Chapter 316: Breakdown and Repair (4)

Within the Sanctuary of the Altar, located in the Land of Destruction, a multitude of people gathered. Though no structures stood above ground, a diverse collection of humanity had converged deep within its subterranean depths where I observed their varied faces.

"The followers are numerous," I said.

The Sanctuary bustled like a village. Adults, elders, youths, children, women, and men—regardless of age or gender—were leading their own and their families’ lives beneath the already extinct land.

"Yes, what do you think?" Quay asked. "Do they seem unfortunate?"

I shook my head. The children here played energetically, their parents watched with contentment, and the elders passed on their wisdom, while smiles graced all their faces—a sight far removed from misfortune or brainwashing.

"For it is entirely otherwise, and thus, I do not understand you, who seek to kill them all."

"I am not killing them. I will preserve the souls of the followers. In my next world, they will be with me."

Quay lightly waved his hand, and the space was inverted, becoming once more the surface of the Land of Destruction.

"Then are we a temporary alliance?" Quay added, smiling up at me from the forsaken land overflowing with demonic energy.

"... It is merely cooperation based on necessity."

"Yes, at this point, I, too, am growing curious. If you really are the being God arranged for me," Quay replied, nodding and extending his hand.

Without a word, I took Quay's hand.

"When will you start repairing the lighthouse?" Quay asked.

"Right now," I replied, looking back at the lighthouse.

***

"Will it be alright?" asked one of Quay's confidants, speaking from the Land of Destruction as the morning sun broke.

"What do you mean?" Quay replied with a smile.

"I am speaking of that man," Quay's confidant said, pointing to the lighthouse—more precisely, glaring at Deculein by the lighthouse. "I find him very suspicious."

Deculein was inscribing a magic circle with Wood Steel while renovating the lighthouse, and his

Telekinesis

had already dismantled part of the lighthouse in an instant. Its remnants floated in the air for a moment, and as a result, the lighthouse looked gaunt, as if it had been gnawed by a rodent or was missing its teeth.

"That man seems to be intentionally trying to collapse the lighthouse."

"There is no need for doubt," Quay replied, shaking his head. "To my eyes, it is visible. The lighthouse is being correctly reconstructed."

“Yes.”

Quay’s confidant held no doubt, for to them, Quay’s words were both law and faith itself.

"... Now, go and deliver the revelation," Quay said, a smile on his lips.

"Yes," Quay's confidant replied, then thereupon made his leave.

Quay silently watched his confidant’s back as he walked away, before turning his attention back to Deculein.

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Whooooooosh...

The mana emanating from Deculein—and his

Telekinesis

that had been dismantling the lighthouse floor by floor—finally completely deconstructed the entire lighthouse.

Screech— Screeeeech—

It was a spectacle in its own right—the bricks of the lighthouse moving erratically by unseen magic, then reassembling from the beginning.

“Quay.”

At that moment, someone called Quay, and he turned to see it was Creáto.

"What is the reason the Professor is in this place...?"

Creáto, just about to question, saw the stony expanse in the distance, and his eyes rounded in surprise.

"We have formed a temporary alliance," Quay replied.

"What did you say?" Creáto said, his eyes hardening with disbelief as he stared at Quay.

"Deculein agreed to help only with the completion of the lighthouse."

“Does that mean...”

"Yes, Deculein betrayed Sophien."

Then, addressing Creáto, who was at a loss for words, reassuring him not to worry too much and to stay by his side, Quay continued, “Deculein will betray Sophien, all for Sophien.”

***

... By its very definition, the Courier was a being that delivered. It could deliver something to someone, or even someone to somewhere, which made it an annoying presence in-game—constantly banishing players to entirely different fields whenever they tried to do anything.

"This is... the Sanctuary, isn't it?" Ria said.

The Sanctuary was evident at a glance, for it was the Altar’s stronghold, stirring beneath a land of death where not a blade of grass nor a single flower could grow.

"The Sanctuary, you say?" Yulie replied, covering her mouth with her sleeve, for the air was thick.

"Yes, this is the Altar's stronghold."

Yulie's eyes widened as she immediately gripped the sword at her waist, but Ria, Leo, and Carlos hurriedly held her back.

"It's alright. It's not a place where people kill each other as soon as they see one another. Rather, the outside is dangerous, while the inside is safe," Ria continued.

"... Is that really possible?"

"Yes. Even if they are cultists, they are followers. Just make sure to cover your face."

“Yes.”

The four individuals pulled their robe hoods up.

"Anyway, it seems the Altar is just kidnapping people with Couriers. Should we walk for now?" Ria asked.

Yulie nodded with a reluctant expression.

"Leo, Carlos. You as well."

“Alright.”

“Okay.”

The four individuals moved their legs, and, as Ria had said, no immediately threatening situation occurred, while the landscape of the Altar's stronghold remained peaceful—a normal place where people lived.

"Are they really the Altar... who caused that chaos on the continent?"

"Yes. If it were a religion that practiced tyranny, it would be easier to deal with. That's why it's more difficult and challenging."

This was precisely why the final boss indeed lived up to its name. At times, the followers of this place appeared even more harmless and innocuous than the humans of the continent—a prime example being the New Church's suppression.

Probably, even now, the New Church is killing the Altar's followers indiscriminately, inflicting upon them the most painful torture rather than merely cutting off their breath,

Ria thought.

"Right, right. Can't we all just live well together?" Leo said.

"If everyone were as dumb as you, we could all live well together," Carlos replied.

“What did you just say?!”

Ria, for a moment, paid no mind to Leo and Carlos, who were arguing amongst themselves.

"

Oh...

" Yulie murmured, nodding with a slightly complex expression, and she couldn't help but find herself glancing at Ria.

"... Is it because I resemble her? Yuara, that you speak of?" Ria said, chuckling as she sensed Yulie's stare.

“Yes...

Argh.

”

At that moment, a pang of pain struck Yulie's temple—a stinging and piercing sensation, like being stabbed with an awl.

"... What is wrong?" Ria asked, her brow furrowing in worry.

"... It is nothing. However, you really do resemble Chairman Deculein's former fiancée," Yulie replied, a bitter smile on her lips as she shook her head.

"Do you know her well?"

"I have seen her face but a single time."

"Then that must have been a really long time ago," Ria said as she walked.

Ria was already aware that this knight was Yulie, though of course Yulie would be unaware of the fact that Ria knew Yurie was Yulie.

"

Oh

, yes... Anyhow, that memory is very vivid," Yulie replied, looking at Ria's face again. "You really do resemble her."

"That applies to you as well, Knight Yurie. You resemble his former fiancée too. Haven’t you heard that before?"

And now, it was Ria's turn.

"... Pardon?" Yulie said, her body giving a visible start and trembling.

"There are two of them, you know, Deculein's former fiancées. Among them, you really resemble the knight named Yulie," Ria said, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.

Yulie remained silent.

"Count Yukline really liked her very much, you know."

"...

Ahem

, is that so?" Yulie said, clearing her throat.

Of course, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about the old relationship between Deculein and me,

Yulie thought.

"Yes, but in reality, Knight Yulie only suffered a lot because of Deculein," Ria continued in a calm voice. "Because of that, Knight Yulie lost her dreams, her body was harmed, and in the end, she gave up on herself."

Yulie’s future was set, and Deculein’s was no different, because they were antithetically opposing existences.

It was, by definition, relational programming.

“What do you mean by giving up on herself...?”

If Deculein, like his original game counterpart, were to corner Yulie to her absolute limits, he would ultimately be killed by Yulie's blade, thereby transforming Yulie into a murderer and relegating her to someone incapable of becoming a knight—one who kills solely out of personal emotion, not for a greater cause.

"It's already like that now, you see."

However, if the current Deculein—that was Deculein influenced by Kim Woo-Jin's personality—were to treat Yulie with nothing but love...

"Knight Yulie is actually pretty much dead already."

Yulie eventually surrendered her own being, sacrificing ten years of her life for Deculein, and, as he desired, she merely continued to live in this manner, unaware even of her own death.

"Therefore," Ria continued, looking at Yulie, "for their mutual good, it is right that Knight Yulie and Deculein have become distant, as they have."

At those words, Yulie's expression slightly hardened, Ria released a sigh, and by then, Leo and Carlos were bickering almost to the point of fighting.

At that moment...

"

Oh?!

" Yulie murmured, pointing somewhere.

"What is it?" Ria asked, following Yulie's finger, as they saw a giant presence in a robe. "

Wow

, he's really big."

Ria muttered as if it were of no consequence, but Yulie was not so unconcerned, for such a physique and shoulders as broad as the ocean were not common, and even unarmored, that body—more threatening than any other—was practically a family tradition.

“That is Zeit.”

Zeit von Bluegang Freyden—head of the Freyden family and Yulie’s older brother—was present here.

At that moment, Ria's face stiffened, and upon the appearance of Zeit, the continent's strongest, Carlos and Leo stopped their squabbling.

"Okay. First, let's follow him to see why he came here," Ria replied.

"It's probably because of Freyden," Yulie said to Ria, gritting her teeth and, for some reason, looking at Zeit's broad back with sympathetic eyes. "... Freyden is freezing. Zeit has come here to find a solution to that."

Well,

Ria thought, nodding.

Zeit is a person who only thinks of his house. If his house is in danger of ruin, he wouldn't care about religion or anything else.

"But, what does he plan to do by coming alone?"

"I believe I know," Yulie replied to Ria's question, pulling out her sword and wrapping her body in mana.

Zeit was Yulie's older brother, a blood relative who had remained close to her for many years.

Therefore...

“

Hsssssssssssss—

”

Without warning, at the sound of Zeit's intake of breath, Yulie took a step forward, but it was already past the opportune moment.

“Attend—!”

A deafening roar shook the Altar from underground to the surface, too violent to be a human cry because it was, after all, the roar of a beast.

"You damnable fragments of religion—!"

“

Wow. Wow, wow.

”

Carlos and Leo uttered exclamations of wonder at that formidable appearance, but Yulie pressed her lips together.

"As the Ice Age of Freyden, which you dared to prophesy, has become reality!"

Zeit, at this moment, was alone in this place.

No matter what, Zeit alone wouldn’t be able to...

"Zeit, the Winter King, has, in his own terrible glory, set his foot upon this very ground—!"

Booooooooom—!

Zeit struck the ground with the flat of his sword, and the massive blade—roughly the size of a grown man—carved cracks into the surface, triggering a tremendous earthquake.

"You, the undisciplined priests of the Altar, hasten to my presence and bring forth a resolution."

At Zeit’s lethal tone, which settled low and was brimming with maddening hostility, all eyes in the Altar turned to him.

“My patience, I warn you, will not stretch indefinitely...”

The moment Zeit stopped speaking, mana like hoarfrost covered his entire body and the ground beneath his feet caved in, marking the very moment when Yulie was to step forth.

“Please stop.”

At Yulie's sudden intervention and the sound of her voice, Zeit's broad shoulders gave a small twitch, and just as Yulie had recognized Zeit at first sight, Zeit, too, had recognized Yulie by her voice alone.

Thud.

Zeit turned a weighty step, and though he looked at Yulie, he offered no word.

Even before Yulie could call out Lord Zeit, a cold voice—coming before hers—had already cut through the Sanctuary of the Altar.

"You must be Zeit?"

It descended as if cleaving the air, presenting a weighty threat, and the four individuals, almost instinctively, looked up at it.

"... Is it you, then, who holds command?" Zeit replied, growling his words.

Though he was a man unknown by name to Yulie, Ria recognized him immediately—the final boss—Quay.

"Yes," Quay said, nodding.

Then, the eyes of Zeit and Quay met, and Zeit immediately charged mana throughout his entire body, with aura and sword qi surging like a blazing inferno.

However, in this tense situation, Ria's senses were inexplicably drawn elsewhere, pointing to someone within the Altar's crowd.

“That’s...”

He was a stranger draped in a black robe, his face entirely hidden from view, yet Ria, for some reason, felt she knew who he was—no, she could know.

It was Deculein.

The Chairman, who should be in the Mage Tower—no, the Imperial Palace—why is he in this place...?

Ria thought.

"Coming without notice, the commotion is too uproarious. If you had announced your arrival, I would have welcomed you," Quay said, offering a smile.

Zeit gave a chuckle, then tore up the ground and hurled the entire slab at Quay, but as for how Quay responded next... Ria frankly could not tell.

Because my eyes weren't there,

Ria thought.

"... But why on earth?" Ria muttered.

For Ria's eyes were now concentrated on one place, no—on one person—Deculein, standing in the middle of the Altar.