The Saint's Light

The manifestation time for Joan of Arc, the rescued maiden, was six hours. Once her summons ended, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she would need to wait another two hours before she could be called forth again. This wasn’t a limitation unique to Joan. Every relic from parallel worlds in my possession came with its own summoning duration and cooldown period.

If my mana ran dry or the six-hour limit passed, the relic would vanish on its own. The relic’s reuse cooldown was also two hours. To shorten that time, I had to increase my mana reserves. And the only reliable way to do that was to enter gates and hunt monstrosities.

“Going straight in would be too risky,” I muttered.

B-rank. The difficulty was far higher than any quest I had cleared so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠far. The Summon Reset Ticket listed in the rewards was probably an item that reset cooldowns. There was no need to risk my life just to get it, but the chance to easily harvest the mana of a high-grade monstrosity was tempting. After all, the quests given by relics were always set much lower than the gate’s actual difficulty.

The Noryang Gate had been A-rank, and the Myeongnyang Gate had been labeled Unknown. Yet I had cleared both as easily as if they were low-rank gates. That was only possible because I possessed the required relics.

From my experience, once you entered a gate with the matching relic, its efficiency skyrocketed beyond imagination. It was as if the weapon had returned to its rightful battlefield. The Twin Dragon Sword had seen its power jump nearly eighty percent the moment I stepped into Myeongnyang and Noryang. Napoleon’s Rifle would likely do the same.

Still, the B-rank difficulty had to be accounting for that advantage. I decided to warm up with a C-rank gate first. After all, people said real hunting began at C-rank. There was no rush. I would take it step by step.

“Are you heading out?”

When I grabbed my outer coat, Joan, who had been watching the counter, approached me.

“Yes, I’ll be back after running a quick errand.”

It had already been two days since Joan arrived in the modern world. These days she was learning how to run the general ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠store by helping me. Her learning speed was astonishing. Even though she had only been at it for two days, she was already handling the register and making calculations without any trouble.

Joan simply hadn’t been given the chance to learn before. She possessed an incredibly sharp mind. That must have been why she had been able to involve herself in strategy and even serve as the nominal commander during the Hundred Years’ War. Beyond her sacrifices, she had also helped paint the bigger picture of the conflict. The real problem had been Bishop Cauchon’s reckless tactics that treated her holy power as nothing more than cannon fodder.

Then Joan noticed me packing my subspace backpack and asked, “Are you going to a gate?”

“……”

I closed my mouth awkwardly. I hadn’t planned to tell her I was heading to a gate, but now that she had guessed it, I was at a loss for words.

“I heard that monstrosities appear inside gates. I’ll go with you.”

“It’s dangerous. You don’t need to follow me.”

I tried to dissuade her. I had no intention of dragging a girl who had already been forced into countless sacrifices back into battle. Reading my thoughts, Joan spoke softly.

“I’m not being pushed into this. I want to help you of my own free will, Mr. Seojun. That’s why I wish to accompany you.”

Her clear violet eyes stared straight at me.

“Besides… I have a feeling everything will be fine.”

The girl gave me a bright smile, as if to reassure me. Faced with that smile, I had no choice but to allow her to come along. If I forcibly stopped her now, I would be no different from Bishop Cauchon.

“All right. Let’s go together.”

At my permission, Joan’s face lit up.

“But from now on, stay behind me at all times. Do not step forward under any circumstances.”

“Understood.”

Joan beamed at me.

The biggest reason I allowed Joan to accompany me wasn’t just that I didn’t want to restrict her freedom. The main factor was that I genuinely believed it wouldn’t be dangerous. After all, it was only a C-rank gate—what could possibly go wrong? I had been overly cautious and focused on safety until now, but with a Legendary-grade relic in hand, C-rank gates were nothing special.

By that logic, Joan was also officially rated as Legendary, yet I still couldn’t feel completely at ease. I had never seen her abilities with my own eyes. If things got dicey, I figured I could at least put Yi Sun-sin’s helmet on her.

It didn’t take long for me to realize just how arrogant that assumption had been.

“Grrrrraaaah—!”

Twenty ghouls melted into the light and vanished without a trace. The undead monsters, famous for their stubborn vitality and resistance to physical attacks, were erased in an instant. All of it had happened from a single prayer by Joan.

“…Joan. That was… incredible.”

“It seems so.”

Joan herself looked surprised by what she had done; her violet eyes were wide like a rabbit’s.

“But I think I need to control my holy power better. I don’t have that much of it.”

The reason Joan’s holy power reserves were low was because of me. Just as a relic’s efficiency scaled with my mana, the total amount of holy power she could wield was also proportional to mine. Even taking that into account, Joan’s abilities were absurdly overpowered.

So this is what holy power feels like.

The pure white light that spread out with Joan’s prayer was different from ordinary “light mana.” It was far more brilliant, radiant, and powerful. I guessed that holy power must be a higher attribute above light. After all, the undead ghouls had melted away without being able to put up any resistance.

It was a moment that made me truly realize just how extraordinary Joan’s power was.

She still can’t match her prime, though.

During the Hundred Years’ War, when she had waved the banner of the Holy Maiden across the battlefield, Joan’s abilities had been truly overwhelming. She had illuminated the entire vast battlefield by herself. Any allies within the range of her light would rise again even after being stabbed by swords or trampled by horses, becoming living undead. It was no wonder Bishop Cauchon had ignored all tactics and simply ordered mindless charges.

With her limited reserves of holy power, Joan could no longer perform the same large-scale miracles as back then. Still, even without that, she was plenty incredible. In the past she had been limited to a healer’s role, but the holy power she wielded now also possessed considerable offensive capability. This must have been the result of people’s vague fantasies about what the Holy Maiden Joan of Arc must have been like.

But what made me happiest of all was…

“Joan, is your back all right?”

“Yes, it doesn’t hurt at all.”

No more blood flowed from Joan’s stigmata. The part I had worried about most had been resolved, and my heart felt lighter.

At this rate, I can head into the Toulon Gate without worry.

Things had turned out easier than expected.

“Again! Another SSS rank!”

“I could understand it up to D-rank, but clearing a C-rank gate with SSS? Does that even make sense?”

While Choi Seojun and Joan finished clearing the gate, Seoul was burning with rumors about the mysterious hunter. After sweeping every D-rank gate with SSS ratings, the hunter had now achieved the highest clear rank on a C-rank gate as well. People were eagerly waiting to see how far this streak would continue.

“Isn’t someone just messing with the system?”

“Brother, could you pull off eleven consecutive SSS-rank clears even as a joke?”

“Hmm… that would be difficult even as a prank.”

Ha Jinwu, Team Leader of the Constellation of Dawn’s first team, answered with an awkward expression. As an A-rank hunter, he could clear C-rank gates with SSS ratings, but he couldn’t guarantee it every single time. One small mistake during a clear would immediately drop the rank. To achieve eleven flawless SSS clears in a row from D-rank all the way to C-rank was simply unheard of.

And this particular “scene” was on an entirely different level.

“It’s spotless. Not a single trace remains.”

Archbishop Ambrosio of the Yeoksam Archdiocese swept his cloudy eyes across the perfectly emptied gate. The gate that had originally been infested with ghouls was now completely clean, without even a fragment of a corpse left behind. It was as if they had melted away under sunlight.

“Could this be the Connector’s doing?”

“I heard he specializes in water-attribute abilities.”

“Right. He did clear the Myeongnyang Gate, after all.”

To withstand the underwater pressure of the Myeongnyang Gate, one needed to be specialized in water attributes. And it would be extremely difficult for a water specialist to cleanly dispose of ghouls. It wasn’t impossible, but it would require painstaking effort and extreme care. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It was hard to imagine the Connector being such an obsessive perfectionist.

Even if it wasn’t the Connector, no hunter of any other attribute could have done this either. Which meant…

“This is a miracle performed by someone who has received the Lord’s blessing.”

“You mean a light-attribute ability user.”

“Indeed. It seems this person has received a great deal of the Lord’s love.”

Light attribute was light attribute, but what was all this talk about blessings and great love? Ha Jinwu gave an awkward laugh at Archbishop Ambrosio’s overly dramatic reaction. Regardless, the archbishop looked up at the sky with trembling eyes.

“O Lord… I have found them.”

Tears flowed from the corners of the archbishop’s wrinkled eyes as he turned his rosary beads between his fingers.