When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 135



Only Noblemtl

135. Hatching of the Immortal Egg
2024.03.14.

After that, I struck the magic circle with all my might with the Baekhwamyeongwoldo that I had raised.

However.

Bam-!

With a loud sound, the Baekhwamyeongwoldo bounced off the magic circle.

It was as if it was blocked by an invisible protective shield.

I looked at the magic circle in confusion. I

clearly struck it with all my might, but there wasn’t even a scratch on the magic circle.

‘Does it have such a strong repulsion force because it’s a powerful magic circle?’

Until now, no matter how strong the magic circle was, I could easily destroy it with the power of a skill.

However, I couldn’t use a skill right now.

So I struck the black magic circle with only my pure brute force, but it bounced off without even a scratch.

In the meantime, the number of people who had grabbed my ankles was gradually increasing.

I wonder how many people the Erased Ones had thrown into this space. It looked like there were at least thirty of them.

They were trapped for a long time and had lost their minds, muttering.

“No one can… destroy it… .”

“In this place where even skills can’t be used… .”

“You… give up… .”

I ignored those words and glared at the magic source again.

If I couldn’t destroy it now, there was no way to know what would happen to Elodie and Dionique behind me.

And these countless people trapped here would also rot away here without ever being able to escape.

‘Let’s try again. This time, using the Moonlight Sword Technique.’

I first took a deep breath.

Then I took a stance to unleash the second form of the Penetrating Full Moon, maximizing its destructive power by stabbing the sword into one point.

Even as I took a stance, those trapped here continued to mutter.

“Give up… .”

“We can’t get out… .”

“The magic source won’t break… .”

I ignored their muttering and gripped my sword tightly.

The tip of the sword began to glow brightly as my divine and magical powers gathered.

In that state, I swung the Baekhwamyeongwoldo toward the exact center of the magic circle.

“… …!”

As expected, this time too, the repulsive force contained in the magic circle pushed the tip of the Baekhwamyeongwoldo down.

It was a powerful force. As it was the magic circle that supported this huge space.

I pushed the Baekhwamyeongwoldo back without letting go of it, even though it kept getting pushed back due to the repulsive force.

Crunch!

There was a sound of something breaking.

The bright light emitted by the divine and magical powers disappeared, and I was finally able to confirm the magic circle.

The magic circle had been pierced exactly by the tip of my sword.

“Enough!!”

My shout echoed throughout the cave.

It was right after that.

The space began to distort from the shattered magic circle.

* * *

Luciana, who had been lying on the floor, gasping for breath, staggered and barely managed to get up.

Bliss also straightened up while holding her side that had not yet fully healed.

The other party members were staggering as if they were going to collapse or were completely unconscious on the ground.

In contrast, Julian, who was dealing with them, still looked fine.

Luciana gritted her teeth as she watched Julian, who seemed to be completely untired despite dealing with a large number of Awakened people.

‘He’s too strong. We won’t be able to win unless a miracle happens.’

She had thought that she could easily defeat him since there was only one of them.

However, Julian was much more powerful than the party had expected.

Luciana gripped her sword tightly with her shaking hands and rushed at Julian.

Slap!

Julian swung his thin punishment whip and easily blocked Luciana’s sword.

It was a whip that looked like it was made of leather, but it was filled with Julian’s magic.

It was already a tough and solid weapon that could easily block a steel sword.

Luciana gritted her teeth as she watched her sword being repeatedly blocked by the small whip.

‘I can’t hold out for much longer… … . Should I really use that skill… … ?’

The skill that Nickelus had strongly advised her never to use, the one who stole the golden lily.

If she used it, Luciana herself would turn into a monster, but in return, she would also be able to permanently seal this powerful Awakened being before her.

That was why she was seriously contemplating. Should she sacrifice herself for her comrades who had fallen behind her?

‘I… … .’

I’ll use the skill. The moment he made that decision, Julian swung his whip and knocked Luciana’s sword away.

Clang-!

With a clear sound, her sword fell to the ground.

The moment Luciana was left empty-handed, Julian immediately reached out to Luciana’s neck.

“… …!!”

Luciana was caught in Julian’s hands without even being able to scream.

Julian put more strength into the grip he was holding Luciana’s neck and quietly muttered.

“Children are usually lovable, but those who do bad things need discipline.”

“… ….”

“It looks to me like you need discipline too.”

He was about to activate some kind of mental skill. Luciana instinctively felt that and struggled.

If Julian had used the brainwashing skill he had used on Ernen first, Luciana would have become Julian’s puppet without a fight.

‘There’s no time. I have to use that skill right now… … !’

Luciana closed her eyes after making her decision.

And then she thought of Nickelus one last time.

‘… … I’m sorry, Nickelus.’

If she used the skill and became a monster, her human heart would also disappear.

Then she might even forget Nickelus’ face.

That’s why she thought of Nickelus’ face one last time before trying to activate the skill.

However, in the end, she didn’t need to activate the skill.

“… … Ugh! Gulp! Gasp, gasp… … .”

The moment Luciana was about to use the skill, Julian grabbed his chest and coughed up blood.

Luciana, who had freed herself from his grasp, quickly distanced herself from him.

‘What is this… … ? A miracle… … ?’

Just as she was about to use the sacrifice skill, his condition became strange.

Luciana thought that it was some kind of divine punishment from Lucid Miller in the sky, but it was actually Nickelus’ influence.

The space where Nickelus was trapped, the ‘Room of Reflection’, was maintained by Julian’s magic power.

In other words, Julian maintained the Room of Reflection with a magic power source created by gathering some of his magic power.

However, Nickelus had just destroyed the magic power source filled with Julian’s magic power.

As a result, Julian lost all of the power he had stored inside.

This was bound to be a huge blow to Julian, who used the magic power source as life energy.

“My magic power… … ”

Julian muttered in confusion.

There had never been a time when someone had found and destroyed a magic power source hidden in the Room of Reflection.

That was why he was just standing there in bewilderment, not knowing what was going on.

Luciana took advantage of the gap and picked up the sword she had dropped.

Wedge –

The sword swung quickly and sharply, slicing Julian’s shoulder long.

Julian grabbed his shoulder that was almost cut off and stepped back hesitantly.

“Don’t run away!”

Luciana followed closely behind him, and Julian activated his skill while dodging.

The skill activated was the Room of Reflection again.

However, the Room of Reflection created this time was not a space to confine others, but a space created by Julian himself to escape.

He quickly dodged into the created space.

“No!!”

Luciana shouted as she followed Julian. Her

hand stretched out desperately.

However, before Luciana’s hand could reach Julian, Julian closed the entrance to the space first.

Soon, there was nothing left there.

“Damn it!”

Luciana cursed harshly and punched the wall. She

almost caught him.

However, she did not have the skill to catch the Awakened who was escaping while twisting the space.

“Luciana! What happened to everyone!”

Nickelus, Elodie, and Dionique, who had just destroyed the Room of Reflection and returned Ernen’s bedroom to its original state, came to the second audience room.

Nickelus, who had just arrived, looked at the group who were lying half-dead, and then at Luciana in turn.

Then he ran straight to Luciana and supported her.

Luciana tried not to be supported even with her weak body.

But eventually, she relaxed and leaned her body against Nickelus’ chest.

“Your Majesty… … .”

Luciana slowly moved her lips, panting.

Nickelus strained his ears to not miss her voice, and soon heard a short word.

“I missed it.”

“… … .”

Nickelus guessed that the party had probably encountered the Erased Ones directly and had a hard time. It seemed

that they had finally lost them.

He moved his lips to say that it was okay.

However, Luciana’s words were faster.

“It’s dull… It’s a bad sword… I’m sorry… …”

Luciana didn’t give Nickelus a chance to respond.

Her eyelids closed with those last words.

* * *

After Luciana lost consciousness in my arms, I quickly returned to the cathedral with my companions.

Since no one seemed to be in good shape, they were immediately taken to the treatment room, and a gloomy atmosphere filled the cathedral.

However, it wasn’t all bad.

“Whew—!”

When I returned to my bedroom, I heard that strange sound.

It was a cry that sounded like a small animal.

I looked in the direction the sound came from… that is, towards my desk.

I saw that the Immortal Egg I had placed there was broken.

And between the pieces of the broken egg—

“Whew—!”

A small animal making such a strange noise was squirming.

It had large, fluttering ears, a long nose, and a light purple body.

It reminded me of a small elephant.

I muttered absentmindedly,

“The egg of the Buddha… …”

The egg of the Buddha hatched.

Finally, after the hatching period was over, the Buddha was born.

I stood there for a while, unable to even think about putting my body, exhausted from the battle, on the bed.

Then.

“Whew whew!”

The Buddha grumbled as if protesting, and lifted its body into the air.

I couldn’t see any wings, but it was naturally floating in the air, as expected of a divine being.

The Buddha flew up and came toward me.

Then it hugged me tightly, clinging to the back of my neck.

“Whew.”

I didn’t know what that clinging meant, but I thought it felt close to me.

I stroked the Buddha’s ears, which were fluttering like elephant ears, and tried to reason.

‘Is it because I’m the first thing they see when they hatch?’

Don’t baby birds often recognize the objects they see as their parents and follow them? Since

Bulguksa had just hatched and was seeing me for the first time, it was only natural that it would recognize me as its parent and follow me. If that was true

, then it was my duty to fulfill the role of a parent for this cute little creature.

And the very first thing that comes with being a parent is… …

“Should I give it a name?”

Yes, first of all, I had to give it a name.

I didn’t know if it was a girl or a boy, but either way, I racked my brain for my cute child who was suddenly born.

After thinking about it for a while, a good name soon came to mind.

“Okay, from now on, your name will be ‘Arom.’”