episode_0041

I ran to the end of the cave, hugged the crumbling wall, crouched down, and waited for the collapse to stop.

What should I do? Am I going to die like this? If I die, can I go back to Earth? Will I die here? Will it hurt when I die? What about my mom? Why do I have to die? It’s unfair. It doesn’t make sense.

Crash-

Rumble-

Whoosh-

Lost in panic, I muttered to myself, but then I noticed that the noise and vibrations had disappeared, so I opened my eyes.

I couldn’t see anything.

“Kkuu…”

A weak voice of the crumbling wall came from my arms.

“…I’m not dead. Neither are you.”

“Cough, cough.”

My throat hurt terribly, and I felt like there was a lot of dust.

Time passed, but I still couldn’t see anything.

I stood up and reached out my hands in all directions.

There was only a space about a meter taller than me, about 1 meter wide on each side, and about 3 meters long in front and back.

I tapped the walls and floor with my hands.

I felt the heavy, cold stone or tightly packed soil. It didn’t seem like I could dig through it with my hands.

…What, so in the end, I’m going to die because of time?

“Hey, Munuh, do you have the ability to grow larger and make a hole here?”

“Kku…”

Well, if there was such a convenient setting, I wouldn’t be going through this suffering.

I should have just lived a carefree life, doing naughty things, instead of trying to be the protagonist and ending up dying so pathetically.

I gathered my knees and buried my head.

After taking a deep breath, my mind cleared up.

“I’m just a cheat that responds to the user’s mental state, why do you think of me as an all-purpose assistant?”

“…Oh. I’ve dealt with many users so far, but you’re the first one to come up with this idea.”

“I admit it.”

“But in my opinion, you don’t have to prepare for death.”

“You have a cheat shield. Even if you lack oxygen, or can’t eat, you won’t die easily. It’s not immortal, but even if you drink only urine, you’re guaranteed to survive for at least 20 days.”

“Your location will be displayed on the restaurant wall, and when they find out that this place has collapsed, the miners will start the rescue operation.”

“It’s not a very deep mine here, and even if it takes a long time, you’ll be rescued within three days.”

“I apologize for calling you a dog-like pet until now.”

“From now on, I’ll call you an all-purpose assistant! No, I’ll call you a chronic assistant.”

“…I think I might get a chronic headache, so please stop.”

I praised the reliable Chronic Assistant and regained my composure.

Yes, just as the capable Chronic Assistant said. I don’t die easily, even if I don’t realize it. Even if my arms and legs are cut off, they will grow back.

I’m quite strong.

As soon as I started thinking that, vibrations and dust started to appear suddenly.

Ah

This is collapsing-

I sensed it. Even this remaining 3-meter space, like a miracle, seemed like it would collapse soon. No, it will definitely collapse.

“No way. That’s assuming this won’t collapse! Ahh, I don’t want to die!”

“Kku, kku!”

“Kku, kku, kku!!”

At that moment, the crumbling wall desperately called out to me. Looking down, I saw a faint white light seeping through the floor.

It was a familiar light. Ah, maybe if I just touch that spot…

I started digging into that part as if possessed.

Just need to touch it!

Even if it’s just the tip of my finger!

But the floor was solid, and there was no space for my finger to go in.

“Munuh, can you see my hand? Take out a knife and lift it up for me!”

I said to Munuh, pointing my right palm towards him.

“Kkuut!”

During that time, the vibration and noise increased, and the falling dust from the ceiling turned into rocks.

It seems like there’s something more visible than me. I heard a sound of something being spat out, and then I felt something touch my hand.

It was the handle of a pickaxe. It seemed like Muneo handed it to me. I gripped it tightly and struck the ground.

Thud.

Ah… I let out a sigh so empty that my hand felt light. It seemed like the blade and the handle had separated or broken.

If I dug a little deeper, my fingers would touch it.

I gritted my teeth and scratched my nails in the crack where light was shining, feeling an intense pain as if my nails were coming off.

Kwaaaah!

At the same time, the small space where Muneo and I were completely collapsed.

I opened my eyes.

It would have been nice if it was a white room, but it was dark. It felt like a damp underground cellar.

I got up from lying down.

Even the nail that had fallen off didn’t hurt and felt fake.

I see…

I, I’m dead.

If I were alive, there would probably be a white room with a holy woman or a place where a woman tied with chains was. If not, this must be the afterlife. What kind of system is in place here? King Yama? Or will the little angels come out blowing trumpets to greet me?

“Are you unharmed, holy maiden of this world?”

A pure and sacred female voice was heard from behind.

Her beautiful voice, which resonated throughout the space, had a power that made this damp and musty underground chamber feel like a place of worship.

But my landing, which proved that people can jump up like cats, and the scream Muneo let out as he landed and sprawled, lowered this place from a sacred space to a profane one in just 0.5 seconds.

“Ouch, mom!”

“Meow! Meow!”

“…Are you… okay, holy maiden?”

After a moment of silence, the sacred voice spoke again.

I looked up at the owner of the voice as I descended from Muneo.

A naked beautiful woman was bound in a Y-shape by chains connected to her wrists on the ceiling.

“She doesn’t have armpit hair but she has hair there.”

Unfortunately, this was my first impression of her.

“Oh, will you listen to me today? Please listen to me first without getting angry, please.”

Recalling being chased away after just three days, I urgently knelt down and shouted. Last time, my status window was torn off, and if I get kicked out this time, I don’t know what kind of situation I’ll be in.

I desperately pleaded.

“Do you remember meeting me, holy maiden?”

But the woman’s voice remained gentle.

Huh? Something’s strange.

“Yes? A few days ago, you scolded me, saying I wasn’t your daughter, and chased me away. My status window got messed up, causing a difficult situation.”

She listened to my words for a long time without getting angry.

“Daughter… Could it be that you know the goddess! Have you heard where she is right now?”

The woman bound in chains shouted desperately. The chains connected to her hands made a creaking noise.

I raised my head to look at the woman.

“Are you really the one who scolded me three days ago?”

“Yes. I’ve been trapped here all along.”

Then who is this person?

It seemed like we needed to have a conversation.

“I found a white light at the entrance of the mine on this island three days ago and touched it with my hand, then I moved to a white room.”

“There, I met a woman who was bound like you, saying that women shouldn’t come here. Come to think of it, I only saw a blurry figure as if looking through a curtain.”

“What, what did she, what did she say?”

The woman in front of me seemed to have grasped the essence of my explanation.

“We didn’t have a chance to talk in detail. She got angry, asking if I came to kill her, saying that she doesn’t seem to be your daughter.”

“Oh… Goddess.”

The woman bound in chains sobbed. It seemed that the goddess was the one who hit me.

“Then who are you?”

Now it was my turn to ask.

“I am the angel Perser. I am a faithful servant of the goddess.”

An angel.

After learning a lot about the goddesses, the word ‘angel’ just seemed like that to me.

“Did you and the nun save me?”

“I sensed a life reaction nearby and urgently sent a summoning spell. Fortunately, it worked.”

That white light was a summoning spell. The angel in front of me was indeed my savior.

I nodded my head in gratitude and continued to ask questions.

“But why do you call yourself a saint?”

“Your soul is foreign. You must have come from another world. In that case, it must have been sent by another god, so I judged you as a saint, a representative of the god.”

It was a plausible inference.

But isn’t the goddess Sullia a bit petty, sending me here to teach me a lesson, not as a representative of a god?

Let’s just keep quiet for the honor of the goddess, not for the honor of the earthlings.

“But why are you and the goddess being held captive like this?”

At my question, the angel Perser’s face darkened.

“I came down to worship the goddess who descended to the lower realm, but I couldn’t contact her.”

“I didn’t feel any response from the goddess when I came down, and I was immediately captured as well.”

What the heck. So the group that imprisoned the goddess also captured the angel who came to find her?

If she’s a goddess, isn’t she the strongest being in this world?

“Who on earth captured the goddess and the angel?”

At my question, the angel bowed her head with a grim expression.

And she answered through gritted teeth.

“The Church of the Goddess.”