Chapter 187
Chapter 187
Chapter 187
Revealing Secret Organizations (3)
After dispatching the Elysion unit, Rudian used the brief rest period to anticipate future events with his remaining companions.
"Perhaps the damage might not grow as large as we think. This is just a possibility, of course."
"What's your reasoning for thinking that?"
"Maria, as you know... this continent has quite a few hidden strongmen lurking around."
From small regional hegemony seekers to those who aim for divine seats.
What they have in common is that regardless of their different goals, their actual residence is within this continent.
"No matter how much they hide in the shadows, they won't let their territory be destroyed by beings who are nothing more than predators, not even competitors."
"...Hmm, do you think so?"
Maria seemed a bit skeptical, but Rudian had his own calculations.
There were over ten major secret organizations that directly appeared in the original work.
Organizations that only appeared in the setting numbered close to fifty.
No matter how greedy these bastards were, if their headquarters or foundation came under attack, they would have no choice but to act.
"Of course, there will be those who hide until the end, only looking for opportunities, or those who try to exploit this situation instead."
Evangeline frowned.
"If such people exist, they would only hinder solving the problem."
"That's right. So..."
Rudian made a throat-slitting gesture with his thumb extended, his eyes cold.
"If we discover such bastards, we'll eliminate them all without mercy."
At this rather murderous statement, Rebecca, who was nearby, gulped slightly.
"Hmm... that's an unusually cold statement for you, Rudian."
The others had similar reactions.
But Rudian was resolute.
"If they came out to protect their land, there's room for some compromise. But if they've abandoned even that and given themselves over to ambition, it's better to eliminate them."
Of course, doing this wouldn't root out all the secret organization bastards.
There would also be those who couldn't be handled by the Elysion unit alone.
However, at least those who saw this incident as an opportunity—Rudian was determined to personally step forward and completely uproot them, even if it meant taking action himself.
'Now I can uproot most ordinary ones. Even if the opponent is Celestial...'
Rudian looked around at his companions and continued.
"Elli's reports will be made in real-time. If such bastards appear, we'll respond with Elysion bodies first, but if the damage grows or we judge that the dispatched forces can't handle it, I'll send you three. Of course, I'll also move actively."
Maria, Rebecca, Evangeline.
These three, who now possessed power that had essentially transcended humanity, could sweep away even the numerous secret organizations of .
No, even if they couldn't handle them, they could at least protect themselves sufficiently.
The power of these three had grown to that extent.
"Well, fine. If we know the coordinates properly, sending one person through spatial movement would be enough to handle it."
Maria clenched both fists and struck a fighting pose.
"So what are we going to do for now? Wait here?"
"No, there's a place we need to visit first."
"Where?"
"The southern continent. It must have become a complete mess there too."
According to Elli's information, Gardin had summoned a considerable number of extraterrestrial creatures to the southern continent as well.
No, numerically speaking, one-fourth of the total summoned entities existed on the southern continent.
"To plant such things in the dragons' habitat... is that even possible?"
"The southern continent is still a 'continent.'"
No matter how many dragons there were, their total species number didn't exceed one thousand.
Conversely, the southern continent they ruled was, according to the setting, similar in size to the South American continent.
If a deity of Gardin's level truly set his mind to hiding something, he could sufficiently deceive even the dragons' attention.
"No matter how strong the dragons are, there's no guarantee they won't suffer damage. And above all..."
Rudian voiced the assumption he had been harboring in his heart.
"Since the situation has reached this point, Garganta will definitely make a move against the dragons."
A puzzled expression crossed Maria's face.
"Garganta? Didn't the Pope of Luuren say that interference with the mortal realm was prohibited by the celestial council...?"
"The Pope of Luuren said that. And it probably did happen."
But it would have been merely a verbal warning, not actual confinement or power restriction.
"Garganta will try to interfere with the lower realm somehow. He doesn't place much value on the title of Seven Great Gods to begin with."
"...!"
Garganta, one of the Seven Great Gods, the god of revenge.
The only alien race among the Seven Great Gods, whose origin is an extraterrestrial god like Yev.
'One of the patrons of Heaven's Fall caused by the archangels, and a truly mad god of revenge who desires the destruction of heaven!'
Even though the dragons declared neutrality and withdrew their interest from this continent's affairs, from Garganta's perspective of wanting to destroy the continent, the biggest obstacle was none other than those dragons.
In the original work, Garganta was depicted as relatively good.
But the reason was simply that the protagonist Abel's party opposed the pantheon.
After the Genesis ended, he joined the Seven Great Gods with a single purpose: revenge against 'Berus,' who had annihilated his race during Genesis.
There were somewhat complex circumstances behind why Berus allowed Garganta, who was essentially an enemy, to join the Seven Great Gods.
Anyway, after Genesis, Garganta thoroughly wore a mask and steadily expanded his influence within the pantheon.
To destroy Berus and heaven.
'Berus's barrier will eventually be broken.'
The apostle Gardin was defeated, and the North and Garganta headquarters on earth were virtually annihilated.
For now, it could be said that they had successfully blocked all the revealed schemes of North and Garganta, but Rudian still felt something nagging in his heart.
'Shub's prophecy is still ongoing. A prophecy from a god of that level can't be easily overturned.'
Shub prophesied that 152 days remained until Berus's barrier would be broken.
Although some time had passed since then, there were still more than three months remaining.
'The problem is how Garganta can break Berus's barrier in the dragons' territory within those three months...'
Berus's barrier existed in the southern continent, specifically within the 'Hall of Heroes.'
Naturally, the strongest force in this middle realm was the dragons—the dragon race—and the Hall of Heroes, jointly managed by them and heaven, was the most powerful and solid place in the middle realm.
'Moreover, within the hall, ancient heroes can use all their power to a limited extent. Even if Garganta and all the gods under the pantheon rushed in together, they couldn't do anything within the hall.'
Even if Rudian's current party combined their strength, it would be impossible.
Ultimately, what Rudian needed to do now was concentrate power for a frontal confrontation and eliminate variables that would interfere with the battle.
"Perhaps Gardin's rampage might turn out to be a blessing in disguise. No matter how much dragons avoid fighting, they're not a race that would just sit still like fools after taking the 'first punch.'"
In fact, neither Berus nor Garganta would have anticipated this.
No matter how much dragons had a tendency to avoid fighting, that they would completely flee to 'another dimension.'
If they had just stayed still, the dragons would have disappeared on their own, but the moment the dragons suffered damage from the summoned extraterrestrial creatures, the situation would change completely.
***
Just as Rudian was about to lead his party toward the southern continent.
-Master.
Contact came from Elli, who had entered combat in the Morian Empire.
Coincidentally, it seemed they had encountered enemies seeking 'opportunities' that Rudian had been worried about, in the location where Sonya and Matheus were.
-The enemy introduced themselves as the Iron Guards.
'...Of all people, it had to be those bastards?'
Iron Guards.
Their past name was Bloody Iron.
At the time of their appearance in Chapter 2 of the original work, they were a warrior group possessing five Grand Masters and fifteen Sword Masters.
Unlike Seven Arks, which at least nominally upheld 'humanity's salvation,' they were an unexpectedly rare evil group that operated purely for continental hegemony.
As such, they were bastards who needed to be definitively eliminated when the opportunity arose.
'The Elysion bodies alone would certainly have difficulty dealing with them.'
What made the Iron Guards fearsome wasn't simply that they were Grand Masters.
They were bastards who had obtained the legacy from the ancient Heaven-Demon Great War and acquired weak but real divinity.
Of course, they were bastards who didn't even know how to properly use that divinity, but just possessing divinity made them troublesome immortal enemies who couldn't die naturally.
-Don't worry. I'll send Rebecca there.
However, Rudian now had the natural enemy of such immortal gods by his side.
But for some reason, Rebecca puffed out her cheeks as if slightly dissatisfied.
"...Do I really have to go?"
"Huh? Since you have the most advantageous abilities against them, it would be most efficient for you to go..."
There were many organizations stronger than the Iron Guards in terms of pure force.
Usually, the military power of secret organizations varied depending on whether they inherited bloodlines from the mythical age or how much of that legacy they inherited, so sending Rebecca against more threatening enemies than the Iron Guards wouldn't be a very good choice.
"Ugh... I don't want to separate already... and it'll take a long time to reunite."
Rebecca seemed quite dissatisfied at being the first to go.
"I'm counting on you, Rebecca."
When Rudian smiled and patted her head, Rebecca's expression finally relaxed a bit.
"Sigh, I guess I have no choice. I'll finish quickly and come back."
After Rebecca received several precautions and information to keep in mind from Rudian, she threw herself into the ultra-long-distance spatial movement gate that Maria opened.
***
The battlefield where Rebecca participated as reinforcement.
'That, that child is!'
Sonya and Matheus widened their eyes at the sight of Rebecca, who had suddenly popped out.
'Even though her hair color changed a bit, isn't that definitely the girl who used to stick around with that boy Rudian?'
Definitely a 'Demon Eater' or something, from a clan with the peculiar constitution of being able to absorb magic.
But other than that, they had confirmed that her combat ability was no different from an ordinary person.
"Sigh, sister Maria is in danger these days too, and it had to be now..."
Rebecca, still in a bad mood, grumbled for a while, then finally came to her senses when she felt the gazes directed at her.
"...What's with that bitch?"
Iron Guards leader Maslan Kaibrek frowned at the red-haired girl who had suddenly appeared.
"No matter how I look at her, she's just an ordinary bitch..."
To a warrior's eye, Rebecca looked no different from an ordinary person.
Of course, if Maslan rose one level higher than his current state, he might notice Rebecca's potential... but at least in the current situation, that was far from happening.
When Rebecca saw familiar faces among those looking at her, she smiled brightly and bowed.
She had at least some acquaintance with both Sonya and Matheus, even if they didn't meet often.
"Ah, hello, Your Grace! And... Viscount?"
"...I'm a Count now."
"Ah, sorry, sorry..."
...Matheus was someone who took subtle pride in his title of Count.
"Anyway, seeing that you're not particularly flustered, it seems you appeared here according to plan... am I right in my guess?"
"Yes, Rudian sent me. To deal with those guys."
"...What?"
Sonya blinked, unable to understand Rebecca's words for a moment.
'Has she lost her mind?'
Even Sonya herself would have difficulty handling one of them, so what was he thinking, going off somewhere and sending just one girl?
"Has she lost her mind?"
For a moment, Sonya thought her thoughts had slipped out of her mouth and hurriedly covered it.
But fortunately, those words had come from Maslan's mouth far away, not her own.
"Rudian? That's definitely a name I remember. The brat who was praised as a hero just for killing one Demon King-level."
"......"
Rebecca's gaze slowly turned toward Maslan.
"No extraordinary birth, no real achievements... truly someone who just popped out of thin air. A manufactured hero packaged by the state. How dare such a guy..."
Meeting Rebecca's calm eyes, Maslan exploded in fury and shouted.
"I won't kill you. Instead, I'll tear apart the limbs of that bastard Rudian who sent you here and throw them as dog food, rape you in front of him, then blow off his head!"
"......"
The Iron Guards were certainly a gathering of strongmen.
But since their nature originated from a mercenary group and they hadn't broken free from that limitation until now, unlike Celestial or Seven Arks, they had been excessively negligent in forming a nationwide information network.
If the Iron Guards had witnessed the decisive battle in the capital, they would never have uttered such words.
"Ha..."
SWOOSH!
The moment Rebecca's exasperated sigh flowed out... a red aura that made everyone's spine chill emanated from her entire body.
"Hey."
Rebecca actually raised the corners of her mouth slightly and smiled at Maslan.
"What did you just say?"