The southern jungle was summoned by one of the Three Goddess Alliance, the Jungle Goddess Quetzalcoatl, using her own divine authority.
This tropical rainforest had appeared half a year ago and quietly expanded, waging a silent invasion that gradually brought the southern lands of Mesopotamia under its domain.
Gilgamesh had dispatched troops several times to conduct reconnaissance here, but none of them ever returned. All contact was lost, and not a single trace of them could be found.
With no other choice, Gilgamesh temporarily abandoned exploration of this area and focused on dealing with the demonic beasts in the north.
Now that Quetzalcoatl's true identity was known, no one found this surprising.
After all, in terms of divinity and authority, this supreme benevolent goddess of Aztec mythology undoubtedly stood at the very peak.
As a main god–level existence, no god manifesting in this land—whether Ishtar, Ereshkigal, or Gorgon—could compare to her, let alone a lower-ranked deity like Jaguar Man.
Unless Anu, Ishtar's father and the Father of the Gods in Sumerian mythology, descended to this world, Quetzalcoatl was without doubt the highest-ranking existence here.
In other words, this goddess' strength was likely far greater than that of Ishtar, Ereshkigal, or Gorgon.
On top of that, the jungle was home to many feathered serpent wyverns and well-trained beastmen under her command, so it was no wonder that scouting parties from Uruk vanished completely after entering the tropical rainforest.
Under such circumstances, Rozen's group logically should not have charged into it recklessly.
And yet, in the end, Rozen decided to do just that.
"Now that Ereshkigal has left the Alliance, only two goddesses remain. But those two are launching their most powerful offensive against Uruk, even taking the field themselves. It's clear they're fighting seriously."
In this situation, with Uruk facing enemies on two fronts, the danger was obvious.
"To hold back the Beast Goddess of the northern wall, Uruk deployed nearly all of its Servants, concentrating over seventy percent of its forces there—and even then, they are only barely holding her off."
"The southern front, however, has completely collapsed. Even with Merlin and Anna taking the field, they were toyed with by just one Jaguar Man."
"If Quetzalcoatl hadn't suddenly withdrawn after killing a hundred people, ceasing hostilities, Uruk's southern gate would have fallen long ago, and this era would already be over."
"If we retreat now, next time Uruk may have to face simultaneous assaults from both the Jungle Goddess in the south and the Beast Goddess in the north, leading to total collapse."
To prevent that, they had to take down another goddess.
With Uruk's current strength, holding off one goddess was no problem, but holding off two at once—even with Rozen back, and with Ryougi Shiki and Ishtar on their side—would be extremely difficult.
Ereshkigal's undead army could only be deployed at night; in the daytime, they were useless.
Given that…
"We might as well deal with the most troublesome one—Quetzalcoatl—first, and then face Gorgon."
That was Rozen's decision.
If Quetzalcoatl could be eliminated, they would have the resources to focus on Gorgon.
Of course…
"Can we really do it?" Ryougi Shiki asked skeptically. "Isn't that goddess supposed to be the strongest of the three?"
"Exactly," Ishtar said. "Even though she's also a Venus goddess like me, she's main god–class. And unlike me or Ereshkigal, she's not appearing in the pseudo–Servant form, so she might be able to use all the powers from her mythology. Against someone like that, even summoning the so-called strongest divine beast, the Bull of Heaven, Gugalanna, would be tough."
The Servants felt the same way.
Even Chaldea's staff agreed.
"According to mythology," Da Vinci explained, "Quetzalcoatl governs life, harvest, culture, wind, rain, and even the sun. She is famed for her benevolent deeds but also has a fierce war god aspect. She has even appeared on earth as a king guiding people toward prosperity."
"She's also a Venus goddess," Roman added with concern, "so she's a symbol of beauty. And as a Feathered Serpent, she's one of the prime snake deities, representing the 'winged serpent.' Because of that, she can even command dragon-type divine beasts."
"A god of culture, a god of war, the sun god, the wind god, the rain god, a snake god, a Venus goddess, and the highest benevolent deity—how many divine authorities does she actually have?" Olga Marie shuddered.
Divine authority was the manifestation of a god's dominion over natural laws.
The wind god held authority over wind.
The rain god held authority over rain.
The thunder god held authority over lightning.
The fire god held authority over flame.
Generally speaking, unless a god like Ishtar had obtained multiple authorities from different deities, a god's divine authority reflected the domain they presided over.
Following this logic, Quetzalcoatl—who presided over so many aspects—must have an overwhelming number of divine authorities.
So, what was a main god?
It was the central, top-ranked deity of a mythology—ruler of all the gods within it.
Quetzalcoatl, as the pinnacle of benevolence and the supreme benevolent deity of Aztec mythology, had power far beyond the scale of Heroic Spirits.
Unless one could actually slay gods, even Grand-class Servants could not match her.
Of course, that assumed Quetzalcoatl could wield her full power as recorded in myth.
"We're at the end of the Age of Gods," Rozen said firmly. "Even if South American gods are special and can manifest freely, I don't believe a main god–class being could just appear without any limitations."
"Quetzalcoatl shouldn't be able to manifest without restriction; at the very least, she definitely can't use all her divine authorities."
Just like Ishtar—who, due to her pseudo–Servant form, couldn't use most of her mythological authorities and had seven of them stolen by Ereshkigal—Quetzalcoatl's powers should be limited.
In fact, Ishtar's reluctance to use her authorities in battle wasn't due to unwillingness, but because she couldn't use them freely.
Taking that into account, Rozen believed they had a chance.
"With Ishtar on our side, plus Shiki's Mystic Eye of Death Perception and Mash's shield, we have more than enough to threaten Quetzalcoatl."
"Not to mention, I still have Altera as a trump card."
"And if it comes to it, I can step in myself."
"With this lineup, I refuse to believe we can't take down a single god."
Thus, Rozen decided to enter the jungle and deal with Quetzalcoatl first.
At the very least, they needed to test her strength.
After some thought, everyone agreed.
And so, Rozen's group plunged into the jungle.
"Hm?"
From the top of a temple deep within the jungle, the goddess opened her eyes.
A smile appeared on her face.