Ch.36Descent – 6

I felt as if my body was collapsing around the spot where Kartina had thrust her hand.

All the blood in my body was being sucked into Kartina, and a terrible chill crept up from my fingertips and toes before they completely froze.

It was the perfect embodiment of the expression “unable to move a finger.”

With all my blood drained, I couldn’t think properly. My vision blurred. My throat was so constricted that I couldn’t even make a choking sound.

I turned toward Kartina with my gradually darkening vision. In contrast to me, Kartina was rapidly regaining her complexion. Color returned to her pale face, and the hand gripping my arm tightened.

Crunch. Having apparently drained all my blood, she began absorbing the flesh through the hole in my chest into her hand.

My body, now nothing but bones and organs, started to collapse. Beginning with my ribs, which broke first, all the bones in my body shattered with a grinding sound.

A warm liquid trickled down my cheek. Judging by the lack of blood smell, it seemed my eyes had burst from the pressure, leaking their contents.

My oxygen-deprived brain stopped thinking. I could only instinctively feel the sensation of shrinking accompanied by the sound of breaking bones.

Something that was actually worshipped as a god was directly absorbing me. It could probably kill me instantly if it wanted, or drain away my entire life force.

Could I finally die for real? That was the last thought my brain formed.

Of course not.

“Fuck.”

It would have been nice if that had truly been my last thought. Somehow, my body had been ejected from Kartina’s hand and was now sprawled on the ground.

Naturally, I was perfectly restored to my original state. My fingers and toes moved fine, and my head was working clearly. Everything else was functioning perfectly too.

In contrast to my troubled mind, the sky was insanely blue. The weather had been clear since morning, so that was to be expected.

Someone carefully cradled my head from behind.

The cold touch of metal met the back of my head. Golden hair swaying and sky-blue eyes entered my field of vision.

It was Serena.

Serena was helping me up with an extremely complex expression on her face.

It was a mixture of sadness, anger, joy, and relief, and it was obvious why she wore such an expression.

The sadness and anger were directed at her own powerlessness and at Kartina, while the joy and relief came from knowing she still had a chance and that I was alive.

I obediently raised my upper body following Serena’s guidance. She knelt on one knee and raised the other to support my back.

I was impressed she could maintain such a posture while wearing royal knight armor. Meanwhile, Kartina was alternating her gaze between her hand and me with startled rabbit eyes.

“Are you really a god?”

I was the first to break the silence. Having failed to die yet again, I couldn’t help but sound bitter.

Were those heretics worshipping someone who couldn’t even kill a single person as a god? And making grand wishes like “please annihilate all life in the world” while they were at it.

“That expression needs some correction. I merely receive their worship; I’m not an entity worthy of being called a god.”

“If you receive worship, you’re a god. What kind of sophistry is that?”

“I never bestowed any power upon them. A god, by definition, is a being that grants divine power in exchange for faith and continued existence. I merely appeared because they offered sacrifices and fulfilled my contract; they simply chose to call me a god on their own.”

So it was a contractual relationship.

“In terms of pure ability, the woman behind you would be more fitting for the title of god. She’s a woman I couldn’t even touch. In all my long existence, I’ve never encountered someone as powerful as her.”

I know at least two more like her, actually.

As Serena began subtly wrapping her hand around mine, I idly debated whether to stop her. Instead, I reached back with my right hand and gently pinched her cheek.

A distorted “Juuung” sound came in response. The soft, squishy feeling under my fingertips was quite nice.

Kartina watched as Serena eagerly wiggled her fingers until she successfully interlaced them with mine, while I continued kneading her cheek. Then she opened her mouth as if truly amazed.

“It’s hard to believe this is the same woman who was so terrifyingly angry just moments ago. Your connection with her seems truly deep—”

Plop. A chunk of Kartina’s hair from her right shoulder was severed and fell limply to the ground.

Serena had her left hand extended, with a small piece of wood held between her index and middle fingers.

Kartina stared at her severed hair with a stiff expression, then cautiously picked it up while watching Serena’s reaction and absorbed it back into her body.

Soon, hair of the same color grew back from the cut area with a wriggling motion.

The atmosphere turned frigid. Serena was undoubtedly glaring at Kartina with a menacing aura, while Kartina kept anxiously checking Serena’s reactions.

It was such a dramatic change from the imposing figure who had tried to kill us just moments ago that it was hard to believe she was the same deity those heretics worshipped.

I pulled Serena’s cheek again, signaling her to relax her expression. Serena, who had already tossed away the wooden piece, responded with a “eubeueue” sound and a silly grin.

“…Anyway, let me get to the conclusion.”

Kartina cleared her throat and forcibly continued. It made sense. After nearly losing her head for mentioning Serena, she probably wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible.

I understood her feelings completely, so I didn’t mention it.

“I cannot kill you.”

Though I had expected this answer, it was still somewhat bitter to hear it. Kartina noticed my wry smile and returned one of her own with similar sentiment.

“Is it because your power is insufficient?”

“You could say that. As I said earlier, I’m not a god. I am a very ancient being, but I have no interest in granting divine power in exchange for faith or increasing my followers like typical gods. I only appeared because they offered sacrifices; that’s all.”

“Didn’t you accept their request to annihilate all life on earth? That seems like more than just making an appearance.”

“In the end, you stopped it, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Serena.”

At my call, Serena began raising her mana, causing Kartina to hastily add:

“W-what could I do? I had already accepted the sacrifice, and having just manifested, I didn’t know you would be this strong! If I had known the woman behind you was such a powerful human, I would have just taken the sacrifice and pretended not to notice! In all my existence, I’ve never encountered someone as strong as her!”

She definitely isn’t worthy of being called a god.

I nodded inwardly, convinced by Kartina’s excuse. Someone who so blatantly admits to planning to take the offering and run is certainly different from typical gods.

Since all her followers were sacrificed in this ritual anyway, there’s no one left to worship her.

Well, she said herself that she’s different from gods, so she probably won’t disappear from lack of faith. If she were going to vanish without followers, she would have been gone long ago.

“For someone who claims to have lived a long time, your way of speaking is rather casual.”

I commented while watching Kartina nervously glancing at us, probably worried that Serena might attack her.

When she first possessed Kartina’s body, she spoke with quite a dignified manner, but now she seemed completely different. Compared to then, it was as if her mental age had significantly decreased.

“That’s also thanks to the woman behind you.”

“Because of Serena?”

I turned my head slightly to meet Serena’s eyes. Startled by my gaze, she quickly composed her expression from glaring at Kartina.

Not that it helped much, since I was still pinching one of her cheeks, making her face look funny overall.

“Are you afraid of Serena?”

“Something like that. I had to use all the power from the sacrifices to survive that woman’s attack. As I mentioned, if not for the blood on your body, I would have been completely annihilated. Having depleted almost all my power, the connection between my spirit and this body became unstable, allowing this woman Kartina’s memories to seep in, resulting in this ambiguous way of speaking.”

“So Kartina’s personality has mixed with yours, changing your speech pattern.”

“Correct.”

“Then Kartina is still alive?”

Kartina nodded.

“When my manifestation time ends, she will naturally regain control. Right now, her soul is merely dormant deep in her consciousness. If you hadn’t been here and I had moved to another city to kill more people, I could have grown stronger and completely scattered her mind, killing her… but now I’m at my limit just maintaining this body.”

What? So what that guy said was true?

I recalled how the receptionist during the ritual had mentioned the possibility of saving Kartina once the ritual was completely finished.

I had thought it was just a lie to prevent us from interfering with the ritual, but surprisingly, it was true. It meant that if we drained all of her power before Kartina was completely consumed, she could be saved.

I moved my hand from her cheek to pat Serena’s head, conveying my appreciation.

Although Serena had intended to kill Kartina outright, the end result was that the lord’s Kartina now had a greater chance of returning.

With the confirmation that this entity couldn’t kill me, there was no reason for it to linger here.

Serena’s cheeks flushed at my touch. Yet she diligently lowered her head to make it easier for me to pat her.

“Continue talking. Actually, skip the consciousness stuff. Start from where you said your power can’t kill me.”

“…So, it seems my power cannot overcome your super-regeneration ability. It’s very unfortunate.”

“I know that. I just experienced it. Don’t you know any way to suppress this cursed recovery ability or block regeneration completely?”

Kartina shook her head.

“Not in my knowledge. I’ve never heard of a human with recovery abilities like yours, so it’s understandable. A power that can forcibly reclaim and restore body parts that I’ve completely absorbed—it’s an ability I’ve never seen or heard of.”

“…”

Indeed, my super-regeneration was different from ordinary healing abilities. I had felt this acutely while serving as a test subject for all kinds of biological experiments locked away in the magic tower.

But no matter how much I investigated this question, the only conclusion was that it was an incredibly powerful ability.

The fact that I might be the only person in the world with this ability meant there was nothing to compare it to.

I had asked Charlotte if she had discovered anything, but she only gave the fundamental answer that it must be powerful enough to grant immortality.

“That’s all I can tell you,” Kartina said.

“You really don’t have any other abilities? Can’t you use magic that erases existence or something?”

My question was met with an incredulous response.

“If I could use such magic, I would have used it on the woman behind you first. What would be the point of hiding my power only to end up like this?”

“…Then there’s nothing to be done.”

Convinced there was nothing more to gain, I sighed and started to gather my things, but then paused. I felt like I had been forgetting something important all this time. Looking around, I realized what it was.

The Adventurer’s Guild building and Scarface’s head, which I had intended to leave as evidence, along with everything else in this city—nothing remained.

“…”

How am I going to explain this later?