Ch.201201. Secret Cult (5)

‘··········.’

At the same time, in a secret space within the divine realm where multiple evil gods reside.

‘·······Phew, success.’

After silently observing the collapse of Bea’Tuna, a servant of “Wrath,” I could finally breathe a sigh of relief and turn my gaze away from the Kingdom of Algerica only after seeing her receive permanent scars on her soul and be banished.

To an ordinary observer, this mission might appear to be just a routine heretic disposal task…. But in truth…. precisely speaking, this mission is a crucial event that will greatly influence the future, important enough to require my direct observation.

The upcoming First Demon Invasion, followed by the conquest of the desert kingdoms. The demon legion of “Wrath” that will invade the southern part of the Rom Empire, which corresponds to the mainland of the current Dawn Empire.

This was the only event that could adjust the scale of Satan’s forces.

Since this world is intertwined with the game Dungeon & Adventure through fate, most game elements are reflected in reality, with few exceptions.

Therefore, by dealing with Bea’Tuna in advance during this mission, we can reduce the foundation upon which Satan’s forces can establish themselves, just as in the game.

If left unchecked, Bea’Tuna’s cult would have grown in size. Ultimately, it would have become unmanageable without Bjorn’s help, but……

Fortunately, the children I dispatched performed their roles properly, and the holy water I personally prepared demonstrated appropriate effectiveness, fulfilling its role perfectly.

In truth, holy water is not nearly that effective against demons.

Low-grade holy water can be created when priests use sanctification magic on saltwater or clean water, or it sometimes flows like water from certain items.

Just drinking it can heal simple wounds or common illnesses, and it can be sprinkled on weapons to temporarily add holy damage or thrown at demons and undead to use like improvised grenades, but……

As a trade-off for such versatile performance, even high-grade holy water is not particularly outstanding compared to specialized items in the same category.

Its healing effect doesn’t even reach one-eighth of an alchemical potion’s effectiveness, and no matter how premium the holy water sprinkled on a weapon, its performance is inferior to even a Level 1 magic sword.

Moreover, rather than throwing premium holy water like a grenade, it would be far more effective to sell it and buy alchemical bombs instead for greater damage.

Therefore, holy water is typically used sparingly as a stopgap measure in the early to mid-game, and in the later stages, it’s usually received merely as miscellaneous items or materials.

And this applies equally to holy water sanctified directly by gods. No matter who sanctifies it, the vessel of holy water itself is ultimately limited.

However…. regardless of its performance, the effect it has on demons differs from the game due to demons’ special passive—characteristics related to symbolism.

According to the lore, demons are the residue of emotions created throughout all dimensions. They are beings formed from the emotional residues that gods failed to absorb.

Because of this, demons gain power through specific emotions generated by mortals, and essentially, their material existence can only be maintained in the demon realm—the common divine realm.

In other words, they are beings that depend more on concepts and symbols rather than being bound by physical laws, parasitic entities that feed on the emotions and souls of mortals who possess physical substance.

Therefore, demons are weak against objects that mortals “believe to be effective against demons,” as depicted in media.

For demons, who are sentient beings formed from the residue of mortals’ emotions, concepts or symbols formed from clustered beliefs act as poison.

Just as a cross—ultimately just overlapping pieces of metal—can exorcise demons, objects reflecting various emotions derived from belief are extremely fatal to demons.

Because people believe that holy water blessed by gods is fatal to demons who oppose gods, even mere saltwater can dissolve a demon’s flesh.

Anyway, while Bea’Tuna lost her possessed body and was banished, she didn’t completely perish despite receiving permanent damage to her soul (her true form).

In fact, this was precisely what I truly desired.

Bea’Tuna, a very common high demon and one of the rather favored servants of Satan, the Demon King of Wrath, presents significant problems whether she lives or dies.

If left alive, she would lead Satan’s forces in the invasion toward the Dawn Empire, but if I exerted more power and caused her to truly die completely……

Then, the catastrophe of Satan himself taking a direct interest in our affairs would occur.

Unlike me, Ma-Duk, who is bound to this world as an indigenous deity, Satan reigns as the lord of demons across all dimensions and as the demon of wrath.

To put it extremely, Satan is so powerful that he could single-handedly sweep away all the gods of this world even if they combined their strength.

He is literally a divine being who oversees the demons of wrath across all dimensions.

Of course, having extended his reach into all sorts of worlds means he has many enemies, so he wouldn’t focus solely on targeting me.

But…. even a casual blow from a heavyweight divine entity like Satan would be like having a cannon aimed and fired at my brow.

Therefore, I meticulously adjusted the concentration of the holy water to precisely the right level to successfully banish Bea’Tuna to another world without killing her.

With this, the basic preparations for the First Demon Invasion are complete.

※ ※ ※

Lunifer Ficentrius, formerly a professor at the Rom Empire’s Magic Academy, who participated in the collapse of the Rom Empire, and now serves as the chancellor of the Dawn Empire’s National Magic University.

He was undisputedly the greatest theoretical magician and magical researcher of this era.

Of course, given that humans are primitive compared to High Elves in terms of magical development, Lunifer’s theories might be considered inadequate in level.

However, the reason why Lunifer Ficentrius is called the greatest theoretical magician and even earns a certain respect from High Elves.

It is because of Lunifer Ficentrius’s greatest achievement: the formation of a new type of magician called the Wizard.

Previously, the only type of magician that existed was the Sorcerer, who relied on innate talent, and recently, the Mage was newly developed in the High Elf nation—a special type of magician who depends relatively less on talent compared to Sorcerers.

Of course, from a human perspective, whether Sorcerer or Mage, they’re essentially the same, and even though becoming a Mage might be slightly easier, it’s still impossible to even begin without talent.

However, for elves, the development of Mages was a tremendous achievement; bluntly put, almost anyone you grab off the street would have the talent to become a Mage.

And in exactly the same vein, the Wizard profession newly pioneered by Lunifer Ficentrius can turn even humans into magicians with just a tiny bit of talent.

With lifelong effort, even those with minimal talent could reach Level 3—magic, which had been closer to a technique monopolized by a select few rather than a field of study, was now in the hands of the public.

Thanks to this, as a world-renowned figure who became the first human to obtain permanent residency in a High Elf nation and rapidly improved diplomatic relations with elves, he is now—

“Hmm…. Ooh!!”

As always, in a lab where numerous graduate students (slaves) were being worked to the bone, he was happily exploiting his slaves (graduate students) while researching a new type of piloted golem.

The tower-type golems used until now were not bad in performance, but……

Since the tower form doesn’t really offer any merit for using intermediate warriors as cores, they’re trying to specialize the form to be suitable for intermediate warriors to operate auras.

With the Dawn Empire now controlling the entire southern region, the budget is quite generous.

They’ve used mythril as both an alternative neural circuit and skeleton, reducing overall weight while enhancing magical sensitivity.

Additionally, they’ve incorporated runic technology with the assistance of dwarves, and further, with the cooperation of High Elves, they’ve even incorporated some golem technology.

As a result, the new piloted golem, which has completed its prototype design and is mostly finished, is a model that reflects consideration for warriors.

First, the body shape is faithful to the reproduction of the human body, and the handling, which is on a completely different level from before, has received positive reviews from test pilots.

While there used to be a gap between thought and movement creating a subtle sense of disconnect, that gap has been significantly narrowed, and the body has become much lighter.

And the most crucial difference is expandability.

Since heavy mass can also function as a weapon, they can add weighted equipment or attach armor to the frame to increase defense and mass.

This feature best exemplifies the unique values of the Plural Order and the Dawn Empire, which view battle for the gods as a kind of reward.