Volume 9, Chapter 19 – The One Guided by the Gospel and the One Who Refutes It (Part 1)

Since most of the undead near the city gate had been drawn away by Camilla’s flame butterflies, the number of undead in the streets near the gate became quite sparse, so much so that Lin could walk down the street without any effort.

Noticing the footsteps behind her, Lin stopped and turned to face the newcomer.

“Why did you follow me? Aren’t you with your companions?”

“Laxy is with them, so I don’t need to worry about their safety. Besides, since there are difficult monsters here like the Nightmare Knight that require everyone to work together to kill, I’m hoping Camilla and the others can use this opportunity to get a taste of frustration. Their level-grinding was too easy before.”

Ever since she had started bringing Camilla, Refina, and the others to level up, her companions had never experienced a truly fierce battle. Even in Gota City, when the monsters and slimes crawled out of the sinkhole, they had Charles to help them. Her companions had never experienced the feeling of being unable to defeat an enemy even after racking their brains and using all their strength.

Although she was usually there to protect them, making it difficult for them to encounter danger, it was just as she had thought in the past. If she was by Andrea’s side or handling matters at the Margaret and her companions ran into a crisis, they would easily find themselves unable to cope. This was precisely why she had trained them, and now, it was to train their judgment when facing a strong enemy. If she wasn’t around, how would they protect themselves?

Yisi’s words made Lin frown.

“Don’t you think that’s irresponsible? I admit the strength your companions have shown is enough to make them standouts at their level, but there is more than one Nightmare Knight in this city. Even if that angel can handle one, and the others combined can barely hold off a second, if a third one appears, they will face annihilation.”

“No… If I’m there as their backup, they’ll lower their guard and waste their magic wantonly. Knowing how to conserve magic and retreat when facing a strong enemy is also part of fighting. The reason I followed you is to make them understand that they are on their own.”

And just in case, I also have the [Omniscient Map] open right in front of me. If there was a second person here who could see the map, they would notice a faintly glowing blue map constantly hovering between Yisi and Lin. Although it obstructed her view, it allowed Yisi to grasp the situation on Camilla’s end at the first possible moment.

Taking off her mask, Lin revealed a face with finely-knit brows, her purplish-blue eyes filled with disapproval.

“What if they get hurt? Or worse? If that happens, you’ll blame yourself for the rest of your life.”

“Ah, I have a solution for that. If an enemy appears whose strength is clearly mismatched, I’ll rush over immediately.”

“How will you know when a powerful enemy appears? As soon as one undead is disturbed, the rest will quickly sense the aura of the living. It won’t be long before that place becomes a sea of undead.”

“Hmm…”

Yisi let out a low hum, puffing her cheeks in annoyance.

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The [Omniscient Map] was her trump card; she didn’t want to tell others about it. Besides, just like telling someone she was level 427, Lin would most likely not believe her even if she did. She didn’t want Lin to misunderstand her as being irresponsible, but she couldn’t tell the truth, so she had to find another way to explain it.

Yisi thought for a moment.

“Because I have a Gospel?”

“The Gospel… I see.”

Although in Yisi’s mind this explanation was even more ridiculous than her being level 427, Lin accepted it easily, nodding to herself. But then, as if she’d thought of something, Lin’s eyes suddenly widened, her mouth fell slightly open, and her face filled with disbelief. Her voice rose an octave.

“You’re actually using the Gospel for such a trivial matter?”

“No, no, that was just a joke. I don’t have a Gospel. The truth is, I’ve been monitoring them with a detection spell.”

“The first thing you said was your true thought, wasn’t it? While it’s not that the Gospel can’t be used that way, I never thought someone would actually treat it like a convenient tool. It’s too absurd! The Gospel should be used to change fate. You are wasting a divine gift, Yisi!”

“Uh…”

Seeing Yisi’s troubled expression, Lin shook her head helplessly.

“…Never mind. It’s your possession, I have no right to criticize how you use it. But since the Gospel is alerting you, allow me to apologize for my baseless accusation just now.”

With an impeccable motion, Lin bowed to Yisi. Despite not being of noble birth, her movements were perfectly natural. If she were to take off her black veil and put on noble attire, even the families of high nobility wouldn’t be able to see that she wasn’t a noble. Every move was exceptionally elegant. Yisi had only ever seen such an aura from Camilla and Pepe.

But Yisi had no time to appreciate things like auras right now.

She just felt that this was bad.

It was just a casual joke, but Lin had believed her. If she didn’t clear this up soon, the lie would snowball and become something impossible to explain.

“Um… actually, I don’t have a Gospel. Can’t you just use your Gospel to prophesize whether I have one or not?”

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“The Gospel’s prophecies should be used to change fate. The Gospel in my hands and the one in Atwood’s are currently working on the same event—saving all life on the continent from the fate of destruction. If I make an arbitrary change on my end, getting both Gospels to synchronize on the same event again in the future would require a lot of meaningless time to correct the trajectory. The more massive the amount of information, the longer the Gospel needs to prophesize.”

So it’s like making a computer process a large amount of information? The more complex the task, the slower the result.

“Umm… Then, don’t you know that there are only two Gospels?”

“Of course I know. But your appearance forces me to suspect that a third Gospel might exist in the world.” Sighing in resignation, Lin, as if accepting reality, put on an expression that said ‘do whatever you want’ and continued walking. “Haaah, I wanted to keep my distance from you, but now it’s come to this. If you run into trouble when we get back, don’t blame me.”

Lin paused.

“Getting back to the point, you’re full of countless mysteries. Why did you show no signs of weakness after using sacrificial magic? What happened between you and the Demon Lord that night in the Hels Kingdom? And you’re a vampire, yet you became a Cardinal of the Ymir Church. These are all questions I can’t figure out. So, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if you said you had a third Gospel… Also, the Gospel can sense nearby sources of magical power. If there is someone nearby with magic far exceeding the holder’s, the Gospel will heat up, warning the holder of danger. But when you stand next to me, the Gospel doesn’t react at all. Do you know what that means?”

“What does it mean?”

Yisi looked directly into Lin’s eyes and blinked innocently.

There was truly no nervousness or guilt in her eyes. Lin’s expression gradually grew complicated.

“It means you are a god, or a demon lord. The preface to the Gospel explains that only gods and demon lords cannot be prophesied. They are not bound by fate. If you are one of those two, it would make sense that my Gospel cannot observe you. Also, if you were a god or a demon lord, it would also explain how you were able to make the descended Demon Lord disappear.”

“No, no, no, how could I be a demon lord? And a god is even more impossible.”

Lin’s overly serious expression left Yisi at a loss for words. If she were a demon lord, those Fallen Angels should be obeying her commands. And gods didn’t look like her; she clearly remembered her past life. As for why the Gospel couldn’t sense her magic, Yisi guessed it was probably because her strength was too high. For example, the reason the Gospel couldn’t sense the power of a demon lord or a god was simply because their levels were too high.

“A demon lord is truly unlikely, but perhaps a god. In the past, this continent didn’t just have the human’s Goddess Ymir. The Blood Clan, elves, beastmen, and even dragons all had their own gods… It seems unlikely. I retract my previous guess. Your eyes are too innocent.”

“Well, well, let’s not talk about this. Lin, you said you had a mission from the Gospel—” Yisi glanced at her [Omniscient Map]. Camilla’s group, with Laxy as the spearhead, was thrusting straight into the undead ranks led by the Nightmare Knight, like a longsword. The battle was in a fierce stalemate and wouldn’t be decided anytime soon. “What exactly do you have to do?”

“Yisi.”

Lin’s tone was very solemn as she lowered her gaze to look at Yisi—Lin was half a head taller than her.

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“What’s wrong?”

“Your technique for changing the subject is terrible.”

“Uh…”

Seemingly amused by Yisi’s awkward expression, a hint of what must have been a smile appeared on Lin’s face. She then covered her mouth, forcing her curling lips back into a prim, ladylike expression.

“Sorry, I got a little carried away. Spending too much time with Purple does that to you.”

“Ah, I can somewhat understand that.”

It was just like how she’d started to enjoy teasing Mary after spending time with Evelyn.

Although she still hadn’t managed to explain that she didn’t have a Gospel, if she went back to that topic, who knew when she’d be able to get out of it. Yisi could only remain silent.

Lin pointed to the empty street ahead. Due to the ravages of fire, the street was lined with broken roof beams and walls blackened by smoke. Houses were squeezed together haphazardly, and the street was littered with rubble and wooden planks. Even after ten years, with many places showing signs of weathering, Yisi could roughly guess what had happened here.

The screams of those crushed under houses, the cries of people fleeing, the inferno that filled the sky, and the inescapable despair.

An overgrown garden might feel tranquil, but a city full of ruins only made one feel oppressed and terrified.

However, Yisi was focused on something else. Her [Omniscient Map] had told her the answer. She pretended not to have noticed anything and said, “When this place became a dead city ten years ago, you must have only been six or seven, Lin. Do you know what caused it? A spell that can cover an entire city must be at least Tier 5. And for it to work on everyone, and to turn them into undead… it would have to be at the level of a Tier 6 spell.”

“…Do you want to know?”

As she said this, Yisi felt Lin’s tone become heavy, with a hint of resistance toward her.

I knew it.

Even more certain of her guess, Yisi crouched down, blew away the dust on the ground, and then condensed a magic blade on her fingertip. She dug a finger-deep hole in the stone slab. When she had cleared out the fine grit, Yisi saw what she was looking for.

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A magical character that flickered intermittently with an eerie purple light. The way the light faded and reappeared reminded one of a breathing monster.

Yisi had discovered it before even entering the city: a massive magic circle was inscribed beneath the entire city.

Lin’s purplish-blue eyes narrowed instantly, but she said nothing. After learning that Yisi had a “Gospel,” she had prepared herself for everything to be exposed. Although the Gospel wouldn’t tell people why they had to do something, it would guide them on what needed to be done to achieve the goal—in other words, ignore the process, pursue the result. If Yisi had asked her Gospel to know what the Divine Religion had done, it would have guided her to follow Lin to this dead city and uncover the secret beneath.

“This is…”

“A broken magic circle.”

“Broken? Do you know something, Lin?”

“…This is a magic circle that exists for me. The moment you followed me, I never thought I could hide it. It doesn’t matter if I tell you. Being secretive will only backfire. If what I’m about to say gets out, it will surely cause an uproar in the Duchy of Chloe. But that can’t be helped. It’s better than having a bunch of people come to investigate later… Hmm, I see. So this is why the Gospel had me come here alone. If Red and Purple were here, they would have told me to shut up, no matter what.”

For some reason, Yisi felt a sense of sorrow from Lin. It wasn’t sadness for past events, but a feeling of recounting a story that had already passed—a vague, distant, yet unforgettable memory.

“Follow me.”

Quickening her pace, Lin cut down a few low-level undead along the way and soon brought Yisi to what must have been the noble district. This area was teeming with Reapers and Necromancers. But to Yisi’s surprise, they didn’t attack her or Lin. The Nightmare Knights mounted on skeletal horses even stopped their steeds when they saw Lin, watching her depart with their red-glowing eyes.

They were like elders watching over a junior.

The air was no longer filled with a sense of dread, but with a uniform, orderly goodwill.

And Lin, the “junior,” would bow deeply to these Nightmare Knights as she passed them. Yisi had never seen Lin show such respect, not even when meeting the Pope.

Following behind Lin, Yisi asked softly, “These are…”

“Followers of the Divine Religion who died in that incident.”

After bowing to the last Nightmare Knight, Lin turned into a mansion with its main doors wide open. Yisi had seen a house like this before—it was a Divine Religion facility that concealed a massive shaft. Hidden beneath this mansion was a shaft identical to the one beneath the Ducal Capital.