The World's Greatest is Dead

There was something I always thought about when beating a god.

No, calling it beating sounded fairly violent.

But since I really was beating them, I decided to let that pass.

Whatever it was, the thing I was beating possessed a higher rank than I did.

On top of that, it could be a being placed in an absolute position.

So whenever I had to approach it through the concept of exorcism, or whenever the time came to strike directly at its soul, there was one thing I always paid attention to.

Karma.

The karma that would fall on me for doing this.

It was something I must never forget, and never grow careless about.

Touching a being of higher rank without any reason could affect the soul itself.

Whatever circumstances it had did not matter.

Here, “reason” meant something that had to exist only for me.

To help someone.

To defeat someone.

Or to kill someone.

Things like that held no meaning here.

It was unreasonable. Completely so. But it was a truth that had existed ever since gods and humans first existed.

One thing was certain.

Nothing except the god and me could be involved. It was an extremely petty and filthy condition, but that was reality.

Gods were originally beings like that, and accepting that was the most basic first step toward reaching the method of killing a god.

Rules for killing gods.

Chief Baek had said it until his mouth wore out. The man had always talked a lot to begin with, but when it came to this, he had always been serious.

He had said they were rules that must never be mistaken and never be forgotten.

First.

Do not oppose a god if possible.

A god was, in the end, a chosen being, and its rank differed from a human’s.

So the first rule was to take care not to create a situation where you had to oppose one.

Too late for that.

It was already too late. Once things had come this far, the first rule was meaningless.

Completely useless. The first rule was basically the same as saying that if you met a human holding a knife, you should run away.

Then the second.

If, by any chance, you ended up having to oppose one—

Establish a justification so you don’t get tangled in karma.

In other words, make the god charge first, at the very least. Somehow create a reason that allowed you to beat the god.

This one’s vague too.

I had tried to establish as much justification as possible.

I had provoked the god as if daring it to attack first, and I had taken care of other things as well.

But that still was not enough to make it a perfect justification. If it were that easy, I would not have lived through so much suffering.

Pointless. In the end, that meant the earlier rules had no meaning. At this point, the important one was ultimately—

The third.

If, despite everything, you still had to face the god in the end—

[Just beat it. What are you worrying about?]

It meant that since you had already reached the point where you had to beat it anyway, you should forget karma or whatever else and go at it.

It was a stupid method, extremely like that man.

...But after going around and around, that was the answer.

I had been trying to find a meaningless answer. No matter how many times I circled back, the answer was one thing.

If you could not avoid it, do it.

Once things came this far, I had to do it.

That was my conclusion.

Living had taught me that.

I could no longer remember how many gods I had killed. Near the end, gods I should not have killed, gods I had to kill—

Even calamities themselves, I endured them all and cleared them away.

That was why I hated getting involved with gods even more. Damn bastards. Getting entangled with these things brought nothing but loss to my life.

So in this life, I had wanted, even if it killed me, to avoid getting mixed up with gods or ghosts.

Life really is shit.

No matter what happened, I ended up tangled with them like this. Fate truly felt vicious and pitiful.

Thinking that, I moved my hand again.

CRACK!

[Guh!]

BOOM!

[Grk!]

CRUNCH!

[Grrk!]

Screams scattered everywhere. The god that had taken human form was being helplessly beaten by my hand.

With each swing of the club, the god’s head snapped this way and that. What scattered into the air in the middle of it—was that blood?

No. It probably was not.

That was not blood.

It was the god’s trace.

And it kept bursting out.

My soul and the god’s soul were colliding and breaking each other apart.

Every time it happened, my own soul shook, but I paid it no mind. If it shook, I just had to steady it again.

Thinking that, I beat it for a long while.

[You... you baaaastard!]

The god let out a roar.

Unlike the force of the sound, its state was miserable. It was sprawled on the ground, gagging.

Perhaps because it had been beaten so thoroughly, divine traces were flowing down its body.

[How... how can a mere human touch a god like this...?]

“Why wouldn’t I be able to?”

Those arrogant words were funny no matter how many times I heard them.

With a smile at my lips, I spoke to it while lightly tapping the club against my hand.

“Humans can do all of it. They just don’t.”

[...Nonsense...!]

The god denied my words.

[A human soul cannot reach a god. Even if it did reach one, how could that weak soul dare endure it? Impossible—]

“Exactly.”

It had just said it with its own mouth.

“That means the soul just has to not be weak.”

[What...?]

“If it’s a soul that can endure and withstand it, there’s no problem even if it reaches you. Am I wrong?”

Touching a god brought humans nothing but loss.

The reason a shaman could do a shaman’s work was, in the end, simply because a god coveting a human vessel lent a little of its power and called that mercy.

They were truly selfish, ugly beings.

Instead of paying rent, they acted as if one should be grateful that they lived in that house.

What dogshit behavior was that?

Gods repeated that every single time.

That was why, when this happened to them, they could not pull themselves together.

How dare he.

How could he dare.

“You must be wondering if a human can hit you.”

Could a god be beaten by a human?

That was what every god I had beaten and torn apart had said in common.

“But once in a while, things like that are born.”

Things with souls that would not have seemed strange even if they had become gods.

Things that, as a side effect, saw what they should not see and possessed vessels that gods coveted madly.

They could simply become shamans, but among them, there were strange ones.

I was one of them.

And on top of that—

Among those, I was a bit excessive.

A precious, precious object any god would covet and desire to obtain.

That was me.

[Keugh... cough... You... do you think your soul can stay intact after doing this...?]

“No.”

I knew it could not.

My soul would be affected. But—

“This is better than doing nothing. If I started it, I need to see it through.”

I rested the club on my shoulder.

Since I had already touched the god, I could not let it pass quietly.

I had to eliminate it completely.

That was what exorcism meant.

If you touched it, you went all the way.

I would have to hit it more.

Thinking that, I approached.

[Kh!]

The god moved.

I saw energy slowly spread through its body.

That was—

It’s trying to run.

It was trying to escape.

It was trying to leave Peng Doyeon’s body behind and slip out.

What a funny bastard.

If it wanted to do that, it should’ve done it earlier.

Now that it might die, it was fleeing?

For a god, it really had no pride.

And—

“You think I’ll let you?”

There was no way I would leave it alone when I could see it so clearly.

I moved my hand.

My soul moved, and energy flowed.

A talisman formed in my hand.

It had the shape of a talisman, but anything would do.

I threw it.

It flew quickly and stuck to empty air.

BZZZZZZT!

[Keuuugh!]

It struck the god’s vanishing soul-form.

[How... how did you—!]

“You thought I wouldn’t notice if you scattered a feint?”

It had seemed as if the bastard was turning its body into mist and disappearing, but in reality, it had been trying to flee somewhere else.

Did it think I would not see that?

Not a chance.

It’s not like there were only one or two bastards who used tricks like that.

And I was not someone who would miss them.

I gave a small laugh and approached.

“We still need to finish what we were doing, right?”

[...!]

When I raised the club and approached—

[W-wait!]

The god stopped me.

Seeing that, I tilted my head.

My steps stopped, but I said nothing.

I stared at it as if telling it to speak.

Then—

[What... what do you want?]

“What do I want? I’m just trying to erase you.”

It was a stupid thing to say.

I took another step.

Then the god spoke in a hurry.

[No. What do you want? I am a noble existence, but I shall listen to your words once—]

“Why do these dogshit things never change?”

A sigh came out of me.

“You’re about to die right now, and you still want to protect your pride? Change the way you talk.”

I swung the club.

CLANG!

With a clear ring, the bastard shook.

[Kyaaak!]

It was a different scream from before. It sounded far more painful.

Part of the reason was that the recoil had burst out when its escape was blocked.

I could see it staggering.

I approached it again and spoke.

“What? Still nothing to say? Then I’ll just end it.”

[W... wait...]

The god reached out a hand.

[I... I will leave... I will leave this girl’s body...]

“No. That’s not it.”

CRACK!

I swung the club again.

It seemed like I needed to hit it a little more.

I kept swinging. The sounds of impact rang out from every direction.

The shock was slowly starting to reach my soul too.

I had hit it too hard.

How much can I do?

Killing it was possible, but could I handle the aftermath afterward?

For that, the god’s rank was a little high.

A higher god.

It was not at an extremely high rank. General-class? Mountain-god class? It was either equal to those or just below them.

If I simply beat it to death with no preparation, the backlash would come.

I did not let that show.

I could not let it show here.

[Wh-what in the world do you want?! Speak...! I—I will grant everything!]

Only then did I stop.

Because those were the words I wanted to hear.

“That’s a good thing to say. You’ll grant everything?”

[...What... what do you want?]

“Now it feels like we can finally have a conversation. Right?”

I smiled.

When the club in my hand moved again, the god flinched.

I could see its fear.

The club gradually blurred and disappeared.

Once the weapon in my hand vanished, only then did the bastard show a reaction of relief.

“Now.”

Meeting its gaze, I knelt.

“Shall we have a slightly more gentlemanly conversation?”

[...What?]

“Dear customer. There are three things I want.”

I spread three fingers and showed them to the bastard.

The god’s soul-form trembled as it stared blankly at my hand.

“If you fail to grant even one of them—”

I wiped the smile from my face.

“You die here. And I’ll make sure no one remembers you.”

Erasing a god was difficult, but it was not impossible.

So I said that to the bastard.

At this point, there was only one thing the god could choose.

Grant everything.

There would be no other option.

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