Chapter 47 – Precognitive Dream

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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When I returned to Ranium after recovering the Elysium, there was no planned sacrifice.

It was because the monsters the Black Sun spat out were blocked by an unexpected person.

“Move! I’ll block them!”

-Imbuement miracle, Sprouting Sawteeth

Sharpness returned to the broken blade.

Even though she was weakened from lacking divine power, she hesitated not a bit to use miracles.

And then she stood in front of the rushing ghouls and Heteromorphs.

Ceciel couldn’t nonchalantly draw out sword aura like those commonly called swordmasters. Instead, she quickly struck them away one by one with concise, restrained movements.

Whether it was a ghoul toughened from drying out or a Heteromorph covered in slippery mucus, all were sliced through smoothly.

Both the rotten blood and bizarrely mixed bodily fluids were consumed by bright flames the moment they touched Ceciel.

True to being an angel, she was overwhelming against ordinary monsters.

Ceciel alone was parting the wave of swarming monsters into two.

It meant the monsters, who were bound to unconditionally attack the nearest enemy, were to the point of turning around to avoid Ceciel.

That didn’t mean the people left everything only to Ceciel either.

Above the clumsily woven obstacles, within the faint light, a familiar old veteran appeared.

“Bring more Starflowers! What are the crossbowmen doing? Shoot already!”

Was there a reason they could not use torches?

Fen was deploying Starflowers around as light sources instead of torches or braziers.

If Fen argued with his sharp, ringing voice, it couldn’t be helped.

Men holding crossbows came running breathlessly, but it was too harsh an adverse condition to aim at something.

“We can’t shoot in this state!”

“It’s all ghouls ahead of us, what nonsense are you talking about! Shoot and reload! Don’t try to kill, just delay even one!”

“F-fuck.”

Pyok pyok pyok.

The moment the drawn bowstrings returned to their places, the loaded bolts also advanced straight.

They were quite powerful as the ghouls hit by them were practically knocked head over heels.

The problem was when reloading after shooting.

“I can’t see the place to hook the string. Bring a Starflower over here!”

“No, there’s none left. They are all illuminating the surroundings of the shelter right now.”

“What’s the use of illuminating it if they break through here!”

The situation wasn’t good.

For some reason, the people couldn’t use light sources like torches.

Ceciel struggled alone and slowed down the offensive, but was it because she pushed herself too much? The number of monsters leaking to the side gradually increased.

I was vigilant on the chance that another demon laid an ambush nearby, but… it seemed the demon that attacked Ranium was only Sweeping Conch Shell.

If the Black Sun could do nothing more than just spit out monsters now, it would be thoroughly stopped.

I had also just acquired two authorities to assist me.

I made the stars within my flesh orbit.

I concentrated until the comets falling from my fingertips formed a pristine white halo.

-Exercise of rights, Fog

-Exercise of rights, Deception

Gods’ authorities became even stronger when used together than when used individually. Among them, Deception’s versatility was on the considerably strong side.

It boasted reliable, hearty soup-like performance especially for a player prone to be driven into an inferior position, whether numerically or qualitatively.

It was time to show it off.

-Exercise of authority, Fog of Mutual Destruction

When I exhaled a breath, a whitish, cloudy fog billowed out.

The fog embracing the distorted starlight of Deception was filling the surroundings of the shelter in an instant.

It didn’t take long for the damp and whitish fog to reach every nook and cranny of the alleys.

Gasp, rattle, eoheuk.

The cries of the ghouls buried in the fog rang out from everywhere.

Then shortly after, a desperate dogfight took place.

It was because the ghouls running blindly toward the living suddenly turned their claws toward other ghouls at some point.

The only exceptions were monsters of the draugr or Heteromorph lineage that still maintained their intellect.

Though it had little meaning since they were so lacking in terms of numbers, that is.

Kyaaaaaaak.

Eoheueu, eoheuk, sa, saheuheuk.

The sound of being hit by swung blades and the sound of tearing with teeth mingled together for a long time.

When even the monsters that had reached right in front of the makeshift barrier fell after destroying each other, everyone looked around with haggard complexions.

“What on earth is this fog? Have all the monsters disappeared?”

“No, I keep hearing sounds inside that fog. It’s like… they’re fighting among themselves.”

Only then did Ceciel’s sword swinging stop.

Ceciel fell back on her rear end and panted heavily.

“L-Lord Star Creation. If you were watching, a bit, earlier. Heoeok, heok.”

She grumbled right after catching her breath, but I decided to let it slide since she suffered a lot.

Despite an attack aiming for a vulnerable moment, no victims emerged.

This time, completely unrelated to authority, I exhaled a breath containing stardust and sent it to Ceciel.

“Tell me if my breath smells.”

Ceciel’s reply was only utterly bizarre.

“Th-this much divine power. In the world. There’s a reason you’re strong…”

Ceciel, who had been panting in a half-dead state just a moment ago, regained her vigor.

The shadows situated hollowly under her eyes also completely cleared away.

Although she looked exhausted, she no longer looked like an IT developer overwhelmed by overtime like before.

Rather, unable to control her surging strength, her shoulders began to twitch.

“Amazing. Really, how. I’ve never received this much divine power until now!”

There were two ways for an angel to cultivate strength: human sacrifice and receiving the grace of a god.

Since the former was an act of harming believers and was not tolerated, there was practically only one.

Perhaps Ceciel had never been specially favored. I could tell from her flickering halo.

Ceciel sprang up from her place and sparkled both her eyes.

“L… Lord Star Creation! Let’s make a church too! Star Creation Church is a bit cliché, and since originally it was the era when comets came, how about Comet Church? No, does that sound too much like the Celestial Church…”

“Is it necessary? Would there be gods willing to come under me?”

“You never know! Whether there might be a surviving god willing to come under Lord Star Creation!”

Well.

I desperately held back the negative answer tickling the back of my throat. There was no need to rain on her parade when she seemed in a good mood.

Leaving behind the excitedly blabbering Ceciel, I quietly turned my body.

As if feeling indignant, Ceciel raised her voice, but what I had to pay attention to right now was the Black Sun aloofly watching from above.

The Black Sun stared at me intently before uttering enigmatic words.

[The will to complete the world is the same, but that is why we oppose each other.]

Intuiting defeat, the Black Sun coldly abandoned his pack trapped within the fog.

The Black Sun was obediently retreating from noon and descending toward the horizon.

[For whose sake is the faith that the end shall mean completion.]

Even the dark purple aura quietly receded unlike usual.

Instead of showing the desperate struggles he had shown before, the Black Sun left a stern warning.

[One cannot view those who risk danger for their will as trivial. Overcome all remaining constraints and try challenging me.]

Of course, at the end of words complicatedly mixing mockery and cheer, contempt and respect.

[Thereby make the victory I achieve shine even brighter.]

As expected, his characteristic arrogance lay thick there.

Perhaps he was ashamed of losing and trying to save face.

…And stories related to the game’s background setting too.

And right before the Black Sun set, everything ended when the Herald Star stood up imposingly.

-Star Protection miracle, Flash of the Herald Star

The spewed starlight annihilated all monsters on the ground.

It was very clean, as if swept away with a broom, or rubbed out vigorously with an eraser.

Afterward, only crumbled dust floated around before scattering.

Only after watching all this did I turn my attention to Ceciel.

“Are you done talking?”

“Hek, heeek, hek.”

“Then let us hear the reason why you used Starflowers instead of torches.”

At those words, Ceciel glared then dropped her head abruptly.

“I will… make a church…”

“…Do as you please.”

Hwen in charge of the vigilantes and Ryugen in charge of the soldiers.

The two men respectively spoke of the phenomena they witnessed from different places.

“When the Black Sun rose, all the flames lost their light?”

“That is correct. Before, the flame itself remained even if the Dark Light shone, but the flame disappeared before the Dark Light even arrived.”

“Old man, no. If the children Bartol took care of hadn’t brought the Starflowers in time, it would have been a big trouble.”

I noticed as soon as I pieced their words together.

A flame that does not emit light. Fire that merely flickers like a shadow is called Shadow Flame (影炎).

It literally was a flame that did not illuminate the surroundings.

It was just a single effect, but a momentary lapse in brazier management caused it to burn everyone to death without them even noticing the fire spreading.

I was vigilant on what constraints were lifted by killing the Holy Mother of Stillborns… A somewhat tricky constraint was released.

“The usage of the Starflower has increased. I will make a few more flowers, so you too strive to plant them every time seeds form.”

“”As the Great One wills!””

Afterward, there was no leeway to take care of the survivors separately.

This was the reason I recovered Ceciel’s divine power.

“Ceciel, take care of the sick and patients on my behalf.”

“Umm… Isn’t it about time to sleep?”

“Do not worry since I fully replenished your divine power so that you do not need sleep.”

“….”

Angels could harbor much more divine power than humans.

If Bartol panted after using a miracle a few times, an angel would be perfectly fine even using it dozens, hundreds of times.

It was the reason for taking the difficulty of managing loyalty and using an angel.

After appeasing and coaxing Ceciel to send her to the patients, I put my hand inside my chest.

“Seeding Star, there are seeds you must spread.”

At that moment, the Seeding Star that was staying in the sky sank into the darkness.

The place where the Seeding Star newly rose was right inside my chest.

When I grabbed it with my hand and pulled it out, it twinkled the countless grains inside the entangled branches as if wondering what happened.

“We must spread more Starflowers. Please take care so they can sprout in as many shelters as possible, on their movement paths.”

The people I had to pay attention to were not only the group I was leading right now.

The people scattered across the world were also people I had to save someday.

Since the Black Sun’s constraint was released and flames could no longer be trusted blindly, something to replace them was desperately needed.

It might have been fine this time thanks to the Black Sun focusing all his attention on Ranium… but there was no way the Black Sun would rashly attempt a failed task again.

They needed a light to illuminate them even when I wasn’t there.

And the Seeding Star knew well how heavy the duty given to it was.

I reached out and stroked the Seeding Star. The light emitting from my hand directly began to dwell within the Seeding Star.

Within the conveyed light, I contained the origin and repeated selections of the Starflower. The path of evolution the flower had gone through, albeit briefly.

-Imbuement miracle, Memory Embraced by Light

“I’ll teach you about the Lard Mushroom next time.”

One of the light grains the Seeding Star embraced gradually transformed into seeds.

I watched the sight carefully, and around the time it was finally completed, I shot the Seeding Star into the sky.

Only then did the night sky I decorated come into view at a glance.

Before I knew it, the night sky that was only pitch-black was embedded with dozens of stars twinkling here and there.

Suddenly, the Black Sun’s words came to mind.

‘The will to complete the world is the same, but that is why we oppose each other.’

The Sun God wished to leave only the sun in the sky.

On the other hand, I was filling up the starless night sky once again.

What kind of shape was the world the Black Sun was trying to complete?

I became a bit curious about how he would change the world that cooled down coldly after the desired demise.

Gods neither ate nor slept.

However, this time was an exception.

At some point, I was looking at somewhere other than Ranium.

Near unpleasantly calm ripples.

The sea, which was darker than the pitch-black night sky, that was.s.