Into the Creations 559

Chapter 559 – 559. Savior Of The Academy

559. Savior of the Academy

“How can this be! I can’t see his fate! You’ve finally appeared! The Ninth Apostle!”

I grinned.

“Yes. I am the Ninth Apostle. Cassandra. I am the end of this world, and the new beginning.”

I knew the meaning of the Ninth Apostle through the original story.

In the Gumok Church, the Ninth Apostle signifies the end and the beginning. An apostle who leads to a new world when the existing world ends.

The new world is a world that cannot be confirmed even within the cult leader’s fate. Therefore, only someone whose fate the cult leader cannot see can become the Ninth Apostle.

“Apostle Cassandra.”

I called her. She preferred to be called an apostle rather than the cult leader.

“Yes. Speak.”

“This isn’t my first time. The god with nine eyes has given me a new opportunity.”

“What… what are you saying? Please explain in more detail.”

“I cannot say.”

“Is it related to the distortion of your fate?”

“That too, I cannot say.”

When deceiving, there’s no need to speak definitively. Mix truth and lies appropriately and let the other person guess the truth.

“……”

The old woman nodded with a stern expression. Judging by the fact that she wasn’t attacking me, my intentions must have worked.

‘Thanks to my acting trait, my success rate when deceiving goes up. Heh.’

Cassandra had already acknowledged me as the Ninth Apostle. She called me that earlier.

“Ninth Apostle. I acknowledge that you have undergone trials, but the other believers do not.”

“I understand. And I have no intention of running away. Apostle Cassandra. Give me trials. I will perform the trials and be officially recognized as the Ninth Apostle.”

“As expected of the Ninth Apostle! What a magnificent mindset!”

I had no intention of doing trials either. But if I refused here, I would be suspected, and things would get complicated.

‘It’s not like I can refuse anyway. If they give me some shitty task, I’ll just run away.’

I had no intention of doing anything for the Gumok Church.

“The Second Apostle candidate is walking the path of trials.”

“……The Second Apostle, you mean that blonde child.”

I pretended to know. The Second Apostle also appeared in the original story. I had to pretend to know these things right away to dispel Cassandra’s suspicions.

“Yes. That child will overcome the trials and become an apostle. She was born with the fate of a saint.”

“Yes. She will become the saint of the Gumok Church. But why are you suddenly talking about that…?”

“Apostle of Fate. Your trial is to help that child.”

“I don’t understand Apostle Cassandra’s intentions. She will complete the trials and become the Second Apostle without my or Apostle Cassandra’s help.”

“Yes. I know. That is her fate. I want to see her fate change with your intervention.”

“My intervention won’t completely change her fate. It’s more likely that it won’t change at all.”

“It will change. I am certain.”

Expectation filled Cassandra’s eyes. No matter what I said here, it wouldn’t work on her. Cassandra wanted to confirm me.

“I understand. I will accept the trials given to me.”

“Then, Ninth Apostle. I will send you to that child right away. Please, give that child a new fate….”

Cassandra gestured.

Mana gathered around me. A complex magic circle was drawn beneath my feet. I was completely ignorant about magic, but judging by the atmosphere, it must be a teleportation spell.

‘To do teleportation magic so easily…. As expected of an SSS-rank magic skill.’

Swoosh.

I felt like my body was being sucked into somewhere.

•••

“Branch Manager! We received a report from Ma Jun-gang’s nephew that Ma Jun-gang seems to be involved in a suspicious religion!”

“A suspicious religion…? Could it be!”

The branch manager jumped up from his seat at his subordinate’s report.

Suspicious religions were abundant in this world. But for a hero with some experience, when they heard the term “suspicious religion,” they immediately thought of one religion.

The Gumok Church.

A cult with power. A place overflowing with fanatics who could commit suicide bombings without hesitation.

And a place with many people who have unique traits related to eyes.

“The Spirit Eye! There’s enough reason for the Gumok Church to target him! Damn it! Were they established in Korea too?! Where is Ma Jun-gang now?”

“He’s been missing for a week!”

“Find him! Investigate all his movements!”

After giving orders to his subordinate, the branch manager glanced at Seong Ha-ri. And he unconsciously swallowed hard. Seong Ha-ri was muttering the word “Gumok Church” with dangerous eyes.

“Gumok Church… Gumok Church….”

The moment the exact location of the Gumok Church was revealed, she would become a thunder god and unleash her rage.

“Branch Manager! We’ve confirmed that Min Hu-seok’s car entered a mountain in Gangwon Province! We tried to track him, but there’s a barrier! We need support from A-rank or higher heroes! Please approve!”

“Do I need to give approval for every single thing in this emergency situation? Immediately dispatch barrier specialist heroes and analyze it thoroughly! Don’t forget that this is a matter of our Hero Association’s pride and reputation…. Wait. Where did Hero Seong Ha-ri go?”

“Gasp! The document with the location information is gone!”

“Didn’t Seong Ha-ri just run out?”

“Damn it. Call the heroes now!”

“Yes! I’ll contact the barrier specialist heroes and request emergency support!”

“No. Not the barrier specialist heroes!”

“Yes?”

“Seong Ha-ri moved! She’ll probably smash the barrier to pieces! Call the cleanup specialist heroes!”

•••

『You have entered the special dungeon, Desire Island.』

『Desire Island will test your desires and emotions.』

It was an island.

I activated the Spirit Eye and looked around. The island was surrounded by the sea. Waves crashed with the strong wind. The waves were quite high. The sky was gloomy, as if it would rain at any moment.

The island had forests, rocks, rivers… it seemed like a mix of various things. The size wasn’t as big as I thought.

And there were no spirits on this island. It seemed to be connected to the outside, but it was inside a dungeon.

‘A special dungeon, this is going to be troublesome.’

I scratched my cheek. Special dungeons were often fundamentally different from normal dungeons.

It wouldn’t be possible to clear the dungeon simply by killing the boss monster.

‘Cassandra told me to find the Second Apostle candidate. She must be somewhere on this island.’

I didn’t know much about this dungeon, Desire Island. But considering it was related to the Second Apostle, I could roughly guess what kind of dungeon it was.

Just standing still wouldn’t get me anywhere. I started moving.

‘Should I go towards the peak first? I might be able to find her if I look from a high place.’

I walked through the forest path.

The wind blew, and the trees swayed. The sound of the leaves colliding with each other was pleasant.

And at some point, I started smelling something delicious. It was an indescribable smell. Just a delicious smell.

My mouth watered, and my stomach kept growling. Even when I smelled Korean beef after starving for three days, it wasn’t like this.

‘What kind of cooking smell is this?’

The source of the smell was ridiculously, tree fruits. There were blue, unknown fruits growing on a large tree. They were shaped like apples. The surface was plump, and it looked like juice would burst out if you took a bite.

Gulp. Gulp.

I kept swallowing my saliva.

‘Ah. I can’t take it anymore. Let’s just eat one. With such a delicious smell, the taste must be amazing too, right?’

As a hunter, eating unknown fruits was something to avoid. There was a possibility of poison. But I had complete recovery. Even if I died, I would have another chance.

Thud.

I climbed up the tree and picked a fruit. The delicious smell became even stronger.

Crunch!

I took a big bite of the fruit. Just as I imagined, juice overflowed. The flesh was crunchy, and the juice was sweet. I devoured the fruit greedily, feeling the satisfaction of being full.

Growl.

‘One is too little.’

Fortunately, there were dozens of fruits on the tree.

Crunch! Crunch!

I ate the blue fruits like crazy. They were so delicious that I couldn’t stop.

Growl! Grumble!

I realized something was wrong when I had eaten over ten fruits. I felt like I had eaten enough to fill more than half of my body, but I wasn’t full at all.

‘It’s delicious, but I’m just eating meaninglessly.’

I picked the fruits and put them in my inventory, then climbed down the tree.

Even if it didn’t fill my stomach, the taste was the best, so I thought I would eat them as a snack while walking.

‘The taste is really the best. There’s no taste like this anywhere.’

It was the moment I was about to take a bite. The fruit I was holding disappeared. I tilted my head and took out another fruit from my inventory. This time, the fruit disappeared as well.

‘……Could it be that they disappear if I get too far from the tree?’

Should I go back to get the fruits?

‘No. There’s no reason to go through the trouble since I can’t take them with me anyway. Let’s just go.’

『You have overcome your appetite.』

My face crumpled when I saw the notification window.

I immediately understood what had happened.

Desire Island.

The island of desire.

This dungeon tests people’s desires.

I had just been tested by my appetite.

‘How dare you test me without my permission? I don’t like it.’

•••

I arrived at the highest peak on the island. I looked down at the island. Forests, rivers, flowers, rocks, snow, deserts…. All sorts of environments were contained on one island.

“Found her. She was in the desert.”

A child wearing a priest’s robe was walking in the desert.

I watched her for a while. I was planning to see where the child was going before going to the desert, in case our paths diverged.

‘What is she doing? Why is she just spinning around in the same spot?’

She wasn’t lost. The desert here was only 2km at most. Even if she wanted to get lost, she couldn’t.

‘Is she looking for something?’

It didn’t seem like she would leave the desert anytime soon, so I decided to go to her.

When I arrived at the desert, the child was still walking around. I could see her more clearly.

She was wearing a priest’s robe that looked more luxurious than the ones worn by the Gumok Church members. Her golden hair was very bright and reached her waist, swaying as she walked. Her skin was pure white.

She was a child. She seemed to be about two or three years older than me.

She was walking forward aimlessly with her eyes closed.

‘She was closing her eyes in the original story too… Was she closing her eyes at this time as well?’

I approached her. The Second Apostle candidate that Cassandra mentioned. The person I had to help was the girl right in front of me.

“Iste.”

Her small legs stopped when I called her name. She turned her head towards the direction of the sound, where I was.

“…Who are you?”

“The Ninth Apostle…. Well, a candidate for now, but I came to help you.”

“Me?”

“Apostle Cassandra sent me here. My trial is to help your trial.”

“The cult leader….”

It wasn’t my place to say, but I could feel a maturity in her that didn’t match her young age. She was definitely not an ordinary child.

“Ninth Apostle candidate. Can you tell me your name?”

“Ah. I didn’t say it. My name is Seong Yu-jin. You can just call me Yu-jin. I’m speaking in Korean, but you’re not speaking in Korean.”

“I am Iste Meyer. I am speaking in English, and I can hear Yu-jin’s words in English as well.”

It was strange, but not something to be surprised about.

This was a special dungeon. It was possible that even if we were using different languages, we could hear each other in a familiar language.

“I apologize for saying this, Yu-jin, but I want to endure the trials alone.”

“That won’t do. My trial is to help you. I can’t give up my trial because of you.”

“……Is that truly the cult leader’s will?”

“What benefit would I gain from lying to you?”

“…I’m sorry. It was so unexpected that I doubted you for a moment, Yu-jin. If that is the cult leader’s will, then I will accept it.”