Ch.201201. Invisible Mask (7)

Humans have always been at the top of the food chain, but surprisingly, the strength of a single individual is not that great.

The reason this animal became the strongest was because it used tools and devised ways to survive using its intelligence.

The reason these once-weak beings could stand at the top of the food chain pyramid was undoubtedly their overwhelming intelligence that surpassed other animals.

And unlike beasts that only pursue instinct, humans elevated their significantly inferior abilities through repetitive learning—training and refinement.

However, these humans abandoned human methods and chose the ways of beasts instead.

The evidence is right before our eyes.

“It was found in the temple. Just like what we saw in the laboratory back then, it had shrunk considerably.”

“Upon immediate examination, there are traces suggesting all magical power was drained. This texture… it was probably the heart, the largest magical circuit.”

The largest magical circuit of a human, shriveled after having all its magical power drained. That is the heart.

Only the ampoule is missing, but otherwise it’s identical. It matches the traces left behind when Demian went on his rampage.

Then where was this discovered?

None other than a place of faith.

A space belonging to those who handle divinity, and an area where novices who have just awakened to the power of divine force seek learning.

It was found in a temple, the most sacred space where gods are worshipped.

And in the room of the person with the highest position, no less.

It was a truth I wanted to ignore.

‘I was uneasy about the fact that the Empire hadn’t discovered this, and now it leads to this…!’

The ritual of sacrificial offering. Or sacrificial offering technique.

This is a heretical power that forcibly converts the beast’s growth method—stealing magical power from those marked with ritual formulas—into something humans can use, rather than the normal human method of magical growth.

There were twisted individuals like Demian in the Empire as well.

This heretical power was created by a gathering of people with distorted ideologies, who argued that effort wouldn’t change anything and questioned who would choose the difficult path when an easy one was available.

At one time, it was called black magic because it wasn’t properly researched. The object of ritual sealing was what I created with Denis and Dalia to seal that power.

After understanding the fundamental formulas, we successfully captured and sealed them one by one.

Except for one.

Of the four, only one ritual formula didn’t complete the sealing progress and wasn’t perfectly sealed.

Only rumors spread that the person had drowned at sea, so no matter how much we searched, we couldn’t find them and had to conclude our investigation of the sacrificial offering technique there.

But to think that person had secured the position of Sovereign in the Principality.

It was like having our noses cut off right before our eyes.

“As of this hour, Defornice III is stripped of his Sovereign position. Consider him a criminal and issue a warrant throughout the Principality. Be sure to include a kill order.”

The warrant is actually meaningless.

With such power, he would be a target that must be subjugated with an army.

‘Even so, you’re handling it this way for the sake of the temple and the students, aren’t you?’

Those who deserve the blade of judgment are not the people who served in the temple.

Defornice III. One Sovereign.

It means to end this by executing that man, the heretic.

Ophelia understood Muniher’s approach and accepted the order.

“And one more thing. Summon the Tembris Party.”

The meaning of summoning the Tembris Party in this situation is obvious.

It was clear that orders would be issued to cut off the Sovereign’s breath as quickly as possible.

.

.

.

“What happened?”

When Goden, who had entered Professor Muniher’s room alone, came out and closed the door, Charlotte, realizing that some kind of order had already been issued, asked.

Needless to say, Senia understood, and even the usually slow Aris caught on this time.

Goden, knowing that the members had more or less guessed what incident had occurred to warrant this summons, opened his mouth. There was no reason to hide it anyway.

“As of this hour, we have a target to subjugate.”

“A target to subjugate?”

“I thought it seemed urgent when they called us.”

“It must be related to the appearance of the lycans. So, what’s the rank and grade?”

“Rank A, and the grade… they estimate it to be at least Lord level.”

Rank A and Lord grade. The overlapping rank and grade, incomparable to anything they had faced before, surprised them.

“Wait. Estimate? Why estimate?”

Senia narrowed her eyes sharply, asking in a tone that suggested something was suspicious.

Since monster ranks and grades are usually determined by erring on the side of caution, the word “estimate” shouldn’t be used.

“Because what we’re subjugating is a human who has fled somewhere in Algenib Province.”

“A human…”

“We’re subjugating…?”

Yes. What truly surprised them wasn’t the rank or grade.

It was understandably perplexing to suddenly hear they needed to capture a human.

They had assumed it would be a monster that had appeared somewhere, given the talk of grades and ranks, but instead they would be facing a human.

And the person who would feel the greatest shock was predetermined.

“Defornice III. The Sovereign of the Principality’s temple is our subjugation target.”

At the mention of the Sovereign, Erika immediately stepped forward and asked Goden again.

“W-wait. The Sovereign is the person we’re subjugating? It’s a rescue mission, right? Right?”

“…”

Goden simply shook his head silently.

It was neither a rescue nor an abduction. The Tembris Party had been ordered to treat the “Sovereign” as a monster and “subjugate” him.

“That can’t be…”

Overwhelmed by shock, Erika collapsed on the spot.

How much time had she once spent at the temple, trying to learn divine power?

That time was never impure. She worshipped the gods of this world and traced history by honoring their numerous deeds.

Through that process, she had merely learned how to manifest a small portion of their power, divine force, as magical power.

Erika’s legs gave out as her life at the temple was negated.

Goden helped her up and corrected one misunderstanding.

“The only person who committed wrongdoing at the temple is the Sovereign. The other bishops, priests, and temple members have no issues, according to the report.”

“…Then the temple…”

“It’s still fine, they say. So this is your chance to prove it. If you use the power you cultivated at the temple to judge this corrupt individual, you can restore the fallen honor of the temple.”

As Goden handed over the Sovereign’s wanted notice, Erika’s throat bobbed visibly.

The path she had walked hadn’t been completely negated after all. If so, she needed to bring swift punishment to this false figure as soon as possible.

“I’ll prepare right away.”

Erika rushing to the party room was the expected course of action.

“But our opponent isn’t a monster. If it’s the Sovereign… what should we prepare?”

“I think we should prepare to counter divine power.”

“No. What we need to prepare for is likely something completely different.”

“Completely different?”

“I’ll explain on the way. For now, let’s go to the party room. We need to subjugate him as quickly as possible.”

With that, Goden led the other party members to their room.

Erika, who arrived at the party room first, began selecting the best artifacts to bring as the party’s buffer.

The party’s secretary appeared before her as she prepared alone, having arrived first.

“Ah, Erika. I was wondering where you went… I didn’t expect you to be back in the party room.”

“Kelnur?”

“I have something to tell you. First, let’s—”

At that moment, the other members entered. Due to his motion of trying to convey something, it looked as if they had been having a private conversation in the party room.

“What’s this, having a secret conversation?”

“What are you talking about? He just walked in while I was preparing.”

“If that’s all, then fine.”

There was no further suspicion. Everyone was busy packing for the subjugation mission.

“By the way, Kelnur, what were you going to say?”

“Huh? Oh, that…”

Erika had only heard up to “I have something to tell you,” so she only knew that Kelnur had something to say.

“You seem busy, so I shouldn’t disturb you. Haha.”

Kelnur scratched the back of his head and returned to his seat, turning his attention to writing records related to this subjugation.

‘I don’t want you to look like that because of that wretched person, but there’s nothing I can do.’

There were too many eyes and ears around.

Since he had intended to speak only to Erika about an urgent matter, Kelnur had to swallow whatever he was going to say.

***

“…So these foolish nobles have finally cut off their support.”

Until now, they would send someone within 10 minutes, no, 3 minutes of receiving a signal.

But now they don’t even respond to an obvious signal.

It’s clear. Those nobles who pretend to be dignified while holding their noses high are cutting ties like a lizard shedding its tail.

“But do they think I’ll be caught so easily?”

He had seen this part many times. The Sovereign, who had somewhat anticipated this, had already prepared countermeasures.

Since Demian had done such a thing, the Principality must have realized that the sacrificial offering technique, which they thought was completely sealed, was being used.

If they started searching, it was obvious they would raid the temple.

So the Sovereign had already escaped. To play his final card.

“Come here, Pimpert.”

Swish.

Something obviously alien to humans and strange even to beasts.

The entity, called a beholder, with only eyes instead of a body and limbs, approached as if it understood the Sovereign’s words.

The Sovereign stroked it, saying, “Good, good.”

Despite not being related by blood and looking nothing alike, if it had been human, it would have looked like a grandson following his grandfather.

“We must accelerate the plan. Do you understand what this means?”

The beholder cannot speak.

Yet the Sovereign’s words are conveyed.

The six small eyes, extending like branches from the center, blinked in sequence, creating a formula that sent ripples through the area.

And the largest eyeball, which had been kept closed by its eyelid, opened like a triumphal arch, accelerating this ritual.

—Awoooooo!!!

Lycans scattered throughout the area howled, spreading the cry of wolves.

“Yes. The god who will save this continent will never appear. That’s why I want to protect this world by any means necessary.”

The Sovereign, watching this, spoke with satisfaction.

The forest, filled with the howls of wolves, trembled as if shuddering in the desolate wind.

Perhaps it was recoiling at the corruption of one who had worshipped the gods more than anyone else.

Meanwhile, there were people traversing this forest.

One human. One Lakan. Just two, but it was enough.

The display they showed in Levrant City had instilled hope even in the eyes of the Ein race, and so the two were heading toward the Lakan settlement.

“By now we should be safe from danger. We’ve been walking for a while, shall we rest a bit?”

“No. Let’s keep going.”

Though his mind was filled with unresolved thoughts, he couldn’t remain mired in confusion forever.

He had failed.

Failed to completely subdue Demian, failed to protect Adel.

If asked whether he had experienced such failure before, he would answer no. That’s why.

As variables that didn’t match his previous life emerged, he now had to taste failure in other areas as well.

Having already experienced failure in one lifetime, he had failed again.

So he was sick of any more failures.

He needed to stay one step ahead. To prevent more victims like Adel.

Helping the Lakan race resolve this issue would be the cornerstone of that effort.

As he firmly resolved this in his mind, Junon suddenly stopped walking.

“What’s wrong?”

The Lakan man who was with him asked curiously.

“Do you want to rest after all? The path is a bit difficult. Since we have to live in hiding…”

“Shh. Be quiet for a moment.”

He raised his finger to his lips, concentrating. Not understanding his intentions, the Lakan man looked around, wondering if something was there.

As his finger lowered, lines began to form between his brows.

“Where is the Lakan village?”

“Huh? Well, we need to continue straight on this path.”

“And then?”

“Then… there’s a wall. Once we climb over it, the village will be right there… No, why are you asking?”

There was no need to ask this question.

A Lakan who knew the Lakan village was kindly guiding the way as an escort.

But he was in a hurry. To be precise, time was running short.

“W-wait! Are you planning to run ahead alone?! That won’t do! That wall is treacherous and needs to be climbed slowly with a rope…!”

“There’s no time, so hurry up and follow me!”

Something seemed to be happening in the usually quiet forest.

When the Lakan transformed into beast form to follow Junon, he finally realized what sound he had heard.

These faint, crackling sounds were the noise of combat—sharp claws clashing against each other.