Chapter 84 – Escape (1)

Sanctuary.

It was the term for the safe area created by a psychic who called himself God’s apostle using cultural artifacts from the memorial hall.

A holy space that zombies, skeletons, and those who move after death couldn’t approach, and if they mistakenly entered, they would burn up immediately.

Since it looked holy to anyone, no one objected when the Apostle named it sanctuary.

Everyone in the sanctuary had believed they would be safe here even if the world ended.

Because without such belief, it would be difficult to survive in this world.

But that belief had cracked since yesterday when the sanctuary shook.

No, actually the cracks had started forming days ago when the Apostle was terrorized.

Though the sanctuary hadn’t shaken then, everyone felt the safe zone wouldn’t be safe if the Apostle died.

That’s why there were no protests when those who committed terrorism and those who protested with them were driven out of the sanctuary.

They thought the Apostle might withdraw the sanctuary if they protested again.

That’s why they only watched fearfully as the Apostle wielded tyranny.

But their worries came true in a completely different way.

The Apostle was severely injured again, and this time the sanctuary greatly swayed.

Yesterday the sanctuary had returned to normal as the Apostle recovered from his injuries, but today was different.

The sky was falling.

Boom! Boom!

Along with earth-shaking sounds, the holy power wrapping the sanctuary gradually crumbled.

The sanctuary’s boundary that was usually invisible was clearly visible today.

The holy power boundary glowing softly as it was attacked from outside.

The dome-shaped holy power boundary covering the entire university was now cracking.

People who came out startled by the tremendous noise were shocked again seeing the glowing sky, and were stunned seeing cracks form in the glowing sky.

“Eek! The sky!”

“What’s happening to the sky!”

Startled people asked each other as if screaming, and some gave plausible answers.

“That’s the sanctuary’s true form. It glowed like that when the sanctuary was first created too.”

People who had seen the same sight nodded at those words.

But some weren’t satisfied with just those words.

Someone pointed at the sky and said.

“But it didn’t crack like that back then!”

“That’s…”

Even the person who had given the plausible answer earlier couldn’t answer this time.

Instead, someone else answered.

A teenage boy leaned out a window and shouted.

“It’s because the sanctuary is being attacked. A monster is destroying the sanctuary.”

The boy pointed his finger at the northern sky.

Above the northern forest where his finger pointed, giant black tentacles were rising.

People gaped as they watched the risen tentacles swing down.

Boom! Boom!

The sound that had brought people outside rang throughout the sanctuary again.

Flames erupted on the tentacles, and more cracks spread across the barrier made of light.

“Good heavens… This can’t be…”

People watched the black tentacles and spreading cracks in empty air with dazed faces.

“This can’t be. The sanctuary can’t fall.”

As if expressing everyone’s feelings, someone muttered those words, and a middle-aged woman burst out shouting.

“But it looks like it’s going to fall!”

The woman then shouted at her husband.

“Pack up! We need to escape from here.”

At the sudden shout, her husband turned to look at her.

Seeing her husband still seeming dazed, the woman snapped at him.

“We’ll all die if the monster destroys the sanctuary! Wake up! How did we survive until now! We need to escape quickly!”

Though the wife poured out words to her husband with an enraged face, her husband’s expression didn’t change.

The husband opened his mouth with a somewhat dejected expression.

“Where would we go? We came in here because we couldn’t survive outside the sanctuary for even a moment. What are we supposed to do if we go out now.”

At her husband’s words, the wife stared at him blankly.

Then she lowered her head and shouted at her husband while crying.

“But! But! We can’t just let the children die like this!”

At his wife’s words, the husband muttered with a gloomy face.

“Though we have no god to believe in, should we pray now?”

The wife suddenly lifted her head at her husband’s words.

“That’s right! Let’s go to the Apostle. The Apostle must have a way. He’s God’s apostle who has survived many times. Since the Apostle created the sanctuary, he’ll bring another miracle this time too.”

There was hope mixed with madness in her eyes.

At that moment, she wasn’t the only one who thought of the Apostle.

Most people gripped by fear thought of the Apostle, and they rushed to the memorial hall where he was.

The sight of people running through the streets was completely different from the protest days ago.

Unlike the protest which was orderly despite being loose, people ran through the streets gripped by fear.

People trampled those who fell after misstepping, and if someone blocked their way, they pushed and hit them.

Ironically, their running appearance looked no different from zombies rushing.

The people who poured into the streets soon arrived at the memorial hall.

One person was standing in front of the memorial hall.

People hoped it was the Apostle, but the person standing there was a woman.

“The Apostle isn’t here in the memorial hall.”

At Seo Eun’s calm words, people shouted.

“Where is he!”

“Where did you hide the Apostle!”

“Give us the Apostle!”

“He needs to save us!”

“We need the Apostle! He needs to pray! As God’s apostle he should save us!”

Seo Eun sighed at the people who looked ready to charge at any moment.

She slowly walked sideways and stood beside the door.

She said to the gathered people.

“I don’t know either. I just got here too. If it’s hard to believe, look for yourselves.”

Previously she would have tried her best to persuade people, but now Seo Eun didn’t feel like it.

As Seo Eun moved aside, the gathered people rushed inside.

The door broke and people screamed getting stuck in the corridor.

Still people kept pushing in, and the front of the memorial hall became chaos.

Watching that scene with a complicated expression, Seo Eun turned to look at her husband.

Her husband was watching her from a slight distance as always.

“Wow, I must look really terrible right now? I really have become a properly rotten manager.”

Jaeha shook his head at Seo Eun’s self-deprecation.

“You’re just tired. And you’ve done enough with how much you’ve tried. Though you became temporary leader, no one assigned you the work. You were fired as Personnel Management Department head, so officially you’re unemployed.”

Seo Eun burst out laughing at her husband’s words.

“Thank you. I guess I lost my spirit because the Apostle disappeared.”

While the knight party was scouting the monster, Seo Eun had planned to meet the Apostle.

It made no sense for the Apostle to be cooped up in the memorial hall in a situation like this.

She had intended to persuade the Apostle somehow and drag him out.

She planned to reassure people and find some solution together with him.

But coming to the memorial hall, the Apostle was nowhere to be seen.

Not just the Apostle was missing. The believers he had established, the young psychic, they were all gone.

Plus, their belongings were gone too.

So Seo Eun had asked her husband to check underground.

Seo Eun asked her husband.

“Don’t tell me the holy artifact is gone too?”

“That’s right. It’s completely empty.”

The worst premonition had come true.

The Apostle had left this place with his followers and the holy artifact.

Seo Eun looked up at the sky.

The cracks in the sky were slowly moving northward.

The sanctuary was moving.

“Can we chase them?”

“It’s difficult. I can’t sense the Apostle’s power either. We need to know where the sanctuary’s center is, but there’s no way to tell.”

In a situation like this, they couldn’t search for people one by one.

When Seo Eun showed a worried expression, Jaeha said.

“We’ll be fine.”

She smiled at her husband’s words.

“What would I worry about with you here. I’m worried about the others.”

Though disappointed in people, Seo Eun still couldn’t let go of her worry.

“Still, it would be better to join Yerim’s group for safety. If the sanctuary disappears, like Yerim said, the safest place will be beside that knight’s group.”

“Ah, those people were there? Since there’s nothing I can do, is it okay to hope for a miracle now?”

Seo Eun looked far into the northern sky.

As black tentacles rose again in the sky, the knight’s face came to mind.

Though clearly an unfamiliar face, Seo Eun found that face very familiar.

* * *

At the same time,

We were gaping at an absurd sight.

“What is this now! Don’t tell me the Apostle is supporting us with the safe zone?”

It was an unthinkable imagination, but the scene before us naturally led to such thoughts.

Roar!

The octopus monster that had been busily destroying the safe zone was retreating.

The tentacles were burning down to their roots, and the octopus monster hastily retreated to prevent its main body from burning.

Other undead attached to the safe zone boundary started burning too, and the lich was urgently pulling other undead back.

This absurd scene was happening because the safe zone had expanded.

The safe zone that had been getting pummeled by the octopus monster gradually advanced forward and burned the undead and octopus monster with fire.

Now the safe zone had passed beyond the university boundary, across the northern road, all the way to where the octopus monster’s main body had been.

“So the safe zone could be used like this too. The Apostle was more amazing than expected.”

“He’s not amazing. Look carefully. He’s not even using the safe zone offensively.”

When I got excited watching the octopus monster retreat and started rambling, Zahina immediately cut me off.

Her cold words immediately calmed my excitement.

I frowned after checking the cracked sky and the safe zone’s holy power.

“It hasn’t expanded. And it’s not being used offensively.”

The safe zone wasn’t expanding but moving northward.

Plus, though we noticed late because it was moving north, contrary to my words, the safe zone was gradually shrinking.

We hadn’t noticed at first because it was moving faster than it was shrinking.

“No way, is this guy crazy? Don’t tell me he moved the holy artifact?”

The safe zone had to shrink since the holy artifact that should be fixed was moving.

As the safe zone shrank and holy power gathered in one place, the holy power inside the safe zone would temporarily become stronger.

That’s why the octopus monster retreated.

But the effect would be temporary.

Once moved, the holy artifact’s effect would gradually diminish until all holy power disappeared.

It needed to stop before then.

“If the holy artifact that shouldn’t move is moving, there can only be one reason.”

Only one person could move the holy artifact while maintaining holy power.

In a time like this, there could only be one reason why he would move with the holy artifact.

Plus, seeing it coming north, his target was clearly the underground passage.

“To run away at a time like this…”

I couldn’t help but sigh.

He should have just stayed cooped up in the memorial hall, but to think of running away even from there.

It seems quite some time has passed since I last executed a soldier for deserting during war,

Looks like this time I’ll have to show him where to go.