Ch.22Ep.22 Disappearance

# Three Months After the Guardian’s Return

Three months had passed since news of the Guardian Spirit’s return had spread.

The remnants of the Guardian Spirit who had been hiding throughout Kadinant all gathered in Noslet.

Some lost their lives on their way to Noslet.

But the Guardian Spirit did not stop.

They moved forward at the risk of death, solely because of the news that their leader had returned.

Because of this, rumors that Radios Magnum had returned spread throughout Kadinant.

However, the monarch of the Extreme Order, the Apostle of Apum, declared this to be false.

He claimed that the only traces he found in the village were ruins and the word “Guardian” written in blood.

There was no evidence anywhere that Radios Magnum had returned alive.

But his true thoughts were different.

Not just the Apostle of Apum.

The atmosphere among the Outer God’s apostles was that they were half-convinced Radios Magnum had returned.

So where was Radios?

Even as the Guardian Spirit gathered in Noslet.

The otherworlders ignored them and pursued Radios’s whereabouts.

But despite searching all of Kadinant, not even a hair of Radios was found.

To this, the otherworlders suggested the possibility that Radios had hidden in one of the three forbidden areas.

Among them, if they had to predict where he might be, it would be the Demonic Prison.

They wondered if the reason goblins were suddenly running wild might also be related to Radios.

In the end, what they chose was to capture the goblins.

“Catch them. Catch even one and extract information.”

Public sentiment was already uneasy because of the goblins’ crazy actions.

Namgung Ihyun considered this an opportunity and moved her troops to capture the goblins, but.

“Catch me? Hmm~ I just need to run away~”

“If you’re someone who tried to catch goblins and failed miserably, hit like lolololol”

“Otherworlders fail miserably! Otherworlders fail miserably! Otherworlders fail miserably!”

Somehow they detected her scheme, and whenever they showed signs of surrounding them, they just mocked them and ran away.

“What on earth are you doing?!”

Finally, Namgung Ihyun, unable to bear it anymore, gathered her subordinates.

It was already annoying enough that the Toolcha Order had been destroyed.

Now they couldn’t even stop the goblins from causing such chaos?

“I clearly gave orders two months ago! And no one, no one could catch even one of those damn beasts?!”

“We’re sorry… they’re just too cunning…”

“Do I need to move personally for you to come to your senses? Hmm?”

“Please calm your anger, Apostle.”

Namgung Ihyun clenched her fist and trembled before taking a deep breath.

Right. Getting angry like this only hurts herself.

Perhaps the goblins are making her anxious because she’s paying attention to them.

“From now on… don’t care what the goblins do–“

“A-Apostle! Something terrible has happened!”

“What is it now?”

Namgung Ihyun twitched her eyebrow at the loud voice of another subordinate bringing news.

Seeing her bad mood, he hesitated whether to speak or not.

But fearing he might be torn apart if he didn’t, he trembled as he opened his mouth.

“T-the goblins…”

“Goblins! Goblins!! What the hell are those bastards up to now?!”

“They wrote this on the bulletin board…”

[If you think you’re Namgung Ihyun, the gallery admin of Yog-Sothoth who’s trembling with rage after pathetically failing to catch goblins and is desperately trying to kill them, hit like lololol]

“…”

What’s this about failing pathetically? Trembling? Gallery admin?

What the hell does that even mean, you damn goblins.

Namgung Ihyun felt a serious urge to destroy the temple right then and there.

But she wrote the character for patience three times in her mind and exercised extreme self-control to calm down.

“These damn goblins… I’ll kill them when I catch them…”

If only she could move personally to deal with them, she would have done so.

However, Namgung Ihyun and most of the other apostles were in a state where it was difficult to move.

It had only been just over a year since they occupied Kadinant and entered a period of stability.

Not just Namgung Ihyun, but apostles from other orders were conserving their strength for the next stage of evolution.

In Patrick’s case, he died because he acted alone, so that couldn’t be helped.

“When will the Great Old One arrive?”

“He said within a month at most. When they arrive… it will be the end for both the goblins and Radios Magnum.”

“Then, send an official letter to each order.”

“What…?”

Namgung Ihyun answered Mir’s question with an evil smile.

“Hand over Noslet itself to the Guardian Spirit remnants. And we… will summon Cthugha in Noslet.”

“..!”

One of the Great Old One’s executives and.

The god of spirits called the Living Flame, Cthugha.

To summon him, one needs.

A branch of Fomalhaut, which is said to only grow in the Forest of Engai.

And chant the summoning spell “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthugha Fomalhaut n’gha-ghaa naf’lthagn Ia! Ia! Cthugha!” three times.

The problem is that if this summoning succeeds, it will blow away everything within a 100km radius with an explosion.

They thought they couldn’t summon Cthugha to Kadinant, unlike other Great Old Ones.

But if the Guardian Spirit gathered in Noslet on their own, that would be even better.

Just by summoning Cthugha in the center of Noslet, they could wipe them all out.

“So prepare.”

This time, she hoped to break even the roots of the Guardian Spirit more decisively.

After all, among the Guardian Spirits gathered in Noslet, there were Kadinant people who had betrayed them but hadn’t been discovered.

“When the opportunity comes, we’ll detonate without hesitation.”

Namgung Ihyun smiled with madness flowing from her.

***

“So Elysse is coming up now?”

[I’ll try to set the location as close to Noslet as possible. But… it’s not easy.]

“What about the Outer Gods’ movements?”

[It seems the preparations for the Great Old One’s descent ritual are complete. Soon, a large-scale descent will begin in Kadinant.]

Radios activated the Sword of Judgment for training as usual.

Hades conveyed news to him after a very long time.

Having been severely scolded by Radios for contacting him without any news.

He had declared that he would only contact him when he truly had news to deliver.

[The Great Old One you should be most cautious of is Cthugha.]

“Cthugha?”

[A Great Old One who scorches everything within a 100km radius when successfully summoned. Even someone like you… might survive, but the damage would be immense.]

“An explosion within a 100km radius…”

Radios fell into deep thought at Hades’s words.

100km is an extremely vast range.

Isn’t Noslet itself almost 100km in radius?

‘Could it be…?’

As Radios measured the width of Noslet.

He could guess what the otherworlders were plotting.

“I wondered why they weren’t stopping the gathering, they’d rather just destroy everything?”

[Hmm? What do you mean?]

“The surviving Guardian Spirit is gathering in Noslet. It seems that Namgung Ihyun… has abandoned Noslet itself.”

Radios briefly explained the current situation.

After the rumor spread that the Guardian Spirit had returned.

The surviving remnants of the Guardian Spirit began to gather in Noslet.

Surely they must have noticed something was off.

If so, it makes sense that they deliberately left them alone.

Of course, it’s said that the otherworlders are having headaches because goblins are causing trouble nationwide.

But what can goblins really do to affect them?

If they had wanted to stop the Guardian Spirit from gathering, they surely could have.

Is it that they’re tired of picking them off one by one and want to destroy them all at once?

‘Damn woman…’

Namgung Ihyun had always been like that.

A strategy of sacrificing the small for the greater good.

She probably wouldn’t have informed those outside the main forces of her order about such a plan.

If information leaked, who knows what crazy strategy Arsia might come up with.

What she overlooked was.

Unlike the poor communication between otherworlders and Outer Gods.

The relatively easy communication between Radios and Hades?

The Guardian Spirit traitors would have reported.

That communication with the gods wasn’t good.

Besides, they might not have known that Olympus had this much information about the Outer Gods’ forces.

Hades didn’t say it explicitly, but.

Radios knew that he was residing in the Underworld, sharpening his blade.

If the faith of Kadinant turned back to Olympus again.

They would have an opportunity to advance against the Outer Gods.

Hades sighed after hearing all this.

To think the enemy’s scheme would be so easily seen through.

[So that was the situation…]

“Anyway, I’ll use the Sword of Judgment once a day, so let me know when Elysse comes up.”

[Understood.]

After ending his conversation with Hades and deactivating the Sword of Judgment, Radios.

Fell into thought for a while.

‘Namgung Ihyun is taking a gamble with a high chance of failure? That can’t be.’

She’s a crazy woman who tries to realize her plans no matter what she does.

Even if it means sacrificing allies, she lightly ignores those sacrifices and brings about victory.

The result of that was, in the past, the great defeat of the Guardian Spirit.

Befitting the Outer God’s order that could relatively easily replace apostles.

The number of apostles consumed by Namgung Ihyun’s operations exceeded two digits.

In fact, it would be fair to say that Namgung Ihyun was the emperor of the Outer God’s order.

‘It doesn’t make sense. Even for Namgung Ihyun, this is too big a gamble–‘

As Radios was considering the possibilities, another thought suddenly crossed his mind.

What if the annihilation of the Guardian Spirit itself wasn’t the goal?

What if there was another reason to summon Cthugha in Noslet and destroy it?

Having thought that far, Radios went to Arsia without hesitation and asked.

“How many sanctuaries are there in Noslet?”

“Yes. Temples, everything. All things touched by the trace of god.”

It’s an absurd thought.

If this assumption is correct, Namgung Ihyun is gambling on an unprecedented scale.

The malicious thought that rather than letting others take it, she’d rather destroy it completely.

She wouldn’t do that.

Hearing what Arsia said, he felt like his heart was crumbling.

“As of three years ago, 37% of all sanctuaries spread throughout Kadinant are in Noslet.”

“…Damn it.”

“But why are you asking this?”

“It’s news from Hades…”

Radios explained the reason to Arsia’s question.

After hearing about the explosion range from Cthugha’s summoning, her expression darkened.

“A radius of 100km…”

“That woman Namgung Ihyun… is trying to erase Noslet from Kadinant completely. She probably thinks she can’t handle it, so she’s trying to eliminate it.”

“Yes. But I think there’s one more thing.”

“More..?”

Radios listened carefully to Arsia’s confident answer.

She first mentioned that it was just a guess.

“Among the comrades gathering… there must be a traitor.”

“A traitor?”

“Yes. They’re probably passing information and waiting for the right timing to summon Cthugha.”

According to her explanation.

Think about when the damage would be greatest if Cthugha were summoned.

1. Just rushing in and summoning him.

2. Summoning him at a completely unexpected time, with no time to prepare defenses.

Which situation would cause more damage?

“You know there are more traitors besides Serena, right?”

“…It’s possible.”

“Then?”

“The hiding ends here.”

Radios declared the end of his hiding and stood up.

Arsia also stood up, following him.

“We’re going to Tiaran.”

It was the moment when three months of hiding came to an end.