Rise of the OtherGod Apostle: Not a Cult Leader, but a Serf?!

#107Reader Mode

#107

Wait, the System has dead zones?

I always figured it was this omniscient, ever-present entity that was hardwired into my very soul. But it turns out, it’s more like a satellite with spotty coverage.

…Realizing there are places the System can’t reach makes it feel less invincible. As if it’s just another tool in the hands of some far-off, apathetic Othergod.

This whole ‘dead zone’ revelation changes everything.

I can barely do anything with the System as it is, but who knows how it works for other players?

Mother God mentioned that Clear Points can unlock a massive number of possibilities…

What if someone could simply “buy” another player’s location or username with those precious points?

It’s f*cking unfair, but let’s be honest, Conclude was never about playing by the rules. If the devs gave a damn about game balance, they wouldn’t have added the unclearable Happy God from the start.

The System can’t give you what it doesn’t have, though.

Down here in this signal-free zone, even if someone’s trying to track me, the System would just give them a [Location Not Found] message.

Which isn’t a huge help, honestly. If I can’t even tell when someone’s looking for me, this whole ‘dead zone’ advantage is basically worthless.

Not that I’m planning on living down here anyway.

What I’m more worried about is…

Right now, the only thing I can depend on is my ‘The Whole World Is Beneath One’s Self’ Trait. If that vanishes too, venturing down there would be a death sentence.

…But Traits are connected to my soul, so it should be fine.

The warning mentioned that the System connection would get severed, not that my soul would get kicked out of this body.

Odds are, everything will keep working as usual, just without the System’s notifications.

Still… there’s this nagging suspicion that there might be some crucial clue waiting for me down there. Then again, I could be walking straight into a total disaster.

I stood there, frozen at the edge of the 24th floor, trying to make up my mind.

Ah, screw it. Let’s just take a step and see what happens.

[SYSTEM: Warning! The region below lies outside the system’s jurisdiction. Connection will be temporarily suspended.]

A notification window popped up. I decided to leave it open and take a few more steps down.

[ :— Warning! The region below lies outside the system’s jurisdiction. Connection will be temporarily—]

But then the text started glitching, and the entire System window just went dark.

Whoa, it actually shuts down.

“Status window?” I muttered, but there was only silence.

A sudden jolt of fear hit me, and I panicked, scrambling back up the stairs. As I did, the warning window reappeared.

[SYSTEM: Warning! The region below lies outside the system’s jurisdiction. Connection will be temporarily suspended.]

That’s interesting… It doesn’t even acknowledge that the connection was already suspended.

Looks like there’s no system penalty for venturing out of bounds.

I spent a few minutes going up and down the stairs, watching the System window flicker on and off, making sure nothing else changed. Finally satisfied, I took a deep breath and psyched myself up to descend further, where the stairs turned.

36 steps on a half-floor… 72 steps on a full floor.

My exhausted feet finally came to a stop on what I generously called the 23.5th floor.

[Can you tell me now?]

[I can only imagine how exhausting it must have been, making your way down to this place. Please, have a seat and rest here. Let us talk for a bit.]

…So friendly all of a sudden.

I couldn’t get a read on Records’ personality at all. Was this closer to his true nature, or just another manipulation?

[No, just tell me already.]

[Patience. Soon, you shall get a glimpse of the world’s truth.]

The world’s truth? Sounds pretty grand, but knowing Records, it was probably nothing special.

[Sit here and cast your gaze upwards, towards the stairs that seem to ascend endlessly.]

I turned to look up, my eyes following the winding path of the staircase.

It’s just stairs.

I mean, I’d been told that Starlight couldn’t reach this place, but I didn’t see any visible boundary or barrier stopping it.

I figured sitting wouldn’t hurt anyway. My legs were killing me, so I reluctantly lowered myself to the floor, just like Records suggested. As I did, a chill ran up my spine – the stone floor radiated a damp, cold air.

[How long do I have to wait?]

[You’ll see it within five minutes.]

If this is some kind of joke, I’m gonna be pissed.

As I sat there in the eerie silence, my mind started to wander.

How does this place even get air down here? There can’t be any vents this deep…

I wondered if it was handled by some kind of blessing, like the soundproofing. Maybe it was all done the same way?

The God of Heating and Insulation… the God of Ventilation and Air Conditioning… it sounds ridiculous, even in a world like the Dark Realm.

But even if such gods existed, maintaining those blessings would drain Faith Points like crazy. Where would they even get that many Faith Points?

Is Order covering the cost for all this?

As the main god, he might be able to pull it off.

If this entire land belonged to him, setting up hidden power lines wouldn’t be impossible. Then again, leaving physical traces like wires was a surefire way to get your main body tracked in Conclude. So, maybe batteries then? Strategically placed to power blessings…

You could leave behind expendable units to act as ‘batteries’. Units that just prayed 24/7.

I shuddered, remembering my own strategies when I was playing with Mother God. I used to create these humans fused with cicada larvae, burying them underground to pray until they died…

…If the God of Records had actually read my main account’s play log, he would’ve lost his mind.

Good thing Records is incompetent.

Has it been 5 minutes yet?

[How much longer do I have to wait?]

[You’ll see it soon. Focus your mind and your gaze.]

I let out a deep sigh and fixed my gaze on the stairs, feeling pretty meh about the whole thing. Let’s see how amazing this is supposed to be, I thought skeptically.

They’re just f*cking stairs—

Abruptly, my thoughts screeched to a halt, and I jumped to my feet in shock.

Huh?

The stairs had disappeared. Vanished into thin air.

And it wasn’t only the stairs. Everything past the 24th floor was just…gone. Like some giant cosmic knife had sliced it away, leaving nothing but a gaping void in its place.

What the…

An optical illusion? But those didn’t work on me.

A curtain? A boundary? The words felt woefully inadequate.

This was something else entirely. It wasn’t just darkness – it was the complete and utter absence of light. Not a single photon dared to penetrate the impenetrable blackness that now loomed above me. It was like a wall had materialized, coated in a paint so dark it devoured 99.9% of all light.

Can I even touch it? Is there anything actually there?

A reckless curiosity took hold of me, and before I knew it, my hand was reaching out to touch the dark, endless void that had swallowed everything above.

Just as my fingertips were about to brush against the edge of nothingness, a blaring warning flashed before my eyes.

[STOP!]

Words floating in the air?

I stared, mesmerized, as crisp, dark letters hovered right in front of my face. Without thinking, I reached out to touch them, and they dissolved into an inky liquid that dripped onto my skin, sending an icy, tingling feeling rushing through my veins.

As I watched, the ink on the back of my hand began to swirl and change, forming a new message.

[Anything that dares to cross this boundary will be obliterated. Attempt to touch it, and you’ll lose at least a few of your precious fingers.]

“What?!” I jumped back, my heart threatening to pound right out of my chest.

A little warning would’ve been nice!

This wasn’t just risky—it was straight up f*cking deadly.

I grabbed my quill, my hand trembling with frustration as I scrawled out my questions in the book.

[What the hell is that thing? Is it temporary? What’s happening here?]

[This is a place where Starlight cannot reach. Such occurrences are… not unexpected.]

[What do you mean by “such occurrences”?]

[It is akin to an error.]

…An error?

That’s not an explanation! You can’t just throw out the word ‘error’ and expect me to understand. There are all kinds of errors, for crying out loud! Like a ‘404 Not Found’ error, for example!

[Before we delve into that, we need a better name for you. “You Who Are Not Fabio” is rather cumbersome.]

No, explain what you just said first!

[Hmm… Papabio? Perfect, right? From this moment forth, you shall be Papabio.]

…What a shitty naming sense.

What am I, Papa Smurf?

[So, do you like it?]

Like I had a choice. But the name debate could wait.

[The name doesn’t really matter. Just tell me what happened.]

[What has happened, Papabio, is that you have become… lost in time.]

…Lost in time?

[When Retrograde reversed the flow of time, your arrival here became an impossibility. An event that never transpired, erased from the annals of history. However, this place, this very moment—it was not entirely obliterated. It lingers, a glitch in the tapestry of reality, an error, you see?]

Retrograde?

My eyes widened. Someone had actually used it?

I thought they’d removed that overpowered ability ages ago, citing ‘balance reasons…’ So the empty coffin hadn’t been empty after all—someone had taken Retrograde.

I chewed on my lip, anxiety twisting in my gut.

The bastard who set the trap… they must be the one who took it.

But who the hell could it be? The Distorted One, perhaps? It seemed like its style—chaotic, unpredictable.

And of all the moments to use Retrograde… ‘coincidentally’ when I showed up here.

Then again, if I had a broken ability like that, I’d probably use it for everything too. It’s the ultimate cheat code—rewind time on a whim, with only a minimal stamina cost.

Whoever this mystery person was, wherever they were hiding, using Retrograde would’ve affected the entire Dark Realm. The chances of me getting caught in the crossfire of some random asshole using it for reasons completely unrelated to me… higher than I’d like to admit.

But Records told me I’d see this “error” if I waited five minutes.

How could he have predicted that Retrograde would be activated, unless…

Does this asshole always use Retrograde at the exact same time?

With shaky fingers, I scribbled down my frantic questions.

[Do you know who has Retrograde? How did you predict they were going to use it?]

[The moment you descended to this level, your connection to the Holy Reliquary was severed. That is precisely when Athanas uses Retrograde to search for you. A rather straightforward sequence of events.]

“…Athanas?” The name fell from my lips like a lead weight, shattering the suffocating silence.

My mind went completely blank.

Athanas has Retrograde?

How? We’d gone down there together, checked the coffin…

Athanas tricked me?

The realization hit me like a physical blow.

[Let us set aside the trivial details for the moment, shall we?]

This bastard is dropping earth-shattering truth bombs like he was commenting on the weather.

How the hell is any of this trivial?!

[No, it’s important! It’s extremely important! Give me more details. Athanas can use Retrograde? Since when?]

[Papabio, that’s quite rude. Despite my appearance, I am a god. Let’s prioritize the matters of greater significance first.]

There couldn’t possibly be anything more important than this!

Just as I was about to pressure him for more information on Athanas, ink began to spread across the back of my hand, forming words that made my blood run cold.

[Papabio, the instant you try to leave this place, you will face complete and utter obliteration.]

…Come again?

[You have a choice to make. Stay here, in this very place, for the rest of your days, with me as your sole companion. Or attempt to cross this threshold and face the dire consequences of total obliteration. The decision is yours.]