Kwaaa—
A menacing sound echoed as if a missile was launched, tearing through the atmosphere.
However, it wasn’t due to any scientific technology, mysterious magic, or even some special weapon.
“Uhhaha!”
The source was purely the raw power of flesh.
The pinnacle of violent physical force generated by a fist as solid as rock.
···Whether that being could truly be considered human was debatable.
Kwaaaang!
“Guh!”
The Secretary exhaled sharply from the immense shock transmitted by the holy power shield in her left hand.
Having charged like a runaway locomotive, her steps were already pushed back a few paces.
Even though most of the damage was mitigated by the divine shield, to be pushed back like this was simply absurd!
What the hell? Where did this guy suddenly come from…?
A barbarian towering over two meters, adorned in distinctive colorful attire and loud tattoos.
She gritted her teeth, glaring at the muscular giant blocking her way.
She thought it was all over now.
If she could just stretch out the time a bit longer, the area around her would be thoroughly secured by her followers, and then she could make the arrogant heretic who dared to attack her pay the price…
How could this happen…!
It took less than a minute for the tide to turn.
What should have been a challenge she could overcome had turned into a fight for survival, as she struggled to regain her composure.
All due to the strange newcomers who had suddenly barged in.
“Paha! Did I block it? This is a splendid punching bag! Should I raise the tempo a bit?”
With a mouth agape in a comical fashion, the barbarian crouched down and tightly clenched his fist again.
Crack!
Creeeeak—!
Along with this, a noise emanated from his body.
Could that really be a sound coming from a living being?
The extremely compressed muscles twisted, sending a metallic sound reverberating all around.
Steam rose from his red-hot skin.
“Guh! My lord! Grant me the strength to not fall to any adversity!”
But the Secretary wasn’t lacking in direct offensive power either, being a combat priest with enhancements.
The holy power inside her flared like a fire, and a small sun-like radiance enveloped the head of her hammer.
“Feel the judgment!”
“Urahchacha!”
Whizz— Kwaaang!
With a massive arc, the swinging hammer collided head-on with the straight-flying fist.
The tremendous pressure generated from the impact pinned the surroundings down, and the formation technique that Harris had already revised screamed once more.
“Wow! Not bad at all? It’s been a while since I broke a bone! Kahahat!”
“…Monster. Thought just a fracture after clashing with a divine hammer? Wait a minute. You already healed?”
“Oh, I tend to recover pretty quickly!”
Immediately after exchanging blows, the two faced off, having an intense and ridiculous banter.
The Secretary, swinging a hammer ablaze like the sun, and Harley, resisting that power by matching fists.
Their fierce struggle made the overwhelming size difference seem trivial.
“I’ll smash that mouth shut so you can never spout nonsense again…”
However, if there was a variable in this situation—
“Excuse me for a moment.”
The person she needed to be wary of was not just the one giant right in front of her.
Swoosh—!
“Guh!”
As the cool voice rang out, an attack was unleashed simultaneously.
A swift ambush targeting her back ripped away the holy power armor, causing blood to spray.
The moment she detected the presence, she twisted her body in response, but in an unguarded state right after unleashing her full power, it was impossible to counter without suffering damage.
“Guh! You cowardly demon scum…!”
The Secretary, barely managing to retreat and scattering holy power, gritted her teeth, suppressing the blood magic that burrowed into her body through the wound.
It was fortunate that her holy power had absolute dominance over vampires; otherwise, that single attack could have ended with her heart being ripped out.
The regeneration speed is slower than expected. Is it a curse of worsening wounds? …I need time. If this continues… I really could—!
Of course, her ordeal wasn’t over yet.
———!
As if to exploit the opening created by her injury, bombardments—again and again came raining down, familiar as a face she’d seen before.
A flurry of colorful light rays hit her defensively braced body mercilessly.
“Kyah! It seems that being a holy power user means you’re sturdy? You’re holding up better than I thought!”
Crack! Crack—!
Revealing its true nature, the human-like monster started to morph its body, actively inflating its size.
“Tsk, must be the invocation. The blood is of no use now. About two minutes… no, maybe just under three? I need to work quick if I wanna finish in 5 minutes.”
The vampire lord spat out the blood it had taken in earlier, its body vanishing into the air like a mist.
Even if they faced a member of one body, the odds were precarious at best.
They attacked organically as if working as one body, thoroughly cornering their singular prey, the Secretary.
…How? Why? How did things turn out like this? Were they a group from the beginning? Even with such a level, I didn’t notice them digging a trap until they ambushed me…!
With relentless attacks blurring her limbs, the chaos within Adeline swelled like a wildfire, questioning the situation.
The monster blocking her way wouldn’t budge no matter how much she battered it, and in between, the relentless vampire raids and sniper bombardments chipped away at her life force like a volcano using nearly infinite holy power.
“Cough…! Ah, my lord…! Forgive this incompetent servant…”
Exactly five minutes.
That was the time it took for her, after struggling to the very end, to finally kneel.
*
Near San Francisco, California, in the western United States.
Screech— Kreek!
“This way!”
“Hurry, set up the barrier! Don’t let your guard down and handle it properly!”
From multiple vehicles that came to a sudden halt, numerous individuals quickly dispersed, moving in an orderly fashion.
They naturally split into several groups with various attires.
“Dimensional focal point detected. This is the epicenter!”
“Then let’s begin right away. What’s going on with the Pantheon?”
“They say they are preparing to launch immediately. It seems they have to prioritize the safety of the target.”
“Let’s cooperate as best we can so we don’t get any unnecessary remarks later. There’s nothing more tiresome than a nervous zealot.”
“Yes, understood.”
In truth, although they had ended up working together, they didn’t all belong to the same organization.
From California state government agents to Guardians dispatched by the American Returnee Association, and those sent urgently from the Pantheon Headquarters in San Francisco, a mix of backgrounds came together.
But their goals were all similar.
They had gathered to safely rescue one of the top executives of the Pantheon, Adeline Schneider, a member of the 12-member Council.
“That said, how dare they touch the Pantheon’s leadership? Quite audacious. It must be the work of the evil god’s followers, right?”
“Well, there have been lots of rumors related to them lately. That matter concerning the dragon summoned from another realm is part of it.”
“Oh! Speaking of which, could this also be related? The Buncheon Society’s involvement in this incident…”
“Well, who can say?”
With many abilities gathering in one place, it took only a few minutes to locate the focal point of the distortion and prepare the barrier for the incursion.
Including the time taken to sense anomalies and rush here, was it just a bit over ten minutes?
Thanks to sensing the unusual signs well ahead and moving quickly, they had managed this rapid response.
“Entering the interior!”
“Three— two— one—!”
In such a situation, the first ones to step into the formation were those from the Pantheon.
For them, protecting the higher-ups took precedence over neutralizing possible traps or stopping any outlaws.
“Now!”
Crackle—!
Filled with tension, as they entered into the spatial beyond, what they first encountered was…
“…Oh my.”
“What on earth…?”
It was the sight of a massive devastation.
Trees uprooted and scattered, charred to a crisp.
Rocks shattered to the point where their original forms could hardly be discerned.
The ground torn and broken, as if an earthquake had struck, and a monstrous crater stood open, exposing the earth’s depths.
Just a single glance made it clear that something unspeakable had occurred here.
“Such traces of battle. If not for the barrier…”
“The impact on the surroundings must have been immense. There must’ve been considerable human casualties.”
“No, that’s not what’s important right now! Is Schneider… Adeline Schneider alright?!”
“Ugh! Beginning the pursuit…!“
The moment those lost in shock regained their wits, the search for the surroundings began immediately.
And suppressing their anxious hearts, utilizing their divination and information gathering abilities without rest, they soon had to confront an unbelievable reality.
“Have you found anything? Anything at all?”
“…No, nothing…”
“Ugh, this side is the same. With such clear remnants left behind, how can we not grasp any information?!”
It was that they could discover nothing with their abilities.
From psychometry to discern memories from traces, and every divination, foresight, and tracking skill was ineffective.
“…It’s been completely erased. It seems the outlaws took the initiative.”
“That means Schneider is already…”
“Impossible! She is America’s pride, and one of the top transcendents of the Pantheon! There’s no way she could fall in such a short time!”
Despite trying to deny the reality, searching the area yielded no change.
Even after they completely dismantled the formation and regrouped, nothing was different.
“What a level of concealment… it’s almost speechless.”
“To have achieved such complete erasure is nothing short of astounding. It seems whatever was used here was at least at the transcendent level… Is there anyone who can see through this?”
“Construction of barriers, information concealment, and even the remnants of the battle left here. It’s certain that the culprit is not an individual.”
Having no choice but to hunt down specialists in reconnaissance to try and understand what had occurred, they found themselves facing nothing but the surreal mystery of emptiness.
Ultimately, the terror incident targeting the Pantheon’s leadership would remain a puzzle.
And this would stir suspicion among the leadership in similar positions to her, as well as heads of other factions outside the Pantheon.
With a sense of crisis surrounding the ‘unknown dark forces’, whose identities couldn’t be discerned.
*
Feels like the excessive power invested has paid off.
The five-minute time attack.
It was an incredibly tight timeframe when confronting a transcendent being enhanced with invocations.
While there is a time limit, in that period, one could utilize nearly infinite holy power, and the explosive growth of abilities that stemmed from it was not to be underestimated.
After all, there’s no triumph against numbers.
It might have been a bit difficult when Harris was on his own, but by pouring in additional strength, wasn’t the situation resolved just like that?
There’s a reason heroes in manga crush villains through sheer numbers—the lesson of life learned in practice.
Plus, thanks to Heinz II, I could clear away all traces perfectly.
Using the final skill in concealment, Existence Denial.
That made cleanup afterward incredibly efficient.
With Heinz II now a pureblood, beginning to sprout the weak seeds of divinity, unless the Buncheon Society head personally came, no one would see through the remaining traces.
With Harley as the main tank holding the enemies, Harris acting as a long-range dealer and utility support, and Heinz II as the close-combat main dealer, this is a pretty decent combo. …Best of all, this blow the Buncheon Society took will be catastrophic for them.
I slowly nodded, filled with satisfaction bubbling within.
Handling the Secretary, who was the head of the Buncheon Society in North America and one of the Pantheon’s leadership, was a remarkable achievement.
With this opportunity, Heinrich’s influence over the Pantheon could sharply increase.
…And this isn’t the end.
With my eyes gently shut, I buried myself into the chair.
The Secretary, a high-level priest using the holy power granted by the Buncheon Society head, naturally carried extensive information about them.
I’ll thoroughly analyze everything from start to finish.
Just in time, the ultimate expert in this field was here.
The world’s best… no, the best expert across the entire dimension.
