Chapter 76 – Worries and Anxieties

===================

Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

In [Last Comet], the demons’ home, the underground and the abyss, were close to a kind of MacGuffin.

The underground and the abyss were nothing more or less than a background setting prepared to progress the game.

There was no need for the player, who was simply in the position of killing demons, to dig into it.

In the first place, the world was on the verge of destruction, so there was a strong feeling of ‘why should I care about another world?’

However, one thing was certain: starlight couldn’t reach there.

In a worldview where a god ascended to heaven, became a star, and shone upon the world, a place where starlight could not reach.

That was the underground and the abyss, and among them, the underground was much more dangerous.

The demons of the underground were different from the demons of the abyss, who could freely come and go only when there was Dark Light emitted by the Black Sun.

They dug through the darkness without starlight without receiving the sun’s permission.

Monsters specialized in moving stealthily, avoiding the influence of gods.

Because of the fatal weakness that they had to reveal themselves when attacking, normal monsters were relatively safe, but…

…If it was a demon that ate an Elysium, the danger was beyond imagination.

Thump, thump, thump.

The plaza, which was being supported by groundwater, slowly began to sink.

It wasn’t because my power weakened. Purely, the groundwater was decreasing.

And the enemies did not miss this moment.

The earth was splitting from all directions centering on the collapsing plaza.

A bizarre sound was heard from below.

Craaack, cruuunch.

It was the sound heard when a Fallen Dragon dug through the earth.

People screamed as they awkwardly ran away to avoid the collapsing chunks of land.

“Uh, uuuuuh!”

“I-It’s coming! The ground is splitting!”

“Mom, Mom!”

Here, for the first time, I felt relieved that I had angels by my side.

“Ceciel, Anniel! Cover the people! Transport those who are falling behind!”

If you were willing to endure sacrifices, killing demons was easy.

Even alone, I could challenge the Sun God and win.

Because if the goal was to defeat the enemy in the shortest period of time, both angels and humans were nothing more than buying time.

However, my goal lay elsewhere.

Killing was merely a means.

The goal of this journey was to forever eliminate the root cause that threatened the people.

“Anniel, I’ll block the dragons, so move the slow ones first!”

“Do not be afraid, stars upon the earth! We are the starlight of heaven that will guide you to victory!”

Ceciel swinging her sword against the dragons waiting for a chance, and Anniel carrying people while flapping her wings without rest.

Just by the two angels flying around, people escaped from panic.

Thanks to that, I bought time to think.

Then, the bizarre behavior shown by the Fallen Dragons caught my eye.

The dragons, reduced to monsters of the underground, were unusually reluctant to attack and were backing away from Ceciel.

Watching that sight, Ceciel flapped her wings and straightened her shoulders.

“Look at this, the dragons are afraid of my blade!”

“Ceciel-nim… if you have some leeway, please help.”

Ceciel thought the dragons were scared, but it wasn’t a matter to consider so simply.

Fallen Dragons swallowed warm-blooded creatures alive and chewed their victims thoroughly with awl-like teeth grown inside their long bodies to suck out warm bodily fluids.

Apart from their cruelty, they lacked patience and intelligence, so in most cases, they ran wild violently when prey was in front of them.

Such guys stopped attacking all at once and were inducing a collapse by eating the ground?

Instantly, I remembered the purpose of this raid that I had already realized.

“Ceciel! Check if there’s anyone crushed in the cracks of the collapsed ground!”

“Yes? Yes, yes!”

And the suspicion quickly turned into certainty.

Not long after Ceciel started searching, she pulled out a man.

“S-Star Creation-nim! There was really a person underneath!”

The rescued man’s entire body was battered, as if he had been swept away when the plaza collapsed.

Bruises spread thickly everywhere, and dust-covered blood flowed out from between peeled skin.

Ceciel couldn’t help but be restless even though she was the one hugging him.

“U-What do we do? If he died in the underground, he wouldn’t even be able to go to Elysium.”

It was a wound that even a renowned doctor would click their tongue at and send back.

Even an angel was doubting his survival, so that said it all.

Ceciel slowly began to emit guilt, wondering if he lost his life because she didn’t do her job properly.

But from a god’s perspective, the man was still alive.

Even if he was breathing a little less.

“He is still alive. As long as he hasn’t been dragged away by a contract, I can retrieve him, so don’t worry.”

“…Yes!”

Only then did she step back in relief to the rear where Anniel was.

Befitting the general image of an angel, she seemed fierce but had a fundamentally mild personality.

Although she might fall behind in combat power, she was sufficient to take care of the people.

In my heart, I wanted to go down to the underground myself, but if I did that, the surface would become defenseless.

What the opponent was aiming for was clear.

If I had seen the demon down there directly, I would have realized whose authority it was right away…!

I had to make a choice.

Did I go down to the underground myself to catch the fleeing enemy and risk a match, or did I drive the enemy away from here and save innocent lives?

“Even if you are beasts without eyes, I will show you a light you can clearly see.”

As soon as I made the decision, golden dust began to gather at my fingertips.

Dust harboring the possibility of becoming stars, fragments of human memories and souls.

With this, I created a star to illuminate the pitch-black underground for a moment.

The golden-colored nebula seeped through the cracks in the split earth according to my will, slowly intertwining into one to form a round sphere.

Of course, the birth of a newborn star inevitably accompanied tremendous high heat.

Bubble, bubble, bubble…

I even added friendly lip service towards the unseen enemy.

“And no matter how much of a beast you are, boil your water before drinking.”

Facing a moment of choice once again, I chose the latter.

***

The opaque glass, full of fine cracks, was shattering.

The earth was too weak before the steam erupting with a momentum much fiercer than an active volcano.

Both the leaf mold piled up layer by layer and the road tiles laid down by splitting them finely.

Faced with the shock that even smashed rocks into sand in an instant, flesh couldn’t possibly remain intact.

Cooling Breath only shrieked bizarrely, overwhelmed by the illusion the Sun God showed.

[My kin, my kin!]

The ends waiting for the Fallen Dragons were identically terrible.

A light intense enough to make even degenerated optic nerves writhe in pain filled the underground.

Boiling steam spread like flames along the created caves, and soon after, a fierce explosion swept over the dragons.

It was an explosion that couldn’t be endured with their smooth bodies devoid of scales.

Rather, the dragons that were swept away by the shock and burst had less pain.

Even if they barely escaped the explosion, they couldn’t escape the immense heat.

Grrrrrrr.

The dragons twisted their bodies and howled in pain.

Blisters caught from burns repeatedly swelled and popped dozens of times in a matter of seconds.

The hot air breathed in to breathe scraped the stomach walls roughly, making them stained with bloody pus.

Like that, they met their deaths after turning all their bodily fluids into bloody pus and spilling it out.

The only exception was one dragon that had eaten an Elysium.

=Dragon God, I will retreat. …I can see starlight.=

Broken Wing, Azure Scale.

It was a demon that Cooling Breath cherished enough to bestow even the Extending Root, the main god level of the Church of the Cycle.

It even made many preparations so Star Creation wouldn’t notice its true identity and attack.

Although it never thought a huge crater would be created from an explosion.

It was an explosion massive enough that starlight reached all the way down where Azure Scale was hiding.

Of course, it was a sight often seen when continuing the fights mortals called myths.

However, except for the dragon that went mad with grief over losing its kin, the Great Demons shuddered at something else.

[A Divine Name that should have stayed in heaven, even if he was an ignorant maggot. That strength brought both displeasure and acceptance.]

[There was almost no preparation. He doesn’t even look tired producing that much power. Far from looking tired, he’s rather wary of us.]

Above all, what the Dream-Shedding Eye carefully observed was his subsequent coping.

As soon as the demons noticed their defeat and retreated, Star Creation came down to the ground and was checking on the injured.

Even roughly grasping the purpose of this raid.

Seeing him separately gather those with an X-shaped mark carved on their foreheads made it certain.

[To think he even knows how my contract is made.]

The plan proposed by the Sun God was fatal.

While the Fallen Dragons rampaged and dropped people into the underground where starlight couldn’t reach, the Dream-Shedding Eye would drag the sacrificial lambs exposed to danger into nightmares.

And while the Fallen Dragons bought time, the succubi would seize the victims’ bodies and plot for the future.

Making it easy to cause discord while gathering survivors.

[It’s just a shame I missed the opportunity to guide them to the right teachings.]

But as Star Creation coped, the part where Serving Moon could play an active role was also missed.

Once the infiltrated succubi created conflict, Serving Moon would completely divide the survivors by conveying the Sun God’s revelation instead.

The ones serving the Sun God would commit suicide all at once, creating a gap in the defense, and spread fear and faith.

By eliminating the reason for survivors to tenaciously survive even in this situation.

-With the sweet words that there is a way to go to the Sun God’s Elysium, true salvation in this tribulation.

Serving Moon praised repeatedly, clicking his tongue at this meticulous plan.

And the Dream-Shedding Eye was disgusted by the endless malice that even it dared not guess.

However, no matter how good a plan was, it was meaningless if it could not be achieved.

The Sun God, who had kept his silence, revealed his cold anger towards the dragons.

[Then and now, you are a completely unhelpful bunch.]

The Sun God didn’t seem to have any intention of backing down here.

The five-colored feathered cloak undulated again, and the green obsidians studded everywhere on the golden armor sparkled.

The anomaly occurred at that moment.

<<>>

Claaang-!

Blue shining chains appeared in midair and bound the Sun God.

The chains covered him with the momentum to crush the green obsidians, and buzzed fiercely as they dug between the feathered cloak.

The Sun God struggled to move his body covered in blue chains and sighed.

[Even though the second constraint was broken, I still cannot step forward?]

The reason the Sun God had become impatient was revealed once again.

Star Creation was growing stronger too fast.

Much faster than the Sun God’s power was recovering.

In his heart, he wanted to descend right now and trample him, but the Sun God knew his own and the Great Demons’ limits too well.

[Retreat. I will not tolerate seeing you hand over Elysiums while trying some foolish tricks, even if I die.]

[But oh Sun. If you are not free-]

[I do not trust you. Without my command, you incompetent fools would have only repeatedly slaughtered each other until you finally brought the antagonist before me. Things that must try in every way just to find use. That is what you are.]

It was obvious that demons he didn’t command directly would just hand over Elysiums like a disorganized rabble.