327 – S6. The Moon’s Resentment -2

Of course, having a conversation with demons whose very head shapes were different was a difficult thing. Whether they even heard me when I spoke was doubtful, and they might’ve been communicating through gestures rather than language to begin with.

But it was an obstacle that could be overcome if you had a good enough brain.

“The language system’s the same, it’s just the pronunciation that’s different. This is too easy. I’ll try saying ‘I’m extremely happy to meet you, hello’ Abraham. *Kyak kyak krrrkk*.”

“……..”

“But there are some pronunciations that are impossible with human mouth structures. For this, let’s rip out a demon’s vocal cords and make an instrument. Like a straw that makes a noise when you blow into it. Shall we catch three of each kind?”

“Indeed, you are the Creator.”

I received a subtle compliment.

And after that came meticulous, repetitive work. Figuring out the subtle power dynamics and skillfully picking at them, inciting infighting.

I even faked the causes of death on some demon corpses, and cornered the clever and composed demons, forcing them to be pushed out of their groups.

I also created noise pollution with demon-made vuvuzelas. I loaded up insults about fathers and mothers, put them on auto-repeat, and the reaction was explosive.

The result of all that is this.

“The world is divided into three. Since they’re split into three and bickering with each other, we’ll use this opportunity to escape.”

“The children are slow at walking. And… some of the demons are not swayed by your words. What will you do about that?”

“Well, we fight, then.”

If I invested more time, I could cause a great war amongst the demons and have them destroy themselves. But I need to ascend this tower quickly, and I happen to have Abraham, a powerful asset.

So, I decided to go for the win at this early timing.

Of course, I wasn’t planning on trusting solely in Abraham and having him handle all the fighting. Even without magic and with no mana, I had a way to help. And that was a gun.

Even a child can pull the trigger, that’s what a gun is, right? With this, I could have a considerable level of combat power.

I borrowed some firearms from Abraham’s collection lying around the hideout. Two handguns, four magazines. Considering my drastically reduced physical specs, I didn’t pick anything too heavy.

As I was racking the slide, letting it clack, Abraham asked,

“Do you know how to handle a gun?”

“No.”

I’d never handled a gun except for when I was in the military. And of course, this pistol was a first. But that wasn’t going to be a problem.

I ran through a few YouTube videos of people handling firearms in my head, getting the stance right. Now I get the feel of it.

“Now I know how to handle it. Just learned. Let’s head to『The Golden Gate』. I’ll lead the kids, and Abraham, you’ll ride your bike like a separate unit. The route is the A route we discussed earlier.”

“Yes, my Creator. Leave the pesky demons to me.”

“Don’t worry about the small fry that can be taken out with pistol rounds. I can handle up to six at a time on this end.”

Preparation was complete, the plan was set, it was time to move.

VRoooM-!

Abraham took off first on his bike. After roughly shoving spare magazines into my leather belt, I led the doll-like children into the escape.

“Follow me.”

“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”

The children moved as a group.

The children had no expressions, nor did they speak. But they quietly obeyed when I gave an order. It was to be expected since they were NPCs, but I could feel an extreme level of obedience emanating from them.

The movement was smooth.

The demons were preoccupied with fighting each other, which thinned out their numbers, and Abraham was clearing the path ahead. The number of demons encountered along the way was just one or two at most.

And that was about it.

BANG-! BANG-! BANG-!

“KREEaaaK!”

“Chrk, chrk…….”

The first shot was to zero in. The remaining two tore straight through the demon’s brow. Who am I? A guy who, for kicks, can hit falling leaves with paper airplanes. As long as I have the bio-aim hack, there’s no way I’ll miss.

Thud. Thud.

I walk across the cracked asphalt road of a ruined and desolate city.

Sometimes, in the windows of buildings, you see demons with their heads ripped off and hung up, or curses that hint at gruesome deaths. It’s quite the horror show.

Abraham wouldn’t have set this up, so the demons themselves must be responsible for the menacing decor.

“….Oppression and intimidation, huh.”

I can guess their intent. I think I understand what the past ‘Goat’ was thinking.

Test subjects must be completely controlled. They have to suffer enough to fulfill the grand purpose, but not to the point where they’ll struggle tooth and nail to escape.

So, you have to imprint despair deep within their minds, so that they don’t even *think* about escaping. Like an elephant on a chain.

That’s why this stage is, a despair-filled stage swarming with demons. They would’ve been ruthlessly trying to crush any hope of escape.

Weren’t the ‘children’ who move like puppets, only doing as told, an implication of that? Since we don’t know what actually happened, it’s still just speculation…

Anyway, what people aren’t supposed to do, they want to do even more.

“We’ll see about that. I’m going to take everyone and get out of here.”

Renewing my resolve, I press forward for about 30 minutes.

Abraham’s figure appears at the end of the road. Judging by the old man’s not-so-bright expression, this isn’t a ‘I’ve taken care of all the demons and was just waiting for you’ kind of thing…

“We have a problem, Creator. A head demon wearing a goat mask is guarding the ‘Golden Gate’.”

“Oh, for crying out loud.”

This b*stard’s being a pain even in my hallucinations.

Yeah, I knew something was gonna go wrong. That goat-demon, wasn’t his original form some crazy b*stard who liquified his own personality and carried it around in a syringe?

No matter how much chaos breaks out or how many fights erupt around him, that fucker’s gonna focus on his experiments to achieve his own goals. Sadly, the accuracy is spot on.

In the end, I have to break through. That’s the bottom line.

I reloaded my pistol and gave the kids their orders.

“You guys run for the ‘Golden Gate.’ Don’t look back, just run. Escape.”

“Creator, what about you?”

“I’ll buy us some time then bounce. Abraham, you said you can’t go one-on-one with a commander-class demon, right? Then I gotta create an escape route for you.”

“You’re even taking care of this old man, are you?”

Of course.

Just like no parent doesn’t love their children, what creator doesn’t love their creation? Especially if that creation is the badass old Abraham, with his prosthetic arm and motorcycle.

I hid my body behind the corner of the building and peeked out. I could see the massive demon pacing in front of the ‘Golden Gate’. Two sets of wings, and long, sharp claws that looked like they could tear a person apart easy.

*Bang!*

I fired the first shot. The bullet, fired haphazardly, ripped through the demon’s left eye.

“Kiiiaaakkk──!!”

*Thump thump thump thump thump!*

I could hear the demon approaching, heavy footsteps pounding the ground.

I’ve got his aggro. Now, all I gotta do is buy time for the kids to escape, then make sure Abraham gets out, and finally reach the finish line myself.

I estimate that there’s 30 seconds left until the clash with the demon starts. I took a deep breath and said one last thing before the battle commenced.

“Abraham, don’t push yourself, let’s go together. You’re very important to me too.”

“…Creator, may I dare to ask you just one thing?”

The weight in his voice is deep. I turned my head to meet the old man’s gaze.

“……”

Abraham was looking at me with a slight fear, a slight trembling. Like a human standing before a being they worship.

There’s a story like that, isn’t there? If you die and meet God, and that God allows you one question. What would you ask?

It seems Abraham had such a question.

A man who seemed so unbending he would break rather than bend, a man who didn’t lose himself even when dwelling within a decaying hunk of metal, why does he stand so precariously? What could he possibly want to ask?

“Of course. As much as you need.”

I promised an answer. Because I felt it was my duty.

Abraham poured out his emotions through ten seconds of silence. And then, at the end of his hesitation, he asked,

“My daughter, Isaac… did she have a chance?”

“……”

Isaac, the sub-villain who, bewitched by a wicked star observed through a telescope, eventually went mad and burned her own father as a sacrifice.

He seems to be asking if she could have been saved.

I answered honestly.

“There was.”

“……”

There was a salvation route. It wasn’t for Abraham’s sake, though. It was made for the players seeking a perfect happy ending.

Even though the session was shaken here and there by ‘it’s’ intervention, the salvation route hadn’t completely collapsed.

If they took the simple-minded Isaac to Abraham’s grave, the trigger would be met. She would gain the chance to rectify her wrongs and, even if she couldn’t bring him back to life, she would have saved her father’s soul, taken captive by the evil god.

How did this answer sound to Abraham? I don’t know. But, I cautiously prayed that, at least, it would have a positive impact on him.

And, I added urgently,

“Don’t resent the players. It’s not that they didn’t act. If there’s any fault, it’s with me, for not being more lenient…”

“…No. Creator, no.”

Have you ever seen a drizzle?

The old man’s weeping was like a drizzle. Abraham clasped his hands, praying and laughing as he wept. Though I couldn’t know exactly what he felt.

“That alone is enough. Enough, Creator…”

After the rain, a rainbow appears. From those sunken eyes, a resolve like a twinkling star, a resolve so bright even the blind could feel the light emanating.

–

I heard the answer from the young Creator. An answer to the question I had been putting off, fearing to hear.

And the answer was brilliant.

There was. There was an opportunity, a happiness arranged by the Creator. From that answer, Abraham could feel that God loved His creations. Then that was enough.

Even though he and his daughter had bodies made of data, born with the fate of victims and villains, and died miserably in tragedy.

That didn’t mean eternal pain and depression. They, made of parts, also deserved to be loved.

Their lives weren’t just to die and become villains. There was salvation!

Abraham’s vow to live as a human being, no matter what hardships and adversity came his way, was finally completed by the Creator’s generous acceptance.

It was also a promise.

Given the Creator’s nature to do good, He would always arrange for Abraham’s daughter, Isaac, to be revived, so they could meet and share joy.

Then, what was there to fear?

Abraham gripped his shotgun. Though a mighty demon might approach, the old man’s heart was clear, without a trace of fear. He spoke to the Creator.

“Since the Creator has given opportunities to His creations, who should give opportunities to the Creator?”

“⋯⋯Abraham?”

“Go ahead with the children.”

But, haven’t you already admitted defeat?

The young Creator’s eyes are filled with worry. It’s definitely true. Abraham had never spoken a lie. If he fought a commander-level demon, Abraham would lose.

Then, he just has to stop being Abraham.

The old man recalled the words he heard from Dr. Woo Chaerin.

– Thanks to your unique birth, you can even have an arm like this… You can alter your own information. But, of course, there’s a limit. If the transformation rate exceeds 50%, it will become difficult to maintain the self-awareness of “Abraham.” Do you understand what I mean?

So, don’t stray from the appearance of the old man. Maintain the appearance of an old and sick man. Otherwise, you might no longer be yourself.

──No.

No.

With a clank, the old man’s body begins to transform. The iron right arm grows in size, slowly replacing his body. Submerged. The transformation rate rises sharply⋯⋯.

But.

Even if his information is transformed, even if he has a body of iron, even if only 1% of the pieces that make him remain, as long as he remembers his love for his daughter and the brilliance of humanity.

He will always be Abraham.

“Abraham, that form⋯⋯!”

“I will be your opportunity. Young Creator, do what you must. And… It seems like we won’t see each other for a while, so I’ll speak freely.”

Clank.

Abraham completely transforms his right arm into a massive machine gun, shooting out a support that slammed into the ground. And as he pushed his sunglasses up, he left a word of encouragement for the young man climbing the tower for love.

“Speaking as the human Abraham, go be cool. And give my regards to the Goddess.”

“⋯⋯Yes, Abraham. My creation. But seriously, don’t die! Otherwise, Yuna will skin me alive!”

Is this a joke?

“Before I see my daughter again… I can’t… I can’t break here!”

*Tududududududuuhh–!!*

The machine gun spat fire, scattering demon flesh and blood everywhere. Amidst the roars, the din, the acrid smoke of gunpowder, and the whipping bullets, the old man’s spirit never lost its light.

The Creator headed to the next floor.

–

And so, the wise mage, using his cunning, succeeded in escaping through the demons even in this extreme situation.

But the young girl, not wise enough, did not.

Because she had neither the silver tongue to turn mages against each other, nor the precious connections to help her in moments of danger, she had nothing.

All the girl could do was steel her heart.

“Everyone, we can’t give up. We can’t…we can’t break. Don’t turn on each other, let’s try together. We can, we can get out of here…!”

But even as the girl pleaded with the other children.

“Please, just shut your mouth. We’re crawling around in a cage like cattle, how the hell are we going to escape this goddamn tower!”

“Mom, I miss my mom… I’m sorry, I don’t need food, please just send me home…”

“If, if I’m pretty and good, the mages won’t hurt me. Right? They won’t… right…?”

All those voices, all those hearts, were nothing but scattered dust.

Ultimately, the children were divided into three factions: those who were trying to escape by any means necessary, those who were waiting for a chance and complying with the mages, and those who completely served the mages.

And the experiment moved onto the next phase.

–

“Extra! Extra! Orthodox, Heretic, and Demonic Cults Clash at Cheonmachong!”

“⋯⋯Huh?”

The next floor was wuxia.