Seeing the scene before them, Thanatos and Kali were both stunned.
"You actually weren’t charmed?"
Kali looked completely stunned, as if she could hardly believe what was happening before her eyes.
"Th-This..."
Thanatos was somewhat bewildered as well.
He had already had a vague feeling that Ishtar’s charm might not proceed smoothly, yet he had never expected that Riezel would actually be able to face her charm directly and still maintain his sense of self.
It was too astonishing.
If Loki had been here and seen this scene, she would surely have laughed out loud in schadenfreude.
"Heh, this kid’s basically immune to mental interference. Even if that lovestruck woman showed up, she wouldn’t be able to charm him. Who does Ishtar think she is?"
Loki would probably have mocked Ishtar, now lying on the ground fast asleep, like this.
"In truth, I should be the one admiring you," Riezel said calmly, stepping past Ishtar and slowly walking toward Thanatos and Kali. "You actually came right up to me on your own. As expected of gods. Is it because you know you can’t be killed, so you’re this fearless?"
Riezel’s words caused Thanatos and Kali to both take a step back.
"...You’re not planning to attack us, are you?"
As he asked this question, the expression on Thanatos’s face had already become extremely stiff.
In the Lower World, for mortals to slay gods was considered a sin, and it was treated as the greatest taboo.
Even though gods in the Lower World possessed only abilities equivalent to those of ordinary mortals, and any random adventurer could easily kill them, once a god received a fatal injury, the Arcanum (divine power) sealed within their body would activate and maintain the immortality of their flesh.
In other words, in the Lower World, even if a god suffered a fatal wound, they would not truly die.
Of course, once their Arcanum was activated, the god would be forcibly sent back to Heaven and could no longer remain in the Lower World to continue the game they regarded as entertainment.
Hence, the world regarded god-slaying as a taboo.
One reason was that such an act was a great disrespect, because a god was still a god, and mortals who showed no reverence would only invite hostility from the gods and from believers who worshiped them.
Another reason was that even if someone attacked a god, they could not truly kill them, but would instead offend them.
A third reason was that people did not want to be remembered by the gods, for that would inevitably lead to a dead end.
It was only natural, for even if a god was sent back to Heaven and could not descend again to seek revenge personally, they still had other ways to cause trouble.
For example, curses, or better yet, waiting until the mortal who killed them died before slowly dealing with their soul.
One shouldn’t forget that in this world, after a mortal died, their soul would travel to Heaven, where it would receive the judgment of the gods. After all the sins of their previous life were cleansed, the soul would be allowed to reincarnate.
Because of this system, some gods would willfully seize souls they liked or hated and keep them in their own hands, disposing of them however they pleased. Freya had once done exactly that, treating the souls of heroes whose soul radiance satisfied her as collectibles, arrogantly, unreasonably, and forcefully claiming them as her own.
For people of the Lower World who lost their personal freedom, this was undoubtedly an extremely painful fate.
In short, for many reasons, god-slaying had become a true taboo that everyone in the Lower World avoided.
Riezel himself was not afraid, but if he committed the taboo, the Loki Familia would very likely be implicated because of him.
Only gods could deal with gods.
Even five years ago, when Evilus was eradicated and its evil gods were sent back to Heaven one by one, the many familias led by Loki Familia had their own gods carry out the act. Under normal circumstances, even if the god standing before them was extremely unpleasant, it could not be Riezel personally sending them away.
However, not sending a god back to Heaven did not mean that Riezel could not do other things.
"I just gotta make sure you don’t receive fatal injuries."
Riezel smiled at the two gods, yet there was not the slightest trace of a smile in his eyes as he spoke.
"If we’re talking about throwing hands, almost everyone in our familia has beaten up that trashy goddess at home at least once. What’s there to be afraid of?"
"One mastermind and two helpers. Once I drag you out of here, Loki won’t even need to act—the Guild alone will be enough to make you suffer."
"Especially you, Thanatos. As the last surviving evil god of Evilus, you’ll probably be sent back to Heaven, right?"
As long as he left this place, there were plenty of gods outside who could give Thanatos the final blow.
Understanding the implication in Riezel’s words, Thanatos acted without hesitation—he turned and ran.
Just as Riezel was about to reach out, however, a group of people in black robes rushed out in the direction Thanatos was fleeing.
"Protect our god!"
"For our noble god, we offer up our lives!"
"Stop him!"
"Even in death, we must not let him harm Lord Thanatos!"
Shouting these words, every one of them tore open the black robes they wore, and as expected, their bodies were bound with numerous Kaenseki.
After releasing the safety mechanisms of the Kaenseki, these remnants of Evilus who belonged to the Thanatos Familia rushed toward Riezel without regard for their lives.
In response, Riezel merely chanted a single magic.
"Shockwave."
In the next instant, a powerful shockwave burst violently from Riezel’s body.
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
The suicidal fighters who had ignited the Kaenseki on their bodies were all blasted away by the shockwave, exploding midair as surging waves of flames engulfed them before they were reduced to charred corpses and fell to the ground.
"Greater Teleportation."
After dealing with the suicidal fighters, Riezel activated teleportation magic and, in a flash, appeared directly in front of Thanatos, who was running away with his back to the temple ruin.
*BANG!*
"AH!"
Thanatos only felt his vision blur as a figure suddenly appeared before him. Unable to stop himself in time, he crashed straight into it and was knocked to the ground, crying out in pain.
Riezel reached out his hand, about to cast sleep magic on Thanatos, but—
"E!"
Thanatos, whose head hurt badly from the fall, immediately shouted without caring about his dignity.
*BOOM!*
In an instant, the ground beneath Thanatos suddenly split open, and he fell straight down into it and disappeared.
"A trap to escape?"
Riezel froze for a moment out of instinct, then immediately drew his sword and was about to destroy the floor made of adamantite so he could chase after him, but before he could act, a faint sound of something cutting through the air stopped him.
*Swish!*
In the darkness, a figure rushed forward at astonishing speed and launched a surprise attack, just like Revis had at the beginning, except that this figure was even faster than Revis, and the attack it launched was not a slash from a jet-black longsword, but a punch thrown from a metal gauntlet.
*Clang!*
A transparent gleam flashed across Riezel’s eyes, and without hesitation, he raised Fool, which he had just drawn, and used the flat of its blade to block the incoming punch that erupted with shocking force, the impact blasting a gust of wind that pushed Riezel back and knocked him nearly ten meters away.
"It’s you?"
Feeling that monstrous strength possessed only by the figure, Riezel had already guessed who it was before he even saw the other party’s appearance clearly.
With both Revis and Olivas already defeated by him, only one Creature remained among the underground forces.
Before Riezel stood a figure wearing a long hooded robe, a mask covering their face, and metal gloves on both hands. More importantly, the aura they emitted, as well as the degree of ferocity they carried, surpassed even that of Revis.
Needless to say, this Creature was the one whom Thanatos and the others had called Ein.
"..."
After the failed strike, Ein said nothing and simply looked at Riezel for a moment before immediately retreating.
Seeing this, Riezel’s eyes turned slightly cold.
"Firebolt."
Without the slightest hesitation, Riezel cast fast attack magic.
*Whoosh!*
Thick flame lightning burst from his hand, streaking through the air at high speed, its firelight dispersing the surrounding darkness as it shot toward Ein.
Facing this fast attack magic, Ein also chose to cast magic.
"Sweep, holy staff of crushing evil."
Accompanied by a hoarse chant that sounded as if several voices were overlapping at once, the opponent released magic.
"Dio Thyrsos!"
It was a single-shot magic with a lightning attribute.
As soon as it was released, a pitch-black bolt of lightning shot out like a streak of silk, piercing through the darkness and rushing toward the crimson, flaming lightning.
*BOOM!*
When the crimson flame lightning and the pitch-black lightning collided heavily in midair, a thunderous explosion erupted, causing the two attacks to cancel each other out.
"Liberator Riezel Brynhart."
Only then did Ein speak to Riezel in a strange-sounding voice.
"You have ruined many of Lord Enyo’s plans. Sooner or later, we will settle this account."
"For now, you should first witness the hell that comes next."
"A true hell."
After leaving behind these words, Ein chanted magic again and released another roaring bolt of lightning.
"Magic Destruction."
Riezel raised his hand and dispelled the lightning that had shot toward him, causing the powerful pitch-black lightning to immediately shatter and scatter, turning into countless arcs and sparks before disappearing.
However, Ein disappeared along with it.
Still, Riezel no longer cared about them—or rather, her.
What concerned him now was what she had just said.
’A true hell...? Could it be...’
Thinking of something that had happened in the original story, Riezel’s expression changed slightly.
In that very moment, a world-shaking phenomenon occurred.
*BOOOM!*
When a deafening roar erupted—echoing throughout the entire Knossos, shooting straight into the sky, and even spreading to the surface—a violent earthquake followed.
Riezel witnessed a miracle with his own eyes—it was a pillar of light reaching from heaven to earth.
The pillar of light rose from deep underground, as if it had come from the depths of the stars, breaking through layer after layer of Knossos’s floors and ceilings, producing thunderous roars and tremors comparable to a magnitude ten earthquake.
The pillar of light continued surging upward until it finally burst through the ground and shot into the clouds.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: /VALRRR]