Chapter 867 – 867. God’S Atlantis
“Sector 6,999, encountered a church in heavy rain.”
“This is a special hidden sector.”
“Survive and eliminate the enemy.”
“The King of the Firmament is watching you.”
“The Lord of the Heavens is watching you.”
“The Messenger of Prophecy (False) reveals its presence.”
“First curse confirmed.”
“Chill. Feeling cold, all stats decrease by 10%.”
“The second curse will descend in 1 hour.”
I checked the notification windows that popped up. The curse’s effect seemed real, as my body rapidly grew heavy.
10%.
You might think it’s just 10%, but the higher your stats, the more significant a 10% drop feels. It felt like more than 20%, and my overall condition was collapsing.
Joo Seo-hyun and I quickly changed clothes and rushed out of the warehouse. I could just summon my weapon, but Joo Seo-hyun didn’t have one, so she grabbed a suitable tree branch. Thanks to her unique trait, Sword Emperor (S), even a tree branch would be quite useful.
Bang!
We smashed open the church door and entered. Chaos filled the church. People were expressing their anxiety.
“What, what is this?! A special hidden sector? I’ve never even heard of it!”
“Let’s calm down and act rationally. Does anyone know what kind of deity the Messenger of Prophecy is?”
“Damn it. If I knew this would happen, I would have tried harder to get a carriage.”
It was noisy.
They drew their weapons and gathered in groups, wary of each other.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
A woman screamed loudly enough to drown out the commotion. Everyone’s gaze turned to her, then followed her gaze.
The ceiling of the church.
A man was hanging there like a pendulum. Blood dripped from his half-torn neck. There was a hole in the ceiling next to him.
The church fell silent as if it had been doused with water. The people here were not easily shaken commoners. They wouldn’t be horrified and nauseated by a single corpse; their experience wouldn’t allow it. The woman who screamed was the unusual one here.
“Komin!”
“Komin was just next to me!”
“L-let’s get Komin down first!”
A group cautiously began to lower the corpse.
Joo Seo-hyun and I hardened our faces and approached our group. Fortunately, everyone was safe. However, Lee Min-jung was trembling with fear, and Yoo Seo-hee clearly looked unwell and in a bad mood. Rilsne had her bow in hand, calmly lowering her eyes and spreading her senses around.
Yoo In-ha was ready to use magic at any time. Ji Young-bin was also on guard with his weapon.
“Yoo In-ha, Ji Young-bin. What happened? Explain.”
“…….”
Yoo In-ha glanced at Ji Young-bin. I remembered that Yoo In-ha had been dozing off before Joo Seo-hyun and I left the church.
“Sung Yoo-jin, I’ll explain. About a minute ago, the ceiling suddenly exploded. We thought it was lightning, but upon closer inspection, it wasn’t a lightning strike.”
“…It sounded like something heavy fell from the ceiling. But all that fell to the floor was debris from the ceiling.”
Rilsne continued. According to her, something unidentified had entered through the ceiling and was hiding somewhere in the church.
I spread my senses. I searched every corner of the church. I couldn’t feel anything.
‘…Either it’s too strong for my senses to detect, or it doesn’t exist.’
I clicked my tongue. If Kang Myung-jin were here, the situation would be different. Kang Myung-jin had Dragon Eyes (S). Finding hidden things was his specialty.
“Let’s not move rashly and stay on guard. Yoo In-ha, can you cast a barrier spell?”
“…I’ve been trying since earlier, but the barrier itself won’t activate. A special power here is interfering.”
“This is a pain. Okay. Everyone, stick closer together. Don’t relax just because there’s a wall behind you. There are monsters that hide in walls. Especially if they’re of the evil spirit type, the wall is even more dangerous.”
They moved according to my instructions.
“Evil spirits… just thinking about it is terrible.”
Ji Young-bin grimaced. He, who was said to be a former marine, was afraid of ghosts.
“…Now that it’s like this, can’t we just run out of the church?”
Joo Seo-hyun said. She threw away the tree branch and drew her sword. As she tensed, the sword hummed. If you exclude stats and skills and just look at pure swordsmanship, Joo Seo-hyun had already surpassed me.
“This is a special hidden sector.”
“…What’s a special hidden sector?”
“It’s a kind of disaster zone. Normal sectors don’t move. People have to find them and attack them. But special hidden sectors don’t stay in one place; they move around and swallow people. Like now.”
Special hidden sectors were like natural disasters, like storms. But if you were lucky, it could be a lottery. You could get rewards for clearing a special hidden sector.
Clang!
Four men broke the church windows. Not only from the ceiling but also from the windows, rain and wind poured into the church.
“Going straight out is stupid. Let’s go out the windows!”
“Damn it… what a bolt from the blue.”
They reached out of the windows. And they were blocked. They couldn’t go outside, blocked by something invisible.
“M-my body won’t move… Ugh?!”
Something black appeared outside. I focused my eyes and examined it. It was a lion wearing a priest’s robe. No, its body was human, but only its head was a lion.
The lion opened its mouth and chewed up the man it had snatched as if showing off.
“The Messenger of Prophecy was that guy. Rilsne!”
“Yes!”
Rilsne and I attacked the lion at the same time. Lightning and arrows cut through the air but couldn’t go out the window, blocked by something invisible.
“Abnormal approach detected.”
“Penalty applied. Body paralyzed for 5 seconds.”
“Khehehehehel!”
The lion-headed priest, who had quickly chewed up two men’s heads, let out a nasty laugh. The lion looked around at the people left inside the church and then disappeared like a cloud of dust.
“Is that priest Domenico?”
“Yes. Probably.”
The most suspicious guy here. It could only be Domenico. I clicked my tongue and reignited the extinguished campfire with lightning. Rilsne perked up her ears and became even more serious, guarding her surroundings.
“Sub-Master.”
Ji Young-bin called me.
“What should we do now?”
“We have to wait. Until the rules of the hidden sector are revealed. I’ll tell you in advance. Follow the rules of the sector as thoroughly as possible. The easiest and safest way to attack these sectors is to follow the rules.”
Everyone nodded seriously. The other groups of people also heard my words and started talking among themselves.
“Lee Min-jung. Are you okay? You don’t look good.”
Lee Min-jung’s face was dark. She was sweating and tightly gripping two short swords in her hands. Her trembling body looked unstable.
“I-I’m okay. I can fight.”
This wouldn’t do. Lee Min-jung was more unstable than ever. I, who had a strong mentality, didn’t know for sure, but the special hidden sector might be having a negative effect.
The others seemed to have the same thought.
“Yoo Seo-hee. How are you?”
“…I feel bad. But I can still fight.”
Even if she wasn’t as bad as Lee Min-jung, Yoo Seo-hee’s face was pale. She seemed to be in bad condition.
I checked the notification window again.
“Sector 6,999, encountered a church in heavy rain.”
“This is a special hidden sector.”
“Survive and eliminate the enemy.”
Survive and eliminate the enemy. That was probably the goal. The enemy would be the priest. In other words, surviving was the top priority for now.
More than 30 minutes passed. As nothing happened, the tense atmosphere relaxed. Humans were creatures of adaptation, and they were starting to adapt even in this situation.
“Um, Sub-Master.”
I, who had been watching Lee Min-jung, turned my head to Ji Young-bin.
“What is it?”
“How about cooperating with the others? I talked to the Anrei Legion group over there, and they didn’t seem like bad people. Wouldn’t it be better to stick together to survive?”
I chuckled. It wasn’t even worth answering. Ji Young-bin, realizing my meaning, frowned. Kang Myung-jin would have persuaded him nicely, but I wasn’t like that. I had no intention of paying attention to someone like Ji Young-bin.
“Second curse confirmed.”
“Sacrifice. Two of the survivors must be sacrificed.”
“Time remaining: 3 hours.”
“If no sacrifices appear within the time limit, 4 people will die.”
Everyone’s faces hardened as they checked the notification window.
I got up from my seat. And I approached two men sitting in the corner. There were originally four, but half had been eaten by the lion-headed priest Domenico.
“W-what is it.”
“Don’t come closer. I won’t stand still if you come any closer.”
They raised their swords. It was ridiculous. They were too weak to chase me away. I ignored their warnings and approached. They swung their swords, but they didn’t touch me.
My hands grabbed their faces.
‘Lightning.’
A current that could light up the church in an instant flowed through them. It didn’t take long for them to fall to the floor as corpses.
“Second curse is lifted.”
“Two sacrifices occurred within 3 minutes.”
“Hidden condition satisfied.”
“Special reward given.”
“Only one person you choose can safely escape the Church in the Rain of Sector 6,999.”
“The selection right will expire in 10 minutes.”
“The King of the Firmament is amused.”
“The King of the Firmament whispers to choose himself.”
I ignored the King of the Firmament’s words. The King of the Firmament seemed to want me to abandon my group, but I couldn’t abandon my lovely girls.
“Sub-Master of the A-Plan Legion. Stop right there.”
People’s gazes turned to me.
“What’s going on?”
“Don’t you have anything to say to us?”
“Not really.”
“……You decided on the sacrifices without consulting us. No, you killed them. We think you’re the most dangerous enemy after the priest.”
“Are you planning to fight me as a group?”
Crack.
As I generated lightning in my hand, the man who had been speaking confidently hesitated.
“W-we’ll give you a chance. Hand over the selection right to us.”
“If you saw the notification window, you’d know. The selection right is a reward given to me, and it expires in 10 minutes. And only one person can escape from here. Which one of you will escape?”
“…….”
They looked at each other, unable to make a decision easily. There were 27 people in the church now. They were divided into 6 groups. And they had no obligation to hand over their lifelines to each other.
“Sell it to me. I’ll give you this famous sword in return.”
A man showed me his sword.
“Trash.”
I laughed at him and approached my group. Their reactions were varied. It wasn’t a good feeling. Joo Seo-hyun was looking at me with displeasure, and even Rilsne had a complicated look. Ji Young-bin was openly showing his dissatisfaction. Only Yoo Seo-hee was smiling at me.
“Sub-Master. Did you have to kill them right away?”
“If I hadn’t killed two, four would have died. Or do you think we should have had a friendly vote to choose the sacrifices?”
“…That’s… I’m sorry.”
Ji Young-bin sighed and apologized.
I looked around and said.
“I’m going to choose Yoo Seo-hee with the selection right. Anyone have a problem with that?”
Ji Young-bin opened his mouth.
“Sub-Master. Wouldn’t it be better to choose Min-jung?”
“If I choose Min-jung, she’ll be alone outside. Looking at Min-jung’s condition right now, wouldn’t that be more dangerous?”
“…….”
Everyone closed their mouths. They were agreeing with my words.
Yoo Seo-hee’s direct combat power was in the lower ranks among us, and she was in bad condition. It was logical to choose Yoo Seo-hee.
“Y-Yoo-jin. I can fight!”
“I know. But wait outside.”
I grabbed her shoulder and said firmly.
“…If that’s what you want, Yoo-jin… I understand.”
“Yoo Seo-hee has been selected.”
“Yoo Seo-hee exits Sector 6,999.”
Yoo Seo-hee disappeared without a trace.
