Chapter 121 - Half (3)

"... An Outer God in the Kingdom of Ashtalon?"

"Yes. And not just in Ashtalon. Outer Gods have reportedly appeared in Laxas and Callivan as well."

Alon frowned.

"... Several Outer Gods appeared at once?"

"Yes."

"... And fully manifested Outer Gods, not ones in human form?"

"That's what the reports say."

'That can't be right.'

Something was wrong. He had never seen several Outer Gods descend at once in Psychedelia.

Of course, he couldn't know whether such an appearance had always been possible and he simply hadn't experienced it. Even so, this was clearly strange.

An Outer God's descent occurred through a living creature of this world, humans included. Until it manifested completely, the descended god had to abide by the body it inhabited.

Yet so many Outer Gods had appeared at once.

There were only two possibilities. Either a great many Outer Gods had truly been hiding all this time and had now emerged, or—

'... Artificial Outer Gods.'

They were artificial Outer Gods, like the one he had seen in the Holy Kingdom—something he had never once encountered in Psychedelia.

As Alon considered the two possibilities, the additional information Evan supplied forced him to favor one of them.

"... All the Outer Gods that appeared mentioned Duke Comalon of the Kingdom of Ashtalon?"

"Yes. They reportedly call Duke Comalon the Seeker of the Way and show fanatical devotion to him."

Now he was certain.

These were not the Outer Gods he had known, but manufactured, artificial Outer Gods. Duke Comalon had created them—and, beyond that, had created the Abyssal Cores as well.

"... We'll leave immediately."

"For the Kingdom of Ashtalon...?"

"Yes."

"Ugh, I hear it's incredibly dangerous there right now—you're still going?"

"Yes."

"I'll get everything ready, then."

Watching Evan rush out despite his mild complaints, Alon thought,

'I've never heard the name Duke Comalon in Psychedelia.'

But that no longer mattered. What mattered was that Duke Comalon was the culprit behind the Abyssal Cores, whose creator had never been revealed even in the original Psychedelia.

And that he might be the Forgotten One, the Outer God who had concealed his identity and lived in hiding all this time.

"Whew..."

Alon rose with a deep sigh. There was no time to lose.

"Everything's ready, my lord."

"Let's go."

They immediately set out for the Kingdom of Ashtalon.

####

Over the next five days or so, Alon learned three more things.

First, Outer Gods had suddenly erupted everywhere, and Duke Comalon had killed most of the nobles at the ball.

Second, he had exterminated not only the nobles attending the ball, but every civilian, soldier, and knight in his territory as well.

Third, Duke Comalon was destroying every nearby territory he could, and had already razed four of them.

A question arose in Alon's mind.

'... Why slaughter everyone in the surrounding territories?'

The slaughter itself wasn't puzzling. Outer Gods perceived humanity as their enemy from the moment they descended into a living body.

But for them, mass slaughter was merely a by-product of pursuing their goals. It was never their primary objective.

That held true now as well. At first glance, the actions of Duke Comalon, whom Alon suspected to be an Outer God, were no different from what the others had done.

Yet it was the very nature of Comalon's slaughter that raised questions.

"... Hmm."

Alon lowered his gaze to the map. The map of Ashtalon that Evan had obtained showed the four territories Duke Comalon had passed through.

"Evan."

"Yes, my lord?"

"You said the territories where the massacres occurred hadn't had any particular disputes with Duke Comalon?"

"Yes. Apparently, they were on good terms with him. I also hear Duke Comalon wasn't a particularly troublesome character in high society to begin with."

"Hmm..."

The four territories Duke Comalon had attacked looked close together on the map, but they were distinctly separated from one another.

In other words, he hadn't wiped out territories along his route while heading somewhere else. Destroying those territories had been his intention from the start.

That was what puzzled Alon.

Outer Gods regarded humanity as their enemy, but slaughtering humans wasn't their main purpose. That was merely incidental; they had a more fundamental goal.

Yet Duke Comalon was indiscriminately wiping out the surrounding territories as though exterminating humanity were itself his objective.

And on top of that...

"... There's been considerable damage outside Ashtalon too?"

"Yes. Ashtalon has it worst, but in other countries, one or two territories have been wiped out with ease."

The artificial Outer Gods he was presumed to have created likewise seemed to have no particular purpose. They were simply killing humans.

"Hmm..."

With an odd expression, Alon looked down at the map again. He briefly searched his old memories, then shook his head.

'... Duke Comalon really never appeared in the game.'

Only the Abyssal Cores he had created had appeared. Even those had been lacking in detail, prompting players to curse them as a setting element shoehorned in for level balancing.

There had been no lore beyond that.

"... We should be crossing Ashtalon's border soon."

"Is that so?"

"If our information is correct, Duke Comalon's next destination should be Count Lumiere's territory. Shall we head there?"

"We should."

"But, my lord..."

"What is it?"

"Is it really all right to charge in like this? I know you're going to stop Duke Comalon, but—we haven't even assessed the enemy's strength."

"... Well, you did the same thing last time," Evan added.

Alon considered this in silence. Evan was right. Unlike the enemies he had encountered thus far, whose information he could glean from the game, Duke Comalon was an unknown foe about whom he knew practically nothing.

Still, Alon soon nodded.

"It's all right to go."

"It is?"

"Yes. All the preparations are complete. And I have a way of gauging his strength, too."

Alon fingered the Eye-Eater's Necklace around his neck, recalling another detail about the artifact.

"... Well, all right."

Evan nodded in understanding, and Alon looked up at the sky.

In contrast to the ominous rumors reaching his ears, the sky was utterly clear.

As though everything happening on the land below meant nothing at all...

####

Exactly a day and a half later, Alon arrived in Lumilla, the territory ruled by Count Lumiere.

"■■■■■■■■■■■■—!!!!"

"Holy shit—"

Amid Evan's muttered curse, he saw an Outer God atop the territory's walls, destroying the territory as it unleashed hideous screams—

No, an artificial Outer God.

Hundreds of enormous arms clung in a tangle to its gigantic body, giving it the shape of a spider.

Looking down, he saw the territory ablaze. Countless screams rose from the raging flames.

And that wasn't all.

The corpses of what had been people mere moments ago were falling from the spider-shaped Outer God's mouth. Beneath it, countless soldiers and knights fought a desperate battle.

Those fighting for their lives filled Alon's vision.

Even as its enormous arms crushed them, the knights struggled desperately to sever them. They yielded their bodies to the countless grotesquely extended arms, losing their lives to open a path for their comrades.

Through the dying knights, one finally reached the Outer God.

CRUNCH!

He severed its leg.

■■■■■■■■—!

The monster shrieked, spewing red blood everywhere, and its leg fell with a heavy crash, demolishing several houses.

Joy filled the knight's eyes.

But then—

"!"

That joy began to turn to despair. A hand had begun to grow from the enormous leg he had severed.

A hand grew.

From that hand, another hand.

Another hand.

Another—countless hands grew, regenerating as though they were living muscle.

And so the Outer God regenerated its leg.

With devastating ease, it rendered futile an attack made possible by more than fifteen knights sacrificing their bodies and lives.

The surviving soldiers stared blankly at the Outer God.

The Outer God looked down at the knight.

"A-aaargh!"

The terrified knight screamed.

Watching the spider-shaped artificial Outer God twist its enormous mouth upward as though delighted by the scream, Alon instinctively formed a hand seal.

'... It doesn't deserve to be called an Outer God—or even an artificial Outer God.'

Outer Gods were Alon's enemies, but they unquestionably belonged to the category of gods. That was true whether they had manifested or not.

But the thing before him now wasn't worthy of even being called an artificial Outer God. It was no different from an ugly monster merely imitating divine stature.

"Whew."

Alon steadied himself and extended his arm.

In truth, magic wasn't a particularly good choice right now. It would be ideal to subdue that thing in a single blow, but with regeneration like that, he wouldn't be able to finish it at once unless he found and attacked its weakness using the Eye-Eater's Necklace.

Even so, he didn't want to stand idly by and watch this brutal massacre.

Amid the dozens of thoughts swirling through his mind, Alon devised a plan. Just as he was about to recite a phrase—

"Mentor!"

"?"

At the all-too-familiar voice, he turned his gaze without thinking.

"... Seollang?"

"Wow! It really is you, Mentor!"

Seollang stood there. Looking utterly thrilled to see Alon, she came straight up to him, her tail swishing.

"Mentor! What are you doing here?"

A bright, innocent smile filled her face.

And at that moment—

CREAK!

Alon noticed that behind Seollang, the monster—which had been lifting a leg to trample the knight just moments before—was staring their way with its enormous eye.

For a moment, he thought with dismay that Seollang might have called out a little too loudly.

"■■...?"

Making an incomprehensible, grotesque noise, the Outer God turned its enormous body.

Yet—

"Mentor! What are you doing here? Oh, Evan's here too!"

Even as the Outer God behind her slowly approached over the wall, Seollang gazed only at Alon, her tail swishing as though she had no interest in it whatsoever.

"I'd like to ask you the same, but I think we ought to deal with that before we talk."

"Huh? That thing?"

Only then did Seollang turn her gaze. The monster that had been destroying the territory was turning toward them, seemingly in response to her voice.

"Hmm—it's ugly."

She regarded it with a displeased expression.

"Mentor, wait just a moment, okay? It seems to be bothering you, so I'll go take care of it."

With that, she walked away.

"Wait—Seollang."

Alon tried to stop her. Of course, he knew she was strong.

But regardless, her opponent was an Outer God. Although its artificial creation made it considerably weaker than a true Outer God, it was still unquestionably a god cloaked in divine stature.

Yet Seollang, already three paces ahead of Alon, had fixed her gaze on the Outer God and begun releasing golden electricity from her entire body.

BZZZZT!

Golden currents spread in every direction, devouring the darkness. A crater formed in the ground, and sections of Seollang's waist-length hair suddenly spiked upward in time with the golden lightning.

Then—

"Wolf Spear, Wolf Spear—"

A whisper so soft even Alon couldn't hear it properly escaped Seollang's lips.

ZIP!

In an instant, Seollang vanished from before Alon and Evan.

Before Alon, who hadn't caught where she had gone, could even voice his confusion, they saw it.

—Thunder Kick.

BOOOOM!!!

The impossibly enormous body of the artificial Outer God that had been destroying the territory was flung helplessly into the air.

At the same time, brilliant lightning surged up from beneath that immense body.

The knights and soldiers who had been in despair only moments earlier turned their eyes toward the dazzling lightning.

CRAAACK!