Subscriber of the Gods Chapter 436 - Where Is This Place?

Ethan and Roditon sat in the cloud house created by Shophrobe Hyer.

Shophrobe Hyer seemed quite flustered by the situation and appeared to be feeling a considerable amount of humiliation.

“Your expression isn’t very pleasant. Do you find this situation humiliating?”

“Ah, no. How could that be?”

“Then relax your face and speak clearly. If you want to play more, I’m happy to oblige. It’s okay if you get a little hurt while playing, right? After all, you’re a god.”

Ethan patted Shophrobe’s shoulder.

“Teacher Ethan… is a bit scary.”

Mary whispered to Roditon.

“…I thought the same too.”

“You two, don’t worry. Shophrobe Hyer here will explain everything about this confusing situation. Shophrobe Hyer is this god’s true name. It’s good for you to know. Gods can’t speak or act carelessly in front of their true names.”

Even Moonforce wasn’t Moonforce’s real name.

That name was merely a title referring to the god known as Moonforce.

The same was true for Moon Mother.

“How did Teacher Ethan know that?”

Mary asked.

Shophrobe Hyer subtly reacted to this question.

In fact, Shophrobe Hyer was curious about that too.

How could Ethan, who wasn’t even his follower and had no connection to him, know his true name? Moreover, Ethan was a descendant of another god.

But what concerned him even more was the power of divine killing that he felt from Ethan.

That power, capable of annihilating divine status, could be seen as an all-purpose key that could do anything in this city of gods.

Any god would have to bow their head before that power of divine killing.

This was especially true in this city of gods, where the power of gods was strongest.

“That’s a secret.”

Ethan answered curtly, indicating he wouldn’t discuss it unless necessary.

Shophrobe Hyer made a disappointed expression at this.

“Shophrobe Hyer, I have a lot of questions.”

“…Is there a compelling reason why I should answer?”

“I’ll put it simply. If you don’t answer, I’ll kill you and find another god.”

“……”

Shophrobe Hyer blinked twice.

“Then I must speak. Ask anything. I’ll tell you everything.”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen a god being threatened with their life!”

Mary exclaimed.

Roditon shook his head in amazement.

“Even gods get threatened.”

Grr-.

Although he had tried to let it pass naturally, Shophrobe Hyer glared at the two.

Somehow, those two — no, one human and one ego sword — were quite irritating, even more so than Ethan.

“Do you have the luxury to be distracted?”

Shophrobe Hyer heard Ethan’s voice, who had suddenly put a sword to his neck.

As the sword pressed close to his neck, Shophrobe Hyer slowly raised his head and shouted,

“Let’s talk nicely! No, I said I’d tell you, so why do you keep pointing that vicious thing at me! That sword with its hideous power, put it down right now. No, please put it down!”

“That’s rich coming from someone who shot flames first.”

“…If you have questions, ask.”

“‘Ask’?”

“…Please ask!”

Ethan first inquired about this place.

“Where is this?”

“Didn’t you come here knowing everything? This is the city of gods. It’s like our playground. This place is somewhere between the divine realm and the human world, so both humans and gods can enter. Of course, you can’t just enter freely. You need a physical body. Most gods enjoy pleasures in this city using bodies received as offerings, and occasionally humans like you come in, so we enjoy pleasures with those humans too.”

But this body wasn’t simply a body borrowed by a god.

“Once a god enters a body, that body becomes the god’s possession. If the body is injured, it affects the god’s divine status. Therefore… rather than simply borrowing a body, it’s more like the gods manifest directly here to enjoy pleasures.”

He had inadvertently revealed the gods’ weakness.

But with a sword at his neck, he had no choice but to speak honestly, not knowing what might happen if he didn’t. So Shophrobe Hyer explained very frankly.

He wasn’t a combat-oriented god to begin with.

If he had been accustomed to fighting, he wouldn’t have made such a weak attack in the first place.

“Before that, there’s something I want to ask. Why did you come here? I understand about you, but I don’t understand about that one.”

Shophrobe Hyer pointed at Ethan and then at Roditon.

“Our purposes are the same. We’re looking for someone.”

“Someone? It’s not those two humans who said they believed in Moon Mother earlier, so are you looking for the human who entered first?”

The person he was referring to was undoubtedly the Saintess.

The Saintess who had entered before the 1st and 2nd Apostles.

‘If we’re this flustered, the Saintess must have been even more so.’

After all, the Saintess wasn’t someone who frequently went on adventures like Roditon or Ethan.

Perhaps she was in a dangerous situation, being manipulated by the gods right now.

“Where is that person?”

“Sigh, it’s been so long since humans entered, but none of them are proper humans! Humans should quietly despair and then challenge again, that’s the taste of it. Even that human who entered first far transcends humanity, already snatching away objects that some gods were guarding and enjoying pleasures.”

From what he heard, it seemed the situation was different from what he had thought.

“Details.”

At Ethan’s words, Shophrobe Hyer nodded several times as if understanding.

“The human who entered first was chosen by the White Light.”

It seemed that the Holy Light Goddess was called the White Light by these beings.

“Most of the pleasures here are battles of wits. The most fun in battles of wits is mock warfare. But the beings we create aren’t real living creatures. We just make something similar. However, when a human enters, we can create something interesting centered around that human. We started a game centered around that human who believes in the White Light after they came here. No, it’s not quite right to say ‘we’. There are three gods who have a tight grip on this city of gods right now. The game unfolded centered around those three gods.”

However, that game was temporarily halted.

“That human who believes in the White Light…”

“It’s the Saintess. We call her the Saintess.”

“Hmm, that Saintess had a different purpose. She said she didn’t come to enjoy pleasures. She said there were those trying to destroy the human world, and she wanted to stop their plans.”

‘As expected, it’s as I thought.’

As Ethan had anticipated, the Saintess already knew the purpose of the 1st and 2nd Apostles.

That’s why she had entered the city of gods one step ahead to stop that plan.

‘Could it be that the 1st and 2nd Apostles, not expecting the Saintess to know that fact and interfere, entered belatedly?’

They probably weren’t completely unaware. But they probably didn’t expect the Saintess’s movements to be this fast.

“Then did the Saintess who entered first achieve her goal?”

“She did. She obtained the Perfect Divine Body.”

“…Perfect Divine Body?”

“No matter how powerful a god is, they have to give up a large part of their power to descend to the human world. The power they can give to their believers is also very limited. The Perfect Divine Body can greatly help with such descent rituals. A god dwelling in the Perfect Divine Body can properly exert their power even in the human world.”

Shophrobe Hyer explained.

“But that’s not something gods can touch. For a god to dwell in that body, human power is needed. It’s been that way since The Beginning.”

“So with that, a god can descend to the human world with their power intact?”

“That’s right. The Saintess is fighting against those people over that Perfect Divine Body. With gods backing her, that is.”

The Saintess was trying to completely destroy that Perfect Divine Body. It was the very body that could be obtained when the Extinction ritual succeeded.

‘It’s the perfect vessel that can bring down a god.’

With that, all the preparations to bring down a god, whether Extinction or whatever else, become completely unnecessary.

‘According to the original scenario, the Dawn Council would obtain the Perfect Divine Body and break away from Extinction.’

And the Saintess dies.

That’s why the Saintess doesn’t appear in the latter half of the scenario.

‘I wondered how they managed to bring down Moon Mother to the human world without completing Extinction.’

If such a thing existed, it made sense how Moon Mother could descend.

‘Moon Mother descending with her power intact.’

Who could stop Moon Mother in that case?

‘If we leave things as they are, the 1st and 2nd Apostles will win against the Saintess.’

After that, when the Perfect Divine Body falls into the hands of the apostles, the continent destruction scenario begins.

Of course, since Ethan had completely smashed the Dawn Council of the Holy Empire, they couldn’t immediately bring down Moon Mother.

‘But who knows about the 1st and 2nd Apostles. Their relationship with the Dawn Council’s lord is merely a collaborative one after all.’

The position of chief priest isn’t that important.

They are merely in a relationship where they keep each other in check while pursuing the same goal.

‘If push comes to shove, they’re crazy enough to betray each other to monopolize Moon Mother’s love.’

That’s what the apostles are like.

Among those apostles, the strongest and most fanatical were the 1st Apostle and the 2nd Apostle.

‘Before the Saintess is defeated.’

They needed to contact the Saintess somehow.

“But wait a moment… looking closely… human who can kill gods, your body isn’t ordinary either?”

Shophrobe Hyer was shocked.

“Why couldn’t I see this until now? Ah! It’s hidden, hidden! That power bound right now, that spell cast by a foolish human! Moon Mother’s power is imbued in that spell? With that… huh, huh huh, huh huh huh huh! What on earth are you? What are you, I say!”

After examining Ethan closely, Shophrobe Hyer couldn’t continue speaking.

“It’s difficult to have such a body even with numerous blessings. Is it because the body doesn’t conform to the principles of the human world? I see, with such a body, you could withstand even a ritual that completely empties the body to become an offering. To have accumulated so much power even with such a body is purely your own ability. Truly amazing.”

“Do you know exactly about this Extinction?”

“You mean the actions of those who believe in Moon Mother? I know, of course I do. What’s in your body right now, isn’t it like a ritual to bring down Moon Mother herself into your body? Of course, what’s inside your body is something a human could never withstand.”

“Yes, but is Moon Mother not here? If it’s the city of gods, they should be here too.”

“Those gods are not here. You know that Moon Mother and Moonforce came from the same branch, right? Those two were expelled, so they don’t have the qualification to enter here. To be precise, in the process of Moon Mother causing havoc and leaving, they split into two. The gods here are only gods with no connection to the human world. Even if there is a connection, it’s really minimal.”

This was also why Shophrobe Hyer felt wronged. He hadn’t lived in connection with humans for long, so he couldn’t even guess how Ethan knew his true name.

“How on earth do you know the true name… Huh…”

He hadn’t had much influence on the human world, nor did he have many believers.

He had bestowed power, but he hadn’t created a massive temple or religion.

‘Shophrobe Hyer probably doesn’t know, but the Dawn Council searched for gods of even the tiniest religions. To absorb the power they possessed.’

Even those few believers of Shophrobe Hyer were targets of the Dawn Council.

Ethan, who had been on the verge of becoming an apostle of the Dawn Council, had naturally been dispatched on numerous missions, and through those experiences, he had come to know many gods.

‘Actually, rather than the Dawn Council giving me accurate information, it was more that I gained the information myself while carrying out missions.’

As a result, he knew the true names of various gods besides Shophrobe Hyer.

The power to kill gods and the true names of gods.

‘Come to think of it, this is no different from my playground.’

This place, where gods with overwhelming power and divine power gathered, was actually the safest city for Ethan.