Ch.104Chapter 104. Now I Will Stand in the Sky (5)

Chapter 104. Now I Will Stand in the Sky (5)

[MeleeSpy: Everyone, get your heads straight. Have you already forgotten about Atomic Rex and the Necromancer Lord?

Wow! Malak! Wow! Tribal Federation! They have food, supplies, and shelter! They’ll defeat the demons! Let’s join them!

Why do you believe so easily? Are you idiots? Are your heads filled with flowers?

Or have you lost touch with reality from spending too much time in the community? Do you really think such miraculous things happen easily in this fucked-up world?

I’m not saying the person who posted about the Tribal Federation is lying.

They might genuinely think everyone is working together to overcome this crisis… the poster and the Tribal Federation might think that way.

But does that god called Malak really think the same? What if he’s trying to lure us in for some kind of gain?

Isn’t it stranger that he wants to coexist so easily when he even knows we’re possessed? And they’re paladins of the Goddess Church!

And damn, he controls zombies! Like the Necromancer Lord! Didn’t you read Princess Dina’s post properly?

Don’t be deceived. You’re not from this world. You’re just extremely powerful foreigners. This Malak guy might use us as pawns and then discard us.

From the beginning, barbarians appeared as hostile NPCs in the game. The Roa they serve were also very suspicious and sinister beings in the setting.

And Sans, you dare use my work to bait people?

There’s a limit to repaying kindness with enmity!

The Legendary 3 Knights are revoked. MorningTentSetupKnight, NotACatfish, you too!]

I wonder if I’m imagining that the last three lines seem to be the core of this post and the reason it was written.

Well, MeleeSpy has a point. Even I wouldn’t immediately trust such a suspicious group.

In some ways, our Tribal Federation has many similarities to villain groups often seen in apocalyptic stories.

Our purpose is peace, we’re creating paradise, we serve a god, have followers, and gather other survivors.

This is totally like a cult. Malak is the cult leader of the apocalypse.

[BelievedInMonkeyUncle: Sigh. That’s logical]

[KimchiManDie: I’m suspicious of Sans too. Isn’t he brainwashed by this Malak guy?]

[Bench500: Are the others being controlled like Rinojohnnson?]

They’re starting to doubt. But I don’t feel bad about it.

Because I’ve achieved my purpose.

From the beginning, I wasn’t trying to persuade users or draw positive reactions about the Tribal Federation.

My goal was simply to “inform” them. Just making them aware that such a place exists is enough.

[LuluTV: Caught in the act of cult evangelism~]

[OldBung: I’m not going! I don’t believe it!]

[JetKick: Honestly, it was suspicious from the start, right?]

[OhDoGreatMan: Ah! The sweet and bitter bait post of Malak’s Heaven-Disbelief-Hell followers!]

Yeah. Keep mocking like that. I’ll turn that ridicule… into cheers.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

I’ll prove it through actions. What the Tribal Federation and Malak are really like. Even if they’re like this now, things will change if I keep working on building goodwill.

Since I’ve achieved my goal, I’ll stop here. I left a message thanking those who helped me and closed the community.

“Oh! Lord Malak! You’re awake!”

Paya entered the altar carrying a towel and water container. So today was massage day.

– Paya. Have you been well?

“Yes! Believing that Lord Malak would return, I helped Luna with gathering!”

Gathering? Ah, is she trying to do something with Beatrice’s spellbook?

Since bringing Beatrice’s secret storage, Luna has been clinging to that spellbook, constantly muttering something. I was worried as her dark circles kept getting worse.

“What do you mean ‘believing’? You were crying like a child because Lord Malak wasn’t answering your prayers.”

Lakye said with a smirk.

Are you trying to argue in front of me? In front of your god?

Honestly, it’s entertaining to watch. There’s a reason I don’t stop them. I decided to just observe.

I wonder if Lakye knows I find it amusing. She’s doing things she normally wouldn’t do out of consideration for me.

“…”

She stroked Totem #3 while slightly raising the corner of her mouth.

Maybe she just finds it fun herself.

“B-back then, I really thought the connection was broken!”

“Oh, really? The person who boasted loudly about being Lord Malak’s first servant because he descended after hearing my prayers was that anxious?

I knew he was still with us, just unconscious.”

Paya was earnestly defending herself with puffed red cheeks, but she was no match for Lakye.

“…Chief Lakye! I need to check the totem, so please move away from Lord Malak!”

“Not chief, but guardian. Lord Malak’s guardian.”

“Move aside quickly!”

“I don’t want to.”

Is teasing a child that fun? She’s only 20 herself.

“I’ll call Chief Kanto!”

“What are you going to do by calling my brother? Watch him get beaten? Though he hasn’t been hitting me lately.”

“I’ll call Priest Muri too!”

“…Just try calling Grandma Muri.”

I rested while watching the two bicker.

***

“H-how can a heretic have such power…!”

The barbarian woman collapsed, spitting blood.

She was a muscular woman with brown fur covering her body like a beast-person.

“Avatar of Udan. How pathetic.”

A paladin surrounded by terrifying forms approached her with a sword stained with red energy.

It was Charon, the greatest barbarian priest of all time, now known as the Necromancer Lord.

The woman called the Avatar of Udan looked around with eyes full of despair.

All the tribe members had become zombies with glowing red eyes, and in the sky, a giant manta ray demon was flying, looking down at her.

Not to mention the zombie demon legion standing quietly behind Charon. No matter how she looked, there was no way out.

She curled up trying to stand again somehow, but it was a meaningless resistance.

Thunk!

“Ugh!”

A paladin whose soul had been taken by Charon stabbed her in the back. Her body ached from the holy power imbued in his sword.

“Did Udan, that foolish beast, tell you to kill me?”

Charon calmly asked, standing before her as she knelt bleeding.

“…I have nothing to say to a filthy heretic. Kill me quickly.”

“Is that so? It doesn’t matter.”

Charon reached out and grabbed her head. Red energy flowing from Charon’s body seeped into her head.

“Ugh, aaagh!”

The woman screamed in agony, but Charon continued to pour the energy without stopping.

“Ah… the Roa have begun to act. There are more besides you.”

Memories of the woman flickered in Charon’s retina. It was a psychic spell that read memories.

“Like the cowards they are, they don’t appear themselves. Did they not have the resolve that Malak had?”

Charon laughed sinisterly.

“Ugh, uaaaah…! Wub!”

“Foolish bear, I will take your avatar for myself.”

Charon covered her mouth as she screamed with a face distorted in pain, and continued to infuse the red energy.

Charon could see her soul gradually collapsing, captured by the red energy. It was a sight only those with spiritual sight could see.

Then, with a crackling sound, black smoke appeared in the air. The black smoke held onto the woman’s soul firmly, as if it couldn’t be taken.

“Udan… I can see you.”

Charon’s gaze was directed beyond the black smoke, toward a rift in reality that revealed the spiritual world. The dimension where the Roa reside.

Wooooo…

The eyes of a divine being flashed from the rift. They were eyes that would make ordinary humans faint upon contact.

“Did you think I was just sleeping for hundreds of years?”

Red energy erupted again from Charon’s body, slashing the woman’s soul. Her soul was annihilated, and the protection of the god she served was powerless.

“Did you think… I would have no means to harm you?”

The ominous forms flickering on Charon’s back moved. They grabbed the black energy and pulled at it.

Wooooo…

The eyes of the immortal residing in another dimension wavered. The black energy grew thicker, standing firm against the ominous forms.

After struggling in this power contest, Charon spoke again.

“As expected, it’s not possible yet. But it’s only a matter of time.”

Charon’s gaze briefly rested on the demon zombies.

“You’re no different from those things. Constantly seeking worshippers, exploiting them.”

Wooooo…

“Weak beasts who cannot stand on your own. Wait just a little longer.”

Charon’s red eyes, facing the divine being again, were gleaming with madness.

“I will surely… annihilate all of you.”

Wooooo…

Finally, the black energy that had completely repelled the red energy retreated quickly. The rift between reality and the spiritual world closed with a strange sound.

“Now, let me ask.”

Charon, who had been watching the rift close until the end, slowly turned around.

“What are you, rat?”

As Charon gestured, a white magical barrier lifted, revealing beings hidden between the mountain ridges. One woman and three monsters.

Charon didn’t know, but the three monsters were upgraded versions of what community users called “Atomic Rex.”

The woman with vertically elongated snake-like pupils spoke.

“I am Jay, chief researcher of the Evolutionist School. I currently lead the Evolutionist School.”