#349. The King’s Office (4)
A red aura covering the Dharma Palace.
It was a phenomenon far removed from the holiness pursued by the Holy Spirit Monastery.
‘Edelweiss, what is this?’
‘Be careful, Master.’
Edelweiss warned me inside.
‘It appears that the opponent has used system magic.’
‘… … !’
A complex magic ‘system’ developed by an ancient civilization.
Using that power, even modern people can reproduce the magic of ancient wizards.
So does that mean that Pope Lucretia had the system?
‘I found data from a similar system among the memories I have left.’
Before I knew it, the red energy had engulfed everything, making it difficult to see my surroundings.
‘The Baal System… … is a system that implements human sacrifice through magic.’
Kwakwakwakwa!
The red aura disappeared and finally visibility was secured.
But I couldn’t help but doubt my eyes.
Before we knew it, the entire Vatican was covered in dark red mucus.
furthermore…….
“Ugh… … .”
“Ugh… … .”
All around me people were collapsing on the floor.
The monks and priests of the Holy Spirit Order were staggering and falling down, feeling dizzy.
Even the professors of the Department of Radiance who were performing Shainas fell.
“Everyone, fly!”
Then Shainas shouted urgently.
“Don’t come into contact with the crimson mucus even a little bit! It will suck out your life energy!”
“… … !”
Hearing Shaina’s voice, he quickly flew up into the sky.
When I focused my mind and looked at the ground, I could clearly see that the dark red mucus was sucking the strength out of people.
‘What remains now is… … .’
Excluding me and Shainas, only Senia, Charlotte, and Tirp were able to fly into the air before losing consciousness.
Of those left on the ground, only Lucretia and Ortesia were standing intact.
“no way…….”
Shainas looked at the ground and ground his teeth.
“Did you take out the sealed demon statue?”
“Professor, what is this devil statue?”
“Long ago, there were people who worshipped the devil and practiced human sacrifice.”
Shainas answered Tirpitz’s question with a serious expression.
“They worshipped an evil demonic figure that sucked the life out of humans. The Holy Spirit Order confiscated it and sealed it.”
“then…….”
“Yes, Your Holiness… … No, it seems that Lucretia brought it out.”
Then on the ground, Lucretia opened her mouth.
She now looked so young that she was in her twenties.
“I think you need to correct it a bit, Shainas.”
Lucretia smiled, looking up at us with ruby eyes.
“The statue is still in the treasure vault, intact. I just took out the system that was inside.”
“System? What is that?”
“It is a compound magic combined with energy for magical activation. It is a legacy of an ancient civilization.”
“… … !”
Lucrecia seemed to know system magic well.
It would be natural, since he seems to be a high-ranking official of the Golden Cross.
“Lucretia.”
I said, glaring at Lucretia.
“You must have been the Pope of the Holy Spirit Order… … How can you do something like this?”
“You don’t know anything, Eriol.”
“what?”
“Our bloodline has been loyal to the Golden Cross for generations, while outwardly pretending to be faithful followers of the Holy Spirit Order.”
“… … !”
So does that mean that not only mother and daughter Lucretia and Ortesia, but also their ancestors were secretly working in the Holy Spirit Monastery for the Golden Cross?
“Of course, we didn’t do anything conspicuous like the low-level combatants. We moved quietly, completely hiding our identities.”
“But why did you move so grandly today?”
I once again confirmed the tragedy around me.
It would be impossible to cover up this incident quietly, as even the monks and priests of the Holy Spirit Order have lost consciousness and collapsed.
“Is this by any chance related to the stone tablet that Ortesia mentioned earlier?”
“Oh, you didn’t miss that one word, Eriol Valencia.”
Ortesia flinched.
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She had gotten in trouble with Lucrecia earlier for making a slip of the tongue.
“Lucretia, if it’s a slate… … .”
Then Shainas looked at Lucrecia and said.
“Are you talking about the emerald stone tablet with unknown writing on it?”
“… … .”
When Shainas asked, Lucrecia shut her mouth.
“Professor, is that an emerald stone slab?”
“In addition to sacred objects, there were also evil or dangerous objects sealed in the Vatican. However, an unidentified emerald stone tablet was kept very carefully. It was sealed at a higher level than the demon statue, but I had no idea why.”
“I remember my time at the Holy Spirit Monastery,” said Shainas.
“Items that are sealed at the highest level can never be taken out. Even if you are the Dharma King, if you try to take them out without permission, you will be stopped by the chief priest. Could it be that you killed Castar…? … Is this why?”
“If there is someone who knows the inside story, then this is a problem.”
Lucretia sighed, running her hands through her red hair.
“That’s right. The whole thing was to get the Emerald Tablet out of the Vatican. It’s been there all along, but it’s about time to move it.”
Emerald Tablet.
Is that the official name?
“But coincidentally, the delegation from Eriol Valencia and the Academy arrived at this time. So we decided to handle everything at once.”
As she said this, Lucretia turned her gaze to Ortesia.
“But it was my mistake to leave miscellaneous tasks to Ortesia. If she had made a contribution here, she would have had a chance of being promoted to succeed Hedras.”
“I’m sorry, Mom.”
Ortesia bowed her head again.
‘Hedlas’s successor… … .’
Lucretia was mumbling about the internal situation.
It was giving us more information than what was revealed to us by Shainas.
‘It’s not that Lucretia is stupid.’
I looked up at my head.
Red mucus was covering the sky above the Vatican.
If anyone tries to escape from here, they will be consumed by the red energy and have their life force drained.
‘You’re confident that you can trap us here and… … annihilate us.’
It’s not just us.
They probably plan to kill all the members of the Holy Spirit Monastery who are currently down.
Then you can cover everything.
Because it happened in a closed space called the Pope’s Palace.
“Lucretia, what on earth is the Emerald Tablet that makes you do this?”
I looked at Lucrecia.
“Is this related to the true purpose of the Golden Cross? Is it something needed to revive an ancient civilization?”
“… … .”
Lucretia paused at my question.
“How do you know that, Eriol?”
“There is a way that everyone knows.”
“Did you hear it from Yosteras’s gang? Or… maybe from Euros?”
Lucrecia’s eyes sharpened slightly.
“There’s one more reason why I shouldn’t let you live.”
“Well, I wonder if that will work out.”
“There is no need to bluff, Eriol.”
Lucretia raised her hand as she spoke coldly.
“Because you guys are already finished.”
That moment.
As we floated in the air, dark red mucus fell like a heavy rain from above our heads.
The mucus that had been spread on the floor was also gushing up, trying to swallow us all up.
“Frozen Dimension!”
But along with Charlotte’s voice, a great cold wind swept through.
The cold froze us in place, swallowing up all the mucus that had tried to cover us.
The space where sticky, dark red mucus was writhing was transformed into a space filled with dark red ice.
“what……!”
Lucrecia waved her hand again, and the mucus broke through the ice and began to move again.
But it was no use. An even stronger cold froze the mucus once again.
“Oh, Mom. That green light… …!”
Ortesia raised her hand and pointed at Charlotte.
On Charlotte’s chest, a brooch with a green bead shined.
Lucrecia was shocked when she saw the sight.
“No way… Dragon Orb?!”
Yes, that’s right.
Charlotte was equipped with the Dragon Orb.
This is a storage device of the Caduceus system discovered in the swarm field deep in the Labyrinth.
‘Since I absorbed the Caduceus system, the Dragon Orb was free to use.’
However, I was already using the Draupnir system, so I didn’t need to utilize the Dragon Orb.
So I gave it to Charlotte to use as an external processing device in place of the Demon Talisman.
“Eriol, I can control this much!”
Charlotte shouted, placing her hand on the Dragon Orb on her chest.
“Just like I practiced! By using the Dragon Orb, I can control the freezing magic for a long time even over such a wide range!”
Charlotte, true to her image, has a special aptitude for controlling massive ice magic.
The problem was that I still lacked the ability, so I would reach my limit even if I pushed myself a little too hard, but by utilizing the Dragon Orb, I was able to break free from that limitation.
“No need to be wary of mucus anymore!”
“Thank you, Charlotte.”
“Haha. This is about it!”
I turned away from the smiling Charlotte and glared at Lucrecia.
“I don’t think there is any more room for discussion, Lucretia.”
“… … !”
“I will knock you down here and rescue those who are still alive.”
On the ground lay the people of the Holy Spirit Order and the professors of the Academy of Light.
High-powered magic such as the Inferno System could not be used because they could get caught up in it.
“Senia, Senior Tirpii, and Professor Shainas.”
He activated the Draupnir system, speaking to the three who were already prepared for battle.
“Our mission to deliver a letter to the Chief Priest of Castor and to reconcile and form an alliance with the Holy Spirit Monastery has failed.”
“… … .”
“But there is a huge target right in front of us that can make up for the failure of the mission.”
The opponent is Lucretia, the Pope of the Order of the Holy Spirit.
He can be said to be a bigger figure than Hadlas, who was pretending to be Iasos.
If we could take her down and reveal the truth to the world, we could drive the Golden Cross into a corner.
Because we also found out that the Golden Cross wanted the Emerald Tablet.
“I will subdue Lucrecia. Please cooperate.”
There was no answer.
Everyone just nodded with a determined look on their face.
“You’re so arrogant, Eriol… … You seem to be confident now that you’ve defeated Hedras?”
A crimson aura rose from Lucrecia’s body as she muttered in a cold voice.
“Okay. Then I’ll deal with you… …!”
The final battle with Lucrecia began in the Vatican, covered in mucus and ice.
