“What… what have you done!?”
…?
I couldn’t help but feel flustered at the sight of Pluto’s priest suddenly enraged. Surely, he wasn’t asking for compensation for that golem as if it were private property now.
“Please calm down, dear priest. I haven’t done anything.”
I spread my hands wide to the sides. A traditional gesture showing I am unarmed. Then I added a peaceful smile to give a more friendly impression.
“As you saw, I just defeated an intruder.”
“An intruder, you say…?”
Pluto’s priest mumbled in confusion. Where he was shocked from was beyond me.
Could it be that as a holy being seeing into souls, he looked into the origin of mine? Is he shocked because he saw both Earth and this world’s original novel?
“Dear priest, did you see something?”
“What?”
“What did you see within my soul?”
Truly, a professional is a professional. To track the origin of a soul I had spent years struggling to find, and he accomplished it like this is impressive.
I could understand his previous picky and aggressive reaction now.
If one’s destiny were foretold in every EtherNet novel for this place, it’s only natural to feel despair.
But no. The original work had already been twisted beyond recognition. It is more correct to say this world was created based not on a novel but rather that the novel is based on this world.
As I prepared soothing words like, “Prophecies don’t determine everything. Our lives are more than mere records,” a thunderous piece of news struck me.
“No. I didn’t mean your soul.”
“…Huh?”
A profound sense of disappointment washed over me.
Puffed up hope. And a vacuum where that hope had filled. A bitter feeling that was hard to express rose in its stead, as if to replace that hope.
While I thought I had completely given up on returning after years of scuffling, it seems like some residual expectations still lingered.
I have a warm home, food to eat today, and enough money to take care of myself.
At the same time, I also had the overwhelming weight of a potential apocalypse looming this world’s situation.
I wanted to stretch out and lie down on the bed in the next room beside Carisia.
I quickly managed my expression. It would be unprofessional to lash out at a business partner just because my personal matters were going wrong.
For about 2-3 seconds, a smile was absent from my face, but I hoped he didn’t see it properly in the dark.
“Then what did you mean by what you just said?”
“Argyrion has arrived.”
“Huh?”
Oh. Is it because that golem named Adoosiam has a silver hue?
Whenever I think of silver, I think of Argyrion’s Silver Threads. Did I mistakenly assume Adoosiam to be a high-grade version of it? Did I fail to deal with Adoosiam quickly enough that he sent a distress signal to Argyrion, revealing the temple’s location?
It was a situation ripe for misunderstanding. Why did it have to be silver? I could only feel wronged.
If Adoosiam was trying to send a signal somewhere, I would have dealt with it more swiftly. Or I could have at least staged a spell overwrite to block it in advance.
It was quite an awkward misunderstanding. This needed to be cleared up right away.
“I don’t know why Argyrion has arrived here, but it has nothing to do with me—”
“And the mages of the Ten Towers.”
“Wha—?”
*
“Judging by the size of the Extraordinary Ability Field, he must be at least an elder level. Great! One of the representatives from the Divine Cult must step forward for a mutual extermination to be possible!”
Kore shouted indiscriminately. With an elder of the Ten Towers personally coming, a retreat without casualties was impossible.
Kore was the only one capable of sensing intruders in the retrieval team of the Divine Cult. Utis had perfectly drawn Kore’s attention and bought time until now.
This was a well-laid trap. The Divine Cult was a target for both Argyrion and the Ten Towers.
If Utis was right about the being he thought it was, this was a highly intricate calculation.
Utis’s strategy for the Divine Cult was twofold: “We weaken Argyrion through the Divine Cult,” and “leave the handling of Argyrion to the Ten Towers.”
He even promised other cults he would give them ‘artifacts’ he had gathered. This seemed like a way to strengthen the Divine Cult, but the part about Utis having collected them was crucial.
It meant the Divine Cult could control the artifacts gained.
However, the retrieval of Pluto’s temple must have been an unforeseen action for Utis.
The Divine Cult’s reserves had strengthened far beyond his expectations. Therefore, to match the strength ratio he had anticipated, appropriate pruning was needed.
By exposing them to simultaneous assaults from the elder of the Ten Towers and Argyrion, it would create a situation where a key representative of the cult would have to become a casualty.
“The overly strengthened Divine Cult’s forces would appropriately falter, and the Ten Towers would think Argyrion allied with heretics. Truly cunning…!”
Kore shouted, mixing deliberate provocation with anger.
If they could minimize casualties in this place, it would be appropriate for her to die. Although the time left to remain in this world in spirit form was short, it was possible to stall against outside enemies and inform other cult members of the truth.
Utis stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“Was that a bit too obvious of a provocation…?”
He surely fought against more priests than anyone during the mythological ages. It was only natural he knew Pluto’s priest could leave behind a spirit.
“Hmm. I admit that under the circumstances, I could appear to be a spy for Blasphemia.”
“What?”
‘You come all this way to say that?’
Kore didn’t suspect Utis simply as a mere witch hunter for Blasphemia.
Rather something far more gigantic, something even too daunting to mention.
A part of the ‘missing mage.’
A remnant of a body left behind when the missing mage ascended or a shard of a fallen spirit…
“If it were the complete power of the missing mage, he wouldn’t need to weave plots like this.”
“But priest. I am genuinely in trouble if found out by the Ten Towers. Please believe me.”
“What do you mean—”
“I will reveal my name to the cult members as a token of faith. The more clues there are, the more precise the holy one’s discernment of soul color becomes, correct? My name is Orthes. Please do tell whether my soul color is closer to yours or that of the Ten Towers.”
Kore reflexively used the holy being. However, what appeared remained unchanged.
A blue glow.
‘No. Did it become brighter…?’
She tried to say something, but Orthes pressed forward with his power.
“Oh. Before heading up, grab the artifact in the center of the room. It’ll be helpful.”
Orthes fired off words like a rapid-fire and then turned his back. Having swiftly chopped Adoosiam to pieces and leaving only the core, Orthes quickly packed it up and dashed away.
‘What is this?’
It was a situation I couldn’t comprehend at all. Why was he vanishing without even immobilizing me?
Clearly, he had some kind of purpose. A grand plan that was difficult for her to guess.
After deliberating dozens of times in that brief moment, Kore decided to follow Orthes’s notification. Although the trap was visible, to learn his purpose, she needed to throw herself into the trap.
In the deepest darkness of Pluto’s great temple lay shattered blades.
Kore recognized the nature of them instantly. Although damaged and destroyed, the divine power lingering within undoubtedly belonged to Pluto.
Pluto’s sickle, the symbol of the temple.
“Why this?”
She didn’t feel any curse-like force.
The power remaining in the shattered symbol was like a speck compared to its original state, but nonetheless, she could access the core authority of the temple through the symbol. The power to change the current situation was now in Kore’s hands.
It wasn’t merely about escaping from the trackers of the Ten Towers…
Kore suppressed her complicated thoughts. After all, the important thing was the survival of the Divine Cult.
Even if Orthes had some ulterior motives, she had to use this symbol now.
Kore traced the broken sickle’s blade with her palm. The divine energy resonated with her divine power as it soaked in blood.
Her eyes began to see through all the layers of the temple simultaneously.
*
Elder Talo of the Silver Iron Tower fired off his limbs. The 360-degree cameras mounted on his limbs transmitted multi-layered detection images to Talo’s brain, including thermal infrared data.
The enchanted gear that floated around him attached to the empty spots. Different from the scouting enchantments he had just fired off, this was combat-grade enchantment gear.
Talo traced back the urgent communication he’d just received.
“The legacy of the old king has summoned us… ha.”
It was funny. That the Mage King’s relic still existed. That the relic had asked for help from the assassins of the Mage King.
“But what an intriguing situation. A relic not of the Ten Commandments but something else left by the Mage King.”
While autonomously exploring the inner sanctum of the temple, Talo’s left arm detected a living being. Morphing to look like a glove, his arm crept closer and attached to the unfortunate soul.
Liquid spirit intelligence metal that had been inside him was injected. The liquid metal instantly spread out through the victim’s bloodstream, making it possible for Talo to control the victim’s body.
It was then that Talo sensed something was amiss.
In reaction to the liquid metal, ‘the brain’ began to attack.
The cerebral cortex rose like a flesh golem and attempted to crush the liquid metal.
But it was a futile endeavor. How could the name ‘liquid’ exist without reason? The liquid metal easily slipped through the brain’s crushing assault and morphed into sharp points like a needle.
In no time, the brain was torn apart under the advance of the liquid metal commanded by Talo. He couldn’t hide his laughter.
“Haha! Eroding creatures? Now this sounds fun!”
Though it took on a human shape, the internal structure was clearly beyond human. Eroding creatures soaked in extra-dimensional. Were they secret excavators of ruins instead of causing sudden destruction?
It was undeniably Argyrion, the problematic creature for Blasphemia.
“The pitiful things have come all the way here… Argyrion, already outnumbered, wouldn’t have the luxury to invest manpower in digging up worthless relics. Are they hoping a secret weapon capable of reversing the tide lies dormant within that ruin?”
How unfortunate.
Whatever artifact lay dormant in this ruin would surely fall into his hands.
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