I Became Jörmungandr In A Fantasy World

Chapter 38

The journey to the Holy Kingdom ended surprisingly quickly.

Along the way, minor beasts and monsters appeared, but they were of little concern. Just by releasing my energy, they fled in fear.

The real challenge began now.

We had to sneak into the Holy Kingdom.

However, no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out a way to infiltrate the Holy Kingdom unnoticed.

It was obvious why.

The only entrance to the Holy Kingdom was a gate carved into the massive wall surrounding it.

That gate was guarded by thorough inspections.

If it were just Ellie, it wouldn't be much of a problem.

But the issue was our companion, Belial. She was none other than the Saint of the Holy Kingdom. There wasn’t a soul in the Holy Kingdom who didn’t recognize her face. Even if we could silence the Holy Kingdom's knights, the disturbance would certainly alert the Demon God.

Of course.

Breaking through the wall with my power was out of the question.

Whether or not I could breach the wall was irrelevant; if I revealed my power at this distance, the Demon God would surely notice.

It was truly a predicament.

We had reached our destination but couldn’t enter. It was an ambiguous and frustrating situation.

As I was contemplating, the Saint manipulated the carriage and headed towards a deep part of the forest.

The area was a forest right next to the wall.

However, it was far enough from the main gate that there wasn’t a soul around.

[What is this place?]

"This is an escape route I dug."

Saying that, the Saint let her divine power flow into what seemed like an ordinary patch of ground. With a rumbling sound, a hidden passage opened.

It was a rather sophisticated tunnel.

The tunnel leading into the cave was smooth, as if coated with something, and the massive tunnel extending endlessly emitted a faint glow.

I could tell that everything was crafted from divine power.

'Did she use divine power to carve the tunnel and make it glow?'

Using the bright, illuminating properties of divine power, she had carved the tunnel and placed glowing divine markers at intervals along the way.

The process itself wasn’t surprising.

But the scale of the tunnel was beyond imagination.

"W-where does this lead...?"

As we entered what seemed like a narrow tunnel, we were greeted by a massive cavern.

The effort required to create this was unimaginable.

Everywhere, divine power had been intricately shaped to mimic furniture, and there was even a small pond in one corner of the cavern.

"This was originally made to escape the Pope's watchful eye. Life under his scrutiny was too suffocating, so I created this secret hideout for myself."

This was more than just a secret hideout.

There was an excessive amount of divine power illuminating the cavern.

It was such a vast quantity that, even for a Saint, it would have taken more than a day or two to create.

It must have taken a very long time.

And she had to do it while avoiding the Pope's attention.

Perhaps sensing my thoughts, the Saint nodded quietly.

"Yes, it took me about ten years to make this. But it was somewhat enjoyable. Back then, I needed something to pour all my energy into."

The Saint said this with a bitter smile, as if recalling old memories.

The reason was clear as day.

Ellie and I remained silent.

There was nothing we could say.

We couldn’t relate to what she had gone through, and empty words might only come off as mockery.

Belial noticed our silence and smiled brightly.

The tunnel was silent.

Of course, a tunnel dug deep underground wouldn’t be noisy, but that wasn’t the kind of silence I was referring to.

[It’s... quiet.]

"Huh?"

Belial tilted her head at my words.

It was only natural.

There was no reason for a tunnel like this to be noisy.

But it was strange that even I found it quiet.

My senses had already surpassed the limits of normalcy.

If there were no constraints in this world, I could sense events happening on the opposite side of the planet.

I could even wipe out the world with a single gesture.

The reason I didn’t do such things was.

Because the numerous plausible constraints that made up this world made it impossible.

Even the primordial gods couldn’t whimsically manipulate the plausibility that formed this world.

This was why the Demon God hadn’t manifested in the human realm yet. This world was intricately structured.

The agreements made between all beings to protect the planet were in effect.

Therefore.

I normally kept my senses greatly restrained.

But even these restrained senses defied conventional understanding.

That’s why I felt something was off.

I assumed it was due to the magic on the walls surrounding the Holy Kingdom.

A wall with divine protection.

I thought it was because of this wall that I couldn’t hear any sound.

But.

As we dug through the wall.

And approached the inner depths of the Holy Kingdom.

I still couldn’t hear anything.

The laughter of children that should have filled the air, the sounds of merchants buying and selling goods, the prayers of people before the Goddess’s statues.

All those sounds.

Were like noise completely absent from my hearing.

What existed was a suffocating silence.

[Be careful.]

"......."

"......."

Finally understanding my warning, the two of them swallowed nervously.

Something unusual was happening.

With that realization, we passed through the endless tunnel, and at last, we reached the transparent barrier the Saint had secretly created.

"Ah...."

There.

Was an endless darkness.

A pitch-black, amorphous presence had engulfed the vast underground, turning the once white statue of the Goddess black and crumbling it to dust.

The remnants of the Demon God were nowhere to be seen.

The shattered door above ground and the sticky, tar-like black slime told us where it had gone.

The Demon God’s target wasn’t us.

It was the exact opposite.

With the Goddess’s power now gone, its target was the Holy Kingdom itself.