Holy Kingdom (2)
Holy Kingdom (2)
The Seed had sprouted. No clue what that meant.
The name gave an intuitive grasp of the subject, but it didn't reveal everything.
Exploration was needed.
Dojin closed his eyes and entered self-contemplation. In his inner world, countless images floated around aimlessly.
A sun hung in the sky above.
A massive tree grew tall and sturdy on the earth below.
And beneath that tree sat a lone martial artist in the lotus position.
'......No idea.'
He felt like the tree in his inner world had grown a bit bigger since the Seed sprouted. But even if this tree kept growing, what the hell could it actually do?
Shwaaaah—
A wind blew through his inner world, where everything should have been under his control.
The wind scattered the World Tree's leaves, and the falling leaves clung to Dojin.
The moment they stuck to him, Dojin felt an indescribable refreshment.
It was so satisfying that he'd believe it was the World Tree's effect.
But it wasn't enough—as if sensing that, countless more leaves fell and clung to him.
'What the hell can you do?'
The martial artist slowly raised a hand to stroke the World Tree.
The World Tree trembled with joy at its father's touch.
"Whew—."
Finishing his self-contemplation, Dojin slowly opened his eyes. He'd confirmed the World Tree was having a big impact on his inner world.
But his intuition told him something far bigger than this was coming—something incomparable.
The Otherworld had no flying monsters.
Beasts soaring through the skies.
Wyverns gliding on massive wings.
Dragons boasting godlike majesty.
Beings now seen only in legends, whose disappearance even the elves couldn't remember.
So soldiers rarely looked up at the sky. The beauty of the night sky was nice for a day or two, but it got old fast if you saw it every day.
"Yawwwn......."
"Already sleepy?"
"I'm wiped."
"Sigh, take a break."
Hearing his colleague mention pulling all-nighters every other day, the soldier immediately told him to rest easy.
This was the Holy Kingdom—no one was gonna invade anyway. Even if someone tried......
'Cross this vast plain?'
Ridiculous. Even flying mages couldn't dodge the guards' eyes.
If they flew high enough to avoid detection, they'd pass out from lack of oxygen.
So one soldier slacked off for a nap, while the other hummed a little tune, waiting for time to pass.
Then suddenly, a massive shadow loomed over the soldier's head. Since it was around midday with the sun blazing, he figured a cloud had conveniently drifted by and kept vigilant.
But this shadow was weird—it let the sunlight pass through.
He'd never seen a shadow that still let light through.
Feeling something off, the soldier looked up—and immediately rang the emergency bell like a madman.
Deng! Deng! Deng!
The alarm bell echoed across the entire city, startling his sleepy colleague awake as he demanded answers from his buddy.
"W-What's that!?"
"......Look at the sky."
"Huh?"
His colleague, just roused from sleep, glanced up. High in the sparkling sky, a massive iceberg floated lazily.
"Emergency! Emergency!"
"Priests, all assemble at the cathedral!"
The huge iceberg was so clearly visible even from inside the city that every soldier on duty, every priest resting, even the citizens—all saw it.
"W-What the hell is that......."
"God's wrath! Oh lord!"
True to the Holy Kingdom's devout faith—the continent's strongest—people's first thought was divine punishment.
Someone must've pissed off God.
Otherwise, that thing couldn't exist.
"......What is that."
The Pope frowned at the iceberg hovering over the papal palace. If it fell, the whole city would be smashed to bits.
Luckily, it showed no sign of dropping, but having an empty gun barrel pointed at you still sucked.
With that massive iceberg floating overhead, society couldn't function properly.
'What the hell?'
Normally, for a divine punishment this big, God would've tipped off someone like the Pope.
Not this time.
So did that mean God wasn't behind this?
As the Pope pondered, lightning suddenly crashed down from the sky multiple times. People hit the deck, prostrating to dodge God's fury.
But the Pope realized the lightning was striking the iceberg. In other words, God was smiting someone on top of it.
'Up there.......'
But he couldn't confirm who was up there.
Thousands of meters high, just below the clouds—an iceberg floating there. If you could jump onto that, you'd be a god yourself.
As she racked her brain for a way to subdue whoever was up there, the lightning-struck iceberg shattered to pieces.
Chrrrrruk—.
More precisely, it was being shaved down, raining ice like a storm.
An ice shower—rare even in midsummer—pummeled the ground.
Thankfully, these ice chunks had zero lethality.
'Pretty, but...... what the hell.......'
From between the shaved ice, a woman leaped down.
She spread wings from her back and glided slowly.
Flight seemed new to her—she wobbled at first, losing balance, but soon steadied and descended leisurely to the ground.
Flutter—.
A beauty with ice wings now hovered over the papal palace.
She looked just like an angel descended from heaven, so everyone knelt and prayed to her.
The sanctity of her translucent wings—letting light pass through like glass—combined with the mystery of dropping from an iceberg made her look like a true heavenly apostle (Angel).
"......Who are you?"
The Pope asked cautiously.
An angel descending with ice wings—Gabriel from the scriptures?
Or a new angel freshly created by God?
What message did she bring, appearing in such an extraordinary form?
Her face expressionless like a block of ice, she scanned the ground and lightly opened her mouth.
"Hand over Dojin."
"The Angel speaks!"
"She demands Dojin!"
"Hand over Dojin!"
Not even knowing what it meant, the fanatics blindly obeyed.
If she said she wasn't an angel right here, even the Pope would face backlash.
Fanaticism swelled to insane levels.
"Hand over Dojin—what the......."
"I know he's here."
"Please wait a moment."
The Pope said that and ducked into the papal palace. Inside, priests were already bustling, searching for this 'Dojin.'
"Dojin? What's Dojin!?"
"The Holy Grail?"
"Why call it Dojin!"
"Dunno!"
Brushing past the priests, the Pope headed straight for the Saintess's room. Despite being grounded as punishment, she was getting frisky with the guy she'd brought.
"......Saintess."
"Eek, Pope-nim. What's up?"
"The man you brought...... his name is Dojin, right?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Got business with me?"
Sensing unease at his name being called, Dojin eyed the Pope. The Pope struggled for words, then said carefully.
"......Someone's looking for you, Dojin-ssi."
"......Someone?"
Dojin's unease grew at the Pope's tone. The Pope of the Holy Kingdom—basically a king or emperor.
For him to say 'someone' like that.
A figure with only God above him, using honorifics—implied the someone was divine.
"Who......."
"An Angel."
"......An Angel?"
Angel, huh? Not her, then. One suspect vanished from Dojin's mind.
'......Nah.'
Even if it was her, why would the Pope use honorifics? Dojin shook his head and stood.
"Let's go."
"Thank you."
"No biggie—not like you're selling me out."
Dojin smirked and followed the Pope. The Saintess looked disappointed, but he'd make it up later.
Outside, Dojin realized his worst suspicions were true.
"Found you."
"......No."
Why the hell are you here?
Dojin barely swallowed the words rising to his throat. Seeing the Pope bowing beside him, the hundreds, thousands prostrating before her.
No way could he admit knowing this woman as a mere mortal.
Smart Seoyun knew it too—she didn't acknowledge Dojin at all. She even knew she was being mistaken and milked the misunderstanding.
"God's apostle."
"......Yes."
"I've come to fetch you. Let's go."
Her voice was toneless, perfect acting—no one doubted it. Doubting a heavenly being for lacking emotion was for lunatics.
'Haven't even said hi yet.'
Ditching like this would piss off the Saintess big time, but refusing her invitation here was even crazier, so Dojin took her hand.
And they shot straight into the sky.
High in the sky, Seoyun quickly made a flying saucer big enough for two. The moment she added a chair for herself, the craft slowly moved forward.
"......How'd you do this?"
"Forgot my ability?"
"Yours is ice creation."
"Ice means interfering with atomic activity, controlling temperature. Create a temperature difference, and you can manipulate convection too."
Of course, it took massive calculations, but she fudged it with her smarts and intuition.
'Isn't fudging with smarts just using it?'
He thought that, but the second the craft took off, all stray thoughts vanished.
'......Whoa.'
Riding in an open-bottom flyer felt like true omnipotence, soaring through the heavens.
Human instinct? At this height, his heart pounded with excitement.
"Feels good, right?"
"Huh? Yeah."
"Wanna do it here?"
"......Here?"
"Yeah. First for humanity. Sex above the clouds."
She said that and slowly started undressing. Dojin didn't stop her. He'd have to serve her sloppy later anyway—might as well think of this as prep.
And above all......
'Sex at 3,000 meters.......'
A virgin territory no human had claimed—cloud sex fired up his challenger spirit.
In the end, Dojin came three times on the flying craft.
[The World Tree has conceived a child.]