Ubermensch – Chapter 157

Chapter 157

She grumbled as she spoke.

“Are you seeing me for the first time? Why are you looking at me like you’re about to cry?”

“I… I…”

It was Deroa. Not the Deroa from another dimension, but the Deroa who had fought alongside Mason and then departed.

Mason forced down his surging emotions and let out a sigh.

‘So Deroa is my High Priest.’

During the battle against the Great Eater, or rather, the World Tree, she had activated an incomplete spell with an incomplete core. A spell that gathered the core energy of the players and concentrated it on Mason.

Perhaps, that was the role of the High Priest that Nodens had mentioned.

To extract the power of faith from believers and focus it on the god.

He could understand. Talented people were rare, and those who had worked with Mason were even rarer.

Just as the god Oztalon was the only one among countless Masons, Oztalon’s High Priest could only be this Deroa among countless Deroas.

Mason looked up at the sky with desolate eyes.

The Destroyer was approaching from afar.

An unavoidable destruction that could not be escaped or stopped.

‘Nodens. You… You…’

Mason felt a mixture of wanting to cry and wanting to smash something.

‘Out of the countless people I couldn’t protect, you only allowed me to save Deroa?’

He wanted to roar to the heavens, to wail. However, he didn’t. Mason accepted the destruction of the world with great difficulty, and the reason he was here now was to prevent further destruction.

“What are you standing around for?”

Deroa grumbled.

“This is a cafe. Either order something or get out.”

“Haven’t you heard about the Destroyer?”

“Order, and sit down. Got it?”

Deroa growled, and Mason eventually gave in.

“Get me an iced Americano.”

“Hey, you idiot. Ordering an iced Americano in Italy? Would you be happy if you saw a foreigner putting ketchup in their gukbap?”

“Don’t you have iced Americano?”

“No, I do.”

Deroa grinned.

“Congratulations! You’re the first idiot to order an iced Americano since I opened this cafe!”

Deroa clumsily prepared the coffee.

“The barista’s skills in this place are really lacking.”

“That’s not something someone who drinks iced Americano should be saying.”

Deroa opened her own cola and sat across from Mason.

“Hey, why did you come all this way after we had such a cool farewell? I know you miss this older sister, but isn’t this a bit too clingy?”

“Didn’t it occur to you that I might have come for something important?”

“If it was important, you would have come with Seo Yeonhee or the Heavenly King. There’s no way they would let you come alone.”

Just hearing their names made his heart ache.

Deroa leisurely sipped her cola.

“I saw on the news that the Destroyer is coming, are preparations going well?”

“What do you think?”

“They must be going well. You, Seo Yeonhee, and the Heavenly King are there.”

She truly believed it. That Yekaterina, Seo Yeonhee, and Mason would save the world.

Deroa shook her head.

“It’s a good thing things have calmed down a bit lately. It was a mess not too long ago. I almost had to use the shotgun I bought as a hobby.”

“…”

“But everyone has calmed down these days. Your speech was pretty good. Of course, Seo Yeonhee or the Heavenly King must have written the script, but it’s something that you could read it convincingly!”

“…”

“So…”

Deroa’s face, which had been excitedly chattering, gradually darkened. She spoke in a quiet voice.

“Mason.”

There was no longer any humor or cheerfulness in Deroa’s voice. She handed him a handkerchief with a calm expression.

“Why?”

“Wipe your eyes.”

Mason wiped his eyes with the handkerchief. It was damp with tears.

Only then did Mason realize he was crying.

Deroa said with a bitter expression.

“You failed.”

Her short words were filled with a mix of emotions. It was a heavy statement, almost too difficult to hear.

“I’m sorry, Deroa.”

Mason sobbed.

“I failed. I failed to save this world…”

Deroa made a bitter face, but only for a moment.

“This isn’t the time to be drinking tea…”

She closed the cafe door and hung the ‘Closed’ sign.

Deroa took out a bottle of alcohol.

“How long until the end?”

“About ten days.”

“Well, at least we have time to binge-watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy.”

Mason looked at Deroa.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect the world…”

“It’s okay. You don’t need to say that to me.”

Deroa grinned and said.

“You did your best, right?”

“…”

“That’s enough.”

Deroa placed her small hand on Mason’s massive shoulder.

“Cry it out. Even if I can’t do anything else, I can at least listen to your woes.”

“No, Deroa. I… I’m not suffering because I couldn’t protect the world…”

Mason said, sobbing.

“I… I ran away… I turned my back on this world and ran away…”

“…”

The hand that was patting his shoulder fell away. Deroa’s eyes sharpened.

“…You ran away?”

“Yes. When this world was about to be destroyed, I left alone. And I moved to another dimension.”

“You do realize you’re speaking in the past tense, right?”

“I’m not the Mason of this time. I’m Mason from the future, after this world has been destroyed.”

Deroa gave a bitter laugh.

She drank her alcohol.

Because this was a story she couldn’t bear to hear sober.

“Tell me. Everything, from the beginning to now.”

Deroa said in a calm voice.

“I don’t know whether I should despise you or comfort you.”

๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑

Deroa listened to the entire story without saying a word.

That the world had eventually been destroyed, that he had escaped to another world thanks to Yekaterina. And that he had met Nodens and was working as Nodens’ agent and god.

“And you came to make me your High Priest?”

“Yes.”

“For what?”

Deroa’s question hit the mark.

“Our world is gone, and we can’t bring it back, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then what are you fighting for?”

Deroa looked at Mason.

“Everyone is dead. The 28th century, the 21st century. Everyone you cared about is dead. So, do you still have a reason to fight?”

“I do.”

“What is it?”

“To save other worlds.”

Mason gritted his teeth.

“Even if there are worlds I couldn’t save, even if there are people I couldn’t save, the fact that there are worlds I can save and people I can save remains unchanged.”

“Everyone you cared about is dead. There’s no one left but people you don’t know.”

“Even so, what I have to do doesn’t change.”

Mason looked at Deroa.

Even as he shed tears for those he had lost, he looked directly at Deroa for those he could save.

“To fight the Destroyer.”

Deroa tilted her glass.

After emptying her glass, she stood up.

“Let’s go.”

“Where to?”

“To your new headquarters.”

Deroa said, snorting.

“I was going to beat you black and blue if you were rotten to the core after failing to save the world, but at least your heart seems to be in the right place, so I’ll let you off the hook.”

“Are you saying you’ll help me?”

“Help you? Hey, is this someone else’s problem?”

Deroa gave a ferocious smile.

“We’ll fight together, and defeat him together. That damn Destroyer bastard!”

“…!”

Even with the world ending, Deroa was still Deroa.

Grumpy and prickly on the outside, but with a deep heart and willing to step up when needed.

The smallest girl Mason knew was also the bravest warrior he knew.

“Yes, Deroa. Let’s go together.”

Mason looked up at the distant sky.

“To defeat the Destroyer!”

๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑

The Magnificent Nodens smiles.

Because he has discovered, in the approaching Destroyer, the possibility of an equal.

“Come, Destroyer.”

The Magnificent Nodens was smiling.

A life without purpose was wandering, and stagnation without progress was regression.

For too long, he had been an absolute being, unable to find any purpose other than existence itself.

But now, the Magnificent Nodens was smiling.

“My beloved nemesis, who makes my life fulfilling.”

The Destroyer’s existence completed Nodens.

Because the Destroyer destroys, Nodens protects.

If the Destroyer grows, so must Nodens.

The Destroyer gave him need, and gave him purpose.

He was a being more grateful than any other in all dimensions.

“You, who gave me a reason to protect the world.”

The Magnificent Nodens was rejoicing.

“As long as you live, I can fight against you.”

However, deep inside, in the deepest part of his heart that he could not reveal to anyone, Nodens could not smile.

‘But if I defeat him, what should I do then?’

Must he return once more?

To the era of lonely godhood, purposeless and boring?

To a life of wandering without progress, living as a solitary god without purpose?

That… That…

‘…It’s frightening.’

Nodens shuddered.

Now that he had tasted the pleasure of a fulfilling life, he could no longer go back.

‘Should I really defeat the Destroyer?’

Can I truly endure a world without the Destroyer?

The lonely Nodens trembled in fear.

All actions without an opponent were ultimately empty.

Returning to an empty life was a terrifying thought.

‘Then, rather…’

The gloomy Nodens began to have thoughts he shouldn’t.

‘If I become the Destroyer, wouldn’t someone stop me?’

In the distance, he saw Mason.

Oztalon. The mortal who was growing into a protecting god.

The relieved Nodens smiled.

He no longer had to worry about loneliness.

The world was vast, and life would continue.