Chapter 154 – LV.Thirteen Priest Seo Yun – [Six]

Everyone was ready to depart about twenty minutes later. As the villagers shouldered their heavy burdens, the main gate of the fortress wall opened.

“What are you doing? Come out quickly!”

The warriors of Happy Village stepped out first and stood guard around the area. As if it had been years since they last ventured outside the fortress, the villagers hesitated before stepping through the gate.

After taking a few steps together, the people looked up at the sky with clear signs of tension.

Seo Yun also raised her head with the same feeling as them. Would that purple moon rise in that sky, or would it not? It would be best if that damn moon didn’t rise…

“Ah…!”

But it rose. In the gray sky, dim despite being daytime, a white sphere glowed, and then a purple hue began to tinge that very sphere.

The Purple Moon, the moon of the Goddess of Beauty that raises the dead.

“Seo Yun!”

Anticipating this moment, Seo Yun had been slowly chanting a spell. She now chanted that spell even faster.

Before the Purple Moon’s radiance could become fully intense, the spell was completed.

“Change the sky!”

Seo Yun shouted, glaring at the sky. She saw the dark clouds, which had been spread out as if merged with or absent from the gray sky, all begin to move at once.

It was the Minor Weather Manipulation spell. A spell she had used just half a day ago, but now she used it not to chase away the dark clouds, but to gather them, the opposite of before. To block that purple light source.

Not only did the surrounding dark clouds gather, but new ones formed, covering that sky. In an instant, the gray of the sky above deepened completely, becoming an ashen color almost close to black.

The darkness obscured the Purple Moon. But was it just her feeling, or did the moonlight truly pierce through the dark clouds? Within the black clouds, a faint purple light still flickered.

Looking down at the ground, a faint purple glow also lingered on the ashen snow.

Seo Yun gritted her teeth and steeled herself for what was to come.

So what would happen now? The faint purple moonlight had reached here, however weakly. Would the undead finally rise from the ground? Or else…

Everyone remained on guard, alternately looking around and at the sky.

About three minutes passed like that.

The dead did not rise. Whether that faint purple hue lingered in the sky above or not, the mortal realm beneath remained quiet.

“We succeeded!”

Only then could they finally breathe a sigh of relief. Seo Yun also gave up trying to keep a cool expression for now, sighed, and then swayed unsteadily.

The warrior Park Jaeyun approached and began vigorously patting Seo Yun’s back. It hurt more than expected, and when Seo Yun glared at him, Park Jaeyun chuckled.

“As expected of Level 13!”

Other warriors also approached and began spouting nonsense, praising the Archangel’s miracle and such. Seo Yun was about to get angry but decided to let it go, finding it absurd. Everyone had reason to make a fuss. It was a lucky situation where a potentially dangerous event was easily overcome…

Yes, Seo Yun thought, it was definitely luck. Along with that, another thought occurred to her.

In that situation just now, it wouldn’t have been strange at all if the undead had risen. If it had been when Meteorite was acting as GM not long ago, she guessed that thousands of skeletons would have surely risen to punish the escapees here.

If this were a TRPG, a ruling might have been made that the Goddess’s miracle couldn’t be blocked by mere dark clouds. Also, the rulebook didn’t specify whether the Purple Moon was neutralized due to bad weather.

In such ambiguous rule situations, making the ruling is the GM’s role. So, the fact that the Purple Moon was so easily neutralized just now was probably thanks to the new GM siding with them.

‘Well done, Baek Woou.’

From this, two facts could be inferred. It was clear that the new GM was on humanity’s side, making rulings beneficial to them. On the other hand, Meteorite still had no intention of letting people go freely.

Meteorite was still obsessed with maintaining and completing his damn dark fantasy.

Oh Haengun spoke.

“Hmm, let’s save the praise for our Archangel for when we get home and start walking for now. Even if no undead rise around here, there are plenty of monsters, right?”

Just then, a barbarian warrior’s roar echoed from far away.

“Come—at—me—!”

It was Arnold. He hadn’t been seen for a while, and now he was far away, shouting a battle cry.

It was clearly a taunt to draw any monsters that might attack this refugee group toward himself. Everyone looked in that direction and widened their eyes.

“Arnold! Behind—”

Kushis that had suddenly revealed themselves from thin air ambushed Arnold from behind. Seeing this, a few people screamed a warning but then shut their mouths.

Wasn’t he a Barbarian Warrior with Agility 11, who could catch bullets with his fingers? Arnold showed no sign of surprise at all, simultaneously cleaving through the approaching monster wolves. Watching that heroic slaughter, Seo Yun thought. Who could imagine, seeing that, the nerd who had been turned to stone by that Basilisk?

Everyone walked and walked until they reached the Dimensional Gate.

“Alright, go in.”

The refugees entered first. And as the others were following in succession,

Oh Haengun spoke.

“Wait, let’s go back a bit later.”

Han Siwoo asked.

“Why? Do you have something to do?”

“Hmm… I do. Reconnaissance.”

“Reconnaissance?”

“Why? They say the Final Boss’s main force is approaching, but we don’t really know how many enemies there are. How about we go see for ourselves?”

“Isn’t that too dangerous…”

“It’s fine. I’m a Mage, so I can use the Invisibility Spell, right? I can cast it on others too. Let’s use that to get a rough look at that skeleton legion. It would be good to know how much preparation we need to fight them…”

Among Invisibility Spells, if you make sound with your footsteps you can be detected, so it was decided that only a few elite members with light bodies would go.

Seo Yun and Chimpanzee, along with Oh Haengun and Arnold, who had just finished his slaughter and returned, set out on the reconnaissance.

And after walking for what must have been hours, Seo Yun could easily see the enemies in question.

On the endlessly spread Ashen Snowfield, hundreds of skeletons were approaching.

They were the enemies said to be coming to sweep through the village. Seo Yun scanned them along with the other three and inwardly groaned.

Seo Yun didn’t have any particular military insight, but looking at them, one fact became clear. They were not enemies prepared to be defeated to earn glory and rewards.

“What are all those…?”Oh Haengun groaned. Seo Yun continued to scan the faces of the enemies.

Unlike the undead army they had defeated last time, these were diverse in their troop types from the start.

Common rifleman Skeletons… Shadow Specters that looked like bullets wouldn’t work on them at a glance… Skeleton Mammoths moving with heavy machine guns mounted on their backs… Giant Skeletons advancing while carrying battering rams… and what seemed to be their commander, a skeleton Mage wearing a modern officer’s uniform…

Among the relatively weaker monsters, there were several enemies that looked formidable even at a glance. If they had clashed head-on with them, they would have surely suffered multiple casualties on their side as well.

Amidst this, what disgusted Seo Yun even more was the fact that these enemies, who would be no pushover in a fight, seemed to be nothing more than expendables. This skeleton army was clearly different from the Centaur army, where a commander in splendid armor led well-groomed soldiers.

No splendor could be found in these undead. Whether it was the mammoth with a heavy machine gun or the Giant Skeleton, they were clearly not carefully prepared decisive weapons but rather locally procured troops, and not even the effort of polishing boots had been put into adorning them.

The skeleton soldiers wearing tattered military uniforms seemed to have already been through many battles. Their appearances were miserable, with cracked skulls or missing several ribs, showing no signs of having been repaired.

The skeletons just kept walking with whatever parts of their bodies were broken. Even if those bodies were completely destroyed, neither the skeletons themselves nor their commander would likely care.

From Seo Yun’s perspective, even if they blocked their path and fiercely fought to defeat them all, there would be no reward. They wouldn’t be able to feel the thrill of victory or enjoy the pleasure of humiliating a defeated enemy.

In gaming terms, fighting them wouldn’t yield proper Experience Points or items, and yet they could still die. Even if this were a TRPG played on a game board, they would be enemies to avoid.

In the suffocating silence, a click sound was heard.

Turning on Soul Sight and looking to the side, Gaeulbi was filming them with the smartphone she had received from Oh Haengun. Then she said softly,

“Shall we go back now?”

“Yeah…”

Exiting the Dimensional Gate, the others were waiting.

Seo Yun saw the people of the French Village. They seemed amazed that there were remnants of modern civilization here, even if mostly collapsed, and were eagerly looking around.

Then, they seemed to have belatedly noticed Seo Yun emerging from the Dimensional Gate. They all turned their gaze this way and then looked at her with peculiar expressions. One of them asked,

“Was that earlier a Miracle performed by the Angel?”

A Miracle? They seemed to be referring to the weather manipulation spell.

“Huh? Yes…”

When Seo Yun affirmed, their gazes grew even more peculiar. What kind of look is that now?

It appeared that the people of this French Village were looking at her with awe for what she had just done. Combined with her earlier statements about sending everyone to Heaven and such, perhaps that magic was perceived as even more magnificent? Unlike the playful praises from the people of Happy Village, their admiration seemed truly sincere.

As if to prove that fact, Seo Yun felt the sensation of Faith welling up inside her again. Having collected Faith from many people so far, she could intuitively sense that the special ability of the Lesser Angel Race had developed to its final stage… She coughed awkwardly in her discomfort.

A French man spoke.

“Angel, is there perhaps something you need? Although we don’t have much to offer, we’d like to repay you in some way. We’ll gladly offer anything…”

Just as Seo Yun was politely declining,

Suddenly, Gaeulbi cut in and said,

“Do you happen to have any Meteor Fragments?”

“Meteor Fragments?”

“Yes. You know what they are, right? If you really want to give something, it would be nice if you could give some of those.”

It seemed the village had stored quite a few Meteor Fragments. Gaeulbi managed to get a promise from them for a bundle of Meteor Fragments.

Han Siwoo, who had by now become quite capable of understanding English, asked from the side,

“Aren’t you going to stop her?”

Seo Yun shrugged her shoulders.

“Well, Eulbi volunteered for the dangerous reconnaissance mission as part of the operation too. Can I really stop her from claiming her share?”

Meanwhile, William was having a conversation with Oh Haengun. William expressed his gratitude to Oh Haengun.

“Let me say again, thank you so much.”

“Not at all. Compared to the help we received last time, this is a trivial matter.”

“Anyway, when we first met, I never imagined we’d be helping each other out like this.”

“Right? But why did you request help from us this time, instead of the Sun Ship?”

“Was it burdensome?”

“No, it’s not that. Wouldn’t it have been much safer to escort the people if you had mobilized the Sun Ship? Whether the Purple Moon rises or not, if the Sun Ship were shining sunlight from above, no undead would have been able to attack, right?”

“Well, the Sun Ship is handling an important mission elsewhere.”

“An important mission?”

Oh Haengun seemed to have asked without much thought, but William looked around with a serious expression and then opened his mouth.

“Well… I suppose it’s okay to tell you.”

“What exactly are they doing?”

Then William said with a grave face,

“I heard Pygma Mule’s location has been detected. Along with the Liches he leads. The Sun Ship has headed that way.”

Only then did Oh Haengun’s expression turn serious as well. He looked around and asked,

“Are they planning to wage a decisive battle?”

“An ambush, to be precise. They plan to strike that villain.”

“With that main cannon that attacked our village before?”

“Yes. For this, we even conserved that formidable weapon during the previous battle. If that golden heat ray strikes the Liches on the march… Huh, even their powerful Protection Spell will be useless, melting away in an instant…”

William was saying that the Sun Ship and the Paladins had now advanced to ambush the Final Boss.

And Seo Yun had a foreboding feeling. Of course, it would be good if things went well, but would they really? Regardless of the compatibility between the group of Paladins and the undead, that skeleton is the Final Boss, right?

Indeed, foreboding feelings rarely miss their mark.

About three days later, William, with a world-shattered expression, relayed the horrific news he had heard to Happy Village.It was none other than the news that the Sun Ship dispatched for the operation had been destroyed, and its crew, including the Commander-in-Chief, had been completely wiped out.