WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 563: The Ash-Covered Sin and the Skin-Stitched God - 3

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Rashy landed as though he had fallen from the sky, then stared at the burning patron deity with his mouth hanging open.

"Hup! I hadn't meant to set the patron deity on fire. Sir, wasn't that a bit much?"

"That wasn't my magic. I'd like to burn it like that too, but sadly, I don't have that much magical energy."

"Hm? If it wasn't your magic, then..."

"Rashy!"

Callis appeared from the direction the flames had come from. She must have rushed over, because embers scattered around her red hair as she pointed at the patron deity.

"Rashy, what is that monster?"

"What do you mean, monster? That's the patron deity!"

"I knew the patron deity was a folk belief, but I had no idea it was a monster stitched together from corpses...!"

"That's unpleasant to hear from someone whose parent is a monster! The patron deity is benevolent! It just said a few harsh things!"

"I just saw you hit it."

"It's a child's duty! I threw a few punches, but I still respect it!"

If Rashy had come out, Callis would have too. I'd expected reinforcements, but I never imagined Callis would be among them.

She was the last person who should be joining a fight.

"Wait, Callis! Don't come any closer!"

Rashy was an immortal, and his power belonged to the patron deity. Naturally, the patron deity possessed an immortal body as well. If Rashy, a mere immortal, would not die from being scorched, there was no chance the patron deity would.

[Impressive, King of Humanity. To kill this body once with such a pitiful amount of strength.]

The patron deity rose from the flames. Cards embedded throughout its body seared its flesh, and burning vines blackened it, but it did not seem to care.

Its blazing eyes turned to me.

[As expected, this body must eat you now.]

"No, patron deity. Couldn't you eat something else?"

[Silence, Right-Arm. Shall this body eat your woman instead?]

Rashy opened his eyes wide and hurriedly shoved Callis away. Wrapped in flames like the incarnation of hellfire, the patron deity warned him.

[Right-Arm has meant much to this body, so this body spared you personally. But this body shall forgive you no longer. If you intend to resist, this body will devour your entire family first.]

The chilling threat slowly wiped the smile from Rashy's face. He swallowed and slowly clenched his fist. Looking up at the patron deity with a stiff expression, he said,

"Patron deity, do not test my respect."

[What did you say?]

"You granted me strength, and I in turn served you by offering my body to you. You are the patron deity, an incarnation of the Earth Mother, a benevolent god who became one with this land. I served you with all my heart and sang of your virtues."

Immortals were basically gentle by nature. Nothing could kill or hurt them. Still, if someone insulted them and threatened something other than their bodies, even immortals could turn violent.

"But you threaten to kill my family? That isn't something a god should do. It isn't even something a human should do. Why would someone like you make such a filthy threat, one fit only for beasts?"

Rashy asked the patron deity with a fighting spirit unlike before. He looked ready to start throwing punches at any moment.

[A threat...?]

The patron deity was displeased to see its thrall rebel.

[You think this body's actions are threats? This is mercy. Mercy shown to you. If this body truly meant to threaten you, it would have started by putting your woman in its belly.]

The patron deity had lived in a barbaric age with neither laws nor rules. Entire tribes, families included, had been slaughtered. The mercy it showed was no different from cherishing its own body.

Its anger was the same. It felt betrayed when its own body defied its will.

[This body cherished you and gave you the chance to leave this land and return with greater power. Yet you have not only sullied this body's arm, but betrayed this body's will as well!]

I'd made very good use of Rashy's arm in the Abyss. As Tyr's blood energy was refined and purified, the patron deity's authority had changed as well.

The patron deity shook off the flames and swung its arm. It flew like a whip and slammed Rashy into the ground.

[This body no longer needs you!]

"...I agree."

Rashy slowly pushed himself up from where he had been driven into the ground. The patron deity's arm still pressed down on him, but Rashy resisted with all his strength.

"I don't need a worthless god like you either!"

Rashy rose and threw a punch in return. Crack. He could not knock down the patron deity, but he did make it stagger for a moment.

[You bastard!]

"Patron deity!"

Eyes wide, the two immortals began raining punches on each other.

It was a brawl. Every punch broke bones, tore skin, and shattered muscle. They broke and regenerated each other over and over. A torrent of strength surged between them.

At first, the fight seemed somewhat even, but it gradually tilted in the patron deity's favor. Its strength and regenerative power were overwhelmingly superior. Rashy had resisted for a while through sheer momentum, but every part of his body except his right arm was crushed and broken by the patron deity's strength before it could regenerate.

[Do you think a mere Right-Arm can defeat this body by rebelling!]

Boom. Rashy's head was buried halfway into the ground. As he hurried to raise himself, the patron deity's right foot drove into him. Rashy's body was planted deep in the earth like a stake.

[This body will devour...!]

Just as the patron deity was about to grab the fallen Rashy, a huge blaze wrapped around it once more. Callis, who had been gathering magical energy in advance, cast a tactical-grade spell. Flames rising from the ground clung to its skin and burned it.

[Ha!]

But only for a moment. The patron deity wasted no more time and consumed another life. Energy churned beneath its feet and covered its body. It shook off the flames as though shedding skin, then moved to deal with Callis first.

"You won't!"

At that moment, Rashy wrapped himself around the patron deity's right leg and used a technique. He twisted its ankle and kicked behind its knee, bending the leg backward for an instant.

It would have worked if the patron deity lacked the ability to pull out its joints and reattach them. Delayed for a moment, it viciously kicked Rashy away.

Then something grabbed its foot. The patron deity flinched when it saw the vines and mound of dirt gripping it.

[Urgh... Petty tricks!]

"I've lost my strength. Petty tricks are all I have left."

I stabbed a skewer into its heel and twisted it. When I sent lightning flowing into its body, its foot jerked in a direction it should not have. The lightning was meant to burn it from the inside, but to the patron deity, it was little more than a massage.

[You...!]

"Over here too!"

A brief opening was enough. Rashy struck the ground and shot up, smashing the patron deity's jaw with his right arm. A couple of teeth flew out, and its neck vertebrae slipped loose and dangled for a moment. It regenerated immediately, but by then I had already slipped through its skin and muscles.

'Of all times for Right-Arm to betray me! Entrusting my right arm to the strongest warrior was a mistake!'

Ankra, which had died once, had taken root throughout this entire land. Its scattered flesh had mixed with dirt and trees as it grew. Beasts ate those things, and in the end, they gathered again to form a body.

To make its own body stronger, it needed to receive strong bodies as offerings. That was why it had given Rashy, the strongest, its most precious right arm. Rashy and the patron deity shared the largest portion of their strength.

That was why, despite the overwhelming difference in power, Rashy could still put up some kind of fight. A faint sense of danger came over the patron deity. Perhaps memories of defeat, the possibility that it might lose even with this power, had returned to bind it.

'As long as the King of Humanity is human, he will grow tired eventually! Then this body can devour him!'

"Oh, by the way. You saw it earlier, right? I have a bit of immortal power too. I can keep fighting like this all day."

Not really. My stamina would hold out, but my energy would not.

Still, I had succeeded in pressuring it psychologically. Anxious at my words, the patron deity consumed ten "lives." Its body recovered at a visible speed, then unleashed monstrous strength and overturned the surrounding ground and trees at once. Rashy and I were both caught in the force and flung away.

[This body will no longer hold back! This body will devour you all!]

Well, I really could fight all day.

But there would be no need.

Our reinforcements would arrive now.

* * *

[Shei should have abandoned him instead. He did not let you give up on him. Who am I supposed to resent?]

Shei, who had been about to fly straight at the patron deity, hesitated at the voice stopping her. The lingering image of Maiél, the Holy Maiden of Heaven, floated in the sky and watched the jungle beyond, where dawn was breaking.

[Today, no different from yesterday, promises the tomorrows that will continue ahead.]

Bathed in the rising sunlight, Maiél placed a hand over her chest. Shei did not pay much attention to it. It was a prayer she had heard countless times while at the Sanctum.

[But Shei, the tomorrow promised to me is you. If you go astray, I too can only sleep while dreaming of another tomorrow.]

Still, these words could not help making Shei flinch.

She had only heard such a desperate plea during the final battle, when she stood on the verge of death.

[I tried to save you. But please do not resent me if I fail. I cannot paint over the future you have drawn.]

* * *

Crunch.

Something, a massive beast, stomped on the patron deity. It could not even scream or make a single sound before it was neatly ground into the earth. Its once-powerful body crumbled into something no different from dirt and sand, and blood pooled in the soil before scattering.

Rashy, Callis, and I had all been preparing for another fight. When our opponent suddenly disappeared, we were thrown off. For a long moment, none of us could even identify the stranger who had appeared before us.

I was the first to recognize the late intruder, and I did not even need to read her thoughts. The antlers on her head told me enough.

"...Nevida?"

"My lord. Have you been well?"

Her androgynous appearance had not changed at all since I last saw her. Leaves grew sparsely in the hair that flowed down to the ground. Her silk robe draped over her as though it had been hung on tree branches.

An ancient druid. Nature's representative, the most beautiful beast.

The living Demon God, who had revived the World Tree after it burned and fell with the destruction of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand.

She should have been at the Tree of Corruption, yet she appeared before me now and quietly knelt.

"My lord. Forgive this servant for coming before you so late. This servant left you for a time because preparations to serve you were not yet complete."

"What? What?"

"But do not worry. All preparations are now complete."

No, what was this? These were not the reinforcements I had in mind.

Regressor, Azzy! Where are you two? Something weird showed up! Even if this was the land of the old Kingdom of Ten Thousand, territory once under the World Tree's domain, it was still so far away. How had something like this appeared? How did she even know?

[Y-you, what are you...!]

Crash. Nevida's hand changed into a bear's paw and crushed the patron deity's body as it tried to rise, grinding it to pieces. After the horrific sound of flesh and bone becoming a handful of scraps faded, Nevida restored the silence and stood as emotionlessly as an inanimate object.

"I am deeply moved that my lord came here in person. This servant shall attend to you now, so please spare your precious body."

"No, how did you know I was here?"

"Where my lord is, that is where this servant ought to be."

She did not even intend to answer properly! Everything she said was fake! Was this how someone treated their king?

[KRAAAAGH!]

Then the patron deity consumed three lives at once and rose. The surge of power from burning those lives in an instant was tremendous enough to push even Nevida back through raw strength.

[You beast priests! You who cling to beasts dare oppose this body!]

Nevida dug her leopard claws into the ground and stopped herself. Despite the sudden insult, she was not displeased. Instead, she looked intrigued.

"Beast priests? It has been a long time since I heard that term. Did you originate in the Age of Purity?"

[Yes! This body will eat the King of Humanity and become complete! This body will achieve what Ankra failed to do in life!]

"...Ankra?"

The patron deity should have watched its mouth. Thinking an unfamiliar powerhouse would be friendly was far too optimistic.

Even I, whom Nevida called her lord and spoke to with reverence, was not her ally!

"Ah. I remember now. You are one of those insolent wretches who dared rebel against the King of Humanity. Those impure creatures who dared betray, eat, violate, enslave, and make a plaything of my lord. Even if you were deceived by a harlot, that does not erase your crime."

An ominous killing intent rose. It felt as though the forest and grass themselves had risen in fury. Nevida, who had shown a tree-like lack of emotion until now, grew slightly angry beneath her calm expression.

At the ancient druid's rage, at the Demon God's emotion, the entire earth and every tree trembled. Nevida grew a branch from her fingertips and gave it a small wave.

"The King of Humanity should have slaughtered you all. I do not know how you remain alive."

The ground shook, and tree roots surged upward. In an instant, they wrapped around the patron deity's feet and crawled up to its shoulders. Caught off guard, it threw off the roots binding its entire body and shouted,

[Hmph! Do you think this can stop this body!]

"If an immortal believes immortality means they cannot perish, that is truly laughable ignorance."

When Nevida closed her hand, the roots tightened and burst the patron deity's body apart. Like snakes, they constricted, crushed, and shredded it before turning it to dust and swallowing it. Its flesh broke apart and melted away until no form remained.

"There are no flowers that stay red for ten days, and even trees that stand for a thousand years must eventually lie down upon the earth."

[...This body is the patron deity! Unlike you who worship mere beasts...!]

Even so, the patron deity did not die. It consumed lives to reconstruct its body, then tore away the tree roots with tremendous strength. But two hands could not stop thousands of roots, and before long, it was buried beneath them again and crushed.

"Trees grow atop rotted leaves and branches, filling the land where great trees have fallen. Grass and soil cycle forever, filling this land."

Nevida's song softly rang through the forest.

Skin melted away. Vital energy was drawn somewhere else. It became trees, bore fruit, became leaves, and fell. The patron deity suffered death after death in rapid succession.

Yet that too was the patron deity's nature. It had melted into this land, and as long as its center remained, it was immortal. It only had to reconstruct its body and revive. Its lives existed merely to maintain its body. As it had after dying before, the patron deity gathered the energy it had scattered throughout the earth and vegetation.

The patron deity was immortal. As long as it lived. As long as it survived.

"In the distant cycle of reincarnation."

Live. Live. Live. Somehow, as long as it stayed alive.

Even if it was miserable, life was enough.

"Perish."

And the patron deity's thoughts stopped.

Before me stood a single tree that vaguely resembled a person. Its twisted branches looked like human joints, and its leaves resembled hair. One branch stretched desperately to one side as though yearning for something, like the desperate hand of a drowning person.

At its tip was a small fruit, red as blood.

Through the instinct to live, through preserving only its life, the patron deity had ultimately survived. It craved nothing but life and had forgotten everything else.

Return to the Origin.

The Demon God's endless cycle of reincarnation that killed immortals.

Having effortlessly destroyed the god of a tribe, Nevida turned away without concern.

Footnotes:

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