Chapter 39: I Became the God of This World!

"If you’re a player, reviving at a temple would be a hassle. So I’ll freeze you solid and toss you into subspace or something. Right, you rule-breaking cheater?"

A white boy.

There was no other way to describe him. His long coat was white. The shirt beneath it was white. His pants, his shoes—everything about his outfit was pure white, paired with silver hair and pale skin.

Only his crimson eyes held any color.

Honestly, it was a nauseating sense of style, but it did a perfect job of amplifying the eerie presence of this unidentified boy who had appeared out of nowhere.

Seeing him, my companions couldn’t hide their agitation.

Neither could I—my body was already beginning to freeze, the chill creeping upward from my feet.

"This one looks seriously messed up… Erika! Force-deploy the shield!"

"Roger!"

The moment Erika responded, the suit’s electromagnetic shield activated, blasting away the ice that had been climbing up my lower body—along with the yellow maid outfit I’d been wearing over it.

The suit turned transparent while still retaining the outline of panties and a tube-top bra, so I hurriedly restored its opacity, returning it to its original jet-black full bodysuit.

Beside me, Erika fired a high-heat jet from the soles of her feet, shattering the ice around her and breaking free.

We managed to escape the icy restraint, but my legs—rapidly chilled—had gone numb. I lost my balance and collapsed backward onto the ground.

"Oh? You managed to escape Absolute Coffin. That isn’t just magic that covers you in ice—it freezes your very existence. Looks like you did some fairly extensive data tampering. That makes it even more unforgivable."

"That’s a misunderstanding. I didn’t tamper with any data—I didn’t even play this game to begin with."

I snapped back at the boy, who had already descended to the ground and was looking down at me with the same composed expression. My legs still wouldn’t respond.

I needed more time before I could stand. I had to buy time before he made his next move.

"You ambush us out of nowhere and then act all smug about it! If you’re going to be cringe, at least commit and keep it to your outfit!"

That must have set him off—Natsumi unleashed a spell at the boy.

But the ice blade she fired was swallowed by a ring of light that formed directly in front of him, then shot straight back toward her.

"Wha—!?"

"Watch out, nya!"

Ririka instantly grabbed a shield lying nearby—the one Beatrix had discarded during her fight with Shogo—and leapt in front of the stunned Natsumi, blocking the rebounding ice blade.

"It’s pointless. I can use perfect magic reflection. Spells like that can’t even touch me."

"Who are you!? If you’re going to hurt my friends, then I’ll take you on!"

From Natsumi’s opposite side, Shogo charged in, using the momentum of his entire body to launch a knife-edge kick.

But just before it could connect, it wasn’t the boy who was blown away—it was Shogo.

"Physical attacks are no different. …You’re a rule-breaking cheater too. With such a cheap ability hack, I figured I could ignore you—but it seems you’re getting carried away. Time for a little punishment."

The boy raised his left hand, and Shogo’s body lifted into the air, as if crushed by an invisible force.

Pointing his free right hand at the immobilized Shogo, the boy manifested a brilliantly glowing white sword of light and thrust it straight through Shogo’s abdomen.

"Gahh!?"

With a flick of his left hand, Shogo was hurled more than ten meters away, smashing into the stone pavement and going completely still.

"Shogo!"

"Shogo-san!"

Queen Tilda and Scarlet rushed to his side.

Shogo was barely alive, but the damage was severe.

Casting one last mocking glance at Shogo, the boy swept his gaze across everyone present.

"I’ve already analyzed your abilities with status-detection search. Level 120—those two, the Cat Sith and Beatrix, are your highest. That’s nowhere near enough to threaten me. …Though, you do have something interesting."

As he said this, his right hand glowed, and two keys materialized within the light.

"What!? Th-Those are—! My item box—my keys are gone!"

"Item Steal. A spell mage-types learn at level 350."

As he spoke, the boy retrieved three more keys from his own item box with his left hand.

The five keys resonated together, glowing a deep violet.

"I’d been collecting them myself, but it was a hassle. Thanks for gathering two for me. That makes all five. Summoning the Demon King here would be troublesome, so I’ll hold onto these."

With that, he slipped all five keys into his coat pocket.

"Kamui-kun! You came to save me, didn’t you!? The staff you gave me was destroyed too! Hurry up and slaughter all those bastard sons of—!"

Yuta’s mother, collapsed on the ground, clutched desperately at the hem of the boy’s white coat.

He shook her off roughly.

So Kamui—that was the all-white boy’s name.

I’d seen it countless times in other games and manga. On its own, it was unremarkable. But paired with that outfit… it was just too much.

Frankly, exhausting.

"Don’t touch my coat. It’s a costume item I had the design team create specifically for me. Your role is finished. There’s nothing to gain from eliminating trash players like you, so I’ll let you go. But there won’t be a next time."

Beatrix exploded with rage at his cold dismissal.

"H-How dare you treat Mama like that! So you were the one deceiving her!"

"Mama, mama—at your age, that’s just pathetic. You really are a revolting parent-child pair. I didn’t deceive her. In fact, I wanted to drag that foolish woman down as soon as possible for throwing this country into chaos. The Adventurer Registration Act was useful for flushing out violators, so I simply observed. Now that it’s served its purpose, there’s no reason to let that idiot woman do whatever she wants. Take her and get out of my sight."

"I’ve had it with your smug attitude! Who the hell do you think you are!?"

Dias finally snapped and shouted.

But the one who responded wasn’t the boy—it was Ririka, her eyes wide with shock.

"H-His status…! Level 500, nya! And his job is ‘God,’ nya!"

"L-Level 500!? Wasn’t the cap 250!?"

Dias yelled back, stunned, and this time the boy answered.

"Up until that morning, yes. I had some data I went through the trouble of making. Letting the service end without ever using it would’ve been a waste, wouldn’t it?"

My legs finally responded. Planting a hand on the ground, I pushed myself upright and asked,

"Level 500. Job ‘God.’ Calling me a rule-breaking cheater… So that means—you’re the operator."

The boy smiled smugly, as though he’d been waiting for that conclusion.

"Exactly. In my world—my game—I want anyone who breaks the rules I set to exit the stage."

"The operator!? Then was it your doing that brought us to this world!?"

"…And if it was?"

That audacious counterquestion shattered the dam.

"At least set up proper toilets, nya! We went through hell because of that, nya! And the gacha rates are way too stingy, nya! Isn’t that against the prize-display law, nya!? And there are way too many level caps, nya!"

"At least give us map display and radar by default! With such a ridiculously huge map, fast travel should’ve been standard! I’m pretty sure I sent feedback through the official site!"

"Even if you say it’s for realism, friend chat and party chat being unusable unless you’re nearby is pointless! There’s no direct messaging either, so we had to use Tw◯tter just to meet up! That’s how Mama found out, and now look at this mess!"

"The combat animations are trash! Input response is slow and the lag is unbearable! Enemy sync is off, party coordination is impossible! Don’t make us do jump-rope mechanics with systems like this!"

"Is it true you ordered so many lewd designs that the illustrators ran away!? The character designs added this year are atrocious! All the original dev members are gone, right!? You say you’re the operator, but who even are you!?"

A storm of complaints erupted.

Even Shogo—apparently healed by Queen Tilda—stood back up, clutching his pierced abdomen as he joined in.

Surprisingly, he looked full of energy.

"Um… what exactly are you all talking about…? I don’t understand any of this at all…"

"Yeah, I don’t really get it either, tbh. But everyone looks pissed, so… it seems like he seriously ticked people off."

"But, you know~ just looking at him, his level gauge looks totally maxed out. He seems like he’d be very satisfying to eat~"

The NPC group, unable to follow the conversation at all, wore plainly confused expressions. Even if we tried to explain things to them, it was doubtful they’d truly understand.

"Erika, how’s the civilian evacuation?"

"Evacuation to the underground waterways and to reinforced structures designated as temples is complete."

"Good. Then have the three units that withdrew prepare as instructed."

By sheer coincidence, the players’ pent-up frustrations toward the operators were buying us time.

A level 500 player would be an overwhelmingly dangerous opponent if we fought head-on.

I had no intention of believing that this white-clad boy was truly a god, but we knew nothing about the magic or skills tied to the ‘God’ job. Whether we chose to fight or flee, we needed to secure the most advantageous position possible—now, while we still had the chance.

When I glanced at Ririka and Natsumi and gave a small nod, they immediately understood and nodded back.

"S-Shut up! This game being a trash game isn’t my fault! I got stuck managing it halfway through without any proper handover! Is it really so wrong if I indulge myself a little!? I—I mean, I’m Kamui! I became the god of this world—this game world!"

The pure-white boy—Kamui—shouted, cutting off the flood of complaints.

Ririka raised both hands to show she meant no harm. Lowering her voice, she spoke gently, as though trying to calm an upset child.

"I’m sorry, nya. We might’ve gone a bit too far, nya. Honestly, we did have fun with Sword Breakers in our own way, nya. We’re grateful for that, nya. But… why was someone from the management side collecting the Demon King’s keys, nya?"

"Yeah, exactly. If the operators were the ones who sent us to this world, then shouldn’t you be able to return to the original world without collecting those keys?"

"Th-That’s because the Demon King is dangerous! There isn’t a single player in this world who has a weapon capable of defeating him! You guys never rolled the gacha, so not a single top-tier weapon ever came out!"

"Like hell anyone would roll gacha for weapons that only get bonus damage against the final event boss when the service is already ending!"

"Easy there, Dias-nyan. I think this person just made a cheat character using admin privileges and got transferred here like the rest of us players, nya."

"That does make sense… hiding behind Mama and exploiting the Adventurer Registration Act. And if he really were a god, his methods are way too roundabout."

"Exactly, nya. Maybe because his job literally says ‘God,’ he was afraid other players would see his status after coming to this world, so he hid among NPCs and clueless players instead, nya?"

"If your status screen blatantly said ‘Level 500,’ everyone would immediately know you were cheating. And dressed all in white like that, you’d stand out even among players in town… maybe he’s had it pretty rough…"

"Th-That’s none of your business! I’m level 500! I’ve become the strongest existence in this world! If I got serious, I could wipe you all out in an instant!"

"We know, nya. Ririka and the others are casual players, nya. But… wouldn’t it be better to have companions than to do everything alone, nya? Even collecting three Demon King keys by yourself must’ve been hard, nya?"

"This game doesn’t have fast travel, and the only long-distance movement is temple warps. Diving into dungeon after dungeon to collect keys from bosses is a nightmare just from the travel alone. Oh—do you maybe have some kind of warp magic?"

"A m-mage-type spell learned at level 400 lets you teleport about ten meters…"

"That won’t help with long-distance travel, nya. See? Don’t you need allies after all, nya? Ririka and the others would be willing to help you, nya."

"A-Allies!? I’m a god! Why should I lower myself to match bottom-tier players like you!?"

"Are you really sure that’s what you want, nya?"

"I said I don’t need dead weight!"

"Really, really sure, nya? You won’t get lonely later, nya?"

"Enough! Do you have any idea how much trouble players like you caused me!?"

"I see, nya… Clarisse-nyan, is it about time, nya?"

Ririka turned back toward me and asked.

Thanks to Ririka and the others keeping Kamui’s attention, the preparations were already complete.

"Yeah—more than enough. …Erika! Now!"

At my signal, Erika bent her arm. The elbow joint opened, and a smoke grenade launched out.

It rolled to Kamui’s feet and immediately began spewing smoke, engulfing the area.

"Damn it! Such underhanded tricks… You’re not getting away!"

Kamui attempted to conjure magic, whipping up a violent gust to disperse the smoke—then froze, his eyes widening.

"We came all this way. We’re not running."

The three Erika units that had withdrawn earlier had navigated the underground waterways to directly beneath the palace plaza. At the exact moment the remaining unit deployed the smoke, they blasted a hole up to the surface with a concentrated heat beam.

From the opening, twenty succubi surged upward, surrounding Kamui.

"S-Succubi!? Throwing monsters like this at me is pointless! I have perfect magic reflection and perfect physical reflection! This body can’t be harmed in any—w-w-wait, what are you doing!?"

Sapphire, who had joined the succubi encirclement around Kamui, slipped out of her blue maid outfit. The body-paint-like markings on her skin faded away, leaving her completely naked as she approached him slowly, her arms spread wide.

"I’m not going to hurt you at all~♡ But I wonder… can your reflection magic reflect something that feels gooood~?"

One by one, the surrounding succubi shed their maid outfits, tightening the circle.

As Sapphire pressed her ample chest against Kamui and gently pushed him downward, a total of twenty-one succubi—excluding Scarlet, who remained beside Shogo to tend to him—swarmed the boy dressed in white.