Chapter 138
The Evil God—an entity often spoken of as the final boss in countless games.
In this world, the Evil God challenged the other deities to a fight during the mythic era, lost in the ensuing war, and was cast down to the earth. In the process, its body was split into seven parts—its limbs, torso, face, and soul—and sealed across the Central Continent. Yet, the Evil God’s power continues to overflow, spawning monsters across the land and bringing crisis to this world. To its inhabitants, it is a universal evil.
"So, you’re fine with that—is that what you just said?"
For the people of this world, slaying this evil is a solemn wish—one that must be fulfilled someday, no matter how many generations it takes.
Given this shared understanding, my remark—that I didn’t take the Evil God’s defeat as seriously as everyone else—was borderline blasphemous.
A twitch flickered across their brows, and the Duke’s tone dropped.
"You’ve always been one for bold claims, but this time, your words go beyond recklessness. The Evil God is no mere monster. Fallen or not, it is still a god. You speak as though defeating it would be trivial."
"Let me correct myself—I don’t mean to give the wrong impression. Even I don’t think I can defeat the Evil God in my current state. When I said ‘fine with that,’ I meant that since defeating it was already a milestone on my path, I figured I’d take it down eventually."
Realizing I needed to clear up the misunderstanding, I raised both hands in a placating gesture and explained my slip of the tongue.
"Your ‘correction’ still doesn’t cut it. You talk as if you already have a plan to defeat it."
"I do."
"……Liberta. Even I cannot overlook those words. For hundreds of years, tens of thousands of warriors have challenged that continent to slay the Evil God. Yet, not a single soul has accomplished this feat. I refuse to believe you don’t understand the weight of that."
Even after my clarification, my confidence remained unshaken—because I did have a way to win.
The Evil God is a being that appears as the final boss in FBO.
As an enemy, it possesses multiple unique skills, overwhelming stats, and a vast array of scripted attack patterns—some of the most diverse in the entire game—to keep players from predicting its moves.
A true final boss, embodying both orthodox and unorthodox strategies.
Fighting it is typically a raid battle, and even then, losses happen. For solo players, defeating it is considered an endgame achievement—a crowning glory for the most dedicated.
That’s why, even as the two adults stared at me with "There’s no way" written all over their faces, I deliberately doubled down.
"Claudia, I’ll be frank—if something’s impossible, I’ll say so. But by the same token, I won’t claim something’s impossible when it’s not."
I understood their skepticism. Even for me, soloing the Evil God was never a consistent feat.
A single misstep meant death. Once the battle turned against me, recovery was nearly impossible.
But.
"I took down the Wind Dragon at Class 2. If I prepare thoroughly and fight flawlessly, I have no intention of losing to the Evil God."
In other words—as long as I don’t make mistakes, I can win.
Countless players have challenged the Evil God, developing countless strategies. Analysis teams refined those methods, optimizing them further.
What once took an hour to clear was halved, then halved again. Through trial and error, through stripping away inefficiencies and pushing efficiency to its limits, the fight became polished—until sub-10-minute clears became the goal.
I’ve lived through that grind.
Even knowing they wouldn’t understand, as a gamer, I couldn’t let their outright dismissal go unchallenged.
Gamers are creatures who find victory paths even in scripted losses—who break the story’s logic through sheer force of will.
"Well, yes, but—""The Wind Dragon and the Evil God are on completely different levels."
Facing the impossible head-on, conquering it through sheer determination—that’s what makes a gamer.
Having personally tackled every difficulty of the Evil God fight alongside comrades, I could say with certainty: It’s not impossible.
With enough intel, the right gear, and proper character growth, victory is always within reach.
"No difference at all. Whether it’s the Wind Dragon or the Evil God—they can both be beaten."
Just because the enemy is stronger doesn’t mean it’s unbeatable.
"……"
The only things that can’t be defeated are bugs.
As long as it exists within the world’s system, there’s no reason it can’t fall.
"The only difference is the time and effort needed to prepare. That’s all."
That’s the gap between my perspective and theirs—between Claudia and the Duke’s "It’s too hard, so we can’t" and my "It’s hard, but not impossible."
"Hearing you say that… I almost believe you’ll do it.""I will. That’s why I’m taking action."
They don’t know why I came to this world.
But now that I’m here, there’s something I must do.
Make this body the strongest.
Ending my life in FBO’s world with a half-baked character build? That’s a bad ending so vile it makes me want to puke.
If I’m going to die, I’ll do it at the peak.
That’s the one thing I can’t compromise on.
Otherwise, my past life would have been meaningless.
"Heh heh heh…"
Seeing the resolve in my declaration, the Duke’s lips curled into a grin.
"BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!""Duke?!"
He clutched his stomach, laughing uproariously.
"You’re insane! Absolutely insane, Liberta!!"
His reason? I’d just declared, in all seriousness, that I would kill a god.
(Well, since it’s the Evil God, it’s theologically acceptable. No divine retribution to worry about.)
"I’ve always felt something off about you, but now it makes sense. So that’s what it was."
After laughing himself out, the Duke looked at me with the smile of a man who’d made up his mind.
"Liberta. Choose either Iris or Esmeralda. Marry her and become my son.""Y-Your Grace?!"
He wasn’t joking. He was dead serious about recruiting me.
Behind him, Lotus gasped in shock.
"Lotus! This man is undoubtedly the Hero of the Oracle! A prodigy chosen by the gods! Plenty boast of slaying the Evil God, but none call it a mere stepping stone! My apologies to His Majesty, but I’m claiming him here!""Shouldn’t you at least say that out of my earshot?"
The whiplash was unreal.
Offering his precious daughters just to secure me—his desperation was almost comical.
"At this point, beating around the bush is a waste of time. Straightforwardness is best. I want you. That’s all."
It wasn’t some underhanded ploy. He valued me—for who I was.
As someone who’d lived as a gamer, that recognition… was an honor.
"Well? Will you become my son? You will, won’t you? How could you refuse?! I’m offering you my daughters! You can’t possibly have complaints about them, can you?!""Your Grace! Calm down!!"
Lotus frantically tried to restrain the overexcited Duke.
"Duke, let’s take a breath. You’re getting ahead of yourself.""How can I stay calm at a time like this?!""Then I have no choice.""Guh—?!"
When even Claudia’s scolding failed to rein him in, she punched him in the gut without a word.
The Duke crumpled, forcibly pacified.
"That should keep him quiet for a while.""Indeed.""Uh… Is that okay?"
Lotus’s approval left me baffled.
She just punched a Duke in the stomach. Shouldn’t that be a huge problem?
(Well, given how unhinged he was acting, I’m not complaining…)
"Let’s refocus. Liberta—do you want to become a hero?""Not really.""But earlier, you said you’re acting to fulfill what’s expected of a hero, correct?""I did.""……Now that I think about it, I never asked you this before."
Claudia, now composed, steered the conversation back on track. I was happy to follow.
"Why do you seek strength?""To become the strongest.""And once you are—what will you do?""Hmm… Maybe conquer every dungeon in this world?"
My goal has never changed: to reach the pinnacle of strength.
That’s all.
I’ll enjoy this world along the way, but character growth is my life’s work.
"Once you’re the strongest, will you save the world?""Nah. The real chaos in this world comes from people, right? Nobles, nobles, nobles… the Evil God cult, those three we won’t name… Pinning all the suffering on the Evil God is straight-up slander."
Besides, this world isn’t actually on the brink of collapse.
Most crises are man-made.
World-ending schemes? Orchestrated by people. Stampede disasters? Usually human error or sabotage.
Everyone blames the Evil God, but all it does is spawn monsters—technically generating resources.
Its body’s been torn apart, and now it’s just sitting at the bottom of a super-difficult dungeon as a boss.
No behind-the-scenes scheming, no grand machinations—just… being a raid boss.
And that dungeon? So lethal nobody’s even reached the end.
"……That’s brutally blunt.""But not wrong, right?""I won’t deny it."
(Some final bosses manipulate people to revive themselves, but FBO’s Evil God doesn’t even have telepathy in its skill set.)
(Even if it did, with its stats, a Class 1 human’s brain would melt from the feedback.)
(The Evil God’s stats are so high that receiving its telepathy would require equally high stats.)
(You might think it could ‘hold back,’ but to the Evil God, humans are enemies.)
(FBO’s lore states that during the mythic era, the united forces of gods and humans defeated the Evil God’s monster army, dismembered it, and sealed it away.)
(So why would it hold back against the ones who tore it apart?)
(‘Telepathy’ from it would be like blasting a super-sized speaker’s max volume directly into your brain.)
(Heck, despite being the final boss, FBO’s Evil God never even talks in-game!)
(FBO’s crises are man-made—that’s common knowledge among players.)
(Dealing with that is the government’s job. That’s not an unfair take, right?)
Claudia and Lotus averted their eyes, as if struck by too many uncomfortable truths.
(There are kaiju-sized disaster-class monsters, but compare their damage to human antagonists’ schemes, and the latter always wins.)
(Then again, when disaster monsters appear, players swarm them like ants, sting like bees, and scavenge like hyenas—so maybe that’s why their damage is contained.)
(But flip it around: even with players going all-out, human villains still wreak more havoc.)
"In conclusion—world peace is the government’s job. Heroes shouldn’t have to fix everything. Maintaining order is the King’s duty, no?"
Preventing man-made disasters is his responsibility.
That’s what power and authority are for.
Heroes, by nature, are muscleheads.
Great at solving problems with brute force—useless at everything else.
"B-but a hero’s influence is immense!"
(Oh, he’s back.)
Clutching his stomach, the pale-faced Duke rejoined the conversation.
"The real issue is how to explain this to His Majesty."
And just like that, we were back where we started.
(Being a hero comes with endless trouble… but it seems the path to becoming one is just as messy.)