Chapter 189 – The Hero (10)
‘Obvious.’
The Wing Demons, who could teleport anywhere in an instant with their fraudulent wings, were the ones to first suggest this troublesome conversation.
Isn’t that strange?
If they knew my identity this well, they could just kill me every time I entered the dream. There would be no need to bother with dialogue.
Crucially, they were keeping quite a distance—speaking from outside the range of ‘My World.’
“Don’t bother denying it. The fact that I’m still alive is proof enough.”
“……”
“……”
They were acting smug, but honestly, it gave me chills.
What if I hadn’t listened to Senior and had used up all of ‘My World’? What if my domain had shrunk as a result?
They would have teleported right next to me in an instant and ripped my throat out.
Again and again and again…
Every time I died, ‘My World’ would shrink further, forcing me to give up eventually. You can’t keep fighting a battle you can’t win forever.
I got lucky.
“So! What are you going to do now?”
“…I’ll admit it. You’re stronger than us.”
“We discovered your existence far too late—hidden behind the witches.”
Surprisingly, they admitted it readily.
“If you know that much, then stop tormenting P from now on and just ascend peacefully. Or else die quietly at my hands.”
“Haha!”
“Puhahaha!”
And then they suddenly burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“Indeed… we can’t beat you. Wings make approach impossible. Arms get severed in reverse. There’s no way to win.”
“But the same goes for you. How exactly do you plan to catch us?”
“……”
The moment I took a single step forward, they instantly widened the distance again.
If they ever entered my domain, I could seal their wings and shred them with Valentine.
But they knew that fact perfectly well, so they refused to let me close the gap.
In that case—
“If you use that sword again, the conversation ends here.”
“Even if you use it, it won’t reach us anyway. But go ahead if you’re curious.”
“……”
Even if the blade tentacles chased them diligently, as long as those wings existed, there was no way to bring them down.
The Wing Demons couldn’t defeat me, and I couldn’t kill them either!
It was a stalemate.
“If you understand, then relay our demand.”
“Convince P to return our dream to us.”
“Do it yourself.”
“We did. Thousands upon thousands of times! But P didn’t budge an inch.”
“Can’t be helped. P is a real goddess (女神), on a completely different level from this lump of settings. But even that perfect being seems to have a soft spot for family.”
It seemed they, too, were exhausted from protesting against an opponent who refused to listen.
However,
“Give up. If that were possible, P would have done it long ago.”
“……”
“……”
“Think about it coldly.”
No matter how much I racked my brain for a way to take these guys down, nothing came to mind.
Then the only option left was persuasion!
“Give up? Even if you were living happily and then suddenly lost everything—could you still say that?
Your beloved wife, children, grandchildren, friends—all vanishing right before your eyes. No—slaughtered by these very hands after they turned into monsters.”
“It’s just a dream anyway.”
My words didn’t change.
“What’s the difference between reality and a dream? In the end, living is the same.”
“Are you really living in reality? What proof do you have to be so certain?”
“Enough of the philosophical nonsense. The only fact that matters is that your existence is an obstacle to P, who has devoted herself to humanity.”
Humanity absolutely needs P’s aptitude test device. But I also don’t want P to keep making sacrifices.
In other words, to achieve both at once—these things have to disappear!
“If P refuses our demand, she will lose her descendant. Just as we lost our family!”
“How exactly do you plan to do that?”
Even if hordes of Wing Demons and Sword Demons swarmed me, they still couldn’t win.
“We may not be able to defeat you, but we can trap you inside this dream forever.”
“The Blood God who was helping you is gone now. How exactly do you plan to escape?”
“……”
Huh? Wait a second!
What happened to the Ranuvel patient who was with the goddess these guys killed?!
I completely forgot about him because he was so insignificant.
“Search hard for him.”
“We’ll be back in ten years.”
“What?! You crazy—!”
Blink!
The eye-tentacle fired blades, but with a single flap of their wings, the Wing Demons vanished in an instant.
Wings that can go anywhere.
Way too fraudulent!
“Descendant of P. See you in ten years.”
“Watch helplessly as the reality you cherish falls apart.”
“You bastards…!”
Pop! Pop!
Having finished what they had to say, the Wing Demons melted into the air and vanished as if dissolving.
Screech screech!
Screech!
The wingless Sword Demons, unlike me, couldn’t escape. They continued their slaughter until, one by one, they were hunted down and completely wiped out by the soldiers and mercenaries of the ducal territory.
“Waaaaah!”
“Waaaaaaaah!”
Victory cheers began to rise.
“……”
But unlike them, I couldn’t rejoice. I grabbed the severed head of the goddess by the hair and lifted it up.
“Hey. Open your eyes.”
Lives taken by those guys can’t be brought back, but inside my domain—which even the Wing Demons fear—it’s different.
Flutter flutter—
“…Ah?”
The goddess slowly opened her eyes, moving them left and right as bewilderment spread across her face.
“Where is the hero?”
“How dare you! Release me at once!”
“Fine.”
Thud!
I let go of her hair just as she wished.
“Eek?!”
I stepped on the goddess’s head—now face-down in the dirt—and asked again.
“Where is the hero?”
“W-what in the world is this…?!”
“Judging by your reaction, you didn’t even realize you were dead.”
“……”
The goddess’s snow-white face flushed crimson with humiliation, and she couldn’t continue speaking.
“If you don’t know anything, then die again.”
“W-wait…!”
“Do you have something to say?”
“I am the god (神) of this world! Once I regain my power, I can immediately locate the hero!”
“Hmm…”
It was a plausible claim.
“Aaah?!”
I grabbed her hair again—the head I’d been stepping on—and spoke.
“Because of you, I’m in an extremely bad mood right now.”
“Ugh…!”
“You acted so arrogantly, as if you could protect the hero, and this is the result? Just dropping useless meteors.”
The angels who hadn’t been killed by the Wing Demons swarmed around us.
“Release her at once!”
“This is blasphemy!”
“Goddess-nim?!”
The old me would have played along leisurely, matching their rhythm, but this was an emergency.
Ten years trapped in this dream?
Just like the Wing Demons prophesied, my precious reality would fall apart.
“Shut up. If you don’t want to die.”
“You bastard… hrrk?!”
Boom!
An angel foolishly stepped into my domain and immediately crashed face-first into the dirt.
Realistically speaking, those wings were far too small and weak to keep that body aloft. Without fantasy elements, falling was inevitable.
“Die.”
Clang!
The fallen angel’s head was severed by a blade tentacle and rolled away.
What about angels?
Inside my domain, they’re nothing more than ordinary humans. No—because of those cumbersome wings, they can’t even run properly, so they’re below human level.
“Don’t be afraid!”
“Let’s save Goddess-nim!”
“Everyone, attac—!”
The angels charged bravely like moths flying straight into fluorescent lights, only to fall, and die one after another to the blade tentacles.
There was no need to shout “Blood God banzai!” They were so slow that a single blade tentacle controlled by my eye was more than enough.
“Everyone, stop!”
“……”
“……”
At the shout from the goddess—who now had only her head left—all the angels halted their meaningless deaths.
“You’re stopping them too late.”
“……”
The goddess bit her plump lips tightly and fell silent.
“Fortunately, it was cut cleanly.”
If I’d had to reassemble her like a broken toy, it would’ve been a hassle, but it looked like simply reattaching the severed neck would do.
Tap.
The bleeding was severe and all organ functions had stopped, but that much should be recoverable with the goddess’s power.
“Ugh…!”
Wobble~ Thud!
Unable to stand on her own due to the aftereffects of revival, the goddess sank down onto the dirt.
“Now, Goddess-nim? I saved you, so please keep your promise and find the hero.”
“…Just you wait.”
Flash!
The goddess—who had just said something completely off-topic—vanished right before my eyes.
However,
“Gasp! Goddess-nim?!”
“Goddess-nim~?!”
The moment she leaped through space and escaped my domain, her head immediately separated again.
Roll roll roll~
And her head rolled back to my feet once again.
“You seem to think humans are naïve idiots.”
Complete revival was impossible from the start. The goddess had been severed by a Wing Demon’s arm, after all.
Inside my domain, the setting “Even if her neck is cut, the goddess is alive” applies.
But the moment she leaves it, she meets death again under the Wing Demons’ rules.
In other words, the current goddess is no different from a parasite that can only survive inside my domain.
“W-what in the world is this…?!”
“If you provoke me one more time, I’ll dunk your head in a shit pit.”
“……”
“Got it?”
The goddess—whose neck had been reattached—trembled violently and finally opened her mouth.
“…Understood.”
“Where is the hero?”
I have absolutely no intention of being trapped for ten years in a world where even the god (神) is this pathetic.
“I can’t find him.”
“Haa?”
What a truly useless god!
“W-wait! Something is interfering between me and the hero.”
“……”
Irritation surged again, but I didn’t take it out on the goddess.
‘Thorough bastards.’
It seemed the Wing Demons had anticipated even this situation and prepared countermeasures in advance.
“Find him no matter what.”
“Understood…”
The goddess—who could no longer distance herself from me—gave orders to the angels.
Find the hero.
***
If your life could vanish at any moment depending on someone else’s mood?
That life would be utterly despairing. And if you lacked the mental strength to accept death, you would become servile.
“Master~ Try this too~”
That was exactly the state of this goddess.
The prideful attitude she had shown at first was completely gone. Now she was busy fawning and flattering in every way possible just to protect her precarious life.
“Huu…”
“Did this little girl upset your mood?”
“No. I’m just a little irritated because we still haven’t found the hero.”
“Master! We’re searching very hard, so please be patient just a little longer!”
The goddess begged while trembling all over.
Is this really a god (神)?
Her mental fortitude was worse than that of ordinary dual-income couples who work themselves to death just to feed their children.
“Master~”
Whenever she got the chance, the goddess wore provocative clothing to seduce me—guiding my hand to her voluptuous breasts or hips, spreading her legs and rubbing herself against my body…
“Get off right now.”
“Oh my! I didn’t realize… I’m so sorry.”
Even as she slowly backed away, her intentions were painfully obvious.
A shallow plan to bear my child and thereby secure her life.
If she actually succeeded, then yes—I wouldn’t be able to kill her.
If she succeeded.
‘This is driving me insane!’
Time was passing meaninglessly.
Considering that the Ranuvel patient ‘Jung Yong-sang’ had poor health from the beginning, months must have already passed in reality.
“Master~ I want to take a bath together~”
“Haa…”
I was spending luxurious days in the heavenly palace with a beautiful goddess serving me like a slave, but I felt no joy at all.
“Master~”
“You’re making my head hurt—shut up for a bit…!”
“Eek?!”
Terrified, the goddess immediately prostrated herself, slamming her forehead to the floor and begging for forgiveness.
“This is seriously driving me crazy!”
“No matter how angry you are, you shouldn’t speak to a lady like that.”
“……”
At that unforgettable voice, I whipped my head around so hard my neck nearly snapped.
“Hi~!”
“…Am I hallucinating?”
“Son. How about getting used to your mom’s pretty face already?”
“…For real…?”
“Yes, for real. The mom of the world’s most handsome man has arrived!”
“Ah…”
Ranuvela, the 10.
Dressed in a black gothic-style dress and holding a parasol, my mother smiled brightly at me.
“How do I look?”
“Uh… like a vampire noblewoman.”
“Zero points! Mom’s leaving now.”
“Ahh! After washing my eyes and looking again—you look like the most beautiful mother in the world…!”
“Pass.”
“……”
I finally understood why the goddess had become so servile.
“Son. Need some help?”
“Yes! Please! I absolutely can’t find this damn patient!”
What could I possibly hide from family? I confessed everything honestly right away.
“It’s only natural you can’t find him.”
“Why?”
“Because they threw him into space. There was one lonely Sword Demon flailing around out there.”
“……”
My blood pressure shot up like an active volcano on the verge of eruption.
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