The campfire burns down, illuminating the surroundings and staining the rain-soaked forest or swamp with its glow.
The light smolders but doesn’t seem to spread far, partly because it originates from the campfire, but also due to the figures sitting around it.
The light blocked by their bodies stretches into long shadows.
These shadows appear to be huddled together, leaning heads on each other, which is strange considering the members of the traveling party aren’t actually touching.
“That… what was that?”
The girl who had been staring blankly at the fire asked.
The girl with orange hair reaching her shoulders is named Angela Tail, though her companions simply call her Angie.
Angie buries her nose in a blanket, breathing lightly as she waits for an answer.
“Deity.”
“Deity?”
“Yeah.”
The one answering is a man, with curly black hair and teal eyes, his face weary. The side profile of his seemingly melancholic face flickers with the campfire’s light.
With the brief reply, Angie appears dissatisfied, but Aslan, the man, has no way to explain further.
In truth, Aslan doesn’t know much.
He recalls the events that happened within the sanctuary.
‘I’ve found it.’
At the moment the corpses all spat out those words, the sound echoed through the corridor.
Among these sounds were not only human voices but also various others—beasts, monsters, insects chirping, and more.
This cacophony hammered into Aslan’s ears like a unified choir, bringing discomfort, while sending shivers down Angie and Ereta’s spines.
Afterward, the corpses all collapsed.
The ominous black qi swirling around their eyes disappeared, and the sound of collapsing bodies spread throughout the sanctuary, from the interior to the corridors.
Aslan remembered the warning given by the ancient deity.
‘That Being cannot endure even a moment without seeing you watching over them. They will likely come looking for you.’
True to the ancient deity’s words, ‘That Being’ had come searching for Aslan.
When Aslan returned to reality after conversing with the ancient deity, he realized that the time he and Angie had disappeared didn’t last even a second.
And yet, during this fleeting lapse in surveillance, That Being had gathered every corpse from the area.
Aslan and the group confirmed this fact while escaping the sanctuary.
The corridor was filled with far more corpses than they had seen before.
Drowned bodies carried away by rivers, travelers who died along the road, the corpse of a giant priest already scattered about, monsters, all kinds of insects from the region, migrating birds flying in the sky, forest beasts—all manner of deaths lay rotting and filling the corridor with blood and decay.
Recalling the countless corpses collected by some entity, Aslan stiffened his expression.
Was it necessary to manipulate so many corpses just to find Aslan and declare that they had done so?
It was an incomprehensible level of obsession. Aslan, knowing nothing about what kind of being ‘That Being’ was, irritably poked the campfire with a stick to tidy it up.
Crack.
As the completely burned log fell apart, it turned gray, leaving soot on the ground. Aslan silently watched this and sighed.
There should be no deity in Aslan’s knowledge capable of controlling corpses.
Not even magic exists in Geladridion to control corpses.
Thus, there are only two possibilities: either it’s a divine power hidden from Aslan’s knowledge, or it isn’t divine power at all.
Aslan believed the latter was more likely.
After all, Aslan, born on Earth, had been thrown into this game world, appearing as a figure similar but oddly different from himself, suggesting such acts could easily happen.
Moreover, the ancient deity had spoken.
Even ancient deities and gods fear and avoid That Being. If it’s an entity from another universe or dimension that transcends them, then manipulating corpses would be trivial.
While pondering this, Aslan continued prodding the campfire with the stick when he noticed someone’s gaze. He looked up and saw both Ereta and Angie staring at him intently.
They regarded Aslan with complex expressions. Angie’s primary emotion was suspicion, while Ereta wore an unreadable blank expression.
But even Ereta, whose emotions were hard to read, seemed to sense something odd about the situation.
Given that Aslan couldn’t possibly explain it, they chose not to ask.
Amidst this awkward silence, Aslan immersed himself back in thought, organizing his thoughts while gazing at the flickering campfire.
First came the clues.
A deity symbolized by animals.
More specifically, a deity symbolized by animals that do not exist in this world, Geladridion.
Aslan recalled all the deities he knew.
Supreme Divinity.
Necessity of the Universe.
Predator.
The Immovable One.
Abyss.
Veil of Mercy.
Mother Who Bore Me.
Formless One.
Dark Ram Herd.
Before Aslan arrived in Geladridion, in the game, he had known seven deities excluding the Formless One and Dark Ram Herd, making nine currently.
Flipping the logs in the campfire with the stick, Aslan thought.
‘Among these, five symbolize animals.’
Two of the three evil deities of Necessity of the Universe: Poison-Spitting Dragon and Fire-Throwing Spider.
The Immovable One, shaped like a whale.
Mother Who Bore Me, shaped like a centipede.
And the Dark Ram Herd, which openly represents sheep.
These five were the only ones that could arguably be said to symbolize animals.
However, among these selected deities, some needed to be ruled out.
First, the Poison-Spitting Dragon and Fire-Throwing Spider.
Considering that dragons and spiders exist in Geladridion, these two could not be the entity warned about by the ancient deity.
Besides, the Fire-Throwing Spider is almost exiled. While surprising if it were behind the plot, Aslan didn’t think so.
There were too many inconsistencies.
Previously, when Ereta was killed, the divine power of the Fire-Throwing Spider was easily destroyed by ‘Purity,’ which Aslan used. It deteriorated and faded.
If it were merely trying to deceive, there would have been no need to go to such lengths.
Similarly, the Dark Ram Herd was also unlikely.
Though it was a deity that didn’t exist in the game and raised suspicions due to its low activity and limited recognition across the continent,
crucially, sheep exist in Geladridion. Therefore, any deity symbolizing existing animals could be excluded for now.
That left two.
The massive whale swimming through and devouring time, The Immovable One.
And the deity shaped like a centipede, filling other dimensions with itself, distorting and crushing the universe, Mother Who Bore Me.
Based on the current clues, it could only be one of these two.
Of course, the information provided by the ancient deity didn’t have to be trusted entirely. However, Aslan had no other sources of information.
It was essentially the first piece of information obtained after 12 years of wandering, so it was convenient to use it as a premise.
Once more clues are obtained, reassessment can begin.
‘…Or it could be the Formless One.’
Thinking deeply, Aslan recalled the Formless One, a deity that existed in the game but not outside of it.
A deity with no concrete information available.
What form it takes, what actions it performs, where its base lies—all remain enigmatic.
It’s even uncertain whether priests or high priests exist for this deity.
Unlike other deities whose high priests and priests are publicly known, almost no information exists about the Formless One.
The only known fact is that it is so secretive that it lacks a clear form.
‘The possibility is quite high.’
Of course, with the current lack of known information, it remains mere speculation, irrelevant to immediate action plans.
Aslan’s priority is survival. Uncovering and resolving the mastermind must come after survival.
Revisiting the events of 12 years ago, witnessing them again with his own eyes, hearing and feeling them, allowed Aslan to regain his will to survive.
He resolved to return home no matter what.
The first step toward that goal is, naturally, gathering veterans.
“…What’re you thinking about?”
Lost in thought, Aslan looked up at Angie who had addressed him. Ereta, seemingly asleep with her cheek resting on her knees, slowly woke up, yawning and opening her eyes late.
“The next plan.”
Hearing that the next step of the journey had been decided, Ereta, startled by sleepiness, focused her attention on Aslan. Receiving the gazes of both, Aslan spoke softly.
“We took a detour checking the Sanctuary of Sorrow, but next we’ll proceed as planned to find the Sword Veteran.”
The Sword Veteran was Aslan’s old comrade, skilled and trustworthy.
Having heard this explanation before, Angie glanced at Ereta with a skeptical expression, unsure if this crazy woman could be trusted.
Adding another member somehow made her uneasy, a possessiveness she herself didn’t recognize.
But she didn’t voice her dissatisfaction. Angie trusted Aslan, thinking voicing complaints wouldn’t be wise.
It was the nature of the impoverished to put on airs under others’ gazes.
“…Do we have another target?”
This time, the question came from Ereta. She, who hadn’t spoken a word until leaving the sanctuary, finally opened her mouth.
“Haven’t I told you?”
“Yes.”
Only then did Aslan scratch his chin with a troubled look, a new expression. When Angie chuckled quietly, Aslan smiled awkwardly and spoke lightly.
“I’m going to kill a god.”
“…What?”
“And fix the world.”
“What?”
“That’s my purpose.”
Ereta reacted, her bewilderment evident as her pink eyes widened.
Killing means taking the life of a living being.
Gods represent powerful entities beyond life, beings unaffected by life and death.
The phrase “kill a god” sounded contradictory. At least to Ereta, who had been a high priestess, it sounded that way.
On the other hand, the casual tone behind this contradictory statement made Ereta wonder if it was a joke.
“Is this serious? Or a joke?”
From Ereta’s perspective, Aslan appeared to be full of braggadocio, a child with something unknown in his head. Meanwhile, Angie, unfazed by the seemingly absurd joke, stretched lazily, indicating seriousness.
Based solely on their reactions, it seemed genuine.
“…Are you serious?”
This was incomprehensible. Too bizarre to understand. Blinking repeatedly, Ereta questioned Aslan, who smirked faintly.
Instead of answering, he pulled the blanket up and said,
“We should reach Cardi by tomorrow, so it’s best to get some rest early. The rain has stopped, but the road is still rough and long.”
With that, Aslan closed his eyes.
Angie leaned back and lay down fully, while Ereta watched the relaxed pair with confusion.
‘Kill… a god?’
Because of this, Ereta couldn’t fall asleep for a long time.
Exhausted from walking, she collapsed into unconsciousness upon arriving at Cardi the next day.
