WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 562: The Ash-Covered Sin and the Skin-Stitched God - 2

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As though even moonlight was too bright for it, the Offering God squinted through the eyes it had received from the shamaness and stepped forward on a body over three meters tall.

[Enough. What would a mere limb know of my pursuit of greater heights?]

"O-Offering God!"

The immortals bowed their heads in fear at the sight of their god emerging from its long seclusion. The Offering God was a local god. Everyone had seen it once or twice, but it had never awakened and come outside in person before.

"Oh! Offering God! You've awakened! You came at just the right time."

Rashy alone greeted the Offering God with a wave, as though welcoming an old friend.

"I heard earlier that you ordered our guest killed! Did you really command us to kill Sir?"

"Rashy, you bastard! What kind of way is that to speak to the Offering God?"

"What, can't I even ask? Wouldn't the Offering God want to speak too?"

Rashy really was more open-minded. He had no hesitation about speaking face-to-face with a god. Was this what studying abroad did to a person?

The immortals were frightened just watching Rashy ask so boldly, but the Offering God was not one to hold its tongue either.

[That is correct. He is the King of Humanity, a great being who tore me apart in the distant past.]

"Oh? Sir, you were that remarkable? But what? King... of Humanity?"

[But he has lost his power now. This is the only chance to devour him. If he regains his power, I will forever remain a pitiful insect that once submitted to that great being.]

It bowed before the strong and bit the weak. To the Offering God, that was simply the law of the wild.

It was a jungle god that had nearly gained eternal life through the power of gluttony. Its desire to devour my power had driven it mad.

"Offering God. Then must we truly devour Sir?"

[Right Arm. Will you do it?]

"I'll stop you! Offering God, you have already bestowed eternal life upon us and are already a great being. Must you truly devour Sir too?"

[What can be devoured must be devoured. If I leave him alone, he will soon devour me.]

Destroy the enemy and make their power your own. Since time immemorial, gluttony had been one of the surest survival strategies. It was taboo now, but to the Offering God, devouring was as ordinary as breathing.

Realizing the Offering God's firm intent, Rashy answered hesitantly.

"...Uh. Mother Offering God. As your child, I'd like to stop you, but?"

[You revered me as a god and borrowed life and power from me. Yet now you refuse my will?]

"That's right. Well, we may live in this land, but we still have to interact with foreign places, don't we? If we devour guests from beyond the steppe, we'll lose all face."

[You've returned from beyond the steppe and now pretend to be some scholar.]

"No, that's..."

[Enough. I have no need for you.]

The Offering God waved a hand.

The immortals staggered and collapsed as sudden weakness swept over them. The flesh they had offered to the Offering God wriggled and siphoned away their vitality.

[In the end, I have no choice but to do it myself.]

The Offering God's body swelled. Its roughly stitched-together flesh filled with power. Ankra, the Offering God that had barely clung to life after death by using others' bodies, broke its long seclusion after two thousand years and unleashed its strength.

At me.

The ground split apart. The instant I read its thoughts, the Offering God was already upon me. A huge hand tried to seize me in a single grip.

I couldn't get caught. If I was devoured, Demon God or not, it would be a straight loss. The moment I reacted, I moved and slipped out of the Offering God's fist. Fingers of varying sizes brushed past my shoulder.

Whew, fast. It was this strong even outside its prime? Still, its body didn't look sturdy. If I dismantled it properly, I could manage.

I spun half a turn and drove my skewer through the stitched seams. For someone who once made a living as a pickpocket, tearing through human skin was

[Finger.]

The moment the Offering God murmured that, its five fingers suddenly bent backward. Its joints reversed, turning its palm into the back of its hand. Its right arm twisted into a left arm and bent outward.

Click. My skewer was caught in the back of its hand.

"What?"

[It is true. You have grown weak.]

The Offering God muttered and crushed my hand in its grip. Crunch. I heard my hand being pulverized. I vividly felt my fist being crushed into liquid.

Its reversed joints were no problem at all. The Offering God's body had been cut apart and sewn together in the first place. It could attach its joints however it pleased.

Coming to my senses, I turned the skewer back into a card and used its reduced size to slip from the Offering God's grasp.

[Oh. How did you do that?]

Though curious, the Offering God swung its arm with the joint still bent backward. Its fist came at me from an angle no human body could achieve. Before I could react, the blow hit me head-on.

"Urgh!"

It felt as though the world had flung me away. My body sailed through the air, snagged on a thicket, broke branches, and only then barely lost its momentum.

Its arm bends outward? I couldn't expect common sense here. Just as I tried to force myself up, the Offering God suddenly stepped into view.

[Got you.]

It was still ten paces away, yet its arm stretched out and swallowed the space I occupied. Its stitched-together body was remarkably elastic too.

That wasn't even a human body anymore! I hurriedly rolled across the ground to avoid the fist, but a shadow suddenly cut in and stood in front of me.

"Offering God!"

Thud!

Rashy grabbed the Offering God's right arm. Even with his body over two meters tall, he couldn't overcome the Offering God's strength and was dragged along.

"Hup!"

Rashy inhaled and anchored himself to the ground with Earth Qi Art. His feet dug halfway into the earth as he withstood the overwhelming force. Grrrk. After plowing up the ground, he succeeded in stopping the Offering God's arm.

The Offering God was surprised to see one of its followers rebel. It was not only because Rashy stood in its way. Unlike the other immortals, Rashy was still healthy.

The Offering God said,

[I clearly withdrew my power, yet my power still resides in your right arm. Have you been away from the steppe for too long?]

"I don't know either! This must be the Offering God's will as well!"

Even so, Rashy refused to release its arm. The Offering God asked,

[My actions are my will. Why do you stand in my way?]

"They're people who helped me when I was trapped in the Abyss! After we happened to meet, they even gave me fur from the King of Sheep as a wedding gift! I welcomed such people as guests myself. Wouldn't it violate tradition if I ignored that and let them die?"

[Following my will is tradition as well.]

"I know! But if two traditions tell me different things, shouldn't I follow the tradition that suits my heart?"

Rashy was in a different position from the other immortals. He had a personal bond with me and had brought me here himself. His easygoing nature would not let him betray that loyalty just because a god commanded it.

Rashy grinned and continued.

"And I'd like to uphold the other tradition too! Offering God, there is no absolute reason you must devour Sir, is there? Why not change your mind even now?"

[Hah. My limb seeks to control me.]

"Not control exactly. If you'd call it loyal advice..."

[I have no need for it.]

The Offering God lightly swung its arm.

Its arm bent like a whip in that instant. As though Rashy's huge body hanging from it posed no problem, its arm extended all the way to a distant boulder. Before he could let go, Rashy was slammed headfirst into the rock.

[Limbs that will not obey must be cut off, even if I must weep tears of blood.]

Bang, bang, bang. After repeatedly slamming Rashy's body into the ground, the Offering God casually flung him away. Rashy's body shot upward with terrifying force and vanished from sight. Having dealt with the troublesome interruption, the Offering God turned back to find me.

At that moment, I was behind its shoulder.

The right arm. I didn't know whether it was because of Rashy, but the Offering God's right arm was strangely sluggish. It also seemed unfamiliar with its stitched-together body, because it didn't even know its own blind spots.

[Hm? Where are you?]

"Right here."

The Offering God didn't notice even as I slipped cards between the gaps in its skin. Just before it realized and moved its arm, I sent lightning through every card at once. The cards, wrapped in lightning, trembled as they burned its flesh and made its muscles move on their own.

The Offering God cried out in shock.

[What have you done to my flesh?!]

"Nothing as remarkable as stitching skin together."

The Offering God's body was filled with strange energy, so I couldn't control it. Still, the Offering God itself wasn't very good at controlling its own body. Its arm convulsed, bending and twisting as though it had five or six joints.

[You bastard!]

The enraged Offering God tried to move, but it couldn't. Unable to control its wildly jerking body, it could only swing around blindly.

Crack, boom. Trees caught in its rampage were uprooted, and torn-up dirt and sand rose like clouds. I rolled across the ground to avoid its uncontrollable body and grabbed a handful of nearby brush.

The first thread was made from tree fibers. Using the Tree of Origin, I transformed the brush into tough vines. Then I casually scattered them over the rampaging Offering God. There was no need to make a snare. Its uneven body, stitched together from all sorts of pieces, was a hook in itself. Tangled in the vines, the Offering God tripped over its own feet.

I gradually extended the vines and launched myself toward a nearby giant tree. Holding a card in one hand, I swung it past the base of the tree. Part of the giant tree turned into a card, and its thick trunk began to fall at an angle.

[Petty tricks!]

The enraged Offering God was about to rush at me with all its strength. I gathered mana at my fingertips and cast a spell.

"Set, Li. Bolt!"

[Kraaaah!]

Electricity surged from within. Its muscles convulsed and went numb regardless of the Offering God's will. While it writhed in pain, the giant tree continued falling toward it, faster and faster.

Boom. In the end, the giant tree crushed the Offering God's body. Even it could not withstand the weight of a tree that had grown for centuries, and it dropped to one knee. Yet the Offering God was a god that had cultivated its strength for over a thousand years. With astonishing brute force, it endured the tree's weight.

[Something like this...!]

Tch. Was using the environment not enough? As I felt the limits of my strength and looked around, Rashy's shout came from above.

"Offering God! As your child, I dare not strike you, but!"

His voice rapidly drew closer. Pulling his thick right arm far back, Rashy fell like a meteor with both eyes fixed on the Offering God.

"My right arm is the Offering God! This fist is you striking yourself, so it should be fine!"

[Right Arm...!]

"Come to your senses! This is a blow of loyal advice!"

With that spirited cry, Rashy thrust his fist toward the Offering God.

The Offering God had barely reacted to any attack so far, but this strike was different. Rashy's right arm was the Offering God's own power. Its body was crushed, twisted, and distorted. Pressed beneath the fist, the Offering God smashed into the ground with tremendous force.

The impact shook the earth. Buried in the ground and pinned beneath the giant tree, the Offering God spat blood and cried out.

[Kraaaah! You...!]

"Set, Li, Celsi! Fahrenheit!"

A chant rang out from somewhere, and a moment later, a vast curtain of flame descended.

Overwhelming firepower beyond anything I could manage engulfed the Offering God. Flames of mana climbed along my vines and burned its entire body.

Footnotes:

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