As the shadows and abyss rising from the boom subsided, my vision brightened once again.
“Ugh. Tch, tch.”
I wiped my face with my palms, coughing up everything in my mouth, standing there. My mouth was filled with all sorts of bizarre tastes. I kept gagging.
Having taken a direct hit from the explosion unprepared, something nasty had ended up in my mouth. Horribly, even some kind of grainy substance was chewed. I spat it all out.
“Ah, damn. That scared me. Really.”
After somewhat recovering from the situation, a rough word slipped out. Covered in black liquid from head to toe and even with some in my mouth, how could I not curse?
“No way, how do I die in one hit?”
That just now was a special death animation that could only be seen when a Creature Abandoned by God was finished off with a Blessed Weapon or Sacred Spell.
If you killed it with an ordinary weapon, magic, or dark magic, it would simply melt away, but if it was with a Blessed Weapon or Sacred Spell, it would explode and vanish while screaming in agony.
It was merely a death animation, so it didn’t harm my character. Naturally, the damage was 0. It was only because of the final scream and the explosion that the player outside the monitor would be startled.
So, if I sensed any hint of dying, I planned to step back and wait until the solar eclipse was over before finishing it off, but I never imagined I would die just from a single stab.
‘……There’s nothing I can do. It’s partly my fault.’
I should have kept in mind that after one sword strike, that creature’s body might just melt away, and a single poke to the head could kill it. I forgot that, leading to this result.
Spitting out what was in my mouth, I headed toward the monster’s corpse. There was something shiny left where the corpse had been. It was an item dropped by the Creature Abandoned by God.
‘Considering the outcome, it’s not bad. It was a risk, but…’
The Pope of the Sun had mentioned DLC lines from the very first meeting, so it felt like I cornered the final boss in a blink of an eye, but when looking at the result, it was quite good.
No, it was beyond good; it was excellent.
As a final boss of the DLC, the experience points would definitely be massive, and the weapon more than decent in performance that could be crafted from the item dropped.
Of course, it was only usable to a certain extent, not to the level where it would make people say it was overpowered like the weapon I aimed for. But there would be no shortcomings for an interim use.
I walked into the spot where the corpse had been, picking up the item left behind.
‘I’ll have to visit the Alchemy Workshop later when I have time.’
Turning the items dropped by the boss into weapons was impossible at a normal forge.
There was only one Alchemy Workshop in the entire field to visit, and it wasn’t urgent, so I planned to postpone it. There were too many tasks to do first anyway.
After stuffing the item into my empty potion pouch, I shifted my gaze to the newly opened passage as the wall crumbled.
This was the entrance to a new area that opened after clearing the boss fight with the Creature Abandoned by God. Though a small area as a bonus concept, it was usually worth stopping by.
Since it was a place accessible only after defeating the DLС final boss, the experience points from the mobs would be enormous, enough to be close to two late-game boss fights, and above all, there were several unique equipment and items that could only be obtained there.
The equipment and items would mostly be useful for clerics, not much for me, but the experience points gained from the field were still an immense reward.
‘It’s a pity the mobs don’t respawn.’
Unfortunately, the monsters in that area did not respawn. It was a one-time area that didn’t require a second visit.
If the mobs could respawn, I could just hang around the Holy Kingdom, going back and forth here. It was a real shame.
‘It might take a bit longer to loop around to get back up there…’
I glanced briefly at the ceiling. To clear all the mobs in the newly appeared area, it would probably take another hour and a half to two hours.
‘There’s no guarantee I can come back here.’
I looked around. The statue that originally served as a fast travel and base in Brightest Darkness 4 was nowhere to be seen. This meant if I carelessly went out, I might never get back in again.
A magic circle appeared in the center of the boss room, but that was a one-way exit out of here.
The popes would have noticed the monster was dead in an instant, so they might wonder why I hadn’t emerged. But that could be explained later.
I could talk about it anytime after leaving, but if I went out and couldn’t return, missing out on the experience points there would haunt me for life.
With my resolve firm, I stepped into the new passage.
‘Surely nothing will happen, right?’
They would give me a good two hours without saying much.
Especially the popes would probably be too busy celebrating to worry about me.
—Boom!
“What was that just now?!”
“Your Holiness, evacuate—”
“No, there’s no need for that.”
With a bang, the barrier blocking the underground of the Holy Kingdom shook violently. Stella and Selene hurried to evacuate the pope, but Floretta politely stopped them.
The explosion that just happened was not a threat to the Holy Kingdom. Rather, it was closer to a sound indicating the long battle that had taken place inside was finally over.
Floretta instinctively realized it. The pieces of the abyss and shadows that had weighed heavily on her body were completely gone without leaving a single fragment behind.
‘Ah…… that person…… truly…….’
Floretta held back tears that were about to spill.
It wasn’t the time for that yet. The moment to truly celebrate would be once the person who gifted the future to Floretta and Luna appeared safe and sound.
After thanking, praising, and glorifying that person’s actions, only then could she truly weep tears of relief. For now, she must not do so.
If that person had sacrificed something significant to grant freedom to Floretta and Luna, she could not simply rejoice.
“Inquisitor, Inquisitor. Please check the barrier. There’s no need for us to panic.”
Floretta pointed to the barrier that surrounded the path to the Holy Kingdom underground. The divine power felt from the barrier, the white light infused with the power of God, shone more brilliantly than ever.
Stella and Selene, who had been flustered, became calm upon seeing that. They knew what it meant for the barrier to shine brighter than ever. It was something anyone could understand with a little thought.
“Has the distinguished guest…… succeeded…?”
“……”
The two were nearly left speechless. They could never have imagined that the monster that had gnawed at the hearts of the popes for such a long time would be so easily vanquished.
Not knowing how desperate the battle had been for the one who entered, it might not have been right to say it was simply defeated. But at least on the surface, it appeared so.
Even the popes had felt that they had to sacrifice one side, shedding tears, and yet this was really the end?
“We will prepare to receive.”
Floretta brought her hands together in front of her chest. The swell of her prominent bosom gently pressed against her wrists, changing shape. Fingers intertwined, eyelids closed.
The shape of the building began to slowly vanish. The barrier, which had maintained its existence for hundreds of years, completed its purpose and transformed into brilliant light, rising to the sky.
What remained where the barrier had been was nothing but an empty sky and vast land, feeling desolate as if nothing had ever existed there. There was nothing left.
Literally, nothing.
“Uhm…… where did the pit go?”
“I don’t know either, Inquisitor.”
Stella and Selene’s voices were stiff. The joyful smile that had bloomed on Floretta’s face slowly faded. They realized something was off.
The inside of the building they recalled in their memories had never been like this. There had been a bottomless pit leading down, filled with abyss and shadows.
But now, nothing existed at all. As if mocking their memories, nothing was there from the very beginning.
It was impossible.
“……For now, let’s wait.”
Floretta forced herself to calm the rising anxiety and suggested they wait. Waiting here wouldn’t bring back the pit that had never been there, but for now, they had to.
Stella and Selene felt the same anxiety. They hurried to the place where the barrier had been active. Standing over it, they reached out their senses to the limit below.
They felt nothing.
All that was detectable was dirt and stone. Not even a trace of the abyss and shadows, nor the original pit that had been there. It felt as if everything they had experienced was a lie.
“Surely there was a path leading underground beneath this, right? My memory isn’t wrong, is it?”
“The Inquisitor’s memory isn’t mistaken. I also remember the same, so you need not worry. There was indeed a way leading to the abyss here.”
“But…… why can’t I sense anything now?”
“……I don’t know either.”
Selene gritted her teeth. At that moment, she truly had no clue. It was a significant humiliation. Her tightly clenched fists trembled.
“Let’s wait for now. Just as Your Holiness said, let’s wait and see. Who knows, they might just be lost.”
“Understood, Inquisitor. I will wait.”
The two trudged back to the pope’s side. Floretta looked at the spot where the barrier had been with an obviously unstable demeanor, gripping her hands tightly in front of her chest.
Time passed. Five minutes turned to ten, ten to twenty, twenty to thirty, and thirty to an hour. Still, there were no signs of the path reappearing or that person showing up again.
“……”
As the situation dragged on, a possibility began to poke its head into Floretta’s mind.
Self-sacrifice.
That horrifying possibility.
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