Chapter 239

Chapter 237 – The Brightest Darkness – 2

In the ancient times, there was a goddess who loved the world she had created more than anything.

She poured endless efforts into decorating all life as beautifully as possible, loving her first creation dearly.

She created a perfect, beautiful human woman modeled after herself, erased the concept of aging so that they could enjoy eternal youth within their limited lifespan, and endowed them with robust vitality to prevent them from easily losing their lives.

Lastly, she adorned human women with her own aesthetic sense so they could flaunt their beauty. After all, true beauty is about revealing the body.

Since the goddess’s body was perfect, the human bodies made to resemble it had to be perfect as well. Hiding such perfection beneath clothes was unacceptable.

As a result, human women, each showcasing their beauty, were pleasing to the goddess. Humans, in turn, devoted deep faith to the goddess who generously revealed herself.

Throughout the endless span of time, the goddess’s presence grew larger and larger, and soon fragments of power began to gather, birthing numerous worlds.

However, in the goddess’s heart, there was always only one. In pouring her love and affection into that singular world, she paid not the slightest attention to any other worlds.

Thus, as countless worlds were left unchecked, growing haphazardly, a tiny crack appeared in one of the abandoned worlds.

If the crack had appeared right after its formation, the goddess could have effortlessly handled it with her abilities. Unfortunately, she was unaware of this fact. For a long time, the crack gradually grew larger.

Finally, when the crack had grown to such an extent that even the goddess could feel its existence, it twisted into something entirely different.

This twisted being, having originated from a force that consumed worlds, felt only one emotion.

That was an insatiable hunger.

To assuage its hunger, the monster devoured the world from which it had been born, absorbing the knowledge of the beings living above it, transforming into the greatest source of fear.

Scales that embodied the darkness of despair and the blue of annihilation.

Eyes that represented the red dawn signaling the start of a month-long calamity.

The form of an existence that was the most powerful and formidable, etched with fear into the instincts of all living creatures.

After acquiring all that, the twisted being roared in hunger to announce its arrival.

Only then did the goddess realize the gravity of the situation, and hurriedly tried to eliminate the twist while creating her second world, but the situation had already spiraled out of control.

From the moment it devoured a whole world, it had become something existing beyond the laws.

Following the roar’s aftermath, the world she was trying to create twisted significantly, and things that should not exist began to pour out. They swiftly and steadily consumed the world.

Having to pour all her strength into stopping its essence, the goddess commanded the creatures of the second world. She offered them power, instructing them to deal with the twisted beings.

But there were no results.

When granted power to combat the twisted beings, they went mad from it. When given just enough strength to avoid madness, they couldn’t handle the twisted beings.

To endure the trial of ‘dying yet not dead, eternally resurrecting only to feel pain,’ the world was still far too weak.

Of course, there was a method. Had she commanded the creatures of the first world, which she loved dearly, they would have withstood the power sufficiently. Although there would have been some sacrifices, they would ultimately have succeeded.

However, even now, the goddess had not regained her senses. Instead of sacrificing the lives she cherished so dearly, she chose another method.

It was a method of pulling in lives from beyond her dimension.

Even while her mind was occupied with confronting the twisted entity, the goddess desperately dragged in souls that were losing their physical forms, granting them missions in an effort to somehow protect the second world.

And all ended in failure.

When over half of the world had become tainted after all her struggles returned void, a sole soul she had sought one last time achieved minor success.

This soul, which had tragically lost its life at the age of twenty in a terrible accident, endured while possessing an immortal mission, relying solely on its own will. It never once broke, despite being crushed under the weight of countless deaths.

This one soul became known as the ‘First Immortal.’

The goddess’s last salvation, having lost everything she sought to protect, stood before her in human form.

—I shall fight for what ruined you… for the sake of… you, inferior and insignificant being…

“You’re misunderstanding something, though. I’m not just going to blindly support you. First things first, I need to regain all my memories. Only then can I make a proper judgment.”

As I said this and made eye contact, the goddess flinched, looking terribly sorry. Thankfully, she seemed to realize how nonsensical her actions had been.

Had she approached with a cheeky attitude, thinking ‘What can I do? I’m a goddess,’ I surely would have considered doing away with her, but thankfully, that was not the case.

“So, if what you said is true, this is already the fourth time you’ve dragged me here. I’m really curious about how I got caught up in this mess. Do gods even have consciences? How can one person be summoned four times without a break?”

My head was hanging low. My long black hair drooped below me.

“But, no matter what you did to me over there, I have a reason to side with you. One is that I don’t like the other option at all, but there’s another reason.”

I flicked the tip of my sword.

“Let’s say I sided with you and destroyed this world. What happens to me then? Do I just go back to the original world?”

—You too… shall be saved… like the other souls…

I expected this. The flicking tip of my sword came to a halt.

“See? Listen here, you insane lizard. If I don’t side with the goddess, I die too, so is there really a choice? Why should I help you?”

Although I somewhat anticipated this, hearing it directly infuriated me more.

As it had been in hell, that fool had no intention of sparing me just because I sided with him. Therefore, siding with him only would lead to my inevitable demise.

No, from his perspective, it wasn’t even a matter of being discarded. He genuinely believed that his act of absorbing living beings was saving them, so he thought that killing me would save my soul.

On one side, siding with him guaranteed a 100% chance of death, while the other side, though what he had done was despicable, offered communication and a hint of guilt; it was obvious which side I should choose.

“Goddess.”

“…Yes, you.”

“I believe you won’t do something like that. I mean, you’re not going to say, ‘If you side with that beast, I’ll kill you later,’ right?”

She nodded her head vigorously. Her head bounced up and down intensely.

“Of course, that won’t happen. I will bow my head and kneel to you at any time, at any moment, and if you desire, I am ready to seek forgiveness with my body… Though that alone wouldn’t suffice for complete atonement…”

“What would you do with your body… I mean, never mind. We’ll think about that later.”

I said this out of incredulity, but it seemed my words were taken quite differently by the goddess. She hastily added words as if she were going to grab onto my pant legs.

“Y-yes, it’s true that I was arrogant and immature in the past, making grave mistakes! But now I truly think I’m sorry to you—”

“I’m not angry. Just calm down.”

“…Yes?”

“I’m just taken aback. Why are you suddenly talking about seeking forgiveness with your body? Did you say something like that before I lost my memory?”

“Huh? Oh, that… um…”

The goddess’s cheeks flushed a deep red. Wow, did she really say that? I turned my head back towards the lizard and added.

“But just so you know, that doesn’t mean I’m gonna let it slide. Right now, I have more pressing matters to attend to, but I will definitely address the fact that you dragged me here four times.”

“…Yes, I will be waiting…”

While her answer was normal, her tone felt oddly strange in many ways. The slight blush on her cheeks and the way she averted her gaze were peculiar.

In fact, it didn’t seem like a normal response. It wasn’t an affirmation of repentance, but rather a promise to wait. I had no idea what she was planning to wait for.

And I was also puzzled as to why she kept calling me ‘you.’ What on earth happened between the goddess and me before I lost my memory?

‘Well, that’s something to think about later. For now, how to catch that guy.’

Since, in games, you couldn’t face the final boss without meeting the necessary conditions, encountering the creature that devours worlds in this situation was the first time for me.

I hadn’t smashed any crystals, and I didn’t have any draconic language that could hold it down, and attacking from afar wouldn’t work as dark magic generally had a significantly shorter effective range.

As for using draconic language, while I could disperse my breath or block damage, I had nothing to inflict damage in return.

As I pondered my method, I felt a warm energy behind me. A golden light mass wrapped around my body.

“I will assist you. Though I have fallen to the very bottom now, I am still the goddess of this world. Offering you my power poses no problem. Once my body recovers, I will join you.”

As the sweet voice whispered, the golden light mass enveloping me completely absorbed and vanished.

Paradoxically, it was a feeling I had never experienced before, yet somehow felt distinctly familiar.

‘Wait, this is…’

I think I understood the sensation. It was the awareness I had when I first used Roll and Parrying just after I was reincarnated here— a sensation that my body understood, even if my mind did not.

Just moments ago, the being that had been growling was now moving, as if waiting for me to prepare for battle.

On the surface, it appeared to be waiting for us, but in reality, it was a mockery. “Even if you’re like this, you’ll lose,” it implied. The goddess had called it an arrogant being in its own right.

Well, I would have acted the same. The world the goddess possessed must have been tremendous; aside from the one I barely protected and the fourth one I had reincarnated into, everything else had been devoured by him.

But it didn’t matter. In the end, the one who wins is the true victor. ‘Your skills are pathetic’ has been proven by history and tradition.

—The world to be saved… futile struggles…

“What do you mean ‘salvation’? Killing everyone here is salvation?”

—A necessary act of taking in souls… suffering under a false god… thus, it’s the right way to express it…

“Nonsense.”

I dismissed its thoughts and breathed in Black Flame to the Wingless Nightmare. I didn’t know if it would work, but I had to do everything I could.

—Foolishness… rejecting salvation… rejecting revenge…

Massive wings spread out. That guy seriously believed that being devoured by him equated to salvation. He was mad, truly mad.

The colossal creature soared high enough to block the sun. Just with the flapping of its wings, a tremendous wind pressure surged through the air. Trees were uprooted, and the already chaotic ground was upheaved even further.

Seizing the Wingless Nightmare, I swung my sword diagonally as if unleashing a cutting wave. I hadn’t done something like this before, but it was a strangely familiar motion.

A massive Black Flame swept through as if it could overturn even the imperial palace.