Chapter 348

Noah's Ark.

The Ark had to be occupied to halt the momentum of the Voodoo Cult, which had achieved consecutive success in its battles. At the same time, it would sufficiently boost the morale of the Romanican Church. Noah’s Ark was the most suitable place for the final battle of the 'Last Knight Order.’

And Sun-Woo knew that.

"I am certain that the Pope will aim for Noah's Ark.”

The Noah's Ark was symbolic. It was a holy artifact created through the collaboration of the Voodoo Cult's Second Cult Leader, Do Myung-Jun, and Sung Yu-Da. In a sense, it was the first joint holy artifact between the Romanican Church and Voodoo Cult.

In any case, it was essentially a holy artifact, officially owned by the Romanican Church. The space where Noah's Ark was located was considered a sanctuary. It was the only space that could unite the will and beliefs of the Holy Army under the plausible pretext of 'recapturing the sanctuary.'

The Ark was also a keepsake of the Second Cult Leader, Do Myung-Jun, who had led the Voodoo Cult to its golden age. The Voodoo Cult could not easily give up Noah's Ark due to its symbolism to the cult and an important place that served as a training ground.

"The Cult Leader cannot avoid this fight. They will probably confront it head-on. There may not be another chance to target me, the Pope," Yu-Hyun said.

Above all, this battle was also the last opportunity for the Voodoo Cult to eliminate the Pope. Therefore, neither Voodoo Cult nor the Romanican Church could avoid the fight.

Yu-Hyun chose the Ark as the final battleground for these reasons.

"But we can’t find Noah's Ark. The mountains surrounding Noah's Ark are protected by a spell," Yu-Hyun said.

The problem was that a spell protected Noah's Ark. The only ones who knew the exact location of Noah's Ark were Sung Yu-Da, Sun-Woo, and the executives of the Voodoo Cult that Yu-Hyun did not know. With Sung Yu-Da's death and the betrayal of the Purification Clan members, the Romanican Holy Army had no way of locating the Ark.

"However, the Pope will find it no matter what. They must have a way to find it," Sun-Woo said.

Yu-Hyun had his unique eyes and strange power, which interfered with the divine power and blessings of others. In addition, if he used the numerous Berakat he possessed, he might be able to locate Noah's Ark.

A spell protected Noah's Ark, a holy artifact infused with spells cast by the Second Cult Leader, Do Myung-Jun. At the same time, it was also a holy artifact bestowed with divine power and a blessing from Sung Yu-Da.

Considering the power Yu-Hyun possessed, the Romanican Church would most likely be able to locate Noah's Ark.

"We will find Noah's Ark. But the Cult Leader won't just sit back and watch,” Yu-Hyun said

"To find Noah's Ark, that is, to remove the 'veil' of the spell surrounding Noah's Ark, the Pope must deploy some kind of blessing array,” Sun-Woo said.

“The Cult Leader will try to attack us while we cast the blessing array and prepare for miracle replication.”

“We will strike when the Pope deploys their blessing array, but they’re not just going to stay there.”

“We will retaliate against the Voodoo Cult's attack.”

“We have already conducted countless training sessions to prepare for that retaliation.”

Both parties knew each other well. Although they hadn’t been on good terms, they had faced each other at Florence Academy. They could see through each other's thoughts, strategies, and intentions. Predicting each other's thoughts made their fight even more unpredictable.

"We will win," the two leaders said in unison.

***

Chrrk!

The priests unleashed divine power. Following Yu-Hyun's instructions, they gathered in a circle and unleashed as much divine power as possible. Yu-Hyun and his six Head Guardians stood in the center of the huge circle created by the priests.

Yu-Hyun moved his fingers, manipulating the divine power unleashed by the priests at will. The divine power instantly turned into a blessing array in Yu-Hyun's hands. Yu-Hyun engraved each blessing array created on the ground. In just a few minutes, a massive fusion blessing array formed.

Yu-Hyun carved a huge fusion blessing array at the mountain's entrance where Noah's Ark was located. The blessing would bestow the Last Knight Order with a new sense of sight, allowing them to see beyond the veil of spells.

Yu-Hyun wandered through the blessing array which was nearing completion.

“Two, four, six, eight...” he muttered to himself.

When he reviewed the completion of the fusion blessing array, he looked over everything, from the connections between blessing arrays to the core pillar blessing and auxiliary blessings supporting the fusion blessing.

The priests unleashing divine power according to Yu-Hyun's instructions were astonished by the sight. The blessing array was so complex that even dozens of priests would not have been enough to complete it. No, a blessing like that would require the collective efforts of an entire priesthood.

Yu-Hyun alone managed to complete the massive fusion blessing array and even reviewed it himself. Performing such a feat was impossible unless he had every detail of the nature and structure of all the blessing arrays he had drawn and the results of the fusion between them in his mind.

“...”

His memory was incredible, so much so that the question arose of whether he was human at all, leaving all the priests present in awe.

But Yu-Hyun's expression was dark. He hesitated to activate the completed blessing array due to the lack of the blood of purification. This massive blessing array had to be completed by the special blood from the Purification Clan. However, all the members of the Purification Clan, including Ha-Yeon, were absent.

Just one drop. That was all he needed to complete the blessing.

Yu-Hyun pondered as he looked around the blessing array. He had contemplated completing the blessing array through some other element to replace the blood of purification. However, there was no time to ponder for long.

Thud.

In the distance, a dull sound echoed from somewhere. Some clergymen trembled just by hearing that sound. It was the sound of the Cult Leader's staff striking the earth, a prelude that always heralded the beginning of war before he used the power of Loa. It was the overture to the symphony of battle.

Flutter!

Birds flew away. The flapping sound of their wings was ominous.

Ruuuuumble...

The earth started to quake. The Pope and his men thought it was the power of Granbwa, splitting the ground with flourishing vines that moved as if they had a mind of their own. That was the only power they knew that could result in such an earthquake.

Krrrrrr!

However, contrary to their expectations, plants did not emerge from the ground. Yu-Hyun felt a strange sense of unease while drawing the blessing array. It was about time for the Voodoo Cultists to show their faces, but they had not appeared until the moment Yu-Hyun completed the blessing array.

Only now did Yu-Hyun realize the identity of that strange unease.

"Crazy bastards, they've given up on their humanity!"

People rose from the ground. Wearing masks to cover their faces and ponchos to conceal their forms, an army of Voodoo Cultists sprung from the earth.

Yu-Hyun did not expect to come face to face with the Voodoo Cult, but he remained unfazed.

He quickly shouted toward the priesthood he had prepared. "Priesthood!"

"Yes, yes!"

The priests unleashed divine power before Yu-Hyun said anything else. Divine power wriggled and flowed out from the priests, forming a massive chunk that shot up into the sky.

Pssssssh!

The divine power turned into a pillar of fire and descended onto the ground. The column of flame consumed some of the Voodoo Cultists who had emerged through the ground.

However, the pillar of fire was not simply summoned to burn and kill the Voodoo Cultists. It was a signal to gather the paladins and Crusader Order stationed at the entrance of the mountain where Yu-Hyun was drawing the blessing array.

Srrk!

Following the pillar of fire, crusaders hidden throughout the area appeared. They had been standing at attention all around the area, equipped with the Gown of the Shem Brothers.

They had minimized their presence through the Gown of the Shem Brothers to lure the Voodoo Cultists. The plan was to have the hidden combatants ambush the Voodoo Cultists when the Voodoo Cult grew complacent upon seeing the numbers of the Romanican Church and attack them.

Chrrk!

Yu-Hyun did not idle either. He added the final blessing array to his fusion array, which he had been hesitating to cast.

Shrrrk!

The completed blessing array emitted a brilliant light. Although it was not perfect due to the lack of blood for purification, the light of blessing flowed from the massive blessing array and touched all the clergymen present. The clergymen's eyes and bodies were filled with light.

Thanks to the blessing array created by Yu-Hyun, their eyes could see beyond the veil of spells, and their bodies became resilient enough to face not only the Voodoo Cultists but also the Cult Leader.

The clergymen drew their weapons and charged at the Voodoo Cultists wearing masks.

"Ugh, ahh!"

Slash!

"Ahhhh! Ahhh!"

Thwack!

"Gwahhh!"

Crunch!

The Voodoo Cultists wearing masks that suddenly appeared before them were subdued in no time. Some were hacked down by swords, and others had their skulls crushed by maces. Some fell from punches.

The Voodoo Cultists were slow to react, almost laughingly so. Meanwhile, adorned with blessings, the Romanican Church’s Holy Army moved with terrifying speed.

"Gasp, ahh!"

The cry of a paladin suddenly changed the seemingly smooth battle. The paladin, diligently accumulating battle merits by striking down enemies with his mace, suddenly sunk to the ground. He trembled, his face pale. In front of him was an 'enemy' whose mask had shattered, revealing half of their face.

The paladin swiveled his head back and forth as he spoke to the ‘enemy.’

"P-paladin Go Yu-Bin! W-Why are you there!"

The faces of numerous 'enemies' slashed by swords or fallen from maces could be seen. Some faces were unfamiliar, while some were known. The problem was that some of these faces were definitely familiar.

"Gaah!”

All the 'enemies' they thought were Voodoo Cultists turned out to be numerous clergymen who had been captured as hostages or reported dead in the previous battle. The Holy Army had been fighting zombies, specifically clergymen who had lost their sanity through zombification. They had been slashing and bashing their once comrades, fully believing that they were Voodoo Cultists.

"Could this really be?"

"Oh no, z-zombies. Zombies!"

"D-director, why are you... Why are you here?"

One by one, the Holy Army realized this morbid fact and started to panic.

They started to hesitate as they discovered that the enemies they were killing were their comrades. The clubs and swords they had swung without a second thought grew heavy, and they could no longer wield their weapons.

Yu-Hyun bit his lip. "Damn, so that’s why—!"

He never thought Sun-Woo would come up with such a despicable plan.

Sun-Woo had used zombies, not the Voodoo Cult, to break the morale of the Holy Army and create confusion. He was truly ruthless.

"No, no. This is actually..."

Yu-Hyun had a plan in mind. At first glance, Sun-Woo's scheme seemed to have cornered the Holy Army. However, if they could use this situation to their advantage, they might boost the Holy Army's morale.