Oracle of Goddess (3)
The great heroes who the Goddesses had blessed were corrupted, committed treason, and robbed the Goddess of her divinity.
That was the most terrible sin in the long history of Latna.
If they were faithful servants of the Goddesses, they must punish those rebels and restore the Goddess’s divinity!
It was the glorious work given to believers!
However, the meeting of the six Churches, which was supposed to carry out the mission, was proceeding in a rather dull atmosphere.
“But how do we punish the Top Three?”
Angelica, the Lord of Rhamniana Templars, asked carefully.
The Dwarf warrior, Palmer, replied in a sincere voice.
“If we follow the doctrine, we should define the Top Three as enemies of the Goddess and declare a holy war against them…”
And he looked back at everyone with a bitter smile.
“… I’m sure there’s no chance of winning, right?”
Merdill, the Lord of the Wind Templars, and Frederick, the Lord of the Earth Templars, nodded firmly.
“No.”
“Not at all.”
Latna’s six denominations were by no means weak.
Their authority controlled Latna. Their influence was truly powerful, and the power was considerable.
One or two ordinary frontier kingdoms could be destroyed by the Darkness Church alone.
If the six denominations joined forces, even the Continental Three Kingdoms wouldn’t be able to ignore them.
However, it could be said that the extent to which it could not be ignored was everything.
Will the six denominations fight against the Continent’s Top Three?
The result would be a defeat.
It wouldn’t take two weeks for Allendia of the Fairy Kingdom, the weakest among the Top Three, to smash the power of the six denominations alone.
Everyone there knew that very well.
The declaration of the Holy War was not worth considering.
“If we can’t go all out…”
Althea’s Sabin Asil touched her chin with a shady look.
“… Shall we assassinate them secretly?”
Leon Hart looked back at her and snorted.
“How can we assassinate them? Sabin, would you like to go and decapitate the Thunder King?”
Sabin looked askance at Leon Hart.
“I knew it was impossible for me too.”
Even the king or queen of the ordinary frontier kingdom was never easy to assassinate.
The Top Three were the king, queen, and regent of the Continent Top Three powers.
High-level individuals guarded their palaces, and the rulers themselves were the best on the continent!
Even if all the strongest members of the church were deployed, it was extremely unlikely that the assassins would reach the front of the Top Three.
Even if they reached the Top Three, what were they going to do?
The assassination targets were already the strongest in Latna.
“Frankly, the power of each of the three strongest individuals will be higher than the palaces’ defenses combined.”
Palmer stroked his beard and clicked his tongue.
Merdill also sighed.
“They’re monsters that don’t look like humans.”
Even the Dwarves and the Elves, who had lived for hundreds of years, had never seen such powerful beings before.
The three strongest individuals were indeed far beyond human recognition.
“Well, that’s why they could try something crazy like robbing the divinity of a Goddess.”
For that reason, it was meaningless to attempt an assassination.
Everything was the same as Roacell had expected.
Unless the church were a fool, it wouldn’t be able to choose between a holy war or an assassination.
“In the end, we have to find a third way…”
The Pope of the Darkness Church, Castalo II, sighed and opened his mouth.
“I’ll be honest with you. The Church of Darkness couldn’t find a way.”
Saintess Sermen looked back at everyone and said.
“This is another reason why I called you. We need to hear more diverse opinions.”
* * *
All the Goddesses’ priests gathered at the round table were lost in thought, squeezing their heads.
However, there was no clear opinion.
No matter how hard they thought about it, there was no plausible way to punish the three strongest beings with the power of the six denominations.
Leon Hart called their attention.
“Let’s reflect on the current situation step by step.”
He looked at everyone one by one and spoke in a calm voice.
“Why can’t we punish the three strongest men?”
The Templar Lords blinked.
What are you talking about right now?
“Everyone knows the answer, but let’s review it one by one.”
Everyone questioned his actions, but they still answered.
“They are the best in Latna.”
“They are also powerful and have the strongest armies.”
“They are the heroes of Latna, so they are also worshipped by many. If we turn them into our enemy recklessly, the Churches could be destroyed instead.”
“And the three of them are in the same group.”
They were the absolute beings holding absolute power and strong military might. They also had the trust of the world.
That was why there was no room for a needle.
“That’s right.”
Leon Hart nodded.
“For now, let’s just look at their individual strength.”
He then raised another question.
“Now, what preparations do we need to kill the Top Three individuals?”
Everyone started to think about it seriously.
‘Each one of the Top Three?’
They measured their skills, abilities, and levels. They thought of all the tricks that the six denominations could prepare.
“Well, at least six Templar Lords must gather…”
“We’ll need a lot of powerful Templars that we can trust.”
“If we push it to numerical advantage, it’ll work out somehow.”
“But if they bring their troops in there, there’s no chance of winning…”
“We have to make it as small-scale as possible.”
“And if we lure them to a place that’s well-prepared, there’s some possibility…”
Leon Hart said.
“That means if the three strongest men come forward and are lured into a trap we’ve made, with only a handful of henchmen in their own hands, we can punish them?”
Everyone nodded.
It was clear that they could organize their minds to a certain extent just by talking out of their thoughts.
However, even so, measures had not yet been taken.
“How can you trap the three strongest men, Leon Hart?”
“You need an attractive bait to lure your prey into your trap, don’t you?”
Leon Hart smiled bitterly at Sabin and Angelica’s questions.
“There’s a bait here.”
It was the incarnation of Darkness, Kibie.
If they leaked her location, the Top Three would be caught.
Since they had failed several times while trying to use their staff members to catch her, it was time for them to go to her personally.
Moreover, even if she wasn’t the bait, Kibie had to be in a place where the Top Three would be punished anyway.
She explained the reason.
“That way, we can restore Kybriel’s divinity.”
Even if she didn’t cut the neck of the three strongest people herself, she should at least be in the place where they would die.
That way, she could properly recover her divinity.
“If the three strongest people die in my absence…”
Kibie, who had been agonizing for a while, shook her head helplessly.
“To be honest, I don’t know what the result would be. I don’t know now that I’ve lost the wisdom of the Goddess. But I’m sure it should never happen.”
The remarks seemed to go back and forth at first glance, but everyone didn’t think they were strange.
That was natural for a Goddess whose memory was limited.
“And it’s the same for them.”
The Top Three also had to cut Kibie’s neck.
At least they should be in the place where she would die.
That was why they had been trying to ‘capture’ her all along.
“Was there a rule like that?”
Leon Hart raised one eye.
He had never heard of that before.
“Sorry, I forgot to tell you.”
“I don’t care. It’s not a bad condition for us.”
At least he was less worried that Akhtarun’s Aliens or the Ancient Dragons of Upper Dragonium would harm the incarnation.
“Anyway, if we use her as bait, it’s not impossible to lure the three strongest into a trap.”
However, they couldn’t just walk away with the bait.
If things went wrong, there was no turning back…
“Even if things go well, if a trap catches a prey beyond its control, everything will be over.”
Even if the six denominations made all-out efforts to make the trap, they could handle only one of the three strongest.
“Looking at the current situation, I think the Transcendental is chasing the incarnation alone, but…”
It was not a big secret that the Archmage and the Thunder King had been running state affairs only through visions. They hadn’t revealed their true nature in months.
“Will she be the only one who knows where the incarnation is?”
If the Top Three appeared all at once, any trap would become meaningless.
They would break them all with their power and rob the incarnations.
Of course, the strongest was arrogant, so there was a high possibility for them to move independently.
However, they couldn’t risk the fate of the world on that possibility.
“To sum up, this is the story, Leon Hart.”
Angelica nodded after hearing all the explanations.
“We should let a big event take place within the Continental Top Three, where the three strongest men will come forward, and then draw them one by one into a trap to defeat them.”
Everyone’s complexion darkened.
Palmer, the Lord of Yessen Templars, spoke in a deep tone.
“We must declare a holy war.”
Frederick sighed, too.
“The Church’s headquarters will be burned to ashes. There will be a lot of blood.”
The declaration of the Holy War meant that the six denominations were officially hostile to the Top Three.
If so, the Continental Top Three powers would officially consider the six denominations as their enemy.
The results were obvious if the whole army of the Continental Top Three powers advanced to the headquarters of each denomination.
They would not deny the Goddesses’ faith itself.
Instead, they would punish those who belonged to the present six denominations as people who had voluntarily distorted the will of God.
How many deaths would continue in the process?
Castalo II murmured somberly.
“That’s why I tried to avoid declaring a holy war as much as I could…”
He knew it would end up like that.
The old Pope lamented over the gloomy round table.
“Huh, I can’t help it…”
* * *
Meanwhile, Ryu Han-bin wondered silently.
‘Why is everyone so worried?’
He didn’t know military strategy or politics well.
Hence, he kept my mouth shut throughout the entire meeting.
But the more he listened, the less he understood.
Their worries were, so to speak, like this:
‘Six denominations must be hostile to the Top Three, but the Top Three must not be hostile to the six denominations?’
That was a contradiction.
However, it wasn’t a contradiction that couldn’t be solved.
‘When I saw the news in Korea, there was a similar story, and it seems to be a common situation in world history.’
So far, he had been as quiet as he could as if to avoid being caught.
However, everyone there knew that he was the Alien.
‘Isn’t it a big problem to say something that doesn’t fit the common sense of the world here? Even if it ends in vain, there’s nothing to lose.’
Han-bin, who was contemplating for a while, raised his hand.
“Hey, this is just my idea, but…”
Everyone’s eyes were on him.
Ryu Han-bin carefully continued.
“Can’t we just do this?”
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