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Whoosh—!
A powerful gust of wind swept through the crumbling cathedral cemetery.
“…….”
That was the last thing.
After more than ten minutes of fierce fighting, the deafening explosions and cracking sounds finally stopped.
At the center of the silent cemetery, the figures of two people overlapped.
A sword was embedded in the chest armor of a man who had hair the same color as his own and wore armor with a similar shape to his.
Blood did not flow through the pierced armor.
The man Glen had defeated was nothing more than an illusion created by the Dungeon Ark of Confinement.
“Still… this fucking feels awful.”
The fight that had lasted only about ten minutes was not as pleasant an experience as Glen had expected.
“…….”
With Einheria pierced through his chest, the ancestor of the family, Graham Wordsworth, silently stared at Glen.
A smile slowly appeared on his expressionless face, and then his body turned into dust and scattered in the wind.
He had not spoken a single word, but the moment he lost, he realized that Glen was his descendant and was happy to see him.
Even though he was merely an existence created as a trial by the Ark of Confinement, once an illusion was created, it was just like the real thing.
‘That’s what makes it even more fucking annoying.’
The gaze and movements when their swords clashed, and even the way he protected the graveyard while praying throughout the entire battle.
Of course, Glen had used the grave he was desperately protecting to make the battle easier for himself.
But every time he did that, Graham had looked so real as he desperately tried to stop Glen, even while accepting damage himself, that it was unpleasant.
‘I feel like I really committed some kind of crime against my ancestor…….’
Looking at the gravestone behind the vanished Graham, Glen frowned.
His head clearly understood that Graham was an illusion, but his body was trembling with guilt.
Even though Glen Wordsworth had been called a fanatic and a madman before Seong Yo-hwan's soul entered his body, it seemed that some respect for his ancestors still remained.
“……I’m worried.”
He was not talking about himself.
Whether he felt good or bad, the undeniable fact was that he had defeated Graham and overcome the trial.
‘I’m done with it, anyway.’
So what Glen was worried about was the other three party members.
‘I’m not even the original owner of this body, and even I feel this much guilt.’
‘How much worse will it be for the others?’
Of course, before coming to the dungeon, he had repeatedly explained everything to them in advance.
If they pushed open the door and entered, they would be given a trial like this.
The opponent's strength would be one thing, but the mental burden would be even worse.
So he had told them exactly what they needed to do.
Just as they had been confident before facing the trials, there was almost no chance that they would fail to overcome them.
However, after actually meeting his ancestor as a trial and swinging his sword at him, Glen realized that it was not as easy as it sounded.
Of course, even so, there was nothing more Glen could do for them.
All he could do was hope that the remaining party members would overcome their own trials successfully.
“I’m not making them do something they can’t handle.”
“Ha-ha…….”
Looking at the trial standing before him, Ridenhall let out a hollow laugh.
He had firmly prepared himself after hearing from Glen beforehand about the kind of trial he would receive.
“Really… this is too much.”
But he could not look directly at the trial.
Hwaaah-!
If he raised his head, his own white bones illuminated by that pure white light would look unbearably miserable.
And if the enemy emitting that light had the same appearance as himself when he was alive, how much more humiliating would it be?
The trial given to Ridenhall by the Ark of Confinement was none other than Saint Ridenhall himself.
It was the appearance he had possessed when he was alive, back when he had been revered as a saint of the church.
A golden halo dazzled the eyes.
Beautiful platinum-blond hair, pure emerald-colored eyes, and kind-looking eyes surrounding them.
When he had been alive, his appearance had unmistakably been that of a devout young man worthy of being called a saint of the faithful Minis Church.
Hiding his bones beneath a pure white hood, Ridenhall could not raise his head.
Unlike his glorious past, his current self had incurred the wrath of God, become a grotesque creature, and even gained the power of heresy.
“…….”
Wooong-.
His past self gathered holy power.
The dense golden holy power soon took the shape of a sacred spear.
But Ridenhall, having lost his will to fight, could only stare blankly at it.
—It will be hard.
—Still, overcome it.
“Ah…… yes.
I should, brother.”
Remembering Glen's words, Ridenhall weakly released holy power and spiritual power.
The moment Skeleton Knights wearing armor rose to their feet around him—
Kagagak- Kwang!
The spear of holy power pierced through one of the Skeleton Knights and exploded.
The shockwave from the explosion tore away the white hood that had been covering Ridenhall's bones.
“Ah!”
Ridenhall covered his head with his sleeve.
Yet his opponent showed no reaction at all and merely gathered holy power again.
It was simply trying to completely erase the impurity before its eyes.
“Even you…… see me as an impure existence, don't you?”
“…….”
There was no answer.
But Ridenhall continued speaking.
“I, who went against God's order and awoke hundreds of years later… do I really have the right to resist someone as faithful and devout as you?”
His voice trembled.
Whether the figure before him was fake or real did not matter.
What mattered was his own impurity.
“I tried desperately to think that there must be God's will behind the reason I became like this.”
“I thought perhaps this was a trial given to me by God.”
“But…….”
His thin finger bones covered his face in despair.
He had tried to forget it, but he hated the ugly appearance reflected in the mirror more than anything.
“Looking at you like this makes my heart feel like it's going to break!”
The truth was that he had been enduring it all this time.
Even though he was not fine, he had forced himself to answer in a cheerful voice, saying that he was fine.
Every time he saw the appearance he considered so impure through a mirror, his mind became more and more exhausted, yet he had swallowed those feelings down.
“Why did You make me like this?! Why did You give me this impure power and make me hurt living beings?!”
“Answer me! You can hear His voice now, can't you?!”
His angry cries poured out.
Yet his opponent silently gathered the holy power and aimed the spear at Ridenhall.
“I didn't want to become like this.”
“I didn't want to possess impure power like spiritual power either.”
“Why… why on earth…!”
“Why are You doing this only to me, instead of the other saints?!”
His gaze was directed at his past self, but Ridenhall's desperate questions were actually directed toward the Supreme God, Minis.
“Did You… did You abandon me?!”
Yet neither God nor his past self answered his furious question.
The only response was the spear of holy power meant to erase his corrupted self.
The emotionless spear of holy power shot toward Ridenhall's bones as he continued to vent his anguish.
And then—
Kaaang-!
The spear of holy power, which should have pierced Ridenhall's skull, struck a thick steel plate instead.
The identity of that steel plate was a Skeleton Knight that had jumped in front of Ridenhall.
“?!”
The moment Ridenhall was startled—
The spear of holy power exploded.
Ridenhall was caught in the explosion and was sent flying far away.
“Urgh!”
His white robe was torn in several places, revealing his thin bones, but it was still better than having a spear pierce his skull.
Of course, for Ridenhall, exposing his pathetic appearance might have been even more painful than disappearing completely.
But the Ridenhall of the present stopped complaining in anguish and quietly stared at the Skeleton Knight that had saved him.
“…….”
It was the skeleton of a holy knight who had followed him until the very end of his life and entered the underground tomb together with him.
That creature, which was being moved by so-called impure power, had thrown itself forward and saved Ridenhall when he was about to be destroyed.
Faced with such an unexpected and noble sacrifice, Ridenhall could not think of anything.
—Spiritual power…… is it really impure?
A voice suddenly passed through his mind.
It was Glen Wordsworth's voice.
—Huh?
—Well, there is a saying that every power other than holy power is impure…… but I don't really think that way.
It had been just before the decisive battle against the First Legion of the Demon King's Army.
Glen, who had been training Romina and Ridenhall, had suddenly brought up those words.
—You mean… that you think differently?
