## Chapter 1270 – An Extremely Ominous Presence

Kadie explained the unusual incident in a calm tone.

“The paladins in the vicinity headed to the site to exterminate the heretics.”
“That’s only natural.”

If something like that happened, it was natural for the paladins to go.

“But… among the paladins hunting the heretics, some experienced strange things.”
“Strange experiences?”
“Yes.”

So this was the incident that Kadie found odd. I quietly fondled Kadie’s breasts while listening intently to her explanation.

ㅡSqueeze, squeeze.

Is there anything better in the world than breasts you can squeeze to your heart’s content?

“Paladin? Could you refrain from that while I’m talking?”
“Ah, why? Let me touch them.”
“…You really like breasts, don’t you.”

Kadie cleared her throat and continued.

“I should mention this first. Some of the paladins who went to hunt the heretics suddenly went missing.”
“What!”

Missing!
This is a huge deal!

“But… they were found again not long after.”

What?

“There were no deaths. Nor were there any injuries. The paladins who hadn’t disappeared noticed their brothers were gone and immediately switched to a search operation. Thanks to the search operation, they also exterminated quite a few heretics who were hiding.”
“Wait, Kadie. I understand what you’re saying, but why did they suddenly go missing?”
“Wait, I’ll explain.”

I had to.

“Once missing, the paladins were found and rescued after a minimum of half a day to a maximum of two days. The time seems to vary. Even though they launched a search operation as soon as they noticed one of their brothers had disappeared, it took that long.”

What is this?

They disappeared before their eyes.
They searched but couldn’t find them, and then they were discovered after some time?

What kind of mystery is this?

“As I said, the paladins who were found had only lost consciousness and showed no signs of any external injuries.”
“So no one died. And no one was hurt.”

Kadie nodded.

It just felt like they suddenly vanished and then reappeared.

“However… the paladins who woke up were all experiencing memory confusion. They had no recollection of why they had disappeared. Some were even experiencing mild confusion.”
“Hmm.”
“I received numerous reports like this. More than twenty paladins have had such experiences.”

It was definitely an unusual incident.

“That’s strange.”

First of all, it was strange that the heretics collectively got erections and then got wiped out, but the paladins who went to investigate suddenly disappeared and were found unconscious?

Their memories were also unclear. More than anything, they were said to have been left lying there. In an area swarming with heretics.

“But why? Why didn’t they kill them? If they were capable of doing that, they could have killed the paladins, right?”

There were one or two suspicious and strange things.

If a paladin had died… well, I would have thought it was possible. That lich bitch knew how to use gate magic and could mass-produce death knights with a certain level of strength.

If they engaged in combat, a paladin could definitely die.

But the paladins didn’t die. They were just left lying there unconscious, and when they were found and asked, they were half-lost in their memories and talking nonsense.

Why didn’t they kill them?

Logically, it would make sense to kill them as soon as they lost consciousness. If I were a heretic, that’s what I would have done. And what’s with 20 people having that experience? It’s too suspicious that not a single one died during that time.

If they could do that to 20 people… no. If they had that ability, it would be easier to kill 20 people. Doing it this way is actually more difficult.

“…”

As I was thinking, Kadie said.

“Either they couldn’t kill them, or there was a special reason why they didn’t.”

Right.

“It can’t be that they couldn’t kill them, judging from the paladins’ condition. Their memories are unclear, and they were found collapsed. It’s easy to kill someone who’s defenseless and sleeping.”

That’s right.

Thinking about it again.

No matter how strong the paladins are, it’s not like they’re invincible if they’re caught in some kind of trick and lose consciousness. Stabbing a knife into the neck of someone who can’t move is as easy as killing a child.

“There’s no way the heretics, who readily sacrifice their lives, wouldn’t have thought of that.”
“Then there’s a reason why they didn’t.”

So they deliberately left them like that?

Why?

The fact that they didn’t bother to kill them and just left them there is incomprehensible. If you’ve neutralized an enemy, you should kill them. Quite a few heretics have died, and if there were that many troop losses, they would have to reduce the enemy’s strength to make up for it.

It’s not a logical thing to do.

Did they all go crazy? Or did a heretic mage create a scene to test his magic?

Thinking like this makes sense.

To test some kind of magic, they sacrificed a large number of subordinate heretics as bait, and then used that opportunity to do something to the paladins.

But there’s no reason to go through all this trouble.
More than anything, it’s noticeable.

“Whether they kill them or leave them, the result that an investigation team will come won’t change.”
“That’s why I think it’s strange. Isn’t it too weird? If the paladins had died, I would have thought a battle had taken place. This is beyond common sense.”
“It’s not uncommon for heretics to deviate from common sense.”
“Still, this is unusual.”
“I agree.”

I shared my thoughts with Kadie for a moment. Kadie and I had similar speculations. A heretic mage is testing new magic. Or they’re trying to figure out the level of our paladins.

“Mental magic?”
“The paladins who experienced that and the other paladins on the scene are also considering that possibility. They’re being careful.”
“Hmm.”

Did they do a test to brainwash the paladins with mental magic?
It’s possible.

Or maybe the ones who suddenly disappeared are also very suspicious. Death Knights. Did Death Knights appear? The Death Knight I fought back then could use some kind of barrier. Did they get caught in something similar while trying to escape?

“This is an ongoing situation. Thanks to this, the work in that vicinity is being delayed. For now, we’re watching the situation. So keep it in mind.”

Okay.

Kadie told me that she would let me know when more data was accumulated, and that I should go investigate then. So I decided to do that, and when Kadie tells me next time, I’ll slowly investigate it.

I just got home, so it’s a bit much to go out right away.

My women definitely won’t like it.

Since I can come back quickly anyway, there’s no need to go with them. They don’t like the fact that they can’t be with me. When I come home like this, I have to relax and properly touch them before sending them off to do their next job.

That’s daily life.

“Ah, by the way. The work of searching for the fragments of God seems to be going really smoothly.”
“I’ve already eaten two. This immense source of power is exactly that.”
“Hmph, it’s really… a reassuring power. But are there any more?”
“Well. I don’t really know.”

Only the World Tree knows about this.

Those Androna Oracle bastards are useless and don’t know anything.

* * *

After that day, I rested at home and carried out the things I had been putting off.

“…That World Tree bastard?”

First of all, I tried to contact the World Tree through the crystal, but this bastard isn’t responding. I’m not lying, is he really not going to see me anymore?

Why?

“This suspicious bastard.”

Of course, it’s possible that I’ve surpassed the World Tree’s power, or that there’s a reason why he can’t influence me anymore.

Or did he perhaps notice that I had discovered the identities of the gods?

“Hmm.”

That doesn’t make sense. From that far away. To find out all my condition and inner thoughts in the desert… realistically, it doesn’t make sense. Anyway, the fact that the World Tree is still unresponsive has further amplified the suspicious feelings I’ve been feeling.

“Okay. Let’s move on.”

I was thinking of going to the Elven Forest, but I don’t think I need to go that far because Shahran is quite annoying. If I actually go and the World Tree doesn’t come out to my call again, there’s no real way. But a question arises. If the World Tree is really of the same race as the gods and is a soul-eating bastard, why did he tell me to collect the fragments of God?

Well, there must be many things.

“Father. Risha-nim is asking you to come down.”
“Risha is?”

Then Ari came to call me, so I went straight down to the basement.

“Have you come? Here. Take a look at this.”
“Okay.”

On Risha’s workbench were the large crown that I took from the king in the otherworld palace and the core of the Titan Golem that I obtained in the desert this time.

And around them were disassembled arm parts.

ㅡTzzz.

But the core was emitting light, and the jewels embedded in the crown were also emitting light.

“What is it? Risha? Is the crown reacting to the core?”
“You saw it well. That’s exactly it.”

What that means is.

“This core… the crown is reacting to it.”

There’s only one possibility.

“…So the monsters in that otherworld palace were Titans after all.”

A palace that suddenly appeared from another world.
It was the architecture of the Titans.

“If that’s not the case, there’s no way this core and the crown would react.”

It’s certain.

“That’s what I think too.”

This is being revealed here. Another piece of evidence of the existence of the Titans has been gathered. With this, my suspicions about the gods begin to solidify further.

“It seems that someone from the old Titan Empire… manipulated his entire palace for reasons such as running away, was sucked into another dimension, and encountered and was absorbed by those terrible monsters there.”
“That’s what I just thought roughly, hmm…”
“The Titan era really existed, and doesn’t that add more credibility to the speculation that humans summoned the Outer Gods?”

It’s a reasonable conclusion.

“Okay. Good. Thanks, Risha. I found out thanks to you.”
“It wasn’t a difficult task.”

Risha really has a lot to do.

I stroked her head and touched her ears.

“Hehe, I feel really good every time I get praised.”
“What do you mean by praise? Don’t you want anything else?”
“That.”

Risha, blushing as if she was embarrassed, turned her body and then, ㅡChak. She gently mimicked hitting her butt with her hand.

This cute woman…!

“Hehehe, okay. I’ll do as you wish.”
“…I’ll be looking forward to it.”

* * *

Today, besides that, there were many things to do.

“Katt-nim. It’s still strange, you know.”

Hilde took out the souls from her inventory and placed them on the table, staring at them with serious eyes.

“These souls that I put in my inventory. They just keep feeling like this.”
“This is another question.”

Souls that formed a sphere of smoke and were placed on the table.

Usually, souls aren’t even visible.

Well, ghosts and wraiths are visible, but it’s rare for ordinary souls to be visible. That’s because. I’ve killed quite a few guys so far, but I’ve never seen a soul even once.

“Did the demon process them with his authority so that they remain in this form?”
“Hmm… that might be the case.”

Ordinary souls cannot be seen with my eyes. It seems that Karset and other soul eaters can see them, but I can’t.

Monsters of the ghost type were originally human souls. It’s easy to speculate that they have acquired a visible form and can interfere with the real world for some reason.

That’s probably the case.

But what are these souls? Did they remain in a form similar to those ghosts? Did the demon’s power fix this?

ㅡSwish.

I put the soul on the palm of my hand and tried to exert some influence by pouring my power into it. But it hasn’t worked so far, so there’s no way it will work. Everything the archdemons told me was useless. I have no choice but to headbutt the ground.

“How can I manipulate this?”

I asked Andro about this, but that bastard was a fucking useless bastard who didn’t know anything that was really needed. These kinds of guys are the problem. They’re always curious and just ask questions, but they can’t do anything themselves.

And Risha didn’t know much about this either. I thought she would be able to do it because she separated Byugal’s spirit in the past, but it seemed that this was a completely different field.

I pondered for a long time, touching the sphere of souls and testing my strength. But today wasn’t the day, and I couldn’t get any meaningful results.

Frustrated, I went outside for a while.