Time passed, and soon night gave way to dawn.
How long had I been reading that scripture?
As I dug through my muddled memories, I realized I had already read all of it and memorized the necessary prayers.
“And… I warned the director of the orphanage too.”
It felt like recalling a dream. After reading the scripture, I half-threatened the shocked orphanage director to evacuate with the children. Based on my appearance and the fact that I had tampered with the scripture, she refused to listen to me.
“…Damn.”
Little by little, my memories began to come together. It was proof that my mind was recovering. Even though Ethnos’ mind was formidable, facing monsters and comprehending the miracles of the Outer God— It would have been strange if there were no issues. In fact, these side effects were incredibly light.
“Finally, I see it.”
A sigh escaped my lips first. It still didn’t feel real, but from now on, I had to fight for my life against the knights. Not only that, but I had to kill them. Frighteningly, I didn’t hesitate.
* * *
Meanwhile, a slight disturbance arose in the carriage. A suspicious figure appeared on the forest path leading to the orphanage. The person, who appeared to be a man, hid his face with a hood attached to his clothing. It was a suspicious sight.
“I don’t see any signs of a ritual…”
“I don’t smell any blood either.”
Albeka quietly drew his sword.
“Whatever the case, that thing in his hand appears to be the scripture.”
“Yes, it seems that way to me too, brother Albeka.”
The priest broke into a cold sweat. There had never been such a situation until now. It was possible that fanatics serving the Outer God had finally traced the scripture and retrieved it.
In that case, even more so…
“I’m glad we brought Brother Albeka.”
The priest meant it sincerely, not out of flattery.
“Rookie, stay behind and don’t get in the way.”
After speaking to the new recruit, Albeka got off the carriage, giving orders to the knights.
“Grant me the power to punish evil with your light. 〈Radiant Strike〉.”
As the priest recited the prayer, the knights’ swords began to emit a white light. 〈Radiant Strike〉. Not only did it make their blows more lethal, but it also prevented even highly regenerative monsters from easily recovering once struck.
“You’ve achieved a lot at such a young age. An intermediate prayer, no less.”
“I’m nothing compared to Brother Albeka. Let’s go. I will assist you.”
The knights wielding the glowing swords had nothing to fear. As always, it would be a simple matter of killing heretics. They charged before the figure could do anything.
“A… al… Kai… Yag’ah.”
The figure began to utter eerie sounds. It seemed like a primitive language or a curse. It even sounded like some beast or vermin trying to produce human speech.
“He started chanting a spell! Be on guard!”
“〈Ki’lm Viscth〉!”
The knights remained vigilant, honing their senses to anticipate the enemy’s attack.
**Thud!**
What they heard was the sound of something striking their armor like rain. The noise resembled that of rainfall. But it wasn’t rain.
“This, this is…?”
The miracle handled by the priests of the Outer Godswere nothing more than transforming people into grotesque shapes.
However, what they faced this time was entirely different.
The rain was not ordinary water but an eerie black liquid.
And it was not descending from the sky, but rising from the ground.
* * *
“By the blessing of the Slumbering One, the things on the earth shall be transformed. 〈Collapsing Form〉.”
My blasphemous prayer invoked a miracle.
The black rain rose.
It was a calamity that destroyed the form of anything it touched, disfiguring its shape.
Calling the transformation into unknown lumps a blessing, it needed no additional explanation to know how dangerous and twisted the Outer Gods were.
“It’s actually… happening.”
My mind felt slightly dazed.
A sense of mental fatigue surged.
I looked down at my hand, but there seemed to be no significant change.
Either there was no serious damage, or such damage was inevitable.
“Aaaaargh!”
“My flesh… it’s melting…!”
The knights charging toward me started screaming before they could approach any closer.
The black rain seeping into the gaps in their armor dissolved their skin and muscles into a dark mass.
“In the name of the god, we shall be fortified. 〈Divine Protection〉!”
It seemed the priest on the other side also used some protective miracle, but it was of no use.
It looked like they used quite a high-level miracle….
Unfortunately, my talents as a heretical priest were powerful to the point of being calamitous.
‘Though it was a miracle that consumed life beyond my capacity, 〈Transcendence〉 nullified it. It was further corrected by the 〈Apostle of Calamity〉, and also received the effect of 〈Solar Eclipse〉.’
I chuckled at my mental state.
While people were screaming and dying, I was analyzing this like it was a game.
‘I’m not… broken.’
I was doing this not because my mind was broken, but to prevent it from breaking.
As if trying to deceive myself into believing all of this was just a game, or not reality, to protect my psyche.
“… Ah.”
The sky turned pitch black, and the screams of the writhing knights filled my head.
While standing in the midst of an unrealistic nightmare, I realized I was the one turning the world into a nightmare.
Perhaps it would have been better if I had simply died obediently.
“You…!”
A voice filled with anger reached me, lost in such thoughts.
The armor was more splendid than the other knights.
With gold decorations subtly gleaming, it seemed the armor itself had protective magic or miracles cast on it aside from the 〈Divine Protection〉.
“Albeka.”
“Do not dirty my name with your foul mouth, heretic.”
“Who are you calling filthy?”
“One who has touched such wicked and blasphemous power. I will not give you a chance for atonement.”
I chuckled sarcastically.
Yes, that’s right.
I did not accept the miracle of the Outer God merely to survive.
It was because I hated people like him.
People who used religion to justify themselves.
“I’ve seen everything.”
The story of a young knight and priest I saw in the darkness of the basem*nt continued.
When they screamed while learning miracles, the formless residues showed me.
—Priest, what if they truly don’t touch the scriptures… what then?
—That is impossible. Such an event has never occurred. Those scriptures tempt people.
An inevitable trap.
The priest laughed shamelessly.
—If someone is immune to that temptation… then they are a threat and must be eliminated.
“Disgusting.”
How many people had been sacrificed till now?
Continuously offering sacrifices to obtain gold from the Outer God.
And now, they lured people into deadly baptism for the same goal.
All for mere gold.
Why was he so stiff-necked about such a topic?
“Then or now, this world or that world, I just can’t understand.”
“What nonsense is this? Spewing gibberish, you’ve gone mad. Die, you heretic!”
Albeka charged, aiming his sword at me. He was fast and destructive. It was clear that neither the Strength nor reflexes of my body would be a match for this knight. However, I didn’t need to face him directly.
“What is this…?!”
Suddenly, something resembling black tentacles burst out from the ground, swinging towards the knight. Even Albeka was startled by the speed and sharpness of the attack.
“Brother Albeka, dodge!”
“Tch!”
The knight called Albeka swung his sword against the sudden attack, slicing through the tentacles.
“A monster? Where did it come from?”
The origin of what emerged from the ground was melted down other knights. The three knights who had stood in the front lines were now convulsing on the floor, and black liquid was seeping out from the gaps in their armor, forming into shapes. The miracle of 〈Collapsing Forms〉 was surprisingly an enhancement rather than an attack.
‘It indiscriminately melts friends and foes alike, but transforms them into powerful entities.’
They transformed into black, repulsive, formless monsters, protecting the priest who invoked that dark miracle.
“That sword is infused with the 〈Blight of Destruction〉…!”
Though Albeka had successfully cut through the formless beings, they seemed entirely unfazed. Lacking a fixed shape meant that deep cuts didn’t matter. Even if they couldn’t recover from the wounds, they could simply alter their form to eliminate the scars.
“Physical damage is completely meaningless against these foes. Priest, can you use any attack-based miracles?”
“I… I cannot. The miracles of the Hayat religion do not… allow for such.”
Not many indeed. I was well aware of that fact. Although it was my first time encountering them in such a hostile way, I’d hired them as party members while playing as other characters.
“In that case, we should target the main body.”
As expected. Though the two were speaking quietly, my strangely heightened senses allowed me to hear every word clearly. It wasn’t some miracle, but the stress seemed to have sharpened my senses to an extreme.
“They’re coming!”
Albeka attempted to leap towards me, but it wasn’t easy. Though the distance was close, the formless monsters were menacingly keeping Albeka at bay. Their bodies, fluid as liquid, suddenly became solid or sharp, making them a challenging foe.
‘But they move entirely independent of my will. They’re different from magical summons or familiars.’
I began to understand the difference between miracles and magic. In this first battle, I was realizing quite a lot about myself—my strengths and weaknesses, limitations, and areas to improve. Most importantly, what I needed to survive moving forward.
“Troublesome. But…”
Albeka seemed to have already noticed that my direct combat capabilities were lacking. He intentionally kept his distance, letting the formless beings attack, but it appeared insufficient.
“This much can’t stop me.”
Albeka wasn’t called a prodigy or a genius for no reason. He swiftly swung his sword, repeatedly slicing through the formless beings, targeting the moment when their dispersed forms started to gather again. He then took a stance to execute a technique.
“That’s… 〈Mountain Boar Charge〉?”
I recalled the technique that Dowol had explained multiple times. The stance involved thrusting the sword forward and launching oneself like a wild boar. Seeing it in person, the description fit perfectly.
“Die now!!”
Albeka tore through the scattered black masses at an alarming speed.
Slice!
My neck was swiftly severed by his sword. As my vision shifted drastically and a dull impact followed, my head rolled onto the ground.
