I'm the Only Totem in Another World - Chapter 175

Chapter 175: Escape from the Spirit World No. 1 （6）

First, I’ll explain how we got here. It was a dark night. We had just left Gabun’s domain.

“Damn it! What the hell are those things?!”

Gukbap ran, panting, with his war hammer raised.

Shh━!

Ladybugs the size of elephants were chasing after him. The sight of them scurrying through the bushes with their six legs moving rapidly was pure terror.

I tried to use my blessings to do something, but it didn’t work.

“Ru, run!”

“Huaaat~!”

It wasn’t just Gukbap who was running. Everyone, including myself, was running away from them. Gukbap was just at the very back.

“Wh, what are those?”

I asked Nike, who was running at the front, hopping like a rabbit. Somehow, she seemed even faster when running away.

“They are spirits called Rabak. They appear when the sun sets. I didn’t expect them to come this far. My apologies.”

“How dangerous are they?”

“They suck out human souls.”

“What?!”

Are they spirits or demons? Low-ranking and mid-ranking demons are like artificial spirits created by high-ranking demons, so are they similar?

Anyway, that’s not important right now.

“Wait, this is the Spirit World, right? You can die and kill in the Spirit World?”

Aren’t everyone immortal in dimensions like this? Isn’t this a world where no one gets hurt?

…Well, there were those carnivorous plants. In the end, the law of the jungle applies even in the afterlife.

“Your soul will naturally recover when morning comes, so you don’t have to worry too much. They don’t actually eat souls, they just absorb their energy.”

“Then why are we running?!”

“You might lose some of your memories during the recovery process.”

“This is driving me crazy!”

We ran like hell.

“Pant, pant.”

Even though my body is made of a soul, it’s still at the level of an ordinary person, so I get tired faster than other followers. In a way, this is my fault.

The image that my soul thinks of, the one that represents me, is this out-of-shape young man with low stamina.

You idiot! You should have thought of Jin Malak’s body as the one that represents you! Or even the totem!

At least then I could have carried it while running!

“Get on my back!”

It’s embarrassing, but I have no choice. I’m not a captain of the track team, a gym rat, or a soldier. I got on Nike’s back.

The universe-respected god, the strongest Malak, got tired from running and had to be carried on Rake’s mom’s back? Oh, this is a secret that not only Rake but also other followers must never know.

It’s a good thing I introduced myself as Malak’s messenger to the followers.

“Where are we going?!”

“We need to go back to Gabun’s domain! Then they won’t follow us!”

Ah, we should have just had a campfire there.

Actually, before we left the domain, Nike suggested that we rest because dangerous spirits appear at night.

I felt like we shouldn’t stay here for too long, so I decided to keep going. That was a big mistake. I thought it would be safe because it’s the Spirit World. I was too naive.

“Damn it!”

“I’m getting tired!”

Even the followers with trained bodies, no, souls（?）, started to pant. The ladybug bastards were faster and had more stamina than I thought, and they continued to chase us.

“Go ahead! I’ll buy you some time!”

Denzo blocked the path with his iron club. They say a man speaks with his back. The cracked back of the middle-aged man was more than cool.

“I’ll hold them off here!”

“Me too!”

“What’s the big deal about memories? We can just get them back!”

“Let’s block them so the Messenger can get away safely!”

Seeing Denzo’s brave back, the followers stopped one by one and blocked the path of the ladybugs.

It was about a quarter of the people we were traveling with.

“You bastards! You shall not pass! I, Denzo, will…Ugh!”

The ladybug spirit grabbed Denzo and chewed on his body. No blood splattered. His body just crumbled into dust and scattered.

“Don’t worry! We’ll see each other again if you come back here tomorrow morning!”

Nike shouted.

“Hmm.”

Something feels strange. It’s a sacrifice, but it doesn’t feel heavy.

I left Denzo and the followers who became the ladybugs’ meal behind and escaped from this place.

“How about we go to Gabun’s followers? They’ll give us a place to sleep.”

“Let’s do that.”

After wandering through Gabun’s domain, we finally arrived at the place where his followers lived.

There, we met this woman, Mera. Karon’s older sister.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing. You don’t look much like Karon.”

I have to speak formally here. Even if I’m Malak’s messenger, I’m not higher than the leader of Gabun’s followers.

If I reveal that I’m the representative, I might get better treatment, but I don’t know what kind of variables might arise. I don’t know what Gabun might do if he hears about this from Mera.

“How is Karon doing? Being here, I have no sense of how much time has passed on Earth. I wish he would come to the Spirit World soon. He’s capable of achieving great things that would allow him to come here.”

Mera chuckled as if reminiscing about her brother.

“Uh…”

What should I say? That that bastard is alive and well? That he’s become an evil spirit, or perhaps something even greater?

It wouldn’t be right to say that, seeing how close they seem.

“Well, he’s alive.”

Mera passed away much sooner than when Karon lost his three children. So she probably only has good memories of him.

Let’s just move on. It’s best not to stir up trouble.

“He was the one who followed Gabun-nim more than anyone… What is he doing these days? He had exceptional spiritual abilities, so he must have become the Priest after me.”

He didn’t become a Priest, he became a bad guy who’s trying to create a day of remembrance for Loa.

“He was a Priest for a while.”

I just glossed over this as well. I briefly told Mera why I was here and what my goal was.

I didn’t mention the demon invasion. It seems like she doesn’t know much about it, probably because the tribes that served Gabun, including the Autumn Leaves Tribe, were massacred by civilized people before the demon invasion.

Or rather, she didn’t seem interested in earthly matters at all. Did she lose interest in worldly affairs after spending so long in the Spirit World?

Anyway, I skipped explaining the demon apocalypse because it was too much of a hassle.

“It’s nice to talk to someone who’s been on Earth recently. It’s refreshing.”

Mera wasn’t a bad person like Karon. She felt like an ordinary middle-aged woman who enjoys chatting.

“Well.”

As we were chatting, I suddenly got curious.

“What kind of person was Karon? I mean, the Karon that you know.”

“Karon? Hmm…”

Mera pondered for a moment before speaking.

“He was a devoted family man. He even handed over the position of Priest to me because he wanted to take care of his children. In other words, he lacked a bit of manliness, I suppose.”

Karon? That bastard?

“If you sneaked up behind him and grabbed his shoulder, he would jump in surprise. He looked like a scared rat, so I used to tease him by calling him ‘Rat.'”

“Hmm.”

Rat. It’s a familiar word. Isn’t that what Karon used to call me all the time?

“Also… he was weak and sensitive. He acted like a strong person, but he couldn’t truly become one.”

Why does the Karon I know seem to be millions of light years away from this description?

▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄

[I Trusted the Monkey Man but: Karon, you little punk, you’ve been caught red-handed, haven’t you? LOL]

[Odo Daejangbu: Ack! Marine Karon, you’re too good at instigating!]

“Did it fail?”

Karon, borrowing the body of the Paladin ‘One Piece,’ clicked his tongue as he checked the community.

It seemed like expecting the possessed to destroy the totem was not going to work.

“Ex, excuse me.”

The three children Karon had rescued from Bolvano approached him. They seemed to want something.

“What is it?”

Community users said these children were exiled for committing crimes.

Even if that was true, Karon couldn’t kill them.

Three. The same number as his dead children. It was hard for him to take their lives, even if they reminded him of his children.

It could be said to be the little bit of humanity that Karon had left.

“Could you please move the people near our house a little further away… Oh, is that not possible?”

They were talking about the Cultist zombies he had assigned to guard the children’s house.

“They are helpers. They won’t harm you.”

“We, we’re scared. Their eyes have no focus… and they keep repeating strange words…”

One of the children who had been contemplating spoke up.

“I’ll move them back a bit. Now go home.”

After sending the children away, Karon looked back and forth between the cathedral and the Evil God. The day they decided to destroy the cathedral was tomorrow. It was time to make a decision.

However, it was difficult in his current state. He had to deal with the Evil God who continued to resist his control.

He had to finish him off first to focus on destroying the cathedral.

“…”

Karon’s soul switched to the body of the red monster. He had to approach the Evil God in this body and fight for control of his soul.

His opponent was Shamishur, possibly the first god on Earth. He was a being on a different level from ordinary high-ranking demons.

In the worst-case scenario, he could lose control. But if he succeeded, he would gain the power to challenge the heavens.

“…Rama, Radan, Ratu.”

Karon’s voice trembled slightly.

He uttered the names of his children for the first time in a long while as he slowly moved towards the Evil God. He could feel the dark and sinister energy surrounding the Evil God’s body.

“Daddy will…”

Unlike his usual self, his voice sounded a little scared and sad.

“Daddy will finish everything and leave. I promise.”