Chapter 56
Horus had been told by his apostle Kim Young-ah, when he came here, that that tattoo symbolized the otherworldly god Yamyeonggoe.
“Heretics…”
It was a term for those who held perverse beliefs in the face of the Great Descent — people who worshipped an otherworldly god and rejected the gods of mankind.
Those who wanted society to collapse and the world to be destroyed.
Those who believed destruction itself was the path to salvation.
Until now their numbers had been small enough to ignore, but if they really had killed Hephaestus…
“I’ll have to hunt them down.”
Horus knew better than anyone how terrifying the Great Descent had been.
He had been on the front line with his apostles, fighting monsters.
“That must never happen again.”
He frowned at the ugly tattoo on the apostate’s hand.
Clack, clack.
He tapped his beak together in annoyance.
How dare an apostate reveal himself to him like that.
They must have seriously underestimated him.
“Presumptuous,” he said.
At first he thought to kill them all on the spot and keep only the leader alive to extract information.
But they had come to him of their own accord.
They must have an intent, then.
Horus set aside petty feelings; this was a matter of honor for the whole of Egyptian mythology.
He did not want to destroy a clue brought to him on its own feet for the sake of personal pride.
“I must win against Ares.”
The contest would be a simple one: successfully complete an investigation into Hephaestus’s death.
Whoever brought back the more useful information by the next meeting would be the victor.
“But by the Pharaoh’s leniency I will at least hear why you came.”
“Thank you, Pharaoh.”
The arrogant apostate handed an envelope to Horus’s First Apostle, Radames.
“What is this?”
“It is a letter from our cult leader to the Pharaoh.”
Horus nodded to Radames. Radames took the envelope and handed it to Horus.
“To Horus, sun god and sovereign of the skies,” Horus read the letter sent by Yamyeonggoe’s leader.
He skimmed through the long, tedious preface.
The gist of it asked whether the Abyss in the Eastern Sea, which Jormungand had been closing, had been sealed by the gods.
“Ares is the one who went to investigate,” Horus thought, tapping his finger against his chair as he looked down at the apostate.
That they were asking him meant that even among the apostates information wasn’t being shared.
“If handled well, I can use this.”
Horus, grinding his beak, spoke.
“The gods handled it. Ares has been dispatched for the cleanup. It’s your turn now.”
At that, the apostate who was bowed before him took a sheet of paper from his bosom and held it out.
“What’s that?”
“Please check this letter as well. Our leader told us to bring it if you tell us the gods handled it.”
Horus examined the paper the apostate produced with his own eyes.
There were no magical traces.
No suspicious aura registered.
“This is an offer from our leader to you, Horus.”
“An offer?”
Presumptuous.
How dare a mortal speak of making an offer to the great Egyptian god under the blazing sun.
Hiding his urge to cast a spell in response to such arrogance, Horus simply flicked his hand.
This time the apostate handed the letter to Horus through the Second Apostle, Nikolai Igor.
The preface was the same as before.
“…I know a way for Horus to reclaim the prestige of the sun even without permission from Ra.”
A method to restore the prestige of the sun god?
“Our god knows a way to awaken Horus’s solar power. It is a powerful incantation that could make the sun themselves descend to the world, a spell no ordinary human body can perform, and we regret that we cannot demonstrate it in person.”
For an apostate otherworldly god to dare mention the sacred sun—
“Presumptuous,” Horus thought.
“We understand your doubt. Therefore we have written down the incantation below. If Horus finds this interesting, send a messenger. If not, you may kill the author.”
Horus looked at the spell the leader had provided.
It was hieroglyphs used by the ancient Egyptian gods — unreadable to modern humans.
“…This is—”
A master of magic like Horus could recognize it at a glance.
It was a sophisticated spell that compressed various magics into one.
His eyes scanned it quickly.
His left eye, containing countless lunar wisdoms, simulated what would happen upon completion of the spell.
A vast sun approaching the caster — the vision was like—
“Hmm…”
The idea that the sun would descend to the world was not idle boasting.
“You think you can gain the power of the sun with this?”
“The leader alone can explain the details.”
“…Presumptuous.”
Yet the proposition was interesting.
Even the greatest Egyptian mage had never seen such a rite or incantation.
It was an intriguing approach.
New forms of magic piqued the intellectual curiosity of the supreme mage Horus.
“The sun god, huh…”
But still, what kept ringing in his ears was the claim that he could reclaim the sun god’s prestige.
Unless Ra, the chief deity and sun god of Egyptian myth, fell, Horus could not take back the sun god’s prestige from Ra.
He weighed the duel with Ares — which concerned the gods’ pride — against the chance to learn how to recover that prestige.
“If these people are lying to me…”
He had the strength to eliminate them all and punish them.
The offer seemed like a risk worth taking.
“Then I’ll ask just one thing.”
Horus broke the long silence.
“Did you kill Hephaestus?”
“Our leader will answer that.”
“Presumptuous.”
“I am only a follower and know little. I’m sorry.”
Horus shook his head.
He had not expected much from this person.
He was merely a messenger carrying a letter.
“Very well. But it would be improper for me to visit. Tell your leader to come to me. Come here by tomorrow and I will speak with you in person.”
The apostles standing in formation gasped.
“Horus!”
“Speak with apostates?!”
“I have decided. That is that.”
Who could disobey a god’s decree?
At Horus’s statement, the apostles fell silent.
“I will give you one day. If you do not come by tomorrow, there will be no conversation.”
It would be fine to speak once, he thought.
Just once.
But the envoy bowed his head and then said something that was beyond Horus’s expectation.
“Excuse me, but I must say this boldly. The magic written in the letter must be tested in a location prepared by our order.”
“Presumptuous. Do you take exception to my words?”
“We are sorry, but to fulfill what the sun god would desire, it is unavoidable.”
Horus narrowed his brows and looked at the envoy.
This apostate messenger was bold for someone in his station.
Do they really have backing?
They claimed to know a magic even the greatest mage did not.
They were certainly hiding something.
“This is a trap, and yet it forces me to go.”
Horus clicked his tongue inwardly.
The spell revealed that part of the envoy’s words were true.
Simply dismissing them out of hand was not something a great mage would do.
A true great mage opened new horizons by risking dangers and investigating the unknown.
—There is no guarantee it is not a trap.
Horus did not voice that thought.
It would have been unbecoming of a god.
A god must be omnipotent and never fear failure.
That was Horus’s creed and the source of his divine existence.
So even knowing it might be a trap, he would confront it.
“Then the address at the end of this letter is where I should go?”
“That is correct.”
Horus pointed to the address beneath the incantation.
“Your leader likes making things inconvenient.”
The envoy lowered his head and bowed in worship.
“Withdraw. I will go to that address first thing tomorrow morning.”
“We will be waiting.”
After the envoy bowed and left their compound, Horus told his apostles:
“There may be traps. Prepare thoroughly. Use all detection magic to neutralize whatever they have prepared.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And Kim Young-ah.”
“Yes, Lord Horus.”
“You verify the exact location of that address.”
“Yes, I’ll find out straight away.”
They did not know what trap had been set, but they would not fall for it easily.
Horus vowed as much.
After leaving Horus’s base, I erased the apostate disguise tattoo and returned to our car.
There I was met by Lee Su-yeon and Jormungand.
—You came out unscathed, then.
Jormungand, wriggling above Lee Su-yeon’s head, stuck out its tongue to greet me after I’d gone to meet Horus disguised as an apostate.
“This was reckless no matter how you look at it,” Lee Su-yeon scolded.
She had tried many times to convince me there was another way.
But no other plan seemed better.
By chance we had intercepted the apostate who was trying to contact Horus’s guild, and we had grabbed a useful weapon in the process.
It would be foolish to throw that away.
“If we don’t use this, Yamyeonggoe will eventually contact Horus anyway.”
Setting the meeting for tomorrow morning was deliberate.
We would finish Horus before Yamyeonggoe realized what had happened.
“Since it went well, let’s stop talking about what’s past.”
“…Sigh. Fine. There’s no point denying what’s already been done.”
“Now Su-yeon, your role becomes important.”
“My role?”
She blinked.
“Of course. I gave you Arachne’s pouch, remember?”
“Ah…”
“With that we’ll set a trap. A trap no magician will notice.”
I smiled at Lee Su-yeon.
“You don’t have to look at me like that even if I’m charming.”
“Don’t be ridiculous — let’s get ready. Time is short.”
