Chapter 776: Fate

“Why...... did you descend into our world?”

As I asked that, I looked at him.

Although he was standing right in front of me.

Just as those parasites had remained unseen because they were hiding inside the bodies of zombies.

[Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)]

[Awakened: Parasite B-36S Aberrant Mutant Individual (Fifth Evolution)]

This being’s soul had descended into the prince’s body.

What I could see with my eyes was only the prince’s body.

And that was all I could appraise as well.

[Occupation: Prince of Death]

'......At least it’s fortunate that the prince still remains.'

Just as I had told that goblin chancellor.

According to what appeared through my [Ingredient Appraisal], the prince clearly still existed.

Otherwise, the System would have stripped that existence of the prince’s occupation.

In any case, the important point was this.

The demon that had descended into this world.

Its descent had taken place through the extremely dangerous method of possessing the prince’s body.

'The moment it stayed within the prince’s body, which was unfit for its original rank, must have been a dangerous moment even for it.'

Although we had failed to take advantage of that dangerous moment.

The Legion was not the only force present in this land.

Mirinae.

Belsnickel, who slept within Ariella’s shadow.

Powerful beings were hidden in various places.

If Mirinae, who had been on the verge of being released into the world, had broken free a little sooner.

Or if Belsnickel, who slept while appearing indifferent to the outside world, had taken an interest in the demon’s descent.

If something like that had happened, that being would have remained trapped inside a weak body, unable to exercise its original power.

Leaving its body behind in its homeland, it would have had no choice but to suffer the annihilation of its soul.

I had wondered what purpose could possibly have driven that demon to descend while taking such an enormous risk.

“Of course, I came to see you.”

“......Me?”

The reason was something I could never have guessed.

But at the same time, another thought came to mind.

'Those zombies demanded a chef from us as well.'

Perhaps this being was the same as them.

Perhaps what it wanted was not me as an individual, but a chef.......

That was what I thought.

“Indeed. You, and no one else. I descended upon this land to meet the very person standing before me.”

......But I was wrong.

This being was pointing specifically at me.

“I don’t know much about you, but aren’t you quite an extraordinary existence?”

According to Mirinae.

It was a being that ranked among the highest even among divinities that had reached transcendence.

“Why would someone as great as you come for a guy like me?”

When I frowned and asked.

He laughed warmly and said.

“Humility is a virtue, but taken too far, it becomes a lack of virtue. Do not lower yourself so excessively.”

“......Sorry, but I’m not usually the type to act humble. But doesn’t that depend on the situation?”

I looked at the surrounding scenery.

Bimana’s walls had half collapsed.

The Legion had been reduced to a miserable wreck.

It had taken less than a second for the greatest force I could mobilize to be shattered that completely.

“Compared to you, I don’t think what I just said counts as humility.”

But.

It seemed his thoughts were a little different.

“No. It is excessive humility.”

“......?”

“How should I explain it......? Yes. For example, there was the being you mistook for me.”

When a demon descended in the north.

The existence that had first come to mind.

“The one who bore a grudge against you. Until recently, that being was indeed coveting this land while harboring anger toward you.”

“......Ah. So I was right about that much.”

“And that was not all. The barriers surrounding this world are now fully open. For those outside, interfering with this land is no longer particularly difficult.”

“Like the way you descended?”

“They would not even need to take the same risks I did. They could intervene from outside as much as they wished. Now let me ask you one thing. Have you experienced such interference?”

......It was certainly not wrong.

'Actually, I experienced something similar when the first barrier opened.'

I had witnessed the Matron intervene in Seoul.

But now, when even more restrictions had disappeared.

Aside from this demon, which had descended directly through an absurdly dangerous method, there had been no intervention from outside beings.

I had expected such intervention from the moment the barrier opened.

It had seemed strange.

I had simply dismissed it as good fortune.

“Far more beings than you know were watching this world with greedy eyes. Naturally so. A world abandoned without a master, yet possessing a history so prosperous that one could hardly believe it had no master. The world itself had been putting up a defense of its own, but its limits were obvious...... It was like a precious jewel lying in the street. Something that would belong to whoever picked it up. Naturally, everyone desired it.”

So that was not it.

At that time, this world had truly been facing an enormous threat.

“Then why didn’t they?”

But that threat had never actually materialized.

When I asked the reason.

“Because of you.”

The golden man closed his eyes and murmured as though recalling the past.

***

“When the first hole opened in this world, the inside could not be seen. Only those specialized in peering into other places could glimpse the interior through that narrow opening, but even they were limited in what they could see, and anything they could send through that hole had to be exceedingly small.”

The early days of the apocalypse.

The time when we had not even recognized the existence of beings outside this world.

Looking back now, it had been an era when only [Demons], beings specialized in infiltrating other worlds, could interfere in even the slightest way.

More people had died then than at any other time.

But now that I knew the truth of this world.

I understood that those had actually been the safest days.

“However, once a hole has opened, it can only widen. The opening grew larger, until it became wide enough that sending something inside was no longer difficult.”

Then the first barrier opened.

The boundaries between regions collapsed.

“Yet the interior was still covered in mist. From outside, everything within appeared hazy. Those who concealed themselves were difficult to locate from beyond the barrier.”

The Matron had poured her power through that widened opening.

But even she had failed to recognize my existence until she met me face-to-face.

That had only been possible because Mirinae had hidden me while her field of vision remained narrow.

And recently.

“Even that mist disappeared.”

The final barrier opened.

“Only then were we able to see the inside clearly. Once nothing remained to obstruct our vision, even beings who had concealed themselves became plainly visible.”

Mirinae had hidden me.

But that had only been effective while I remained hidden within the barrier’s mist.

“At that moment, those who had been greedily preparing to interfere with this world saw it.”

Once the final barrier opened, hiding no longer held any meaning.

And so.

They were finally able to see.

“One being residing within. One who had remained unseen by concealing itself.”

It was something I had feared more than anything.

But.

The problem was how they had reacted afterward.

“Those who became aware of that being feared its power. They withdrew even the power they had scattered through the narrow opening and fled. The one who bore a grudge against that being became terrified that the grudge itself might provoke it, and curled up in a corner of its own world to hide.”

Yes.

This was the part that mattered.

“......You’re saying that was me?”

“Precisely.”

“I don’t understand.”

Everything up until that point had made sense.

But not this.

“I’ve met several transcendent beings by now. Every time, I only realized how insignificant I was compared to them. I’ve improved a little since then, so maybe I could at least put up some kind of fight now...... but I shouldn’t be powerful enough to frighten them.”

“Haha. You seem to be laboring under a misunderstanding.”

It laughed as though asking what nonsense I was talking about.

I assumed it was about to accuse me of excessive humility again.

“Even with your recent improvements, you could not put up any fight at all.”

“What?”

“Most of the beings you encountered were either intervening from outside or were in a state where they could not properly wield their power. It is understandable that you might misunderstand...... but hmm. Is that not a little too arrogant? Excessive humility is a lack of virtue, but do not forget that arrogance is simply a lack of virtue as well.”

“What the hell are you.......”

That was not it.

It was instead criticizing the part where I had said I might be able to put up some kind of fight.

That directly contradicted everything it had said until now about those countless beings fearing me and fleeing.

I stared at it in disbelief.......

It smiled.

“I said, as you are now.”

“......?”

“But there is something you should understand.”

From its perspective.

Those two ideas did not seem contradictory.

And what followed.

“For beings such as us, changes brought by the flow of time, the past and the future...... hold far less meaning than you might imagine.”

The past.

I had heard something like that somewhere before.

Only then did I understand.

“You are indeed exceedingly small and weak as you are now. But...... do you truly believe a being such as myself would show respect to someone unworthy of it?”

It had treated me with respect and courtesy in both tone and manner from the beginning.

A being of such overwhelming power had not looked down on my feeble existence.

It treated me as an equal.

The reason was simple.

“......The future.”

Beings that existed partially outside the flow of time.

The instant they saw me, they had realized.

Though I had been weak in the past.

Though I remained weak even now.

“That is correct.”

In the future.

I would become an existence at least equal to its divine rank.

***

“If they had seen you before the mist cleared, matters might have been different. You were truly vulnerable then. Even if your fate was immense, they might have found some way to twist it.”

Bellatrix.

The Progenitor of the vampires I had once encountered.

She had attempted to twist my fate and turn me into one of her kind.

For some reason, she had given up halfway through.

But had she continued trying in earnest to seize me, I might not have been able to resist.

However, that had only been true then.

“Not anymore.”

“.......”

“Your fate has entered its course. Even an exceptionally powerful being would no longer be able to twist the fate you have already begun to walk.”

After that, I continued to grow stronger.

Especially because of the incident that had occurred before the second barrier opened.

The battle against the Church’s leech.

The enormous remains of the ancient god that had been absorbed by the leech returned to the System’s embrace.

The power contained within those remains was given entirely to me as a reward.

'The second barrier opened immediately after that.'

The point he was referring to.

The moment when my fate could no longer be twisted was probably then.

'No wonder...... I thought that level increase was excessive at the time.'

It was true that I had accomplished something enormous.

The leech’s flesh had returned to the System.

And through the [Large-Scale Patch] I carried out, many species had been incorporated into the System.

The System’s power must have strengthened greatly as well.

'But even accounting for that, far too many levels were gained all at once.'

Had it not been for the body Luca had strengthened, I might not even have been able to endure the flood of experience that came rushing in at the time.

I had wondered why the System had taken such an unreasonable measure.

'It was intentional.'

Immediately before the second barrier opened.

The final moment before the outside beings that had been greedily watching this world began to intervene in earnest.

The unconscious will of this world, which even the beings outside must have recognized.

The System had chosen me as the method to prevent intervention from beyond.

It was a story that left me dumbfounded.

But had that method truly worked?

“That is why they fled.”

The outside beings I had not even been aware of.

Those who must have been interfering somewhere in other regions and other nations.

“Afraid that they might become an obstacle on that path of fate which could no longer be twisted, and that the anger of the one who eventually reached its end might be directed toward them...... they fled without leaving even a trace, abandoning even those who wished to worship them. That is how they ran away.”