Chapter 146

In this world setting, numerous gods toyed with humans like ants.

Since they were beings superior to humans, they also possessed the various desires and emotions that mere humans had.

Amusement, malice, anger, desire...

Everything except love alone.

Such emotions occasionally erupted into wars between gods, sometimes plunging deities into eternal sleep along with the destruction of their worshippers.

"Not all gods are invincible. Anything with form can be killed,"

"Your Grace, that is a deity!"

"Listen to me carefully, Sir Leandros. There's only one reason humans can't kill gods. Because we shouldn't see them with our eyes! Because the moment we try to understand what they are, we go mad!"

Leandros was looking at him as if he were a madman.

But at that moment, what entered his vision was the red number floating above Leandros's head.

[64/70]

A number that had sometimes been 60, and sometimes 50.

But the figure 70 had never changed.

Numbers that decreased moment by moment, and a figure that remained unchanged.

A person's inherent rationality, and a world setting that eats away at and thoroughly shatters such sanity.

What that figure indicated was all too clear.

"Your Grace. You're agitated. Come to your senses!"

"I'm more lucid now than ever. Leandros, you just need to believe one thing. Just one."

"What? What on earth do I need to believe?"

"Me."

If he wouldn't believe him,

If the only protagonist of this world wouldn't believe him, a supporting character, then a bad ending was certain.

He grabbed his shoulders.

"Believe me. Believe in me, your master, and take up your sword!"

"Your Grace."

"I might be wrong, this might not be the right path! But I promise you this one thing. I will ensure that you, all of you."

"Duke Arenheit Hartmann!"

"I'll make sure all of you survive till the end."

Perhaps he couldn't guarantee it with just three deaths.

He still had no idea which ending could permanently terminate this story.

But one thing was clear,

He would take Leandros to the end of this book.

"Do you believe me?"

Leandros neither got angry nor shouted anything further.

He was looking down at him in disbelief.

Though he couldn't see what expression he was making, judging by how Leandros's eyes were becoming increasingly fierce, it seemed he was not at all pleased.

Eventually, Leandros growled in a low voice.

"If you were my nephew, I would have already hung you upside down and given your calves a severe thrashing."

"What?"

"Consider yourself fortunate that you stand before me as a duke."

"Is that something a knight escort should say? Isn't that too impertinent?"

"Isn't it Your Grace who lacks awareness as a master?"

He was really trying to match him.

Leandros pushed away his hand and said irritably.

"Even if you say a deity can kill another deity, there's only Aphoom-Zhah's incarnation here. This means we can't repel that goddess."

"Yes, I know that."

"Yet you spoke with confidence for a reason, didn't you?"

"That's because Aphoom-Zhah's only worshipper is here. Would a deity who calls himself a god just watch when his only worshipper is in danger?"

The snowman, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, tapped its feet.

"Mother of All comes. Great Aphoom-Zhah, strong. But far. Far away. Mother of All, Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young. Close. Strong."

"I know. Plus, there are the Children of Shub-Niggurath here. Each demonic beast subordinate to a deity is essentially a worshipper."

"Then this snowman... even if Aphoom-Zhah lends his power, won't it be useless?"

Leandros expressed his doubt.

But the snowman just stared at him blankly.

"Worshipper. Call deity. Summon existence to this place. Am I right?"

Descent.

Deities rarely communicated directly with humans in any form.

Instead, they only indirectly conveyed their intentions through subordinate children or revelations.

If not that, they would create incarnations by choosing one of the many forms they could take.

In other words, this meant that a deity's descent was treated as an extremely exceptional event.

At the word "descent," Leandros's face was stained with shock.

"But Your Grace, you are neither a clergyman nor a priest. How is that possible?"

"I've been thinking about it. And no matter how I think about it, this seems right."

Why had the star walker swallowed him?

Why had the merperson bitten him and taken his eye?

Why had Sleipnir craved his hair?

Why had the monster in the deep sea, which did not wake even after countless ceremonies, opened its eyes with just one of his eyeballs?

What was the significance of his blood that the star walker had dropped into the pit in the east, where it had crouched?

What value had the few strands of hair he gave to the human-faced rat?

How had the former duchess raised Arenheit, and what vessel had she prepared for the foreigner from another world?

The countless questions that came to mind every night pointed to only one answer.

The sky turned even redder.

The roar of burnt buildings collapsing all at once was heard.

Hot air was blowing from somewhere.

Everything carried the smell of sparks and ashes.

The bell rang like an angry storm,

And the cry of a goat and the sound of solid hooves were approaching.

He knelt on one knee before the snowman.

The snowman extended its hand and said.

"Disrespectful, foolish, and ungrateful worshipper."

"But I am your only worshipper."

As he took the snowman's hand, a chill that froze to the bone seeped through his palm.

The red book opened by itself and its pages turned.

At the end of the pages that turned past spells and illustrations too frightening to look in the eye, was a picture of a massive flame.

That fire had no ash, no embers, no temperature.

Just a pale blue haze that would burn eternally and immortally.

A voice whispered from the page.

-My worshipper.

The ink of the text flowed down, staining his hands black.

Ink that gushed like a waterfall spread across the floor, staining it.

At this ominous sign, Leandros tried to grab him, but it seemed as if an invisible presence was interfering.

His body temperature was dropping as if all the warmth in his body had been stolen.

-Foolish and disrespectful one, my little worshipper who frequently engages in absurd and blasphemous behavior.

The snowman was melting.

Watching the snowman turn into a mushy liquid, he realized that the cold in his palm was extending to his heart.

The incarnation that had been sent to form a connection with him was being withdrawn, and the power to be used as an incarnation...

-Receive my blessing.

The voice was reminiscent of dry snowflakes.

With that final voice, he handed over all control of his body to him.

* * *

Leandros was watching the spot where the snowman had completely melted away and Arenheit who was slowly rising from his place.

He could not guarantee that Arenheit would be alright.

He couldn't even tell what changes had occurred to Arenheit.

Every breath, every gesture was completely identical to the Arenheit he knew.

What if something had gone wrong?

When Leandros took a step towards Arenheit, he heard a sound.

-Meeeh.

A goat?

Leandros turned around.

In the middle of the smoke-filled road that was like fog, a small goat stood alone.

The goat with black fur had a small bell attached to its neck.

The goat stood still in that place.

Leandros stared back at the goat.

The goat's straight pupils contained Leandros and Arenheit behind him.

Should he retreat?

As Leandros hesitated, a youthful voice said.

"No, it's better to stay as you are than to show your back, for preparation."

"Your Grace?"

"It feels uncomfortable to be called 'Your Grace' in this body. Why not call me the Great Lord Aphoom-Zhah?"

Ah, damn it.

Leandros immediately realized what was inside His Grace.

It seemed things had turned out exactly as Arenheit had wanted, damn it.

Light footsteps stood beside him.

"Look at that. It's poised to strike us at any moment. Its children must have cried out to their mother."

"...It looks like a small goat to my eyes."

"Really? It truly looks like that to you? Human senses are something else."

Leandros observed the goat more carefully at the strangely amused voice.

Ears that didn't twitch. Yellow eyes with black straight pupils. Pointed beard. A bell made of unknown material. Clean black fur. The large shadow beneath it...

Wait. Large shadow?

Leandros had been so distracted by the smoke and flickering flames that he hadn't looked at the ground.

The goat's shadow drawn on the ground was abnormally large.

Moreover, it was... not goat-shaped.

Black, ceaselessly writhing, bubbling, continuously swelling and then tangling together and sinking, masses of shadow.

It smelled of rotten blood.

The goat bleated.

-Meeeh.

That was all.

The shadow that began to respond to that cry rose from the ground and escaped into reality.

Countless mouths, too many to count, smacked their lips and raged madly, craving beings that were not their children.

The shadow that had gained substance lunged at the two people.

Leandros instinctively embraced Arenheit and threw himself to the side.

The place where they had just been standing was completely collapsed.

The shadow, which had been chewing on stone fragments with a squelching sound, spread widely across the floor and then contracted.

It seemed that if they touched that black thing even once, not even bones would remain.

Leandros raised Arenheit and pushed him behind.

It was fortunate that there was only one person to protect.

With gratitude for Arenheit's foresight in sending Amelia and Verde out of the village in advance, Leandros warned the deity inside Arenheit.

"Stay still behind me. If you try to run, we both could be exposed to danger."

"What?"

"Didn't you understand? I said I'll hold it back, so stay still-"

"Why should I do that?"

What was he saying?

At this absurd response, Leandros almost forgot the seriousness of the situation and nearly turned around.

But regardless of Leandros's efforts, Arenheit, who had become Aphoom-Zhah's incarnation, walked out from behind him.

On his face, which seemed both indifferent and annoyed, there was no expression to speak of.

The warm and gentle brown eyes had somehow been dyed with an emotionless grayish-white.

Frost formed wherever he stepped, and the hot air changed into cold winter wind.

Aphoom-Zhah's incarnation raised his right hand toward the sky.

"This should do."

The sky?

When Leandros looked up,

He witnessed hail pouring from the dark clouds.