Chapter 360: I, on the contrary, think it is quite fair.

Scepter: "With every flesh and soul devoured, the descending Heretical God would grow a little larger. After swallowing over a hundred people, the body of the Compassionate Mother could even reach three to four stories high. That was almost the limit of what humanity could deal with."

Scepter: "According to records, even the Imperial Royal Musket Squad found it extremely difficult to handle a monster of such size—it could continue attacking and devouring even under a mass musket fire. With any weaker firepower, resistance was simply impossible."

Fries: "Then how did people deal with such monsters before?"

Scepter: "Extraordinaries were sent to deal with them."

Scepter: "Investigators working together could restrain it, preventing further devouring. The Extraordinary of the Silent Sanctum could fight it head-on. The Sleepless could interfere with its body. In short, almost every Path of the Extraordinary had methods to counter such a monster."

Scepter: "Its overall strength was still somewhat weak. Even if it could grow, as long as it was interrupted in time, the problem would not be too great."

Fries: "I see. So, it doesn’t seem too difficult to deal with?"

Scepter: "Yes. Its growth rate was not particularly fast either. Therefore, while it was theoretically powerful, in practice it was just so-so. The Life Mother Church, as a heretical cult, was not as dangerous as the Moths Chasing Fire."

Writer: "But what if it did grow? For example… what if it reached over ten stories tall?"

Scepter: "…"

Twenty stories. Though the height was less than ten times that of three to four stories, the monster’s volume grew exponentially.

That meant the monster Zoe faced was dozens of times the size Beatrice had described.

This difference in size was like heaven and earth.

And what Zoe did not know was that the disparity in size between living beings was not just a matter of scale. Gigantic creatures had their constitutions strengthened in every aspect—from bone density to muscle mass—otherwise, they could never sustain such bulk.

If the strength was insufficient, even resisting gravity alone would be extremely difficult. Yet the gigantic Heretical God before Zoe, given its immense size, was remarkably agile.

Scepter: "This… I do not know."

Scepter: "Never had any summoned Mother grown to such an extent. Normally, the moment the summoning began, it should have already been discovered. To grow to this size was unheard of."

Scepter: "But according to records, every time the Compassionate Mother’s size increased, her strength multiplied enormously. Three to four stories was already terrifying, troublesome even for Extraordinaries to deal with. But twenty stories…"

The link fell silent.

Twenty stories was nearly unimaginable for the people of this era. With such a massive body, forget resisting—it was likely that mere sight of it would drive people mad with terror.

Only the Holy Guard, who had experienced the Deep Sea War and faced large monsters, could barely hold it back.

But relying on them alone? Not to solve it—merely delaying for a while was already proof enough of the Holy Guard’s elite strength.

Writer: "Then is there truly no way to deal with a fully-grown Compassionate Mother?"

To be honest, Zoe felt a bit of despair. If even the Holy Guard could not handle such a monster, then would Blood Harbor really have to be abandoned?

Scepter: "There is a way."

Scepter: "But it requires sacrifice. A great sacrifice."

Scepter: "The doctrine of the Life Mother Church was to save life. They would never actively kill their believers. Even the Compassionate Mother was no exception."

Scepter: "The vessel for the Compassionate Mother’s descent must willingly consent to the transformation. The believers devoured must willingly offer themselves—it had to be true willingness. If there was any coercion, the Compassionate Mother would never descend."

Scepter: "And even then, the Compassionate Mother would wait until they had died before devouring them. Even if she was on the verge of death, she would never swallow a believer who was still alive."

Fries: "Is there some reason for this? Like, would devouring a living believer weaken the Compassionate Mother?"

Scepter: "No. The Church of Candlelight once tried forcing living believers into her mouth. There was no difference at all."

Fries: "That sounds rather…"

Scepter: "Yes. To believers, the Compassionate Mother was truly a mother. This was also our only way to defeat her."

Scepter: "No matter how much the Compassionate Mother grew, as long as the believers wished for her to return, she truly would leave."

Scepter: "According to records, one had to find a person willing to sacrifice themselves—harboring the wish for the Compassionate Mother to return—then willingly be devoured by her."

Captain: "If it’s just one person, that doesn’t sound too hard."

Jeremiah asked with some doubt. To defeat a Heretical God with just one person’s sacrifice? That was not a question of difficulty, but rather of being almost too easy.

How many would die from the destruction caused by the descent of a Heretical God? And now, only one life needed to be lost to resolve everything.

Not just him—several others in the link also felt a sense of relief. For the Prince, finding one volunteer was hardly a challenge.

Scepter: "For every Mother’s believer who willingly sacrifices themselves, one person must be found in return."

The link fell silent again.

Writer: "You mean…"

Scepter: "Exactly as you think. For however many of the Mother’s believers willingly sacrifice, that same number of volunteers must be found on our side. Only then could the plea for the Compassionate Mother’s return outweigh the believers’ desire for her to cleanse the world."

Fries: "T-this is impossible. Aren’t the Mother’s believers endless in number?"

This time, Scepter fell silent. After a moment, she gave a soft laugh, her tone somewhat strange: "You probably have never seen the Mother’s believers. You probably have never even seen famine, have you?"

Kenn froze. His family had fled to Castel, with Old Ivan taking them to the island. Life was difficult, but they had indeed been far from famine and war. Since childhood, he had never really gone hungry. The greatest hardship he ever faced was whether a few in the family could afford to study.

Fries: "Uh… no, I really haven’t."

Scepter: "I once followed the Church of Candlelight’s company and saw disaster refugees. They were a mass of black, endless as locusts. Wherever they went, they left disaster behind. Even the grass and trees by the road would be eaten bare, leaving a trail of corpses."

Scepter: "I had always felt both fear and a lofty pity. Until one day, I acted on a whim. I told the priest following me that I wanted to take a closer look at these starving masses."

Scepter: "The priest led me into their ranks. He was strong, so no one could harm me. Yet to this day, I still often dream of those famine-stricken people, waking in terror from the nightmares."

Scepter: "In my eyes, the starving masses had been nothing more than a symbol, a word, a distant emblem tugging at my sympathy. But once I stepped into their midst, I was shocked to discover—they were human beings."

Scepter: "The endless believers of the Mother were also composed of living, breathing people. Each had a name, each had parents, each once held hopes and dreams."

Scepter: "Now, someone had driven them to despair. They would rather worship a Heretical God, rather die, if only their fury could ignite the world."

Scepter: "And in their despair, the only one who answered them was the Compassionate Mother. Who could blame them for offering everything?"

Scepter: "So… I, on the contrary, think—"

Scepter: "One life in exchange for another life. Quite fair."