The Ashendust Scripture.
Among the Theocracy's [Six Scriptures], it is the most low-profile and least noticeable special unit.
All of its members are tank-type class holders.
Unlike the Holocaust Scripture, which mainly conducts guerrilla warfare, assassinations, and surprise raids, or the Windflower Scripture and Clearwater Scripture, which specialize in intelligence gathering, the Ashendust Scripture has only one duty.
Defense.
Their primary mission is to guard some of the Theocracy's most secret and important locations, which requires them to remain isolated from the outside world for long periods.
Because of this, joining the Ashendust Scripture requires not only a certain level of strength, but also an honest and steady personality.
In simple terms, they must be able to endure loneliness.
Among the locations they guard, the most important is naturally the [Temple].
It is the resting place of the Six Gods, as well as the burial ground of successive God-kin.
Guarding this place alone takes up more than eighty percent of the Ashendust Scripture's members.
However, because most members were secretly brought here and deliberately given false information, the Ashendust Scripture still does not know what they are actually guarding. They only know that this is an important location of the Theocracy.
This arrangement was intentional on the part of the priests.
...
The sun was bright, and the air was fresh.
As the captain of the Ashendust Scripture, he began his daily patrol along the usual route.
He walked alone, dressed in simple cloth clothing, carrying a longbow and quiver on his back. A gentle smile rested on his honest-looking face.
At a glance, he looked more like an adventurer than anything else.
Normally, patrols should be carried out by multiple people in order to prevent accidents.
But that created a contradictory problem.
If too many patrol members were present and attracted the attention of outsiders or intelligent magical beasts, it would defeat the purpose of the Theocracy's efforts to remain unnoticed.
For the same reason, he did not wear the Theocracy's distinctive armor or the holy emblem that symbolized his identity.
After discussion among the priests, patrol duty was ultimately assigned to experienced and powerful members who would go alone while disguised.
"Nothing happened today either."
"Still early. I might as well go fishing."
After driving away a few wandering magical beasts and confirming everything was safe, the Ashendust Scripture captain, disguised as an adventurer, thought to himself.
To be honest, if an ordinary person lived this same dull routine day after day, they would probably have broken down long ago.
Even though the members of the Ashendust Scripture were carefully selected, living year-round in these remote mountains far from the outside world inevitably affected their personalities. After all, they were not saints without desires.
Some members who could not endure the loneliness would develop hobbies to relax their minds.
As the captain of the Ashendust Scripture, his favorite hobby was fishing.
Especially when he happened to be seen by his squad members while holding a fish he had caught, and their amazed reactions followed.
That always gave him a deep sense of satisfaction.
A gentle breeze passed through, carrying the scent of trees.
Humming a small tune passed down from the Six Great Gods, he rounded a few bends. Just ahead was his destination, a modest lake.
But at that moment, a sudden sense of unease struck him.
"?"
The captain of the Ashendust Scripture turned around.
Before he could react, the world froze.
The entire space suddenly turned black and white, as if someone had pressed pause. Everything stopped.
Not only their bodies, but even their consciousness halted. All living things remained frozen in the exact pose they had in the previous second.
The scene looked both absurd and terrifying.
Within this black-and-white world, two figures stepped out of the void.
Naohara slightly opened his hand, and a magic circle rotated within his palm.
10th-tier magic [Time Stop].
The mana consumption of this spell depends on the number of targets being stopped, their strength, and the area affected.
In the game, it could not be called useless, but it was somewhat underwhelming.
It was only really useful in one-on-one combat.
Compared to spending large amounts of mana to freeze time, players usually had many better options.
However, knowing he would eventually travel to another world, Naohara deliberately learned many spells that seemed mediocre in the game but could become extremely powerful in the New World.
Among them were time-related spells such as [Time Stop], [Time Reversal], and [Time Acceleration].
There were also super-tier spells like [Wish Upon a Star].
"A human in the Hero realm. There really is something strange here. It seems the direction provided by Thousand Leagues Astrologer was correct."
After scanning the area with detection magic, Naohara quickly obtained the information he wanted.
About half a day had passed since they left the Theocracy.
As the Theocracy's strongest surveillance specialist, it had to be said that Thousand Leagues Astrologer truly had some skill.
Even though she did not know any concrete intelligence herself, she had managed to point them in the right general direction through small clues and subtle details.
Thousand Leagues Astrologer had not been willing, but that did not matter.
Once she accepted his blood, she would never be able to break free from him for the rest of her life.
She would become the Theocracy's new insider.
Clementine, meanwhile, would act as the bait in plain sight. After all, those priests had already guessed part of the truth.
Even so, Naohara was not worried about Clementine's safety.
For reasons he did not fully understand, the Theocracy had chosen to swallow the bitter outcome and pretend nothing had happened.
"Naohara-sama, shall this subordinate eliminate all the humans here?"
Pandora's Actor asked from the side in a playful tone.
As he spoke, his body flickered. His original appearance disappeared and was replaced by a figure completely wrapped in darkness.
The Deep Darkness Dragon Lord.
Even though Pandora had never actually seen the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord, he was able to perfectly imitate its aura.
This was all thanks to Cocytus.
During the previous battle with the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord, Cocytus had successfully obtained a portion of the dragon's blood.
That dragon blood was split into two portions. Most of it was handed over to Nigredo, while a smaller portion was given to Pandora's Actor.
As a highest-tier Doppelganger, with the blood of the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord, Pandora could at least replicate its aura.
At this moment, if Naohara gave the order, Pandora would immediately attack while posing as the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord.
Note: Pandora can only imitate the aura of the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord.
"Do not act recklessly for now."
"And Pandora, you seem to hold some hostility toward the Theocracy."
Naohara thought for a moment before rejecting Pandora's Actor's suggestion. A trace of surprise also flashed across his eyes.
Volunteering to attack was not really in Pandora's usual character.
"It is simply that the Theocracy's behavior reminded this subordinate of something Momonga-sama once mentioned. In [Yggdrasil], the humanoid races launched campaigns to hunt down the heteromorphic races."
Pandora's Actor hesitated briefly before explaining.
Although he enjoyed joking around, Pandora's Actor held deep respect for Momonga and had even addressed him as Father-sama before.
But the Slane Theocracy's ideology clearly displeased him.
That was why he had volunteered.
"It seems that no matter the world, the nature of the humanoid races does not change."
Pandora could not help saying.
Naohara did not respond to that. He simply shook his head.
He had no intention of judging such matters.
"Let's go."
Naohara stepped forward first, the magic circle in his palm still emitting a faint glow.
With his unfathomable magical power, the cost of maintaining Time Stop was negligible. The consumption was slower than his natural mana regeneration.
(Note: The effect of Dragon Blood Sacrifice is that it raised all of the protagonist's attributes to their maximum, including mana regeneration, instant death resistance, and so on.)
Pandora quickly returned to his usual playful demeanor and followed behind him.
High above in the sky, that strange sense of being watched appeared once again.
Naohara frowned slightly but did not pay it any attention.