Chapter 103 - Episode 14. The Naked God (3)
Chapter 103: Episode 14. The Naked God (3)
──────
“I refuse.”
With that answer, the relationship between Jaehwan and 「Rupture」 was settled.
Yu Seolha, Rupture’s Second Commander, did not ask a second time and drew her signature weapon, the chain scythe ‘Thunder Goblin.’ For a moment it sounded as if thunder had struck somewhere, and before long, the surrounding area had turned into a zone of chains no one could move through.
Almost at the same time, Jaehwan’s Stab began as well.
As chains and sword stabs collided, a sound like the world splitting apart rang out.
After experiencing the power of Catastrophe, the Sole King, Jaehwan’s soul had grown once more. He had not yet reached the next stage after 「Hypothesis」, but Jaehwan had become able to use the power of Creation more naturally.
...If only his body had been fine.
But in his current half-dead state after causing Catastrophe to descend, he could not afford to take Yu Seolha lightly. So Jaehwan immediately pulled out his trump card.
Tzzzt.
The ability 「Rupture」 called 「Soul Erasure」.
The moment Yu Seolha noticed the distinctive aura wrapped around Dokbul, her face stiffened.
She too was a soul with a Pineal Thread. If Jaehwan’s sword happened to sever her Pineal Thread, she could end up spending the rest of her life inside the 《Tree of Illusion》.
“You’ll regret this.”
In the end, Jaehwan’s gamble succeeded, and after a little time passed, the barrier 「Rupture」 had created collapsed.
Yu Seolha disappeared. But that did not mean every problem had been solved.
Damn it.
Looking at the pitch-black darkness around him, Jaehwan let out a sigh.
The path the Sole King had made was gone. Cheongheo, Karlton, and Sirwen were nowhere to be seen either. They had probably crossed over into the 《Abyss》 before the path closed. In any case, if they had made it safely into the 《Abyss》, he would be able to meet them again. That meant now was no time to worry about others.
[If the path closes, chase the nearest light you can see. If you’re lucky, you might be able to get out into the 《Abyss》 through it. It won’t be a very pleasant experience, though.]
He had no idea what that ‘unpleasant experience’ was, but he was not in a position to be picky.
Jaehwan swam through the darkness as if drifting through water, searching for a light. Since there was not even the faintest glimmer, he could not distinguish one direction from another at all. In fact, he was not even sure whether he was really moving anywhere.
Just a little farther.
From the accumulated fatigue, his eyelids were slowly drooping shut. He knew he could not lose consciousness in a place like this, but his mind would not listen.
Then a strange sensation wrapped around Jaehwan’s body.
It felt as if his skin were being covered in tiny scales.
The air around him changed into something like a current. He felt like a fish swimming endlessly through a dark deep sea. His cheeks were opening and closing as if gills were moving there. He kept breathing as he drifted through the space around him.
Like an animal going out in search of prey.
It was then that something like a small light floated above his head. It was terribly faint and dim, but the instant Jaehwan saw it, he realized something.
I have to follow that light.
No one had told him to, but Jaehwan knew he had to do it. A judgment close to instinct. Jaehwan chased the light, and at last caught it in his mouth.
Gurgle.
Suddenly feeling as though his body were being dragged up above the surface of the water, Jaehwan writhed in pain. He wondered if this was the ‘unpleasant experience’ the Sole King had meant. Becoming a fish was certainly not pleasant. And being dragged up after biting bait, that was an experience he truly never wanted to go through again, and with that thought, Jaehwan lost consciousness.
And how much time passed after that?
Jaehwan realized that someone was calling him. Something like a small hand was gripping his collar and shaking him.
[Hey!]
A voice.
[Wake up already!]
It was a little girl’s voice.
Jaehwan slowly opened his eyes. Then he saw a crying little girl. She was barefoot and dressed in a white one-piece dress. Clinging to Jaehwan, the girl cried and shouted something over and over. Jaehwan could not make sense of this situation at all.
What?
[What do you mean, what? Is that really what you should be saying right now?]
Watching the girl fail to calm down in the slightest, Jaehwan looked troubled.
He looked around. He was still in pitch-black darkness, but unlike the path through the Abyss, this was a familiar darkness. Only after seeing the massive eye floating in the sky did Jaehwan realize that this place was inside his Unique World.
This space was his inner self.
...Then what is this girl?
It was strange.
Until now, no existence Jaehwan had not permitted had been able to set foot in his Unique World. And yet the little girl in front of him was standing there boldly, as if she were a resident of this world.
[What nonsense are you talking about? You ate me!]
Ate her?
[Yeah! So take responsibility!]
It made no sense. No matter how out of his mind he might have been, there was no way his unconscious could be so shameless as to do something awful to the little girl in front of him.
For now, Jaehwan asked this instead.
What exactly am I supposed to take responsibility for?
At that, as if she had been waiting for those words, the little girl clung to him.
[...Save them!]
What?
[Save my one and only Follower!]
* * *
Ah, my god.
Runald stared at the men before him with despairing eyes. The moment he realized something was approaching, he should have run.
They were the ones who had appeared from the rainforest of the Blue Grove Restricted Zone. Men in dark clothes with capes thrown over themselves and tattoos on their faces. They were smiling with pipes in their mouths, black smoke pouring out of them.
“You’ve got guts for a little brat, coming into our territory.”
Runald recognized who they were immediately.
The reason 〈Caspion〉’s forbidden zone was dangerous was not just because ancient gods’ Lost Ones roamed through it. For novice Vicegerents like Runald, there was a threat far more immediate than Lost Ones.
The ‘Hunters’ who roamed the forbidden zone slaughtering novice Vicegerents.
“W-Wait a second. I think there’s been some misunderstanding.”
Runald noticed that their elbows were bent at unnatural angles. Elbows grotesquely shaped like the scythes of a praying mantis.
They were Belkain’s Followers.
Belkain, the intermediate god known as the 「God of Scythes」.
His Followers were all sly and sinister, and cruel by nature as well.
Runald had heard they had recently moved their Site toward 〈Caspion〉, but never imagined it would be here, in the Blue Grove Restricted Zone.
“A misunderstanding? You broke into our area illegally, so what misunderstanding could there be?”
It was the first time he had ever heard that a forbidden zone had an owner, but now was not the time to quibble over that.
They were Hunters, and Followers of an intermediate god at that. If they found out about the situation he was in, he could be disposed of without a trace.
“What were you doing here?”
“I was just exploring a newly discovered Fishing Spot.”
Runald barely managed to think quickly.
“A Fishing Spot?”
“Yes. It’s a Fishing Spot my god and I discovered. Would you like to take a look?”
That newly discovered Fishing Spot was a place more precious than gold to Runald and Andersen. But not even gold could buy a life.
Soon the men began murmuring among themselves.
“What the hell, it really is a Fishing Spot.”
“Looks like an unconfirmed Fishing Spot. It’s a bit small, though...”
“Lord Belkain will be pleased.”
The three men examined the Fishing Spot with excited expressions.
A little while later, the one who seemed to be their leader stopped in front of Runald.
“Kid. Who else did you tell about this place?”
“I haven’t told anyone yet. Only my god and I know.”
“So that’s how it is...”
Noticing the greed flickering in the man’s eyes, Runald hurriedly opened his mouth.
“If it’s all right with you, I’ll hand this Fishing Spot over to you. My god told me to do that too!”
“Your god? Who’s the god you serve?”
“Andersen.”
“...Andersen?”
The man tilted his head, then turned to his Companions and asked,
“Hey, have any of you heard of Andersen?”
“Andersen? What’s that?”
“Some god from the sticks?”
Runald lowered his head, face reddening.
As the Vicegerent of a low-grade god, this was something he was used to. And sometimes this was actually better. If he could endure a brief moment of contempt, his safety might actually be guaranteed.
“Wait, could it be that ‘Naked Andersen’?”
Runald cursed inwardly.
“Naked Andersen?”
“Ah, right, that god who used to be high-grade and fell to low-grade. I vaguely remember hearing about her a long time ago.”
“She fell from high-grade to low-grade? Hah hah hah. Is there really anything that pathetic?”
Listening to the men’s snickering mockery, Runald quietly rose from where he was.
“Th-Then I’ll be on my way now.”
As Runald raised up the wet body of the black-haired man who had been lying behind him, he thought that at least it was a relief he had managed to salvage this man.
Even though Andersen’s presence had vanished, whether she had truly perished or not was something he could not know until this man woke up. If Andersen was safe, and if he could just get through this situation, then it was not all bad.
“Hold it.”
At the voice ringing out from behind him, the fine hairs on Runald’s body stood up.
“You need to leave that behind.”
“...Pardon?”
“Oh? Playing dumb, are you? That soul you’re carrying belongs to us now.”
Belkain’s Follower pointed directly at the naked man draped over Runald’s shoulder.
“But this man is the one I fished up...!”
“Hm? What’s this supposed to mean? This Fishing Spot belongs to Lord Belkain now. So naturally, any soul that came out of it should become a Follower of Lord Belkain, shouldn’t it?”
It was absurd beyond belief.
“Put him down and get lost, kid. You should be grateful we’re not killing you.”
Runald glanced at the man’s face hanging over his shoulder. If he lost the man like this, Runald would lose Andersen too.
Runald knew very well what became of those who were forcibly stripped of their god. They became Lost Ones, or one of the mad monsters that wandered the forbidden zone.
But greater even than that fear was this:
“Oh? You still haven’t put him down and gotten lost?”
I don’t want to lose Andersen.
The only god in the 《Abyss》 who had saved him.
Runald was Andersen’s one and only ‘Vicegerent.’
...Could he do this? He did not know.
“Well, look at this bastard.”
Runald carefully lowered the man from his shoulder. His legs were trembling, and his heart was pounding like mad. Even so, Runald took his stance.
“You’re really going to fight?”
“Right. It wouldn’t be fun if you just rolled over.”
As the men approached, cracking their fists in a threatening way, Runald shouted with all his strength.
“I’m a Vicegerent. A Vicegerent never abandons Followers of the same god.”
That was the greatest threat Runald could make.
Of course, it did not work on Belkain’s Followers.
“Wah wah, I’m a Vicegerent. Fine, then let’s have a look at that naked god’s 「Setting」.”
Runald quickly looked over the men. Fortunately, the three men before him were not Belkain’s Vicegerents.
It was fortunate that they were not Vicegerents who could draw out more than ninety percent of their god’s power, but even ordinary Followers were not to be taken lightly. Depending on their talent, Followers too could draw out anywhere from ten to as much as seventy percent of their god’s power.
In an instant, one of Belkain’s Followers rushed in and kicked Runald in the stomach. Even though he had been braced for it, it was a blow he could not block.
“What the hell? Why are you so flimsy? Are you really a Vicegerent?”
Runald rolled once across the ground and bit his lip as he rose. But before he could even stand up properly, another punch came flying in. Runald coughed out a strangled gasp.
“What the hell. You’re weak as hell. Kid, use your 「Setting」. If you don’t, you’re going to die.”
But Runald could not use his 「Setting」. His link with Andersen had been cut.
His stomach, struck by the kicks, hurt as though his intestines had been torn apart. The men’s snickering laughter rang out.
Then at some point, the kicking stopped, and he heard a voice.
“Hey, strip that bastard.”
“Strip him? Why?”
“From what I heard, Andersen’s Followers have a 「Setting」 that makes them stronger when they take their clothes off.”
“Really?”
At those words, Runald screamed.
“N-No...!”
“Hey, stay still!”
Runald’s desperate resistance was effortlessly crushed by the men’s brute strength. Trying to resist Belkain’s Followers, who possessed Enhancement-type 「Settings」, through sheer strength had been impossible from the start.
A little while later, Runald had been stripped bare like a frog with its belly exposed. Looking at Runald like that, Belkain’s Followers soon burst into loud laughter.
“We stripped him, but he didn’t get strong at all.”
“Hm, that’s strange. I heard Andersen’s Followers gain muscle mass the more they strip...”
“Maybe this is what increased? Hah hah hah!”
One of Belkain’s Followers poked Runald’s skinny arm again and again as he spoke. Tears streamed endlessly down Runald’s cheeks.
When had he ever suffered humiliation like this? No matter that the 《Abyss》 was a world where the strong preyed on the weak, no matter that he was the Vicegerent of a low-grade god, wasn’t this too cruel...?
Then, after exchanging meaningful looks, the men spoke up.
“It’d be a waste to kill them like this. Wouldn’t it be better to take them with us? It’s hard finding 「Followers」 these days.”
“Well, that wouldn’t be so bad.”
“Hmm, right. Kid. Perform God Severance. Then we’ll let you live.”
God Severance. They were telling him to abandon his god.
Runald flung off the men’s hands with all his strength and stood up.
Betray his god?
The reason Runald had been able to survive in this damned 《Abyss》 was because Andersen had shown him a warm Unique World like something out of a fairy tale.
Runald was young, but still old enough to decide for himself what sort of world he would live in.
“I... I won’t betray Andersen.”
At that tearful but desperate cry, Belkain’s Followers let out scornful laughs.
“That god sure trained her Vicegerent well.”
“Then I guess we’ll have to put him in a state where he wants to perform God Severance on his own.”
The Belkain Follower who had thrown off the cape gave a sharp puff into the pipe. Smoke from the pipe slowly seeped into the forearm, and from the elbow, a dangerous black blade sprang out.
Runald recognized it as Belkain’s 「Setting」.
「Belkain’s Scythe」.
It was the representative 「Setting」 symbolizing the intermediate god Belkain. Since it was simply an application of the most common Enhancement-type 「Settings」, ‘Strength Enhancement’ and ‘Skin Enhancement,’ it was hard to call it an especially exceptional 「Setting」, but for Runald as he was now, it was more than enough of a threat.
Slash.
With a single blow filled with World Force, the surrounding terrain was sliced apart in an instant. Runald shut his eyes. If he were to die here, maybe that would not be such a bad thing.
If there was one regret, it was that he would die without seeing Andersen’s face. If only he had been a stronger Vicegerent, he might have been able to see her face.
Andersen.
Bracing himself for the pain that would soon come, Runald curled himself up as tightly as he could.
But... why? Even after a long time passed, he felt no pain. When he cautiously opened his eyes, Runald saw something he simply could not believe.
He heard the Belkain Followers shouting in terror.
“Wh-What? What the hell is that?!”
Kwakwakwakwakwa.
“Gaaah!”
As the forests of the Blue Grove Restricted Zone exploded apart, the Belkain Follower who had been charging in was sent flying naked with a thunderous roar.
“Who the hell is that, kill him!”
The Belkain Followers went flying one after another the moment they charged.
Before their horrified eyes stood a naked man without a single scrap covering him. Muscles bulged all over his body as if they were about to burst.
Runald immediately recognized what 「Setting」 those muscles contained.
Naked.
It was unmistakably 「Naked」, Andersen’s 「Setting」 that made one stronger the more clothes one shed.
Runald staggered to his feet. Could this be a dream? One of those absurd dreams that only appeared in the fairy tales Andersen-nim used to tell?
Even while thinking that, Runald could not take his eyes off the man’s face. World Force was radiating brilliantly from the man’s entire body.
If he did not call that person a god, then what else could he possibly call him?
The man’s face was not what Runald had imagined, but even so, it resembled the appearance of the Naked God from the story Andersen had once told him.
Back then, Andersen had said:
[What? You’re curious where ‘Naked’ came from? Hmm, that’s a problem. Actually, it isn’t my own Personal 「Setting」.]
“Then what is it?”
[I got it from someone too. Some eccentric god. One of the ancient gods, a very strong and powerful one.]
“An eccentric? What kind of god was it?”
[Violent and merciless. It especially hated this thing called ‘clothes.’ It was a naturalist who believed beauty resided in nudity. No one could wear clothes in front of it. Everyone would grab their clothes and run for their lives. Whenever it appeared, screams would ring out all over the place, ‘The Naked God has appeared!’]
Runald briefly wondered whether ‘clothes’ might be a metaphor for something, but then shook his head hard and asked back,
“Isn’t that just a plain pervert?”
[It’s hard to dismiss it that simply. It had its own philosophy, after all. That things like clothes were nothing but cumbersome hypocrisy and pretense. That what truly matters only barely begins after you strip everything away...]
What truly matters only barely begins after you strip everything away.
Back then, Runald had not been able to understand what those words meant. But now, Runald felt like he finally understood a little.
Because something had just begun inside him as well.
The Naked God was standing right in front of him.
After instantly crushing Belkain’s Followers, the 「Naked God」 looked over his body and muttered,
“Back in 《Chaos》, I at least had some rags on, but here I’m starting completely bare.”
After grumbling for quite a while, the man rolled both shoulders with a creak, loosening up, and only then seemed to remember something and turned toward Runald.
“You the 「Follower」 of that girl Andersen?”
The man opened his mouth toward Runald in an irritated voice.
“Do me a favor and get this brat out of my head.”
Footnotes:
Chapter discussion