IBFWGFG 68

chapter 68

The God of Rest, Lester.

A new God of Rest, said to have been reborn nearly a century after the previous God of Rest died at the hands of Mausoleum.

It was told that until he was born, numerous restless spirits who could not find rest had thrown the continent into chaos.

‘So the god himself would manifest…’

I had expected some friction with the Order of Rest while we were here.

Still, I thought if we left an appropriate donation on our way back from vacation, they would be satisfied.

But the god himself manifesting—

Apparently, the Order’s hatred toward the God of Rest was heavier than I’d imagined.

“You seem to be under a misunderstanding.”

I wiped cold sweat from my back and said that to Lester, who was relentlessly pouring holy power from behind.

“I only wanted to tell this child about my father’s achievements….”

“Achievements?”

Oh no.

“I meant that I wanted to tell him the history of the founding dragon of the Mausoleum family.”

“Is that the history that killed my predecessors?”

“I’m truly sorry. But isn’t it also an honor? Just like how the descendants of the dragon slayers praise that deed as my ancestor’s achievement and make it a family emblem.”

I didn’t even know what came out of my own mouth.

But one thing was certain: no matter what, I had to protect Lucis.

“Please consider it the immature action of a foolish human and show mercy.”

Lester sneered and asked,

“Mercy is like consideration; it is not an obligation. Why should I show you mercy?”

It was a question devoid of any sincerity, like someone playing with an ant before crushing it.

“Of course. But isn’t it a human right to beg for mercy?”

Behind Lester, the undines who couldn’t cross over to this side trembled and clung to one another in fear.

I signaled to the undines.

“Besides, I have a contract with From. If I die before fulfilling that contract, he will be very displeased.”

“Do you think I would fear him? Even if he is the head of the Great Church, I am a god too, same as him.”

“That’s not what I meant. I just feared it might strain the friendship between the two….”

The undines shook their heads as if they couldn’t do it, but when I glanced at Lucis, resolve filled their eyes.

“Did you come to this lake for this from the start? To find out how my predecessors died? To try to kill a god like a cursed Void Dragon?”

“Absolutely not. I didn’t even know the Mausoleum’s rare item was in this lake.”

“Should I believe that?”

“It’s truly a misunderstanding. Surely, a being as mighty as a god wouldn’t kill innocent lambs over a mere misunderstanding, would you?”

A smile crept to Lester’s lips — a contemptuous smile.

“Even if that were true, who would blame me?”

“……Huh?”

“I am a god. What I do is not a misunderstanding; it is insight.”

“…….”

It’s okay to kill people because of a misunderstanding. Because he’s a god.

A god has the power to make misunderstandings not be misunderstandings.

I found myself speechless.

I already knew that the gods of this world were capricious, but not to this extent.

“More importantly, you have crossed a line. How dare you disturb the rest of my predecessors and insult their deaths. The blood of the cursed Void Dragon will not be forgiven.”

Kiiiiiing—

Holy power began to gather in Lester’s hand.

I turned my body sideways to shield Lucis, who lay tucked in my arms, and prepared to signal the undines.

“Do you know how Mausoleum died? He begged for his life and died pathetically. You beg me for your life. Who knows? I might be in a mood to spare that child….”

“Shut up.”

At that moment Lucis cut Lester off.

Lucis popped his head over my shoulder and glared at Lester.

“You’re weak.”

“…….”

Lester’s face went blank.

I was surprised too.

“Hmph.”

But Lucis gazed at Lester with a face full of rage.

“Your dad lost to my dad. Weak.”

“…….”

“You can’t beat me either.”

“……ha.”

Lester let out a short laugh, incredulous.

Even though the situation was serious, I burst into laughter as well.

It felt refreshing.

I had been acting humble toward Lester to protect Lucis.

But Lester had no intention of letting us go, and Lucis wanted to fight.

So there was no reason left to stop him.

“……Indeed, the cursed bloodline shows its true colors. I will personally grant rest to that filthy line. I will bury your bone fragments in your father’s cave.”

He said such words — the sort of creature who threatened to kill a child.

‘In the original story, the gods of this world are “opponents you can fight.”’

The original protagonist even managed to defeat a god toward the very end of the game.

In other words, unlike many other fantasy settings, the gods in this world can be killed.

“Before we start, may I ask you one thing?”

Fine — let’s settle accounts for what we’ve suffered so far before we begin.

“In our family’s records, it’s written that the previous God of Rest begged Mausoleum for his life. Is that true?”

“…….”

“I heard he even licked Mausoleum’s claws. Would you like to taste Lucis’s claw, Lester?”

As I said that, Lucis giggled and extended one foot toward Lester, tapping it.

“…….”

Lester’s expression vanished.

That signal of anger opened up a hollow in my chest.

“You will not leave a single bone.”

While Lester intoned that ominously, drawing up more holy power, I shouted,

“Undines! Now!”

Lester spun around at the shout.

But it was already too late.

[We like Lucis more than the god!]

[We hate gods who bully Lucis!]

The undines unleashed all the water energy gathered in their hands.

KWAANG—!

A hole ripped through the ceiling of the rare item chamber and water poured in like a waterfall.

[Lucis! Go!]

We followed the undines’ lead and moved quickly against the flow of water.

Fwoosh—!

Lucis rose to the surface and immediately began collecting mana from all directions.

I reached for the bag of gear left at the boat landing in the distance. A gravity spell guided the shield artifact from inside the bag into my hands.

I fastened it to Lucis’s waist.

“Hm?”

While Lucis inspected it curiously, a powerful vibration began from beneath our feet.

Kugugu—. KWAAGH—!

With a massive fountain, chunks of rock and streams of water shot up into the sky.

“I’ll kill you, betrayers!”

Lester leapt out of a pillar of water and scattered holy power in all directions.

For my Mod Plate technique, my heart’s mana and soul had been excised.

Using the magic of my original body was extremely difficult.

‘But with Lucis, it’s no problem at all.’

No — I could actually cast even more powerful magic.

I felt the mana filling every direction. The omnipotent sensation only a mage could feel surged through me.

‘Mana Field.’

Just by using the mana that the dragon Lucis sprinkled around while casting spells, I could perform magic that far surpassed human levels.

KWA-AAANG—!

I used magic to control the waters of the lake.

Water is an element that consumes enormous mana when manipulated with spatial magic, but within the mana field’s domain there was no burden.

‘Honestly, you might think we’re elementalists.’

The undines manipulated the water beneath our feet so we wouldn’t drown, helping my water control whenever possible.

Kwad-duk—!

Water from all directions began to compress around Lester.

Swoosh!

A scepter-shaped item formed from holy power split the water in half and flashed into view.

A scepter with an ankh as a headpiece — a tool priests use to perform funerary rites — it was a fitting weapon for the God of Rest.

Countless spells Lucis produced were slammed through the splitting water.

KWAANG—!

Fireballs, ice spears, thunder strikes, slicing gusts, and countless other spells embedded themselves in Lester’s body.

Each was, by human standards, a master-level spell of tremendous power.

I used gravity magic to pin Lester, who was being flung around by the spells’ backlash, and drove him downward toward the huge magic fist Lucis had formed.

Smack—!

There was a sound like something breaking as Lester crashed into the fist.

He was currently manifest in a human body, so dealing with flesh shouldn’t be difficult.

‘The question is whether killing the body will end this fight.’

The Mausoleum’s guardian had said that killing a god is no different from killing a human.

But that was said referring to a holy dragon like Mausoleum, who had the overwhelming power to “crush” gods.

‘At the very least, you’d need magic capable of creating a crater the size of this lake.’

I wasn’t sure if just Hetzling and a human magic prodigy alone could fell a god.

‘Still, we won’t lose.’

We had the Rocarium gem.

Rocarium could contact the elder dragon Infinium; no matter how mighty a god might be, they wouldn’t want to make the entire black dragon faction their enemy.

A war between gods and dragons might begin, but for me saving Lucis was the top priority.

PURR-ONG—!

At that moment, with a raucous sound Lester’s holy power exploded outward from his body.

That force scattered the water I controlled and Lucis’s spells in all directions.

“Is that the best you’ve got at me?”

Lester’s body was a wreck.

His limbs were twisted and his chest caved in.

But his eyes still burned brightly.

“Submit and despair! Before the power of the god!”

Lester raised the scepter he held.

Then cries began to echo from all around.

— Aaaaah—!

— I curse you!

— Mausoleum, I curse you!

Following the cries, grayish upper torsos of souls rose, wavering.

They looked as if they had been drowned and died — their bodies all swollen.

Goosebumps rose on my back. Lucis wrinkled his snout in disgust.

Lester laughed loudly and pointed the scepter at us.

“All the restless spirits sleeping here curse you!”

I couldn’t help but ask.

“Is a so-called God of Rest allowed to disturb the rest of spirits?!”

“If I do it, it’s not disturbance but a blessing!”

“This is necromancy, not anything about rest!”

“Your god commands you — go capture them!”

At his command, the spirits began to rush toward us.

I tried to trap them with magic, but because of their nature as souls, they were even trickier and more difficult than controlling water.

“Lucis…!”

Just as I thought I had to call Rocarium—

“You are sin incarnate, child…! I will grant you rest!”

Lester, already close to Lucis, swung the scepter.

“…!”

I reached out. A powerful wave of gravity, the strongest I’d ever felt, poured from my hand and pulled Lester toward me.

But even as he was pulled, he swung the scepter.

Clang—!

Luckily, Lucis’s shield artifact activated and blocked the blow.

Lucis’s eyes widened — surprise, shock, and a little…fear.

“You bastard!”

What happened next, even I don’t recall clearly.

All I thought was that I had to get him away from Lucis.

I grabbed the collar of the thing being pulled into me, and the next moment our positions had changed.

Lester’s eyes widened.

“Teleport…?!”

Smack!

My fist struck Lester’s face.