When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 145



Only Noblemtl

145. Acquisition of the Fourth Form Completed
2024.03.24.

I could easily guess who the owner of these footprints was.

In this deep forest, and with the chimera lurking around, there could only be one person nearby.

I looked back at the group and said,

“It’s nothing. I found reindeer footprints. I’m hungry, so I’ll catch them. Don’t follow me.”

If I simply lied that I was chasing reindeer, the group wouldn’t chase me.

So I left the group safely behind and started following the footprints.

The footprints were clearly imprinted, as if they were luring me.

I gladly followed the lure and walked deep into the forest.

After walking for a while, I was able to meet that guy… the owner of the footprints.

“Micheln.”

As expected, the one loitering nearby was Micheln.

He had released the chimera and was watching our fight from nearby.

I was glad that I had left the group behind.

Since that guy had a skill that turned humans into beasts, I couldn’t let him and his party face such a dangerous guy.

‘I’ll catch this guy alone.’

I made a promise and activated my Deification skill.

The Deification skill was a skill with no cooldown. The skill activated right away without any problems.

Just as I was about to summon the Sword of Judgement,

“I have something prepared

as well.” Micheln snapped his fingers as he spoke.

Following that, something walked out of the shadows of the forest, sauntering along.

“… … .”

They were other chimeras.

Lifeforms that had become chimeras like Dennis we had fought earlier

. Three chimeras that resembled white panthers rushed straight at me.

Kreuk!

I hadn’t summoned my sword yet.

I quickly lowered my body and kicked the jaw of the one that had rushed at me first.

Crack!

The sound of the chimera’s jawbone shattering from my kick echoed.

I rolled up from the ground and summoned my sword.

“Gather.”

The sword of light that was created in my hand.

I tried to split the second chimera in two with it.

Whirl!

Micheln’s whip flew at me at the moment I was about to swing my sword.

Since I didn’t have enough time to dodge, I quickly wrapped my arms with divine power to strengthen my body.

Then, I raised my two strengthened forearms and blocked the whip.

Thud!

The leather whip strengthened by the power of the skill struck my forearms.

Normally, it would have broken my bones, but fortunately, I had quickly increased the intensity with divine power, so my arms only throbbed.

I then slashed a white panther chimera that was rushing at me diagonally.

Fortunately, the chimera that was hit by my attack seemed to be of a lower rank than Dennis, and it turned into ash.

Now, there were only two left.

At that time, Micheln said,

“You kill without hesitation? What if those chimeras were made from humans? Since you’re the Pope, shouldn’t you avoid killing as much as possible?”

As Michelln said, I don’t want to kill, so I couldn’t kill the chimeras made from humans.

That’s why Dennis simply sealed them away.

But—

“They weren’t made from humans, right, these chimeras.”

“Hmm? Why are you so sure?”

“These chimeras were probably hastily made using the animals here. They probably didn’t have time to collect humans.”

“… …!”

Michelln’s eyes were filled with surprise.

He must have wondered how I knew these chimeras were hastily made.

Instead of satisfying his curiosity, I simply said this.

“God told me.”

It wasn’t a lie.

I had figured out that these chimeras were hastily made thanks to the oracle.

‘The oracle clearly said to catch only one chimera. In other words, Dennis was the only chimera that Michelln had originally made. He must have created another chimera in a hurry after seeing me seal that one away.’

As if my guess was right, Micheln muttered,

“You’re as quick-witted as ever. I don’t know how you figured it out though.”

“Yeah, so—”

I dodged a leopard that was rushing at me, and at the same time cut its belly open with my sword.

“So even if I kill it, there won’t be any casualties.”

Then, the last leopard lunged at me with its claws thrusting into it.

I didn’t cut it down.

Instead, like a bullfighter, I lightly stepped on the leopard’s back and charged straight at Micheln.

As if to counter the sudden charge, Micheln swung his whip.

Instead of dodging it, I strengthened my hand this time by infusing it with divine power.

Then I grabbed the whip with my strengthened hand and pulled hard.

“… …!!”

The bastard resisted as if he didn’t want to lose the whip, but eventually lost the fight with brute force.

His body leaned forward while holding onto the whip.

I quickly rushed in and struck the back of his head with my fist.

“Crash… …!!”

The bastard fell to the snow with a gasp.

I stepped on his back with my foot and pulled out my dagger.

Crack— I

stabbed the back of his hand with the dagger I had drawn.

The dagger went straight through his hand and into the floor.

If I leave it like this, he won’t be able to move.

I pressed my knees against Micheln’s back and said,

“Where is Romun? If you tell me, I can spare your life.”

“… … .”

Instead of answering, Micheln twitched his left hand, which was not pierced.

I stamped on his arm with my left foot, ending his small rebellion.

“Tell me. I asked where your leader, Romun, is.”

“… … What are you going to do if I tell you?”

“I’ll go kill him.”

Micheln chuckled with his face buried in his eyes at my simple answer.

It seemed like he wasn’t that afraid of death. Or maybe he

had some kind of belief.

Thinking of giving him a little sense of crisis, I put more force into the foot I was stepping on.

Crunch—

There was a sound of bones breaking.

The arm that I had once cut off was now crushed again because of me.

Perhaps if I used his power, he could cut off the crushed arm again and replace it with the body of another beast, but that was an unnecessary assumption.

He was going to die here.

“This is your last chance. Tell me where Romun is.”

“… … Yeah, it would be okay to tell me as a last gift. Even if you find out, you won’t be able to find it anyway.”

“… … ?”

A place I won’t be able to find?

I waited for him to continue talking with a puzzled expression.

He turned his head and looked at me with his face that had been lying on the floor.

Then he smiled, revealing his white teeth.

“He’s in the Evangelical Realm.”

“… … .”

“He hasn’t ‘completely’ come here yet. He sometimes curses or brainwashes humans through dreams, but his main body is still in the Evangelical Realm.”

“… … .”

“Now that you’ve heard, what do you want? Can you go all the way there to kill him?”

Micheln chuckled.

As if he was saying, “If you want to try, try. ”

I understood. Normal humans couldn’t freely move between the Evangelical Realm and the Finite Realm.

I sighed deeply.

‘It looks like I’ll have to go on a business trip far away.’

After lamenting like that, I shrunk the Sword of Judgement.

The sword made up of stars moved fluidly this time as well, shrinking to a small size that matched the image I had in mind.

I held the sword vertically and said to Micheln.

“Goodbye.”

Clink—. The Sword of Judgement pierced the guy’s cervical vertebrae and took his life.

* * *

“Your Majesty! Where on earth did you go to hunt reindeer!?”

As soon as I returned to the group, Luciana immediately scolded me.

It seemed that she was worried again because I hadn’t come back for so long.

I showed the group a reindeer that I had barely caught on the way here.

“This one was pretty fast. That’s why it took a while.”

I was going to keep the fact that I had fought Micheln a secret from the group.

If I told them the truth, they might feel disappointed that I left them behind and went to fight alone.

So when I held out the reindeer, Nadia shouted excitedly.

“Wow! That’s a pretty big one! We can all eat our fill! “The leather doesn’t look too damaged either!”

“… … Really? You know? Have you ever groomed a reindeer?”

It was a question she asked because she was curious about the young lady of the Grand Duke examining the meat and leather.

Nadia answered as if she was asking such an obvious question.

“Of course! The women of the Crellin estate learn how to groom a reindeer even before they can walk.” It seemed

that the women who had grown up in such a harsh land were that strong.

The young Nadia took out a sharp sword from her bosom and began to skillfully slaughter the reindeer.

As Nadia began slaughtering, the others moved to get firewood or water.

I stood next to Nadia, who was quickly cutting the hide, and asked her casually,

“How are you feeling?”

“… … I would be lying if I said I was fine. But I’m going to try to endure it.”

As she said that, Nadia looked at me.

Then she said with eyes so bright that I couldn’t ignore her.

“Because His Majesty said he would find a way.”

“Yes, I’m good at keeping promises. When Dennis comes back later, think about where to have the wedding.”

“Yes! His Majesty will attend, right?”

“Of course. I love wedding cakes.”

After hearing my consolation, Nadia smiled with a face that seemed much more relaxed than before.

Maybe she was pretending to be fine on the outside while still feeling sad on the inside.

Still, it was better to comfort her like this than just standing there blankly.

After that, I helped Nadia prepare the meat, and the others prepared a bonfire to grill the meat.

We sat around the fire and grilled meat to relieve our fatigue.

Delicious meat and warm fire. And a few bottles of wine that we had kept on the ghost ship… … .

The day was coming to an end.

* * *

After partying all night in the forest, we finally brought Nadia to the Grand Duke of Crelin’s mansion during the day.

When the Grand Duke heard that we had sealed the Chimera, he thanked us several times.

Since we had been partying all night, he couldn’t properly accept those greetings.

After seeing us off like that, we returned to the cathedral.

I wanted to rest for a few days, but unfortunately, I had work to do.

‘We have to go to the missionary world to catch Romun.’

And that place was still an unknown land.

I didn’t know what lived there, how to get there, or anything.

So I grabbed the Baekhwamyeongwoldo.

And I practiced. The fourth form of the Moonlight Sword Technique that I still haven’t mastered.

Swish, swish!

I practiced—

swish, swish!

I practiced again.

How many times did I swing my sword?

When I really thought I couldn’t hold my sword anymore, I collapsed on the floor and thought,

‘Didn’t you tell me to put my heart into chasing the lost relationship? How on earth can I put that heart into my sword?’

The words that Grandma Heukwol had left behind were so difficult to understand.

So I tried to use my imagination as much as I could this time.

To imagine a situation where I had lost all the people I had protected and was struggling to get them back.

“… … .”

It would probably be painful. It would be regrettable.

I might end up living my whole life regretting it like Grandma Heukwol.

But I had no intention of just losing them. I

was willing to go to the world of the prodigal son or the world of the infinite in order to save those precious people.

‘… … Let’s try one more time.’

With that determination in my heart, I stood up again.

And because I swung it to its limit, I grabbed the Baekhwamyeongwoldo with my trembling arms.

Swish! Swish—

I swung the sword at the rag doll for practice.

The sword cut the rag doll at a speed that even I, who swung the sword, could not perceive.

The speed was sufficient, but did I cut it properly?

With a trembling heart, I tapped the rag doll.

Thud.

The rag doll fell to the ground, cut into exactly three pieces.

I had finally completely mastered the fourth form of the Wolyeong Sword Technique.