The World's Greatest is Dead

Divine possession.

Or divine descent.

There were several names for it, and it was said to be an illness medicine had never properly understood.

Grandmother had called it a god’s selfishness.

Chief Baek, for his part, had called it dogshit.

Since there was a coveted vessel, the gods would descend with their dogshit to enter it.

I do not deny it. If anything, I affirm it. That is exactly dogshit.

If that was not dogshit, then what was?

Gods are arrogant bastards by nature, concerned with nobody but themselves.

Humans knew nothing, so they prayed to them or hoped for miracles.

Laughably enough, gods did not grant such things.

Instead, they coveted lower-ranked souls and vessels, and if they could bewitch one even slightly, they seized it and tried to lock it in their arms.

I hate gods.

There is no such thing as a god beneficial to humans.

There are only gods that are not harmful. Every other god is not much different from an evil ghost to humans.

That was how it was. Just as selfish bastards harmed others.

Since there were no altruistic gods.

Everything else would be harmful to humans.

So.

I know very well how shitty divine descent is.

When a god covets a human vessel, it means the value of that human’s soul is high.

And the higher that value is, the worse the suffering of divine descent becomes.

Looking at that.

That girl.

She looked roughly fifteen, give or take. She was small, and anyone could tell at a glance that she was sickly.

And in the middle of that, a god was coveting her soul—

Her hard road ahead is obvious.

I could see her future without even looking.

“Cough. Cough......!”

“Are you all right?”

“I’m...... all right....... I’m all right.......”

She did not look all right. Her complexion was blue. Seeing that, Peng Dojun frowned.

“Tch....... Another seizure?”

A seizure, huh...... It was not a seizure.

It just looks like a god playing tricks.

Shameless bastards. They were screaming for her to hurry up and let them into her vessel.

I could see them too. Those translucent things visible over the girl.

[Petty ghosts.]

That was the Heavenly Demon’s judgment. They were called gods in their own way, but yes. That was also correct. Petty ghosts. No, perhaps that was exactly the right word.

That’s right. Petty ghosts.

Beggars that had only just become gods. Impatient fools who needed to obtain souls to raise their rank.

Aside from that.

[There is one sturdy one.]

The Heavenly Demon seemed to feel it too. Those petty ghosts were meaningless. Even knowing that the girl’s vessel was by no means small, things like that alone would not—

Make her that sick.

The severity of the illness could not be that bad.

That meant there was something else.

And something—

A god of fairly high rank.

Was coveting that child’s soul. Where was it? I narrowed my eyes. Something caught in the middle of those hazy things. That one.

There it is.

A presence that was unusually large. Its rank was higher than I had expected. That was why it was surprising. Why would something of that rank bother? It seemed ambiguous, but if I had to guess, it looked at least general-class.

“Ghk.......”

“......Damn......!”

Peng Dojun panicked as the child began groaning more and more. The god had moved. Apparently—

Did it recognize me?

Strictly speaking, it was probably not me, but the aftermath of my energy. It seemed the god had moved after sensing the flow of spiritual energy nearby.

Cheap as hell.

It had felt that little bit and made her seize like this? It was crude beyond belief. Far too pathetic to call a dignified god.

Tsk.

I approached.

“Haa....... Hah....... Haa.”

“Who is she?”

When I asked while looking at the girl, Peng Dojun looked at me and answered.

“......My younger sister.”

So she was his younger sister. She did look that way at a glance.

Ah, not at a glance, maybe? They did not look alike. They looked far too different. I only guessed because of Peng Dojun’s reaction.

“......She doesn’t seem to be of the main family’s bloodline?”

“What? How did you know?”

“.......”

Have some conscience, you human. They really look different. I barely held back a sigh at Peng Dojun’s startled face.

That was not important right now.

Never mind that—

I needed to do something about that girl first. Of course, she would not die if left like that.

Not yet.

She would live for now. I did not know about later. And since it seemed at least partly caused by me, it felt wrong to leave her as she was.

So.

Just a little.

I would use a trick.

WOOOOONG—! I drew out a sliver of the densely gathered spiritual energy of souls. So faintly the ghosts would not notice.

As if provoking them.

Behind the mountain. Toward a place somewhat far away, I flicked my finger lightly. There was no sound.

But the spiritual energy I sent flying settled perfectly in the place I wanted.

That was when it happened.

PAAAAH—!

The spiritual trace that had flown far away burst in midair. The petty ghosts reacted to the aftershock.

Srrrk—!

The scattering souls turned toward one place as if being aligned. The range would not be wide. Those gods were too busy targeting the girl.

But they would be on guard.

They would prepare, thinking something new had appeared. In any case, once the petty gods disappeared, the girl’s expression eased.

That meant it had worked.

“Hah....... Haa....... Hah.......”

“Are you feeling better?”

When her face improved, Peng Dojun asked in relief.

“Yes....... Yes....... For some reason, I feel better.......”

At that, Peng Dojun helped the girl up. Then the girl’s eyes trembled as she saw the corpses around her.

“Ah.......”

Seeing that, I reacted this time. Her soul wavered. The moment she saw the corpses.

What was that reaction? I looked at her in confusion, and this time her gaze turned toward me.

“......Ah....... I have been terribly discourteous.”

She forced her exhausted body upright and offered a modest greeting.

“......Though I am of a collateral branch, I bear the Peng Family surname. My name is Peng Doyeon.......”

A collateral branch.

I had guessed as much since she was not of the main family bloodline. Even so, she had the Peng surname? That was not particularly strange, but.......

“It is an honor to meet my brother’s friend.......”

“Ah, I am Bang Seongyeon of the Bang Family.”

“Ah......!”

Peng Doyeon’s eyes widened at my introduction.

“Then....... Are you perhaps the one called Moon Hero......!”

“Yes. That is more or less what they call me.”

“......Ahh......!”

It seemed she knew me.

“I have heard much about you from my brother.”

“......From Young Master Peng?”

What had that human said about me? For now, I doubted he had said anything normal.

“......He said you were the friend he looked on most favorably, the one most like himself......?”

“.......”

That son of a bitch did not speak well of me.

Treating us as the same was a bit much. As I stared at him in disbelief, the funny part was Peng Doyeon’s reaction.

She looked back and forth between my face and her brother’s face, and the thought appeared plainly on her expression.

—The friend most like him?

She seemed puzzled over how that could possibly work. Thank goodness. She was normal.

“Yeon, why does your face look like that? Do you not like my friend’s face?”

“......Pardon?”

“True, he does look a little like a pretty boy, but he is not a face that gets treated as ugly anywhere. Do not look at him so rudely.”

“......Ah....... Ah, yes....... I’m sorry.”

“.......”

Naturally, I gave no reaction to that.

There was no need to say anything. I simply did not want to get involved in that lunacy.

“......Never mind that.”

This side was done.

“Why are you here?”

What was Peng Dojun doing here? That mattered more. At my question, Peng Dojun answered.

“Ah, I was on my way to Henan after the Alliance contacted me.”

“The Alliance? But Henan? You were trying to go from here to Henan?”

The route was a little strange. Why take such a roundabout way? When I asked in confusion—

“I had somewhere to stop by.”

Peng Dojun answered flatly.

Somewhere to stop by. His reaction felt as though he was telling me not to ask any more. Fine, it did not matter much.

But—

“What was the Alliance contact?”

“Hm? You should have received it too.”

“Pardon?”

“Aren’t you going because of the Assembly Hall?”

“......Assembly Hall?”

What was that strange name?

“You know, that. They said they were trying to arrange a meeting between the Demonic Cult and the orthodox faction, and they called in the younger generation. Did you not receive word?”

“.......”

My face twisted. There was something like that?

I felt as if I had heard of it. Had they settled the name as Assembly Hall? No, were they already calling people in?

“So. You came here because you plan to go?”

“Of course I came. Would I skip something this entertaining?”

“.......”

He looked proud. Right, this lunatic had always been like this.

“Naturally, I thought you would be going too, so I was excited. Are you seriously not attending?”

“I have to be invited to go.”

“Nonsense! If they do not call you, who in the world would they call!”

“......Apparently someone else.”

They must have called someone other than me.

“......Truly? You truly are not there?”

Peng Dojun looked shocked. His reaction said it was absolutely impossible. Seeing that, I smiled awkwardly.

“......Never mind that part. Let us move first. I do not think we should keep standing around here.”

There were too many corpses. The carriages were all smashed too, so it was awkward for the two of them to remain here. At my words, Peng Dojun checked on his sister.

“......Ah, let us do that.”

It was fascinating. That boar-like bastard became a little gentler when his sister was present.

They seemed close.

After seeing that much, I nodded and moved.

“Follow me.”

I brought the two of them to the place where we had made camp.

*****

When we arrived at the camp, the others were already preparing the watch rotation.

At that moment, Silver Moon Sword noticed us first.

“Hm? What is this?”

“Huh?”

At the sight of Silver Moon Sword, Peng Dojun’s eyes widened.

“......You?”

“Oh. Look who it is.”

The two reacted warmly. No, to be exact, one side did.

“Why, if it isn’t our Peng Family’s rioter—!”

“You bastard......!!!”

Srrrring—!!

“Huh?”

Peng Dojun abruptly drew his blade and flew in. Just like that, he brought the ink-black blade down toward Silver Moon Sword.

BOOOOM—!!!

“What?”

I had to stare blankly at the fight that had suddenly begun. Why were those things fighting out of nowhere? As I watched in disbelief—

“Um.......”

“Hm?”

Peng Doyeon suddenly gripped my sleeve. What was it? Did she want me to stop them? Ah, that would be a little annoying and difficult.

Just as I was about to lightly refuse—

“Th-that person is....... Who....... Who exactly is she?”

“That person?”

I turned my head. Peng Doyeon was pointing at someone. When I followed her finger—

“Ah....... This is filthy heavy, seriously......!”

Bow Ghost was there, moving laundry with a deeply aggrieved expression.

Seeing her, I looked back at Peng Doyeon with startled eyes.

Whoa.

This girl.

Her rank must be higher than I thought.

She seemed to be a greater talent than I had expected.

Far, far greater.