“Without a god, what are we... humans supposed to do?”
When his story reached its end.
I...
“......”
I had nothing to say.
All I could do was stare, mouth half open.
What he had said.
For someone like me, who had been busy just getting through each day somehow.
Was something I hadn’t been paying attention to...
No.
Something I had been forcing myself not to think about.
“Our world is on its way to ruin.”
If so.
If that ruin keeps advancing.
“What if the world is completely ruined?”
It feels like a far-off tale.
But I already know a case.
“Seohwan and Miho.”
Even though they had power we did not have.
They had martial arts.
Yet their world.
Was destroyed down to everything but a single mountain.
“Dasmur.”
That pope, of course.
The guardians and sacred beasts who defended the world under the pope were beings of tremendous power.
And yet.
The moon that warmed the world fell.
All life in that endless sea became those who could not die even in death.
“The Green Manes tribe.”
Going by what I heard just a short while ago.
They too, in the end.
Failed to evade destruction and fled to another world.
Right.
“What matters is that word flee.”
Seohwan and Miho.
The pope of Dasmur and the children.
The Green Manes tribe.
They.
Left their ruined worlds behind and managed to run.
Even if their homelands reached ruin.
Their species itself.
Was granted a second chance in another world.
But if that is the case.
“Can we... run?”
Seohwan and Miho said it.
Even though their world was ruined.
“The reason the Heavenly Mountain Martial Hall and their senior–junior brothers could drift through the cosmos and survive was probably...”
“The immortals... and Master must have done something.”
Their master is an immortal.
Meaning, an ability user no different from a god.
That formidable gentleman used some method.
To evacuate just that “Heavenly Mountain Martial Hall” from ruin.
As for why the pope of Dasmur and the children could flee.
I can guess.
“[Divinity descends.]”
“[Lord of the Boundless Sea — Dasmur]”
The world called Dasmur.
The god who shares a name with that world.
He must have used some method of his own.
To get his people out.
The Green Manes tribe as well.
“The God of the Steppe... stretched out a helping hand to us who had once betrayed him. That is how we opened a dimensional gate and escaped.”
The so-called God of the Steppe.
That impressive figure got them out.
Right.
If that is so.
“Without a god... we...”
Without even the chance to flee.
Here on Earth.
Are we fated to be wiped out to the last?
“That must not happen.”
Was it that Wonjun’s emotions surged up.
He went on in a low growl.
“Even if we have no god... even if we are a race abandoned by a god!”
Monsters are beings that came from ruined worlds.
The moment he realized that.
He became certain Earth would not be able to escape ruin either.
“Humanity must not end that way.”
And, probably.
He must have started thinking the same way I am now.
“Escape the world, huh...”
The God of the Steppe opened a dimensional gate, they said.
That was probably a technique to evacuate a species to another world.
Awakened have abilities that surpass humans.
In the case of mages, they really do make the impossible real.
“But fleeing to another dimension... that’s not going to happen, is it?”
That sort of thing.
No matter how powerful an Awakened may be, is impossible.
Yes, unlike other species.
Without the assistance of an absolute being you could call a god.
Absolutely impossible.
“When I was wrestling with that.”
While I too was at a loss for words at that thought.
“A demon spoke to me.”
Ruin drawing near.
Humanity did not even have a way to run.
There was no god to become their shade.
To make them flee.
“To be your shade, is that what you want.”
No.
There was exactly one.
“If you want it, I will be.”
A being with power no different from a god.
An absolute who could become humanity’s shade...
Spoke first to humanity.
Saying it would take that place in their stead.
The demon made that promise to Wonjun.
“He said he would one day descend to this world.”
One day.
When he set foot on the earth.
The demon would take the species called humanity under his wing.
Under his shade at last.
Humanity would...
Be able to receive the protection of one worthy to be called a god.
“Until that time comes... serve him.”
At Wonjun’s words.
I hurriedly lifted my head and searched the presence I felt in the air.
“[...]”
The murderous hostility I had felt a moment ago had eased a great deal.
But still looking down on me.
A presence so overwhelmingly strong it was suffocating.
“We are calling it a demon... but its real name can’t literally be demon.”
That concept itself.
Was born on Earth.
From the system’s point of view, calling it a demon is simply the most fitting.
If it is not a literal demon.
Then a demon making the offer to protect humanity...
Is not all that strange.
“So you served a demon? A being whose very name is demon?”
“Khuhuhu... I’ve worn a few bad names myself.”
Murderer’s son.
Orphan.
Wonjun too had been called by names that were not good.
Maybe because of that.
He was not bound by the meaning a name carries.
“I thought Sister’s teaching was simply wrong. But it wasn’t.”
It was the opposite.
“There was no god, but there was a demon!”
“......”
“Half of Sister’s teaching has been proven right... for me, that is a happy thing. Don’t you think so?”
I frowned and asked.
“Even if you ignore the name, how could you trust a being that suddenly came with such an offer?”
“To be precise, I did not trust the demon.”
When the demon first proposed a contract.
What appeared before his eyes.
Was not some paper contract.
****
Ding.
“[A demon presents a contract!]”
“[By their nature, demons cannot tell lies, and the species is famous for carrying out contracted terms unconditionally.]”
“[However, please review the contract carefully!]”
*****
With a clear chime, it covered his view.
To Awakened, that thing could not be more familiar.
“I trusted the system’s wording.”
Even if a certain amount of interpretation goes into translation.
The system does not lie.
I have turned the impossible into the possible a few times.
But that too.
Was only because a power called divinity is a power that makes the impossible possible.
It was not the system lying.
“If the system does not lie... then the fact that demons do not lie is also true.”
If Wonjun and his comrades act for the demon.
The demon truly promised.
To preserve the species called humanity.
But.
If that is so.
“You lot?”
How did these guys.
Come to accept that contract.
“In exchange for the contract... I heard your lives are offered.”
“...You know that oddly well. So there were humans in the same situation as us elsewhere after all? Is that how you knew those minions’ weak points too?”
“You don’t need to know that. If your contract is as stated, then you are fated to die someday. Why.”
Even as I asked.
I could guess the answer to some extent.
“We steeled ourselves to that degree.”
“......”
“If our sacrifice could let humanity survive somewhere, that would be enough... everyone here resolved that way.”
“......”
At that.
I silently wiped my face.
“I simply took you for enemies.”
Enemies who might pull something troublesome any moment.
I only meant to suppress you as quickly as possible.
And after we succeeded in subduing you, same thing.
After I satisfied my curiosity I intended to toss you to Ariella.
I have dealt with irredeemable villains all in that way.
But this.
“Is not that sort of story at all.”
I... have flailed up to now because I did not want to die.
Because I have lived that kind of life.
People who try to accomplish something even at the cost of their lives.
I simply could not like them.
“Because someone like me is that kind of guy.”
However.
Looked at another way.
“You could call that... selfish.”
They were different.
People who sought to save humanity by sacrificing themselves.
To do that.
They were ready to cast away even their own lives without hesitation.
Depending on your point of view.
Someone who is not me would surely...
“Call it an act worthy of being called sacrifice.”
If so.
“I, for whom survival above all else was the most important.”
People with that resolve...
Do I have the right to criticize them.
****
In that thought.
While I could not go on speaking.
“Hmph. How stupid.”
“...!?”
From behind my back.
I heard someone say that.
“What?”
Startled, I turned around with a pale face.
Then.
I saw the soldiers who had been listening to Wonjun open their mouths.
“Humanity will be destroyed, you say.”
“So in the end you gave up without even trying, is that what this is.”
Soldiers looking down at the contractors.
There was even a hint of contempt in their eyes.
“Foolish lot...”
“If you had not given up so rashly, you could well have overcome it.”
At that.
I murmured inwardly.
“You...”
I can understand why the soldiers would say that.
In truth our unit has not given up up to now.
We have overcome many hardships and survived to this point.
But.
I was not in a position to sympathize with the soldiers.
Crack...
“You... can say that because you didn’t see it.”
I ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) saw the [Essence of the Chef of Dasmur]’s memories.
The living things that dwelled in that wide sea.
How they perished.
I experienced it myself.
I felt it.
I even experienced death.
“The sacred beasts were beings of absurd might.”
Even if it was before the human armies were ruined.
They were beings so mighty you wondered if you could even scratch their scales.
To deal a useful blow to that sacred beast, you would probably have to set off a nuclear weapon.
Such a mighty being, of course.
And even after the god who commanded that being descended.
“The war ended in defeat.”
Even that formidable sacred beast.
In the end became a zombie.
“How could you say that can be overcome.”
Such words.
How could I easily agree.
“Heh heh... brimming with confidence, I see.”
It seemed Wonjun was thinking the same thing I was.
He glared at us and spoke.
“I don’t know how you dealt with the monster that appeared in your base... but after that you must have done nothing but go from victory to victory. With the military’s powerful firepower and tanks, the average monsters would not even have been enemies. I can see why you would be full of confidence.”
“......”
“But someday... a moment will come when the powerful firepower you have will lose meaning. No, it may be that such monsters already lurk everywhere. If you come to face an enemy you cannot overcome, you too...”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
He spoke as if he knew us well.
But to that.
“Fights we thought we couldn’t win, well...”
“Haven’t we fought a lot of those?”
The soldiers answered in a tone of disbelief, as if to say what are you talking about.
“Well. That is true, sir.”
“To be cold about it, the very fact that anyone survived from the 423rd Battalion makes no sense. Since every other unit was said to have been wiped out.”
“Is that all. Even just the battles we went through coming down from that mountain range...”
The grueling fights we have gone through.
Their names continued to be listed.
The giant warrior.
Corporal Jeon Gwangil once thought he would someday be ruled by madness.
Now he fights with the madness inside under his control.
The white-haired soldier.
Lee Hyunjin thought she would live and die as a monster all her life.
There was a time of pain, but she returned to being human.
The spirit user, Jung Sua, thought she would never open her eyes for life.
Now she surveys her surroundings with her own eyes and a spirit’s eyes.
“Things everyone only thought were impossible.”
But.
In the end, the Legion.
Accomplished all of it.
“Poor people...”
Some in the unit.
Looked at the contractors with pitying eyes.
“To have chosen the wrong object of faith of all things.”
“They did not even receive the chance to find a proper target of faith. It cannot be helped... they are pitiable people.”
At that.
Wonjun muttered in disbelief.
“Unbelievably optimistic, aren’t you...”
That monsters are growing steadily stronger.
And that human civilization has already undergone one collapse at their hands.
Everyone here knows those facts.
“What on earth are you trusting to be that confident.”
Even so.
There were almost no Legionnaires whose faces showed anxiety.
“Hm? Well, that’s because...?”
Even I, listening.
Was curious what the source of that confidence was.
But the unit’s gazes...
Turned to one place.
“......”
To the one person here.
The one Legionnaire whose face did show anxiety.
