Joint Combat Practice 2 (13)
If you open the entrance of the cathedral and go straight inside, you will immediately see the chapel.
Clarice walked straight down the hallway of the cathedral accompanied by two knights as guards.
Ed and I decided to split up and move on. I was so busy taking care of so many things at once that I couldn’t pay attention, but after leaving Ed, I felt like I was feeling anxious again.
‘I need to come to my senses.’
However, Clarisse quickly shook her head and stiffened her neck.
Perhaps the whole story unfolds inside this bachelor’s cathedral. This time, we moved faster than ever before and entered the cathedral. This episode is clearly different from the past that has been repeated countless times so far.
“Saint Lady Seo…?”
As we reached the entrance to the hallway, Taldarek, the Third Apostle of Telos, who was guarding the front, blocked the way.
This is Saint Clarice, who is favored by the current Telos Church and is said to have a majestic glow as if she is receiving God’s grace just by talking to her a few words.
I don’t know why, but she has a lot of scratches and looks tired… but anyone can see that she is a saint.
“T… Weren’t you waiting at the Trix building? How on earth are you here…”
“Get out of the way, Taldarek.”
Clarisse, a saint who was always kind and yet lively.
However, with cold eyes, like an adult who has been through all the hardships… Clarisse ordered Taldarek to make a way.
There is no sign of surprise as to why the Apostle of Telos is here. Her elegance has also changed to the point where I wonder if she is the saint I saw in Seonghwangdo. That has to be the case. He is a human being who has watched hundreds and thousands of people die dozens of times.
“But… Saint Lady. The Holy Emperor orders…”
“I will talk to the Holy Emperor directly, so get out of the way.”
After saying that, Clarisse walked past Taldarek with long strides.
Taldarek momentarily stretched out his arm to say something, but Clarice quickly grabbed his wrist and looked up at Taldarek for a moment… then released her hand again and went her own way.
The saint’s guard knights who were guarding behind her also looked at each other and slowly followed Clarisse into the chapel.
-bang!
As I opened the door and entered, the overall appearance of the chapel came into view.
The first thing you see in front is a huge podium. A large stained glass window unfolds behind it. The colorful, shining glass catches the sunlight and shows off its appearance beautifully. There is an engraved picture of a large angel with his wings wide open distributing bread to people.
A huge pipe organ spreads majestically along the outer wall behind the podium, and in front of it are rows of wooden seats prepared for believers who come to worship.
There are no laypeople coming in. However, there were many high-ranking believers.
For example, they were the apostles of Verdio Telos, Archbishop of Eldain.
When Saint Clarice saw that, her heart swelled.
The root of the situation that I have been searching for so long and the parties involved in all of this are all gathered here in one place.
How many times have I wandered to get here? How many times have we had to watch Ed Rothtaylor die, watch The Bachelor’s demise, and hold on to our crumbling spirit?
He gritted his teeth but did not show any emotion. I just spoke quietly, lowering my voice so that it could echo throughout the hall.
“What are you doing here…?”
If you look above the podium, the relic ‘Belbroke’s Molar Necklace’, which resonates with the sealed Velbroke, is shining. The original sword saint, Luden, took a piece of Velbroke’s broken tooth and made it into a necklace.
It is a legendary grade item that dramatically increases the user’s magic sensitivity and grants enormous resistance to all physical attacks, but that is not its only role.
It also plays a role in awakening the survival instinct of Velbroke, who is sealed in the deep sea under Aken Island, and encouraging him to break the weakened barrier and escape.
“Saint Clarice…?”
Archbishop Verdio, who was inspecting the apostles in front of the podium, caught his eye. On one side, the prosperous Eldain is also sitting.
“Archbishop Verdio.”
Archbishop Verdio is like Clarice’s mentor. He gave Clarice, who had just become a saint, a lot of guidance so that she could gain dignity.
Also, he was a person who received everyone’s respect by maintaining his faithfulness anytime and anywhere. Everyone in the Holy City unanimously praised him as a devout believer.
Is that reputation the result of proving a sincere heart, or is it the result of thorough management skills that would make even merchants cry?
I can’t gauge that until I’m here, but I can at least know that it’s not the time to sit still.
“Stop everything you’re doing right now.”
Perhaps due to the passage of time, there are quite a lot of grayish gray hairs mixed in between the gray-brown hair. Although my back was not yet bent or my body was weak, I was at an age where I had to worry about the decline of my physical abilities.
Nevertheless, Verdio put his back, straightened his back, and spoke leisurely to Clarisse, whom he had met for the first time in months.
“I didn’t know that the saint would come to the cathedral first, but…”
“I won’t say the same thing twice.”
Clarisse glanced around. How long is left until Seong Chang-ryong Velbrok is revived?
I couldn’t figure it out right now.
“Do you… know what I’m going to do…?”
“You are probably trying to resurrect Seong Chang-ryong.”
“Wow,” said Verdio with a smile. It was clearly different from the solemn and benevolent smile seen in Seonghwangdo.
How I knew is not something to be discussed now. Regardless of whether there was a traitor or someone planted inside, if the saint knew the truth, things would quickly go wrong.
“Archbishop Verdio. I thought you were a conscientious believer who only cared about the Holy Emperor.”
“That’s right. I only live my life thinking about the Holy Emperor.”
Verdio looked at the ceiling without loosening his grip and sighed. The beautiful stained glass behind the podium shines in the sunlight.
“Expansion of the church is also a business field. Faith is trust. The Holy God always exists in heaven, but the lowly people do not believe it unless they are shown something.”
“So… I will kill Seong Chang-ryong and spread his blessings…?”
“It won’t take long.”
“Don’t you even think about the possibility of failure?”
After saying that, a possibility suddenly comes to mind.
When Clarisse lowers her gaze, she sees a huge image of sacrifice drawn beneath it. It was a preparation process to put Bellbroke to sleep using the saint’s unique divine power.
While Saint Clarice was waiting in the Trix Pavilion, the Holy Emperor and the Archbishop were making these preparations in the Basilica Cathedral.
Clarisse’s cold eyes look towards the podium.
“The insurance… was my life.”
Is it negative or positive?
I hoped they would deny it, at least on the surface.
“It’s just insurance. It’s for when everything goes wrong.”
Archbishop Verdio’s expression is as cold as Clarisse’s eyes… He literally has the look of a fanatic.
Clarisse has seen pagan fanatics. It was when I went to console a village that had been damaged by the demi-humans in the northern grasslands.
The sight of fanatics running wild and losing their senses was already difficult to regard as people with common sense. Those who are so absorbed in their religion that they even abandon ethics and morals become distant from civilization.
Because she saw it like that, the fanatics in Clarice’s mind were just a different breed of people who had no common sense and couldn’t communicate and were bordering on mental illness.
However, that is just a narrow-minded view.
They speak with reason, maintain dignity, always have a formal appearance, and even their will is noble… but there can also be people who have stepped into the realm of fanaticism.
Ultimately, the key is how much you give up for your faith.
Respect for God has the power to save the heart, but we must not stop to think about how far it is acceptable.
“Seonghwang. Do you really think this is enough?”
Eventually, Clarisse’s eyes fall on the bustling Eldein sitting behind the podium.
A series of plans led by Archbishop Verdio… would not have been able to proceed without the support of Eldain, the ultimate person in charge.
Even if you did not take the initiative, you are a bystander. Wasn’t he the one who had the power and power to stop Verdio?
That’s why Clarisse looks at the Holy Emperor with earnest eyes… Archbishop Verdio is the one who saved the Holy Emperor from financial threats many times. That one person contributed much more to the glory of the Holy Emperor than hundreds of thousands of believers.
Eventually, Seonghwang closed his eyes and lowered his head, and Clarisse swallowed her breath without realizing it.
A hot emotion, strangely different from anger, runs down my throat.
The sprout of ‘distrust’ nestled in one corner of her heart… whispers to her. Stop this disaster.
The body went out first.
Clarice climbs the stairs and reaches the podium and reaches for Belbroke’s molar necklace, but Archbishop Verdio snatches her wrist.
As her grip tightened, a crushing pain surged from Clarisse’s wrist. Nevertheless, Clarice glared at Verdio with her eyes straight open.
“I’m sorry, saint. It won’t take long, so please sleep for a while.”
A rumbling sound was heard from behind Clarisse.
One by one, the sitting apostles got up from their seats and began to spread their wings.
* * *
Ed grabbed Adele’s wrist and walked with long strides. Instead of going in the direction of the cathedral, I was taking the trail that goes around the side of the cathedral.
“Yeah, it’s not a very pleasant truth.”
After hearing the truth about Seong Chang-ryong from Clarice, I thought about it, came to terms with it, stopped by other places to ask for help, and quite some time passed before I arrived at this cathedral.
There is not much time left until Seong Chang-ryong is resurrected.
Ed walked quickly but listened to Adele’s explanation without missing a single word.
“Archbishop Verdio has been like that ever since he was a lay priest. Calling on the church and making the storehouse of the Holy Emperor more comfortable. That was the archbishop’s way of proving his faith.”
“I don’t think he’s qualified to become a priest.”
Adele shook her head as she struggled to catch up.
“The faith was real, but the methodology was just too extreme.”
“The world calls that a fanatic.”
“To dismiss him like that… he’s also an overly rational person.”
Rational. Ed clicked his tongue at that expression.
The movement of the cathedral that Adele described was something that could be said to be tongue-in-cheek.
It begins with the coronation of Emperor Cloel. This great emperor was truly a man so great that he deserved to be called a saint… He was known as the person who created peace on the continent centered around the Cloel Empire.
The grandeur of the Church of Telos, which had dominated the continent and increased the power of its believers, was soon buried by the glory of the Cloel Imperial Family, and was gradually declining into a businessman selling faith little by little.
Of course, it’s just a decline, but there is no doubt that the Telos Church is still the largest religious organization in the empire.
Compared to the Telos Church in Genesis, which was treated as a pagan on the outskirts of the continent, it has now literally grown hundreds or thousands of times in size.
However, did they consider the decline of the church to be evidence of distrust rather than a change in the times?
Archbishop Verdio… wanted to revive the grandeur of the Telos Church in the past, when spear dragons ran rampant and demi-humans committed massacres.
That’s why miracles happen.
The intention was to subdue the Holy Spear Dragon that was threatening Aken Island and spread its glorious name throughout the Cloel Empire.
“Have you tried persuading? You are a prophet. Don’t you believe everything you say?”
“I… have already lost Archbishop Verdio’s trust.”
I did not ask, ‘Why?’
Although Adele has had many foresights, she has never fully conveyed them to the church. Almost none.
They even hid and deceived the prophecy. The reason for not ascending to the position of saint was never revealed, and she even ran away at night, abandoning the sacred fire on the spire… It is safe to say that she has already lost all trust in the church. .
“The Holy Emperor must also be following Archbishop Verdio’s policy.”
“There is no one in their right mind, neither this nor that.”
“I was confident from the beginning. That’s a lot of power. Because we brought with us six ‘Apostles of Telos’, the largest group of magic magicians in the Holy Emperor.” The
Apostles of Telos.
The power of each individual is great, but as the number increases to two or three, the strength of the group increases tens or hundreds of times. This is
because they share basic holy magic, can exchange enormous divine power, and have even received joint training in linked formations. If an
apostle of Telos over five years old has a good formation and is provided with enough materials and magic power, he can form an army of tens of thousands. It could be said that the castle gate was impenetrable even against
the Apostles of Telos. If you think about it, it was an excessively large combat force for someone who came to inspect a saint. It could not be thought of as a simple guard force.
“Plus, the world in the history books. Unlike this, there have been many enormous developments in magic to date. There has also been a tremendous reform in the efficiency of holy magic.”
“So… you tried to resurrect Holy Spear Dragon and subdue him?”
Would it be right to say ‘arrogant’?
How can we now see a monster from a distant history? Trying to recapture it has great symbolic meaning.
Looking at historical records after time has passed, unfounded confidence can arise.
Monsters in mythology, Minotaurs, Cerberus, Cyclops, Harpies, and Leviathan.
All of these people are mentioned in books. It appears as a terrible monster that kills, but in modern times, guns, bombs, cannons, ships, tactical nuclear weapons, etc. come to mind and seem like they can be subdued at any moment. Since
ancient times, history has been distorted and exaggerated as it has been passed down. No matter how
Seong Chang-ryong Velbroke is, he can tear the sky and destroy the earth. They probably didn’t think it would be so big
that it could separate them. However, there are almost no lies in the legends about Belbroke. It’s
just an old memory that’s hundreds of years old, so there’s no way to confirm it. The original swordsman has been dead for a long time, and the majesty of the Holy Lance Dragon has been lost. There is not even a single person left who has seen it with their own eyes.
Aren’t the Apostles of Telos a powerful group that can take on an enormous army? I have seen them display such tremendous majesty time and time again… They could overpower even the Holy Spear Dragon. You would have thought so.
The price for that arrogance is the lives of over a thousand people. The land called Aken Island will be completely erased from the map.
“Listen carefully, Adele. How many more times do you think you can turn back time?”
“I… I don’t know… My physical strength… I’m almost exhausted…”
Looking back again, Adele was almost out of breath. They were following along as if they were being dragged. Ed checked Adele’s physical condition again and then immediately lifted her up by supporting her thighs and carried her on his back.
“Woah!”
“Rest a little and try going back just one more time. Just give strength to your lower abdomen.”
“Yes…?”
Adele is probably close to her limit. No one can guess how many more times she can turn back from here.
In the first place, it was not of Adele’s own will, it was something that was imprinted on her body. The divine protection of the Holy Law draws on Adele’s power as it pleases.
“In the end, the core of the matter is simple. Don’t you think you can just beat the butts of the religious cultists who are doing terrible things in front of that cathedral? But no matter how much I think about it, I don’t think it will end there.”
“….”
“Archbishop Verdio is a man who is overly cautious and quick-thinking for a fanatic. Never make a plan without a future. If plan A doesn’t work out, there will definitely be a BC prepared.”
“Senior Ed… do you know Archbishop Verdio…?”
I’ve never met him. But I know him. How can I even talk about that? So Ed just shook his head and ran down the street.
“What we have to do is block all escape routes so the rat can’t escape. Since he’s a very cautious guy, it’s going to be hard at first. So… we’ll have to see what he does.”
“Then… we…”
“Okay. I’ll turn the road, so there’s only one thing for you to do.”
They reached the back door of the Bachelor’s Cathedral. Ed put Adele down on a nearby bench and spoke with eye contact.
“Remember.”
“….” ”
What did he do?” Make sure you remember and come see me. I’m sure I’m still dumbfounded without knowing anything. It doesn’t matter though. I’ll come to my senses as quickly as possible, understand the situation, and picture the full story… Trust me… Come to the bench on the terrace in front of Glokt Hall. Me and Jenica will be sitting next to each other.”
Adele leaned against the back of the bench, having difficulty holding up her weakened body.
“But… I’m almost out of strength… so I can’t explain it properly…” ”
Explanation Saint Clarisse can do it, so don’t worry about it. You are not the only one left with memories. I just… need more eyes.”
“….”
“You said you wanted to live, right?”
Ed took off his coat and threw it on the seat next to Adele and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt.
“Who will save you if you stay still? ? Adele’s pupils are getting bigger.
She grabs the
lapel of her father, who was leaving her, and the reason she didn’t cry is because she doesn’t want to be alone… She complains that she’s scared. Adele’s childhood, which she did not share, overlaps:
“Surviving is all about surviving in such a humble and shabby way. Have you forgotten everything while living as a saint and being held up by the Holy Emperor?”
Surviving.
Perhaps it was his only goal in life, but it was never reached in the end.
It is not a far-fetched story for Ed.
For him, every moment of his life spent at this academy is a memory. It was a struggle to survive.
“You know this.”
“But… the Apostle of Telos is not an opponent that can be dealt with by force…”
“Force? Force itself is not a big problem. As I said, the problem is blocking all other escape routes that he may have hidden like a rat.”
“Force… is not a problem…?”
Are you saying this even after knowing what kind of people the Apostles of Telos are?
That’s the answer . I wanted to do it, but Ed didn’t feel any anxiety on his face.
* * *
―Click.
―Quaaaaaa!
It happened in an instant.
It was the moment when the apostles of Telos flew in to subdue the saint.
Behind the podium. One of the huge stained glass windows breaks and almost half of the area falls into pieces. The shattered glass hits the marble floor and makes an ear-piercing sound. In an instant, a
human-shaped shadow invades the center of the chapel and sees two apostles flying in the air. He snatched it and hung it in the center of the podium. It was moving
so fast that the eye couldn’t even follow it. The shock from the landing was so strong that all the people around it fell to the ground just from the wave. All the wooden chairs lined up for the believers also fell. It fell and rolled on the floor, and its place was taken up by humans flying around like pieces of paper.
Soon, the aftermath subsided and the dust dispersed… The identity of the shadow appeared. The
5th Apostle of Telos, Felber, was stomped on the floor, and the 7th was stomped on the floor. The left habres was held up by the collar.
With one hand, he was holding down the witch’s hat, fearing it would get caught and fly away, and with the other hand, he was holding up an apostle several times his own size. It was pure
white and curled into two pieces. Her fallen hair was fluttering as a result of the shock, and no strong emotions were felt in her cold gaze.
Lucy Mayril.
She immediately threw the man she was holding in one hand toward the wall.
-Kwaaang!
-Kaaaaaaaaaang. !
It collided with the tube of a huge pipe organ and fell straight into the keyboard. An
ominous sound from the pipe echoed from the huge pipe organ that filled the outer wall of the cathedral. The sound that echoed as it hit the wall seemed to speak of the coming of disaster. It
rolled across the floor of the hall and onto the podium. The priests gasped as they looked up, and
only half of the shattered stained glass remained. The engravings of the benevolent angel’s wings, with only half of them remaining, are spread out behind Lucy. There were cracks here and there.
The gaze is still cold.
“Yes… you… what are you doing… right now…!”
“I don’t believe in God or anything like that.”
The light coming down from the half-broken stained glass softly illuminates Lucy’s small body.
There is no feeling of emotion as he quietly looks down at the priests while trampling on an apostle.
“I think it’s true that if you commit a crime, you should be punished. You cheaters don’t always say the wrong things.”
“What…? A sin… What on earth… What…”
Verdio, who had managed to stand up after rolling on the floor, gritted his teeth at Lucy, who was standing straight on the podium.
Lucy still speaks quietly without any noticeable change in tone.
“You have it all engraved in the temple and on the Buddhist scriptures.”
If you open the church’s temple, you will see the Seven Deadly Sins of Man on the first page. Lucy doesn’t believe in things like God, so she doesn’t memorize them all… but she does know some of them.
I lower my gaze.
Belbroke’s Molar Sacrifice The apostles were full of confidence just a moment ago. Those things caught her eye, but Lucy didn’t attach any particular meaning to them.
Atheist Lucy Mayril.
She simply gives a short sentence in a blank voice.
“Oman.”
Who is it that has arrived before our eyes? He is a rare archmage whose best ability is to block even if all eight apostles gather together. In fact, only six apostles came to begin with, and two were defeated as soon as they arrived.
A rising magical power filled the chapel.
