When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 119



Only Noblemtl

119. Skills Begin to Evolve
2024.02.27.

My body couldn’t hold on and burst.

It was a chilling sound.

Black Moon Grandmother continued speaking while looking at me in confusion.

“Do you understand now? The reason I keep warning you to be careful?”

“… … .”

“Even so, if you really want to learn the third and fourth forms of the Moonlight Sword Technique, I will inject you with magical energy right now. The powerful magical energy I have collected throughout my life.”

As she spoke, Black Moon Grandmother drew out magical energy… or magical power from her body.

A magical energy thicker than that possessed by the Mongma siblings overflowed from her body. It was

a power so strong that it was hard to believe it was the power of an old woman.

It was a power that could have blown me up. So

I couldn’t help but ask myself a fundamental question.

‘Do I have to risk my life to become stronger… …? Is it really necessary to risk my life to learn the third and fourth forms of the Moonlight Sword Technique?’

Even now, I was already strong.

I thought I could beat enemies like Micheln three more times.

But… … .

‘An enemy stronger than Micheln could emerge.’

If I gave up learning the Moonlight Sword Technique and an enemy stronger than Micheln appeared—

and I couldn’t win even if I joined forces with my loved ones—

and one or two of them… or all of them were killed—

would I not regret not learning the Moonlight Sword Technique at that time?

No.

I would have risked my life to learn the sword technique perfectly… and deeply regretted it.

At that point, I finished my worries.

“Please inject me with magic.”

“Yes, I knew you would answer like that.”

The smile on Grandma Heukwol’s face spread across her lips.

“I wanted you to back off a little since it was dangerous… but you still won’t back off.”

“There’s nowhere to back off. People are dying right now… … .”

“Yes, I know. You couldn’t back off, even for the sake of those who are suffering. ‘It is because you are that kind of person that I also accepted you as my disciple.’

After saying that, Grandmother Heukmoon let out a deep sigh and gave instructions.

‘Sit over there. And close your eyes comfortably.’

I did as Grandmother Heukmoon instructed, closed my eyes obediently, and sat down.

I felt Grandmother Heukmoon’s hand touching my back.

Of course, I didn’t feel it through touch. Grandmother Heukmoon, who was in a spirit state, had no substance, so she couldn’t touch my back.

The reason I could feel her hand touching my back was because of her magical power.

I could feel the magical power that Grandmother Heukmoon must have accumulated throughout her life through my back.

‘It’s pure magical power. It’s purer than the magical power of the actual demons, Elodie and Dionique.’

Because I had strong divine power, paradoxically, I could sense magical power better than others.

The divine power in my body would send a tingling signal to me when it detected strong magical power.

Judging by the fact that the tingling sensation was unusually strong, the magical power that Black Moon Grandmother was trying to convey to me must have been of quite high quality.

Black Moon Grandmother soon began to forcefully inject such high quality magical power into my body.

Crack! Crack!

Naturally, the divine power in my body strongly pushed away the magical power that had the exact opposite nature.

Sparks flashed and flew from behind my back due to the repulsive force, and soon after, they sent pain throughout my entire body.

As if warning me not to accept any more magical power.

I gritted my teeth.

Black Moon Grandmother followed suit, silently and slowly pushing her power into me.

“Ugh… …”

I tried to suppress the screams that were flowing out due to the pain.

It felt as if magma was being injected through my spine.

Now, the divine power did not simply stop at simply shaking.

It began to surge like a strong wave in order to somehow push away the unfamiliar magical power that had invaded my body.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The sparks flew even more powerfully than before.

Is this going well? Is this how it’s supposed to be?

Just as I was wondering, Grandma Heukwol spoke.

“The backlash is stronger than I expected. Your powerful divine power and my magical energy are trying to devour each other over your body.”

“How much… is left… … gasp, gasp… how much is left?”

“The injection is almost done. Just hold on a little longer.”

Even in the midst of all this, magical energy that felt like magma continued to pour into my body.

My entire body felt like it was turning into mud.

“About 90% has been injected. Hold on… …!”

I gritted my teeth as I listened to Grandma Black Moon’s words.

And I suppressed my divine power as much as I could so that the remaining 10% of my magical power could safely enter my body.

And finally.

“The injection is complete! Now focus on stabilizing your power!!”

100% of Grandma Black Moon’s magical power entered my body.

Grandma Black Moon soon took her hands off my back.

From now on, it was just me fighting alone.

“Ugh… This is too… The resistance… ….”

“I have to do it! If I don’t stabilize it properly, my body will explode!!”

That was the only thing I absolutely refused.

I gritted my teeth to the point of breaking them and held on.

The two opposing forces surged inside my body like torrential currents.

They were pushing each other away as if they were going to explode, like pouring water into boiling oil.

It was my job to endure the pressure until the two forces were stably mixed together.

“You can’t let your guard down for even a moment! You have to suppress both forces ‘simultaneously and evenly’! If you don’t keep the balance right, one force will burst out!”

Grandma Heukwol shouted out a warning from beside me.

I tried to suppress both my divine and magical powers equally, following her words.

Then at some point.

“Ugh… … ! Gulp! Gasp, gasp… … .”

I choked and spat out blood from my mouth.

My body couldn’t withstand the repulsive force of the two trembling forces any longer, and I sustained an internal injury.

I almost lost focus for a moment, but I managed to pull myself together.

“No… If I don’t come to my senses, it won’t end with an internal injury.”

If I let my guard down, I would literally end up like a burst tomato.

I gritted my teeth and held on, holding on.

The two forces were about to burst out, shaking .

I was trying to block them somehow.

In my body, the endless struggle continued.

“Ah.”

After a long and painful struggle, I let out an exclamation. My

strength was finally starting to stabilize.

The two forces were no longer pushing each other away, but were starting to mix together steadily.

Grandma Heukwol seemed to sense it as well, and shouted from the side.

“It’s almost done! But you can’t let your guard down until the very end! Stay alert!”

I followed Grandma Heukwol’s words and didn’t lose my senses until the very end.

My divine power and magical power quickly stabilized, and my body finally didn’t need to ‘hold on’ any longer.

‘It’s over… … .’

I felt the two forces flowing steadily inside my body.

At the same time, my eyes closed.

I read the system message that came to mind at the last moment before my eyes closed.

[Strong magical power has been injected into your body.]

[The injected magical power will affect your skills.]

[Your skills will begin to evolve in a new direction.]

What does it mean to evolve in a new direction?

I slowly closed my eyes, my mind filled with doubt.

* * *

To let them know that they were almost at their destination, Petros knocked on the door of the captain’s cabin where Nickelus would be.

Knock.

There was no answer from inside.

There was just a long silence.

‘Are you sleeping…?’

Since they would be arriving soon, he had to wake you up anyway.

Petros opened the door and entered the captain’s cabin where Nickelus would be.

“… …!!”

Petros stopped in bewilderment after seeing Nickelus’ condition inside.

“Your, Your Majesty… …?”

Nickelus didn’t answer.

He was just lying on the sofa, blood pouring out of his mouth.

Nickelus had said earlier

that he was going to get help from Grandma Black Moon to build up his strength.

However, Nickelus was nowhere to be seen, and he was alone,

lying there with blood on his mouth.

‘What the heck…?’

He approached Nickelus and checked his breathing.

He was still breathing.

However, even if he was touched, he would not wake up, and would just keep his eyes tightly shut.

“… … .”

Petros looked down at Nickelus, who was passed out as if dead.

The one who became the pope in place of Petros, who had wanted to become the pope his entire life.

That guy was so defenseless, and passed out while wounded.

So no matter what he did to Nickelus right away, Nickelus wouldn’t be able to fight back.

But—

‘He’s someone you should hate, but he’s surprisingly not hateful… … ?’ He

was someone you should hate, but he didn’t hate him. He

’d taken your place, been beaten by Nickelus, and suffered all sorts of hardships, but that was the case.

It might have been because of what Nickelus had said on the day Petros wanted to leave the cathedral completely.

– “Wait. Why are you deciding to leave on your own?”

Nickelus could have just let Petros leave that day.

Nickelus would have been much more at ease that way, too. Rather than having Petros, who hated him, stay in the cathedral.

Still, he had held onto Petros, and later had even casually thrown him an expensive-looking item.

“… … .”

Petros looked at Nickelus, who was passed out, again.

Then, after touching his stomach, he activated the skill.

The healing power of the skill seeped into Nickelus’ stomach and began to heal his internal injuries.

* * *

After receiving the magic power into my body, I fainted for a moment.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw Petros’ face.

He checked that I was awake and asked,

“What did you do to faint and vomit blood? I almost fainted when I came into the room.”

Petros, who had been questioning me like that, lowered his voice slightly and asked,

“Did you have any underlying illness or something…?” “No,

it wasn’t like that. I strengthened my body a bit.”

“What on earth did I strengthen…?”

Not knowing how to explain, I brought up a different topic.

“More than that, I felt like I had some internal injuries, did you heal them?”

“I healed them with my skill. I couldn’t just leave them lying there, vomiting blood.”

“Good job. Phew… … . I almost died. Thank you for the treatment.”

After giving a light thank you, I got up.

Then, while putting on the coat he had taken off, he asked Petros,

“Isn’t it time we arrived at our destination soon?”

“Well, from what I saw earlier, it seemed like we were pretty close—”

Petros was continuing his words.

Kwang! A loud noise rang out.

At the same time as the loud noise, the entire ghost ship tilted to the side.

Petros and I looked at each other and cautiously opened our mouths.

“Your Majesty, just now… … .”

“The sound of a collision… … ?”

Without waiting for anyone to speak, we both ran out onto the deck at the same time.

What we saw after that was a rather desperate sight.