Chapter 254. Expedition (1)
A massive disaster had broken out inside Pandemonium.
It began in Dis City, Pandemonium’s capital located in the former Jerusalem, and spread throughout Pandemonium’s territory in an instant.
However, since the Constellations could not observe the area through their Observers, they were slow to understand what was happening.
“What in the world is that?”
“I’ve never seen anything like it. Judging from the size alone, it almost looks like a World Tree, but with that kind of evil energy...”
“Is it really absorbing demons?”
“According to information from demons friendly toward humanity, more than half of Pandemonium’s territory has already been covered by those roots.”
“I heard the demons in Russia have started evacuating toward the Arctic Circle.”
Inside the stone palace that served as the headquarters of the Order of the Spirit Realm, numerous Constellations were discussing the current crisis.
Footage taken by Apostles who had risked entering the border regions was being projected over the polygonal table.
The videos repeatedly showed tree roots writhing like animal tentacles as they destroyed demon cities.
“That thing is the result of holy and demonic power mixing together and going berserk.”
“Merlin...!”
Merlin, who had been absent for some time, entered the meeting hall.
“Where have you been all this time?! And the Nameless King...”
“The Nameless King is here too.”
The Nameless King entered behind Merlin.
But he wasn’t alone.
A Constellation who did not belong to the Order of the Spirit Realm was with him.
“You are...”
“Isn’t that the Divine Child of Three Heads and Six Arms?”
Many of the Constellations were surprised to see the A-rank Constellation ‘Divine Child of Three Heads and Six Arms.’
They had tried recruiting him several times before, only to fail every time.
“Everyone, take your seats.”
“We need to decide how we’re going to deal with what’s happening in the Material Realm.”
At the Nameless King’s words, the Constellations hurriedly sat down.
After confirming that enormous roots were ravaging Pandemonium’s cities, I regrouped with Merlin and the others.
Once I reunited with Merlin, who possessed a vast amount of knowledge, I was able to understand the situation more clearly.
“There have always been demons inside Pandemonium who wanted to resurrect Lucifer.”
Merlin began explaining things in front of the Order of the Spirit Realm’s core members.
“Demon God-class demons from the so-called pro-war faction, such as Moloch and Phenex, were leading that effort.”
“And the human Ha Mina was cooperating with them by creating ‘Vessels,’ potential bodies for Lucifer.”
At the mention of the Vessels, several Constellations frowned.
After all, Merlin was the one who had given Ha Mina the idea in the first place.
“But no matter how much the Vessels were strengthened, they could never become Lucifer on their own.”
“A Vessel is still fundamentally human.”
“Without raising its spiritual rank, it cannot become Lucifer.”
“Ha Mina and the pro-war demons didn’t know that.”
Merlin’s explanation matched what Nezha had told me.
“The most effective way to artificially raise spiritual rank in this world is to use holy relics containing the spiritual essence of the ‘Son of God.’”
“I knew that.”
“That’s why I spent years gathering holy relics and sealing them away, preventing Lucifer’s resurrection at its source.”
“Merlin, then the Holy Grail really was...”
“Yes.”
“I had hidden it.”
“My apologies for deceiving all of you.”
By personally sealing away the Holy Grail, the greatest holy relic, Merlin had tried to ensure that the Vessels he had cultivated could never become Lucifer.
“However, we recently confirmed that Pandemonium itself had started collecting holy relics.”
“I assumed they were trying to awaken one of the Vessels.”
“But apparently that wasn’t the case.”
“Pandemonium had been carrying out a separate plan to create Lucifer’s body.”
“Then those roots...”
“Are they Lucifer?”
“Lucifer wasn’t anything like that, was he?”
Amid the murmuring Constellations, Mordred spoke.
“Merlin, we witnessed Astaroth transform into a giant monster before.”
“Is this something similar?”
“That’s right.”
“Holy and demonic power... two opposing properties that nevertheless have points of overlap.”
“They collided and went out of control.”
Astaroth had transformed into a giant monster because the power of the Holy Nail went berserk when she tried to use it.
Pandemonium likely hadn’t intended to create a mindless monster that destroyed everything indiscriminately either.
“And that thing isn’t merely a monster.”
“It seems to possess an extremely high spiritual rank as well.”
“I don’t know whether it has reached Lucifer’s level, but it is far above ordinary demons.”
“How is that possible?”
“Did Pandemonium manage to gather that many holy relics?”
“The most likely possibility right now is that it absorbed Pandemonium’s Demon God-class demons.”
"...!"
“Lucifer and many of the Demon God-class demons were once angels.”
“My current theory is that the roots devoured them and absorbed their spiritual energy.”
“Wait.”
“Then does that mean those roots already possess spiritual energy on Lucifer’s level?”
“If they devoured multiple Demon God-class demons...”
“A human doesn’t absorb every single component of an animal just because they eat it.”
“I don’t know how many Demon God-class demons those roots have consumed, but the absorption efficiency probably isn’t perfect.”
“They likely haven’t obtained a spiritual rank equal to Lucifer’s yet.”
As Merlin spoke, he looked toward the floating screen.
It showed enormous roots devouring demons and other races.
“To me, those roots look extremely hungry.”
“I don’t know whether they crave life energy or spiritual energy, but if they continue devouring demons like that...”
“they will eventually spread beyond Pandemonium’s territory and begin consuming humans too.”
"...!"
“And once they acquire enough energy, there’s a possibility they could ascend into an even higher existence.”
“If Lucifer were to be reborn from that tree and begin ruling the entire universe...”
“I wouldn’t find that strange at all.”
The Constellations had already been tense.
Now a visible sense of crisis spread across their faces.
I stood from my seat.
“In the past, if something like this happened, we probably would’ve been helpless.”
“All we could do was stare through our Observers.”
I looked across the faces of the gathered Constellations.
“But things are different now.”
“We have the Order of the Spirit Realm.”
This disaster had begun in Jerusalem in the Middle East and was spreading toward Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Until now, the Constellations had never possessed the ability to respond to an international catastrophe of this scale.
Even those willing to interfere directly in the Material Realm had never possessed enough influence to coordinate such a response.
But now...
there was the Order of the Spirit Realm.
The organization standing at the very summit of the Spirit Realm.
“That is true.”
Arjuna, sitting beside me, nodded.
“And we have a trustworthy leader in the Nameless King.”
“What will you do?”
“Of course...”
I spoke clearly.
“We’ll mobilize every resource available to the Order of the Spirit Realm and save the Material Realm.”
This was exactly the kind of crisis where we Constellations needed to intervene directly.
“Jason, contact Seok Taejun and have him prepare to respond.”
“You can take care of China and Japan too, right?”
“Yeah. I’ll contact the Constellations connected to those regions.”
“Bradamante, take overall command of the Contractors in Western Europe.”
“Can you do it?”
“Leave it to me, Nameless King!”
“And Perseus and Theseus...”
One by one, I assigned responsibilities to Constellations capable of overseeing different regions.
