Chapter 206
Chapter 206
Chapter 206
Pantheon (4)
"How do you know about that?"
An expression of genuine bewilderment appeared on Mars' face.
Mars, who knew about Adi's existence and was well-versed in the secrets of the world, being flustered by the mere mention of a primordial fragment wasn't actually strange.
In the original work, only a few beings from before the genesis who had sealed the incarnation of the previous era's destruction knew about the existence of primordial fragments.
In other words, it was a secret of the true 'mythological age' known only to the extremely few who had quelled the destruction of the previous era.
"You're definitely... just an ordinary human who was lucky enough to obtain Arcadia!"
—...Uh, that's... true.
Rudian found himself nodding at Mars' sharp observation.
It was surprising that the guy knew about Rudian's origins, but...
'But he knows about it somewhat half-heartedly.'
"The goddess of fate told me. You're definitely an ordinary human... just someone who was lucky enough to gain power! But... to think your true identity was an incarnation!"
'Huh?'
"Are you an incarnation of Berus? Or an incarnation of Claidel? What exactly is your true identity?!"
'...He's completely barking up the wrong tree.'
Rudian couldn't find a reason to bother answering him.
—Even if you don't want to give it, it doesn't particularly matter. As long as it doesn't fall into Baal's hands.
"What?"
—Wherever you've hidden it, it's probably inside that battleship, right? Then if we just smash it to pieces and throw it somewhere in outer space, it'll be hard to find.
"Wait, hold on!"
He sneered at Mars, who was desperately raising his voice, and immediately cut off the communication.
The primordial fragment was the key to unsealing the incarnation of destruction.
Actually, in the original work, Berus had unlocked it through a loophole, so it wasn't particularly highlighted, but that didn't diminish its importance and danger.
If possible, it would be more comfortable to completely block any possibility of it being misused.
—Master, all containment of the Alprina-class battleship has been completed.
"That was fast?"
—However, you must not let your guard down. Since Alprina-class battleships use degenerate furnaces as their power source, in the worst case scenario, nearby star systems could be dragged in if the power furnace collapses.
"I know, that's why I brought everything to handle it safely, isn't it?"
Rudian glanced toward the planet.
Divine power and magic power were colliding, forming massive air currents in the sky above.
Thanks to the village where the Pantheon was located being a kind of massive sealed space, it was only to this degree—otherwise, the entire planet would have been completely covered by those air currents.
'That side shouldn't be much of a concern...'
Rudian's enlightened eyes could roughly grasp the situation just from the atmospheric flows.
Given the opponent, there would be some hard fighting, but at least they wouldn't lose.
"Well then, let's finish this properly."
—Master, large-scale attacks have been detected from Helios.
As soon as those words ended, countless beams of light began densely rushing from the front, embroidering space.
"Response?"
—Perfect.
The Elysion units guarding the Heavenly Demon Dragon battleship immediately aimed their newly equipped devices at the light.
"Activating Adora civilization standard-issue combat armament, Super Brilliant Blaster."
"Wait, the naming sense is a bit...?"
Before Rudian could even complain, incredibly powerful artillery fire that couldn't even be compared to the existing Starlight Blaster met Helios' beams of light.
THUUUUNG!
Light clashed with light.
The golden sunlight shot from Helios was blocked by seven-colored rainbow light and could no longer advance.
After defending against one strike, Adi busily made the next move.
—Intercepting. Initiating Dilmun output assistance.
—Leave it to meeeee!
A male voice full of military spirit began to be heard.
—This Dilmun! I will show my abilities for the first time to the rightful successor of the Adora civilization!
'So noisy...'
The core of Dilmun that Adi had unsealed was equipped with an artificial intelligence like Elli, and its appearance was a giant eyeball monster like the artificial intelligence of El Dorado or Adi that he had seen before.
—How dare those damn lizards grope me for thousands of years! Enduring those days of humiliation, and finally being able to serve the Master!
But the problem was that despite his dignified voice, Dilmun had an incredibly talkative personality.
"Hey, shut that guy up."
—Yes.
—Fallen god! Ancient relic! Now witness the greatness of this Dilmun... mmmph mmmph!
When Adi, the highest command entity, intervened, Dilmun couldn't even make a peep and ended up with a cross-shaped mark on his mouth.
WHIRRRRR!
However, separate from that, the output assistance was working normally, and massive power began flowing from the units equipped with Eldorado's superior relics rather than standard-issue ones.
"Adi, won't the power be insufficient?"
—It won't be insufficient. Even if it were, I could replenish power from Diablo.
Certainly, the power accumulated so far was not lacking at all.
If there was a problem, it would be causality... but this time was an exception.
Helios was a battleship with tremendous power accumulated through causality over long years.
Causality had the characteristic of becoming considerably looser in its restrictions the greater the opponent's power, so the relative power that could be exerted also increased.
"If a battleship like that backstabs us during a war, it would be hard to handle. End it for certain."
—Don't worry!
Mythical-level divine weapons that would easily sweep away a nation if used on the ground began to activate in earnest.
"5th-grade divine weapon, Brahmastra activation."
"5th-grade divine weapon, Pashupatastra activation."
A white arrow burning pure white, and a blue arrow dyed blue.
If there was a difference from the previous attacks, it was that these two arrows contained massive divinity.
And that wasn't the end.
"Thunder Strike activation."
"Nine Dragon Divine Fire Bird activation."
"Moguray activation."
"Arondight activation."
CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!
Massive lightning trunks began extending like tree roots, and nine fire dragons whose size easily exceeded Ancient dragons appeared wrapped in flames.
That wasn't all.
Weapons containing countless god-slaying powers began advancing toward Helios, each emitting their own light.
Their number was a full hundred.
It was a tremendous spectacle that even left Rudian, who had given the command, speechless.
'...Wow, this is complete chaos.'
Even if Helios was Heavenly Demon Dragon-class, how could it withstand such an offensive?
Along with the illusion that the entire universe was being surrounded by light, the hull of Helios could be seen being half-destroyed in the distance.
Even though no sound could be heard in space, seeing Helios instantly turned into rags showed how powerful the recent attack had been.
No, rather, it could be said that Helios was remarkable for enduring those attacks and maintaining its form.
FLASH!
Then a small light leaked from the wreckage of Helios, and eventually that light devoured the entirety of Helios and transformed into the shape of a giant.
—This... bastard who wouldn't be satisfied even if torn apart and killed a thousand times...!
"……!"
The giant of light spewing curse-like words in the ancient language.
That must surely be the true form of Mars, once called the sun god.
'He devoured Helios' power to recover his strength!'
Among Helios' functions was the power to accumulate causality, so he must have used that to recover such divine status in one go.
—Though it's not even half of half of my prime power... it's sufficient to tear you apart!
"That's quite frightening?"
—No matter how much you borrow the power of various tools, realize that it's useless before the power of a true god!
FLASH!
Worlds that had turned away from the sun and welcomed night began to be forced into morning by the light Mars emitted.
"Wh, what?"
"A su, sun suddenly appeared?"
Humans who had just finished their daily work and were offering prayers to North, goddess of darkness, began to be bewildered by the suddenly appeared light.
'Incredible!'
It was power that could match what Diablo and Yev had shown in the mental world.
Rudian said with a slight cold sweat.
"Is it okay to recklessly pour out power like this? If you use power like this, won't archangels soon swarm from heaven?"
—It doesn't matter! Since things have already gone wrong and made my lifelong wish useless, I'll make you pay for that sin!
"How scary."
Though he spoke calmly, it certainly felt like even pouring out divine weapons or other weapons of Eldorado wouldn't be very effective.
Rudian stood up from the captain's seat and commanded Adi.
"Adi, retreat all the other units except for Elli's main body. Same for Dilmun."
—If we continue fighting, we have sufficient chance of victory! Please order engagement!
—If I burn up all the units just to catch that one guy, it defeats the purpose. There's no need to clash with full force against a guy who'll self-destruct if time passes anyway.
—However, avoiding power of that magnitude won't be easy.
"I know. So we'll have to endure as much as possible."
There was a move prepared for cases like this.
Though he hadn't thought he'd have to use it so soon, it was still sufficiently within range.
Just as Rudian was about to command Adi on the next move.
—Huhu, you seem to be in trouble.
"...! Baal!"
Rudian was startled seeing Baal's figure appearing like a hologram.
"What happened on the ground?"
—Of course it's already been sorted out. You're really underestimating us.
Had the Pantheon's forces on the ground already been dealt with in just a few minutes?
As expected, Baal's capabilities couldn't be ignored.
"Casualties?"
—There are some injured, but nothing serious. There's virtually no damage.
"That's a relief."
—But more troublesome than that is Mars, isn't it? I thought you'd be able to catch Mars' feet if he tried to escape... but I didn't expect you to corner him this much.
"If you know that, help out a bit?"
—Huhuhu, well, fine. It's also a father-in-law's duty to help his son-in-law.
"...Do you really want to die?"
This guy's getting more ridiculous by the day.
Though he said this, it was quite unexpected that Baal readily accepted his helping hand.
—I'll release part of my main body. If possible, I'd like to finish this before the archangels arrive, so please provide backup.
"Good, I'll match your pace."
Though he hadn't expected Baal to step forward as the main attacker rather than support, in this situation Rudian had no reason to refuse.
WHOOSH!
The moment Baal's phantom disappeared, a typhoon made of black magic energy rapidly formed on the planet's surface.
And from the center of that typhoon, a giant black demon with horns on its head began to reveal itself.
—It's been a long time since I've seen it. Baal's main body...
Seeing that form, Diablo muttered gravely.
Baal's main body was smaller than Diablo's form seen in the mental world.
However, due to the numerous tentacle wings extending from his back, the actual sense of intimidation was far more intense than Diablo's.
—Don't forget, kid. That's not Baal's full power either.
"Certainly, the Seven Seats are terrifying."
Considering his power, was it about 70%?
Thinking about the power of the Heavenly Pantheon that had overwhelmed such beings, it was certainly still vast and distant.
"Huuu..."
Rudian calmly controlled his breathing and took three objects from his chest.
A green orb, a black orb, and a blue grimoire came out.
The red world had already synchronized with Rebecca, so to use that power, Rebecca had to be nearby.
Well, the red world wasn't needed in the current situation anyway.
"Going."
Above Rudian's hand, three of the seven-colored worlds floated up.
"Seven-colored worlds, resonance."
The three colors of green, blue, and black began emitting their own colors, drawn by Rudian's hand.