Ch.220220. Romulus

At a time when Romuleus had not yet revealed himself.

I was still inside the debate hall, receiving souls guided by the Dark Spiritmaster.

“Impressive.”

Rockpelican, who was watching from the side as souls that had been sleeping in Greyfond came to me and were converted into magic, clicked his tongue.

“This, this is truly amazing.”

“I never thought the day would come when… Black Magic would be considered noble.”

Since I didn’t have the energy to respond, I silently continued my work, and the disciples behind the Grand Mage reacted in my place.

To those who cannot see souls, it must look like blue light is continuously emanating from my hands.

When I convert the mana contained in souls into magic, they begin to function.

[I will eliminate those vicious monsters!]

[Fire! Give me fire that will burn everything!]

Sometimes there were souls that asked to be converted into attack magic, but I naturally ignored them.

The reason I called them was not to defeat Mul, but to rescue people.

Simple magic that could transport people was enough.

Without Lemegeton, I was busy handling quite a large number of souls.

Meanwhile, the battle with Mul continued.

“Contain it! Don’t let it push through!”

Led by Tairn, the Magic Judges surrounded Mul and created a mana dome.

Mul’s tentacles trapped inside were continuing to struggle, sprouting from inside and outside to break through.

Occasionally, Mul would gesture with divine power to try turning the Magic Judges into tentacles.

But Stella and Lucia were completely dominating the control of divine power.

Even in this increasingly desperate situation, Mul remained focused on controlling his tentacles with tightly sealed lips.

“Isn’t this easier than expected?”

“I was worried because it’s a fallen god, but thankfully…”

Rockpelican’s disciples sighed with relief watching him. Rockpelican himself also remarked that Mul seemed to be losing ground and had nothing else he could do, while still keeping an eye on me.

“It seems most people have evacuated.”

The audience members in the debate hall had all been sent outside by the souls. With so many souls searching the interior, there shouldn’t be anyone left.

His Majesty had long since escaped with the escort of Gloria, the Captain of the Royal Guard.

“Then the Grand Mage should also evacuate now.”

“Ahem, and leave them behind?”

Rockpelican indicated he had no intention of leaving, but I shook my head.

“The stench has gotten worse.”

“Hmm?”

“And the ground has been trembling gradually.”

In the urgent situation, they might not have noticed, but the ground had been subtly shaking for a while.

This was no ordinary earthquake.

“He will reveal himself soon.”

As if responding to my words, the floor suddenly split open and the massive walls of the debate hall began to collapse.

Fortunately, the structure was open-topped like a colosseum; otherwise, we all would have been crushed by a falling ceiling.

“He?”

“You’ll understand when you see it.”

Romuleus’s true form could only be described as monstrous. Rather than trying to explain with words, it would be much faster to just see it once.

Crack!

Thick, hideous teeth protruded from the edge of the debate hall.

Along with it came the creature’s massive roar that shook the ground.

As I had warned, the trembling earth finally began to collapse.

The Magic Judges who had been facing Mul could no longer continue fighting as the ground beneath them crumbled.

Enormous mana began transforming into wind.

“Hmmmm.”

Civilians had already evacuated, and the bishops without combat ability had long since fled.

All that remained were myself, Lucia, and the Magic Judges.

But as if this number was nothing, Rockpelican grasped his staff with both hands and extended it toward the sky, and the wind lifted us above the great debate hall.

The moment Mul, left alone in the hall, looked up at us.

KRAAAAAAAAAAH!

It was like a shark suddenly leaping from the sea.

A massive monster rose up, devouring half the debate hall in one bite.

Romuleus.

Tentacles sprouting from his entire body began to violently extend toward Greyfond.

The half-remaining debate hall began to tilt and collapse.

[He’s much uglier than I expected.]

Stella, who flew to my side, made a remark without hiding her disgust.

As a Saintess who had served gods, her displeasure was natural, but I added a comment anyway.

“He’s not the god you serve.”

The goddess Hestia of hearth and fire whom Stella served was clearly different from Romuleus.

Stella knew this as well, but nevertheless, the fact that Romuleus was now moving according to divine will remained unchanged.

[It seems I’ve done all I can.]

Stella, expressing regret, slowly approached from behind me. Seeing Romuleus, not Mul, attacking Greyfond, it seemed the role of divine power had indeed ended.

[Please, Vellica.]

Thanks to Rockpelican’s magic, we didn’t feel the strong wind despite floating in the air.

But as Stella disappeared and a new great evil emerged, the air changed.

[To think I’d live to see the day we kill a god!]

Vellica exclaimed excitedly as horns sprouted from her forehead.

“You’re not alive.”

[You can joke too? Kid.]

Vellica cackled, dismissing my attempt to bring her to her senses as a mere joke.

I didn’t need to accept her into my body as I had done when fighting Magan before.

Back then, it was more like possession as assistance, but now I had something more convenient than my body.

Srrrrk.

Vellica’s soul was drawn into my right hand. More precisely, into the prosthetic hand Professor Per Petra had made for me.

The prosthetic that now felt truly like a part of me.

As Vellica entered it, it began to turn black, and soon her mana flowed into me.

[What a deformed method! I love it!]

Even for me, accepting a great demon’s soul into my body wasn’t something I could do anytime.

I clenched and unclenched my right hand several times to check if the great demon had settled in properly, and by then we had already landed on the ground.

In front of the collapsed debate hall.

There were many familiar faces, from Darius and Deia who had been evacuating people from the audience seats until just now.

To King Orpheus, the Royal Guard, and Captain Gloria.

“Ugh, flying through the air hurts my back.”

Rockpelican, who had carried numerous people through the sky, grumbled while patting his back.

“Deus!”

“Your Majesty.”

King Orpheus pushed aside even the royal guards protecting him and ran toward me.

“Thank goodness! I’m so relieved! I thought you’d been caught up in there!”

“Your Majesty, I’m here too.”

When the Grand Mage spoke petulantly, unbecoming of his age, Orpheus laughed heartily and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Of course! I knew our Grand Mage would survive.”

“I saved everyone, by the way.”

“I’m sorry, but nothing is over yet.”

Seeing they might start celebrating if left alone, I cut in coldly to assess the current situation.

“Tentacles are still emerging from within Greyfond. It seems he truly plans to devour the capital of a nation today.”

Under the darkening clouds, the number of writhing tentacles was too many to count.

Buildings were collapsing, smoke was rising, and people’s screams could be heard.

It was truly a bleak sight.

“But thanks to your magic, many lives were saved.”

Orpheus probably meant to tell me not to think too negatively, but I couldn’t be content with that.

As I just said, nothing was over yet.

KROAAAAAAAH!

As Romuleus, with his tower-like height nearly touching the clouds, roared, the tentacles attached to his body extended downward toward Greyfond.

The Royal Guards and Magic Judges immediately stepped forward.

The most difficult part about dealing with this creature was that weapons below a certain level were ineffective.

This made the regular royal army essentially useless.

A small elite force striking would actually be less cumbersome and could inflict more damage.

“Your Majesty, it’s dangerous.”

“Yes, I got too excited.”

At the words of Royal Guard Captain Gloria, King Orpheus stepped back.

“Lucia, you should step back too.”

Saintess Lucia, who had been swept along by Rockpelican’s magic, was also in danger.

She wore a dark expression, which showed she still had room to grow.

“Think rationally. There’s nothing more for you to do.”

She seemed to feel helplessly aware that there was nothing she could do, despite this being a battle directly involving gods.

This contrasted with Stella, who recognized when her role had ended and passed the baton to Vellica.

“It’s alright.”

Lucia, who had been biting her lip while looking at me, gave a small nod and stepped back.

Captain Gloria stood beside me.

“Do you have a plan?”

“Simple weapons or magic can harm him, but they won’t be enough to take his life.”

For example, a mythical weapon like the Holy Grail might be needed to take the life of a fallen god.

To behead him would require a weapon of that caliber.

“My greatsword was made with phoenix feathers. How about this?”

Gloria offered her greatsword.

The blade infused with red energy and embedded jewels was clearly no ordinary weapon, but…

“Even a magic sword is not enough.”

No matter what, we were facing a fallen god.

Human-made treasures couldn’t match him.

“Then what do we do?”

Deia, who had quietly approached my side. I was about to scold her and send her away, but…

“Ahem, so even our family’s heirloom sword won’t work.”

Darius also followed Deia, naturally showing his determination to join the battle.

“It’s dangerous.”

“If you’re not backing out, neither am I.”

“We’re family, aren’t we!”

“Sigh.”

I expected these responses, but hearing them still made me feel overwhelmed.

“Professor!”

In the distance, Aria, Findenai, and Luanes were running toward us.

Seeing that the people I was truly waiting for had finally arrived, I clenched my fist.

“Let’s begin.”

The clouds were getting darker.

It looked like rain was coming, so we needed to end this now.