— — — — — —
In the end, Amun-Ra backed down.
Losing an important Heretic God hurt, but starting a battle in the lower layers against Ryo, the man who had fought Zeus to a standstill, simply wasn't worth it.
Amun knew the odds weren't in his favor.
Even if his Spirit Rank gave him the advantage in a direct clash, Ryo's poison had already been field-tested by Zeus himself. It was the kind of toxin even gods couldn't endure.
Fighting someone like that offered little reward even in victory. Lose, on the other hand, and he'd suffer every kind of embarrassment imaginable.
After weighing the pros and cons, the golden bird hanging in the sky slowly faded away.
"...This guy's even more cowardly than I am." Watching Amun-Ra retreat, Ryo let out a mocking laugh.
He twisted open the little brown glass bottle in his hand with his thumb, downed the contents in one gulp, and scoffed, "It's just a healing potion. Did you really have to get that scared?"
Pfft!
Laughter burst from somewhere high above.
The god-king avatars hidden in the shadows had obviously overheard him, and none of them could keep a straight face.
Being frightened into retreat by what turned out to be a healing potion... Amun-Ra was never living this one down.
After finishing the potion, Ryo casually crushed the empty bottle in his hand. His gaze swept across the surrounding ruins like lightning, lingering briefly on every hiding place where invisible observers were concealed.
Then he rolled his neck, rewrapped both hands in bandages, and strode out of the Greek stronghold.
Only after he had disappeared did a deep sigh echo through the silent ruins.
"That kid's gotten a lot stronger than he was when he fought Zeus." A voice said with a teasing laugh.
"'Kid?' Odin, you've got to be joking. You can't call someone like him a kid anymore." Another man's voice spoke up, full of surprise. "In just a single year, he's climbed to stand alongside the rest of us. This Ryo... he's hiding quite a few secrets."
A woman chuckled. "What? Thinking of taking them for yourself, Set? If you are, I hope you don't end up like Amun-Ra."
Set fell silent. Even he couldn't confidently claim he could beat Ryo after what he'd just witnessed.
Whether Ryo was restricted or fighting at full strength, the dangerous aura he'd displayed moments ago had left a deep impression.
"That power..." Set murmured. "It didn't feel like a Gift or an Authority."
"Another Cosmology..." Odin sighed. "And at a very high level of release. One-on-one, there aren't many people who can match him."
"What a shame..." the woman sighed.
"Yeah. What a shame," Set echoed.
After that, the ruined Greek outpost fell completely silent once more.
...
Meanwhile, Ryo was making his way toward the Boundary Gate, preparing to return to Arcadia headquarters.
His brows were tightly furrowed.
"The biggest consequence of killing Amun-Ra's Heretic incarnation is making an enemy of the man himself. But according to Thousand Eyes' intelligence, he doesn't have many close allies in the Egyptian pantheon. Among the three-digit gods, he's only middle of the pack."
"If he were really that powerful, he wouldn't have ambushed Zeus in secret. He'd have marched straight into Olympus and challenged him openly instead of wasting time here bothering me."
With that thought, Ryo shook his head.
Amun wasn't someone he could ignore completely, but neither was he an immediate threat.
A three-digit god was still dangerous. If Amun-Ra ever decided to make trouble, Ryo intended to learn about it through Thousand Eyes and eliminate him first.
Even without relying on Algol, Ryo was confident that if he unleashed his Cosmo completely, he could kill Amun-Ra's true body.
After all, there was a reason that Seventh Sense Cosmo bore the name Miraculosity.
Loosening the bandages and releasing his sealed sense of touch had been nothing more than misdirection. He wanted the observers hiding nearby to believe that removing the seal was what made him stronger.
As long as they bought that story, almost anyone below the very peak of the three-digit ranks would misjudge his true strength.
Call him cowardly. Call him cautious.
In a world like Little Garden, Ryo had no intention of exposing every card in his hand.
Reveal one trump card. Hide another. Develop a third.
That was the strategy he lived by.
Only with layers upon layers of insurance could he make sure he didn't die young.
That was the confidence behind daring to bare his fangs at god-kings.
"There were at least five people watching me just now..." Ryo narrowed his eyes as he mentally replayed everything that had happened. "Add Amun, and that makes six."
"It all started because I attacked Greece and killed Artemis's incarnation, escalating my conflict with Olympus. The god-kings nearby all have grievances with Zeus's faction. They saw my feud with him and wanted to use me as a knife against Zeus."
"Heh. Amun-Ra was probably just the fool they talked into making the first move. He's never been popular in the upper layers; he's one of the weaker contenders for Ra's throne, and I'd heard he wanted to change the direction of his Spirit Rank years ago. He's exactly the type to get manipulated."
"I snapped the hand Amun-Ra reached out with. Now the others should understand that I'm not their chess piece. I'm another player."
"That's enough. I'm already standing in the eye of the storm against Greece. There's no need to widen the conflict any further.... Otherwise my standing with the Twin Goddesses might take a hit."
Thinking that, Ryo paused and patted his restless right hand. "Killing three hundred Greek Heretic Gods in the South Area is enough. It's time to stop."
He took a deep breath. "Ryo, be careful. Sure, Algol became stronger because of you. But don't forget. The powerful one isn't you."
He understood what was happening.
Years of living under constant pressure had caused him to rebound in the opposite direction. Now he wanted to run wild across Little Garden.
That was a terrible idea.
No matter how strong you were, getting reckless in Little Garden was how you got yourself killed.
Azi Dahaka had been powerful, yet Arcadia, a community without a single four-digit rule-breaker at the time, had still managed to seal him away.
Algol had been powerful too, yet she'd nearly degenerated into a mindless beast and become someone else's slave.
Even Shiroyasha, once acknowledged as Little Garden's strongest, had been beaten so badly by the Twin Goddesses.
So the safest path was still the traditional one.
Make lots of friends. Make as few enemies as possible.
He nodded to himself. "Too bad. There wasn't any way around offending Artemis today. But this was still the best option."
"Among the three Greek gods friendly to Arcadia, Hades, Hestia, and Artemis... It's much better to offend the weakest one than either of the other two."
Having convinced himself, Ryo finally relaxed.
He descended to the nearest Boundary Gate and returned to the East Area.
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