Please Stop The Pope

It must have been three years since I arrived in Eden.

A time when I was thoroughly twisted from the endless battles and the longing to see my family.

I had once asked Limen, who always felt sorry for me, a very disrespectful question.

Whether even beings called gods could die.

It was a time when I was full of anger, and a time when I resented Limen for making me this way.

It was a question that could have been ignored, but Limen answered it very kindly.

“Divinity blooms from faith and fades from being forgotten.”

“What happens when they are forgotten?”

“They finally become complete. Someday, Shi Yu, you will also understand what that means.”

Even now, 7 years later, I still haven’t grasped what that “completion” means.

But I was certain that those terrible things unfolding before my eyes were not “completion”.

“There’s no way those could be completion.”

I frowned as I looked at the twisted monsters blocking our way.

“Your Holiness, I swear to Limen, I’ve never seen monsters like those even in Eden. They’re worse than demons? Even mimics look friendlier than those.”

“I’ll give you that.”

Luna had already donned pure white plate armor.

And as she rested the handle of her warhammer on her right shoulder, she said irritably,

“With such a horrific appearance, doesn’t it make you angry that they possess holy power?”

“Judging based on appearance, that’s a bad habit.”

“I know. Even Limen would shake his head seeing the faces of those bastards.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Really?”

“Limen would be angry too, but for a different reason than you.”

I said that while looking at the monsters openly displaying hostility towards us.

As Luna said, their appearances were unspeakably hideous.

Frightening enough to appear in nightmares, undoubtedly a terrifying visual.

Their limbs were attached in strange places, their heads numbered in dozens, each twisted in various ways.

But Limen wouldn’t be angry at their hideous appearances.

Rather, she would pity and feel sorry for them.

Because,

“Reviving the dead with holy power, how are you any different from necromancers?”

“Exactly.”

All of this was a phenomenon caused by the holy power dominating this place.

I could see the thin lines connected to those monsters.

Thin lines connected like umbilical cords to the barren land imbued with holy power.

Those lines were forcibly holding the dead who should have long rested in eternal sleep.

It was closer to a curse rather than a sacred miracle.

Those monsters were probably trapped here for a very long time, until the huge temple weathered away and became ruins.

And the reason was not difficult to deduce.

“Was it a desire to persist as a deity, even in this way?”

Rejecting one’s fate of being forgotten and disappearing by forcibly keeping the devotees alive.

I don’t know how this world was destroyed.

But one thing is certain.

“A disgusting bastard.”

The will contained in this land could no longer be called sacred.

Is it right to keep calling the holy power of this place holy power?

“A real shitstain.”

Luna nodded in response to my words, and I let out a small sigh and replied,

“You sometimes forget that you’re a holy maiden.”

“What’s the problem with calling a shitstain a shitstain?”

Can’t really argue with that.

I shrugged and then took out leather gloves from my pocket and put them on.

Then I spoke to Luna in a low voice,

“The center of the holy site is inside. Team Leader Choi will probably be there too. Let’s stop playing around and start working, Luna.”

The guy who turned his own believers into monsters just to maintain his divinity.

It’s obvious what kind of things such a guy would do if he crossed over to Earth.

He would struggle to increase his believers by any means necessary.

Therefore, he must be buried along with this twisted world.

At my words, Luna yawned and said,

“I don’t think we can purify those monsters with holy power. Can I purify them my way?”

“You were planning to from the beginning anyway, were you?”

“Oh my, it’s a bit embarrassing when you look into my heart like that.”

Luna winked at me with her right eye and then slowly advanced while lightly swinging her warhammer.

Si-hyun from the Demon Guild, who had been quietly listening to our conversation beside me, carefully asked,

“How can we assist you in combat?”

I immediately nodded at his words and replied,

“Just stay still.”

“Pardon?”

“Luna really hates when someone interferes with her fights.”

“But the number of enemies is too…”

Before Si-hyun could finish his sentence,

Kwaaaaang!

The moment Luna’s warhammer struck the ground, a roar that sounded like an explosion swept the surroundings.

And I smiled gently at the dazed Si-hyun and said,

“Let’s leave this to our Holy Knight and go look for Team Leader Choi, shall we?”

“Un-understood.”

If my guess is correct, Team Leader Choi is currently in a quite dangerous situation.

Let’s hurry and move.

The searching ability of the Demon Guild exceeded my expectations.

We were able to find traces of Team Leader Choi within about an hour of starting our full-fledged search.

A huge crater that clearly seemed to be the result of a collision between powerful forces.

“The trail ends here. It’s certain that Team Leader’s mana is felt from the crater, but…”

“It suddenly got cut off.”

“That’s right.”

This place was truly unnatural.

The dungeon itself was extremely unnatural to begin with, but the scene I was looking at now belonged to a particularly unnatural category among them.

If such a huge crater was created, a quite fierce battle must have taken place, but there were no traces left except for this crater.

“The other traces seem to have been cleanly erased, except for the crater. One puzzling thing is, if they wanted to erase the traces, why didn’t they erase this crater…”

“They didn’t erase it, they couldn’t erase it. Team Leader Choi’s mana must have been a bit too much for them to handle.”

“Do you have any speculations?”

I nodded at those words and then slowly drew up holy power and stretched out my arm.

Then,

Crackle crackle!

White sparks began to burst in the empty air, and a strong repulsive force was transmitted.

[The holy barrier is nullified by the passive skill .]

As expected, it was a holy barrier.

With the quite heavy repulsive force, I smiled and said,

“If our Team Leader Choi hadn’t called for us, I would have been disappointed. Si-hyun, please take the others and step aside for a moment.”

“We will assist you.”

“Stepping aside is assisting me.”

The players of the Demon Guild were definitely useful allies.

From scouting to the amount of mana each individual possessed, they would probably be more than sufficient anywhere.

But no matter how skilled a veteran they were, they wouldn’t be much help with what was happening beyond this barrier.

They would have been a hindrance instead.

“But Pope-nim. We must find Team Leader…”

“Don’t worry.”

Crackle crackle!

“I’ll resolve it quickly and come out.”

I enveloped my whole body with holy power and then entered the inside of the barrier, quietly ending my words.

[Entered the inside of the holy barrier.]

[Your holy power resists the distortion phenomenon!]

I had only taken a single step inside the barrier.

But with that one step, everything was turned upside down.

The place that was a barren ruin until just a moment ago had suddenly turned into a fierce battlefield.

And at the center of that battlefield stood Team Leader Choi Seo-jin, his upper body exposed with numerous scars.

He was surrounded.

“Tsk.”

And by his beloved subordinates at that.

Most people would usually despair when faced with this situation, but Team Leader Choi Seo-jin’s expression was not like that at all.

He was clearly smiling.

And with a very bright expression at that.

He soon noticed me entering through the barrier and shouted in a voice loud enough to resound through all directions,

“You’re a bit late! I was worried you wouldn’t come! Hahaha!”

They say those who laugh in hard times are first-rate.

In that sense, Team Leader Choi is indeed first-rate.

I smiled at his brazenness. And immediately jumped up from the ground, easily landing beside him after breaking through the encirclement.

Then Team Leader Choi gave a thumbs up and said,

“Superhero landing! As expected, our Pope Kim understands romance! Indeed, you are a man I acknowledge.”

“Ugh, you look terrible.”

“Khukhukhu. It seems my kids were very displeased with me. They were so desperate to put holes in my body. Pope Kim, if you don’t want to get stabbed like me, treat them well normally.”

He said that and then spat out saliva mixed with blood on the floor.

Seeing Team Leader Choi’s condition up close, it was naturally the worst.

He was bleeding so much that blood pooled on the floor where he stood, and it was hard to find an uninjured part rather than an injured part.

Honestly, it wouldn’t have been strange if he fainted right away with those injuries.

But even in this situation, Team Leader Choi Seo-jin was restraining his subordinates through his vast mana.

“If I had been even a little late, you really would have died.”

“You came, so it’s fine. I couldn’t leave my stupid subordinates behind.”

“Haven’t you heard of strategic retreat?”

“These stupid kids are my strategy. Hehe. And what does retreat mean? I’m so uneducated because I didn’t study much.”

With Team Leader Choi’s skills, it probably wouldn’t have been very difficult for him to escape from here alone.

Nevertheless, the reason he was holding out like this was,

“Love them or hate them, they are the kids I personally raised. How could I bear to see the kids I raised become devout followers of some unknown god?”

Because of his subordinates who were possessed by something.

Team Leader Choi seemed to have a rough idea of why this happened.

He continued speaking without taking his eyes off them,

“I heard the voice. Accept, serve, submit. It was a damn, fucking voice. I ignored that voice because it was so shitty, but it seems my kids weren’t like that. At first, I thought they were resisting a bit. Tsk.”

Strictly speaking, Team Leader Choi Seo-jin’s mental strength to resist the divine authority in the holy place was monstrous.

It was clear that the deity directly brainwashed the Demon Guild’s hunters, but Team Leader Choi Seo-jin resisted the brainwashing with willpower alone.

“So, did you call me to listen to that damn voice together?”

“I figured out that the power dominating this place was holy power as soon as I entered the dungeon. When a problem occurs due to holy power, isn’t it natural to seek advice from an expert in the field?”

“In this case, it happened because the Dokkaebi Guild tried to monopolize the dungeon alone. The consultation fee will be quite expensive.”

Despite the nerve-grating words, Team Leader Choi readily nodded.

“I will give you the rest of my life, Pope-nim. If you need a hunting dog, I can become a hunting dog for you.”

“I’m a pope, so a hunting dog is a bit too much, don’t you think?”

“Then how about a pet dog?”

“No, why do you keep mentioning dogs?”

“If you don’t like dogs, then a cat?”

A cat covered in scars all over its body that can cause heart attacks using killing intent…

The worst.

Just imagining it makes my heart feel like it will stop.

I lamented my own imagination and then spoke in a calm voice,

“I’ll charge the consultation fee later.”

There’s an order to everything.

“Let’s resolve this first.”

Boom!

When I tore the air with my gloved hand, a bizarre wail soon rang out.

【Kiiiaaaaahhhh!】

The being that was hiding using the distortion of space as a shield.

A monster that had lost even its true name as a deity and accepted hideousness instead of sacredness.

[The boss monster of the Abyss Dungeon is forcibly summoned by your power!]

The owner of this twisted holy ground finally revealed itself.