When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 185



Only Noblemtl

185. Corpse of an Extinct Ancient Species
2024.05.03.

I remained silent when Romun asked me what I was thinking.

Instead, I glanced at Yan out of the corner of my eye.

He was clutching his head as if he was confused after hearing my words.

Fortunately, Romun didn’t seem to notice Yan’s strangeness yet.

He just seemed frustrated that my answer was taking so long and urged me on.

“Stop thinking and say something. You’ll have more than enough time to think.”

“… … What do you mean? You’ll have more than enough time to think?”

Romun replied with an unusually gentle smile.

“I’m planning on sealing you in that ‘Dimensional Prison’ item soon.”

“… … .”

“Of course, if I don’t, and just use my brainwashing skill on you right now, I can make you obey me. But I want to punish you.”

Unlike his detailed voice, the bastard continued to speak in terrible voices.

“It wouldn’t be fun to easily subdue you with brainwashing skills. That’s why I decided to seal you in a ‘sane’ state.”

“… … .”

“Then you’ll be left alone in a prison of an empty dimension where nothing exists, unable to lose your senses.”

When I didn’t answer, the bastard grabbed my neck with his vicious hands.

“Aren’t you looking forward to it?”

Romun’s fingers that were holding my neck were becoming more and more tense.

That’s why it wasn’t easy to spit out the words, but I slowly opened my mouth.

“Looking forward to it… I can… … .”

“Looking forward to it? Being locked in a prison of a dimension?”

“No.”

As my breathing became increasingly suffocated, I squeezed a smile with all my might.

“I’m looking forward to you getting hit in the back of the head and making a face.”

For a moment, Romun seemed not to understand what I was saying.

He asked me in bewilderment.

“I’m getting hit in the back of the head? What do you mean?”

“If you’re curious, look behind you.”

After hearing my answer, Romun obediently turned around.

To Yan who was behind him.

However, it was already too late to deal with it.

“… …!!”

Yan took out a dagger from his inventory and stabbed Romun deeply in the abdomen.

Romun still trembled as if he didn’t fully understand the situation.

He probably wouldn’t understand. Why did Yan, who had been using his son as his own weak point and acting like his own limb, stab him?

Yan kindly explained to Romun.

“… … I remembered everything. I didn’t have a family.”

“… …!!”

Yan spoke in a suppressed voice in front of Romun who seemed to be frozen in shock.

“You used your skill to manipulate my memories. You planted the memories of a child who didn’t exist in me and pretended to kidnap a child who didn’t exist.”

“Uh… How… ….”

Romun asked with difficulty while still being stabbed by the dagger.

But Yan didn’t answer.

He just twisted the dagger he had thrust in even more.

“Ugh… …!”

Romun let out a gasp and took something out of his pocket.

It was an item that looked like a dice.

When I threw it on the floor, a message appeared.

[The character “Romun” used a teleportation item. The character will be moved to the ‘safe zone’ within the building.]

As soon as I saw the message, I shouted at Yan.

“Yan!! Catch that bastard!! I used a teleportation item!!”

Yan heard my shout and immediately reached out to grab Romun.

However, before Yan’s hand could even touch Romun’s body.

Boom—

Romun activated his only attack skill, “Sharp Thorn.”

Immediately, sharp thorns sprouted from Romun’s body according to the power of the skill.

Yan, who had approached Romun to grab him, was pierced by the thorns and soon collapsed.

“Yan!!”

While I was shouting Yan’s name, Romun’s body disappeared somewhere.

The teleportation item had been activated and I had been moved to that so-called ‘safe zone’.

Thanks to that, I had missed Romun, but that wasn’t important right now.

“Jan! Come to your senses!!”

If Jan collapsed like this, I wouldn’t be able to escape the monster.

Fortunately, Jan didn’t seem to have lost consciousness and slowly crawled towards me.

“Apostle… I’ll release you now… … ”

After saying that, Jan opened my inventory.

Then, he took out a bead that looked similar to the crystal ball that I had broken earlier, thinking it was a barrier item.

“What’s that?”

Yan gasped and answered my question.

“It’s an item that… unsummons a summoned monster… … . I was the one who set the trap so that the master of this swamp would be summoned.”

“… … .”

“I also prepared a unsummon item in case you summon the master of the swamp by mistake… or if this guy doesn’t move as planned—”

“Enough with the explanation, now quickly unsummon this stupid monster.”

I wasn’t curious about why Yan had a unsummon item.

Hearing my urging, Yan broke the unsummon item in half according to the instructions.

Then, the master of the swamp that had been squeezing me tightly was finally unsummoned and disappeared somewhere.

“Ha… Damn, I almost got in big trouble.”

“Apostle… … . Give me some potions… … .”

Yan asked me for a potion while lying on the floor.

He looked like he was struggling because of the wounds he received from Romun’s attack skill earlier.

I was a little annoyed that he had tricked me and set me up for a trap, but I gladly sprinkled an advanced potion on his wounds.

After all, he was also a victim of Romun and he helped me as soon as he realized he had been tricked.

After treating Yan’s wounds, I asked him,

“Did your memories come back properly?”

“Yes, after hearing the words of the Apostle, I thought carefully about whether I really had a child. But… I couldn’t remember anything about the child. Not even the name or the face.”

“Of course. Romun must have forced the roughly made memories into my head.”

“I also remembered Romun’s memory manipulation skill… Thanks to that, I was able to come to my senses. I am truly grateful, and I apologize—”

“Thank you later. This is not the time to waste time.”

After reminding Yan that there was no time, I immediately asked.

“Do you know where the real barrier item of the palace is hidden?”

“It’s most likely hidden underground,”

Yan continued.

“According to what I’ve investigated, there’s a warehouse there where the palace’s treasures are hidden, and it’s guarded with multiple layers of security. It’s a good place to hide important items like barrier items.”

“Then you go there and destroy the barrier item. If you use the invisibility item you took from me earlier, you should be able to get to the basement without being detected by the soldiers.”

“The Apostle… … .”

“I’m going to chase after Romun. Before that, give me the dimensional prison item. I’ll seal that Romun bastard there.”

When I held out my hand, Yan handed me the dimensional prison item he was holding so carefully.

“But do you know where Romun ran off to?”

“It’s probably inside the palace. The item he used earlier was an item that allowed you to move to a safe zone ‘in that building’. If we search here thoroughly, we’ll be able to find it.”

Yan nodded as if he understood.

“I hope you’re okay.”

“I’ll be okay, so you should live properly and destroy the barrier item. If you betray me again, I’ll really cut off your head.”

After praying for each other’s safety in our own ways, we hurried to carry out our respective missions.

* * *

Romun, who had moved to the safe zone using the teleportation item, looked around.

The safe zone was a kind of shelter he had prepared in case of an emergency.

There were various potions and weapons there.

Romun first took out all the potions on the display case and treated his wounds.

The wound that Yan had pierced through with his attack quickly healed.

“Tsk.”

He clicked his tongue after treating his wound with the potion and threw the empty potion bottle on the floor.

He never expected Yan to suddenly stab him in that situation.

Nickelus must have used some trick to remove the memory manipulation that he had placed on Yan.

‘I wanted to capture him quickly when he couldn’t resist… … .’

The first plan was to capture Nickelus by locking him in a dimensional prison while he was captured by the Master of the Swamp and unable to resist.

However, that plan went awry due to Yan’s sudden attack.

Romun abandoned the first plan that had gone awry and came up with a second plan.

‘I have no choice but to forcibly drain his power and then capture him.’

By now, Nickelus should have escaped from the Master of the Swamp.

In the end, there was no choice but to drain his power through a battle and then capture him.

As it happened, a powerful weapon that could drain Nickelus’ power was prepared there.

Thud. Thud.

Romun walked slowly.

His steps stopped in front of the ‘sarcophagus’ that was stored there.

A white sarcophagus standing against the wall. His secret weapon was hidden inside.

Soon, he carefully opened the lid of the sarcophagus.

Clank.

The sarcophagus opened with a heavy sound, and the corpse of the dragon that had been sleeping inside was revealed before Romun’s eyes.

Dragon. It was an ancient species that existed in ancient times, and it was known that it had much greater physical strength and magical power than other species.

The corpse of that ancient species, known to be able to destroy a small human nation by itself, was contained in the corpse.

‘How much effort and time it took to obtain this… … .’

It was the corpse of the dragon that had been barely discovered in the ruins.

Although it had taken a long time and effort, it was worth it.

If it had this, it would be easy to capture Nickelus, who was currently running wild.

Thud-thud—

Romun soon ripped off all the preservation items hanging from the dragon’s corpse.

After removing the chain-shaped preservation items, the dragon’s true form was finally revealed to me.

It had a similar shape to a human, but it was covered in the dragon’s strong scales like armor.

After ripping off the preservation items, Romun placed his hand on the corpse’s head. He

then activated the possession skill, “Permeating Soul (L).”

* * * While I

was wandering around the palace, aimlessly looking for Romun, holding the Dimensional Prison item in my hand, at some point.

“… …!”

I stood there, feeling an eerie feeling.

I looked around, but I couldn’t see anything.

There was only the wide, quiet corridors of the palace.

‘What was that just now? I felt an ominous magic.’

I looked around again, wondering if someone had followed me, but I still couldn’t see anything.

After all, the villa I was looking for didn’t even have the usual guards.

It was a place where I was alone.

‘Should we move for now? I should look more towards the main palace instead of here. There’ll probably be a lot of guards there, but… . . . ‘ Even

if there were a lot of guards there, I had to go. I

couldn’t just keep squatting here where there seemed to be nothing.

I decided to move and stepped onto the stairs to head towards the main palace.

That was when.

“Found it.”

Someone spoke those words outside the large window next to the hallway.

When I heard that voice and looked outside the window, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

An ancient species that was said to have gone extinct long ago, a species that couldn’t possibly exist in this era.

That species, commonly called the Dragon Clan, was watching me from outside the window.