"Well, this is quite the serious situation. Who would've thought that goddess would come wreak havoc in Uruk like this." Merlin sighed, shaking his head as he massaged his temples.
After regrouping once more in the ziggurat, everyone had to discuss a new strategy to deal with Quetzalcoatl.
"That's enough! Letting her run amok in the city like that is terrible for morale!" Gilgamesh roared.
"Damn it all! This is all that inexplicable goddess's fault! Ishtar! Since you're the same kind of creature, figure something out!"
Ishtar, suddenly called out, wore an unpleasant expression. "Where exactly do you get off saying we're the same? Our cultures and styles aren't even similar, right?"
The moment she said this, the others looked at her with indescribable expressions.
In a way, Ishtar was also a goddess whose thought process was hard to follow, and she was also a Venus goddess. Calling them the same kind wasn't exactly wrong.
"So! We're completely different! I have nothing in common with that muscle-brained goddess!" Ishtar's face darkened, though she still smiled.
"Challenging every single human personally? I can't make heads or tails of her actions!"
"Even as a fellow goddess, you can't understand her?" Mashu frowned. "I remember her saying she wants to protect humanity. If that's the case..."
"'The gods shelter humanity through disasters' and 'Humanity and gods face disasters together'—there's a world of difference between the two."
Gilgamesh stated calmly, "So don't go saying things like 'it could serve as a backup plan' or such nonsense."
After speaking, he furrowed his brows and looked at Amber. "Even the Phoenix Celestial can do nothing against her..."
"So I've said, any attack with a 'Good' alignment is useless." Ishtar emphasized again.
"If it's just about restraining her, there might be a way." Amber suddenly spoke up.
"Restrain that South American chief deity?" Merlin looked at Amber in surprise, then seemed to realize something.
"You mean that authority over consciousness? The one you used when you fought Ishtar before."
"Authority over consciousness?" Gilgamesh raised an eyebrow.
"The cost of that method and its potential effectiveness are still unknown, but it certainly felt dangerous to me." Ishtar admitted frankly.
"Dealing significant damage to Quetzalcoatl would be difficult, but restraining her might be possible."
"But wouldn't that require the Celestial to maintain it constantly?"
Ritsuka, however, frowned and pointed out the drawback.
His words cast a shadow over the room again. While they had a means to restrain Quetzalcoatl, they couldn't afford to tie up their strongest fighter. It wasn't cost-effective, only a last resort.
"Has Chaldea no other methods!? That doctor called Roman!?" Gilgamesh's bark cut through the atmosphere.
"Me!?" Roman's eye twitched. "Don't you have Merlin right there?"
"As I said before, using the Clairvoyance to observe a goddess will only invite her wrath. As a goddess, it's impossible for her to be unaware of being watched. It would likely bring disaster in an instant. It's too early to anger a goddess now." Merlin shook his head.
"Besides, my magical energy is currently tied up with other matters. I simply don't have the capacity to perform any major magecraft right now."
Roman was momentarily speechless at Merlin's blatant admission of incompetence, but the information Da Vinci brought over eased the deep furrow in his brow.
"Given the current situation, we have no means to oppose her directly. But if we can weaken her divinity, the situation might change entirely." Roman stated the obvious.
Mystery loses its effect before a greater mystery. If she lost her divinity, even Quetzalcoatl, as a chief deity, would become much more vulnerable.
But the question was, how to weaken her?
Seeing everyone's eyes on him, Roman didn't keep them in suspense. "Isn't it strange? She's a South American chief deity, yet she possesses such high divinity here in Mesopotamia, where she shouldn't originally belong."
He had a point.
Roman continued, "Presumably, it's because she has established a temple in this region, just like Goddess Ishtar. According to Chaldea's scans, there's an extraordinary magical energy reaction deep in the jungle. It's highly likely to be her temple."
"In other words, we just need to destroy the temple?" Ritsuka understood.
"Well done, you Chaldea folks!" King Gilgamesh finally showed a smile.
"Then your next objective is to head to Eridu, reclaim the Axe of Marduk, and simultaneously destroy Quetzalcoatl's temple! Put an end to that annoying goddess's mischief!"
With this new hope, everyone naturally seized it.
Without delay, they packed their belongings, and Chaldea once again set out on the road to Eridu.
Night fell quickly.
Soon after they entered the deep jungle, they encountered an overly energetic Servant dressed in what looked like a theme park mascot costume: Jaguar Man. Her face reminded Amber uncannily of a certain teacher nicknamed the Tiger of Fuyuki.
With Amber wearing an inscrutable expression, this seemingly clownish Servant was easily won over by Fujimaru Ritsuka's charm and promptly joined Chaldea's team.
As the one with the most stamina, Amber was naturally chosen for night watch again. Ishtar, who had been unusually merciful last time and taken a watch, showed no intention of continuing her mercy today.
Ritsuka, unusually restless and finding it hard to sleep, decided to stay up with Amber through the night.
"As an ordinary human, this will only leave you listless tomorrow," Amber advised.
"...I know, but I just can't fall asleep," Ritsuka apologized, scratching his head. The two of them sat on makeshift chairs fashioned from felled trees.
"Celestial... what do you think of that Quetzalcoatl?"
After a long silence, Ritsuka suddenly spoke.
His eyes were fixed on the campfire before them, reflecting thoughts that were hard to decipher.
"She is a benevolent deity, I believe," Amber replied.
"Yeah..." Ritsuka nodded.
"Providing shelter for humanity, wanting to train humans to survive disasters... there's no doubt she's a kind goddess. But the path King Gilgamesh spoke of... might be more suited for humanity... Humans can only be saved by humans themselves."
"Surviving under the protection of gods, and surviving by fighting alongside gods... The former makes humanity vassals of the gods, while the latter grants them mastery over their own fate."
"In your eyes, what kind of god is Quetzalcoatl?" Amber asked.
"I don't know."
Ritsuka shook his head. "But, she's not a goddess who is impossible to talk to. I believe she truly loves humanity."
Somehow, Amber found herself following Ritsuka's train of thought.
"You don't want to destroy the temple?"
"If we have no other choice, then we must." Ritsuka let out a breath. "But... that might not be our only option."
Amber hadn't expected Ritsuka to say such things. He was just an ordinary human without any special 'cheats', yet living among a group of Servants, he bore a responsibility and mission heavier than anyone else's...
She couldn't help but feel a surge of respect for him.
"Having a night chat? Can I join?" A voice sounded nearby—Ishtar's.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.