Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

They encountered a problem; it seemed they were discovered, and decided to proceed with the ritual earlier… but upon reflection, it was about time they were discovered.

Initially, the team that attacked her divided into eight, fleeing in different directions, and no one expected such a weak group to be responsible for escorting her.

Being inconspicuous certainly wouldn't attract the attention of the Kingdom, but it also meant that they likely couldn't even handle a normal clearing team. Their only way out was to receive a blessing from a deity after completing the sacrifice.

Then they would pray they weren't pursued by the furious King of Athens, otherwise, no blessings would be of any help.

'Still, I hope he can remain calm.'

The thought flashed through her mind as the bound and immobile Andrea felt a bit sad.

Her father must still be searching for her… Her death was certain to intensify the conflict. If her father acted irrationally under his rage—he certainly would—no one knew what would happen.

Maybe Athens, which had flourished for not even a century, would face war, but they currently had no assurance of defeating the opponent.

"Little Princess, what are you thinking about?"

The voice approached from afar, and soon, Andrea saw the leader of this group, an old fellow who looked to be over seventy.

He looked down at her, and the speechless Andrea chose to glare back fiercely.

"Ha, you've inherited your father's courage, Little Princess, even at just twelve years old—but unfortunately, you do not possess his strength."

With a dry smile, the old man in the ceremonial robe placed a deity statue beside Andrea, or rather, right in the middle of the stone platform.

"The great Mother of Resurrection will be pleased because of this. If the King of Athens decides to wage war toward The East, it would be even better."

"All right, let's begin the ritual—although midnight is not the preferred time of the gods, we can't be choosy now; may the gods protect us."

"Yes."×n

Scattered footsteps echoed in the warehouse, which had already been prepared for the ritual; now, only the transcendental materials with shorter effective times were being taken out.

The aroma of lilies and pomegranates wafted through the air, the essential oils extracted from these two plants. They were the Heavenly Empress's favorite plants, symbolizing 'nurturing' and 'fertility,' respectively.

Faint candlelight was lit, and the believers below were dressed neatly. For a moment, the warehouse used for the live sacrifice seemed sanctified as well, as if a chant spread through the air.

Then the next moment, Andrea saw the deity statue beside her glow faintly while the voices of the people below in worship resonated simultaneously.

But curiously, Andrea thought she was experiencing an auditory hallucination; something about the recited prayers she heard seemed off.

"...share authority... sovereign"

"..."

"Here… sacrifice..."

"..."

The voices grew louder from a murmur, and Andrea felt as if she was hearing two sources of sound, one from below and one from the deity statue beside her.

And the content of the second voice's chant...

"The sovereign of millions of demons."

"The origin of all heavenly falls."

"The Blood Mother Tree that devours all realms."

"I beseech your listening, request your gaze, implore you to open the gates of the realm."

...

Warehouse entrance.

Perhaps due to the faint sounds of sacrifice coming from inside, the tall, slender man in black who had been vigilant slightly relaxed.

Once the ritual began, it was almost impossible to interrupt; the results were either good or very good.

"Speaking of which, fellow believer,"

with a curious look, Laine gazed in the direction of the inside.

"I haven't dealt with this kind of thing before and don't know what the usual response process is—but if you use a ritual intended for a True God to sacrifice to an Evil God, could there be any adverse consequences?"

"Your question is very dangerous... but it's not as if no one has ever done it before, you should take heed. If you ever preside over a sacrificial ritual yourself, make sure there are no issues with the arrangements."

Since there hadn't been any problems so far, the man in black believed in the accidental visitor's identity. He thought for a moment, then seriously warned:

"If the object of the sacrifice is a True Deity, but you use the wrong ritual, then the outcome depends on the deity's mood—but if you're worshipping an Evil God's statue, then there's basically no other fate."

"Considering the ritual is incorrect, generally, the power of the deity won't descend—though that is only in terms of power, not spirit. You should be well aware that during a sacrifice, the believer's spirit is highly unified with the ritual, and that's the only way to communicate with a god."

"I understand now, thank you for the warning."

Politely nodding his head, Laine felt he had learned a bit more of the new era's lesser-known facts.

He had initially wanted to engrave the great name of the Serpent of the Central Court on the statue, but considering Hera's authority and style, he had changed to another.

Of course, this kind of maneuver isn't something most people could do, even Laine could only play this trick on such a temporary small statue.

"But speaking of which, I didn't know that Theseus, who was raised by followers of the Sea God, had a daughter. According to later myths, this King of Athens, with his three wives, seems to have had only sons, right?"

"Furthermore, from the documents I've seen before... he doesn't seem to have had a very good relationship with the Sea God."

Laine felt there must be some issues here, but he didn't dwell on it much.

The little princess, who was almost used as a living sacrifice, was inside; he would find out simply by asking. Moreover, Theseus, unlike other mythical heroes recorded, while he also had the hero's whims to do great deeds like kidnap a foreign princess or even attempt to abduct Persephone into the Underworld, was still quite capable in domestic governance.

In his original trajectory, he had abolished local councils and unified them into the city-state council of Athens, ceding some power to the aristocrats, thereby elevating the citizens' status...

And in this altered history, it likely meant strengthening Athens' control over its subsidiary cities, balancing the conflict between the Divine Blood Nobles and the citizen class, proving to be quite a clever ruler.

By comparison, Heracles might be able to overpower him in combat, but was not so clever, at least not politically.

As he pondered, the praying sounds from deep within the warehouse abruptly ceased, followed immediately by a howl that resembled that of a wild beast coming from inside.

The tall, slender man in black was shocked; he didn't know what had happened inside, but this was certainly not a flow that a sacrifice should have...

Woosh—

A dagger, like an arrow shooting towards the man in black from Laine's direction, was clearly recognized by him as the effect of the two-ring Common Divine Art, Arrow Shooting Spell.

Most low-tiered divine arts lacked direct lethal power; the effect of Arrow Shooting Spell was no different than firing a long arrow.

He could simply dodge it by sidestepping, but the man in black then saw a finger pointing toward him.

Hell System three-ring Common Divine Art, Fear Spell!

In an instant, fear surged up from the bottom of his heart, making the tall, slender man in black turn and run instinctively, then the next moment, the dagger drove straight into his chest from the back.

"Rookie skirmishes, it's all about who strikes first."

Taking a couple of steps forward, he pulled out the dagger.

Laine wiped the blade on the man's clothing, then moved towards the inside of the warehouse.

Next, he was to eliminate this group of mentally damaged lunatics, reap various materials, and add a princess from Athens, who had been captured as a sacrifice.