When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 110



Only Noblemtl

◈110. Dungeon Break

Unlike the body of a normal woman, the monster’s face was… literally a monster.

It had no eyes or nose, and its entire face was a snout.

When I opened its mouth wide, I could see teeth packed tightly inside.

The Duke’s Young-ae opened her mouth wide like that―

Aaaah …

He let out a roar.

Bliss and Petros, who had approached the monster closely to attack it, fell down with their ears covered.

“Bliss! Petros!”

It seemed like the monster had used one of my skills, “Roar of Pain.”

I didn’t have time to read the detailed description of what the skill was.

Just looking at the fallen Bliss and Petros, it seemed to be a skill that made those who heard the roar up close feel pain.

“Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue and quickly ran towards the monster.

Because I had to keep the monsters from attacking Bliss and Petros.

As I rushed at it, the monster blocked my blade with its long, sharp claws.

Ki-ki-kik!

There was an eerie sound of metal clashing with metal.

I took advantage of the brief standoff to shout at Bliss and Petros.

“Are you guys okay?”

“Ugh… Yes, kind of… … . My head is ringing because of the noise.”

As Bliss spoke, she stood up with a start.

I kept chasing the monsters while watching them from the corner of my eyes.

The monster blocked my attacks one after another, said the Duke’s Young-ae.

【Go back, go away… You… weren’t, weren’t invited… to the ball.】

After saying that, she opened her mouth again.

For a moment, it seemed as if something was about to activate a skill again, so I quickly stepped back.

After that, he quickly activated the Sacred Pact skill and shouted.

“Everyone, come into my skill zone!!”

Bliss and Petros, who, like me, sensed something suspicious from the monster, quickly ran into the sanctuary.

In conclusion, it was a good thing.

[The monster “Cursed Duke’s Young Lady, Sophie” uses the mental skill “Sad Sobbing (S)” within a 2m radius. Those who hear the sobbing become immersed in sorrow.]

As expected, the monster activated its skill.

But fortunately, that didn’t work for us.

[A sacred realm is summoned beneath your feet. All creatures within it are purified and protected by divine power.]

The Sacred Pact skill that I hastily activated protected the party from the monster’s skills.

Thanks to that, we were able to hear the sobs of sadness and be safe.

“This is a monster that uses mental skills. If possible, try not to leave the skill area I activated.”

“Can I just attack from a distance from here?”

I nodded to Petros’ question and continued.

“That’s right. Everyone, prepare for a long-range attack. Let’s do the same thing we did to kill those red and blue knights earlier.”

Upon hearing my command, Bliss activated the aid of the dead.

The guy threw the chain, which allowed him to move so fluidly, at the monster.

Charurk!

The chain moved with a clear sound, entangling the monster.

Next it was Petros’ turn.

The guy swung his spear, once again activating the special effect of the item he had just obtained.

A sharp gust of wind suddenly shot out from the tip of the spear.

Kwakwakwang!

The blast of wind hit the monster and made a loud noise.

But it wasn’t over yet.

I finally unfurled my sharp crescent moon and shot out a black aura.

A crescent-shaped sword blade flew smoothly through the air, slicing the monster in two.

My sword caused a cloud of dust to rise in all directions, and we watched the monster with our breathing apparatus blocked.

The monster never rose again.

“The end…? Why does it seem easier than the gatekeeper monster?”

As Petros said, the monsters were strangely easy.

I spoke to the group in a slightly nervous voice.

“Be careful. There’s no way the boss monster will be this easy. There’s definitely something else… Oh, damn it. I knew it.”

Before I could even say, “There must be something else,” the monster’s corpse began to twitch and clump together again.

Unfortunately, it didn’t end with just sticking together.

The monster’s body, which had become a single mass, soon began to swell into a huge mass.

A system message then informed us of the situation.

[The monster “Cursed Duke Youngae, Sophie” has used the transformation skill “Mutation (L)”!]

L-class skill mutation.

It seemed to be a skill that could transform the body into the form of a giant monster.

The monster, which had the body of an ordinary woman, gradually transformed into a giant monster.

Before we could even come to our senses, her transformation was complete.

Squeak- squeak-

Soon, the monster grew larger and faced us while making a strange noise.

Petros muttered at the sight.

“A giant spider?”

As the guy said, the monster that transformed was in the form of a spider.

A spider with eight legs attached to a large, plump body.

The Duke Youngae, whose body had been transformed like that, looked at us and spoke again.

【Come on, come on, baby… You… weren’t, weren’t invited… to the ball.】

Of course, this time she didn’t end it with a simple warning.

Suddenly, the giant, sharp forelegs of a spider swung towards us.

* * *

BAM! CLASH!

As skill attacks poured into the barrier, a loud noise rang out one after another.

Ivan, one of the three who attacked the dungeon barrier, shouted to his brothers.

“Just a little more and you’re done!”

After hearing his words, his younger brothers activated their skills again.

Ruslan first activated the skill “Rock Shower”, which summoned and threw a huge rock―

Kwakwang!!

Victor, the youngest, then activated his sword skill, “Blade Wind.”

bang!

The dungeon barrier began to flicker dangerously in front of the skills that were activated in succession.

Ivan, seeing that sight, immediately activated his skill with shining eyes.

The last skill he prepared was “Iron Fortress Destroyer”

It was a skill that temporarily summoned a steel pillar to destroy the gate, and it was the most powerful skill he had.

‘If I use this skill, I’ll definitely be able to open the dungeon… …!’

Soon, a giant steel pillar was summoned by the power of the skill that was activated.

The steel pillar summoned in this way―

bang!!

He hit it vertically as if he was going to break the dungeon barrier, just like his younger siblings’ skills did.

The dungeon barrier, which had been flickering dangerously since earlier, has now become faint as if it could go off at any moment.

Ivan then shouted at his brothers.

“Don’t stop and keep attacking! Just a little more and we’ll be able to break the barrier and go in to rescue the Pope!”

* * *

For some reason, it seemed like I kept hearing a banging noise coming from outside.

I asked Petros, who was fighting next to me.

“Can’t you hear anything outside?”

“Sound?! What is sound right now―”

Petros continued his interrupted speech as he barely avoided the sharp forelegs of a spider flying towards him.

“I can’t care because I’m about to die from that spider cub’s attack right now?!”

As the guy said, now wasn’t the time for small talk.

Because the 3rd floor boss monster that appeared earlier had transformed into a giant spider and was giving me quite a bit of trouble.

The giant spider was faster than any monster we’d ever encountered, easily dodging any attack we threw at it.

So I struggled so much… but still, I couldn’t let go of that one thread of doubt.

‘That’s strange… Is there some kind of construction going on outside? It doesn’t make sense to have construction going on near a dungeon.’

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to sit down and think more deeply about the noise.

This was because the spider sucked in a large amount of air right after attacking Petros.

‘That movement… is it an attempt to use a skill?!’

I roughly predicted what skill he would use by watching his movements and quickly shouted to my group.

“Everyone, hold your breath! It’s the poison smoke skill!”

As I expected, the spider that had sucked in a large amount of air soon exhaled a breath mixed with venom.

According to what I saw in the information window, the name of the skill is “Arin Breath (S)”

It was a skill that mixed poison into the exhaled breath and then spat it out.

Saaaaa―

The surrounding area became thick with the poisonous smoke that the monster spat out.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to hold my breath for long.

[Monster, the poisonous breath of “Cursed Duke Young-ae, Sophie” is detoxified in front of Lucid Miller’s dazzling power!]

As soon as that message appeared, the poisonous smoke was purified on its own.

The poison was purified by the power of the Sacred Non-Aggression Pact skill that was previously displayed.

A roar erupted from the monster as if it was enraged when my attack failed.

Kieeeek!!

Soon, the flying front legs attack.

Because the guy had so many legs, attacks poured in from all over the place.

Because of that, the group was unable to launch a single proper attack and was only focused on defense.

First of all, it seemed necessary to restrict the movement of those legs so that they could not be used freely.

I shouted to my party while holding the sword of light that was implemented as a deification skill tightly.

“Let’s corner him!”

After hearing what I said, Petros and Bliss started attacking the spider from both sides.

Avoiding their attacks, the spider was gradually pushed into the corners of the room.

Finally, the guy was completely pushed to the corner of the room.

As expected, the guy’s attacks were much more limited than before.

‘Okay. I’ve pushed hard enough, so I’ll just blow the sword and finish him off—’

I was thinking that I should just put an end to it.

Kwakwang!

The loud noise from earlier came to my ears again.

This time, Bliss and Petros seemed to have listened carefully.

Both of them stopped moving at the same time.

‘What’s that sound all along…? No, I should be focusing on the battle instead… ‘

I came to my senses and swung the Sword of Judgement at the guy, trying to send a blast of sword energy at him.

however-

Kwakwakwang!

This time, it didn’t just end with a loud noise, but the entire dungeon shook as if an earthquake had occurred.

Bliss and Petros muttered in turn.

“earthquake……?”

“What is it?”

The ground shook so much that both of them stopped for a moment in confusion, but the timing was just wrong.

In the brief moment of confusion we were in, a spider had emerged from the corner.

The spider just ran past me and towards the door.

Petros burst out laughing as if he found the sight absurd.

“… … It looks like you’re going to open the door and run away? You idiot.”

Petros could have laughed at that.

Even if I ran towards the door, the spider wouldn’t be able to escape from here anyway.

There were only two ways to create an entrance to this dungeon.

One is to defeat the final boss monster in the dungeon.

Another one is a teleportation item… that is, escaping with a dungeon escape item.

There were only two ways to exit the dungeon.

So even if the monster runs towards the door, it won’t be able to escape the dungeon―

‘Something feels strange… … . I’ve been hearing banging noises since a while ago, and I have an ominous feeling… … .’

I thought something was ominous.

And my premonition turned out to be true.

“Uh uh… … ?”

Petros was the first to let out such a surprised sound.

Bliss then continued,

“Is that… the exit from the dungeon?”

It was just like the Bliss guy said.

The space on the door side rumbled once, and a hole made of light began to form.

The dungeon exit that should not have existed originally appeared.

The group stood frozen in a daze for a moment at the unexpected situation.

I barely came to my senses and shouted.

“Wait a minute, this isn’t the time to be talking nonsense! You have to stop it!”

I don’t know why the dungeon exit suddenly appeared even though I hadn’t killed the boss monster.

Maybe it had something to do with the thumping sound I’d been hearing since earlier.

Anyway, the important thing now wasn’t the cause, so I shouted again in a hurry.

“Don’t let the monsters out of the dungeon!! They’ll cause massive damage to the houses!”