Chapter 100 - The Road that Leads (3)

After Ain's claws knocked away all of the monsters, Louise could finally relax a little bit.

"Are we not there yet?"

"We're almost there!"

The party left the carriage near the center city.

"Go where you want."

As the Priestess whipped the dragon-horse, the empty carriage began zooming toward the plains.

—The empty carriage would grab the enemy's attention.

They took that opportunity to reach the outskirts of the city.

The high-ranking Priest’s voice trembled after looking at the center city, which was completely in ruins.

"Everything was destroyed..."

The place where the main magic circle was also had the biggest city on Iluna. It was a place where hundreds of thousands of people lived.

That place where lots of people had lived had become the territory of the dead.

"There are enemies left inside the city!" The student Priest shouted after spotting an enemy in the distance and prepared to fight.

But Hyun quickly lifted his hand and stopped her.

"We can't do a frontal assault."

Hyun remembered all the details of what Radiette had originally planned.

He also hadn't forgotten that they had to reach the main magic circle before midnight.

"We don't have enough time. From here on, we'll have to move while hiding."

"Ms. Heavenly Being, is there a way?"

"We'll have to create one."

Whir-

Hyun once again used a buff.

Boom-!

Ain used one of the «Latent Potential Increase» skills.

The road that led to the main magic circle wasn't easy.

—There was a lizard monster blocking a road they had to go through.

By looking at its form and color, Hyun immediately knew its level.

「I'll move.」

«Invisible», «Acceleration».

Hyun leaped toward it After activating both skills.

[Critical Hit! You've dealt 98249 damage!]

[You've dealt 22948 damage!]

[Critical Hit! You've dealt 46291 damage!]

The first critical hit was much stronger than the rest thanks to the new skill they'd learned.

A level 5, «Angel's Basic Sword Art» almost doubled the damage output of their attack.

The lizard monster’s body scattered away into darkness without even being able to scream.

"Let's go."

After Ain's «Latent Potential Increase» overlapped four times, they didn't need to use «Invisible».

The claws of a beast covered with a bloody-red aura cut through the monster's neck.

[Critical Hit! You've dealt 151837 damage!]

[You've dealt more than 33% of the target’s HP as damage!]

With that, they separated the guard monster's head from its body.

The «Angel's Basic Sword Art» worked better as a surprise attack rather than in a battle.

Killing a monster that was alone wasn't hard at all for Ain.

The «Efreet's Claws» purified numerous monsters.

No, should he call it «Angel's Claws»?

She cut the neck, tore the body, and melted the hearts of enemies they encountered along the way.

"It's here!"

While initiating the least amount of battle that was possible, the party reached the main magic circle.

The structure of the magic circle was more complicated than imagined.

If he'd come alone, he would've lost his way because the main magic circle was formed as a labyrinth.

"Ka! Kaaaa!"

From a distance, they could hear the cries of monsters.

It seemed they'd discovered that Hyun and the rest had entered.

The high-ranking Priest created a protective shield of light in the corner of the magic circle.

They began the ceremony to summon an Angel from their hiding spot.

"Louise, are you ready?"

"I’ve never prayed, but I'll probably be able to do it."

Hyun suddenly remembered that Louise didn't have the «Pray» skill.

Instead of using a skill, Louise took out a paper that had a very long phrase written on it.

It seemed like she hadn't been able to memorize the long prayer.

"We're ready anytime!"

The two Priests, who were standing on each side of Louise, activated an unknown magic.

Fwoosh- As the two Priests pointed their wands to one place, a sphere of light appeared.

Whish-

The light coming from the sphere connected to Louise's body.

It was the same ceremony as the one used thousands of years ago.

In the past, an Angel summoning ceremony had been held at that very place.

Iluna was the place closest to the Transcendent's word, which was why it was also the place where it was easier to empathize with them.

The Priestess began praying after midnight.

'Should I also «Pray» next to her?'

Hyun remembered the contents of the oracle.

One Heavenly Being, and one Angel who had probably lost her memories.

The oracle had said that they should pray at the same time, so it was probably referring to Louise and him.

To «Pray», he had to descend into his consciousness.

But because he was currently «Assimilated» to Ain, he couldn't close his eyes.

It was easier to lower his consciousness if he could close his eyes.

Hyun entered the game settings and blocked sight as a sense.

「I'm going to close my eyes for a little bit, so if anything dangerous happens, tell me.」

「No problem.」

Hyun asked Ain to remain alert and slowly began emptying his thoughts.

'Was it at level 7?'

Hyun recalled the level his «Pray» was at.

After reaching level 7 in the Knight's Hall, he'd been able to increase it by one more level.

«Pray» level 7 was probably the highest among all users.

The only effect it had was increasing the chance of making a casting successful, so only a few beginners learned the skill.

He never thought he would increase the proficiency of the skill so much.

'As expected.'

The moment he began to «Pray», a foreign feeling entered him.

—It was the feelings of another person.

The first time he’d used «Pray», he’d been surprised by the feelings running wild, but now he could analyze the situation with a cool head.

‘These feelings were probably Louise's.’

His proficiency rose the fastest when he was close to Louise or thought about her.

After all, using «Pray» was about empathizing with a Transcendent.

Even if she'd lost her memories, hadn't Louise been an Angel in the past?

'She's probably feeling this same thing, right?'

When Hyun had used «Pray» in the Twilight Temple, he’d felt pain and frustration.

While using the skill in the Knight's Hall, he’d felt melancholy.

Hyun suddenly giggled.

He couldn't believe Louise's current feelings.

Her heart was beating fast.

Rather than fear, she was excited.

It was similar to the excitement one felt before leaving for travel… Why was she feeling something like that while being surrounded by enemies?

Hyun let the feelings flow.

He had heard that, even for a high-ranking Priest, it wasn't easy to completely immerse yourself in the energy of a Transcendent.

That was what was happening inside Hyun's consciousness.

Fwoosh-!

A huge pillar of light surrounded Louise and Ain.

A holy light started to leak from the two while they were praying.

Louise had her hands together with her eyes closed in the middle of the blinding light.

She looked like a mythical saint who appeared in legends.

"Ah…!"

A blue light penetrated Iluna's atmosphere and rose to space.

The old high-priest cried after seeing history repeat itself in front of his eyes.

His apprentice also stared blankly at the sky.

They'd seen numerous ceremonies throughout the years but had never seen such a strong holy light.

The female Priest, who was looking with her mouth agape, suddenly mumbled.

"High Priest, this…!"

"Yes, we're lucky. There probably aren't many living Priests who have seen this with their own eyes."

In the Heavens’ history books, it was written like this:

When the light filled the world, the Heavens’ legions covered half of Iluna.

With the single swing of an Angel’s sword, the Abyss scattered into the light.

Was what was written in the books real? Or was it maybe exaggerated with some metaphors mixed in?

The high Priest soon discovered that the history books had recorded things just as they happened.

A giant door appeared in the sky.

Countless dolls of light started to come out.

Hundreds... No, thousands!

It was an army that could be controlled only by an Angel above Royal ranking.

"Look carefully… They're soon going to descend…!"

Even after the dolls spread over Iluna, the door remained open.

The two Priests looked at the door while holding their breaths.

According to the books, after the dolls, an Angel would appear.

They'd received oracles for hundreds of years, but nobody had ever seen an angel.

The two Priests held their breaths while trying to control their heartbeats.

'Hmm…?'

While waiting for an Angel to descend, the high Priest's eyebrow wiggled.

Something was strange.

Even though the Angel still hadn't descended, the door was starting to close!

After a while, it returned to its original state.

The holy light suddenly turned off.

The Angel hadn't descended.

The high Priest came to his senses after hearing his apprentice’s screams.

"High Priest! Both of them disappeared!"

"What?!"

It took him a while to notice.

The two who had been praying had suddenly disappeared!

The high Priest looked around without understanding what had happened, but they weren't there, it was as if they had never existed in the first place.

The faces of the two Priests paled.

Until a little while before, both of the missing people had been praying.

Where had they gone in that short period?!

Only one person had seen what happened from start to finish.

'Where's this?'

Ain was looking at a world tinted with a red color.

It’d happened suddenly.

Because the scenery had changed completely, it was as if they'd been teleported while using «Pray».

She was looking at the Symmetrical World.

Ain, flustered, called out Hyun.

「H-Hyun...?!」

Because his consciousness was in a lowered state, it took him a while to hear Ain's shout.

Ain's voice was trembling.

「We suddenly appeared in an unknown place!」

After coming back to his senses and looking around, Hyun was surprised.

—A red world that was illuminated by a black sun.

He had been there before.

But why at that moment? Why had they suddenly gone to the Symmetrical World?

Hyun's eyes widened after looking at the system messages.

Because he had blocked his sight, he hadn't been able to read the messages.

[The skill’s proficiency has reached 100%!]

[The level of «Pray» has increased to 8!]

'What…?!'

For a moment, he couldn't believe it.

It’d taken him a few weeks to raise «Pray» to level 7.

Not only that, but he had gotten «Pray» to level 7 only a few days before then. How could it already be at 8?

To make things weirder, the proficiency rate of «Pray» was already half-full...!

«Pray»’s proficiency rate was increasing at an unreasonably fast pace.

But he didn't know why.

'What happened?'

At that moment, he remembered the words of the suspicious female Priest he’d seen at the Twilight Temple.

He tried to recall his memories from that day.

The female Priest who’d taught him the skill had clearly said this:

Usually, «Pray» reaches the Angels… But praying in the Symmetrical World made «Pray» reach the demons.

'Wait, demons…?'

After remembering that, Hyun looked right next to him.

Hyun inhaled in surprise.

Louise, who was praying with her eyes closed, was surrounded by a demonic energy instead of a holy one.

The dark energy covering her body was growing so much in size that it looked as if it were about to devour her.

"Stop praying!" Hyun shouted urgently.

She didn't wake up even after he grabbed her shoulders and shook her due to the extremely low state her consciousness was in.

Louise only returned to her senses just before she was about to be engulfed by the dark energy.

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