Chapter 95
Chapter 95
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: The Gwangmyeong Raid (1)
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Barad blamed himself.
‘She was wasting away.’
Her jade-like skin had grown so white it looked pale, and she was absent more and more often.
He had dismissed it as her being a little tired.
But when he found her collapsed and coughing up blood a few days ago, he finally understood.
‘Bella is dying.’
Bella, the vice-commander of the Goyad Kingdom's knight order.
A child with the talent to succeed him.
She was a child who would follow his every command, even if it meant feigning death.
This nineteen-year-old knight was dying of an illness.
The foolish knight had hidden the fact that her death was approaching.
He gazed at Bella, asleep in her bed.
After losing his wife and child, he had vowed never to let anyone become precious to him again.
But if he did, he resolved to protect them.
When he learned she wouldn't last more than two weeks, he realized something.
‘Despite my vow, she has become far too precious to me.’
He felt a sense of pride whenever he looked at Bella.
Watching her silently swing her sword in the training grounds every night filled him with admiration.
Before he knew it, Bella had become like a daughter to Barad.
Barad, who had been watching her silently, stood up.
‘There are too many things I cannot do, even with the title of Sword King.’
Even the strong have their limits in this world.
He had been searching for a way to save Bella, but everyone told him it was impossible.
The knight commander, Benson, reported urgently.
“I've found one way. However...”
Though he said he'd found a way, Benson's face showed no trace of joy.
“It involves receiving the Saintess's prayer.”
Barad's mouth fell open.
“The Saintess can offer a prayer that cures any illness, but only twice in her lifetime.”
Only twice in a lifetime.
That meant it was an incredibly precious power.
Barad closed his eyes without a word.
The Saintess would never pray for her.
The Saintess's prayer, usable only twice in her life.
If he were the Saintess, he would save the emperor of the greatest empire, not the vice-commander of a small kingdom.
Or he would save the Pope, who was said to be the emperor of the church.
That's how life is.
Born through the same process, yet holding entirely different values.
“Is there no way to make the Saintess pray?”
“It would be difficult. The Saintess's prayer is her own unique power, one she can use even against the will of the church and the Pope. And no one can interfere with who she chooses to use it for. The Saintess didn't even use it when the previous Pope was dying of illness. If there is a way to make her use it, this would be the only one.”
Barad's face filled with despair.
“Either she owes someone a great debt, or she receives a request from someone who has done something for the church.”
The fact that the Saintess was currently kidnapped and isolated was not known to anyone.
Hearing this, Barad let out a low groan.
“Find someone who has won the Saintess's favor. If you can't, bring me someone who can.”
Benson met Barad's gaze.
His eyes conveyed that there would need to be a reward.
“I will grant them a noble title.”
***
The Reas Temple had the appearance of a fortress.
Saintess Aria, who hadn't had a sip of water in days, was bound and thrown before the cultists.
She faced the Fifth Disaster walking toward her.
Jack was a warlock who wielded dark magic.
The gaunt man smiled grimly.
“Less than an hour remains. He will borrow your power, for just a moment, and descend upon this world.”
Aria bit her lip.
By 'He', he meant the evil god.
“He won't be able to stay for long, nor will he be able to wield his full power.”
But Jack imagined what was about to unfold.
“Even in that brief moment, many temples of the Church of Ares will fall.”
Aria felt her vision swim.
Even that fleeting descent would cause the deaths of over 300,000 innocent people.
“To do something like this, how many lives have you taken?”
Saintess Aria was nothing more than the final sacrifice.
Jack held up two fingers.
“You... two hundred innocent...”
“...What are you talking about?”
Jack gave a thick, sinister smile.
“I offered the blood of two thousand children and women.”
A tear streamed from one of Aria's eyes.
Watching him speak so casually, she pressed her lips into a thin line.
“God will punish you.”
“What a shame.”
Jack clicked his tongue, tsk tsk.
“That you'll be dead before you see it.”
Aria asked him why.
“What do you gain from committing such a massacre?”
At her words, Jack thought for a moment. There was the matter of serving the evil god's will.
But what was the fundamental reason?
“Isn't it fun?”
At those chilling words, Aria was rendered speechless.
Taking a few steps toward the fortress wall, Jack swept his hair back.
“No one can get here anyway. And even if they did, they'd be nothing but small fry.”
Jack looked at the cultists guarding the front of the fortress.
Those figures, with black robes pulled down over their heads, would mercilessly crush any ants that dared to approach.
His plan was a success. No matter how much those with trivial power banded together, they could do nothing.
‘The Book of Disaster has weakened even us.’
But the others inside were far worse off.
And even if the outsiders came, their levels were lower than that of soldiers. What could they possibly do?
As he was lost in such thoughts.
“...Kuaaargh!”
Jack wore a puzzled expression.
A scream came from the base of the fortress. Some seventy men, clad in armor bearing the crest of the 'Church of Ares', were rushing in.
“Rescue the Saintess!!”
“For Lord Ares!”
But watching them, Jack's expression didn't change in the slightest.
He felt nothing for the small fry sent by a god.
In reality, their numbers were far too small.
The cultists dragged them outside.
“...Please, stop!”
Aria screamed. But the cultists, as if to make a point, began to brutally execute those who had failed to rescue the Saintess.
Jack noted that not even twenty minutes had passed.
Then, Jack's expression turned to one of interest.
Amidst the execution of the holy knights at the base of the fortress, a young girl was crying and running away.
“Hoh?”
***
Hiding behind a wall, Koteu, who had avoided a forced logout, felt his mind go numb.
‘This is too much...’
The level of realism in the virtual reality game Ares defied common sense.
The NPCs were just like real people. And because of that, they could be even more vicious.
Koteu watched in horror as the bound men were executed one by one.
*CRUNCH—*
After that sound, the laughter of the Disaster cultists rolled through the air.
In truth, Koteu was an ordinary young man who didn't know much about a sense of justice.
But the situation unfolding before him made him question himself.
‘A massacre of hundreds of thousands?’
As a holy knight, Koteu had visited countless temples.
The believers who offered him fruit.
The cute children running around the temple grounds.
And the young boys who would carry toy swords and tug at his clothes, saying:
‘I'm going to be a holy knight when I grow up!’
Koteu's face twisted. He'd once found it strange when he heard about people who got too immersed in games.
But now, Ares had become a second world to Koteu.
Then, Koteu spotted a young girl running toward the outside of the fortress.
It was the girl he had played with, giving her shoulder rides, before the temple had become like this.
The girl was an orphan the temple had been caring for, a child with a beautiful smile.
‘No...’
Instinctively, Koteu took a step.
“What a cute little child. Aren't you curious, Aria?”
The Disaster's chilling voice reached Koteu's ears.
“What kind of face will that child make when she's torn apart by lions?”
Dark magic formed three black lions.
Appearing not far from the girl, the three black lions began to chase her.
[Black Lion Lv. 199]
“And what kind of screams will she make as she runs? Hm?”
And so, three black lions sprinted after a crying, fleeing girl.
“Waaaaah!”
Seeing the lions, saliva dripping from their jaws, Koteu ran.
‘This isn't right.’
This wasn't over-immersion.
You, or anyone else playing this game.
You wouldn't be able to stand by and watch this happen before your very eyes.
An outsider might revive after death, but the child would not.
One of the giant lions leaped, aiming to bite down on the child's head.
*CRUUUUNCH—*
Koteu, arriving in an instant, sliced off the lion's head.
He quickly regained his balance and wrapped his arms around the child.
Too late.
There was no escape.
All he could do was hold the sobbing child tight.
“Waaaaah!”
His arms holding the child tensed. He could hear another lion approaching from behind.
He didn't know why.
But in that moment, he thought of that guy.
Back in school.
There was a time he'd almost been bullied after catching the eye of a delinquent.
Just as the bully's fist was flying toward his face, a bag came flying and hit the delinquent in the head.
And then, that guy fought five of them all by himself.
As a blacksmith, he was strong, with a sturdy build, and he didn't back down.
It started then, and it's continued to this day.
I have to be the one to stay by his side.
When he suffered his burns and was left standing alone in the rain, I became his umbrella.
He knew.
He couldn't expect that guy to show up again in a situation like this.
So why was he the first one to come to mind?
Finally, the lion was right behind Koteu.
But...
“What is that...?”
Behind Jack's bewildered voice.
*Thwump*
*CRUUUMBLE—*
*Thwump*
*CRUUUUUMBLE—*
*CR-CR-CRACK—*
The sounds of something embedding itself and the ground collapsing spread through the air.
But Koteu had no time to think about it.
As he simply held the child and waited for the forced logout, Jack couldn't believe his eyes.
On a small hill not far away.
A lone man could be seen astride a wolf, silhouetted against the darkness that had descended upon the world.
*Awoooooooooo—*
The wolf's howl echoed through the world.
[The Wolf King Appears!]
Soon, the wolf, barely visible in the encroaching darkness, began to run fiercely.
*Thwip—*
*CRUUUUNCH—*
*Thwip*
*CRUUUUNCH—!*
Every time the man on the wolf fired an arrow, the cultists who were hit were suddenly slammed into the ground.
Jack let out a baffled laugh.
‘All by himself...’
But soon, Jack's eyes widened.
On the hill's horizon.
Hundreds of black wolves appeared, running behind the man at the very front.
“Graaaaaaaah!”
“Grrrrrrrrrrr!”
The wolves roared fiercely, heralding the start of a war.
The man leading the charge slung his bow over his back.
And then Jack witnessed a bizarre sight, the likes of which he had never seen in his life.
[You have learned of one of the Five Divine Secrets.]
[Usable one time only.]
[God's Emergency Production is temporarily increased by +5 Levels.]
Several minerals shot up from above his head.
*KWAAAAANG—!*
The cultists and the wolves clashed.
The man pushing through the front lines reached for a sword glowing vermilion.
The moment the heated sword cooled to white and settled in his hand.
*K-k-k-k-krak—!*
Dozens of cultists before him were literally frozen solid.
From the side, dozens more cultists pushed forward.
Seeing them, he snatched another sword.
‘A dragon...?’
The moment he gripped the sword, whose hilt was shaped like a dragon's head.
*Kieeeeeek!!!!*
A manifestation of a dragon erupted from the tip of the sword, and the moment he swung it, a massive explosion engulfed the cultists.
*KWAAAAAAAANG—!*
And then the man, who was glaring coldly at him, reached into the air.
*CLANK—*
An unknown gauntlet formed on his hand.
He raised his bow again and aimed it at him.
Instinctively, Jack formed a shield.
The moment the man released the bowstring.
*SWIIIIIIISH—*
With a sound that tore through the air, the arrow met the shield.
*K-krak—*
The shield shattered miserably. But Jack sneered at him.
His accuracy was so pathetic that the arrow had aimed for his leg, not his solar plexus, heart, or face.
It didn't even hit him, merely grazing past.
And yet...
*KWAAAAANG—!*
Jack, the Fifth Disaster.
He felt an incomprehensible weight.
*THUD—*
One of his knees hit the ground first, and though he gritted his teeth to endure it, his other knee followed.
Forced into a kneeling position, Jack's eyes wavered.
And the man who had driven back some of the cultists.
He gave a small smile to the holy knight holding the child.