Chapter 2

Juuichi Ashihara was frozen in place, seated.

Just a moment ago, his room had been there, but it vanished.

In front of him was a small campfire.

And a strange “fireball” floating in the air.

He could feel the cold stone floor through his pants. The tiles, etched with esoteric patterns (resembling seaweed?), were old, cracked, and chipped, with pebbles lodged in the gouged-out crevices.

There was a pillar nearby. Carved intricately with mysterious symbols, the top featured two sea serpents entwined in a circle. However, one of the serpent’s heads had been shattered, leaving it incomplete.

To the right and left, there was nothing but darkness.

The dim light from the feeble flames could only illuminate so much.

He thought—

Where am I?

“What happened…?”

“I teleported you. This place… during the ‘Great Disappearance,’ parts of space were torn apart. This is one of the scattered remnants.

It seems to be ruins from the ‘Underwater Civilization,’ but I thought it would be a convenient spot to have a conversation. We won’t be disturbed here.”

The fireball spoke.

No, it had been speaking all along.

Juichi was too dumbfounded to grasp it at first.

“What are you? I can’t make sense of this… Save the world, you say?”

“You can think of me as an angel. That would probably be the easiest way to understand it. I don’t have a physical body—right now, I exist only as a consciousness. But since that wouldn’t be enough for us to communicate, I manifested this fireball.

And yes, I want you to save the world. It’s not just my hope, but rather a predetermined course of action.”

“What?”

“Refusal isn’t an option. I’m sorry, but that’s how it is.”

Juichi glared suspiciously.

Being dragged to some strange place and told he couldn’t refuse—he couldn’t accept such a thing.

“A savior, huh? What a grand title. But right now, I’m very annoyed.”

“Your anger and confusion are justified. But refusal is still not an option. Because there is no one else who can take your place. To be precise, I don’t have the time or power to find a replacement. I’m going to die soon.”

“Huh…?”

“Before taking on this task, I received payment from the gods in advance while gathering strength for the summoning. I lived a life of about 60 years as a human. I had a wife and children—a modest but fulfilling life.

As the culmination of that life, I’m now completing my work. I don’t have the power to select and bring someone else here, so you’ll have to do it.”

Juichi was baffled. This “angel” claimed it was going to die.

“You’re saying you just showed up? You’re already just a soul, but… no, wait, that’s not the point—”

“There’s no time left. Regarding what you must do to save the world, I’ll give you the necessary explanation. Look at this.”

“Whoa!”

In the next moment, the scenery changed entirely.

A pure white space. Juichi and the fireball were floating in midair.

Below them were two colossal “statues.”

Each statue was over several hundred meters tall. Both were in the shape of standing humans—one male and one female, both nude.

However, one of them had a snake’s head, and the other had a unique hairstyle tied up like a mohawk, with a face that resembled an insect more than a human.

The statues were intricately carved from white marble.

The two giant figures had their right hands intertwined, and at the tips of their fingers, a glowing sphere rotated, radiating light.

The fireball spoke.

“Those are the gods—Castus and Shalnakif. These forms represent avatars of the gods. The glowing sphere is a miniature representation of the universe and also symbolizes the world itself.

Now, look ahead, near her ‘feet.’ Do you see it?”

In front of the two statues—Castus and Shalnakif—at a diagonal angle, there were two remnants, not pillars, but the broken legs of another statue.

From around the knees down, what was once a colossal figure had been entirely lost.

“There once stood the god Albaf there. That was before the Great Disappearance. I’ve never seen her full form, aside from her legs.”

“This is a god? Sure, they’re big statues, but…”

“They aren’t gods from your world but from ours.”

Juichi remained bewildered.

The gods that the fireball mentioned felt too lifeless to evoke any sense of reverence.

“Made of marble…?”

“Not just ordinary marble. I understand what you’re trying to ask. Gods likely don’t possess personalities like you or I. Whether that’s necessary or not, I cannot say.”

“So they’re like machines or systems?”

“It would be an intriguing subject to compare gods to machines, but unfortunately, I don’t have the time left to delve into that.”

Cutting off the conversation, the fireball said to Juichi,

“What’s important now is Albaf. I wanted you to be aware of her. The avatar is merely an expression of one facet of the god, but it’s connected to the main body.

Thus, to resurrect her, you must gather the scattered fragments of her avatar, which are scattered across the world.

If you can collect about 60% of the fragments, her functions will recover, and the remaining pieces should gather automatically through her self-repair system.”

As soon as the fireball finished speaking, the white space vanished like an illusion, returning to the original darkness.

In front of Juichi, the campfire crackled once again, casting its red light into the void.

“To help you in your task, you’ll be granted three special abilities by the goddess as a ‘blessing.’

Many of the goddess’s fragments are trapped within strange creatures, so an ordinary human couldn’t retrieve them. Use these powers wisely.”

“Wait… hold on.”

“No, we’re out of time. You’ll have to learn quickly. Here we go.

The first ability is ‘Inventory.’

It has a limited capacity but serves as a bagless storage space. You can also use it to send the goddess’s fragments back here.

Second is ‘Revision,’ a power to replay past events as three-dimensional visuals and sound. You’ll find this useful in tracking down the creatures holding the fragments. It can likely be expanded and applied in various ways.

The third one… should be called a curse rather than a power. ‘No-Death Worker.’

When you die, you’ll be reincarnated somewhere in the world. Over time, you’ll even be able to choose where you resurrect. However, every time you die, your corpse will be left behind, so be mindful of that.

In short, you can no longer die.

Not ‘won’t die.’ You are not allowed to die.

Before we continue, let me clarify—this third ability isn’t a personal power but a universal law. It’s a rule that states you, as the apostle of the gods, must continue to exist in this world.

In certain cases, your existence might be reset, and you’ll be recreated from past data and sent out again.

This means no curses can undo it, you can’t go insane, and you’re immune to sealing, sleep, brainwashing, or nullification.

Escaping is absolutely impossible, and I’m sorry, but you must resign yourself to this fate.

As for direct offensive powers, you won’t receive any. You’ll have to procure those on-site.

Once enough fragments have been gathered to revive the goddess, your reward and the path home will open… supposedly. The gods said so, but I can’t guarantee it.

That’s all. Phew…

I rushed through the explanation, but that concludes it. From now on, you’ll need to learn by yourself. Do you have any questions? You have 20 seconds left.”

It was all too one-sided.

Juichi couldn’t even begin to decide where to start with his questions.

“Inventory, Revision, No-Death…? And 20 seconds…”

“Until my life ends. And until you’re sent off. Less than 10 seconds now.”

“Save the world! Me? Why me? Why have I been chosen, and why am I suddenly being told to do all this—”

“It’s over. I wish you luck, savior.”

The campfire cracked and popped.

TN: This novel’s got such hardcore suffering vibes, and I’m totally hyped to translate it!