episode_0133

Side Story EP4. The Dimension Abandoned by God

Hell descended upon humanity.

If you want to see it, go outside the Holy Empire’s territory right now! Then you will see a hell more terrifying than hell.

―From the autobiography of the legendary adventurer, Akka Gugi

◈

No one knows when it started.

Those who live in this world now have been born with their eyes open and have been able to discern things since half of the world was already occupied by the undead.

When I was a child, back then, all adults, regardless of gender, had to work. They either fought the undead that occupied half of Middle-earth, made weapons, or farmed.

Those who became adults under the name of the Holy Empire had to work according to their circumstances and talents. It was the power that allowed humans to endure while fighting the immortal undead, and it was the cry of life.

Then who will raise the child?

For these reasons, children had to grow up in the temple until they became adults.

A small child in a temple?

Unless a child died immediately after birth, all children, regardless of status or position, were raised in the temple.

The textbook used to learn to write was also the Bible.

The first song I heard was not my mother’s lullaby, but a holy song.

When playing with children of the same age, the toys used were also like Bible verse flashcards.

But those memories didn’t last long for me.

No, I couldn’t.

Because I discovered a talent I didn’t even know I had during my first basic training session.

According to the old priests, I possess potential unprecedented in the history of the continent.

So you might be wondering, what is the potential that I have?

Middle-earth has been swarmed by the undead, and even now, the undead continue to dominate the lands they rule.

Because it was faster for a living person to die and become undead than it was for an undead to reach perfect death.

To combat such undead, the temple compromised with the wizards, adding magic to divine spells.

That was divine magic. An anti-undead divine spell.

This worked very well against the undead.

It was effective even on high-level undead such as Liches and Death Knights that occasionally appeared, and it was even effective enough to affect the demons that came up to the Middle-earth through the undead’s death aura.

The reason why we can’t wipe out the undead even with this seemingly perfect divine magic is because it’s hard to learn this divine magic and raise its level. Very, very hard.

The reason why the word ‘Holy Power’ is included in the word ‘Sacred Magic’ is because this magic is uniquely expressed through sacred power.

You must have the power of Holy Power, not Mana. In other words, you must have sincere faith, etc.

It has been given the name ‘magic’. It requires the ability to calculate formulas like a wizard, perceive space, calculate coordinates, and produce results.

Yes, you need both the ability as a priest and the ability as a magician. And that requires a fairly high level of talent.

This was the true nature of the monstrous power called divine magic. It was bound to be strong against the undead.

Naturally, those who reached a high level through divine magic did not easily emerge even after it was developed.

And then I showed up.

While hearing only one explanation during the basic sacred magic class, I was able to activate the 1st level sacred magic, ‘lowest level detoxification’.

The Holy Empire was thrilled, and Middle-earth looked to me with hope.

So when I was 8 years old, the temple learned of my potential, and from then on I lived among the older people.

The more I learned about divine magic, the more I came to understand why the old priests with white eyebrows were so enthusiastic about me. Everything they said was difficult was so easy for me.

When I was only 19 years old, and had been studying sacred magic for 11 years, I learned all the sacred magic that the elder priests in the temple knew. Everything they had developed on their own.

And that day I became the youngest and first female pope.

“The Tidal wave of Purification.”

The Holy Power amplified around me resonates with the divinity mixed in the air and spreads widely.

Zombies, skeletons, and ghouls that had gathered in a swarm in the border area of the Holy Empire burst out with successive ‘Papak!’ sounds.

“Waaa …

The shouts of those who have been defending the border area are filled with joy and hope.

Actually, zombies and skeletons like this are not a problem.

If you are a soldier of the Holy Empire, the basic weapons you are provided with are designed to easily deal with low-level undead.

However, the reason they are shouting is because of the mid- to high-level undead mixed in among the low-level undead.

A banshee that howls, touching the soul and bringing misfortune.

Dullahan, a powerful headless undead.

Undead wizard Mage Skeleton.

A Ghost that is immune to physical forces and can drain life and curses.

At least the mid- to high-level undead that could only be dealt with by a high-level paladin exploded with a ‘pop!’ sound as soon as they were touched by the holy magic, ‘Tidal Wave of Purification’, and turned into nothingness, leaving behind not even a handful of ash.

I only learned divine magic, but I had no idea what its effects were or what results it would bring. And I needed experience to master the spells I only knew in my head through repeated use, and to be able to cast appropriate divine magic depending on the situation and time.

Of course, you can safely test your spells inside the temple.

However, it involves Holy Power anyway, and most Holy Magic does not have a significant effect on humans.

So, if you’re going to use divine power, why not kill two birds with one stone by eliminating the undead and testing its performance?

And as you can see, the test was successful.

From that day on, the humans’ counterattack began.

It’s embarrassing to say this with my own mouth, but the world has changed only because of my existence.

The Holy Empire could now embrace the hope that was truly right before their eyes. The one wish they had hoped for and desired, the one wish they had dreamed of while fighting the terrifying beings known as the Undead.

-My son and my daughter will live in a land free from the undead.

I saw hope that I could make that wish come true. I was making it happen with my own hands.

People who live fiercely cannot help but develop.

And what if the person who lives so fiercely is a genius, not a ‘genius who works hard’, but a ‘genius who has no choice but to work fiercely’?

The pace of development is almost unimaginable.

I did.

My divine magic was developing more and more, and I was growing rapidly as I killed undead, as if I was gaining experience points.

When I eliminated the undead that occupied half of Middle-earth and drove them out, reducing the land of the undead in Middle-earth to one-fifth, I reached a state that is commonly called a superhuman.

And when the land where the undead resided, the land where the spirit of death flows, was reduced to one-tenth of the size of the entire Middle-earth, my realm had achieved something beyond maturity even among superhumans.

And humans began to change even more dramatically than I had changed.

In the vast lands that were once the land of the undead but later became the domain of the Holy Empire, a new mass of cancer took its place in the place of the undead.

“I didn’t know things would progress this quickly.”

“Shouldn’t we prepare for the next one now?”

“That’s right.”

“In the past, we had no choice but to live with the commoners, but now we don’t have to.”

“Let’s decide on a territory first.”

The basic greed that all humans have. It is expressed in the greed for power.

Naturally, the desire for power was something that could not be compromised or compromised, and it became the starting point of conflict. Soldiers who were supposed to fight the undead began to be deployed to battle humans.

At first, only a small number of soldiers were drafted, but as time passed, the number of troops withdrawing to the rear gradually increased.

I couldn’t handle ten hands with one hand. It was difficult to maintain the front line with my own strength. On the contrary, the human camp was being pushed back more and more.

It’s absurd. It’s bewildering. It’s embarrassing.

But I don’t know if humans, or to be precise, the nobles, are originally like that, but they are really shameless.

Oh my goodness, who is responsible for the front lines being pushed like this?

Who would have done such a foolish thing as shedding blood on their own fellow human beings when with just a little more pressure they could have completely eradicated the undead and even killed the High Elder Lich, the mastermind behind all this lurking inside?

The noble bastards who are the cause of all this are now denouncing me.

-The Pope has become lazy!

-The Pope seeks power!

-The Pope… … .

-The Pope… … !

…

…

All kinds of rumors and speculations began to circulate, and as I am only human, I gradually became tired.

Although they were hunting the undead, they were not hunting them as hard as before, until they collapsed from exhaustion.

And then.

As if they knew this would happen, the male and female High Elder Liches at the top of the undead spread out. They were going to invade the humans by bypassing the path I was guarding.

When I heard of the situation later and drove out the invading undead, the capital of the Holy Empire was burning.

At that moment, at that place, hostile gazes poured out toward me.

I can’t forget those eyes and those words filled with resentment. Not only the nobles, but also the commoners, the soldiers, and even the priests.

He trained in the divine magic of Middle-earth before he could even think of it, and spent most of his younger days breathing in the foul stench of the undead.

But this is all I get in return.

I felt inferior.

I slowly began to forget why I had to live, and I wanted to give up everything.

“If that’s what you want, I’ll disappear.”

My voice, filled with Holy Power, echoed through the capital from which the undead had retreated. After a moment of silence,

“Where are you running off to! Take responsibility! Take responsibility!”

“That’s right! The power you have is not yours!”

“Take responsibility!!”

…

Why would that be?

At that moment, I laughed. I was clearly laughing.

I don’t remember how it felt now. It’s been so long that I’ve probably forgotten. Or maybe I wanted to forget?

Anyway, among the people shouting ‘responsibility’, I recited a spell. A spell that would allow me to do both the ‘responsibility’ they were talking about and the ‘giving up’ I wanted to do at the same time.

“The SACRIFICE.”

I felt the self-sacrifice spell was completed.

Because in this middle world, which is said to have been abandoned by God, I felt a presence that was so huge, overwhelming, and unbearable that I had never felt it before.

“Huh? Why is the dimension like this…? …? With a sacrifice spell? Me? Oh, sorry. First of all, is there something you want?”

“I… ….”

I feel the gazes of those who have their heads buried in the floor. Glancing eyes, something they desperately want, these things fly in like mayflies and crash into me.

“I want the undead to disappear from this Middle-earth.”

“Is that okay? Really?”

“Yes, that will do.”

Sighs of relief were heard everywhere. The aura of hope emanating from people’s bodies made it feel as if spring had arrived in the burned-out capital of the Holy Empire.

“Your will be done.”

Hooo …

It was like the fluttering wings of a butterfly carrying a typhoon. It was like a spring breeze that just swayed and flowed, but the surroundings had changed. The lingering aura of death in the place where the undead had passed had disappeared without a trace.

“Are you satisfied? Did you get what you wanted?”

“Yes. Thank you. Now I have regrets even if I die… … .”

“Why die? I have to do my own business now. Rewards and punishments must always be clear. The undead are gone, but for the sins you committed, for the power you coveted, for the lack of concept, for the conscience you abandoned, your descendants will be cursed. And their descendants’ descendants, and their descendants’ descendants’ descendants. Forever.”

A man who is presumed to be a god.

No, God!

No, it’s not.

The ‘words’ of the man, who seemed to be a special being rather than an ordinary god, miraculously became a ‘law’.

Children who knew nothing began to develop hunched bodies, develop spots, or in severe cases, turn into monsters.

“Ah, no! Aah! No!! No!”

A cry of despair from someone.

When he turned his gaze following the shout, he saw a man who was shocked and despairing at the sight of his child who had turned into a muscular ‘pigman’.

A man wearing clothes that are expensive to look at. Perhaps that man is a nobleman. He was the man who shouted at me earlier, ‘That’s right! The power you have is not yours!’

-Kraaang!!

The child, who had transformed into a human resembling a pig with a protruding lower jaw, roared and ran towards the nearest human.

And he broke the neck of the human who was caught helplessly.

The neck of the child’s father.

“Of course, there are not only punishments. The children of those who work hard will be blessed.”

Light began to emanate from the bodies of the children, who had remained unchanged until now.

Children who had turned into monsters, and their parents who had died at the hands of those monsters. In the midst of the chaos of Abigyuwan, the brightly shining light was like a lantern found in the dark of night.

The monsters fled from the light, and the surviving humans gathered around the children of light.

The undead are gone, but the rewards and punishments left by the gods have left humans with yet another ordeal. Well, it’s none of my business.

Why?

Because I’m going to die soon.

It’s a self-sacrifice spell that summons a god who can wield such power.

“No.”

“Yes?”

“I won’t die.”

“… Yes? How?”

“Instead, you’ll have to wait a little longer. Someday, someone will definitely show up and say thank you for your small efforts.”

“Will that day ever come?”

“Can you ask me if I’m sure?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I’m 101% sure. So, I think I’ll get some rest until then. And you worked hard.”

After saying that, I literally fell into a deep sleep. When I opened my eyes again, the space I was in was not only filled with me, but also with other women who gave off a great vibe.

A woman was holding a bloody sickle,

One woman had nine tails.

In ancient times, there were witches who were only told as legends.

There were also saints who served a Creator similar to themselves.

Above all,

“I’m sorry, my lord.”

“Ah, I’m screwed. Oh, it’s not because of our Hwang. You worked hard. Really.”

Even when the world is split in two, there is a master who believes in you and praises you for your hard work.