Chapter 178
Chapter 178
Chapter 178
Elysion (3)
Rudian tilted his head after hearing Laura's advice.
He had a feeling something big was about to happen... The moment he realized what she meant, Rudian's expression stiffened drastically.
"……."
Something like admiration appeared on Britian's face.
"...I did play around a bit in my younger days too, but if you play too promiscuously, it becomes quite hard to handle. There are limits to suppressing things with status..."
"Hey! What kind of nonsense is that!"
Rudian screamed in shock at Britian's gaze, which looked at him like she was looking at a comrade.
However, Britian's benevolent gaze didn't change at all.
"You don't need to hide it from me. As far as I know, there haven't been many humans since the Genesis that would make the goddess worry to this extent..."
"Sh, ut, up."
Rudian desperately covered Britian's mouth, then turned his gaze to Maria, who was standing there with a perplexed expression.
"Phew, what about the others?"
"That person called Rowen is downstairs. But Rebecca and that girl Evangeline... they said they had something to discuss and went out for a bit?"
"...What?"
Maria's words were so shocking that he asked back stupidly for a moment.
"Did, didn't you stop them?"
"Why would I?"
"……."
Was it his imagination that Maria, tilting her head with an innocent face, felt strangely unfamiliar today?
Rebecca and Evangeline were famous within for having quite the temper.
Especially Evangeline had become even more worrying since her personality began developing in a bad direction after becoming the Death King's second contractor.
'...Should I just run away?'
Rudian, unable to even dare predict what would happen next, seriously considered fleeing.
***
Fortunately, there were no developments like a heaven-and-earth-shaking battle occurring nearby, or Lu Gloria being half-destroyed.
"Let's depart."
"……."
"...Yes."
However, the atmosphere of the party had seriously deteriorated, and naturally, the cause was Rebecca and Evangeline.
"Evan, did something happen?"
"...Not really."
To Rowen's question, Evangeline answered sullenly, puffing up her cheeks.
Rowen's bewilderment deepened at that sight.
No matter how much he thought about it, there was no reason for his younger sister to be sulking like that.
"Let's go, Rudian."
In such a situation, as if adding fuel to the fire, Maria naturally linked arms with Rudian.
"……!"
"……!"
The heads of the two people who saw that immediately whipped around toward Maria.
Unfazed by their piercing gazes, Maria smiled sweetly and naturally let go of his arm.
"We can't trouble Rudian, can we, you two?"
Like an older sister scolding younger ones, Maria naturally approached Rebecca and Evangeline and gently stroked their backs.
"...Yes."
"I understand."
The dejected responses of the two could be heard to Maria's words.
Maria whispered softly toward those two.
"We're not the only ones competing."
...What on earth was that supposed to mean?
No, before that, what the hell happened while they were resting?
THUD!
While Rudian was looking at his party members in bewilderment, Britian placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled like the Virgin Mary.
"Hang in there."
"Why are you doing this too?"
***
Rudian and his party left Luuren and moved to Garganta's headquarters.
Luuren would declare a holy war against North and the Garganta Order, then send envoys to the Morian Empire to formally request an alliance.
Anyway, the war with Rohans was now in a lull, and if the Golden Dawn Society stirred within Rohans, the war between the two nations would be as good as completely over.
Actually, if they just threw everything away and only requested cooperation from Baal, everything would be faster.
'The other nations will have to cooperate too...'
Now the war truly didn't have much time left.
They had to gather all the continent's capabilities to prevent any possible variables and damage.
'Ah, whatever. If they don't listen, I'll just beat them into submission.'
Rudian had excellently adapted to the mindset of the strong.
Then, Maria, who was transporting the party, turned her head and asked a question.
"Rudian, is there a reason you're visiting the Garganta Order first instead of the closer North Order?"
"That side is more suspicious."
The Garganta Order's headquarters was located quite far from the Kingdom of Rohans, that is, from Luuren, their departure point.
"Distance limitations don't mean anything anymore anyway, right?"
"True."
Maria's supernatural ability, having inherited the Green World, had truly reached the realm of gods in the most literal sense.
If she was really in a hurry, she could even transcend space to shorten time.
Of course, if she really did that when there were no particular enemies, she'd be restricted by causality, so they were flying like this instead...
Even their current flight was easily exceeding the speed of sound.
The actual time it took to traverse nearly half the continent was less than 30 minutes.
"The Kingdom of Rohans starts from here."
It took more time to find the Garganta Order's headquarters within Rohans than it did to travel from Luuren to arrive in Rohans.
"It's over there, Lord Rudian."
But even finding the Garganta Order's headquarters didn't take very long when using the spirits' information network.
The Garganta Order's headquarters was located at the summit of a massive stone mountain called 'Eses Mountain'.
Since Garganta's essence was 'revenge', unlike other orders, it was built in seclusion in a quiet place, not mixing with the secular world.
"...Something seems strange?"
Rudian, observing the Garganta Order's headquarters from the sky, frowned at the skin-piercing sense of unease.
"Yeah, there's barely any sign of people first of all."
Maria also noticed the strangeness and slightly furrowed her brow.
"And that's not Garganta's power. I know because I've experienced it before."
An unidentified power enveloping the entire temple.
It could be considered a case where the main deity directly grants divine power like at Lu Gloria's Papal Office, but no matter how you looked at it, that power was far from Garganta's.
Rudian's eyes widened as he realized the identity of that sense of unease.
"That's rather... power close to Outer Force."
Purple spiritual energy flowing throughout the entire building.
The essence of that was similar to the Outer Force Rudian had dealt with countless times.
Rudian turned his head to Yev for confirmation.
Nod!
"Ah, damn..."
Yev's affirmation was as good as a confirmation kill.
The sudden appearance of Outer Force in this world was definitely not a good omen.
"...Let's go see."
Something had definitely happened to the Garganta Order.
The party slowly landed at the order's headquarters and looked around.
"As expected, there's no sign of people."
Even though it was built on such a rocky mountain, it was a massive structure that could accommodate at least several thousand people.
The fact that there wasn't a single sign of human presence in such a structure was indeed suspicious.
"Let's go inside. Prepare for battle since we don't know what might happen."
The party members nodded and slowly began drawing up their power in preparation.
'As expected, the existence of Outer Force...'
WHIRRRR!
Rudian easily neutralized the barrier that had been sealing the building's entrance using the same Outer Force.
Originally, it would have been a barrier that wouldn't budge even if high-level magic was unleashed repeatedly, but now it was as natural as breathing for Rudian.
THUD!
Due to the extreme silence, even small footsteps echoed loudly.
Rudian and his party slowly entered the interior of the Garganta headquarters.
And... as soon as they entered inside, they witnessed a scene that couldn't be seen in the human world.
"Ugh, urgh!"
"...Damn."
As soon as they went a little inside, grotesque lumps of flesh were writhing as if breathing.
Tentacles and blood clots were writhing and moving as if they had life, and such things were devouring what appeared to be human flesh.
"Can this be a scene that can be seen in this world?"
Rowen opened his mouth in a daze, seeming greatly shocked.
If Rowen, who had lived for over a hundred years, was this shocked, the shock of the other party members was greater, not lesser.
"Ru, Rudian..."
Rebecca, who had turned pale from physiological revulsion unrelated to the magnitude of power, stuck closely to Rudian's back.
"The order has already been invaded by the Outer Space."
He had thought the Outer Space wouldn't invade this world without any prior reconnaissance...
"Garganta... did he throw his own followers as food to the Outer Space?"
Those living in the present world cannot undergo proper reincarnation in the afterlife if they're devoured by the Outer Space.
-Ughhhh...
-Save me... no, kill me...
-Oh Garganta! Your humble servant dares to petition...
-It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!
Those who had already died and remained only as souls were wandering around as wraiths.
Then, Evangeline stepped forward in front of Rudian.
"Miss Evangeline?"
"……."
SWISH!
Just as Rudian was wondering, Evangeline raised her hand and began emitting the power of darkness.
-Ahhh...!
-So... peaceful...
SHHHHH!
The Death King's Authority gained from becoming the Death King's second contractor.
The Death King's Authority that guides the circulation of life began guiding the Garganta Order's believers who had become wraiths to the underworld.
'Ah, how embarrassing.'
The natural duty that the Death King's contractor should originally fulfill.
Rudian had forgotten this duty because he was focused only on grasping the situation, and Evangeline had stepped forward to do it instead.
Evangeline, who had withdrawn her Death King's Authority, smiled gently.
"Please leave such matters to me. Lord Rudian just needs to focus all your efforts on eliminating the root cause."
"...Thank you, Evangeline."
"Just call me Evan, casually like an older brother would."
"Uh... should I?"
Well, honestly, if we're going by age, I should definitely speak formally...
SQUEEZE!
"Don't think strange thoughts."
"Ah, it hurts...! No, yes..."
The momentum of Evangeline, who pinched his side while smiling, was quite serious.
"...I can help too."
Seeing the unusual atmosphere between the two, Rebecca, who had been intimidated by the surrounding atmosphere, puffed up her cheeks sulkily and stepped forward.
SLITHER! SLURP!
As soon as they caught the scent of fresh human, the tentacles and flesh pieces that had been writhing around began reacting violently.
"...Ugh, urgh!"
Rebecca felt goosebumps all over her body at that grotesque and terrible sight, but eventually, as if she couldn't lose, she stretched out her hand and began extending flames.
"Demon Emperor Flame!"
The power of Baal and the Red World flowing in Rebecca's blood sent forth the unquenchable flames of the demon realm into the world.
"Huh? Rebecca? Wait a minute!"
Rudian panicked.
If it was Demon Emperor Flame, it was the original and superior magic of the 8th class magic Hellfire.
If she fired 9th class level magic without any countermeasures in such a narrow place...!
BAAAAANG!
The Demon Emperor Flame that shot out from Rebecca's hand began not just burning the tentacles and flesh pieces in front of them, but destroying the entire Garganta Order building.
"Oh dear..."
RUMBLE!
-AAAAA!
-KRALALALA!
Along with a minor earthquake, agonized screams could be heard from here and there.
However, those screams weren't human, but of 'monsters'.
Whatever had definitely been digging traps and waiting in ambush around them began being swept away entirely by the flames Rebecca had spewed.
"Well done, Rebecca."
Maria patted Rebecca's shoulder and praised her.
"...Well, it's good that the path is clearly opened."
Rudian also looked at the path that had been opened straight through like an 8-lane highway with a lukewarm expression.
No, perhaps Rebecca's action like this might be more appropriate.
Since they had this much power, there was no reason to sneak around stealthily.
Then.
-Th, this...! There's never been a case like this!
From the depths that Rebecca's Demon Emperor Flame had reached, spirit speech filled with rage began to be heard.
-How dare they turn our nest into a sea of fire! We will never forgive this!
"……."
Terrible and grotesque unknown terror.
Surely the outer forces of were created with a cosmic horror theme...
Why did the word 'pushover' suddenly come to mind?
Rudian had no way of knowing the reason.