I’m a Young God, Won’t You Raise Me?

The moment I heard that confirmation, countless thoughts raced through my mind.

I swallowed the curse that was about to escape my lips.

And, trying to remain as calm as possible, I said,

“Then… even if I complete the Trial, it’s possible I won’t be able to get out.”

— That’s correct. We can’t even say with certainty that the place where you are, Mr. Han Goyo, is actually a Trial.

“I think it is. There are missions, and besides, it’s one of the Developer’s games that I had already played.”

— Could you explain what that Trial is about?

I gave him a brief summary of Call of the Void, and while he listened to my explanation, Samra began searching for information in real time.

— As you already know, the place where a Trial hatches is related to its content. If it had hatched normally, it would probably have been a Trial located in the United Kingdom. However, at this moment, there is no information about that Trial anywhere.

After saying that, we both remained silent for a few moments.

Even Samra was at a loss.

But he soon began asking questions to find a solution.

— How did you activate the badge?

“I put a little blood on it.”

— We’ve tested similar objects many times, but this is the first time one has actually worked.

I sensed a trace of surprise in his voice.

And what he said next was what truly surprised me.

— I will be your operator.

Was he going to support me as my operator?

Apparently, I was still valuable to Samra.

Knowing I was connected to the outside world gave me an enormous sense of security.

It was as if, after drowning, someone had thrown me a lifebuoy.

I gripped the Hologram Badge inside my clothes again and asked,

“Thank you very much. Can you hear the sounds around me too, or only my voice?”

— I can only hear your voice, Mr. Han Goyo.

I didn’t even need to hold the badge up to my ear to hear Samra clearly.

Perhaps because it was an item, its performance far surpassed that of any conventional communication device.

While quickly searching the mayor’s office, I continued with what I still hadn’t told him.

“Uh… something strange is happening in Call of the Void right now.”

— What kind of anomaly?

“I promised the butler NPCs from Trial of the Three Worlds that I would find the mansion’s Master. And that Master is here, in Call of the Void.”

Since we were communicating remotely, I couldn’t be certain, but I had the impression that Samra had been completely taken aback.

His response took much longer than usual.

— …We received the report about your forced transfer caused by the butler NPCs.

As I took out the wire to unlock a locked drawer, I asked,

“Are the Lieutenant Colonel and the Captains all right?”

— They are safe. Focus on your own safety, Mr. Han Goyo. Tell me about this NPC you call the mansion’s Master.

“Yes…”

When I opened the drawer, I found nothing but insignificant items.

However, the bottom was shallower than it appeared from the outside.

As I searched for the mechanism to remove the false bottom, I explained who Dominic was.

He was three meters tall.

He had lost his memory and didn’t know what kind of existence he was.

He could interfere with the system.

He exerted influence over NPCs.

He was capable of transforming objects.

As I finished explaining my plan to make use of Dominic’s goodwill and complete the Trial in order to escape, I finally managed to remove the false bottom of the drawer.

★ You have found the “Secret Documents of the Mayor of Mournveil”!

Documents detailing the crimes of the Order of the Apostles of the Void.

“…That’s why we’re acting separately right now.”

Only then did I realize I had been talking by myself for quite some time.

Afraid the connection had been cut off, I hurriedly called out,

“Samra?”

Only then did his voice return.

— Mr. Han Goyo.

“Yes?”

— I know perfectly well that you usually achieve unprecedented results precisely because you don’t act according to common sense. But this time, it’s too dangerous.

The calm tone in which he admonished me was even more intimidating because it lacked any emotion.

I immediately lowered my head.

“I’m sorry. But I had no other way to get out…”

— Can’t you cancel the companion relationship?

“I can, but if I cancel it unilaterally, he’ll become hostile immediately.”

— I’ll look for similar cases. Please wait a moment.

I used the pause to quickly photograph the documents.

Perfect photograph! Registered as decisive evidence.

Although he had said to wait a moment, Samra returned almost immediately.

— It would be better not to break the companion relationship.

It was exactly what I had expected.

I nodded to myself and placed a hand on the windowsill to climb out of the mayor’s office.

Then—

— Besides communication, the Hologram Badge has another function.

“What function?”

— Escape.

“…Escape?”

— It’s a function created by taking advantage of the fact that this Trial is based on a video game.

The moment I heard that, I understood what he meant.

Video games had an escape function for when the character became stuck in an impossible position or a bug prevented the game from progressing.

‘Could I get out right now?’

But before I could get my hopes up, Samra immediately brought me back to reality.

— The Escape function can only be used when the Trial enters a system error state.

That made sense.

Such a powerful function couldn’t be used without restrictions.

Even in video games, it existed only to resolve bugs.

“Do you mean errors like when the text in the system windows becomes corrupted?”

— Exactly.

In other words, I would have to wait until the system glitched again.

— And for stability reasons, you will have to end the communication before using that function.

The connection to the outside world that I had finally established would have to be cut off again.

But there was no need to say which of the two was more important.

“Understood.”

I answered briefly.

Then I finally asked the question I had wanted to ask from the very beginning but hadn’t dared to voice.

“Trial of the Three Worlds…?”

— It has been closed.

The moment I heard that answer, Samra gave me exactly the information I had wanted to know.

I felt relieved and, at the same time, a faint sense of emptiness.

Samra’s voice brought me back to my senses.

— I trust that you will return safely, Mr. Han Goyo.

I didn’t know whether that kind of expression was appropriate for an android, but I felt that Samra was genuinely worried about me.

That thought made me smile faintly.

“Yes. I’ll see you outside, Samra.”

No voice answered.

The communication had ended.

I was alone again.

I remained seated on the windowsill for a few moments, lost in thought.

‘For now, I’ll have to keep progressing through the Trial while looking for an opportunity to use Escape.’

The safest course would be to wait until Dominic caused another system error.

It seemed the system had already accepted it as normal for me to die and revive in front of Dominic.

As I organized a plan in my head, I suddenly stuck my head out the window.

Then a bell rang.

Bong…

Booooong…

It wasn’t the usual bell that announced the time.

It wasn’t even the top of the hour, and the sound wasn’t normal either.

It rang out like an emergency alarm.

‘There was never an event in Call of the Void where an enemy army attacked.’

I waited for the sound to stop.

At that moment, the door of the building across the street flew open.

And, as if it were a signal, every door along the street began opening one after another.

People stepped out with vacant, almost hypnotized expressions.

All of them walked in a line toward the same place.

I leaned farther out the window to see where they were going.

It was the direction of the Order of the Apostles of the Void headquarters.

Something was terribly wrong.

A system window appeared.

An extraordinary event has begun.
— Leave.
— Leave and enjoy happiness.
— Leave and rejoice.
— Leave and praise the Outer God!

Unfortunately, although the content was still strange, the text appeared completely normal.

I chose the first option and left the mayor’s office through the open door.

The building was completely empty.

The entire way down to the ground floor, I didn’t encounter a single person.

It seemed that even the city hall employees had followed the sound of the bell to the Order.

I had seen anomalies caused by NPCs or bosses in other Trials before.

But it was the first time I had seen so many NPCs affected by an anomaly at the same time.

Puzzled, I decided to blend into the crowd.

It was the perfect opportunity to approach the Order without attracting suspicion.

Everyone walking there was smiling.

As if they were heading off on a joyful vacation.

The only one who wasn’t smiling was me.

Little by little, the Order’s building came into view.

Then a melody began to play.

I had never heard it in Call of the Void.

But I knew it.

It was Ode to Joy.

A grand choral symphony of male and female voices echoed everywhere.

Some kind of festival was taking place in front of the Order’s building.

Two Apostles wielding enormous black swords stood on either side of the entrance, beckoning with their hands.

A young man and a young woman approached, grinning from ear to ear.

The black blade fell.

Two heads flew through the air.

They rolled across the ground.

And came to rest beside an enormous pile of other heads.

I saw countless heads.

Every single one still wore a blissful smile.

As I stood frozen, staring at the scene.

The beheadings continued.

There were no screams.

No cries of pain.

No desperate pleas.

Only cheerful laughter mixed with the triumphant chorus of Ode to Joy.

Blood flowed in such quantities that it was about to reach my feet.

“I’ll hold a grand ritual, Doctor.”

If Edel had followed Dominic’s instructions, then the ritual should have been using members of the Order as sacrifices.

Then an impossible conclusion crossed my mind.

‘Don’t tell me everyone in Mournveil belongs to the Order?’

There was no other explanation for what I was seeing.

But Edel shouldn’t possess that kind of power.

I knew that because I had played the cult leader route.

The Order’s power depended directly on the Outer God they invoked.

Everything began by making a contract with a low-ranking Outer God, and gradually they established contracts with increasingly powerful entities.

If the current Prophet, Edel, had made a pact with an Outer God capable of granting such power.

I would have known.

‘Because those who make contracts with an Outer God undergo physical transformations.’

During the cult leader route, Edel made contracts with numerous Outer Gods, and her body eventually became deformed into something resembling a chimera.

When I played Call of the Void, I had promised her that I would break all of those contracts by making a pact with the supreme entity.

That was how I inherited the position of leader.

And then the game glitched before I could complete the summoning.

When had everything started to go off course?

Blood soaked my shoes.

I lowered my gaze.

My face was reflected in a large crimson puddle.

I looked rather foolish.

“……”

The scattered fragments of my thoughts began coming together.

I fit every piece into place.

Every anomaly that had occurred from the very moment I entered Call of the Void.

And then I understood the truth.

From the very beginning.

This world of Call of the Void had been clearly telling me what it wanted.

The instant I understood, I started running.

But I was already too late.

The Apostles spotted me and cried out joyfully.

“Mr. Lamb!”

Their white robes were completely stained red.

The two Apostles smiled as they held their swords.

“We’ve been searching for you for so long. The Prophet has been waiting for you this entire time.”

Just as I had expected, they didn’t try to stop me.

I ran straight into the Order’s building.

The hymn proclaiming that everyone would become one through the power of the god echoed endlessly in my ears.

I was out of breath.

But I didn’t slow down.

I rushed straight down into the basement where the Order’s ritual was held.

The entire place was illuminated by hundreds of candles.

The melted wax had hardened into a chaotic blanket across the floor.

The flames cast a gigantic shadow upon the walls.

Standing atop a white marble altar was Edel.

She wore robes far more magnificent than ever before.

She gazed in ecstasy toward the ceiling, where not a single ray of sunlight had ever reached.

“Edel!”

With a thin veil covering her eyes, Edel turned her head toward me.

“Mr. Lamb!”

Even though the candlelight barely allowed her to see, she recognized me by my voice alone.

Her lips, spread into a radiant smile, were completely red.

“What a relief… What an immense relief. You arrived just in time. We were about to begin the ritual.”

Panting, I asked,

“The ritual for the Outer God?”

It was an unnecessary question.

I already knew the answer.

And she knew that I had understood the truth.

“Yes, Mr. Lamb!”

Holding the obsidian dagger, Edel began to move with the elegance of a dancer.

“Eternal Abyss, Origin of Chaos, Absolute Void! Terror that creates and destroys! Lord of All Things!”

Then she looked at me and exclaimed,

“It’s a ritual dedicated to Dr. Dominic!”