I Became the Goddess of a New World

Finally, the boss fell.

The gruesome hunk of flesh was no longer moving.

At that moment, a system message announcing the dungeon clear appeared.

[ Dungeon Clear? ]

“···Question mark?”

As Master Kim mumbled, three pairs of eyes exchanged glances.

“Unsettling, what’s going on?”

“Could it be a developer’s prank? Or…”

Suzuka’s words trailed off there.

The view was totally dark. I hadn’t closed my eyes.

What on earth is happening all of a sudden?

Sweet felt an unknown fear creeping in the darkness.

An eerie chill crawled up her skin, accompanied by a churn in her stomach.

Though she couldn’t see ahead, there was something in front of her.

How long did she have to stay like this?

Just as that question crossed her mind, her vision restored.

Wiggle-!

As her vision came back, what she saw was the wriggling corpse of the boss.

She turned her head and looked around, but Suzuka and Sweet were nowhere in sight.

“What the heck.”

Was the boss performing some death struggle pattern?

That seemed a bit too much, though.

As such ridiculous thoughts crossed her mind, she aimed her staff at the quivering mass.

Ready to roast that hunk of flesh at any moment.

[ Main Story – Attack ]

[ Main Story – Guard ]

In that moment, a system message appeared before Sweet.

“Main Story?”

So that’s why Suzuka and Master Kim suddenly disappeared.

Defeating the boss automatically initiated the main story.

Quickly grasping the situation, Sweet chose an option.

[ Moving to Main Story – Guard. ]

She had no idea what would happen if she attacked blindly.

So, Sweet trusted her Mage’s teleportation spell, Blink, and opted for Guard.

“It’s gotten bigger.”

The wriggling had intensified, and it seemed like the mass was swelling further.

She was afraid that if left alone, it would pop like a balloon!

Should she attack now?

Or maybe just observe a bit longer?

“···.”

Sweet chose not to select an option, opting to keep watching.

Wiggle-! Wiggle-!

The corpse transformed into a giant sphere.

Thud-! Thud-!

From within, something began to stir.

The sight looked as if she was watching life gestating inside an egg.

“Burn it all, Fireball.”

Whoosh-!

Unable to withstand her anxiety anymore, Sweet sprang into action.

Whatever that thing was, she couldn’t just stand idly by anymore.

A thought pierced her mind, she couldn’t allow that egg to hatch as it was.

Kaboom-!

A massive fireball struck the egg, causing it to explode.

The unidentified egg shattered into ashes.

“What? That was nothing.”

At that moment, she sensed a presence coming from the main entrance.

“Raven?”

The source of the presence was Raven.

“Good timing! Look at this, I destroyed the last hideout of the heretics…”

“It’s a trap.”

“···Huh?”

A trap? What on earth did that mean?

Sweet’s thoughts didn’t continue from there.

Boom-!

With the death of the boss and the shattering of the egg, a magic circle was drawn.

“The Raven Kingdom was destroyed by the Elder Lich that suddenly appeared in the royal capital.”

Her gaze shifted to the magic circle.

At that same moment, despair clouded Raven’s eyes.

“I thought it was all just coincidence until now.”

The locations of the hideouts formed specific axes of certain magic circles.

There was always a boss monster that ended with the name ‘sacrifice’ associated with those places.

All this unfolded in the Raven Kingdom as well.

Initially taken as coincidence, then suspected, and ultimately confirmed.

“The activation condition of the magic circle is the dying moans of the sacrifice.”

The sacrifice was made from the lives of the imperial citizens kidnapped by the Salvation Church.

A magic that would bring ruin to the Empire with the blood of its citizens, on the land of the Empire.

Was the summon of the Elder Lich.

“Destruction is approaching.”

As Raven finished speaking, the quest was completed.

―――

[ *Heretic Purification (10/10) ]

– You learned from Raven that there are hideouts of heretics across the Empire. Destroy all the heretical hideouts in the Empire and uproot the roots of evil.

– *Completing the quest lets you progress to the ‘Impending Ruin’ quest.

―――

[ Quest ‘Heretic Purification’ Completed. ]

[ Accepting the quest ‘Impending Ruin’. ]

―――

Destruction is approaching.

***

Hearing Raven’s explanation, Suzuka sought a solution.

But she was mentally and physically exhausted from a long attempt.

Despite racking her brain, no satisfactory solutions came.

How on earth could they overcome this despairing situation?

“There’s one way.”

“Really?”

Raven has a way!

That was truly a silver lining amongst misfortunes.

She couldn’t just watch the Empire fall.

“Will you trust me?”

The determined tone made Suzuka’s expression harden.

Was it a woman’s intuition, perhaps?

As Raven continued explaining, Suzuka bit her lip.

“···This is how we can stop the summoning of the Elder Lich.”

“So, what about Raven?”

Suzuka was a player, not a resident of the Akare world.

Thus, she didn’t understand most of what Raven explained.

But even without understanding everything, she grasped the overall flow of the story.

Sacrifice.

Once again, Raven chose sacrifice.

Since the moment she was bitten by the Black Phantom Rabbit instead of herself.

After failing the Ritanya Count Territory quest time and again and witnessing Raven’s death,

Suzuka no longer wanted to see Raven suffer.

So, she worked hard.

Swinging an unfamiliar mace, practicing a fight she had never done before.

Even after joining Sweet and Master Kim’s party, she asked questions personally, learning about combat techniques.

She didn’t want to rely on Raven anymore; she didn’t want to see him suffer.

So, she became strong.

But despite growing stronger, there was nothing she could do.

The flow of this story was already connected to ‘Raven’s Sacrifice.’

With just a slight increase in strength, she couldn’t twist the predetermined tragedy.

“Someone has to do it.”

“Why, why does it have to be Raven?!”

Suzuka, choking on her words, realized it herself.

The only person who could delay the approaching destruction was Raven.

“We don’t have much time left.”

The color of the magic circle was darkening progressively.

If it turned completely black, the summoning magic would activate.

“Ah.”

Suzuka turned her back, reaching out her hand towards Raven as he moved forward.

Though she stretched her powerless arm slowly, it didn’t reach Raven.

“···.”

Raven, standing over the magic circle, turned to look at Suzuka.

Then he opened his mouth, leaving one last message for her.

***

“I’ll be waiting.”

Please, save me.

Raven’s last words were cut off entirely.

With the activation of the magic circle, Raven’s figure vanished.

“···.”

Master Kim stared blankly at the spot where Raven had disappeared for a long time.

He understood with his head. The sacrifice of Raven.

But in his heart, he couldn’t understand at all.

The inverse calculation of the summoning magic circle.

Changing the target of the summoning and reversing the direction of the summon.

The solution Raven proposed was indeed the best option.

With this choice, the Empire could delay the impending ruin.

But as a result, Raven was summoned all alone to where the Elder Lich resided.

Having lost all mana for the cost of inverting a higher-level magic circle.

“What the hell, why couldn’t that bastard do it? Damn it!”

Master Kim was a player. An outsider in this world.

Inverse calculation of the summoning magic circle? What on earth is that? How do you even do that?

He had never even felt mana.

Knowing the method, learning the principles.

Could he execute that? No, not at all.

“What makes him think he can be the sacrifice and not die?”

The Salvation Church called Raven a sacrifice and was pursuing him relentlessly.

That damned sacrifice didn’t even know what it meant, yet was willing to gamble his life.

What was even less tolerable was that he had accepted that notion.

[ Playing back the record. ]

At that moment, a system message appeared.

The surrounding scenery shifted dramatically.

It was as if he was watching a record in the Hall of Heroes.

Where Master Kim was located was underground. Very deep underground.

There were various prison cells along the walls of the deep tunnel.

At the very bottom, at the end of the underground, Raven was imprisoned.

“Raven!”

Raven’s condition was dire.

Her body was covered in blood, and she looked unwell.

Left alone with injuries, she was slowly dying.

He wanted desperately to save her and reached out his hand, but.

Naturally, Master Kim’s hand was blocked by the iron bars and couldn’t reach.

Quiet- Quiet-

A single undead entered the cell where Raven was trapped.

The first raid boss appearing in the trailer’s highlight.

“Breaking a person’s will is very simple.”

Elder Lich whispered to Raven.

“Master Kim… was that the name?”

She jerked.

Raven, who had not bowed to any torture or threat until now, reacted to that name.

“I’ll capture him alive and torture him in front of you. Even if he dies during the cruel torture, his soul will be trapped in my hell, swearing eternal suffering. He will writhe in pain, blaming you.”

Raven’s eyes shook. She was disturbed. Her pupils were filled with despair and sorrow.

“But all this might not happen depending on your will.”

Clack-

The skeleton clicked its teeth, bursting into a grotesque laugh.

“Surrender your body. Then I won’t harm the man you cherish so much.”

Raven bit her lip. With tears streaming down, she was in agony.

No, don’t do that.

Contrary to Master Kim’s wishes, Raven’s lips slowly began to open.

Just as Raven was about to answer, the scenery around them shifted once again.

A woman reminiscent of a blue sky, with a bright smile, turned to Master Kim and asked.

“Did you enjoy the beta test?”