Chapter 799: Kidnapping a Goddess [2]

‘Ah, fuck. I’m already starting to regret this decision.’

I had made a lot of poor decisions in the past. I was aware that I was no genius, and sometimes I got ahead of myself. This was something that I was very aware of, and at this very moment, I felt this more than ever.

“…Your Goddess. I’m kidnapping her.”

Staring at the figures before me, each one radiating more power than the last, my stomach twisted with unease.

‘Yes, this is a very dumb decision.’

However, it was also the only decision that I could take.

Panthea was batshit crazy, and if things carried on as I predicted they would, then it wouldn’t be long until I found myself locked in a certain basement without any arms or legs.

‘Fucking…’

I had eased the squeeze on the Goddess’s injury, but the moment I saw someone approach a little too closely, I decided to add more power to the grip.

“….!”

Perhaps because she was in front of her followers, but the moment I pressed on her injury, she didn’t make a single sound. Her face just changed to show the pain that she was experiencing.

Seeing this, I frowned, but seeing how the Seats and the Living Saint had yet to move from their spot, it looked like this was enough.

‘Yeah, there’s no need to push things.’

“Why are you doing this…?”

A cold voice echoed from the other side of the room.

It came from the Living Saint, his expression no longer as friendly as it had been before.

I could only smile wryly.

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you. Let’s just say that the Goddess and I know each other and we’re having a sort of disagreement.”

“Disagreement?”

The Living Saint turned his attention towards Panthea, seemingly trying to read her expression, but the moment he did, I pressed harder onto her injury, causing her face to contort.

“Let her go at once!”

A voice boomed shortly after, a tremendous pressure bursting into the room.

Turning my head, I caught sight of the same burly man from before, his glare sharp enough to cut through stone. The hood had fallen back, revealing a bald head with hair only along the sides, and a thick, muscular face covered in rough stubble that shadowed his jaw.

“I… Should’ve killed you when I had the chance. I knew from the start that you weren’t good news. I was right!!”

I nearly rolled my eyes.

He knew shit.

‘Yes, I did come unannounced and even got an audience with the Goddess, but in no way do I look like a bad guy. Absolutely not…’

“Hik!”

Okay, maybe I did.

Still, she was the true bad guy.

“You should let her go before the relationship between us becomes damaged beyond repair. I can assure you that if you let go of the Goddess, we’ll let you walk away.”

Despite the burly man’s words, the Living Saint still tried to keep things civil.

“I can assure you that I won’t harm you at all. The same goes for the people around. If you don’t believe us, we can sign some sort of contract. How is that for you?”

“Sorry.”

I shook my head.

As if a contract that good could exist…

Although the Living Saint appeared kind on the surface, I knew that was only a façade. The red orb swirling around his body made it clear. Behind that calm expression was a desire to tear me apart piece by piece.

“…Although I appreciate your offer, this isn’t what I’m looking for. The Goddess has what I’m looking for.”

I turned towards Panthea.

“Isn’t that right?”

I squeezed her shoulder harder, causing her to flinch.

“You—!!”

“How dare you!”

The pressure coming from her followers in front of me grew even more fierce. Enough to make me feel suffocated. Even so, when thinking about the pressure that I had felt from Delilah in the past, or Xa’hurl’s, it was still lacking.

I’d survived worse, and as such wasn’t scared.

Turning my attention towards the followers, I lowered my voice.

“I’ll say this once, and only once. If you wish for nothing to happen to her, then allow me to pass. If you so much as do something to the people that came with me, then you can start worshipping another God or Goddess because this one will stop existing from this very moment forward.”

I knew that it was time for me to take things extremely seriously, and taking into account that I was the one with the most leverage, I planned on using it to the fullest, pulling the Goddess’s body ahead of me.

“What are you doing…?”

The Living Saint’s face twitched, taking a step closer to me.

“Do you understand what you’re doing? This is the place where the Goddess is safest and can heal her injuries. If you take her out now, you’re going to risk her health!”

“Is that so?”

I gave the Living Saint a second glance before looking around me.

‘So this place is supposed to help her heal from her wounds?”

“This place resides right above the Beacon. The scope of this place is to use the prayers from the followers to directly heal her using the runes that are implanted on the floor. If she moves out of this place, then there’s a very good chance that her injuries will worsen. I implore you. Don’t bring the Goddess out of this place.”

For a moment, I almost believed his words.

However, seeing the red that was still brewing within his body, and only growing, I knew that there was something else to his words.

Hmm.

My eyes started to squint.

The more I looked at the Living Saint, the more off he felt to me. I couldn’t quite explain what it was, but the sensation was enough for me not to want to be anywhere near him.

“…I’ll keep that in mind.”

I pushed the Goddess forward, causing the faces of the followers to contort. I could tell that they wanted to lunge at me and kill me on the spot, but with the Goddess in my hands, they were completely helpless.

The only thing they could do was step aside as I dragged the Goddess toward the door.

Stopping just before it, the Living Saint’s voice echoed once more.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

I didn’t look back, smiling to myself and activating [Lament of Lies].

“Don’t worry, I’ll cast an illusion over her body so that nobody realizes that she’s gone.”

I reached for the door and pulled it open.

Clank!

***

Outside the Cathedral.

“How long do you think he’ll be inside for?”

“It shouldn’t be that long.”

An’as replied to Aoife, taking out a couple of Solas and tossing them over a certain counter as he received several drinks in return. He handed them to the others, each giving him a brief ‘thank you’ before returning to the conversation.

“The last time he had a conversation with the…” An’as stopped there, omitting the term ‘Goddess’ because they were in a public space.

Drinks in hand, they all moved towards a more secluded place with fewer people.

“It didn’t take more than an hour, I don’t think. Maybe even less.”

“Do you think he’s going to be fine?” Evelyn asked, taking a sip of her drink as her eyes narrowed a little. She then added, “I don’t know why, but I’m getting pretty bad vibes. I feel like something wrong will happen for some reason.”

“This bit—Why are you fucking jinxing it?”

For a moment, it seemed like Kiera was about to hit Evelyn, but she stopped herself at the last second, letting out a shaky breath as she rubbed a hand over her face.

“Right… I’ll hold myself back. Nothing is happening. I’m just being a little paranoid.”

At the same time, she smirked while looking at the others.

“Imagine he comes back with the Goddess saying shit like, ‘I’ve kidnapped her’. Kek.”

She started to laugh, bringing a few smiles from the others.

Evelyn was the only one who didn’t smile, narrowing her eyes at Kiera.

“Weren’t you just complaining about jinxing stuff?”

“Did you see me hit you?”

“That’s besides the point.”

“No, it’s not.”

“It is.”

“But it isn’t. Also, come on… As if Julien is capable of kidnapping a Goddess. Be realistic.”

“You never know…”

Evelyn’s voice grew a little higher. That being said, at this point, she was just arguing for the sake of arguing, as if Julien would kidnap a Goddess. He wasn’t that much of a lunatic.

“Anyway, putting that aside, are you guys not getting any bones? I bought myself a Terror-ranked one. I was hoping to find a Disaster-ranked bone, but those are pretty rare. They mentioned there’s an auction coming up, but I’m not sure if I want to go.”

“Hmm. I also heard about the auction. Maybe we should go.”

Evelyn agreed. She still had yet to fill all of her bone slots. With the prices here being so low, she thought it would be great if she purchased a Disaster-Ranked bone.

The two conversed like this, with An’as and Anne joining from time to time.

The only ones who remained relatively quiet were Aoife and Leon, the two lost in their own thoughts.

And eventually—

“Finally found you.”

A man walked towards them, his hand over a woman’s shoulder, as everyone froze on the spot, looking at him at a complete loss.

They could tell from his voice that it was Julien.

But that woman…

“Who is that?”

The one to ask the question was Aoife, her eyes locked onto the figure next to Julien as she felt a bad premonition.

‘Please let me be wrong. I don’t know why he’s got a woman in his grasp, but let me hope that it’s nothing serious. God, if you exist, please heed my prayer.’

She wasn’t the only one.

Leon, Kiera, and Evelyn also felt the same bad premonition.

Still, they wanted to believe in Julien.

Surely…

“Oh, this?”

Julien looked at the woman next to him and waved his hand at them.

“There’s no need to be concerned. We’re safe.”

A moment later, he deactivated [Lament of Lies], revealing the figure in his grasp. Her skin was as pale as the dim sun above, and the faint flicker of flames in her eyes trembled weakly, on the verge of fading out.

With a simple smile, he introduced her to everyone.

“Meet Panthea. The Goddess of Light. You can say that she’s an old acquaintance of mine.”

“…..”

“So, I… ehm, kidnapped her on the way? We should also prepare a ship and leave? There’s no real rush to be honest, but it would be best if we did?”