When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 168



Only Noblemtl

168. Do you think only you can use skills?
2024.04.16.

Yan hesitated a bit when I asked him to lead me to the training ground.

However, he eventually let out a deep sigh and guided us to the training ground.

When I arrived at the training ground, I looked around the place.

‘It’s quite spacious. I don’t see anything that could break. I can fight freely here.’

If it were a narrow space, I would have had to fight carefully so as not to destroy the wall.

Fortunately, this place was spacious and there were no other obstacles, so I could run wild without breaking anything.

My companions who arrived there with me looked at me with worried eyes.

Of them all, Luciana did not just give me a look.

“Are you okay? I don’t know how good that guy is, but you’re suddenly fighting me like this.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I can tell what he’s like just by looking at him.”

As he said, I had already used my ability to check information windows to quickly check Dian’s information window.

That’s how I checked, the bastard’s power wasn’t enough to threaten me.

[Dian (A)]

[Skills]

– Final Strike (A)

– Iron Fortress (S)

– Thunderous Steps (L)

– Rampage (L)

.
.

[Karma]

101 points

If you’re an A-class Awakened, you could say he’s pretty strong.

However, he was still a level below me, and there weren’t any skills that I should pay attention to.

The only skill I was a little concerned about was the “Rampage (L)” skill, which I thought was probably a Berserker skill.

While I was looking at Dian’s information window, he seemed to notice my gaze and started sneer at me again.

“You clearly said it yourself earlier. I won’t hold you responsible if you kill me.”

“Did a bug get in your ear? It seems like you’re not hearing well since you keep asking the same question.”

“What?!”

“I won’t hold you responsible, so kill me. If you can.”

The guy and I naturally headed to the center of the training ground.

Fortunately, there was no one to stop us.

Luciana seemed a little worried, but she didn’t seem to think I would lose, so she didn’t block me.

However, Yan came over to me and whispered,

“You’re not really risking your life to fight me, are you?”

“Of course not. I’m not the type of person to treat people’s lives so lightly. I’m just trying to scare him. He’ll probably rush at me with the intention of killing me.”

“… … I understand. Then I’ll trust you.”

Yan said and backed away from me.

Soon, only Dian and I were left in the center of the training ground.

Dian swung the iron hammer she had been holding for a while and then got into a stance.

I thought he would just attack me, but surprisingly, he made a gentlemanly suggestion.

“Take out your weapon. Are you going to fight empty-handed?”

“Is there a wooden sword here?”

“… … What?”

When I looked for the wooden sword, Dian asked back in a bewildered manner.

No, beyond being bewildered, he seemed to feel a little angry.

I could see the guy’s gaze trembling with anger.

“You’re going to fight me with a wooden sword right now?”

“A wooden sword is enough for someone like you.”

“… … .”

I could see bloodshot eyes. He

must have gotten really angry.

In the meantime, Yan brought out a training wooden sword and threw it at me.

“Here’s a wooden sword.”

I lightly snatched the thrown wooden sword out of the air and held it in my hand.

I swung it a few times and Dian burst out laughing.

“That guy who looks like a nerd who’s never fought before is really showing off his skills.”

“Stop talking big and come at me. I have my weapons ready.”

This time Dian didn’t hesitate at my provocation.

He immediately rushed towards me and swung his heavy iron mallet.

Boom!

The iron mallet that I narrowly avoided passed by my ear.

The eerie noise of a heavy piece of metal cutting through the air rang in my ears.

I turned my body halfway around to avoid the iron hammer, then completely spun around.

My body was spinning fast. I used that speed to kick the guy’s side with my toe.

“Bam… …!!”

The guy couldn’t block my attack and got hit.

His face was filled with confusion, as if he hadn’t expected me to counterattack at such a fast pace.

However, since we had already decided to fight, I had no intention of letting it go.

I straightened my wooden sword and tried to unleash the fourth form of the Moonlight Sword Technique.

At that moment, the guy used his skill first and stomped his foot hard.

Boom!

When he stomped his foot, the ground shook violently around that spot.

He must have used the skill “Thunderous Steps (L).”

The ground shook so much that it was difficult to even maintain a proper stance, let alone unleash the Moonlight Sword Technique.

As my stance was momentarily disrupted, the guy attacked me again.

“It’s a skill again… …!”

For a moment, I felt his magical power concentrated on the iron hammer.

Thanks to that, I realized he had used a skill, so instead of blocking the iron hammer, I quickly turned my body to dodge it.

Deciding not to block it was a good decision in the end.

Boom!!

As the iron hammer slammed into the ground, cracks began to form around that spot.

Looking at the cracking stone floor, I was once again certain that I had done well in dodging.

‘Is this perhaps the “Final Strike (A)” skill? By the way, does this guy really intend to kill me?’

If he didn’t intend to kill me, he wouldn’t have used his skills so recklessly.

I already knew that he wanted to kill me, but seeing him use his skills without hesitation

made my head heat up a little. I then dodged the iron hammer that was swinging at me, and at the same time, I quickly whispered in his ear.

“Do you think only you can use skills?”

After saying that, I activated the skills I had been saving.

The first skill I activated was ‘Blasphemy’.

I activated it, strengthened my wooden sword with the greatly increased sacred power, and swung it at him.

Kagang!

The strengthened wooden sword had the strength of metal.

When the guy blocked the wooden sword with his iron hammer, a unique cracking sound rang out.

In that state, I quickly swung my wooden sword and slowly cornered him.

Kagang! Kang! Kagang!

The bastard kept getting pushed back with a look of helplessness on his face.

Then, when he was cornered to the point where he couldn’t go back anymore, I taunted him with a single word.

“You said you were going to kill me? How could you kill me when I just ran away like that?”

“Damn it!!”

The bastard swore harshly and used a skill again.

Only this time, it wasn’t an attack skill.

“Hmm… …?”

Feeling something unusual, I stopped cornering him for a moment and stepped back.

In the meantime, the bastard’s muscles began to swell little by little.

‘Oh, is that the “Rampage” skill? As expected, it seems to be a skill that turns him into a berserker.’

The bastard’s muscles swelled noticeably, and at the same time, his eyes began to glow blue.

He had turned into a berserker… In other words, he had entered berserker mode.

His fighting power must have increased significantly.

I took a defensive stance without moving from my spot.

Then.

“Kurururuk!!”

The guy ran towards me with a beastly roar.

Then he swung his hammer―

“Oh.”

The destructive power was so great that it was hard to resist.

I blocked the hammer with my wooden sword until the end.

The force of the blow was so strong that the ground at my feet was slowly being dug.

If I continued to fight like this, I might lose.

The guy in Berserker mode seemed to be a little stronger than me.

Of course, this was assuming that I didn’t use any other skills.

It wasn’t good for Dian, but I didn’t have just one skill, ‘Blasphemy.

’ ‘I should end this now. That would be better for him.’

The Berserker skill was a skill that squeezed out the strength inherent in the body and exploded it in an instant.

It was putting a strain on my body.

So I decided to end the fight slowly and activated my Deification skill.

“… …!!”

Dian stepped back as if she sensed something from me.

I felt a great surge of divine power and grabbed my wooden sword.

Then, slowly, I assumed the preparatory stance for the fourth form of the Moonlight Sword Technique.

“Kreuk!!”

Dian, whose sanity seemed to have clouded slightly due to entering Berserker mode, lunged at me again as if he had never stepped back.

I calmly waited for him to get closer.

And when our distance was close enough.

Whee.

I unleashed the fourth form of the Moonlight Sword Technique I had been preparing, the quiet Wa-Hyun-Moon.

The sword swung quickly and passed over Dian’s body several times.

The attacks were coming so fast that even my eyes couldn’t keep up.

When everything was over, I let out a deep sigh.

“Whew… … .”

At the same time, Dian’s body slowly collapsed, and soon she fell to the floor.

After confirming that the situation was over, I threw the wooden sword back to Yan.

Yan, who took the sword from me, asked me.

“What just happened… … . Did you attack? But I didn’t see anything.”

“That’s because you attacked at a speed that ordinary eyes couldn’t keep up with.”

I said that and continued to explain.

“Anyway, take that guy and feed him a potion. If you use a real sword properly, his body will be torn apart. He probably wouldn’t have died because he used a wooden sword, but if you don’t feed him a potion, he won’t be able to get up for a while.”

“Okay, I understand.”

After answering me, Yan called someone over and had Dian moved to the treatment room.

The other revolutionary army members who had been watching the fight from there kept glancing at me as Dian was carried away.

With looks that were either fearful, terrified, awed, or angry.

And so our first welcoming ceremony ended safely(?) amidst the commotion.

* * *

After the chaotic welcoming ceremony, our group spent the night there. We

were too tired to bear it.

So after spending the night, I went straight to Yan’s reception room

to tell him what we wanted to do.

“We talked about what happened at the welcoming ceremony yesterday. So—”

“Have you decided not to cooperate with us?”

Yan quickly predicted what I was going to say and asked.

I hesitated for a moment before nodding at him and answering.

“Well, to cut to the chase, yes.”

“… … .”

“I appreciate you helping us to shake off the imperial army’s pursuit. And the welcoming ceremony.”

After saying that, I continued to honestly confess my feelings.

“But after hearing Dian’s story, I suddenly had this thought. Could it be that you are really planning to kill me, as he said? … This thought.”

“… … .”

“You probably think that the fastest way to ruin Romun’s plan is to kill me, the apostle.”

Jan couldn’t respond to my words.

I continued speaking on Jan’s behalf, who was silent as if his mouth was glued shut.

“Of course, as I said before, Romun’s plan won’t go awry just because I die. If I die, they’ll find another way to access the world’s system. But no matter how much I say that, you won’t believe me… … .”

Even if I died, Romun would use Petros to access the system.

However, even if I told them, there was no guarantee that they would believe me.

In the end, they couldn’t trust me, and I couldn’t trust them either, so our cooperation was over.

Jan adjusted his glasses and then asked me,

“Do you really think we would harm the Apostle to achieve our goal?”

“There’s no law against it.”

“… … I guess you still lack trust. If you do—”

He adjusted his glasses again out of habit and continued his interrupted speech.

“We will trust you.”

“Trust us?”

Jan nodded in response to my question.

“We have a secret weapon we have prepared to eliminate Romun. I will show you.”