To sum it up, the operation to capture the key figures of the Holy Kingdom ended anticlimactically.
“U-Ulranor’s army!”
“We surrender! We’ll confess to everything, just please spare our lives!”
“Pathetic bastards. Tie them all up and take them as prisoners.”
The location was the basement of the Holy See, a place that, before the war, had only been used as a storage facility for old documents and outdated supplies.
Built in an old-fashioned architectural style, the place was run-down, lacking proper space for people to stay.
The priests, who had holed up here after hastily converting it into their so-called headquarters, raised their hands the moment they saw our soldiers.
They pleaded for their lives, swearing full cooperation.
Damn fantasy world.
“These guys are supposed to be the nation’s leadership, yet they have no dignity? They surrendered immediately.”
“Can you really expect anything different from bastards who spent their whole lives scamming their followers?”
“True, judging by the way they look, they probably don’t even know what honor means.”
It seemed that whatever combat-ready forces they had were already deployed elsewhere, as there were barely any guards inside.
At most, a few dozen sentries?
Thanks to that, we secured the basement smoothly, even with the prisoners guiding us along.
Along with them, we seized the remaining documents, valuables, and various military records.
“Where is the Holy Pontiff? He’s not here.”
“H-He went further underground. Said he had urgent matters to attend to…”
“That so? I’ll go and drag him out myself. One platoon, follow me!”
The place was simply marked as a storage area on the map.
Not only was its purpose unclear, but even its size was unknown.
And yet, the Holy Pontiff had hidden himself there?
I moved at once with the Saintess, assuming that whatever was hidden below could only be a bunker or an emergency escape route.
Rather than charging in with a large group, it was better to strike quickly with a small team.
Boom!
“It’s too dark inside! I can’t see anything!”
“The floor is stone, so sprinkle a bit of napalm and light it up! It’ll be brighter than a torch!”
It was pitch black.
A room without a single lantern or candle.
In a hurry, we removed the warhead from a rocket and used it as an improvised light source.
Only then did the interior come into view.
Lavish ornaments that appeared to be at least several centuries old, aged but undeniably luxurious fabrics, ritual vessels polished to a gleaming finish, and elegant paintings hanging on the walls.
It seemed to be some kind of ritual sanctuary or a place for conducting secret ceremonies.
Judging by its condition, it had clearly been in use until quite recently.
“…Your Excellency? What the hell is that?”
“Is that… a person? I’m not the only one seeing something strange, right?”
“Don’t worry, we’re all thinking the same thing.”
But that wasn’t the real issue.
There was a corpse.
Dressed in ceremonial robes befitting a royal funeral, it lay motionless.
It had a human-like appearance, but its size was anything but ordinary.
Thirteen meters?
No, maybe closer to fifteen?
It was as if a giant from fantasy had materialized into reality.
As far as I knew, monsters didn’t exist in this world.
Magic might be real, but there were no trolls, no dragons, no goblins.
Giants were supposed to be just as nonexistent.
Then what the hell was that?
“Your Excellency! The Holy Pontiff is hiding here!!”
“Drag him out immediately!”
Just then, a soldier’s voice rang out.
He had found our target while searching every corner of the room.
Without hesitation, I ordered him to be brought forward.
I had a strong feeling that bastard had information that could explain all of this.
“Damn it! If only I had a little more time!! I would have gained the power to vanquish you heretics and restore order to the church—”
“God, you’re noisy as hell.”
“Urk—?! Guhk!”
I gave his throat a light massage—military slang for strangling him—cutting off his nonsense.
Grabbing him by the collar, I lifted his head so this repulsive old man would focus entirely on me.
“From now on, I’ll ask the questions, and you’ll answer. Understood?”
“Who is that woman? She’s clearly not a statue, so how the hell does a body that massive even exist?”
Unfortunately, the Holy Pontiff refused to answer my question.
Was he trying to be difficult, refusing to cooperate with us?
Admirable courage, but ultimately pointless.
No matter how much he resisted, I already had the means to force an answer out of him.
“Saintess, if you would.”
O Great Goddess, by Your divine power, compel this foolish sinner to confess the truth.
“Guh… Ugh…”
“You damn traitorous wench! Is this how you repay the benefactor who raised and cared for you?!”
“What a load of crap. You kidnapped a poor country girl and used her like livestock, draining her blood for your rituals.”
Once again, the Saintess’ power came into play.
A forced miracle—one that suppressed his psychological resistance and another that prevented him from speaking falsehoods.
With this, not only would he be unable to lie, but even keeping secrets was no longer an option.
“Now, I’ll ask again. Who is that woman? Why was she enshrined in the deepest part of the Holy See?”
Silence.
For a moment, he clenched his teeth, desperately trying to resist.
But in the end, his willpower was no match for the miracle’s power.
And then, from his trembling lips, an answer escaped—a shocking revelation.
“She… is the Goddess. She passed away nearly 200 years ago.”
…What the fuck?
The moment I heard those words, my instincts kicked in.
I turned and shouted at the soldiers.
“Everyone, get out of here.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said get the hell out! Don’t stand around, turn around right now and get upstairs, you bastards!!”
This was something that rank-and-file soldiers must never learn.
If word got out, it would lead to a disaster beyond control.
Sensing the sheer danger of this knowledge, I cut off as many ears as possible—only the Saintess and I would hear the rest of this conversation.
“What do you mean? The Goddess should be watching over us from the heavens.”
“She was—until 200 years ago.”
The Holy Pontiff let out a short sigh.
“If you’ve read the scriptures and history books, you’d know that the Goddess would occasionally descend to the human world to deliver divine revelations—choosing the next king, legitimizing a new dynasty, and so on.”
“I know that much. So what?”
“But one day, the Goddess suddenly appeared at the Holy See and made a declaration—she would no longer do any of that.”
Quit?
After all that time, after actively meddling in worldly affairs, she just suddenly had a change of heart?
Or… had she grown disgusted with the filth of the human world?
“She had grown weary of the clergy’s corruption—of their empty praises for her while they secretly pursued wealth and power.
So she decided to sever ties with us, ensuring that the clergy would lose their influence and that the church would collapse.”
“But she failed.”
“…Yes. The clergy of the time couldn’t accept it. Their entire lives depended on maintaining their positions.”
The Goddess had sought to purge the corrupted religious order through drastic measures.
The clergy, unwilling to lose their status and wealth, had chosen to resist.
It wasn’t hard to piece together what must have happened next.
“So they decided to kill the very deity they worshiped?”
“That was never the intention at first! They only meant to imprison her, to keep her from leaving. But then… things went wrong, and in the end…”
“Crazy bastards.”
A curse escaped my lips without thinking.
These bastards, who had abandoned their faith for greed, had the audacity to strut around calling themselves clergy?
There had to be a limit to hypocrisy and depravity.
And after committing an irreparable atrocity, they realized they were doomed, so they just stuffed the evidence down here?
Meanwhile, outside, they continued to deceive the world, pretending that the Goddess was still alive, fabricating divine revelations?
Even though I hadn’t eaten anything today, I felt like throwing up.
“How is the body still intact? A corpse should have decayed long ago.”
“The Goddess’ body is imbued with a special power. No matter how much time passes, not a single piece of her flesh will wither.”
“Then what about the Saintess’ power? If the Goddess is dead, who has been granting her divine energy?”
“I did.”
The Holy Pontiff pointed to the ritual vessel.
“There are a few secret arts that have been passed down. One of them extracts divine energy from the Goddess’ body and imbues it into the Saintess.”
“W-What? But I heard the voice of the Goddess! I received divine revelations!”
“If we can transfer divine power from the Goddess to a human, do you really think we wouldn’t be able to fake a voice and an apparition?”
“Th-Then… my entire life until now…”
Overwhelmed by the shocking truth, the Saintess’ legs gave out.
I quickly caught her before she collapsed, keeping her from getting hurt.
Wait—then did the same thing happen to the soldiers of the Holy Kingdom?
“You’re the one who gave the soldiers outside those strange abilities, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I granted them the Blessing of Protection and the Blessing of the Warrior. Since I had to bestow them in a hurry, there were side effects—it shattered their minds. But to protect the Holy Kingdom, I had no other choice.”
The Holy Pontiff confessed this without hesitation—then suddenly glared at me.
“Truly monstrous. We had prepared for everything, yet you still made it here in the end. Even the demons of hell would pale in comparison to you wretches!”
“A sore loser throwing a tantrum, huh?”
I had already gathered most of the important information.
Now, I just needed to shut him up.
I started looking around for something to use as a gag.
But before I could act, the Holy Pontiff wrenched free from my grip, then suddenly tore through the ropes binding him with brute force.
“Thank you for wasting my time. Thanks to that, I was able to complete the ritual I left unfinished!”
His body began to grotesquely transform.
His wrinkled, aged skin turned a deep, unnatural red.
His limbs swelled with grotesque muscle.
His eyes bulged out unnaturally, and his already balding head became completely bare.
A demon?
No… he looked more like a necromancer’s abomination.
Was this another so-called miracle, drawn from the remnants of the Goddess’ power?
“I may not be able to overturn this lost war—but I will have my revenge! I’ll tear you all apart, limb by limb, until there’s nothing left but bloody scraps!!”
Instead of running, I calmly picked up a discarded rocket from the floor, left behind by the soldiers earlier.
“Fire.”
Boom!
A burst of flames erupted—napalm, the kind that doesn’t go out with water.
No matter how enhanced his body was, no matter how much he had transformed, he was still made of flesh and blood.
Fire would work.
The only question was how long he could withstand it.
“Kraaaagh!! D-Do you really think this is enough to stop me?!”
“Then have six more.”
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
After unloading a full barrage, the thing stopped moving.
Looked like he was dead.
“…Phew.”
Brushing aside the charred, reeking remains, I helped the Saintess to her feet and let out a sigh.
How the hell was I supposed to clean up this mess?