Chapter 21: The Divine Sword Is Now Mine

Rumble, rumble!

So cool...

My mouth went agape at the mesmerizing sight of the Thunder Emperor. Not only was she dazzling

—in a platonic way, anyway—

lightning sparks also scattered out from her in all directions.

Swoosh swoosh!

Hundreds of blazing red rocks were catapulted. The same attack that killed the scammers was raining on the Thunder Emperor like torrential rain.

“Is that all?!”

Rumble! Rumble!

Streaks of lightning criss-crossed in the air like a spider web, reducing the rocks into powder in a flash.

Super cool...

Was this what it meant to be a Hunter? To be the one fighting monsters at the forefront of humanity?

I suddenly had the urge to write about her

—

to chronicle her not just for myself, but also for others. I wanted to eternalize her in my work. It was probably a writer’s arrogance of some sort. I knew I was at death’s door, and despite how absurd it was, I found myself wanting to work on my laptop.

Creak, creaaak.

The massive army of ants that were relentlessly charging at me stopped altogether.

Slash! Slash! Plop! Roll—

Their heads rolled in unison, as if decapitated by a sharp blade.

“...?”

Even the Thunder Emperor was flustered by the sudden change in situation.

-I have received your sacrifices.

A voice, as eerie and cold as ice, rang in our minds instead of our ears.

-I will bestow upon you, Kamikiri, the general of the empire, my divine sword.

-Thank you, O’ Almighty God of Sword, for the All-Cutting Heavenly Sword.

From the flames, a mantis the size of a palm emerged.

Pzzzz!

Its scythe-like arms were emitting strange energy, which acted like extension blades, so I focused on them.

[Kamikiri]

A male. Around for 98 years.

Special note: A general of the empire. Aiming to cut off Sung Mi-Ri’s head with the divine sword.

Aiming to WHAT?

While I was still taken aback, the mantis snuck around. It moved silently yet swiftly, just like a shadow, before lunging toward Thunder Emperor!

“

Kya

!”

Crumble!

Sung Mi-Ri panicked and threw a bolt of lightning at the mantis, but...

-Hihihi! It’s futile!

Kamikiri swung his scythes in a horizontal cross, splitting the lightning bolt into two.

-Lightning Minion! I, Kamikiri, shall behead you in the name of the empire!

Slash! Chaaa!

Just like that, Thunder Emperor’s head, still in its helmet, flew into the air.

Plop! Roll—

Even as her head rolled to my feet, I still hadn’t grasped what had just happened. Then, the eyes visible through the crack in the helmet met mine. Seeing the fear and pain in them, my mind went blank in an instant.

“

Aaah

!

Arrrgh

!”

Uncontrollable grief and anger overtook me. She didn’t deserve to die, not here, when she was so young! I still hadn’t repaid her for saving me and my niece back then!

But now she was dead. All because of me.

“No! No!”

Huge drops of tears rolled down my cheeks, falling onto my knees.

Fuck this! You call this a miracle?!

This was a nightmare. A horrible,

horrible

nightmare.

-Malevolent God! Your turn has come!

The mantis stalked me, brandishing its scythe-like arms. They were still drenched in Ms. Sung Mi-Ri’s blood.

At that moment, my anger outweighed my fear.

I’m going to end this fucking mantis!

Woooong!

Just then, I heard a notification from God-Maker. Then, when I looked around, the flames engulfing the warehouse, the mantis swinging its scythe-like arms at me, and even the world itself

—

everything had frozen.

Ding!

[The power “???” gifted by the Silently Crawling Nightmare has allowed you to see the fate of those who would join you in “advance.”]

[This has yet to happen in real life, so it is simply a nightmare.]

[But, it is also fate, so it is bound to happen.]

As flustered as I was, one of those lines struck me deeply. Did I just witness something that was yet to happen?

[God Yu Il-Shin, you have the potential to defy mortal fate.]

[Would you like to use your divine power to alter their destiny? (Yes/No)]

[It will cost you 100,000 Gcoins to do so.]

I didn’t even need to think about it.

“Yes.”

Ding!

[You paid 100,000 Gcoins (faith).]

[The alteration of Sung Mi-Ri’s fate begins now.]

***

Huh?

Sung Mi-Ri was puzzled. At a glance, she seemed to be attacked by a bunch of ants, but they were actually otherworldly beings. They exuded a similar aura to monsters that had come out of dungeons or gates. On top of that, the combat prowess of the army ants terrified even her, an A-rank Hunter.

Those scammers didn’t die by pure coincidence. Their fates were sealed the moment they got here.

But then, all of the sudden, the army of ants that had been attacking her relentlessly suddenly stopped moving.

“...!”

Slash! Slash! Plop! Roll—

Sung Mi-Ri witnessed the heads of the ants flying as if they were harvested by farmers.

-The god has bestowed the divine sword on me!

At the same time...

Tzzz!

With a burst of strange energy, the mantis leaped at her! She reflexively threw a lightning bolt at it.

-Hihihi! It’s futile!

Sung Mi-Ri’s eyes widened in shock. The mantis swung its scythe-like arms, slashing her lightning bolt in an instant.

-Lightning Minion! I, Kamikiri, shall behead you in the name of the empire!

Then, within a close distance, the mantis swung both of his scythe-like arms, which emitted crimson-red energy. By that time, it was too late for her to dodge.

As outrageous as it sounded, Sung Mi-Ri could feel that this mantis was going to be the death of her.

Grab!

Just then, someone grabbed her by the neck, causing her to fall backward.

Swaaaah!

With a sharp slashing sound, the mantis’ scythe-like arms grazed the skin of her neck. Blood began to trickle from the small wound.

“It’s not too late, Child.”

W-who?

Rather than feeling pain, Sung Mi-Ri felt embarrassed when she turned around. Yu Il-Shin was hugging her from behind, his face twisted like a demon.

-You malevolent god!

With an unintelligible roar, the mantis swung its scythe-like arms at both of them, exuding bone-chilling bloodlust.

“How utterly ridiculous, coming from a tiny insect.” Yu Il-Shin pointed his middle finger at the mantis and said, “Convicting Middle Finger of God!”

Was it an illusion? For a split second, she thought she saw a small black spark appear on the tip of his middle finger.

Flash!

Then, the world was engulfed in darkness.

***

“

Haaaa

.” General Kamikiri’s scythe-like arms fell limply.

As one of the Ten Swords under direct command of His Majesty and a general of the empire, he had partaken in countless battles and fought against a myriad of gods. But he hadn’t encountered any god that was like the one he was fighting now.

This monster, who manipulated pitch-black darkness and wielded hellfire, was basically the lord of all evil.

“A truly terrifying Malevolent God.”

Clank!

Kamikiri’s scythe-like arms turned into ashes and the extension blades fell to the ground. His carapace was tougher than steel, to the point that not even the flames of a C-rank Hunter could graze it. And yet, Yu Il-Shin’s flames burrowed into his body like a curse, catching on to his past transgressions, setting him ablaze.

Burn—

The infernal flames consumed his legs, then his body, then his neck, before finally reaching his head. The pain and horror of being burned alive was unbearable.

Psss!

He tried to move his mouth, which was disintegrating.

“His Majesty...!”

But before he could finish his sentence, he turned into ashes.

***

“

Phew

.” I fell to the ground as I watched the mantis fall to bits. “I thought I was going to die here.”

The red chains that bound me lost their sheen and fell to the ground in a heap. I had used the Crushing Forefinger of God to undo the spell on them. Then, I used the Convicting Middle Finger of God on the mantis that was attacking Thunder Emperor, burning him to death.

Thinking back, I wasn’t sure how I did all that. How did it occur to me to use the skill that was barely useful as a lighter in that situation?

[Would you like to use your divine power to alter their destiny? (Yes/No)]

But the moment when I answered yes to that system message, I felt like a bird flying in the sky, or a fish in the water. My actions flowed fluidly and naturally, as if I knew how things would turn out. At that moment, it felt like I had really turned into a god.

If possible, I don’t want a repeat of that.

It was all me, but at the same time, it felt like it wasn’t.

Sparkle!

I saw a red gleam from the pile of what was left of the mantis. On a closer look, I spotted a half-buried blade, the size of a finger, in it. The appraisal skill activated when I looked at it.

-----

[General Kamikiri’s Divine Sword]

One of the entities of the All-Cutting Heavenly Sword.

Special note: Fucking sharp.

-----

This skill seemed to have a fondness for using certain words in its notes. Was it because of me? Maybe I should moderate the use of my language from now on.

Ssss!

The blade was smaller than a dagger, yet radiated an ominous red glow. It was called a Divine Sword, right? This item looked solid.

Then, as I tried to reach out for the blade...

-Young God! Don’t touch it! It’s mine!

All of the sudden, the same unknown voice from before echoed in my mind. I ignored it and went ahead to pick it up.

Wow, it might be small, but the blade was really sharp.

I tried to test it out by throwing it to the ground.

Puck!

It dug easily into the ground, as if it was made of soft tofu. Oh, this was great. It might be small and flawed, but I could still fetch a high price for it.

-N-no! That’s min...!

After whining for a while, the voice in my head died down like a radio running out of batteries. I dug my ears. Who was that? Was it really the owner of this blade?

Well, finder’s keepers.

I looked around for a while.

Oh, there’s quite a lot of drops.

The army ants died, leaving behind tons of Godcoins. I stared at the ground full of them, feeling slightly overwhelmed. It’s going to be hell picking all of them up.

Ding! Ding!

[Begin calculations.]

Another notification from God-Maker appeared on my phone as it began sucking all the Godcoins like vacuum.

Drr! Drrrr!

[Yu Il-Shin has earned 2,880,527 Gcoins.]

Huh?

I saw it for myself, it was a 5 million-strong army! Why did I earn so much less Godcoins? Who stole them?

Also, despite all the flames and lightning, my phone was unscathed.

Just what are you?

Considering it was ancient and had been around for over a decade, wasn’t that just overkill? All because of a strange game that got installed in my phone one day.

Just then, a sigh of admiration came from behind.

“T-that’s amazing.”

I know, right? My phone’s amazing.

“I was just assuming at first, but it turns out that you really are a Hermit! You defeated a monster that could be an S-rank monster without breaking a sweat! Incredible!”

“What? Hermit? What do you mean? Also, an S-rank monster? Huh?”

Was she referring to that mantis? No matter how strong it was, it was still a mantis. How could it be an S-rank,

national disaster-level

, monster?

“Don’t worry! I won’t let a single word of it out to anyone else! I swear it on my life!”

“Wait, I think you’re misunderstanding something.”

“You don’t have to hide it anymore. I finally understand why you helped me with the Spiky Rhinoceros before and gave me this ring! You wanted to help me without revealing your identity!”

Thunder Emperor took off her trademark helmet. She might be drenched in sweat, but she still held the innocence and purity of a teenager. She fell to her knees and cried desperately.

“Mister, please! Please make me stronger! I’ll do everything I can as long as I can become stronger! Please, Mister!”

“...”

I could see stars sparkling in her eyes.