Chapter 74
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Obsession Creates Monsters
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“Tsk—.”
Rubbing the still sore spot near his heart, Jun gazed up at the five pillars stretching toward the sky.
“What the hell did that lizard shaman do before she left?”
At Eleanor's question, Jun scanned their surroundings briefly before speaking.
“The Firmament Cult has one goal. The Great Cataclysm. Do you know what that means?”
“Oh, come on. Like I'd have a clue?”
Despite her prickly response, Jun just chuckled softly.
“Their aim is the destruction of the surface world—and ultimately, merging the Blackout with the surface.”
Dimension Reversal.
The phenomenon where the Blackout encroaches upon the surface. The Firmament Cult exists solely to achieve it.
“But a standard Dimension Reversal isn't enough on its own. The scale is too small, and the Imperial Family is blocking it anyway.”
On top of that, the mana of the outside world dissipates the Blackout's energy.
“It's like water and oil—they just don't mix. But eventually, the Firmament Cult found a way to blend them.”
“......And that's me?”
“Exactly. They discovered a vessel to mix the water of the surface world with the oil of the Blackout.”
If a surface being and a Blackout entity fused into one, triggering Dimension Reversal...
The surface mana wouldn't recognize it as foreign and dissipate it.
“What they wanted was to implant the energy of that level 8 monster—created by merging those five Named Ones—right into you.”
And thus, the level 10 world-class raid monster from the game, [Cataclysm of Sorrow], would be born.
However.
Today, Jun had erased that branching point.
At least as long as he protected Eleanor, the [Cataclysm of Sorrow] wouldn't come to pass like in the game.
“So they were planning to kidnap me, create a level 8 monster here, and have me absorb its energy? Those guys were completely insane.”
And the spell left behind by the ghostly crone shaman was meant to unseal the five Named Ones.
Bern nodded as if he understood.
“That's why the shaman couldn't use her powers. It all makes sense now.”
“That monk tried to flee with just the ghostly crone shaman for the same reason. They had nothing to lose.”
Failing to secure the vessel would hurt, but the Cult's ultimate goal was Dimension Reversal.
Eleanor was merely a tool to improve efficiency.
“If we leave it like this, the ghostly crone's spell will activate, releasing all five Named Ones at once.”
They would devour each other to grow, emerging as a level 8 monster onto the surface.
That alone would achieve the Cult's primary objective.
“From now on, I'll stop that from happening.”
“But how do you even know all this?”
“I'm a mage, aren't I?”
“......I don't think 'mage logic' cuts it here.”
For all his words, Bern didn't press further.
His immediate problems took precedence over Jun's secrets.
“Need any help?”
“Truth is, I'm pretty tapped out right now. Can't handle two things at once.”
Dispelling the spell required two tasks.
First, reading its energy.
Second, purifying its medium.
And what was that medium?
The corrupted holy grail.
“It's completely steeped in corruption.”
Bern clicked his tongue at the grail he'd brought from the basement.
Despite taking a direct hit from Jun's [Flare], it was mostly unscathed—just lightly scorched.
Instead, it oozed a constant dark purple aura. Jun planned to purify it now.
“I'll leave the purification to you, Eleanor. Sir Bern, Aiden—cooperate with her.”
“H-how should we do it?”
Instead of explaining, Jun looked to Eleanor at Aiden's question.
She understood instantly from his glance and began describing her staff.
“That staff has that kind of power...?”
Bern looked shocked too—he hadn't known the staff's true nature.
Aiden just nodded eagerly, relieved it was just lending mana.
“And Maya, you...”
“Handle cleanup?”
“Yeah. Thanks for the help.”
“Got it.”
This was the enemy's heart.
The undead hadn't approached so far due to the ghostly crone's scheme, but starting the dispelling could draw them anytime.
“Alright, let's begin.”
A few days passed since then.
In that time, Jun recovered from Overheat's aftereffects at the Ariclotos Order's base camp.
Eleanor and Bern rallied the recovered order members for cleanup.
Much chaos ensued, but they steadied it around Eleanor and Bern.
Truth be told, there wasn't much to do.
Jun and Eleanor's efforts had delayed the five Named Ones' unsealing.
It should have happened by now, but Jun had tampered with the ghostly crone's spell.
The dead crone would weep blood over it.
“If you know how to unseal it, reassembly isn't hard.”
The spell advanced the unsealing timeline.
Reversing it simply delayed it instead.
Of course, it was life-risking work.
Spells were pacts with transcendent beings, unlike magic.
And the pact's subject was the already-dead ghostly crone.
Yet Jun mitigated the risk with Eleanor's staff.
He swapped his mana for the crone's as the pact's power source, twisting its terms.
That bought time until reinforcements arrived.
“When the holy warriors first relayed the message, it felt like seeing Lady Ariclotos herself before my eyes.”
It was a warm voice.
Like a kindly grandfather reading a fairy tale to his beloved grandson.
Familiar, gentle, seasoned with the weight of years.
“So I hurried here. But what do I find? One unexpected event after another.”
Yet unlike his voice, his presence commanded awe from those around him.
The Pope of the Ariclotos Order, Elahim.
A private audience with the Pope himself, leading the vanguard.
It wouldn't be honest to say it wasn't daunting.
'Aiden's already in my party anyway.'
The discarded crown prince was here too.
Jun straightened confidently and met Elahim's gaze.
“You've given us a debt that's hard to repay easily.”
“I only did what needed doing.”
“Don't say that. If everyone did their duty so well, the world wouldn't be like this.”
Elahim closed his eyes briefly.
“I heard. You covered for my friend Elias.”
“I only made the suggestion. Sir Bern and Priestess Eleanor made the choice.”
In truth, only three in the order knew the full truth of the incident.
Eleanor and Bern at the center, and the Pope before him.
Because Jun had proposed keeping it secret.
“May I ask why?”
“You know.”
Jun pointed to himself.
“I'm a mage, after all.”
Thorough with gains.
No emotions clouding judgment—he seized what he could.
A calculated choice.
Through this, Jun had earned no small favor from the Ariclotos Order.
'In other words, no need to grind favor with the order anymore.'
A healer was essential for any party.
Normally, you'd build reputation steadily, complete order quests, nurture connections.
That cost no small time and resources—but Jun solved it in one go.
“I see. But most mages are blatant about it. Your shrewdness... yes, it reminds me of the Mage Tower Lords.”
“That's only because Sir Bern and Priestess Eleanor accepted it.”
For Jun and his mercenaries, it was simple: take the rewards offered.
The biggest victim here was Eleanor herself.
She'd learned of her hidden past and near-role as a vessel for an outer god.
Her permission was essential.
Fortunately, she agreed.
“Eleanor...”
The Pope murmured her name, staring into space.
No overt emotion on the surface, but his eyes held deep regret.
“How many more sins must I commit against that child?”
“......You, Your Holiness?”
Jun's eyes widened at the Pope's mutter.
Elahim seemed to hesitate, then nodded.
“Yes. When she was just an infant, I brought her to the order myself.”
“......”
At least it was a relief of sorts.
Unlike the others, the Pope hadn't used force to take her.
“She was bought from a slave trader.”
Slavery was gone now, but it had existed once.
Eleanor was the child of a couple sold into slavery.
“Do you know something?”
“What do you mean?”
“The moment a human becomes obsessed, they turn into a monster.”
“......”
“Bishop Elias and I were such monsters back then.”
Manifesting a god on the surface.
The dream every cleric yearned for.
To meet the divine in person.
It turned an entire order into monsters.
“Even now, I see myself as one. Sins don't vanish with time.”
Yet Elahim sought to atone.
“But the more I try, the more my past mistakes hold me back.”
Jun listened silently.
It could just be pity bait.
A wrinkled elder speaking in a voice thick with remorse.
But Jun didn't dismiss Elahim's words as lies.
'This old man.'
A money-grubbing priest.
Pope of a crumbling order.
But.
'When the [Cataclysm of Sorrow] descends.'
Elahim sacrifices himself to seal it—Eleanor's power.
That was his end in the game.
Jun looked at the real Elahim and spoke.
“There is no righteous person on earth who does good and never sins.”
“Hm.”
“A verse from some scripture I've heard somewhere. Not sure which order's.”
Jun addressed the regretful elder.
Simply put, the verse meant no one was perfectly good and sinless—not even on earth, per the divine word.
Interpretations varied, but Jun took it as: 'Don't drown in guilt forever.'
“Quite a convenient doctrine, isn't it?”
A faint regret flickered in Jun's eyes as he spoke.
Even in his 'Lee Jung-jun' days, he'd committed great and small sins.
How much worse in this harsher world?
'Just off the top of my head.'
Right before actively adventuring with Aiden in the Black Forest.
During the failed goblin subjugation, hadn't he killed Popkin, who begged for potions?
Popkin had threatened him, sure—but even without that, Jun wouldn't have gone all-out to save him.
“Sins are burdens we carry for life. Strangely, they only grow heavier with time.”
Jun had witnessed countless deaths here, including the Damian Mage Tower explosion.
He hadn't lived lightly either. Like the scripture, he couldn't brush it off as everyone sins.
So how to bear those sins?
“I don't know how to bear sins.”
“......I see.”
“But I know the wrong ways.”
“Wrong ways?”
“Abandoning everything before sin. Or looking away. Those are definitely wrong approaches.”
With unwavering eyes, Jun met Elahim's gaze.
“......You said obsession turns humans into monsters. True enough. But Your Holiness, you're still obsessed.”
Clinging to past sins, blind to the present.
Jun pinpointed it.
“Heh...”
The Pope closed his eyes briefly.
He tapped the ground with his staff.
“Bring Eleanor to me.”