The Evil God Beyond the Smartphone - Chapter 27

“Ha, ha……!”

Evan breathed raggedly as he surveyed his surroundings.

It had been hours since he’d encountered the Evil God, and fled in terror.

The sun was setting in the darkened sky.

His horse was long gone, caught up in the evil god’s magic.

Evan couldn’t help but feel a great sense of loss.

While traveling through Imperial territory, he had become quite attached to his horse.

Worst of all, he was forced to travel across the vast expanse of the Empire on his own legs.

“Hah hah, did I get far enough…….”

Evan rubbed a hand over his chest, which was beginning to ache.

He’d been running so hard to survive.

His lungs screamed in pain as he breathed raggedly.

The evil god’s magic that had been raining down on him had long since dissipated.

Perhaps he could rest now.

Slowly catching his breath, Evan began to search for a suitable resting place.

– [Accept your fate.]

A stern voice rang in Evan’s ears.

A mysterious voice that had been echoing in his ears ever since he’d come face-to-face with the Apostle of Evil.

The unidentified voice continued to speak meaningful words to Evan.

But despite the echoing voice, no magic was falling from the sky towards Evan.

When he tries to speak to it, it doesn’t give him a proper response.

It was just repeating the same words to him periodically.

As he listened to it over and over again, he realised it was just a ploy by the evil gods.

“…… Shut up.”

Evan screamed at the unidentified voice and walked forward at a slow pace.

He could almost taste the sour taste in his mouth from the long walk up the mountain.

Gulp.

Swallowing, Evan continued to move his creaking legs.

As he continued on, his gaze caught sight of something in the distance.

A little further ahead, where a rugged mountain path stretched out.

There was a small village there.

“A village.”

Evan’s face lit up when he found it.

Evan had been running for a long time and was feeling very thirsty.

If there was a village, he might be able to get some water.

If he was lucky, he might even be able to find a place to rest for the night.

Evan moved toward the village, hoping that the villagers would be hospitable to the stranger.

After a lifetime of serving the gods and sacrificing for his people, he thought he could use a little luck.

“…….”

Tuck. Turd.

Evan’s footsteps echoed through the dense mountain forest.

I don’t know how many more times he forced himself to take weak steps.

Repeatedly, he pushed forward until he reached the entrance to the village.

Tucked away in the mountains, the village was much smaller than Evan had expected.

Crudely constructed wooden houses lined the streets, and there were only a few of them.

As Evan approached the village, he was about to enter when a villager standing at the gate looked at him to ask.

“I’ve never seen you before, who are you?”

“I’m Evan Alemia, .. a pilgrim wandering the Empire after leaving the Holy Land. I was wondering if I could get some water, if you don’t mind?”

The villager tilted his head at Evan’s story.

He wondered if there was something wrong with his modest identity.

Evan looked at him nervously.

After a moment’s hesitation, the villager nodded and answered Evan.

“Water? I can share some with you.”

“Thank you, but I could use a little help.”

“You seem to be a man of faith, but I see no reason why I shouldn’t be able to offer such a simple help.”

Fortunately, the villager was willing to give him water to drink.

The man left, and returned to Evan with a bowl.

When he returned to Evan, the bowl was full of water.

It was the first cool water he’d had in hours.

The water was a little dirty, but it was perfectly drinkable.

Evan brought the bowl to his mouth to drink.

– [Accept your fate.]

Just as he was about to drink, Evan felt something and threw the bowl away.

It was an act of intuition.

The water was barely enough to wet his lips.

Boom.

Evan drew his sword in an instant and looked behind him.

A sharp spear of lightning had just appeared in the sky.

“Oh, no! What are you doing?”

“Goddess–!”

Undaunted by the panicked cries of the villagers, Evan drew his sword and charged it with divine power.

Evan’s sword vibrated as the light of his faith shone on it.

The evil that had been pursuing him had found him.

The plan to hide in the village was now completely impossible.

A spear of lightning shot out of the sky, targeting Evan.

Taking a deep breath, Evan swung his sword and deflected the attack.

“Burr, lightning……?”

Wham!

The lightning spear deflected by Evan’s sword hit the ground and exploded.

A deafening explosion rang out, causing the villagers to duck as they watched.

Evan, who had deflected the attack that flew towards him, caught his breath and turned to look at the villager.

He wanted to make sure the man was safe from the attack.

“Are you okay? I hope you don’t get hurt…….”

“Ugh! More, more coming down!”

“What……?”

As Evan turned his head away, a rain of lightning began to pour down beyond him.

Boom! Boom! Kwaaang!

The spear of lightning rained down from the sky and swept away everything in the village.

Evan felt dizzy from the torrential downpour of lightning in front of him.

Magic in ridiculous numbers.

It was a scene that could only be described as a natural disaster.

It was beyond the scope of Evan’s ability to stop it alone.

“Help, help…….”

The villager in front of him began to plead at his feet.

As he watched, Evan felt his hand on his sword tremble.

He was weak.

Unable to save even those suffering in front of him.

He had become a paladin to save people.

But he couldn’t even save the man dying in front of him.

“Because I came here…….”

Evan is the only one the evil god is after.

The Evil God has attacked this village, in part, because Evan has come here.

It was because of Evan’s weakness that he failed to save the dying people.

All of this was because of Evan.

It all happened because Evan was weak.

If only he had been a little stronger.

If he had been stronger, if he had had the power to save the people from the Evil God’s attack, all this tragedy would not have happened.

“Pilgrim!”

A call for strength.

And yet the Goddess of Honor does not look to him.

Nor does she answer for his prayers.

All Evan sees is an evil god from another dimension.

He sees.

Lamenting his misery, Evan pulled the villager off his feet.

Then he turned to him and warned him in a hushed voice.

“I’ll get its attention. If you don’t want to die, run for your life.”

“Yes……?”

“If you understand, move fast.”

“……Yes, I understand!”

Understanding Evan’s words, the villagers hesitantly began to run away.

Boom! BOOM!

Evan deflected a few more bolts of lightning, then started running in the opposite direction of the villager’s direction of travel.

His destination was a deep, uninhabited mountain range.

If Evan didn’t reach the villages himself, there wouldn’t be any other inhabitants wiped out.

– [Accept your fate.]

Ignoring the echoing voice in his head, Evan continued to run toward the mountains.

He had to get away.

From the inhabited village.

And away from the evil gods who watched him.

It was the only way Evan Alemire could keep his faith.

* * * * * * * *

It’s been four days in game time since I used Select Apostle on Evan Alemia.

In the meantime, I’ve been busy following Evan around and harassing him.

I wasn’t really doing much of anything for him.

Whenever I got bored, I’d play the game and throw Lightning Arrow around him.

Of course, I was careful not to hit him directly if I could help it.

I didn’t want Evan to die and lock up Astrape.

Occasionally, I’d even use <Lightning> next to Evan as he slept.

I couldn’t bear to watch the creature that had devoured my 400 karma sleep peacefully.

– [Goddess.]

Every time I did something drastic to annoy Evan, he’d clasp his hands together and call for the goddess.

Apparently, he was a devout paladin.

He showed that he never lost faith in the Goddess, even in difficult situations.

It’s amazing how virtuous a character can be and still pray while in extreme pain.

If it were me, I would have been cursing at the goddess for not helping me sooner.

As I watched Evan, I couldn’t help but be impressed.

“That’s amazing. You’re the best.”

Instead of clapping for Evan, I let the sound of his Lightning skill do the talking.

Boom! Boom! Thud!

With each thunderous boom, Evan stood up with his sword and began spinning around.

It was like he was dancing to his own inner clap.

When Evan began to make these movements, I would make an upbeat beat with Lightning to match.

Thump! Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!

<Evan> heard the beat created by the Lightning skill and started to move around faster than before.

Of course, he continued to be wary of his surroundings, but his search for the goddess didn’t change.

– [Goddess of Honor.]

At this point, it almost made me want to see the face of this goddess.

Evan Alemia.

He was a very religious character.

There was no way he was going to accept the Select Apostle unless his spirit was broken.

Moreover, it was my conclusion for several days that a simple whip would not be effective.

Euthenia’s involvement was inevitable.

“It was almost time for Euthenia to step in.”

I’d have to convince Evan in person, using another character.

And the Euthenia I knew would be able to convince him.

No, she had to.

After all, 400 karma is on the line with him.

As I watched Evan, I was about to send a message to Euthenia.

– [Goddess of Honor, Goddess of Abundance, Goddess of Knowledge, Goddess of Hunting, Goddess of Order… please help me.]

After running around for a while, Evan finally stuck his sword in the ground and began to pray.

But the object of his prayers was very different from before.

After calling out to the goddess all day, the names of other goddesses began to come out of Evan’s mouth.

I looked at Evan in bewilderment as the names of the goddesses came out of his mouth.

I thought he was a man who would never change his beliefs, no matter what.

Turns out he served a few too many gods.