.

People picked up things to swing in their hands and quickly began to gather around the torches.

But it was still too early to feel relieved.

With the moat between us, I prepared against any possible sinister tricks from the demon.

Just when I thought the brief standoff would continue for a bit.

=Old god, even that so-called great sun rises and sets, though.=

Huatra moved first.

Due to being made up of Corpse Poison Bugs, the guy lifted its endlessly squirming hand.

=Why do you wish for a mere sunken star to rise again?=

It was a familiar action.

As soon as I saw Huatra’s movement, I revolved the stars inside my flesh.

-Protection miracle, Barrier.

I surrounded the vicinity of the shelter in a circle following the shape drawn inside my body.

…I was slightly, just a very slight bit faster than Huatra swinging its arm.

Drip drop drip-.

Huatra enthusiastically pounded on the translucent membrane glowing with golden light.

And at the sight of pitch-black somethings bouncing off with thuds, the people harbored a natural question.

“St, stonethrowing?”

“Wait… N, no. That, that is not a stone!”

The stench of fear spread again.

What was pounding the barrier I had spread out right now was none other than Corpse Poison Bugs. Furthermore, it was not the appearance shown just a moment ago either.

A few observant ones swallowed dryly having noticed what shape the Corpse Poison Bugs possessed.

“Human fingers!”

I was seeing a much more bizarre sight than that.

Every time Huatra’s flesh melted down and squirmed, appendages grew and rotted away just like a fetus forming limbs.

It repeated the process of other flesh swallowing the parts that had rotted away because they were not needed like that.

Only fingers were sprouting out like sea urchins where hands should have been, wiggling about.

It was using the fingers, which were at least pointed, to pound on the barrier. What was even more horrific was the fact that these fingers were each all different.

Slender and white fingers, small and chubby fingers, fingers studded with calluses.

…Within them, I felt a feeble spirituality.

They were the people who were eaten.

It was the end of those who were eaten alive with their bodies and melted down.

=Now, stop and let my brothers go. You have suffered enough due to your stubbornness.=

Those who lost everything, melted down and mixed into flesh to flesh, and blood to blood, were in front of my eyes.

The opponent tried to conciliate, confident of its victory, but.

Hiss. No matter what, seriously.

The guys who thought anyone would be conciliated seeing that sort of sight were weird.

“Get lost.”

The stars inside my flesh revolved again, drawing a trace.

-Disaster miracle, Raging Rain Shower

Following my will, water drops began to form from all directions.

They sprang up from the damp ground, seeped out from between collapsed mud walls, and ripened even in the empty air where there was nothing.

Presently, as the water drops moved.

Swooooosh-.

Beneath the night sky without a single cloud, a rain shower flowed from side to side.

In front of the water drops spinning like a waterspout, the swarm of Corpse Poison Bugs were bounced off like real bugs.

Soaked in the raging rain shower, Huatra looked down at its own damp body and growled.

=I shall gladly dissolve into the water as you wish.=

With those words as its last, Huatra shrank like melting snow. It repeatedly broke apart and scattered following the raging rain shower.

It had some ulterior motive.

Considering the obsession the species called demons possess, there was no way it would be defeated so docilely.

“Is it… over?”

The terrified people turned their heads little by little.

Adding even a useless unnecessary remark, that was.

Those words. The moment I heard those words, I felt 100% certain it would pull some trick.

Sure enough, Huatra responded to this belief immediately.

=Pray to the benevolent Mother!=

As soon as the guy’s voice was heard, I grasped how the situation was flowing.

The chopped-up pieces of flesh were eating the water drops and swelling their sizes.

Even though it was taking damage since they contained divine power, it was holding out purely with the single-minded focus for the sake of the Holy Mother of Stillborns.

However, increasing moisture would only make my attack easier.

This dirty bug bastard.

Just shocking them once with lightning would wipe them all out in one go.

The snake of the electric strike twisted its body round and round, advancing following where the hand dyed pure white pointed.

In that state, it split into dozens of branches, hundreds of branches, and in the end, was torn into a thousand branches.

There was no hesitation against a demon.

When I clenched my hand without delay.

=The only one who will accept you is Mother alone!=

BOOM!!!!

It was a hair’s breadth difference. The pitch-black swarm stepped back from the electric storm that spread in all directions.

How?

Even if it was divided into a thousand branches, it was enough to shock bugs.

No matter how strong a demon Huatra was, it was impossible to block the rain shower and electric strike combo.

It was even giving off a burning smell.

It didn’t completely dodge it. It didn’t take zero damage either. Rather, it was close to near death.

It was certain since the malice that was clear just a moment ago became blurry.

=Or…=

Huatra, who escaped from the lightning, slowly regained its form.

Only then could I see how the guy escaped.

It was fingernails covering its entire body densely like uneven tree barks.

It covered its entire body with only fingernails like scale armor, and overlaid tree barks on top of that.

The spirituality I didn’t particularly feel due to it eating so many lives was trapped inside that swarm.

Flesh swaying with souls swirling, unable to even wail having lost their mouths.

In the center of it, a single leaf wilting into a fallen leaf was mercilessly gnawed away without rest.

I instantly noticed what that leaf was.

Elysium.

A god’s flesh as well as the paradise a god promised to their believers facing death.

=…Star Creation, can someone like you take care of even the dead?=

It was Tinting Leaf.

Being a god related to plants, it was quite highly important, and also a god possessing a certain degree of strength.

There was no way a demon would not know this ranking.

The guy revealed it assuming I wouldn’t step back now that I saw Elysium.

Only now could I see what the guy came to find me and provoke me for.

“You came to stall for time. From the very beginning.”

There was a difference in each other’s strength.

However, Flowing Flesh, Huatra came looking while knowing that it would die.

=You realized. That my mission has already been accomplished.=

While confronting and dealing with it, the star was already setting.

I intended to depart if there was time after finishing the reorganization, but it seemed the opponent had no intention of letting that happen.

Since things turned out like this, I had to absolutely wreck this one guy at least.

However, Huatra, having failed to grasp the situation, only waited with both arms wide open.

=But I too measured your strength. Old god, Star Creation. Your lightning cannot…=

It was not underwater where a demon dominated, nor were there any obstacles I needed to worry about.

It seemed it used all sorts of methods to avoid the lightning… but originally, the thing that certainly caught a bug was not an electric fly swatter.

What the starlights inside my flesh drew traces to form was a ][ shape I hadn’t used for a while.

-Punishment miracle, Crush to Death

Uniform weight was applied from both sides.

It was a pressure enough to melt even rocks.

No matter how hard the fingernails and barks were, it was a power that would crush them in a single breath leaving not even dust behind.

=…!?=

Belatedly, it noticed that it threw its body into a deadly trap.

Huatra even stopped what it was saying and squirmed to survive. Wiggling, to scatter its flesh anywhere it could, that is.

I poured in very meticulous effort so the guy wouldn’t be crushed immediately.

Pressing down firmly for quite a while with the trick of squeezing toothpaste out perfectly.

=Tsk!=

Huatra could not withstand the pressure. Seemingly intending to dismantle its body once more and reassemble it elsewhere, its body slowly collapsed.

-And I aimed for this moment.

I kicked off the ground.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw the surrounding scenery bending and being drawn into long lines.

Sound tore apart, turning into letters and lines, and eventually fell behind, unable to keep up.

Passing through all these sceneries and phenomena, the only thing properly felt was the sense of touch.

“I hate bugs.”

The moment Huatra was about to scatter, I rushed in and grabbed it right before the guy hid the Elysium.

Slippery and squirming touches like a slug.

At the center covered in bodily fluids created by tangled blood and fat, there was the gnawed leaf.

=Then, let it go.=

The reason a demon eats a god was to grow stronger.

Naturally, if they lost the god they were eating, they grew weaker.

And as for Huatra, it had been a long while since it already received shocks exceeding its abilities.

“Let it go?”

=….=

“You don’t speak very nicely.”

Just as the Corpse Poison Bugs aimed for human hearts, I also grabbed onto a part resembling the guy’s heart.

The Elysium left by Tinting Leaf, that is.

As we confronted each other for a moment, a single eyeball stealthily popped out from within the endlessly unulating flesh.

=This was how it was from the moment Mother bestowed it to me.=

“So.”

=Even if you take this, you will not be able to retrieve everything of Tinting Leaf.=

What was wrong with this way of negotiating.

Well, I noticed its bad speaking skill from when it tried to persuade earlier.

Crunch.

I broke the remains of the god that couldn’t even leave behind proper thoughts.

Huatra, which had been relying on the ruined remains of the god, could not even leave its final last words.

Along with the swarms of Corpse Poison Bugs that lost their main body.

Things that were once human crumbled into golden dust.

However, the souls that lost their reason from being gnawed away too much and suffering for too long a time only fluttered along the wind even after becoming dust.

“My Divine Name is Star Creation, creating a new sun to replace the Black Sun is my mission.”

If they became stars like this, they would only blink faintly and would not be able to shine within the Dark Light.

“I shall put both the living and the dead under the starlight.”

However, not all stars needed to be strong enough to defeat the sun either.

“Star Creation.”

I caught the fluttering nebula, compressed it, and made a star.

Flash.

It was a star so faint that if you didn’t look closely, you wouldn’t even realize it was blinking.

It was in contrast to the stars until now that shone vividly.

I could not shoot such a fragile star up with a fierce momentum like before.

Before the Black Sun rose, while the stars I made still remained in the sky over there, I raised my hand.

May you enjoy the paradise your god could not promise you, in that night sky at least.

And as I turned around after finishing the task, the traces of where I passed through remained intact. Land torn and dug out by sound, the barrier still covering the shelter, the fiercely flowing moat.

Beyond all these things, a familiar halo was visible.

The Black Sun.

The master of the world wearing the dark purple halo like a crown returned.