When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 108



Only Noblemtl

◈108. Fallen Holy Knight Commander

Yeah, it was a familiar monster.

Because it was definitely a guy I had caught before.

“Fallen Holy Knight Commander… …?”

Monster, fallen commander of the Holy Knights.

The monster I had defeated before I entered this world was in the room.

Why is that guy coming out of here?

I was a little embarrassed.

Because I thought there would be some kind of horrible ghost monster that would probably put me in mental danger.

So I was flustered, but I quickly picked up my sword.

‘Anyway, it turned out well. It wasn’t a very difficult monster.’

Although it was a pretty strong monster in my memory, I was much stronger now than before.

Therefore, you will be able to catch him quickly without wasting any skills.

I swung the Baekhwamyeongwoldo at the guy without activating any skills.

visor-!

The fallen knight commander immediately raised his sword and blocked my attack.

Then he slid my sword away and immediately counterattacked.

‘It’s faster than I thought… … ?’

I was startled for a moment and stepped back, but the guy followed me half a step closer.

Chaeng, chaeng, kkagang―!

Attacks pour in without stopping.

A sword that is straight, yet sometimes cuts in an irregular way.

I kept avoiding it by a hair’s breadth, gritting my teeth.

‘Damn, I have to use my skills.’

Blasphemy was declared immediately.

As my strength and agility increased, it became much easier to dodge and counter his sword.

I was almost pushed back against the wall, so I immediately took advantage of my momentum and pushed the guy against the opposite wall.

While I was pushing like that―

‘Now is the time!’

There was a gap.

I quickly raised my sword so as not to miss it and tried to cut the guy down.

It must have been torn in two.

If I hadn’t heard the voice coming out of that guy’s helmet at that moment.

“Sung… Ha… … .”

“… … ?!”

The monster called me ‘Your Majesty’.

But that wasn’t the only thing that surprised me.

voice.

What really surprised me was the monster’s voice calling me.

“Luciana… … ?”

I never thought Luciana’s voice would suddenly flow out from the monster.

I was startled for a moment and took a few steps back.

This time the monster didn’t chase me.

Instead, I slowly moved my hand and took off my helmet.

The monster’s face, hidden behind the helmet, finally appeared before my eyes.

“… … .”

I studied the monster’s face in silence.

Black hair falling down from inside the helmet.

White skin and blue eyes.

The monster that took off its helmet clearly had Luciana’s face.

“Sung… Ha… … .”

“… … .”

“I’m sorry… I… I couldn’t keep it in the end… .”

I gritted my teeth and ran towards the monster that had Luciana’s face.

‘Whose face are you stealing on the monster theme?’

The chances of the real Luciana being here are close to 0%.

Luciana will be clearing another dungeon by now.

In other words, what you see right now is nothing more than a monster.

A malicious monster that tries to confuse me by borrowing the appearance of one of the people precious to me.

Kkang! Kkang!

I launched my attacks even faster than before.

Meanwhile, Luciana… the monster with Luciana’s face continued to pour out words.

“I’m… sorry… I couldn’t hold out any longer… .”

“… … .”

“Because I couldn’t see you through to the end… … .”

I found an opening in the monster again and tried to finish it off.

But the moment I saw Luciana’s face, my sword hesitated for a moment.

It was the hesitation I felt when I saw the face of someone close to me that slowed my movements.

And the monster did not miss the gap created in this way.

Crunch-

My side was cut long and hard with a creepy sound.

If I hadn’t twisted my body just in time to avoid the blow, my abdomen would have been pierced.

After that, I quietly cursed while blocking the onslaught of attacks without even having time to heal my wounds.

‘Am I a real person…?’

That was definitely not Luciana.

I knew full well that she was just a monster pretending to be Luciana.

However, they are reluctant to attack her simply because she looks like Luciana.

‘You need to come to your senses―’

Before I could even think about getting ready, the attacks came pouring in again.

A situation where one’s stamina is gradually depleted, perhaps due to bleeding.

I thought quickly in my head.

‘… … Let’s imagine the real Luciana’s face. Let’s imagine what the real Luciana would say to me if she saw me right now.’

If it were the real Luciana, she would probably say this when she saw me struggling in front of a monster with her own face.

– “How can you compare me to such a monster? I don’t stab so clumsily. When I see an opening, I just… …!”

Well, when I thought about the real Luciana, my mind became calm.

And only then did it really start to sink in that it wasn’t real, it was fake.

I swung my sword with a more calm mind than before.

And finally―

Phew-

I succeeded in piercing the monster’s chest.

It slowly crumbles down, with Luciana’s face on it.

The look in his eyes as he looked up at me while sitting down was very pitiful.

But, they are just monsters after all.

I finally spoke to it.

“I should have done a better job of imitating it. If it was really Luciana’s skill, she would have stabbed me in the stomach and pierced it.”

The monster soon fell completely to the ground, and I took out the potion.

And I quickly treated the side that I had just brushed against.

‘By the way, it’s strange. Why didn’t you appear as Luciana from the beginning? Why did you appear as the fallen commander of the Holy Knights…?

I don’t know.

Since it was just a monster anyway, there was no need to think deeply about it.

After confirming that the monster’s corpse had turned to ash, I left the room.

Petros, who had been there first, nodded to me and I asked him a question.

“You came out so quickly? Did a monster imitating a human come out of your room too?”

“Yes, the nanny who took care of me before is coming out?”

“… … It must have been hard to deal with.”

“It wasn’t that difficult. Because my nanny had already died when I was young. It was clear to me that it was fake.”

Well, if he had died a long time ago, the feelings of longing would have largely disappeared.

Besides, since it’s unlikely that someone who was already dead would suddenly come back to life, it would have been more recognizable that it was a monster.

I nodded to the Petros guy and said.

“Humora… … . Was it a monster that appeared by borrowing the face of someone precious to us? But it was a bit strange, wasn’t it… … ? In my case, when the monster first appeared, it appeared by borrowing the appearance of ‘another monster’.”

“Another monster?”

“A monster I once hunted. Then, when the monster took off its helmet, Luciana’s face appeared… Why was that?”

“hmm…….”

Petros, who had been wasting time as if he was thinking, soon said something strange.

“Did you ‘accidentally’ kill that monster you said you hunted in the past?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“In my case, I told you that I had a nanny, right? But the reason that nanny died before… was because of me. Because of my mistake.”

“uh?”

When I asked, startled by the sudden confession, Petros answered.

“My nanny died trying to save me from drowning when I was little. So I felt guilty for a long time.”

“iced coffee…….”

“That’s why I asked. That monster that suddenly appeared… Did Your Majesty feel any guilt about accidentally killing that monster before?”

After hearing that, I burst out laughing.

“That’s not it. I just killed a monster, how could that be a mistake? I never felt guilty about it.”

“I see, right?”

“Maybe the monster that came out earlier was a bit too thick, so I made a mistake.”

The reason why the monster from earlier appeared in the form of a fallen Holy Knight Commander… was probably something I would never know.

So we decided to put our worries aside and just wait for Bliss to come out.

The guy still hasn’t come out.

“It’s pretty late.”

It was while I was mumbling quietly that the Bliss guy came out.

“Sir, ha… … .”

“Bliss?!”

Bliss, who opened the door a long time after we left, came out… covered in wounds.

I quickly supported the staggering guy, calling his name.

“Why are you so hurt? Wasn’t that an easy monster?”

“In there―”

Bliss paused for a moment.

Then he spewed out the following words with a somewhat dangerous breathing sound.

“You came out.”

“what……?”

As I asked again, not believing the story I had heard, Bliss told me again in a clear voice.

“A monster in your image came out of my room.”

It wasn’t anyone else but me who came out.

I felt a little sorry and asked the Bliss guy.

“… … Tell me properly. What did I do when I came out?”

Bliss downed a bottle of potion and answered my question.

I heard that in Bliss’ room, the me from when we ‘fought over Ernen’s letter’ came out.

He is said to have rebelled by shouting at Bliss, “Don’t ever show me the letter!”

So, Bliss was not easily attacked.

Because maybe that monster is the ‘real’ me.

Because I might be under the influence of a monster’s mind control skill and be attacking Bliss herself.

‘So that’s why you were hurt so much. You couldn’t just attack the monsters, so you had to fight them while giving them some leeway… ‘

Petros would have easily figured out that it was a fake since his nanny had already died long ago, but Bliss would not have.

I don’t think it would be strange if what appeared in front of me was not a monster but the real me.

Unlike Petros’ nanny, I am still alive and was with her just a few minutes ago.

After realizing why Bliss was so badly injured, I continued to think.

‘Petros said that the nanny who died because of him had appeared, and Bliss said that I, who was attacked and almost killed because of him, had appeared… … .’

What the two have in common is that the monsters appear in the form of people who have died or almost died because of themselves.

That is, the monster appeared in the form of the person who committed the crime… … .

‘Ah, I still don’t know. Why did the fallen Holy Knight Commander come out of my room in the form of Luciana?’

I put my complicated thoughts aside and asked Bliss.

“Anyway, how is your body? Did the potion heal you well?”

“Yes, well, so-so… … .”

“Then let’s go to the third floor. After we open the reward box.”

As it happened, three reward boxes had appeared near us.

This time, the boxes were gold, silver, and bronze.

* * *

The training ground of the Marquis Lazar.

There, three children of the Marquis were gathered together and talking.

Among them, the eldest son, Ivan, said:

“Father told us to trust the Pope and wait, but it is still dangerous. We must go and help.”

Originally, if someone was clearing a dungeon, others could not enter.

That was why a barrier was formed near the dungeon.

However, the three brothers of the Marquis Lazarus family did not have much experience in conquering dungeons, and were still unaware of this fact.

So, the second son, Ruslan, also nodded at the eldest son’s words to go help.

“That’s right, brother. The chances of the Pope, known for being a scoundrel, successfully clearing the dungeon are extremely slim. We’ve also failed at that dungeon many times.”

Victor, the youngest, also agreed with what his two older brothers said.

“Father, you’re really carefree… … If you die there for no reason, won’t the Marquis be held responsible? We need to send support quickly before a major accident occurs.”

The three brothers’ intentions have already been agreed upon.

Deciding that there was no need to talk any further, they immediately had the attendant bring over a service horse for them to ride.

It was to head to the dungeon, where the infamous Pope was in danger of death.