Chapter 256
Thick, black slime swept through the cave.
There was no place to escape in the cave that hadn't been very wide to begin with.
The magic cast on the cave's maze was naturally released right after the caster died.
However, since most of those who were there were ignorant of magic,
They couldn't even attempt to escape and were covered by the slime and dissolved as they were.
A god, like a newborn lamb instinctively seeking milk,
Began to crave even more the fresh magical power that would complete it.
In the sea of slime that filled the cave, the only things moving were two people and one puppet controlled by the god.
The white god stuck tight to the ceiling and the black-haired mage were looking down below.
The white god looked at the red-haired man dangling from his side and said. [Very interesting. Believer, can you see how high a realm a fragment that couldn't even measure up to a god's avatar can reach with a believer's life?]
"That's fine, but I can only think that mages shouldn't be allowed to have religions. Now I understand why Ig was so angry!"
"Ig? More importantly, you two, this isn't the time for comedy!"
[Why not? Grand Mage, try to do something about that thing with magic.]
"You told me that mages can't oppose gods with magical power, yet you're asking me to eliminate that thing, Lord?"
The red-haired man looked back and forth between the two and asked.
"Is that thing like strong acid? Or does it have other effects too?"
[Foolish believer. Look carefully below. Do you see any remains of the humans who were swallowed earlier? Do you even see bones?]
"I don't see any."
[Of course not. If you touch that, you don't simply melt. From every piece of flesh to the bone marrow, all the magical power contained within is sucked out and annihilated.]
"That sounds terrible just hearing about it. Wait, then what happens if that thing fills up to the ceiling?"
[Then this being would return to a handful of snow. Wouldn't the believer and Grand Mage become nourishment for that thing? It would be luxuriously high-quality nourishment for a newly born god.]
The mage and man looked at each other.
"I don't want that!"
"I don't want that!"
They screamed together. The mage desperately pleaded with the god.
"Rather than that, can't we just make a hole in the cave wall and escape? That seems easier."
[Well, if you want to do that, go ahead. But this being's believer doesn't seem like he'll allow that.]
"What? Lord, what do you mean? Why would Yesung..."
The mage urged the man with a sidelong glance, but the man's expression was grim.
"Yesung?"
"We can't break through the wall."
"But are you saying we should just die in here like this?"
"But think about it. If a god has just been born and is indiscriminately devouring everything around it, what happens when that thing escapes outside?"
The mage swallowed dryly.
The first principle she had learned when she began walking the path of a mage.
The fact that 'magical power exists everywhere.'
Everything had magical power dwelling in it. Even humans who weren't mages had some degree of magical power.
Even a grain of sand, a single blade of grass had magical power.
People who weren't mages had much less magical power contained within them,
But anyway, outside there were plenty of 'mages' and 'incomplete mages.'
To release a god that craved magical power into such a place.
It was exactly like releasing a wolf among a herd of deer.
"...But we can't keep it trapped here forever either. Lord, please do something!"
[This being would like to, but I made a contract with the believer so I can't move freely.]
"Then are you really saying we should all die here? Wasn't Yesung your greatest believer?"
[Believer, how will you overcome this crisis?]
The white god asked. The man, lost in thought while glaring at the blackly surging slime, opened his mouth.
"If this is Shub-Niggurath that has accepted the wish for abundance, then eliminating it now would definitely be best."
[That's right.]
"If you descend, we'll have to fight?"
[Correct.]
"Can you fight without breaking the cave?"
[That would be difficult. It doesn't seem like that thing will obediently allow itself to be sealed.]
The man sighed deeply.
"For Shub-Niggurath to become complete, it needs to absorb magical power. But there's no suitable source of magical power nearby, so this chaos occurred."
[That could be seen as correct.]
"Then there's no choice. I have to go down."
"What?"
[What?]
This time the white god and mage asked simultaneously.
But the man's expression was extremely calm.
"Think about it. I'm a lump of magical power. What Shub-Niggurath wants right now is exactly a magical power source like me."
"Yesung, that won't do. Absolutely not. Once you go, you won't be able to come back. I swear on my entire life as a mage, it's true."
[The mage is right, you crazy believer. Are you trying to sacrifice yourself because of this mage? If so, this being will kill the mage. Then there would be nothing to worry about. If you want, I could break through the cave and get out?]
"That's right! Rather kill me. That would be better."
"What are you saying! Even if this is such a worldview, still! Why are you both talking like that!"
The man shouted angrily.
During the brief moment when the god and mage were quiet, the man continued.
"This is a conclusion I reached through extremely rational thinking. First, it's impossible to seal the rampaging Shub-Niggurath without a fight in here. Second, I think this thing shouldn't be allowed outside. Then ultimately we have to resolve it inside the cave."
"That's... true."
"It's difficult to move around in this current state. So we need to eliminate the slime down there before sealing it or whatever. Eibon, you're an excellent mage, but... do you have more magical power than me? I'm completely walking magical power."
"Why are you introducing yourself like that!"
"Aphoom-Zhah. From a god's perspective, am I more appetizing, or is Eibon more appetizing?"
[It would definitely be this being's believer. From a human perspective, it would be like the difference between a deer's hind leg and a chicken leg, wouldn't it be obvious?]
"Right? I go down, and while Shub-Niggurath absorbs me, you two look for an opening to seal it. You sealed Shaguna Fan together before. It's not difficult."
"But!"
The mage protested vehemently.
"No one knows yet what will happen to Yesung after that! You're saying such things knowing that? I'm not even certain whether we can separate Yesung from the god!"
"It's fine. At worst, I'll die. Or maybe I won't wake up at all... though that probably won't happen."
"Why are you so confident?"
"Well."
The man cast his gaze toward the red book tied to his waist with string.
The white god clicked his tongue quietly.
"It's not quite time to exit yet. Even if only bones remain, I should be able to move again. I have that kind of feeling."
"...Are you serious? Won't it be difficult?"
"Of course. I'm experienced at being buried. A few hundred years is nothing."
"How can you say that? Sometimes I can't understand Yesung. I can't follow you."
"That's probably the same reason your disciple couldn't understand you, Eibon. It's originally like that."
"Originally?"
"Yeah."
The man smiled kindly.
"Originally, people like us are always half-crazy. Eibon, this is something we're born with."
*
About an hour later.
Suddenly, tremendous roars continuously came from the middle of the mountain that had been fine, and an enormous pile of rocks crashed down.
The debris rolling down the mountain finally quieted after covering the forest.
It wasn't something commonly seen, but it wasn't surprising either.
Rockfall phenomena caused by weakened ground were natural.
The only unusual thing was that there were survivors walking out of the debris.
A mage bleeding from all five orifices staggered up in the thick dust.
In the mage's hands was a splendid book with a bright red cover.
Behind her, who came out hugging the book as if it were more precious than life,
A white god in immaculate attire walked out as if he had never been covered in dust or dirt.
He looked up at the high place where the rockfall had occurred and clicked his tongue again.
The mage wiped the blood flowing from her ears and asked the god.
"You didn't want to sacrifice Yesung, did you?"
[You're stating the obvious. I didn't know I would abandon this being's believer with my own hands. And by the believer's own will at that. ...I thought such a thing would never happen.]
"Yesung's opinion was sound, Lord. You must have understood too, which is why you redirected the magical power supply to me."
[Did you feel it? You're quite perceptive.]
"Of course. I don't know how Yesung endured this. Just standing still, I feel like magical power is steadily draining out."
[This being is also conserving as much as possible. It feels like being suddenly trapped in a narrow pit after roaming freely in vast plains.]
"Speaking of which, I'm sorry to ask such a question, but if I were to die, what would happen to you, Lord?"
[I would return. To where I should be.]
"As long as I'm alive, I will serve you with my utmost effort."
The mage smiled brightly.
Her appearance of not caring despite being covered in blood from bleeding was eerie to anyone who saw it,
But it didn't seem to affect the white god much.
[I'm truly looking forward to the stories you'll tell.]
"Before that, I'll just do what Yesung asked."
The mage opened the book she had been holding in front of the indifferent god.
A book she could only glance at when its original owner was present.
What was written inside was a record of arduous years, a record of all gods and alien races that had existed on Earth,
And simultaneously a door through which she could glimpse a corner of the truth she had so desperately desired.
Watching the mage turn pages without even sadness at not being able to see the person she had followed so much, the god asked.
[You have no sadness.]
"Should I be sad? When Yesung said he would jump down voluntarily, I thought I should stop him. But now it's already a done event."
[Is that all?]
"Does time turn back if I'm sad? Or does Yesung wake up from inside Shub-Niggurath? If not, why should I waste time being sad?"
The mage looked at the god with uncomprehending eyes.
The god looked at her and had to admit that he had consumed too many human memories.
[Do you think that way?]
"Yesung entrusted me with this work precisely because he knew I wouldn't be sad. The Lord and Yesung might not understand, but time is finite only for me."
The mage vaguely knew.
She would grow, but the god and his favored believer wouldn't change.
Though she had lived through tremendous time herself,
For the god and believer, death was something that existed only as a concept.
"So even if it becomes a matter for the distant future, I absolutely cannot disappoint Yesung. I will fulfill Yesung's request, staking my pride as a mage."
[That makes sense. Before that, I want to ask one more thing.]
"As much as you'd like, Lord."
To one who was human but had become non-human,
One who had never been human from the beginning asked.
[Do you think this being's believer loved you? Did he cherish you in any way?]
The mage was briefly speechless.
Finally, she raised her gaze to the collapsed mountainside and then lowered it again before speaking.
"That person doesn't seem to love anyone. If it's not someone right in front of his eyes, he doesn't care about anything. Ah, though he does care very much for living things."
[Hmm.]
"Still, if I had lived apart from Yesung, I'm certain he would have forgotten me within an hour."
[Do you think so?]
"Lord, did Yesung truly love 'Eibon'? He treated me very well since I was by his side, but I'm not sure. He didn't give me the same affection my siblings gave me long ago. Such things can only be formed between humans."
[So because my believer isn't human, you weren't loved?]
"Not all problems can be concluded so simply."
Eibon smiled. The god frowned.
[What's the conclusion?]
"How could a mere mage guess the heart of a monster that neither ages nor dies? Yet if you ask whether he loved me, yes. I dare to believe so. Originally, love belongs only to those who mistake it."
She didn't assert that he would have loved her, or that he definitely gave her affection.
The mage, who only briefly answered about the emotions she had felt, began to go her way.
The white god followed behind her, interestingly pondering the mage's answer.
*
As the mage who had once been with the white god said, time was not finite.
Everything in the world either met its end or began anew.
Over the long period of 500 years, wars between tribes disappeared and the scattered tribes in the vicinity were united as one,
And their ruler gave the name Thurian to the nameless land and named the tribe he ruled Acheron.
Thus the land where they stayed also came to be called Acheron,
Which was the first nation to emerge since humanity's inception.
Acheron prospered and prospered endlessly.
Acheron, with its strong and beautiful ruler, invaded the small tribes in the vicinity.
It wasn't due to lack of food or strategic strongholds. Acheron simply grew greedily like a living human.
And this was also the will of the leader who led Acheron.
Acheron, which had grown its power non-stop for 3,000 years, became an empire beyond a powerful tribe.
Everyone was equal within Acheron, and everything within reach belonged to Acheron.
Truly a golden age arrived, and a millennium of prosperity continued.
The reason the empire that no external force could invade collapsed was
Due to continental drift.
An era of volcanoes spewing fire again, earthquakes splitting the earth, and tsunamis terrifyingly sweeping the ground continued.
As life became impoverished, civil wars and divisions occurred.
Due to continental movement, the Thurian continent was divided in two, and so was Acheron.
The divided Acheron became separate nations with a vast ocean between them.
Western Acheron claimed legitimacy and insisted on inheriting the nation's name as it was.
Eastern Acheron began to be called Hyperborea.
While Hyperborea started anew by changing its national name,
In Acheron, fierce fighting occurred to inherit the legitimacy of ancient Acheron.
About 7,000 years after Acheron's collapse, the ruler's bloodline had become complicated and the successors had been so shrouded in secrecy.
Due to this, Acheron was dispersed into 8 kingdoms.
Mighty Asgard, loyal Vanaheim, rough Barakan archipelago, elegant Cimmeria, violent Brythunia, misty Gunderland, quiet Nemedia,
And insignificant weak nation Aquilonia.
Aquilonia gradually lost territory due to repeated power struggles, and now was merely a kingdom pushed to the periphery.
A small country that no one paid attention to, where even the king lay flat and only watched the moods of surrounding great powers while praying for peace.
However, a new story was beginning right here.