Chapter 221: The Most Dangerous Creature in the World Is… (8)

The Great Temple. It was the headquarters of all the temples that upheld the law of the Light of Brilliance. It existed for hundreds of years, yet no one had ever breached it.

The cradle of saints where countless saints were born.

The treasure house where all of Pendragon’s cultural heritages were stored at.

It was called by many names, but in the end, the one that stuck the most was the Great Temple, due to how fitting it was to the greatness of the temple.

However, the headquarters of that sacred religion was…

Crackle-!

Burning.

It was a miserable sight worthy of the title ‘Calamity Fire’ that destroyed the world.

And, most of all…

“W-What the?”

There were poor beings who had fallen into the middle of that hell.

No one knew why they were suddenly kicked out of the Sacred Treasury.

They assumed that it was because the Sacred Treasury finally worked properly after they defeated all the enemies, including the Hell Monster, or because the Aegithalos had only been pretending not to be able to exert its power.

Either way, it was extremely fortunate for them that they got out safely.

However…

Crackle-!

“What is this? What’s going on here?!”

As soon as they got outside, the group couldn’t help but panic as they saw the flames rising up. The Great Temple—no, the entire mountain was burning.

Whoosh-!

“We just got out of that place! What the hell is this?!”

Lee Han quickly snapped out of his daze and took out a handkerchief from his pocket before wrapping it around his mouth. If he got carbon monoxide poisoning here, even he wouldn’t be able to survive.

“You guys, put something in your mouth quickly! Let’s get out of here!!”

Lake and Maximus came to their senses a bit later than Lee Han, maybe because they were more shocked than him after seeing this spectacle. Only after hearing his scolding did they come to their senses and cover their mouths with towels.

“You guys, get on my back quickly.”

“Oh my? Are you taking care of us too?”

“As expected of Number 8. Even though you are the youngest, you’re still taking care of us.”

“Keep your mouth shut, or else you’ll accidentally bite your tongue.”

Carrying Dyna and Yan—who had exhausted all their stamina fighting the Hell monster, unlike the knights who were still able to move to some extent—Lee han quickly made his way out of the Great Temple.

Pang-!

His body shot forward like an arrow, using his Bending Body Launch to escape this place.

Not only that.

Tap-!

Tap-!

He also added Airwalking to the mix, making his movements even more extraordinary, like a flying squirrel swimming in the air.

Because of that, he managed to cover 1 km distance in less than a minute and he did it multiple times.

Thud-!

However, an ominous sound rang out from his body.

Am I overdoing it?

Normally, this wouldn’t have happened… Damn it!

It was now clear that the 100-minute raid against the Hell Monster was taking its toll on his body. Not only was his stamina almost spent, his body was also not responding properly. Moreover, the side effect of the death energy that the Hell Monster emitted still lingered in his body. Because of that, his recovery was not as strong as usual while his stamina was also decreasing in real time.

As if things weren’t bad enough, the heat, smoke, and carbon monoxide from the flames kept tormenting him, testing his limits.

It didn’t take long for him to actually reach that limit.

“T-This is a bit dangerous.”

“How much further do we have to go…?”

The other two knights were in the same state as him.

They were running at a speed no less than Lee Han’s Bending Body Launch, but from how exhausted they looked, it was obvious that they weren’t in a good state.

Normally, after such a big battle, they’d have rested a little, but in this situation, they had to struggle for their survival instead of resting.

In other words, they too, were being tested to their limits.

I can’t. I can’t hold out like this any longer.

Lee Han quickly realized that running around in these flames with their state was impossible. The intense heat was one thing, he also felt like he was about to faint. Even though he was careful, the large amount of carbon monoxide was gradually darkening his vision.

W-Where should I go?

His sight became blurry as the imminent danger became even more apparent. That was when…

─Pitter Patter.

“?”

Water droplets soaked his head.

But that wasn’t all.

Pitter Patter-!

Pitter Patter-!

The water droplets dropped with an unusual momentum.

Before long, rain started to come down without any reserve. A big rain, as if a waterfall was pouring down from the sky, soaking the Great Temple as well as the mountains that were covered by fire.

Sizzle-!

The flames that were fiercely raging as if they would burn everything in their paths began to gradually die down.

“…Huh.”

Lee Han and the others could only stare blankly at the pouring rain. The rain itself wasn’t anything strange. After all, when they came to the Great Temple, thick dark clouds had already covered the sky above it.

It was just, for a heavy rain to suddenly pour down was one thing, but that wasn’t all there was to it. What was happening here was a strange phenomenon where raindrops seemed to be concentrated on the entire dark cloud and pouring down. It felt like it was an artificial phenomenon caused by someone.

To be more exact, an ‘artificial phenomenon caused by a mage’.

And as far as Lee Han knew, there was only one magic freak who could cause such an absurd weather anomaly.

It was none other than…

[Instructor!! Where are you!!]

At that moment, a familiar voice pierced through the haze caused by the clash between fire and rain as well as the curtain of night. Blue magic power, as well as swaying blonde hair pierced through the haze and the darkness as well.

He knew who it was. For the first time in his life, he felt glad to see a magic freak.

“…I acknowledge you. As far as I know, you are the most human and excellent magic freak, Mage Chick…”

For the first time in his life, he showed his respect for a magic freak.

As if the girl had heard his words…

“Ah! There you are, Instructor!”

The girl, Irene Windler, came flying towards him with a joyful expression.

Irene Windler, the girl who deserved to be called the MVP for today kept on talking.

“I was really surprised. They suddenly told me that there’s a fire in the Great Temple. Then, the kingdom came looking for me in a hurry. Well, considering that I’m the best water mage in the kingdom, it was only natural that they would come to me. Then, when I arrived here and prepared my magic, Young Master Roen told me that you are also in the Great Temple, Instructor. As soon as I heard that, I poured out all my magic power. It made me really tired, but as long as you’re safe, it’s all worth it, Instructor! Hehehe!”

“…Thank you for saving me, Chick. I really mean it.”

“There’s no need to thank me, Instructor! Compared to what you usually do for me, it’s nothing!”

“Did I ever do anything for you?”

“U-Um, you did?”

“…”

She said that she was tired, but she kept on talking, seemingly perfectly fine.

Also, because she said that she was tired, Lee Han was carrying her while pretending not to notice that the girl was greedily touching his lats. But, he deemed that rewarding her for her outstanding performance with this was well worth it. So, he willingly endured this much sexual harassment.

But that was that. There was a whole other matter that he needed to address.

“So what happened? Why did the Great Temple burn like this?”

The cause of the fire. He was curious what it was that drove the Great Temple, which was covered in countless Divine Techniques, to this state.

To Lee Han’s question…

“A-About that…”

Irene Windler hesitated to answer.

But at that moment…

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

“…Number 7?”

“Just call me Dyna.”

Dyna, the woman who was clinging to his back during the fire but went down as the flame died, suddenly spoke. But he could only tilt his head at her strange remark.

“Our mission was to stall you—no, to stall you guys.”

“…What?”

“They didn’t send us to kill or subdue you guys; they just want us to stall you… Now that I think about it, from the beginning, they were treating us like sacrificial lambs.”

“What are you talking about?”

Dina’s words were filled with incomprehensible things.

They were waiting at the Sacred Treasury just to hold the knights back?

Sacrificial lambs?

…None of it made sense.

What is she even on about?

At least, Lee Han couldn’t understand what she was trying to say.

As if knowing what he was thinking, Dyna opened her mouth again.

“[Prophet], that is, our organization’s strategist told us that the evil culprits who ruined the organization’s work were none other than you three. So, as long as we could hold the three of you back, we’d be able to achieve our ‘goal’ somehow.”

“Prophet…”

That was what the schemer who screwed them—no, the entire kingdom, was called. Finally, they had learned of his true identity through Dyna’s mouth.

However…

“The Prophet told us that if you three are roaming around, you all would somehow interfere with what ‘he’ was trying to do. So we had to get you three out of the picture.”

“…”

“That’s why the Prophet made the Great Temple move. He created a situation where you, Galahad, and Lionel had no choice but to move. Killing the temple leader and the extremist priests was part of it. From the very beginning, the temple didn’t even know that this was a process for ‘weeding’ you guys out. Cardinal Michael and the other filthy priests were just being used.”

“…What are you talking about?”

She seemed to be implying that they had been fooled again. But, Lee Han’s mind couldn’t keep up with what she was saying. Although, he wasn’t the only one. Maximus and Lake were also confused.

At the moment when it seemed like they had become fools, Dyna used all her strength to lean against a tree before opening her mouth again.

“You still don’t understand? From the beginning, the Prophet’s goal wasn’t the royal family, the dukedom, or the North. He had only one goal.”

As she said that, Dyna pointed into one direction with her finger.

Naturally, the eyes of the three knights followed her fingers to see what she was pointing at.

Then, they were finally able to see it. Torches, a great number of them, brightly lighting up the night.

And those who were holding the torches…

Crackle-!

…Were burning a cross.

At that moment, Lee Han realized.

The target of the organization, or rather, the prophet.

“…The temple.”

“To be exact, the Great Temple and all the corrupt priests.”

“…”

“The ‘victims’ who had lost everything because of the temple punished the corrupt priests… Not a bad story, right?”

“…”

Instead of the burning cross, Lee Han’s eyes gravitated more towards people whose eyes were filled with anger and shedding tears of blood.

Each and every one of them was just an ordinary person. Farmers, bakers, merchants. They were people that could be seen anywhere.

However, he felt a chill that he had never felt before when he looked at them. He felt a more terrifying aura from them than the Hell Monster. It was to the point that his fingertips trembled.

Without even looking at Lee Han’s pale face, Dyna kept saying what she wanted to say.

After all, her next words were something that could be said as the crucial point that might have been the starting point of all this.

“Do you know, Number 8? The Prophet said that the most dangerous creature in the world is…”

─Parents who had lost their children.