The dungeon was maintained. Even if the Devil who created it died, it remained the same. For some reason, the power source of the dungeon existed independently of the Devil.
âTheyâre looking for you.â
One afternoon, when Evan was in the middle of his hectic wedding preparations with Arisha, Name visited. The rookie party led by Name was a team that was now working on the front lines related to the dungeon.
âThem?â
âThe dungeon gods.â
âOh, the dungeon.â
Evan frowned as he arranged a list of clothes for the wedding and reception. âWhy now? Iâm going to take on something else that bothers me.â
âWell, maybe itâs because they want to talk about compensation for hunting the Devil.â
Evan snorted at the words. Name must have already conquered the dungeon to the 100th floor and seemed too happy.
âNow Iâm saying it because I think you should know, but your reward will be related to the dungeon.â
âThe Devil is the one who created the dungeon.â
Anyway, Nameâs answer was blunt. He spat out, looking into the eyes of a young man sparkling like obsidian.
âDid you want to kill him?â
âYes.â
Name answered immediately.
âI wanted to punish the person who created the dungeon, which was the starting point for everyone.â
But Name lacked strength, and the Devil was a god. To destroy it completely, a godâs power was also needed. Not the gods who run away afraid of the Devil, but an existence who would defeat the Devil to protect humans with an indomitable will. It was Evan, not Name.
âBut what made youâŠmaybe the gods of the dungeons.â
âThereâs only one thing they wanted to kill, but they donât have any meaning anymore.â
âOh, itâs an erasure.â
âBut now itâs all gone.â
Name said so, hesitating for a moment, and asked Evan.
âWill new people continue to be born?â
âIâm not the God who created the God raceâs childrenâŠâ
âBut you know everything, donât you?â
Evan hoped that there would be no more people who regarded him as a god and served him. Still, at least everyone who watched the match with Devil that day thought Evan was absoluteâŠand unless Enoch and the Dwarf followers from ancient times were prevented from building his temple, the followers would continue to grow.
He sighed silently, recalling the temple being built not so far from the headquarters of Astray, and answered honestly to Name.
âAs the once-made Devil Rune continues to appear. Yes, new people will continue to be born.â
At Evanâs positivity, Name was sighing softly. A heavy sigh came after thinking of the hardships that the new generation would face. Maybe this guy was out of the shackles of his previous oppression. He was recovering his mindset that suited the main character of Yo-Ma Great War 4.
âThat day, I saw your strength and thought, âThis is what it is to protect the world. A person who changes history and leads mankind.ââ
Then Evan tilted his head.
âWhy are you talking about that all of a sudden?â
âOf course, thatâs impossible for me, but I thought I wanted to be a little like you that day.â
âItâs not you whoâs ashamed; itâs me. Donât you know itâs cringe-worthy when you say that seriously?â
âI canât afford to lose the great burden of defending mankindâŠâ
No, he didnât want to lose that big load on his back either. Ignoring Evanâs sour look, Name confessed his thoughts as they were.
âAt least I want to save the children born with the same destiny as me.â
âYou want to be king of the new generation.â
As if there had been such a Name from the beginning, when Evan naturally put it in his mouth, Name paused for a moment and nodded.
âThe kingâŠno. I think I want to set them free.â
âThis is the first thought I had when I saw the children you saved.â
Despite being born as children of the God race, the junior team was able to stay pure with Evanâs influence since their childhood. What Name felt when he saw them, who had lived a much different life from him, wasnât envy or hatred, but sadness when he met the children for the first time. It was evident that even a little difference could lead to such a split in fate.
âBut it will be impossible for me to save every child unless I run with your feet.â
âThatâs a lot of confidence.â
âHelp me.â
Name bowed to him. It was a very frank attitude.
âI want to save them.â
âYes.â
Evan nodded coolly.
âWeâre going to create an intelligence organization that only consists of them. Move with them.â
ââŠThank you.â
âIâll let you do it with Save.â
âI donât like him.â
âNo, you guys will do it together. Save, is he out there?â
Squeak. The door opened, and Save, in a neat priestâs uniform, came inside. One could see that he was a priest from the moment he was born. But that was due to the priestly suit of the newly created Zero denomination with the support of designer Ottpah (They couldnât call him Evan directly, so everyone agreed to call him Zero).
âI heard godâs call and came.â
âWeâre going to save the god raceâs children. Tag along with Name.â
âCan Renail join us?â
âI donât mean to separate couples.â
Save scratched his cheek embarrassingly at Evanâs mischievous remarks. The emotion of love was truly mysterious.
âHow come I and this guyâŠâ
However, Name still felt uncomfortable with Save, perhaps because of his natural rivalry as main characters. Save himself didnât care as long Name wasnât against Evan.
âHe has great power and ability.â
âIâm glad youâre looking at my humble abilities.â
âOkay, thatâs enough for this appointment. Iâll change your equipment, so go find the dwarves.â
ââŠThankâŠyou.â
Evan smirked and laughed again at the rare honest reply.
âOkay, then go. Iâll go to the dungeon.â
* * *
When Evan got to the Sherden Dungeon, the priests and knights guarding it saluted with surprise. As expected, there was such an awareness in the way people treated him, unlike before. There were signs before then, but the day he returned to modern times and killed the Devil himself, they became overt. All the energies he had were united around the power of Annihilation, refined by the ability of his unique armorâŠsublimated into a completely different force.
Maybe itâs what could be called âgodâs powerâ or âdivine power.â Since the sublimation of power, everyone had taken that attitude naturally. Evan himself recognized it and tried to control it somehow, but it was still difficult. Should one say it was a newbieâs pain? Maybe he could get a little hint when he met the other gods in the dungeon. Evan sighed and entered the dungeon.
[Here you are.]
It was a paradise of light.
âUhâŠâ
Evan spoke in a daze as he faced those surrounding him.
âNow I can see your faces.â
[Thatâs obvious because weâre on the same level now. Come here, take a seat.]
The creepy-looking goddess beckoned to him. But it was the same God who gave him the job for the first time and had a great influence on him by giving him Heavenâs Press.
âArenât you the god of the *atl*ll or something?â
[You donât have to trust that pile of data. Originally, a hidden name forcibly ends up with a lame joke like âBaldâ even if it is interpreted later.]
At the beckon call of god, Evan meekly sat down on the chair at the table. The gods sat on chairs around him in a natural motion.
âSo why did you call me?â
[I called to thank you and give you a little explanation.]
âOh, itâs like an after story, isnât it?â
[I donât know what that is, butâŠ]
These people donât know much about games.
[First of all, thank you for defeating the Devil.]
âYou donât have to thank me because I wanted to do it.â
[No. No matter what purpose it was, it doesnât change that you played a big role in solving our work.]
âWork?â
[Yes.]
At that moment, the gods showed their faces to Evan in unison. Evan was engulfed in the thought that, somehow, he had seen their faces before.
âHuh?â
Why was that? The images of the gods had never been released in the main episode of Yo-Ma Great War 3, nor the DLC.
[You donât remember us.]
[He didnât care about us at the time.]
[Why would this child remember us? We were in a hurry to run away from the Devil.]
ââŠRun away?â
[Yeah, run away.]
One of the gods nodded to affirm.
[We are the gods who were summoned at that time.]
[Technically, weâre what the gods left behind.]
[And what allowed us, who couldnât even be called gods, to suppress the power of the Devil and manage the dungeonâŠ]
[Itâs because you had the divine power.]
âNo, wait, wait.â
Even Evan, who was now immune to most surprises, couldnât help but be appalled by this story. These gods must have noticed the Devilâs tricks and came down to take care of the dungeonâŠthe gods continued to explain to Evan, who was in turmoil with his head wrapped around him.
[You know itâs very difficult for a god to come down to the human world.]
[No summoning ceremony brought a god to the human world, the last time it was in the shrine.]
[Some gods, like the Great Mother Earth, sent power down to earth to enrich man.]
[And helped create a new race.]
At this, Evan became despondent. The existences in the dungeons that called themselves gods were nothing but fragments. But it was convincing. Considering their local influence and weak interference with dungeonsâŠ
âWhat do you mean my divine power helped?â
[Well, you established faith in the past and disappeared.]
[The faith of those who believe in you has continued to bloom ever since. You donât know, but the faith you left behind was stronger than that of all other gods, and even now, all the faith that humans dedicate to the âNameless Godâ is yours.]
Evan was breathing heavily. He wanted to believe it wasnât true, but here it was. Was everything being replaced by faith in him?
[Yes, because youâve already stepped up to the plate and saved the world.]
[All life on this earth owes you, and all who do not believe in a particular god are your believers.]
Evan couldnât get his act together at such a distant story. But the story wasnât over yet.
[And instead of a master who didnât exist in that time, the faith flowed into us, a fragment of the divine beings that remained on earth.]
[We managed to open ourselves up, interfere with dungeons, and raise humans.]
[Of course, I didnât know you were Zero, though.]
[I realized it the moment the Devil died.]
[Thatâs why weâre expressing our gratitude to you.]
Only then did Evan realize why the gods asked him to come.
[But now youâve been reborn as a god.]
[Now all faiths will converge to you.]
[With that, we wonât be able to maintain the dungeon.]
[We want to ask you, again.]
[Please, will you give us the strength to maintain the dungeon?]
[The crisis is not over yet.]
Evan gently closed and opened his eyes. The answer was, of course, fixed, but before that, he wanted to ask them something.
âMy aptitude is a wizardâŠâ
[Because youâve already made a tremendous mark as the Great Ancient Wizard in the past. The curse was reversed.]
âSo, thereâs no other victim in the world whoâll be fooled by such a pseudo-judgment?â
[Trust us a little more. Arenât we the ones who made you an outsider? âŠThat was your strength after all.]
Haha, it was a mess from start to finish. He couldnât even figure out where the starting point was.