Chapter 385: The Godslaying Poison, and Countermeasures.
When I opened my heavy eyelids, a ceiling I remember seeing before entered my eyes.
It's my room. I'm on top of the same bed I always slept on.
"You're awake-no yo?"
"… Karen nee-san."
Karen nee-san was sitting down on the sofa next to the bed, with a mass-production model smartphone in her hand.
I tried to sit up, but my body feels heavy.
"Stay down a while more-no yo. Since the effects of the [Godslaying Poison] had only worn off a little while ago, your stamina is still low-no yo."
"… [Godslaying Poison]?"
"A poison that can kill even gods-no yo. We didn't expect the other side to have this kind of card too-no yo."
Karen nee-san muttered to herself while folding her arms.
Poison… Poison, huh. True, that feeling back then felt like a type of poison.
[Godslaying Poison] is a poison used to kill gods. The stronger the target's divinity is, the stronger its effects become. It's something that's seriously bad news to my relatives (gods) too, it seems.
If I remember correctly, it was when I tried to turn into my god form that the effects worsened, as well.
Karen nee-san and the others couldn't come to my rescue. Even if they gained a human's body, a god is a god. They would just fall down on the spot when they reach that place.
Which is why, the only member other than them who could use transfer magic, Sakura volunteered herself. As she's becoming a god's dependant as well, she also received the effects of the poison, and apparently slept for a whole day.
"A whole day… Then what about me?"
"Three days-nano yo. It was a huge deal-no yo. Everyone was all shook up, and wouldn't leave from the side of your bed-no yo. Man, my younger brother sure is loved-no yo."
So I was sleeping here for three whole days… I've caused everyone to worry, didn't I. Better apologize later.
"Has the poison's effect completely disappeared?"
"[Godslaying Poison] only works when the target is in contact, and if you take your distance from it, the effects would disappear by themselves, so don't worry-no yo."
Is that so… So as long as we don't get close, it should be fine, is it… Wait, that! Didn't I see a whole bunch of that thing fall down towards somewhere!?
"Map display!"
"Displaying."
A new world map was projected from my smartphone, which was placed on a side table.
"Wha…!"
I lost my words. The western half of the world map, on the Reverse World side, a single part was missing. Or rather, it isn't missing, it's just cut off from the continent.
The northern and eastern lands of Eisengard had completely disappeared, leaving the country isolated from everywhere else.
"This is…"
"The same thing as the one that Touya-kun destroyed had fallen down all around this location- no yo. They ate away at the land, and changed the landscape-no yo…"
"Those thorns…!"
The obliteration of the earth I heard about from the spirit of earth… The one I found didn't progress any further since that thorn was destroyed by me, but to think it could become something like this…
"Still, why did it fall down only near that place…?"
"Small ones had fallen in other locations as well-no yo. It's according to Regina-chan's analysis, but wasn't there something buried there in the past? It's possible that the remains of that thing had drawn the larger ones to that place, was what she said."
The place Karen nee-san pointed out. I remember that place as well.
It's the place where that giant golden tree appeared last time. So you're telling me that acted as a kind of advance party?
The golden spores that was spread out all over that country… They had dropped using those as markers…
"What happened to Eisengard?"
"About that… We don't actually know-no yo. We only know that [Godslaying Poison] had been spread out over the entire country."
"The entire country!?"
"Thanks to that, we couldn't look into the country with divinity as well. The vision gets interfered with like noise being produced on a TV-no yo."
The earth which has been corrupted by the [Godslaying Poison] would interfere with magic used by us, who belong to the gods, and make us unable to act much, apparently. I was wondering why the cities inside Eisengard wasn't showing up on the map even though the shoreline showed up properly. It's probably blocking my search magic as well.
How can this be. I can't even head there via transfer magic. Well, even if I could I'll just fall flat from the poison the instant I get there, though.
There would be no problems if there was a user of search and transfer magic besides me, who doesn't belong to the gods… Unfortunately, I don't know anyone that talented outside my circle of acquaintances.
"It's weird in the first place-no yo. [Godslaying Poison] is something that kills gods. Even if the evil god is a sham with low divinity, it should be effective against him as well-no yo. So how…"
"I have a conjecture about that."
Before I noticed, Moroha nee-san stood behind Karen nee-san. Same as usual, what a sudden entrance.
"I was always suspicious of the fact that the evil god kept holing up inside the dimensional gap, without ever showing himself out in the world, but now I understand. He was trying to adapt his body to the [Godslaying Poison]."
"Adapt?"
"Little by little… He made his body grow accustomed to the poison. It's possible since he's an evil god with a low level of divinity to begin with. And like that, he obtained a body that could withstand the [Godslaying Poison]."
"—No, 'withstand' is the wrong word to use there. It'd be more accurate to say he managed to take it into himself."
Karina nee-san entered from the balcony window. Wait just a second, where the hell do you think you're coming in from, Miss Hunting God!? There's a fine and proper door right over there you know!
I wanted to retort to her quite a bit, but I held that back, and instead asked her a question.
"… What do you mean by 'take it into himself'?"
"What do you think weaker creatures do in order to avoid being eaten by stronger creatures?"
"Eh? That would be… Forming a symbiotic relationship with another stronger creature, or becoming able to run away or hide with camouflage… And moving around in groups. After that… Ah, I see. Poison…"
"It's like that. He had taken in poison that could kill even gods within his body, and with that, we became unable to do anything to him. A cunning one, he is. Neither gods nor their dependants can approach something being corroded by the [Godslaying Poison], after all."
Poisonous creatures can be generally split into two categories. Creatures that use poison to hunt, and creatures that use poison to prevent themselves from being hunted.
The former would be things like snakes or scorpions. For them, poison is a method used to incapacitate their prey, so that it is easier for them to feed.
The latter would be things like puffer fishes or poison dart frogs. By secreting poison, they can kill their predators; that acts as a deterrent.
And the method the evil god took was to mimic the latter category. They said that [Godslaying Poison] is more dangerous the stronger your divinity is, so… Are?
"… Could it be that [Godslaying Poison] doesn't affect humans?"
"Not at all. In the first place, it's completely harmless to anything that's not a god or a god's dependant. On the other hand, any and all kind of barriers would be corroded by the [Godslaying Poison] once it gets in range, so not even Touya-kun's [Prison] can defend against it."
Moroha nee-san answered thus. Even [Prison] can't block it, you say… Two new voices reached my ears as I furrowed my brows.
"It's fortunate that it was cut off from the continent, really. [Godslaying Poison] would be absorbed by the earth, and corrupts it in that process. However, those that flowed into the sea would become thinner and disappear. With the sea around it, there's no fear about the corruption spreading to the rest of the world, basically."
"But but~, in the end, the lands of that country was still corrupted by the [Godslaying Poison], wasn't it. For us, the divine, and our dependants, that land is basically a poisonous swamp right now, you know?"
The Agriculture God, Kousuke ojii, and the Alcohol God, Suika, were seated down on a sofa and talking. No, seriously, where did you guys come in from!?
So apparently, the [Godslaying Poison] doesn't maintain the mist-like state I saw it in, but gets absorbed into the land eventually and changes it into a venomous (only for gods and their dependants, though) region.
That reminds me, there was that American comic hero who's weak to a special type of ore… Guess it's something like that. (Note: quite obviously Superman, but it could also be some obscure reference I don't know about. Doesn't change much, anyway.)
"What happened to the people living in Eisengard?"
"Nothing much has changed yet, apparently. Although the lands have been contaminated with the [Godslaying Poison], it's not harmful to the humans, after all. Still, it's in a dangerous situation due to the variants appearing from all over the place. Well, those are all information we heard from people who got onto a ship and escaped to the neighboring countries."
Overlapping with Moroha nee-san's explanation, a sad guitar melody began flowing in from the closed closet in my room. Erik Satie's "Gymnopédies"…
I'm not going to retort anymore. Something like "why is the Music God inside my room's closet" is a trivial matter at this point. (Note: Touya has achieved Ignore Lv.7! Skill proficiency has increased!)
"A few of those thorns also dropped down at other countries too, right? What about them?"
"Since they're all small ones, only a few variants popped out from them, so the Advanturer's Guild and knight orders belonging to the countries managed to subjugate them somehow. All the large ones seem to have dropped down at Eisengard…"
"And [Godslaying Poison] outside of Eisengard?"
"It's been spread out by those thorns, but it's something fundamentally harmless to normal humans and animals, so. Although, since the spirits won't approach those lands, nothing will be able to grow on them in the future."
The spirits are something like gods' dependants as well, after all. There's no way they would visit a land that could destroy themselves.
That means, Eisengard would become a land with no spirits in it… Unable to receive the spirits' blessings, wouldn't that just turn into a place man cannot live in?
"And, what are you going to do now? This world has already left the hands of the World God- sama. All that's left is to see how you, Touya, would act."
Karina nee-san looked at me with a fearless smile. What will I do? Isn't that already decided?
"I'll defeat that evil god, obviously. As if I'll let them do whatever they want anymore than this. I'll definitely erase them from this world without a trace."
Karen nee-san and the others looked at each other and smiled. It's kinda irritating to see all those faces that clearly expressed "we knew you would say that".
"Good determination!"
Opening, or rather, blowing away the door to the room with a *Doban!*, Takeru ojii made his entrance.
Like I saidddd! Will it kill you guys to enter normallyyy!?
"We shall help out with your battle however we can! Fight without reservations! I'll pick your bones up afterwards!"
"Stop saying it like I'm planning to die. Also fix the door."
I looked at Takeru ojii, who's raising his fist up towards the sky in a display of useless passion, with cold eyes and replied. Don't say things that sound like a bad omen.
"Touya-san! Have you woken up!?"
As expected, with that much noise, everyone else should've noticed as well.
In an instant, everyone came in and crowded around my bed. Wait, Suu! Please don't dive towards me!
From among them, I held the hands of Sakura, who's tearing up a little, and brought her closer.
"Thank you. If Sakura didn't come to rescue me…"
Shaking her head sideways, Sakura looked at me directly with her eyes.
"That much is obvious. It's natural for us to help King-sama. It's the job of the wife to support the husband. Rely on us more."
It isn't "wife" since we're not married yet, but I'm honestly glad to hear her feelings. I unintentionally hugged Sakura who said that while smiling. Kuuh, so cute!
"How envious-no…"
"Well, you can't help it this time. Sakura was lying in bed for a day too, you know. Let's just think of this as a reward."
Elze patted the head of Suu, who's nibbling her thumb. If something like this is a reward then I don't mind giving them out anytime, you know.
Still, the fact that Sakura was affected by the [Godslaying Magic] means that, as expected, everyone else is in danger too…
That's a pretty serious problem with regards to our goal of defeating the evil god.
"To what degree can [Godslaying Poison] affect us? If everyone who's here is out, then what about, say, our knight order? Will they be affected?"
"Nn… It's hard to say-nano yo. It'll be fine if they're people who we have absolutely no relations with. However, just with them being under our protection, they would already be
affected for a bit by our divinity… Although the effects will be light, it's possible that the people Touya-kun are close to will also be affected by the [Godslaying Poison]…"
Karen nee-san muttered while folding her arms with an "Unn…". Eh, they can be affected with just that much?
Moroha nee-san nodded slightly as well before explaining.
"Romantic love, friendship, familial relations, compassion, simple goodwill… The [Godslaying Poison] will react to those 'love of god' and eat away at the life of the target. It's possible that every single person who lives in Brunhild would receive some form of damage. Well, they won't have their lives threatened like us, and will just have some light nausea and dizziness."
The phrase "If you hate monks, you can't even stand seeing a kasaya" ran through my head. A demonic poison that corrodes everything related to its natural enemy, the gods. What unpleasantness. (Note: a Japanese idiom to the effect of "hating everything related to something you hate". Also, a kasaya is a traditional Buddhist monk wear. Google for more details.)
Basically, it could affect everyone I've ever known… My chest hurts somehow. Oh, wait, it wouldn't affect people I don't like or people who I didn't even pay attention to, would it.
"Um, is there no way to defend against that [Godslaying Poison]-desu ka?"
Towards Linze who timidly asked her question, Kousuke ojii replied.
"Nothing in the human realm. It's not impossible to do something like the evil god and let the poison corrode yourself to adapt to it, but if he did that, we as well as you girls would never be able to touch Touya-kun again."
"Rejected-ja! We will never acknowledge such a method!"
Suu rejected the notion at once. I, too, don't want to take such a method.
"We need to think of some plan to break through this. And that, uh, evil god? We cannot leave that fellow to do as he pleases either."
Luu spoke out with that, but we have no idea what to do in the current situation. If everyone inside Eisengard had died, there would've been the option to sink the entire country. Although, I don't feel like they would disappear that easily.
"Umm, I'm not sure if this qualifies as a plan-degozaru ga…"
Yae nervously faced towards Karen nee-san and raised her hand. What is it? If she's got an idea, then we should hear it by all means.
"Does that [Godslaying Poison] have an effect on machines as well-degozarou ka?"
"Machines? Ah, it won't work if you attack with Frame Gears-nano yo. Even Touya-kun's [Prison] would be corroded. Something like the protective barrier around a Frame Gear's cockpit wouldn't do you—"
"Ah, no, I'm not talking about that; what about golems?"
For an instant, I made a blank face without understanding what Yae meant, but then it came to me.
"For example-degozaru na. If there's a golem that Touya-dono thinks dearly of, would it be affected by the [Godslaying Poison] and die… Or rather, have its function suspended- degozarou ka?"
"… It wouldn't. If it's a golem, then—to put it bluntly—it would fall under the category of a tool… It'd be treated the same as a sacred treasure. Since it's not a living being, it shouldn't be affected by the [Godslaying Poison]…"
I see. Just like what Moroha nee-san said, golems… Well, Frame Gears as well; the machines themselves would not be affected by the [Godslaying Poison].
If [Godslaying Poison] is capable of affecting tools, then something should've also happened to my clothes and Brunhild, as well as my smartphone.
I feel like I saw a ray of light amidst the darkness. If you speak of golems, it's Dr. Elka. Let's quickly consult her about this.