chapter 23

The exploration ended fairly easily. I must have gotten about 30 priest and paladin heads in total, because I confirmed that two of the items I wanted had dropped. It took less time than I thought.

I grabbed it and headed straight to where the book was. Contrary to my worries, the dungeon was exactly the same size as the game, so it was easy to find my way around.

I ignored the occasional dead people that appeared in the middle. Since I had already secured the supplies, there was no need to bother with those things.

'Anyone can tell it's here.'

The entrance to the room where the devil was sleeping was filled with sacred-looking objects and even prayers written in the Holy Land's characters. Even the dead could not come near this place.

In fact, all of this was unnecessary, and if they had just locked the door, the demon would never have been able to break the seal on his own unless someone else came in, but those people didn't know.

I walked around the room, looking for fallen rubble. Everywhere else was clean, but one place had collapsed, making it easy to characterize.

He walked up to the pile of rocks and groaned as he rolled the rock in front of him to the side. Then, a tiny hole big enough for a person to crawl through was revealed.

I crawled straight inside.

The passage was a little shorter than my height, so my head quickly popped out. I looked around before going out just in case. I was relieved to see that there were no enemies, so I got up.

It was a space that had a gloomy and ominous feeling. I should say it felt like my strength was slowly draining away.

Since I didn't really get any debuffs or anything no matter how long I stayed here in the game, it was most likely just my imagination.

I looked around. The torches fixed on the walls had long since burned down to their handles, leaving only ash behind, and a rectangular altar could be seen in the middle of the room.

On that altar was the book I was looking for.

'Found it.'

This was the book that the devil was sealed in. It was about as thick as my finger joint, and the cover and even the paper inside were pitch-black.

I approached the altar and picked up the book without any hesitation. The demon was so weak that simply picking it up wouldn't do any harm.

The cover of the book was covered in a series of unidentifiable letters. It was supposedly written in the language of the devil, but I didn't really want to read it, so I just passed it over, thinking it was probably something written there.

Instead, he took out the items from the pouch on his waist that he had been waiting for to drop while killing dead priests and paladins.

These were the pieces of the devil's flesh that were scattered throughout the cave.

The color was very red overall, and sometimes it would wiggle on its own in an unpleasant way. It felt similar to the raw liver of an animal that I had seen on the Internet once.

'The liver doesn't move on its own.'

He grumbled softly and placed a piece of the devil's flesh on the book, and the book slowly sucked it up. It was like the two were combining and returning to their original form.

The second flesh was the same. The book sucked in the flesh I had placed on it, and when it was done absorbing it, it stopped moving. The color of the cover was a little redder than before.

That was it. I packed up the books and put them in the bag I had brought separately. Now I just had to pack one more thing before I returned to the Knights.

'It must have gone up by about 2 levels, right?'

I briefly calculated the experience points I had gained so far. I would have probably gained at least two levels just from the experience points given by the Headless Armored Cavalry.

If that doesn't work out, you can return to the Knights Templar and then go out for a bit of leveling.

I had to crawl through the same gap to get out. That door wasn't made to be used for entry and exit, so there was no handle.

As I sat up, the dead who had been walking around staggered and looked at me with their rotten, bloodshot eyes. However, they did not try to attack me like before.

It was because of the book I was holding.

They were all resurrected corpses possessed by the devil's flesh, so of course they would not attack me, who was holding a book possessed by the devil himself.

And I don't feel any strong divine power. I'll just think of it as a devil worshipper taking a book to break the seal.

I stared blankly at the dead people gathered around me, then turned around to go the opposite way I came. In this situation, they were no different from sandbags, but I didn't want to take a chance and catch them.

If you're unlucky, there's a chance that one more piece of flesh will be absorbed into the book.

When you kill them while holding a book, their flesh doesn't drop as an item, but is absorbed directly into the book, so if you're not careful, your plan could end up completely messed up.

In addition, before they started dropping flesh, they would revive no matter how many times you killed them, so even the experience efficiency was a mess. I think the experience gained per kill was 2 or 3 in the first playthrough.

Even at my miserable level, it's a waste of time to catch it. There are many more efficient leveling places than here.

'It's not a good fit.'

The road was winding. There were quite a few dead people along the way, but they all just stared at me blankly and did nothing.

How long had it been since I had kicked away the guys blocking my path without hesitation, and now I could see the end. It was a dead end.

'There's a corpse... ... there.'

In front of him, a dried-up skeleton was lying dead, leaning against the wall. He was one of the priests who had been sent here from the Holy Land in the past to subdue demons.

He was a character whose attire was a bit more extravagant, and unlike other priests, his corpse did not rise from the dead but remained as it was, so users assumed that he was a very powerful priest.

I approached Baekgol and carefully searched through his clothes. I felt something sharp near his waist. I picked it up.

What I held in my hand was an ordinary-looking dagger.

A dagger forged with divine power that has remained sharp and completely rust-free despite the passage of many years. In a game, this would be called 'blessed'.

'I guess I can lift it. Even if I swing it now, it probably won't have all its power.'

I carefully packed it into my bosom. If the book possessed by the devil was a key item in luring the lord, then this dagger was a key item in dealing with the lured lord.

There was nothing more to see here.

As I walked outside, kicking away the dead who were just blankly staring at me like when I came, I saw that the surroundings were completely dark.

I approached the horse, holding the torch and shining it in all directions. The horse was tied to the tree quietly, but when it saw me, it hissed. I stroked its mane once, untied its bag, and tied it to the saddle.

Now it was time to return to the Knights and kill that lord.

In a room decorated with all sorts of sacred objects, a woman opened her eyes.

There was no light source to be found in the room, but the light of the full moon poured in through the stained glass window that took up an entire wall, illuminating the room, so it was not dark at all.

The woman got up and went to the window, and quietly folded her hands in front of her chest. A sacred power of yellow and white mixed in her clasped hands rose up.

After some time had passed since the power appeared, the door opened wide. It was a woman with a bright smile on her face.

"Why have you called, Your Holiness?"

"The demon's seal has been broken."

"oh."

The woman covered her mouth with her right hand as if she was surprised by the words of the being she called the Holy Father. However, her expression was not genuine. It seemed as if she was only pretending to be surprised.

"Where is the seal? Everything that exists in our holy country is strictly controlled… … It must belong to the empire?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Should I go catch the guy who broke the seal? Or go and subdue that demon?"

The being called the Holy Father shook his head slightly.

"You don't have to do that. There is light there too."

"Light… … Well, I don't know. I don't trust that woman."

"I am a woman with a holy sword. I am no match for the devil. Don't worry about it."

"That must be true. Even though my personality is a bit of a mess, I am the holder of the Holy Sword. So, if I am not going to catch the guy who broke the seal right now, or to subdue the demon, then why did you call me?"

"I was just trying to convey the facts. Now that the seal has been released, I have only just realized that the demon's power has been greatly weakened. Even our apprentice nuns can easily defeat it."

"Even so, it doesn't mean anything to the people of the Empire, right? Even if it's weakened, if you don't have faith, you'll never be able to kill the demon. It would be fortunate if you didn't step forward and give the demon some strength."

The Pope nodded. His long, wavy blond hair flowed down to the floor, forming golden waves.

"Then I'll just tell the kids for now. We won't be waging war against the devil, but there's a chance that we will, so train harder than usual. Is that enough?"

"Yes, that's enough."

After hearing the Pope's answer, the woman was about to turn around and go out the door, but then she turned around and exclaimed, "Ah!" as if remembering something she had forgotten.

"Your Holiness, may I ask you one more question?"

"As much as you want."

"If I were to leave to start a temple later, what would I do with that guy who broke the devil's seal?"

The green eyes opened slightly. The eyes were shining with a very cruel emotion. The green pupils were gleaming with extreme sadism.

"Do as you wish. I will not interfere, Your Excellency the Inquisitor."

"I'd be happy to do that."

The woman known as the Inquisitor smiled brightly, bowed her head slightly, and left the room. The Pope stared blankly at the closed door before turning to look through the stained glass.

"Your Holiness, just one more thing."

To be exact, I was going to turn around. That is, if the heretic inquisitor had not suddenly opened the door and stuck his head in.

Although it was hard to believe that he was meeting the Pope, his frivolous attitude and tone of speech could have been irritating, the Pope opened his mouth in a calm and gentle tone of speech.

"What else is left to do?"

"Do I need to speak to the Pope of the Moon separately?"

Upon hearing that question, the Pope glanced at the full moon shining through the stained glass.

"It's okay if you don't do that."

There was a very round full moon in the sky.

"Because it's the night the full moon has risen."