Chapter 372: The Existence of a Hero Who Defeats Satan—The Last King?
A twin-tailed girl who appeared to be about eleven or twelve years old, holding a large round disc, looked somewhat lost.
Sensing the death of a Heretic God on earth, it seemed a new Campione had been born. She immediately rushed over.
From the immortal realm of [The World of Myths], she arrived at the gray domain [The Depths of the Netherworld]—the entrance to the undying domain of the gods.
Having come here, she intended to usurp the authority of a Heretic God about to return to the myth and bestow it upon her child.
However, upon arriving, she did not see her child but only a certain God King who had just been sent back?
Ah, perhaps her child was a bit slower. For now, she would first usurp the God King's authority.
"Huh?"
The girl was bewildered—she had obtained nothing.
It shouldn't have failed; the ritual seemed to be functioning normally.
After preparing to try again, she still gained nothing. Instead, she received the icy gaze of the God King before her.
"God King, who sent you back? Did you fight with that Heretic God?"
If it was a fight between Heretic Gods, that would be normal, and usurping their authority would be impossible.
No, wait!
If it were a fight between Heretic Gods, her ritual for reincarnating a Campione wouldn't have been triggered either.
Could it be that they were unlucky enough to perish together?
So, that's why she hadn't seen her child yet?
"Hey, God King, what happened to you? Why do you have no authority left?"
Through the divine tool in her hand, she could confirm that the God King before her seemed to have been stripped of all his authority, not that it was undetectable.
"I don't know. Step aside, witch."
With that reply, Melqart swung his massive fist directly at her.
He found the woman before him equally detestable.
"Ah, so rude—that's unlikable. By the way, God King, at the place where you descended, you must have noticed someone from the biblical myth forcibly breaking away from the myth. Did you notice anything unusual?"
The girl dodged and continued questioning, suspecting that the God King's abnormality might be related to that incident.
However, the God King merely gave an eerie smile and ignored her as he returned to the realm of the gods.
"And that is the current state of the world."
After the meal, Erica was explaining the present state of the world to the person before her.
She also looked at him with a strange gaze. Had this person lost his memory? He didn't even seem to understand what a Heretic God was.
Hmm, perhaps that was really the case.
When gods break away from the myth and descend to earth, becoming Heretic Gods, they wander and gradually forget their identities.
Earlier, Melqart had been provoked to the point of nearly losing his sanity. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, he would have healed his injuries first before coming to pick a fight.
"So, you are Erica?"
"Huh? Yes, I am Erica."
The foolish question made Erica unable to resist rolling her beautiful eyes.
It was also somewhat unbelievable. Although the person before her was clearly a Heretic God, to Erica now, he seemed just like an ordinary human—she couldn't sense any aura of a Heretic God from him.
Thus, she subconsciously overlooked the fact that he was a god and spoke with him so straightforwardly.
"I see. So this is that story's world."
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
Renji understood the world he had arrived in—it was indeed the world of an anime he had watched called Campione!.
The reason he hadn't immediately recognized Erica or Melqart was because he had only seen them in anime—a two-dimensional medium.
Now, this was reality, a three-dimensional world where things looked somewhat different.
Moreover, he rarely read the related novels and was purely an anime-only viewer, so he wasn't familiar with many details.
Additionally, it had been a long time since he watched it, so he didn't remember the plot particularly clearly.
Anyway, it seemed like the original protagonist would soon come here with something called the Prometheus Stone Tablet and coincidentally succeed in slaying a God of War, thus becoming a new Campione.
Ah, right. Before Melqart left, he secretly told him one thing: don't let Pandora's ritual be performed again—meaning, don't allow new Campiones to be born.
Doing so would accelerate the awakening of a certain being. Once that being awakened and became aware of his abnormality, he would immediately attract the attention of even more special existences.
"The Last King—do you know who that is?"
He asked the somewhat tsundere—no, somewhat arrogant young lady before him.
However, before she could answer, Renji had already gotten his answer from her somewhat bewildered gaze.
"The Last King?"
"A hero responsible for exterminating Satans"
That was all the information Melqart had revealed, nothing more beyond that.
It seemed he couldn't directly speak the name. More precisely, he himself was under some constraint that prevented him from saying it. Being able to reveal this much was already quite difficult.
"A hero responsible for exterminating Satans?"
This made Erica slightly astonished.
By "Satans," it must refer to the Campiones, who were also given the title of Satan.
And the natural enemies of Campiones were Heretic Gods.
So, there existed a special Heretic God crowned with the title [Last King] who would be the hero that hunts down Campiones?
Then, which mythological existence could be related to the [Last King]?
"Could it be referring to King Arthur?"
Erica couldn't help but murmur this.
"King Arthur?"
Renji raised an eyebrow. Why would she think it was him?
"Because this king's epitaph reads 'the once and future king.' Of course, this is just the first one that came to my mind—it might not be correct."
"Then, are there any records of Campiones being killed by others in the past?"
"This—"
"I'm not asking about mutual killings among Campiones, but deaths at the hands of others."
"Killed by Heretic Gods?"
There were indeed records of such events, though they were quite rare.
So Erica named a few examples.
"...And these individuals quite mysteriously vanished without trace one day, eventually being declared dead."
She also mentioned some Campiones whose deaths or disappearances remained completely unexplained.
"Disappeared without trace? Probably killed by the Last King, I'd guess."
"Eh?"
"According to what Melqart revealed to me, once the number of Campiones reaches a certain threshold, the Last King will awaken again."
This information shocked Erica.
There actually existed a god specifically dedicated to hunting Campiones?
And saying "awaken again" implied he had already carried out this mission several times before?
Yet she had never heard of such a thing—it must have been completely suppressed?
For a moment, Erica couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine.
"So, the one eavesdropping might know who the [Last King] is"
He suddenly said this again, startling Erica.
Who was eavesdropping?
The locusts became her eyes, immediately surveilling the surroundings of the house, but found no one?
No, she spotted an unusual black cat.