Chapter 687: Who Said It Was Only Us?

In the extremely distant past.

Within a certain universe, a tiny leech was born.

Its beginning was small and weak.

A pitiful lump of black squirming flesh.

Far too insignificant to survive on its own, it chose parasitism.

It clung to larger lifeforms and stole their blood.

An existence that sustained its life by depending on others.

However.

‘Not enough.’

Unlike the others of its kind,

this leech harbored a desire beyond merely continuing its existence.

‘More.’

Unlike the other creatures that parasitized and stole blood,

it stole power along with life.

It numbed the host’s senses, making them unable to even notice their strength being drained away,

then consumed without leaving behind a single thing from the insides of lifeforms larger and stronger than itself.

At first, small insects.

Afterward, slightly larger amphibians.

Then small rodents.

And after that, even mammals reigning as predators of that ecosystem.

It clung to them and devoured blood, flesh, and life.

And afterward, the only thing left behind was—

‘Skin.’

An empty skin whose insides had vanished.

The leech stuffed its own body inside it.

Once the leech that had devoured all the original contents crawled inside, it fit perfectly within the skin’s size.

That was how the leech evolved.

It had begun with wild animals, but at some point it began devouring intelligent beings and increasing its own intellect.

It devoured higher beings, more complex beings...... and made their histories its own.

And then, at the final moment.

The leech clung itself onto the largest, most complex, most exalted, and greatest existence within that world.

‘More!’

Secretly clinging to it while numbing its senses, it coveted its contents.

The existence was so overwhelmingly massive that consuming all of it might take millions of years.

But if, in the end, it succeeded in devouring that thing and wearing its skin—

perhaps its endless desire might finally be fulfilled.

But one day.

The existence it had considered the greatest.

And thus the very last thing it wished to devour, practically the final destination of its desire—

CRUNCH.

Was pathetically devoured by something else.

A single bite.

An existence so enormous that even millions of years would not have been enough for it to fully consume was swallowed whole in a single mouthful.

‘Ah.......’

Naturally, the leech hiding within it was also swallowed together with it.

It had believed its desire truly had no end.

It believed that it would always desire more and more...... at least, that was what it thought itself.

‘Aaaah......!’

That was not true.

An overwhelmingly vast presence.

A rank and history powerful enough to completely shatter the world it knew.

It was different from itself, which merely parasitized great beings and sucked out their insides.

That thing was an existence that devoured gods.

A monster that consumed gods and swallowed worlds.

It had never before seen an existence this enormous.

If it could somehow consume that thing from the inside and take its empty skin,

perhaps it could become an existence without equal in the entire universe.

But.

‘It’s terrifying.’

The moment it witnessed a desire on a completely different level from its own,

the leech could not even think of devouring it.

The only thing dominating its mind was fear.

‘I have to run away.’

Devouring something like this was impossible.

Even its seemingly endless greed had possessed a limit after all.

For some reason,

that enormous existence knew the leech was inside its body, yet left it alone.

The leech spent its time trembling in fear inside it,

and after a short time passed—

Craaash.

When that gigantic something thrust its head into another world,

it clenched its teeth and attempted escape.

During the process of escaping from that vast body, most of the power it had consumed until then was expended.

And then.

KWAAAAAAANG.......

The world it escaped into was larger than anything it had known.

The beings fighting there were powerful enough to battle even that gigantic existence.

A mythological war unfolded so violently that such an immense world itself collapsed.

And the leech endured that period while hiding itself as much as possible, trembling in fear.

Due to the aftermath of that war, its already weakened body shrank even further.

And after how much time had passed?

When the leech’s body had finally shrunk to nearly the same size as when it had first been born—

Kuuung.......

At the end of the battle, one side died.

The flesh of that dead existence was divided into tiny fragments and scattered in every direction.

‘......An existence that fought even that gigantic thing.’

And then.

One of the pieces of flesh scattering in every direction—

‘I want to become like that too.’

Plop.

Fell atop the leech’s body.

***

KANG!

I swung my blade, but—

the ordinary flesh hardened like the highest-grade alloy, causing my sword to bounce away.

The holy relics protruding from that flesh.

Those holy relics were granting physical resistance to the flesh.

I stared toward the existence hiding behind that flesh.

It was unbelievably ugly and vile.

But no matter how ugly and vile it was, the sheer weight of its presence was tremendous.

‘It must have already digested most of that flesh.’

Originally, it should have been unable to manifest due to this world’s seal.

But I thought I now understood the reason.

‘They said the energy inside Gwangil’s body was also extraterrestrial.’

However.

That energy itself had existed since the moment Gwangil was born.

The moment outside powers began entering this world was after the barrier surrounding this world collapsed.

The fact that Corporal Jeon Gwangil, who had been born before that, already possessed that energy from birth was strange in itself.

The reason was probably—

‘When that barrier collapsed in the distant past.’

The oldest memory within my body.

Within that memory existed an invader that shattered the world’s barrier and appeared.

Although afterward that existence scattered its flesh across the entire world, restoring the barrier once more—

during that interval, countless beings and energies must have flowed into this world.

Just like the apocalypse we are experiencing now.

‘......The appearances of the beastkin and the beasts of our world were similar.’

Perhaps that as well—

was because energies existing somewhere in the universe affected both worlds identically, causing life to evolve in similar directions.

Part of that became the madness dwelling inside Corporal Jeon Gwangil’s body.

And the remaining part became—

‘Probably that bastard.’

It was not something that flowed in after this apocalypse began.

It was an existence that had entered this world long ago.

And throughout countless years in this world, it had secretly remained hidden while devouring that flesh.

KWA-RUNG!

Sergeant Lee Minjae’s lightning poured toward it.

—Pathetic.

At the same time—

that flesh split apart again and created holy relics.

[Holy Relic]

[Lightning Absorption]

Divine power, the force that made impossibility possible.

That bastard continuously wielded those miracles.

Naturally—

divine power was not automatically omnipotent.

There was no way it could continuously create holy relics of that scale without any consumption.

‘Each one is nothing more than a disposable item.’

The flesh used in that way would afterward vanish meaninglessly.

Even so, as though such things did not matter at all,

it continued mass-producing holy relics through the flesh.

The flesh of the one who had once ruled this world.

That bastard consumed it recklessly as though it were its own possession.

Seeing that sight made fury surge upward inside me.

‘Is this what it feels like to see your parent’s corpse violated?’

The creator of this world, and the existence that helped us survive like this.

The corpse of such a great being—

was being thoroughly violated by a filthy monster like that.

—What exactly were you thinking, foolish thing.

It was impossible not to be enraged.

And yet, simultaneously—

—Did you truly believe...... that you alone could defeat me?

It was also an unbelievably troublesome power.

—You insignificant insect-like humans. Creatures that did not even exist when I first arrived upon this land!

From the moment it began recklessly spamming those holy relics,

our attacks stopped functioning properly.

All kinds of miracles were protecting its body.

—And yet you dare! Look down upon me!

That was power originating from the ruler of this world, the source of this System.

That thing was practically the natural enemy of awakened individuals.

‘The only attacks that still work are Corporal Jeon Gwangil’s.’

That bastard’s madness did not originate from this world’s power.

Which was likely why it possessed some freedom from the effects of holy relics that interfered with systemic laws.

But only to that extent.

Cough.......

......Ptooey.

All the squad members were heavily injured and coughing up blood.

To begin with, we had already become somewhat exhausted from fighting each other.

And now we had to battle a monster like that in such a state...... the situation was overwhelmingly unfavorable.

—Insignificant creature. Your foolish judgment will bring about your destruction.

Had it become convinced of its superiority?

Sliiide.......

The leech hiding behind the flesh revealed itself.

—You called me a parasite. But this is reality.

“......Reality?”

—You will submit to me and become my subordinate. And the comrades you cherish will also become my apostles.

Kuuuuung.......

A glossy black shadow standing atop the flesh.

The leech with arms and legs looked down upon me while sneering.

—You will become my vanguard and persuade the other insects. The Church worshiping me will expand its influence and conquer this world. And then...... this fragment I devoured, that land soaked with this flesh, and even you who grew by consuming the produce born from that land—the fragments inside your bodies as well!

Pak!

Spreading its arms confidently, that thing declared—

—All of it shall become mine.

Hearing those words,

I recalled something Luca, our unit’s military doctor, once said.

‘The reason the System was created was...... to give birth to a Level 99.’

Now I finally understood.

—All of it shall become mine. And when that happens, every fragment of the dead god’s flesh will gather together in one place!

It created the Church, received the worship of humans, and eventually placed all humanity beneath itself.

Using that power, it would conquer this world.

And by doing so, the scattered fragments of flesh would gather into one place.

—I will wear that skin.

Gathering all the power scattered across the earth into a single location.

That was the method the System intended to use to create a Level 99.

And the reason it made us carry out conquest wars.

And—

—I shall become the god of this world. Not a fake like now...... but a true god!

That scamming bastard.

That was the future it intended to steal from us.

“......The believers of this Church trusted you. You lied to those bastards.”

—Ha. Rather, they should be grateful to me. Weak creatures who originally would have been unable to accept the cruel reality of this world and would have taken their own lives.

At those words.

I sensed a slight trembling.

Lee Haein, who had been blankly staring at our battle.

She stared toward the Order with a pale face.

—They are nothing more than insect-like creatures that die this easily. Yet thanks to the illusion I created for them, they survived and obtained power like this. Lies? They survived because of my lies.

“......So.”

Leaving Lee Haein behind me,

I stared at the Order and spoke.

“That’s why you killed the believers who trusted and followed you?”

What that bastard said was not entirely wrong.

The believers of this Church gained hope and survived because of the illusion it showed them.

If things had ended there, perhaps even I would not have felt such great hostility toward it.

But.

“You dragged the believers serving you into human experimentation in order to investigate the parts of the System you didn’t understand...... and those who realized the pathetic illusion you showed them was a lie were turned into monsters and left to die.”

The scene Lee Sanga witnessed.

It was not something like this.

“You lied in order to obtain faith...... and then, in order to hide those lies, you killed the people who believed in and followed you. Are you saying this kind of thing means nothing to you?”

At my words,

the Order stared at me for a moment, then laughed as though dumbfounded.

—Did I not say I am destined to become a great god?

“So?”

—And should I, who will become a great divinity ruling this universe—

And then.

—Concern myself with every insignificant insect one by one?

***

As expected, the answer I anticipated returned.

“......Well. I figured you’d say something like that.”

Looking at that thing, I thought with a bitter smile.

‘......It’s definitely troublesome.’

Its power was one issue.

But the way it wielded that power was far too skillful.

Right now it looked like some kind of insect, but perhaps in the past it had once possessed a rank far greater than now.

—The meaningless chatter ends here. Foolish thing.

“.......”

—No matter how desperately you struggle, you cannot defeat me. Nor is there anyone who will help you. Quietly become my servants. If you do, perhaps your names may be inscribed upon one page of my great mythology.

Even the assistance of ‘divine power’ could not be greatly expected right now.

The power that bastard wielded was also divine power like mine.

No, it was an even more powerful “force that makes impossibility possible.”

“......You seem to be misunderstanding something.”

But.

Hearing those words from that thing, instead of becoming frightened—

I merely let out a faint laugh and muttered:

“You think we expected to defeat you with only ourselves?”

—......?

“As if.”

Even counting everyone here, there were only six people.

I never expected this number alone to defeat you.

“To begin with.......”

There had been one part that worried me somewhat.

But one of my predictions had been correct.

That bastard was an ancient existence.

Although it could interfere with the System’s power, it did not understand the System very well.

Even though my System logs should contain everything that happened between the System and me in the past,

it failed to realize that I could harbor doubts regarding the System’s identity.

It could manipulate only parts of the System.

It was impossible for it to inspect or interfere with another awakened individual’s System.

If that was the case—

“Who said it was only us?”

—What?

At my words,

just as it was becoming puzzled—

“......O Order.”

Creeeeeak......

The enormous closed doors opened.

And beyond them—

“That thing we just heard...... what exactly.......”

“What do you mean by that?”

Could be seen the countless believers, staring inside the temple with devastated expressions.