The Saintess at the Cross
Drawing on the records of other returnees, Do-yun recalled the facilities said to exist in the first village.
Cathedral, mill, blacksmith, general store, bell tower.
Anywhere he went, he could obtain something capable of lighting the surroundings. Yet among them all, the first place he needed to visit was none other than the cathedral.
“They said wearing a cross ornament thins the darkness a little.”
He had no idea why darkness avoided the cross. But securing one first was said to let the light reach farther. Wider vision made collecting a cross not a choice, but a necessity.
So where exactly is the cathedral?
Deciding on a destination, however, did not decide the direction he needed to walk. Do-yun stared into darkness that hid even an inch ahead and let out a long sigh.
Entering the village had been a success. What came after was the problem. Beyond the lantern’s reach—barely ten paces of pale light—everything remained ink-black. Finding the cathedral meant combing the entire settlement.
“If only the minimap were a little more helpful.”
The privilege he had leaned on so often proved nearly useless on the eleventh floor. What good was a summary of the surrounding geography floating in his vision when he did not even know where he stood? A map that merely displayed the local layout was poorly suited for finding a path.
“No choice. I’ll just have to walk it myself.”
In the end, all he could do was press forward at random. Still, it was far better than the aimless wandering outside the walls. Checking each building as he advanced at least gave him the solid feeling that something was progressing.
“The buildings look surprisingly intact, don’t they?”
“Yeah. Doesn’t feel like ruins at all.”
Do-yun answered Ciel while rapping his knuckles against an outer wall. He had felt the same when he first faced the wooden palisade ringing the village. The streets were so neatly kept that it was hard to believe this world had already met its end. That cleanliness only made his spine crawl colder.
“Do you think something like ghosts carried everyone off?”
Just as Ciel said, it felt as though a formless, irresistible death had swept the people away.
“Yeah. Something like that.”
Do-yun muttered low and turned his head. Wherever the lantern light brushed past an alley, dustless stone paths and orderly buildings continued without a break. The place looked as if time itself had stopped. Every human trace had vanished as though evaporated in an instant. Yet the village was not entirely silent.
“Kirrrrk.”
An unpleasant scraping sound cut through the stillness. Deep in the darkness between alleys, something held its breath and watched them. Not a person—one of the monsters hunting Do-yun.
The moment he noticed, Grham’s voice—silent until now—echoed in his mind.
— The Shades inside the village are no great threat.
— Most of them roam far and wide looking for prey.
— The ones still here are too badly wounded to move.
The meaning seemed clear: ignore them and keep advancing. Yet the gaze pricking the back of his neck was far too intense to shrug off.
You never know. That thing might leap out and tear into my back.
Even Grham could not claim to know everything. Rather than place full trust in the words of a former enemy, Do-yun decided to eliminate even the slightest chance of threat in advance.
He scooped up a pebble lying at his feet and, without hesitation, hurled it with full force into the breathless dark of the alley.
Bash (F)
The skill-charged stone shot into the alley with crushing force.
KWA-AAANG!
A thunderous impact shattered brick and stone, collapsing the alley into rubble. Dust billowed upward. Even so, the sticky gaze never faltered.
“So being buried in darkness makes it fine, is that it?”
Once he would have been baffled. Now he knew the Shades’ secret: they regenerated endlessly inside darkness. Without light, no lasting damage could be dealt.
“What a nuisance.”
He could wait, as other returnees had, for the Shade to attack first and then counter. But with no telling when the lurking creature might charge, Do-yun chose a more active approach.
“Ciel, take the lantern up a bit higher. Just a few seconds—can you manage?”
“I’ll give it a try!”
Ciel was light enough that even the lantern was almost too much, but she only needed a brief climb. A little strain would do it.
Flutter-flutter.
Tiny wings beat, lifting her body higher. The lantern’s glow spread across a wider radius, flooding the alley.
Sizzle.
Light reached the Shade hidden among the wreckage. The moment it touched the creature, its body reacted, hissing and searing. Because the light source was farther away, the burning was slower than before—but the Shade’s movement was sealed completely.
“So light freezes them solid, huh?”
Do-yun regarded the Shade, locked like a statue the instant the darkness peeled back. Come to think of it, every Shade he had faced only ever launched straight-line lunges from the dark. Efficient, yes—but apparently exposure to light robbed them of the ability to change direction at all.
Scorching Sword (C)
He incinerated the frozen Shade along with the rubble, then dropped another fragment into the lantern just as before. A fleeting worry crossed his mind—what if the lantern overflowed?—but a glance at its capacity suggested it could hold pieces from dozens more Shades with ease. No need to fret yet.
I should be able to find something suitable at the general store.
Decision made, Do-yun resumed his search for the cathedral. Once again he felt strange gazes from window cracks and rooftops, but this time the watchers vanished the moment he looked their way.
“What the…?”
They reacted as if wary of whatever he might do next. Do-yun tilted his head yet felt no urge to approach and check. The alley Shade had stared at him openly, so he had dealt with it. These cautious specimens were not worth the time he did not have.
Cathedral first.
Wider vision would make hunting the rest of the Shades far easier. After several more alleys and a small plaza, he found a building whose steeple rose higher than the lantern light could reach.
“Whoa. That’s tall.”
A high spire alone did not guarantee a cathedral—the bell tower shared a similar silhouette. Yet the stained-glass windows that covered the walls in place of ordinary glass announced the destination beyond any doubt.
“Where’s the entrance?”
No doorway stood in plain sight. Smashing through the cathedral the way he had the palisade felt a little too unconscionable. Circling carefully, he soon discovered a rough wooden door.
Creeeaaak.
He hauled hard on the iron handle. An ugly screech like chalk on a board rang out. The heavy door swung open with the sluggishness of something unopened for decades.
Way too heavy.
Do-yun’s brow furrowed. If even he felt this weight, an ordinary person would never have managed to open it. His Strength stat equaled five adult men combined, yet the pressure left his joints aching as if they might creak.
Thud.
He forced the door fully open, released the handle, and dusted his hands. Then he scanned the interior to learn what had made the door so massive—and froze in shock.
“It’s a total mess in here, isn’t it?”
Outside, the streets had looked pristine, as though nothing had ever happened. Inside the cathedral, something had clearly torn through. Benches lay overturned. Wall candelabra littered the floor. Walls and flagstones were pocked with deep impact marks. Even now a strange pulse radiated from the building’s heart.
“We need to hurry.”
Do-yun quickened his steps to assess the situation. Dodging fallen stone pillars, he soon reached a wide prayer hall where the view opened completely.
Tap.
In the exact center of the hall stood the cross he had sought so long. Soft light poured from it, striking the stained glass and reflecting back, bathing the entire space in a mystical glow.
Yet Do-yun halted with his goal right before him. Directly in front of the cross stood a figure he had never expected to see.
Why is that woman here?
Kneeling on the dais, hands folded in devout prayer, was a woman whose face Do-yun knew all too well.
Lunia, the Saintess of the Battlefield.
The bitter connection from the tenth floor now waited right before the cross.