Chapter 227

Chapter 227

Glen's Einheria, thrust forward while abandoning all defense and transcending death, finally buried itself into the heart of Vanum, the God of Death and Extinction, who had become the host.

“Kieeeeeeeee!!”

With a horrible scream, the otherworldly flower that had swallowed Vanum lost its balance and collapsed.

Fortunately, just like in the original work, it seemed that once the host's life activity stopped, the flower lost its source of nutrients and died as well.

However, Glen, the one who had defeated it, did not look happy in the slightest.

“Fuck… Haa… This fucking… Aaaaargh…!”

His own death had been far more painful and agonizing than he had imagined at first.

Of course, thanks to Luceria's miracle of Egelsis, Glen's body was now completely clean without a single wound.

But the moment he died…

The pain of having his entire body crushed by the tentacles wrapped around him, and the experience of losing consciousness, were things he never wanted to experience again.

“Haa… haa… Ugh!”

Regardless of whether the Experimental Specimen Daddy in front of him had fallen, Glen breathed heavily and checked every part of his body.

“B-Brother, are you all right?”

“……The feeling of dying and coming back to life… is really awful.”

“I… I'm sorry.”

“You don't have to apologize, Saint.”

After all, he was the one who had suggested doing it.

“Saint. Please forget that technique forever. I'm never doing it again.”

“O-Of course! Were you actually planning to do that again? More importantly, you don't have any aftereffects, right?”

Luceria approached carefully and examined Glen's body.

“Or perhaps… do you feel like your mind has become strange somehow? You were saying… some rather… unusual things…”

Her violet eyes trembled with embarrassment.

The saint, who normally spoke gently with a warm smile in his eyes, had suddenly thrown out a stream of harsh curses immediately after being resurrected.

Naturally, she seemed quite shocked.

Well, honestly.

Using vulgar language was much closer to Glen's true personality.

But he had never spoken like that in front of the saint.

“……Hmm. I'm a little surprised myself. Could something have happened to my brain?”

“R-Really?! W-What should we do? I… I don't know how to treat something wrong with the mind… I-I'll at least use a healing miracle…”

“There's no need. I seem fine now, so I suppose it was only temporary because I had just been resurrected.”

“Haa, what a relief. You have no idea how surprised I was when I heard those words coming from your mouth, Brother.”

Luceria sighed in relief and rubbed her chest.

Glen quietly looked away.

He had accidentally revealed his true personality and was now blaming it on the aftereffects of resurrection.

It was quite pathetic.

Anyway.

Once his mind had settled down somewhat, Glen turned his head and looked at the monster he had defeated.

“Kirrrrrrr……”

Looking at the Experimental Specimen Daddy lying there in a tangled heap and twitching slightly, Glen let out a quiet admiration.

The Holy-Demonic Power is truly insane.

When he had fought Rowen before, it had cut through the magic power that formed Kacerto Lienz's magic.

And this time, it had even cut through the power of Vanum, the God of Death and Extinction.

I'm starting to understand it.

Whether it was a blade.

Holy power.

Demonic power.

Even the power of a god, something that earthly beings could not even interfere with.

Based on everything he had experienced so far, Glen believed that the Holy-Demonic Power allowed its user to interfere with anything according to their will.

So that's probably why Mors, after awakening the Holy-Demonic Power in the original story, was able to counter any kind of attack.

In any case, Glen had once again succeeded in defeating the otherworldly plant that had swallowed Vanum using the power of the Holy-Demonic Power.

“You've done well. Now, if we go inside where that thing appeared and destroy the magic stone that powers the laboratory, this place and Angrelcher Castle will collapse.”

Luceria then looked directly at Glen with determination in her eyes.

“Brother. I'll do that. Why don't you rest?”

“Yes. I was actually going to ask you to do it, Saint.”

After repeatedly using his skills, Glen's holy power and demonic power were almost completely depleted.

Furthermore, the gray ring he had used at the end had reached the limit of its duration.

Glen could not fight anymore today.

Thanks to being resurrected by Egelsis's miracle, I didn't suffer the backlash from using the Overlord's Wrath.

But I really can't fight anymore.

Glen let out a small sigh, withdrew from the front line, and stood behind Luceria.

“Still, we should hurry. If we delay too long, the soldiers of Angrelcher Castle will reach this place.”

“Yes. I understand, Brother. Just leave it to me!”

Luceria smiled brightly, her violet eyes shining with energy.

That was when it happened.

“Kirrrrr……”

“Hmm?”

“What?!”

Glen and Luceria simultaneously turned around at the sound coming from behind them.

“Kieeeeeeeeeee!!”

The Experimental Specimen Daddy, which they had thought was dead, let out a scream and stretched a huge tentacle toward them.

“Oh no! Brother!”

Luceria hurriedly gathered her holy power and tried to activate a miracle, but it was already too late.

However, if her concentration was interrupted here, things would become even more dangerous.

Glen quickly kicked off the floor and shoved Luceria's body away.

“Aah!”

Her delicate body was thrown backward.

And Glen was caught by the enormous tentacle.

“Fuck!”

As the tentacle tightened around his torso and an unknown energy was injected into him, Glen clenched his teeth.

He never imagined that even after coating a Mythic-grade blade with the Holy-Demonic Power, he still wouldn't be able to defeat it.

“Brother!”

Luceria hurriedly released her holy power and tried to create a miracle.

But Daddy swung its tentacle first.

Glen's body was thrown away from the tentacle and slammed into the opposite wall.

“Kwaaaang!”

The tremendous impact made his head ring.

“Urgh… damn it……”

Holding his bleeding head, Glen slowly stood up.

“How the hell am I supposed to beat that……?”

A 9th-Star skill.

The Overlord's Wrath.

And even the Holy-Demonic Power.

He had poured everything he had into the attack, yet it still hadn't fallen.

So what was he supposed to do now?

At least Luceria's strength was still intact.

But there was no way she could defeat an otherworldly plant that had made a god its host when she didn't even possess a single Mythic-grade artifact.

Do I have no choice but to run?

Glen bit his lip and opened Lunatic Inventory.

He took out two Magic Scrolls.

One contained a short-distance spatial teleportation spell.

The other contained an emergency escape spell.

His plan was to use the short-distance teleportation to approach Luceria, then use the emergency escape spell to retreat from this place.

Of course, since the emergency escape spell was implemented through a Magic Scroll, he had no idea where he would end up.

But as long as he could escape the battlefield, he could eventually make his way back to the occupied territory.

It's frustrating, but survival comes first.

Just as Glen was about to tear the scrolls, he heard something unexpected.

“Uheuk… Huu… Hic!”

A crying voice.

Glen turned his head.

There, he saw five or six young demon children clinging to one another and sobbing.

“What the……”

“D-Don't come closer!”

“S-Sis! Don't go!”

“Tethys! Take Renne and run!”

The demon girl standing in front of Glen while trembling all over looked barely ten years old.

“I… I won't let you hurt the children!”

“No… What is this……? Ugh!”

Glen was bewildered by what he saw before him.

That was when—

“Kieeeeeeeeeee!!”

Daddy let out a scream.

At the same time, countless memories suddenly poured into Glen's mind without order.

How pitiful.

I should help them.

Kieeeeeeeek!

Daddy, Daddy! Look at this! I found something pretty! I'll give it to Daddy!

Oh-ho, what an astonishing specimen.

Waaaah!

Voices tore through his mind.

But only for a moment.

The chaotic sounds gradually began returning to their proper places, one by one.

And eventually, a fragment of a god's memories spanning hundreds of years became arranged in order inside Glen's mind.

The memories of Vanum, the God of Death and Extinction.

“Waaaah!”

A silent space filled entirely with translucent gray.

There wasn't even a sound.

A god dressed in black stood facing a young child.

The Hall of Souls.

A place where the souls of the dead stayed briefly before being guided by a god.

That was right.

The child had died and come here.

“Another child.”

Recently, this had been happening frequently.

Children who came to the Hall of Souls without even reaching the minimum lifespan assigned to them at birth.

In a way, it was only natural.

On the surface world, the followers of Minis and Nox were waging a war in which they denied each other's existence.

But Vanum hated it.

“How pitiful.”

Vanum placed a hand on the head of the crying child and comforted them.

If he could, he wanted to reverse the child's death.

But he did not have the power to do so.

“How can a being who governs death and extinction be this powerless?”

Despite his frustration, death continued.

Young lives were brought into this bleak gray world before they could even bloom.

“I will go to the surface.”

At Vanum's declaration, the Reaper who served him cautiously approached.

The surface was completely different from Symposion and the world of souls.

If he went there, according to the laws of heaven, he would have no choice but to lose many of his powers as a god.

“If I can't even revive a child who hasn't lived out their lifespan, then what kind of god am I?”

In the end, even gods were nothing more than administrators bound by predetermined laws.

Thinking this way, Vanum handed all of his duties over to the Reaper.

Then he left the world of souls and went to the surface.

There, he traveled through the battlefields of demons and humans and gathered war orphans.

So that the beings of the surface world could live out the lifespan they had been given at birth.

So that even once, a young life could bloom into a beautiful flower.

Years passed.

The war orphans he had gathered, who had lost their emotions, gradually regained their vitality.

“Daddy, Daddy! Look at this! I found something pretty! I'll give it to Daddy!”

A child who had once stared blankly at the sky with lifeless eyes, waiting for death, now smiled brightly and held out a strangely shaped red pebble he had found beside a stream.

“Really?! Is it delicious? Hehe……”

A girl who had once been on the verge of death while picking up a piece of bread dropped by a soldier for her starving younger sibling had eventually learned to cook for the other children.

“……”

The young sprouts who had escaped death before their destined time slowly regained their vitality.

They grew.

And they bloomed into beautiful flowers.

“You have now lived out the minimum lifespan given to you. From here on, your lives belong to you.”

“Thank you, Father.”

“Thank you… Daddy. I… I'll come find you again later… Sob! I'll… sob… find you!”

At last, the children had gained enough strength to live on their own.

As Vanum sent them away, the normally expressionless god wore a faint smile.

“Always be grateful for life, and live by saving children who are in the same situation as you.”

Vanum repeated the same thing over and over.

He crossed between human and demon territories, saving children who were destined to die before their time.

He cared for them until they reached their minimum lifespan so that young lives would not unjustly end up in the Hall of Souls.

And he thought.

Perhaps the fact that I feel pity for young lives means I was meant to do this.

He was satisfied.

Compared to enjoying banquets with the gods in Symposion or guiding dead souls in the world of souls, this was incomparably more enjoyable.

Until he met a demon named Kacerto Lienz.

A demon obsessed with magical experiments.

Kacerto Lienz found it strange that Vanum did not age even after decades.

Eventually, he discovered that Vanum was not a human being.

“If you help me, magic will advance to an entirely new level.”

Since Vanum seemed to possess an immortal body, Kacerto asked him to assist with his magical research.

Vanum refused because of the inhumane methods Kacerto proposed.

But Kacerto's methods were nothing short of despicable.

“I see. Then, to obtain more specimens, I'll have no choice but to secure even younger lives as experimental subjects.”

He took young lives hostage.

Vanum became furious and tried to kill Kacerto Lienz.

But Kacerto was cunning and repeatedly avoided him through clever schemes.

In the end, Vanum could not bear to see the children sacrificed and admitted defeat.

Vanum agreed to cooperate with his experiments for 200 years on the condition that Kacerto never use young children in his experiments again.

As though he had been waiting for this, Kacerto Lienz summoned the otherworldly flower.

“Oh-ho, what an astonishing specimen.”

Kacerto Lienz was filled with admiration.

But Vanum was too busy trying to maintain his sanity against the bizarre lifeform that was invading his mind and body.

Even a being called a god was this powerless against something that existed outside the laws of this world.

200 years…

I only need to endure that brief moment…….

But at some point, children began entering his laboratory.

Vanum was furious that Kacerto Lienz had broken his promise.

But the otherworldly flower, which could even neutralize a god, gave him no freedom.

The only freedom he had left was moving the vines of the flower that had become part of his own body.

With that tiny bit of freedom, Vanum used every bit of his remaining power to steal the young experimental subjects and hide them behind the walls of the laboratory.

He somehow produced fruit using nutrients so that the children could survive.

Time and time again, Kacerto discovered them and took the children away.

But Vanum concentrated on the tiny fragment of consciousness he still possessed and continued stealing the young children who entered the laboratory.

Most of the lives he tried to save over hundreds of years were lost.

But he never gave up.

He silently repeated the work he had always done.

Then, one day.

Two humans infiltrated the laboratory.

“Whoooosh—Kwaaaang!”

They suddenly began destroying Kacerto Lienz's laboratory.

The punishment that a man who had committed countless atrocities for hundreds of years rightfully deserved.

But they did not yet know about the children hidden behind the walls.

I have to tell them.

Tell them… I… have to…….

His mind, tormented for hundreds of years, finally reached its limit.

Against his own will, Vanum fought them.

Hoping that he would lose.

More than that, hoping that somehow they would notice the children hidden behind the walls.

The God of Death and Extinction, who had witnessed countless deaths and disappearances, desperately wished for his own extinction more than ever before.

Glen closed his mouth as he looked at the girl protecting the children younger than herself.

At their feet lay a fruit from Daddy, somewhat resembling an apple.

“Haa……”

Amid the awkward silence, Glen turned his head toward Kacerto's Experimental Specimen Daddy.

No.

Toward Vanum.

His heart suddenly sank.

It felt as though time itself had stopped.

“……”

The Experimental Specimen Daddy, which had been screaming moments ago, stood completely still, facing Glen.

Vanum had his heart pierced.

His eyes were closed.

And a faint smile rested on his face.

Even after suffering at Kacerto's hands for hundreds of years, he had never broken.

The God of Death and Extinction treasured life more than any other being Glen had ever seen.

“There he is!”

“Grab him before he does anything!”

The soldiers of Angrelcher Castle finally arrived and pointed toward Glen.

Dozens of demons rushed toward him all at once.

“Kwaaaaaaaaaang!”

Dozens of beams of light came crashing down.

“Aaaaargh!”

“B-Back away!”

“Damn it! Bring the mages!”

The demons all stopped in hesitation as flashes of light struck the ground right in front of them.

Then a gentle and benevolent voice sank low and cold.

“Take one more step toward us.”

The kind voice of Luceria had become chillingly cold.

“I won't forgive… any of you.”

The White Snow Saintess, Luceria, stood alone against dozens of demons.

Tears flowed from her raised violet eyes.

But the radiance within them burned like pure white flames.