On Hiatus: God's Personal Reasons

Chapter 101: I am the Death God Yu Il-Shin

Once again, I was in agony.

Chew chew! Munch munch! Nyam nyam nyam!

...All because of the angel soldiers on the rooftop, savoring their chicken legs.

It all started about four days ago, when I unexpectedly and happily received a huge sum of money. Thus, I ordered chicken every day and enjoyed them with Lilith.

Poof poof!

But then, an angel soldier returned from a mission in God-Maker and saw us.

Drip drip drip—

Watching him salivating, I held out a chicken leg to him. “You want some?”

“Kya!” He gobbled it up as if he hadn’t eaten in ten days.

I was slightly taken aback, but the sight of such petite mouth munching on chicken was just irresistible. With a dad's smile, I handed him another chicken leg.

“Aigoo, is that yummy? Would you like some more?”

“Kya kya!”

Ding!

[One angel soldier is happy. His favorability toward you has increased.]

[The higher the favorability, the more loyal your familiars will be.]

The message from God-Maker surprised me somewhat. Still, I was glad that a chicken leg was enough to increase an angel soldier’s loyalty.

How simple. All’s well that ends well.

Then the next day...

Poof poof poof!

A hundred angel soldiers returned. They stared at both me and Lilith as we had our chickens.

“Y-you guys want some, too?”

“Kya kya kya kya!”

[A hundred angel soldiers are happy. Their favorability toward you has increased.]

[The higher the favorability, the more loyal your familiars will be.]

They might be small, but their number was huge. One or two chicken legs wouldn’t be enough! My wallet shrank instantly as I was busy making additional orders. Regardless, the increased favorability cheered me up.

The next day, a thousand of them returned. Did they spread information among themselves?!

T-there are just too many of you...

Sparkle sparkle!

A thousand angel soldiers looked at me expectantly, hoping for some chicken legs. I couldn’t possibly refuse them? I had to treat them equally, lest it led to a disaster.

“Argh, whatever! Just eat!”

“Kya kya kya!”

The angel soldiers waved a chicken leg in both hands, praising me.

[A thousand angel soldiers are happy. Their favorability toward you has increased.]

[The higher the favorability, the more loyal your familiars will be.]

And on this faithful day, 10,000 angel soldiers returned.

Seriously, this is just too much!

Sparkle sparkle sparkle!

Don’t look at them! Avert your eyes, Yu Il-Shin!

Flap flap!

But the angel soldiers began surrounding me, sending me looks of plea. I resisted for about ten minutes, before giving in as tears welled up in their eyes. With trembling hands, I picked up my phone.

“...Um, is this BBX Chicken? I have a group order, but I’d like to know the maximum number of chicken you can send over right now.”

Ordering from a single place wouldn’t suffice, so I called all the nearby chicken restaurants. At first, the owners thought it was a prank call, but they lit up when they saw the wads of cash. I’d unintentionally revitalized the local chicken businesses, ultimately becoming the chicken god.

“Kya~ Kya!”

Plop plop plop!

Soon, chicken bones rained down from the roof, reminiscent of a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s horror film, where a swarm of birds attacked humans.

[10,000 angel soldiers are happy. Their favorability toward you has increased.]

[The higher the favorability, the more loyal your familiars will be.]

I even dreaded the messages about their favorability. Somehow, I managed to survive today. But at this rate, I'd go from riches to rags.

“A-Archangel Lilith...”

“Kya?”

“Please do something about this... I’ll go broke if this continues.”

Lilith clasped her hands over her chest, as if reassuring me that she’d handle the rest. Then, she flew to communicate with her angel soldiers. Soon, the angel soldiers returned to God-Maker with their heads hung low.

Poof, poof, poof!

I’m sorry, guys. Papa will buy each of you a whole chicken once he makes a lot of money in the future! Is this the suffering of a poor family?

“Haa...”

I sighed deeply as I looked at the huge pile of bones on the roof. They were squeaky clean, too. I didn’t think one or two garbage bags would be enough...

“Huff, will I ever finish cleaning this up?”

I could feel my back breaking already, and I’d barely filled two trash bags! Then, a thought occurred.

If only these bones would get into the bags on their own.

Clack!

...Huh? What’s that?

I rubbed my eyes. I clearly saw that chicken bone moved?!

Clack!

“Huh?!”

Apparently, I wasn’t hallucinating.

Clack clack!

The chicken legs began tap dancing in unison.

“W-what? Is this the curse of the chicken?!”

Just as I was struck with fear, another message from God-Maker popped up.

Ding!

[Follower Ko Sa-Deuk has been added to the Skill Share list.]

New! [Ko Sa-Deuk: Corpse Communion]

Corpse Communion?

-----

[Corpse Communion (S-rank)]

A highly specialized, self-taught method of communicating with corpses that blends Eastern and Western necromancy.

The stronger the corpses’ resentment, the easier it becomes.

-----

I activated the skill unknowingly, “Skill Sharing, Ko Sa-Deuk’s Corpse Communion.”

Diririri—

Then, a melody rang in my head, an eerie and solemn hymn for the dead. Someone said that birth was painful.

-Kieeeek!

Along with the deafening sound, the gates of hell opened and demons crawled out.

Clack clack clack!

The bones scattered on the roof began to piece themselves together like a puzzle, rising up.

“Arghhh!”

Somehow, it was more grotesque than the scene in the classic movie, Night of the Living Dead, where zombies rose from their graves.

Then, the bitter resentment of the resurrected corpses was conveyed to me. Crammed into ill-fitting cages, they lived a short life of no more than a few months before being slaughtered by humans. But instead of being laid to rest, they were deep fried in sizzling oil of terrifying heat, being killed once more.

As if that wasn’t enough, their fried bodies were degraded with all sorts of manmade spices and seasonings, created solely to satisfy humans’ tastebuds.

I gasped, feeling excruciating pain from their terrible resentment.

-Blood! We thirst for blood!

-Revenge! Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth!

-Kill them all!

The chickens—no, skull chickens, flapped their featherless wings in fury. They seemed ready to leap off the rooftop and stage a coup against humanity. What if they attacked the students of the academy?! Shivers ran down my spine.

Only a three-step combo of dismissal, injury, and arrest awaited me! Anything but that!

“Uhm, chickens. Can’t you calm down for a bit?”

Crunch!

The skull chickens turned toward me in unison, stomping their feet as they surrounded me.

T-the fact they’re headless only makes them seem scarier...

-Death God! Command us!

-Let us destroy and kill to settle our grudges!

The Corpse Communion skill conveyed their voices clearly in my head.

Plop!

My legs gave way and I collapsed to the ground.

Ah, what cruel incarnation had I unleashed upon this world?

-O’ almighty and cruel reaper who gave rise to us! Give us your command! n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

-Please give us sacrifices to slaughter!

Clatter clatter!

Ominous sound of bones clattering approached as their shadows loomed over me. Their resentment was so strong, it felt like they could swallow me whole.

Damn it! The necromancers in the webtoons and novels look so fierce, so why am I so weak?!

I was probably the only necromancer who almost died from chicken bones.

Ding!

Just then, a message appeared from God-Maker like a lifeline.

Clutching my phone tightly, as if it were a thread lowered into hell, I thrusted it at the chickens.

[Would you like to dispatch the new servants of the Malevolent God, the Skull Chicken Unit? (Yes/No)]

“Yes! Dispatch right away!”

Flash!

***

The Red Empire, which ruled Antrinia, was devastated in the aftermath of the war against the Gayami nation. Their staggering one hundred billion troops were annihilated by the enemy's Malevolent God.

It was by no means a small number, but it didn’t lead to the empire’s downfall. After all, their demigod emperor had singlehandedly built hives all over the continent, and they were in good shapes.

In the 80th hive of the continent...

Krik krik!

From a bizarre-looking beehive, a half-insect, half-human crawled out, drenched in green bodily fluids. The general of the reproduction unit, a white-robed caterpillar, filled several papers in its many pairs of limbs. Then, it commanded, “No. 1,231,231,123 has woken up. Medics, hurry and move the newborn into the infirmary.”

Then, the medics carried the newborn soldier away on a stretcher.

Krik krik, kriiik!

Soon, hundreds of thousands of holes had formed inside the hive. The endlessly spawning hive, created by the emperor, was the true reason behind the empire’s dominance over this continent. Of course, training the newborns into strong soldiers was another story. Nevertheless, it shouldn’t take too long to recover the losses of soldiers.

“Just you wait, you heretical Gayamis! The day our army force recovers will be the day we return the favor!” Caterpillar wriggled his folds in anger.

Thud thud!

Just then, a deafening crash shook the ground, as if a meteor had fallen. The guards on standby rushed over, full of urgency.

“W-we’re in trouble, General Caterpillar! W-we’ve been attacked by a horde of skeletal beasts!”

“Skeletal beasts?! What are you talking about?!”

“We are no match for them! Please hid—...!”

The guard’s words were cut short. A gigantic foot appeared from the sky, swatting him like a fly.

Squash!

“Hiiiicc!”

Caterpillar’s once snow-white body was dyed red by the guard’s blood. Caterpillar trembled as he looked up.

Ah, how can I even begin to describe the monster’s size?

The monster was as huge as a mountain range. Not a single piece of flesh could be found on its body, as if it was made of marble. Moreover, despite having a long neck, it was headless.

The sight was even more terrifying than his worst nightmare, and Caterpillar struggled to breathe. He instinctively knew it was a monster imbued with the curse of the malevolent god that had massacred 100 billion troops.

Clatter clatter!

The headless skull chicken raised its webby leg high, casting a shadow of death over Caterpillar.

“Aaarrggh! Your Majesty! God of the Empire! Have you forsaken us?!” Caterpillar screamed.

Pzzz!

Caterpillar was squashed, splattering green bodily fluid everywhere.

“Kyaaaa!”

“Arghhhh! Save me!”

A thousand skull chickens ruthlessly invaded the hide, trampling on their victims. In no time, a million soldiers, including the newborns, perished. But it was still not enough to satisfy the skull chickens. No, far from it.

Blood! Carnage! Destruction! Revenge!

Boiling with fierce grudge, the horde of skull chickens obliterated everything in sight.

-----

[Quest: Mid-tier Malevolent God Promotion (In Progress)]

Sacrifice over a billion intelligent beings and accumulate karma, or sacrifice 100 intelligent beings of S-rank or higher and assimilate their powers.

-----

Ding ding!

[Normal sacrifice: 122,234,124(↑) /10,000,000,000]

Thanks to the skull chickens dispatched across the continent, the number of sacrifices was rising at a tremendous speed.