I'm the Only Totem in Another World - Chapter 111

Chapter 111: Bangguseok Choseon （3）

Our group headed towards the collapsed building.

It was half out of a small hope that there might be survivors, and half out of curiosity about what had happened to make it collapse.

“…It’s a religious facility? A cathedral?”

Noah looks around curiously. It was literally a building that resembled a church. Since a woman with wings was drawn on the slightly broken window, it’s probably a cathedral of the Goddess Religion.

I wonder if the people who were hiding in the church were attacked.

This is a little far from the place Bangguseok Choseon talked about. It shouldn’t be the cathedral where she and other followers are.

Hmm. Something’s strange. Was this cathedral attacked too?

Is it a coincidence that cathedrals in other areas were also attacked? …Could it be that the demons are specifically targeting churches?

“There are no living creatures nearby.”

Rake, who was listening intently, affirmed. Let’s check it out first.

━ Let’s go inside.

With Rake in the lead, we entered the cathedral.

It was filled with broken glass shards, broken objects, and decaying human corpses. Flies, bugs, and maggots crawl over them. It’s a gruesome sight.

“The, the smell is a bit… Ugh.”

Noah covered her nose and retched. She seems to be used to seeing corpses since she doesn’t turn her head away.

At times like this, I think it’s not all bad that I lost my sense of smell. I can’t smell delicious food anymore, but I can’t eat it anyway since I don’t have a mouth. What does it matter?

It reminds me of when I manifested as Jin Malak. Back then, all kinds of smells would come in if I took a deep breath.

“They are followers of the Goddess Religion.”

Rake looked at their corpses indifferently.

━ It’s not the demons’ doing.

There’s no way they would leave corpses behind. No, maybe they wouldn’t even need to kill people.

They wouldn’t miss the opportunity to create worshippers who offer sacrifices.

“There are stab wounds. It’s possible that civilized forces clashed with each other.”

━ …

Suddenly, the concept of ‘raiders’ came to mind. They often appear in the apocalypse genre, and they are literally guys who kill or enslave other survivors and take their supplies.

If this were a normal zombie apocalypse world or a world destroyed by nuclear war, there might have been many raiders. But this is a world suffering from a demon apocalypse.

It’s a world where there are already few living people due to the demons’ slaughter and brainwashing. In the end, raiders can only exist if there are many survivor groups, big or small, right?

I don’t see any reason for them to kill or attack each other.

…’I Trusted the Monkey Man but’ user’s post suggests that’s not entirely true. That user is probably still having a nerve war with the family who occupied the cave first.

“Wow…”

Paya was looking at the mural painted on the ceiling. She’s so fascinated. Is this her first time seeing a mural drawn by a civilized person?

Well, it must be her first time entering a cathedral. It would have been a sacrilegious place for her.

Let me take a look too.

It’s a picture of a young female knight with flowing silver or white hair riding a winged unicorn and confronting a being. The opponent was a knight in gray armor.

It was certainly more refined than the rough murals drawn by barbarians. They used colors well, too.

Looking at the chest area of the two people’s armor, there were different patterns drawn on each. Does it symbolize something like a religious war?

“Oh…!”

Paya was looking around, and Noah frowned after seeing the mural.

━ What’s wrong?

“Ah, no. It’s nothing. It just seems like a mural I’ve seen somewhere.”

You’ve seen this kind of mural? Where on earth?

“Actually, I don’t know. But it feels familiar somehow. Like I’ve seen it sometime…”

When I asked, Noah couldn’t answer properly. What is it? It’s very suspicious.

I asked Paya and Rake too, but they both said they’d never seen it before.

Well, I guess it’s understandable since these two are barbarians, but Noah has been with the Tribal Federation since she fell into this world. She wouldn’t have been to a Goddess Religion cathedral before.

…Could it be?

I took a picture of the mural and sent it to Hanna via private message.

[Not a Netkama: What’s this?]

The reply came right away. It seems like a free time.

[Not a Netkama: Huh?]

[Not a Netkama: This picture looks very familiar?]

She’s reacting like Noah.

[Not a Netkama: Where did you take this?]

[Cathedral]

[Do you know where you saw it?]

The reply came after a few minutes.

[Not a Netkama: …No]

[Not a Netkama: I definitely know it, I’ve definitely seen it, but I don’t know]

Am I the only one who doesn’t know because I’m possessed by a Loa?

It’s strange that only possessed people, especially Paladins, react this way. Did the Goddess forcibly shove this mural into the minds of the possessed?

What is this mural?

Feeling strange, I moved my consciousness to Totem No. 1 and asked Harry, the top intellectual of the Tribal Federation.

He understood when I roughly described the mural. Ah, before speaking, he said that his memories before descending were not perfect.

He might say, “How can a god not know this?”

“You saw a mural depicting the Hero.”

━ Hero.

Wait, there was such a being? Suddenly, the atmosphere is traditional fantasy.

“It is said that the Hero crossed over from another dimension to save the earth at the call of the Goddess Ishtania.

It’s a figure from the mythical age, so I don’t know the details. High-ranking figures in the Goddess Religion might know. For example, someone like the Pope.”

Isn’t that just a Paladin? Why is only that woman called the Hero?

I once wondered, ‘How do the people of this world understand Paladins?’ At that time, to resolve my curiosity, I asked both civilized people and barbarians.

There were various answers, but in summary, it was like this:

1. Beings chosen by the Goddess Ishtania. They can use the Goddess’s power and are a great threat to demons.

2. They have only been learning how to handle power in the dimension where the Goddess resides for a long time, so they lack basic common sense.

3. Beings who suffer from schizophrenia in exchange for gaining superhuman strength. They sometimes say strange words or show peculiar behavior.

It was known roughly like this. No one knew that the Paladins came from another dimension.

That’s why it’s even stranger. There’s a Hero who openly has the title of ‘one who came from another dimension,’ but they never thought of Paladins as people from another world.

Did the Goddess use some strange power to interfere with their perception? It wouldn’t be strange for a being who can even make people travel dimensions.

━ Who is the one confronting her?

“The Demon King, the avatar of the Evil God Shamishur. Like the Hero, he’s a figure from the mythical age. He led the Demon King’s army, a force that worshipped the Evil God, and tried to conquer the world, but was killed by the Hero, I heard. It’s all a story known only through records.”

Evil God Shamishur. There are other gods besides the Goddess and Loas. No, it would be more accurate to say there were.

Harry said that Shamishur lost the Demon King, his avatar, and lost the influence he could exert on earth. He also said that it’s highly likely that he was banished by the Goddess.

“It wasn’t just necromancers and demons who tried to bring about the apocalypse. Although only the demons succeeded.”

It’s just a normal Hero and Demon King story, so why is it in the memories of the Paladins?

The more I dig, the more eerie it gets. I pressed him further.

“Hmm.”

Harry, who was sitting on a chair, stopped talking and started talking about something I didn’t even ask.

Ah, I shouldn’t have asked. This is a disaster I brought upon myself.

“There’s also a theory that the Goddess is an invader from another world, and that Shamishur is the true guardian of humanity, or rather, civilized people. It’s a hypothesis put forward by those who persistently investigated why the Goddess was once called the ‘God of Games.’

History is written by the victors, so it might not be a completely foolish delusion.”

So he says.

Up to this point, it was interesting, but after that, the story seemed useless, so I cut him off and returned to Totem No. 3.

The old man is quite eloquent.

“Malak-nim, I found strange creatures.”

Rake dragged two corpses. It looked like a mixture of human and reptile… Yes, it looked like a Reptilian.

Judging from the fact that the corpses didn’t disappear, they’re not demons, but what are they? The Infected have low intelligence and wouldn’t be able to wear human clothes.

It’s definitely not a worshipper who underwent mutation. These guys’ blood is red.

Could they be barbarians who changed their appearance after receiving blessings from other Loas, like Asha or the Black Coral Tribe members?

That’s a bit strange too. If they were barbarians, they would have taken their comrade’s corpse with them due to their custom of valuing the afterlife.

Were they in a very urgent situation?

Anyway, it seemed certain that these unidentified creatures attacked the cathedral.

“Tteunteuni has recovered a lot. Shall we depart?”

━ Let’s go.

A mural familiar to Paladins, the Hero and the Demon King, the Evil God Shamishur, lizardmen.

Now’s not the time to worry about this. Rescuing Bangguseok Choseon, the Pope, and the followers is the priority.

With many unanswered questions left behind, I left the cathedral.

My head feels complicated after a long time.