Chapter 940: Anathema (14)
“A new Priestess of the Cult……”
So, the Priestess of the Cult, who inherited the Naydree name and became the new high priest, was herself in the satellite city?
“It’s been a while since she became the Priestess, but she started her external activities very late.”
Ureka, who was absentmindedly digging in her ear, blew on her finger and spoke.
“After the previous Priestess died from Jinwa’s curse, it took some time to deal with the absence of authority that arose both inside and outside the Cult.”
“……”
“I chopped off the necks of all the useless officials spouting nonsense and fed their bodies to the Apostles. And what do you know?”
Ureka smiled chillingly.
“I was able to put leashes on these poor martyrs who had become useless even in the Pantheon.”
I knew that the personality and power of the Priestesses, passed down through generations, varied slightly with each successor.
Even so, to think she would execute her own followers and use their corpses as food for the Apostles to awaken their abilities.
The new Priestess seemed to possess a cruel disposition incomparable to her predecessor, who had been active until now.
“But I admit that even doing this barely made up for the initial investment. Originally, I planned to kill two or three while Anathema finished the ritual……”
Ureka’s eyes narrowed as she gazed across the tumultuous desert towards the satellite city where lightning flashed.
“In the end, things turned out this way. I don’t like it.”
“Kiriya, step back.”
At that moment, a sharp flash of sword light gleamed diagonally, and Habaek descended before the Priestess.
A divine skill so fast that even the other superhumans watching could barely perceive it, appearing as if tearing space between sword slashes.
The blind swordsman, who had instantly bypassed the guard of the other bowing Apostles, turned towards the Priestess and gripped his sword.
Kagagagak!!
Dozens of flashes of sword light danced between the Priestess and Habaek, scattering dazzling brilliance.
Habaek, whose drawing of the sword was barely visible, and the Priestess, who faced him with a long stone staff.
“Kya ha ha ha!!! Want to have a go?!”
Surprisingly, despite wearing a flowing ceremonial robe, the Priestess met Habaek’s sword attacks head-on, continuing their exchange.
Standing on the head of a leopard, she rotated her body as if dancing, wielding the stone staff in her hand like a spear.
A heavy shockwave erupted, neutralizing and deflecting Habaek’s sword attack.
Kwaaaang!!
Just as she tried to slot her staff into the blurring blade and seize it.
The furiously vibrating blade accelerated, sliding past the staff and piercing the Priestess’s shoulder.
Puk!!
Habaek’s blade, which seemed to split time to accelerate, tipping the balance of the evenly matched exchange.
And the Priestess’s counter, twisting the trajectory of the blade aiming for her heart to take it in her shoulder.
However, not a single drop of blood emerged from the pierced blade, nor was there any pain in the Priestess’s expression.
Eujik!!
Only the pincer of a tentacled crayfish, bowing its head at the Priestess’s feet, exploded, scattering sticky fluid.
“If you want to face me, playing around with a Miniature Universe isn’t enough.”
Thumped her stone staff against the blade, the Priestess whispered.
“Do it properly, old man. Do you want to die here?”
“How could I?”
Habaek, with his blade pressed against the staff, laughed as he drew upon his magic.
“But it seems there are too many spectators for me to dance ugly on my own, don’t you think?”
At that moment, a metallic sphere with the corpse of a giant centipede attached to it rotated furiously from across the desert, approaching the Priestess.
[Azlan, be careful. This one commands mad Apostles at her will.]
Olinic, rotating the metallic sphere and massaging his shoulder, spoke.
[In terms of hierarchy, she’s a Tamer of Level 8 or higher. Considering the Pontiff’s protection, she might be even more. I will block the way here.]
“Ah, so he’s a metal-wielder. For someone with such a ridiculous appearance, he fights well.”
[Unfortunately, I wouldn’t taste good even if thrown to the Apostles as food.]
Olinic retorted slyly, not to be outdone.
[Please take care of the others first.]
“A boring joke. If you were one of my followers, I would have cut off your ankle right here.”
[…….]
Flap!!
Immediately after, an explosion roared from across the desert, and enormous black wings soared up.
The spread wings were so vast that the being who unfurled them was barely visible.
As the skeletal wings, with bones exposed, flapped, hundreds of feathers scattered across the desert sky.
A wave of black light spread out like a circular ring, pressing down on the Apostles bowing at the Priestess’s feet.
Ureka too smiled, seemingly having sensed the opponent’s presence instantly.
“An Arbitrator Clan member, I see.”
Kiggigigigik!!!
An immense pressure, enough to instantly burst the head of the eye-leopard the Priestess was riding.
However, Ureka Naydree’s body, standing atop its head, remained unscratched.
As the leopard, its head crushed and brains oozing, knelt and collapsed on the spot.
A black-haired, red-eyed man descended from the sky and landed on the desert sand.
Boom!!
“Slain……!!”
Peshia snarled, twisting her lips in annoyance as she called his name.
Ureka, too, seemed to have long sensed Slain’s presence, displaying a languid smile.
“Annoying. This is why I don’t like fighting non-humans. No matter what you do, they always mess up the fight.”
“Azlan. Grisbern.”
Slain, who had instantly folded and dispelled the black wings spread above his head, ignored Ureka and turned his gaze.
“You were alive. Did Adamant Thunder take care of Anathema?”
“You piece of trash……!!!”
Peshia growled, spewing expletives.
“Why are you talking like it’s someone else’s business when you instigated Anathema’s manifestation!!!”
“It’s a meaningless point, given the Cult Priestess’s intervention.”
Slain spoke, deflecting Peshia’s killing intent without batting an eye.
“Even considering that Anathema’s manifestation was pre-planned, the Apostle Transformation progressed abnormally fast.”
“What?”
“I wondered how the exiled Anathema had completed the Apostle selection ritual beforehand, and the answer was right in front of me.”
In his crimson glowing eyes, the Priestess’s mocking expression was clearly captured.
“I never imagined the Cult Priestess herself would come directly to the satellite city to perform the selection ritual on his behalf.”
“Why, scared?”
“I heard rumors that the new Priestess is far more hardline than her predecessor, but don’t you think this incident is excessively reckless?”
Slain slowly relaxed his shoulders and asked.
“If it becomes known that the Cult’s highest priest is not at the main temple, there won’t be just one or two branches immediately attacked.”
“Doesn’t matter. What I need is authority, not talent.”
“……What do you mean?”
“When that person chooses a voice, they desire the talent most necessary for the Cult at that time.”
Ureka sneered.
“Killing unbelievers who don’t follow the doctrine, cutting off the heads of defiant followers, and commanding transformed Apostles to reach the ultimate conclusion.”
Kwaaaaaang!!!
Ureka, with Olinic, Habaek, and the colossal superhuman at her back, who were approaching from afar, spread her arms wide.
“It’s as good as saying that everything I do is necessary for the Cult, so what’s there to hesitate about?”
“……”
The Priestess, her eyes narrowed, looked at the humans and spoke.
“If you understand, then get lost. I have too many things to do besides dealing with unbelievers.”
“……That is a statement I cannot comprehend.”
The Guileless adjusted his spear with a strange expression.
Clank!!
“If the goal was to buy time for Anathema’s corruption, then there’s no longer any business in Etanoc.”
“I have been preparing for this plan for a very long time.”
The Priestess’s expression, as she said that, was twisted as if she was in a very bad mood.
“I don’t like how it ended, but if that person wishes it, I have no choice but to follow, do I?”
“……”
The Priestess had no intention of explaining her purpose here. No, perhaps her purpose was never to restrain the other superhumans in the first place.
Realizing that, the Guileless immediately gripped his worn spear shaft anew.
“Then I can even less permit it. There will be a wizard over there, having just finished a battle, recuperating.”
“……”
“Pass through me first. At least for the Magic Tower Lord’s safety, I must respond until the very end—”
[Azlan.]
Lennok’s telepathic message resonated in the Guileless’s ear, and his hand froze.
The other superhumans, who were naturally trying to widen the distance, also lifted their gaze upon hearing Lennok’s words.
Lennok quietly spoke.
[Let her pass.]
Whoosh!!
Six-Harmony Telepathy, transmitting will by resonating the mana in the air.
Even the Priestess’s expression subtly shifted as she witnessed the skill, which was difficult to use even up close, being wielded across an entire city.
“Magic Tower Lord, but—”
[I’m acquainted with the Cult Priestess.]
Lennok laughed.
[I’d like to see what kind of person the next successor is.]
“……”
The atmosphere around them subtly changed at Lennok’s reply, as if he knew the Priestess well.
Since the one who killed Anathema couldn’t possibly be colluding with the Cult, it implied he had contact with the Priestess in some other way.
But the most surprising thing was that Ureka showed no particular reaction to Lennok’s somewhat disrespectful address to the Priestess.
“……”
Though she slightly tilted her head back at Lennok’s reply, she simply waited for an answer with an impassive face.
Those with keen eyes knew she was deliberately hiding her reaction, but they were not given long to observe.
With a murmur, the Guileless withdrew his spear, eventually clearing the way.
“Such good loyalty.”
Ureka, who had regenerated the leopard’s head and mounted it, looked back at the Guileless and smiled.
“It’s rare to find a dog that listens so well, even transcending hierarchy. I almost want to get one for the Cult’s main temple.”
“……Sir Anathema was a person of character who, even in the civil war that determined the city’s fate, thought of civilians first.”
The Guileless replied, eyes closed.
“It is merely unfortunate that such an excellent warrior made such a choice.”
“That’s the difference between us and you.”
The Priestess sneered.
“Anathema merely accepted that difference late. Do you still not understand that he was wise?”
“……”
The Priestess’s figure instantly flashed past the Guileless, disappearing beyond the ruins.
“Keep not understanding and pitying. It doesn’t matter now, does it?”
The other Apostles, who had been bowing their heads nearby, burrowed beneath the white sand and vanished.
Above the now silent desert, after the colossal monsters that filled Etanoc’s outskirts had instantly departed.
“A new Priestess of the Cult…… I truly don’t know what’s going on.”
Habaek slowly wiped the Apostle’s bodily fluid from his blade and sighed.
“Aside from Anathema deliberately colluding with the Cult, it seems there’s a secret beyond that at the summit.”
“That’s because you traitorous bastards never intended to truly fight the Cult from the start.”
Peshia leaned against a crumbling wall and scoffed.
Her gleaming gaze swept over the superhumans standing around.
“You claimed you were held back by the Priestess, but in truth, you never intended to face Anathema, did you?”
“……”
“You just waited for things to end, somehow, by casually dealing with the Apostles who had become pets. Am I wrong?”
They had said the Priestess declared a sanctuary outside the city and held them back with mindless Apostles.
But among those gathered here, was there truly anyone incapable of shaking off that pursuit?
[Hahaha, you’re not wrong.]
Kiriya folded her arms with an impassive face, and Olinic burst into laughter.
[But you must also understand. Even though it ended this way, wasn’t it a battle where it wouldn’t have been strange no matter who won?]
“What?”
[Anathema was a skilled warrior praised as a veteran even in civil war. He was even evaluated as unparalleled in large-scale superhuman battles.]
Olinic stroked the rotating sphere above his head like a chin and said.
[At the point Anathema, who had even contended with Gillian, became an Apostle, who could have made the judgment to ignore the Priestess and go to Adamant Thunder’s aid alone?]
“……”
[You should rather be grateful for Adamant Thunder’s excellence. He fought Anathema despite dragging a body barely able to walk, and ultimately even won……]
In Olinic’s voice, as he spoke, a faint, undeniable admiration was subtly present.
[Since this city was founded, I wonder if there’s been any talent as brilliant as that man even under adverse conditions. In that regard, I would dare say he surpasses Kaiser.]
“You’re, you’re kidding…… You son of a bitch, spouting such nonsense……!!”
Peshia’s expression contorted terribly, and just as she was about to gather her magic and stand up.
[No, you know it too.]
Olinic flicked his finger, instantly pressing down on Peshia’s body.
Kwaaaang!!
A technique that draws and condenses metallic sand from beneath the white sand, shaping it into a colossal bell and pressing it down.
The deflection, shaping, control, and manipulation of metal particles. All these processes are handled within a fragment of consciousness and constructed in reality.
Clearly, Olinic too was an extremely skilled spellcaster, so accustomed to battle that he breathed it.
[The reason you could unhesitatingly stake your life on Adamant Thunder in that all-or-nothing battle. You must feel it in your heart.]
Olinic said, looking at Peshia, who had long since exhausted all her energy and was struggling, unable to even stand up.
[There is also a trust that can only be gained by being directly defeated. I hope Cheonbeon is not like you.]
“Hah……!! Standing there with your hands behind your back, showing off……!!”
Peshia struggled under the bell, yet she managed a chilling laugh.
“Someday, when that wizard bastard gets torn apart by his own lightning…… let’s see if you still spout such nonsense.”
[If brute force alone were the standard of this world, Ban-gung would have long ago shattered the heavens and succeeded in ascension.]
Olinic turned his gaze, hands clasped behind his back.
At the end of his gaze, Slain stood, an impassive expression on his face, staring at the spot where the Priestess had vanished.
[However, I merely wish to see something different.]
Goooooo……!!
Early dawn. The sky had just begun to break.
As the temperature shifted, a cold wind blew, sweeping through the ruined areas near the satellite city, which were in disarray.
Acrid sand mixed with the wind, scattering, and the tingling afterimage of lightning ran across his skin, pricking his cheeks.
The presence of the 6th Apostle, Armas von Anathema, had completely vanished.
Even the lightning’s radiance, which had turned night into day, had scattered beyond the dawn sky.
Only the aftermath of the night’s fierce battle remained, revealing its intensity.
Through such ruined streets of the satellite city, Ureka Naydree walked alone.
Thud.
The leopard that had faithfully served her at her feet, and the Apostles who had moved with her, were nowhere to be seen.
She walked, using her long stone staff as a walking stick, her extravagant ceremonial robe fluttering in the wind.
But her face, which had been filled with sharp cynicism, was now impassive, as if all emotion had been erased.
As if she had forcibly suppressed the emotions boiling within her.
Thump!
The Priestess’s steps, as she walked through the heart of the ruins, halted before a wide hill split in two.
At the peak, where only traces remained, as if a colossal mountain had been struck by lightning and burned down.
A man sat with his head bowed.
“……”
Tangled hair. A dust-covered coat. Torn and bruised clothes.
A disheveled figure, sitting with his eyes closed, holding a half-smoked cigarette.
But the corpse of an Apostle, a grotesque mix of goat and human, slumped behind him, proved what had transpired here.
Kwooong!!
Upon the grotesquely mixed corpse, a gigantic lightning bolt, several meters long, was impaled, flashing intensely.
Scattering powerful lightning radiance as if a tombstone had been erected upon the Apostle’s corpse.
Crack, cra-cra-crack!!!!
Even after burning Anathema’s mind and body, the lightning that had settled on his body continued to blaze without fading.
A scene of utter savagery, where one’s magic was blatantly impaled and displayed upon the Apostle’s corpse like a monument.
“……”
Despite single-handedly subjugating the Cult’s highest-ranking Apostle, there were no significant injuries on his body.
Even after uprooting and burning a small city, the magic and will-thought flowing through his entire body showed no tremor.
Indeed, this must be the power of the Lightning Sorcerer, marked as a top-tier danger within the Cult.
The strength of a monster, considered closest to challenging ascension even among Level 8 Archwizards.
Even the Priestess could not easily approach, her expression contorted with unpleasantness under his overwhelming presence.
“Stand up, unbeliever.”
Thump!
As the Priestess lightly tapped her stone staff, Lennok slowly opened his eyes.
“Unbeliever, you say……”
Lennok, idly exhaling smoke and gazing at her face, gave a bitter laugh.
“This generation’s Priestess seems to have quite a coarse tongue.”
“Are you trying to pull rank because you knew the previous Priestess?”
Ureka let out a sharp laugh, her voice raspy.
“You killed his Apostle and now you’re conveniently sleepy. I’m not as soft as the other Priestesses.”
“……”
“But I’ll acknowledge your killer’s nature, to mercilessly kill Anathema despite knowing the meaning of his name.”
Looking at the Apostle’s corpse fallen behind Lennok, the Priestess asked mockingly.
“You might have missed an unprecedented opportunity, are you alright with that?”
“It doesn’t matter. Anathema didn’t exist in reality when the project failed.”
Lennok replied with an impassive face.
“It’s also hard to believe that Anathema, exiled from the central city, would know much. In the first place, there wasn’t much to hear from him. Rather, if you’re asking……”
Lennok pointed at the corpse behind him and laughed.
“Anathema’s value isn’t in him, but in this corpse, wouldn’t you say?”
“……”
The reason Olivera wanted Anathema’s body parts, not Anathema himself.
The reason the Priestess specifically came to this location where Anathema’s corpse was.
Lennok had surmised where Anathema’s value lay from the moment he discovered his secret.
That’s why, even after withdrawing Myriad Sands Divine Thunder, he didn’t carelessly touch the corpse, but rather defiantly impaled a lightning tombstone upon it, displaying it for all to see.
Leaving the Priestess, who remained silent with a chilling expression, Lennok slowly stood up.
“If that’s all you have to say, let’s walk. I’m quite tired from talking just now anyway.”
“Haha, you’re displaying Anathema’s corpse for all to see and you call that ‘just talking’?”
“……”
“If it weren’t for today’s events, we wouldn’t have met like this.”
Ureka gave Lennok a cold smile and immediately turned her back.
“Follow me. I’m going to declare a sanctuary to receive that person.”