abcnovels
Chapter 63
Chapter 63
Chapter 63
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
Chapter 63: The Dungeon (1)
***
“Delrunt, what are you doing? Are you in your right mind?”
“You deliberately exposed our location and called the church! It’s a stupid act that’s no different from suicide!”
In a dark space, two men were exploding with anger. In the direction they were glaring at stood a lanky young man.
The young man was staring blankly at a large mirror that stretched to the ceiling.
“Delrunt! Are you even listening to us?”
“Let’s hide immediately! There are only three of us left! If we die, Yulan’s lineage will be cut off!”
The two men raised their voices again. But the young man continued to stare at the mirror.
“…I can’t hear you.”
Then, the young man suddenly spoke.
“No matter how long I wait, I can’t hear His holy voice…”
The young man clasped the mirror with both hands. The mirror only reflected the young man’s face indifferently.
“It’s the first time He hasn’t answered for so long. He’s never done this before.”
Seeing Delrunt like that, the two men frowned with disgust.
“Stop staring at the fucking mirror!”
“The church is right in front of us. We don’t have time to worry about that…”
At that moment, the young man turned his head sharply.
His handsome face had transformed into a sinister expression.
“That? That’s what you call it? You dare to call it that when it’s the only connection to Him?”
Dark mana started to emanate from the young man. A tremendous amount of dark mana began to shake the entire space.
“You dare to insult Him when you’ve received His endless grace? It’s clear now! He’s disappointed in us!”
The young man vented his anger. The space shook even more.
“You can’t even follow His orders properly! You forget His grace! He’s disappointed in our pathetic attitudes! That’s why He cut off communication with us!”
The two men, overwhelmed by the young man’s overwhelming momentum, couldn’t say anything.
Yulan’s dark mages didn’t have equal status; their status depended on their individual abilities.
These two men were also high-ranking dark mages in their own right.
But they were far from being as powerful as the young man. No, no one in Yulan could match the young man. Not even the leader.
“Why did I bring the church here? To fulfill His orders! If we destroy the church’s forces, not only the church but also the Apple Kingdom will be shaken! Then He will be satisfied!”
A smile of joy appeared on the young man’s face as if he were happy with his imagination.
“No! That’s not enough! I’m preparing a gift for Him! I’m making a flesh golem with the excellent bodies of the paladins! Since He liked my dolls, He will surely be satisfied!”
The young man’s mana quickly pulled back. He looked at the two men and smiled wickedly.
“Now that I look at it, your bodies seem quite useful?”
Goosebumps broke out all over the two men’s bodies. The two men hastily channeled their dark mana.
At that moment, something sprang from the ceiling.
At first glance, it looked like an ordinary human. But its entire body was made up of different creatures.
The flesh golem grabbed the heads of the two dark mages and slammed them into the ground.
Their faces were crushed, and they lost consciousness.
“Kite, take them to the Stitching Room, I’m going to perform the experiments right now.”
The young man ordered the flesh golem.
The flesh golem, which looked similar to a human, nodded and surrounded the two men before disappearing.
“I need to find excellent bodies that will satisfy Him… I need to prepare a gift that will satisfy Him.”
The young man muttered as he bit his nails.
Then it happened. A round glass window with bat wings flew in.
The glass window showed the church and the flesh golem fighting.
“Finally, the materials are coming in.”
A bright smile appeared on the young man’s face.
“Will they be able to pass the test I’ve prepared?”
The flesh golem, with multiple human faces on its round body, attacked the crusade.
The paladins were helpless against the attack.
“It won’t work… Ordinary paladins won’t work. We need the paladins of the sect.”
The flesh golem placed at the entrance was a creation that the young man had put a lot of effort into.
It was not something that ordinary paladins could handle.
“Alright, show me the paladins of the sect… Show me how excellent they are as materials!”
The young man stared at the glass window.
Then it happened.
A man stepped forward. He dodged all of the flesh golem’s attacks and stabbed a sword into its torso.
The flesh golem’s movements abruptly stopped. Shortly after, it began to collapse.
“…Huh?”
The young man blinked repeatedly.
It was clear that the knight had used mana rather than divine power.
It was a normal knight who had precisely found and pierced the core of the flesh golem.
“How did he do that…? Did he sense its core?”
The young man was fascinated by the knight.
“Amazing… I thought the paladins of the sect were the best… I never thought there would be such materials…”
The excellence of the materials was not only determined by the quality of the body. The talents possessed by the creature also had a significant impact.
In that sense, the knight was the most outstanding material the young man had ever seen.
“I found it! With that alone, I can make a doll that will satisfy the Lord!”
The young man, Delrunt, spread his arms and cheered in excitement.
***
The crusade made its way into the dungeon.
As they went further in, new flesh golems appeared.
Flesh golems with human bodies attached to their four legs attacked the Crusaders from all sides.
Damien gripped his holy sword to fight the flesh golems.
“Damien Haksen, don’t step forward. We’ll handle this battle.”
Gamal spoke in a cold voice.
To that, Sanus asked, “Oh my~ Gamal, shall we Blinding Pain can help you~? We’ll strengthen you~.”
“Not need. We are strong enough to overcome obstacles without being helped by Blinding Pain. You guys should help the other paladins.”
After rejecting the offer of help, “Listen up, paladins of Mixed Blizzard, for the honor of our sect, do not let a single one of them out alive.”
As soon as Gamal’s order was given, the paladins of the Mixed Blizzard unleashed their divine power.
A chilling cold spread throughout the entire dungeon.
Frost formed on the surface of the flesh golems, noticeably slowing their speed.
“Let’s go!”
Led by Dionysius, the paladins of the Mixed Blizzard rushed toward the flesh golems.
Whenever the paladins swung their spears, the flesh golems’ bodies shattered like ice.
The flesh golems screamed and retaliated.
However, with their frozen bodies, they couldn’t properly attack the paladins.
‘It’s a terrifying power no matter how many times I see it.’
The cold of the Mixed Blizzard had the ability to freeze not only objects but also mana.
For undead creatures who were powered by dark mana, it was nothing short of poison.
‘I can’t copy the abilities of the sect.’
Damien was a rare genius, but he wasn’t omnipotent.
He couldn’t copy the abilities used by the sect. It was a completely different power from magic.
“It’s quite a sight, isn’t it?”
A voice came from beside him. When he turned his head, Sanus was approaching.
Her snow-white skin and her platinum hair were perfectly straight.
Her holy appearance seemed to have emerged from the holy fire.
“The Mixed Blizzard is very strong even among the various sects~. It’s a bit of a flaw that they have a strong sense of pride~.”
Sanus chuckled softly.
“I know why he told you to stay still. It’s because of his pride. You alone took down the flesh golem that popped out at the entrance.”
It was a ridiculous reason to Damien. If what she said was true, then he wasn’t proud, he was just stupid.
“…Ah, but you killed it too easily. It’s a creature made by filthy dark mages. You should have taken out its organs and chopped them into pieces before killing it.”
Sanus muttered, looking sadly at the Mixed Blizzard fighting.
Hearing that, Damien looked at Sanus with a disgusted face.
‘Radiant Light, that crazy bitch’s disciple. This woman isn’t sane either.’
Damien had fought against all the Great Elders.
Among the five Great Elders, the strongest was Cheongyeum, but the most annoying was Radiant Light.
Radiant Light could be called the most fanatical among the fanatics.
It was so intense that other paladins seemed like atheists.
‘Come to think of it, it wasn’t just Radiant Light. All the guys in the Blinding Pain were crazy.’
During the Death Knight era, dozens of Paladins of Blinding Pain had blown themselves up to kill Damien.
“I apologize for doubting you, Sir Damien.”
“Well, it’s okay. We have a big problem ahead, so there’s nothing wrong with being thorough.”
Damien said indifferently.
He was not happy because Sanus took the side of the mixed snowstorm. But he didn’t harbor any resentment.
“I’ve never seen anyone fight like you, Sir Damien.”
Sanus looked at Damien with eyes that sparkled almost like stars.
It was a gaze he had seen somewhere before. A bad premonition passed through Damien’s mind.
“So, I have a question. Are you not interested in becoming a paladin?”
“No, I’m not.”
Damien answered bluntly.
“Why not? If you become a paladin, you’ll be a representative of God’s wrath. It’s a truly honorable thing.”
“I’m still too inadequate to represent God’s wrath.”
“I can’t believe you’ve been having such worries… But don’t worry. If you’re lacking, you can fill it up. By the way, there’s a six-month special crash course on the Bible for outsiders at the
Blinding Pain.”
Sanus didn’t back down easily. It was when Damien felt tired.
“And if you become a paladin, your lack of mana will be resolved.”
The words broke the momentary dullness.
As Sanus said, Damien’s weakness was his lack of mana.
He was taking potions and practicing mana-cultivating techniques every day, but he was still far from enough.
To see through it so accurately.
“Do you not believe me?”
She seemed to take Damien’s gaze as doubt and began to explain.
“Paladins receive divine power according to their faith. Every time they eliminate filthy dark mages the gods bestow divine power upon them.”
Paladins increased their divine power differently from knights.
Prayer, good deeds, service, and so on.
There were many ways, but the most effective one was to eliminate dark mages.
By eliminating dark mages and offering them to the gods, their divine power increased.
But it wasn’t a particularly attractive choice for Damien.
‘I can’t be subservient to the church just because I lack mana.’
Becoming a paladin meant having to deal with too many annoying things.
Above all, the problem of lack of mana would be resolved over time.
All he had to do was complete his mana-cultivating technique and take more elixers.
Even just absorbing the spirit heart Damien had would give him a tremendous amount of mana.
“How about it? Isn’t it attractive? If Sir Damien wants, we can baptize him right now…”
“Sanus, what are you doing now? Why are you trying to take Damien away!”
At that moment, Margata screamed.
“Margata, it doesn’t matter where Sir Damien belongs. What’s important is that Sir Damien’s skills are used to tear apart the dark mages, right?”
“You’re talking nonsense. How many paladins have you taken away by doing that? And how many times have you complained that other sects are short of manpower!”
Margata pushed Sanus.
“Stop talking and go back to your sect.”
“Sir Damien, let’s talk again later.”
“I said go now!”
Margata lifted Sanus and headed towards the Blinding Pain.
As Sanus disappeared, Damien breathed a sigh of relief.
“…Sir Damien.”
Agnes looked at Damien with a dark face.
“When I tried to persuade you, you refused so firmly. Why couldn’t you refuse Sanus?”
Agnes’s voice was full of resentment.
As Damien, it was an absurd complaint. It wasn’t that Damien couldn’t refuse, it was just that Sanus was persistent despite Damien’s refusal.
“I thought Sir Damien wouldn’t give in to Sanus.”
“But what do you mean by taking a paladin? Isn’t it that only paladins who have awakened their special abilities can join the sect?”
To change the subject, Damien asked a question. Agnes answered with an uncomfortable expression.
“Under the pretext of following the doctrine interpreted by the sect, ordinary paladins can also join. Then they can receive the sect’s support. However, they also have an obligation to help the sect in times of need.”
That’s why Margata was angry. Sanus had taken away all the good paladins.
“Sir Damien, Sanus may be a good person, but you must not fall for her. After all, faith is…”
Agnes began her sermon with a solemn face.
At that moment, something caught Damien’s senses.
Damien drew his holy sword. He swung the holy sword with a mighty force.
The released aura swept across the ceiling, walls, and floor. Blood gushed out from the cracks.
– Kieak!
– Kieeak!
With a scream, something sprang out from the wall.
They were flesh golems wearing thick armor like insects.
“Wha, what… what is that!”
“An ambush! Flesh golems have appeared behind us!”
The soldiers panicked and shouted.
‘They must be the ones with the invisibility ability.’
Damien examined the flesh golems. They hadn’t been visible from this close.
They seemed to have the ability to blend in with the surrounding environment.
‘But that doesn’t mean they lack combat ability.’
The armor surrounding their bodies looked quite tough. It seemed very difficult to deal with.
Damien raised the aura to deal with the flesh golems.
“Sir Damien, please take a rest.”
Agnes stopped Damien. She raised her knuckles and said.
“I will handle them.”
***
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]