That old man.

Cardinal Jung Suhwan had said that once the coronation ended, I would come to hold the same faith as them.

When I heard those words.

I had taken them to mean that my thoughts would change after I saw the evidence of faith they had mentioned.

The evidence that the system was a being worthy of becoming an object of faith.

[Holy Relic - Crown of Ordromineum]

But that was not it.

To begin with.

The old man had said the point when I would come to have the same faith as them would be after the coronation ended.

[This is a holy relic, an artifact imbued with sacred energy.]

[The meaning contained in this crown, given as a reward for deep faith, is order, the Church, and belief in God.]

...After the coronation ended.

The evidence they had shown was not something they would actually show me.

Literally, it meant the very moment the coronation ended.

[It exerts a mental interference effect based on deep faith upon the one who wears the crown.]

[If worn for more than a certain period of time, there is a possibility it will develop into complete mental domination.]

At the moment the crown was handed over.

He meant I would come to hold the same faith.

“What the hell... is this?”

I opened my eyes wide.

And looked at the crown placed on my head and the Cardinal holding that crown.

“...Oh, dear.”

Then.

The Cardinal, receiving my gaze, looked at me with greatly startled eyes.

And soon.

Slowly....

He began moving that hand.

Toward his waist.

And.

After seeing that action, what I had to do was already decided.

“Entire Legion!!!”

Bang!

Still on one knee, I kicked hard off the floor.

Then.

From that recoil, my shadow on the floor rippled.

Papak!

From that shadow.

Several objects sprang out.

[Dokgogusik]

[K5 Handgun - Legion-Modified Type]

A sashimi knife.

And a special handgun modified for me.

“We are escaping this place!!!”

Click.

After gripping those two weapons in both hands.

I swung the knife in my hand toward the Cardinal.

***

Kaaang!!!

The blade I swung was knocked away by something.

The thing that knocked away my knife was an object that had been hanging from the Cardinal’s waist only moments ago.

'A swordsman...!'

The Cardinal drew a sword decorated with splendid reliefs and knocked away my attack.

Then immediately thrust his fist toward me.

The situation was not good.

A wide and beautiful hall.

From the stained glass decorating its ceiling, sunlight was faintly shining down.

The Cardinal was the highest-level awakened person I had ever seen.

On top of that, he was an awakened person of a purely combat-type line.

In the process of conducting the rite, I had been forced to remain on one knee.

Meanwhile.

The Cardinal was standing above me, able to use his entire body freely.

In terms of terrain.

It was a situation where I had no choice but to be at a disadvantage.

Faaaaa....

But.

That did not mean I was especially worried.

Because.

“...Shin....”

In the short moment after my shout.

In the brief span where the Cardinal and I exchanged a single stroke.

“Sergeant Youngjun!!!”

A heavy presence that had already begun rushing toward me.

Could be clearly felt from behind my back.

[Jeon Gwangil]

[Lv.37 Boundless Berserker]

Kwaaaaaang!!!

“Urgh!?”

With a single kick off the ground.

Corporal Jeon Gwangil crossed dozens of meters in an instant and swung his fist.

Seeing the power contained in that fist, the Cardinal twisted his body and avoided the attack.

But.

......Bang.

From somewhere.

There came an extremely small sound and the sense of something moving.

And.

“Kuh...!?”

Together with that presence.

A coin-sized hole opened in the Cardinal’s shoulder as he tried to avoid Corporal Jeon Gwangil’s attack.

Only then was I able to realize the identity of the small sound I had heard just before.

'A bullet!'

Corporal Seo Suhyeok, who had disappeared from sight at some point.

Had predicted the Cardinal’s movement path as he tried to evade Corporal Jeon Gwangil’s attack and pierced his shoulder.

“Your Eminence!!!”

“Get His Eminence somewhere safe!”

At the same time.

The priests standing behind the Cardinal began moving quickly.

“There is... a sniper soldier....”

“......!”

“Brothers, take... cover....”

Cardinal Jung Suhwan spoke with a hole in his shoulder.

At those words, the priests hurriedly surrounded him....

Taang!

“Keup...!”

Just before that protective wall could be established.

Another bullet flew toward the Cardinal.

Drip....

The Cardinal slightly raised a hand and touched his own cheek.

The sensation of sticky liquid came together with hot heat.

'If it had been just a little later, it would have pierced his brain.'

And.

While the Cardinal was being protected like that.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but!”

Corporal Jeon Gwangil, who had rushed toward me first.

And the Legion members who were catching up one after another behind him.

“We will retreat as ordered!”

“Leave cover to Corporal Seo Suhyeok. This way!”

Paak!

They cut through the gathered crowd.

And moved toward the outside of the building while holding on to me.

The first thing I saw was the massive door leading out of the hall.

-The main gate is dangerous.

But then.

A small voice reached my ear.

-It was sealed the moment the commander began moving. Judging by the strange mana I can feel, breaking it will not be easy either.

-There are many signs of movement in the rear. It seems their support troops are also converging on the main gate.

Though there was no one visible nearby.

The voice sounded as if it were speaking right beside me.

Of course, I knew what it was.

-The escort captain already investigated a suitable route for escape.

-We will guide you, so please go that way....

Unit members specialized in stealth and covert operations.

The escort members had begun operating in the darkness.

“The main gate is no good. To that small door!”

“Yes, sir!”

Once I gave that order.

Without any question, the ones who had been heading toward the main gate turned their steps and ran toward the door connected to the corridor.

“Uh, uh...?”

“What is happening all of a sudden...!”

From the moment I drew my knife to the moment we turned our route toward the small door.

The entire process had taken less than ten seconds.

Only then did the believers who had been watching while filling the hall finally seem to grasp that something abnormal was happening, and they looked at us with bewildered eyes.

'Do the believers not know about the trick they just tried on me?'

Perhaps.

The attempt to dominate my mind just now.

Might not have been something all the believers had carried out together, but something known only to the leadership of that Church.

But.

“Brothers and sisters!!!”

The figure who had retreated to avoid the sniping.

The Cardinal shouted loudly as soon as his safety was secured.

“We must never let our new brother go!”

“...Cardinal?”

“No matter what damage you must accept, seize him!”

Yes.

The attempt to dominate my mind itself might have been something the ordinary believers did not know about.

But.

They were a large-scale guild that had built an enormous force.

The command structure of such a guild... could not possibly be loose.

“Brother!”

As if their earlier bewilderment had never happened.

They stood in our way with eyes filled with piercing duty.

“I do not know what is going on.”

“But for now, please wait here....”

It was a tremendous crowd.

Even if each individual’s strength was not that great.

A number of awakened people that large could exert a power like Mount Taesan in itself.

“...Here?”

Of course.

That was only.

“Please wait just a moment, Sergeant Shin.”

In cases where the opponent.

Did not wield power capable of breaking even Mount Taesan.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!!!

“Kuhak...!”

“Kkrrk....”

Countless believers blocked our path.

But Corporal Jeon Gwangil and those soldiers acted as if they could not see them in the first place.

They slammed their bodies into them with the same momentum they had been running with.

“This way!”

Corporal Jeon Gwangil was already a warrior with a massive build.

The guards he had personally selected also had heavy bodies to match.

“W-we have to stop....”

“Kuhak...!”

When people like that ignored the enemies and charged with their bodies.

Literally like the advance of heavy tanks.

They smashed the ones rushing in to stop us with almost absurd ease.

...However.

“This is bizarre.”

In the middle of it.

Corporal Jeon Gwangil frowned and muttered.

“We are breaking through with this much momentum... and not a single person is backing away.”

Just as he said.

The warriors were literally making a charge like heavy tanks.

No matter how much someone stood in front of them, it had little meaning.

“We have to stop them somehow!!!”

Even so.

Those believers threw their bodies in front of such warriors without the slightest hesitation.

A tank is feared not only because of its destructive power.

The terror that no matter what you do, you cannot stop its advance becomes the tank’s power in itself.

Ordinary humans cannot even think of standing before a tank in the first place.

But.

Even knowing they could not stop it.

They were hurling their bodies without hesitation to block the warriors.

'...It is bizarre.'

Still.

There was no major problem.

Because.

-You only need to get into the corridor.

I slightly lifted my head.

And looked at the ceiling of this enormous hall.

Splendidly shining stained glass.

From beyond it, beautiful sunlight came down and lit the hall.

But.

-There are no glass windows in the corridor.

Once we crossed that door.

Beyond it, even sunlight would not exist.

-As long as you succeed in getting there....

Together with the escort member’s words.

I felt an enormous presence beneath my feet.

Bubbling....

As if they would burst out at any moment.

With faces pushed right up to the edge of the shadow below my feet.

-The situation will be over.

An incredible number of presences.

And.

At the very moment that door came right before our eyes.

“Priest Lee Haein!!!”

The Cardinal’s voice came from behind my back.

When I slightly turned my head.

I saw the priests running toward me.

The ones who had been on the platform with the Cardinal during that coronation.

'The Church’s elites.'

But I was not particularly afraid.

Thanks to Corporal Jeon Gwangil’s quick response, the distance between us and them had already widened greatly. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Even if they rushed in now.

It would be impossible to harm me while I was under the unit members’ escort....

“All use of holy relics is fully authorized!!!”

That was what I thought.

At that very moment.

“Yes!”

The people who had been running toward me at full speed.

Stopped in their tracks.

What they chose.

Was not to chase me down no matter what.

It was rather the opposite.

Slowly....

Lee Haein slipped a hand into her clothes.

And took something out.

The object she pulled out.

Was a miniature of a set of double doors, about the size of a slightly large book.

But the moment I saw that object.

“......!”

I felt.

Goosebumps rise across my entire body.

“In the name of the great system!”

And.

Lee Haein aimed that door toward me.

Creeeak....

With both hands.

She opened the doors of that double-door miniature.

[Holy Relic - Gate of Agatheum]

Then.

Brilliant light poured out from the opened door.

[This is a holy relic, an artifact imbued with sacred energy.]

And that light.

Touched my body.

'I have to dodge...!'

The moment I saw that light touch my body.

I tried to avoid it from the instinctive sense of crisis I felt, but....

'This light....'

Only after twisting my body did I realize it.

'It isn’t linear.'

To begin with.

It was not the kind of thing I could avoid.

[The meaning contained in this fragment of a gate, given as a reward for deep faith, is divinity, the temple, and heading there.]

Whether it could designate a target or not.

No matter how quickly I moved, the light followed my body.

“Commander!”

“Sergeant Shin!”

The soldiers’ hands stretched toward me.

But.

At the very moment I tried to grab those hands.

“Guide us and that man to the temple!”

Paaang....

[It transfers the desired targets to the designated location.]

Their figures vanished from my sight.

No.

It was not that the unit members had vanished from my sight.

'I moved.'

My body.

Had been moved to an unknown place.