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

#045Reader Mode

#045

Leaning against the wall, I craned my neck to peer down the shadowy staircase, staring into what seemed like an abyss ready to swallow me whole.

F*cking scary.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that if I dared one step forward, some unseen monster lurking in the darkness would snatch my ankle and drag me into the shadows.

Of course, this isn’t a horror game, so there won’t be anything like that…

Look, I’ll be honest. I’m a total chicken.

Horror movies? I’ll pass. Video games with jump scares? Not in a million years.

So how did I manage to finish Heretic Slayer? That was different. Athanas, the main character, is a powerhouse. Ghosts that explode after one swing from his holy mace aren’t scary at all. It’s the helpless fleeing that freaks me out.

Now, as I’m staring down the gloomy staircase, I’m debating if I really need to go down there.

On one hand, if I don’t check it out, I’ll be constantly worrying if [Retrograde] really exists or not.

But on the other hand, do I really need to see everything firsthand? That’s what our brains are for, right?

Time to think this through.

If I head downstairs now, I’d probably see…

“…Is there something you need down there?”

“Whaah!” The unexpected voice from behind made me jump out of my skin. The problem was… I was already precariously perched at the stair’s edge.

Sh*t!

As my foot slipped, visions of YOU DIED in bright red letters over my broken-neck corpse flashed through my mind.

If I died now, the game’s progress would probably show a measly 1% completion.

Suddenly, I’m yanked back from the brink, the air whooshing out of my lungs.

“Are you alright?” the voice behind me asks.

I exhale a shaky breath, grateful to be back on solid ground.

Wow, that was way too f*cking close for comfort.

I nearly took a nosedive straight to the afterlife.

Sure, a blessing could fix a broken neck, unless it’s an instant death, but…

…I’d probably regret not dying on impact.

Just the thought of a creepy healer fixing my neck with squirming maggots made my hair stand on end.

“I’m terribly sorry, sir. I seem to have given you quite a fright.” the stranger apologizes.

Catching my breath, it dawns on me that I haven’t thanked the person who just saved me from plummeting down the stairs – despite them also being the cause of my scare.

I turned to face my savior, only to freeze in shock after seeing his face.

“…Ah”

“Ah?”

In that split second, I nearly blurted out his name but caught myself just in time. Inside, though, I was freaking out.

It’s Athanas! It’s f*cking Athanas!!!

The protagonist inquisitor from [Heretic Slayer] that I had cleared not once but five times, was standing right before me!!! He looked younger, less battle-worn than his game avatar, but it was undeniably him.

Because how could I forget that handsome face that decorated the game’s cover packaging!

Sure, you spend most of the gameplay staring at the back of his head instead of that face. But in those rare cutscenes where he turned around, his presence was unforgettable.

Especially those moments after killing a boss, where his presence dominates the scene.

His inky black hair, slick with blood, clinging to his smooth forehead. The lighting casting deep shadows across his face, accentuating his striking features even through the blood and grime. He’d stand there, victorious yet weary, above gruesome remains and covered in gore.

He didn’t look like your typical hero with a triumphant smile after just defeating a monster. Instead, there was this grave, almost penitent look. The blood smearing him seemed less like victory and more like a physical embodiment of sin itself.

Bathed in his enemy’s blood, Athanas prayed over the lifeless remains. His eyes would open soon after, revealing those deep, midnight blue eyes that seemed to look beyond the screen, as if reaching right into the player’s soul…

Now, those very eyes locked onto mine, slicing through every wall I’d built around myself. Suddenly face to face with Athanas, my head was spinning with disbelief and a thousand unasked questions.

How is this possible? Why is he here, of all places?

My heart was racing, each beat echoing loudly in my ears.

Could he be searching for [Retrograde]? Or worse, had he already found it and was now on the lookout for players like me seeking this hidden ability?

Or maybe there’s another reason entirely…

I inhaled deeply, trying to steady my racing thoughts.

Let’s stay calm.

No matter what scenarios raced through my mind, I had only one role to play.

I’m Fabio, nothing more.

Just a regular guy named Fabio, who used to be a serf. Just someone curious about the basement and got spooked when someone spoke up behind me on the stairs.

In the past, serfs had strict limitations on many activities. They were banned from hunting wildlife in the forests or cutting down trees outside allotted zones.

So, it makes sense that a serf would be anxious and trembling at the mere thought of stepping out of line.

“Th-thank you for saving me earlier. I owe you my life.” I managed to stammer, slipping into my character setting.

“You look quite pale…” Athanas noted.

“Oh, no, don’t worry about me! I, uh, I just get scared easily. Like that one time a wild boar crossed my path in the fields – my heart was thumping for two days!” I let out a nervous chuckle. “I’m always like this. But really, I’m alright.”

“…. Are you certain? Would you like me to accompany you to a healing priest?”

“Oh, no!!!”

The words tumbled out in a rush, and I instantly regretted them, remembering that only heretic a*sholes outside of the Order would dodge a healer priest’s help. Quickly, I tried to fix it.

“No, no, I couldn’t possibly trouble them with something so trivial!” I backpedaled quickly. “This happens to me all the time. I’d feel silly bothering a healing priest with something so small.”

I was glad that looking a little stupid aligned with ‘Fabio’s’ character setting.

While outwardly showing gratitude for his concern, my eyes darted to Athanas’ clothing, searching for any hint or clues that might help me out here.

What’s his rank now? Is he an inquisitor yet?

Athanas stood there in a plain uniform, a breastplate strapped over it – an attire that revealed little about his current status.

That’s how they dressed in the game too, so looking didn’t help at all.

In Heretic Slayer, everyone wore whatever clothes they could find, as long as they fit, and then draped a cape over it to signify their affiliation and rank. Obviously, that information was useless at the moment since he wasn’t wearing one.

“I see. Then, I’ll stay with you until you’ve recovered fully.” Athanas insisted.

“No, really, I’m already feeling much better. You don’t need to-”

But as I attempted to decline his offer, Athanas suddenly grasped my hand. “You’re still sweating profusely, and your pulse is rapid.”

Well, yeah, because you just grabbed my hand out of nowhere!

“Just give me a moment to catch my breath, I promise.” I assured him, carefully extracting my hand from his grip and tucking it close to my side, as if protecting it.

Breathe, just breathe.

I forced myself to meet Athanas’ eyes, only to have my anxiety spike again.

I couldn’t calm down fast enough. After all, it was Athanas!

How could I be at ease? Athanas, the protagonist from a game I’d spent over 200 hours on, was right here in the flesh!

But this wasn’t the giddy thrill of a fanboy meeting their favorite game character.

If anything, it was quite the opposite.

Why was the game called Heretic Slayer instead of Inquisitor? Because in its brutal world, those accused of heresy weren’t put on trial – they were simply executed.

During a time where plague ran rampant, there was no room for drawn-out legal proceedings.

Heresy trials? How many resources and personnel would it take to properly investigate and try a single heretic, what with all the arguing and politicking? Why bother with trials for heretics when you could just eliminate them, leaving judgment to the Lord?

In the world of Heretic Slayer, inquisitors were essentially sanctioned mass murderers, granted permission by the Lord to stamp out heresy by any means necessary.

And among them, Athanas was a very good inquisitor.

And here I am… a heretic in his presence.

Granted, I was a heretic who had been spared by the Saint, but a heretic all the same.

How many heretics, like me, had Athanas ruthlessly killed, ignoring even Grey Saintess’s pleas for mercy?

In my head, I knew he hadn’t yet become the feared butcher of heretics, but that did little to calm the instinctive dread coursing through me.

“Here, drink some water.” Athanas offered, pouring water from a leather flask into a tin cup, and handed it to me.

I eyed the half-filled cup of water.

Water given by Athanas…

In the game, there’s a scene where Athanas offers water to a priest who’s dying of thirst.

During those desperate times, uncontaminated water was a treasure, but the priest was so nervous that his shaking hands fumbled, spilling the precious liquid.

Athanas doesn’t get mad or anything. Instead, he refills the cup and patiently helps the priest drink. But the priest’s body, already mutating from the plague, rejects the sanctified water.

Seeing this, Athanas…

Without a flicker of emotion, he draws his sword and slits the priest’s throat.

Now, as I gripped the cup, my own hand shook, causing ripples on the water’s surface.

“…Do you need help drinking it?” Athanas asked.

“No, no! I’ve got it!” I replied quickly, too quickly.

This has to be a f*cking test.

This situation couldn’t be anything but a deliberate trap to test players.

Anyone who’s played [Heretic Slayer] would react to this situation.

There’s no way all of this is just a string of coincidences.

Elamin, who’d been shooting down my requests left and right, suddenly becomes Mr. Cooperative and leads me directly to the ‘library branch building’—the same setting as Chapter 1 in the game—right after I mentioned wanting to read.

Next, Athanas, the game’s hero, shows up exactly when I’m mulling over searching for the [Hidden Piece] in the basement.

And now, this moment with him handing me water from his flask, it’s like a replay of that scene from the game…

…Someone’s definitely gotta be watching and keeping score.

Every action I take is likely ticking up my score on some ‘remembers the game’ meter.

I took a cautious sip of the lukewarm water. Thankfully, my body didn’t react negatively.

But then again…

Room temperature water from a leather flask is probably crawling with bacteria like E.coli.

In the Middle Ages, no one would have batted an eye at this. Any weaklings who couldn’t stomach this would’ve been long dead already.

The ruthless world of the Middle Ages, where only the strong survive…

Oddly, mulling over such pointless thoughts helped settle my nerves a bit.

Right. So, if this is a test, someone’s watching, huh?

That realization was strangely reassuring.

If all of this is part of a test, then even the infamous Athanas, known as the heretic butcher, wouldn’t just kill me on a whim. There has to be some sort of safety measures in place.

Maybe Athanas here is just as clueless and simply playing a part in the test.

Considering the Order has already converted several players, the Saint must be well aware of what kind of character Athanas was in Heretic Slayer.

Maybe the Athanas I’m dealing with is just following the Saint’s orders, completely unaware of his Heretic Slayer backstory.

He probably can’t even imagine a world where the Order falls apart.

Maybe he’s still just a kid who’s never taken a life with his own hands.

…But that doesn’t make him any less terrifying.

Not having blood on his hands doesn’t change the fact that he’s got the makings of a cold-blooded slaughterer, does it?

After all, Athanas is notorious for being a stubborn bastard who turned into a feared heretic slayer, enduring when other Inquisitors fell short.

I need to get out of this situation, and fast.

But for that to happen, they need to hurry up and finish this test…

So what if they figure out I remember stuff from the game?

The assumption that someone like me could keep anything from the Order was a joke from the get-go.

I was grateful to the Order for taking me in me so generously, but it also left me uneasy.

Do they really think they can take on the Othergods with a laid back approach like this?

Powerful beings usually fall for one reason.

They get too cocky.

History’s littered with stories of the mighty getting too full of themselves and crashing down.

Actually, knowing the Order’s this vigilant is kinda reassuring.

If they confront me about why I didn’t confess everything at the start, I’ll just grovel and say I was scared out of my wits.

Sure, I might get scolded, but they won’t kill me, especially since the Saint vowed to protect me…

But when will they decide this test is over?

Feels like they should have enough clues by now, right?

Or are they waiting for me to slip up more obviously?

What if I just come clean first…?

But admitting to knowing it’s a test might expose how alert I am.

And the last thing I want is to be flagged as a perceptive smartass.

Extras who seem too clever tend to have a short shelf life in any plot.

Feigning ignorance is my shield…

I remind myself of this strategy that’s become my new guiding motto.

Acting nonchalant in each little test, then acting shocked when the Apostles turn up – that’s my game plan. That’s when I’ll spill my guts in a dramatic confession.

I wonder what’s next in their test after this water thing?

I took another sip of the tepid water, stealing a glance at Athanas.

“… Have you seen me somewhere before?” Athanas suddenly asked.

The question caught me so off guard I nearly spat out the water in surprise.

After coughing my lungs out for a bit, I managed to collect myself.

Is he really being this blunt?

T/N: Yes, yes. He’s finally here! Athanas, the Heretic Slayer! He sounds kinda intense, doesn’t he? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Let’s see how this goes!