Ch.221EP.49 – The Most Dangerous Creature in the World…(8)

Grand Temple.

The headquarters of the temple that upholds the Light of Radiance.

A fortress temple that has existed for hundreds of years, yet never once been breached.

The cradle of countless saints.

The treasury where all cultural heritage of Pendragon is gathered.

It is called by many names, but they all speak to the greatness of the Grand Temple.

Yet, this sacred religious headquarters….

Whoosh!

Is burning.

And at a pace that suggests it will be completely consumed.

At this moment, it truly deserves the title of “apocalyptic fire” that destroys the world—a truly miserable sight.

And unfortunately…

“Wh-what the fuck?”

The problem is that there are poor souls trapped in the middle of this inferno.

They don’t know why they suddenly emerged outside.

Perhaps the holy barrier activated properly because they had defeated all the enemies including the hell beasts, or maybe the hollow-eyed one was just pretending to be powerless…

Well, either way, it was fortunate for them that they managed to escape safely.

But.

Whoosh!

“What’s going on? Why is it like this?!”

The group couldn’t help but panic at the sight of the raging flames that greeted them as they came outside.

The Grand Temple—no, the entire mountain—was burning.

Whoosh!

“What kind of mess is this to come out to!”

Ihan quickly grabbed hold of his dazed mind and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket to cover his mouth.

To avoid carbon monoxide poisoning, which would be fatal.

“Cover your mouths with something, quickly! We need to escape!!”

Lac and Maximus seemed to have received an even greater shock than Ihan, as they were slower to regain their senses. Only after hearing his stern advice did they belatedly come to their senses and covered their mouths with handkerchiefs.

The intense heat and “poison of flames” (carbon monoxide) were truly dangerous.

“You two, get on my back quickly.”

“Oh my? You’re taking care of us too?”

“As expected of Number 8, you’re still looking after us as your former juniors.”

“Keep your mouths shut, or you might bite your tongues.”

Unlike the knights who could still move to some extent, Ihan carried both Daina and Yan simultaneously—who had exhausted all their strength fighting the hell beasts—and quickly descended from the Grand Temple.

Whoosh-!

In an instant, Ihan’s body shot forward like an arrow.

He propelled himself quickly using the Bow God’s Elastic Shadow technique, cutting through the wind as he left the Grand Temple behind.

Additionally,

Tap, tap.

By adding the Void Step technique, Ihan’s movements became as extraordinary as a flying squirrel gliding through the air.

In less than a minute, he covered the vast distance of 1km, and he repeated this process.

Crack!

But midway, an ominous sound came from Ihan’s body.

Perhaps he was pushing himself too hard?

‘This wouldn’t have happened normally… damn it!’

The 100-minute raid against the hell beasts had clearly taken its toll.

Not only was his stamina depleted, but parts of his body weren’t responding properly.

A side effect of the death energy emitted by the hell beasts still lingering in his body.

His recovery wasn’t as good as usual, and his stamina was decreasing in real time.

To make matters worse, the thousands of degrees of heat from the flames, smoke, and carbon monoxide kept tormenting him and testing his limits.

And reaching their limits were…

“Th-this is getting dangerous.”

“How much further do we need to go…”

The other two knights were in the same situation.

Though they were moving at a speed comparable to Ihan’s Bow God’s Elastic Shadow, their physical condition was clearly not normal, and they showed signs of extreme fatigue.

Normally, one should rest after a major battle, but instead, they were engaged in this desperate escape for survival without any rest…

In truth, everyone here was being pushed to their limits.

‘This won’t work, I can’t hold out any longer in this state.’

Ihan quickly realized that surviving in these flames was practically impossible.

Not just because of the heat, but he felt like he was about to faint.

Despite being careful, the large amount of carbon monoxide was gradually darkening his vision.

‘Where is it, where should I go?’

At this critical moment, just as Ihan felt like he was about to pass out…

—Drip.

“?”

…a drop of water wet his head.

And then.

Pitter, pitter-patter.

Plop, plop-plop-plop.

Water drops with an unusual intensity.

Rain began to fall with tremendous force, eventually pouring down.

An enormous amount of raindrops, like a waterfall cascading down, and as this rain fell on the Grand Temple and mountain engulfed in flames…

Shhhhhhh!

It began to gradually subdue the flames that had been raging fiercely as if to burn everything.

Quickly, and definitively.

“…Huh.”

Ihan and the others stared blankly at the waterfall-like rain pouring down.

Rain itself wasn’t unusual.

The sky had been overcast with dark clouds anyway.

But it wasn’t just the sudden downpour that was strange—it was as if the raindrops from the entire dark cloud were concentrating specifically on the Grand Temple, an abnormal phenomenon that made no sense, appearing more like an artificial phenomenon caused by someone else.

An ‘artificial phenomenon caused by a magician,’ that is.

And as far as Ihan knew, there was only one spellcaster capable of causing such an absurd weather anomaly involving dark clouds.

None other than.

[Instructor!! Where are you!!]

A voice piercing through the fog created by the meeting of rain and fire, and the veil of night.

Along with water-colored magical power cutting through the darkness and flowing golden hair.

Ihan knew who it was, and for the first time in his life, he felt glad to see a spellcaster.

“…I acknowledge you. As far as I know, you’re the most human and excellent spellcaster, magic chick…”

For the first time in his life, Ihan showed recognition toward a spellcaster, and as if hearing his muttering.

“Ah! Found you!”

Irene Windler flew over like an arrow with a joyful expression.

* * *

The girl who deserved to be called MVP today, Irene Windler, chattered without pause.

“I was really surprised, they said the Grand Temple suddenly caught fire! So the kingdom urgently looked for me. Since I’m the best at water magic in the kingdom, it’s only natural. So I came here to prepare my magic, and Roen told me. That the instructor would be at the temple. As soon as I heard that, I poured out all my magical power. I’m quite tired, but I’m glad you’re safe, hehe!”

“…Thank you for saving us, chick. I mean it.”

“Oh, it’s nothing! Compared to what you’ve done for me, instructor, this is nothing!”

“Have I done anything for you?”

“Um, well, in many ways?”

“……”

For someone who claimed to be tired, she seemed quite fine, talking non-stop.

Ihan was carrying Irene Windler, who claimed to be tired, on his back, and he pretended not to notice that the girl was greedily touching his latissimus dorsi.

It was only natural to offer his back muscles to today’s MVP.

Ihan willingly endured the sexual harassment.

But that aside.

“So what exactly happened? Why is the Grand Temple burning like this?”

Ihan asked about the cause of the fire.

It was puzzling how the Grand Temple, covered with various holy laws, could be attacked in such a way.

To his question.

“…Um, well, about that.”

Irene Windler hesitated to answer.

At that moment.

“Number 8, do you know what our mission was?”

“…Number 7?”

“Call me Daina.”

The woman who had gotten down from his back, Daina, spoke to him, and as he tilted his head at her unexpected remark.

“Our mission was exactly to capture you… no, all of you.”

“…What?”

“Not to kill or subdue you. Our orders were just to hold onto you. …Looking back now, we were probably just sacrificial pawns.”

“What are you talking about?”

Daina’s words were incomprehensible.

They were waiting there to capture them?

Using themselves as sacrificial pawns?

…Why?

‘What would be the point of that?’

He couldn’t understand the meaning at all.

Seeing his questioning expression.

“The [Prophet], our organization’s strategist, said this. The most vicious culprits who would ruin what our organization was trying to do were none other than you three. So, if we just stopped you three, we could somehow achieve our ‘goal’.”

“Prophet…”

The schemer who had fooled them, no, the entire kingdom.

He was finally learning about their existence through her words.

But in that moment…

“The Prophet said that as long as you three were outside, you would somehow interfere with what ‘he’ was trying to do. So you needed to be removed.”

“……”

“So the Prophet manipulated the Grand Temple. He created a situation where you, Number 8, Galahad, and Lionel had no choice but to act. That’s why the Church King and the radical faction priests died. …It was foolish. From the beginning, this was a process of ‘thinning out,’ and bugs like Bishop Michael were used without even knowing it.”

“…What are you saying?”

It seemed they were being manipulated again.

Ihan’s mind couldn’t comprehend what she was saying.

And he wasn’t the only one confused. Maximus and Lac also showed clear signs of bewilderment.

As if they had all been made fools, Daina leaned against a tree, exhausted, and murmured.

“You still don’t understand? The Prophet’s target was never the royal family, the duke’s family, or the north from the beginning. The Prophet had only one goal.”

Swish.

Daina pointed in one direction with her finger, and as their gazes naturally shifted, they saw.

Torches, a great number of torches illuminating the night.

And those holding the torches…

Whoosh!

…were burning crosses.

And Ihan realized.

What the organization’s—no, the Prophet’s—target had been.

“…The temple.”

“More precisely, the Grand Temple and all the corrupt priests.”

“……”

“‘Victims’ who lost everything to the temple are punishing the corrupt priests. …Huh, not a bad story, is it?”

“……”

Instead of the burning crosses, Ihan clearly saw people shedding tears of resentment with bloodshot eyes.

Each one just ordinary people.

Farmers, or bakers, or common merchants.

People you could see anywhere…

But looking at them, Ihan felt a chill and eeriness he had never experienced before.

They emanated a more terrifying aura than hell beasts, and Ihan’s fingertips trembled.

Daina, without looking at Ihan’s increasingly pale face, simply said what she had to say.

The critical core that might have been the starting point of this entire situation.

“You know what, Number 8? The Prophet said that the most terrifying creature in the world is…”

—Parents who have lost their children and spouses.