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184. Towards the End
Other than the 6 gods of the celestial plane, Karupedan, and the guide through time and space Barub, I hadn’t met anyone.
However, after defeating Wheatgrass, I could see things that I could see before.
They weren’t people, monsters, or other things from other dimensions.
They were forms that let out a brilliant yet dark and heavy light.
All of those forms were staring at a single fixed point, moving towards that spot.
Like salmon returning back to the river they were born during mating season, all of them were going to the same spot.
‘Is this one Wheatgrass’s abilities…..’
I was interrupted in the middle of that train of thought.
Karupedan spoke while smiling.
“You can see them too now, right?”
“What are those… What is that light?”
“It’s as you think it is. This is Wheatgrass’s true ability.”
“Does it allow me to see the souls of those who lost their lives?”
“Yep. Simply put, I guess you can call them souls. I guess you still can’t see each of their appearances and how they lived until they met their deaths, right?”
“…..”
“But this will only last for a brief moment. After a short while, you will learn even without wanting to. Just from looking at them, their entire lives will come through like a tornado in your head and pass. All in a single moment.”
“What happens then…”
“That’s up for you to decide. Since you’re a human, you’ll probably try to judge over their crimes and wrongdoings, right? You all like to do so. Punish the wicked, reward those who have lived honest lives, right? Even though it’s so dull.”
“Do they go into new bodies and be reborn by my power?”
“That’s right. No matter what the dimension, or whatever the creation may be. If you don’t like someone, you could make them disappear like they’ve never existed in the first place, and if you like someone, you could grant them eternal life. How about it? Isn’t it amazing?”
“Makes me think of a double edged sword.”
“Even those folks you cannot live without will eventually die, because they are human. But now, you no longer need to fear or worry about them dying. After all, you can resurrect them with their memories intact at any given time.”
“Eternal life….. Lots of folks dream of such a thing, I’m sure. But will there be meaning behind a life like that?”
“You should decide that on your own. Even if I tell you what to do….. You’re not someone who will listen, right?”
“Pfft. That’s true.”
The only one left was the God of Water.
I have taken down Light and Darkness, Life and Death, and finally, the God of Earth.
The order of gods that the Unrivaled Goddess Karupedan had guided me to meet was from weakest to strongest.
This meant that the last remaining god, the God of Water, was far stronger than the gods that I had met so far.
I didn’t know what ability they carried, and I had no idea how to deal with them.
No one would inform me, and I had never fought with them before.
I could make an educated guess, but I wouldn’t know for sure until I actually fought with them.
Karupedan and I walked towards the center of the celestial plane.
It was the place where a waterfall was coming down from a place far above, beyond my field of view.
No matter where I was in the celestial plane, I could hear the refreshing sound of water that was like a beautiful melody without equal.
That magnificence was in stark contrast to the cruelty hidden by it, but I suppose that the God of Water would be in a place like that.
“As expected of a God of Water, we’re heading for the waterfall?”
“Yep! They’re not able to leave there.”
“Are they a bound spirit or something? Despite this, they’re the strongest out of the six gods?”
“Yep. Well, they are under restriction of being unable to leave the place they reside at. However, the God of Water definitely is far stronger than the rest of the gods.”
“I’m surprised, you know? It would’ve made more sense to me if you said that the God of Life and Death was the strongest.”
“You’ll know when you meet them in person.”
“As expected, a vague answer.”
“Kehe. But you have already taken down five gods, so why would you be scared? Isn’t that so?”
“…..”
“Since you were born a human, the God of Water should be the strongest against you, right? Pfft.”
“Hm? It sounds like there’s a hidden meaning behind your words…. Is it just my hunch?”
“Dunno? Show me an interesting fight as before.”
“Poseidon? Samdasoo? 1 Evian? 2 At least you should tell me their name. Unlike usual…..”
“Ah. Their name is Galima.”
“Guess you’re nervous with the thought of your death approaching? Making a mistake you haven’t before and all.”
“Is that so? Pfft. There’s still the biggest mountain left. We don’t know for sure.”
“Who was the one to say….. I have defeated five already, so what is one more.”
“Pfft. You won’t let me win once. Hurry and go. You just need to go over there.”
“Whew….. So be it.”
I noticed a small cave below the massive waterfall.
Karupedan had pointed there and told me that Galima was there.
With the water level coming up to my ankles, I felt cool.
It was a similar feeling to stepping into a river stream on a summer day, I suppose?
The scenery was beautiful enough to call it absolutely stunning.
It wouldn’t take long before it would turn into a cruel battlefield though.
While walking slowly towards the cave, I thought to myself.
I was thinking about how Galima would be the toughest god for me to face, since I am human, according to Karupedan.
So if it wasn’t a human facing against them, would they not be considered to be on the seat of number 1?
The first thing that came to mind was oxygen. Respiration, to be exact.
When fighting with the God of Water, the battlefield would probably be underwater.
And since humans absolutely needed to breathe, I couldn’t help but have that be the first thing that came to mind.
That was why I stood still in front of the entrance and took a deep breath.
“Huff.”
“Kehe. What are you doing? Are the gears in your head spinning?”
I could hear Karupedan mocking me from behind, but I easily ignored it.
Since my life was on the line in this situation, brushing off some ridiculing was a piece of cake.
As told repeatedly before, I was an existence far beyond the realm of humans.
That was why I couldn’t think in the field of norms like the rest.
“Kuha! It’s so embarrassing that I’m scared if someone will see this. Did you come to get drunk?”
“……”
It had been 10 minutes since I held my breath.
Stretching out my arms to my shoulder height and running around, I did everything I could to make my body need oxygen.
However, even if I did so, I did not feel any shortness of breath or my body slow down.
This meant that I was able to fight without any problems, even if I didn’t breathe.
I could only explain the breathing I’ve done so far as a force of habit.
For I was not fully human, demon, or a god, yet this came as a surprise.
With this, the most pressing worry had been resolved.
However, I continued to prepare myself for the possibility of something out of my expectations occurring.
“Huh? Aren’t you past the age of playing with balloons? How amusing.”
“Then why not give a proper hint. Or just stay put. Do one or the other.”
“Hup!”
With a smug expression, the Unrivaled Goddess pretended to block her mouth with her soft little hands.
Looking at that made me so angry that I wanted to flick her on the head.
But what she said wasn’t wrong.
I had made what was essentially a giant balloon.
Just like how I was carrying all those King’s Marbles with a sack made from mana, I had made a mana balloon filled with a lot of air from the celestial plane.
It was the last enemy and the strongest.
It was obvious that I had to give it my all to fight against Galima.
Other than this, I also tried to think of any other preparational measures I could take.
Unlike how I had been trading attacks and defending against my opponents to find out a way to defeat them before, I was trying to think ahead of time this time around.
This really was going to be the last after all.
Just like that, a lot of time passed while I was standing at the entrance.
Karupedan must have been annoyed by this already, as she was skipping stones on the water while sitting down in a hunched manner.
Looking at that, I couldn’t help but think that she was only but a small child.
Turning around, I walked towards where Karupedan was.
“Hm? Why? Are you still not ready yet?”
“Well, I guess you can say that.”
“There’s still a lot of time left anyways. You don’t have to rush. You can think of it as a brief respite.”
“Yep.”
“Hm….. What is that expression? It’s not fear. A little bit of curiosity and useless pity is what I think I see. Why? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s nothing much. That place is underwater, right?”
“Eh? Did you ask, wanting an answer?”
“Well, I didn’t expect an answer, but I did hope for a mistake in wording at least.”
“You’re too honest…. That’s right. That place is underwater. That’s why you held your breath and also prepared a balloon, right? What you thought was correct.”
“Then what about the temperature of the water?”
“What? That’s…. You can go in and find out for yourself!”
“I guess you also can’t lie very well?”
“W…. What. I’m the Unrivaled Goddess! Have you forgotten?”
“Of course. I know so very well. This much is enough.”
“I don’t like it! Hurry up and get in there!”
“Sure, oh great Unrivaled Goddess.”
****
Taking a deep breath, I entered the cave.
Not only did I swallow a King’s Marble, but my mouth was filled with them.
My Mana Shield was also covering my entire body.
Similar to how I entered the portals back on Earth, the space around me shifted.
Since it felt similar to riding Warp or going through a Gate, I didn’t feel too unsettled.
Things were going as expected so far.
Galima’s territory that I entered was filled with water.
Below and above, the depths continued far beyond what I could see.
Since there was not a speck of light, the entire place was covered in pitch black darkness.
Using the power of the light that I had obtained from Lai Yanta to light up the area around me, I could see that the tunnel was connected to the rock face located around the center.
“Hm…. This has a lot of resistance to it to consider it as just water.”
There wouldn’t be this much resistance if this water was akin to what most people thought of when thinking about underwater movement.
It was true that movement would be slowed somewhat underwater, but it would be easy to overcome that with just the strength of being an Awakened.
However, it seemed that the water in this area was far thicker than the regular water.
To put it simply, it was similar to hair gel or cold soup that thickened?
Still, if I just moved my body with all my force, it wouldn’t be too much of a problem.
“Is that it?”
Condensing the power of light in my body, I emitted a strong light at once.
When I did so, the area was completely lit with light, similar to how a dark night sky had turned into high noon.
But despite all that, there was one spot that refused to be bathed in the light and kept its darkness.
It wasn’t as if that spot was the bottom of the depths or a crevice.
It was similar to a black dot on a white piece of paper.
I sensed that that was where Galima was.
“You won’t come out to greet me? Then I guess I’ll have to go find you.”
Since that spot was in my field of view, instead of using Flash or diving there, I simply used Warp to arrive there.
It was the perfect combination of light and darkness.
One more step forward was the darkness, and the light was present on the place I was standing.
Even though I was continuously emitting light, the spot right in front of me did not clear away and held onto the darkness.
Without a single moment of hesitation, I stepped into that area.
“Woah!”
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