Chapter 242
Chapter 242
Chapter 242
Heaven's Fall (7)
-Kuoooooo!
A massive roar shook heaven and earth.
It was truly a sound that perfectly embodied the term "lion's roar"—the cry of a divine beast that commanded submission from all things in heaven and earth.
But if one could sense a faint fear in that cry, then that person had properly assessed the situation.
FLASH!
An entity that scattered lightning no less brilliant than the divine beast stood before it.
Raihon, a high-ranking god of the Pantheon, struck down divine lightning at the three-headed divine beast.
BANG!
-Aaaaaaa!
The ground was instantly dyed white, and the divine beast trapped in that lightning storm screamed in agony.
Sackmatan, the divine beast of the ancient heavenly realm.
For an absolute being with power equivalent to a high-ranking god, it appeared quite cornered.
"Hmph, when properly engaged, you're nothing special."
The reason the divine beast Sackmatan was being pushed back like this was simple.
No matter how much power Sackmatan possessed equivalent to a high-ranking god, the being before Sackmatan's eyes was the god of lightning—one who ranked at the very top among high-ranking gods in terms of offensive power alone.
"Lord Raihon, the creature is weakening... Shall we join in and finish it?"
The mid-ranking gods under Garganta's command, who had been surrounding the area, cautiously offered their opinion, but Raihon shook his head.
"No, until now Sackmatan has been problematic not for its power, but for its stealth and caution. I'll finish this, so just tighten the encirclement so it can't escape."
"Yes!"
Sackmatan was one of the familiars of Sackma, an ancient god who had been defeated by Berus in the heavenly realm in the past.
Naturally, as remnants of the defeated, it was a top priority target that the Pantheon absolutely had to eliminate, but the reason Sackmatan had survived uncaught until now lay in its annoying tendency to flee at the slightest hint of danger.
Raihon looked at the armor floating above Sackmatan's forehead.
"If we attack the relic of its master Sackma, it will surely charge recklessly without regard for consequences... I had my doubts, but I never expected it would actually happen."
Sackmatan had been one of the heavenly realm's long-standing headaches.
It was like a tiger plague—not appearing in cities but occasionally showing up in rural areas to cause damage.
'...If it weren't for this situation, this would have been a great achievement that would immediately elevate my position within the Pantheon... Kukuku.'
The problem was that the very person who provided this information was the greatest adversary who had set himself in opposition to that Pantheon.
Kugugugugung!
-Kuooooo...
Unable to endure Raihon's endless lightning strikes, Sackmatan finally lost its strength and met the end of its tenacious life.
When Sackmatan completely exhausted its lifeline and vanished, all that remained was the armor of its master Sackma that it had been protecting.
A mythical-grade artifact that should have been stored in the central treasury of the Pantheon in the heavenly realm had fallen into their hands all too easily.
"Phew, this makes it the seventh?"
Raihon let out a slight sigh as he looked at the corpse of Sackmatan that had turned to ash.
'These are artifacts that should be in the Pantheon's central storage... was it always this easy to obtain them?'
It wasn't just Sackma's armor before his eyes.
Harpiel's God-Slaying Spear, the Sun God's military boots, the previous Death King's Book of Life and Death, and so on...
Truly mythical-grade artifacts that could even shatter the balance of the heavenly realm—this was the seventh to fall into Raihon's hands today alone.
It was about time for the sun to set and the satellites orbiting the heavenly realm to reveal themselves.
Raihon felt a slight urgency and pressed his subordinates.
"Three remain. If we're too late, there's no telling what that human will say. Let's hurry."
Even though he was a high-ranking god who had nothing to fear in the heavenly realm, the sight of him fearing a human's nagging would have seemed quite absurd to his surrounding subordinates.
"That... Lord Raihon."
"What is it?"
"No matter what... aren't you being too manipulated by that human?"
As expected of the proud gods of the Pantheon, the dissatisfaction they had been holding back finally burst forth.
"That's right. How can we, the gods of the great Pantheon, be ordered around by a mere human like this?"
No, in Raihon's opinion, this outburst was actually overdue.
"I understand your dissatisfaction."
And it was Raihon's job as their superior to quell that dissatisfaction.
"But do you really see Rudian as just an ordinary human?"
"......"
"Among you, there should be those who went to the lower realm with me and directly clashed with that human?"
Naturally, those who had been there remained quietly silent instead of voicing such complaints.
"That's..."
"Do you think an ordinary human could pinpoint the locations of such weapons so precisely?"
The mid-ranking gods were immediately struck speechless.
Even for them, recovering seven mythical-grade items in a single day was beyond common sense.
"Every single thing we've recovered today is related to the secret history of the heavenly realm. Even the Seven Great Gods wouldn't know all the secrets surrounding these items."
The atmosphere in the area immediately grew heavy.
Raihon sternly warned his subordinates.
"This isn't simply a political struggle or territorial dispute. If we're defeated, eternal downfall awaits us—all our divinity will be sealed or destroyed like those ancient gods."
"......!"
"Right, what was it called... the Heavenly Association? You don't want to fall to such miserable mortals, do you?"
The Heavenly Association had been completely shattered by Rudian's party and the dragons in the middle realm, then thoroughly cleaned up by Baal and the demons.
More precisely, it was closer to the war god Mars sacrificing his allies for his own greed, but in the current situation, such minor details weren't important.
"That Rudian has been helpful for our victory. It's wrong to be hostile like this."
"We, we're sorry."
"I was short-sighted."
The mid-ranking gods bowed their heads to Raihon with pale expressions.
In truth, the background to their apologies was more due to fear of falling like the Heavenly Association rather than genuine regret for underestimating Rudian.
"Now, now, what we're doing isn't simply being manipulated by one human, but preparatory work to increase our chances of victory. Aren't the results proving this?"
"That's right!"
"So don't cling to past status and situations—we just need to do our job. Three locations still remain, so let's move quickly."
"Yes!"
The mid-ranking gods, their morale completely restored, answered vigorously.
'It's good that I persuaded them well, but...'
Raihon made a disgusted expression as he looked at Sackma's armor.
'How does he really know? Not just one or two, but the locations of at least dozens of weapons...'
If they could truly recover this many weapons in bulk according to that human's plan... they would have sufficient odds even in a direct confrontation with Satera's faction, the Pantheon's greatest power.
A ridiculous hypothesis suddenly crossed Raihon's mind.
'Did that guy come from the future? Or is he a reincarnator who repeats a certain life...'
No matter how much he thought about it, there was no way to explain Rudian's identity other than such hypotheses.
'No, that can't be. Temporal regression is something strictly forbidden by the Creator God. It's an absolute miracle impossible even for Berus...'
In the distant past, before the primordial era when Raihon had even awakened to his own self-awareness.
The gods of that time are said to have freely rewound time, re-edited history, and played with space-time.
Eventually, that behavior caused numerous time paradoxes, resulting in the collapse of all dimensions, and ultimately temporal regression was strictly forbidden by the enraged Creator God.
'They say Berus became the protagonist of the new Genesis by resolving the incident of that time...'
According to Ruura, the very person trying to cause that past incident again is also Berus.
'I'm suddenly curious. Why would a being who stands at the pinnacle of everything try to destroy his own foundation...'
***
While Raihon and the other high-ranking gods were working themselves to the bone, recovering artifacts.
Rudian and his party were also personally stepping forward and putting their all into collection.
Especially the things Rudian had pinpointed were truly masterpieces among mythical-grade items, so they couldn't be entrusted to others.
"Hey..."
Rudian, who had been breaking through the seal of Gaigo, the ancient sealed flame giant, turned his head at the tired voice coming from behind.
"What, Gabrisal."
"It's Gabriel. Next time you deliberately mispronounce it, I'll put a hole in the back of your head."
"Anyway... why are you calling me?"
Gabriel let out a sigh as he looked around at the surrounding space that had completely transformed into another world.
"Just how... how do you know about things like this? Flame Emperor Gaigo is said to be a primordial giant who vanished long ago..."
"He didn't vanish. He was just waiting for the right time while preserving his divinity, unlike the others."
"That's, ex, act, ly!"
Gabriel burst out angrily at Rudian.
"How did you know that?! It's a fact that even Michael and Metatron don't know! How could you know unless you were there in that era...!"
THUD!
Gabriel, who had been venting his frustration at Rudian, suddenly turned his head when hands were placed on both his shoulders.
There stood Rudian's companions with benevolent expressions like enlightened monks who had achieved enlightenment after great hardships.
"Don't try to understand."
"Just accept it."
"You'll be comfortable if you give up."
"Ah, no..."
Gabriel was flustered.
Their appearance, as if accustomed to such things, showing enlightened smiles, even felt familiar somehow.
"This isn't something you get used to—it needs to be clearly examined...!"
"Gray, a trap will activate soon. It's a powerful formation that banishes those caught in the trap to the multiverse, so prepare well."
"Got it. Hey, lend me some strength!"
"These damn guys! Listen to me...!"
"Well, sure."
...Gabriel's words were mercilessly cut off.
'Even if he is the being prophesied by the three goddesses of fate to destroy causality!'
Finding and responding to traces on the ground could somehow be understood.
That Rudian guy was a being from the earth, after all.
But this place is the heavenly realm.
Gabriel's common sense ran away when, at the temporary camp where Garganta and Ruura's subordinate gods had gathered, he explained the locations of all sorts of artifacts, the traps laid there, and the elements to be careful of as if he had made them himself, telling them to go fetch them.
But when he realized that those words weren't mere bluff but truly grounded statements, he even seriously suspected that Rudian's true identity might actually be the Creator God.
'He seemed unusual from the time he knew about Luciel's situation... just what is his identity?'
While Gabriel maintained his suspicious gaze.
Rudian and his party, having already broken through all the traps, threw open the final door leading to the giant's seal.
Gogogogogo!
The place where the 'something' that Rudian insisted must be recovered was located.
In an environment like the spirit realm where lava boiled on all sides and mist was thick.
A giant spewing flames from his entire body slowly rose from his position.
That massive build was at least several hundred meters tall.
-Finally, after long ages, one who opens the door has appeared.
"Flame Emperor Gaigo!"
Gabriel was shocked to see the ancient god Gaigo after truly a long time.
'He really had preserved his full power!'
It had been far too long since he'd seen him, but his divine power seemed not to have weakened at all.
-It's been a long time, Gabriel. You've become much more terse.
"...Does a sinner of the heavenly realm expect treatment from the Creator?"
-Huhuhuh, that arrogant mouth is still the same.
Surprisingly, Gaigo quickly lost interest in Gabriel.
Gaigo muttered something small as if pondering.
However, given the opponent's size, even that small muttering sounded like thunder.
-I thought the one to open this door would be Mars. If not that, I thought it would never open even if the world met its end...
Gaigo's gaze was already directed toward Rudian.
Gaigo looked down at Rudian and said:
-You who possess Mars' power, have you come to obtain the weapon to kill Berus?