Chapter 33: Crazy Saintess Strategy (4)

“When I came to, I was locked in a prison-like solitary call surrounded by stone walls on all sides.

My arms and legs were covered in the poison I had inhaled from the battle with the undead…

I was groaning in pain and my body gradually died.

After a while, the warlocks brought me a box and told me that it contained the arm of the Griffin King and to take it to the palace.”

“So…

what did you do?”

“He really let me go.

So I moved day and night, thinking that I had to quickly inform the sect and the royal palace of this fact.

And when I arrived at the royal palace, the poison had already spread throughout my body and there was nothing I could do about it.

I’m going to die, but I have no regrets because I arrived at the royal palace as soon as possible and informed them of this fact.”

AlberOrha finished speaking, then closed his eyes for a moment to collect his thoughts.

It might be difficult to talk because your condition is not good right now, but…

Could you explain in as much detail as possible the power of the former Saint LeaForte that you saw back then, the composition and number of your troops, and the structure you saw when you left the solitary cell when you last opened your eyes?”

“Of course.

That….would be helpful.

I’ll tell you as much as I can remember.”

At Yooseong’s request, Orha began to explain in a labored voice the things that had been coming to his mind for a long time.

As he continued to speak, his voice lost strength and became quieter.

Yooseong, who had memorized each and everything in his head until he finished speaking, stood up from his seat and opened his mouth when the entire conversation was over.

“That’s enough.”

“Is that so?”

“But in the case of a body infected with the poison…

it might be possible to revive it by transplanting artificial skin and organs.

But I’ll have to give up on about half of them.”

Orha shook his head at Yooseong’s question of whether he would consider receiving treatment.

“What’s the point of living like that?

Besides, I’ve already lost my reason for living…

I’ve lived my entire life according to the will of the goddess.

The moment I saw the fallen traitor LeaForte using her divine power…

a slight doubt about the goddess welled up inside.”

Orha and the heretic inquisitors were greatly shocked by the sight of LeaForte, who had abandoned the goddess, using the divine power, the sacred energy bestowed by the goddess.

No, it would have been a sight that would have shocked any teacher of the goddess cult.

According to the doctrine of the goddess cult, the goddess always watches over her followers and grants divine power to those who are righteous.

The fact that the fallen and traitorous former saint LeaForte was using divine power meant that the doctrine was wrong.

Ordinary people would have just thought that the doctrine was wrong and let it slide.

But for the teachers of the goddess cult, the doctrine was absolute and could never be wrong.

Especially for the heretic inquisitors who considered the doctrine as their life’s belief and whose faith was so extreme that it bordered on madness, that scene was an event that would have made them lose their identity.

That’s why the old members of the goddess cult…

The raccoons must have tried to secure this person as well.

It would be very troublesome if it became known.

Although it may not have been as much as the Heretic Inquisitors, if the news spread that the fallen saint freely manipulated divine power, it was likely to cause distrust among the priests of the Goddess Church.

The Goddess Church must have tried to secure his identity somehow.

Queen Elena tried to stop him, but if he had been caught, this person might have already been dead.

“I’m a little tired.”

“Please rest.”

With Orha’s last words, Yooseong bowed his head once and left the room.

The first thing Yooseong did after meeting Orha was…

“Hoyeon.

It seems like this master has important work to do.

Could you wait with the queen for a moment?”

“Yes Master!

I can wait!”

Watching Hoyeon answer with a lively face, Yooseong hid his feelings of pity and bent down to pat her head with a smile.

He felt uneasy about leaving her behind in an unfamiliar place like Wangseong after making her wait for two whole years.

I have to make sure to take care of her when I return.

“She’s a cute child.

Is she your daughter?”

“Not a daughter…

No.

Hoyeon is my disciple.

Please take care of her while I return, Your Majesty.”

“Of course I will take care of her as if she were my own daughter.

So please take care of your husband.”

Yooseong returned to his room, leaving Elena behind, who was waving her hand while sitting Hoyeon on her lap.

Thud.

He put the cube he had brought from the base down on the table in his room and started thinking of a concrete plan to save his friend Seyeon.

“The Demon King.

The Saint…

When I heard Orha’s story, Seyeon and the Demon King were not able to use much force against LeaForte, who wielded the power of the Demon King.

Even though the Demon King Claire used the power of the Goddess.

Because of this, I had no choice but to revise my idea that the Demon King was on the same level as the Demon King.

“No…

Is it because LeaForte wields the power of the Demon King?”

The combination of LeaForte and the Demon King was not an addition but a multiplication.

On top of that, the magic and sorcery of the Necronomicon are troublesome.

Since the Demon King himself was considered the best among the demon-type summons, it was highly likely that he would be able to use the magic of the Necronomicon as well.

“Well.

It’s difficult to deal with.”

If it was simply a physically strong opponent, I would have some confidence.

Like sending Thor, the giant god of the other world, down with a single gravity bomb.

If it was simply a strong and large body, I could easily grind them down and turn them into dust with the firepower of the heavy weapons I had.

However, if the opponent is specialized in sorcery or magic, or uses unknown abilities, simple firepower will not be enough to eliminate them.

If I can’t kill them even if I kill them, I might end up getting hurt instead.

The most dangerous situation is when they are revived after being blown away by firepower.

Based on the party’s standards, Yooseong was in the sniper position.

Of course, that doesn’t mean he can’t fight in close combat.

In the full armor mode of the Titan Armor, he could deal with a Grandmaster-level drone.

The problem is that if the enemy has power that surpasses the equipment, close combat is no different from suicide.

Only after the suit is destroyed does Yooseong become nothing more than an ordinary person.

“We need a wizard.”

Yooseong himself had extensive knowledge of magic, but it was in the field of magical engineering.

Just as an employee at a gun factory is different from a master marksman, he needed an expert in actual combat magic.

And since the opponent was an opponent, he needed a high-circle wizard.

There were two ways he could think of.

One was to ask for help from the so-called Magic Kingdom of Makina.

If we only consider the level of magicians, it was the best country on the continent.

Moreover, considering that the king of another country had been kidnapped within their own country, it was natural for them to cooperate for diplomatic reasons.

“But you little bastards…

They’ll just delay it because it’s annoying.”

If Seyeon, the king of another country, had died within Makina, it could have led to a war between the two countries, but the elves of Makina were not the kind of race that would think about such things.

They were extremely pure-blooded and considered everyone except pure-blooded elves to be inferior races.

Since it was a problem that had occurred in their own country, they would say that our race would solve it.

But they would not be the kind of race that would save Seyeon.

They wouldn’t make it a top priority.

Even if they stalled and Seyeon died, there was a very high chance that they would shamelessly say, “The king of a lower race died, so what?”

“Except for Makina.

Then I’ll have to ask the royal palace for the wizard.

They’re going to rescue their king, so they’ll support the wizards…

Then next…”

Let’s say that Yooseong had decided on the positions of the wizards who would cast spells and sorcery or see through them.

Next, he felt the need for a close-range combatant who would act in his stead while sniping from afar.

In fact, if you think about the situation where a warrior, a grandmaster-level combatant, could barely hold out, there was only one combatant near Yooseong who could act in front.

There’s nothing we can do for a moment.

Yooseong put the cube back in his pocket and left his room.

Thud.. thud.

The place Yooseong was heading to was within the royal palace.

“One thousand one- Whack- two-“Swish-It…

The training grounds exclusively for the knight commanders.

He could hear a confident shout.

It was not a man’s voice.

“Thousand threat!”

With each step he took, the owner of the voice got closer.

After thinking…

As he got closer to the training grounds, he could hear a confident shout.

“One thousand five…”

The back of her wearing half armor that was a mixture of cloth and metal and waving a silver ponytail.

In the middle of the training grounds with neatly arranged green grass.

“One thousand five…”

There was a woman swinging an iron sword for training alone.

“Didn’t I tell you not to come here while I’m training?”

The woman, who was about to lower her sword, quickly turned around with a stern expression at the end of her words as she let out a listless voice.

The woman with her purple eye wide open, as if a dead person had returned.

That’s right.

SylviaSylvester.

“Why are you here…”

“I need help with something.”

As he stepped forward to talk to Sylvia, she stumbled back, speaking with a flustered face.

“Ah…

Oh…

Don’t come here, Yooseong.”

“Why?”

“W…

Wait!

Yooseong!

I’m training right now!”

When they were training before, Sylvia, who would sweat nonchalantly every day and stay by his side, now waved her hands and said, “It’s a bit much to come near me while sweating.”

As she said that, Yooseong took a step forward, and Sylvia turned her head to the side as if embarrassed.

“You still haven’t fixed your eyes?”

Yooseong frowned as he looked at Sylvia’s rose patch that she was still wearing.

“I fixed it…

I fixed it…

but I’m still used to wearing it.

That’s why I’m wearing it.”

“That’s fortunate.”

“Huh?”

When Yooseong said “fortunately” because he had fixed his eyes, Sylvia opened her eyes wide and made a surprised expression once again.

Was Yooseong worried about her getting better?

The thought crossed her mind, and she recalled Yooseong saying “I liked you” a while ago.

Maybe…

A feeling of anticipation rose deep in her heart, and when she saw Yooseong, “SylviaSylvester, we promised in Delhi, right?

To go back and help Seyeon.”

“Ah…

I’m sure I did.”

“Then…

Will you join us in saving Seyeon?”

However, Yooseong’s “fortunately” literally meant that there was no loss of power.

Sylvia, who realized what he meant, let out a small sigh at her own misunderstanding, and then opened her mouth when she saw Yooseong.

“I’ll help you as much as I can, Yooseong.”

For Sylvia, this was a chance to be close to Yooseong in a situation where she couldn’t meet him, so she had no reason to refuse.

That’s how she recruited SylviaSylvester, Grandmaster-level Weapon Master, as a close-quarters combatant.

“Master!

I’m here.”

Soon after, the wizard that the palace had requested also arrived.

“What…

why are you coming?”

“Yooseong said he needed a wizard, so I volunteered.

I came because I wanted to help you!

Yeah, yeah.”

“I don’t mind other wizards either.”

“Besides, I’m the palace’s great wizard, and I pride myself on my skill…

and I thought it was only natural for me to go save the king.”

Watching Karen, who had only ever run away as a palace wizard, make such excuses, Yooseong looked at Karen with a dumbfounded expression.

He had simply asked her to send a suitable high-ranking wizard, and KarenRedleaf came running out of nowhere.

Karen must have made sure that other magicians wouldn’t apply, and in the world of magicians where the Circle is a gangster group, no one would have applied.

“The upper echelon of the royal family must have accepted it well since an Archmage, former member of the warrior party, applied.

Yooseong probably didn’t consider the relationship between himself and the former members of the warrior party at all.”

“Umm…

can…

not?”

Karen asked with a pitiful expression, though not at all pitiful.

“Well…

guess there’s nothing more perfect for a magician.”

“Th…

thank you, Yooseong.”

Yooseong ended up including Karen in the rescue operation to Seyeon, following Sylvia.

It wasn’t that his feelings for the two former party members had died down, but rather that he reluctantly accepted the two most efficient people in each position because he was careful to use everything he could in battle and operations.

***

Two warps using Karen’s teleportation magic.

In order to prepare for any magical traps that might be present, they warped once at the entrance of Makina, carefully checked for any trap magic, and then warped again to the outskirts of Hayden City.

Jing-thud.

As soon as he got out of the aftereffects of the teleportation, Yooseong threw a red cube and summoned a giant satellite drone.

“Cast a spell of invisibility.”

“Ah…

yes.”

Swoosh-

Karen made the satellite drone transparent and launched it into the sky over Hayden City.

Yooseong began equipping the controller gauntlet of the satellite drone and generating a hologram screen.

“Search for living creatures in the current city.”

“Would you like to set a detailed classification?”

“Aminoids, humans.”

[Aminoids: We will begin the search for humans.]

Beep-

A mechanical sound rings and three blue dots appear on the map of Hayden City transmitted to the prosthetic eye.

The dots represent Yooseong and the two party members.

Beep-

And in addition to that, red dots representing humans begin to appear.

“Wait, what is this?”

“Huh?

Yooseong, why?”

“What’s going on?

Yooseong?”

The two people next to him asked, seeing Yooseong’s bewildered expression.

“We found Seyeon’s location.”

It was exactly as he said.

They found a place where Seyeon might be.

The reason they were bewildered was because the purpose of this search was not to find Seyeon.

I was just trying to check where the people in Hayden City were located, but I found where Seyeon was.

‘No, this city…

there are people in only one place and the rest are all empty?”

The red dots were completely overlapping and crowded in one small place.

Other than that, 30% of the city was empty.

In other words, it was a ghost town.

“KarenRedleaf, I’ll mark the coordinates, so open the teleport gate here.”

“Yeah!

And you can just call me Karen…”

As long as Seyeon was alive, Seyeon would be where the red dots were.

Yooseong asked Karen to open the teleport gate near the point where the red dots were…

After zooming in, he saw a tall castle standing there.

Swish.

Yooseong, Sylvia, and Karen moved to the mountain behind the castle.

Swish-

“Yooseong!

There’s someone.”

Sylvia immediately pulled out her sword and shouted.

Yooseong, who turned his gaze to where Sylvia was looking, narrowed his eyes as he looked at the dark space between the trees, unable to see anything.

However, Sylvia was a Grandmaster-level warrior.

Thinking that her senses couldn’t be wrong, he immediately positioned his body to respond.

Thud…

thud…

thud…

thud.

At that moment, a figure appeared from the darkness.

“Welcome to Hayden, strangers.”

An old man with an unusually long black beard appeared, tapping the ground with his cane.

“Who are you?”

The one who reacted to the old man was Karen.

“The black magic tower lord.

Granil?”

“You recognize me.

Well, from the magic I feel now…

an archmage from the Griffin Kingdom.

He must be a wizard from the warrior party.”

“Yooseong!

That person is the leader of the black magicians.”

Karen shouted while glaring at the old man, and Yooseong also looked at the old man with wary eyes.

He had already heard that the black magicians and necromancers were gathered under LeaForte.

The thought crossed his mind that the old man in front of him right now could only be an enemy.

However, the reason he appeared alone is unknown.

Did he come alone…

or with others?

Judging from the fact that he appeared as if he had expected it, his thoughts were more inclined towards the latter.

Anyway, if he’s already been found out…

“The leader of the black magicians discovered us…

I can understand that those inside the castle already know, right?”

While asking the question, Yooseong made a hand gesture toward Sylvia from a direction that Granil’s gaze did not reach.

It was a sign language they had decided on when it was difficult to convey opinions in the noisy battles of the warrior party’s journey.

Attack.

Sylvia, who saw the sign language that meant that, gripped the handle of her sword tightly and tensed her leg muscles.

“If you kill me, everyone in the castle will know.”

The next moment, the words that came out of Granil’s mouth stopped his actions.

“What do you mean?”

“I used detection distortion magic.

Detection distortion magic.

It is magic that distorts magic used to monitor something.

The principle is simple, but in order to use distortion magic, you must have overwhelming magical power over your opponent, or you must know the spell circle used when using the magic.

If KarenRedleaf could not detect the exploration magic, Granil, who could not reach Archmage, would not have been able to do it with his skills.

“It’s a lie.”

No matter how much he thought about it, Yooseong couldn’t think of a reason why Granil would use distortion magic to hide them, so he put his hand in his pocket and tried to take out his suit while glaring at Granil.

“You don’t trust me.

I guess so.

Then how about this?

I swear on my circle that I have never lied to you.”

Woof.

At Granil’s declaration, the mana around him vibrated for a moment and then subsided.

“That person’s circle just resonated with magic and then subsided.

He probably really swore on his own magic.”

Yooseong let go of the cube at the explanation of the Archmage Karen.

If Granil’s words were true, then if he were to kill Granil, then this time, their location would be discovered by those in the castle.

“I intend to cooperate with you.”

“Why?”

“You’re using one book to trick warlocks and necromancers into thinking of them as your disposable tools.

Get that wicked woman out!”

Granil the Black Tower Lord shouted venomously, his voice mixed with anger as if his emotions had built up over time.

By wicked woman, he seemed to be referring to Saint LeaForte.

“I heard that the warlocks and necromancers want the sorcery and magic of the Necronomicon that the saint possesses.”

When Yooseong changed his speech from informal to formal, he asked.

“It will certainly help!

But it doesn’t mean that you won’t reach the truth just because you don’t have it.

Those who are meant to reach the truth will eventually do so.

Even if you don’t have a single book like that.”

“This person.

Even though he’s a warlock, he really is a proper wizard.”

When Yooseong sent him an admiring gaze, Granil coughed in vain and spoke again in a slightly depressed voice.

“In fact, they already knew that I was trying to betray them.

Even if I go back like this, the situation won’t be good.

I was the one who was going to make contact with the Goddess Cult, but I was caught by the saintess and the necromancer went instead, and the disciples below me died when the tail was cut.

But if things continue like this, I will be killed soon.”

“Are you saying that it’s over if we don’t accept you?”

“Hmm…

that’s right.”

The heretic inquisitor who reported to Orha was not wrong.

There really were warlocks who were dissatisfied with the saintess, but they were caught and executed by LeaForte.

“Very well.

Let’s cooperate.

I will help as much as I can.”

That is how the warlock Granil, who knew the internal situation well, joined the party to rescue Seyeon.