Chapter 132: Fever and Promises
“That bastard…!”
Yuna, unable to contain her fury, drew her sword. Reeves reached out and stopped her. The high priest smirked,
“Good job, man. If you hadn’t stopped her, the Saint would be meeting with God right now.”
“Reeves, use your magic! Give the order!”
But Reeves remained silent. Yuna felt a sense of betrayal and helplessness, her position as Knights Captain meaningless.
She hadn’t realized that the restriction on the Knights Captain using private soldiers would be this crippling.
“…Heh heh.”
The high priest, seeing Reeves’s inaction, regained his composure.
This was easier than he had thought.
He raised his arm and clenched his fist, as if to swallow the sky.
“Foolish ones gathered in God’s sanctuary! Listen! A challenge to me is a challenge to God!”
The high priest shouted at the human wall.
“Citizens of Atlantis who serve God, build an even stronger wall! This is all for God!”
The human wall, which had parted to let them through, closed in again.
“Sister, I’ll see you later. I’m going to become a perfect Saint, powerful enough to swallow Löhn. When I become that kind of Saint, you’ll understand me.”
Reeves didn’t say a word, even as the high priest disappeared into the fog with Melaine. Yuna slapped Reeves across the face. The sound of bones colliding echoed through the abandoned building.
“What are they doing?”
Jean, watching them from the nearby building, asked, his face puzzled.
“Grand Duke Reeves… He’s probably always like this.”
Sue couldn’t explain it either. Jean shrugged,
“Well, whatever. It’s better for us. Let’s go, Sue.”
“What are we going to do?”
Sue followed him, but she was still anxious. But Jean didn’t hesitate. He stepped outside and looked up at the cloudy sky, a smirk on his face.
“Force.”
A large shadow suddenly fell over them. Everyone, except Jean, looked up in unison, feeling a chill.
“W-what is that?!”
They all had the same thought. It was a dragon. There was a giant dragon in the sky.
Sue was so terrified by the overwhelming presence that she had instinctively run back inside the building. But she slowly regained her composure and realized what it was.
“That’s Rem, isn’t it?”
“Bingo.”
The moment Jean grabbed her hand and started running, a crimson breath erupted from the sky, engulfing the abandoned building.
“Aaaaaah! Help me!”
The human wall scattered like a flock of birds. Even Reeves’s face hardened at the unexpected turn of events. But he was the first to realize what the crimson breath was, and he finally spoke, for the first time since arriving at the chapel,
“Don’t panic! It’s an illusion! Thomas! Protect the followers with your unit and get them out of here!”
As he had said, the breath Rem was spewing was just an illusion in the shape of a breath.
“Look at him, quick on the uptake. That’s why I hate Acrea.”
Jean clicked his tongue. Sue didn’t have time to care about his words. Rem’s breath wasn’t hot, but Sue’s body was burning with excitement. Jean squeezed her hand tightly.
“Calm down, it’ll be fine.”
The soldiers tried to rescue the panicked followers, but it only created more chaos.
People trying to escape from the flames, people trying to restrain them, people praying for salvation in the face of death, and even people committing suicide out of fear. It was pandemonium.
Yuna finally grabbed Reeves by the collar.
“Reeves! Enough with your games! We have to go down to the chapel… Please, Reeves.”
Reeves saw tears welling up in Yuna’s eyes. He finally shouted to his soldiers,
“Thomas, Yuna, Woo, and the First Unit will go down to the chapel. You’re in charge of calming the situation. First Unit, listen up! Our top priority is to rescue Lady Melaine. Don’t forget your mission!”
“Yes, sir!”
The soldiers answered in unison and started moving swiftly. Yuna, her tears gone, dashed into the chapel, her scabbard effortlessly subduing the followers.
“You bastard.”
Reeves, following her, clearly heard her mutter. He smirked silently.
Acrea didn’t care about his brother’s love drama. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had seen something behind the abandoned building. It might have been a trick of the fog and the crimson breath, the sea of people, but he was sure he had seen…
‘Byron?’
***
Unlike the outside, the chapel was empty. Their footsteps echoed loudly as they walked. Jean, carefully scanning the main hall, mumbled,
“He must have thought it was over once the soldiers got down here. Stupid. He should have just run away alone. Why make it easier for us to find him?”
His words echoed through the empty hall.
“He’s probably here.”
Sue pointed at the small door next to the pulpit, and Jean kicked it open.
‘He’s using high-level brainwashing magic, but he hasn’t even bothered to put up a barrier…’
Jean was becoming more and more convinced, observing the situation, that the high priest was able to use brainwashing magic because of the snake mark.
There were three doors lined up in the long corridor called the annex. One led to the high priest’s office, one led to a storage room, and the other led to the followers’ dormitory.
The office and the storage room were empty. Jean kicked open the remaining door. Another long corridor appeared. Sue thought it looked like an anthill.
They checked all the rooms, from First to Fifth, but they couldn’t find the high priest or Melaine.
“There’s a hidden room.”
Jean chuckled, but Sue was getting anxious. If she could just remember the novel clearly, they would be able to find it quickly. But her memory was hazy.
Soran Halo had destroyed the Holy Demon Religion with high-ranking magic.
But Halo had definitely investigated the Holy Demon Religion, just like Sue. She must have found the hidden room too.
Sue stood in the middle of the endless white corridor, chewing on her lip. She had to remember.
“There’s… a hidden room.”
A flash of inspiration struck her as she desperately searched her memories. She hurriedly opened the Fifth room. Jean, his eyes wide with surprise, followed her inside.
“What? Do you know where the hidden room is?”
“No.”
“What?”
“But I know it’s here. It’s somewhere in here.”
She said, her voice filled with conviction. Halo had definitely searched the largest room in the annex. And the largest room in the annex was the Fifth room, where the Fifth followers stayed.
Jean didn’t question her. Sue sometimes spoke as if she knew things no one else did. And she had been right about the high priest using brainwashing magic.
But now wasn’t the time to worry about her prophetic deductions. Jean took a deep breath and scanned the Fifth room again.
“You’re saying the hidden room is in here…”
“Just destroy it.”
“Destroy it?”
Sue nodded.
Halo had “destroyed” the room. She didn’t know exactly where or what she had destroyed, but… She had managed to recall the memory, but the fragmented pieces didn’t completely alleviate her frustration.
They heard dozens of footsteps approaching from outside. Jean chuckled, a hint of exasperation in his voice.
“…Oops, looks like they’re coming in. We’re too late.”
“…We’re screwed.”
Time was up.
Sue, realizing they couldn’t stall any longer, quickly gave up and started thinking of an excuse for why she was here. But Jean, not giving up yet, grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and threw her into the Fifth room. He grinned at her dumbfounded expression.
“Buy us some time. You know them, right?”
“What?”
“You said to destroy it. I’ll give it a try.”
“How are you going to…!”
But before she could ask, the door to the Fifth room slammed shut.
***
Jean, left alone in the room, first dragged the chairs and tables to the door. And then, he cast a low-ranking reinforcement spell on them, hoping to buy them a little more time.
“Destroy it…?”
He couldn’t think of a plan right away. He lay down on the floor to conserve his energy.
Sue had definitely said to destroy it. But what exactly she wanted him to destroy was a question he had to think about. He was almost certain that the high priest couldn’t use any magic other than brainwashing, so he didn’t bother trying to detect a barrier or magical power.
If it was a small object, it wouldn’t be a problem, but if he had to destroy the entire building, he would need Rem’s help.
Rem’s true breath, which he could only use once. He didn’t want to use it, as it put a strain on Rem’s body. But he would have no choice if they were cornered.
Jean stood up and started walking slowly, his hand on the wall.
‘There are no empty spaces in the walls.’
One, two. His footsteps echoed loudly. And then, he stopped. He looked back and forth between the ceiling and the floor, then mumbled,
“That high priest… He’s really stupid.”