Once we had finished soaking in the hot spring, we headed back to the pit containing the massive black rock.
The scorched earth left by Hakuren was a grim sight, but it certainly made the location easy to find. Progenitor-san took the lead and entered first. I assumed everything would be fine, but he came flying back out at full speed.
Following close behind him were what looked like black hands. Their true identity, however, was a swarm of insects roughly thirty centimeters in length. Hakuren incinerated them instantly, then thoroughly torched the interior of the hole just to be safe.
"Th-That gave me a fright..." Progenitor-san muttered, trying to steady his breathing. Even if he wasn't particularly squeamish about bugs, being ambushed by a massive swarm was enough to startle anyone.
We re-entered the hole, this time as a group. As a precaution, I had magic cast on Urza and myself to protect us from any toxic air; Progenitor-san handled my spell, while Hakuren carried Urza down.
Hakuren’s flames must have been incredibly potent, as the air was still thick with heat. The floor of the cavern was buried under a mountain of pure white ash. There really had been a staggering number of those creatures.
"Just to be safe, fire into the side tunnels," Progenitor-san directed.
Hakuren complied, breathing fire into the East Tunnel and the west side. I noticed something else.
"Wait, there’s one more? Where does this lead?"
"That one's a dead end," Progenitor-san replied. "At least, it hits a wall relatively soon."
Even when he said "soon," it apparently took about a day to walk to the end of it. Hakuren spat fire into that tunnel as well.
The object of our search, the massive black rock, was buried beneath the ash. Progenitor-san used magic to manipulate the ash, shifting it into the East Tunnel to seal it off. I wondered how effective ash would be for a blockade, but he compressed it until it was quite solid. I was curious to see what would happen if we added water, but decided to save that experiment for later.
The main focus was the rock itself. It was truly black—an absolute, abyssal pitch. Even with Progenitor-san illuminating the cavern with magic, it felt as though the rock was absorbing the light rather than reflecting it.
I summoned the Universal Farming Tool in its hoe form. As I did, an unpleasant atmosphere began to radiate from the area. A black mist seeped from beneath the rock, writhing like something alive. The sight was repulsive, so I immediately set to work tilling it.
Once the black mist vanished, I began carving the rock. This time, I didn't carve the Creator God; instead, I chose the likeness of the God of Light.
Progenitor-san and I had discussed this beforehand. While another statue of the Creator God would have been fine, we felt it might be strange to have identical statues in multiple locations. We decided to feature a different deity and left the choice to a roll of the dice. Personally, I’d wanted to carve the Farming God, but I worried whether he could withstand the black mist. It wasn't that the Farming God was lacking; I just couldn't visualize him effectively countering that mist.
The model for the God of Light was based on one of the sacred objects of the Korin religion. Progenitor-san had provided the reference materials, so the process was straightforward, though I hoped he’d forgive me if the final result didn't perfectly match his expectations.
It took about half a day to complete the sculpture. Upon completion, the black Statue of the God of Light gradually began to turn white, just as the Statue of the Creator God had done. That seemed to solve the problem of the black mist.
...Or so I thought. Looking closer, I saw several Mist Threads extending from beneath the statue toward the opening above our heads. I used the Universal Farming Tool to sever every last one.
I worried if the Statue of the Creator God was still holding up, so we stopped by its temple to check before returning to the village. Everything seemed fine. I’m sure the others will eventually want to turn this new site into a temple as well, but I hoped they’d give me a pass for the rest of the winter. The cold was becoming severe, and it looked like snow would arrive any day now.
I sealed the surface opening with a layer of logs I had cut nearby. That should be sufficient for now.
Afterward, Progenitor-san carried me as we drifted in the sky.
"The Statue of the Creator God is... over there?" I asked.
"To be precise, it’s a little further... there," Progenitor-san said, adjusting his position so he could guide where my finger was pointing.
"...................................."
"Is something wrong?"
"Hmm... It might just be my imagination, but..."
"In matters like these, intuition is often more important than logic," he encouraged. "Go ahead and say it."
"About the place where I carved the God of Light... there was that dead-end tunnel, remember?"
"Yes."
"Regarding that... didn't it look like it was still in the middle of being excavated?"
"..."
"And if those black rocks have some specific purpose... if we keep digging through that dead-end tunnel, don't you think we'll find another one?"
"It’s possible," Progenitor-san admitted. "But even I can’t dig through solid rock that quickly. There's no way to confirm it."
I asked Progenitor-san to lower me to the ground, where I drew a diagram with the Universal Farming Tool. Using the distance between the Creator God and the God of Light as one side of a shape, and following the angle of that dead-end tunnel...
"A regular heptagon?"
"Are you saying there are five more of these?" Progenitor-san asked.
"No, I just thought it might be something like that..."
"However... if it follows this geometry... hmmm." After a moment of thought, Progenitor-san gave me a smile. "Shall we head back to the village?"
I agreed. Urza was getting cranky from boredom, and even Hakuren was losing her patience. I slept soundly that night, likely because I felt a sense of closure, even with a few lingering questions.
The next morning, Progenitor-san approached me with a grin.
"I found the third one."
"What?"
"It was exactly where your diagram predicted. Truly impressive."
He explained that he had gone back out alone to measure the distances. By using the Gargoyles he’d installed as markers, he could calculate the exact direction and distance. He’d had to dig down two hundred meters to reach the target, but he’d managed to pull it off.
Standing beside him were Lu, Flora, Tia, and Granmaria, all looking utterly exhausted. So that was how they’d "managed" it. Ah, that explained why the house had been so quiet and why I’d slept so well. Rusty was away, and Hakuren had her hands full with Urza. Ann was busy with Alfred and Tiselle. It all made sense now.
"And just as we found it, the monsters started swarming," Progenitor-san added.
From that day forward, the work of processing the black rocks began in earnest for me, Progenitor-san, and Hakuren. Urza was left at home; Hakuren complained about leaving her, but it was far too dangerous for a child. We left her in Ann’s capable hands.
It was a busy period, but for a while, I slept deeply every single night.
The Fallen God
I was a god.
But I was defeated in a war against those loathsome deities, and my status and name were stripped away. My body was sealed deep within the earth, left to rot into nothingness.
I will never forgive them. I will never let this end. No matter how many millennia pass, I will destroy the gods! I will never forget this hatred! Until every one of those detestable beings is obliterated, I will continue to curse this world!
They may think they have secured my cage, but I am no fool. I have set numerous triggers for my resurrection. When I rise again, it will be the end for all of them!
Or at least, that was what I was thinking.
Let me clarify something first. I am a god, yes, but for a god, pain is still pain. I want you to imagine a massive stake being driven into your shin. You’d writhe. You’d absolutely writhe. If I weren't sealed tight, I’d be clutching my leg and rolling on the floor.
To make matters worse, I was sleeping to conserve energy for my resurrection. I panicked. Absolute, sheer panic. I had no idea what was happening.
When I finally understood the situation, I was aghast. The rock sealing me had been reshaped into the likeness of the hateful Creator God, making the seal even stronger. It felt as though I’d been trapped in a cage, and just as I’d clawed my way halfway through the bars, I was shoved into a brand-new one. And this one was even sturdier than the last.
I was furious. I assumed it was the work of the gods, but because I was sealed, I couldn't do a thing. I couldn't move, yet I could still feel the pain. For the first time in ages, I released a curse, but my power had waned so much that it only attracted a few insects.
Still, I told myself it was only one location. I could endure the pain. But then, the second location was hit. Was it because that part was exposed? And using a dragon is just cheating! Those brutes will pick a fight with a god without a second thought. "Dragons are fine, but I'm not?" Those gods are hypocrites.
Fine. Fine! They only found the two exposed spots. My resurrection triggers were still working, even if the gods had noticed something. My return would simply be delayed by a century or so.
Then the third location was hit.
The one who did it... it wasn't the gods. It was a human. He targeted the buried site with terrifying accuracy. The pain reached its limit, and I was forced to discard a part of my own body. I lost a massive amount of power, though my divinity remains.
Because I am wise, I can predict the future. And just as I feared, the fourth location has been found.
"Help me, God! I'm sorry! I'll apologize for everything, just make it stop!"