Chapter 50 – Surviving God

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Going through harsh times, every single book was used as firewood.

The surviving people were few, and the craftsmen who made things were even fewer than that.

Naturally, most of the techniques couldn’t even be transmitted orally and were lost entirely.

It was to the point where it was a miracle that a wagon craftsman remained in Ranium.

“When hammering, you have to properly fix the axis so it doesn’t shake.”

“Like this?”

Den managed to do it smoothly just by the wagon craftsman showing him a few times.

He drove it deeply in just a few hits while being careful so the nail wouldn’t bend or go awry.

It was to the extent that the craftsman watching beside him gave a round of applause.

“As expected, the young learn fast. He’s much better than the guy who came with him.”

“He’s smart, right? Den, is my nephew. Whatever it is, he gets used to it smoothly.”

“You should watch and learn a bit too, mister. What use are you when you’re worse than your nephew.”

Shek straightened his shoulders, feeling proud of Den.

The craftsman clicked his tongue while counting the number of nails Shek broke.

“No way, mister. You said you learned a bit of carpentry, but you’ll have to carve wood for the rest of your life.”

“No, I’m telling you this hammer is weird.”

“Even if it’s weird, you have to know how to hammer to make a living off it.”

Even while bickering with each other, they didn’t forget to teach and learn.

Knowledge and skills were the torch of human civilization.

The sense of crisis that it would just end the moment they stopped passing it on was moving them.

However, not everyone prepared for the future.

The refugees I originally led were fine, but the people who managed to reach Ranium with great difficulty were different.

“Pack our bags? What for?”

“Lord Star Creation has decided on a destination. He will head for Terjaohm. He’ll pass through Tyrium on the way.”

“Why go there!”

Shouts erupted the moment Bartol brought up the story in a soft tone.

The man sneaked a glance at his family hiding behind a pile of stones, then shook his head with an adamant attitude.

“Half the people who came to Ranium came down from the north. Naturally, we passed through Tyrium as well. It was an act of madness to go near either the river or the sea.”

“However, Lord Star Creation must head there.”

“Please… Can’t you persuade him, Priest? There were dozens of them just in the river water. I can’t even guess how many there will be in the sea!”

“Dozens?”

Bartol’s eyes, having guessed something, turned fierce.

He was usually a good-natured priest, but when it was time to act, he tended to become firm. The man hesitated for a while before letting out a deep sigh.

“The rivers in the north are swarming with monsters.”

This man wasn’t the only one talking about it.

I turned my attention away from Bartol and looked and listened everywhere.

Those who freaked out at the word of leaving Ranium were all gathering their voices into one.

“I’m telling you there are monsters!”

“I won’t even go near the river. I don’t even want to imagine what happened to the people who said they would stay there.”

“Sheesh, if you want to go, go alone!”

Before I knew my divine name, the world was the Black Sun’s exclusive stage.

It was a world that rose and set whenever the Black Sun wanted. That was the reason they couldn’t leave the shelter.

The moment the Dark Light settled, the people who set out on the road would have been eaten by monsters completely.

Nevertheless, the reason they risked danger and rushed a long way was because they were desperate.

Ceciel approached me while I was in the middle of examining the shelter’s reactions.

“Umm, Lord Star Creation. I’m sure you’re listening, but. The people who came to Ranium won’t want to go to the northern coast.”

“It seems so. But I must take them.”

“It’ll be hard to persuade the people who fled from there…”

Ceciel’s words were right.

Terjaohm was a port city west of Ranium.

However, it was located at the edge of the peninsula’s northwestern coast, and to go further west, one had to take a boat.

At least there was no reason to flee to Ranium, which was east of Terjaohm.

Unless the sea was Blood-Soaked Mud’s domain, that is.

“For now, I’ll only tell you.”

“Pardon? What is it?”

“Blood-Soaked Mud is in the sea. At the bottom of the sea, he’s capturing corpses and survivors from there and mutating them into Heteromorphs.”

“…The sea? A Great Demon? But… how?”

Ceciel’s words became incoherent.

She didn’t even notice her fluttering blonde hair poking her eyelids.

I couldn’t really expect a proper answer. Ceciel merely kept spewing out questions tinged with astonishment.

To prevent Ceciel’s confusion, I explained the deduction I had thought of since having the precognitive dream.

“Without the Sun God’s permission, a Great Demon’s main body cannot cross over directly. But it seems Great Demons not bound by form can use other methods.”

“Pardon?”

“Cooperating with the Sun God, Blood-Soaked Mud would have driven the corpses he scraped up into the seabed… and kneaded them to newly create his own flesh.”

One had to not forget that the demons were in the midst of a fierce turf war.

The reason we easily caught the Holy Mother of Stillborns was because they were disorganized. Ironically, it was an event that occurred because it was advantageous for the demons.

I did not know how much time had passed since the Sun God turned his back on the world, but I could affirm clearly.

It was not long, but it was not a short time either.

However, Blood-Soaked Mud was excessively passive.

It was an appearance contrary to the Holy Mother of Stillborns, who had to overflow with forces to actively pour out attacks.

I could roughly guess from his attitude of avoiding fights as much as possible and trying to buy time.

“Instead of focusing on human souls, he focused on the flesh, the vessel. To forge a vessel that will contain his own soul.”

He could not cross over without the Sun God’s permission.

If so, he just needed to be reborn as a creature of this world. Since a soul that discarded its flesh was not an intact main body, he would be able to ignore the Sun God’s constraints.

It was a thought that a demon trying to recreate a new ecology by mixing different organisms together would likely have.

Having spoken up to here, Ceciel also opened her eyes wide.

“Power, he considered it enough if given time to build up power…!”

What the guy was preparing was a Sacrificial Ritual on a much larger scale.

The Sacrificial Ritual, Reincarnation, that Sweeping Conch Shell shouted about so confidently, that is.

From what I saw in my precognition, it was almost completed.

That’s why he was struggling even more anxiously.

“At the very least, he intends to eat up all the survivors within his domain. If I distance myself, he will definitely attack right away. It’s the reason why no people should remain in Ranium.”

The journey took place swiftly.

Even those who said they didn’t want to go went along with faces like crying and eating mustard.

The reason was solely one, because Ceciel and I moved together.

Some people persuaded Ceciel, asking her to please stay in Ranium… but the majority of people who witnessed the angel’s death shook their heads.

Rather, they themselves personally stepped forward and shook the ones trying to stick to Ranium.

“Even angels were defeated. If it weren’t for Lord Star Creation, we would all be dead.”

“Pull yourself together, Ranium is no longer safe. Only by the Godfather of Stars’ side is it safe.”

Those who stubbornly held out saying they wouldn’t go couldn’t help it in front of reality either.

“To think I tenaciously escaped that place… Sheesh.”

“Yeah. We came here because they said an angel was here, did we come because we liked Ranium? If a god is here, following him is right.”

All of them soothed themselves and chose to join.

Thus, a group amounting to a whopping 1,276 people ended up moving.

Fortunately, thanks to the Seeding Star that went ahead working hard, we didn’t run out of food.

The Starflowers blooming in every nook and cranny illuminating the journey was also a big part.

It was the road returning to a place where vicious rumors circulated.

The flowers that pierced through the dull humus and grew seemed to comfort the inadvertently anxious people, saying it was okay.

Continuing to go like that, stories erupted among the sluggishly dragging people.

“Is that place that dangerous?”

“Don’t even mention it! The kid who said he was going to pee was swallowed whole!”

“Oh my, how did you survive.”

“If you go holding a torch and watch from a distance, there are times when the water ripples strangely. You shouldn’t go near then. It means the guys are waiting.”

It was a story perfectly suited to foster anxiety.

However, rather than being afraid, the people showed interest. It was thanks to the fact that a god and an angel being together drove away fear.

The stiffly hardened face of the person laying out his heroic tale gradually loosened up as well.

The little kids sat on the rattling wagons and dozed off peacefully.

This sight must have been very impressive to Ceciel.

While flying together with me, she fluttered her wings and got closer.

“Was the atmosphere always… like this?”

“Most times.”

“It’s only natural to be afraid.”

It was a moment I felt the angel’s different emotion.

The feeling of swallowing a greasy, thick lump of fat. Envy.

Ceciel tried her best in every way with her fellow angels but couldn’t see these expressions.

“It’s probably because you couldn’t show them a relaxed appearance.”

“Relaxed, you say.”

“Even if the person acting as a fence is having a hard time, they have to bluff with a calm appearance so others can be at ease. That’s how it is when an ignorant child looks at it.”

Ceciel, who had been nodding seriously at my words, burst into laughter.

“Lord Star Creation, aren’t you a newly born god? The way you speak sounds like a very old person.”

“Since Godfather of the Stars is also my name, it’s only natural. No one can remain a spoiled child when feeling a father’s responsibility.”

“Spoiled child, huh.”

Ceciel laughed for a long time, then started wearing a straight face again this time.

“…Lord Star Creation, you don’t need to protect all of them.”

“Exactly that.”

“Pardon?”

“I won’t act like a spoiled child taking the easy path anymore.”

The most certain path is the most difficult path.

When I spoke with such conviction, Ceciel acted capriciously.

Turning her head with a sullen expression, she mumbled completely to herself.

“…Isn’t purposely going down a difficult path also acting like a spoiled child, geez.”

They called me a young god, but she herself seemed to be a child even though she was hundreds of years old.

Of course, before the topic of age came up, I packed it down tight.

“It’s Tyrium!”

Stories of acquaintances popped out among the people.

Some were seen smiling at the thought of enjoying a long-awaited reunion while praying that the survivors who decided to stay in the city were safe.

Though Ceciel and I, who already noticed, were the exact opposite.

It was that moment when Tyrium was seen.

Stories of acquaintances pop out among the people.

Some were seen smiling at the thought of enjoying a long-awaited reunion while praying that the survivors who decided to stay in the city were safe.

Though Ceciel and I, who already noticed, were the exact opposite.

“Lord Star Creation.”

“We’re too late.”

A city where life had completely vanished.

Tyrium was a place that had already suffered Blood-Soaked Mud’s fierce attack and had all its hope taken away.

I could only hope that Pleasant Oblivion’s Elysium remained.

The day the sun was dyed black and the stars ran away from the heavens.

When the Celestial Church that failed to persuade the Sun God was tainted with madness, and the weak Church of the Cycle was busy running away, only the Armed Church resisted to the end.

Only the gods and angels with platinum halos fought alongside the human armies.

Even while foreseeing a miserable outcome, to pursue the values the Armed Church held.

The Armed Church were the first to realize the fact that they couldn’t run away from this war.

‘We must win no matter what.’

And among numerous gods, Bearing Responsibility was bestowed the most heavy mission.

Bearing Responsibility was a god who prioritized only his given responsibility, not paying attention to the disgrace of defeat.

It was exceptional even within the belligerent Armed Church, and so everyone unanimously chose him.

‘For that to happen, human souls must not be handed over. They are the keys maintaining the world and the final resource.’

‘Protect them.’

‘If you cannot protect them, kill them before handing them over to demons.’

In the night sky where stars float, beneath the bewildered starlight, pure white armor raised its foot.

“S-save.”

-BOOM!!

As the armor trampled, the human’s head was easily crushed.

The trembling physical body crumbling into golden dust was immediately after.

[Stars of the young god, pass this on to your father.]

Bearing Responsibility contained that soul within himself, and took in the ominously rippling sea in his eyes.

[Both the Black Sun and Blood-Soaked Mud are searching for survivors, so tell him I will move first.]

Rather than handing them over to a demon, he would kill them first.

Bearing Responsibility moved according to the duty given to himself.

[I cannot win leading a flock of sheep.]

The shelter where dozens of people once lived closely together had turned into desolate ruins.

Only faint embers were dimly dying out.

Bearing Responsibility stared intently at the traces of fierce life, and then.

Kwadeuk!

[That the only place they can enjoy life is inside an Elysium.]

He utterly trampled even a single ember with his foot.

Bearing Responsibility finally turned his back only after completely eliminating everything that gave off a sense of livelihood.

Only the pleas of the priest trying to change the god’s mind circled as a soundless echo.