"Don't stop me!!"
"Then I'll die."
Ivan deflected Isabelle de Etoile's blade and surveyed their surroundings. The forces that had surrounded them were collapsing like kites with cut strings.
He could see the web of magical energy slowly being retracted.
In such cases, there were two possibilities. Either gathering strength or preparing to flee. As is typical of spiders' behavior, they often reabsorb their webs to conserve energy.
The nest wasn't yet complete. This must have been a surprise attack for the creature as well.
So this was the most critical moment. When he could exploit the creature's vulnerability.
"Isabelle. Enough."
-CLANG—!!
Ivan wedged the blade between his axe handles, forced it down, and stepped back. He could see Isabelle's excitement rapidly subsiding.
Her gaze was fixed on one spot. His shoulder and left abdomen. Where blood was welling up.
"Aaaah— I'm sorry, mister. I just... momentarily lost my mind... though honestly that was your fault. But still, um... ugh... are you... okay...?"
"Hmm."
The increased blood pressure from his physical enhancement had caused excessive bleeding. He felt slightly dizzy. He hadn't even had time to stop the bleeding while moving his body until now.
Ivan took a short deep breath and carefully opened the cap of a healing potion. He was used to this routine by now. Sadly.
With movements as careful as handling an explosive about to detonate, he applied the potion precisely to his wounds. Tsssss—. With an uncomfortable sound from the potion, the wounds sealed instantly.
"Feels like it's being cauterized with acid...."
"This is a healing potion."
Ivan dismissed the comment as not worth responding to and rummaged through his saddlebag. Clatter, two bottles of black liquid in transparent glass vials emerged.
When he removed the cap, a terrible smell wafted out.
"That definitely doesn't seem like a healing potion...."
"It's deadly poison."
Ivan answered briefly and immediately drank the substance. A horrified Isabelle rushed toward him.
"You're crazy! Absolutely crazy!! Why would you drink that?! What are you, some kind of dog that puts everything in its mouth?!"
"Wait."
Ivan pushed her away and immediately swallowed the other substance.
"Is that an antidote for the poison you just drank? Why...?"
"Not an antidote, an antagonist."
He closed his eyes and slowly circulated his magical energy. He could feel the two substances bubbling and mixing in his stomach. He carefully wrapped them with magical energy and shook them to mix.
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"They're two types of deadly poison with opposite effects."
"...Why would you...?"
"Because it's necessary."
"Then, what about me?"
"A virgin doesn't need it."
She wouldn't be affected by the creature's temptation anyway. Having confirmed that, there was no need to administer the substances to Isabelle.
The creature's temptation was a magical poison. Not the kind that could be resolved with chemical antidotes. It was a toxin that devoured magical energy while dismantling human will.
If that was the case, it could be countered with the most dramatic substance to awaken one's will. Naturally, that meant deadly poison. Nothing could stimulate the will more intensely than the survival instinct.
So he swallowed two types of substances. Each was a lethal dose of extreme poison. The kind that would destroy his entire body if their balance was disrupted even slightly.
This meant that from the moment he lost his reason, from the moment he lost control of his magical energy, he would be in a critical condition. So that if he lost his reason to the creature even for a moment, he could immediately wake up.
"Preparations complete. Let's go."
"If your stomach feels weird, make sure to throw up. I'll pat your back!"
"Worry about yourself. This isn't a picnic."
Isabelle grumbled as she moved forward. Toward the massive tent ahead where the papal insignia fluttered.
Toward where the Pope would be. And probably where the Seven Dragon General would be.
Like walking along a path opened by royal guards, they traversed the silent military camp without any resistance or noise and reached the tent.
Before them, the tent door opened smoothly. A bishop with vacant eyes emerged, opened the door, and bowed deeply in greeting.
-Come in.
A gentle voice was heard from inside the tent. A voice that sounded like both a woman's and a man's resonated directly in their heads.
Just hearing that voice momentarily clouded his reason. Ivan felt the deadly poisons churning in his stomach as he stepped forward.
He saw the Pope's small back. The white-haired old man was kneeling in prayer.
Beyond him was a purple curtain. The silhouette of a slender woman was visible through the curtain.
"Mister, are you still conscious?"
"Fortunately."
Isabelle made a suffocating sound. A thick musk scent, a demonic fragrance that constricted the heart, filled the tent.
From beyond the kneeling Pope came a low voice.
-God-slayer. The destruction of Aviditas. I do not wish to fight you.
"I find that hard to agree with."
-We have no reason to fight. Unlike those fools who call themselves gods, I have no intention of exterminating humans. I will protect humans and be your only means to stand against them... I will be your only weapon.
"There was another who said such things."
Ivan closed his unfocused eyes and moved forward relying solely on instinct. With the same precise stride as always.
This wasn't a matter of calculation. This was already in the realm of embodiment. While conscious of the poisons churning inside him, he wasn't sure if he was speaking aloud or merely thinking.
He felt dizzy. The bizarre colors spread around him and the scent stimulating his sense of smell disrupted his senses. He gave up trying to respond. It was beyond his will. Because it was the curse of the Seven Dragon General.
But he kept walking. Not with will but with conviction. With faith.
While silently refuting the creature's voice echoing in his head. Even as his thoughts continuously fragmented, he stepped forward with only one thing honed: killing intent.
"He died."
-Why? I will take care of you. You will prosper like never before in history, and I will gift you a safe enclosure and a peaceful world. Isn't that the essence of what you call a god? Is there any reason I cannot do this?
The creature's voice was quite desperate. Rather than feeling threatened for its life, it conveyed a more profound sense of regret.
Don't waste this opportunity. I don't want to fight you. That intention permeated its words.
He almost stopped walking from dizziness. Then someone gripped his shoulder. Glancing sideways, he saw Isabelle walking with her eyes tightly shut, continuously muttering something.
"Virgin, virgin, virgin... doesn't work on virgins. Ugh... I'm going to kill that mister."
She seemed already half-entranced. But there was no hesitation in her stride. Ivan matched shoulders with Isabelle and took another step forward.
-Do you find fault with my methods? Surely you're not suggesting humans have free will? Nation, ethnicity, society, religion, economy. Haven't you always been puppets of something you created?
He kept walking. It was difficult to be certain whether the thoughts floating in his mind were his own or created by the creature.
The sense of smell is a sense that quickly becomes numb. And right now, he was even blocking that. Yet he could still smell the thick musk. He couldn't even trust his senses.
This wasn't a real sensation. Even this was the Seven Dragon General's hallucination. It was not something humans could counter.
-Why not me? Your king devours dozens or hundreds in a day. Your society routinely swallows thousands, your nations casually sacrifice tens of thousands in war. Yet I need only a handful of human flesh.
-Humans are inherently carnivores that prey on other humans. You were beings that couldn't develop without exploiting yourselves. Placing yokes upon yourselves. A species that maintained itself by oppressing itself with the yokes of ethics and laws. If the object, if all those objects were replaced by just me alone. Is that so different from the world you've enjoyed until now?
-God-slayer. Sincerely. I do not wish to fight you. You can die more usefully than this. Do not hasten your death by opposing me. Your value can be used in a better place.
"You talk too much."
Ah, this is indeed my thought.
Ivan took a step forward and finally became certain.
Passing by the Pope who was kneeling dead, he took another step toward the purple curtain.
Now, nothing was visible or felt except for the creature's pure white silhouette. He couldn't feel Isabelle's strength supporting his shoulder.
He wasn't sure if he was lying down or standing. The sensation of moving his limbs felt unfamiliar. His heartbeat sounded like distant ocean waves.
But he felt something hot inside him. Yes, this was it.
Survival instinct. The craving for life. The most primal instinct that all living beings possess, which even the Seven Dragon General couldn't completely eradicate.
-Thump.
His heart beats. Expanding his senses from there, he feels his blood vessels. He feels the pressure of the aorta receiving blood from the heart. More broadly, he feels the screams of his internal organs being infiltrated by toxins every moment.
Blood dripped from his fingertips. His eyes turned red from increased blood pressure. The capillaries in his eyes burst.
It felt like his liver was necrotizing. The deadly poison, far exceeding the lethal dose, was destroying his body.
This was it. This was the only sensation he possessed, the only sensation he could be certain of.
The instinct for life.
Even in steps taken with the resolve to die, his body was trying so hard to live. Pleased by this, Ivan unconsciously let out a low laugh.
-The Hero lost the future, and the Knight crumbled in flames. The Berserker cannot move, and the Saintess lost her god. What strength do you have left now? What reason do my other competitors, those gods you call the Seven Dragon Generals, have to fear you anymore?
-None. They are watching for opportunities and are moving even now. Believing there will never be a better chance than now, when you have disarmed yourselves.
-You have discarded your most powerful weapons yourselves. You now stand at the entrance to the end. That is why I have come. To save you. To prevent the extinction of you humans.
-I am the last hope prepared for you.
-Do you truly still intend to oppose me?
He pulled back the curtain and looked at the creature's face.
The face that had appeared to be Cherenovicha distorted, sometimes becoming Elizabeta Kirillovna Krasilov, sometimes showing the features of the former king, and incredibly, sometimes showing the faces of Enrique Sergeyevika and the Saintess.
Numerous other beloved faces flickered on the creature's pure white head. There was only one emotion felt. Regret. Yes, the creature was expressing regret. As if this was the only mercy.
Ivan looked down at it with his reddened eyes and said:
"You fear humans."
-...What?
"You gods fear humans."
The Seven Dragon Generals call themselves gods. In fact, they hold fragments of divinity. Still powerful enough to use divine power.
When such beings were defeated by mere mortals, the emotions they felt must have been shock and fear.
So there was no Seven Dragon General who directly blocked the Hero Party rushing toward the Demon King. What immortal would readily expose themselves to evidence that even gods could die?
The god whom those gods followed. The ruler of all rulers in this world. The greatest monster. The Demon King. Even he died at the hands of the Hero.
The Seven Dragon Generals feared humanity. They were wary of the potential of those creatures who could cut down even gods. Therefore, after the Demon King died, they all hid themselves and fled to the edges of the world.
And now.
As the Hero Party disbanded and crumbled one by one with the passage of time, they must have thought:
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Before humanity regains its strength, they must be exterminated for certain.
That is evidence of their fear.
"Your mimicry was pathetic."
Ivan raised his hand. Though he couldn't feel anything in his grip, he held it straight nonetheless. Straight as if about to swing an axe.
The creature is mimicking regret. Like its kind usually does, it's using emotions as bait. And beneath that, in the body encased in black carapace, an emotion contrary to that would be lurking.
Fear.
The greatest fear that immortals possess. The fear of the unknown—oblivion and death—which they would never have experienced in their lifetime.
The despair of impending death.
Toward that...
Right foot forward. Bearing weight.
Left foot back. Stepping lightly.
The weapon in his outstretched hand pointing exactly skyward. As if yearning for something beyond that distant sky.
His senses shut down one by one. With clicking sounds, the neural networks connecting his sensory systems are blocked.
Taking a deep breath, exhaling halfway to tense his muscles.
-CRACK!!
His abdominal muscles twisted. His shoulders screamed in protest. As he forcibly drew out power beyond what was permitted to him.
In this slow world where even time seemed illustrated, amidst the many scents and colors, darkness and fear, confusion and pleasure, dizzying helplessness and mighty omnipotence that penetrated through his blocked senses.
In this elation, as if intoxicated by drugs.
He recalled only one thing.
What he had thought of, what he had seen, what he had hoped for, what he had envied.
The most powerful strike.
"Maximillian's—"
Thoughts become voice, whether intended or not. In this battle taking place in the realm of concepts, he quietly recalled the back of one man.
And raised his gaze to the cloudy sky of that day.
A man holding a sword while looking at that sky.
"Sky Splitter."
The stained glass shattered vertically.
Sunlight poured down through the tent that had been split in half.
Amidst the scattered spider webs, the pure white body split and crumbled.
Under the sun, the form of a massive monstrosity covered in carapace slowly revealed itself.
-Now you have no chance left.
The monstrosity concluded, its jaw trembling.
-Now you must face the gods.
It retreated into the darkness, rattling. As if hating the sun. Soon, all traces of it disappeared. The musk lingered like a trace before fading away.
And Ivan, planting his axe upside down on the ground, knelt on one knee.
"Mister!!!"
Isabelle, who had been staring at him blankly, rushed over. Ivan's eyes were still unfocused, staring in the direction where the creature had disappeared.
Through this, a low voice sounded.
"When were we not?"
"What?"
"Have people not always lived in defiance of gods? Natural disasters, powerful monsters, painful diseases, famine and hunger, war and death. The names of the gods that come to us have changed each time, but they have never been welcome, not for a single moment."
Ivan closed his eyes as he spoke. Blood dripped from his chin.
"But will we give up? Will we submit, saying we cannot resist? No. We created medicine to overcome disease, armies to face monsters, built dams to prevent disasters, and developed agriculture to overcome famine. We have always reached this point by opposing the gods that covet us."
Ivan's hand released the axe handle.
"So be afraid. Our history has been the process of conquering gods, and the names of all unconquered gods are merely gods yet to be challenged."
He wasn't sure if these were just thoughts or if he was actually speaking. Ivan quietly muttered and collapsed.
"Mister!! Mister!!!"
"Isabelle."
"Yes! Yes!!"
"When the legion regains consciousness, head to the papal state."
To where the retreating divine body of the fleeing god is.
Toward the royal residence built by the Seven Dragon General.
To eradicate the last corruption remaining in the south.
"What about you?! Wake up!! What about the poison?! What about the poison?!"
"If I don't die, I'll live."
A joke.
Ivan smiled faintly, patted Isabelle's forehead, and then lost consciousness.