Chapter 140
Chapter 140
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 140
Chapter Title: The Devouring Apostle
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Transcendent Church's main hall shook with a violent earthquake.
Leyzon and everyone else stared downward.
They sensed a dangerous presence emanating from the epicenter.
"Leyzon-nim."
At that moment, darkness seeped in through the cracks in the wall.
What emerged from there was Iden.
Iden's face was grim.
"These bastards were carrying out the Mass Slaughter right below us."
The Mass Slaughter that the Transcendent Church performed outside.
They were doing the exact same thing inside the main hall.
"Honestly, it's dangerous. Even I can tell something truly perilous has been born."
Iden was at Corruption Level 18, on par with a Silver Hero.
For even him to deem it dangerous meant the situation was critically urgent.
"And it's still devouring the Apostle Spawn. It's getting stronger by the second."
Even now, the presence could be felt from this distance, and it was growing more powerful.
"Leyzon-nim."
Syria furrowed her brow, sensing the danger this time as well.
She was the only one among them at Corruption Level 19, Golden Hero grade.
For her to feel endangered signaled the worst possible scenario.
But despite Syria's call, Leyzon remained lost in thought.
A single idea had flashed through his mind amid the chaos.
'The being that devours all things in this world will rise as the Transcendent.'
The prophecy spoken by the ancient dragon, Jerome Makira, resurfaced.
Leyzon's gaze fixed on the floor below.
Even from this far away, a savage aura pulsed violently.
'Could this be it?'
The possibility was high.
The Transcendent Church's goal was to bring ruin to this world.
They endlessly slaughtered lives to merge with the Evil Transcendent.
As a group bent on world destruction, they had every motive.
And this was the Apostle they had birthed.
Naturally, it would seek to annihilate the world just like them.
Leyzon did not wish for the empire's downfall.
As long as they endured, he could reach the ending—so he hoped the empire would persist.
'And right now...'
This Apostle capable of destroying the world was at its weakest.
Since it could grow stronger by devouring other Apostles, failing to eliminate it here would birth an even greater monster later.
His eyes gleamed sharply.
Leyzon's decision was swift.
"Syria, Iden, Sword Saint—we're heading down."
Leyzon's gaze settled on Syria, Iden, and the Sword Saint.
"Yes, let's go."
"Got it."
Syria and Iden responded without hesitation.
They were the two who would die if Leyzon commanded it.
The undead pair gladly obeyed his word.
"Let's move."
The Sword Saint bore the responsibilities of nobility.
He was a man of justice.
He wouldn't flee from a crisis like this just because it was dangerous.
"Hanok, you..."
"I'm coming too."
Hanok answered before Leyzon could finish, reading his intent.
"The ones who did this to my brother are down there. Besides, there's no way he'd go down that easily."
The Shadow Warlord was a powerhouse worthy of his lordly title.
For him to fall to Gullian meant some overwhelming force had been at play.
"There must have been something he was protecting."
The corner of Leyzon's mouth curved upward.
"I figured the Hanok I've raised would say that."
Hanok was Leyzon's comrade.
Leyzon was the type to respect and honor his allies' wishes, never dismissing them.
Above all, Leyzon trusted Hanok.
Hanok would be an asset, not a liability.
In the meantime, Syria had tucked the Shadow Warlord into her shadow.
Leyzon and Syria's eyes met.
She had already grasped his intent.
"We're descending."
Syria summoned her shadow.
Leyzon was swallowed by it, his gaze fixed below as he sank.
Transcendent Church scum.
He'd make them regret their extreme choice.
Apostle-ified Transcendent Church devotees.
Apostle Spawn.
Over many years, the Transcendent Church devotees had studied the process of Apostles growing stronger.
The Apostles summoned by the Evil Transcendent were undoubtedly powerful beings.
But they had their limits.
This stemmed from the Evil Transcendent's constrained influence on the mortal realm.
The Evil Transcendent was an entity no mere human could fathom.
Yet its power couldn't fully reach this world.
As a result, the Apostles fell short of the Evil Transcendent's might.
They were faithful harvesters of life, but stronger foes existed in this world.
Damn imperial knights and Holy Church.
They thwarted the Transcendent Church's work daily.
The problem was that the Church lacked the power to oppose them.
In the end, the Transcendent Church was driven to the remote Impudent Highlands.
The devotees swallowed their rage.
At this rate, the harvest for the Evil Transcendent would never be complete.
Thus, they researched relentlessly.
And their research yielded a breakthrough.
The devotees learned one crucial fact:
Apostles could accumulate power by devouring other Apostles.
An astonishing discovery.
With it, the Transcendent Church swiftly prepared a curse ritual.
The curse ritual began with such aspirations.
In truth, it had been underway far longer than one might imagine.
Apostles born from the Mass Slaughter accumulated steadily.
But they still weren't enough to destroy the world.
And today.
The Transcendent Church main hall faced unprecedented crises in rapid succession.
From the Shadow Warlord's intrusion to the necromancer Abyss and his undead.
And even the holy swordsman, the Sword Saint.
At this rate, all their preparations would be lost.
Thus, the transcendent devotees made an extreme choice.
They themselves would become Apostles... and offer themselves to be devoured.
A plan long premeditated but delayed for future prospects.
But now, in this moment, they harbored no hesitation.
Beneath the Transcendent Church main hall's underground.
"Devour me! Me!"
"I'll be eaten first!"
Apostle-ified devotees—Apostle Spawn—wailed before one Apostle.
There stood an Apostle whose body had ballooned grotesquely.
Flabby, bloated flesh emitting acrid gas.
Purple skin sprouting unnatural growths—it was revolting to behold.
But the Apostle Spawn were madmen driven insane by the Evil Transcendent.
Their minds corrupted and pickled by its influence.
In their eyes, the Evil Transcendent was infinitely beloved.
Like starving parents desperate to feed their young one more bite, they overflowed with the greatest joy of their lives.
It was love.
Maternal, paternal.
They transcended even that, feeling something divine.
"Eeeeek! Heh heh heh... I'm so happy!"
A devotee cried out as the Apostle began devouring him from the legs up.
The Evil Transcendent's power had fully dominated this space.
It intensified further as they Apostle-ified.
Being devoured by the Apostle was the shortest path to the Evil Transcendent's side.
Thus, they were lost in ecstasy.
"O Evil Transcendent."
"I was born for this moment! Born for it!"
They lined up, offering their lives to the Apostle one by one.
The Apostle snatched the queuing devotees with arms longer than its body, shoving them into its maw.
Each time, its form swelled even larger.
Ecstasy lit the faces of those being consumed.
In that hideously radiant bliss.
Their heads and torsos were crushed as the Apostle devoured them.
And so, it began birthing an irreversible catastrophe.
Until a catastrophe to shatter that catastrophe arrived.
The Apostle Spawn's gazes snapped upward in unison.
Their bloodshot eyes gleamed with frenzied ecstasy.
Someone had dared interrupt this pinnacle of bliss.
Their faces twisted in rage as one—it was only natural.
Above the shattered ceiling.
Red shadows seeped in, dripping down drop by drop.
And atop those shadows, a man slowly strode forward.
"Whoa, all these eyes on me—kinda embarrassing."
A dark half-elf wearing a rugged, ugly mask.
Abyss, Leyzon.
He grinned, drawing every devotee's stare.
"I can't handle being the center of attention."
Before long, a staff was gripped in Leyzon's hand.
Then their gazes shifted to his back.
From the shadows erupted a massive energy aggregate.
A sphere vast enough to fill half the space.
The moment they saw it, the devotees howled and charged at Leyzon.
Of course, Leyzon had no intention of letting them approach.
He aimed his staff at the sprinting horde.
"Fierce Poison Cataclysm."
Black radiance spread, engulfing the area in a massive explosion.
The devotees caught in the blast shattered and flew apart.
This was the fusion spell Abyss, completed by pouring mana into it on the way here.
Low-tier devotees couldn't withstand it.
The powerful explosion caved in the underground chamber.
The swept-away devotees were already dead, but the surviving elite ones were different.
They burst up through the collapsing ceiling toward the Apostle.
Then they began swiftly evacuating it to the surface.
The Transcendent Church's high priests.
Demons who had slaughtered countless humans.
Apostle-ified, they had transformed into unprecedented monstrosities.
Right before Leyzon, staff at the ready.
An assassin high priest closed in instantly.
Squish!
In that instant, the awl-like sword in his hand pierced Leyzon's throat.
Leyzon's body crumpled, then disintegrated into scattered straw.
The high priest's eyes twitched at the sight.
This had been a decoy doll from the start, meant to draw attention.
The real caster of that spell was elsewhere.
"High Priest Velios."
The high priest whipped around at the voice calling his name.
There stood a beast-headed high priest.
He was praying to protect the Apostle.
"We anticipated intruders from the beginning. Ignore them and proceed with the original plan."
"Understood."
High Priest Velios turned to return to the Apostle's side.
Whip!
Then, the straw doll he'd destroyed ensnared his ankle.
"High Priest Velios!"
Before Velios could react.
Immense force yanked him into the straw in an instant.
Kwaaaang!
He slammed into the wall, his body crushed.
But Velios was an Apostle Spawn.
He tried to rise with his tremendous regenerative power.
Until something else mingled with that regeneration.
"If you pierce someone else's throat..."
Velios's eyes suddenly turned pitch black.
At the same time, his fingertips and toes blackened.
"Guh... kuh... heresy!?"
High Priest Velios screamed and thrashed.
The curse spreading through his body devoured him in seconds.
In the pitch-black darkness.
"You should expect the same in return."
A straw doll became visible.
The moment Velios faced it, his mind felt torn asunder.
"Keh-heeek!"
Black blood gushed from his mouth.
And with that, High Priest Velios met his end.
The other high priests grimaced at his pathetic death.
The straw doll snapped its head around to face them.
A chill ran through the high priests as they beheld it.
"Hurry!"
They had to reach the surface before that pursued.
The moment they hastened.
Thud!
Something crashed onto the defensive barrier they had prayed into existence.
A red-haired man stood there.
Sizzle!
He began slicing through the evil barrier at once.
It was the Sword Saint.
As a holy swordsman, he wielded the legendary weapon, the Faded Sword of Divinity.
It cleaved effortlessly through even the barriers of Transcendent high priests.
"It's the Sword Saint!"
"Stop him!"
Several high priests moved to intercept him.
Meanwhile, they soothed the Apostle.
"O Apostle, worry not."
"We shall handle them all and prepare your feast."
The Apostle they invoked snorted roughly.
But the high priests didn't know.
Unlike them, the Apostle's eyes were fixed on one individual.
Swish!
In that instant, the Apostle's long arm lashed out.
Its hand snatched toward someone amid the high priests.
Slash!
But instead, the Apostle's arm was severed clean off.
"What!?"
"How?!"
The high priests cried out in shock at the sight.
To sever the Apostle's arm—there was no greater blasphemy.
But the priest who cut it smiled calmly.
His camouflage [C] outfit, blending with the surroundings, began to shift.
Only then did the high priests realize his face was unfamiliar.
Within his white hair.
Blood-red and blue mingled in a striking glow.
A man of breathtaking beauty that drew instant admiration.
His black cloak billowed.
The man grinned, fangs fully bared.
It was Leyzon, fused with Syria via Undead Fusion.
"You noticed, huh? You're no ordinary scum."
His ash-gray eyes flashed.
In his grasp was a pitch-black crystal.
"But what a shame."
The crystal seemed to condense a power that shouldn't exist in this world.
Corruption Level 19
Vampire Queen Skill Crystal
Ting—
Leyzon flicked the Abyss Crystal with his finger.
"Too late for that."
His staff rose from his bosom in tandem.
The Abyss Crystal's light flashed in unison.
The Apostle and high priests' eyes blackened simultaneously.
"Fierce Poison Cataclysm."
An unprecedented explosion engulfed everything.