Chapter 81: I have the courage to pull back, the courage to go forward, and the courage to be silent

Translated by X-tremeEdited by X-treme

After consulting with the villagers, it seemed that they would make a large detour and invade from another direction. The dark elves were not convinced, but they had no choice but to accept our compromise.

“I sympathize, but that doesn’t mean I’ m going to put the villagers in danger. I’d like to help……I think.”

When I think about the player who is giving instructions to the Dark Elves, I want to help him. They may be players like me, whose lives have been changed by this game. If that’s the case, I’m sure they would want to avoid a game over.

If they were in danger of being wiped out, the player could pour in a lot of money and perform a miracle. However, looking at the current situation of that village, it is not surprising that he has spent a lot of points in defense.

“If you’re hiding a move that could turn the tide, you can attack.”

Since I couldn’t read the other side’s moves, I had no choice but to play it safe. While I was thinking about this, Gams and the others were making a large detour to the west of the enemy base. Sudhir had never been to this side before, and the map was black, but it was slowly opening up.

“It’s a bit thin compared to the south side, but it’s still a lot.”

Green kobolds are the most common, but I’m also seeing black dogs and yellow demons more and more frequently. I even saw a single-eyed red demon in the distance once. The threat level of this base is too different from the prior information.

Besides, I’ve started to see other kinds of monsters here and there in the west. There are chimera-like creatures that were present during the last raid, as well as golems. Their numbers were unexpected. Gams and the others suggested twice that we should retreat, but the dark elves didn’t listen and attacked alone. At the time, they were able to clean up the area without any problems, but they couldn’t keep it up for long.

“I should tell the oracle to leave here, yeah.”

I felt bad for the Dark Elves and the player, but I couldn’t sacrifice the villagers. I typed in the text for the oracle and all I had to do was press “enter”. At that moment, Sudhir’s Bible glowed, not the one Chem was holding.

“Wait a minute, please. It’s an oracle from the G.o.d of Nature.”

Chem’s face lit up at those words.

“Should we ask the G.o.ds for a decision?”

I was thinking the same thing, but it depends on what the oracle says. For now, let’s just focus on what they are going to tell us.

“I’ll read it, since G.o.d says it’s okay to tell people. If we don’t destroy……this stronghold, it will be obvious that the village that I have blessed will perish.”

The dark elves all looked down and bit their lips with an expression of bitterness. The villagers must have compared themselves to them, because they too had a strange look on their faces.

“People are so nice to me…….”

That’s why the ruthless decisions should come from me, the G.o.d. I should at least be in charge of that.

“I’ll read more. But that doesn’t mean we can’t help the villagers who have been blessed by the G.o.d of Fate. Don’t forget that there is a way for my villagers to abandon their village and find a way to live elsewhere. The decision is yours to make. My power is limited, but I will help you as much as I can. It’s……”

There are a few things I’ve learned from what you just said. First of all, the other side wants to keep the Dark Elves alive, even if it means abandoning the village. But I guess they don’t want to leave the Forbidden Forest.

People who don’t want to leave their homeland aren’t limited to elves. Seika’s grandmother, Okiku-san, also said that no matter what, she would live and bury her bones in this town until the end. The player over there isn’t trying to drag me and my friends into a game over. His kindness and calmness made me feel even more lost. Gams, Chem, Ran, Kang, and the other villagers were all silent. Earlier, I had said that they should retreat, but now I was afraid to even mention it.

“That means you guys can go back. Thanks for sticking with me this far. And I’m sorry about the elves and……all that.”

Perhaps they were not expecting Sudhir’s att.i.tude when she apologized, but the elves looked surprised and confused.

“Oh my G.o.d, I would have preferred that they had an ulterior motive and wanted to take advantage of us.”

Then I could cut them down mercilessly and abandon them. I guess the villagers feel the same way I do. No one is trying to go back the way they came. I’m really glad to see that the villagers are so kind to……me.

“That’s why I have to take the blame!”

I rewrote the words, pressed the “enter” key, and activated the oracle.

“This is an oracle from the G.o.d of Fate. I’ll read it to you.”

The people who had been gazing down looked up. Their gazes focused on Chem.

“……In the name of G.o.d, I order you to withdraw. This includes not only my villagers, but also those who are blessed by the G.o.d of Nature. If you obey my command, I will show you the path you must take. I will now show you a glimpse of my power. If you still don’t believe me, go down the path of destruction. It says…….”

There seemed to be no words for what the oracle was saying, and no one wanted to speak up. After much deliberation, I decided not to abandon anyone. The most important thing is definitely the Village of Destiny, but Sudhir is our villager now. I don’t want to see the villagers’ sad faces anymore. If that was the case, it was as if the answer had been decided from the beginning.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but how do you expect your G.o.d to fight? And what glimpse of power are you talking about?”

Sudhir’s question was natural. When asked, Chem seemed to be at a loss for an answer, but then she smiled and opened her mouth.

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

You’re not a G.o.d……if you can’t live up to absolute trust without hesitation! I clicked on “Summon Golem” from the Miracles section. The statue of G.o.d rises from the back of the portable shrine, s.h.i.+ning with light. The dark elves gasp at the sight of it and the villagers offer their prayers.

While I was debating whether to go forward or go back, many monsters were coming towards me, the light seemed to be a damper, and countless monsters came pouring in from the direction of the enemy base. Two single-eyed red demons snapped off huge trees nearly ten meters tall and exhaled steamy breath from their mouths. There were five yellow demons, seven black dogs, and ten green demons.

“It’s good practice for Golem Summoning, it’s been a while.”

While I’m saying that kind of stuff, my points are rapidly dwindling. This is no time to act smart. I’ve been able to acc.u.mulate a lot of points lately without having to pay, but that doesn’t mean I should waste them. The statue of G.o.d leaps from the back of the shrine and lands in front of the pack of monsters.

The spearhead, four green kobolds, thrusts out four crude spears at the same time, but I cut off their tips and lightly jump over to land behind them. At the same time, four of their heads flew into the air. The two swords pierced the chests of the two nearby yellow demons and swung at the single-eyed red demon while it was impaled.

The monsters who witnessed this scene clearly lost their will to fight. In particular, the lowly green kobolds were so frightened that they looked like they were about to run away. If this was the day of the Temptation of the Evil G.o.d, they would have forgotten their fear and gone on a suicide mission, but that doesn’t seem to be the case today.

As I mercilessly cut down the frightened opponent, another single-eyed red demon grabbed the green kobold that was trying to escape and threw it at me. Seeing this, the green kobolds turned their backs and tried to run away at once, but they suddenly stopped moving and changed direction to attack us all at once. Unlike before, there was no hesitation in their movements, and their eyes were as red as blood.

“It’s like The Temptation of Evil.”

I wonder if it is a miracle on the part of the Evil G.o.d to bring them into a similar state of mind temporarily. With a single swing, I cut off the green kobolds that were coming at me one after another. The black dogs and the yellow demons were all killed in a single blow.

Bathed in a rain of blood, the statue of G.o.d continued to move forward without stopping. The statue of G.o.d standing in front of the single-eyed red demon, which was now un.o.bstructed, was stained red as if it had been covered in paint. He may have been frightened by the sight of the statue, but when he turned his back and tried to run away, I slashed him with a sword.

“This is the miracle of the G.o.d of Fate…….”

The dark elves had their eyes wide open and stunned expressions. The villagers didn’t say anything as it was a familiar sight, they just prayed for me.

Perhaps unable to contain my excitement, I pointed my blood-stained hand at Sudhir, who was talking pa.s.sionately. I’m not sure if the sight frightened her or not, but she gulped and shut up. I didn’t mean to scare you, but this is an emergency situation. I don’t have time to listen to a long story. I thrust both of my swords up towards the sky so that the blades overlapped and formed an X shape.

“This is the signal…….Everyone, pull back! It’s not safe for us to stay here any longer. Withdraw! Withdraw!”

Gams shouts, and the villagers turn on their heels in unison. And without a moment’s hesitation, they run off.

“What do you mean? Keep going.”

“It’s a sign from G.o.d! When he makes that move, don’t hesitate to run. If you don’t want to die in vain, follow me!”

Overwhelmed by the power of Gums, the dark elves followed the villagers in confusion. They looked back at the statue several times, but as soon as they spotted something, they ran at full speed. It was a swarm of monsters approaching from the front of the statue, incomparable to what they had seen earlier. There were fifty of them, maybe more.

After defeating the single-eyed red devil, I switched to the map screen to check my surroundings, and saw a tremendous number of monsters rus.h.i.+ng towards me. There were a wide variety of monsters. To the south of the enemy base, there were only demons, but in the other directions, there were a ridiculous number of different types of monsters. So I immediately sent a signal to the villagers to retreat. Since the statue could not speak, it was a good thing that we had decided on some signals beforehand, just in case.

“This is an unusual number…….But I’ll buy the villagers time to escape.”

Once out of the scope of the Bible, the statue of G.o.d will stop moving.

Either it will be early or it will be destroyed. I’ll let you kill it just in time!

I don’t remember how many of them I killed after that. I think I killed so many that I was sick of counting them. On the way, my weapon was broken, my right arm was blown off, my left leg was shattered from the knee down, but I still managed to keep on killing them…….Finally, it stopped moving.

“Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for everything.”

I put my hands together towards the statue. The first statue had burned up, and the second had been sacrificed here to help the villagers escape. The third and subsequent statues were kept in the village as spares, so there was no problem even if they were broken, but I expressed my grat.i.tude to my comrades-in-arms for fighting with me.

Thanks to the perseverance of the second generation, all the villagers were able to escape to safety. I was glad that they were safe, but the problem had not been solved. The enemy forces at the base were far greater than we had imagined.

Even the Golem Manipulation, which had been unbeatable until now, couldn’t push through. The villagers and the dark elves were as dejected as wilted flowers when they heard the result.

–The overwhelming difference in strength.

It’s not just about the Dark Elves anymore. If the village over there is destroyed, it will definitely be our turn next. Is it possible……to obtain that much strength alone?

Yamamoto-san said that he had been paying for the reinforcement of his forces. In other words, either the players on the Evil G.o.d side poured a lot of money into the game, or more than one or two players are working together. It’s hard to discard either possibility.

……worst guesses are starting to become true. There is no evidence so far, so I can’t rule it out, but I will keep it in mind as one of the possibilities. So, what to do? I don’t think I can compete with that force with my current strength. I clutched my head and tried to find an answer with all my brain power.

If you’re dealing with more than one person and my worst guess is right, there’s one way to get even. One, and only one, strange idea came to mind.

“The third arrow.”

I could add a third arrow to the only two I have right now, me and one other player. But it’s a jet-black arrow with a poisonous arrowhead. Relying on it is far from dangerous. But…….I picked up the phone on the side of my desk and looked up the registered phone number.