The World after the Fall

"But we fished him out…!"

"Huh? This [Fishing Spot] now belongs to our God Belkain. Any spirit coming from it is now a [Follower] of Belkain. Isn't that right?"

It was absurd.

"Drop it and get lost, kid. Consider it lucky that we are letting you go."

Runald looked at the man's face. He couldn't give up on this man yet. His Goddess was probably still with him. If he was taken away, then Runald was going to lose Andersen too.

'Then I will become like those Lost Ones too.'

Ones who lost Gods by force would lose their consciousness and become monsters if they don't find a new God to serve quickly. This was terrifying. But what Runald worried about the most wasn't becoming a Lost One.

'I don't want to lose her.'

He didn't want to lose Andersen. She was the only Goddess he had, and Runald was her only Vicegerent.

"I said, drop it and go."

Runald carefully put down the man, but he did not make a move. His legs shook and his heart began to pound.

'Can I do it?'

He wasn't sure, but Runald still readied himself.

"Oh, look at him. He's trying to fight us."

"Haha, it was going to be boring if he didn't want to fight."

The men began approaching and Runald shouted, "I'm a Vicegerent! I will not abandon the [Follower] of my Goddess!"

This was the best threat Runald could make, but it didn't have any effect.

"YOU are a Vicegerent? HAHA!"

"Good! We'll see the [Setting] of the Naked Goddess then!"

Runald quickly checked on their faces. Fortunately, these people weren't Vicegerents. It was lucky that Vicegerent, who were able to utilize 90% of his God's power, wasn't here but followers were still powerful.

Followers too, depending on their powers, were allowed to use 30 to 70% of a God's power.

If Runald could wield Andersen's power, they were easy to deal with. However, he wasn't able to use the power right now.

Belkain's [Followers] kicked Runald away. He was getting ready for the attack, but he couldn't block it.

"What? Why are you so weak!? Are you really a Vicegerent?"

Runald stood up and there was a fist in front of him. He gasped.

"Haha! So weak! Kid, start using [Setting]! Or else you will die!"

Runald couldn't use [Setting] as his link between Andersen had been broken. Runald felt pain from his organs as he kept getting kicked. But then they stopped suddenly.

"Hey, take off his clothes."

"Clothes? Why?"

"I heard Andersen's [Followers] become strong when they take off their clothes. I think that's their [Setting]."

"Really?"

Runald then screamed, "N-NO!"

"Hah, stay still."

Runald couldn't resist the force coming from the three men, especially when they had the [Setting] that made them increase their strength. Soon, Runald was lying on the ground naked like a frog. The [Followers] began to laugh.

"He's butt naked and still weak!"

"That's weird. I heard Andersen's [Followers] increase in their muscle sizes when they get naked."

"Isn't this already increased? Hahaha!"

One of the [Followers] laughed as he poked Runald's body. Runald cried in shame. He had never been so humiliated. Even if this was <Depth> and he was a Vicegerent of a low-ranking God, this was too much.

'Ah… Goddess…'

That's when men looked at each other with a different idea.

"Hey, why don't we take him with us? It's hard to get new [Followers] these days."

"That's a good idea."

"Yeah. Hey kid. Abandon your Goddess and we will let you live."

Runald gritted his teeth. They were telling him to abandon his only Goddess, Andersen.

Runald stood up. Betray his Goddess? That was impossible.

Runald still remembered the moment when he first moment Andersen in <Depth>. It was through her warm 'unique world' that Andersen showed him, that made him decide to stay in <Depth>. Runald was young, but he was old enough to choose the most valuable thing to him. Without that world, there was no Runald. He knew this very well.

"I… I won't betray my Goddess!"

It was almost an outcry, but the men scoffed.

"So, the naked Goddess trained her Vicegerent well."

"Then we will beat you up until you change your mind."

A man then threw his cape and revealed a blade from his elbow. Runald realized it was Belkain's [Setting].

[Scythe of Belkain]

It was the symbol of mid-ranking God Belkain. It was a common Setting amongst Strengthening types as it was just the mixture of an increase in muscle strength and change of skins, but it was still a huge threat to Runald right now.

The ground and trees around were destroyed as the attack was unleashed. Runald closed his eyes, thinking it might be good to rather die. The only thing that was sad was that he couldn't see Andersen's face yet. If he was a stronger Vicegerent, maybe he could've seen her face.

'Goddess…'

Runald curled himself, preparing for the incoming pain. But he couldn't feel any pain even after a while. When he opened his eyes, he saw something unbelievable. He also heard the screams of those [Followers].

"W-what are you-!"

"AAAAARGH!"

The entire forest was being blown up and men were being thrown away with naked bodies.

'Thi-this man…'

There was a naked man standing in front of him. He was covered in muscles and Runald knew what the [Setting] was.

'Naked!'

It was surely Andersen's [Setting]. Runald stood up. Was he dreaming? Was it like the fairytale that Andersen always told him?

'God…!'

He then saw the world power shining from within the man. The man's face wasn't the one Runald was waiting for, but the man did look like the Naked God that Andersen told in her story. She had told him before.

[What? You want to know how I made the 'Naked' Setting? Uh… it's not my own actually.]

'Then where did you get it?'

[I got it from some weird god. He was one of the ancient ones. Very powerful.]

'Weird? Why was he weird?'

[Well, he was violent and unmerciful. But he hated 'clothes'. He always said the beauty lies within the bare body. So anyone standing in front of him was unclothed. They had to run with their clothes in their hands. So people screamed, 'The Naked God has appeared!' whenever he was there.]

Runald thought the 'cloth' could've been some kind of a symbol, but he shook his head and asked,

'Isn't he just a pervert?'

[Well, he had his reasons. He just truly believed that the clothes were just a fake image. Like a mask. He said the most important thing starts when you throw away everything else…]

Runald couldn't understand what it meant back then. But now, he thought maybe he kind of understood. Something was stirring inside him as he stared.

The Naked God was in front of him.

The God, looked at his body and mumbled.

"…Dammit. I don't even have any clothes this time. At least I had a rag in Chaos."

The man ranted for a second, flexed, and then turned to Runald.

"Are you the [Follower] of a girl named Andersen?"

The man was clearly annoyed. "Please, get her out of my head."