## Chapter 1477 – Heavenly Demon Kim Kat

But I don’t give a damn about excuses like that.

“Then of course I’ll blame you, you bastard.”

The World Tree fell silent at my immediate reply.

“…”

Whatever the case, that thing considers eating souls as perfectly natural. If it’s okay for it to freely take souls because it’s the protector of the race, then it’s only natural that it gets kicked out now that a new protector, me, has been born, right?

A guardian who doesn’t eat souls vs. a guardian who devours souls.

The former is the overwhelming victor.

Rather, since I’m a being who leaves even the souls alone, there can’t be any resistance to ousting the existing being. I don’t give a damn about the protection or guardianship that these Outer Gods have been doing.

If it doesn’t meet my standards, I’ll just exclude it.

“No compromise or understanding needed. I don’t care what you’ve been doing until now. As long as you’re here, all the elves’ souls will just be your food.”
“…I see. Is that your answer?”
“Yeah.”

I’ll put an end to it.

I can take care of the elves somehow later. Of course, it doesn’t matter even if they don’t want it.

“When you think about it, a guardian who eats souls is unnecessary. Because now I’m here. Elves are also a race living in this world. In the end, they have to live under my management.”
“…”
“So disappear now, World Tree.”
“…”

The World Tree, which had been silent, opened its mouth again at the threat.

“You… value the souls of the dead very much.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t understand that part. Why do you value the souls of the dead so much?”
“Are you, who uses souls as food, really the one to talk?”
“We can’t maintain our acquired ego and reason without souls. That’s no different from death. We want souls because we can’t maintain our existence.”

That’s the same thing Verde said.

“So, you’re saying souls aren’t that important to us? What happens if you extract a soul from a living person? Mr. World Tree?”

What nonsense is it spouting?

No matter where you go in this world, even if you haven’t seen the existence of a soul with your own eyes, you still consider the soul itself to be precious. Of course, if you don’t have the luxury of life, you might just say screw the soul and sell it to the devil, but even those people know implicitly that the price for selling their soul is ultimately ruin.

Is it trying to deny even such obvious feelings?

“Of course, souls are important to living beings. But are the souls of the dead really that valuable? Do you know what happens to souls after death?”
“No. I don’t know that.”

Even the Outer Gods don’t know.

But that’s not important.

“But whether there’s any actual value in souls or not, none of that matters. If I, this one, consider souls important, then that’s the norm.”
“…Value is something that is assigned.”
“By me.”
“I see.”

That’s who this Kim Kat is.

“Anyway. I’m still a little curious, though. Do you know anything about souls?”

Perhaps the World Tree is bringing this up because it knows something about souls. If so, I should listen. It might be important information in its own way.

“Human souls… after death, remain in this world for a short time. But soon, they move through a path and disappear.”
“Disappear?”
“That’s right. Whether that’s annihilation or a leap to another dimension, even we don’t know. We only know that they disappear. We eat the souls we’ve preempted and then harvest the souls that are moving through that path. We’ve been making a living that way.”

These bastards don’t know the details either.

“Souls disappear anyway. Of course, there are souls that are bound to reality for some reason and gain the ability to interfere, but other than those special cases, most souls disappear like that.”

—Tsupat.

Emerald light blazed in the World Tree’s eyes as it stared at me.

“If we can use those disappearing souls to protect this world, isn’t the matter of souls not that important? Do you think it’s right to neglect the beings of reality for the sake of souls that we don’t even know what happens to?”

Of course not.

I acknowledge that they’ve been protecting the world using souls. But does that mean I should look at their achievements and let them continue to eat souls?

I can’t allow it.

“Hehehe, do you really think you can get away with saying it doesn’t matter?”
“I want to ask the reason.”
“Reason? Didn’t I say it before?”

There’s only one reason.

“Because I value souls.”
“…”
“I, a god, don’t seek your understanding. I only act as I believe, as I want. And I think souls are important. That’s the end of the story.”

That’s all I have to say.

The World Tree seemed to be trying to convince me of what it had been doing by making excuses, but that doesn’t work on me.

“…I see.”

The World Tree, which had been silent for a moment, replied.

It didn’t have an expression, but it looked like it was feeling a mix of emotions.

“Even if the elves want me.”
“Yeah. Even if they want you.”
“…”
“I won’t change my decision.”

I can’t accept the elves’ souls being food. Even if the elves want it, I don’t want it. So I’ll act as I think.

In any case, its thoughts and ideology and mine can never be narrowed down or compromised.

“I just wanted to protect this world.”
“But now it’s a world that I have to protect.”
“…”

I think about the World Tree for a moment.

It’s a bit of an old story. I received a call from the World Tree, and I learned a little about the truth of the world while receiving sap from the World Tree I saw for the first time then. The World Tree asked me to get rid of the being that was making holes in the dimension because they didn’t have the strength right now.

In the end, it called me because it knew that this world was in danger.

The fragments of the Outer Gods that would amplify my power were also something the World Tree told me about.

“…I don’t want to disappear yet.”
“Is that your last words?”

No one wants to disappear.

“I called you because I didn’t want to disappear. I helped you to become stronger.”
“Yeah. You did. You gave me this and that, saying to get rid of the unknown being that was breaking through the dimension.”
“I’m sorry for deceiving you. We already knew its identity. It was the High Priest who summoned us in the past. We know a lot about it.”
“I know a little too.”

Because I absorbed the lich’s ruined corpse.

“But I don’t really want to talk about that. It’s not an important issue. Does the identity of that lich matter? Anyway, you gave me sap and told me the location where the fragments of the Outer Gods were sleeping.”

The World Tree’s help is great.

“Those fragments were the empty shells of the gods who had manifested in the real world. But for us, creating empty shells to descend directly into the real world was very difficult.”

This is also a known fact.

The Outer Gods are powerful beings, but there are limitations to interfering with the real world.

“Nevertheless, they did it.”
“Because they wanted to protect the world.”
“That’s right.”

The reason why the fragments of the Outer Gods remain on the ground.

It was the result of the Outer Gods sacrificing their existence to protect the world. The manifested Outer Gods fought directly. They were powerful, but there were many limitations. So in the end, they died and left fragments.

I know this too. I learned it after absorbing Verde and his cheerful friends.

The lich at the time was a very powerful being, so some Outer Gods descended directly, knowing that they would not be able to return, and ended up ruined and dead. Humans saw that and thought they were avatars of the gods.

“So you want me to understand that heart?”
“…There were many sacrifices.”
“Sacrifices, huh.”

The sacrifices of the Outer Gods.

After swallowing those fragments, I suffered from inner demons for a while. The terrible thing that came out wearing the appearance of the Wright brothers shook my mind and tried to distort my ideology.

But I overcame it all.

“Sacrifice.”

I looked at the World Tree again.

There’s no need to be wary. It’s weaker than me. And it was quiet, as if it had sensed its own end.

Anyway, the sacrifices of the Outer Gods. They were a kind of soul guardian who protected the world in exchange for souls. The important thing was that the humans who offered them didn’t know the truth. And they have to eat souls in the future.

—Tsupat.

I spread out my hand and deployed a barrier.

—Kugugugung.

My barrier swells as it devours the World Tree’s domain. This is the World Tree’s domain, but I’m overwhelmingly stronger, so it couldn’t defend.

“What are you doing…”
“Offer your existence to me.”

I almost shot a Heavenly Demon Death Beam.

“Come inside here.”

—Sar륵.

Before I knew it, my barrier covered the entire domain.
The World Tree now existed inside my barrier.

“Become my subordinate. Actually, I was going to just smash you to pieces, but let’s just do this much. I’ll give you the option of offering your entire existence and being bound to my barrier.”

Of course, if it doesn’t want to accept, I’ll smash it and then absorb it.

That’s not bad either, but this is more efficient.

It would be the same for it.

“Offering existence, huh.”
“Just like the other souls did to you, now it’s your turn to offer it to me. I’ll acknowledge the fact that you protected the world. So if you don’t want to die, do as I say when I’m being nice.”

The elves would probably want me to be its lackey rather than the World Tree disappearing… Ah. Come to think of it, the World Tree’s situation is similar to Andromalius.

My friend Andro…!
That bastard really disappeared and hasn’t been seen since!

I should build it in the barrier next time and summon it.

“Wait a moment. I’d like you to remove a part of the barrier.”
“Around you? Okay.”

—Sar륵.

I moved the barrier around the World Tree as requested.
It can’t interfere with me no matter what it does.

—Tsupat.

And at that moment, emerald flashes erupted from the World Tree’s entire body, and the background outside the barrier changed with that.

“What is it?”
“I’d like you to… shrink the barrier for a moment.”
“Okay.”

—Hwareuk.

I slightly shrunk the barrier and looked at the sky.

“Look.”
“Ah.”

A completely changed landscape greeted me.

“This tattered dimension.”

—…

Countless. Such small holes and large wounds filled the sky. There were so many holes in the sky that I was worried that the sky would fall.

Is this this dimension?
I’ve never seen anything like that?

“Where is this?”

I’ve never seen anything like this.
What is it?

Was there such a ruined place?

“Have you never seen it before? I have been constantly observing the dimensions from here and taking measures as far as my strength allows. This is the worst part, but it’s still only a part.”
“You took measures?”
“My strength is weakened. No. Even if I was in perfect condition, it would take a very long time to repair these wounds.”

That’s.

“When you and that thing fought. The magic that it performed tore the walls of this dimension to shreds. There may be no problems right now, but in the future, there will definitely be constant threats.”

The lich.

“Beings from other worlds will be drawn to the torn gaps and invade this world. Even more beings will come than it summoned. And in the process, the walls of the dimension will continue to be wounded.”
“If that happens, more beings from other worlds will come.”

It’s a vicious cycle.

“Can you solve this? Can you protect this world from these threats?”

The answer to that is.

“What the hell are you talking about, of course.”

Only one.

“I will solve it. And I will protect it.”

Because that’s who the Heavenly Demon Kim Kat is.

“…I see.”

The World Tree nodded at my answer.

“Then I accept.”
“Good choice, World Tree.”

Did it finally understand?

—Hwareureuk.

I expanded the barrier again.

“Return to the Monster Ball. Chikorita.”

As the World Tree came inside like that.

—Sar륵.

It also began to slowly melt like a effervescent vitamin in water.

“…I entrust the elves to you.”

Knowing that it couldn’t persuade me, it quickly judged and chose to be bound to me. Even so, it entrusted the fate of the elves at the end.

“Well, I won’t oppress the elves or anything like that, so don’t worry.”

The elves are a bit rude, but they are the same as humans. Such a race. So of course, I will protect them too.

“Oh.”

—Seureureuk.

Perhaps because it was in a state of preserving stronger power than the fragmented Outer Gods.

The power absorbed from the World Tree was quite large.

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