Chapter 118
“Don't do this.”
The executioner whispered in an awkward voice.
The executioner, whose job was to execute people, would rather die than do his job this time.
It was because the person with his neck on the guillotine happened to be Darian.
Adrian's hero, and the center of the gallery's controversy.
If he killed him, the executioner's own life might disappear at any moment, too.
“Why haven't you carried it out yet? What are you waiting for!”
One of the bishops shouted harshly.
If he carried it out, he would be socially ruined.
If he didn't, he'd die immediately for disobeying orders.
As the executioner, trapped in a deadly either-or, trembled, a calm voice rang out.
“It's all right. Carry it out.”
It was Darian who said it.
It wasn't something a person with his neck on the guillotine should say.
“What? But...”
“I won't die. Have faith.”
Faith in whom? Head Mod?
To the executioner, he was a hero, but he was also a fanatic.
Head Mod might be great, but in the end, he was mortal.
He nearly wanted to shout that Darian would obviously die and should come to his senses.
“Begin!!”
When the bishop urged him on with bulging veins in his neck, the executioner squeezed his eyes shut.
“Don't resent me.”
He was someone's father, too.
It was then that he finally severed the rope.
The guillotine's razor-sharp blade fell.
And at the moment it touched Darian's neck—
-CRASH!!!
Light exploded from Darian's body.
The light promptly oxidized the guillotine blade and shot up into the sky.
“Uh, uhhh...”
At that impossible sight, the executioner gaped and fell backward.
“...N-no.”
“...What am I looking at right now?”
A pillar of light, a pillar truly made of light.
While everyone was stunned and unable to do anything, the pillar of light gradually faded, and someone walked out.
It was Darian, gripping the holy sword that radiated splendid brilliance.
“H-Hero.”
It wasn't a fake hero.
Anyone could see that he was the hero himself.
As the executioner trembled with fear, Darian spoke in the same calm voice as before.
“I understand your actions.”
“Sob, hng...”
“Have faith.”
Though the executioner had tried to kill him, Darian understood his circumstances and forgave him.
In that moment, the executioner no longer saw a boy lost in fanaticism.
Faced with the sight of the sacred hero, he knelt and bowed his head.
“I believe...!”
It was then.
“I-It can't be!”
The bishop below shouted as though screaming in shock.
“A hero? He can't be a real hero! This is impossible! There's no such thing in this world!”
He was a bishop.
But he didn't believe in God.
He was merely an opportunist who had joined the cathedral, lured by the taste of powerful authority.
But a hero?
It was then, while he floundered in shock at the sight of the hero before his eyes.
“Heretic. Do you still not believe after seeing it with your own eyes?”
-Tap
Darian grabbed the bishop's bald head.
Then, with his other hand gripping the sword, he aimed precisely at the bishop's neck and spoke.
“God exists.”
“N-nooo...”
The blue blade touched his neck.
As the bishop began to shed tears from fear of death, Darian whispered into his ear.
“Believe in Head Mod.”
-Slash!
With those words, the head of one of the cathedral's three bishops fell.
Then Darian lifted that head toward the sky and shouted.
“Glory to Head Mod!”
[Sharing locations with each other.]
[You have been granted a portion of the holy sword's abilities, an item belonging to ‘Head Mod.’]
Joy filled Darian's face.
*
[Title: Holy shit, he's really a hero?]
(Meme of the pillar of light shooting into the sky)
(Meme of one of the three bishops being beheaded)
I won't ever doubt again, hehe;
Please forgive me.
[Upvotes 9999+] [Downvotes 0]
- Ah, as expected, I totally believed in him.
- The Dragon Emperor sure cuts hair well.
- The Dragon Emperor is the world's greatest hairdresser.
ㄴ Fuck, look at these bastards switching sides instantly lololol.
Darian survived and awakened an ability.
“Great!”
I thought things had worked out.
[Sharing locations with each other.]
[Sharing a portion of the holy sword's abilities with the target.]
*Only while the target is designated as the gallery owner.
*The ability can be withdrawn at any time.
[Select the current ‘gallery owner's’ ability.]
“Not great!”
If I'd known it would share Wi-Fi and GPS, I never would've designated him.
It was basically no different from exposing a location that no one knew.
I was in a bunker for now, but I had no way to get outside; if I got trapped here, it was over.
“This is seriously bad.”
A prompt to select Darian's ability appeared.
But I had no time to worry about that.
I hadn't expected my location to be exposed in such a ridiculous way.
It was already possible to pinpoint my location by meeting Darian in Kellierton, and now it was going to share it outright, too?
[‘Darian’ has been invited.]
Head Mod*: No, dude;
In my panic, I sent Darian a chat message.
“Ah...”
Then Darian in the top post abruptly knelt on the floor and bowed his head.
- Why did he suddenly kneel?
ㄴ Looks like he received a divine revelation.
ㄴ But wasn't he appointed by Head Mod?
ㄴ Fuck, does that mean Head Mod is a god?
ㄴ Shut up, idiot. Read the room and kneel first.
Seeing this, the nearby soldiers took the hint, put down their weapons, and all knelt.
Darian: Ah, God, please speak.
Head Mod*: Fuck, what's with you?
Head Mod*: Get up for now;
Suddenly, Darian slammed his head into the floor.
Then he raised both hands toward the sky and shouted.
“How dare I! Please, speak comfortably.”
Head Mod*: Fuck.
No, could a person really believe in someone this fanatically?
“Are you deliberately messing with me?”
Is he stirring things up because he knows my location?
Then, apparently understanding my intention, Darian sent me something.
[Life-Infused Scroll]
This scroll contains a life.
If this scroll is torn, the caster will instantly die.
Caster: Darian
Darian: If you are worried about your whereabouts, please don't worry. I understand that the time has not yet come.
Darian: I prove this with my life, so please accept my faith!!!
Darian: (Praise the Hero emote)
Head Mod*: No, fuck, why are you doing this?
Head Mod*: Value your life, you lunatic.
Darian: (He noticed me! Hero emote)
Darian: (Teary-eyed hero cat emote)
Head Mod*: Fuck.
“No, this is making me dizzy.”
It was the same during the last Head Mod worship incident.
Have these cultists developed some disease where they die unless they give me their lives?
I immediately sent the scroll back and started a chat.
“I get that you believe in me, but...”
The problem was that this wasn't a matter of trust between people, but of faith between a god and his follower.
Head Mod*: Why do you trust me so much?
Darian: After losing everything, only God gave me food and clothing!
“No, over one lousy can of tuna?”
Wouldn't anyone give him one if they found him collapsed like that?
Especially if, like me, they had tuna cans overflowing, there was no reason not to.
He was going to believe in me fanatically and risk his life over that one thing?
But apparently I'd hit a landmine, because Darian passionately explained himself to me.
Darian: I am not an ungrateful wretch!
Darian: I know gratitude, and I know warmth.
Darian: God gave me nothing but a can of tuna, but to me, it was the whole world.
Darian: The moment I accepted that can of tuna, I swore to offer my soul!!!
Darian: Head Mod, is he a god!!!!!
Head Mod*: Fuck.
“If I keep talking, my head's going to explode first.”
I realized it after our brief conversation.
Darian was sincere.
If I told him to kill himself, he was the kind of lunatic who would do it without a second's hesitation.
And the problem still wasn't over.
There were still remnants left.
[Title: Wow, these bastards lol]
(Meme of them barricading themselves in the cathedral basement)
Did they have a place like this?
It's ridiculous how they all rushed down and holed up when things went south. Fuck lol.
[Upvotes 6621] [Downvotes 12]
- This is driving me crazy lol.
- (My chest swells with pride—Elf emote)
- -Human-
ㄴ The original is –Elf-, you pointy-eared bastards;
ㄴ You catlike bastards who would've gone extinct if not for Head Mod.
ㄴ ㅗㅗ You think you're any different?
Nearly every person of authority in the cathedral hierarchy had been killed.
But the roots still remained.
The moment the pillar of light shot upward, they had immediately led their forces and hidden themselves in the cathedral basement.
“But why?”
At first, I was puzzled.
There was no point in barricading themselves.
The main source of food in this otherworld was the marketplace.
If I closed the marketplace, they would have no equipment, food, or justification for their siege.
- Lol, what the fuck are you idiots doing down there?
- Are your ancestors guarding your food?
- Wow, I've attended this cathedral for ten years and never dreamed there was a place like that;
The gallery reacted similarly.
That was when I noticed I couldn't find a bishop anywhere among those holed up.
“Don't tell me they're trying to escape through a back route?”
A hidden space in the facility?
It was one hundred percent a rat hole.
But their resistance was fiercer than expected.
[Title: Fuck, this game is being petty]
(Meme of them pouring oil on the floor and setting it on fire)
(Meme of mages continuously adding heat to the flames)
Fuck, you're going to run out of strength anyway.
- Ah, fuck, those cathedral bastards.
- They're playing dirty right to the end lol.
But the problem was that they were defending the place well.
Perhaps they had anticipated this situation and completely blocked off the basement entrance with fire magic.
The knights couldn't enter through the thick smoke and heat, and were about to just stand there watching when—
“Guess I need to call a sub-mod.”
Of course, I could simply call Gotjukheup or Felici.
But they were quite far away, so it seemed it would take a little time.
It was just as I was about to send a chat and call a sub-mod before it was too late.
- ???
- What is the hero doing right now?
- (Confused Elf emote)
Darian approached and stood before the intense flames that could swallow even a knight.
Despite the heat hot enough to cook flesh, he suddenly knelt and looked up at the system.
“What is he doing?”
Just as I stopped chatting and was about to look at him because of his strange behavior.
A chat message came from Darian.
Darian: Head Mod.
Darian: Please grant me the strength to overcome this ordeal.
Head Mod*: ???
He had suddenly prayed to me for strength.
“No, how?”
But I wasn't a god.
I'm just an ordinary gallery addict.
Yet before I could explain that, Darian finished praying and rose to his feet.
- Hey, what the hell is that guy doing?
- You lunatic, stop!!!
“Don't tell me...?”
At that moment, a sense of unease crept over me.
Darian threw himself into the fire.