When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 186



Only Noblemtl

186. Palace Barrier Release
2024.05.04.

Before I could even properly perceive the situation, a skill attack from the Dragon Clan flew in.

It seemed to be a skill using air.

The air compressed to its limit burst out in front of my nose with a ‘bang!’ sound.

“… …!!”

It happened so quickly that I couldn’t defend myself and was slammed into the wall of the palace hallway.

It must have been a stroke of luck that I didn’t lose consciousness.

Barely holding onto my wits, I immediately activated my skills.

The Deification skill, the Blasphemy skill, and even the Sacred Pact skill.

When I activated them all at once, my power exploded.

“Gather.”

Following the recited spell, a Sword of Judgement appeared in my hand.

With that, I then unleashed the second form of the Moonlight Sword Technique, Penetrating Full Moon.

Boom!

The Dragon Clan couldn’t dodge.

The sword energy fired from the tip of my sword hit the guy’s abdomen exactly.

Only after piercing him like that could I finally recall the question that had remained unsolved.

‘But where did the dragon tribe suddenly appear? Was it Romun’s doing?’

The dragon tribe was an ancient being that existed only in the distant past. They

were ferocious, capricious, and possessed overwhelming power, so they were considered natural disasters to humans… … .

It was strange that such a dragon tribe suddenly appeared here.

‘Did Romun do something to revive the dragon tribe? Well, it’s fortunate that we dealt with it anyway—’

‘It’s fortunate that we dealt with it.’ The moment I was about to think that,

someone’s shadow appeared in the dust that had risen up due to the sword energy I had fired.

I shuddered at the eerie sensation and grabbed the Sword of Judgement again.

‘Could it not be… … .’

I told myself that it couldn’t be, that it couldn’t be safe since it was hit directly by the penetrating full moon.

However, my efforts were in vain, and the dragon emerged from the dust as if nothing had happened. It

didn’t have a single scratch on its scales despite being hit directly by the sword.

The creature smiled at me, showing its sharp teeth, as I panicked.

“You should have stabbed me with all your might. That was probably the last time I hit you.”

“Wait, you… Romun… …?”

The voice I heard from the dragon was unbelievably Romun’s.

I froze, not understanding why the dragon was speaking in Romun’s voice, and the creature chuckled.

“I borrowed the dragon’s body… to be exact, its corpse for a moment.”

“Did you possess it with your skill? You can possess the body of someone who is already dead?”

“As long as the corpse is not bad, it shouldn’t be impossible.”

The creature surprisingly readily revealed that he had possessed the dragon’s corpse and was controlling it.

He must have thought that even if he found out, there wouldn’t be any other way for me to deal with it.

But that was clearly his mistake.

‘So, you’re not remotely controlling the dragon’s corpse… …?’

If he was remotely controlling the dragon’s corpse, then Romun’s soul would be somewhere far away, not here.

However, if Romun had ‘directly’ possessed the corpse, then it was a different story.

His soul would be completely embedded in that body.

That meant that if I used the dimensional prison item in my pocket here, I could trap his soul.

‘I have to take out his strength first.’

The guy seemed to have the same idea as me, as he unleashed a skill attack on me.

It was the same air compression and explosion skill as before.

However, this time, the explosion didn’t stop at just one like before.

Pub-bub! Pub-bub! Pub-bub!

Air burst out here and there.

My body, caught in the middle, was swept away by the explosion and became a mess.

If my Awakening rank was lower, my body probably wouldn’t have been able to withstand the pressure of the explosion and would have been torn apart early on.

Fortunately, I was able to think of a way to counterattack before that happened.

Slash!

First, I held the Sword of Judgement sideways and struck the compressed air with its ‘wide side’.

Before the compressed air burst out, I first used the side of the sword to disrupt the air current.

This was possible because my senses had become extremely sensitive since becoming an L-rank Awakened.

‘Okay, it’s working… …!’

Since I immediately disrupted the suspicious air currents that had formed, no more explosions occurred.

Seeing that, Romun stopped attacking and said a word.

“You really have a good head on your shoulders. Amazing.”

As soon as I figured out how to destroy the explosion skill , he immediately activated another skill . Of course, this skill

also activated right away without even having time to check the information window .

Ss … “You ruined the farming I worked hard to do for a year, you destroyed my house and took away my place to live… … .” I wasn’t in a position to respond to his nonsense. I buried my sword deep into the ground and endured the wind. If I let up even a little, I would be caught in the whirlwind and blown away. Even while I desperately endured the wind, Romun’s nonsense continued without stopping. “That’s what a god should be like. He should exist as an object of fear. That’s how order is established and peace is maintained.” “… … .” “Can we really call Lucid Miller, who didn’t even intervene in human affairs because he was afraid of the collapse of causality, a real god? What good is a being that has no influence? He’s no different from a flower decoration on a wall.” The guy kept babbling, but I didn’t listen. My head was filled with thoughts of having to get out of this situation. ‘… … Damn, I can’t think of a way to stop the wind right now.’ There was only one way to stop this type of skill. Activating a wide-area skill. For example, if you used Luciana’s skill, “Tranquil Primordial Forest,” you could stop the wind. Luciana’s skill was a skill that calmed everything that entered the area. Even the violently raging wind would calm down if it entered the skill’s area. ‘Should I hold out for a bit? If Yan releases the barrier, Luciana will be able to get here soon.’ Since Romun seemed to be planning to capture me alive anyway, I’ll just buy time. That was the moment I thought that. “I guess you’re going to keep holding out and buy time.” Damn, Romun said that. At the same time, the wind began to gradually become more intense. It was already a gust of wind that was so strong that holding out was the best thing to do. But now, the gust of wind had become even stronger, as if my body would be blown away at any moment. “I won’t be able to hold out this time.” After hearing Romun’s words, I took out the Baekhwamyeongwoldo from my inventory and stuck it in the ground as well. I planned to slowly approach Romun while relying on the weapons I had stuck in the ground. That was when an unfortunate accident occurred. ‘No! The Dimensional Prison… …!!’ The Dimensional Prison item that I had kept in my pocket so that I could use it right away was blown away by the strong wind. Surprised, I reflexively put down my weapon and reached out to it. At that moment. “Ugh… …!!” My body, which had barely managed to avoid being swept away by the gust of wind, lost its balance and tilted. Once my balance was broken, it was not easy to recover, and I was caught in the whirlwind and floated in the air. * * * In front of the warp gate leading to the forest west of the palace. The group, who had been waiting for the barrier to be lifted after sending Nickelus away, were currently expressing their impatience in their own ways. Among them, Dionik was the first to start telling an ominous story. “It can’t be this late. What happened?” Nickelus had promised that Yan would immediately send them a signal if he infiltrated the palace and lifted the barrier. The original plan was for them to use items to summon the giants, and then all of them would use the warp gate to move toward the palace. However, no matter how long they waited, there was still no news that Nickelus had lifted the barrier. Elodie, who was nearby, heard Dionique’s words and opened her mouth.

“Maybe… we fell into a trap? It’s suspicious that Yan suddenly disappeared. He said he would send a signal as soon as the barrier collapsed, but he suddenly stopped contacting us.”

Elodie said this and showed us the communication item he had received from Yan.

As Elodie had said, Yan had said that he would contact them through the bead-shaped item once the barrier was lifted.

However, contrary to Yan’s promise, no matter how long they waited, there was no message that the barrier had been lifted, and even if they used the item, they couldn’t contact Yan. He

had suddenly disappeared somewhere and all contact was cut off.

“If it really was a trap—”

Luciana, who had said that, gripped her sword tightly and continued talking.

“We should go save His Majesty even if it’s just us.”

Rubin and Cheongwang also added their opinions after hearing Luciana.

“But how? If Nike has infiltrated the palace, we should go there too, but we can’t get through the palace barrier right now.”

“I think we should find a way to lift the barrier first. But is it true that our benefactor is in the palace? Or maybe he’s been caught in the wrong place… … .”

Even the whereabouts of Nickelus were not known for sure.

The group was lost in thought.

It was then that the communication item in Elodie’s hand began to vibrate slightly.

“Wait a minute! Everyone, be quiet! I think I just got a call from Yan!”

The item began to vibrate slightly, indicating that the other party had contacted them.

Elodie recalled the instructions on how to use the item that she had heard from Yan beforehand and tapped it three times.

Then, Yan’s face began to appear in the crystal ball. As

soon as she saw that face, Dionik couldn’t hold it back and shouted.

“Yan! What the hell happened! Why did you suddenly cut off contact and disappear? Has the barrier been lifted yet?!”

“I was away for a while because of a reason… … . I think it would be better to talk about that later. I think you should go to the palace right away.”

“What? Wait, that means… … .”

“You were right.”

Yan said as he continued to tell

the news that the group had been waiting for.

“The palace barrier was just lifted.”