Ch.7575. Forgive My Sins

After some time had passed since entering the dungeon.

While guarding the students and exploring the dungeon, Amon hadn’t discovered any dangerous elements.

So he relaxed and leisurely analyzed the combat skills of the trainees.

Most students used Divine Power.

Naturally, as could be inferred from Sonia entering to learn divine magic, this department attracted those with Divine Power.

However, not all students used Divine Power.

‘That person is using mana crystals.’

A wealthy-looking young gentleman substituted Divine Power with mana crystals.

‘That looks like something I saw in Cardinal Tonfa’s room.’

Some used equipment typically employed by exorcists.

Moreover, among them were those who relied purely on gunpowder and magic.

It made sense, if one thought about it.

Just as not all holy knights possessed Divine Power, it was unreasonable to assume everyone in the theology department would be a possessor.

The students showcased various specialties as they eliminated insects and plants.

But among them, Sonia stood out the most.

She only deployed appropriate firepower when necessary to avoid diminishing the meaning of the training exercise, but her firepower alone was overwhelming.

BOOM!

Occasional firing sounds between massive explosions.

These were sounds Sonia created by herself.

She fired a light machine gun with no recoil while projecting divine magic forward using Divine Power restored through mana crystals.

Gunpowder and lasers reduced plants and insects alike to ashes.

‘Indeed, the Saint of Gunpowder.’

Close quarters might be problematic, but with the premise of having an excellent vanguard, Sonia was on par with a security director in terms of pure firepower.

From the beginning, she participated in the training only for graduation credits; there was nothing for her to learn from it.

Easy to forget, but Sonia was also involved in the Megacorp recapture.

Moreover, after it ended, she received equipment upgrades from Kathy like the others.

Whether it was equipment or experience.

It was absurd to consider her at a student level.

Amon would guarantee that in practical terms, Sonia should be teaching the professors.

While Sonia was dominating, Amon felt a sting on his neck.

“Ah.”

Slap.

Amon quickly struck his neck.

An unpleasant sensation of something crushing was felt on his neck and palm.

Amon checked his palm.

It was a mosquito.

However, its body was quite large and colorful, with green wings and red eye bumps as big as a dragonfly’s.

It was clearly a mosquito declaring “I am poisonous.”

Amon frowned with disgust.

Just then, a student who spotted Amon approached.

“Do you need a purification spell?”

The female student’s attitude toward Amon was quite friendly.

Other students joined in.

“Oh my. Teacher, you’ve been bitten. Let’s purify it quickly.”

The students expressed their concern for Amon one after another.

Although they had been in the dungeon for less than a few hours, they were all captivated by Amon.

This was partly due to his experience as a big brother figure at the orphanage, and partly due to his aura that couldn’t be hidden by his mask.

Additionally, he had already won the students’ hearts by giving small tips to the vanguard students.

In response to the students’ concerns, Amon waved his hand dismissively.

“I can purify this much myself.”

Amon circulated his Divine Power.

With just that, the poison left by the mosquito in his body was instantly purified.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a delicate purification using divine magic, but rather forcibly expelling it with overflowing Divine Power.

Nevertheless, the effect was certain.

Amon checked his physical condition.

‘Hmm. No problems.’

There was no numbness in his nerves or blurriness in his vision.

‘Perfect.’

After completing the purification, he returned to his duties.

But the way the students looked at him was strange.

They were all staring at him in astonishment.

“Huh? Is something wrong?”

“Are you a Divine Power possessor?”

One student asked, representing the others.

Amon nodded.

There was no reason to hide it.

In the past, he had hidden it because he had many entanglements but lacked strength, but that was no longer the case.

Now Amon’s personal strength alone was at a level comparable to a Megacorp security director.

Moreover, he had a strong company backing him.

There was no reason to hide anymore.

Upon Amon’s confession, the students were astonished but also understood.

‘Well, at that young age and at that level…’

If he was a Divine Power possessor, it made sense.

The students’ gazes toward Amon were filled with respect.

Amon could only avert his eyes in embarrassment.

*

The training proceeded smoothly afterward.

They had almost completed the assigned tasks after reaching the designated floor.

Amon checked his watch.

‘It’ll be around 5 o’clock when we get out.’

At that moment, a student approached Amon.

She was a member of Sonia’s group.

Her name was Kay.

She began the conversation by praising Amon’s Divine Power.

“I caught a glimpse earlier, but how can your Divine Power be so concentrated while having excellent adaptability and purity? Sonia is like that too, could I ask what your secret is?”

Amon tilted his head.

Purity? Concentration? Adaptability?

These were completely unfamiliar to him.

He understood the meaning of the words themselves, but the concepts of Divine Power concentration and purity were new even to Amon.

Reading Amon’s expression, Kay explained these concepts.

“To activate divine magic, three elements are needed…”

After a lengthy five-minute explanation, it ended.

Amon summarized Kay’s explanation.

“So basically, purity, concentration, and adaptability are important?”

“…Yes, you can understand it that way.”

He hadn’t understood at all.

He just comprehended that if all three were good, then it was good.

That’s how Amon understood it.

Kay returned to her original question.

She wanted to know how Amon had achieved such high levels in all three elements.

Amon’s answer was…

“Maybe because I pray every day?”

“Uh…”

Kay’s disappointment was evident.

She probably expected some special training course, but Amon wasn’t doing any special training.

The only thing he could think of was offering morning/noon/evening prayers.

Sonia tended to offer evening prayers following Amon’s example.

Besides that, he couldn’t think of anything else.

Kay wasn’t ready to give up and asked Amon more questions.

“What about your diet…”

“I don’t eat anything special.”

“Any special experiences…”

“I’ve had some life-threatening practical experiences, but I don’t think that’s it.”

In the end, Kay had to retreat without much gain.

As Sonia’s friend, Amon wanted to help her, but he could only apologize for being unable to do so.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, no! There’s nothing to be sorry about! If you apologize, I won’t be able to face Sonia!”

Kay waved her hands in surprise.

“I’m grateful that you cared!”

Amon smiled warmly at Kay’s response.

Indeed, Sonia.

She had made a well-mannered friend.

This was definitely top-tier character.

While Amon was thinking this, Kay seemed to recall something and raised her finger.

“Ah, right. Would you like to learn divine magic?”

At her suggestion, interest flashed in Amon’s eyes for a moment.

But it quickly disappeared.

Divine magic was a high-difficulty discipline that was challenging for Amon to handle.

Amon only knew how to crudely apply Divine Power.

However, Kay had made the suggestion with this fact in consideration.

“Don’t worry about the difficulty. It’s very easy but quite useful.”

To what extent? It only required pure theological knowledge and Divine Power, without background knowledge in ballistics, physics, or chemistry.

After hearing the explanation, Amon brightened.

“That sounds possible.”

“Right? Even Sonia couldn’t teach you this!”

According to Kay,

Kay was studying old-fashioned incantation-type divine magic as she aspired to be a theologian, while Sonia specialized in modified non-incantation divine magic developed after the World War.

And the magic Kay taught Amon was from the <Confession of Faith> series.

“Confession of Faith doesn’t require much. Just a desperate desire for a miracle, an activation word, and enough faith to enter ecstasy.”

It was a relatively low-difficulty magic that could be used with just those elements.

“Its power varies greatly depending on your faith at the time, and it’s a bit difficult to enter ecstasy during combat, so it’s been shelved, but it’s still worth learning.”

Amon gladly accepted the teaching.

Kay sent a PDF file to Amon’s phone and gave a brief explanation.

This time, he could understand.

“This is like speaking in tongues, isn’t it?”

“The principle is similar.”

Speaking in tongues.

It was a phenomenon where one mutters a non-existent language or their mouth moves on its own to form sentences when falling into ecstasy during prayer.

Usually, those who could speak in tongues could also use Confession of Faith magic.

For Amon, it was as easy as pie.

“I frequently use speaking in tongues.”

“Then shall we test it right away?”

Kay pointed in one direction.

At the center of the dungeon, which resembled a vast forest, stood a giant tree with eyes.

It was the boss located at the center of this dungeon’s ecosystem.

Seeing the boss, Amon asked worriedly.

“Is it okay?”

“We’ll be withdrawing soon anyway. The next training is a week later.”

As Kay said, there wasn’t a big problem.

The boss wasn’t included in the assignment for the students’ safety.

Moreover, even if the boss died, it wouldn’t be an issue.

In a week, some creature that had reached the top of the ecosystem would replace the boss’s position.

It was a perfect opponent to test Amon’s new ability.

But Amon shook his head.

“I’m on duty right now.”

Amon wanted to fulfill his duty as a safety officer.

However, a teaching assistant who had been eavesdropping on Amon’s conversation vouched that it was fine.

“I actually think it’s a good idea. It would be a good educational material for the students.”

The teaching assistant thought it wouldn’t be bad for students on field training to observe a demonstration from a senior in the industry.

Amon denied the term “senior,” but the teaching assistant insisted on it.

“Age isn’t important for holy knights. What matters is experience and skill.”

Starting with that teaching assistant, others also agreed.

As fellow Divine Power possessors, they wanted to observe Amon’s combat.

Even the supervising professor, the squint-eyed priest, gave permission.

[I allow it. It will be a good experience.]

The priest conveyed this over the phone from outside the dungeon.

Eventually, all the groups that were training elsewhere gathered to observe Amon’s boss battle.

Amon headed toward the boss, feeling the burden of numerous gazes on his back.

*

Clang!

Amon dodged the branch swung by the giant tree, deflecting it.

Originally, he could have blocked it, but he was being considerate of the observing students.

He had to show them something they could emulate.

Afterward, Amon toyed with the giant tree, cutting off its branches like a gardener.

For someone who easily conquered dungeons of much higher grades, the giant tree was no match.

He showed various tactics, being as considerate as possible so the students could observe.

And once he judged that he had shown everything there was to show, he began to move for the real reason he had started to defeat the boss.

His eyes observed the giant tree’s destiny.

The tree’s destiny could be discerned by the speed at which its leaves fell.

Amon looked for weaknesses. The cracked part was the eye.

‘Good. Let’s begin.’

Amon immediately prepared <Confession of Faith>.

He embedded two swords into the tree’s body and used them as footholds.

Placing his hand on the eye, Amon recited the activation word.

[Erase my sins.]

With those words, Amon’s tongue began to move on its own.

It was a strange sensation.

So this was ecstasy.

Peculiarly, Amon’s consciousness remained in the present.

Since he was reciting thoughts he usually had, it was ambiguous to call it ecstasy.

His mouth fluently recited the incantation as if guided by something.

[Wash away my sins and remove my transgressions. Before those who know sin, sin is always present.]

Along with Amon’s incantation, an immense pressure pressed down on the space.

The giant tree’s trunk bent, poisonous insects fell and were crushed, and all living organisms were squashed.

This pressure reached even the students watching from a distance.

“Eh?!”

Kay, who had taught him the method, was shocked.

This pressure was directly applied to the soul, but it wouldn’t harm anyone unless they had a soul hostile to the caster.

Most divine magic worked that way, targeting only the soul.

The problem was the scale was abnormal.

‘This doesn’t make sense!’

The professor who taught her this was also a devout believer, but his range was only about the size of a room.

However, Amon’s scale was easily the size of a campus building.

This level of faith was so intense that one might doubt if normal daily life was possible.

While Kay was thinking this, Amon’s incantation continued.

[When Mother speaks, she declares me righteous, and when she judges, she declares me pure.]

The pressure gradually intensified.

It felt like Divine Power was taking form and pressing down.

Cold sweat trickled down Kay’s forehead.

‘I feel like I taught something I shouldn’t have…’

Kay turned her head to look at her friend.

Coincidentally, Sonia also had something to say to Kay, and the two made eye contact.

“Kay.”

“Uh… sorry for teaching your boyfriend something weird.”

“That’s not the issue. What did you teach him?”

Kay confessed the truth.

After hearing the explanation, Sonia held her forehead.

“You didn’t know about him…”

“I’m reflecting on it too. So what do we do?”

“What else?”

You have to see the monster you created yourself.

Amon’s incantation gradually accelerated.

[Let me hear joyful and glad sounds, so that the bones Mother has broken may rejoice]

[Turn your face from my sins and erase them]

[Do not cast me away from Mother’s presence or take your Holy Spirit from me]

[Restore to me the joy of salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit]

Whoosh-

The air vibrated.

The wind blew downward, and the giant tree cracked with a creaking sound.

It wasn’t just the giant tree held by Amon.

All creatures in the dungeon crumbled, split, and shattered.

At the center of this scene, Amon completed his incantation.

[dele iniquitatem meam (Erase my sin.)]

With the completed incantation, a massive pillar of light rose.

The force that had subdued even the air grew gradually without a sound.

“–!”

The pillar of light enveloped the dungeon, including the students who were watching all this.

When the students opened their eyes amidst the brightness,

The poisonous forest they knew was gone.

While the students rubbed their eyes in disbelief at what they had seen, Sonia sighed.

“Haah… I knew this would happen someday…”

And the squint-eyed priest, who had been watching all this from outside, collapsed.

“The training just started today…”

The squint-eyed priest resented Amon.