I'm the Only Totem in Another World - Chapter 199

Chapter 199: IF ━ If I Joined Hands with Asha （1）

# This story is a hypothetical scenario of “What if this happened?” and is not canon.

Slice!

Asha’s black energy bound Karon’s feet, and Rake’s Meteor Sword sliced through his neck.

Just when I thought it was all over, having just killed the Evil God…

“Malak! I will bestow annihilation upon you!”

Karon, his eyes wide open, shot something towards me. It was a spell that completely banishes a god from the material world.

“Ah…”

A sigh escaped my lips, but I was able to accept it more calmly than I expected. It wasn’t entirely unforeseen.

For a brief moment, I checked on Rake and Asha. Asha’s face was still trying to grasp what had happened, while Rake was pale with shock.

With Rake remaining, even if Asha runs wild like an unbridled foal, she can stop her. Let’s trust Rake.

Looking back, it was a truly difficult fight. The battles with the demons and Karon aside, what truly exhausted me was the issue of Asha and the Black Coral Tribe.

The reason I accepted those cannibals who attacked Dina’s Special Forces as comrades was simple: to supplement the currently lacking strength of the Tribal Federation.

Isn’t there a saying, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”? I intended to use these sea monster bastards as expendable pawns to be annihilated alongside the demons.

However, things didn’t go as planned. Asha and the sea monsters thrived and grew stronger even in the places I threw them to die fighting.

Furthermore, the Paladins turned their backs on me. They refused to cooperate with an organization that joined hands with cannibalistic monsters, with both Dina’s Special Forces and the Close-Range Spy Raid rejecting any collaboration.

Managing the morale of the people within the Tribal Federation was also difficult. They trembled in fear whenever Asha and the sea monsters appeared.

In the end, we had no choice but to defeat the demons with the strength of the Tribal Federation alone. We didn’t lose because Rake, Paya, Kanto, and Asha, along with the sea monsters, had become as strong as the Paladins…but countless sacrifices were inevitable.

It was all the price for cooperating with monsters who abandoned all sense of morality.

Well, that’s that…anyway, we won. Though I’m not sure if this was simply winning a fight or truly ‘saving’ the world.

The energy that Karon fired at the cost of his life had reached right in front of me.

Alright. If it ends with my sacrifice, I’ll gladly do it. I closed my eyes, waiting for Jin Malak’s soul to leave.

[I am sorry. I am greatly indebted to you.]

At that moment, a voice echoed in my head.

[The world is in turmoil, so I am still needed.]

With those words, Jin Malak’s soul left the manifested body.

Because I understood Jin Malak, I silently accepted ‘Annihilation.’ I had only won the war, but I had failed to stabilize the people.

Then, I’ll leave the reconstruction of the world to Jin Malak, and I’ll take a break. I can watch over things as a ghost.

…Let’s think of it as becoming invisible, since being a ghost sounds ominous.

Soon, ‘Annihilation’ struck me directly. It didn’t hurt. How should I put it? It felt like I suddenly took a ton of sleeping pills, leaving my head groggy.

Jin Malak’s manifested body slowly scattered into blue light. After a while, the body completely dispersed, and I became a ghost floating in the air.

I could see Karon, who was fading away as the price for using ‘Annihilation’ by sacrificing his soul. More accurately, it was Karon’s soul.

“I wondered how that powerful being descended, but it was a trick, putting a soul within a soul.”

He muttered with a humiliated expression.

“Surviving by using a possessed person as bait. As expected, all Loa bastards are the same.”

I wanted to retort, asking if that was something he, who had been trolling all this time, had the right to say, but I had become a ghost, not even a soul, so it was impossible. I was literally a wandering spirit.

“I may disappear here, but the end of myth will surely come…!”

With those final words, Karon completely turned to dust and vanished. It was a pathetic end, befitting a villain.

I looked at Asha and Rake, who were on the Evil God’s body.

“Oh, no.”

Rake used the ‘Follower Summoning’ blessing on herself. I didn’t know where she was going, but it was definitely to find me, who had been hit by Annihilation.

“My Lord…?”

Asha was simply staring blankly at the spot where Jin Malak’s manifested body had disappeared.

“My Lord,” my ass. I never once acknowledged her as my bride. Is she acting like this because Rake isn’t here right now? Rake would always glare at her with a murderous look whenever Asha uttered the word ‘My Lord.’

‘If you utter the words ‘My Lord’ from that foul, filthy mouth of yours one more time, I will slice you up like the fish you are.’

Rake was truly terrifying back then.

…I wonder what happened to Jin Malak? Did he return to the Spirit World since I, the medium, disappeared? Or did he use the Divinity I had gathered to re-descend?

I wanted to find out immediately, but it was impossible. I was mentally exhausted.

Let’s just sleep for a bit, just a bit, and then check. I let go of my consciousness, which I had been holding onto with all my might.

Losing consciousness was instantaneous.

▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄

When I regained consciousness, quite a lot of time had passed.

The Imperial Capital, where the final battle took place, was left in a destroyed state. All that remained were the pale corpses of the worshippers.

I led my ghostly body（?） towards Symphony, where the Tribal Federation headquarters was located. I wanted to see Hanna too, but the Tribal Federation was my top priority.

As befitting a ghost, I could pass through anything and everything.

The words, “‘How did you fix it to the horizontal coordinate system?'” came to mind, but I couldn’t even laugh, perhaps because it was me they were referring to. Well, let’s assume it’s different because it’s the realm of magic, not science.

Perhaps because I was a ghost and not recognized as a possessed person, I had no status window and couldn’t access the community. I didn’t memorize the entire route to Symphony, so I had no choice but to wander.

I proceeded, recalling the memories of marching to the Capital with the warriors. If I went straight south, I would reach Symphony.

The Tribal Federation I saw again…thankfully, was intact. People were peacefully plowing the fields, so it seemed they hadn’t collapsed or experienced any internal strife.

Did Jin Malak re-descend after all? I entered the Lord’s Chamber, which had been transformed into an altar.

“The crops are growing well. The harvest is also excellent.”

Rachel was reporting in front of the totem. I could see Asha, but Rake, who always fought with Asha over the totem’s spot, was nowhere to be seen.

Where did she go?

━ Good. Report to me immediately if anything unusual happens.

As expected, Jin Malak had descended upon the totem. The totem flickered with blue light.

Our Jin Malak, he’s doing well. It seems he blended the information and daily routine I left in the ‘Message to Myself’ well.

I stayed at the altar and watched Jin Malak’s daily life. Occasionally, Paya, Kanto, Rachel, Grandpa Harry, and Luna visited. But for some reason, Rake was nowhere to be seen.

“Um.”

Paya, who had come to the altar, glanced at the totem.

“Malak-nim.”

━ Hmm?

“Malak-nim…is that really you?”

Perhaps Paya sensed with her spiritual perception that Jin Malak and I were different. However, the reason she couldn’t definitively say ‘no’ was probably because it was subtle.

Before I became a ghost, I was both Jin Malak and not Jin Malak. Because our souls were merged.

━ Yes.

“Priestess Paya. What blasphemous words are those? If the Lord isn’t Malak-nim, then who…”

━ Stop.

Jin Malak, who stopped Asha’s words, fell silent for a moment, as if trying to organize his thoughts.

Creak━!

Rake opened the door and entered the altar.

“Chieftain Rake. You haven’t shown your face since Malak-nim saved the world, what wind brought you here?”

Rake ignored Asha, who scoffed, and glared at the totem, at Jin Malak.

“Where is Malak-nim? I think you would know.”

Her attitude was unrestrained, as if she already knew everything.

Could the ‘Malak-nim’ Rake was looking for be me, ‘Sanz,’ and not Jin Malak? Come to think of it, Rake said something before the final battle began.

‘When all of this is over, I have something I want to ask Malak-nim.’

She definitely said that. I was worried that she was raising a death flag, but thinking about it now, it seems that was a hint.

Wasn’t she implying that she had figured out my identity to some extent?

━ Chieftain Rake. Priestess Paya.

Jin Malak stopped Asha, who was about to get angry, and began to speak.

━ The one you seek is my representative. He is…

A long explanation followed.

“Th-that’s…!”

“Is there no way to bring him back to the world?”

Paya sobbed, and Rake asked.

━ There is a way. But it’s nearly impossible.

Jin Malak said that if we gathered relics imbued with Divinity and performed a ritual, we might be able to summon me back.

━ As you know, the world is severely damaged. I don’t know if such relics still remain.

Jin Malak, who spoke those words, subtly suggested.

━ Chieftain Rake. Your strength is needed to rebuild the world. Would you like to join me in rebuilding the world and searching for the relics?

“I am not your guardian.”

Rake shook her head and turned away.

“You are not my Malak-nim.”

She left the altar without looking back.