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“How did I end up here…?”

The goddess stared into the dark abyss of the cave’s entrance, wide-eyed like a dragon’s gaping maw.

Having attended the operations meeting, she found herself part of a special team tasked with defeating the queen.

“I’m sorry for bringing you to such a dangerous battlefield unexpectedly.”

Feeling that she might be scared, Knight Ren, who was leading the special operators, approached her.

“But this operation is of utmost importance for the future of humanity. If we miss this chance, unlike them, we cannot replenish our resources and troops, and humanity will face extinction. Therefore, we need the cooperation of a strong warrior like you. Please, join us.”

As the supreme commander, he could have issued a commanding order, but he asked her instead.

The image of her former self as a hero.

The goddess wanted to reclaim what she had lost.

“…Well, let’s give it a shot.”

She wanted to change her slothful and incompetent self, who even got scolded by the demon.

“Thank you so much!”

The goddess entered the cave alongside the joyful Knight Ren, who was pleased with her response.

‘……In my previous life, I entered an underground cave with ten special operators.’

In her actual past life, she defeated the queen with ten heroes supporting her.

Unlike now, Knight Ren didn’t gather soldiers.

This situation was designed for the protagonist-focused events that stemmed from the game’s characteristics, but the goddess was unaware of this fact.

‘Perhaps it’s due to the insufficient records in history.’

She felt a bit complicated.

Fighting alongside her, the fact that the elite monsters were dealt with so the queen could reach her, but her fallen comrades weren’t remembered.

‘Or maybe I, who failed to pass down that fact to future generations, am the most erroneous existence.’

The goddess reflected on how wrong her life had been.

– Uuuwaaaah!

– Kieeek!

The goddess and Knight Ren advanced forward, cutting down numerous monsters.

Despite the royal army outside desperately drawing the enemy’s attention, the queen’s guards continuously flooded in to defend her lair.

After slaying hundreds of monsters, they finally reached the cave’s deepest depths.

– Kiiirrrk.

– Kiiik.

Three Elder Guardians emerged.

‘We took down one outside, and now there are three in total!’

There were only three Elder Guardians that existed in her previous life.

It seemed the influence of the abyss had significantly increased the difficulty.

Clang!

Knight Ren deflected the charges of two attacking monsters.

“Leave the last one to me!”

“The last one, huh.”

The goddess faced the remaining Elder Guardian with her sword drawn.

She had to kill it quickly and assist Knight Ren.

Compared to her past self, having lost an arm and bearing a different sword, it looked tough for her to face two Elder Guardians.

Clang! Clang!

With the skills of her transcended swordsmanship, the goddess evaded the strike of the Elder Guardian’s blade.

– Kiiik!

Then, she slashed the bewildered Elder Guardian’s blade.

Crunch!

Without even giving it a chance to retreat, her follow-up swing finally decapitated the Elder Guardian.

As she gripped her sword in reverse to confirm her kill on the decapitated Elder Guardian’s body,

Woosh!

A blue light surged from the Elder Guardian’s body and engulfed her.

“What, what’s happening?”

The phenomenon was unfamiliar, and the goddess tried to evade the light, but it seeped into her body at a speed she couldn’t react to.

Thump!

A small ripple formed within her.

Thump! Thump!

The ripples grew larger.

And finally,

Bam!

As the ripple fully engulfed her consciousness, a pair of wings burst forth from her back.

“Wings of the Elder Guardian?”

The essence of the Elder Guardian was absorbed into the protagonist character.

“……So, that was how it was.”

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t understand.

Despite being in such a dire situation where she had to defeat the queen alone without her ten special operators, why were there so many players who cleared this episode?

“If absorption of essence is possible, then things change.”

The traits of [Acceleration], [High-Speed Flight], and [Robust Life Force] that the Elder Guardian possessed were activated as essence, strengthening the goddess’s avatar.

While she was far from her true self, she exuded a power equivalent to a superhuman at a human level, wrapping her entire being.

This was a special ability held by the protagonist in the game [Akashic Archive].

Boom!

The goddess kicked off the ground and leaped at the two Elder Guardians pressing Knight Ren.

Bam! Bang!

The sword strike, which had broken the sound barrier with [Acceleration], crushed the two Elder Guardians.

“Haah…Haah…what in the world is that power…?”

The goddess’s avatar, clad in armor and wings created from the Elder Guardian’s abilities.

At first glance, one could misinterpret her as a monster or an agent of the abyss, but

“No, no! Thank you for saving me. If it wasn’t for you, I would have been in danger.”

Knight Ren dismissed her concerns.

“Now, all the distractions are dead.”

Knight Ren wiped his blade and adjusted his chrome arm, then slowly walked forward.

“And beyond that lies our ultimate goal, the spawn of those who will end this war and save everyone.”

He glanced back at the goddess with a grin.

“Thanks to you, we made it this far. I express my gratitude. It’s time for the final stage. Are you ready?”

The goddess nodded silently.

“Alright, then let’s go. To save our humanity.”

*

Bam!

– Kieeeek!

A gigantic monster, big enough to fit three ogres, the queen of monsters, roared as she fell.

Even in her past life, Ren wouldn’t have been able to kill this monster had he not risked collapsing the cave.

‘……If I had this power in my previous life, would things have been different.’

Perhaps that’s why, despite defeating the queen easily, her heart felt uneasy.

“Haha…hahaha!”

Knight Ren, covered in blood, laughed heartily.

“Truly an epic feat! A hero in black armor soaring the skies and hunting the queen of monsters! Your name will be etched in history as a legend!”

As she laughed maniacally, she suddenly wore a puzzled expression.

“Now that I think about it, I never asked your name. What rudeness! …Let me ask again. What is your name?”

There were so many things she wanted to say.

To tell him that she was another version of herself from the future, and share the events that had unfolded.

But just as the goddess’s avatar opened her mouth, she heard a sound.

Ding!

[Ending the viewing.]

The scenery faded to black as if the film had cut off.

“You did well. I’ll give you a 9 out of 10 for the first trial.”

And when she opened her eyes again, a black-haired boy, the curator, stood before her.

[Exiting the game.]

Pah!

Her usual room welcomed the goddess, who had exited the virtual reality.

“……”

She knew.

That place wasn’t a past but a world within a game.

It was merely a façade crafted to resemble a long-gone past that she could never return to.

“Sloth…”

The name of her Star Lord was [Sacrifice Who Overcame Sloth].

Since she was born as a Star Lord during her deification process, rather than actively transcending herself, she was famous for being a passive Star Lord.

Despite possessing immense power and faith, she neither used that power nor left her dwelling as a silent deity.

“I feel like I’ve awakened from a deep sleep.”

Why did she live like that?

The companions she fought alongside on the continent didn’t remember, yet she lay in her corner, wallowing.

It was wholly uncharacteristic of her.

There was a sense of alienation as if something had intervened in her consciousness.

But now it’s different.

Though it was a false dream, she felt liberated from the deep slumber that had been consuming her reality.

Thanks to that, she could return to her senses.

Now she understood.

What she had to do.

“First, shall I go express my gratitude?”

The power that made the game [Akashic Archive] was the power of dreams.

If there were a god of dreams, it would only be her.

The goddess recalled the little goddess she had seen long ago.

*

Ding!

[Sacrifice Who Overcame Sloth sends their gratitude.]

“……Hmm?”

The message delivered in the form of a Star Lord’s note, akin to a message from Goddess Ren.

In this confusing situation, all she could do was stare blankly.

[“W-well, don’t worry! I didn’t say a word about our Apostle’s true identity!” said the Dream Storyteller with a tremble.]

If it’s that scary, it’s okay to share my identity, at least.

I’m somewhat of an apostle, so I’ve been wondering why they’ve been reluctant to disclose my identity.

I thought the goddess was outraged for taking liberties with her character in the game, but fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

Instead, she expressed her thanks.

So, it seemed that she had requested them to pass along their contact information to express gratitude for the way I portrayed her.

Gratitude.

Was it because I made her story look impressive?

Good thing I didn’t insert any negative scenes to exploit the character [Knight Ren] as a limited character.

If I had portrayed her in a way that made her appear foolish or villainous, both she and I would probably be facing divine judgment by now.

Just thinking about it made me shudder.

[Sacrifice Who Overcame Sloth asks if it’s okay to request one thing.]

“Oh, of course! Since you granted me permission to use your story, feel free to ask for anything!”

Being the most crucial character for our game’s tutorial, I couldn’t do anything less than prostrating myself to fulfill her wishes.

A simple request to lighten her nose or add a halo effect in key scenes would be just fine.

However, her request was entirely unexpected.

[Sacrifice Who Overcame Sloth wishes for the names of the ten special operators to be included in the game.]

“Special operators?”

After hearing the backstory from Goddess Ren, I understood what she was asking.

The special team that entered the underground cave with her to take down the queen.

They sacrificed themselves in crucial positions to guide Ren to the queen, playing a decisive role in the mission’s success.

However, since everyone, including Ren, met their demise underground, there was no one to recount their tales, and with the queen’s death, only the fact that monsters perished remained documented.

Without anyone left to convey their detailed story, the account in history could only remain as Ren’s, who had been a prestigious leader of the special team.

While the stories of soldiers who inspired the monsters from the outside continued to be passed down, the tales of the special operators were lost.

Goddess Ren’s request was to at least leave their stories within the game.

“Don’t worry, Goddess. Soon everyone in the world will know those ten names.”

The tutorial is where players remember the game most vividly.

If we engrave it deeply within that tutorial, we can fulfill her request.

And the [Queen of Monsters] was set to appear first in the weekly boss content as the ultimate boss of the tutorial.

It would be fitting to feature them as allies in that weekly boss fight.

From then on, players would hunt the queen for various resources, commemorating those ten heroes on the spot.

When I informed her of the changes, that I would incorporate them as heroes in the game and that the Monster Queen would be slain thousands, if not millions of times by players, the goddess smiled.

[Sacrifice Who Overcame Sloth beams with a bright smile.]

Her joy was so radiant that I could feel it even through the Star Lord’s language.