Chapter 119 - Episode 18. God Without a Vicegerent (1)
Chapter 119: Episode 18. God Without a Vicegerent (1)
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“Metaverse. A dumping ground for gods.”
―Ethan Cart
* * *
“Made it to the sixth floor!”
[The God of Flames ‘Ignis’ greets Rene!]
[The God of Flash ‘Rayray’ greets Rene!]
“Hello, hello! It’s great to see you all. Riha!”
Rene smiled brightly at the drone camera, flashing a V-sign. Unlike before, she wore a black combat suit.
[The God of Flames ‘Ignis’ says your new outfit is pretty.]
“Oh, this? It’s a new skin. I managed to pull one. This isn’t a promotion or anything, I bought it with my own money!”
[The God of Flash ‘Rayray’ asks for the skin’s name.]
“The skin’s name? It’s ‘Moonlit Sage Yu Sangah’! I pulled it from this <Star Stream> collaboration gacha draw. Pretty, right?”
[The God of Flash ‘Rayray’ grumbles that they pulled one too, but only got ‘Bicycle Thief Han Myeongoh’.]
“I got twenty copies of that one too, and I couldn’t even throw them away. What a pain. All right, enough chatter. Let’s start today’s stream!”
Rene threw both arms wide, and the drone filming her pulled back, showing a wide shot centered on her.
An old-version 〈Metaverse〉 cityscape where ruins stretched as far as the eye could see.
“Rene has finally reached the sixth floor, brimming with fighting spirit!”
[The God of Spelling ‘Grammar’ says you mean renewed determination, not brimming with fighting spirit.]
[The God of Flash ‘Rayray’ asks how you even made it to the sixth floor.]
“How else? Through tremendous effort! Do you know how hard it was to get here?”
[The God of Wisdom ‘Hikmatun’ is certain you bought a ‘Unique High Pass’.]
[The God of Flames ‘Ignis’ asks why you even came to the sixth floor.]
“Come on, where would I get that kind of money? Ahem. Anyway, the reason I came here is because of that beginner we saw in the last stream. You all remember him, right?”
[The God of Flash ‘Rayray’ asks if you mean that naked man.]
“Yes, yes, that very beginner! The hot topic who’s practically paralyzed 〈Metaverse〉 and 《Little Brother》 over the past two days!”
Rene lightly snapped her fingers. The broadcast screen changed, displaying a list of popular videos on 《Little Brother》.
―Naked Stab Goes Viral, Belkain’s Squadron Completely Crushed [HOT]
―Metaverse’s First-Floor Ceiling Collapses, Great Rupture Occurs for the First Time in 700 Years [HOT]
―Metaverse, Round 2,971: The Identity of the Naked Stab Man?! [HOT]
Many of the thumbnails combined a mosaic-censored image of the naked man stabbing with Rene’s face, her hands pressed to her cheeks as though startled.
Rene clicked her tongue.
“Seriously, they used my face so freely without any portrait rights. Anyway! The reason I came here is because of that beginner! I tracked him down!”
As [LIVE] appeared on the broadcast, her stream began in earnest.
―Special Feature! Searching for the Infamous ‘Naked Stab Man.’
[‘Anonymous God 32’ asks how you found him.]
“I splurged a little with the donations you all sent.”
Rene shrugged, shaded her eyes with one hand, and began scanning the area.
“More importantly, our beginner came to quite an unusual Worldview. As you all know, the sixth floor of the Metaverse mixes old-version maps together. From what I can see, this is…”
[The God of Flames ‘Ignis’ asks if this isn’t the world where that Doll pervert lives.]
“A Doll pervert? Ah, it looks like Puppy No. 1 found our beginner!”
“Puppy” was the nickname for her drones. Each was a top-of-the-line Part worth more than three thousand trust. Her supporters had gifted them to Rene because she kept breaking every machine she touched.
A moment later, the view from Puppy No. 1 appeared on the broadcast screen.
A distant village could still only be seen dimly.
Far away, Jaehwan and Runald came into view as they headed somewhere.
“Oh? They’re going into a temple. Our beginner must be more devout than he looks.”
A moment later, the temple exploded and collapsed.
* * *
Ethan Cart.
One of the current Six Gods of 〈Metaverse〉, the first Creator of Dolls.
The God Without a Vicegerent.
Some called Ethan the King of Crows.
Vicegerents afraid of being collected as Ethan’s Dolls would deliberately choose other maps to climb the Tower, just to avoid encountering the group Ethan belonged to.
That had all been five hundred years ago.
Andersen’s revolution failed, and the gods who had belonged to Andersen’s group were either purged by the Alliance or scattered to the winds.
Ethan had been the sole exception.
Some said it was because Ethan betrayed Andersen. Others claimed the Alliance found Ethan’s skills useful.
What was certain was that, whatever the reason Ethan had survived, Ethan remained one of the strongest gods in 〈Metaverse〉. Unlike the other gods who had fallen into ruin, Ethan still retained the power of a high-grade god.
“Ghk…”
And now, Ethan was being threatened by an unidentified naked man.
“Wait! Stop, Andersen!”
Andersen showed no sign of stopping.
More precisely, Andersen’s Vicegerent did not.
Ethan gritted teeth and focused on the scene ahead. Fragments of the temple roof flew about chaotically. The pressure of the wind alone made it clear.
The World Force gathered around that dark sword point was comparable to the main Settings of a high-grade god.
Ethan’s expression hardened while calmly gathering World Force.
“That isn’t Andersen’s Setting.”
Ethan was a god of the 《Abyss》 who had lived for nearly two thousand years. Ethan had lost Followers too many times to count and endured several crises that threatened even Ethan’s concept. The man’s presence was formidable, but this was not the first time Ethan had seen a Setting with such power.
“Impressive, but it seems to be a Setting that hasn’t been fully refined yet.”
The man did not answer, simply aiming at Ethan as though waiting for something.
Once the villagers had finished evacuating from the temple, the man’s presence surged even higher, as if he had been waiting for exactly that.
He waited for all the Dolls to get out?
An intrigued smile appeared on Ethan’s lips.
Interesting.
Ethan began raising World Force as well.
A terrifying collision of World Pressure, strong enough to shake the foundations of buildings that had stood for centuries. It had been hundreds of years since Ethan had fought such a pure battle of World Force.
“Come.”
If the opponent was serious, it would not hurt to entertain him for a moment. With a Setting like that, Ethan too could answer with World Force alone…
Rumble.
Something was wrong.
A sphere of condensed World Force rotated around the man’s sword edge, where Ethan had expected an immediate Stab.
The spheres increased one by one, as though he were charging World Force.
One shot, two shots, three shots, four shots.
That was still manageable.
But once the charge exceeded five shots, Ethan’s expression changed.
“Wait.”
Six shots.
“I said, wait…”
Seven shots.
Even Ethan would not emerge unharmed from a direct hit by such intensely concentrated World Force. The warning bells ringing in Ethan’s ears and the man’s sword erupting in flames happened almost at once.
The condensed Stab tore through the entire space as it surged forward.
Ethan instinctively called upon the Raven Armor Setting.
「Raven Armor」
The crow circling above Ethan’s head rapidly expanded and covered Ethan’s entire body. Soon, it transformed into a suit of black full-plate armor.
Kwooooooong!
The World Force that carved a path through the ruined sky and twisted the terrain and space itself swept over Ethan’s entire body. How many steps had Ethan staggered back under that pressure?
The World Force, surging like a vast sea, finally ceased.
A cloud of dust billowed up.
Within it stood the man who had split everything from the temple to the village in two.
Just as Ethan was about to speak with mild irritation…
Crack.
With a sound of something breaking, the helmet protecting Ethan’s face split apart. The Raven Armor had failed to withstand the impact.
A gust of wind swept past and stirred Ethan’s hair.
Ethan looked down at the shattered helmet and asked, “What is your name?”
The man replied, “Jaehwan.”
“Jaehwan, written as calamity?”
Ethan murmured that name repeatedly, almost as if committing it to memory.
[Be careful. Ethan rarely asks a Follower’s name.]
Ethan slowly looked up and turned this way.
[The only time that bastard bothers asking someone’s name is when he wants to turn them into one of his Dolls.]
As if to prove Andersen right, Ethan stepped forward and smiled.
“You brought an impressive Vicegerent, Andersen.”
“I’m not a Vicegerent.”
“You’re not a Vicegerent?”
Ethan’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.
“Then what are you?”
Jaehwan thought for a moment.
He was not Andersen’s Vicegerent, and Andersen was not his god.
Then what kind of relationship did they have? The answer came quickly.
“I’m that bastard’s Companion.”
Companion.
It had been a long time since he had spoken that word. He had lost it in the 《Tower of Nightmares》, then forgotten it in 《Chaos》. Even Jaehwan did not know why it had suddenly come to mind.
Yet Ethan’s expression became strange after hearing him.
“Andersen.”
An ominous aura spread across the ground around Ethan, like dark-red veins extending their reach.
“Do you still have any Companions left?”
Ethan spoke through Rachel Young’s face. A cold gleam rose in Ethan’s eyes.
“Didn’t all your Companions die on this ‘battlefield’ five hundred years ago?”
It was impossible to know why Ethan’s attitude had suddenly changed.
What was certain was that Ethan was angry at Jaehwan’s words.
Slash.
Ethan’s hand swept through the air.
Jaehwan lightly swung Dokbul and blocked the attack. Yet the slash his sword failed to stop flew onward and cut through the temple wall.
The main prayer hall collapsed with a thunderous roar. Beyond the wreckage lay a half-destroyed corridor.
A corridor where statues had been displayed.
Ethan looked at the broken statues through the dust.
Justice and the Vicegerent, Illium.
“Every one of your Companions, without a single one left behind.”
Arteina and their Vicegerent, Yuben.
“Died.”
Andersen and her Vicegerent… Rachel Young.
Like a child who had destroyed a carefully built sandcastle, Ethan smiled broadly, face pale, and trampled the statues of those ruined Companions underfoot in contempt.
[That bastard was crazy five hundred years ago, and he’s still crazy now.]
Crazy.
That was certainly how it looked on the surface.
But Jaehwan could tell. This was not madness. Ethan was only pretending to be mad.
The proof was the villagers who had evacuated far away from the temple.
If the villagers were truly nothing but Dolls, this god called Ethan would have left them to whatever fate awaited them. Yet the first thing Ethan did when Jaehwan’s Stab erupted was protect them.
“Making Dolls and forcing them to offer fake prayers will not bring back a vanished world.”
The eyes of the faintly smiling girl.
“These prayers…”
For some reason, Jaehwan thought those eyes were beautiful in that moment.
“Were once all real.”
Perhaps it was because he had seen eyes like theirs long ago.
―Someday, everyone will call it a lie, right?
In his faint memories, there was a woman who had said that.
―The Tower appeared, and humanity faced extinction. Who would believe it? Everything that happened to us.
―It does sound like something straight out of a novel.
Yoonhwan said that to the grumbling woman.
―Still, you’re not the only one who remembers.
―You aren’t going to clear the Tower and then pretend you don’t know me, right?
―You’re not planning to do that to us, are you, Seoyul?
Yoonhwan and Seoyul, who had laughed and chatted like that, had probably forgotten all those memories by now. Jaehwan was the only one who had preserved the memories of the tutorial cultivation intact, because he had reached the end of the Tower.
The days when they climbed the Tower with their lives on the line, fighting to protect the present where everyone had regressed.
Those days had now become something that had never existed in the world.
“You will not understand. It is not something a mere human can understand.”
Just as Jaehwan remembered those days, if Ethan too had been unable to forget that time even after five hundred years had passed…
If that was why Ethan could not leave this world behind…
“But if you truly are Andersen’s Companion, prove it.”
World Pressure unlike anything before crushed the surrounding area.
Jaehwan spoke to Runald, who had remained hidden behind him until now.
“Run.”
If Runald did not run now, there would be no second chance.
Runald’s face had gone pale. He opened his mouth, then bit his lip and nodded.
At nearly the same moment, Andersen shouted.
[Jaehwan! Attack! Right now!]
Jaehwan’s World Stab erupted.
Two shots, three shots, four shots. A continuous barrage of Stabs.
Yet why was that?
His sword did not feel as if it had struck anything at all.
The next moment, darkness engulfed the surroundings as though someone had extinguished the world’s light.
As Doubt and Understanding activated at once and his disrupted senses gradually returned, his body felt heavy, as though he had fallen into ink.
[Damn it.]
Andersen’s voice was grim.
[Their Sanctuary has opened.]
Sanctuary Manifestation. The power that materialized a god’s Worldview and allowed them to wield their true authority.
Jaehwan had already witnessed the Sanctuary of the low-grade god Flaymus on the sixth floor.
That god’s power had certainly been impressive.
But what now unfolded before him…
Was power on an entirely different level.
Sanctuary Manifestation.
「Graveyard of Crows」
With the sound of wings beating across the world, crows rose all at once.
Black feathers poured down like rain, and Ethan looked this way.
No, that was no longer Ethan.
It was a giant crow.
The sticky ground began swallowing Jaehwan like a swamp. When he struggled to escape, Doll hands emerged from the mire and seized him.
「Save me save me save me save me save me save me save me save me save me save me save me save me save me save me save me」
Dolls wearing crow masks dragged him down as they tried to climb out of the swamp. Their faces were hidden behind masks, but their voices sounded familiar.
「Save me save me save me save me save me save me save me save me save me save me save me save me save me save me」
One of them sounded like Yoonhwan.
「Don’t go alone don’t go alone don’t go alone don’t go alone don’t go alone don’t go alone don’t go alone don’t go alone don’t go alone don’t go alone」
Another sounded like Seoyul.
There was even a Doll like Cheongheo.
Karlton, Sirwen, Cayman, Mino, and…
The King of Crows spoke.
「Die within the memory you loved most.」
This was different from when he had faced Flaymus’s Sanctuary. Even with Doubt and Understanding activated, it was not easy to interpret.
This was the Sanctuary of a high-grade god. A solid Worldview containing thousands of years.
If he was dragged in like this, he would never rise again.
「Selflessness」
With accelerated perception, the movements around him slowed slightly.
That fleeting moment gave Jaehwan time to think.
Andersen’s voice reached him faintly.
[Damn it, you don’t have any trust left, right? Only a Sanctuary can face another Sanctuary. If I were only in better shape…]
Andersen’s voice was swallowed by the noisy beating of wings.
The world was consuming him.
Jaehwan calmly reflected on Andersen’s words.
Only a Sanctuary could face a Sanctuary.
Those words gave him a hint.
His legs, waist, and finally his chest sank beneath the surface. Jaehwan abandoned resistance and slowly closed his eyes.
「This world is false.」
The moment his head sank into the swamp of crows.
Rumble.
The world’s axis shook with a violent roar.
A strange light flowed from where Jaehwan had disappeared.
The fourth stage of Awakening, 「Hypothesis」.
The giant crow’s eyes trembled faintly.
…How?
Jaehwan did not call this world a Sanctuary. His world was not sacred in the slightest.
Even so, Jaehwan had used Stab in this world.
He had laughed, cried, and talked with people.
He had lost everything.
Jaehwan’s Unique World, forged through the power of Creation.
That world finally revealed itself to the world.
Sanctuary Manifestation.
「The World After the Fall」.
Footnotes:
Chapter discussion