Chapter 177 - The Biggest Path (1)

Justia looked at Vlad and Jean lying in bed and gently stroked their foreheads.

The sensation of cold, damp sweat on her fingertips.

Although the bed was soft, both of them had frowning expressions, and Vlad in particular was twisting his body intermittently.

It was as if he were having a bad nightmare.

"…"

Justia brushed Vlad's blond hair as he tossed and turned, and took one last look at the armor he wore.

A phrase she had personally written for the young squire when the Northern Orthodox Church was still Saint Logino.

Even then, Vlad climbed to the highest church bell tower for the village children.

And Justia was one of the people who watched him closely.

"Let's begin."

"But Lady Justia..."

Justia nodded as if she had strengthened her resolve while looking at Vlad with pain.

Seeing her like this, the priest beside her opened his mouth as if worried, but it could no longer be avoided.

Even if I fall into deep darkness, I have no choice but to believe that He is with me.

"I'm going in. Please be prepared."

"…Alright."

A moment ago, it was a room full of priests, but now only a few followers of Justia remained.

However, those who stayed until the end began to recite prayers as best they could to complete the task.

-He knows when I sit and when I rise, and even from afar, He will reveal His thoughts to me.

Justia quietly closed her eyes as she listened to the soft prayer sounding in her ears.

Justia slowly sank into Jean's dream through her clasped hands.

Although she couldn't become a bright star like Gunther, she decided to draw closer and become a shining milestone.

"…"

As Justia left reality and descended into complete darkness, she became smaller and weaker.

However, her platinum blonde hair, which shone brighter in the darkness, had not yet lost its luster.

When she finally broke through the dark clouds and descended into the dream world, she was already a free bird.

***

- Get out of here.

Andreas in the dream said, blocking the shaky door with his entire body.

The tips of his fingers, trembling constantly due to the strong vibration, pointed to the bookshelf right in front of him.

"Isn't this a door?"

[How many times do I have to say this, idiot...]

Looking at Vlad with wide-open eyes, Kihano slapped his chest in frustration.

Although he said that physical appearances had no meaning, it seemed that Vlad still hadn't gotten used to the world of dreams.

- Get the Bible out. There will be a way in it.

The world of dreams is formed by symbols and meanings.

Just as the young Jean's last refuge was Andreas's room, the way to escape from this ruined place is not through visible doors and paths, but through a meaning kept in the heart.

Shhhh!

"…Agh!"

Hurriedly taking out the Bible from the bookshelf, Vlad was startled.

The old Bible in his hand began to flip through the pages on its own, as if it were alive.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

- Read this. Inside you will find the way.

Looking at the door beginning to creak, Vlad quickly skimmed through the open pages.

Although many lines of text filled the pages, there was one phrase clearly highlighted, as if indicating him to read it.

"It is the light in the darkness that guides the way of the blind. Could it be a song?

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

As soon as Vlad, stuttering, read the Bible verse, the bookshelf on the wall began to roll up slowly, as if it were made of paper.

Stepping back, Vlad looked at the place, which looked like a Milky Way floating in the clouds.

"This is…"

[That's the way out. Let's go outside now!]

The only way out of the dream.

A vague path, like pure white sand scattered over the black sea, stretched out before Vlad.

It was as narrow and shallow as it seemed, so it was a fragile path that seemed like it would break with a single breath.

[Hurry up!]

"…!!"

Vlad, who quickly picked up Jean and laid him down at Kihano's insistence, looked back one last time.

In Jean's dream, which was gradually crumbling, Andreas nodded as if telling him to go.

What protected the world of the young deacon until the end was a teaching passed down by his master.

"Thank you!"

Vlad, tightly embracing Jean, followed Kihano and rushed out onto the path that Andreas had shown him.

The sky overhead was dark, but the starlight touching his fingertips was as soft as the sand of a white beach.

Clatter!

As soon as the group left, Andreas's room collapsed completely, as if it had been forcibly held together.

It wasn't just Andreas's room.

"The church is collapsing!"

[So run!]

The church of Varna shattered like a broken glass bottle.

Behind the collapsing debris, the Qliphoth trees, whose roots had grown fiercely, began to roar.

Kaaaaa-!

"Where are we! Where are you going!"

[Didn't Gunther or someone tell you to follow the starlight?]

It is the light and the song that guide the way of the blind.

However, although the path he was walking on was bright, the sky he looked at was completely black without starlight.

[There it is!]

"…Oh?"

Behind, there is a howling tree.

The path is a path of pure white sand scattered by the wind.

The two lost their way there for a moment and were confused, but soon a light began to descend through the dark clouds.

"A bird?"

What Gunther told him to follow was the starlight, but what Vlad could see now was a small bird.

A canary cutting through the darkness with a flag of platinum hair raised.

"…Justia."

The visible form was that of a bird, but the contained being was a familiar figure.

Vlad, who recognized the being flying towards him, bit his lip hard.

The image of a small bird struggling to fly in the darkness was exactly like the image shown to him by the priestess of the World Tree.

***

"Shit…"

Gunther's gaze pierced through the fog, toward the empty space.

Even now, there was a man struggling beneath his feet, shedding black tears, but all Gunther cared about now was the unknown woman who had blocked the knights.

Phew!

A man ceasing his twisted movements and then relaxing.

However, he had been desperately calling out someone's name until the very last moment when he stopped crying.

-My son... Noe, my son.

The name he desperately called out was the name of the child the man had lost.

The tragedy that no one would acknowledge finally came to a halt with the man's gesture.

"Who the hell are you?"

"A person without blood or tears. Aren't you sad?"

"This is ridiculous. Wasn't all of this a tragedy you yourself caused?"

The paladins who had gathered around Gunther quickly formed a square and began thrusting their swords at the woman floating in the air.

"…"

They were knights who had killed all kinds of strange beings up to now, but now, in front of an unknown woman, they couldn't hide their nervous appearance.

Their appearance, seen through the eyes of God, was that of such a distorted being that it was difficult even to dare to speak of it.

"But in the end, you would have been happy. Because you'll realize what's truly precious."

"I won't ask twice."

A world of God that you can see even without having to close your eyes.

In front of the paladin with both eyes wide open, there was only an evil being who couldn't even touch the arms of a god.

"I, Gunther, the second leader of the Northern Orthodox Church, will hold you responsible for all the tragedies here."

Before he knew it, Gunther's severed thumb filled with blood.

However, his blood droplets, which didn't fall even though they had formed, were slowly drawn in the air as he extracted them.

"San Rogino, glorious commander of the heavenly army and alongside God..."

We are sinners who can do nothing against this evil being, so please inflict cruel wounds upon us.

"Please, open a scar (stigma) that will never end until you destroy the enemy."

"Stop him!"

"Hmph!"

As Gunther's blood droplets completed the spell, cruel wounds began to form on the foreheads of the paladins surrounding him.

The scars that seemed to have been drawn with a sword cleared the spirits of the knights, who had been intimidated, and made the aura flowing through the swords they held even brighter.

"Knights, fear not. God is always with us."

Holy knights with the blessing of always being with them engraved on their foreheads as stigmas.

Reconfirming once again the existence of God alongside the intense pain they felt, they began to step slowly into the fog.

"It's been a while since I saw this technique. The man before me was a noble knight."

"Today, I will burn you and put an end to this curse."

The world I live in is the world of God.

This world I'm in has already been created by His will, so I will see the perfect world without having to close my left eye.

"But, do you know what?"

As the Paladins approached, headless knights began to appear.

The Paladins tried to head toward the Qliphoth tree, and the headless Knights tried to stop them.

"That technique with the stigmas."

Two groups facing each other.

But the wounds they had were very similar.

"I did that."

The woman's last words were not heard in response to Gunther's strong charge order, but it didn't matter.

You'll see it anyway as you get closer.

How cruel is the will of God you're following!

Clang!

The stigmas of the Holy Knights gleamed on the paths of the swords clashing loudly.

However, there were bright scars on the severed necks of the headless knights.

"Argh!"

"Captain! The stigmas are working!"

The woman smiled as she watched the slowly burning wound, fueled by God's blessings.

Knight Commander Gunther was a shining star, but the woman floating in the air was someone who had shone even brighter than him.

Though it has now cooled down.

***

"Huff, huff..."

I thought I had run very far, but the white sand path still hadn't ended.

'Darn it, darn it!'

The weight of Jean carrying him and his tired steps on the endless path were heavy, but even more impatience tormented Vlad.

"We have to go fast! Hurry!"

The little bird noticeably tires more as time passes.

A small bird resembling Justia's hair color lights the group's path without stopping its flapping wings.

As time passed, the increasingly exhausted Justia and Vlad's worried expression on his face began to resemble the image shown by the Priestess of the World Tree.

[There! It can be seen!]

"…!"

Just as Vlad was beginning to feel impatient, a blurry figure started to appear in front of him.

Golden waves shining like auras, as if announcing the end of darkness.

Justia's difficult guidance had led Vlad to the border of the world, and now he had to go as far as he could see in front of him to awaken from his deep sleep.

-······!

However, the little bird starts to stumble at that moment.

"Justia!"

The small canary slowly began to merge into the darkness, with its feathers exploding as if something had struck it.

"No!"

Vlad reached out to catch her as she fell to the ground, but all he caught were small pieces of feathers.

Watching her slowly melt and disappear, Vlad was deeply impacted.

¡Thump!

"This, what the hell...?"

[Run, Vlad! You can't stop now!]

The ominous sound of heartbeats began to resonate strongly following the disappearance.

However, Vlad couldn't stop, even after seeing Justia's symbol disappear so suddenly.

[The path has ended! Now you have to find the rest on your own!]

"…!"

Looking back, Vlad could see a tree in the distance approaching from the edge of the darkness in long strides.

"Damn it!"

When he was with Justia, he couldn't be seen from very far, but as soon as she disappeared, he followed suit.

[It's right in front of you! Close your right eye!]

My world through my closed left eye.

Through my open right eye, I see the real world.

But this time it's the opposite.

"Hmph!"

It no longer makes sense to walk or run.

This is a dream world and what was touched was just a symbol.

"Justia!"

¡Thump!

Vlad closed his right eye as he heard the sound of his heart beating faster and faster.

Vlad lifted Jean, who was carrying him, forward, focused his mind, and began to guide himself and the young deacon to the border of the world.

[······!]

A creepy energy coming right behind me.

And the sound of a sword wielded by someone in front of him.

The tip of the root that had crawled up was touching Vlad's neck, but Vlad was already able to look at the real world with his right eye closed.

Because she had guided Vlad to the threshold of reality.

"…Excellent."

And so, I finally reached my world.

Vlad barely lifted his eyelids and could see the platinum blonde hair filling his field of vision.

"Justia...?"

As soon as I returned to reality, what I felt was not someone's welcome, but just a pungent smell that pricked my nose.

Thump! Thump!

And all I could feel was my heartbeats starting to beat uncontrollably.

"Kwaaaa..."

Vlad started to let out a cry resembling a wail, tightly gripping his stiff neck.

Justia lay collapsed as if shielding Vlad.

The bright red blood still flowed down her back, but Vlad's trembling hands couldn't even hold Justia, who was falling further and further to the ground.

"Are you awake, young dragon?"

"Huuh..."

Between his now focused eyes, Vlad saw a man with white hair leaning on the window.

At the tip of his sword, a drop of fresh blood formed.

"You, damn..."

"But soon you'll go back to sleep."

The voice was too familiar, but the man's hands holding the sword conveyed an indescribable terror.

However, despite everything they had against each other, their hearts beating against each other were similar, as if they shared the same blood.

"Aaaah!"

Justia slowly falls under the bed.

Vlad ended up shouting in anger and impotent helplessness without even being able to catch her.

"I'll kill you! You son of a bitch!"

"…Undoubtedly, you're a dragon."

The greatest dragon hunter smiled as he watched the young dragon struggling before him.

With every move of Vlad's, his heart began to beat, slowly warming his body.

It was a very ancient heart that could only beat in the presence of a dragon.

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