The Life of a Wise Cult Leader - Chapter 98

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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

Erendor had disappeared.

Thought

“I can’t believe he just left us behind like this.”

Yelena lowered her large halberd that had been resting against her shoulder. The head of the halberd dragged against the ground, leaving marks on the wooden floor.

“Since we can’t guarantee the safety of the barrier, how about Calebrin reinforces it with additional layers?”

Calebrin nodded. Yelena seemed dissatisfied with the security of this house that only had a concealment barrier.

“Ascetic… um, please stay here.”

“I think I could help Sister Calebrin with her work as well.”

“Patients need to rest. And if you go out in your current condition…”

“Ah, you’re right. I’m just now realizing my state.”

Yelena smiled bitterly. Even though she didn’t have such a close relationship with the Ascetic, she was making such a sad face…

Bang!

A loud noise came from somewhere.

“What was that?”

Calebrin jumped up from her chair and performed a four-direction alert. The loosely held halberd was also gripped tightly in its owner’s hand.

At the edge of my heightened senses, I caught multiple sources of displeasure. With their characteristic rotting smell hidden beneath the shell of the living…

“Someone… has entered Erendor’s house. Without an invitation, no less.”

I had a good idea of who sent them. The original Ascetic wouldn’t have been able to recognize them, though.

The minions of one who holds the power of death… They finally detected the divine power and came running.

The Ascetic rose from the bed with eyes different from before.

“Now, my sisters. Let us prepare for battle.”

“W-wait a minute. So who are these guys? Why do we have to fight?”

“Simply put, they’re demons, and to put it complexly, they’re the dregs of God. Either way, they intend to usurp my divine power and kill me, so it would be best to prepare immediately.”

Yelena showed a complicated expression. Calebrin, without question, raised her staff. Then she quietly finished preparing to unleash curses.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Honestly, ever since you lost your memory, you seem… really not human anymore—”

I cut off Yelena’s words.

“Oh my, it seems the enemies don’t intend to wait for us.”

Calebrin instantly cast a barrier over us. It was similar to the one she cast when the underground collapsed.

Crash!

The window I enjoyed looking at shattered. And a creature with the shepherd boy’s head hanging from the center of its torso, with thin, black spider-like limbs, climbed through the broken window.

“Ho- ho- ho- ho- ly- one- one- one- sir- ir- ir- ir…”

A face dried up and close to a skeleton. The corpse with a horrified expression clattered its jaw joints, making eerie sounds.

The shepherd boy with his eyes gouged out and bleeding tears moved his twisted wrists and arms in bizarre motions.

The lively appearance he had shown when we met before was nowhere to be found, as he had been stripped of his living form and violated by that spider.

“It- it- it hurts, it, hurts, ho- oly- one- sir- ir- ir…”

“Eek…”

Perhaps because of the quite shocking performance, Yelena was frightened. Calebrin didn’t look to be in good condition either.

It was similar to when I saw Taraka. Back then, I infused purification power to make it normal, but…

I traced and touched the crack still remaining on my cheek with my fingertip.

‘If I do that now, this body that seems ready to break at any moment won’t be able to endure it.’

Now that I had awakened to the truth and mastered how to use power, my body couldn’t support it.

‘The system probably set a limit on its own knowing this would happen…’

This had become troublesome. That thing would be more susceptible to attacks imbued with divine power rather than physical attacks.

‘Cardil’s attacks would work better…’

The floating data fragments settled down. Naturally, my mind began to work clearly as well.

‘Right now, even if my body weakens somewhat, I have no choice but to first remove the debuffs from the dealers.’

I approached the two people blocking my way and infused them with my power. I could feel their hearts becoming peaceful.

Conversely, the creatures that sensed my power flowing out twisted their limbs and screamed.

“Keeeeeeeeek—!”

The creatures charged at us.

I covered one side of my face and retreated further back. Since they had smashed one side of the wall, wooden fragments were flying everywhere.

The curse that was being cast hit directly. The shepherd boy’s face crumpled. Yelena didn’t hesitate regardless of what the boy was muttering and charged with her halberd.

The monster was cleanly split in half. Along with the shepherd boy’s face.

Black silhouettes from behind and to the side charged at us. Not spiders, but shadow-like figures of people moved smoothly as if they had no feet.

Three of them went for Yelena, two came for us. Calebrin nimbly dodged one creature’s claws and struck it with her staff.

Meanwhile, there was one charging at me as well.

‘Things that would turn to dust with just one use of power…’

The current restriction on my power was frustrating. But for now, I had to let those two handle it.

I still covered one side of my face, stepped back with one foot, and spun around once to avoid the creature.

My pure white hair fluttered. This body had become familiar now.

“Die.”

The head of the shadow that lost its balance while I dodged exploded. Far away, Calebrin was aiming the tip of her staff.

The headless shadow seemed not to realize that its head had disappeared for a moment, wandering and walking through the air.

Calebrin turned around again and poured more curses on the shadow that had charged at her earlier, with its upper and lower body separated.

There was no need to worry about Yelena. She was chopping the three puppets into pieces—heads, torsos, arms, legs, and so on.

“Haa…”

Yelena briefly exhaled. A very brief battle. We were the ones left standing.

“Nothing special. Though it’s a bit concerning that they don’t die.”

Yelena greeted us with a bright face as if she had never been scared. Her high ponytail bounced cheerfully.

A hand with only the wrist remaining scratched the floor and crawled toward me.

However, it would never reach me. Because it burst like spilled paint on the floor from one of Calebrin’s bright red orbs.

“Focus. They’ll soon fuse with that main body and come back to life.”

It was phase 2.

The creatures were persistent and would continue to chase us like shadows. And after finally achieving their goal of stealing my divine power, they would crawl into the ground and return to their master…

Calebrin chanted a spell.

The creature that was about to charge at us stopped in mid-air as if frozen. It was probably one of the binding spells.

“Hit, hitting will break it. Get ready.”

Yelena nodded and gripped her halberd tightly. Then she looked back.

“Does it hurt?”

Yelena tapped her own left cheek.

“…There is no physical pain.”

I said that and lowered my hand. The crack that had been healing had grown a bit longer.

Yelena, somewhat shocked, tried to look more at my crack.

“Don’t look at it for too long.”

I gently stopped her and covered half my face with my hand again. I felt a subtle sense of shame.

“Yes…”

Yelena shifted her gaze back to the shepherd boy’s head. Despite having split it in half, the spider had grown even larger.

“That thing… looks similar to the monster that destroyed an entire unit back then.”

Her instincts were good as expected.

“Similar but slightly different. That was… like a stray dog, but this one is a well-trained hound. It will persistently live and bite at our throats until it achieves its purpose.”

“Isn’t there any way to deal with it?”

“Right now, we can only… inflict as much damage as possible.”

“…It’s fortunate that hitting it works. It looks like something that would only appear in nightmares, so honestly I wasn’t sure if blades would even work on it.”

Even though it took a direct hit from the binding curse, there was no way to stop the monster’s growth.

A black silhouette of a person sprouted from between the shepherd boy’s split head.

We soon had to look up to see that monster.

A spider’s body with a human torso with its spine flipped upside down, and a head covered by a veil.

The spider’s body was covered with eyeballs of various sizes clustered together.

There was a reason Yelena said it looked like something from a nightmare. Perhaps if it were the previous Ascetic, he would have thought it was disgusting.

“It’s a good thing they’ve seen all sorts of terrible things. If they were ordinary people, they would have fainted the moment they saw that sight.”

If I hadn’t initially infused them with my power, there wouldn’t have been a battle at all and Kalebrin and Yelena would have died.

“The binding… curse, it won’t last long….”

Kalebrin, who had been concentrating all her attention on the curse, said that.

“Yes, I’m ready.”

Yelena was about to cast the Heretic Inquisitor’s Ultimate. I could feel her gathering power to the point where her halberd was trembling.

“Keeeeek-!!!”

Whether he had already lost consciousness, a bestial cry that no human could ever make came from the Shepherd Boy.

As I reflexively covered both ears, a great vibration traveled up through my feet. When I cautiously opened my eyes, I saw that Yelena had blown the spider away with enough force to smash even the large tree outside.

When I removed my hands, my palms were damp—perhaps my eardrums had burst. If I had a Defense Relic, I wouldn’t have bled from mere noise like this.

Yelena was already gone from her spot. Soon after, thunderous sounds, dust, and light began flashing from that direction again.

Kwagagak-!

It seemed Yelena was delivering follow-up attacks. Kalebrin was eagerly jumping over the debris. It looked like she was trying to help Yelena.

“Ascetic, st-stay here…!”

Since my body isn’t in perfect condition either, it wouldn’t be bad to rest a little….

I roughly brushed off the debris on the bed and tried to watch those two fight. At this rate, with continuous attacks like that, it would turn to dust soon enough.

‘One thing that bothers me is… why did he send that monster now?’

Surely he didn’t think those two wouldn’t be by my side.

He had perfectly timed his attack for when I was weakened and when Erendor was away.

But that monster was merely troublesome—not something we couldn’t handle. At most, it was like a level 30 boss monster.

If he sent it now, it would only make our vigilance reach its peak, so why….

I tried my best to figure out his scheme.

Creak-

Just then, I heard the sound of the hut door opening behind me.

I hurriedly turned around. But the uninvited guest had already approached right up to my nose.

I opened my eyes wide and muttered.

“Gerard…?”

Austin Gerard, with his cold expression, thrust his sword into my abdomen without hesitation.

Ah, no.

The assembled data scatters. Austin Gerard mutters to me as I collapse onto the bed.

“A betrayer dies by a betrayer’s blade.”

A woman’s voice I’ve heard before….

Gerard looks down at me with a smile curving his lips. It’s a familiar expression….

“You need to wake up, Ascetic.”

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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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