The scarred man’s atrocity left everyone speechless. In the heavy silence that followed, Garna was the first to find her voice.
『Eudas! You wretch... you were alive?!』
Shock colored Garna's voice. It seemed she knew him.
"Oh? Could it be? No... surely, surely it isn't Lady Garnalava?"
A look of delight washed over the man named Eudas. The way he addressed her suggested he was a former devotee of Garnalava, even though she was widely reviled as an evil god. Perhaps he was the one who had vanished while investigating the Silver Abominations years ago?
『How could you stoop so low as to become a lackey for those abominations?!』
"That is, of course, because I have witnessed their greatness."
Eudas smirked at the fuming goddess, his expression devoid of even a shred of respect. It was painfully clear his devotion had long since withered.
Knowing that the technology for Dungeonification had been leaked, I’d considered that former followers might have been assimilated by the Silver Abominations. Still, I hadn't expected to encounter one who retained such a distinct sense of self. Did silver erosion leave the consciousness intact, or was he merely a hollow shell masquerading as the original?
"But look at you now. What a pathetic sight. There isn't a trace left of the form once feared as an evil god... Tell you what, Lady Garnalava—why don't you join us? We’ll welcome you as the deity of our new cult! You’ll have to embrace the Power of Silver, of course, but that’s a small price to pay once you’ve acclimated to it."
The Power of Silver was an aberration in this world; there was no way Garna would ever accept it. Yet Eudas spoke as if he were offering her the opportunity of a lifetime. He definitely wasn't in his right mind.
『What madness is this?! I refuse!』
"How tragic that you cannot grasp the majesty of this power."
『They are invaders devouring our world! My Father is fighting them in the other realm even as we speak. Soon, the source of this filth will be purged from existence!』
Garna rejected him flatly. The "Father" she referred to was the Creator God of this world. The story went that he had noticed the invasion of the abominations and leaped into the other world alone to face them.
Instead of being offended, Eudas erupted into a fit of manic laughter.
"Hahaha! What a masterpiece of delusion! Do you honestly believe that god is still resisting? Then allow me to enlighten you: that god is dead!"
『What?! No... you're lying!』
"It’s no lie. That is the very reason we are here. That god proved to be quite a nuisance, but we’ve successfully eliminated him. At last, nothing stands in the way of our full-scale invasion!"
Eudas spoke of the abominations as "we." His loyalty clearly resided with the monsters now. It seemed that accepting the silver power fundamentally warped a person’s psyche.
But still—the Creator God, dead? Whether it was true or not, it was a terrifyingly plausible explanation. The first invasion had happened millennia ago, long before Ren-kun’s time. If the offensive was starting up again after thousands of years of silence, something monumental must have changed. The death of the Creator God certainly fit the bill.
Garna couldn't—or wouldn't—accept it. She kept shouting denials, but Eudas merely watched her with a look of smug composure.
"It saddens me that you doubt my word. And after I served you so faithfully in my former life, too."
Despite his words, his face remained entirely devoid of emotion.
"No matter. I didn't expect you to understand immediately. Once the silver acclimates to your body, you’ll see the truth. You’ll understand the sheer splendor of its power!"
Eudas leveled his right hand at Garna. The silver limb protruding from his arm surged forward, lunging for her. I wasn't about to let that happen.
"Clean!"
I’d kept my distance so as not to interrupt their exchange, but I’d been primed to act at a moment's notice. The purification magic struck the silver arm, stripping it of its luster and causing it to shrivel into a blackened husk.
"Garna, stay sharp!"
『I know!』
When a silver abomination turned black, it was usually a sign that the purification hadn't quite taken. While the surface might be scorched, the core often remained intact. Sure enough, once the blackened outer layer flaked away, a pristine silver limb emerged beneath it.
"So, this is that mysterious Power of Purification I've heard so much about. A nuisance, to be sure, but..."
Eudas gave a chilling smile. I braced for an attack, but he simply turned his back on us.
『Do you think you can just run?!』 Garna shrieked.
Eudas glanced back and shook his head dismissively.
"I'm a busy man, Lady Garnalava. I only came to gauge the extent of this purification magic for myself. Now that I have, I can see it won't be a problem. My subordinates can handle things from here."
『Wait!』
Ignoring Garna’s protests, Eudas strode away. Two men stepped forward to cover his retreat, both of them Cult Executives marked by Silver Wounds.
"We’ll be your dance partners," one sneered.
"Heh... it's not every day we get to cut loose with the Power of Silver. You have our thanks!"
With those words, the two began to chant their spells.