Chapter 152 – Saint and Holy Knights (7)

The murky dark-red sky, dead mountains and fields, and rivers flowing gray.

Large and small monsters wandered over the dead land in a world contaminated by demonic energy.

A land of death where other monsters that hunted those monsters existed.

Massive landmasses of death were placed throughout the red sky.

The lands filled with bizarrely-shaped buildings looked like cities of alien civilizations floating in the sky as landmasses.

Countless monsters bustled in the cities floating in the sky.

From translucent spirits to humans with animal heads, beings made of machinery, and monsters dozens of meters in size.

Their appearance wearing armor and costumes made them seem to possess their own civilization.

In the center of the city floating in the sky stood a massive castle.

The castle guarded by giant monsters at its gates was a castle whose form hadn’t been seen in any dimension.

Its massive size and form scattered terrifying overwhelming pressure around it.

Inside the castle, in the innermost lord’s seat, sat a monster with a crow’s head.

He was closing his eyes with a bored expression when he opened them at a sensation crossing his mind.

[A summoning. Interesting.]

When he, standing over 3 meters tall, raised his body, gray demonic energy spread widely around him.

[From now on, I’ll sleep because of the summoning. Don’t wake me unless it’s urgent.]

Rumble~

At his words that resonated through the entire hall, the walls, floor, and entire castle seemed to answer.

[Haha. It seems a few demon kings are doing interesting things with summoners, so if I’m summoned beforehand and wait, I should get to see a good show.]

The crow-headed monster, Demon King Murmur, leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

Shortly after, as his body slumped down as if his consciousness had disappeared somewhere, part of his fur also got caught in black demonic energy and vanished.

At that moment, Sun-woo, who had been watching his past through the demon king’s perspective, could hear a sound resonating through the entire hall.

[How dare you spy on my past! Get out!]

Thud!

Sun-woo was thrown out of the demon king’s past by the shock that rang through his head.

***

The large black feather held in Sun-woo’s hand was turning to gray smoke and disappearing.

It was the feather that remained in that spot after Demon King Murmur melted away.

Sun-woo, who had used the skill to see the past using the feather on a hunch, ended up seeing the world where the demon king’s main body lived.

A world where everything was contaminated and destroyed. It seemed like the world the Empire would become if it remained contaminated for hundreds or thousands of years.

“The demon king’s melted body was a fake body, and only the feather that disappeared was from the real demon king’s body.”

At the throbbing headache, Sun-woo pressed his forehead while forcing his thoughts to continue.

“Did I barely win after fighting an existence that only came over with his consciousness and part of his body? Plus, he even noticed and deflected my skill that sees the past. Can he control time too?”

Sun-woo couldn’t help but click his tongue at the demon king’s main body’s abilities.

He thought he had become quite strong, but there was still a long way to go.

Sun-woo, whose headache from being forcibly thrown out of the memory had almost subsided, waved his hand to scatter the contamination that had materialized like smoke.

It seemed he didn’t properly understand contamination. He’d probably need to have a conversation with the holy knights gathered on one side.

After the demon king died, the contamination that had spread had almost disappeared.

The only thing remaining was another contamination source—the saint.

Once her contamination disappeared, this dungeon would become completely clean.

This underground plaza with fallen rocks and smashed surroundings looked like the inside of an enormous tower without a roof thanks to the punctured ceiling.

The floor had become a mess with fallen rocks, and the monster corpses that kept regenerating were now rapidly decaying instead.

The summoner party was all watching the knight order gathered on one side.

The knight order silently surrounded one woman.

The saint, whose appearance was murky from contamination, had stopped moving after the demon king was reverse-summoned.

Her appearance, looking like a puppet with cut strings, was very pitiful.

Despite their pity, the knight order and Priest Ban didn’t stop what they were doing.

The holy knight order stood around the lying saint with swords raised in solemn postures.

Priest Ban stood right in front of the saint and recited prayers.

While reciting prayers, Priest Ban cut one finger with a dagger and let blood drip onto the saint’s body.

Drip, drip, drip.

Red blood was sprinkled on the saint’s body.

From where the blood was sprinkled, the murky color gradually began receding.

The contamination was disappearing.

Time passed and finally all the murky light disappeared from the saint’s body.

Soon after, the saint’s body gradually began scattering as white powder.

The saint had been contaminated for a long time, so when purified, her body collapsed.

Unfortunately, the saint didn’t regain consciousness even after the contamination disappeared.

She, whose mind had already been destroyed by the demon king, merely disappeared with a peaceful expression.

After she vanished as dust, the last remaining contamination disappeared from the dungeon.

Afterward, the party treated the wounded and collected equipment, then decided to exit the dungeon.

The prince, standing before the party, looked at the collapsed exit with a troubled expression.

“But how do we get out now?”

Because of the fight between Sun-woo and the demon king.

No, to be precise, because Sun-woo smashed everything, the surroundings had all collapsed and even the exit was blocked.

Of course, there was the wide-open ceiling, but they weren’t birds, so the entire party couldn’t fly up.

At people’s troubled gazes, Sun-woo had no choice but to step forward. He took out all the potions he had and drank them down.

One potion alone was no longer enough to fill his completely empty internal energy.

Only after using all the potions he had could he barely fill his internal energy.

Sun-woo drew up his sorcery and began calling the earth spirits.

Rumble.

The pile of rocks that had formed a mountain began moving, then gradually rose upward.

The fallen rocks scattered around also moved across the shaking ground and leapt into the rock pile, and the rock pile shrank in volume while rising longer upward.

After rising for quite a while, the rock pile eventually created a path connecting to the next floor through the punctured hole.

The path of rock and earth stretching diagonally in the air looked precarious, as if it would pour down immediately.

Of course, it was actually firmly connecting the upper floor and the floor below.

People climbed up one by one through the path Sun-woo created with frightened expressions.

Fortunately, Sun-woo made it somewhat like stairs, so they could climb without difficulty.

With Sun-woo last, the stone path collapsed with a tremendous sound.

The dungeon’s lowest floor where the lich and demon king had been was buried without a trace under the collapsing stones and earth.

Fortunately, from the floor above, the passages weren’t blocked.

There were some problems thanks to the holes Sun-woo had punctured through each floor, but fortunately other paths remained, so everyone could safely exit the dungeon.

When the entire party came out of the dungeon, Summoner’s voice was heard in the summoners’ ears.

[You’ve completed the mission splendidly. There will be additional rewards for handling the sudden situation.]

At Summoner’s voice, Sun-woo let out a sigh.

No matter how he looked at it, Summoner seemed to have no emotional aspects.

Summoner knew there would definitely be danger in the mission to bring out Priest Ban, yet pretended not to know.

Anyway, thanks for disposing of the dangerous item!

Like that…

Thanks to that, he received additional rewards for subjugating the demon king, but his suspicions about Summoner kept piling up.

‘Did the demon king call it a system?’

However, that thought disappeared in the reward window that appeared before his eyes.

[Min Sun-woo: 9 Stars. Achievement Rate 99.9%] – Locked

[Inventory Addition 500p] – Locked

[Skill Slot Addition 700p] – Locked

[Basic Recovery Potion Addition 100p]

[Basic Drinking Water Addition 1p]

[Basic Hard Bread 2p]

[Item Enhancement Stone 100p]

[Item Transformation Stone 1000p]

[Summoner Calling Stone 500p]

[Body Regeneration Potion 1000p]

[Reward Window Calling Stone 500p]

[Berserk Potion 500p]

[100,000 won per point]

[Current Points: 2020p]

[Your level has reached its limit. To raise your level, please proceed with a quest. If you cannot break through the limit level, you cannot add inventory and skill slots.]

“What’s this?”

Sun-woo made an absurd expression and looked at the reward window several times before hastily opening his phone.

Fortunately, he had kept one skill slot empty, but he needed to check.

[Min Sun-woo: 9 Stars. Achievement Rate 99.9%] – Locked

〈Earth Spirit Grade 7〉 Grade increase: 400p

〈Illusion Technique Grade 5〉 Grade increase: 200p

〈Revolving Divine Demon Art 11 Stars〉 Impossible

〈Revolving Sword Technique 10 Stars〉 Grade increase: 800p

〈Revolving Movement Technique 10 Stars〉 Grade increase: 800p

〈Body Enhancement 3 Stars〉 Grade increase: 100p

〈Water System Magic 4th Circle〉 Grade increase: 200p

〈Fire System Magic 2nd Circle〉 Grade increase: 200p

〈Flowing Time Grade 6〉 Grade increase: 1000p

〈Barrier Magic 3rd Circle〉 Grade increase: 200p

〈Summoning Magic 2nd Circle〉 Grade increase: 400p

〈Phantom Pain Grade 2〉 Grade increase: 400p

〈〈$3R32@12^7〉〉

“What’s this now?”

Sun-woo looked at his phone and couldn’t help but groan. The skill slot he had left empty at the end had changed to a completely broken state.

He couldn’t even tell what characters appeared, and pressing them produced no response.

“Is this also because of the limit level or something?”

Unable to understand the reason, Sun-woo looked at his phone for a while before eventually putting it away.

Sun-woo first refilled the consumed potions and closed the reward window.

The other summoners also seemed satisfied with their points and bought various items before closing the reward window.

That’s when it happened.

An unexpected voice was heard from where the holy knights were.

“I refuse! I’m a body that believes in God! I won’t listen to others!”

It was Priest Ban’s voice. He was loudly shouting toward the sky among the bewildered-looking holy knights.

“Wait, is he refusing to become a summoner right now?”

“But can you refuse that?”

While the summoners looked at him with puzzled expressions, he continued speaking.

“No, goodness, are you rejecting me because I’m a man? Don’t I dance more beautifully than anyone in the church? My Purifying Spring’s effect is also the highest. But you’re telling me to listen to others too? No. I refuse!”

The prince made a surprised expression at that sight.

“It seems there was a reason he’s called a saint. A priest throwing a tantrum at God—unless you receive extraordinary love from God, you can’t do that.”

“So that’s why he could even refuse becoming a summoner?”

“Hmm, but it seems ultimately useless.”

It seemed even God had stepped in.

Priest Ban eventually sat down on the floor with a frustrated expression.

Sun-woo briefly looked around.

However, the support team’s appearance wasn’t visible anywhere.

Perhaps what just happened wasn’t something the support team needed to step forward and erase memories about.

“It looks like we’ll have to handle the aftermath. We need to explain things to the new summoner and ask about the demon king too.”

At Sun-woo’s words, Daniel also nodded.

The two moved their steps toward where the holy knights were gathered.

While Sun-woo was walking, the skill he obtained from the demon king wriggled slightly.

A murky gray light rippled briefly on his hand before disappearing.