Chapter 169
Chapter 169
Chapter 169
Gods of the Pantheon (1)
The Death King, who had fully manifested, let out an exclamation of admiration as he received his sacred artifact.
"It's much faster than I expected? I thought it would take at least a few months..."
"If we dragged it out that long, the whole world would be destroyed."
"Huh, huhuhuh... North will be quite upset. In his own way, he must have thought this was a double strategy. If you find it this quickly, even North would have no choice but to panic."
'Double strategy.'
Rudian's expression changed strangely upon hearing those words.
"...What do you mean by that?"
"That's right, this sacred artifact is Northing more than a fake. It's just meant to divert your attention. North and Garganta have a different real purpose."
'Though it's quite a hefty price for a fake,' the Death King added in a passing tone.
Rudian tightened his nerves and asked the Death King.
"What is... that?"
"I don't know either."
"...Pardon?"
"If I knew that, I would have told you to stop that first rather than retrieve the sacred artifact. Baal seemed to be searching for it quite earnestly too, but he said he couldn't figure it out."
"......"
Rudian and the other companions were dumbfounded by the Death King's rather irresponsible statement.
"But I roughly know what their purpose might be."
"......!"
The Death King's expression turned ominous.
"For North and Garganta to summon those extraterrestrial beings, they must first break the barrier of the planetary system centered on this planet."
"Yes, we know that."
It was a barrier cast directly by Berus of Light, no less.
Even the Seven Great Gods couldn't easily break it, and more importantly, the sealing formation that maintains the barrier is located here in the middle realm.
"North and Garganta must know a way to break that barrier. That's why they're making such a loud commotion to divert attention."
"......"
"It seems they were trying to buy time appropriately and throw some bait for their purpose... You stripped away their resources much faster than expected, so they must be in a panic. Besides, Ruura is already stirring up public opinion in the heavenly realm and beating down those guys... Kekekek..."
The Death King, having achieved his purpose, laughed pleasantly, but that wasn't entirely cause for celebration.
Rudian fell into thought with his mouth closed.
Even if the situation had become somewhat more favorable, the matter wasn't completely resolved.
Most importantly, they didn't know what the 'real trump card' that North and Garganta were hiding was.
'Probably the key to this whole affair lies with the headquarters of those two orders...'
To accomplish anything, manpower and financial power are essential.
In that sense, if they raided the orders' headquarters where that manpower and financial power were concentrated, there was a high possibility that some decent information would come out.
'Then, won't the gods of the Pantheon who attacked Britian come here?'
If diverting attention was the goal from the beginning, there wouldn't necessarily be a need for armed conflict, but one couldn't be certain.
'North and Garganta cannot manifest directly. Instead, they must be planning to use the gods under their command to break the barrier. But would that be easy? Even if they know the method to break it, it's still a seal by someone second only to the Creator God...'
It would require truly enormous energy.
Even with human sacrifice, 100,000 to 200,000 wouldn't be nearly enough, and at least half the continent's population would need to be ground up to make it possible, which would be completely putting the cart before the horse...
CLAP! CLAP!
As Rudian continued his serious contemplation, the Death King clapped his hands to lighten the mood.
"Now, now, you seem to have a lot on your mind, but since there's no time, let's settle accounts first!"
"...Aren't you being too casual now that it's no longer your business?"
"Oh my! I'm a busy being too. Even though this is an avatar, I haven't separated my consciousness, so if I don't handle things quickly, the flow of reincarnation will become a mess!"
...His excuses really flow like water.
I know that the work is all done by the Hell Kings and judges below.
The Death King summoned something in his hand and continued speaking.
"Then let me give you the promised reward first."
"......!"
With just the summoning, the barrier that Rudian had cast with Yev's power began to shake mercilessly.
Certainly, considering what that reward was, it was understandable...
WHOOSH!
Before long, a black sphere reminiscent of black pearls with strange flowing patterns carved into it was held in the Death King's hand.
'Black World!'
The source of all this endless suffering that had befallen Rudian!
"Here, take this..."
But for some reason, the Death King didn't hand the orb directly to Rudian intact, but instead fitted the Black World into a part of his sacred artifact, the sword.
Then he thrust the entire sword toward Rudian.
"There, done!"
"...What is this?"
Even at Rudian's sourly cooled expression, the Death King's expression remained innocent.
"It's the promised reward."
"What I'm asking is... why are you giving me this sword as well?"
"Obviously because you need to establish my order on this land as my Death God priest."
I knew this would happen!
Rudian burst out angrily and confronted the Death King.
"Why do I have to do that!"
"Because you're my contractor and apostle. Don't you see that pattern on your hand?"
"What kind of nonsense is that!"
This pattern was proof of the alliance between Baal, the underworld, and Rudian, and something received to make it easier to summon avatars...
The Death King smiled like a cat and pressed Rudian.
"Oh my, you used that pattern to coolly kick out my previous contractor, and now you're saying such things? Where have the humanity and conscience of this world fallen to...!"
...I've been had!
I wondered why he readily made the contract and gave up the Death King's flag, but there was such a scheme behind it!
In fact, if the Death King's order were to be reestablished, it would be hard to find anyone with abilities matching Rudian's.
An apostle and contractor of the Death King, possessing the Death King's sacred artifact, and in the absence of Layla, arguably the most powerful necromancer on the surface!
But grand as it sounds, for Rudian right now, this was Northing short of getting stuck with all the work.
'Am I crazy to increase my workload? Besides, do I need to get ganged up on by all Seven Great Orders!'
If the Death King's order were revived, naturally the orders serving the Seven Great Gods wouldn't stay still.
Berus and Ruura aside, the other five Great Gods wouldn't find it strange to issue divine oracles and declare holy wars to eliminate the seeds of the Death King's order on earth.
With North and Garganta already grinding their teeth, wouldn't this be throwing them a justification to attack?
The Death King, knowing this fact as well, took a step back and showed a gesture of compromise.
"Reestablishing the order can wait until after all your business is finished. I know the full situation."
"......"
At Rudian's cold gaze, the Death King shrugged and continued.
"Of course, I have no intention of using you for free either. That child's lifespan problem - you need my power to solve it, don't you?"
"...You're really being underhanded."
"It's just give and take. Hahaha!"
Bringing up Evangeline's matter, knowing I absolutely can't refuse, you came fully prepared!
"Don't glare at me like that. Extending that child's lifespan is quite taxing even for me. For the price of keeping such an irregular who disrupts the world's balance alive, this level of compensation is quite cheap, you know?"
In fact, the Death King's words weren't wrong.
Retrieving the sacred artifact was merely a condition for borrowing the Black World, and he had been prepared to pay aNorther price for Evangeline's contract with the Death King.
Rudian presented a deal to the Death King with a sullen expression.
"...3 years."
"20 years. Where are you trying to settle with just 3 years?"
"5 years."
"18 years."
"Are you cursing at me right now?"
"Oh my, what shallow tricks. 17 years."
"You only reduced it by 1 year, but it worked. 6 years."
"......?"
While those around them were tilting their heads in confusion, the fierce tug-of-war between Rudian and the Death King ended.
"Fine, 10 years."
"Huhuhuh! Work diligently, inaugural Pope."
At the Death King's triumphant words, Rudian ground his teeth inwardly.
'I'll really show you what 'eat and run' means.'
***
Having finished earthly affairs and become committed to working as the Death King's Pope for 10 years, Rudian's shoulders drooped at the unexpected overtime work.
'I'll definitely eat and run. When everything goes as expected, I'll have no choice but to do so.'
Unaware of what Rudian was thinking, Death King Tartian Lil was in the midst of baptizing Evangeline, who had become his second contractor.
'Anyway, now that Evangeline's problem is completely solved, it's time to return to the original purpose.'
Berus's barrier was beyond Rudian's original story knowledge.
After all, in Chapter 3, the extraterrestrials had borrowed the power of the Outer force to break through that barrier head-on.
'Black World, Blue World, Green World, Red World... plus Adi's two terminals.'
It was somewhat disappointing that he couldn't obtain the White World because of Berus, but now if he just filled the lacking numbers using Dilmun, he would never be inferior in terms of power.
'The problem is that if North and Garganta stab us in the back, everything becomes meaningless.'
If such a great battle broke out, no matter how uninterested in the middle realm the gods were, all eyes would be focused on it.
Naturally, even the two Great Gods wouldn't be able to openly pull tricks, but...
'I can't guarantee anything. Rather than face such a situation, it might be better to seek them out and strike first...'
The North Order and Garganta Order existing on earth.
In fact, whatever they were up to, it was a problem that could be solved by simply sweeping away the entire orders.
'The leadership of the orders obviously can't be unaware of what schemes their gods are plotting. Those bastards who will enter their gods' temples after death won't care what happens to the earth as long as it's for their god. The real problem is...'
If they swept away the order headquarters, even ordinary believers who purely served their gods and resided there might get caught up and suffer damage.
'That can't happen. Rather, I have no choice but to deal only with the gods who descended to the lower realm and the ringleaders, then pressure the orders themselves with external force to completely block their activities.'
For that, it would be necessary to rally the power of the nations existing on the continent.
'First, after dealing with those gods who attacked Britian... hm?'
Just as Rudian was contemplating future plans and setting up the board.
"...Huh?"
"What?"
The heads of both Rudian and the Death King turned in the same direction almost simultaneously.
The Death King looked at Rudian with an incredulous expression.
"Hey."
"Yes, I'm sensing it too."
The prickling killing intent felt from outside Lu Gloria.
But more intense than that killing intent was the heavenly divinity.
The Death King laughed helplessly while grinding his teeth.
"Have these guys gone crazy? Charging in without thinking ahead or behind?"
"...Indeed."
The number felt was as many as ten.
Among the Pantheon that had previously attacked Britian, the mid and lower-tier gods had brought other colleagues and come to Lu Gloria again.
The Death King said to Rudian.
"Then their purpose is obvious. They probably came targeting you. What will you do now?"
"Isn't it obvious? We have to fight back."
Ten entities of Pantheon gods.
They were certainly tremendous power, but it wasn't a fight without chances of victory.
Rudian slowly looked down at the sword he was holding.
"Hey, are you ready?"
-Keheheh! The first thing you do upon seeing me again is picking a fight - this is why I like you, you little brat.
The gloomy and chilling but now completely familiar voice of the Demon King pierced Rudian's ears.
After a separation that was long if long, short if short.
Diablo had awakened from his slumber.