Chapter 130
Chapter 130
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: No Shipwreck for the Protagonist
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Genghis Khan, Leopold II, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot…
『The orc revolutionary Bardug’s answer to the question, “Is there any Earthling who’s ever helped orcs?”』
***
Right after their brief exchange, the three girls fell silent at the same time.
Controlling their mana so that it wouldn’t tangle as it poured into the golden seal wasn’t easy.
At least Yeomyeong and Soemiri’s mana were nearly identical, so the spell didn’t falter…
The real problem was the sheer amount of mana the golden seal demanded.
No matter how much they poured into it, the dimensional gate opened agonizingly slowly.
Reopening a dimensional gate that had already collapsed after losing its Corruption Stone was no different from rebuilding a house with only its skeleton left.
In the end, their stamina and mana hit rock bottom before the gate could fully open.
Seti was the first to break—blood vessels bursting as blood streamed from her nose and eyes.
Then Yeomyeong vomited blood, and Soemiri’s hands began to tremble uncontrollably.
The Saintess was holding them together, but she had already fought through several brutal battles herself.
No one present doubted she would last much longer.
We’re all going to die here.
The thought crossed all four minds at once.
That was when the Saintess spoke up.
“…Should we wake Yeomyeong?”
Seti answered, panting heavily as she shook her head.
“No. It’ll just… backfire…”
Her tone was filled with conviction. The Saintess suspected there was more to the story but didn’t press.
Instead, she dropped to her knees.
Leaving her left hand on the seal, she clasped her right hand over her chest and began to pray.
“O White Ultsubati, your daughter beseeches you. Shine your sun upon us that we may walk in your shadow.”
A simple prayer any priest of Ultsubati could offer.
But when the Saintess herself offered it, its power was immense.
Flash!
No sooner had she finished than a whirlwind of pure white blessing erupted around her, enveloping all four.
Wherever the light touched, wounds healed and depleted mana returned.
It was the highest-tier blessing, one even high priests rarely managed successfully… but still far too little to open the dimensional gate.
The Saintess began to pray again.
“O Black Mordak, let your dream rain down.”
“O Red Redox, let your wrath challenge.”
“O Blue Benul, let your book plead.”
“O Green Isaginok, let your flower wish.”
Prayers to all the gods reborn.
As if that weren’t enough, she drew a holy relic from between her breasts and gripped it tight.
‘O gods, if you truly cherish me, let not my love nor these innocents be sacrificed.’
As always, the gods did not reply in words.
Only silence and pain, tickling and fragrance, and…
Blessings.
Fwoooosh!
In the next instant, five colors of light burst from the Saintess’s body.
Her snow-white hair rippled, and her mana surged. Proof that the gods had answered her prayer.
The Saintess.
Poured the blessings straight into the seal. She didn’t stop, even as the massive mana warped the magic circle.
She trusted Yeomyeong to control it.
And in response to that trust, the seal’s magic circle began to expand. Enough to cover not just the dimensional gate, but the entire stone altar.
At last,
Flash!
Five colors erupted from the seal’s magic circle, filling the space between it and the gate.
The black rift that had been the gate took on a golden hue, forming a massive oval that truly resembled a “door.”
No one had to explain it—they all knew. The Saintess’s blessing had worked a miracle.
And no one was more thrilled than the Saintess herself.
To think it would succeed on the first try?
Her limbs trembled from the blessing’s aftershocks, but she puffed out her chest proudly.
“See? Did you see that? Especially you, Yeomyeong, you faithless one! Witnessed a miracle of the gods with your own eyes, huh?”
“…Yeah, I saw.”
“Then don’t just stand there—clap! Shout that the Saintess is the best!”
She even had the leisure to joke. Yeomyeong wiped her nosebleed without thinking and let out a chuckle.
Laughter is contagious, they say? Seti and Soemiri relaxed as they watched the gate open, smiling too.
A brief moment of respite. A split-second lapse.
And that lapse created an opening.
It was too brief for them to notice, but more than enough for the Corruption Stone’s mana lurking within the gate.
Shaaaaa…!!!
A chilling sound, like darkness coming alive.
At that signal, thick, tar-like black mana burst out from the gate.
“Everyone, dodge…!”
Seti shouted as she realized too late, and Soemiri tried to cast a spell, but their reactions were a step slow.
The Corruption Stone’s mana had already cast long shadows over all four heads.
Just as it was about to swallow them whole in a life-or-death crisis.
Yeomyeong instinctively raised her heel and slammed it down on the stone altar.
Boom!!
True Strike of the Flying Leg Art.
The shockwave from the martial technique, infused with immense mana, shattered the altar and blasted everyone else downward.
Everyone but the one who unleashed it.
“No!!”
With Seti’s scream echoing as she fell, the Corruption Stone’s mana engulfed Yeomyeong.
***
The Saintess, who had fallen below the altar, stared blankly at the spot where Yeomyeong had stood moments ago.
Atop the shattered altar lay only the golden seal, abandoned by its master.
The black mana that had swallowed Yeomyeong seemed to have retreated straight into the gate.
Biting her lip, the Saintess climbed back onto the rubble.
‘The Corruption Stone’s mana… it hadn’t vanished.’
It had simply hidden deep within the gate, waiting for it to close.
Normally, it would have waited until the gate sealed and the barrier collapsed before exploding…
But the golden seal had forcibly reopened it, so the mana that should have detonated instead surged outward.
The silver lining? The Corruption Stone’s mana had no intelligence or will.
It possessed only pure malice, bent on corrupting everything around it.
‘Hang in there just a little longer, Yeomyeong.’
By the time the Saintess reached the gate with that thought, someone was already there.
“Soemiri, you…?”
How had she not been flung away? She knelt before the gate, clutching something desperately.
Peeking out from the golden gate… was Yeomyeong’s right forearm.
Somehow, Soemiri had grabbed his hand just before he was dragged inside.
“…Thank goodness.”
She had feared he’d vanished beyond for good, but there was still hope.
Feeling relieved, the Saintess approached the gate.
Then, as she reached Soemiri and checked her condition…
She realized the price Soemiri had paid to hold on.
Ears torn and bleeding profusely, eyes oozing pus and blood as if burst…
Mana backlash. The classic symptoms of firing spells without preparation.
“Ah….”
Acceleration spell? Flight magic?
Possibly both, but the fact that she had held Yeomyeong without regard for her own body was painfully clear.
Wounds that could kill from blood loss if untreated.
Facing that resolve, the Saintess gathered her scant remaining mana and showered her with healing blessings.
Only then did Soemiri, noticing the Saintess, speak in a faint voice.
“S-Saintess… get Seti… please. I—I don’t think I can hold on much longer…”
Speak of the devil?
Before the Saintess could reply, Seti landed with a thud before the gate.
She had retrieved her hammer and weapon bundle from the sewer, ready to charge straight in.
Of course, there was no need.
“Ah, you’ve got a grip on him… good…”
Seti’s reaction was the same as the Saintess’s as she glanced between Soemiri and Yeomyeong’s hands.
Relief, surprise, worry.
With that brief sentiment over, Seti took hold of Yeomyeong’s hand. Soemiri finally vomited blood and collapsed before the gate.
As the Saintess healed her, she asked Seti,
“How is it? Can you pull him?”
“…No. The more I pull, the stronger the pull from the other side. Maintaining this is my limit.”
“…”
“Saintess, do you know what this monster—no, this mana—that engulfed Yeomyeong is?”
The Saintess nodded and began to explain.
What the Corruption Stone was, and the current state of the mana that had attacked Yeomyeong…
As she continued, she noticed something off about Seti’s reaction.
Seti was gnawing her lip, glaring beyond the gate.
“Seti? What’s wrong?”
“…The gate’s corrupting.”
“…”
As she said, the gate—opened by the seal—was slowly turning black.
One mountain after another, indeed.
***
Figuring out why the gate had suddenly corrupted wasn’t hard.
A hundred to one, the Corruption Stone’s mana was rampaging inside again.
‘What do I do? What…’
Seti gripped Yeomyeong’s hand tight, deep in thought.
Reopen the gate with the seal? Only Yeomyeong can use it. Rejected.
Follow him into the unstable gate? Could easily become mutual suicide. Rejected.
Pray for the Saintess to work another miracle? She’s already at her limit. Rejected.
Rejected, rejected, rejected…
Just as her mind threatened to drown in endless waves of dilemma.
Suddenly, her god spoke.
『First, consider what you can offer for his sake.』
What could she offer? Seti answered without hesitation. Everything.
Pleased with her response, laughter echoed in her mind.
Was this a revelation? Advice? As Seti unconsciously turned her head.
Her eyes fell on an ornate ceremonial dagger lying to the left of the gate.
Coincidence? Or fate’s pull.
Seti reached out, picked it up, and reflected her face in the blade.
On the blood-crusted edge, she saw freed livestock.
She saw sisters blinded by vengeance, and his first… sacrifice.
…Yes, sacrifice.
That was when Seti understood the meaning of “what you can offer.”
She reversed her grip on the dagger and prayed to her god.
‘O my god. I offer the sacrifice as tribute. So please…’
Let Yeomyeong return safely.
With that thought, Seti moved to stab her own throat.
But the moment she raised the dagger, her right hand moved on its own—not to her throat, but elsewhere.
Her left index finger.
Stab. The dagger barely nicked the fingertip. Tiny droplets of blood stained the blade, and that was it.
A scratch that even a superhuman’s regeneration would heal in less than a day.
‘…My god?’
『Wasteful.』
‘…What?’
Seti stared in bewilderment, unable to keep up, when the Saintess spoke.
“Seti… what was that all of a sudden?”
Her tone was laced with concern. Rightly so.
To her, Seti had suddenly grabbed the dagger, tried to slit her own throat, and ended up nicking her finger.
Even Seti had no good explanation, so she brushed it off vaguely.
“…It’s nothing.”
“…Really?”
“Really.”
Seti glanced at the bloodied dagger, then tossed it into the gate.
It was half-unconscious, with no real expectation…
Rumble…!!!
The gate reacted violently to the swallowed dagger. Even Soemiri, freshly healed, jolted upright in shock.
“…What was that?”
Seti wanted to ask the same. What the hell?
‘Is there something about the sacrifice’s blood?’
Half in disbelief, she squeezed out a few more drops and sprinkled them on the gate.
The black spots forming on it vanished completely.
An awkward, inexplicable silence fell.
Thankfully, it didn’t last. Soemiri, somewhat recovered, spoke up.
“Miss Seti… you really do have special blood, don’t you?”
“…”
Special, sure. Just not in a good way.
Seti gave an ambiguous smile—neither denial nor affirmation.
Anyway, interpreting the smile as tacit confirmation, Soemiri pondered something before looking at Yeomyeong’s hand and saying,
“Yeomyeong… still won’t budge?”
Instead of answering, Seti demonstratively tugged. His hand didn’t move an inch.
“…Then we push forward.”
“What?”
“We confirmed your blood stabilizes the gate. No risk of dropping into some other dimension… So now, we rescue Yeomyeong and come out the other side.”
“Oh…”
Seti was tempted by Soemiri’s proposal when the Saintess cut in.
“How do you know where this gate leads? What if we end up somewhere weird!”
“The one who first opened this gate was an Apocalypse Church priest, right? Then it should lead home. What’s the problem?”
“…Our home has plenty of dangerous places too!”
“Even if it’s far, we can reach Earth in half a year at most. Half a year versus Yeomyeong’s life. Isn’t it obvious which matters more?”
“…”
Mention of Yeomyeong’s life silenced the Saintess. She had no rebuttal.
Instead, she thought of something else.
“Then I’m coming too.”
“No.”
“Hey! Soemiri! It’s okay for you but not me?!”
“Obviously I can’t go either.”
“…”
“If only Seti and Yeomyeong cross… we can cover this up internally. You know what I mean, Saintess?”
It was a political matter. The Saintess chewed her lip, searching for a counterargument, but found none and bowed her head.
“…Deaf girl.”
“Saintess, that’s hate speech.”
“Commie.”
“Huh?”
While the two bickered, Seti grabbed her hammer and a simple pistol.
She couldn’t carry much with one hand holding Yeomyeong’s.
Preparations done, she looked between the Saintess and Soemiri, leaving an earnest request.
“Take care of my little sisters while I’m gone.”
“Don’t worry. The shepherds will look after them too.”
Soemiri’s enigmatic smile.
Seti wondered how much she knew, but now wasn’t the time.
“…I’ll be back soon, then. Handle the cleanup.”
With that, she moved to enter the gate—but the Saintess’s fierce hug delayed her by thirty seconds.
“You have to come back quick…”
Leaving the Saintess’s desperate plea behind, Seti leaped through the gate.
Still gripping Yeomyeong’s hand tightly.
* * *