The Pope, Zitapan, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
The Hero didn’t seem to take the recent incident too sensitively and appeared satisfied with his quick response. At this realization, Zitapan let out a sigh of relief internally.
‘What a relief.’
He relaxed for a moment, glancing sideways at Rania seated across from him. She briefly looked up at the ceiling with a wry smile before placing her teacup down with a clink on the table.
“Zitapan, how’s the Church Order these days?”
“If you ask how it is…”
Zitapan hesitated for a moment before he spoke.
“Most factions within the Church Order follow my lead, but there are still some factions that haven’t fully assimilated. They were loyal to the former Pope…”
Hesitating, Zitapan finished his statement.
“The ones who weren’t present when the Hero punished the Church that day.”
The attempt to contact Saint Natida this time was also their doing. Although they had been exerting pressure and driving them away periodically, their roots ran quite deep.
“Is that so?”
Rania tilted her head slightly while pondering, her ashen hair cascading down her collar.
“Should I topple them?”
Her light tone and gestures belied the seriousness of her words. While she may have meant it lightly, Zitapan felt a chill run down his spine.
“No, it’s fine. It’s a problem I can handle myself, so you don’t have to descend…”
“Descend? Saying it that way makes me feel like I’m some sort of god.”
“I… I misspoke. I’ll be more careful.”
Zitapan hurriedly added.
He often regarded Rania as a god-like being, leading to an unfortunate slip of the tongue. Rania chuckled as if amused, and Zitapan, sweating profusely, slightly bowed his head.
‘I want to get back quickly.’
It felt like he was walking a tightrope.
Thinking about how he wanted to return to the main Church, Zitapan cautiously opened his mouth.
“Thank you for taking the time when you must be busy, Hero, and I will work hard to avoid any unpleasant incidents in the future.”
“Hmm? Ah, right.”
“Well then…”
I should probably head back to the Church…
Just as Zitapan was about to stand up, Rania tilted her head, confused.
“Hm? Are you leaving already?”
He flinched.
“Shouldn’t you stay a bit longer? You must be tired from your long journey.”
In an awkward position of not having fully stood or sat, Zitapan cautiously glanced at Rania. Her expression was innocent as if genuinely suggesting he rest. But this was the Phantom Territory and a battlefield. Above all, Rania was here.
‘This is a place where I can’t rest at all!’
Sweating, Zitapan squeezed his head.
A seasoned player in social situations, he tried to find a way to leave as smoothly as possible while praising the other party.
“No, you should be on your way to the front line that you are responsible for, right? Your time is worth more than gold; I feel sorry for taking up your time.”
Even he thought it was a convincing excuse.
Just as he silently clenched his fist inside, thinking ‘I can do this!’
“Front line? Do we have to? It can be done from here.”
“Excuse me?”
“Yeah?”
Rania blinked.
Then, with a mischievous smile, she added, “Ah, you don’t know, do you?” She slowly stood up.
“Zitapan?”
“Yes, yes…”
“Follow me. I’ll show you something interesting.”
*
Following Rania, Zitapan arrived at the top of the Old Castle. It was just a few steps up from the reception room where they had been talking.
“See over there? Zitapan?”
Perched on the railing, Rania pointed to the horizon. Zitapan squinted, looking where she was indicating.
“Yes, I see it.”
Hills of varying sizes and the terrain of the Phantom Territory.
Beyond that lay the vast battlefield that ‘Rania van Trias’ was singularly responsible for. Known among the knights as the Ashen Lands.
“That’s the front line I’m in charge of.”
Rania smiled back at Zitapan.
“It extends this far.”
…This far?
What does that mean? While Zitapan was tilting his head in confusion, Rania let out a short sigh of “Ah, just in time.”
She pointed to the battlefield.
Although it looked like a tiny dot, the procession of beasts was approaching, visible to Zitapan’s eyes as well. Zitapan panicked and turned back to Rania.
“Aren’t you supposed to go now?!”
“I visit here several times a day, so no need to make a fuss.”
She didn’t seem to care, shrugging her shoulders casually. With a grin, she said, “And I can do it from here.”
She extended her right arm.
Her delicate, white finger pointed towards the horizon. Zitapan saw something pop and flick up from where her outstretched index finger pointed.
It was a circuit, and a line.
A line extending far into the distance.
Rania flicked her finger lightly, and although Zitapan didn’t understand the implications of that gesture…
“…Huh?”
Before long, he understood.
Zitapan watched as the mana in the area began to ripple. Above the far-off battlefield, dark clouds churned.
Then, flash.
The clouds lit up, and a flash struck the area, bringing with it the sound of thunder that resonated even here. As the flash settled, a booming crash followed, shaking his eardrums. Zitapan’s eyes widened.
In the distant battlefield.
A blue flash pounded down in a spot that could barely be seen. Even from this far, the brilliance of the flash was clear.
Boom!
With a deafening roar, a massive pillar descended.
Like the roots of a tree, beams of light shot down from the sky to the ground, burning everything they touched. When the heat-laden light struck the earth, everything present was reduced to ash.
This process repeated over and over.
Before the afterimage left by one flash faded, another flash painted over the remnants. After several repetitions, it appeared as though the horizon was dyed with blue.
Boom!
The clouds spat out flashes, and the subsequent roar echoed loudly. The blue lightning connecting the ground and sky swept across the earth. From a distance, this spectacle seemed akin to a natural disaster, and seen from a religious viewpoint, it was like divine punishment.
‘What the…’
The heavens judging the wicked below. Truly a divine punishment. Without any sacred power infused, it was merely an artificial miracle crafted from spells upon spells… but when Zitapan beheld that overwhelming power, he couldn’t help but feel the presence of a god.
The highest-level spell that existed in ancient times.
Named Judgment, as it was said to embody the punishment of the heavens.
Usually, it could only be used with the support of several high-level mages to prepare a massive circuit. Yet Rania was repeatedly casting it just by flicking her finger.
Rania van Trias had grown.
Reaching a superhuman level, she could now handle spells more efficiently and in larger quantities at once… and what she first did was inscribe a vast circuit onto the front line.
The original spell that forms the stock.
Spell-Engrave.
It was akin to constructing a Tower.
Rania took her time to fortify the front line she was in charge of, and as a result, it became a workshop and tower solely for her.
Flash.
With thousands of circuits etched, Rania had them all under her control. As long as they were within her range, she could instantly manifest the stored spells by simply flicking her finger. It was a feat possible only because she sat at the superhuman level.
“This is the range the signal reaches.”
Rania said, snapping her fingers.
Flash, another flash swept across the area again. In face of this groundbreaking spectacle, Zitapan was left speechless.
‘What the… is going on?’
In battle, a mage was a high-value asset.
Zitapan knew how effective a mage could be when faced with multiple opponents. However, this was on a whole different level. It was so different, it felt alien.
This was not power that one individual could wield.
Suddenly, Zitapan realized.
The power she had shown at the main Church was only a fraction of what she possessed. At the same time, he felt an overwhelming sense of fear. Clack, grinding his teeth, Zitapan looked at Rania. She was expressionless, as she snapped her fingers.
Thump, the sound echoed.
With a boom, the sky turned indigo.
Why was she showing him this spectacle? It couldn’t simply be to flaunt her power. There was always a reason behind displaying strength. So then, why?
‘Could it be…’
After pondering, Zitapan came to a conclusion. His complexion turned pale.
‘This is a warning!’
2.
‘I should’ve dismantled all the circuits before facing the King of Beasts.’
As Rania snapped her fingers, she thought about it. When she faced the King of Beasts, she had been consuming most of her processing power controlling the circuits that remained on the battlefield. If not for that, perhaps she could have captured it.
“Ugh…”
A meaningless supposition.
Moreover, even if she had been in peak condition, capturing the beast would likely have been a tall order. It had been that tricky a foe. Sighing, Rania let her arm fall. Even checking for life signs yielded nothing, only ashes remained.
“Did you see that?”
Rania turned to Zitapan.
Isn’t that amazing? That was what her question implied, but Zitapan interpreted it differently. Thus, his response was far from what Rania had expected.
“Ah, huuh…”
Gasping for breath.
Zitapan looked at Rania with a terrified expression.
‘What’s wrong with her?’
The reaction Rania anticipated was a simple admiration, like “Wow, that’s amazing,” but…
“I will, I will do my best!”
Zitapan lowered his head right away.
“I will endeavor with all my might and be diligent to ensure there are no unpleasant incidents, and I will do my utmost in the tasks assigned to me. I truly swear.”
He interpreted what Rania had shown him as a form of warning. In Zitapan’s mind, the scene was interpreted as follows:
The reason I don’t interfere with the Church Order is that surpassing your mistakes is possible as you have the ability to erase everything with just one gesture if things go awry.
This was likely because she wanted to show that fact implicitly, to offer caution and warning with the display of her power. Fear isn’t just fostered by threats; it is completed when violence and tangible consequences follow.
“I will do my best.”
Zitapan’s fear solidified.
Terrified, he repeated the same phrases like a parrot. Looking at him, Rania blinked.
“Uh, uhh?”
Of course, she had no intention of instilling fear in him. Threat? Warning? What were those? Isn’t it enough to just let things run their course since he’s doing fine?
‘I merely wanted to show off a bit.’
Look at this! Isn’t it impressive? I’m such a big deal… That was the lighthearted thought behind her actions, yet they were interpreted in a completely different way.
“Uh, right.”
Do well. Oblivious, Rania patted Zitapan on the shoulder. Zitapan kept nodding fervently as if resisting the urge to flee.
3.
In the forest, a crunch echoed.
A soldier on guard blinked, following the sound. The noise of something being chewed echoed through the forest. However, he remained calm despite it.
It was not because he was exceptionally skilled.
This place was far from the front lines and not the Phantom Territory. How strong could a beast living in an ordinary forest be? The soldier had enough ability to handle typical beasts.
Thus, he walked without much thought.
When he reached the source of the sound, the soldier witnessed scattered carcasses of beasts around. Flesh that looked like it had been bitten off and blood trails spreading across the ground.
Then.
He saw a large creature digging up beast carcasses as if erasing any trace of the hunt. The soldier’s eyes widened in horror as his top and bottom teeth clashed with a clack.
“Huuh….”
A creature that appeared to be two or three times his size.
A bizarre beast standing on two legs, blood of beasts trickling from its gaping maw. The frightened soldier took a step back. As he turned away, trying to escape…
“Uh….”
The soldier realized.
The beast that should have been behind him was now right in front of him. Without making a sound, the beast had suddenly appeared before him. The moment he faced those eerie teal eyes, the soldier froze in place.
“Huuh, huuh, ah…”
The beast knelt to match eye level with the soldier. It then, slowly… very slowly, opened its mouth.
Grgrowl, grrrr.
The noise sounded like frothing, and as the soldier squeezed his eyes shut, thinking he was about to be devoured, nothing happened. Instead, he felt confusion wash over him.
“Human.”
A voice resonated in his ears.
A language with meaning.
“Human. I ask.”
The beast was speaking.
The soldier opened his eyes to see the beast questioning him.
“White, place. Where the snow accumulates.”
Where should I go?
Without even thinking to grasp the intent behind the question, the soldier, startled by the fact that a beast imitated human speech, pointed north out of sheer fright.
“….”
Without a word, the beast looked in the direction the soldier pointed. It then slowly straightened its knees. The beast looked down at the frightened human and said,
“Thank you, for expressing.”
The beast began to walk away.
The beast did not kill the soldier. The soldier, his legs giving out, fell to the ground. Only when the beast was far enough away did he slowly rise to his feet.
He had no idea what had just happened.
He was merely filled with the thought that he needed to report this incident quickly. The moment he tried to move his body, the soldier slowly turned around.
Grgrowl, grrrr.
There were countless beasts there.
This was not a number one would expect to find in such a forest. They were trailing their king from a distance, drawn to the feast left behind. The best food always belonged to the king, and the remnants left behind were their meal.
The beasts thought.
That was the scrap left behind by the king.
Hungry beasts charged toward the soldier, and together with his screams, the sounds of flesh being chewed echoed in the forest for a while.
