[Vol. 8] Chapter 146: So Everyone Has a Powerful Backer, Huh
“If we want to keep the losses as small as possible, there are only two options. Either use some method to attack all those creatures at the same time, so they’re destroyed before they can react, or get everyone who’s trapped in the illusions to leave the trial area at once. Acting rashly is the worst choice.”
This clear and logical analysis quickly won agreement from the two members of the [Reaper's Scythe] team.
“Miss Ayla is right. Miss Dark Spirit, and Sybil, your teammates are still trapped inside those illusions. Right now, there’s no way to send them any messages. If we leave now, it would mean they’re truly cut off and helpless. No one can predict what might happen then. It’s way too risky…”
“Remember what Miss Violet said? You’re not fully whole either, part of you is still trapped inside that illusion. Have you thought about what might happen if you just leave like this?”
“Uh…”
Mr. Ferryman stayed quiet, thinking. Maybe realizing that Miss Dark Spirit was still safe helped him calm down, and his whole aura became much steadier.
“First, we need to be clear about one thing, this is the goddess’s trial ground. No matter how strong those monsters are, they could never truly fight against a god. They might be able to sneak in and mess with the illusions a bit, but the core rules, like how to leave this place, those can’t be changed. I really believe that.”
“In fact, with the goddess’s power, she’s probably already noticed their presence. The reason she hasn’t done anything yet is likely because she thinks this situation is still within our ability to handle. Maybe she wants to use it to test how we react to emergencies. If that’s true, then we definitely shouldn’t just give up and leave at the first sign of trouble.”
Ayla frowned slightly.
“Even though I don’t agree with leaving right away either, I don’t think things are as simple as you’re saying. Don’t forget, the only reason we were even able to notice what’s happening… is because—”
Sensing something was off in Mr. Ferryman’s attitude, Ayla interrupted him. Compared to the other people they had only recently met, she clearly trusted and valued the opinion of a certain black-haired priestess more. So she instinctively turned to ask her what she thought, only to find…
“Eh? Miss Violet…?”
All she saw was the black-haired girl, now almost completely transparent, winking playfully at her. It looked like she mouthed the words “Now it’s your turn to take over~”, and then she vanished completely, as if she had never been there at all.
“What?!” x4
…………………………………………
In the real world, the priestess sat cross-legged at the center of a large and complex glowing magic circle. Her deep, ocean-like divine mind flew through countless trial spaces, adjusting the [Six-Line Array Palace] formations in different ways and carefully filtering out the sneaky “mice” that had hidden themselves inside, dealing with each one.
And in this part, Mr. Ferryman was actually right: Violet had the power to directly remove the illusion-like monsters clinging to Ayla and the other trial participants from the [Gate of Underworld].
But she didn’t.
Instead, she deliberately took the long way around, slowly guiding everyone to uncover the truth step by step.
And of course, she had her reasons for doing so.
The priestess already knew that the [World Sustainers] were very likely planning to stir up trouble during this important phase of the divine trial. So, she purposely gave Edwina a heads-up in advance, asking the Redemption Saintess to mention something like “There’s danger inside the [Six-Line Array Palace], and people might die” before the trial began. The goal was to give the hidden enemies a chance to make their move.
In reality, no one can actually die inside the [Six-Line Array Palace].
As the Shrine Maiden of the underworld, the one who guides souls to the afterlife, Dawn has complete control over life and death within the space she created. As long as Violet wills it, even someone reduced to ashes can be restored to exactly the way they were before entering the gate, down to the smallest detail, and safely returned to the real world. So, trying to kill trial participants here was nothing more than a joke from the beginning.
The priestess pretended not to notice the rats running around right under her nose, letting them cause trouble. On one hand, she wanted to see how far the trial participants could go when facing real danger, and observe what strange tricks the so-called [World Sustainers] would use. On the other hand, it was a long-term trap. She let the enemy lower their guard and expose themselves, so she could flush out every intruder hiding in her domain and completely wipe them out.
And the appearance of “Humble Humbold”, lured out by Miss Shadow, was without a doubt one of her greatest catches.
That guy… is not simple at all. He claimed to be chosen by some so-called Primordial Will, a bit like a hero picked by the gods, and that might not be an exaggeration.
Even in this world where the rules suppress such powers, Humble Humbold showed strength close to that of a fully grown mythical creature, almost like a pseudo god. Realistically speaking, his true level was probably at least demigod, and in some ways, he might even be capable of breaking the normal limits of the world’s rules.
That’s because he belonged to the [World Sustainers], a group that aside from the dragon girl and Snow Wing, was the only one Violet knew of that could possess divine powers without actually being gods. From Humble Humbold, Violet sensed something similar to the aura of [Taotie]. A bit different and not yet as powerful, but unmistakably of the same kind.
If she wasn’t mistaken...
This guy was likely a backup or candidate to become a true World Sustainer in the future.
Losing someone at that level would be a huge blow to the [World Sustainers], no matter how many strong people they still have, way worse than losing that earlier guy, [6273]. So, Violet didn’t hesitate at all. She sent one of her strongest and most suitable “pet” to deal with him, Snow Wing, and had her crush Humbold cleanly and completely.
Snow Wing, a “God-level creature” born with an extremely high innate power level of Iv90, had spent years absorbing faith energy from the entire world in Aibus. Her real strength now is probably not far below what Xiao Guang had before gaining divinity. Plus, she spars daily with a certain dragon girl in the pet space, so her combat skills are top-notch. Taking out Humble Humbold was no problem for her at all.
However, Humbold was also extremely clever. Realizing the huge gap between his power and Snow Wing’s, he made a bold and desperate move, something crazy but truly dangerous:
A sacrifice ritual.
And the sacrifice worked, at least in theory. But why did no power descend to help him? Why was he torn apart so easily by Snow Wing, like he had no intention of resisting?
The reason was simple.
At that moment, the black-haired girl’s divine consciousness detached from her body and soared high above the Grand Church…