Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: The Goddess Descends
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*
Kieeeaaah!
The pristine white goddess avatar that appeared in the sky let out a horrific shriek.
“Ugh!”
“Guhh!”
People couldn’t even scream, merely blocking their ears with difficulty as they writhed on the ground in agony.
It was a wail so mournful and painful it felt like the sound of hell itself.
The only ones who remained relatively unharmed were the priests standing near the altar.
And Juliet, who was leaning weakly against the steps of the circular altar.
Her stomach churned and her head spun, but she didn’t collapse from the noise.
Breathing heavily, Juliet looked around.
Seeing that the only people standing unscathed were priests, it seemed those with divine power were unaffected.
‘Because of the soulstone?’
Juliet glanced at the soulstone clutched in her palm.
Zenobia’s violet soulstone.
As long as she possessed it, she effectively had divine power now, which must be why she was fine despite the goddess avatar’s appearance.
But that thing...
Was it really a god...?
It seemed less like a god and more like...
Some kind of demonic beast.
Juliet gripped the soulstone and looked up.
Kieeeaaah!
The colossal body casting a shadow over all of Lucerne was beautiful yet bound tightly in iron chains.
“E-escort His Holiness inside!”
The flustered Cardinal Solon shouted.
The priests began dragging Sebastian’s unconscious body haphazardly.
“W-wait a moment! Cardinal Solon!”
At that moment, Cardinal Gilliam grabbed Cardinal Solon’s sleeve.
“Look at that!”
Cardinal Gilliam pointed to the exact spot where Juliet had dragged Sebastian in earlier—the center of the altar.
“That person is...”
“Lady Hilde?”
“His Holiness Hildegaard?”
“His Holiness Hildegaard!”
“That’s impossible!”
Two popes in one place.
It was chaos upon chaos.
“N-no, that can’t be! Lady Hildegaard passed away! Three years ago!”
Cardinal Solon cried out in anguish.
“But it’s unmistakably Hildegaard!”
Cardinal Gilliam made his judgment and leaped down to the center of the altar.
“Your Holiness Hildegaard!”
Cardinal Solon watched anxiously, unable to stand still.
He muttered repeatedly.
“H-Hildegaard... alive? Didn’t Sebastian dispose of her?”
‘She succeeded.’
Juliet thought blankly.
Juliet had prepared for the possibility of her own failure.
She had freed Hildegaard, who was imprisoned in the basement beforehand, and instructed her to escape if things went wrong.
Hildegaard had said that once Juliet successfully escaped, the coordinates would be recorded, allowing Hildegaard to follow on her own.
Juliet, who had never used divine power, couldn’t grasp the details, but Hildegaard was the former pope and possessed such abilities.
* * *
“Cardinal!”
“What should we do?!”
The priests following Cardinal Solon shouted.
“T-this damned...”
Suddenly thrust into leadership, Cardinal Solon scanned the altar frantically.
He saw Cardinal Gilliam and his priests rescuing the former pope Hildegaard and hurriedly withdrawing.
Meanwhile, the citizens who had gathered to watch were writhing in pain on the ground.
‘To send back that goddess avatar, we need the pope’s power, but...’ The current pope, Sebastian, was unconscious.
True to his rise through cunning, Solon quickly rolled his eyes.
The situation was turning dire.
With Hildegaard alive and returned, once things settled, all of Sebastian’s crimes would come to light.
If that happened, Solon would be branded an accomplice and executed without escape.
To deflect that, he needed a scapegoat to take the fall.
A witch—perfect for covering Sebastian’s sins and diverting the foolish crowd’s attention.
And conveniently, such a woman was right in front of Cardinal Solon.
“The goddess is enraged!”
What?
Juliet, who had collapsed on the ground, barely lifted her head.
“She’s the regicide!”
“The goddess is furious because of this wench!”
Not content with pointing, Cardinal Solon rushed up the steps and grabbed Juliet by the collar, dragging her out.
“Regicide! The goddess rages at the regicide!”
Ah, damn it.
Too drained to resist, Juliet let Cardinal Solon shake her around like a ragdoll.
That was when it happened.
“Regicide! This wench attacked His Holiness...!”
Boom!
“W-what?”
Once more.
Boom! Boom!
The vibrations shaking the entire terrarium made Cardinal Solon release Juliet and stumble.
The priests looked around, confused about the source of the noise.
And then,
“R-run!”
“Get away!”
Screeech. Thud!
On the opposite side of the altar, one of the pillars supporting the building toppled onto the altar.
Like a drawbridge.
As the thick dust cleared and the hazy fog parted, the silhouette of a man arrogantly perched atop the pillar came into view.
“Take your hands off her.”
It was Duke Carlyle.
**
“W-what... what...!”
That monster! Toppling a pillar.
Cardinal Solon paled.
He alternated glances between the woman collapsed before him and Duke Carlyle approaching steadily across the fallen pillar as a bridge.
Solon realized in a flash.
‘I’m as good as dead.’
If he was going to die anyway, he’d thrash about desperately—that was Solon’s plan.
Cardinal Solon swiftly took the collapsed Juliet hostage, retreating backward while ordering the priests.
“B-barrier!”
“Form the barrier!”
“Brace for impact!”
Lucerne’s priests quickly deployed defensive barriers from their positions.
The pale blue barriers unique to shrine maidens and priests flickered here and there.
Lennox Carlyle, who had been descending slowly, paused for a moment.
“......?”
What were they doing? As the priests eyed him puzzled,
Pop!
“N-no!”
“H-how...!”
“Gah!”
Suddenly, several high priests vomited blood and collapsed one after another.
Juliet knew without looking. It was a familiar sight.
With the ritual broken, the curse’s backlash struck the priests who had cast it.
Even though these were elite divine officials renowned for their divine power.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Amid the deafening explosions, the invisible barriers shattered.
Nothing was visible, but each barrier’s destruction cratered the altar’s stone floor with shockwaves.
Some priests hurriedly prepared offensive divine spells, but they didn’t reach him.
Boom!
Pop pop pop!
As Lucerne’s pride—the ninety-eight barriers—shattered one by one, the only injury he sustained was a sharp fragment grazing his cheek.
Blood seeped from the scratch, but in a situation where everything around was exploding, it was as good as unscathed.
Aside from that, he was far too intact.
“Juliet.”
In stark contrast to the hellish surroundings, his voice calling her name was calm—peaceful, even.
“Come here.”
Seeing the hand naturally extended toward her, Juliet hesitated briefly.
Was it okay to take this hand?
‘If I take this hand, then I, Lennox...’
But her deliberation was short.
“.......”
Juliet took his hand and climbed onto the bridge, stumbling slightly to find her balance. But a large, firm hand immediately gripped her waist tightly.
“D-Duke!”
The trembling priests behind spouted obvious lines.
“You won’t get away with this...!”
Despite their shouts, they recoiled in terror when Duke Carlyle’s indifferent gaze fell upon them.
Looking down at the pathetic sight with disdain, Lennox said,
“Get down.”
Juliet wobbled across the bridge, steadying herself step by step.