Please Stop The Pope

Currently, there are a total of three Ground Zeros in South Korea.

One is the Seoul Ground Zero that our church is purifying, another is in Daejeon.

And lastly, Busan.

In terms of the degree of mana contamination, the Seoul side was overwhelmingly high, and the remaining two regions had pollution levels where ordinary people could engage in activities for about 3 hours without protective gear.

Therefore, the remaining two Ground Zeros were also places where various research and training took place, and it is said that the problem at the Busan Ground Zero occurred two 2 days ago.

“An Abyss Dungeon, judged to be connected to another world, appeared, and according to the relevant agreement, we granted the Demon Guild the right of first exploration.”

“Agreement?”

“You must know that a sudden gate was created in Busan 3 years ago. The Busan Ground Zero is the remnant of that sudden gate. And the one who played the most prominent role in that sudden gate was the Demon Guild.”

In short, they received a kind of reward in return for subjugating the gate.

Just as our church received ownership of the land of Seoul Ground Zero in return for purifying it, they also seemed to have secured similar rights.

I lightly nodded and then said while briefly leaning my body on the chair,

“If it’s a matter that the Demon Guild has taken on, isn’t help unnecessary?”

The Demon Guild is a guild led by Choi Seo-jin, who was particularly favorable to me.

And Team Leader Choi Seo-jin is a strong person who even exchanged blows with Leo a few times.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he was rated as one of the top S-class hunters in Korea.

But the answer that came back from Team Leader Kim was unexpected.

“This request came directly from Team Leader Choi Seo-jin.”

“Pardon?”

“Team Leader Choi Seo-jin lost contact 2 hours ago while exploring the Abyss Dungeon. Before the contact was cut off, he said to request Your Holiness Shi Yu for help.”

I had roughly noticed that he didn’t get along well with the leaders of other major guilds.

But why me of all people?

Exploring dungeons is something other guilds would be much better at than me.

****

“We’ve arrived.”

Regardless, the car that Team Leader Kim and I were riding in arrived at the scene.

Haeundae-gu, Busan.

Among them, the place that was once called Centum City.

It was one of the places my army friend from Busan took me to, calling it the ‘Busan full course’, and coming back, I felt a new sense of reflection.

No, come to think of it, it was natural to feel a new sense of reflection.

“I almost couldn’t recognize it.”

There were no intact buildings.

Still, it looks quite good compared to the first impression of the Seoul Ground Zero.

A few high-rise apartments had their structures intact.

The mana contamination was also really mild compared to the Seoul Ground Zero.

It’s at a level where purification is possible at a fairly fast pace using holy stones.

If the situation in Daejeon is the same as here, purification may not be very difficult.

“Earthlings ride quite interesting carriages? It doesn’t seem to move by magic. I want to try driving it later.”

While I was admiring the desolate skyline for a moment, a woman got out of the car behind us, stretching.

She was naturally Luna.

Luna was wearing jeans and a black motorcycle jacket, not the pure white armor she had worn when she came to Earth.

By the way, all those clothes were realized with holy power.

It’s an ability closer to imitation than creation, but it’s one of Luna’s unique abilities.

It was an ability that I envied in many ways because it was so convenient.

“It suits you well.”

Surely because Luna’s hardware is cheating-level, her visuals shine no matter what she wears.

At my compliment, Luna smiled and replied,

“I always like Your Holiness’ attention. I looked at a lot of clothes on my phone on the way here. I’ll show you more later when it’s just the two of us.”

“More?”

“Dolphin shorts, bikini, I heard Earth men really like those things. What’s Your Holiness’ preference? Ah, maybe black stockings?”

“Yeah, it’s my fault for complimenting you.”

Sometimes I seriously wonder if Luna is really a holy maiden.

Come to think of it, the prophets around me are all weird ones.

No way, will Seung-woo also turn out like that when he grows up?

There’s one more reason not to show Si-yeon to him.

While I was having a light conversation with Luna like that, people walked out of the military tent set up ahead.

They approached us without delay, and the man who seemed to be in charge of the scene soon bowed his head politely and said,

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Pope Shi Yu Kim. Thank you so much for responding to the sudden request. I’m Han Si-hyun from the Demon Guild.”

“Have we met before?”

“We met at the C-51 Gate that was created in Anyang City last time.”

The C-51 Gate is the place where I first formed a connection with the Demon Guild.

It’s also the place where I picked up Leo who crossed over from Eden.

I lightly nodded at him and replied,

“Nice to see you again, Si-hyun. I heard the details from Team Leader Kim on the way here. You said Team Leader Choi directly requested it?”

“Yes, that’s right. Only Pope… Shi Yu can solve it…”

He seems to have trouble attaching the title of Pope.

“You can drop the title of Pope.”

“I can’t do that. There was an order from Team Leader to show respect to Your Holiness.”

As I felt last time, this group called the Demon Guild gives the feeling of a military organization rather than a company.

Should I say they are a group that absolutely obeys the orders of their superiors?

It’s not that I dislike that aspect.

Rather, I like it. In my experience, people of this type rarely betray.

“Let’s finish the work first since everyone must be tired.”

“Understood. Then I will guide you to the site right away.”

Then, Si-hyun led me and Luna to the back of the tent.

There was a uniquely shaped pit, and at the center of the pit was a door with a strange pattern engraved on it.

“That is the entrance to the Abyss Dungeon.”

And the familiar yet unfamiliar energy felt at the same time.

The moment I confirmed that, I could understand why Team Leader Choi requested my help.

“Your Holiness. This feeling is probably…”

At Luna’s words, I frowned and nodded.

“A pagan holy land.”

The strange divine power felt from beyond the door.

And the moment I confirmed that, a new message window popped up in front of my eyes.

[You have discovered the Abyss Dungeon .]

[Time remaining until the dungeon goes berserk: 11 hours 52 minutes 12 seconds]

It seems tonight will be a long one too.

[Ruined Sanctuary of Shattered Faith]

● Type: Sub – Abyss Dungeon

● Description: You have entered the Abyss Dungeon. An unknown divine power is felt in this dungeon. Clear the dungeon and prevent it from going berserk.

● Completion Conditions

Destroy the dungeon’s core

● Reward: , <3,000 Holy Points>

“I like it.”

I closed the message window that appeared in front of my eyes and shrugged.

Most sub-quests are like this.

They are created based on my choices and are not forced.

I was planning to clear it anyway, so there’s no reason to refuse when they even give a reward.

[You have accepted the sub-quest.]

The inside of the dungeon had a completely different atmosphere than I had imagined.

“It’s like a whole different world here. It’s amazing. Don’t you think so, Your Holiness?”

If the dungeon in Yeoju last time was a cave created in the mountains, this place was like a completely different world, as Luna said.

An ashen sky, and the ruins of a wide temple situated under that sky.

A sight too foreign to be considered an Earth landscape.

If you were to create a world with the word ‘destruction’, wouldn’t it feel like this?

It certainly seems that I am still ignorant of the phenomena that have occurred on Earth.

Unlike me and Luna who were showing signs of confusion, the Demon Guild players who entered the dungeon with us were maintaining their composure.

For them, it meant that the structure of this dungeon was familiar.

“In technical terms, we call it an open dungeon. It’s not a common form, but it’s a form we’ve experienced a few times. It’s known for having the widest size among dungeons.”

I guess that’s why he said we would need a guide.

I nodded at Si-hyun’s explanation.

“It’s certainly wide.”

This place was undoubtedly much wider than the range perceived by the eyes.

That could be easily inferred just by looking at the strange divine power covering this place.

If the divine power here was Limen’s divine power, finding Team Leader Choi, who would be somewhere here, wouldn’t even be a task, but…

“This is the worst.”

The situation here was not very good.

It would have been much better if this place was controlled by demonic energy or mana.

If it were those two energies, I could have forcibly pushed them away, but the story changes with this divine power.

As the name of the dungeon suggests, this place must have once been the holy land of some denomination.

The divine power I can control is only the divine power of those who share faith in .

Naturally, I couldn’t do as I pleased with the divine power of the pagans.

“It’s definitely not the pagans of Eden… Does Your Holiness have any guesses?”

“If you don’t know, how would I know, Luna?”

“Just in case. It could be an Earth divinity.”

“It’s not an Earth divinity.”

It hasn’t even been a month since divine power opened up on Earth. It’s a tight time for a divinity to even appear.

Therefore, I could reach one conclusion.

“It’s a divinity from another world.”

A divinity from a third world, not Earth or Eden.

This place must have been the holy land of that unknown divinity from another world.

Things seemed to flow much more troublesome than I thought.

I lightly scratched my head with my hand, and then looked at Si-hyun, who was quietly waiting and said,

“Can you find traces of Team Leader Choi?”

“Of course. Our guild always carves markings so that the rear units can find their way when conquering a dungeon.”

“We’ll have to impose on you a bit.”

“No. It’s something we should naturally do.”

It would have been much more troublesome if I had entered alone with Luna, relying only on my abilities.

Thus, the full-fledged search began, and Luna and I quietly followed them.

There were numerous pillars in the ruins.

The pillars that soared into the sky proved that they were once part of the temple, emitting a faint divine power.

Luna also stuck close to me and stared at the pillar along with me. And then spoke in a somewhat stiff voice compared to before.

“No way. It must have been even more gigantic than our Holy Church’ss great temple, right?”

I calmly nodded at her words and replied,

“Great temples are one of the good architectural structures to gauge the influence of that denomination. I don’t know for sure, but if the ruins are at this level… It must have been a denomination with tremendous influence.”

It could be seen just from the traces that remained. Perhaps this place was once much larger than the great temple of our denomination in the Holy Church.

And it would have been as prosperous as its vastness.

However, that former glory was nowhere to be seen, and all that remained here were ruins.

Only the faint divine power permeating through the ruins proved the existence of this unknown divinity…

“…Wait a moment.”

I briefly stopped in my tracks.

Because I realized the cause of the discomfort I had been feeling.

Divine power does not occur naturally. As Limen told me last time, it is a power that is generated when life fervently believes in something.

In other words, it cannot exist without the ‘faith’ of ‘life’.

Applying that formula to the current situation yields the following answer.

“There is still life here that believes in the divinity from another world?”

Unfortunately, that was the correct answer.

Crack crack!

Countless shadows began to rise from the cracks of the ruins, and soon, monsters with grotesquely twisted faces slowly revealed themselves.

At their appearance, Luna sighed as she transformed her clothes into armor.

“Your Holiness.”

“Yeah.”

“I told you. Your Holiness’s tongue is always the root of trouble.”

I tried to refute those words but had no choice but to give up. Then Luna summoned her warhammer and smirked slyly.

“In a way, that could also be considered charming. At least it’s never boring being with you. You always make me feel thrilled.”

“Luna.”

“Yes.”

“Shut up a bit.”

Because I was also slowly getting angry.