Even though all that information sounded immensely difficult to believe and pushed beyond the boundaries of reason, Hera still detected not a single shred of deception from Charlie.
Her intrinsic divine ability continued to yield the exact same signal: the man before her was voicing pure truth, or at the very least, Charlie himself held unwavering belief in his own words.
"..."
The room fell quiet once more.
It took a few moments for Hera to digest and reorganize all the crazy information she had just heard.
"Setting aside whether what you say is true or not, Charlie..." Hera finally broke her silence, her tone abruptly shifting to one of heavy emphasis. "Are you truly aware of the horrifying consequences that will unfold if you recklessly pursue this ambition of yours?"
Charlie gave a slow nod, without a trace of doubt in his eyes. "Yes, I am fully aware, Goddess Hera."
Hera narrowed her eyes, staring sharply into the pupils of Charlie's eyes. "In that case, tell me. Let me hear just how far you have considered the fallout."
"If all the Gods in the Lower World were suddenly forced back to Heaven in a single instant without warning, this world would not immediately become peaceful." Charlie stated in a calm tone. "On the contrary, the world would instantly be plunged into total apocalypse and utter chaos."
Pausing his sentence for a moment, he raised one finger into the air.
"First, the crippling of every adventurer's power."
"The moment the Gods vanish from the Lower World, the Falna bound to the backs of all adventurers across the world will immediately lock up and freeze in an instant."
"Adventurers will no longer be able to level up, update their status, or learn new Skills and Magic. The growth of an adventurer's strength will come to a complete halt within a single second, leaving them trapped with whatever power they possess at that exact moment."
Charlie then raised a second finger, gazing at Hera with an increasingly grave expression.
"Second, the breach of the Dungeon's seal and a global-scale monster invasion."
"The Dungeon in Orario is a living entity that fiercely despises the Gods. All this time, the presence of the Gods in Orario has indirectly stoked the Dungeon's fury. Yet on the flip side, the collective strength of your Arcanum—even in its sealed state—acts as an invisible spiritual anchor holding the Dungeon in place."
"Without divine energy to hold it back, the Dungeon will experience a massive Monster Rex Outbreak. Monsters from the Deep Floors will incessantly crawl up to the surface, obliterating Orario and spreading to every corner of the world."
Hera: "😐"
Hera listened silently. She did not interrupt or comment on a single sentence leaving her follower's mouth.
Her sharp gaze remained locked onto Charlie's figure, taking in every detail of the horrific analysis being presented before her.
On the other hand, Charlie slowly raised his third finger. That move served as a clear sign to Hera that the catastrophic consequences caused by his ambition did not end there.
"Third, the complete destruction of Orario within a matter of days."
"The Tower of Babel, built directly atop the giant pit of the Dungeon, will become the first and most blood-drenched battlefield. Without the guidance, regulation, and strict management of the Guild—whose supreme council has always been driven by Gods such as Lord Ouranos—the city's defensive coordination system will collapse instantly."
"Powerful adventurers from the Loki Familia or other major factions who happen to be on deep expeditions within the Dungeon will be trapped without an exit. Lacking safe supply lines and without Falna status updates, they will be utterly swarmed by waves of monsters raging wildly as they sense the disappearance of the Gods' existence from the surface of the earth."
That gruesome picture of a dark future was apparently still not enough to illustrate the scale of destruction in Charlie's plan. He once again straightened another finger. A fourth finger now stood raised in the air.
"Fourth, a global-scale economic crisis and mass starvation."
He laid out social impacts far broader than mere physical combat.
"Countless magic items, clean water purification technologies, and even magic food supplies in this world rely directly on the blessings or creations of specific Gods for their effectiveness and production—such as Goddess Hephaestus for weaponry and technology, or the agricultural Gods for crops. The moment they disappear, all those life-support systems will cease to function."
"The value of the Valis currency, which has been backed by the Guild and the Gods' legal system, will collapse into useless coins. The Lower World will be forced to regress back into a chaotic, primitive barter system or fragment into using unstable local currencies from each respective region."
"..."
With her chin held high in unyielding, tyrannical elegance, Hera stared intently at Charlie. The light in her eyes radiated a combination of admiration and profound incomprehension.
"You see everything with utmost clarity, Charlie. I must praise you for that."
"Yet, even though you know full well this world will fall into chaos, you still insist on doing it. I truly cannot grasp your train of thought."
"You are clearly a hero who has carved a miracle by defeating the One-Eyed Black Dragon... but why is that very same hero now intending to plunge the world into total chaos?"
"Tell me, Charlie... is this what they mean when they say that in the end, the dragon slayer will eventually grow into a new dragon?"
Earlier, Charlie had indeed recounted almost his entire grand journey in broad strokes, excluding the forbidden parts regarding the existence of Gaia, Alaya, the concept of his status as a Savior, and the mysterious place known as the Void Sanctuary.
Because of this, Hera was already aware of the astonishing fact regarding Charlie's achievement in striking down the world's greatest threat.
The name of the One-Eyed Black Dragon held a deeply special yet painful meaning in the bottom of Hera's heart. After all, nearly all the core members of her Familia whom she treasured so deeply had met a gruesome death and perished without a trace in the grand expedition fifteen years ago against that monster.
Thus, one could imagine how shaken and shocked Hera was when she first heard that Charlie alone had successfully defeated the Black Dragon.
It was an impossible achievement that could not be reached even by the combined alliance between the Hera Familia and the Zeus Familia, the duo of the strongest Familia in history during their golden age.
Their legendary strength in their prime had not been surpassed in the slightest by the Loki Familia or the Freya Familia, who currently replaced them as the rulers of Orario.
And now, her male follower had completed that past revenge with his own hands.
Hera leaned her back against the sofa, gazing at Charlie with a look that slowly softened, though the remaining haughtiness of a queen still clung firmly to her.
"Even though I haven't known you deeply for very long, Charlie, I am exceedingly confident in my judgment of people."
"You are clearly not the type of fool who would destroy this world just like that without a purpose. The man who successfully struck down the Black Dragon alone could not possibly act that carelessly. You must already have a solution for all the catastrophic impacts you will cause later, don't you?"
Hearing her words, Charlie tugged at the corner of his lips, forming a subtle, wry smile before he finally gave a slow nod.
"You are sharp indeed, Goddess Hera. Thank you for your trust."
The gaze in his eyes abruptly shifted to one of profound calm and focus.
"Your guess is not wrong in the slightest. It is true... I have already prepared a solution to hold back all that chaos."
Upon hearing that confirmation, a pair of Hera's beautiful eyes instantly sparkled with intense interest. Her immense curiosity as a goddess had now been fully ignited. She leaned her body forward, resting her chin upon both hands braced together.
"In that case, do not keep me waiting any longer, Charlie." Hera commanded in a dominant, demanding tone, though this time it was laced with enthusiasm. "Tell me. Let me know what solution you have prepared."
"..."
Charlie fell silent for a moment. He looked up at the ceiling of the grand marble room of the Great Temple of Olympia, taking a deep breath as if preparing to whisper the single greatest secret that would alter the destiny of the entire world.
He looked straight back into Hera's pupils. His lips slowly moved, beginning to lay out the sequence of plans and solutions he had meticulously designed alongside his new power.
A plan so massive, so taboo, and existing far beyond the comprehension of mortal civilization and the gods of today.
Inside that tightly sealed room, Hera listened to every line of Charlie's sentences with eyes that slowly widened, captivated by a secret truth that no one in the outside world would ever suspect.
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