Chapter 174. The Status of a God
I quietly clasped my hands together and prayed as I watched the rats painting murals across the wide arched ceiling.
The temperature was pleasantly warm, maintained by magic.
The humidity was just right.
Soft lighting, like the gentle glow of sunset, illuminated the space.
There probably wasn’t a more fitting place to close hundreds of eyes and offer a prayer.
Clank, clank.
“Hey, ‘Eye.’ Praying to God again?”
While I was praying, the heavy sound of metal approached.
I smiled faintly, opened my eyes again, and answered.
“That’s right, ‘Ninja.’ Why? Are you going to tell me it isn’t scientific?”
“I’m telling you to keep it reasonable.”
Ninja sighed.
“I understand your loyalty to Master, but don’t reduce your working hours just to pray.”
The great and wicked achievement of cutting down one of the tree trunks supporting the world.
The unimaginable ominous act of filling an unborn child sleeping inside a cocoon with sinister power.
He is invincible.
He is our God.
What was wrong with praying and devoting myself to someone like that?
I answered with a slightly sulky expression.
“...Fine. If Oppa says so, I’ll listen.”
“Oppa, my ass. In front of Master, we’re all equal Holy Knights.”
“So? What brings the Cy-ber Ninja here?”
This was my space.
A place prepared solely for me within this enormous Abandoned District.
I didn’t know all the details, but Master was apparently turning it into an incredibly large cathedral.
At the far end was an open space where I would stay.
Ah!
It was shared with the Village Chief.
This was where the information gathered by the Village Chief and me would be managed.
Of course!
So that was why it was a cathedral!
A space to be used by Master’s sacred closest aides!
“Master said he intends to test us.”
“...Huh? What? Really?”
“Not only the combat personnel.”
Ninja nodded.
“He said he’ll examine noncombatants like you too. Lady Levy and Lady Mallyangi are on their way here right now.”
“...Then why did you find out before me?”
Despite appearances, I could see and hear many things through the countless eyes and ears I had scattered everywhere.
That was my reason for existing.
I was Master’s eyes and ears.
That was why my name was Eye.
And yet the Cy-ber Ninja had gathered information faster than me....
I widened my eyes.
“Wait! Does that mean that internet thing is finished?!”
“Heh. You noticed!”
Ninja sounded proud.
“But it’s still not complete enough to call it finished.”
“Master said he’ll invite a specialist soon, so when that happens, I’ll properly learn it and finish it.”
“Wow.... Maintaining security is going to become much harder....”
“...Let’s not focus on the disadvantages.”
Ninja paused.
“Even though you are in charge of security.”
“You help too, okay?”
I had to applaud the progress of Master’s—
“We have modified humans! Magic! Artificial humans! How does it make any sense that we don’t have the internet?!”
—plan.
But apparently, another otherworlder on the surface had already created a similar system.
If we made a mistake and confidential information leaked....
...
Actually, Master had merely muttered something to himself, and we were the ones who turned it into an actual project.
So it wouldn’t matter if the whole thing was abandoned.
But it would be a problem if the project itself caused trouble.
And Master was actively supporting it now.
This could never become one of our weaknesses!
“Where is Master right now?”
Ninja stared at me.
“You’re asking me that?”
“Come on~ I can find him if I want, but that feels too much like spying~”
“Look for Shadow.”
Ninja answered.
“He was the first one to fight Master.”
“Really? What happened?”
“What did he say again....”
Ninja thought for a moment.
“Something like, ‘I killed him, but he didn’t die, and I felt like I was being toyed with the whole time.’”
“Still, he apparently got a passing score.”
Hmm.
Hearing that made me even more curious....
My ability was meant for things like this anyway.
Master probably wouldn’t get too angry if I peeked a little.
Shhh.
One of the countless eyes covering my body slowly closed.
By now, that closed eye should have appeared wherever Master was.
Rip!
“HEEEEY!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”
“Oh my.”
I hadn’t even opened the hearing connection yet, but Master’s shout, filled with laughter, still reached my ears.
Master stood at the center of an area surrounded by the monsters he had captured.
One fallen monster’s head was beneath his foot.
Wow.
Master’s body is so solid....
Amazing....
But was he fighting practically barehanded without any real equipment?
Those monsters were still named Hero-class monsters.
Master really is amazing~!!
“When I told you I’d let anyone who defeated me go free, you trash laughed your asses off!”
Master stepped harder on the monster beneath him.
“So what’s this pathetic state now? Huh?! Tell me!”
“W-Why?!”
A monster screamed.
“Why won’t you die?! I pierced your heart!”
Several parts of Master’s body had turned pitch-black from the power of Madness.
Those blackened areas were probably where he had been wounded.
Even from a quick glance, I could tell how brutal the fight had been.
And yet...
He had still won.
Truly incredible.
“You thought you could beat me just because Aien wasn’t here?”
Master sneered.
“You trash grew up in a world where the strong devour the weak, so why the hell did you assume I was weak?”
He pointed at himself.
“I’m the boss here!”
“Are your brains decorative accessories?!”
“Grrgh! Y-You!”
The monster spat out.
“If you hadn’t used that sinister magic—!”
“I can use it.”
Master interrupted.
“That’s why I beat you.”
“You couldn’t prepare a way to counter it.”
His eyes narrowed.
“That’s why you lost.”
Master nodded.
“So yes. Your brains really are decorative.”
The heads of the monsters lying on the ground and glaring rudely at Master began turning black.
Then they rapidly shrank.
In an instant...
The places where their heads had been became completely empty.
