Chapter 32
“G, go ahead…?”
“S, Senior Yohan?!”
“……”
The confusion that began among the Imperial Expedition quickly spread through the entire group.
“N, no! You can’t do that!”
“You’re abandoning us, Senior?!”
Dexter and the others openly protested.
Surprisingly, Isabella and Aren, who had crossed the sea with Yohan, remained fairly calm.
The commanders of each faction tried their best to maintain control.
Yohan’s cold, firm voice cut through everyone’s objections.
“While the strongest fighter, someone capable of defeating a thousand alone, holds back most of the swamp crocodiles and Deep Ones, everyone else enters the swamp. Then that strongest fighter follows afterward. There’s no better strategy for minimizing casualties. Of course, there’s no guarantee the person left behind will survive.”
If that was the case, the choice became simple.
Yes.
Someone who could not die should take that role.
Such a person would eventually return to the group even if they were left completely alone.
And if that immortal person also happened to be the strongest member of the expedition, then everyone would naturally think of the same answer.
Yohan had seen those thoughts reflected in their eyes.
That was why he had spoken first.
He intended to make them understand reality.
Using that kind of thinking, they would never survive the deeper floors.
He would show them directly.
“If I step forward, more than eighty percent of our combat strength can survive and enter the tenth and eleventh floors. I can guarantee that.”
“……”
“Th, then why…?”
“But why should I do that? Do you truly believe you have enough value for me to make that sacrifice?”
He did not particularly want to create confusion.
Yohan knew there was nothing good about causing panic in a situation where everyone needed to focus on battle.
But the truth was simple.
Yohan did not particularly need them.
Unfortunately for them.
That was why he needed to make something clear.
If they could not prove their value, traveling with him would be impossible from this point onward.
Yohan’s gaze briefly moved toward Aren and Isabella.
“It wasn’t their choice, but those two traveled with me and proved they had some value. What about the rest of you?”
His gaze passed over the others.
“The Imperial Expedition, the dwarf soldiers, Uel Ferda, Vika Harad. Even if I’m extremely generous, only around five people among you are useful. The rest have proven nothing. At least by my standards.”
So Yohan had reached his conclusion.
He would not help them.
No.
He should not help them.
Doing so would only make the deaths waiting ahead even more miserable.
“If you’re weak enough to collapse on the ninth floor, then that is where you should fall. We must prove our usefulness to one another. Only then can we fight back to back. Only then can we survive. I don’t need baggage.”
Yohan’s eyes moved toward the crocodiles and Deep Ones filling the area.
“Of course… the difficulty should be adjusted. Just enough for the talent hidden inside promising raw stones to awaken. That level should be appropriate.”
He had said everything he wanted to say.
The rest belonged to those who survived.
His words meant nothing to those who would die.
“I’ll take responsibility for the ones who came here specifically to kill Yohan Blake rather than the Four Great Factions. Fight well, everyone.”
Nothing more needed to be said.
Yohan reached toward the Deep Ones who continued staring at him while speaking blasphemous words.
As if she had been waiting for this moment, Goddess Eris wrapped her arms around Yohan’s neck with an ecstatic expression.
[My beloved Yohan. There’s something you want, isn’t there?]
Yes.
[I already know what you want. I know what you want me to do for you. This merciful goddess understands all of it… but even so, I want to hear you say it yourself. With your own mouth. Say it to me. Hehehehehe.]
Yohan hesitated briefly.
Then he opened his eyes and stared at the ten Deep Ones.
Devour them with your enormous mouth.
[Who?]
Those filthy creatures who degenerated by serving the wrong god.
The Spiked Swamp Crocodiles who lost their minds under those creatures’ control.
And every being blocking the path of you and me.
For Yohan, it was permission he had not given in decades.
The goddess had taken death away from him.
In exchange, she had given him a treasure while putting her own existence at stake.
Now it was time to reveal that treasure before these mortals.
Seeing the determined face of the man she had chosen long ago, the goddess trembled in ecstasy.
[Haa… haa… I feel like I’m going to die. Your eyes, your voice, your breath, even your soul itself… It’s so exciting I feel like I’m going insane.]
Saliva spilled from her mouth and ran down her neck and chest before freezing solid.
Then the mad goddess hid her body.
Yohan’s shadow began expanding to an enormous size.
Mana erupted from somewhere and covered his entire body in a dark color.
[I hate having to show my elegant body to those primitive things, but…]
The shadow became so large that it exceeded normal human vision.
A pitch black opening emerged over it.
It existed only to welcome the true form of an Inner God.
RUMMMMMMMMMBLE!
Then,
something began slowly crawling out.
It released an ominous presence and an indescribable stench.
[If that’s what you want, I’ll gladly show them my naked body. Just as you are my slave, I am your slave too.]
Its massive body exceeded several dozen meters in diameter.
At first glance, it resembled a worm or perhaps the intestines of some giant animal.
Its wrinkled dark yellow green hide constantly released strangely colored fluids.
[I love you, my Yohan.]
Instead of the three or four enormous tentacles they had seen before, countless twisting, slime covered tentacles filled the entire entrance.
They rapidly extended throughout the swamp.
[Hehehehehehehehehehehehe!]
The mass of tentacles violently moved in rhythm with the monstrous laughter.
For a moment, every gaze and thought in the area focused on that blasphemous Incarnation.
Not only the expedition members.
Even the Spiked Swamp Crocodiles and the Deep Ones, children of Dagon, became fascinated by the horrifying sight.
Nuadillen Westport was the only person who had witnessed that Incarnation long ago.
Seeing a form even more hideous and terrifying than before, his legs gave out.
He collapsed to his knees.
“H, haaah…”
