Chapter 131

Ortes could not fully read the confused mind of the parasitic entity, but from the fragments he managed to decipher amidst the whirlwind of words, he grasped the rough outline of its reasoning.

The parasite suspected that Carisia and Ortes might have been created much later than itself.

‘Until just now, you treated me like an ancient monster. Quite adaptable thinking, isn’t it?’

But it wasn’t entirely illogical.

Ordinary human bodies were typically subject to a lifespan. Exceptions were made for transcendental wizards challenging ascension or cyber-wizards who prolonged their lives by replacing their flesh with machinery.

‘Did it read the flow of time in Carisia’s body? It considers me of the same mental construct, so her youthful physical age wouldn’t seem odd, but Carisia is different.’

The thought was not incorrect. However, the parasite’s assumption that Carisia and Ortes shared the same creator as itself turned out to be a grand mistake.

“Have you perhaps wondered why the Creator, who has remained silent until now, chooses to reveal Its will at this moment?”

Ortes intended to exploit this misconception to provoke the parasite.

“It’s simply because the time has come. The Creator will now appear to dispose of failed works like yourself.”

From his experience in this world, Ortes knew that extravagant boasts, the more absurd, often yielded the best results.

In truth, Ortes didn’t even need to do this.

The parasite had already been deeply shocked by the declaration that “I am younger than you.”

‘It wasn’t someone far older than me…?’

The parasite well understood the immense difficulties involved in acquiring such a powerful body. Even if it had been lurking since the Mythic Age, its fate was to be imprisoned by the Theistic Order for centuries whenever things went awry.

Thus, the parasite viewed Ortes as a patient being who, through careful and discreet efforts, had found a particularly suitable body. Ortes was also seen as an ambitious individual, content with his current suitable body yet waiting for the perfect offering—Carisia.

However, Ortes declared himself to be from a much later generation, contrary to the parasite’s expectations.

The suitable body Ortes possessed, as well as the perfect offering the parasite had sought for so long but never found, must surely have been gifts from the Creator.

Jealousy and inferiority welled up within the parasite, though it somehow understood. After all, the Creator was as great as It was fearsome.

It puzzled over why such blessed conditions had been granted to such a young one instead of itself, but presuming to guess the Creator’s grand plan would be irreverent.

The parasite did not think Ortes received those gifts because he was superior. What truly troubled the parasite was the implication about the Creator’s true intentions suggested by Ortes’ existence.

The Creator wished to purge the parasites living in this era.

‘Why?’ Doubts filled its mind. Why had the Creator, who had tolerated the activities of its kind for countless ages, decided to intervene now?

What had caused the Creator’s disappointment?

Ortes gripped his sword and surveyed the surrounding space. His provocation had worked better than expected. The movements of the other terminals approaching had ceased, evidence of a greater-than-expected mental shock.

Yet Ortes wasn’t entirely pleased with the parasite’s stunned silence.

His suspicions about the identity of the “Creator” grew stronger.

‘No. This might still be my bias. It’s not too late to make a final judgment after extracting more information from him.’

“Do you have any plans after metamorphosis?”

It was a truly strange question. The mental parasite responded with layers of compressed hostility and silence.

Ortes nodded calmly and continued, feigning ease.

“You probably don’t. You’re likely thinking: just as a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, and a child grows into an adult, metamorphosis is natural. You’ve likely given no thought to what comes after.”

And that’s why you’re the loser.

“What?”

“Isn’t it strange? The Creator gave you the instinct for metamorphosis. But didn’t reveal what to do afterward? Think again. What did your predecessors do after metamorphosing?”

The parasite recalled the old days. In the Mythic Age, those who completed metamorphosis by residing in sacred relics often played at being gods, much like it does now.

Though it hadn’t directly interacted with them, it was easy to guess that some sects branded as heretical and exterminated by the Theistic Order were actually homes to its kin.

‘As expected.’

Ortes’ deduction continued.

Since ancient times, parasites must have subtly integrated themselves into religious orders, gradually transforming normal worship into heresy.

A parasite that appeared in Algus City bleached the identity of a sect and masqueraded as an unnamed deity.

The predecessors of this parasite likely didn’t stop there. Just as the Algus City parasite attempted to use the magic core to achieve metamorphosis, they must have used the relics of their sects as cores for their transformation.

“Our brilliant ones. Those who played god and transformed into false deities met their end in war against the Theistic Order—and ultimately perished.”

“Don’t you see? That was the will of the Creator.”

How could false deities, who had shed their chrysalis to become divine beings, no longer exist in this world?

Ortes’ experience and intuition quickly provided the answer.

When you think about it, it was strange. Ever since the Wizard King disappeared after being betrayed by his disciples, during this long span of time,

why couldn’t the Theistic Order ever regain the upper hand in its wars against the Ten Towers?

Even when the Ten Towers were weakened by successive succession battles, creating periods of confusion in power dynamics, the Theistic Order never once recovered its lost strength.

‘The reason the Theistic Order couldn’t recover must have been due to the false deities.’

False deities appearing at every critical juncture of recovery and causing internal strife must have repeatedly forced the Theistic Order to self-destruct.

False deities—a time bomb planted to prevent the unity of divine forces and perpetually maintain magical superiority.

A doubt arose in the parasite’s mind. If opposing the Theistic Order was the mission revealed by metamorphosis, then surely now, when the Theistic Order has become more threatening than ever, metamorphosis is needed more than ever—

“The efforts of those who metamorphosed before are commendable, but didn’t the order to annihilate the sect fail?”

“So, the Creator took back the mission from you?”

Because others had failed? The unspoken sentence flared up in the parasite’s thoughts. Ortes sensed its deep frustration.

“It’s not just you. It’s a failure of the entire species. The Creator is deeply disappointed that you haven’t managed to destroy the sect.”

‘The Creator isn’t someone who gets disappointed every time, and it wouldn’t dismantle a system that has functioned semi-permanently just because of one failure, but…’

Ortes pondered the whereabouts of the vanished false deities. They couldn’t all have been eradicated.

After all, the mental parasite currently in Algus City hadn’t undergone metamorphosis and had survived until this period.

What became of the false deities who weren’t used to erode the Theistic Order’s power?

This very question marked the start of Ortes’ most dangerous conjecture. False deities who periodically emerged to instigate internal strife within the Theistic Order—what decision would they make once the Theistic Order had shrunk enough that further warfare was unnecessary?

Ortes was aware that there were gaps in the original novel’s setting.

***

The means by which the Wizard King resurrected.

The foggy setup that allowed the protagonist to revive in 2077. Something that ‘accidentally’ revived the Wizard King.

Mental parasites can attempt metamorphosis using materials with transcendent magical storage capacities, like the magic core of a proper tower, and if they possess a body with overwhelming magical talent like Carisia’s, they judge it possible to achieve a more perfect metamorphosis.

Even if the metamorphosis isn’t perfect, it’s clear that they possess enough power for the Theistic Order to attempt eradication.

Of course, if the metamorphosis is more complete, it naturally leads to even greater strength—individuals who look human but wield magic on a scale beyond the personal level.

…I know such beings. Tower masters wielding the authority of the Ten Sages.

Considering that even the declining Theistic Order could eliminate them, the power of individual false deities likely doesn’t match that of a tower master connected to the Ten Sages. But quantity can sometimes replace quality.

Just as Adusiam did in the Pluto Temple, the Wizard King had the ability to design magic that functioned even after his physical death.

The creature before me now agonizes over being truly abandoned because it hasn’t received a new mission after metamorphosis, but the reality is likely different.

A new mission would be inputted after metamorphosis. In other words, metamorphosis served as a certification. A seal proving that metamorphosis had occurred, required to access the mission after metamorphosis.

If the creator of the parasite was the Wizard King…

He must have included conditional orders assuming his own disappearance.

Surviving false deities would have become sacrifices.

Prepared bodies for the Wizard King. If there was a perfectly metamorphosed false deity, it would have housed him. Alternatively, several imperfectly metamorphosed false deities could have been sacrificed to create a new body for him.

I recalled the time from when the Wizard King disappeared to the present year, 2074.

How many gods has the Wizard King consumed?

***