BXBX NOVEL Chapter 328: Rational Judgment
Chapter 328: Rational Judgment
"You hide quite well!!"
Frey, who had entered the forbidden area in the back alleys of the empire, was literally going wild.
- Roarrrrr!!!
As he plunged his sword into the ground with all his might, a terrifying roar began to resonate everywhere.
"When did you create a hideout in such a place again?"
After hitting the innocent ground for a while, Frey sheathed his sword and whispered, as a secret space appeared before him.
"How could a person who has nothing to be afraid of prepare so well? I don\'t think someone who proclaims himself as a god within the Church would be scared of me."
Seeing the secret space revealed before him, Frey smiled and sheathed his sword when he saw the defensive barrier protecting the secret place slowly cracked open."Aha!"
To fasten the process of cracking the barrier, Frey started hacking at the barrier with the table that he brought. In the middle of swinging the table, he realized something.
"Despite what you said, you actually enjoyed playing tag, didn\'t you?"
- Crack, craaack...
"Indeed, there\'s nothing quite as thrilling as playing like a child, right?"
- Crash!!
Finally, the barrier was destroyed, and Frey entered the underground building.
"But, isn\'t this level of defense too shoddy? I thought you were confident in your hiding skills..."
Frey muttered with a puzzled expression.
“Are you one of those types who always thinks you’re good at the game? Haaa… Whenever you play with someone, there is always that one guy....”
"...What\'s going on?"
Meanwhile, the Pope, who was watching the scene through divination magic, stood up with a twisted expression.
"How could he infiltrate so quickly...?"
This place was not a shoddy hideout constructed over a few years. This was an invincible fortress secretly built by the Church over hundreds of years.
Layers upon layers of divine power and miracles were compounded in the barrier, and even top-tier defensive magics from some corrupt mages of the Magic Tower were densely intertwined within the barrier.
Yet, such extreme defense measures were being sliced through like butter with a single swing of a sword, and worse, smashed to pieces by a plain folding table.
He simply couldn\'t understand. How could this be happening?
"...It\'s useless anyway."
Growing increasingly restless with sweat in his palms, the Pope tried to calm himself down and muttered,
"This underground hideout itself is like a labyrinth. Even if it\'s him, reaching this room would–"
However, he couldn\'t finish his sentence.
- Boomm!! Booommm
"..."
Through the divination magic, he saw Frey, with his gaze fixed on one spot, rushing towards one direction by smashing through walls.
All the carefully prepared traps, undead soldiers, and barriers were useless.
That madman charged straight towards the room where he was in. He demolished everything in his path with that godforsaken sword aura infused table of his.
"I-Is the teleportation ready yet?"
"I-It\'s almost done. Just a little longer."
"Damn. Damn..."
Both the Pope and the priest were shaking uncontrollably. Hearing the priest’s answer, the Pope clenched his fist, and muttered.
"If I make it out of here alive... I must find more sorcerers. Definitely..."
Traditionally, the Church had extremely poor relations with the Magic Tower. They had a longstanding rule of not allowing ‘mage’ into the Church at all.
Of course, it was possible due to the existence of priests within the Church who were referred to as \'sorcerers\' that performed ‘miracles’ instead of magic.
However, for the first time, the Pope deeply regretted maintaining such tradition.
"Those mages from the Magic Tower could do this in five minutes! Why are you taking so long!!"
"W-We are priests... Your Holiness. There\'s a big difference between sorcery and magic..."
"...Damn it!"
For performing complex tasks like spatial teleportation, the structured magic was more advantageous than the unstructured sorcery.
"From now on, we\'ll enlist mages as operatives!"
"Y-Your Holiness! That\'s..."
"If you don\'t like it, then finish the sorcery quickly!"
Feeling an unintended thrill, the Pope muttered as he felt the vibrations getting closer.
"What… What in the world is going on?"
He was the leader of the Church that not only dominated the Empire but also had deep roots across the world.
The Empire was already in his hands, and one by one, the kingdoms of the West Continent were adopting the Sun God as their state religion.
Even now, as he reached out to the East Continent, the land of martial arts and righteousness, the Church was thriving more than ever before, and he could establish a theocratic nation within a few years.
Yet, that impregnable fortress, and he as its leader, was about to be entirely defeated by some lunatic.
"...This is maddening."
Originally, the Pope thought he could handle someone like Frey.
He himself had been directly bestowed with power by ‘that person’. And not only him, but all the executives and even the Paladin Commander of the Paladin Order had received power from ‘that person’.
So until a few days ago, the Pope had nothing to fear except ‘that person’. But everything changed after Frey brought down the Emperor.
The Sunrise Empire Emperor, Raikon Solar Sunrise.
He was someone who found everything annoying and even dared to yawn in the presence of the Pope. Yet, despite his nonchalant demeanor, his strength rivaled that of the world\'s strongest.
The Church\'s inability to dominate the Imperial Family, by extension the Empire, and establish a theocracy, ultimately stemmed from the Emperor\'s resistance.
Of course, if the Pope himself or the Paladin Commander and the executives were to act, they could surely handle the situation. However, it was clear that there would be a fierce battle in which a lot of blood would inevitably be shed, even for the Church.
"That bastard… Where on earth did he get such power?"
But that madman not only defeated the Emperor in less than a day but also succeeded in the rebellion.
So the Pope planned to declare ‘excommunication’ to break his momentum, he also planned to send the Knight Commander and the executives to hunt him down slowly. But somehow, that lunatic managed to immediately find this place, and the whole plan went awry.
"Can\'t we go where the Knight Commander and the executives are?"
"...I\'m sorry. There\'s not enough time for that. Moving to the nearest hideout is the best we can do at the moment."
"Damn it."
Unfortunately, the Knight Commander and the executives were all abroad or in remote places. If they were here, they could have stopped that lunatic, no matter how formidable he was.
…Or could they?
- Wiggle, wiggle...
The Pope, with tentacles transplanted into his left arm, looked at Frey with a tense expression as he burst into maniacal laughter.
Now, the distance between him and Frey was almost gone. If Frey were to launch an attack right now, he might be cut in half.
Since it has come to this...
Suddenly, he thought.
Why not pretend to be crazy and fight him?
As the Pope, who had received the greatest favor from ‘that person’ as their direct subordinate, if one only considered authority or combat power, he was on par with not only the Knight Commander but also the Emperor.
"Huh? What\'s this? A door??"
"...It won\'t work."
However, as Frey\'s crazed voice echoed from behind the door, the Pope immediately shook his head and muttered.
"I\'ve never fought before. There\'s no way I can defeat him."
The Pope was very quick to rationalize.
Actually, it was more due to his innate cowardice and fragility rather than his quick rationalization.
Although he always displayed a poker face and exceptional charisma in front of the executives and members of the Church, in reality, the Pope was so timid that he thought he had a complex.
- Boom!
“Ugh…”
As the thick door blocking the room he was in began to shake, the Pope retreated with cold sweat dripping down his back.
He wanted to assert his dignity as the Pope, but there was nothing he could do when there was a man in front of him who could beat even the Emperor to the brink of death.
- Crash!
“Why is the door here? It’s annoying.”
Continuing to step back, the Pope closed his eyes tightly and shouted in frustration as the door began to show signs of yielding.
"The sorcery! When will the teleportation finish!!"
"J-Just a little more..."
"Damn it! You said the same thing before!!"
However, the priests continued to sweat profusely as they performed sorcery.
This is maddening. I wouldn\'t be in this mess if even one of the executives were here...
"Um, excuse me. Is the Pope here?"
"Euk."
The Pope, muttering internally to find excuses for his current predicament, felt his eyes begin to waver as he heard Frey’s voice behind the shaking door.
"Is the Pope there??"
"...T-The Pope is not here"
As Frey\'s voice grew colder, the Pope closed his eyes tightly and whispered.
That lunatic has lost his mind. There’s a chance that I can deceive him.
Having often performed various miracles as the Pope, the Pope thought he might be able to deceive Frey.
"Really? Then where did he go?"
"E-Everyone has already evacuated to another hideout."
Listening to Frey\'s voice, the Pope\'s eyes sparkled with hope and enthusiasm.
“As a low-ranking priest, I had no choice but to remain under the Pope’s orders.”
"Hmm..."
"I-It’s true. Please believe me..."
The Pope spoke with a sobbing voice.
His acting was so realistic that he suddenly burst with indignation and resentment as he realized the absurdity of his predicament.
"P-Please spare me. I\'ll tell you the location of the hideout where the Pope escaped, so please..."
If I send him to another hideout, I can buy enough time for me to escape where the executives are. At that point, even if he comes back, it\'ll be futile.
Just like that, the Pope smiled in satisfaction while making a sobbing voice.
- Crack...!
"Is that so?"
"Arghh...!"
Suddenly, Frey plunged his sword into the door, and it pierced straight into the Pope’s eyes, causing him to scream in pain as he staggered back.
"But... who\'s there?"
Looking at the Pope through the hole pierced by the sword, Frey made a chilling expression.
"Your Holiness?"
"Ugh, ugh..."
- Crackle!
"...Huh?"
Fear gripped him so tightly that he forgot the pain in his eyes. And when he heard the crackling sound from behind, the Pope turned around urgently.
"It\'s... It\'s complete..."
Thanks to the priests\' extreme efforts, the teleportation sorcery was completed.
"G-Get out of the way!!"
Upon seeing the completed sorcery, the Pope\'s eyes turned crazed, and he jumped into it without hesitation.
"Haha! Hahaha!!"
"What a crazy guy..."
Then, with an expression of terror, the Pope stared at Frey.
“Be prepared, Frey. I will excommunicate you, and you will soon suffer the consequences for your actions today!”
After seeing his body turned into light, he smirked and whispered as Frey opened the door and entered the room.
"All members of the Church will become your enemies. For daring to turn against the Sun God Church, you will pay dearly—"
"Pope, do you know?"
However, before he could finish his sentence, Frey interjected him.
"In fact, I really like playing tag."
"You can babble on all you want. The nonsense of a madman doesn\'t scare me in the least..."
"107° 46° 99°"
"..."
As Frey quietly whispered the coordinates, the Pope\'s complexion turned pale.
"It wouldn\'t be fun to end it all at once, right?"
"Wha..."
“Let’s have a good game, okay?”
Frey whispered to the bewildered Pope and then darted out of the room with a refreshed smile on his face.
"... A-Anyone save me."
The Pope\'s mind began to blank out.
.
.
.
.
.
A few hours after I started playing tag with the Pope.
"Hurry up...hurry up with the sorcery..."
Watching the wall in front of him shatter into pieces, the Pope, with an expression of complete despair, was about to disappear for the third time.
"Pope!! This is already the third time!! Isn’t this really fun?”
"Uh...uhh..."
"But there won\'t be a fourth time! I\'ve already had enough fun!"
I beamed towards the trembling Pope and shouted at him, causing him to let out a groan.
"296° 69° 78°."
As I whispered the coordinates to the Pope with a smile, the Pope couldn\'t bear it any longer and started to scream in despair.
"HOW… HOW ON EARTH DO YOU KNOW ALL THE LOCATION—!!!"
But before the Pope could finish his sentence, he vanished, turning into light.
"Haha..."
I watched him with satisfaction, when suddenly, I felt my legs start to lose strength.
"..."
I ended up sitting down. It seemed like I reached my limit.
“For a bluff, this is quite successful.”
In fact, I had reached my limit long before the game of tag began.
I had been forcing myself to maintain the ultimate move that should have been over when I defeated the Emperor, so it\'s only natural that this would happen.
"Ugh..."
Blood started to trickle from my mouth.
If the Pope were to attack me in this state, I couldn\'t guarantee victory. After all, the Pope was a formidable opponent on par with the Emperor.
"Hehe..."
So, I utilized the Pope\'s complex, his cowardly and corrupt nature. Breaking into the room at the moment he was about to teleport and destroying the facilities were all calculated moves.
"It\'s a bit tough..."
However, his complex was also his strength. In the previous cycle, the character who survived until the very end was the kind that could turn the tables around if underestimated.
Although he is not as cool as other villains, the person who best fit the saying that ‘the person who survives to the end is the strong one’ was the Pope.
"..."
Anyway, this should delay the declaration of the ‘excommunication’ for a while.
I already goaded him with the location of his hiding place and escape pattern, which I knew thanks to the prophecies and information from the previous cycle. He would probably be too busy fleeing to a safe hideout for a while.
However, it was impossible to stop the declaration of excommunication by following him like this forever. If I kept doing this, I would certainly lay defeated.
Successfully orchestrating the rebellion against the Imperial Family alone was already a huge gain. Pushing for an all out war with the Church could result in a major setback. So, for now, it was better to take a step back.
"Hiikkkk..."
"L-Lord Frey...please spare me..."
- Step… Step…
As I left the safe house, leaving behind the nuns and priests cowering in the corner, I muttered quietly.
"If I can\'t prevent the declaration of the ‘excommunication’, then I just need to minimize its effect."
Before destroying it, I had to undermine the Church\'s reputation as much as possible.
Now is the time for rational judgment.
.
.
.
.
.
Several minutes after Frey left the safe house.
"Kyahhhh!!!"
"This, this madness...!"
"Ah, aah..."
In the heart of the imperial capital, citizens and nuns looked up with pale faces.
- Rumble...
The world-renowned sacred site, older and more splendid than the imperial palace, the Church\'s main cathedral, was divided in two and crumbling.
"After all, there\'s a need to make rational judgments too. If you act too crazy, it can backfire.”
Frey muttered quietly to himself as he watched the unfolding chaos.
"...By the way, where did you hide the statues of the Sun God???"
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the nuns began to /genesisforsaken