Chapter 910. Sera (10)
Was it really there?
I wanted to ask Benigoa, but I thought it would be useless to ask that kind of question.
Even if I were to ask her about the dungeon, she wouldn't tell me anything because that was the rule. The timing at which she did the dungeon update was indeed a bit strange, so it was only natural for me to think that her corpse was buried beneath the Vatican.
I was not sure if she had memories of what she had done when she was still a human being, but even if she had no memories of herself at the time, she still interfered, albeit unknowingly.
‘It seems that she's the Mole Saint.’
I knew she wasn’t familiar with worldly affairs, but this was pretty bad. I became certain of my assumption that she was stuck underground like a mole, which was the reason she got backstabbed. The assumption suddenly popped into my head, but I thought it was reasonable.
Otherwise, the Templars wouldn't exist. Three superhumans stayed there when the Order of Benigoa was founded. There was scarce information about them, which was probably the reason why my imagination was going wild, but...
"The fact that there's no information about them is strange,” I said.
I was talking about how the Templars were founded, what they usually do, and why I had never really seen them, even though I had visited the Vatican so many times over the years.
Now that I thought about it, there were a few suspicious things. It was that they were a secret armed group, but they were still a part of the Vatican. Wait, no. Perhaps they were not affiliated with the Vatican.
I considered the possibility of them being an independent organization rather than an organization affiliated with the Vatican.
I nodded at the thought because if they were truly using Benigoa's corpse to mass-produce the Templars, there was no way Father Basel would just stand by and watch them do that. He was a devoted follower of Benigoa, after all.
Father Basel was like an open book, so assuming he’d do something secretly without notifying me was a bit far-fetched... If he had broken bad, then the continent had no future.
‘Saying that they’re an independent organization is more convincing.’
I had never really thought about it until now.
The Templars were as strong as the Eight Seats. They could already walk with their heads held high before, but their power level had increased drastically, so they were definitely an influential organization.
A dungeon had appeared, and monsters weren't the only ones affected by it. If Mole Saint's Cozy Sanctuary was affecting the nearby regions, then it was highly likely that the Templars were being affected as well.
It was like the monsters had been upgraded using a cheat code, but this was merely an assumption on my end. I had no time to think deeply about it right now, but if we really do end up in that kind of situation, then the Templars wouldn't be happy about raiding that dungeon.
They'd probably think that it was Benigoa's gift to them.
‘I should check it myself.’
“Miss Hye-Jin,” I called out.
“Yes, sir,” Jo Hye-Jin answered.
“It’s nothing,” I said.
“What is it?” Jo Hye-Jin asked.
“It’s nothing. I’ll tell you later,” I answered.
“What is it? Now I’m curious,” Jo Hye-Jin said.
“I just thought things might get worse than I imagined,” I told her.
“Is there still some serious matter we should be aware of?” Jo Hye-Jin asked.
“I’ll tell you everything once I’m certain. Once we return, tell everyone not to accept any requests, missions, or quests for the time being and be on standby. Please handle the expeditions that are going to take some time. If there are any guild members outside, please tell them to return to the guild as soon as possible,” I instructed.
“Should I message the guild master, who’s in the Republic right now?” Jo Hye-Jin asked.
“No, Hyun-Sung will be on standby in the Republic. If something happens, I’ll tell him myself. Ah! Also, please pass down the same message to the three major guilds as well,” I added.
“So it's that serious. I knew it was a strong monster, but...” Jo Hye-Jin trailed off.
Yeah, it was a pretty strong monster, and it was evidenced by how the injured Sera and Cheru were running frantically away from it.
The first monster was originally a troll. If a simple mutant had gone on a rampage upon drinking Benigoa’s blood, then there were other threats we had to worry about. If a boss monster somewhere had obtained that kind of buff, it would definitely be a huge problem.
“We’ll pick up the pace. Tell the rangers to join the battle right away. Also, Joo-Hyuk...” Rafael instructed.
“Got it,” Lee Joo-Hyuk answered.
“Hyung,” Rafael said.
“Yes, Mr. Rafael,” I answered.
“I think Sera and Cheru are being chased by the third monster.” Rafael pointed out.
“Ah!” Jung Ha-Yan exclaimed.
“Don’t worry. I sent Joo-Hyuk just now. We’ll make sure to save them as quickly as possible,” Rafael reassured.
“Sera... Is Sera okay?” Han Sora asked.
“Yes, Miss Han Sora,” Rafael replied.
The boys seemed to be struggling, but their injuries weren't life-threatening injuries. The two looked disheveled as they ran through the forest.
The monster was swinging its hands nonstop to try and catch the tiny boys.
“What should we do? Sub Guild Master? Please do something about Sera.”
Jung Ha-Yan looked worried, but she was trying to read my reaction.
“It’ll be fine, Miss Sora,” I said.
“Ah...”
'Don’t be so anxious. It’s really fine.'
“He needs to go a little faster. Please tell him to go faster,” Han Sora requested.
“I’m sure he's there by now, so don’t worry, Miss Han Sora. We’re moving as fast as we can as well,” Rafael told her.
“Miss Jung Ha-Yan, please do something. Sub Guild Master, you’re not just going to abandon Sera, right? Right? Is this why... Is this why...” Han Sora trailed off.
‘Is this why you sealed Miss Jung Ha-Yan’s magic?’
Han Sora seemed to have misunderstood something, but...
'What does Han Sora take me for? You really think I would seal Ha-Yan’s magic just to get rid of Seraphim? She must still think I’m pretending to like Ha-Yan. You think you’re the only one who cares about her? I want her to be happy as well.'
“Please, take pity. Our Sera. I feel really bad for him. Heuk...” Han Sora begged.
Han Sora’s enthusiastic performance made the mood become incredibly tense. The children wouldn't die so easily, and they’d soon stumble upon Lee Joo-Hyuk, but Han Sora just couldn’t bear to watch.
I was sure the only thing she was worried about was something bad happening to Sera, whom she raised with care.
Obviously, her worry was contagious.
Thro and Domi knew what was going on, but they still seemed worried about their brothers. Of course, they didn't show it on the outside. Meanwhile, Jung Ha-Yan’s face was turning pale. She was probably imagining something bad happening to Sera.
“Ah...”
Normally, people would realize that something was precious when they were about to lose it. Ha-Yan had already accepted Sera into her life, so she was worried about him. I could tell that she was only pretending to be calm.
“Joo-Hyuk must be there now, hyung. Don’t worry, Miss Jung Ha-Yan, Miss Han Sora," Rafael explained.
The girls sighed in relief.
“I’m glad,” Han Sora said.
“I think the raid is going to start soon. We should move to a—”
“No, I’d like to see it myself. Tell him to bring Sera and Cheru to me as soon as they are rescued," I ordered.
“I’ll let him know,” Rafael said.
I thought Han Sora was holding Jung Ha-Yan’s hand tightly, but it was the other way around. I felt kind of bad because it was like a sign that she was gradually getting worried, but she didn’t show any reaction that needed my attention.
“It’ll be fine, Miss Jung Ha-Yan,” Han Sora reassured her.
“Yeah...”
‘Yeah, nothing will happen.’
Lee Joo-Hyuk finally encountered the monster.
The way he held up his sword to block its path seemed like he was simply posing to look cool, but I did feel relieved to see him there.
His stats weren't as good as mine, but he had a ton of experience against monsters. He dodged all of its attacks as if he knew its attack patterns beforehand, and he looked pretty cool doing that.
Minimal movement, maximum efficiency, and saying lines one would normally see in dramas—Lee Joo-Hyuk had it all.
- Good job, kids.
- W-What should we do? Cheru? D-Did Father come to rescue us?
- That’s right.
- C-Cheru, did you hear that? You heard it, right? Heuk... Really? Did Father really...
- Father Lee Ki-Young ordered me to bring you two safely to him right away. Let’s treat your wounds first. Here, take the potion.
- R-Really?
- Yeah.
The truth was kind of different, but I still needed him to bring them in because I had many things to say to them.
- W-We can fight too. Sera, you can fight, right?
- Y-Yeah.
- ...
- Please let us fight. We can be helpful as well.
- ...
- Whoo...
- Please...
- Then support me, but don’t push yourselves. Our goal is to hold out until the main force arrives here. The rangers are going to help you in the rear. We're going to gather information about this monster first before hunting it down. Study its patterns and store all of that information in your head.
'That’s a classic strategy.'
- Keep thinking about what the monster is capable of doing and move according to that.
'He's a great teacher.'
It seemed that Lee Joo-Hyuk and Cheru's chemistry was great. The goal was to slowly understand the monster through fighting it, but Cheru seemed to be thinking that he had to achieve something, as he threw himself into battle.
- Don’t be hasty. That’s not how you should fight. Our role isn’t to finish it off. That was extremely childish of you.
- O-Okay!
- Okay...
- The right... it’s on the right side. Get back. I need to see if it has a long-ranged skill that is capable of suppressing us. You with the gold hair. Be my rearguard. Anything is fine but cast spells that are helpful.
Lee Joo-Hyuk was better than I thought.
- U-Understood!
- Let’s go.
- Okay.
Cheru cast a surprised gaze at Lee Joo-Hyuk.
Cheru probably thought that he could learn something from Lee Joo-Hyuk, and it was an intuition that he had honed by training with Cha Hee-Ra.
Cheru probably found it interesting that Lee Joo-Hyuk was a top-ranking adventurer despite his ordinary physique. From decision-making and combat sense to insane movement mechanics, Cheru probably thought that he could learn a lot from Lee Joo-Hyuk.
Lee Joo-Hyuk would say strange lines from time to time, but he was really serious in situations like this.
- Roooooooar!
- I’ll go left.
- Okay!
‘Is there nothing unique about this monster?’
I observed the fight all the way to the third phase, thinking that things would take a turn during its third phase, but I didn't really notice anything.
The giant monster was capable of wielding holy power. It occasionally fired a burst of holy power, but the way it wielded that holy power made it obvious to everyone that its Intelligence stat was low.
It seemed that this was going to be a normal raid, which betrayed my expectations.
And that was when a figure sporting large wings decapitated the monster before landing on the ground.
- Ah...
- ...
The children's jaws dropped at the sudden turn of events, and even Lee Joo-Hyuk stared in astonishment at the newcomer.
At first, I thought it was Rafael, but Rafael... he was standing next to me right now.
- Who are you?
- You don’t have to be wary of me.
- I asked you a question.
Upon taking a closer look at the mysterious figure, I muttered, “The Templars.”
'These bastards actually have wings. They didn't have those wings at first, did they?'