Chapter 250
Chapter 250
Chapter 250
Pantheon (2)
No matter how much she intended to hold her back, her opponent was one of the Seven Great Gods.
Of course, as long as their 'domains' overlapped, it was possible to hold out to some extent, no matter how severe the level difference.
The battle between Evangeline and North was truly a clash of fire and magma.
While it was possible to endure, the outcome was clearly visible.
"...Will she be okay?"
Luciella sighed from behind as she spoke.
"Are you worried?"
"Of course. Even if we haven't had many private conversations, a comrade is still a comrade."
Even after joining the party, strictly speaking, Evangeline didn't seem to have integrated well into the concept of a 'team.'
She was naturally quiet and seemed to keep to herself, and after resolving her lifespan issue, she would quietly follow Rudian around or spend time traveling the world with Rowen.
"You don't need to worry too much about that."
Rudian's attempt to comfort Luciella was interrupted by Rebecca, who was right next to him.
"She's absolutely not the type to thoughtlessly charge into a losing battle."
"......"
Rudian broke into a cold sweat at Rebecca's words, which mixed strange hostility with trust.
Indeed, as could be seen previously in Luuren, the relationship between Evangeline and Rebecca wasn't particularly good.
However, it wasn't complete hostility either - even if their relationship was bad, it could be called something like 'frenemies.'
"Certainly, we should be more worried about our own situation than that."
Maria, who had been examining the interior of the Pantheon, spoke with a somber expression.
"Currently, we can't guarantee that we'll be able to break through to our target location."
The Pantheon was a place so enormous that the area of a single building rivaled that of a moderately-sized small nation.
Moreover, even though the angels had attacked the Pantheon, only the archangels could break through to the central area.
In the end, this meant that Rudian's party would also have to break through the countless divine beings scattered throughout the Pantheon.
"But... there's surprisingly little resistance?"
Despite thieves entering their home, the divine beings who should have exercised their rights as homeowners were unusually quiet.
Clearly, when they expanded their senses around the area, there were formidable opponents everywhere who couldn't be ignored, yet none approached Rudian's party.
'The outside is so noisy... but it's not like they're being cowardly...'
Was there some kind of trap?
No matter how lazy the gods might be, they wouldn't tolerate this kind of blasphemous intrusion.
'But the fact that they're not coming out means... Each is defending their own territory and preparing to face the enemy. In that case, the expected response is...'
There was only one possibility.
"Adi."
-Yes, Master.
"Check if there are any traps."
-Understood!
Actually, the idea that there could be traps in the Pantheon, the most dignified place in this world, would be hard to believe.
"Traps? Here?"
An ordinary priest would gain papal-level divine power just by staying here for one minute, and someone who had reached divinity like Rudian's party could ascend to formal godhood in a short time.
Naturally, most people would feel their hearts swell just breathing the air here and wouldn't even think of traps.
But Rudian knew.
"Traps installed in a place like this are truly dangerous. Everyone be careful."
Although it was said to be created for entertainment, the Pantheon certainly had methods to prepare for external intruders.
Moreover, if traps had grades, this place would be mythic-level.
-Master, 124 types of traps have been detected ahead.
"...Are you serious?"
-There are quite a few types, but broadly categorized, they fall into four main categories: spacetime freezing, divine decomposition, dimensional maze, and absolute sealing.
Moreover, it was said that multiple traps often overlapped in the same space.
"Can we break through with force?"
-It's possible, but doing so would result in a 70% loss of current power. It would be much more rational to find and eliminate the trap administrator.
'...The problem is that capturing the administrator is nearly impossible.'
The administrator of the Pantheon was none other than Satera, one of the Seven Great Gods.
And that Satera was currently embedded in the center of the Pantheon, conducting a ritual.
Considering that Rudian's party's current goal was to head to the Temple of the Creator God, going to find Satera would be tantamount to abandoning their plan.
'What should we do?'
The archangels probably passed through the Pantheon's traps leisurely without getting caught.
They knew the geography of the Pantheon better than most gods, and above all, they would have the authority to freely enter and exit the interior of the temple.
While Rudian was fretting, someone's voice was heard from far away.
"As expected, you were wandering around here."
"You are..."
He remembered seeing him before.
Certainly one of the lesser gods under Ruura's command, who had come as reinforcements during the war with the aliens.
However, since they had never spoken directly, he didn't know his name, but the other party read Rudian's hesitant expression and gave a bitter smile.
"I'm Razeil. I'm still a lesser god, so I don't have any assigned domain."
"Did Lady Ruura send you?"
"Yes, she was certain you would be wandering around inside the Pantheon, so she ordered me to guide you."
"That's fortunate. Where is Lady Ruura now?"
To Rudian's question, Razeil answered with a good-natured smile.
"She's currently waiting for you after joining with the archangels. Now, please follow me."
Razeil opened a spatial movement gate and guided Rudian.
"If you go this way, you'll reach where Lady Ruura is immediately."
The divine presence of someone presumed to be Ruura could be felt beyond the gate.
"I see. Thank you for your kindness."
Rudian showed the same smile from across from Razeil, then—
SLASH!
He drew Diablo and sliced off Razeil's head.
"...Gack!"
"Rudian! What is this...!"
Having beheaded Razeil, Rudian slowly summoned his sword energy and said:
"It seems Lady Ruura chose the wrong person to make her subordinate."
"...Wh-what kind of act is this!"
Even if he was a lesser god, a divine being was still a divine being.
As long as his divinity wasn't destroyed, Razeil wouldn't die even if his head was cut off.
Rudian glanced at the gate Razeil had opened and said:
"Certainly, Lady Ruura would be beyond this gate."
"Of-of course!"
"But Lady Ruura never intended to go to the Temple of the Creator God from the beginning. She decided to remain in the Pantheon to keep Satera and the others in check."
At those words, Razeil's eyes widened.
"B-but surely Lady Ruura...!"
"I don't know what you heard, but it seems certain that the old lady was suspicious of you."
From the beginning, the personnel to assault the Temple of the Creator God were only some of the archangels including Michael, Rudian's party, and the three Castor siblings they had recruited this time.
Ruura, Garganta, and the gods under their command would probably be starting to turn things into chaos by now, launching a surprise attack on where Satera was conducting the ritual.
"Rudian, that means..."
"If we had crossed through this gate, we would have intruded into the battlefield where Lady Ruura is in the midst of fighting. Of course, joining with the archangels would be out of the question."
Rudian pointed Diablo at Razeil's face and said:
"Choose. Will you guide us to the archangels and preserve your life, or will you have your divinity destroyed here and now and be annihilated forever?"
Rudian's threat was absolutely not an empty promise.
Destroying divinity was sufficiently possible with Diablo's power alone, and even if not Diablo, there were many methods.
"W-wait! Even if you join the archangels now, they are probably by now...!"
"...By now?"
"Th-they're all dead! If not that, they've become dimensional lost souls who will never be found!"
At those words spoken with such conviction, Rudian's eyes narrowed slightly.
"The reason?"
To Rudian's question, Razeil hesitated for a moment.
But the moment he saw the blade of Diablo filled with demonic energy, he spilled everything he knew.
"Th-the moment the Pantheon was attacked, Lady Satera temporarily suspended the ritual, closed all emergency spaces in the temple, and blocked all acts of attempting spatial movement."
"...!"
"The archangel bastards will absolutely never reach their desired location."
Only then did Rudian realize why there had been no interference from other gods inside the Pantheon.
'Even if it's Satera, blocking all movement in the Pantheon would meet with considerable opposition...'
But he couldn't deny what had happened before his eyes.
If, as stated, the archangels who had entered first hadn't even reached their destination...
"In the end, we have no choice but to strike Satera first?"
Help Ruura strike Satera and retrieve the archangels.
Since Rudian and his party alone couldn't assault the Temple of the Creator God, they would have to take a detour and defeat Satera first.
"C-crazy bastard! No matter how great you are... Lady Satera leads the greatest force in the heavenly realm. Do you know how many high-ranking gods are by her side...!"
"No more than fifteen."
At Rudian's matter-of-fact answer, Razeil's expression went blank for a moment.
"Y-you know that and still... you're going to strike Lady Satera?"
If there were that many high-ranking gods, including all the mid and low-ranking gods, it would easily exceed a hundred.
But Rudian had something in mind.
"If they closed off the Pantheon's areas like this and sealed movement, then Satera and the forces beside her would be evenly dispersed."
"...!"
"Trying to send me to Lady Ruura's side... that must have been your own scheme to hook me.... Thanks for appearing like this on your own."
"W-wait...!"
"Now, everyone steel your hearts. Even if we managed to avoid battle with North... we have to defeat Satera somehow."
If future Gray, who was currently clashing with Berus at the Temple of the Creator God, saw the current situation... he'd probably be so frustrated he'd die.
But what can be done about the situation turning out this way...
***
WHOOOOSH!
Spacetime distorted, and countless singularities formed within it.
Those singularities hadn't yet taken proper form, nor could anyone predict what they would become, but...
Everyone here knew that if these were left alone, nothing good would certainly happen.
However, the two beings who had created those singularities—
The Seven Great Gods Satera and Ruura.
These two beings continued to clash their powers against each other without being able to care about the singularities they had created.
"I thought you were someone who had nothing to do with combat... Not bad, Ruura."
A beauty with black hair and brown skin.
That distinctive appearance reminiscent of a southern continent beauty was certainly the greatest characteristic symbolizing Satera, one of the Seven Great Gods.
However, that characteristic was roughly disheveled for the first time in a very long while, and the reason was naturally due to Ruura standing opposite her.
Ruura twisted her pink-tinted hair and chuckled.
"Don't you know that love is something to be seized? I'm originally second only to Garganta when it comes to fighting?"
Garganta, who governed revenge, effectively possessed the greatest martial power among the Seven Great Gods, excluding Berus.
And the next most related to martial power was, ironically, Ruura, who governed love.
Satera chuckled and nodded.
"Yes, I acknowledge it. You fight quite well. But..."
"......"
"You know it's impossible to achieve victory in the current match, right? This is, after all, a 'group battle.'"
Ruura's expression slightly contorted.
Certainly, the one-on-one match between Satera and Ruura had concluded in Ruura's favor... but the problem was that the subordinates Ruura had brought were being overwhelmingly pushed back by Satera's subordinates.
Satera spoke triumphantly to Ruura:
"The moment I learned that angels had audaciously attacked the Pantheon, I activated the circuit breaker that hadn't been triggered even once in the past tens of thousands of years. Sorry, but the archangel bastards are probably wandering around some strange place as dimensional lost souls by now."
"...Satera, you."
"And that Rudian, was it? I left him to North. Even if he breaks through North and enters the Pantheon, it doesn't matter at all. They will absolutely never reach the Temple of the Creator God."
Satera's smile deepened.
"So... you'll soon fall to being a mortal for whom even the position of a lesser god is too much. Like that pathetically fallen Mars or Kuliak."
If no reversal occurred like this, the future awaiting Ruura would certainly be the same as the Fallen Council.
However...
"...Well, I wonder if that will really happen?"
"What?"
"Sorry, but thanks to Berus confining the three goddesses of fate... it seems those old ladies are smiling at me, not at you who's on Berus' side?"
"...!"