The Outer God Needs Warmth

No matter how much I try to exert my strength, the sea won’t even ripple.

Well, I am the sea, and logically, unless there’s a difference in wind or temperature, it’s only natural that currents don’t form in the sea.

However, there was a time when I did move.

When something is crushed and killed while I’m away for a while.

Maybe it’s the difference between inside and outside an aquarium?

I’m fully packed inside this aquarium, just looking at the wall I can’t possibly cross.

Still, I feel like this is the absolute bottom. So that’s probably not the case.

Climbing up is heavy and hard, but falling down is simple.

While sorting through my memories, I feel somehow smarter, so I look back.

As I’m spending time like this, a thread slowly descends from above.

At last!

Oops.

Aah.

That thing. It’s too far away to touch me.

It’s shining, sparkling toward that giant light floating from way up high.

Even if it is a floating light, it’s like seeing a distant planet from a faded memory of Earth.

Sparkle, sparkle.

What could be shining like that? Who’s trying to mess with me?

It’s annoying that it won’t even reach me, so I just hope it goes away quickly. Why are they pretending not to see me?

Pretending not to know?

No. I know, having been down here. I know how greedily they collect light. Just like Daegon, they won’t miss the chance to ascend if there’s light that can be easily obtained.

That thing is truly invisible to most.

Then why can I see it? Just to tease me?

Is my identity spreading like that? Do I have to smash the jar in the Second World, the realm of the immortals?

No.

Wait a minute.

Isn’t this calling for Daegon? A divine signal only Daegon can see. A phone number just for a specific person.

Of course. Those below have prepared their ritual for summoning, all that’s left is to go, but if they jumped in saying, “Hooray! A spot opened up!” and snatch it away, even I would regret staying alive by any means.

So they made a method only they could see. To know immediately when someone summoned them. And to prevent the rest from finding out.

It’s right in front of me.

But everything is just too lacking for it to reach me. The resources needed to get down here are insufficient.

But.

What if I could impersonate Daegon?

It would be like swallowing everything of Daegon’s and taking that spot for myself, wouldn’t it?

So instead of me, Daegon’s items would be taken by Daegon.

I caught the thin thread that had come down to the bottom.

Of course, I couldn’t do it all at once, but after countless attempts, I felt the faint touch of the thread again.

Shwooosh!

The sensation of being pulled upward.

And then

I opened my eyes.

“Ha ha ha ha! A step too late, intruder! The great one has already descended! From the unfathomable depths of eternal darkness, watching over us, bestowing infinite treasures, and granting everyone the right to become a servant! Oh, Dagon, bless us!”

In front of me, a fishman, half between man and fish, raises a staff and shouts. Around him, fishmen with massive stakes protruding from their necks lay in a circle, endlessly chanting spells in a dying state.

And at the entrance of the room.

A girl is looking up at me, her expression filled with despair, holding a steel staff.

A towering figure, towering high enough to line up ten people. With a fish’s head attached to a human body, gills on her ribs, webbed hands and feet, and a tail that’s awkwardly mixed between a fish and a shark stretching out long below her pelvic bone.

This is my first time being in a giant’s body.

So, what’s most needed at this moment?

Yes.

Information.

I have been summoned to this lower position, forced to move back and forth while keeping an eye on the summoner.

As a result, I’ve been acting passively.

For the first time, I have a choice. What’s in front of me is the summoner, who mistakes me for Dagon, along with his subordinates. And probably a girl who seems to have come alone to stop him.

If the girl was holding something like a gun, I would think she was a fleeing victim.

But she’s holding a steel lever dripping with a mix of blood and bodily fluids in her right hand, while her left clutches a large nail inscribed with strange symbols.

It’s the expression of someone trying hard not to collapse in fear, forcing their legs to stand and searching for some way to survive.

A person who has the courage to face fear.

The Third World is unique.

So let’s greet.

“Hello. However, I’m not Dagon.”

I speak the truth. While not in the usual tone of a giant with a fishman form, it’s hard to change how I speak now.

It’s as if I’ve gone mad from shivering in the cold, and instead of being able to go insane, I’ve begged and begged to be killed until the endless end of eternity was in sight, and now even my thoughts have been tainted, impossible to revert.

This is an indelible scar.

Anyway, my voice is surprisingly high and sharp, but since fish can be hermaphroditic or change gender, I suppose that’s understandable.

Thud.

At that moment, all the heads of the chanting fishmen suddenly fell off, and the spell was broken.

Ah, I know this.

If I don’t introduce myself properly, the summoning will immediately be canceled due to a security setting in the spell.

Establishing it as a rule to define oneself as a god, and if that’s not met, it doesn’t exist.

Not a bad method.

First, I wave my hand to sweep over the warmth of the dead bodies before it disappears. Often, bodies that have just died still contain light and warmth.

I gained information and warmth.

“O, holy one descended upon our god’s body! If you grant our wishes, we shall follow you even if you are not Dagon! Grant us safety! Dagon promised so; if you are a greater being than Dagon, then fulfill this contract!”

Oh.

Quick cuts and sensing a new contract being put onto the target in front. I like it. Progressing now as the fishman race wouldn’t be bad either.

However, the problem is.

Smash!

The issue of heads flying off.

Daegon does not forgive betrayal. They set various devices in place to ensure that those who could summon them can’t harbor other thoughts.

I’ve already comprehensively reviewed the memories long ago.

But it’s not something that springs to mind immediately; it’s more like, “Ah, that’s what it was,” after something happens, which is quite inconvenient.

Is my intelligence the problem…?

I grabbed the fishman’s head that bounced away.

I squashed it to gain warmth and licked the light to gain memories.

This place is in the 36th century by this world’s common calendar.

However, the surrounding way of life is at best comparable to the 19th century of the faded world.

Being an aquatic race, the fishmen seem to see everything based on the sea, but all the ships are fundamentally wooden.

However, magic is commonplace here. Sometimes ships float in the sky, and I see wizards or magical creatures flying solo.

Seeing the fishmen raid ports is similar to the 19th century, but instead of guns, magic flies – that is the difference.

When the large biological weapons raised by the fishmen invaded, I can remember steamships firing electromagnetic artillery, which allows us to infer the general level of naval scientific technology…

I get the impression that this world is slightly more advanced than the First.

So, I hurriedly prepared.

The species known here as Sahaquin are originally the life forms sown by Daegon. They were the vanguard sent to invade other worlds during Daegon’s campaigns.

These were sown first as a bridgehead to dominate the surroundings. Once the world is suitably cooked, they are meant to call Daegon and offer it.

Just as there were Celestial Bridges where Daegon had gone, one would wonder if there had been similarly strong factions here…

Nope.

They just lost to nature. The bioweapons made with technology given by Daegon were torn apart by wild animals, and even when they flee to the sea, deeper waters hold even more powerful beasts.

Eventually, they’ve stumbled their way into life somewhere along a coast or surface where such monsters don’t come, turning into one of the factions of barbarians among the invaders.

That’s who they are.

A tribe worshiping ancient gods.

Since they fundamentally engage in religious politics, it’s unavoidable that they take on a cult-like feel.

Still, they have technology, so they shouldn’t have simply declined into mere barbarians.

However, powerful tech or abilities require high-grade resources, specifically the souls of creatures with significant intelligence – and humans are the easiest to obtain for that.

It’s like having an oil-based civilization but lacking oil.

They need resources. But just going in means getting beat and losing.

So they devised a radical strategy.

Using the slowness of the navy compared to fishmen, they simultaneously raid all the nearby villages to gather resources and return home.

Thinking, “If we call upon the god, something should happen,” they acted out of the optimism typical of a religious society.

Yet heroes seem to pop up from anywhere.

One human girl they captured unexpectedly awakened, bypassed all the security, raided important items, and methodically assassinated significant figures among the fishmen. Who could have predicted this?

However, this fishman was capable.

She succeeded in summoning Daegon. After careful preparation, she survived the human girl transformed into a Sahaquin butcher and managed to summon the god.

The problem is Daegon has already disappeared, meaning I’ve stolen that position and appeared here.

Even though Dagon isn’t necessarily a dangerous god, with no sign of being killed in sight, I observe the human girl watching me.

Terrifying.

“What do we do since the summoner died on his own?”

With a questioning look, the girl blinked and paused before stating.

“Go back?”

Her immediate display of killing intent is frightening.

Is this what they call a high school girl?

So I said.

“I don’t want to go home.”

The girl looks up at me, her expression incredibly troubled.

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