66
Chapter 66
The greatest asset owned by the Holy See.
An object that could be said to symbolize the Holy See itself had suddenly vanished by half—a bizarre situation.
Karon rubbed his eyes and looked at the spring again, but nothing had changed.
Half of the Spring of Miracles had been consumed.
All for something so trivial.
Naturally, Karon's face contorted like a vengeful demon.
The Bloodlust emanating from him was so intense that his subordinate trembled and collapsed to the floor.
However...... Karon took a deep breath, struggling to regain his composure.
He was by no means a foolish man. If he had been, he could never have risen through the ranks so quickly.
Though it made his blood boil that half of his most powerful card had been spent on such nonsense.
No matter what he did now, the vanished Holy Blood couldn't be recovered. Therefore... the priority was to grasp the situation and find a way to respond.
If so, the first thing to consider was....
'Why on earth did this much disappear for something like this?'
If what he had glimpsed was truly the Mental World of Black Fang's Leader, he would have been shocked but not bewildered.
Invading the mind of someone of that caliber would inevitably consume some Holy Blood.
But the current situation was exceedingly strange.
Thinking about it logically.
There was no way someone like that could be a great enough entity to warrant such a heavy price.
That was an undeniable fact.
So Karon pondered what could have happened... and then it came to him.
'The sights I saw inside that man's head.'
Containing the obscene appearance of an old woman,
Photos he couldn't comprehend—who could possibly have demand for such things, what kind of lunatic would be aroused by that horrifying nudity for these to exist.
And... other shocking things in a different direction altogether.
Even for someone like him who had experience dismembering people firsthand, the vileness exceeded what Karon could endure.
He had been too flustered to examine it properly, but.......
'That was definitely strange.'
The landscapes he had observed inside that man's head.
Words like "upvote" and "raid" that he couldn't possibly comprehend.
They clearly didn't belong to this era.
Connecting that with the reason the Holy Blood had disappeared like this...... the answer became clear.
'A different world, and a being from a Higher Dimension at that?'
That would certainly explain it.
Interfering with an entity from another dimension was nearly impossible to begin with.
Merely observing one was close to a miracle, yet he had gone beyond that and directly invaded the Mental World of a Higher Dimension being.
If anything, it would be stranger if the price wasn't this heavy.
"......."
As Karon continued his train of thought and pursued his reasoning, his expression rotted away.
'Are all beings from the Higher Dimension like that?'
Getting excited over photos of some old woman and sharing them around with each other.
A gathering of bizarre perverts who love beastmen so much that satisfying their lust on beasts isn't enough—they want to become beastmen themselves.
And that's supposed to be the Higher Dimension's average.
Just imagining it was so revolting he couldn't bear it. Enough to make nausea rise in his throat.
So Karon quickly purged the thought from his mind.
There were more pressing matters at hand, after all.
'Why on earth is that bizarre fellow Teolbakteolbak being mistaken for Black Fang's Leader?'
Could the Empire have orchestrated this?
Was this the Empire's means to keep the Holy See in check?
The thought crossed his mind briefly... but that seemed like a stretch.
Because even now, whenever he closed his eyes, it came back to him.
The Second Prince.
Those eyes brimming with madness and obsession when that bastard claimed to have uncovered Black Fang Leader's true identity.
There was no way that had been an act.
So the Empire genuinely mistook that bizarre human for Black Fang's Leader.
And... there was only one person who could have arranged such a thing.
'Black Fang.......'
It was them.
They had deceived everyone with their wicked scheme.
With that realization, everything fell into place.
If the goal was to confuse the Empire, they could have pinned the blame on anyone else.
But deliberately framing a Higher Dimension being for their crimes—that was for this very moment.
By some unknown method, they had discovered this spring's existence and how it worked, then lured him into a trap.
And Karon had fallen right into it, beautifully.
'Just how far ahead is that bastard planning?'
Karon couldn't help but reflect on his own attitude up until now. Even though he knew arrogance was the greatest poison of all.
Consumed by anger at having his plans interfered with, he had made a grave misjudgment.
He had even convinced himself that Black Fang's Leader might just be some lucky fool.
Looking back now, nothing was more shameful than that.
'If I hadn't noticed something was off and had tried to destroy that bizarre pervert's mind....'
Merely glimpsing a Higher Dimension's Mental World had consumed half the Holy Blood. How much would it take to actually shatter that mind?
One thing was certain—what he had now was nowhere near enough.
Karon would likely have been trapped inside that pervert's brain forever.
Human shit.
Photos of old women.
The bizarre sight of venting his lust on animals.
Trapped in a Mental World filled with such things, suffering for eternity.
Cold sweat naturally ran down Karon's back.
'To toy with an opponent like this...'
It was his first time.
Experiencing such helplessness—feeling like he was dancing in the palm of someone's hand no matter how hard he struggled.
It was a truly terrifying scheme.
What kind of mind did it take to conjure up such a plan and actually pull it off?
Black Fang Leader's foresight was astounding to the point of sheer horror.
But....
'I can't back down now.'
The best course of action would be to avoid crossing swords with such an opponent.
He knew that, yet he couldn't bring himself to halt his offensive.
In a way, it was only obvious.
With it all but confirmed that Black Fang Leader knew about the Spring of Miracles... he undoubtedly knew their other secrets as well.
If those were ever brought to light.......
It would be the end.
Everything would be over.
Every ounce of reputation he had built, every bit of his future would shatter into pieces.
The moment that bastard opened his mouth, Karon's life would be ruined.
He couldn't let someone like that live.
Therefore... he had to eliminate him.
By any means necessary.
No matter the risks he had to take.
"......Bring the contents of the Holy Grail. All of it."
That was why Karon gave the order.
It was originally meant to deal with that bizarrely elusive Potion Entrepreneur.
But plans had changed.
Now was not the time to hoard his cards.
With his life on the line, he had to go all in.
Of course, it couldn't compare to the Holy Blood.
'Black Fang....... I'll admit, I underestimated you.'
But he hadn't just been sitting idly by either.
Black Fang Leader.
Because he had a vague idea of his true identity.
There was no way the Empire had mistakenly identified that bizarre fellow as the Leader by coincidence. There had to be some connection between Black Fang's Leader and that guy.
For example.......
They might be entities who came down from the same Higher Dimension for amusement.
No, his instincts were telling him.
That it was certain.
Then what needed to be done was clear.
He just had to find a soul that didn't belong to this world and invade that person's Mental World.
For certain.
Even if he used up all the Holy Blood he had left and gathered every ounce of Divine Power he had stockpiled, it would still be a close call.
Even so, it was worth the attempt.
With a resolute expression, Karon submerged himself in the spring once more.
......It was time for the final battle.
The calm before the storm.
Only the outcome would reveal whether Karon's choice was the right one.
*****
I irritably got out of bed.
Maybe the Healthy Body trait was going on strike because I had used it too much lately.
My back—specifically the area around my shoulder blades—throbbed so much that I couldn't sleep at all.
It seemed sleeping tonight was out of the question. I stared blankly at the wall until.......
I eventually lost myself in thought.
In a way, it was only natural.
It didn't feel real because things were almost suspiciously peaceful, but...
I had declared all-out war on the Holy See under Black Fang's name. Come to think of it, I was in an incredibly dangerous situation.
It would be stranger if I wasn't worried about the future.
'......Maybe I should have acted a bit more prudently after all.'
Lately, I felt like I had become somewhat careless.
Especially after putting on this earring. It was supposed to have a function that enhanced my intuition.
Yet it felt like it was only having the opposite effect.
Whenever I tried to think about Black Fang Leader's true identity or reflect on my actions, my focus would inexplicably scatter.
At times, an incomprehensible sense of confidence and certainty would well up inside me.
And even the intuition washing over me right now was.......
'Should I really just throw this away?'
It was so absurd that I was genuinely considering disposing of the artifact.
There's a limit to how nonsensical things can be.
Telling me not to worry because the Holy See was self-destructing on its own without me having to lift a finger?
It wasn't like the Holy See was run by idiots.
There was no way something so idiotic would actually happen, right?