Yuma focused on the sound ringing in his head.
It wasn’t the voice of the status window; it was the voice of the holy tone (聖音).
[I’m sorry for the delay; I was trying to organize what to tell you.]
“Can we communicate right now?”
At Yuma’s words, the holy tone immediately responded.
[Yes, if you express yourself verbally like this, we can communicate.]
[This is your last chance to extract information from me!]
This holy tone certainly wasn’t normal.
Of course, Yuma didn’t voice that thought out loud.
It was fortunate that he could communicate, rather than just receiving one-sided notifications.
[Then, as the voice that will inform you of the world’s laws, I will tell you what you can do as a god.]
[Originally, I wasn’t scheduled to do this, but since the birth of a God of War is a very special case, I will explain it.]
[You are the first god of this Intermediate World. And you are the only Deity here.]
The only Deity.
Yuma still hadn’t grasped the weight of that ‘Deity’ position.
[A Deity of a world holds several powers.]
[Since this Intermediate World is the lowest world, you cannot prevent beings from higher worlds from descending here.]
[However, you can prevent those who have already come down from higher worlds from returning to their own worlds.]
Powers that one can have as the Deity of a world.
Before the explanation of those powers continued, Yuma interrupted.
“Can I get information about the Gods currently in the Intermediate World?”
[You can only acquire limited information. You can identify their divine names, where they currently exist, etc.]
The voice of the holy tone continued.
[Please imagine the form of a map that you wish to see in your mind.]
Yuma followed the voice’s instructions and imagined a map.
Unlike the typical maps of this world, he envisioned something like a game interface.
And, true to Yuma’s imagination, the map of the Intermediate World appeared before him.
It had an easy-to-overview layout.
Yuma gazed at the unfolding map intently.
[You can check this map whenever you want.]
Yuma made sure to remember the holy tone’s words clearly, focusing all his attention on the map in front of him.
He focused on the text.
The map had more detailed information than he expected.
It was a map marking the list of gods currently manifested in this Intermediate World and their existing locations.
Yuma first quickly scanned the divine names.
[Goddess of the Dead Bones]
[Father of All War Machines and Alchemy]
[The Burning Doom]
[God of Steel and War]
[The God of the Perilous Hammer]
Locations were also detailed.
[Goddess of the Dead Bones] – Silmaria Continent, Valkares Empire.
Along with the deities.
To the exact places they were currently establishing themselves.
Yuma assessed the situation.
There were a total of five gods currently manifested with their physical bodies in this Intermediate World.
It wasn’t hard to infer why they had manifested.
They came down during his absence to carry out the process of destroying and restoring the Intermediate World.
Most likely those who had settled in the Divine Realm.
It was highly probable that they saw humans literally as tools for ascension.
‘Almost certain.’
[What one can do as the Deity is quite simple.]
[I can close all the return gates to prevent the gods currently in the Intermediate World from returning.]
‘…I can close the gates.’
Yuma could easily predict what that meant and what kind of outcome it could produce.
He could prevent them from ascending back to the Celestial Realm.
‘While blocking the escape routes, I can capture them all.’
After organizing his thoughts, Yuma spoke again.
“Can I currently enter the Divine Realm?”
The answer to his question came immediately.
[It’s impossible right now!]
The divine voice continued.
[That’s because the mythical power of the Intermediate World is still significantly low.]
Mythical power.
[If you raise the mythical power of the Intermediate World a bit more and simultaneously lower the mythical power of the Divine Realm, it would become possible for you to enter the Divine Realm.]
Yuma decided to be direct.
“Would killing the gods invading the Intermediate World as the Deity raise my mythical power?”
Again, the answer to his question came forth immediately.
[Of course. Defeating the intruders in the world where you are the Deity will certainly play a significant role in raising your mythical power.]
“Can I close the return gates now?”
[Yes.]
“To close the door, just show your will, like when you proclaimed the holy land,” said Yuma, following the advice given by the Sacred Voice.
Yuma displayed his will.
Shhhh…
Something materialized in his right hand, amidst a soft glow.
It was a black key. A shiny black key.
He infused it with his will, just like when he planted the flag to proclaim the holy land.
Yuma plunged the key into the air.
Suddenly, a heavy surge of black energy rose from what was previously just empty space.
It was the chaotic passage that the gods of the Divine Realm must pass through when descending to the Intermediate World.
He was expressing a strong will to lock this passage.
Click—
He locked the passage’s door.
[Successfully sealed the exit from the Intermediate World to the Divine Realm.]
The exit for the gods of the Divine Realm who had already descended to the Intermediate World was shut.
After that, the Sacred Voice informed Yuma about a few more things he could do and then completely vanished from his mind.
*
The Goddess of the Dead Bones, Angelica, raised her right hand and waved it through the air.
A thick black space quivered and undulated.
She opened a door to return to the Divine Realm once more.
With her almost gray feet, Angelica stepped into the black door.
Her body ascended toward the Divine Realm.
A sensation of floating surged from her entire being.
At the moment she became confident of her return to the Divine Realm—
Boom—
“…Uh, huh?”
Angelica felt her body being violently thrust backward.
[The main god of the Intermediate World has sealed the exit from the Intermediate World.]
“What the heck?”
A wave of anxiety began to rise from her toes.
She realized she had returned to the very ground where she had opened the door.
“Damn it…”
The main god of the Intermediate World.
It wasn’t hard to guess who that was, as there was only one god born from the Intermediate World.
It was also not difficult to infer why they blocked the passage back to the Divine Realm.
The goddess with black hair furrowed her brow.
And she twisted her lips.
“Are you saying you’ll kill all the gods invading your precious Intermediate World…?”
The reason she had even considered returning to the Divine Realm was because she had heard that the very human who killed not one, but two gods suddenly became a god himself.
A variable that made it impossible to predict how the situation would unfold.
An unpredictable variable.
Because such a variable appeared, I chose to return immediately.
Who would have expected that a newly appointed god would make the decision to close the door so quickly?
*
Duke Yuma, blocking the path from the Intermediate World to the Divine Realm, fell deep into thought again.
He had prevented the gods invading the Intermediate World from returning to the Divine Realm.
But Yuma knew he had to enter the Divine Realm himself.
‘Outer Divine Realm.’
To be precise, it referred to the Eight Evil Gods and their following gods. They were beings pushed into the corners of the Divine Realm.
The Goddess of Earth and Eternity, Leah, introduced herself that way.
The ones who brought him to this world and empowered him must be them too.
‘Does killing the remaining five Evil Gods really end it, and will there be a situation where it’s possible to kill them?’
It was necessary to figure all of that out.
While he was pondering, a familiar phrase floated before Yuma’s eyes.
This time, it wasn’t through a divine voice, but rather a status window from the Outer Divine Realm’s perspective that began to emerge.
[It was wise to close the door for the gods of the Divine Realm returning from invading the Intermediate World.]
[If you handle those who descended to raise their divinity, the divine power of the Intermediate World will surely increase significantly.]
[Now, let us clearly inform you of what remains to be done.]
[You must eliminate the gods invading the Intermediate World to maximize the divine power. If you can somehow kill just one of the remaining five Evil Gods, the possibility of the gods from the Outer Divine Realm facilitating your entry into the Divine Realm will increase.]
[While you kill the gods invading the Intermediate World, we from the Outer Divine Realm will also look for ways to reduce the number of Evil Gods.]
Yuma didn’t like it.
“Somehow,” huh?
These guys were still pushing their own work onto him.
‘Can’t fully trust these guys.’
Members of the Outer Divine Realm who clearly summoned him here.
Seeing how they were trying hard to make him a god, it was clear they weren’t outright enemies. They must know that a misstep could lead to their own demise from the spear they created.
But they still had too many secrets hidden.
For now, what needed to be done was clear.
First, kill the five gods invading the Intermediate World.
And if one of the Evil Gods descends, he must be killed without fail.
If not, and if they were too scared to show up, then…
‘I need to find a way, no matter what.’
He had to kill them, even if it meant dragging them down forcibly.
Yuma stood up from his chair.
Having decided on what to do, it was time to meet with his party and discuss the things left unsaid.
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