Chapter 21 – Journey

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Quite a long time had passed since the Black Sun rose.

It had been a while since the Dark Light shined upon the whole world.

The people who were trembling violently while tightly gripping their wooden spears began to tilt their heads one by one.

“Are they t, truly not coming?”

“What happened? Why are the Corpse Demons so quiet when the Black Sun has risen?”

Even though I told them this time an attack would not come, they did not believe it.

As I sat on top of the half-collapsed windmill and plainly stared at them, they stealthily put down their weapons one by one.

“To think they were swarming in so persistently…”

“No. It is what Star Creation did. Star Creation watched over us.”

The people who had been gathered at the center of the shelter returned to their respective places.

On the other hand, I had to just sit still in order to provide light to everywhere in the shelter.

It was because I had consumed too many miracles in a short period of time.

Having no user interface to check the exact numbers was a bigger issue than I thought.

Moreover, according to the setting, Star Creation was a divine status that only existed as a single line of text.

Since it never appeared in the game, not knowing the unique miracles that only I could use was also an anxious factor.

The miracles I was using right now were universal miracles that any celestial being could use.

The universal miracles everyone used boasted excellent versatility, but compared to unique miracles, their power was absurdly lacking.

There would surely come a limit to relying solely on Sound of a Thousand Thunders one day.

Of course, it was not that my unique miracles were weak.

Since none of the divine statuses prepared for the player could stop the solo run of the Black Sun.

I could be certain.

No matter how well a god fought and how well they took care of things, they could not reach a happy ending.

My Divine Name, only Star Creation could draw out a happy ending.

It was the conclusion I had reached after seeing the All Slayer ending, which came out upon hunting all the demons and the Sun God, three times.

The end of the world I faced at the end of it all, full of dark fantasy sensibility, peculiarly remained in my mind.

That was why it seemed I ended up desiring new unique miracles even more.

I was undoubtedly a strong god, but nevertheless, there were too many enemies I had to face.

I did not even wish as far as an alliance.

It would be nice if someone could at least give me some advice, I thought, at that moment.

[…A celestial fragrance. The scent of flames of a softly burning brazier.]

A very faint smell of grass carefully lingered around the surroundings.

[Starlight that is still green. So you are a very young god.]

“Were you alive?”

It was Tinting Leaf.

Befitting a god who was once high-ranking, it seemed it was possible to converse even now that it had been eaten and had its divine status usurped.

The pantheon of [Last Comet] had large categories.

The Armed Church that trains and reveres martial arts and all sorts of combat techniques.

The Cycle Order involved in the prosperity of life, death, and natural selection.

The Celestial Church under the Sun God that ranks the stars in the sky and decides their ascension.

Here, Tinting Leaf naturally was one of the representative gods symbolizing the Cycle Order.

It was a setting that when talking about gods in charge of plants and trees, it was mentioned together with Stretching Root and Blooming Flower Bud.

However, it was also a non-combat lineage god who was absurdly weak compared to the number of its believers.

Tinting Leaf fought desperately to protect its believers but was defeated and eaten.

…This was not a setting but a memory I read the moment I usurped its divine status.

[If you saw it, your understanding should be fast.]

It was a voice scratching as if squeezing its lungs.

A feeble spirituality that wouldn’t be strange even if it died was barely holding on using its once glorious appearance as a foundation.

Tinting Leaf’s attitude reminded me of a leaf precariously hanging onto a bone-dry branch.

[There is no method to defeat the Sun God. Even if you win, you will not obtain anything.]

Both me and Tinting Leaf knew the reason why.

It was the apocalypse that could not be avoided in the All Slayer ending, let alone the normal ending of Last Comet.

It was a fact realized as a player on one side and as a god on the other.

[…I thought so, but the Sun God was exceptionally wary of the foretold final aphorism. Now that I know the reason, I shall lay down my final burden.]

“Final burden?”

[Do not focus solely on making stars. The power that even the Sun God is wary of is not merely at that level.]

I intuited it.

Tinting Leaf used its final precognition as an esteemed divine status.

The pedantic atmosphere unique to precognition was strongly exuding out.

And precognition was a power I could not use yet.

“Even one more word is desperately needed.”

[Angels. Avoid the messengers of the Celestial Order.]

This time it was not from precognition.

The mysterious and auspicious aura dispersed in billows and completely disappeared.

However, I could not just let Tinting Leaf’s words slide.

[They are tracking the gods who fled.]

There was a reason why a god who shouldn’t fight had to fight, daring to make a final resistance.

Inside the memory I read while usurping its divine status, there were angels wearing stern platinum halos.

I wondered if it might be the case, and sure enough, they existed.

“It is Serving Moon.”

It was a demon that abandoned its original origins and stuck to the side of the underground and abyss, putting forth a madness-filled goal.

Befitting an existence that was the second-in-command of the Celestial Order, it was a lunatic who still served the Sun.

They were those who believed that if they purified the world before other demons, the Sun God’s wrath would be appeased.

The annoying point was, being somewhat half-celestial beings, they took less damage from divine power.

Tinting Leaf let out a sigh of relief at my words, as if noticing I already knew many of the behind-the-scenes circumstances.

[Unlike a young god. To even know what kind of beings the Celestial Order are.]

What kind of expression would it make if I said I memorized the settings perfectly because I played the game constantly because it was fun?

Even though I myself, who had dropped into this world without realizing, was bewildered.

Tinting Leaf continued its words with a muffled voice mixed with many emotions.

[However, O Godfather of Stars who accepted all humans as godchildren, you will not be able to create a sun even if you use up your entire body.]

It was the moment I tried to refute the negative opinion it laid out.

[So, find other gods to substitute your body.]

Tinting Leaf died first before I could raise a counterargument.

[So that those who abandoned the world can make penance…]

“What if they do not wish to.”

[…Even if it means usurping them.]

“Even your brothers, You mean?”

Tinting Leaf’s conclusion was firm.

[If it is for the sake of the new sun.]

A god with fundamental roots was indeed different.

To think a conversation would be possible even if briefly, even in this state.

Still, there was a limit to everything. Tinting Leaf’s spirituality completely melted down with this conversation as its last.

Perhaps it woke up responding to my wish to find an advisor?

Since a god’s will was also a mysterious power that caused phenomena, it was plausible.

Although the rights it gained were feeble due to having ruined, the fact that it made efforts in various ways touched me.

Since it actually gave much more help than I thought.

Perhaps because it was a god who fled knowing the reason why the Sun God could not be defeated, I had no desire to blame it either.

Meanwhile, the Black Sun slowly set while only glaring without saying a word.

Vomiting out a few monsters from the shadows within the Dark Light was all it did.

It was so quiet as if the past attacks were a lie that people were rather surprised.

Among them was Ad, who volunteered to be a guard himself.

“Nothing… happened?”

“Damn it, if I knew this would happen I would have slept.”

He even grumbled while peeking his head out from the mud wall.

Looking at the people who tossed and turned in their sleep due to the fact that the Black Sun had risen, mocks directed especially towards Ad were also heard.

“Blessings follow if you believe. Tsk tsk tsk… I knew it from when he skipped worship every other day.”

“Why are your eyes so hollow? Did you toss and turn in your sleep because you could not believe Star Creation’s words?”

Voices teasing the people who missed sleeping, saying they lacked faith, echoed from everywhere.

Eventually, the mocked Ad blocked his ears and threw his body onto the water drop bed prepared for him.

“I don’t know! I am going to sleep!”

“Sleep, my foot. You have to move after the sun sets, where is the time to sleep.”

“I told you I will sleep!”

It seemed he became a laughingstock enough that even the numbers were jotted down.

Still, I was glad to see them regain the composure to throw such jokes around.

It felt like a lie that they were shaking their heads because they couldn’t sleep until just recently.

If it were a normal divine status, it would be absolutely impossible.

At this time, Bartol, who came back after taking a nap, revealed himself.

“O Star Creation.”

Looking up at me who was still atop the windmill, that was.

“Even though the Black Sun rose, the enemies did not come. Is this the harmony You achieved?”

“No.”

It was not my achievement.

It was just because the damage the demons, especially the Holy Mother of Stillborns, suffered exceeded imagination.

“The demons are in a dogfight over the souls left in the world. The Holy Mother of Stillborns merely considered that if she sent any more troops than this, she would have a problem preserving her territory.”

As I conveyed these words, a sweet and soft cupcake smell spread.

A fragrance sweet enough to make my nose tingle.

It was a hope that intense. Bartol was overwhelmed by the hope he felt and knelt down himself.

“I shall convey this joyful news to the people.”

“Do not be too optimistic. The other demons are also making their moves quickly.”

“…It is Blood-Soaked Mud You mentioned the other day.”

The fragrance faded.

Bartol was also feeling a sense of crisis from the fact that a new enemy appeared.

He already noticed that Blood-Soaked Mud and the Holy Mother of Stillborns joined hands through the Corpse Poison Bugs.

It probably meant they would stop their fight and focus this way.

But there was just one thing.

If it was Corpse Poison Bugs, they should be quite a hidden card, yet I was curious about why they were used as a throwaway card.

If it was merely to stall for time, it meant there was something possible only by stalling for time.

…While I was pondering repeatedly, a human presence was felt.

‘This way, I see a light this way!’

‘Heok, heo-eok, heok.’

‘Do not turn back! Just run!’

Inside the forest.

Corpse Demons were fiercely chasing the living.

Harboring a desperate intention that they had to catch and kill them before I noticed, that was.

However, a god could see everything around them even if it wasn’t visible to their eyes.

The traces drawn by the starlights revolving inside my flesh formed a single shape.

-Protection miracle, Barrier

Thump.

The Corpse Demons chasing the survivors were blocked by a translucent golden veil.

Grrrk, grrr-rrrk…

One Corpse Demon that failed to reduce its momentum bounced off at the speed it had been running.

At that sight, the monsters that were fiercely rushing in like rabid dogs until just a moment ago vanished in an instant.

The Corpse Demons were preemptively frightened and began to flinch and retreat.

And the moment the barrier’s light illuminated the dark forest.

“I, it is a miracle.”

“The… The god is watching! Run!”

“Heok, heo-eok. Fuck… Heo-eok, heok!”

I saw three people dashing with blood-stained capes fluttering.

The crest hidden underneath them was familiar because I had seen it several times.

A shield drawn with a lion.

The moment I saw it, I instructed the people of the shelter.

“Hwen, get up and prepare to receive the people. Bartol, prepare places for three people.”

Hwen, who was sleeping soundly, suddenly opened her eyes.

Bartol, who had been pondering deeply, also noticed the signs from my tone.

“Are they… survivors?”

He hadn’t seen anyone alive other than in the ruined city Catabria.

It was understandable for Bartol to feel a strange excitement.

However, to answer Bartol’s anticipation, the situation they were placed in was too poor.

Grrr-rrrk…

Instead of rushing in, the Corpse Demons were hovering around the vicinity.

Their plan is to distract my attention.

Since I was blocking the way approaching the barrier, they were doing that with the purpose of terrifying the survivors.

-Protection miracle, Barrier

Thump.

A Corpse Demon that was rushing in looking for an opportunity bounced off again.

“Haa, ha. Goodness. Heo-eok.”

“I… can’t. M, my heart feels like it’s going to burst.”

The speed of the survivors, who were already exhausted as much as they could be, was slowing down.

Eventually, the leader, who was checking the party’s condition, took out something from their bosom.

“O Great One! We are here!”

Click-.

The fuse is pulled.

It was the firecracker the Lion Shield Legion used when faced with an urgent crisis.

Piiiiyooooong…

The firecracker surged up like a whistling arrow and crossed the sky.

Although it was obscured by the halo of the setting Black Sun and quickly disappeared, I could immediately gauge where its location was.

Should be fine to still just spam lightning for now.

Matching my wish, the starlights inside my flesh revolved and drew a new shape.

Three branches of lightning hung beneath an elongated oval.

-Punishment miracle, Follower of the Rainstorm

Follower of the Rainstorm was a miracle specialized in providing covering fire to distant allies.

Although its power was significantly lower, it had a long range, making it very useful when you must be firmly stationed somewhere.

Rumble rumble boom.

It did not matter whether there were clouds or not. Electric strikes crashed against each other in the dry sky and struck down.

Every time Corpse Demons rushed towards the survivors, it unmistakably struck down and smashed them into dust.

The survivors who came from the Lion Shield Legion instantly knelt seeing that only their surroundings were perfectly fine.

“I am, I am not seeing illusions, right?”

“Hek, heeeek…”

The one gasping for breath and the one who fell into panic.

The one who opened his mouth on their behalf was the man who pulled the firecracker.

“We greet the celestial being.”

They desperately broke through even though the Black Sun was risen.

I could only guess that the Lion Shield Legion was placed in a not-so-good situation.