Chapter 315: Breakdown and Repair (4)
The Altar of Annihilation, there were many people in their Sanctuary. Even if there were no buildings above ground, various human figures had gathered in the deep underground.
I watched their faces.
“There are many believers.”
The Sanctuary was crowded like a village. Adults, old and young, women, men… regardless of age or gender, they continued their lives underground in an already extinct land.
“Yes.”
Quay asked.
“Do they look unhappy?
I shook my head. Here, the children ran around vigorously, their parents watching with joy, and the old man preached teachings with his wisdom. But despite their age, they all wore youthful smiles. It looked far from despair or brainwashing.
“Not at all, so I don’t understand why you want to kill them all.”
“It’s not killing. I will preserve the souls of believers. In my next world, they will be with me.”
Quay gently waved his hand. Then the space changed. Again, to the land of Annihilation. Quay looked up at me with a smile.
“Then are we temporary allies?”
“…It’s just a collaboration based on need.”
Quay nodded and held out his hand.
“Yes. At this point, I’m curious too. Are you the one God has arranged for me?”
“…”
Without a word, I grabbed Quay’s hand.
“When are you going to fix the lighthouse?”
I looked back at the lighthouse and answered.
“Right now.”
…
“Will you be okay?”
The morning sun was shining brightly.
The servant of the Altar asked Quay. He laughed a little.
“What do you mean?”
“That man.”
His confidant pointed to the lighthouse. To be precise, he pointed at Deculein by the lighthouse.
“It’s suspicious.”
He was carving a magic circle with his wood steel. He was also reconstructing the lighthouse. His 「Psychokinesis」 had already dismantled a large part of the structure in a matter of seconds. The remnants floated in the air around him.
“It looks like he’s trying to destroy the lighthouse on purpose.”
“Don’t doubt him.”
Quay shook his head.
“I see it in my eyes. The lighthouse is being reassembled correctly.”
“Yes.”
The henchman didn’t doubt him. To them, Quay’s words were the law and faith itself.
“…Go now to preach the Book of Revelation.”
“Yes.”
He left like that. Quay watched him leave before looking back at Deculein.
Whoooong…
The mana generated from him, the Psychokinesis dismantling the lighthouse layer by layer, finally completely disassembling the entire structure. It was quite spectacular.
“Quay.”
Quay turned to find Kreto approaching.
“Why is the Professor here…?”
Kreto, who was about to ask such a question, immediately saw all the stones floating in the air, and his eyes went wide.
“It’s a temporary partnership.”
“What?”
Kreto’s eyes, in shock, stared unseeing at Quay.
“Deculein only agreed to help complete the lighthouse.”
“That…”
“Yes. Deculein betrayed Sophien.” magic
“…”
Quay added one thing so that Kreto didn’t misunderstand.
“For Sophien’s sake, he will betray her.”
* * *
…A transmitter was a being who transmitted. It could convey something to someone or someone somewhere. They were pretty annoying in-game. Whatever someone did, they’d suddenly get kicked out to another field. “Isn’t this… the Sanctuary?”
Lia asked.
Sanctuary. She could tell at a glance. It was the home of the Altar hidden in the basement of the land of death where no grass or flowers grew.
“You mean that Sanctuary?”
Julie spoke and covered her mouth with her sleeve. The air was cloudy.
“Yeah. It is the Altar’s stronghold.”
“!”
Julie’s eyes widened. She drew the sword around her waist, and Leo, Lia, and Carlos hurriedly stopped her.
“It’s okay. It’s not a place where we’ll kill each other as soon as we meet. Rather, it is dangerous out there. It’s not bad inside.”
“…Is that possible?”
“Yeah. Even if it’s a cult, they’re believers. Just make sure to cover your face.”
“Yes.”
The four pulled up their robe hoods.
“Anyway, it seems that the Altar kidnaps people with those transmitters. Let’s just walk.”
Julie nodded with a sour look.
“Leo, Carlos. You too.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
So the four of them moved. As Lia said, the scenery at the Altar base was rather peaceful. People were living normally down here.
“Is this the Altar… that caused chaos on the continent?”
“Yeah. If it’s an oppressive religion, it’s easier to deal with. This makes it complicated.”
That was why the final boss was the final boss. While playing the game, sometimes it felt like the believers here were more good and harmless than the humans on the continent. The most typical example was the oppression of Protestantism. Perhaps, even now, they were killing the Altar’s believers. Indiscriminately, inflicting the most painful torture for information.
“That’s right. Can’t we all live well together?”
“If we were all stupid like you, we would all live well together.”
“What?!”
Leo and Carlos started arguing with each other.
“Ah…”
While Julie nodded with a sranobes.netplicated feeling, she glanced at Lia. Lia felt that gaze and smiled.
“…Is it because I resemble her? The person named Yuli?”
“Yes… ugh”
At that moment, a certain pain arose in Julie’s temple. It was a sharp sensation, like being stabbed.
“…What’s wrong?”
Lia asked worriedly. Julie smiled bitterly and shook her head.
“It’s nothing. But you do look like Chairman Deculein’s former fiancée.”
“Do you know her?”
“I’ve seen her face only once.”
“Then it must have been quite a while ago.”
Lia said as she trudged on. She already knew that this knight was Julie. Of course, Julie wouldn’t know that.
“Ah, yes… anyway. I have a pretty clear memory of that.”
Julie examined Lia’s face again.
“You look alike.”
“It’s the same with you. You look like his ex-fiancée, haven’t you heard that?”
And this time, it was Lia’s turn.
“…Yes?”
As Julie flinched, Lia smirked.
“There are two ex-fiancées. Among them, you resemble the knight named Julie.”
“…”
“He liked her a lot. I mean Count Yukline.”
“…Ahem. Is that so?”
Julie cleared her throat. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t curious about her old relationship with Deculein.
“Yeah. But Knight Julie suffered a lot of trouble because of Deculein.”
Lia continued calmly.
“She lost her dreams, her body was hurt, and she eventually gave up on herself.”
Julie’s future was that. So was Deculein’s future. Deculein and Julie were opposites, after all.
“By giving up on herself…?”
If he drove Julie to the end like the original Deculein, he would be killed by Julie’s sword, making Julie a murderer. After killing someone only for her personal feelings, not for a cause, she would be reduced to someone who couldn’t become a knight.
On the other hand, the current Deculein was influenced by Kim Woojin’s personality, even if he treated Julie only with love…
“Knight Julie is no different than being dead.”
In the end, Julie gave up on herself. She killed ten years of herself for the sake of Deculein, and as he wished, she would live like this. Unaware of her death.
“Therefore…”Lia looked back at Julie.
“For their sake, it was right for Knight Julie and Deculein to move away from each other as they are now.”
Julie’s expression hardened, Lia sighed, and Leo and Carlos continued arguing until just before they started fighting…
That was the moment-
“Huh?!”
Julie pointed somewhere.
“What?”
Lia asked, following her finger to a giant in a robe.
“Wow, their body is huge.”
Lia muttered, but Julie didn’t feel the same. It wasn’t common to have such a large physique and broad shoulders like the ocean. Even without armor, she could recognize them at a glance.
“It’s Zeit.”
Zeit von Brugang Freyden. The head of Freyden and Julie’s older brother was here.
“…”
At that moment, Lia’s face hardened. At the appearance of the strongest man on this continent, Zeit, Carlos and Leo also stopped fussing.
“Yeah. Let’s follow him, for now, to see what brought him here.”
“Probably because of Freyden.”
Julie answered Lia. She gritted her teeth and watched Zeit’s broad back with sympathy in her eyes.
“…Freyden is freezing. He came here to find a solution.”
“…”
Lia nodded. Zeit was a person who only cared about his family. They were on the verge of ruin, and he wasn’t the type of person to choose religion.
“But what is he going to do coming here alone?”
“I think I know.”
Julie drew her sword. Then she wrapped mana around her body. Zeit was Julie’s older brother, blood that had been with her for decades. Therefore…
“—Huff.”
Zeit inhaled. Julie took one step forward, but it was already too late.
“Listen—!”
A huge roar echoed across the underground. The cry of a beast, too violent for a human to make.
“You fucking shards of religion—!”
Wow. Wow, wow.
Carlos and Leo clapped with admiration at the fierce figure he struck, but Julie bit her lip.
“The Ice Age of Freyden, which you dare predicted, has come true!”
Zeit was alone here now. Even though it was Zeit, alone…
“The Winter King Zeit has come here himself—!”
Boooooom-!
He struck the ground with the flat of his sword, causing the cavern to shake.
“Let the priests of the lax Altar come to me and tell me the solution.”
His voice was low and full of murder.
“My wait will not be long….”
After he stopped talking, frost-like mana froze over his body. Julie stepped out.
“Stop.”
Zeit’s broad shoulders twitched slightly at Julie’s voice. Just as Julie recognized Zeit at a glance, he recognized Julie only by her voice.
“…”
Thud.
He took a step back and looked at Julie without saying anything.
“Lord-“
Before Julie could call him. Before that.
“Is it Zeit?”
A cold tone penetrated the Sanctuary of the Altar. It descended as if it cut through the air, presenting a grave threat. The four of them looked up almost instinctively.
Zeit was the one to respond.
“…Are you the boss?”
He was a man unknown to Julie, but Lia recognized him at once. The final boss, Quay.
He nodded.
“Yes.”
Then, their eyes met, and Zeit warmed his body with mana as if he was about to charge right away.
“…?”
But, in this immediate situation, Lia’s senses moved to another place. It pointed to someone in the crowd behind Quay.
“That…”
He was dressed in a black robe, and his face couldn’t be seen, but Lia knew why she’d been drawn to him.
Deculein. The chairman, who should be in the palace, why was he here…?
“You came without warning and made a lot of noise. If you had told me first, I would have welcomed you.”
Quay smiled softly. Zeit grinned, then lifted a chunk of the ground and tossed it at Quay.
Then, what and how Quay responded… Lia honestly didn’t know. She didn’t see it.
“…I mean. Why the hell?”
Her eyes were only in one place, on one person. It was fixed only to Deculein standing in the middle of the Altar’s ranks.