Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: The One Who Became a Sacrifice Himself
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“Please… kill me…. I’m begging you….”
Kim Min-jun, captured by Celia, spoke in a voice hoarse with desperation.
His face was gaunt, and dark circles had formed under his eyes.
‘Such a being can’t exist…!’
Kim Min-jun gasped for breath, inwardly reeling in shock.
He had dreamed long dreams.
Some were pleasant, but others turned into terrifying nightmares.
The bitterness that followed the sweetness made the gap feel all the more intense.
The process had eroded his mental fortitude.
How much time had passed?
When Kim Min-jun finally awoke from those endless dreams, he realized barely ten minutes had gone by in reality.
And from that moment, despair and terror had crashed over him.
“Please… kill me….”
The being before him was a succubus who toyed freely with human dreams.
When she, who had introduced herself as Celia, first said she would show him a dream, Kim Min-jun had scoffed.
Just a dream, after all.
A dream couldn’t do anything to him.
He’d thought he could just nap briefly as she suggested, nothing more.
But now his thinking had changed.
The creature before him was no ordinary succubus.
‘If something like that appeared on Earth….’
The mere thought was horrifying.
No, come to think of it, this dungeon itself didn’t make sense.
Death Knights and Goblin Lords, of all things.
But his thoughts didn’t linger.
“How were the dreams?”
He saw Celia approaching with a smile.
“Please…….”
He begged.
Begged desperately.
If he closed his eyes, he’d dream again.
Suffer for an eternity.
The scariest part was that even after all that torment, only a few minutes would pass in real time.
His mind had already reached its limit.
“Oh? So you’re finally ready to become Master’s sacrifice?”
Celia brightened.
Kim Min-jun nodded frantically.
Who would have thought her words could sound so sweet….
“Yes… yes! I’ll be the sacrifice!”
Kim Min-jun slammed his forehead against the floor in reply.
“Please let me be the sacrifice! Please offer me to that glorious position!”
At first, he’d dismissed Celia’s words as nonsense.
Why would being sacrificed be an honor for him?
But now he understood.
No, he had to see it as an honor.
If it meant he could find peace, he’d choose to become a sacrifice in an instant.
“Such sincere reverence for our great Master…. I, Celia, am truly moved.”
Kim Min-jun wanted desperately to spit curses, but he didn’t commit the folly of voicing them.
He simply felt relief that he wouldn’t have to dream again.
“Now, come this way.”
Kim Min-jun rose slowly and followed Celia’s instructions.
A crudely made, modest altar came into view.
What had he even been living for all this time?
Was this pathetic end why he’d struggled so?
Maybe it was karma catching up.
Lost in such thoughts, Kim Min-jun walked very slowly toward the altar.
“…….”
It was his final moment in life.
Soon, flames erupted from the altar.
In a dark room, the smartphone alarm blared relentlessly.
“Ugh…, what’s with this alarm that won’t stop.”
Yi Kang-hyun, who had been sleeping soundly, woke up irritated.
He picked up his smartphone.
“What alarm is this?”
Checking the alarm screen, it was the game he’d started after returning from the other world.
“…….”
Yi Kang-hyun stared at the alarms, still groggy from sleep.
“Huh?”
But seeing a familiar name snapped him a bit more awake.
It wasn’t someone he knew personally, but it was unmistakably a Korean name.
“Why’s a name like that popping up all of a sudden.”
Kim Min-jun?
Wasn’t this game set on the Eldorado Continent?
After a moment’s thought, Yi Kang-hyun pieced it together.
“Oh, is this for realism?”
Earthlings exist in Eldorado too.
Hunters summoned to the continent.
They even added details like that? Yi Kang-hyun was mildly impressed by the developers’ attention.
Still, an alarm in the middle of the night crossed a line.
“But what’s ‘absorbing abilities’?”
It even said it would take six hours.
“Eh, whatever. It’ll sort itself out. Back to sleep….”
Sudden drowsiness cut his thoughts short.
Yi Kang-hyun collapsed onto the bed and passed out.
The smartphone alarms continued unabated.
People gathered around a round table.
This was the heart of the White Church.
Not only the High Vicar and cardinals, but also representatives from law, administration, military, and other key institutions had assembled for this crucial meeting.
It was a gathering of the Church’s top authorities, second only to the Pope himself.
Each could sway the Church with a single word.
Thus, the meeting buzzed with debates and arguments.
“His Holiness the Pope has officially requested the dispatch of Heretic Inquisitors to the Sail Kingdom.”
Titan, the priest overseeing the Heretic Inquisitors, spoke up.
A few priests murmured in admiration.
“Ooh, at last, our Church will take root in the Sail Kingdom.”
Yuel, the probationary priest the Church had been watching, had gone missing.
With his last known destination being the Sail Kingdom, it was natural for the Church to investigate.
The first step: dispatching Heretic Inquisitors under Titan’s command.
As a former Heretic Inquisitor himself, Titan felt both proud and gratified.
“Indeed. We’ve selected the ‘finest elites’ among them. Now all that remains is advancing into the Demon Realm using the Sail Kingdom as our foothold.”
He emphasized “finest elites” to preempt any objections.
But this was no easy crowd.
Factions always existed that resented any shift in power.
“However, there is a slight concern.”
Firenze, in charge of Church surveillance, spoke.
Titan frowned, but Firenze pressed on undeterred.
“You all know about the recent incident where a succubus breached our defenses and escaped its seal.”
Everyone nodded solemnly.
And it wasn’t just any succubus—it carried the blood of a primordial being.
This shook the Church’s doctrine of the one true primordial existence: the Goddess.
The Church could not tolerate any beings outside the Goddess.
Thus, they hunted down monsters descended from other primordial entities indiscriminately.
The recently escaped succubus was the last of its bloodline on the continent, sending the Church’s leadership into an uproar.
“And yet!”
Bam!
Firenze slammed his fist on the table.
“A Heretic Inquisitor, tasked with judging heretics on behalf of the Church, was colluding with the Succubus Queen? Does that make any sense?!”
His outburst startled those nearby, but it rang true.
How had the succubus escaped such tight security?
The Church had launched a massive investigation.
And it turned out one Heretic Inquisitor had been in league with the Succubus Queen.
Evidence even showed he’d sent a secret missive to her after the escape.
Of course, he’d been bewitched by the Succubus Queen.
Titan countered calmly.
“That much is true. On behalf of this assembly, I apologize. The inquisitor in question has been immediately dismissed, classified as a heretic, and is undergoing thorough interrogation.”
Titan drew a finger across his throat with a menacing glare.
“However, Priest Firenze, your words go too far.”
“What?! Are you insulting me and the Surveillance Division?!”
As Firenze shot to his feet shouting, Titan gestured for calm.
“No, no. I simply wish to clarify one point. While the inquisitor colluded with the Succubus Queen, he was not on duty in that underground area on the day of the incident.”
Firenze backed down slightly.
The inquisitor had colluded, but wasn’t at the scene.
He’d tried to pin the whole affair on that alone.
“Moreover, the escaped succubus was one we sealed long ago as part of a deal between the Church and the Succubus Queen—”
“Enough.”
Someone cut Titan off.
It was High Vicar Aurel.
Titan fell silent.
“Let’s drop that matter.”
Ancient records showed the Church had once made a deal with a mere demon.
The other party: the Succubus Queen.
All to capture one succubus.
It was a stain on the Church, one they didn’t want aired by a mere priest.
Aurel shifted the topic.
“What are the Empire and other kingdoms’ reactions to the Sail Kingdom dispatch?”
Dispatching Heretic Inquisitors to Sail Kingdom.
From the Church’s view, it was justified by their missing priest, but acting unilaterally without neighboring states’ consent required some tact.
Thus, they’d formally notified them.
Essentially, an ultimatum.
“The Karn Empire and Orbis Empire have expressed support for the Church.”
“As expected, no fools would oppose the Church’s affairs.”
“With those two empires backing us, the rest is obvious. Heh.”
As the priests spoke, High Vicar Aurel closed his eyes silently.
With the continent’s two great empires on board, it was a done deal.
“Anyway, how’s the vampire hunt progressing?”
The mood sobered as vampire hunting came up.
It was a covert Church operation.
“Holy Knights are raiding their dungeons as we speak.”
The plan: assault vampire dungeons to weaken their forces.
It stemmed from one being: the 5-star vampire Baalcherit.
They weren’t subjugating her directly—just chipping away at her allies.
5-star monsters were far too dangerous.
For the Church’s secretive ops, direct confrontation was tricky.
Such beings could raze a city effortlessly.
Without interference, even a metropolis would fall easily.
That’s why the Church avoided facing Baalcherit head-on.
“All Holy Knights on this op are elites, so no major issues expected!”
“Hm….”
That seemed fine too.
High Vicar Aurel.
He pondered briefly, then returned to the first topic.
“Using Sail Kingdom as a base is only a matter of time. The real challenge is pioneering the Demon Realm.”
The Demon Realm was uncharted territory.
Adventurers ventured in occasionally, but that was a minuscule fraction of its vastness.
No one knew what lurked there—no precise guides existed.
“We’ll likely encounter beings like Baalcherit everywhere. Our Holy Knights and Heretic Inquisitors must be prepared for 5-star demons. And beyond that, 6-stars….”
Aurel trailed off as he mentioned 6-stars.
“Ahem. That’s all on that.”
He cut the topic and closed his eyes.
The remaining priests would carry on.
‘6-stars, huh….’
6-star beings existed only in ancient records.
One alone could doom a small nation—a calamity incarnate.
Fortunately, their appearances were rare.
7-stars existed too, but that was beside the point.
They appeared once in records, heralded by a starfall.
Practically nonexistent now.
Thus, the continent capped threats at 5-stars.
But venturing into the Demon Realm? Who knew what awaited.
Aurel planned to intensify Holy Knight and Inquisitor training in response.
If successful.
If they conquered the Demon Realm, the Church’s power would transcend dominance into absolute authority.
The continent’s balance would shatter.
Aurel anticipated that future, yet a nagging unease lingered.
‘We’re not just awakening sleeping horrors, are we…?’
Preparing for the worst-case scenario, Aurel wanted to do all he could.