A Horror Novel’s Supporting Character Wants to Live as a Human

Chapter 246

[You bastard-!]

The black serpent that had surged up from underground was spreading its wings.

The being that ancient people had called a flying dragon must have been something like this.

It tried to fly upward several times, crushing the underground city beneath it, but failed and crashed to the earthen floor.

At this rate, they wouldn't be able to exchange greetings happily at their long-awaited reunion.

The ferociously howling giant god.

Once he had reigned over the snake-people and gained the title of King and Father of Serpents.

But the priests who served him had been massacred and their blood had gone to a heretical god.

It was natural that he who had been sleeping emerged from beneath Yoth, but from the perspective of ordinary snake-people.

"He finally seems to have gone mad and is rampaging without being able to distinguish front from back."-To them, it's no different from the manifestation of a disaster god.

While watching that spectacle, he felt a presence.

Aphoom-Zhah, who appeared instantly just as he had disappeared, looked at Ig's miserable state and smirked.

[I've seen earthworms rolling on the ground many times, but never as pleasantly as now.]

"I'm glad you're in a good mood."

In the vibration that seemed like the ground would split, he extended his hand to him.

Eyes so white that no emotions showed sparkled with only interest and amusement.

[Will you do it?]

"I came all the way here for that. While hunting Idra's manifestations, I studied a lot about divine remnants."

Aphoom-Zhah's hand that he unconsciously grasped was cold.

Like something made of pure ice, sharp cold and pain were transmitted together.

A power that was not human gripped his hand like a hook.

"It'll be fine."

[Ig is no easy opponent. However, if you succeed in devouring him, achieving your goal will be no problem.]

"I'm prepared."

[This being's believer always says that. My arrogant and presumptuous believer, will you make a deal with me again this time as always?]

A deal.

When he slowly nodded, the corners of his mouth slowly rose.

[What will you pay this time?]

In this timeline, Aphoom-Zhah had decided not to suffer losses anymore.

He too had wronged him far too much, so he had no choice but to accept the conditions he proposed.

The condition he proposed was to receive payment each time he borrowed his power.

He didn't want common offerings like someone's mana or blood and flesh.

It certainly wasn't gold, silver, and treasures that he couldn't immediately obtain with his own power.

What he wanted, what he sought to gain from him.

"The memories of age 16 would be good."

Stories of worlds he didn't know.

To him, a god existing within this world, giving knowledge, experience, and culture of another world.

This was the only price he desired.

He would give him memories, and he would give him the power necessary to survive in this world.

Not only was the exchange clear, but it was a fair deal made with mutual consent.

The sensation of holes being punctured throughout his continuous memories was strangely unbearable,

But right now, something more important than his memories was ■■■■....

[Believer.]

When he suddenly came to his senses, familiar pain traveled up through his blood vessels.

Flames made of ice froze his blood, preventing him from being human.

This was the procedure for Aphoom-Zhah to dwell in his believer.

He covered his eyes with his free hand.

In the pitch-black darkness, Aphoom-Zhah whispered.

[The deal is established. This being's believer, innocent and fleeting life. Be blessed forever by the great Lord of the Extreme Realm.]

*

In the beginning, there was a hot star,

And Ig liked the sizzling, boiling earth and had been watching it with interest.

He was one of the first gods to establish himself on the planet.

The disgusting Idra, the Sleeper of N'kai, and other gods each adopted their own survival methods.

Someone mimicked all life forms existing on the planet,

Someone waited for their time to be active while sleeping in deep darkness, conducting only minimal activity.

But Ig was different.

He had great ambitions, and for that, he felt the necessity not only to strengthen his own power but also to grow his 'influence' itself.

What he chose for that was increasing his believers.

He couldn't become a god who merely existed.

Only when offerings and faith from believers coexisted could strong and beautiful flesh be molded.

Therefore, he created life.

The race he personally kneaded and created by tearing off his own scales, flesh, and claws instinctively sensed the source of life and showed him deep respect.

Children and subjects, believers and parts of himself. The snake-people were a concept that expanded Ig's self.

Betrayal was not tolerated.

Just as his body did not betray itself, he had never even thought that the snake-people would turn their backs on Ig.

He had thought so, but then.

The apostle of ice who appeared one day ruined everything.

[I will kill you, I will kill you...!]

"If you can. I don't know how far you can fly with those tattered rag wings."

Fluttering vivid red hair, a slender frame that could be easily crushed with molars.

But instead of hazy brown eyes, overly clear white eyes were embedded in the pale face.

Eyes where not a trace of hesitation or sympathy could be found wiped away Ig's blood that had splattered on the cheek with a finger.

"Are all those snake-heads you cherished and raised like that? Snake bastard, your child-rearing clearly failed. This mess happened because you tore off your own flesh and put some strange ego into it."

The surroundings were more dusty than just before.

But even such swirling dust couldn't completely hide the wilderness where the battle had taken place.

Ice chunks had protruded densely from the ground out of nowhere,

And liquid that had fallen from the serpent's fangs had pooled into puddles.

Ig's black wings were spread out on both sides like a taxidermy specimen.

The sight of ice serving as fixing pins stuck in the ground on each wing was humiliating.

From neck to spine, Ig, who had become a bizarre sight with blood-red icicles surging from the inside, howled.

[I'll kill you!]

"When did you not try to kill? Snake bastard, listen. Couldn't we have lived peacefully on this planet without encountering each other?"

[You sent down an apostle. I knew you were watching from that lofty planet without lifting a finger!]

Ah, that.

Strictly speaking, Yesung was not his apostle,

And throughout the repeated timelines, only the contract made with him remained as it was.

But Aphoom-Zhah had no intention of clearing up Ig's misunderstanding.

Instead, he only arrogantly sneered with the face of Yesung, his cherished believer.

"If you knew, why didn't you take care of yourself? I am everything of cold and ice. But you are just a snake bastard who can't even regulate body temperature. When you should be crawling on the ground, you threaten my apostle?"

[What is your apostle's purpose? To expel me from this planet? To cause me pain as much as I devoured him?]

"The past is meaningless to my apostle. So is the pain he experienced."

[Then what is the reason for treating me so cruelly? You took away my priests. You made my children betray me and stole divinity from me. You lost nothing, but I have nothing left to lose! Can you torment me any more than this?]

The crushed head whispered incessantly.

Indeed, even in this state, Ig was looking for a hole to emerge from.

He was cunning and insightful, so he must have been able to create the snake-people.

Aphoom-Zhah smiled refreshingly.

"My apostle says he intends to erase gods from this earth. Snake bastard, you are the first starting point. Know this gloriously."

However, no matter what insight and wisdom, they hold no value before great disaster.

At Aphoom-Zhah's answer using Yesung's body, Ig was rarely at a loss for words.

No matter how powerful a god's protection one received, a human was still human.

They couldn't develop independent civilization and weapons like snake-people,

Nor did they have powerful armor or tentacles attached to their bodies.

Making plans to eliminate the gods of this planet with just two hands and two feet was insane.

[-It cannot be achieved. It will never happen.]

"Why do you think so?"

[Divinity cannot be destroyed by primitive individuals. We rule over things that pierce the ether of the universe and fly while receiving solar winds. We are everywhere and nowhere. We exist beyond time, can lie eternally but never die as concepts.]

"This being doesn't care how you defined the existence called gods. But if I must tell you one thing you missed-"

His feet moved slowly.

Blood that had flowed from Ig's crushed head stained his pale feet, but the god in the apostle's body seemed not to care at all.

Moving around as if measuring something, he stopped and replied.

"My believer seems to have already given much thought to that problem."

[Foolish! Much thought? I exist beyond the intelligence of primitive races. Is this the result of your apostle's 'much thought'? Do you think I will meet complete death if you pull the heart from my flesh? Foolish, ignorant! I live even scattered into thousands of pieces. When those who serve me call, I will return. I will be reborn with complete flesh and divinity!]

At Ig's desperate struggle, Aphoom-Zhah laughed.

He laughed for a while then began talking to himself.

"So he says, believer. Do you have anything to say? I'll relay it from this side. ...Ah, really? Just that? I understand. Believer, you're quite mischievous too."

Aphoom-Zhah, who had been talking to thin air, looked at Ig's dying body and said kindly.

"If there's no one to serve you, that's the end,"

[What?]

"What calls gods are offerings and faith, and believers to offer that faith. So he says to just eliminate everyone from those who remember you to those who try to know about your existence. How about it, isn't my believer quite amusing? Where did he learn such wit?"

[Call your believer. Let me speak with him directly!]

"That won't do, snake bastard. The contract is still in progress."

With words like light teasing, crack-like wounds appeared on his slender forearms.

An unbelievable amount of blood gushed and poured out from there.

The blood spilled on the ground mixed with Ig's.

Aphoom-Zhah hummed while drawing something with his feet, using blood as pigment.

A language known to him and Ig, extremely simple but profound will took hold on the ground through blood as medium.

The last stroke was drawn long, and Aphoom-Zhah declared on behalf of his faithful believer.

"Snake-people to Tsathoggua. Their creator to dust. No one will remember you, and records about you will be thoroughly annihilated. Even if eternal time passes, Serpent King, Father of Vipers, Scaled One. Your traces will be erased from this planet."

[Wait, that cannot!]

"Lord of the Extreme Realm, Gray Flame, Master of all ice and frost... in the name of the beloved believer."

[Bastard! I won't let this stand!]

Ig struggled desperately.

[Even if you stole the children of Yoth, serpents blessed by me will chase you. Your people will also be chased by my serpents! You will forever step on serpents' tails, and serpents will bite your heels. You, apostle, receive my curse!]

The curse spat out by the Serpent King who had once commanded and ruled the snake-people seeped into Yesung's ears like poison.

Before the serpent could pierce the human body with its half-intact fang,

White flames that surged from the blood devoured the serpent.

Unlike hot fire, the surface of scales licked by the flames developed whitish marks, drawing beautiful hexagonal patterns.

The serpent, lacking even the strength to struggle, only screamed while perceiving its body freezing cold from the bones.

Not ordinary ice, but ice summoned from planets ruled by the Lord of the Extreme Realm.

A cold prison that would never melt or break unless the caster died.

The prisoner in ice captured this world in his yellow eyes for the last time.

Blue sky, blindingly brilliant sunlight, citizens of Yoth who had lost their lives to his anger.

And,

[No-!]

With the white-eyed apostle smiling coldly beyond the ice as the last sight, it requested eternal hibernation.

A giant winged serpent frozen in clean crystal.

Aphoom-Zhah didn't understand why his believer rushed at Ig so desperately with such life-or-death determination,

But he deeply awakened only to the excitement of hunting gods like himself.

The apostle standing in the giant shadow, Aphoom-Zhah in human form, brushed the ice and turned around.

"Smile, believer. Isn't this what you wanted?"

This being's believer had to continue god hunting.

Behind him as he moved away from the Serpent King, snowflakes were falling little by little.