Chapter 39: Mine (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 39: Mine (3)
That was close. I had run as fast as I could, but I was a little late.
Without a proper foothold, it might have been difficult.
The plaza was still in chaos.
Medusa’s severed head had rolled to a stop on the ground, surrounded by the scattered corpses of snakes.
Beyond them, the professors and heroes were watching me. Their gazes were a mixture of shock and wariness.
It was understandable.
Medusa was by no means an easy opponent.
Vmmmm—
The Harpe in my hand let out a faint vibration as its light began to fade.
Is this it?
I’d been told before that the Harpe was practically a single-use item.
This was why. After slumbering in stone for so long, it lost its power after a single use.
But it was a weapon of commensurate power. Without it, severing Medusa’s neck in one blow would have been impossible.
I should probably find a new weapon soon.
I sheathed the Harpe at my waist and collected my thoughts.
It wasn’t over. In fact, this was just the beginning.
I looked around.
Then, I walked toward the most familiar face I could find.
It was Do Han-seong, the instructor in charge of my Class B.
“Instructor.”
He was in the middle of organizing the battlefield, giving orders to several heroes.
Evacuating the injured, reorganizing the remaining forces, and discussing countermeasures.
As I approached, he turned to look at me at once.
He spoke as if asking a question.
“Student Hae-in. How on earth did you…”
I cut him off and got straight to the point.
“It was a diversion. Medusa was just bait.”
Do Han-seong’s expression instantly hardened.
“…What?”
He mulled over my words before speaking quietly.
I didn’t have time to wait for his reaction.
“A moment ago, a Mine came to see me.”
I continued hurriedly.
“The creature saw through my desires and whispered to me, ‘I can give you everything.’”
His eyes widened for a moment.
Then he muttered under his breath.
“…Moras.”
He knew of him, too. Moras was a fairly well-known Mine.
“If that’s true, then everyone here needs to go.”
He was right. The creature used clones. Killing a hundred of them meant nothing if we couldn’t get the main body.
“Wait a minute!”
An urgent voice called out from behind us.
I turned my head.
A man was striding quickly toward us.
The epaulet on his shoulder bore the crest of some guild.
He shouted resolutely.
“If Moras has truly appeared, then it’s true that we must capture him.”
He spoke with conviction.
“But we can’t move everyone. Our priority is to track down those who summoned Medusa.”
“What if they’re still hiding and summon another magical beast? We won’t be able to respond.”
I considered his words. He wasn’t wrong.
Medusa was the only magical beast. They had no others prepared for summoning.
But it would be strange for me to know that. I had no proof, and my argument was weak.
What should I do?
I thought for a moment.
The ideal scenario was for everyone to chase Moras. But the man’s point was valid, so a quick compromise…
It was then.
“We will handle the pursuit of the puppeteers.”
A calm voice.
In that same instant, the atmosphere shifted.
I turned my head instinctively.
And I saw the figures standing there.
A woman in silver armor, followed by her priests.
Another of the Cult’s military arms.
Paladins.
If the Hero had Crusaders who followed him, the Saintess had Paladins.
A smile spread across my lips.
She looked at us calmly.
And she spoke once more.
“We will track the puppeteers.”
“So, the rest of you, please pursue Moras.”
The man who had been objecting nodded his head. Truthfully, finding Moras was easier than tracking down the puppeteers.
Besides, the Paladins were a group specialized in hunting Mines. He had no reason to refuse.
With the situation settled, Do Han-seong looked at the other heroes.
He gave a firm command.
“Evacuate the injured to the infirmary immediately. All combat-ready personnel will disperse and pursue Moras.”
He turned his gaze to me.
“Student Hae-in…”
His eyes wavered for a moment.
He let out a short sigh, followed by a heavy voice.
“After seeing what you just did, telling you not to go would be absurd.”
Then he added, as if for emphasis, “But please be careful.”
I gave a short nod.
It was time to move.
Kill Moras and find his main body. That was the best-case scenario.
*
Unlike the clamor outside, this place was submerged in a sacred silence.
The air was damp, and the faint light of candles flickered across the cold marble floor.
At its center stood a statue of the Goddess with a benevolent expression.
She looked down from above with a gentle smile.
Her gaze seemed to embrace all who were present.
This was Arcadia’s church, located on the Gaon campus.
Cheon Yeo-wool let out a quiet breath.
She was kneeling.
The cold marble floor sent a chill through her skin.
She brought her hands together neatly.
In them, she tightly gripped a cross someone had given her.
“Goddess…”
With a tranquil heart, she slowly began to pray.
Soft light filtered through the stained-glass windows, painting the church’s interior with multicolored rays.
A holy fragrance filled the space.
The subtle scent of burning incense, the heavy aroma of old wood.
How much time had passed?
The outside world grew quiet, and the church sank into an even deeper stillness.
And then—
Click, clack.
An unfamiliar presence.
No.
An expected presence.
Her eyes fixed on the statue of the Goddess, Cheon Yeo-wool quietly opened them.
And she spoke.
“Are you lost?”
Her voice was benevolent and warm.
But within it, there was not a hint of a tremor.
“This is a space only the Saintess or a Bishop may enter. Outsiders are not permitted. Would you please leave?”
But the intruder did not answer.
Instead, he drew a little closer.
Click.
The footsteps stopped.
And, in that moment.
“Hahaha…”
A low, unpleasant laugh, as if shattering the church’s silence.
A strange echo, like a whisper in her ear.
“Saintess, you don’t have to hide from me.”
She slowly turned her head.
A man in a mask was standing there.
A black robe that melted into the darkness, the mask’s outline blurred by the faint candlelight.
It was Moras.
He wore a subtle smile.
From behind the mask’s lips, he whispered, soft and mocking.
“Everyone has desires.”
He took a step forward.
“And I’m sure the Saintess is no exception.”
Cheon Yeo-wool turned her gaze back to the statue of the Goddess.
She muttered briefly.
“I will summon the Paladins.”
But Moras shook his head gently, as if he already knew.
“It’s no use.”
He chuckled softly.
“Medusa is outside.”
At that moment, Cheon Yeo-wool’s shoulders trembled slightly. Moras did not miss it.
The corners of his mouth stretched into a grin that seemed to tear at his cheeks.
“Now then, will you show me? That desire of yours.”
Beyond his mask, his black pupils turned red.
In an instant, the space wavered.
Moras’s ability—the Eye of Desire.
It was the power to peer into the true desires buried deep within a person’s heart.
Even desires the person themselves had yet to realize.
His red gaze spread toward Cheon Yeo-wool.
Ssssssk—
The air grew heavy and sank.
And, in that moment.
Moras’s body froze.
“……?”
His laughter stopped.
And his pupils, flaring from behind the mask, began to tremble.
“……What is this?”
What he saw was not a wavering of faith.
Not a lust for power.
Not some worldly craving.
It was the two most primal desires, rooted deep within Cheon Yeo-wool’s soul.
One of them was…
an incredibly impure desire.
A physical union with a man named Jung Hae-in. But it was no simple intimacy.
Beyond that, it was a desire so graphic and deeply stained—so intense it couldn’t be put into words.
And the other was…
an incredibly pure desire.
The unconditional annihilation of the Evil God.
So immaculate, it looked like madness itself.
Faced with that pure, prayer-like, and faithful will, the corners of Moras’s mouth stiffened.
“This is…”
He felt a sudden chill run down his spine.
He was one who manipulated and tempted with desire.
The revival of the Evil God was information that humans were never supposed to know.
And yet.
Cheon Yeo-wool already knew.
Moras began to take steps backward.
I have to tell them.
That was his thought.
Cheon Yeo-wool’s face remained serene. No.
She was smiling.
And then.
Crumble…
The cross in her hand.
Quietly, it turned to dust and vanished.
“Finally.”
She murmured under her breath.
Iano’s holy power.
This was the moment she fully absorbed the power that had been steeped in divinity for ages.
At the same time—
—Thump.
The space distorted.
The church’s interior began to breathe as if it were alive.
Creeaak.
The wooden doors shut on their own.
The stained-glass windows turned red, and the once-soft light began to flicker violently.
But that light soon turned blue.
A sacred blue light stained the space.
Moras knew instinctively.
The space was changing. No, not changing, but being ‘reorganized.’
“…What is this.”
He backed away.
This was an aura that he, a Mine, should never be near.
“What is this?!”
But no one answered.
Only.
The master of this space.
Slowly rising to her feet, she declared its name.
“The Sanctuary is open.”
The moment her voice echoed, the church floor began to glow blue, a holy sigil engraving itself upon it.
Moras’s body was forcibly held in place.
The direction of gravity twisted.
The space itself was changing, centered on her.
Sometime in the future, the very ‘Sanctuary’ that would bind and incinerate tens of thousands of Mines—
was being recreated here.
Her fingertips moved.
Brilliant banners materialized in the air around Cheon Yeo-wool.
As if it were a destiny long decided, they began to wrap around her.
Cheon Yeo-wool’s attire slowly changed.
It was no longer the habit of a nun.
Instead, what enveloped her body was—
the raiment of a celestial maiden, like an agent of God.
A thin cloth of white and blue wrapped around her body.
Moras was forced to his knees.
As if being compelled to prostrate himself before a god.
She whispered.
“Your god does not exist here.”
—Fwoooosh.
A blue light began to envelop the Sanctuary.
This light was fundamentally different from conventional holy power.
It was not a power born from ancient faith, but from absolute belief directed at a single person.
At one single ‘human being.’
The being she served in this space was not the Goddess, but a singular existence in this world.
“So, bow. To the god I serve.”
And Cheon Yeo-wool lowered her hand.
In that instant.
CRACK!
Moras’s body was instantly shattered. He wasn’t even allowed a scream.
His clone, with no time to transmit its memories to the main body, was annihilated by the absolute ‘Law of Holiness.’
She slowly closed her eyes. And once again, she knelt.
Bringing her hands together neatly.
To the one and only god she served.
To the being she loved.
She began to pray once more.
