#261
Tag (3)
The day the Saint and Saintess hurriedly returned.
Hatianus II interacted with so many people that one could hardly believe he was the same man who had remained shut away all this time.
He caught up with Liesta, from whom he had been separated for a while, shared pleasant conversations with those with whom he had ties, and offered words of encouragement to the younger generation he had not often been able to meet.
As a result, many people naturally came and went from the pope’s residence, and for the first time in a long while, a lively atmosphere continued.
And that evening.
Before the Saintess and a small number of high-ranking officials, he said he was tired and lay down on his bed…
“Hohoho, then I shall go on ahead, so please, all of you, come at your leisure.”
With that brief remark, he quietly entered eternal rest as though falling asleep.
A gentle smile on his lips.
Yet despite such a major event, the sorrow that spread through the Great Temple was not particularly great.
The same was true of Saintess Liesta, who had been subdued throughout the day.
She did wipe away tears for a moment, but soon recovered her composure and took the lead in blessing the pope’s new journey.
‘Well, that makes sense. They’re the continent’s largest religion in name and in fact, and every last one of the higher-ups is practically a fanatic.’
To those of deep faith, death was not an eternal end, but merely the beginning of a journey toward the Main God.
Even if they grieved over the immediate parting, they believed they would be able to meet again later in the embrace of the Main God.
As the funeral proceeded in such a calm atmosphere, Heinrich recalled the pope’s secret message.
That benevolent voice that had been conveyed only inside his head, so even Liesta, who had been right beside him, could not hear it.
‘…Well, it wasn’t anything that grand. At most, it was only a single sentence.’
A single sentence.
That was the word of God the pope had delivered right before returning to heaven.
‘What am I supposed to do with just that…?’
A deep sigh escaped him before he realized it.
Of course, he could roughly guess why it had been so ambiguous.
It was called the word of God for convenience’s sake, but to be more precise, it was probably closer to an arbitrary interpretation of a fragment of a complex and vast will so that a human could understand it.
Even that had likely only been possible because the pope’s soul was slowly slipping free of the frame of his body.
For example, even though Heinrich was the Main God’s Saint in name and in fact, he still did not feel all that different from when it had first begun, did he?
‘There’s probably no point worrying about it now. In any case, being permitted to do something can’t be a bad thing.’
Whether that referred to causing a continent-wide mess, going around selling the name of God here and there, or his long-term stay in Auterica, he did not know.
In a way, it was also permission not to bother watching his step anymore at this point, so it was welcome on his end.
Because now, little by little—
Another big event was right around the corner.
***
[Kuhuhu— How absurd. No wonder I couldn’t find him no matter how thoroughly I searched.]
Along with Immortal King Hans’s eerie hollow laugh, the surrounding atmosphere churned violently.
The place he stood was atop one of the towering spires of the Immortal Castle.
It was the location where an altar had been prepared for the tracking ritual using the medium.
[To think he was hiding at the boundary of the abyss. That place is an environment no living being could possibly endure.]
That place, where the immortal army had once lain dormant, had no air or warmth, and was a realm of chaos where even time and space were intermingled.
In truth, even for undead, it was a world where moving of one’s own volition was difficult, let alone thinking.
‘I knew he wasn’t ordinary, but this is beyond my expectations.’
But admiration was admiration, and with things like this, revising his plan was unavoidable.
He had deliberately gathered and prepared even all the officers of the immortal army in order to deal with the bastard with certainty…
‘Unless they can handle the abyss like I can, the others will only be a burden. It would be better to just go alone.’
Hans flew down from the spire, his burning eyes gleaming.
In truth, there would likely be no particular problem even if he went alone.
The reason he had not dealt with the Revolutionary until now was because he had been unable to find his hiding place, not because of the bastard’s martial might.
No matter how strong he was, could he possibly compare to the Immortal King?
Even so, the reason Hans had prepared this thoroughly was merely his desire to make absolutely certain.
No matter what anyone said, the bastard was a big shot who had led calamities that overturned the world several times.
‘At this point, delaying any longer would just be a meaningless waste of time.’
After pondering for a moment, Hans soon made his decision and immediately put it into action.
[Stand by in battle readiness.]
He would prepare for any unforeseen situation, but for now, he would enter the boundary of the abyss alone.
Even so, he did not forget to store in his subspace the Abyss Revenants created from the corpses of Earth-born Awakened following Salma.
‘With how much abyss has been poured into them, these ones might be usable. Even if I can’t use them inside, they should be quite helpful if the bastard escapes outside.’
Having finished his preparations, he immediately headed toward the nearby Scar of the Abyss.
Since he had already made his decision, there was no reason to hesitate any longer.
‘Found it.’
The trace of a rift detected by Hans’s keen senses.
It had been inactive for quite a long time and was firmly closed, but for Hans, who wielded the power of the abyss, opening just that much was not difficult.
Pitch-black energy billowed from his fingertips, stretched out, and took shape.
Soon, the sharply honed abyss split the air.
Riiiip—
The rift tore open at once and gaped wide.
An ominous darkness, plain to see at a glance, churned and surged violently within.
[Kukuk, how very interesting. Then shall I go catch the vermin that dared trouble this body?]
And Hans, who had been silently observing it,
pushed himself inside without hesitation.
Glug, glug—
The rift kept writhing in the aftermath of his entry.
But before even a few seconds had passed, it began twisting this way and that, then was restored in an instant and vanished from the air once more.
As though pretending nothing had ever happened from the start.
***
There were several reasons Hans had been able to throw himself into the unknown realm beyond the rift without hesitation.
First, he had judged that there would be no major problem as long as he could directly handle the power of the abyss, and above all, the decisive factor was that if something went wrong, he could simply cancel the summoning.
[Hmm, what is this?]
Even so, he had thought he might have to invest a fair amount of time to find the bastard inside…
He realized he had overlooked one thing.
‘Intermingled time and space. Everywhere, and nowhere. If it weren’t for the abyss, this would have been quite troublesome.’
Hans wrapped the abyss around his body, firmly anchoring his existence as he looked around.
It was an astonishing space where, even while standing still, one’s positional coordinates twisted incessantly and one’s phase changed.
In truth, finding someone in a place like this could only be considered impossible.
[Oho— This… can be used.]
If he did not have a signpost that told him his definite destination.
The environment here was like the open sea when one did not know where to go, but if one had a firm marker, there was no place more convenient.
Hans took out a finely vibrating piece of metal and quietly gazed at it.
Then, slowly taking a single step—
He reached the location he desired.
The place the medium indicated, all at once.
The very place where the Revolutionary was.
‘Good, then this is practically free… Hm?’
[Huh?]
But immediately after that.
What entered his eyes was an unexpected sight.
‘I didn’t come to the wrong place… did I? For now, that definitely appears to be the Seed of Madness.’
Crunch— Crunccch—!
A brutal sound flowed into his ears as he calmly assessed the situation.
Right in front of him, something huge and pure white was busily working its mouth, in the middle of a very diligent mealtime.
‘No matter how I look at it, that’s a white giant. This is unexpected.’
Both the one eating and the one being eaten.
No matter how he looked at them, they were the same sort of thing.
He had thought the invasions had been strangely infrequent for a while, but to think they had been engaged in cannibalism here of all places.
‘Wait, that size…?’
Then, in the midst of that, he noticed something strange and subtly tilted his head.
At first, he thought it was because of the distorted sense of distance in this space, but even after using the “Eye of the Abyss” and checking again and again, there was no mistake.
The one eating was about 1.5 times larger than the other.
‘…No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem like the one being eaten is small. An ordinary giant was about thirty meters, so…’
Approximately forty-five meters.
Even a rough estimate made it the same size as a fifteen-story building.
On top of that, unlike the giants up until now, which had possessed ordinary bodies, this one had the body of a solidly trained warrior, and its muscles, synergizing with its enormous frame, flaunted an overwhelming pressure simply by existing.
And what grated on his nerves did not end there.
Not only the tremendous amount of “madness” dwelling within its body, but also from the bastard…
“Pfft, to think you really came all the way here… Yes, it was you after all, Immortal King.”
The face of the bastard Hans had been closely observing turned toward him.
The giant looked at him with a pair of pitch-black eyes that seemed to contain an abyss, lifted the corners of its mouth, and jeered.
Eyes, nose, mouth, ears.
No seals could be seen anywhere.
[Are you the damned wretch called the Revolutionary? What an unexpected form. Did you use the Seed of Madness to don the flesh of a giant?]
“Puhuhu— What do you think, Immortal King? Is it not beautiful? This body is the perfect human painstakingly crafted by the God of Humans, the new humanity of this world!”
[The God of Humans…?]
The instant Hans questioned that unfamiliar term.
The dregs that had sunk to the base of his consciousness after he had once received the white giant’s mental attack began to react with the abyss that filled this space.
And when the things that had shattered into pieces back then, before he had been able to gather them, entwined with one another and transformed into a single piece of information,
he was finally able to understand.
Why that giant before him, the one calling himself the Revolutionary, had caused such chaos all this time.
[Ha! How absurd. A god that fell into corruption and was imprisoned in the abyss, and its spawn?]
“Kukukuk— Yes, you would not understand. You, who merely drifted into this world by chance! Our creator and parent is suffering at the bottom of that cold abyss, so how could we, as children, simply stand by! Ahh— O God! Forgive this incompetent creation!”
Rumble—!
At the giant’s resounding shout, which suddenly accelerated after its rambling, the surrounding space began to twist.
Then the tremendous energy contained within spread in all directions, encroaching upon the realm.
‘Hmm.’
Yet even before that force, Hans merely tilted his head in silence.
He was thinking about how to respond to the bastard, who spoke as though convinced he was an otherworlder.
But that concern did not last long.
‘…Wait, does it even matter? I’m going to erase him right here anyway.’
Because he realized there was no particular meaning to whatever the bastard said.
So he simply prodded him openly with a relaxed mind.
[Oho— So what you are saying is that this body is an otherworlder?]
“Aah? Do you intend to hide it? It’s useless. I already know everything. This space is where His authority is maximized. There’s no way I would fail to recognize it when facing you this close!”
‘Authority, is it.’
Thanks to that, he gained another piece of information.
He still did not know exactly what it was, but it was certain the bastard possessed some special ability.
As he sorted out his thoughts,
the giant… the Revolutionary, gave a low sneer and lifted the corners of his mouth.
“Khhuhuhuhu— How arrogant, Immortal King. To be distracted by a few scraps of words and give me time!”
Crack, crackle—
With a loud sound, the giant’s muscles swelled.
Indeed, just as he had said, not only the aura pouring from him but even his body had become far more stable than moments before.
Hans had thought he had been throwing out various bits of information here and there since earlier; it seemed he had been buying time to digest the giant he had devoured.
[There is one thing you are mistaken about.]
“Mm?”
However.
It was not as though Hans had left the bastard alone without knowing that.
He had merely judged that, for now, prioritizing information was better than dealing with him immediately.
Because…
[Even if you do that, nothing changes.]
He and that giant were never equals.
Even if he gave him that much more time, the result would not change.
Of course, the energy the bastard held was by no means trifling—
‘But that depends on the opponent.’
The despair that had descended upon the continent, the terror of all living beings, and the incarnation that ruled death.
[I shall show you the difference in rank, mongrel.]
The publicly acknowledged strongest being in Auterica, who looked down upon the world.
Whoooosh—!
The death that erupted from Immortal King Hans’s body
covered the world stained in chaos and swallowed the bastard’s slowly approaching domain in an instant.