Chapter 356 - Pantheon (4)
After settling one of the holy lands, the quest window was updated again.
The further I went, the more gods I killed, the more frequent it became.
The Hundred Gods Temple is saying they don’t want to be associated with me.
“I’m getting used to doing this as well.”
I said after settling the ruins.
As time went by, the time it took to complete each one decreased.
There was no god running away from their holy land.
The number of gods who came to help other people’s holy land declined.
Even those gods fled faster.
In a way, it was natural.
It would be better for the god to not help others’ holy lands and to prioritize their own safety.
It was a situation where they couldn’t focus on faithfulness and loyalty.
The lower gods who had gathered in the sacred place of each god of the Pantheon ran away at the start of the battles.
As if they were just waiting for the opportunity to do so.
Thanks to this, work was getting easier.
[All gates connected to Earth are closed.]
Hochi told us of the situation on Earth.
The chicken race seems to be over at this point.
It was a relief that the damage to Earth didn’t get bigger.
Of course, even if all the gates for the air raid were closed, the disorder would remain the same.
I asked Hochi to take care of it and ended the communication.
There may be two reasons for the gates being closed.
The gates were cut off when the gods who connected the gates to Earth were destroyed by us.
If that’s not the case, did they pull their feet out of the raid?
If it’s the former case, it does not matter.
However, in the latter case, I was thinking of catching them by tracking the gate that was connected to it.
I don’t want to set a precedent that I had been hostile and gone overboard.
Now that I have pulled out the sword, I will inform everyone who is watching this event or who will hear it later.
Once they bet against me, they will have to see the end.
I intend to make it so that they don’t think of me being hostile in the first place, so that there is nothing to be hostile to.
[Are you going to attack all the gods in the Pantheon? If you do, the story will be different again.]
Said the God of Hope.
[It is quiet now that your retaliation is limited to the gods who have invaded Earth. If it targets all the gods of the Pantheon, they will unite again.]
That was good advice.
There were not many gods who attempted to invade Earth directly.
It wasn’t a small number, but considering the scale of the Pantheon, it wasn’t too many.
The invasion of Earth was clearly a Pantheon scale event.
There was no direct intervention, but there would be far more intertwined gods.
I feel like I want to take care of them all, but I can’t.
The next place I visited was a place I had visited before.
When pursuing the God of Hope in the past, I had traveled around the realms of the gods from various rulers.
Then, I met a god from the rulers called the God of Gochang.
The God of Gochang once told the God of Hope that there would be no holy land left, and that further pursuit would be meaningless.
Some miscellaneous information was a bonus.
He was a peculiar god who had no hesitation in telling me the information I wanted, unlike a certain god who was stuck with his ego and stubbornness.
So I remembered it well.
“Wow, it’s been a long time.”
[... Please save me.]
Look at this
If you’re a god, you can’t easily say that.
They shout words like the God of Hope or surrender, but usually it was hard to even mention.
But the God of Gochang did.
Far from being defeated, he did it before the battle even started.
“I only know what’s long and short, but why don’t you try a fight?”
[Around you and the giants? No. Please save me.]
The God of Gochang mentioned the giants behind me.
There were twenty or so giants behind me.
Five hundred departed together, but as we continued to share our troops, it became like this.
Anyway, as long as I was there, I didn’t need a lot of them.
[I have no intention of fighting.]
The God of Gochang who I just met before I was killing the unknown god of the Pantheon.
The God of Gochang, who was in the sanctuary of the god of the Pantheon, ran away at the beginning of the battle, so I came after him.
“Okay, why are you struggling to become my enemy again?”
[I was called in by my master, the old god.]
So, by being there himself, he has become my enemy.
Because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
[But the old god is dead! So now I am free!]
With that tone, I remembered the house elf who shouted ‘Dobby is free now!’.
Maybe it’s an inappropriate comparison.
“So?”
[I will give you some helpful information. Please save me.]
It was the correct judgment.
The God of Gochang was once captured by me, but he was released in exchange for information.
Remembering that, it was natural that he once again offered to trade information.
But.
“Will you be okay? It would be a traitorous act.”
The fact that he was called a god of the Pantheon meant that he belonged to the Pantheon.
He might be a lower god.
[Because I am now free!]
As expected, I remembered the house elf.
There was no justification or reason to refuse.
[Did you have any more questions?]
Asked the God of Hope.
He was asking because he has been answering questions for me so far.
“No, I don’t really want to know more.”
[If so, what is the reason? Is there any reason to save that god?]
It wasn’t like that either.
I will again ask the God of Gochang for the information the God of Hope told me.
To collate information.
“Maybe there is distorted information.”
How to distort the information and what to gain through it was the choice of the God of Hope.
But the price will also be up to the God of Hope.
[... I don’t know everything perfectly. There may be some errors due to mistakes.......]
It was a lame excuse.
In order to contrast the stories I had heard from the God of Hope, I grabbed the God of Gochang and started asking questions.
In the midst of asking questions, the God of Gochang suddenly looked upset.
“What?”
[That... The gods of the Pantheon contacted me.......]
Saying that you are now free.
It seems that there wasn’t only one god that was entangled.
[The gods of the Pantheon are asking me to arrange a conversation.]
“With me?”
[Yes.]
The Pantheon wants to have a conversation with me.
Do they want to discuss how to end this incident?
There was nothing bad.
I also needed it.
“Good.”
* * *
The god of the Pantheon, who came to the realm of the God of Gochang, was a god with an ambiguous divine name called the God of Flexibility.
As soon as I faced him, I was bound to be surprised.
[Hey, does that count?]
[Of course.]
It was surprising.
Of course, it was natural for the gods of the Pantheon to play a part.
All of the gods who were choked by me and the giants were like that.
There was a marked difference from the subordinate gods, such as the God of Gochang.
However, there was a marked difference even compared to the other gods of the Pantheon who had their necks pulled out by me so far.
[The God of Flexibility has one of the best forces in the Pantheon. Considering that the entire universe is under the influence of the Pantheon, it is in fact one of the beings that can be called a master of this world.]
Is it that important?
Looking at this point, you could clearly see the difference between the Hundred Gods Temple and the Pantheon.
Whatever the divine nature, no matter how powerful it was, the gods of the Hundred Gods Temple could not escape the treatment as confined sinners.
[Would you like to fight?]
I would not.
If there is no reason.
[I know your struggles.]
Said the God of Hope.
It was because it was the God of Hope who remembered my appearance in the Tutorial.
I had no intention of fighting.
Of course, in the Tutorial, I tried to fight somehow when I saw a person stronger than me, but it was because of the longing for growth and greater power.
I did not enjoy fighting without reason.
I was neither a God of Battle nor a God of Challenge.
If the result was meaningless, I wouldn’t do it.
[Is the consultation finished?]
The God of Flexibility, who was watching me quietly, spoke.
After seeing me in silence for a moment, he seems to have noticed that I was talking to the God of Hope separately.
[I believe the God of Hope has surely provided you with helpful counseling, but I advise you not to rely on those words. He is a god who seems to represent the ugliness of the world. The closer you get, the more you will get used to the filth.]
It was indeed an accurate review of his character.
No, should I say that it was not a review of his character, but an evaluation of his divine nature?
[What is the mouth of that pig, who gained power because of me.......]
The God of Hope spit out harsh words.
Of course, it was only to me, so the God of Flexibility couldn’t hear it.
It wasn’t a curse for the emotional exhaustion.
It was a word that was told to me.
Words that seemed to look down on even the God of Flexibility where you could feel the mighty power, and words that imply that he has contributed to the accumulation of that power.
It was very consistent.
“Continue with the story. So what’s your suggestion?”
The God of Flexibility said that he had come to me for a suggestion, representing the opinions of the gods of the Pantheon.
[It is an agreement. I acknowledge you and your realm, and I will pay you a secondary price. In return, stop the indiscriminate air raids. Is there a price you want?]
The price.
Of course, all the gods who invaded Earth will have to pay the price.
It might be a problem because there are no other measures other than getting their neck in return.
“I can’t do it.”
[Well, I suppose so.]
The God of Flexibility conceded.
He didn’t dare try to persuade me with a different offer or force me back to the offer.
[If so, I should check one thing.]
The God of Flexibility said so and declared.
[The invasion of your realm was not the will of all the gods of the Pantheon, and other gods of the Pantheon were not related to the series of events. And the events between you and the related gods that will happen in the future are only a matter of you and those gods, and are not related to the Pantheon.]
Drawing a line.
Between the gods who directly invaded Earth and the entire Pantheon.
As long as the God of Flexibility said that, I had to acknowledge the line.
There was no need for proof of the declaration.
Because it was a god’s word.
It was a big concession.
Although the gods who invaded Earth were not all of the Pantheon.
It was by no means a small number.
I cut them all off.
There was nothing bad.
Although it was impossible to ask all of the members of the Pantheon for the price of the invasion of Earth.
On the contrary, the gods who directly intervened in the invasion could be defeated without any hesitation.
As feared by the God of Hope, all the gods of the Pantheon intervened, and there was no possibility of an all-out war.
I accepted the God of Flexibility’s agreement and the concession of the Pantheon.
* * *
This work was also showing an end.
The God of Flexibility limited the range of enemies.
Thousands of the gods of the Pantheon had to be beaten to end it, but it stopped at only a few dozens.
Should I say that it was good or was it futile?
Anyway, I got everything I intended.
[... It’s a way of thinking that’s not sane.]
Leaving the realm of the God of Gochang, I came to a planet that looked plain and peaceful.
I could easily notice the appearance.
This planet is not a single realm or a holy land of any god.
In places where the influence of a deity is strong, the everyday appearance does not appear so prominently.
Rather, it seems at first glance that it is engulfed in madness and absurdity.
I visited the holy lands of various gods, but I was able to consistently find them.
The place I came to was the coordinates where the subordinate gods summoned by the gods of the Pantheon, like the God of Gochang, fled.
If so, it means that the subordinate deity has fled to a place other than his own realm.
[Nothing to be surprised by. There are places where the religions of these different gods are in more balance than on any kind of sanctified planet. If you are a subordinate god, you may not possess any holy lands.]
It made sense.
[Most of the members of the Hundred Gods Temple are like this. There are not many holy places. Because of restrictions.]
I remembered the worlds I had gone through in the past when I was in the Tutorial.
Certainly, most of them had a polytheistic worldview.
[There are places where the religions of the gods of the Hundred Gods Temple and the Pantheon are mixed. Like this place.]
“What?”
[Maybe he knows and ran away here.]
After hearing the words of the God of Hope, I could notice it.
The power of a god approaching me quickly.
It wasn’t a godhood.
Of course it wouldn’t be.
The Hundred Gods Temple usually cannot move directly due to restrictions.
And what is there is an apostle.
The apostle of a god I had known a long time ago was flying to me.
And I could face it soon.
“It has been a long time.”
[Yes. Indeed.]
It was a voice I had not heard in a long time.
The God of the Sky and his apostle.
It was the voice of the egotistical sword Aubutz.