There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 159

“Th-That can’t be…”

The faint hope that had just begun to bloom was extinguished once more. In truth, everyone had been vaguely aware of it, even if they hadn’t said it aloud.

‘How could the Evil God manifest such a massive object?’

‘With what power could it summon so many monsters and taint the land?’

The answer was simple: it had absorbed the Divine Power gathered in the Tower of Salvation.

Philomel suddenly recalled the High Priest’s earlier words.

‘Miwa and Ieries are two sides of the same coin.’

‘Then it might be possible to absorb Divine Power as well.’

Divine Power originally came from the God Miwa, after all.

Moreover, now was the perfect time for the Evil God to steal Divine Power. With the Temple bustling with people for the Hero Selection Ceremony, security at the Tower would inevitably be lax.

“Damn it…!”

Someone cursed, their voice filled with resignation.

Logically, this was a battle with no chance of winning. How could they possibly stand against the vast power accumulated over a thousand years?

“What do you all think you’re doing!”

The High Priest roared.

Everyone flinched. This was their leader, who had always shown them only kindness.

“Look at these people! They are the ones you must protect!”

The common people were watching them – those who had been nearby and had taken refuge here.

Their eyes were filled with desperate hope that they would be saved from this hell. Among them, there were also glances directed at Philomel.

“Hero…”

A child, who looked to be about seven years old, was holding their younger sibling’s hand tightly as they looked at her.

Only then did Philomel truly realize the weight of the Hero’s position.

‘It’s heavy.’

It wasn’t as if she had decided to become a Hero lightly, but the reality of the crisis was beyond imagination. It was terrible and heartbreaking.

The priests’ faces also darkened, as if they too were feeling the pressure.

The High Priest took a deep breath and shouted.

“You must earn the cost of the meals you’ve eaten with the offerings they’ve given!”

Sometimes, such blunt [direct] expressions are more encouraging than speeches filled with flowery rhetoric.

Perhaps it was because ‘saving the world’ felt impossible, but ‘earning your keep’ felt achievable. The priests snapped out of their stupor and began to find their roles, one by one.

Some made calls, while others formed groups to rescue people. Philomel tried to contact her companions.

Jzzzzzz. But only static could be heard; there was no connection.

“Well, those people will be safe…”

More likely, they were already slaughtering monsters. Looking back, she was glad she had waited instead of rashly heading to the Evil God’s lair.

Just then, she heard a hesitant voice calling her.

“U-Um, Hero…!”

It was the child from earlier.

“What is it?”

“Are you going to rescue other people like the priests?”

“That’s the plan.”

At a time like this, when even one more person needed to be saved, she, as the Hero who could wield the Bbyong Hammer [a magical hammer], couldn’t just stand idly by.

If you looked hard enough, there might be someone who could use the Bbyong Hammer more effectively than Philomel, but…

‘Only I, who has obtained the qualifications of a player, can use the items sold in the Starlight Store [an in-game shop].’

The child hesitated before speaking.

“If it’s okay with you, could you take me with you?”

“You? Why?”

“My sibling has been crying for a while now.”

The smaller child, who was a little further away, glanced over here. Their eyes were red.

“Usually, they stop crying if I give them a snack, but I dropped the bag with the snacks in it.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t. It’s too dangerous elsewhere.”

“…I guess so.”

“Instead…”

Philomel took a handmade cookie out of her backpack and handed it to the child.

“Will this do?”

After giving the child’s sibling a generous handful of cookies, Philomel shared the remaining cookies with the child. They also had a brief conversation.

“Where are your parents?”

“At home!”

“Did only the two of you come to the Temple?”

“My sibling wanted to see the Selection Ceremony, so we came without our parents’ permission.”

“Very independent.”

Philomel breathed a sigh of relief. If they were somewhere else inside the Temple, their lives would be hard to guarantee.

After finishing the cookies, Philomel dusted off her hands and said.

“Then I’ll be going now.”

“Hero, um…!”

“What?”

“Good luck! I knew you would become the Hero!”

Philomel smiled at the words that seemed to have been mustered with courage.

“Thank you. I’ll do my best!”

She felt like her thoughts had been organized.

‘I felt so heavy-hearted just a moment ago.’

Even such a small child was trying to do their part, risking their life.

Looking around, she saw the 모습 [state/appearance] of various people.

Those who were earnestly discussing something, those who were treating the injured, those who were fighting against monsters, those who were sharing food, those who were taking care of children.

All of them were risking their lives.

It was no different for Philomel.

‘Instead of thinking of it as defeating the Evil God as the Hero, let’s just think of it as me doing what I can do.’

Philomel approached the High Priest.

“High Priest.”

“Hmm?”

The High Priest, who had been sitting on the floor concentrating, looked up at her.

“All problems can only be solved by dealing with the Evil God, right?”

“…That’s highly likely.”

In the end, holding out here and waiting for reinforcements was not a fundamental solution.

“Is the Evil God inside that strange object?”

“Perhaps. The monsters coming out of there must be its minions.”

Philomel closed her eyes for a moment and pondered. Then, she made up her mind.

“I will go there. No, I must go.”

The answer came a beat later.

“It will be the most dangerous place. Are you prepared to risk your life?”

Philomel momentarily froze at the High Priest’s sharp gaze. But she tried to be resilient and said.

“Is there any place inside the Temple that isn’t dangerous? And I’m not the only one risking my life.”

“…You got me there.”

The High Priest smiled wryly.

“I wasn’t underestimating you. I just wanted to ask you once.”

Then, he called a few priests who were nearby.

“These are the chief priests of the Temple.”

The three priests paid their respects to Philomel.

“They have decided to explore the vicinity of the Tower of Salvation and rescue the people there.”

“Then I too…”

“Yes. Go with them. You will surely be a great help.”

“Yes!”

And so, Philomel set off towards the ‘Stem’ [the source of the monsters] with the priests.

* * *

The Evil God’s lair.

The Master Mage shouted, clutching the communication stone [a magical device for communication].

“Phil! Phil, can you hear me? What’s going on there? What really happened?”

But the communication stone only emitted static.

“Damn it!”

He roughly threw the communication stone, which had been reduced to an ordinary stone.

Communication with the outside world had been cut off for a while now.

Was it a problem with his location, or with the location of the person he was trying to contact?

The Master Mage muttered powerlessly.

“Probably both.”

The Evil God was dead.

To be precise, only the vessel containing the Evil God had died.

Rgwin stared at the corpse lying on the floor with cold eyes.

‘I knew it was too weak.’

The power remaining in this woman’s body was extremely small. Rgwin noticed this fact only after a considerable amount of time had passed since the start of the battle.

“You were all talk. Did you really think you could kill a god?”

“Use all the power you have and try to fight me.”

The words this woman had said before the battle were all bluff, meant to exhaust Rgwin’s magic power.

The Evil God must have another vessel. And that vessel was likely headed to the Temple, where the Hero Selection Ceremony was being held.

“Phil…”

He was worried about Philomel’s safety. His sons, that arrogant brat, and the Emperor would never leave her in danger, but still, he was concerned.

“Master Mage!”

Just then, one of his subordinates spoke to him.

“What is it?”

The subordinate swallowed hard at the Master Mage’s murderous gaze and replied.

“We have tried every possible method, but the darkness that surrounds this place will not disappear.”

“Haa.”

Rgwin nervously swept back his bangs.

The reason they hadn’t been able to escape this underground cave was the Evil God’s trick that had trapped them here.

A complete darkness that could not be dispelled by any light.

He had tried to pass through the darkness several times, but each time, he returned to his original spot.

Moreover, the darkness had not only blocked their passage.

“Magic?”

Even to his superior’s short, truncated question, his subordinate faithfully replied.

“It is still impossible.”

He didn’t know the principle, but magic could no longer be used.

Only Rgwin could use magic, and even then, only very weakly, with a power that was less than one-tenth of his usual strength.

So what if he could? He couldn’t even grasp the situation at the Temple through his doppelganger [magical projection].

The darkness wasn’t strong from the beginning. A few hours ago, communication was still connected, albeit unstable.

‘But it suddenly cut off.’

He had clearly heard an explosion in his last communication with Philomel. From that point on, the darkness had deepened.

Ieries had gained new power.

He never imagined that she would aim for a different power than her own, which had not been released from the seal.

“…Um, and there is one more thing that I think the Master Mage should know.”

The subordinate cautiously spoke.

“What is it?”

“A huge rock has been discovered deep underground. Judging from the fact that the surface is covered with ancient characters, it doesn’t seem to be an ordinary rock.”

It was a sealing stone.

The rock from the myth that the Evil God was sealed in.

Rgwin rose from the mountain of corpses he had been sitting on.

He couldn’t just keep clinging to a communication stone that didn’t work.

“I have to do something. Lead me to the place where the rock is.”

“Yes!”

“Ah, right.”

He remembered something he had forgotten.

“What about the Princess? Have you searched again and still can’t find her?”

“Yes. No one with a similar appearance can be seen.”

The Princess, who was presumed to be here, was nowhere to be found.

Could she have gone to the Temple?