The hamster was momentarily shocked, but now was not the time to ask about that.
There would be plenty of time to ask after that evil god's voice disappeared.
-...It's difficult. Like I just said, that isn't its true body. It's only its voice.
If it had descended here through the worshipers, they might have been able to damage it.
Of course, even fallen as it was, if an evil god of that scale had truly descended, rather than worrying about damaging it, they would have needed to worry about this brat's life first...
'Wait. If I die, can't I escape?'
The hamster wondered why it had even been worried about that.
If the currently cursed body collapsed, its soul should be able to flee toward one of the spare bodies it had prepared!
'Am I seriously getting more and more insane?!'
'Its voice?'
At Lee Han's words, the hamster immediately came back to its senses.
-Y-yes. Attacking a paper bird doesn't hurt the mage who sent it.
The corpses of those worshipers were currently a kind of paper bird.
A means for the evil god to transmit its words.
No matter how much they attacked the corpses, they could not strike the evil god beyond them. To do that, they would have to find the evil god's stronghold.
-Don't feel humiliated. The fact that it's acting arrogantly is actually fortunate for us.
The hamster warned Lee Han in case he lost patience and caused some kind of incident.
If he provoked it unnecessarily and the evil god actually descended here, things would become genuinely dangerous. Hadn't this brat mage's forces all been scattered?
'Right. It'll notice if I try to tell it some clumsy lie anyway, so I'm only helping this once.'
Thinking that, the hamster quickly composed itself.
'Fortunate? What exactly do you mean...'
-Divine beings are powerful because of their unique flawlessness. They have no ego, so they have no real existence either. They merely exist like laws.
That was also why evil-god worshipers had been able to exist on the continent for such a long time.
Even if a bishop was executed and an Order collapsed, as long as believers remained, that law would eventually revive.
-But as you can tell from the way it mocked us just now, it is no longer a law. It possesses an ego and real existence. If that's the case, it can also be destroyed forever.
"...!"
Even powerful multidimensional beings could meet their end if their true bodies were attacked.
If one attacked the Yaksha King's palace in the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas, surely...
-The Yaksha King?
'Hmm. I don't know why I used the Yaksha King as my example either.'
Lee Han changed the example. For some reason, when he thought of a powerful dimensional being, the Yaksha King had come to mind first.
Sanguros too could be annihilated if they attacked its stronghold!
'That certainly makes sense... But isn't this divine being acting far too casually? It would have been better to hide its identity instead of going out of its way to mock me.'
-Powerful bastards usually have at least one deranged aspect to them. Look at your archmage. It wouldn't {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} be strange if that monster had already left for another dimension long ago, yet he's obsessed with his territory.
'That's a rather mild way of being insane.'
Without realizing it, Lee Han defended the Skull Principal.
He could understand an Einroguard student insulting the Skull Principal, but he could not accept a wicked magical criminal doing it.
-Its power is formidable, but its thinking is simple and easy to understand. It awakened to an ego and gained immense power, but it is no longer in the comfortable and perfect state it had before. It must be anxious, restless, and boiling over with all sorts of desires it doesn't understand. Otherwise, there would be no reason for it to mock us like that.
Despite having lost its magic, the hamster read the psychology contained in the evil god's very origin. It was indeed worthy of an experienced magical criminal.
The evil god clearly possessed immense power, yet was deeply dissatisfied that the Order worshiping it had fallen on the continent.
Otherwise there would be no reason for this kind of provocation...
"...Ugh! As expected of Sanguros! You're so powerful that there's nothing I can do! And now you don't even need faith anymore!"
-What the hell are you doing???
The hamster was bewildered.
It was so dumbfounded that even the somewhat archaic way it usually spoke vanished.
'You said it's unstable because it was newly born.'
-I never said newly born...
Even a newborn probably wouldn't fall for flattery like that, would it?
Indeed! Have you finally realized that you must submit?!
-......
The hamster was speechless.
It fell for that garbage flattery??
-So gaining intelligence actually lowered its intelligence. What an idiot, disgracing evil gods everywhere!
'Please say that my flattery was excellent.'
"Would the great Sanguros perhaps have need of a new believer?"
I would not go so far as to refuse if mortals wished to serve me. Hahahaha... If I am pleased, I may even bestow Authority upon you.
"I don't mean ordinary service. I would like to come personally and serve you. Around where in the dimensions are you?"
-......
The hamster wondered whether the other party's intelligence had dropped so much that Wardanaz's intelligence had dropped along with it.
That blatantly?
Good!
The blood over the worshipers' corpses tangled together and formed a blood-red key.
It was a dimensional object radiating an ominous aura.
Follow this key. If you pass the trial, I shall grant you the honor of meeting me. Hahahaha...
"Hahaha!"
Lee Han made a decision inwardly.
The moment preparations were complete, he would mobilize every dimensional connection he possessed and go attack this evil god!
Lee Han was even prepared to ask the Yaksha King for help.
A wise decision. That traitor, that beast, and that mage above all fear me in truth. I am a god, and a being that surpasses gods! Hahahahaha...
As though Sanguros had truly said everything it wished to say, the red pattern lost its power and disappeared.
Enster asked in stunned disbelief.
"What in the world just happened? More importantly, exterminating Sanguros?"
"I told you before. I've always enjoyed exterminating evil-god worshipers."
"Y-you did. But... that sounded like something on a completely different level from an ordinary clash... Wait. There's a mage above us?!"
Only belatedly realizing what Sanguros had said, Enster was horrified.
Had enemies already gathered outside?!
"Ah! Those assassins are still over there!"
"Where... Ghk!"
Lee Han fired a Water Jade Bullet at full power.
Since the other man would naturally be carrying several defensive spells anyway, there was no need to adjust the power.
Then Lee Han sent a signal upward.
-Professor? I think you can come down now.
***
The role assigned to the two professors and the Death Knights waiting above was simple.
The moment Lee Han sent the signal, they were to charge down.
As long as Enster's means of escape had been blocked, it did not matter whether the underground workshop had golems lined up inside or the Skull Principal himself standing there.
"He's late."
Professor Voladi checked the time and spoke.
The time they had initially expected had already passed, yet no signal had come.
That was because Enster had even brought out a brazier to verify Lee Han, but it was not easy for those outside to know that.
Professor Kirmin and the knights immediately began jeering.
"You're trying to ignore the plan and act on your own again!"
-Overprotective bastard! You should've kept promises like that back when you were a student!
"I didn't say I was going in."
Professor Voladi remained unmoved even by jeers harsh enough that an ordinary Einroguard mage would have angrily drawn a staff.
More importantly, they had arranged for a separate signal if a dangerous situation arose, and no such signal had come yet.
Once they had vented all their accumulated resentment, Professor Kirmin and the knights whispered among themselves.
"What do you think?"
-The problem is if he escapes. If the Successor brings out every method available to him, there's no way a workshop can stop him no matter how many golems are stacked inside.
"Right. That should be true."
A short while later.
They felt a faint wave of mana.
It was the phenomenon caused by Lee Han pouring excessive mana into the deep underground level where the workshop's mana core was located.
"That mana just now..."
"And that's why you want to go down now?!"
-If that was what you were going to do, you should've just used the evil-god worshipers like the Successor suggested!
This time Professor Voladi did not even answer.
There was simply too little informational value in the jeering.
A little while later.
Some workers arrived at the workshop. Amrek, who had been slightly cowed by the mages' sharp jeering, hurriedly explained.
"They're workers employed by workshops around this area. They've worked at Enster's workshop a few times as well."
"Strange."
It was the middle of a pitch-black night. There were few reasons for workers to suddenly appear.
Professor Kirmin and the knights answered indifferently.
"Never seen workers move before dawn?"
-They're probably trying to move some cargo in advance.
No aura or hostility could be felt from the workers.
If they overreacted and interfered with workers like that, they might instead arouse Enster's suspicion.
But Professor Voladi fell into thought alone, bothered by a vague sense of unease.
Separate from logic, some instinctive intuition was irritating the professor.
Rumble-rumble-rumble-Boom-
Then the sound of explosions came from inside. Anyone could tell it was a full-scale battle in which several golems had exploded.
"!!!"
Professor Kirmin and the knights went pale.
Not because of the explosion.
An explosion from a golem or two was something Wardanaz could surely handle on his own.
The problem was the workers they had let pass.
If this chaos had erupted immediately after they went down, did that not mean the workers' identities were different from what they had assumed?!
"What the hell?! There wasn't any magic on them!!"
-What kind of bastards are they?!
They immediately moved in confusion.
No matter how they thought about it, it was strange. They had definitely sensed no power whatsoever from them.
Professor Voladi, running in front, glanced at them once.
Then the professor turned away again and entered the workshop first.
"......"
-......
Professor Kirmin and the Death Knights had nothing they could say even if they had ten mouths.
They should have just gone down immediately earlier...!
***
"Ah. You're here."
"!"
Fortunately, everything below was fine. Lee Han looked impressed when the group descended immediately after he sent the signal.
"You arrived faster than I expected. The workshop passages are fairly complicated, and there should still be several defensive spells remaining above..."
-H-haha. Something like that isn't enough to interfere with us.
The Death Knights tried to change the subject while hiding the fact that they had already been running before receiving the signal.
-So this is the magical criminal! You bastard! You wicked, despicable fiend! In the name of honor, I will never forgive you!
-Let's drag him away and imprison him forever! We should throw him into the underground of Einroguard where no one will ever find him!
"??"
Lee Han was puzzled because the knights seemed a little different from usual.
They weren't normally like that, were they?
"More importantly, Professor. There's a problem."
"I-it isn't a major problem, is it? You're not hurt anywhere?"
Professor Kirmin checked the student's condition while watching the reaction of the professor's friend. It might only have been imagination, but the gaze coming from behind felt strangely piercing.
"Ah. I'm not hurt."
"Thank goodness! That's really a relief!"
"...???"
Lee Han became even more confused.
Why exactly were they acting like this?
"Is this because of Enster? He was a strong mage, but I deceived him properly from the beginning, so it wasn't dangerous."
"It's a long story. In any case, if you're not hurt, then it can't be that serious a problem."
"Actually, I spoke directly with Sangur—"
Professor Kirmin flew sideways and slammed into the corridor wall.
The professor's friend had shoved the professor away.
Professor Voladi, who had rushed over, asked with unmistakable shock on the professor's face.
"How did you speak with it?"
"......"
Had the two professors perhaps been fighting upstairs while Lee Han was gone?
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