Chapter 348: Mars’ Evolution
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
Incarnations, astral projections, other similar constructions weren’t that rare. Many powerful existences of other planes were limited by the mortal plane’s natural laws and, unable to use their true bodies to enter the mortal plane, could only send their incarnations or projections.
From a certain standpoint, such dimensional natural laws were a way of protecting the world of Eich.
As long as the Elemental Tide’s density remained insufficient, the very existence of top-level existences in the mortal plane could distort this world’s natural laws, causing unpredictable influences upon an area or even the entire plane.
For instance, if a God whose Divine Concept was Rain descended, then a radius of several hundred kilometers around them would likely become a permanent rainstorm, the worst enemy of any farmer… I definitely wasn’t commenting on a certain “Rain God” who always met with rainstorms every time he tried to hold a concert, nor was I trying to reference a certain unlucky person who would always have a major incident befall them upon trying to steal the headlines—nope! [1] 1
Cough , getting back on track, it would still be alright if a Rain God descended as the Divine Concept of Rain was relatively mellow. The descent of some sort of Volcano God or War God would cause even greater havoc.
For instance, when the Demon Earl’s main body descended, vast swathes of land were infused with Chaos, scorching the land. Anywhere his blood fell became akin to a barren, lifeless land that could no longer harbor life, even today. Unless someone acted to improve the situation, this negative influence could last for several dozen or hundreds of years.
In most heroic epics, there were stories about how “Eternal shadowy winds would blow where a Demon King has fallen.” Actually, it was it was the same here, too.
The increase in the Elemental Tide made it so the dimensional natural laws were gradually changing as well. This was just like how if you dripped a drop of vivid paint into a glass of water, the water would swiftly change color. But if you dripped paint into a bucket of water, a pool of water, or even a river, lake, or ocean of water, that the influence would be hardly noticeable.
Just as how human bodies possessed natural mechanisms to resist against outside virus invaders, the world of Eich would also automatically reject these “large viruses” unless they proved to be “harmless.” For instance, in the game’s history, when the Elemental Tide reached its highest, the mortal plane became just like an “ocean” in which all the doors to the mortal plane were thrown wide open.
Yet currently, the Elemental Tide was much lower, and the doors were opened by a small crack. You wanted to enter? Sure, but you still needed to obey the dimensional natural laws. Anything overly destructive would be left outside. Powerful existences could only send incarnations, astral projections and such.
Countless techniques were out there to do such a thing, but they foundationally worked the same way. First, construct a physical body that the mortal plane was willing to accept. Then, inject one’s willpower, soul, or whatever into it. Based on the different techniques used, the main body would either fall into a deep sleep or act just like normal.
And so, just like how airport security worked in my previous world, a country’s airport would treat you differently based on your status. If you were a visitor from a friendly country, the security process would be quite simple. If you were from a not-so-friendly country, perhaps first you would be checked to see if you were a spy, maybe directly marked as a potentially mega-dangerous terrorist together with twenty-four hour surveillance, or simply refused entry altogether.
The incarnations for the powerful existences in other planes were similar. They would be discriminated against when they entered and limited in how powerful their incarnations were allowed to be. It would be the easiest for the mortal plane’s True Gods. After all, the Gods were existences that already understood part of the mortal plane’s dimensional laws, making them the equivalent of a country’s government workers. Any security clearance was nothing more than a formality, and they could simply descend using their own churches. Nor would their incarnations require extra divine power to maintain.
Since the True Gods counted as VIPs that could skip the security clearance process, of course there were also existences that were highly limited in being allowed to enter the mortal plane.
The harshest conditions of all would be imposed against the demons and devils. After all, they wielded the powers of Chaos and were the mortal enemies of all living beings on the side of Order. And with their track record, they would never be up to any good in the mortal plane.
The descent of some demon or devil lord would cause a huge incident wherever they appeared. Sometimes, it might be a plot that would affect a massive area, perhaps even the entire continent. Typically, all the Gods’ churches would take action together and thoroughly begin cleansing all the heretical demon and devil worshippers. If some great demon’s incarnation truly succeeded in descending and doing something, it was highly likely that a True God’s incarnation would arrive shortly thereafter to handle it.
So, the strongest existences in the lower planes would be refused entry in over ninety-nine percent of all cases, making it quite difficult for them to arrive. They were like illegal immigrants with the “most-hated” status. Not only did they need blood sacrifices and other such evil rituals to open the door for them, they also needed to pay a constant price to maintain their incarnations in the mortal plane. Sooner or later, they would no longer be able to pay that price and would be forced to obediently return to the Chaos Abyss or Hell. It was just like an illegal immigrant who was caught during a surprise inspection and forced to return home.
By the way, I should mention that not long ago, Elisa the Demon Marchioness finally used up all the power of the beastmen blood sacrifice which allowed her to descend. She could only helplessly cancel her incarnation and return to the Chaos Abyss, while I returned to the awkward situation of having to call her every morning and night…
Cough , it wasn’t that easy, however, for the True Gods to send out incarnations. Incarnations would typically contain divine power and shards of their Concept, along with part of their divine soul. The death of an incarnation would be a huge loss to any True God, perhaps causing a large decrease in their divine power and would take an incredible amount of belief, along with time, to recover.
That was why there were even plenty of plots aimed against the True Gods. Since it was impossible for anyone to destroy their main bodies, safe far away in their Divine Kingdoms, the final goal would be to destroy an incarnation. It was also possible for a God to have an incarnation killed off by mere mortals. Either would become a huge historical event. Of course, the former would be a heroic deed, while the latter would become a joke of an event that other undying existences would laugh about for several hundred years.
Although incarnations were limited in power level, there was also no need to be as concerned with an incarnation’s death compared to the main body. So, there were both advantages and disadvantages. But from a certain standpoint, an incarnation dying was the equivalent of one’s soul experiencing a virtual death, and it was unavoidable that it would weaken any existence who lost that incarnation.
That was why the Gods would prefer performing a God’s Descent upon one of their own believers or priests over sending down an incarnation. Not only would this let them reach power levels that surpassed incarnations, they also wouldn’t have to worry about the negative effects of an incarnation’s death. However, there were far too few mortals that possessed the ability and body necessary for a God’s Descent. Not only that, the death rate of mortals acting as vessels for God’s Descent was rather high, which was why incarnations still remained the common choice.
But for a True God, losing an incarnation meant being set back several hundred years in power level, and it was also common for their main body to enter a period of weakness, which might cause their enemies to gang up on them. This was no small matter. Numerous powerful demons and True Gods had all been forever deleted from the ranks of history after losing an incarnation in the mortal plane and then being ambushed by their enemies.
Right now, the Goddess of Wealth was forced into voluntarily self-destructing her own incarnation. This was the best evidence that she had been forced to the very brink and that she no longer had any confidence in winning. She knew that at this rate, she would be defeated in the end and lose her incarnation anyways, which meant she might as well self-destruct and take her opponent with her.
As Beyana was one of the younger Gods, being forced to such a brink by a far older Titan Giant wasn’t something that humiliating. Still, she was going to lose a lot of divine power. It was perfectly understandable why she sounded so angry and why she was trying so hard to at least recoup some of her losses.
“…Have a nice trip. You’re such a generous person, willing to sacrifice yourself for others. I’ll miss you.”
I energetically waved my handkerchief and wished Beyana a good trip. However, all I received was a hostile glare. So, I changed to using the farewell greeting from my hometown and began to sing the legendary hymn used for saying goodbye to heroic warriors.
“Ah, friend, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye! Beyana~ Hurry and self-destruct, I can’t take this anymore! Ah, friend, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye! I shall bury you in a tall hillside and plant a pretty flower… I seem to have forgotten the rest of this song. Forget it, it’s fine as long as I convey my meaning. May the heroic warrior Beyana rest in peace. No need to have any worries, as I shall help loot your corpse for your items.”
The little song I sung was transmitted directly to Beyana through her priest Anlan as I waved ever more energetically. The end result was that I was glared at even more viciously.
Suddenly, Beyana, whose incarnation appeared just like pure gold, bit her teeth with an aggrieved expression and started collapsing like a demolished statue. Countless beams of golden light poured out from her, transforming the entire world into gold.
*Boom!*
Then, a powerful light blinded everyone, and a deafening boom made everyone’s ears stop working.
“Sigh, I thought that the Goddess of Wealth’s self-destruction would have something creative about it, like dropping a large amount of money. It would seem that as long as its self-destruction, apart from the visual effects, there’s still no foundational difference or creativity.”
“Your Highness Roland… The Goddess says she heard everything you said and she’s quite angry. She says, ‘Why don’t you try and come up with some creative method of self-destruction for me.’ Also, if you miss a single piece of her God Equipment, she swears she’ll make you regret it.”
Alright then, since I did promise to bring back her equipment for her, I might as well start working.
Without wasting any more time I created a thick pair of anti-blinding glasses out of ice, hopped atop Erebella and flew into the sky. I rushed to the scene but suddenly stopped when I got closer and saw what was before me.
A True God’s incarnation’s self-destruction was basically activating all of the divine power and Divine Concept contained within an incarnation. As an attack, it would far surpass even the attacks used by the True God’s main body. From an energy level, it was basically using one’s divine power gathered over many years all at once for an explosive attack. When counting how much power of faith and the portion of the divine soul that the True God would lose, its destructive power would be truly fearsome.
Normally speaking, a True God’s incarnation’s self-destruction would not only be more than enough to kill a similar level incarnation, but it would even be possible to kill a True God’s main body. This was also why numerous Gods’ incarnations could walk the mortal plane but rarely fought each other. All Gods were capable of self-destructing their incarnations, which would end in a lose-lose scenario for both sides.
However, the maxim about how a True God’s incarnation’s self-destruction would absolutely kill the opponent was now broken by this opponent.
“…He’s still not dead, even like this?”
The Thunder Titan Giant had lost half his body, including his entire right arm and foot. Bones could also be seen in the right side of his face, giving him a frightening appearance. Meanwhile, the remnants of his thunder shield on the ground was perhaps the explanation behind how he had managed to survive.
In that moment, with just a short instant to react, he had transformed all his power of thunder into a physical shield which he used to block the force of the self-destruction to protect his core.
“False Gods, is that still the only technique you know, even after all these years? If I was in my physical body, such a weak and powerless attack wouldn’t even make me bleed.”
A True God’s incarnation’s self-destruction wouldn’t be that easy to take. It would probably be impossible for this Titan Giant to recover within any short period of time. But even though he was so seriously injured, he was still laughing loudly, as if he was the true victor.
Perhaps he could indeed be termed the victor as he was able to force a True God to self-destruct—and survived.
Although he was collapsed on the ground, the Thunder Titan Giant’s remaining eye was glaring at Mary the Shield Dwarf Goddess. He supported himself with his left hand and tried to stand up, but apparently lost his balance.
Then, he grit his teeth, and the thunder at his right leg transformed into a false limb that resembled sculpted armor. His empty right arm was replaced by jagged thunder, and there was a savage look in his single remaining eye. Even though the right half of his face was nothing but bone, his jagged thunder arm boomed loudly. Despite his condition he still wanted to fight.
Mary paused in surprise for a moment but then lifted her war hammer and unhesitatingly rushed towards him.
A Dwarf Goddess like her would never fear a challenge. Since her opponent hadn’t collapsed, this battle between the God-level powers would naturally still continue.
An injured beast would always become more dangerous. With these two powerful presences renewing their battle, I felt that things would turn dangerous for me. If I rushed forward and was scraped by their battle, wouldn’t that cause me to directly reincarnate yet again?
“Um, I feel like if I go out there, I’ll just die. Shouldn’t this count as irresistible outside factors?”
“…The Goddess says that if you’re unable to retrieve her Gold Staff of Authority and Seraphim Feather Pen, she’ll put a deep freeze upon your Contract Hero account. Then, she’ll curse you to become the unluckiest person in the world in all matters related to wealth, and that the curse will persist for a minimum of three years. At such a time, no amount of money on you will last for more than two hours. You’ll end up eating in a robbers’ den every time you eat at a restaurant, you’ll always meet with fake and pirated products every time you buy something, and even going out to buy some groceries will see you meeting three scammers and a dozen thieves.”
“…It couldn’t possibly be that bad.”
“…It’s even worse than what I said. Previously, a high-level priest in our church made fake accounts and scammed others, so the Goddess personally cursed him to go bankrupt. On the very same day, his merchant association went bankrupt, and his wife and daughter ran out on him. Then, the only house he had left was smashed to pieces by a meteor from the sky. And even when he became a beggar, other beggars always robbed his money. He only lasted for one week before committing suicide.”
Alright then, I was beginning to break out into a cold sweat upon hearing this. Since I had promised Beyana that I would retrieve her equipment, I likely had to do it no matter what the situation was like.
However, before I took any action, a certain voice spoke up.
“…I’m so full! Is this self-destruction? Is this battle? It’s so wonderful! So delicious!”
I looked behind me to see the faceless Mars. Even though I couldn’t see any expression on him, I could faintly sense that he was staring at the Gods’ incarnations and the Titan Giants, as if he was looking at delicious food.
This newly-born child of war would only be able to grow through battle. The “prematurely-born” him required large amounts of nourishment to grow, and his future path required plenty of actual combat experiences. From a certain standpoint, this battle between the Gods and the Titan Giants was one of the best opportunities for his growth.
For a graveyard demon like him, a God’s corpse would naturally be one of the most nutritious meals of all. The self-destruction’s power and attention-grabbing boom from earlier helped Mars make a decision on his own—he now had knowledge and desires about his future.
“Battle, this is war! Explosions are war! War is explosions!”
A faint face seemed to suddenly appear on that empty face of his. This face was rather similar to Beyana, who had just exploded herself. I didn’t even have the time yet to comment how easy it was for children to go down the wrong path before Mars disappeared right before me.
Right after that, an earthquake shook the entire battlefield, and a large sinkhole suddenly appeared. The pitch-black hole seemed as if some demon from hell was being released.
“…That’s Davey and his undead army!”
And from this sudden crevice in the ground, the undead army that had vanished completely rushed forth, charging towards the True Gods and the Titan Giants.
“Mars, the Gods are our allies! Kill those Titan Giants!”
Luckily, I reacted quickly, which helped Mars’ undead army target only the Titan Giants.
Yet the two Titan Giants didn’t even glance at these “little toys” surrounding them. Only the powerful Gods were worthy of being faced by them. How could they possibly care about these little things? No mortal or undead army would be able to withstand even the casual flick of their fingers.
*Boom!*
The death knight rushing at the very forefront self-destructed in an explosion. The explosion’s power caused one Titan Giant’s foot to go numb, so he frowned.
*Boom!*
A Bone Dragon biting at his head self-destructed. This explosion’s power made his forehead hurt, and the power of ice contained in the explosion also annoyed him.
*Boom!*
A lich that climbed up onto his knee self-destructed. This Myth-ranked lich’s magical explosion made the Titan Giant clutch his knee in pain.
*Boom!*
An agile Ghoul Lord jumped into the Titan Giant’s mouth. Then, the sudden explosion that came from within was from this Myth-ranked Undead Lord’s self-destruction, causing several shattered Titan Giant teeth to fly through the air.
*Boom!* *Boom!*
Countless undead self-destructed simultaneously on the thunder Titan Giant’s single remaining leg. This time, he was no longer able to stand up steady and could only fall to the ground with a tremendous crash.
*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*
When the undead army climbed up like ants onto the Titan Giant’s body, the sound of explosions never stopped.
And the most frightening part of all was that the undead didn’t decrease in number despite the self-destructions—they continued crawling back out of the crevice. The same lich from earlier that had just self-destructed on the Titan Giant’s knee now grabbed onto the Titan Giant’s ear and lit up its own crazed soulfire with yet another explosion.
*Boom!*
The entire area was filled with the booming sounds of self-destruction. Even the Shield Dwarf Goddess Mary paused in surprise.
“…This is the ability of a graveyard demon to revive the undead? Even if the collective will loses an individual portion, it can be endlessly revived? Roland, you’ve even created such a monstrosity—do you actually intend to destroy the world?”
“Wahh, Mars is truly a nice and compassionate son. He helped Daddy out of his own volition when he saw that Daddy was worried; I should buy him some presents. Right, I should give him a zeroth birthday party… Harloys, what did you say just now?”
I was so moved that hot tears were flowing out of my eyes. However, the people next to me all silently backed away, as if they viewed me as a dangerous individual, a forbidden plague. Meanwhile, I thought of something and laughed as I talked to the magic sword in my hand.
“Harloys, as Mars’ mother, you should remember to prepare a birthday present for him. It’s definitely no good to give him only a Happy Birthday song… Ah! Can’t you act more maturely, with your age? Now a mother, and you still bite others!? Ah, you’re now biting me even harder!”
Note:
[1] ED/N: Don’t know who this is referencing too…