Surviving without God Chapter 251

— How did you...

Fog. The being who had just thrown a warning at Gunther Sirhe stared at him with eyes filled with absolute incomprehension.

— How did you find ?

Wariness. Hostility. A familiar face now reflected completely foreign emotions. Gunther slowly took a step back, never taking his eyes off the sea-colored hair swaying in the mist.

“...Ruler of the Oceans.”

There was no mistake. He had already encountered her incarnations more than once. He would recognize her among a thousand.

Though now, she seed far more subdued. Could this be the period when she was only beginning to step away from her human nature and toward divinity? Gunther’s eyelids twitched faintly.

“But why is she alone?”

Where were the other three gods who always followed her as a group? It was extrely strange that she, a mage, would be wandering this dangerous space alone. Gunther imdiately addressed the void, calling out to his three gods:

“Why is she alone? Don’t you understand what ti this is, and what’s happening at all?”

[......]

“Ruler of the Oceans, are you watching? That’s you.”

[......]

Silence. No answer ca. Gunther’s # Nоvеlight # brows slowly drew together as a voice cut through:

— Answer.

The word was sharp, like the edge of a blade.

— How did you break through my concealnt magic and track ? Who are you, and what are you doing in this Poppy Mirror?

This was no empty threat. The head of her staff slowly rose and pointed straight at Gunther.

Uuuuuuu—

Colossal mana pressed down on everything. His skin instantly prickled with goosebumps. The sheer, overwhelming power made his hair stand on end—no mage from his ti even ca close to what he was feeling now.

— I’ll give you ten seconds.

Gunther understood: she truly intended to kill him.

“Why? Why such extremity?”

Of course, his sudden appearance in the middle of this black fog—a place called the “Poppy Mirror”—looked suspicious. Most likely, this was territory of the Evil Gods. But even taking that into account, her suspicion was excessive.

“If she uses mana here, the Evil Gods will notice her. Is she trying to commit suicide?”

— Eight.

Her cold voice ticked down the numbers. Gunther’s thoughts raced. Why was she, always so composed, acting so recklessly?

Despite her commanding tone, sothing flickered deep within her pupils—an inexplicable anxiety. Urgency. Fear. Like a lost child.

...And the key to lowering her guard and gaining her help lay precisely in the reason for that fear.

— Six... Five.

The mana intensified. Its pressure was so imnse that even the fog began to retreat. Gunther recalled the words of Alphonse of Red Street: Rahenia was one of the three greatest mages in all of human history.

— Two, one. Ti’s up.

— First, I’ll reveal my identity. I’m an ordinary human.

— ...Hm.

The light at the tip of her staff flared even brighter. Her face was obscured by the radiance, but Gunther already knew—she hadn’t believed a single word.

— You may look human. But you won’t deceive . How dare you call yourself human while carrying a fragnt of divinity within you?

...A fragnt of divinity?

Ah.

Gunther exhaled quietly. She must be referring to the fragnt left to him by the Vanguard of the Dark Night—a trace tied to an Evil God.

— Unknown deity. I only helped you because the boundary between good and evil within you is blurred, but since you broke my concealnt and tracked ... do not expect rcy.

Mana surged like a rising tide. Suspicion and anger from the Ruler of the Oceans were on the verge of erupting when Gunther spoke calmly:

— Kalos. El. Dietrich.

He spoke the true nas of the three gods.

— ......?

She flinched.

— You ca here chasing them, didn’t you? The ones who disappeared?

The gamble on knowledge from the future paid off. For the first ti, the Ruler of the Oceans’ pupils widened in shock.

Gunther clearly rembered his conversation with her in the future.

“One night, just before the final line of defense fell, they left. No one knew why or where. They left alone, wounded... and simply vanished.”

“And the next morning, when they still hadn’t returned, the Evil Gods began losing their power. We couldn’t destroy them completely, but people slowly began to reclaim what was lost.”

“But at the sa ti... those three were erased from the world.”

He rembered that sorrowful voice. Three gods whose feats and legacy outshone any other.

Yet from that day on, humanity forgot them. The King of Ninety-Nine Defeats, the Drug-Addicted Saint, Alphonse of Red Street—only disgraceful nicknas remained, while they themselves were sealed in so unknown space under eternal prohibition.

Guided by instinct, Gunther continued:

— I... am their friend.

The Ruler of the Oceans. There was only one reason she would recklessly throw herself alone into such a dangerous place.

“This is happening today.”

The day when the three gods sacrificed their divinity to save humanity. The mont they beca “Forgotten Gods.”

From that day forward, she would spend centuries searching for even the faintest trace of her vanished friends.

Looking through the dimming glow of the staff at the trembling Rahenia, Gunther added one final line:

— Though I’m a friend from the future.

Gunther gave the Ruler of the Oceans only the necessary information, deliberately omitting details that could cause chaos. For example, the tragedy awaiting the three gods.

However, he confird that today the world would be saved by their power, and also warned her that the Luthien Theocracy would not disappear and would one day return to threaten them again.

In truth, this “confession” was a complete gamble. It was incredibly hard to believe such a story. But Gunther bet on one thing—she was a “Mage.”

In this world, mages are not simply those who throw fireballs. In a world where gods exist, mages are those who do not deny the world’s anomalies but seek to understand them. Those who do not fear the unknown, but accept it.

Without that mindset, one cannot even be called a mage—and she stood at the very pinnacle. She would not be able to completely reject even such a mad concept as ti travel.

Moreover, Gunther knew how she reacted to the existence of a “Regressor” in his future.

— Regressor... So in the future, humanity conquered ti? Or is it coincidence? Fate?..

As expected, the Ruler of the Oceans remained composed. She did not dismiss him as insane. Shock and cold calculation mixed in her gaze as she evaluated the truth of his words. But Gunther had a secret weapon to completely shatter her doubts.

— Ahem.

— ......?

Gunther cleared his throat. It was difficult to imitate the deep, rumbling voice of the King of Knights, but he could manage sothing close.

— Rahenia.

— ......?

— When I’m beside you, breathing becos strangely easy. Even if we’re not on the battlefield... it feels like this is where I’m ant to be.

— ......?!

Alphonse had once told him this story at the Star Watch, laughing himself to tears. He had overheard the greatest confession of the King of Knights’ life—and for that, he had been ramd in fury and sent flying off a cliff. Fortunately, Gunther rembered that awkward line word for word.

— Rahenia, today I tremble not from fear of the enemy, but—

— S-s-stop!!!!!!!

— Ghk!

The Ruler of the Oceans smacked Gunther with her staff.

— Fine, I believe you, just shut up! Have you lost your mind?! Was that Kalos? That damned Kalos is at it again!..

That proved at least one thing: Gunther truly was close to the three of them.

“Now she has no choice but to believe .”

Those three gods ant everything to Rahenia. They were the ones who had pulled her, lost in magic, out of the ocean tower and into the wider world. With them, she had laughed and fought for justice. For centuries after they were erased from mory, she searched for their nas.

Naturally, her attitude toward Gunther changed.

— Fine. I believe you.

The grandeur vanished from Rahenia’s voice. The light at the tip of her staff went out completely.

— I don’t have a choice. Even the Evil Gods wouldn’t approach in such a stupid way!

She let out a quiet sigh.

— So, what did you say your na was?

— Gunther. You can call Gunther.

— ...And why are you speaking so casually?

Gunther shrugged.

— In the future, we don’t use formalities.

— Insolent. No wonder you got along with Kalos.

Rahenia finally lowered her staff.

— Fine, Gunther. Why were you looking for ? And where are those idiots now?

— I need help. A way to survive and get out of here.

He needed to know how to survive the Pope’s trap. Gunther continued:

— Sorry, but I don’t know where the three of them are right now either. I only just arrived here. However... I have a guess.

— A guess?

Gunther fell silent and shifted his gaze behind Rahenia.

— We’ll discuss the details later.

Movent stirred beyond the fog. It was not the overwhelming presence of the “King of Hunger” he had encountered before. This was sothing else—a group. And none of them were weak. It seed the Evil Gods under Luthien were roaming in packs. Gunther smirked.

— What is this place, anyway?

— The Poppy Mirror, — Rahenia answered briefly. — A place where the capital of the Luthien Theocracy once stood.

The situation here was far worse for humanity than in Gunther’s ti. The ritual to manifest the Seven Evil Gods was nearing completion. Other Evil Gods had already descended and devoured countless people. This place was the epicenter of their atrocities—the deepest and darkest abyss.

— Let’s move to a safer zone first.

— There are such places here?

— Not completely safe, but better than this.

After speaking, Rahenia murmured quietly into the void:

[Baldrak]

Whoooosh—

Gunther felt sothing approaching at trendous speed. The fog split apart instantly. When the figure erged, Gunther reflexively grabbed his greatsword. He nearly struck—it was that powerful.

— This is...

Before him stood a bipedal beast. Its form blended wolf, lion, and tiger—an embodint of all predators at once. It stood five ters tall. Curved legs with massive thighs, a broad, powerful chest. Its arms hung nearly to its knees due to its overdeveloped shoulders.

A dangerously powerful beastman. In its hands it held a massive bow, as if made from soone’s spine—an oversized siege weapon. At its waist hung two daggers of the sa material. Its posture resembled a drawn bowstring, ready to release at any mont. The beast looked at Rahenia, and its knife-like teeth clicked together.

— Grrr, Rahenia, grrr, you called? Did you find them?

— No, but I found another lead. Take us to the outskirts.

— ...This one, grrr, who is he? He slls strange.

Gunther narrowed his eyes. Sothing felt familiar. Not the monstrous appearance, but the weapon set: bow and twin daggers.

— ...Sniper with the double claw?

The beast’s massive head slowly turned toward Gunther.

— You, grrr, know ?

Of course he did. An ancient deity contracted by the old sniper from the Society of Forgotten Books. A being that reacted strongly upon eting the Ruler of the Oceans. One of the forgotten gods of the past.

“To break through the Poppy Mirror... there’s no better team.”

Thud—

Gunther pushed off the ground and landed lightly on the beast’s broad shoulder.

— Let’s go.

— Grrr, insolent... brat.

Grumbling, the beast nad Baldrak carefully picked up Rahenia and—

Boom!

He launched forward as if to shatter the ground beneath him. His thigh muscles swelled, doubling in size, and he moved so fast his body blurred.

Whoooooosh—

The speed distorted vision. The fog-laden wind burned against the skin. Yet within this insane sprint, Gunther’s thoughts only beca clearer.

“......”

His claim that he had a guess about the three gods was not a lie for survival.

The King of Ninety-Nine Defeats. The Drug-Addicted Saint. Alphonse of Red Street. Beings who had been with him since the mont of his arrival, yet hid more secrets than anyone else. They knew about “Return After Death” and “Karma” long before he did.

Gunther had always wondered how that was possible.

“Yes... so that’s it.”

Scattered fragnts began forming a single picture. This was no coincidence. Fate had guided him. This was a grand and ancient plan.

Gunther tightened his grip on Baldrak’s mane.

— Grrr, that hurts.