Ch.139Upheaval (1)

“…This won’t do.”

The mental parasite muttered with a grave determination.

“Can’t we call for support from Arguilion?”

“Impossible. The Ten Towers’ attention is focused on this city. If we carelessly use spatial magic, we might be traced immediately.”

Even if the spatial coordinates of Arguilion’s headquarters were discovered by the Ten Towers, it wouldn’t immediately lead to an extermination campaign.

Arguilion’s dwelling was located in the middle of an extra-dimensional space, and to safely reach it, one would need to break through numerous defensive spells beyond simply knowing the coordinates.

But the opponent was the Ten Towers. If the spatial coordinates were discovered, it wouldn’t take even a month before a massive extermination campaign would be launched.

Nastion began to think that perhaps they should abandon the mental parasite along with Algoth City and retreat. There seemed to be no solution in sight.

‘An alliance between the Divine Name Order and Blasphemia.’

Who could have ever imagined such a situation?

Nastion hadn’t been merely observing the situation passively. Through consistent observation and espionage, he had discovered that among the gathered Panoptes personnel, only Blasphemia was under Ortes’s control.

The hope that they could prevent this bizarre collaboration with the Divine Name Order by exploiting the old animosity between Argos and Blasphemia was short-lived.

After all, why was the Amimone Magic Tower currently vacant?

It was because an Argos investigator from Amimone Magic Tower was suspected of colluding with Arguilion.

Currently, Argos only had the authority to ensure the smooth progression of the Tower Lord selection tournament, but couldn’t utilize the investigative powers over other subversive elements in Amimone City.

All surveillance devices of Panoptes installed throughout the city were tracking the shadows of Nastion and the mental parasite. Even if they managed to evade the mechanical surveillance network, the devotees of the Divine Name Order remained.

Nastion felt as if the city itself was hostile toward him.

In truth, all infrastructure in Algoth City was connected to the Amimone Magic Tower, and the tower’s magical core was currently being temporarily managed by the tournament organizing committee.

And since Blasphemia, which made up the majority of that committee, was dancing in Ortes’s palm, saying the city was hostile to them was close to a plain statement of fact.

While Nastion was retracing how things had come to this, the mental parasite repeated once more, “This won’t do.”

“We cannot reverse this situation through proper methods.”

The mental parasite calmly acknowledged their disadvantage. Even in the field where he thought he uniquely surpassed Ortes—numerical superiority through countless bodies—he had been outmaneuvered.

As long as Ortes could utilize Blasphemia, and by extension Panoptes, the human resources Ortes could mobilize were virtually limitless.

If one is inferior in both quantity and quality, defeat is inevitable.

The discussion returns to square one.

How to achieve apotheosis?

“At this rate, won’t the trap that Arguilion prepared also be useless?”

“Yes. Our collaborators are on the verge of being arrested before the final match even begins.”

It had already happened. The list of informants they had spread to ensnare Hydra Company. Ortes, by whatever means, had selected only the actual informants from the list and detained them.

Although not all informants’ names were on the list, Ortes had captured and imprisoned other informants who had connections with those named.

At this point, the plan prepared by Haltos was already half-neutralized.

Who was it that said? The adversary is the philosopher’s stone that creates traps instead of gold. Nastion couldn’t help but recall the past failures frantically recounted by Arguilion’s executives.

Perhaps they should acknowledge defeat and retreat at this point. It might be wiser to leave Algoth City, complete the apotheosis of the false god at Arguilion’s headquarters, and set the next trap.

But a saying about the adversary comes to mind: ‘Once you lose sight of him, you won’t meet him again until he reveals himself.’

They couldn’t let such a dangerous entity roam free. They needed to inflict enough damage to at least temporarily incapacitate him.

To Nastion, who was deep in contemplation, the mental parasite proposed an unexpected plan.

“Just once. If we can evade Blasphemia’s eyes just once and approach, that’s all we need. Is it possible?”

“…”

It seemed absurd at first glance, but it was their only option.

***

“They’ve disappeared, senior.”

This was Niobe’s answer. I had drawn all the montages of the mental parasite’s potential vessels that I remembered, but apparently, they were no longer visible in Algoth City.

“Strangely, I can’t track them.”

This was Demos’s answer. I massaged my temples and asked.

“Can’t it be resolved with the Sacred Eye?”

“The divine has no limits, but humans do. How do you think we should use the Sacred Eye more accurately and over a wider range?”

“Use more divine power?”

“Right. Right now, even if a priest of the Hunting God exhausts all their divine power to expand the search range of the Sacred Eye, the target is either too far away or hiding within the influence of some other very powerful ability.”

“How powerful would that have to be?”

“Well, if they threw themselves into an extra-dimensional space, or went to the Ten Towers to hide under the shadow of the Ten Realms?”

“Heh…”

Demos listed several other scenarios that would make tracking difficult. If the mental parasite’s magical power itself significantly decreased, it would naturally become harder to find. He joked that if they were already dead, the hunt would be considered complete and the effect of the Sacred Eye would disappear.

But they couldn’t be dead. Since I fell into this world, my life has never been that easy.

My neck feels stiff for no reason.

I wanted to finish this before they ran away. Amimone Magic Tower will now belong to Knemon, but I can’t help worrying about future troubles.

“Well, nothing we can do. I’ll ask you to continue the search until the Tower Lord selection tournament ends.”

Demos, who had been nodding, suddenly asked.

“What do you plan to do once you get the Magic Tower?”

“Hmm? This is a gift for Mr. Knemon. It’s not something I can touch.”

Confusion arose in Demos’s expression. Did I not explain this?

Well, this is related to personal matters, so it wouldn’t be good for me to speak carelessly.

“Who came up with the plan to bring down Amimone Magic Tower?”

“I did.”

“And who directly carried out its downfall?”

“Since I brought it up, I did.”

“…Then why does someone else get to have it?”

“Haha. As I said, it’s a gift.”

***

After the arrival of the Divine Name Order, Karisia minimized contact with them. It was because Ortes had advised that “keeping distance would be better.”

Therefore, the impression of Karisia that the Divine Name Order had was a very superficial collection of impressions. An exceptionally skilled magician. The nominal president of Hydra Company. An adult who looked after Kine.

Demos and other members of the Divine Name Order thought there must be a commonality between Ortes not directly controlling Hydra Company and the plan for Knemon to receive Amimone Magic Tower.

They speculated that since Ortes held the position of a Blasphemia agent, he had placed Knemon and Karisia as nominal leaders to avoid unnecessary attention. In other words, the two were commanders of the power that Ortes wielded.

Demos didn’t agree with this opinion, but he couldn’t single-handedly overturn the mainstream opinion put forth by the priests of Glauphikos, who were said to be the wisest in the Divine Name Order.

For Demos, he didn’t sense any desire for power from Ortes. If he had to compare, Ortes was like a company employee dealing with daily tasks. Whenever he brought this up, both the Saint faction and the Pope faction would unanimously rebuke him, so lately, he had kept quiet.

The reason he had quietly slipped away from the nightly meetings held by the Divine Name Order priests dispatched to Algoth City was this. They would spend hours discussing whether Ortes was plotting something, and Demos had nothing to say on the subject.

As he was pacing in the courtyard of the building entirely rented by Hydra Company, he noticed figures approaching from a distance.

One was familiar. A squinty-eyed man with a somewhat blurry impression.

The other wasn’t familiar, but had an easily recognizable appearance. The long, flowing white hair was uncommon.

It seemed Ortes had come to escort Karisia, who had been summoned by Blasphemia again today. Though Ortes had arranged for it to be merely formal, an interrogation was still an interrogation. A sense of fatigue was evident in Karisia’s expression.

Demos was about to turn his head away when Karisia’s golden eyes fixed directly on him.

In that moment, Demos felt as if an ice pick was flowing through the blood vessels of his heart. A chill rising from within his organs. An excruciating pain tearing at his chest.

The resignation one feels when faced with an inescapable fate, only experienced when death is imminent.

The divine power filling his body screams. It cries out against an invader with which it can never coexist.

He had felt this sensation only once before.

When Demos was younger than he is now. At the end of an age when he believed he could change the world by himself.

It resembled the despair he had felt before the Ten Realms.