Chapter 182
“The decisive moment is coming . ”
I watched the four battles approach their conclusions and spoke to the Goddess (Dina) .
The Earth Ouroboros and Heavenly Ouroboros had died . The Fire Ouroboros was already half-dead, so there was no way Benet and the others would lose . At this point, even Benet alone would have won without any problems . On the other hand, the Wood Ouroboros had to deal with both Pollux and Orm at the same time . It was only a matter of time before Aries and the others headed over there and helped them achieve victory .
However, the Goddess (Dina) still maintained a casual expression . That was natural…since the most important existence was still unharmed over here . No, even if I had defeated Dina, she would still be just as casual . After all, this entire world was just a game . If she lost, she might be disappointed . If she started sulking, she might never play it again . That was all there was to it .
No matter how hurt the game character was, the player still wouldn’t receive a scar in real life . That was why I needed to destroy this universe (game) to be on par with her . If I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t be able to fight her . I wouldn’t even be able to meet her face to face .
Naturally, I couldn’t afford to lose to her right here . After all, I haven’t even managed to reach the same battlefield as Alovenus yet .
“What a bunch of useless guys . However, your steady advance is ending here . No matter how strong you are, you can’t defeat me . ”
“Not quite . That’s Dina’s body . You yourself aren’t even on this battlefield yet . ”
“I see . That’s true . However…For someone like you, this is more than enough . ”
As she spoke, the pressure released by the Goddess (Dina) increased .
—She’s coming!
I could feel the mana from beyond this star ebbing away . It wasn’t something inferior like Midgard’s mana . She was collecting the mana that made up the universe itself . Yes, the universe itself was her arcane magic . Therefore, the amount of mana that she had access to was infinite .
“Now, come forth . You, the ruler of the sky, the thunder of destruction that shattered the stars…Ceraunus!”
The sky parted and lightning descended . At our level, I would say that a lightning strike was just child’s play…but naturally, this wasn’t ordinary lightning . There was no way to know how much voltage was in the current, but there was no doubt that it reached an astronomically impossible value . As she had said, it could incinerate even stars . It was evident there was enough power to erase them .
I raised my hand over my head and deployed a shield to block the lightning . It was an insulator that created a layer of air which did not conduct electricity . Naturally, it was immediately destroyed . This wasn’t something that could be defended against using rubber, pure water, or a layer of air .
Physical truths, rationale, common sense, reasoning, theories, and laws…were all sadly invalid . They were completely meaningless . However, if the other side was pushing forward with raw power, I would just have to reciprocate in kind . I raised the output of the shield to an irrational level, blocking the lightning that ignored rationality .
The lightning scattered light across the sky . Despite a reduction of the number of stars shining in the sky, Midgard itself was still extant .
“Cut her down, Winter of Swords!”
This time, I went on the offensive . This was completely different from the half-actualized Winter of Swords that I had previously used against Benet . It was a full-scale skill activation .
Countless blades sprang up at the feet of the Goddess (Dina), penetrating the sky above . The Goddess (Dina) jumped further away with a smile, while I moved my arm to pursue her . The blades moved and cornered the Goddess (Dina) once again .
However, she slipped through the cage of blades, jumping higher up without suffering any wounds . I jumped after her as she escaped, facing her in mid-air .
“You, incarnate of destruction, the one with a thousand names, the ultimate being that will destroy all things…Mahakala!”
With the Goddess (Dina) as the center, flames scattered in all directions . I had a premonition of absolute death . Even though it might have seemed somewhat timid, I was forced to retreat . But it soon became obvious that my premonition was right .
The blades that I had transmuted were destroyed without exception, disintegrating into charcoal . It was obvious that this wasn’t just normal heat .
“Absolute destruction, huh?”
“No, it’s instant death for both living and nonliving things . ”
Hearing the words of the Goddess (Dina), I muttered, “I see . ”
It would most likely penetrate any resistance as well . What a horrifying skill…if one was actually struck by it . However, the actual effect aside, the flames were actually not a big deal . At least, it was fairly mild when compared to the heat of the Sun…It was a weak flame that could be snuffed by blowing at it .
I lightly punched forward and snuffed out the flames using the resulting wind pressure . Then, I flew right in front of the Goddess (Dina) .
“Aldebaran!”
My fist struck the Goddess (Dina) in the belly and blew her away .
Sorry, Dina . I’ll heal you later, so please forgive me .
If I had used this on Pollux back then, it would have restored her consciousness . Aldebaran could destroy and nullify all powers .
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However, the Goddess…was still possessing Dina . Well, that was natural, since the Goddess wasn’t controlling Dina using a skill . She was merely controlling someone who had originally been created to be her avatar . There wasn’t any power at work here .
Based on what I had heard from Dina, the Goddess had to use a skill to possess her . But it wasn’t an ongoing effect . Once it was used, the skill wasn’t considered to still be active .
“It’s useless,” the Goddess (Dina) mocked me and used another skill .
“You, queen of the underworld, divine progenitor of the gods, come forth . Izanami!”
At the command of the Goddess (Dina), the surrounding mana began to coalesce into the shapes of people . They took the forms/appearance of Japanese-styled men and women holding weapons, and gave off a sense of being rather formidable . They promptly surrounded me .
How lukewarm . What is this? Are they asking to be beaten up?
She should have known by now that this amount of enemies wouldn’t be enough to deal with me . In that case, let me clean this up with a skill . The divine gatekeeper would eliminate those who weren’t fit to be in this battlefield…by using the Selection Scales .
“Brachium!”
A destructive light swirled around me, turning the manifesting people back into dust . Brachium was a skill with a fixed damage value, and my current damage value was 999,999,999…which was almost a billion .
Caught up in the attack, the Goddess (Dina) received enormous damage . The surrounding area was completely cleared away . Even then, this much damage was merely one-thousandth of her HP . It might not be my place to say this, but her status was truly ridiculous .
“The first was from Greek mythology, then followed by something from Indian mythology . This time, it’s Japanese mythology? You really are shameless . All of them are taken from myths from the other world . ”
“Oh, yes . Now that I think about it, you’d know about them, wouldn’t you? And you’re right . The world over there is full of stories, and they’re all so interesting . I’m amazed by the people’s creative freedom . ”
The Goddess (Dina) smiled as she spread out her hands . She was like a kid who was talking about a toy that she was proud of . I got a glimpse of her innocence tainted by insanity .
“So which mythology would you like to experience next? Egyptian mythology, Chinese mythology, Bablyonian mythology, Norse mythology, or whatever else you’d like . Pick whatever you want, I don’t mind . Or do you prefer the gods from comics and novels instead of mythologies?”
“Oh my, that’s quite a big proposition . So you’re suggesting that if you feel like it, you can use all of the fantastic abilities from the myths and stories of the other world?”
“I wouldn’t say everything, but I can use whatever people can imagine . ”
That reply from the Goddess (Dina) answered one of the questions that I had been pondering about . Monkey see, monkey do…Furthermore, the forms of the gods who had been born earlier were rather ambiguous . There was no doubt about it . She…
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“You cannot use your power to create life again, right?”
When I confidently asked my question, the smug look on the Goddess (Dina) froze . Her reaction suggested that I had said something that shouldn’t have been said .
“That’s the limitation of imitating things like a monkey . It’s too obvious and easy to know what you cannot do . This world itself is a distorted product made by merging various myths from the other world . This is also true for the native creatures . There’s nothing truly original here . Although there are many creatures that have undergone their own evolutions and mutations, their roots can still be traced back to creatures from Earth . ”
For example, there were dog-like magical beasts and cat-like creatures . There were reptilian demihumans and insectoid monsters . There were people who lived like the fish in the sea and people like us who had bird-like features .
“Somewhat alike”, “similar”, “look-alike”…All living things in this world could be described using those terms . However, one wouldn't say that a dog was like a dog or a cat was like a cat . This was because they were the original to begin with . A biologist who knew all living creatures on Earth would not think that there were any truly unknown creatures in this world, because everything here was simply a pirated copy .
“You can do everything that people can imagine? That’s wrong . You can only do what people can imagine . You don’t have the power to create what is truly unknown . ”
All the roots of Midgard originated from Earth . Perhaps she actually had the power to produce the unknown, but she simply didn’t have the imagination . Because all of her ideas originated from Earth, there would always be some parts that resembled what was found on Earth .
All these meant only one thing . I couldn’t be certain, but my intuition shouted that my inference was correct . In the first place, it was weird that she could not create life despite claiming to be the goddess of creation or the goddess who created the world .
“Alovenus, you are not the deity who created the world . Before you became a goddess, the world already existed…Am I wrong?”
“…That’s an interesting thing to say . I see, I see . This development is not bad . The true deity of creation is the mastermind who’s manipulating the events from behind me…Hehe, is that what you want to say?”
“That’s not the case . Are you stupid?”
“Wha—!?”
The Goddess (Dina) attempted to confuse me with an impossible idea, but that was utterly pointless . Without a doubt, she was the true mastermind and the pinnacle existence of the world . There was nobody pulling the strings behind her nor anyone superior to her . At the same time, there was also no doubt that, other than Alovenus, there had existed another deity who had created the world .
The problem was that this deity probably no longer existed . I didn’t have any idea why something like that had happened nor did I have a way of verifying my theory . But there was one thing that I was sure of .
“Alovenus, you were probably someone just like us . But for some reason, you were brought here from your original world . And also, for some reason, you challenged the original deity and took its place . ”
Yes, this was the only conclusion one could make at this point . The distorted world of Midgard and the creatures in it were a patchwork of myths . Everything from its civilization to its food culture was an imitation of the other world .
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Above all else, there was also the fact that, despite doing whatever she wanted to whenever she wanted, Alovenus had left Earth alone up until now . It was as if Earth was an inviolable sanctuary or something . She hadn’t even noticed that Dina had been lurking there…She must have considered Earth to be a special world . Therefore, she wanted to use humans from the other world as the protagonists of her story . Consider why she would bring over a youth who might be unsuitable for battle and give that person preferential treatment .
Why? …It was easy to guess the reason .
“That’s right . You are a human from Earth, Alovenus . You are neither omnipotent nor omniscient . You are not a god . You are just a third-rate scriptwriter who replaced the original deity . This is your true identity . ”
She must surely be as close to immortality as possible . There’s no doubt that she could live agelessly for nearly forever . Her power was so overwhelming that she could destroy this universe .
The more I thought about it, the more it seemed fitting to consider her a deity . At least, she was powerful enough to be considered one . But her origin was no different from us . Despite being a deity, she was too human and had too many faults .
“………”
After I revealed her true identity, there was a momentary void in the heart of the Goddess (Dina) . She probably didn’t expect me to hit the bull’s eye . It was no wonder, since I was someone who had been completely born and raised in Midgard . I should never have gained knowledge of the other world, so I should never have been able to reach the truth .
After being stunned for a while, she smiled dryly .
“Ha, hahaha…Hahahaha…How long has it been since someone called me a human? It must have been at least several hundred million years . I can’t remember clearly anymore…It sounds rather nostalgic . Certainly, I had been called one in the past . …How long ago was that? I can’t even remember it myself . ”
As she said this, the Goddess (Dina) stopped smiling and looked at me . Unlike before, she no longer looked like she was just playing a game . For the first time ever, she finally recognized me as an enemy .
“The game ends here . You have gone a bit too far into territory that you should not be in . …It’s time for the curtains to be lowered by the hands of the protagonist (hero) . ”
The Goddess (Dina) moved her arm . The mana which made up the ouroboroses quickly flew over and coalesced in a single spot . Its destination was the Ark…No, it should be the young man within it, right?
Even the mana that had been gathered by Aigokeros was forcefully taken away . All of it was flowing into the young man Sei as experience points . Even the Fire Ouroboros and Wood Ouroboros had probably become experience points as well . Only Orm, who was under my control, barely escaped after some difficulties . But even then, the young man Sei should have enough power to challenge me .
“Ah . The curtains will indeed be lowered soon…by the hands of the hero . ”
I responded by agreeing with the Goddess and looked at the Ark . Naturally, what I meant when I said the curtains would be lowered was completely different from what the Goddess had meant .
Alovenus, you still don’t understand . That young man is not the protagonist . He’s someone who seeks the right path even at the cost of stepping down from the seat of the protagonist .
The curtains would indeed be lowered soon . It would be the curtain call for a comedy .
And at that time, the fights behind the scenes that couldn’t be shown to the audience would begin .
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