Ch.1101It’s So Not My Job

What happens when two tigers occupy a single small mountain?

If the two tigers are of different sexes, they might join forces and focus on producing new tigers.

However, what if both are males?

Just as one country cannot have two kings, it’s impossible for two mountain lords to share and coexist on the same mountain.

So, only one thing follows.

They must fight for their lives, proving their right to the throne through death or victory.

The winner becomes king, and the loser becomes food.

Survival of the fittest, the strong devouring the weak, winner takes all.

This was the fundamental law of this world that beasts, humans, and even transcendent beings could not escape.

The transcendent beings of ancient times, awakened by Invidius’s descent, knew this better than anyone.

“…I must move. I cannot yet ascend to the surface, but I’m surely not the only one who has awakened.”

In the northern central continent, within an underground cavern’s vast expanse of moss and grass meadows.

A grotesquely enormous beast awoke from its long slumber and roared toward the sky.

As the foremost servant and demigod who had faithfully served the beast god of ancient times—one whose name even today’s Werebeasts could not remember.

Northwestern continent.

“Hmm, this divine presence… is that beast still alive?”

A naked woman, half-submerged in a lake of blood, laughed.

One who discovered eternal life in death. One who gained eternity through endless taking.

“This works out well. I shall carve up that beast’s flesh and blood to make a resurrection feast announcing my return.”

The Empress of Blood rose from the lake of blood.

West-central continent.

“Such chaos immediately upon awakening… Our Saint Elpinel, the world remains terribly chaotic.”

In the underground temple of the life goddess, in the prayer room of Zarem, the Holy King of Zarem who had prayed for the world’s peace for thousands of years finally finished his prayer and awoke.

Elsewhere across the continent, transcendent beings who had been sleeping awoke simultaneously to prepare for war.

A war of the mythical age, set in the deep underground that surface dwellers wouldn’t even notice.

The descended evil god? Invidius? They weren’t even threats worth considering.

Not because they were powerful enough to destroy the evil god, but because they had no reason to fight it in the first place.

“We march. Bring me my armor!”

“What about the descended god? To subjugate it would require enormous military power…”

“Ignore it. How long can it forcibly maintain its descent? It will disappear on its own in seven days at most.”

The transcendent beings who had lived through ancient times already knew.

When a being who had left the mortal realm as a god forcibly descended in avatar form, the time it could maintain its existence in the mortal world wasn’t very long.

Based on their experience, the avatar of Invidius that had descended to the mortal world would naturally disappear after exhausting its power in about a week.

It might even be shorter than that.

If it began to consume power through battle, the time it could maintain its avatar form would decrease even more dramatically.

Of course, being a god, it could still wipe out about thirty percent of the surface world in that time…

‘Not my problem.’

By transcendent standards, “merely” thirty percent was insignificant.

Besides, the current surface wasn’t their territory, so there was no reason to expend their power to protect it.

In other words, it was like watching a fire across the river. It wasn’t their house burning, but someone else’s.

While transcendent beings varied greatly in race and disposition, some did want to intervene in subjugating Invidius…

‘…Too far. I can only hope that unknown demigod on the surface holds out as long as possible.’

Unless one possessed long-distance spatial jump abilities, a demigod in the central or eastern continent couldn’t instantly reach the western continent.

Surprisingly few demigods possessed such spatial abilities.

Among the few who did, almost none were inclined to intervene in the Invidius problem.

Not just demigods, but giants and ancient dragons as well.

======[ Haschal ]======

I’m fucked.

It seems I’m completely fucked.

That was the conclusion I reached after careful consideration, staring at the western horizon shrouded in darkness, at the desert churning like a tsunami.

“What the hell did that crazy old man do…”

I couldn’t see it, but I could feel it.

It was vividly clear, as if within reach.

The presence of a god-like entity, massive as a mountain, who had torn through the World Tree’s grave and manifested in this world.

The divine presence of a god of desire, forged as a demon with malice and hatred, leading a black tsunami while melting the earth and rippling the darkness.

The owner of the divine rank so clearly etched in my memory.

The moment I sensed the divine presence, I immediately recognized its identity. It would have been strange not to.

– Throbbing.

From the moment I detected its presence, my uninjured left arm began to throb violently.

Like memories I thought I’d let go of, rising in nightmares of lonely nights, engulfing me like waves.

In the past two years, I’d fought all sorts of enemies in all sorts of places, but I’d suffered a severe injury like losing an arm only once.

‘Invidius…!’

The evil god of envy was approaching me.

Not with an incomplete manifestation like just an arm as before, but with a physical avatar body created by projecting its complete divine essence into the mortal world.

The descent of an evil god.

The plan that crazy old man Paulus had prepared, even at the cost of his own life, was a catastrophe far beyond my expectations.

This was literally the worst emergency situation ever, far worse than could be described by lamenting that I was fucked.

I gripped the violently vibrating Durandal even tighter, glaring at the western horizon shrouded in darkness, gritting my teeth.

My head ached with the overwhelming sense of helplessness.

—-

…Can I defeat Invidius?

I asked myself amid the tension that constricted my chest like chains.

Yes, I did win once before. I had grasped the principle of space-time severance and vertically split it along with the sky.

My left arm was completely blown off and I suffered various serious injuries, nearly dying even after winning… but I did win, I did.

However, this situation was on an entirely different level of danger compared to then.

At that time, the Heaven’s Wall was still quite intact, so what I faced was merely one of its arms. That was far from being a true evil god.

It couldn’t properly exert its powers as an evil god, and even lacked proper intelligence, merely rampaging on instinct. It was more like an oversized magical beast.

…In other words, the power of an evil god descending with a complete body was beyond my prediction.

Whatever it was, it would be stronger than just an arm, but I couldn’t even guess how much stronger it would be.

Judging from the fact that it’s called an evil god rather than an evil demigod, I could only assume it had surpassed the level of a demigod.

In truth, even at that level, it was already an opponent I couldn’t possibly face alone.

Although I too had become incomparably stronger than before, unfortunately, I still fell slightly short of other demigods.

The divine essence I gained from sweeping away the void beasts gathered here had increased a bit, but compared to the divine essence gained from killing a demigod, it wasn’t much.

In other words, it didn’t make much difference.

The problem was… if I sought help from others, there were realistically only about seven people who could provide meaningful assistance.

Lacy, Demian, Ophelia, Perlien de Genes, Ceylon, Kudsedra, Persiella.

The rest would clearly be of no practical help in a fight, and even these seven were closer to the bare minimum threshold where something resembling combat might precariously be possible, rather than truly useful forces.

…No, would they even come to help me in the first place?

The evil god had been steadily approaching me since its descent. Even at this moment, the distance between it and me was growing shorter.

Judging roughly from its presence… we would meet in about six hours.

There was nowhere near enough time to gather our forces.

Even Perlien de Genes, who was closest, would need at least ten hours to recover and join me.

The rest would take at least a day or more.

And in that time, the evil god would not just meet me but cross the border of the Holy State and devastate at least one city.

‘If I retreat to gather forces… I’d have to sacrifice at least one city, probably two…’

The benefit gained from accepting such massive losses would be at most the addition of a couple of hero-class fighters. It was pointless to even consider the cost-benefit.

So, I had to stop it here.

By any means necessary.