Osian wondered what Cthulatlap was talking about. He already knew from fighting that the power of knights he wielded was lethal even to outer gods.
However, judging from Cthulatlap's tone and nuance, it sounded like that wasn't everything.
"Do you know something about my power?"
[What? Ha, how absurd. Are you saying you've been wielding that power without even knowing what kind of power it is?]
Cthulatlap let out a hollow laugh, as if he hadn't expected such a question from Osian. Of course, seeing a starfish with only an eyeball stuck in the middle saying such things looked quite ridiculous.
[You must know it too. Just like me and that red one, when beings like us from the outside appear in this world, our very existence influences the surroundings.]
Osian nodded his head. From the moment external beings enter this world, they naturally change this world into an environment suitable for them to live in.
This is called 'erosion'. Just as the gray fungus did. And just as the Trinity Building changed to what it is now.
That erosion could be caused intentionally, or it could be caused instinctively. External beings would unintentionally cause damage even if it wasn't their intention.
"Resistance?"
Osian pondered whether he had ever seen such a case. But no matter how much he thought about it, nothing came to mind. Not even anything similar or from which he could infer.
If the world resists, why don't any phenomena occur even when the outer gods rampage like this?
[The resistance this world produces is not the kind of natural law you're thinking of. Rather, its method is quite peculiar. It's closer to putting forth its own agents.]
"Agents?"
[Yes. The world grants qualifications to those who live in this world. Those who receive such qualifications come to do the work of eliminating those who threaten the world.]
Those with qualifications. Osian realized he was one of them.
Not just himself. All other playable classes except for knights were those granted qualifications by the world.
Like white blood cells that eliminate viruses that have infiltrated the body.
[And you qualified ones are given peculiar abilities. The more enemies you defeat, the stronger you gradually become. Isn't that right?]
That was also correct. The game system was such that when you killed enemies, you would absorb some kind of power they possessed.
This power was called 'anima', and you would accumulate this absorbed anima and use it to raise stats or strengthen skills.
The setting for anima wasn't explained in detail, but it was presumed to be the soul or rank of the defeated being.
'I had only thought of it as a simple game leveling system.'
It's basic common sense that you gain experience points every time you defeat monsters in a game. So no one questioned it or delved deeply into the setting. Who would have thought this was some kind of authority granted by the world.
[The reason the power you wield is antagonistic to us is also because of that. Since this world itself has special countermeasures against external invasion. It can't help but deal great damage to us.]
"So that's how it was."
He finally understood where the source of power possessed by knights and other classes came from.
[However, this world has weakened now. It's exposed to far more dangers than before.]
"What do you mean by that?"
[That time when I fought with you. I knew this world was a very formidable place.]
The reason he didn't enter the continent and spent time leisurely at sea wasn't simply because he felt comfortable in the marine environment.
The further inland he went, the more dangerous beings there were, so he avoided unnecessary conflicts.
'Come to think of it, that makes sense. At that time, there were countless monsters including native gods, evil gods, transcendents, giants, high witches, and so on.'
No matter how much of an outer god he was, he would have judged it dangerous to run wild in such a place.
Of course, Red Eternity had tried to establish territory on the continent and spread its influence even then, so its persistence was tongue-wagging.
[Now most of the dangers have disappeared.]
"Why on earth?"
[......Are you asking me that?]
"Ah......"
I killed almost all of them.
Even though it was the last playthrough, I moved as quickly as possible and only killed the bosses of the essential gates in the story.
Thinking about it, that alone was equivalent to removing most of the high-ranking beings. Now that the existing powers that had established themselves were destroyed, the external beings who coveted this world had no choice but to rekindle their will.
However, Osian had a slight doubt. Like himself, those with qualifications ascend after absorbing anima. After ascending like that, isn't there something else?
Whether he read Osian's such doubt or not, Cthulatlap naturally added an explanation.
[Anyway, the dangerous elements that occupied positions have disappeared, and as time passed, the 'Barrier of Stars' that protected the world has also thinned.]
The Barrier of Stars. It was the boundary that separated this world from the outside, and also the fortress that prevented external beings from entering recklessly.
"The barrier weakened?"
[Yes. It gradually weakened as time passed. I don't know the detailed reason. However, in the changed era, the most likely reason would be that mystical beings disappeared and other ascendants didn't appear.]
"You don't know in detail either?"
The starfish frowned.
[I don't know everything either. In the first place, after recovering from the wounds I received from you, until I made contracts with these children, I could only observe the situation from the outside. There are limits to the information I can access.]
"Then there's one thing I want to ask. Do you remember the day when star rain fell?"
Osian recalled the day when he had ascended but failed.
[I've seen it. But why are you asking about that? No, never mind. I understand why you asked such a thing.]
Cthulatlap shrugged his shoulders while crossing his arms.
[It must be related to you appearing in this world again, right? Yes. It has to be. Originally, those similar to you ascend after their rank rises and then do the work of blocking external enemies at the barrier.]
"What?"
That was something Osian had never heard before.
[What's with that reaction? Don't tell me you didn't know?]
Osian nodded his head. He couldn't pretend to know something he didn't know out of pride here. For him, ascension was the end of everything. Because that's how the game's ending went.
All there was after ascension was a message window asking if you wanted to enter the next playthrough, so how could he know what happened after that.
[Huh. Come to think of it, you being here like this is also incomprehensible. Usually when you ascend like that, you become one with the barrier and become a gatekeeper who blocks external enemies, but you didn't do that.]
The reason Cthulatlap knew so well was nothing special. He too was one of the outer gods who had broken through the barrier. Naturally, he had no choice but to know better than anyone what happened at the barrier.
"The barrier isn't actually just some simple existing wall?"
[The northern warriors there seem to have a tradition that if they die honorably in battle, they can go to an eternal battlefield afterward and fight to their heart's content, right? It's similar to that. Those who ascend become stars like that, and the celestial sphere they form blocks external enemies.]
Osian was quite flustered by this truth that had never been revealed. After ascending, instead of becoming a god, you have to continue fighting external enemies to protect this world.
And you become a star? Then do those celestial stars floating in the sky mean the ascendants who gained rank in the distant past? And the reason their starlight has weakened now is also because the Barrier of Stars has gradually thinned?
[When you suddenly appeared, I thought you had run away from the battlefield. But seeing that reaction, it seems there's some reason I don't know about.]
Osian closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them.
"Yes. Thank you for telling me. Thanks to you, some missing pieces of the puzzle have been filled."
Though he hadn't figured everything out yet, he thought that perhaps the battle taking place in the heavens might be related to the reason he appeared in this world.
"The conversation has gone on long. Let's move now. If we stay here too long, who knows what those guys below might do."
Though he wanted to spend more time uncovering such truths, the situation wasn't favorable. Right now, cutting off Cardinal Zaxilos' neck was the priority.
"I'll ask about curious things next time."
[Hmph. Frivolous fellow. Do you think I'll tell you everything just because you ask?]
"No, that won't do. We need to get along well with each other."
Atilla grabbed the starfish floating in the air with both hands and shook its body up and down.
[Let go of this! Don't shake me! I'm getting dizzy!]
"We'll get along well, right? We will, right?"
[I understand, so let go! I don't know anything else anyway!]
When Atilla finally let go, Cthulatlap staggered and perched on Krua's shoulder. The central eyeball was spinning round and round. It was an absurdly ridiculous sight for something that was supposed to be an outer god.
On the other hand, Atilla, who had been suffering from auditory hallucinations until then, looked much more energetic than before. It was probably thanks to Cthulatlap being able to control his influence.
Whatever the case, the fact that the slithering sisters had no lacking aspects as fighting power was welcome news for this side.
"Then let's move. The guys are gradually detecting us and gathering."
He could sense their presence. They were priests of the Eternal Church who had detected their bishop's death and were rushing in with anger.
"The bishop is dead!"
"That vacant position is mine!"
While angry, they seemed to expect that if they achieved merit in this fight, they would become the next bishop. They immediately began transforming their bodies, each showing off their own grotesqueness.
Some had their chest to abdomen split open and turn into giant mouths, others had their head parts turn into long whip-like forms with facial features disappearing. Some flattened like flounders and crawled along the floor as they charged.
Each one showed off unique grotesqueness, and seeing this, Atilla asked.
"Ah. I'll handle those. Please rest, Mr. Osian."
"You?"
"Yes. I've been feeling a bit hungry lately anyway."
Hungry, what does that mean? Suddenly Osian could recall what happened to the bishop they had defeated.
The bishop had disappeared without even leaving a corpse. More precisely, he had been captured alive by octopus tentacles. If eaten like that, what happened to that bishop's soul? Did he return to Red Eternity after losing his body?
No. If it wasn't killed by someone else but killed by the power of another outer god. Especially if it was closer to one side devouring the other.
'Krua and Atilla are, for them, equivalent to another form of death.'
Atilla slowly walked forward. She looked at the priests who had approached close range, then slowly lifted up her loose skirt hem. And from under her skirt, countless octopus tentacles overflowed like water taps turned to maximum.
The octopus legs, thicker than the trunk of a decent-sized tree, had sharp thorns and even teeth in the sucker parts.
"Huh?"
The priest who had been charging bravely in the lead was swallowed by the octopus leg with those words as his last.
-Crunch! Crunch crunch! Swoosh!
Instantly there were sounds of something breaking, being crushed, and being eaten. This process didn't even take one second. The octopus legs repeated the process of grabbing priests one by one and instantly crushing and devouring them. The octopus tentacles that ate the priests had more elasticity than before and their surfaces gleamed.
The Eternal Church priests reacted intensely.
"Wh-what is this!"
"It doesn't matter! Charge!"
If there had been another bishop-level strongman in this place, they would have noticed that the octopus legs Atilla used were very dangerous.
But all that were in this place were priests blinded by achievement. They only thought Atilla's attack was just peculiar, not knowing how lethal it was to them.
The price was horrific. All of them were caught and devoured by the octopus legs Atilla summoned.
[Hmm. The taste isn't great, but it's quite decent for filling a hungry stomach.]
Naturally, the power of the priests Atilla devoured was naturally absorbed by Cthulatlap. The creature stroked what was presumed to be his lower belly below his eye with what was presumed to be his right arm, a starfish appendage.
'A structure where the more enemies you kill, the more this side recovers power. For him, those Eternal Church priests are nothing more than nutrient supply.'
They were extremely bad compatibility for Red Eternity's priests in another sense.
The priests seemed to sense something was wrong and tried to flee, but Atilla didn't miss them. The giant octopus legs stretched with elasticity that ignored physical laws and devoured the fleeing Eternal Church priests.
"Aaaah! Save me!"
"Kyaaaah!"
The beings who had been devouring people until now were asking to be saved when they were being devoured instead. The fact that this was quite ironic occurred to him.
Then, from the direction where an Eternal Church priest was fleeing in the distance, another scream echoed.
At the same time, the atmosphere heated up considerably and golden flames rose from the passage beyond.
The fleeing Eternal Church priests were engulfed in those flames and instantly fell as black charcoal.
Golden flames of divine power from the front, man-eating octopus tentacles from behind. In the end, the Eternal Church priests were completely annihilated in an instant, making their initial momentum seem meaningless.
Atilla, who had retracted her octopus tentacles, rejoined where Osian was.
"Th-that person is......"
Did she instinctively feel reluctance? Atilla hid behind Krua, and Krua stepped forward as if protecting Atilla.
From up ahead, a boy wearing a gray hood was walking through the golden embers.