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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Godslayer
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“Aldebaran.”
At Kang-jun's call, ‘The Leader’ slowly lifted his head.
It was Aldebaran.
A certain day from his humiliating past faintly overlapped with the present.
“So, it’s come to this again...”
he murmured in resignation.
“Kill me.”
Back when Immortal’s army of the dead invaded his kingdom of Kerema, Aldebaran had witnessed the power of ‘■■■’ firsthand.
It was beyond comprehension.
Although he had successfully attained divinity and majesty to become a god, his ‘standing as a god’ was still incomplete. There was no way he could win.
“Disappointing.”
Kang-jun replied curtly, crouching down right in front of Aldebaran and asking coldly.
“You give up quite easily for a god, don’t you?”
Aldebaran let out a bitter laugh at those words, then glanced around the chapel, which had been thrown into utter chaos, and answered.
“I’d prefer you say I’m being realistic, for a god.”
Not only was Immortal’s army of the dead present in the chapel, but so were the two gods who had been called his hounds.
Most of his followers had been torn to shreds by them, and those who hadn't chose to become sacrifices, taking their own lives.
There was no way out.
All that remained was…
Only death.
“Fine…” Kang-jun replied softly, tilting his head as he asked.
“By the way, how on earth did you manage to become a god?”
Aldebaran shot back sarcastically.
“O, ■■■, do you wish to become a god as well?”
“No, not particularly.”
“It was thanks to the ‘achievements’ and ‘narratives’ I steadily built up over time.”
At that, Aldebaran nodded once and began to speak in a hushed tone.
“Even after I lost everything to you and fled Anux like a coward, the ‘achievements’ and ‘narratives’ I'd built thankfully remained.”
“What does that…”
“Gods are not born; they are made. They are created as stories are passed down from person to person, or recorded in writing.”
After speaking, he added.
“My original plan was to manifest here in the Earth dimension to make my existence more widely known and solidify my ‘standing as a god’.”
“Standing?”
“I vowed to gain greater power by being revered by more people, and to take revenge on you, the one who took everything from me…”
A series of statements that were difficult to grasp followed one after another, and Kang-jun’s expression steadily darkened.
‘Aldebaran…’
Although he didn’t quite understand what grand things like achievements or narratives were, Aldebaran had not been forgotten even after leaving Anux.
It was because Kang-jun had not erased the history related to him, intending to make an example of Aldebaran so that no one would ever dare to rebel again.
Thanks to this, his life story became a ‘folktale’ that served as a cautionary lesson, continuing to be passed down orally on the continent even after generations had changed.
“The Dethroned King of the Dead…”
That was the title of the folktale that chronicled Aldebaran’s life.
And…
It was also the ‘divine name’ Aldebaran had gained upon becoming a god.
“Even if it isn’t me, someone will eventually come along, cut your throat, and plunder that precious title of ‘■■■’.”
Kang-jun grabbed a fistful of Aldebaran’s hair and asked with a sneer.
“And who would dare?”
At his words, Aldebaran burst into laughter and continued in a tone brimming with madness.
“O, Immortal, called ‘■■■’ throughout the Abyss, you certainly possess formidable martial prowess, but you are a pathetically ignorant being.”
Then he added again.
“The gods of various constellations, whose stature is so sublime it cannot even be compared to mine, are coveting your title.”
For a moment, Kang-jun muttered, “Constellation, constellation, constellation…” several times in a row before he finally managed to recall something.
[ Hrimthurs’s patron star, ‘The Giant with Sewn Lips,’ is hostile toward you. ]
[ All gods of the constellation ‘Asgard’ are hostile toward you. ]
[ Your presence as ■■■ becomes more distinct. ]
These were the messages that had appeared not long ago when he was unwillingly caught in the disaster-grade gate near Sillim Station.
They had appeared after he defeated the boss monster there, ‘Frost Giant Hrimthurs’.
“Asgard…”
As Kang-jun murmured the name, Aldebaran smirked and replied.
“It’s not just the gods of the constellation Asgard. All the gods of the great constellations are after the title of ‘■■■’ that you possess.”
Kang-jun opened his mouth.
“That is quite unpleasant.”
It wasn’t simply the displeasure of knowing that beings called ‘gods’ were after his life.
He felt displeased at the thought that they might shatter the peaceful life he was currently enjoying.
“It would be best to make an example of you, so that no one else dares set foot here.”
At those words, Aldebaran scoffed and let out a string of blatant taunts.
“Yes, no matter how you cling to the name ‘■■■,’ in reality, you’re nothing but a mere human, so you must be afraid…”
“You’re mistaken.”
“Aren’t you trembling in fear that you might lose your title of ‘■■■’ to the gods of the great constellations if you make one wrong move?”
After a moment of thought, Kang-jun replied.
“It’s a feeling I’ve forgotten for so long that I wasn’t sure, but as you say, I think it’s true that I am trembling in fear right now.”
Nodding and readily admitting it, an indescribably sinister aura began to shimmer around Kang-jun’s body like fine threads.
“I’m afraid of losing my ‘peace’.”
Since returning to Earth, Kang-jun had never wished for much.
He wanted things to stay just as they were, no more, no less.
“For so long, I yearned for death.”
The aura emanating from Kang-jun’s body began to twist and intertwine, forming thick chains…
“As I languished with homesickness, hundreds of years passed in the blink of an eye. It was a truly agonizing and tedious time.”
In the end, the ‘black magic’ that had taken the form of thick chains bound Aldebaran’s body completely, rendering him immobile.
“I drank several cups a day of a poison so potent that a single drop could kill even a giant.”
For Kang-jun, the immortal life of neither aging nor dying was not the ‘blessing’ everyone dreamed of, but closer to a dreadful ‘curse’.
Even if he gave his affection to someone, they would all quickly grow old or fall ill and leave his side, and in the end, he was the only one left.
His longing for home grew with each passing day, but unfortunately, finding a way back was nothing more than a distant wish.
“I even tried walking into the hellfire, *geophwa*, said to burn anything and everything.”
“I’ve even jumped from the top of the World Tree and attempted seppuku with a divine sword.”
Kang-jun got up, dusting himself off as he added nonchalantly.
“It was all useless.”
As Kang-jun finished speaking and clenched one of his hands, the chains of black magic began to tighten their grip on Aldebaran’s body.
“Guuuaaaargh…”
Kang-jun, however, didn’t spare him a single glance and simply continued with what he had to say.
“No matter what I tried, I just couldn’t die, so from that point on, I was dying to die.”
Before long, the body of The Leader, which Aldebaran inhabited, began to be gruesomely crushed, like a soft lump of dough.
“Funnily enough, I’ve come to want to live.”
“Uuuurgh…”
“Just like now, peacefully and happily.”
Even though he had reached a point where his form was no longer recognizable, Aldebaran was still breathing.
“Ri, ri, ridiculous…”
Kang-jun looked down at Aldebaran, who now resembled a piece of fruit crushed under a truck’s wheel.
“Pea, peace and happiness. To so casually utter words that don’t suit you in the slightest…”
At that, Kang-jun stomped hard on a fragment of Aldebaran and replied indifferently.
“Gods are resilient, I see.”
At his words, Aldebaran’s remaining ‘mouth’ continued to speak, agonizingly and slowly.
“As long as you hold the title of ‘■■■,’ you can never be at peace, nor can you be happy…”
Kang-jun asked back.
“A curse born of resentment?”
“I’m only speaking the truth…”
“That’s a bit pathetic.”
Aldebaran then replied.
“Si, since I’m on my way out anyway, I’ll tell you the secret of that ‘■■■’ title you so foolishly possess…”
“A secret?”
“A, according to the truth of the Abyss that I realized in the process of gaining divinity and majesty to become a god, that title has a rule…”
Aldebaran’s remaining ‘mouth’ began to move diligently, continuing its speech.
“The, the one who possesses the title of ■■■, which you have, does not die easily. Even if they do die, they are bound to be revived, and…”
As if wary of something, Aldebaran’s mouth paused for a moment before it began to hastily pour out the words it held.
“Be, behind that most magnificent of titles, hardship and adversity, cri, crisis and tribulation, are bound to follow like a shadow…”
Just then, Kang-jun frowned.
“Hm?”
Although Aldebaran’s mouth, the only thing left of him, was clearly babbling on about something…
It was as if he had been ‘muted’; not a single sound could be heard.
“Cre, Cre, Creator God…”
“Who?”
“In, intervention…”
Aldebaran’s mouth screamed as if in its death throes.
“A, a god greater than any other has appeared. The great being who bestowed upon you the magnificent title of ‘■■■’…”
At those words, Kang-jun began to look around.
He didn’t feel any suspicious gazes.
Just then, a cheerful “Tiring-!” sound rang out, and a series of status windows began to appear before Kang-jun’s eyes.
[ The Creator God has intervened, blocking the divinity Aldebaran’s disclosure of the secret! ]
[ The divinity Aldebaran’s existence has been extinguished. ]
[ You have contributed the most to the extinguishment of the divinity Aldebaran. ]
[ Your presence as ‘■■■’ has become more distinct. ]
[ The EX-rank title, ‘Godslayer,’ has been unlocked. ]
[ You have absorbed a portion of the divinity Aldebaran’s divine power. ]
[ All the gods of the Abyss are once again watching you. ]
After reading through all the ‘system messages’ that appeared one after another before his eyes, Kang-jun’s expression grew impossibly grim.
