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Chapter 205

“Get out of there!”

“Run away!”

“Dodge that!”

.

The group of Cultists screamed and ran away. If anyone got destroyed like that, it made sense for them to run away.

‘Did we kill the boss of the Cultists?’

?We have no idea, Master.?

‘Hm… I guess we don't even know who the boss is. It’s fine. But at least we managed to defend against their attack.’

In their current state, it even seemed possible for Ji-Cheok to force an attack on the Cultists and give them a taste of their own medicine.

‘They’re on the brink of annihilation, aren’t they?’

“Whew~ Well, at least we defended against them,” Ji-Cheok said.

Either way, they had won the battle and blocked the enemy’s offensive.

“Haha! We did successfully block their attack! But~ It’s not over yet. Now, those Cultists are going to do anything for their survival. Mr. Umji, you will have to make some interesting choices soon.”

“Pardon me?”

“The two factions are weakened, but they haven’t been completely annihilated, have they? They will now find other ways to live their lives. You’d better keep that in mind.”

“What does that—”

The moment Ji-Cheok wanted to ask what he meant, Reable physically dodged the question by jumping off the bike and diving head-first toward the ground.

“You crazy bastard!”

Just as Ji-Cheok was about to use Soul Telekinesis to catch him, ominous darkness rose from Reable’s shoulders, spreading like wings. Like a bat out of hell, he gently glided toward the ground.

When he saw that, Ji-Cheok flinched.

‘I should’ve known better when he just dove head first. Since when does he have the ability to fly?’

When he looked closely at the wings, however, he noticed that Reable seemed to be using the power of a specter-type Undead rather than actual wings. This guy sure had a lot of tricks up his sleeves.

“Tsk.”

Ji-Cheok clicked his tongue.

‘I’m going to have to make some interesting choices? What does that mean? And why did you just leave me without giving me more details?’

?Master, I think we should join our team first.?

‘Hu…. Yeah, you’re right.’

Ji-Cheok briefly looked at the corpses on the ground. He knew that, originally, they did not look like this… Was this what awaited them after making the Choice? At that thought, Ji-Cheok felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

Just then, he heard his team members calling.

* * *

“If it weren’t for you… Something terrible might have happened. Thank you so much,” said Macaw of the White Charcoal.

The moment Ji-Cheok saw him, he was taken aback.

‘How… How is that possible? No… Why would he do that to himself…?’

“Hahaha! You don’t have to look at me that way. I’ll grow back over time. Isn’t that what plants are supposed to do?”

He was left with only the head and half of his chest. His body was split as if with a saw, in a diagonal line from his right shoulder to the left side of his torso. Of course, his hands were missing and so did his legs. His near-disembodied head was placed on a chair made of woven tree roots.

Beside him was Bernade, the Druid Wizard, who was looking at Ji-Han and Ji-Cheok.

“I just want to say thank you to you all. Thank you so much.”

Macaw bowed as much as he physically could.

“It was for our own purpose. You don’t need to thank us,” Ji-Han replied with a calm and cold-hearted face.

‘This guy… Why does he have to be so cold-hearted to a person who’s sincerely thanking us? Sometimes I wonder if Ji-Han is emotionally impaired.’

“I knew how strong you were the moment I first saw you. To have that evil divine being as your companion… Haha. But I never thought you would be this?strong! I’ve seen a lot of things in my life, but I was quite surprised!”

Macaw was talking about Reable. In all fairness, Reable’s performance had surprised Ji-Cheok as well. Who would have known that corpse explosions could have that much power? And to see through Reable’s identity… Macaw of the White Charcoal was definitely not an ordinary Hunter.

“We can’t be rude to those who came to help us. That’s why I put a lot of effort into defending this place. I just thought that you guys would be the ones to save us,” Macaw said.

“I respect your decision,” Ji-Han said briefly.

Macaw smiled. It felt weird seeing a tree make a smiley face.

“If we’re done with the thank yous, please tell me why you asked us to come here. There must be a reason why you called only Ji-Cheok and me up here.”

“Ah, yes. Of course.” Macaw nodded. “Well… I introduced myself as Macaw of the White Charcoal. As you probably know, that is not my real name. It’s more like a nickname. My class is [One-who-serves-the-spirits]. It is a high-level job you can obtain if you work hard as a Druid.”

Ji-Cheok had heard of such a thing before.

“In order to repay you for helping us, I held an offering ceremony for the God I am worshiping. To my surprise, She said that She wants to congratulate you directly.”

‘She wants to congratulate us directly?’

Ji-Han’s iron mask-like expression also changed slightly. He even slightly raised his eyebrows! That alone made him look like a completely different person.

“Could you wait a minute? Bernade, I need you to do me a favor.”

Bernade nodded and placed the wooden staff she was holding under Macaw, just below his crumbled chest. Then, a vine grew from the wooden staff and burrowed into Macaw’s leftover body. It exuded energy, radiating a green light that appeared to be the visible manifestation of overflowing vitality.

Macaw’s face changed.

Originally, his face just looked like the bark of an old tree, but now, flowers bloomed in the spots that Ji-Cheok assumed were his eyes. It looked bizarre, but it also looked like a miracle, in a way.

[We see that The Fragment of Time and the Revered Child are here.]

A completely different voice came out of Macaw’s mouth. It was a woman’s voice that warmed the heart just by hearing it. It was beautiful; it relaxed the mind and body and it made Ji-Cheok feel comfortable.

Ji-Cheok became aware that the voice in front of him belonged to a divine being, a God. Having experienced this before, he was able to notice it at once.

[To the Fragment of Time that escaped Our perception, We grant you this.]

A small green ring formed between them and Macaw and it moved toward Jung Ji-Han.

“I will not decline it,” Ji-Han said.

He received the ring.

‘I have a strange feeling about this. Something is not right…’

[As for you, Revered Child…]

Macaw looked at Ji-Cheok.

[We have been watching you for a long time. We will give you advice that is worthy of creating some causality?between the two of us.]

‘Huh? A piece of advice? Not an item? Advice?’

[This is the place where the remaining fragments of the two Gods fought each other and died. The God of Choice and the God of Forest Shade are sleeping as one. If you find the one that is asleep, you shall get what you want.]

‘The God of Choice and the God of Forest Shade are sleeping as one?’

[We will continue to watch you.]

After that, the pressure of facing a God disappeared completely.

‘What the hell is going on…’

“Haha! What an honor! Our Mother descended into the body of this old man,” Macaw said.

He stood up from the chair, which made Ji-Cheok’s jaw drop. He had no idea when it had happened, but Macaw’s half-body had somehow been restored to its original form. He still looked like a tree, but to Ji-Cheok’s disbelief, he was perfectly intact now.

‘What? It all happened in a blink of an eye!’

?It is the God’s intervention. But I do not know who she is or why she intervened.?

‘Do you think she is a good God?’

?I am assuming that is the case, but I cannot be sure, Master.?

‘Yeah, I guess we don’t have enough information to conclude that she is a good God. Then, let’s ask.’

“Mr. Macaw,” Ji-Cheok said.

“Yes?”

“Who was that…”

“She is the one that I worship. To put it simply, She is the God of Spirits. She is one of the highest and noblest among the Gods.”

?God of Spirits… She is a God of very high rank. Gods such as the God of Water and the God of Fire are said to be inferior to the God of Spirits. And she is the fundamental origin of all natural things! How could this… ?

‘I didn’t know she was that powerful! Wait, why would a God like that talk to us? And she was watching me?’

?I think she started watching you when you obtained the title [One who is Watched Over by a Thousand Gods]!?

‘Hm… That might be true.’

“I just want to say thank you again. We will organize the loot and hand it over to you. You should get some rest,” Macaw said.

Ji-Han and Ji-Cheok left the tent. Immediately, Ji-Cheok connected telepathically to Ji-Han.

‘Director Ji-Han.”

‘Yes. What is it?’

‘Why do you think the God of Spirits called us separately?’

‘It is difficult for us to deduce the reasoning of the Gods just like that. However, it looks like the God did not abandon the old man.’

‘So he is what I think he is, right? The Great Warrior of the God. The Earthly Representative of the God. The Apostle.’

‘Yes, you are right. However, I did not expect that the connection between the old man and the God would be maintained even after he became a monster.’

‘Is it something that even you didn’t know about?’

‘The future I see does not match perfectly.’

Ji-Han’s words contained sincerity. That meant that Ji-Cheok couldn’t blindly trust this person. It also meant that, when the time came, he would be forced to make certain decisions by himself, and that troubled him.?

‘So the way to save them…’

‘I do not know for sure.’

‘I see.’

Ji-Cheok nodded. He had no intention of giving up, anyway, and he made up his mind to find a way to save them, whatever he had to do for that.

* * *

While Ji-Cheok’s team was taking a break on the mountain, the ones that were running away were doing weird and terrible things to each other. Namely, one group was killing and eating the other.

Various energies and all kinds of skills collided—some kind of substantial fog, a sword of lightning, a whip made of materialized hatred, a shield of refracted light…

Among the combatants, one stood heads and shoulders above everybody else.

“Crunch! Crunch! Slurp! Our God has given us permission! Eat them all!”

“Our god has approved it! Let us feast!”

“Ahhhh!! God bless you!”

At first glance, it was clearly some kind of Chimera. It had a dragon’s head, a lion’s head, and an eagle’s head, and each head was the size of an ordinary human. It also had a suitably gigantic body that was over ten meters tall all by itself. The three heads were chatting among themselves and yelling orders at the same time.

Its body was that of a lion, and only the upper half of a human grew on its back. The torso was not human-sized, though; it was also gigantic, in good proportion to the lower body’s size, which made it look like the upper body of a giant from some mythological fable. Tree branches grew on the body, and the lion’s tail was also made of vines.

This human-animal-plant Chimera was the leader of the Cultist faction, Kain.

Unlike the other Hunters that had transformed into monsters, his whole body was shining with holy light, and this holy light granted him the power to tank his opponents’ skills like they were nothing. After enduring the opponents’ attacks, he approached them, bit them to death, then chewed and swallowed them. He also attacked everyone in his field of view by exhaling different types of breaths from each of the three monster heads. In addition, his giant human torso attacked using the Sacred Law with both hands.

In his hands, divine weapons were formed out of nothing—the Mace of God and the Divine Hammer of the God—and he used them to smite his enemies. They were instantly knocked down by the attack; their heads were shattered and their bones were broken.

Normally, Billy Gallagher would have stopped him, but Billy was dead and there was no one else that was remotely up to the task. Except for a few who survived and escaped, most of the Cannibal faction were captured by the Cultist faction. Some were eaten on the spot, while others were tied up and taken alive. The Cultists expected to receive some more power from their God by sacrificing their foes.

The day that their God truly woke up, this dungeon would also be cleared and they would finally be able to go out into the world.

“These freakin’ outsiders… You had me this time, but next time I will sacrifice you to God,” Kain muttered, clenching his human fists.

They had suffered great casualties today, but their fight was not over yet.

1. The first person pronoun used here is an extremely formal and literary one, and given that the speaker is a god, we decided to go with the royal We.

2. The Sacred Law seems to be a skill based on divine power, unique to Priests.