Priest Eizar was startled by those words. It was a perspective he had not considered.
“Ah!”
Sinhyeok looked at her with a surprised expression.
“You? That’s unexpected, huh?”
At first she was pleased by the word unexpected, but then she chewed it over for a moment.
‘Unexpected?’
“Mister. What do you mean by that?”
At her sharp glare, Sinhyeok smiled awkwardly and turned his head.
“Just saying.”
The priest sprang to his feet, clenched both fists, and looked at everyone.
“Then, if I hurry up and open the barrier first—!”
Sinhyeok hastily stopped him.
“Priest Eizar, you can’t open it right away. You need to look at the situation outside.”
His cold reason returning, the priest nodded.
“Ah, that’s right. It must be swarming with monsters.”
Sinhyeok stood and said to Eizar,
“We’ll check first.”
The three of them got up and headed outside the temple.
“Shall I at least guide you?!”
At Priest Eizar’s burning enthusiasm, Sinhyeok waved his hand and refused.
“No, we know the way. Please just wait here.”
Sinhyeok left the temple and walked through the village.
Feeling the villagers’ furtive gazes on him, he headed toward the village boundary.
“Mister, is it really dangerous outside?”
“Individually, their danger level is low, but there are just a hell of a lot of them. Still, I did clear them out once.”
After leaving the village, Sinhyeok placed his hand on the wall of holy power, warm like sunlight.
As soon as he did, the priest’s voice rang in his mind.
‘I will open it for you.’
The three of them found the priest’s voice echoing in their heads slightly fascinating.
“Bro, that’s amazing. He really does feel kind of like a god.”
“Mister, is that person really a priest?”
“He is. He said he’s imitating a few of Ariel’s miracles with that thing called a Core.”
Sinhyeok wore a reluctant expression.
‘Though he’s way too capable for that.’
Those things made him feel even more like a cult leader.
“Let’s go out for now. Take out your weapons.”
Sinhyeok took out his pistol, gripped it in his hand, and stepped forward.
As soon as they came outside the boundary, a completely different world opened up.
A gloomy atmosphere, land rotted and crumbling everywhere. Dead beasts roaming all over the place.
At the sight, Arin and Ichan were left speechless.
“It’s the Demon Realm……”
“Mister, there’s nothing left.”
Sinhyeok looked at the unchanged scenery and said,
“I told you it was destroyed.”
He looked up.
The sun in the sky was murky. Its light was faint, and the energy pouring down from it was weak as well.
“Stop for now.”
Sinhyeok halted the group and stared ahead.
[Beginning Mana Mapping.]
When he closed his eyes and focused, a precious lump of mana split off and dropped away.
The mapping results were even more terrible than before.
“No need to look any further. Opening the barrier won’t work.”
At his words that it wouldn’t work, Arin looked baffled.
“No, there’s nothing here, so why wouldn’t it—”
At that moment, every dead creature became undead and passed before them.
Her mouth shut at the endless procession.
“Things like that stretch on without end. That’s why I gave up trying to clear it before. I figured it was pointless.”
At the procession of undead covering the land, both Ichan and Arin were left with their mouths closed.
“If we leave, it’ll collapse immediately. Your idea is good, but it’s not something the villagers here can handle.”
No matter how outstanding that cult-like priest might be, it was not something he could manage.
“Let’s go back in.”
Without hesitation, Sinhyeok went back inside the barrier.
With a bitter look, Arin gazed once more at the ruined land before going in.
“How empty…… I thought it might be possible.”
Arin spoke to Sinhyeok as they headed back to the temple.
“The idea is good. The problem is whether the villagers can fight. And it’s not like the only priest here can fight either.”
When they returned to the village, the priest was looking after the residents in the vacant lot.
An old woman clasped her hands together and pleaded with Eizar for a miracle.
“Agent of Ariel. Please grant us mercy.”
“Yes.”
With a calm face, he bestowed holy power upon the old woman’s body.
The people were drawn to the sight, yet shook their heads.
“What good is that supposed to do?”
“Haa. How long are we supposed to stay here?”
Other villagers who had seen the miracle spoke with eyes full of suspicion.
“Isn’t that priest fellow a fake? Maybe he’s actually a demon. Maybe he’s keeping us trapped here.”
At those words, the others quietly agreed.
“Yeah, yeah. It is suspicious.”
“That’s what I’m saying. He talks about miracles and whatnot, but how do we know whether that’s real or not!”
At the spreading suspicion, Eizar shouted with an even firmer expression.
“Ahem!”
With the shout, a radiant light stretched out. The villagers promptly flattened themselves against the ground.
“Goodness.”
Eizar shouted at the villagers with a stern expression.
“You doubt me even after seeing this miracle! I am Ariel, and Ariel is me!”
Sinhyeok was left speechless by his considerable shamelessness.
‘Cult leader.’
Arin, who had been watching, also muttered quietly with startled eyes.
“He really seems like a cult leader.”
At those words, Ichan murmured as if deeply impressed.
“I am Ariel, ugh.”
Sinhyeok turned to look at Ichan, who was making strange noises.
“Hey?”
“Bro, that mister’s line is killer.”
After the situation settled down, the three headed back to the temple.
Eizar soon came in, groaning, and waved at the three of them.
“Goodness, I’m exhausted. What was it like outside?”
He flopped down onto the floor. Sinhyeok hurried over and asked,
“Are you all right?”
“Ah, I’m fine. I’ll be fine once I collect.”
Eizar gently closed his eyes and focused, and warm light from the surroundings melted into him.
“Whoa.”
Ichan and Arin stared blankly at the sight before them.
Arin muttered,
“He really does look kind of like a god.”
Eizar chuckled and stood up.
“It’s unsightly, but it’s somewhat similar. At one time, I was the child Ariel loved most.”
Reminiscing about the past, he asked Sinhyeok,
“Will it be possible?”
Sinhyeok shook his head.
“No. The surroundings are full of undead. There are even more than before.”
“Haa. I suppose so. The only light on this planet, and the only living things, are here.”
The priest could not hide his bitter expression.
“Brothers. I am grateful for your help, but you should go now.”
Eizar set down the hope he had held, however briefly.
“Priest.”
Ichan looked at him with a bitter face.
Eizar looked at Ichan and smiled for no reason as he said,
“It’s all right. I will not forget the goodwill you have shown me.”
The way he seemed to have given up made Ichan’s heart ache even more.
“If only you had really become a god, Priest, you could have awakened all the residents as priests.”
Unable to let go of his lingering regret, Ichan voiced his disappointment.
At those words, Eizar smiled faintly.
“I’m a cult leader who’s only a god in appearance, so unfortunately, I cannot share my holy power.”
At those words, Arin and Ichan sighed at the same time.
“Haa.”
“Haa.”
Listening to their sighs, Sinhyeok suddenly froze.
‘Can’t I give it to them? Isn’t it enough to just put it in a potion?’
The thought simply occurred to him.
For some reason, he felt an unfounded confidence that he might be able to do what this cult-like priest could not.
“Wait a moment. If you just share that holy power with them, is it possible for them to awaken as priests?”
Eizar smiled at Sinhyeok, who had taken what sounded like a joke seriously, and waved his hand.
“Hoho. Brother, it would be troublesome if you took a joke seriously.”
“No, please really think about it. If holy power can be settled in another person, is it possible for them to awaken as priests?”
He thought deeply for a moment, then muttered,
“It might be possible?”
“Okay.”
Sinhyeok immediately summoned the herbalism recipe book.
‘There was holy water.’
He opened to the page in question, but then immediately closed it.
‘Consecrated dawn dew.’
The very first ingredient was already extremely annoying.
“The ingredients are damnably troublesome.”
“Pardon?”
Sinhyeok waved his hand and said,
“No, it’s nothing. I wasn’t talking to you, Priest.”
He thought for a moment.
‘As long as the performance comes out right, isn’t that enough?’
He took out an empty glass bottle and two types of mana herbs he had tossed into his subspace.
‘They said these are the kinds applied to the human body, so can I do something with this?’
He remembered what had startled Parel yesterday.
“As long as it turns out amazing, does it really matter how I make it?”
“Pardon?”
Sinhyeok immediately gave it a try.
If Parel had seen it, he would have been horrified.
He immediately held out his hand to the priest.
“Please shoot a tiny miracle at me. I’ll show you one hell of a magic trick.”