Ch.84Cathedral Nightmare (3)

The dead who had awakened their primordial form revealed themselves.

The eyes of the one who had offered his soul were stained red. With only instinct remaining, they were filled with hostility toward the Regent. It trampled over the debris and let out a rough roar.

“GRAAAAARGH!”

The outer wall trembled as the dense thought energy surged once more. It desired only one death. The eyes within the mosaic moved along with the agitated body. The distance closed in an instant. It swung its massive right arm toward Durin, who was approaching slowly.

CRASH!!

The sharpened claws tried to tear off Durin’s head. There was a sound of metal scraping against the thick gauntlet. Despite its fierce momentum, Durin remained solid. With one hand, he casually deflected the attack, sending it flying back. Instead, the dead one’s hand was shattered. Its balance quickly collapsed. Durin did not miss this opportunity.

First step.

Red fighting energy gathered in his lightly clenched fist. It was inscribed with a death denser than thought energy.

Second step.

The dead one desperately twisted its body to prevent an opening, but all subsequent attacks failed to penetrate Durin’s armor.

Third step.

Durin reached its front. They were close enough to look into each other’s eyes. The Varlock opened its maw to bite the helmet, but Durin’s fist was faster.

Tap. He lightly tapped it with his hand. The Varlock couldn’t react. The already released fighting energy snapped back its head and sequentially destroyed its center of gravity. Shattered teeth scattered in all directions. The souls gathered by the dead one splattered like blood. Even that small effort to touch Durin’s body with its remaining arm was in vain.

BOOM!!

The dead one’s body flew through the air. It crashed through the only remaining statue of the deity in the cathedral and embedded into the wall. The red world rippled for a moment.

“GRAAAAH!!”

The dead one screamed. Not from pain. From rage.

Befitting one who had absorbed souls, its durability was considerable. Its broken body rapidly regenerated based on thought energy. As the thought energy vortex enveloped the wounded area, it reconstructed into an even stronger body than before.

Durin observed both the dead one and the red cathedral.

“So this entire place was your body.”

Instead of answering, it attacked again. Once more, Durin deflected it with ease. It persisted without yielding, even as its body was shattered, but it was like a match before moonlight. Gripping the burning wick tightly, it burned its own body. It tried to pressure Durin by continuously replenishing itself with souls accumulated over hundreds of years.

Even though the opponent before it appeared as immovable as a mountain, it did not stop. Rather, it evolved. Using the absorbed souls as a foundation, it made the Varlock’s form more distinct.

[My God!]

The beast’s cry was born as a clear voice.

The thunderous roar shook the space. Though feeble, its struggling appearance resembled human desperation. Instead of a desire for life, it was the end of one who had devoted everything to God. Durin’s eyes reflected the growing hotbed.

“More beautiful than an angel and more passionate than a demon.”

The intention behind God’s creation of them was glimpsed.

It was more diverse than angels and demons who had developed extreme aspirations within immortality.

This writhing was the foundation of the world.

Durin, who had been consistently casual, took a stance. He looked at the dead one that refused to give up.

“I shall allow you one attack. Show me your faith.”

The Regent of the Demon Realm stood defenseless. He had released the power in his fist.

The Varlock, having lost its reason, didn’t miss the opportunity. It kicked off from the ruined statue with its hind legs and lunged forward. The red carpet was shattered under its claws. It was a fierce momentum. Fighting energy similar to a demon’s flowed from its body, and it finally delivered a clean strike.

THUD!!

The Varlock’s grasp struck Durin. It raised its claws to penetrate the fighting energy surrounding him. Cracks actually appeared.

A noble sight born from will alone. The Regent of the Demon Realm admired it.

“The potential of humans that Heaven handled.”

Now the Demon Realm would seize it.

Durin’s hand reached through the red fighting energy to touch the claws. Human souls rushed aggressively. Even after death, they moved solely on faith in God. The great demon’s demonic energy accepted them.

Screams and wails were sucked into the gauntlet. The twisted demonic energy devoured the souls greedily.

The power that the Creator God had sprinkled on each soul at the beginning seeped in.

“Haha…”

Durin laughed aloud for the first time. It was close to ecstasy. The strongly grasped aspiration spread as a wave into the world of thought energy. The red cathedral shook. As black demonic energy pushed out like fog, the dead one who had become a Varlock was pushed back, unable to resist.

The world does not change by will alone. Higher beings possessed such power.

[How powerless.]

It left those final words before being swept away. Its massive body began to collapse. The souls separated and were absorbed into the demonic energy. Only the old man’s body, which had been the initial form, remained on the broken statue of the deity. If one looked up, the sky could be seen through the broken mosaic. A beam of light illuminated his eyes.

“Disgusting.”

The old man left a final sneer. The light disappeared from his lifeless eyes.

The decrepit body was placed on the altar. The red energy thus flew away.

“Isn’t it a curious sight? A demon purifying a cathedral.”

Ludmila followed in once the situation ended. She looked around at the walls that had survived the intense flux of power, with a smile.

“This place is the center of the southern continent in the human realm and the location where Heaven is most visible.”

“A suitable place for a sanctuary.”

“It’s also the space where the primordial demon king, who was banished from Heaven 1000 years ago, descended to the human realm.”

The beginning of everything.

The birth of humans and heroes who confronted demons.

Heaven’s anger toward the plunderer and the prelude to a long war.

“That history is contained in this underground. That’s why it became the first ruin you needed to see.”

“Guide me to the location. They must come along too.”

Durin pointed behind him with his hand. The dazed hero and two fidgeting non-humans stood there. Instead of answering, Ludmila flicked her hand. She had pulled them in with a light spell.

“Whoa!”

“Keep your wits about you. I might kill you if you stray.”

The sorceress gave a chilling warning. The elf and dwarf reluctantly nodded.

At the same time, the hero turned his gaze to Ludmila.

“Tell me what I need to do here.”

“It’s simple. You’ll obtain the authority to open the underground with the hero’s power.”

“Can’t we open it by force?”

“Is there anyone here who can defy the Creator God’s power?”

“Understood.”

Kael moved without further argument.

In the center of the collapsed sanctuary, he looked down at the old man who had died facing the sky. Shabby. Hiding the wretchedness rising from within, he moved the corpse aside.

Clearing away the sticky red debris revealed an old, weathered door marked by time.

A form that seemed like it would crumble at the lightest touch.

As the hero carefully brushed it, a white wave surged. It was different from holy power. Nothing could be felt. It was purely white, as if preserving the primordial form.

Kael calmly commented.

“This is a power I’ve never seen in the Papal State.”

“They only taught the myths of victory.”

“Because it’s a myth written from someone’s perspective other than Heaven’s.”

“Are you trying to talk about the dark cult that worshipped demons?”

It was a natural progression.

After all, humans could only look to either Heaven or the Demon Realm. But Ludmila shook her head. She remained meaningful and ambiguous. It was frustrating that she didn’t satisfy his curiosity. The hero couldn’t hold back anymore and asked.

“Then who is this force that the sorceress knows about?”

“The forgotten dark cult.”

“Are you playing word games with me?”

“Those who served the deity that once divided Heaven.”

She depicted the future before being exiled. It was the distant past, long before Ludmila was born, but the ancient memories recorded in the observatory were passed down to the sorceress. They were women who gazed at the night. The daughter born of God to remember the pain even after a thousand years. The last witness.

“My mother. The Goddess of Night.”

Ludmila raised both arms. It wasn’t worship directed at the sky.

Dense demonic energy began to swirl around. The remnants of power that should have disappeared when banished from Heaven began to flow, seeking their origin. The Creator God’s power responded to this.

BOOM!!

The tightly closed door opened. The lock that had been released in resonance with the hero’s power had responded to the forgotten memory.

The only possibility where a single path could be connected.

“The way demons can gain power in this human realm.”

The path for the great demon to achieve what he desires.

“And the way you can find the Creator God’s arrangement that cannot be felt.”

The path for the hero’s lighthouse to be reignited.

“You can learn everything underground.”

A turning point of fate had arrived.