The Life of a Wise Cult Leader - Chapter 43

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Fire

Whoosh-

Dust rose up. I grabbed my spinning head.

In the dim vision, familiar green light bloomed. There was so much dust that white light clusters were also bubbling up unintentionally.

“Cough, hack. I’m dying here. Is everyone okay?”

Yelena’s voice echoed from beyond that pile of rubble.

“Yes, Brother Cardil quickly put up a barrier so we were fine.”

Since it was a barrier cast after getting hit by a rock in the head, I did take a few hits, but there are two healers here. There’s also me who can self-heal.

I dragged the unconscious Kalebrin over and held her.

Cardil’s barrier was narrow so there was no choice. He had bloodshot eyes and a nosebleed.

“Cardil, are you alright?”

He nodded silently.

I think I heard at the construction site that nosebleeds could mean a concussion…

“Is it a concussion?”

“…It’s the aftereffect of casting magic while ignoring proper procedure. I won’t be able to use mana for a while.”

So it was from casting quickly. That was fortunate.

I healed the unconscious Kalebrin with one hand and placed my other hand on Cardil’s back to treat him.

Cardil’s nosebleed slowly stopped and his bloodshot eyes gradually returned to normal.

Is Kalebrin still unconscious? More importantly, where did Alderion go?

“Is this shoddy construction? Marquis~ Marquis Alderion?”

Yelena’s voice echoed with a rumbling sound. There was no answer from Alderion.

“Oh no.”

“Yelena, are you alright over there?”

“Ah~ I’m fine. Miss Kalebrin noticed first so I could prepare. But it’ll be hard to move. It looks like it might collapse if we’re not careful~”

This is serious trouble.

“Ugh…”

“Kalebrin, are you coming to your senses?”

“Ahh… my, my head…”

I moved my hand to Kalebrin’s head area. Her frowning face relaxed and she regained her complexion. The blood-soaked clothes of the party gradually disappeared cleanly through the power of purification.

“Ascetic, brother… are, are you okay?”

“As you can see, I’m fine.”

“Mmm, no. You, you need to be careful. Re, really.”

Kalebrin gave advice after seeing something about soul connection. I thought it couldn’t be helped since I’ve been getting beaten up a lot lately.

“I understand. With reliable Brothers and Sisters by my side, it should be fine now.”

“I, I was trying to pro, protect you…”

Just as Kalebrin was about to fall into depression, the stones rattled and began a second collapse.

Rumble.

“Ugh.”

Cardil, who was maintaining the barrier, clenched his teeth tightly. I kept one hand on Cardil’s shoulder and continued pouring healing power into him.

I can’t lose Alderion like this. Yelena was also an Inquisitor connection I had built up, so I needed to utilize her as much as possible.

Can we survive this?

From somewhere came a sound closer to an animal’s cry than human.

“Krwaaaaaaak-“

The party held their breath.

‘This is serious trouble.’

It seemed the otherworldly god I had predicted earlier had belatedly popped out as a surprise.

‘That voice isn’t a god but almost a monster, isn’t it?’

So this is the start of a group boss battle?

‘We’re about to die buried under rubble right now, what monster fighting nonsense…’

Just surviving is overwhelming enough.

Then Yelena’s voice came from beyond the rubble pile in front.

“Bishop Cardil! It’ll be difficult, but try narrowing the barrier range a bit more to make it solid. I need to just clear away this pile of stones.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“I’ll tell you when I’m ready. I think we need to hurry a bit.”

Yelena seemed to be planning something.

Right, we have to do something. My skills can’t really be effective in this situation either…

“What about Marquis Alderion?”

“Well. Since there’s no answer, maybe he died instantly buried under the rubble~?”

She says that so casually…!

I entered the status window and went into the voice transmission skill window. Since I hadn’t baptized him, I couldn’t see the situation, so I had no choice but to do this.

[Target Search: Marquis Alderion]

[Would you like to connect?]

[Connecting…]

Right, it shows connection so he’s alive at least. That’s fortunate.

[Connected!]

-Current thoughts are being transmitted to the target.

‘Alderion. Can you hear me? If you’re alive, please make a sound.’

[Connection terminated]

Alderion’s voice couldn’t be heard.

That’s when it happened.

“Huh-“

A sobbing sound came from somewhere.

The only person here who would make such a sound is Alderion. As expected of someone who was in the middle of becoming a monster that surpassed human physicality.

To maintain some consciousness even in a collapsed basement was quite impressive.

“Yelena, I don’t know what action you’re trying to take… but please avoid the front area. Alderion is there.”

“Hmm. I’ll try my best.”

At the unreliable answer, I urged Kalebrin.

“Kalebrin, can you cast defensive sorcery? Alderion is in danger.”

“Uh, umm. Without a me, medium the effect won’t be much. I’ll, I’ll try anyway.”

Kalebrin grabbed her staff while leaning against me.

The staff with red gems clustered on it glowed.

The blue light of the barrier, the red aura of sorcery, the green light from me healing Cardil’s shoulder, and the white light clusters purifying the dust all flickered inside the barrier.

“Ready-?”

Rumble.

Cardil constructed the barrier with red blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.

“Krwaaaaaaak-!”

The voice of a monster came from somewhere.

Thud, rumble.

The pile of stones pounding the barrier seemed ready to pour down on our heads at any moment.

Kalebrin regained her senses and began casting support sorcery on Cardil.

“Now- let’s get out of here…!”

Yelena said that.

KWAAA-AANG-!!!

It was noise loud enough to make my ears ring.

In an instant, we were under the light.

Yelena had swung her halberd with all her might, sending the pile of stones flying.

Clatter.

Wrapping fierce but bright yellow mana around her halberd, Yelena climbed up onto the pile of stones.

“Now that’s more refreshing.”

Cardil and Kalebrin’s eyes widened as they blinked in surprise.

‘Inquisitor 3rd Awakening Limit Breaker…’

A skilled fighter of that caliber had been receiving such cold treatment?

3rd Awakening, no less.

‘It was a skill I just accepted when I saw it in the game, but seeing it like this… it’s really not human.’

I’m really grateful she just engaged in verbal sparring despite having such skills.

If I had possessed such tremendous force, instead of resolving things through words like this, I would have been going ‘How dare you block my path. Die!’ That would be more convenient after all.

“Is everyone alright?”

“Yes, we survived thanks to you.”

Cardil finally released his barrier. His complexion looked much more at ease.

I jumped up and searched through the pile of stones for Alderion.

“Alderion!”

He was about three steps directly in front of us.

I pulled out Alderion, who was almost half-buried like in a grave. When I extracted him like pulling out a carrot, Alderion groaned.

His limbs were intact, his neck was properly attached, his face was unharmed, his fingers were fine, and his toes… I couldn’t tell since he was wearing shoes, but they seemed fine.

When I infused him with healing power, he slowly opened his eyes. The purification power drove away the bloody dust. This level of purification seemed to be fine.

“Ascetic…”

“Alderion, are you alright?”

“Ugh… Thanks to you, I’m fine.”

Whether he was displaying inhuman abilities, his soft pink eyes were bright red like when I first saw him, and his teeth were protruding again.

“What is all this about?”

“It seems… the otherworldly god that the heretics summoned has made a belated visit.”

“Isn’t that a big problem? Where, where is that thing?”

Exactly. It’s only been roaring and hasn’t been visible until now…

Since this has become reality, there’s no need to wait for players.

Yelena gripped her halberd tightly. Kalebrin cast an ominous sorcery. The red gems on her staff resonated, giving off an eerie sound.

“Straight ahead!”

Yelena shouted loudly.

Straight ahead? I can’t see anything.

The Marquis turned pale and pulled me along.

“Ascetic, this way…!”

Whoosh.

Even though he pulled gently, I was swept away. And the moment Yelena swung her halberd again, another thunderous roar echoed.

Thud-!

Something fell from the sky with a whoosh, creating a deep crater in the ground. That must have been what destroyed the basement.

Broken fragments flew like bullets. Alderion blocked in front of me.

Alderion’s superhuman physical abilities don’t strengthen his skin. He embraced me even as his flesh was being gouged out.

His blood flew and touched my cheek. Unlike others’ blood, it didn’t become particles of light and disappear, but turned to gas and vanished as if corroding.

Kalebrin instantly cast and launched her sorcery.

Flash.

“Kieek!”

Red electricity sparked.

Whether it hit properly, the thing that had been invisible began to slowly become visible.

I infused Alderion with healing power once more. His body gradually restored itself.

“That thing is…”

“It’s a demon.”

Rather than some unknown otherworldly god, calling it a demon would be better for gaining credibility when reporting later.

Rather than mentioning some otherworldly god of unknown origin and getting dragged to an interrogation room for a gag order, it’s better to say the heretics banded together to try summoning a demon.

“Kieek!”

Kalebrin’s sorcery scored another direct hit.

While dodging Yelena’s bright yellow sword strikes and avoiding the magic Cardil was throwing, it seemed unable to avoid the sorcery.

“To think such a thing is a demon…”

Alderion, whose skin had been properly restored, spoke in a daze.

No matter how much his physical abilities surpassed humans, he was a marquis who had been living comfortably surrounded by silk until recently. Participating directly in combat would be too much.

Cardil’s slowly cast binding hit its mark. Finally, I could see the demon’s true form.

Its body gleamed like obsidian and was smooth. It had wings, but not bat membranes – they looked like angel wings made of obsidian.

It had four elongated legs and was crouched in a sprinter-like position, with inexplicable thorn-like protrusions along its spine and something that might be saliva or poison dripping from its tentacles.

Small eyes were clustered all over its crown-like face. Every time its thick tail struck the ground, the earth was gouged out.

‘I’ve never seen a mob like that before.’

At most, it’s like a monster? But it looks more horrific than a monster.

“Keeeeek!”

With just one cry, his binding shattered. Since he’s a damage dealer, it was natural that he couldn’t handle support-type magic well.

“It seems to have no intelligence.”

If it were Alderion’s type, I could turn it into an electric grilled dish with purification power.

I don’t even know if purification works on it, and if I got that close, the creature’s tail would turn this ascetic into mincemeat.

Yelena didn’t miss the moment it was briefly stopped by the binding. She’s an excellent hunter.

Whoosh.

The wind followed belatedly after her swung halberd. The bright yellow sword strike hit the demon and shattered.

“This body is damn hard!”

She creates distance.

Physical immunity and speed type. The fortunate thing is that there are two mage types.

Anyway, since I’m a healer, there’s nothing I can do, but still.

I watched this situation optimistically. Since there was really nothing I could do, I felt strangely at ease.

“Ugh!”

Kalebrin’s sorcery wouldn’t launch. It seemed she was worried it might hit Yelena who was engaged in close combat.

It’s natural since they’ve never coordinated before. Cardil was also just casting ominous magic in his hands, but didn’t rush at the demon.

Clang- Clank!

Yelena’s swinging halberd hit the demon several times, but there was no damage. The creature that had been hesitant at first now showed signs of dismissing Yelena as non-threatening.

‘This is dangerous.’

The aggro will shift soon. It’s probably targeting Kalebrin, whom it judges as most dangerous.

[Target Search: Kalebrin]

[Would you like to connect?]

[Connected!]

[Target Search: Cardil]

[Connected!]

[Target Search: Yelena]

[Connected!]

-Current thoughts will be transmitted to targets.

‘Cardil. Put a barrier on Kalebrin. The demon’s first priority is Kalebrin.’

Even if it’s a first-time party, this is a situation where we have no choice but to clear the dungeon on the first try.

It was time for a briefing.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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