Ch.138138. Sacred Mausoleum of the Dead

During the day, he refined his swordsmanship,

At night, he kept Hong Gil-Dong company for a month.

Finally, Amon and his group decided to leave Joseon.

“My swordsmanship is still incomplete, but what matters now is practical experience.”

The theory was already sufficiently established.

Now it was just a matter of perfecting his swordsmanship through repeated practice.

Of course, he could gain practical experience fighting Outers in his dreams.

But it was different from moving his body directly, and since the Outers’ combat patterns were fixed, he gradually needed more diverse experiences.

“Thank you for everything until now.”

Amon bowed with a benevolent smile, dressed in priest’s attire.

To strangers, he might have looked like a handsome priest finishing his pilgrimage and leaving the airport, but the martial artists who had been forging swords with Amon for the past month felt something entirely different.

“Is the holy war finally beginning?”

Gimin, an enthusiastic young man from the Chumon Group, asked teasingly.

Hearing his words, the martial artists seeing Amon off burst into laughter.

“Oh. Looks like our crusader friend has finally completed his sword.”

Amon smiled faintly, neither confirming nor denying.

Thus, Amon departed from the airport, bid farewell by those who had helped him over the past month.

Only after sitting in his airplane seat did Sunhwa, who had been following behind, ask:

“About the holy war. Was that a joke or were you serious?”

To her question, Amon answered with the same smile he had shown the martial artists.

“It was a joke.”

“Phew…”

“For now, at least.”

“???”

Sunhwa’s gaze demanded an explanation from Amon.

However, Amon didn’t respond to her look and instead took out a Bible from his chest.

Opening the Bible randomly, Amon read the passage his finger landed on under the seat light.

– Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Amon’s eyes gradually lowered as he read the Bible.

“Indeed. The time has come.”

“???”

Sunhwa couldn’t make sense of Amon’s series of actions.

What’s more, Amon’s women and the squinting priest seemed to already understand the meaning as they nodded, making her feel even more excluded.

“Am I being left out?”

“Sis, just sit down for now. When will we ever get to enjoy something like this again?”

She was about to demand an explanation from Amon, but Sunwoo’s interruption prevented her.

Sunwoo was trying out all the features of the seat, saying it was his first time in premium class.

Sunhwa smiled slightly at her brother’s childish behavior after so long and decided to postpone her questions.

Amon said to her:

“I’ll tell you after we land.”

The squinting priest added from the side:

“Usually when they treat you this well, it means they’re going to work you hard later, so just enjoy it while you can.”

She thought of the squinting priest who had to manage administrative work on just five hours of sleep a day in Joseon, and decided to take his advice.

“Alright.”

She reclined in the seat that felt more like a sofa than an airplane seat.

And so the plane headed to America, carrying her with her curiosity pushed aside.

***

Although they had joined Amon’s party, Ju Sunhwa and Sunwoo knew less than they didn’t know.

They had merely gone with the flow, not knowing specifically what they needed to do or who their opponents were.

Therefore, the first education they received was…

“Now, repeat after me. Aaa~pple.”

“Apple.”

“No, it’s Aaa~pple. Aaa~pple. Don’t pronounce it the Joseon way.”

Language study.

Of course, the previous content was important.

But before that, they needed to study English.

Since their future activities would be global, English was a critical matter.

Especially since among the big-nosed… no, Westerners, there were not a few racists who wouldn’t even install Joseon language translators, making English essential.

The education period wasn’t long.

Thanks to using the Chumon Group’s English education module in parallel, they reached fluent conversation level in just a week.

“Next, I’ll explain English idioms similar to Korean proverbs.”

After completing various other training, Amon explained to the two about the enemies the Special Operations Division would face.

“They are Super AIs. The ones who dominated humanity in cyberspace 50 years ago.”

Amon explained the world’s secrets that the siblings didn’t know well.

“And these are Outers. About 400 years ago, they gave Entities the power to destroy the world.”

Of course, the siblings knew some of this from the events in Joseon.

But Amon was explaining this because of what would follow.

“And what’s currently uniting these two forces is Goetia. A gathering of demons. How much do you know about demons?”

At Amon’s question, Sunhwa and Sunwoo each raised their hands and answered.

Beings sealed by Solomon beneath the pit of hell.

Evil beings that have been operating since ancient times.

Amon nodded at their answers, then said:

“No.”

He marked them wrong.

“Your concept of demons is correct. But that’s not the answer to my question.”

“Then what are you trying to say?”

“Demons aren’t the supernatural beings you think they are. At least, Goetia’s demons aren’t.”

Amon pointed again to the content about AI and Outers.

“AI was a product of human ignorance. Created under the delusion that artificial intelligence could be controlled.”

“Outers exploited human greed. They indirectly influenced this world by lending power to Entities—humans who became obsessed with something and changed.”

Following his explanation of these two beings, Amon finally pointed to demons.

“Then where were demons created?”

“…Humans?”

Amon nodded at Sunwoo’s vague guess.

“Correct. Humans. They are beings that arrogant humans transformed into.”

The 72 sinners who dared challenge the divine realm.

Goetia’s demons were what they had become.

And these humans-turned-demons had one goal.

“Their claim is this: Since they were brought down merely for opposing the Goddess’s authority, they will destroy this world that the Goddess cherishes and loves so much.”

So they caused an incident.

Over a long time, they tempted Popes, and finally created a ‘false saint’ by sacrificing numerous Divine Power holders—an incident whose truth was completely suppressed because it could threaten the Vatican’s existence.

“The Crusades.”

“What?”

“The Crusades were a ritual to naturally sacrifice many Divine Power holders.”

Thus, countless corpses piled up over Jerusalem.

As blood covers blood, people focused on the war didn’t notice the ritual being drawn with blood.

And finally, at the center of Jerusalem, a girl was born.

A girl with the power to destroy the world.

“Only then did the Vatican realize something was wrong and began dispatching people.”

Many mercenaries and knights were sent to eliminate the demons and the saint.

Not knowing the truth, they headed to the desert to eradicate the heretics known as ‘demons of the Middle East.’

There, they died screaming as they realized they had been deceived.

But the Papal Office continued sending people.

Hiding the truth, dazzling their eyes with honor and glory, they drove them to their deaths.

And when ignorant corpses formed hills and mountains, their attempts bore fruit.

“A nameless mercenary killed the saint.”

He wasn’t someone with special powers.

His height was average, and he didn’t possess remarkable strength.

But he had overwhelming potential.

When he first set out, the mercenary started with basic sword and armor, using fundamental swordsmanship.

By using these precisely in necessary situations, he defeated undead with an ordinary human body.

“If you block all attacks, dodge, and aim for vital points, you can defeat any opponent.”

Later, he fashioned weapons from defeated lesser demons, engraved magical inscriptions on his body at the cost of his lifespan, and used all sorts of vile means to defeat demons.

Finally, he even defeated the saint and…

“Fell into eternal sleep with her.”

Thus, the mercenary closed his eyes in the underground shrine where he killed the saint.

Afterward, for some reason, that underground shrine transformed into a dungeon, and the Vatican called it a Mausoleum, hiding its existence completely.

And the reason Amon told this long epic was because of this Mausoleum.

“And we’re going to explore that hero’s Mausoleum.”

The time had finally come.

*

The reason Amon hadn’t headed to the Mausoleum was simple.

There weren’t enough people.

Of course, Amon had many trustworthy people.

But few had the qualifications to enter the Mausoleum.

At best, only Sonia and Kathy.

His past comrades didn’t even know the truth of the past, let alone have the right to enter the Mausoleum,

and he couldn’t just recruit people from mercenary brokers.

In this situation, Sunwoo and Sunhwa’s joining was very welcome.

“First, we’ll coordinate in American dungeons before heading to the Mausoleum.”

This was why Amon had explained this to the siblings and brought them to America.

Naturally, the siblings objected to Amon’s explanation.

“Weren’t we recruited to fight demons?”

“That’s right.”

“Then what does that have to do with conquering the Mausoleum?”

“There are two main reasons. One is for growth.”

The Mausoleum itself is often used to develop senior holy knights as a Vatican-owned dungeon.

From Amon’s perspective, Sunwoo and Sunhwa were still lacking as team members and needed to grow.

But there was an even bigger reason:

“I heard that beneath the Mausoleum lies a holy relic that demons fear most.”

The ultimate weapon that the protagonist of Punk City 1 used at the end is said to be sleeping beneath the Mausoleum.

This was why Amon had been trying to find this Mausoleum since childhood.

Throughout all of Punk City, he couldn’t think of a weapon stronger than that one.

‘Azrael’s Beheading Sword.’

Amon began preparing to conquer the Mausoleum, thinking of that sword.