What, did some other weird thing crawl out? An Evil God? To me, the Heavenly God is the Evil God.
What even is an Evil God in the first place? Something like that can't possibly exist. How can a demon that feeds and grows on human malice exist? The chicken or the egg is a good debate topic, but whether humans or demons came first is beyond dispute. Demons are creations.
I asked the regressor.
"Shay. What is an Evil God?"
"They're demons. The incarnations of sin that the first Saintess sealed in the past. They were all annihilated before the first year began, but their remnants remain."
"Why would something like that suddenly pop up? Weren't we supposed to stop the King of Sin?"
"The Evil God is the beginning of it. You could say they created the concept of sin."
A story I've never heard or seen. If it was such an important concept, it should have come to mind earlier. Ah, I really don't know anymore. At this point, aren't they just making fun of me?
"I don't know much about that, but recently the priests of the Evil God are running rampant in Manguk. There are even stories of an entire village being offered as a sacrifice, and those who lost their kin are wandering here and there. Many wanderers have also flowed into this Piu Village."
"That's a good lead. Can we possibly meet them?"
"Of course. I'll introduce you. Guard!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
When Callis called, a boy wearing large bone earrings quickly ran over and stood at attention. Callis naturally gave him an order as if she were in the Military Nation.
"Is the Skull Tribe still staying at the shelter?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Guide these people to the Skull Tribe. Tell them I sent them. I'll head there as soon as I finish distributing the rations."
"Yes, ma'am!"
The barbarian boy awkwardly mimicked the Military Nation's drill as he approached us. For a barbarian without a uniform, doing so was only awkward, but strangely, the boy seemed to like the Military Nation's drill.
"Here! This way. Please follow me!"
The barbarian boy guided us, full of spirit.
It was a truly hard-to-describe experience. The Skull Tribe was a tribe that wore beast skulls on their heads, and thanks to the custom of having to hunt a larger beast to wear as their heads grew bigger, they had evolved in the direction of gradually having smaller heads. With heads even smaller than the regressor's, they spoke in resonant voices while wearing deer skulls upside down.
The ground opened, and the Evil God crawled out. The priests of the Evil God offered several other tribes as sacrifices.
It was so long-winded that it was completely useless information. The only meaningful thing was the location where the Skull Tribe claimed to have witnessed the Evil God. Having vomited out everything they knew, the Skull Tribe pleaded with us.
"What about the Immortals? The Immortals who are supposed to protect the people of Manguk with their undying power, why aren't they helping us?!"
"Manguk fell a long time ago."
"What? Manguk fell? That's as ridiculous as a lion eating grass! We are still alive and well right here!"
"Is the news here just a thousand years late, or are you romantics who believe that as long as the people live, the nation still stands?"
In the first place, Manguk was born as a loose collective of barbarian tribes.
Manguk's government had a fairly systematic ruling structure like a kingdom or an empire, but most barbarian tribes accepted the Martial Empress as an existence similar to a legend or superstition. Paradoxically, that was the reason the Martial Empress could reign, because the barbarian tribes living in the jungle and the grasslands could not be controlled by civilization.
However, perhaps because of that, even now, long after Manguk's fall, they didn't seem to feel the void.
"How long are the Immortals going to just stand by and watch! If the Piu die one by one, only the Immortals will be left in Manguk!"
"My. That's quite high-handed for someone who came to ask for help. Please calm down."
Rash answered surprisingly firmly. When the deer antlers of the Skull Tribe clicked shut, Rash shrugged and continued.
"We are also monitoring the situation to some extent. As you said, if the Evil God has appeared, aren't we next? However, we are also in a position where we must seek permission from our Offering God. We cannot move rashly until the next Offering Ceremony."
"Offering God..."
At the mention of the god's name, the Skull Tribe couldn't easily speak up either. Unlike their gods who existed only through tradition and faith, the Immortals' god actually existed.
"Does that great spirit who bestowed the power of immortality to the Earthling Tribe... still relay his voice to the Immortals?"
"Of course. Isn't that why we are still Immortals?"
If they said they needed the god's permission, there was no way to push further. The Skull Tribe lowered their heads and despaired.
"However, it doesn't necessarily have to be us who helps, right?"
"...You're saying there's someone who will help?"
"Right here. These are foreigners from beyond that grassland. I heard they're trying to stop the end of the world or something. I don't know much about it, but they should be able to help you!"
The Skull Tribe looked us up and down and nodded slowly.
"Foreigners? I was wondering why you looked too frail to be strong Immortals."
"Hahaha! You may look insignificant on the outside, but your skills are real! If you judge them rashly, you'll get hurt!"
"...Hmm."
Even so, they couldn't seem to shake off their prejudice, and the Skull Tribe looked back and forth between me and the regressor with suspicion.
"You look like you'd have a hard time even breaking a branch, I wonder what you could possibly do against the priests of the Evil God..."
Dong dong dong!
It was then. The sound of a large bell rang out in succession. People who reflexively tucked their necks in ran outside to figure out the situation.
"What's going on!"
"It's an attack!"
Callis's sharp voice was heard. Right after that, the barbarian tribes dressed in metal armor all started running towards the fence.
In the midst of the chaotic situation, someone pointed at the trees and shouted.
"It's the monkey bastards!"
Piu Village had a high and sturdy fence, but no matter how high it was, it couldn't be higher than the ancient trees that had grown for over a thousand years, greedily sucking up the earth's vital energy. Hundreds, thousands of trees were casually stretching their branches over the fence.
And several barbarians wearing monkey masks were climbing the trees, looking this way. From beneath the masks, an irritating laughter flowed out.
"Ki ki ki. Everyone's hiding with their heads in the sand like ostriches. Do you know how long the Immortals will look after you?"
The monkey mask raised his hand. About twenty 'monkeys' hanging from the branches let out beastly laughter and slowly crawled up the trees.
I looked at Rash and asked.
"Monkeys? What are they again?"
"They're bastards who live commanding jungle monkeys! Vile thieves with nasty habits!"
"But why did they come?"
"There's only one reason thieves come! To steal!"
"Steal? Steal what...?"
Before I could even ask, the monkey masks showed us with their actions. The monkeys that crossed the fence by climbing vines agilely scattered all over Piu Village. Amidst people screaming and scattering, the monkey masks roamed everywhere with their long arms and legs, shouting.
"Catch the young and fresh ones! The Great Spirit likes pure souls!"
"They're taking people!"
Right after he spoke, Rash kicked off the ground and ran. At the edge of his vision, there was a monkey mask trying to snatch a child from a woman.
"Do you know where you are?!"
Rash threw a huge punch. It was a swift strike that didn't suit his large stature. The monkey mask noticed Rash's approach and immediately flipped backward, dodging the attack. Rash swung his cannonball-like fists in succession, but the monkey mask bounced around with bizarrely long limbs and deflected all of them.
"Damn, there's an Immortal!"
"Ki ki ki. They're slow! Ignore them and grab the kid!"
Similar things were happening all over Piu Village. Callis and the vigilante group she commanded led a formation and pushed back the monkey masks, but that only reduced the damage and didn't defeat the enemy. The monkey masks mocked such vigilantes and ransacked the village.
The regressor looked at this sudden incident and muttered.
"Just in time."
"Is this also the Saintess's blessing?"
"Seems like I'm receiving the blessing well this time. An incident happened right on cue."
"At this point, it feels like they know our path and cause incidents accordingly. Maybe we're cursed instead of blessed."
"It's something we can solve. That's much better."
At that moment, a shadow rose behind us. A monkey mask, approaching more agilely and stealthily than any beast, reached out a long arm and snatched the regressor by the waist.
"Ki ki ki! There's one more oddly-looking little kid here! I should take..."
"Who are you calling a kid!"
Cheonbangyeong, Gyeokroe.
Cheonaeng spewed out like lightning. The arm that tried to snatch the regressor was severed whole, spouting a fountain of blood. The barbarian wearing the monkey mask screamed upon seeing his proud long arm cut in half.
"Kieeeeeeek!"
At the painful scream, the monkey masks stopped their rampage and looked this way. The monkey mask with the severed arm screamed while clutching the cross-section overflowing with blood.
"Ukkit. What! What's going on?"
"You picked the wrong target."
The regressor lengthened Cheonaeng and surveyed the surroundings.
On the roof, behind the wall, in the middle of the street, near the fence. Having spotted the monkey masks in a single moment, the regressor took a breath and slashed them all in a single strike. The invisible trajectory of the sword was carved into the roof, the wall, the street, and the fence, and the sword wind shredded the monkey masks.
The monkey masks vomited blood and fell back along with the whirlwind. Panicked by their comrade's death, the monkey masks shouted in terror like beasts.
"Kieeeeeeek! It's the wind! They're using a Wind Spirit!"
"Run away! Run! Kieeeeeeek!"
"It's already too late."
Since the incident had already occurred, there was no reason to leave them alive. Leaving a few to extract information, killing the rest was enough. I had already read their thoughts, too.
But there wasn't really a need to kill them all. Before the regressor could annihilate all the intruders, I stopped the regressor.
"Wait a minute."
I was about to place my hand on the regressor's shoulder. At that moment, the world went whoosh and up and down were reversed. The moment my hand touched the shoulder, the regressor's body slipped under me like a ghost and threw me down in one fell swoop.
It was now beyond familiar, it was sickening. Cheonbangyeong again. Can this qigong not distinguish between friend and foe? Above me, who was falling back-first to the floor, the regressor was just about to thrust Cheonaeng, held in a reverse grip.
'Ah, Cheonbangyeong!'
Since I knew I wouldn't die just from getting stabbed in the chest a bit now, I was relaxing my strength appropriately when the regressor reacted. Right before my back hit the ground, she pulled me with force and hastily pulled Cheonaeng back behind her body.
As a result of trying to change her posture suddenly, the regressor and I became a tangled mass and rolled over and over.
"Don't touch me suddenly! I almost sliced you!"
"How am I supposed to stop someone who inadvertently tries to slice people without touching them?"
"Why are you stopping me?"
The regressor, who roughly pushed off me and stood up, spotted the monkey masks fleeing through the branches. If we were to pursue them, we could, but the jungle was dense and dark. Tracking the scattering monkey masks by leaping from tree to tree was not cost-effective.
"If you hadn't stopped me, they would have all died here!"
"Thanks to not killing them, we can find out their base, right?"
"What?"
"Those who got beaten up badly will return to their base, right? If we step on their heels as they return, we can find out their base without lifting a finger."
I could grab one and interrogate them, or I could read their minds. But there was no need to go out of our way. The regressor thought for a moment and answered.
"Is that so...? I guess? Impressive."
"It's simple. Didn't you think of this even after receiving the Saintess's blessing?"
"You thought of it. That's enough."
Grumbling, the regressor got up and looked around Piu Village, where the commotion had passed. Despite the sudden attack, the people of Piu Village seemed accustomed to this kind of situation. In this harsh barbarian land, enemy raids were an everyday occurrence.
Rash, dragging the corpse of a monkey mask, spoke as if he was dumbfounded.
"Those monkey bastards, invading our territory? Haha. If they had just come to visit, I would have at least served them a meal..."
Callis answered Rash's muttering.
"To be precise, it's not the Immortals' territory. Piu Village is ultimately just a place for the wandering Piu to stay. Without the 'care' of the Immortals, they cannot survive. Also, when someone attacks like this, if they cannot overcome it with Piu Village's own strength, they will only remain subjugated forever."
Callis, who answered coldly, gave orders to the vigilantes lined up in front of her. The Piu Village vigilantes, armed with armor and spears as best they could, scattered and began to assess the personnel.
Meanwhile, a vigilante who approached a crying woman shouted.
"A child has gone missing!"
To the woman, the child might be everything, but to Piu Village, it's just one of many children. Losing only one child in an attack of this scale was considered a very lucky break.
"...It's regrettable, but it can't be helped. We can't chase monkeys in the jungle."
However, the woman's feelings weren't in that equation. Callis made a rational decision befitting a Demon Officer of the Military Nation. The barbarians of Piu Village also secretly agreed with Callis's judgment, though they didn't show it much.
Of course, we didn't need to follow Callis's judgment.
"We'll bring them back."
Since they conveniently kidnapped exactly one person for us to bring back.