234
The Game's Difficulty Is Insane
“Why does something like this exist?”
Luceria's eyes were filled with fear as she looked at the Wraith of Light.
“Back then, ancient society worshiped Pasinu, the God of Mana and Circulation, who had given humans power along with Rune magic.”
“On the other hand, the Minis sect was overwhelmingly smaller than the Pasinu religion, so the followers of Pasinu oppressed them.”
The situation where the majority persecuted and oppressed the minority was a phenomenon particularly common in religion.
However, this only encouraged unity and fanaticism within the Minis sect.
That unity and fanaticism sometimes led to noble sacrifices for the sake of their religion.
From the perspective of the Pasinu religion, which formed the mainstream of society at the time, those acts would have been classified as terrorism.
“The followers of Minis summoned powerful beings in various places using their own lives and the Holy Rings as mediums to preach the legitimacy of their religion.
And they brought down the ancient people's society and Rune magic civilization.”
And as could be seen from the present, the Minis religion eventually brought down the royal family and established the Papal Holy State.
“But Brother, a wraith corrupted by holy power?! I've never heard of such evil sorcery!”
“Of course you haven't. In the current era, where the Papal Holy State has already been established around the Minis religion, there is no need for such a thing anymore.”
It was common for the victors of history to erase records that were unfavorable to them.
“For the record, I'm not saying that the Minis religion was evil.”
There were certainly several problems, but fundamentally, the Minis religion was relatively pure and honest compared to other religions.
However, there was neither eternal good nor eternal evil in this world.
The truth of the Gray Eden world was that things were simply defined by whichever god had become dominant in that era.
“…So this is what you meant when you said a few days ago that the Minis religion was only one form of justice, not the truth.”
“That's right.”
Lowering her violet eyes, Luceria gave a bitter smile.
“The closer I become to you, Brother, the farther I feel from our Lord.”
“I feel sorry for the people who worship me as a saint.”
“You could certainly say that you're the worst saint in the history of the Minis religion.”
Glenn quietly approached the self-deprecating Luceria and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“But that doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong, Luceria.”
“What you desire cannot be obtained from that position.”
A peaceful world where neither humans nor demons had to suffer.
If she wanted to create such a world, the first thing she needed to do was break free from Minis's chessboard.
She could never achieve the peace between demons and humans that she desired while remaining under the shadow of Minis, who called every demon evil.
“So, Luceria.”
“From now on, you'll have to steel your heart.”
“…Yes.”
“I will.”
Seeing Luceria press her lips together and nod, Glenn gently patted her shoulder.
“Well, let's stop with this boring and confusing history lesson.”
“We didn't come here to have a class, after all, did we?”
“R-right.”
Glenn had come to the ancient people's detention center for one purpose only.
To increase his demonic power.
Watching Luceria achieve a mental awakening was certainly satisfying, but he could not let the main purpose of their visit be forgotten.
“Just tell me what to do. I'll help.”
“I appreciate the thought, but there's not really anything you can do right now.”
Today, Luceria had only come along to protect Glenn.
The method of increasing demonic power was simple.
All Glenn had to do was use demonic power to defeat the Wraith of Light beyond the iron bars.
Just as Glenn had once defeated a wraith through exorcism beneath the monastery and gained an enormous amount of holy power.
In other words, the Wraith of Light event could be considered a method for increasing a demon's demonic power, much like the wraith beneath the monastery was a method for increasing holy power on the human side.
The only difference was that it contained some basic knowledge about the ancient people and the Minis religion.
The difficulty was not much different from defeating the wraith beneath the monastery.
However, back then, Glenn had only been around 2 to 3 stars, so he had needed to use the shortcut of exorcism.
Once he surpassed 7 stars, he could defeat it easily.
And now Glenn could use 9-star demonic power.
‘It's basically free points.’
Glenn reached his hand toward the iron bars.
“Saaaaaek…!”
Sensing his presence, the Wraith of Light turned its gaze like a snake that had suddenly become alert.
Its eyes were covered by a white cloth, and its appearance looked miserable, but its senses, such as hearing, were extremely sharp.
However, against Glenn, who was using the Gray Ring to manifest 9-star demonic power, that meant nothing.
Goooooo—
Thick demonic power, black and sticky like ink, began to rise from Glenn's outstretched hand.
The Wraith of Light became wary and let out a metallic hiss.
It was probably warning him not to approach.
But Glenn casually ignored it, opened his hand, and released his demonic power.
“Saaaaek…?! Kyaaaaaaak!”
The moment the demonic power touched the Wraith of Light, it began screaming in pain.
Luceria narrowed her eyes.
“You don't need to worry.”
“Its eyes will be blinded and its brain will burn away under the intense holy power, so it won't feel anything.”
“This will be salvation too, I suppose.”
“It must have been trapped here for hundreds of years without anyone coming to save it.”
Glenn turned his eyes toward Luceria in surprise.
Normally, she would have felt pity for the disappearing Wraith of Light and prayed for it to receive God's guidance.
“……”
But Luceria did not pray to God here.
She merely watched the wraith disappear with slightly bitter eyes.
After that, the two remained silent.
For more than ten minutes, the wraith's screams echoed throughout the ruins.
《The Wraith of Light 『Prisoner of Antiopeia』 has been defeated.》
《Demonic Power has increased by 2.》
Nothing particularly unusual happened.
Glenn smoothly defeated the Wraith of Light and gained additional demonic power.
Since Glenn's level was overwhelmingly higher than that of the Wraith of Light, he did not gain many points.
But who cared?
Thanks to it, his demonic power had reached 60, allowing him to forge his fifth ring.
“You worked hard, Brother.”
“Yes. You worked hard too.”
“Come on, Brother did all the work.”
“I didn't do anything.”
She said that, but throughout the entire battle, Luceria had been worried that Glenn might become tired.
She had even quietly used miracles beside him to make his mind feel comfortable.
She had been so worried about wanting to help but being afraid that her holy power might clash with his demonic power that Glenn found her almost adorable.
“You did help.”
“Thanks to you, I don't feel tired at all.”
“That makes me feel relieved.”
“Then, are we done here?”
“Yes.”
“We've accomplished our objective, so now we only need to return to Linz Village.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Are we walking?”
“We have to.”
“We still can't use spatial movement.”
The spatial movement function for occupied territories had a massive cooldown of 60 hours.
“For now, I won't be able to use my power for a while because of what I just did.”
“It'll only take half a day to reach Linz Village, but let's still be careful on the way.”
“Yes!”
“Don't worry, Brother.”
“I'll protect you no matter what happens!”
Luceria's eyes burned with determination.
As she tensed her body and prepared herself, Glenn gave a faint smile and turned around.
Step.
Step.
Step.
They were just about to leave the ancient people's detention center and return to the stairwell.
“……Hmm?”
