<866 – The Potential of the Adversary (1)>
There are many unfortunate people in the world, but the most unfortunate right now is probably Man’s Representative.
At least the Demigods agreed with this opinion 100%.
[One God hurls bolts of fury at Man’s Representative.]
[Another God declares a heresy purge against Man’s Representative.]
[Yet another God publicly names Man’s Representative as a target of the Church.]
The Death of God.
And the mastermind revealed as Man’s Representative.
A public statement has already been circulated openly amongst the masses.
━━━
I am Man’s Representative, but the God is dead.
Faith in the Mainstream 24 Gods has been proven to be unreliable.
Now that the investments made in unyielding faith have evaporated in vain, the terror of faith bankruptcy begins to cast its first shadow.
If any God can go bankrupt, what reason would there be not to dedicate oneself to the forgotten Old Gods and claim them as one’s own deity?
━━━
━━━
I’m an Old God worshiper, and it’s a different level when you can just donate 1 gold and get faith bonuses in return;
My little God barely pays any attention despite me dedicating a whole year’s worth of offerings because of those filthy rich bastards, and all I get is a pathetic blessing (expiration unknown) tossed my way while my Little God showers down dazzling light and grows three or four more arms on the statue, the reactions are just amazing.
As I excitedly kept giving tributes, serpents began to sprout from where I had male pattern baldness, and my dull teeth became sharp enough to make carnivorous meals easily.
Sometimes it’s inconvenient to look at meat because it’s petrified and hard to eat, but I sacrificed Hans from the front village and gained the power of Mana Detection, so now I can eat with my eyes closed, it’s the best.
You all should definitely find my Little God and walk the path of tributes!
━━━
Declaration of Man’s Representative.
Declaration of Man’s Representative, Not Man’s Constant.
Declaration of the Old God Worshiper.
All sorts of variations of declarations began to spread, each denouncing the incompetence of the Mainstream God Class and extolling the usefulness of the Old Gods.
Where it all started is so obscure that even the power of the Old Gods can’t pinpoint the origin, rumors spread all across the continent from various places!
Thanks to this, religious folks welcomed a new festival of War against Heresy and War against the Demigods.
“You guys! Why are you asking for food expenses from a religious person approaching the Holy Temple? Seeing your lack of faith, you are clearly in cahoots with heresy!”
“I heard that you didn’t attend the weekend mass from our town’s priest. I will engrave superior faith deep into your body and soul, making you incapable of living without faith!”
“Don’t have money to pay the Temple support fund? Then just pay the Lord’s tribute! If you don’t have cash, your property will be confiscated. If you don’t want to become heretics, you better willingly contribute what you have!”
Of course, not all gods are benevolent, and not all worshipers of the benevolent gods are good people.
Because of this, every time the Temple participants passed by, the weaker villages and groups were shaken down repeatedly until they were stripped bare and obliterated.
Strong cities, while trying to chase off small groups yelling for Temple support, were soon faced with thousands of Temple warriors marching in, and chaos ensued.
Innocent people also suffered because of this, so it was clear what those with even the slightest connection to Man’s Representative would face.
“Here! A suspicious believer of the suspicious god has suddenly appeared here!”
“A witch, who worships the evil Old God, treated an illness with suspiciously profound medical knowledge. She must be a worshiper of the Old Gods!”
“It seems our village’s beauty has bewitched the men, causing them to suffer from lovesickness! She must be an evil worshiper of the Old God stealing souls! First she seduced me and then rejected my confession! Someone take her out!”
Urgent reports pouring in to drive away those lawless folks armed with faith!
Most reports were innocent, with many wronged victims crying out, but surprisingly, the frequency at which actual minions of Man’s Representative were detected was pretty high too.
Belief in the Old Gods always carried some kind of mystery, and anytime something suspicious was spotted, it resulted in more reports, leaving no chance for even a tiny seed to sprout.
“…I see.”
Man’s Representative felt the energy returning to himself as the Gods’ Terminal he had spread was destroyed.
If he remained complacent, he would end up losing all external terminals and even his own position, leaving him to be plundered of all his hard-earned strength by the relentless Mainstream God Class’s Temple Alliance.
One among the Mainstream 24 Gods was shrinking, but what he had to lose were all terminals and the Demigods.
Unless the purification and power grabbing plan of the Mainstream 24 Gods had succeeded somehow, but being thwarted by Oknodie, with Demigods being robbed, he had no means to counteract.
Ultimately, Man’s Representative had no choice but to hastily flee to a stronghold loyal to him.
“The Guardian God of the Lake welcomes you to the Kingdom Iyelrn of the Lake!”
A land where countless legends and mysteries dwelled.
The land that produced the most saintesses and warriors in history.
A human purification site, sealing not only the Mages and Demonic Clans but even one of the Demon King’s Four Kings in the lake.
The Guardian Knight of Kingdom Iyelrn voluntarily guided Man’s Representative toward the heart of their stronghold.
As Man’s Representative walked ahead, he recalled the memories extracted from the Knight who led him.
– The seal of the ominous power boiling in the lake of my homeland breaking loose…
[I cannot stop it with my power…]
– That cannot be. There are still remaining [Former Demon King's Four Kings] that must be sealed for another ten years!
[Don’t wander around lost, thinking you’ve missed your mission… The signpost for the lost lamb is in the calm surface of the lake, reflecting the stars of the night sky…]
– Are you saying I should not lose my composure?
[In this world, there are Old Gods who have lost their power… The Goddess of the Lake is also an Old God who has lost her existence and is fading… Before our last sanctuary loses its light, gather the remains of the Old Gods and dedicate them to the lake…]
The relic of the Kingdom of the Lake, sleeping in the golden zone known as the Seven Great Golden Forests, [Ego Staff of the Lake].
The Knight of the Lake, Randolph, began excavation in the golden zone searching for that staff.
Following the guidance of the spirit resting in the staff, Randolph mustered the courage to step forward before Man’s Representative.
– The one possessing the most remains of the Old Gods in the world. There is only one such person. Are you ordering us to hunt him down?
[You all do not have time to hunt him down… be it colluding with Great Evil or surrendering, you must acquire his assistance…]
The spirit suggested compromise if they were weak, but a hero knows no failure.
Having never met defeat, they are overconfident in themselves.
Weak courage becomes recklessness.
Man’s Representative is someone who stood on top of countless recklessness.
Even the Old Gods have succumbed to him, so a mere hero of one country seemed like a laughable adversary.
“Speaking of which… in this guy’s memories…”
Man’s Representative’s brows furrowed.
A disquieting memory followed.
– What in the world did you see that you would ask me to endure not just collusion with other Great Evils but to even submit!?
[That is… an innumerable multitude of possibilities for destruction… Death rising from the deepest darkness of the Underworld, giants rising while collapsing mountains, eternal night arriving with the full moon…]
-!!!
[In the face of a world-scale tremendous Mana Disaster, the world’s energies will exhaust themselves, and the world shall crumble so that even the fallout cannot be estimated even with the golden zone of the Seven Great Magical Territories…]
A crisis facing the world.
The spirit warns of an imminent end.
Man’s Representative knows something similar.
[The World After the Ending]
Oknodie.
The ominous book that the Dark Princess wielded.
God’s Killing Tool.
The tomb of the Gods.
The forbidden book whose risk cannot be measured ultimately sealed the God of Void Unknown.
Randolph, the Knight of the Lake, understands now that while he was insignificant, the future warned by the spirit was not a trivial lie.
This is why Man’s Representative chose the Kingdom of the Lake as his last refuge and sought the lake protected by [Ego Staff of the Lake].
“Staff, you have beheld fragments of the end. It is the future collected by the Dark Princess, a calamity that could be realized in this land at any moment through causalities.”
[Great Evil! You clutch my descendants’ will, twisting it, threatening life and death. Do you really think I’ll bestow wisdom upon you?]
“If you wish for the sealed Demon King’s Four Kings in the lake to remain undisturbed, that’s how it must be….”
Man’s Representative showed mercy, helping to purify the tainted lake of the Kingdom but simultaneously took control over Randolph’s mind.
An individual capable of traversing the lines of good and evil as needed.
Thus, one of the few adversaries with the potential to confront the new generation of Great Evil, the Dark Princess.
The spirit looked up at the turbulence, where even the divine class of the heavens slumbered, feeling the urgency to make a decision.
[It cannot be helped… I have neither the luxury to find another adversary greater than you. If you can guarantee Randolph’s safety, then I shall cooperate.]
“I will do it willingly.”
[If you want to prevent the calamities that the Dark Princess will bring, find her avatar.]
“Avatar? Every avatar is merely a sacrifice for the main body to gain strength.”
[She has a causal connection of division. Also, her true form has a sealed causal possibility of becoming a Demon King. If the avatar steps into the sealed causality, what do you think will happen?]
The spirit’s profound wisdom was a marvelous puzzle of causality that even Man’s Representative, who leads countless Gods, could not foresee.
“An avatar could exist independently from the main body, a complete individual that cannot be a mere sacrifice. The main body cannot become a Demon King, while the avatar has become one.”
The potential of the Demon King, which disappeared during the confrontation with the director.
The moment Oknodie’s avatar reaches that potential…
The avatar will not be helplessly drawn upon the summoning of the main body, descending into a mere instrument to offer up the functions gathered, instead becoming the worst adversary endowed with the main body’s power, wisdom, and functions.
