Chapter 280 - Episode Twenty-Seven - The Great God Kudor (1)
Chapter 280 - Episode Twenty-Seven - The Great God Kudor (1)
At the same time as the vision of Priest Yohanan disappeared, the magic formula engraved on the entire walls and floor of the third chamber of trials, the Chamber of the Wand of Destruction, took on a glow.
The entire circular room seemed to shake, and the floor descended in unison.
“Whoa!”
As I staggered, Mea dropped my luggage on the floor and supported my body with her free hand.
Mea herself lost her balance very badly, but she managed to keep herself from falling just with her willpower.
“A-Are you okay, Abel?”
“Thank you, Mea, for the help ……”
I breathed out a sigh of relief as I answered.
The fall is still going on, but I was a little startled by the initial movement and almost fell.
It’s not a problem now.
“It’s usually the other way around, isn’t it ……?”
Myunhi looks at the exchange between me and Mea with a puzzled look.
I pretended I hadn’t heard anything.
“But …… what the heck is ……?”
According to Peter, it was supposed to be a series of three trials to select the person who would receive the magical weapon, the Wand of Destruction.
The “Balancer of the Scale of Time” was supposed to be after the Wand of Destruction according to Peter’s explanation, but Rupel’s words suggest that he had something else in mind.
“W-What do you mean? Eh, the trial is over? It’s just starting, right? Why did that priest appear twice in a row? Is there a problem with the magic formula?”
Peter panicked and turned his eyes around.
In the background, the blue-skinned child girl, Zolomonia, the great demon of wisdom and ruin, appears.
“Don’t worry, Peter. If you believe the words of Yohanan, then the whole trial is over. Only God knows what will happen next.”
In contrast to her young appearance, she has a charming smile on her face.
I’m not sure that the eyes of a human being, which seem to see through all of Zolomonia, are the same as the eyes of the woman who once called out my name as if screaming when Gaston raised her.
As I was thinking about this, Zolomonia glared at me with all her might.
I averted my eyes. Mea also averted her eyes.
“…… That’s a very ominous thing to say, Zolomonia-chan. “
Zolomonia smiles coldly and silently at Peter’s words.
Based on the exchange between Peter and Zolomonia, I’m convinced that Peter is hiding some secret related to this ancient temple.
“Peter-san, what exactly is in the back here? It’s like there’s something you’re not telling me. It’s about time you told us ……”
“Yeah, right. Since you’ve taken me this far …… I don’t think I can fake it anymore.”
Peter shrugged his shoulders and his well-shaped nose moved slightly.
He seemed to be smiling slightly, but since his eyes were hidden by the mask, it was hard to tell.
“First, I want you to take a look at this ……”
Peter fumbled with his pockets as he approached, cutting between me and Mea.
He stood right in front of me and quickly turned around and moved behind me.
He then thrusts the knife he seems to have hidden in his pocket at my neck.
“Pe-, Peter-san!?”
“Abel! You Queer mask ……!”
Mea immediately took up her bow and set her sights on Peter’s head.
Her movements were quicker and more precise than you’d expect from the normal Mea.
There was not a single hesitation in Mea’s movements until she released her finger.
There was no doubt that she was confused, but she must have been aware that there was no time for that and pushed it down.
However, he was one step short.
Myunhi’s staff, which had been moving almost simultaneously with Peter’s suspicious movement, swept up the arrow at the moment it was released and the arm holding Mea’s bow at the same time.
Mea’s arrow and bow fall to the floor where they continue their descent.
Myunhi’s footsteps followed, causing Mea’s body to circle and fall to the floor.
Myunhi’s staff was attached to her head.
“Kyah”
“She seemed harmless enough, but then again, she is the daughter of the Doom Clan.”
Myunhi puts his staff to Mea’s head, saying in a sarcastic tone, “I’m sorry, but I don’t know what to say.
“Mea! Peter-san …… Peter, what’s going on!”
“It’s a good thing I didn’t kill you guys when I saw you in Palgas Village. I didn’t expect you to be so helpful to me in this way. But you’re too dangerous.”
Peter tells me ruthlessly.
Then he put his long, slender fingers to his red lips and chuckled.
“Now, let’s head for the last room.”
Oh no, Peter had betrayed me.
It was a situation that could have been avoided if I had been a little more vigilant, if I had put my Ortem or Lapides Sword on alert.
Peter was an opponent whose purpose and identity were unknown.
I should have been more suspicious of him. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and that’s only true for this situation.
“Right, Abel-chan, you asked what lies ahead, right? What lies ahead is the truth of a mythical age buried in darkness and a spirit weapon that was once called a god ……”
The floor dropped, and the wall that rose up had a number of murals carved into it.
There are inscriptions of the priest Yohanan and a picture of Kudor.
I don’t even know how long Peter intends to keep us alive in this state.
I don’t think he has a legitimate purpose. He could have killed us to silence us at any appropriate stage.
Anyway, for now, the only thing to do was to continue the conversation, read their thoughts, and look for an opening.
If there is a moment of opportunity to activate magic, it should be easy to turn the current situation upside-down.
“…… Are you trying to say that Kudor is an artificial spirit? That’s not possible. Artificial spirits that are created artificially are far behind a naturally occurring spirits. This is because they cannot gather materials.”
In order to create an artificial spirit, it is necessary to dedicate the lives of multiple lives to extract, collect, solidify, and fix the spirit, which is part of the soul.
However.
In order to create a spirit, it is necessary to turn a living being that possesses magical power into a spirit and use it as a material.
This is what I have learned from reading the Great God’s Treasure Book and actually creating artificial spirits.
The most important factor in creating a spirit with the greatest potential is what to use as material.
Simply put, the potential of the created spirit is the total magic power of the material minus the magic power that is lost in the process of spiritification.
However, the higher the number of materials and the higher the magic power of the materials, the greater the decay of magic power, so in order to create a strong artificial spirit, it is necessary to carefully select materials and thoroughly control them with a huge magic circle.
And there is a limit to that.
No matter how many materials you use, no matter how precise and large the magic circle is, there will always be a line where the decrease due to the decay of magic power will be greater than the increase.
What I understood from reading the Great God’s Treasure Book was the fact that it was impossible to create an artificial spirit that could rival a Great Demon.
It is impossible to create an artificial spirit that can be called a god in this way.
“The answer is right here. Fufu …… As I thought, I was right after all.”
Peter’s voice was strained as he said it. Sweat is dripping from behind the mask.
Myunhi, who was holding Mea down, was sobbing and looking behind me.
I slowly turn around and check the mural behind me.
It was a mural of Kudor eating a meditating follower with his mouth wide open.
I had never heard of anyone harming their own followers.
As I read the words around the mural, I realized that it had a symbolic meaning.
“No way ……”
“Yes. Kudor is an artificial spirit created by Priest Yohanan to kill the four creator gods and end the age of mythology. The price is Kudor’s followers. Perhaps Priest Yohanan took one of the religions that had existed since long before the Mythic Age and turned it into the Kudor Church. He gathered followers based on his belief in the overthrow of the four great creator gods, oriented the souls of the material believers through faith, interfered in their lives using the commandments to adjust their physical and mental aspects, and gave them a concrete image of the non-existent, fictional Kudor by pretending that the creation of spirits was a divine summoning.”
The directionality of the material soul, the unification of body and spirit, and the addition of a concrete image are all important points in spirit creation.
A Religion is too perfect a setting for artificial spirit creation.
It should be able to reduce the rate of decay of magic power drastically.
To think there’s this kind of way, even if I have this Idea, as expected I can’t execute it.
“In the past, at the exact same time that the god Kudor descended, there was a massive disappearance of Kudor’s followers …… The number of people at that time was about 100,000, according to the historical estimates of scholars. This is the number of people who were sacrificed in order to create the spiritual weapon, Kudor. Thus, the age of mythology ended and the age of man came …… Whether you are a hero or a great sinner, you’ll never know. Fufu, fufufu. …… It was only a theory, but when I saw the mural of the god Kudor eating his followers, it all finally connected.”
Eventually, the floor that had been descending stopped.
In front of me, there was a new, raised entrance.
I guessed that this was where the spirit weapon Kudor was sealed.
“Finally, I’ve finally come this far! The day will come when I will control the power of Kudor and become the ruler …… of the world, or rather, the god of the world! I won’t let anyone get in my way …… I won’t let anyone get in my way!”
Peter let out a high-pitched loud laugh.