Chapter 551 – You should have watched your back (5)

Tang! Tang! Tang!

The chains fell to the ground.

The Ranger Brigade members started to stretch their bodies that felt light after finally having their chains come off.

Peek peek.

They continued to peek somewhere as they did that.

They were peeking at Deputy Chief Priest Cotton.

Flip, flip.

She was quickly flipping through the document in her hand.

Her chubby hands that were holding the document were shaking.

Tap!

She finished reading and handed the document to Solena as she turned toward Cale.

She then started to speak.

"Such crazy shit...!"
"Can a Deputy Chief Priest talk like that?"

Cale gently smiled. However, Cotton's gaze was fierce.

'…He got it good.'

She wanted to grab Duke Fredo by the collar and shake him right now because of this sudden change in plans.

However, it had already happened. She had no choice but to go along with this new plan.

'Most importantly, it's not a bad plan.'

She looked away from Cale Henituse who had a sly expression on his face.

Cale chuckled in response and turned toward Bud.

"Let's go."
"Okay."

Bud walked toward Cale, Rosalyn, and Eruhaben.

"Leader?"

Bud smiled at the Ranger Brigade members who were looking at him in confusion.

Sniff sniff.

He sniffed with his nose like a dog.

"They need my power."

Rosalyn walked past Bud and stood next to Glenn.

Bud pointed at Rosalyn.

"She'll be taking my place."

Rosalyn smiled and shook Glenn's hand.

She looked toward the Ranger Brigade members and Cale as she started to speak.

"We will finish all preparations so that we can move as soon as we get your signal."

Cale slightly bowed toward her.

"I'll leave it to you."
"Thank you. See you later."

Rosalyn waved her hand while Cotton's baggy priestess robe fluttered as she headed toward the entrance of the underground hideout.

"Follow me."

She handed priest robes to the people who followed her.

"These are my trusted subordinates' priest robes."

There were small markings on the shoulder of those robes.

She handed them masks and hats as well as she continued to speak.

"It should be easy changing your hair colors with magic, right?"

She was talking to Cale but her gaze was focused on Eruhaben.

Eruhaben lightly snapped his fingers.

Snap!

Cale, Bud, and Eruhaben's appearances changed with that small snap.

They all now had the common brown hair. Of course, the shades of the hairs were all different.

Cale brushed his light brown hair back and put the priest robe over his clothes.

Screeeech.

Deputy Chief Priest opened the door.

"We are heading to the Temple of the Demonic God. Follow me closely."

The Deputy Chief Priest's true trusted subordinates were already waiting outside.

Cale, Bud, and Eruhaben headed to the center of those trusted subordinates.

"Let's go."

Cotton took the lead and the trusted subordinates followed.

Cale, who was standing at the center of the formation, looked toward the center of Section 2.

He could see the oddly-shaped white marble temple.

That was the Temple of the Demonic God.

* * *

"I, I cannot do that!"

Count Mock shook his head with a pale expression.

However, the person standing in front of him slightly tilted his head to the side.

"Are you in a position to say that you can't do something right now?"
"What kind of-"
"You're dead if you can't do it."

Smile.

The lips underneath the black half-mask smiled as beautifully as a painting.

'This crazy-!'

Count Mock glared at Informant Bob who was smiling at him.

"Ugh!"

However, he soon groaned as the rope binding him tightened.

He then heard a firm voice behind him.

"Can't we just kill him?"

Count Mock's face turned pale.

He wasn't afraid of the Dark Elf half-blood in front of him. This bastard was unique because he could use magic, but that wasn't a big obstacle for Mock.

However, he could not say the same for the woman behind his back right now.

"I just want to get rid of anything related to the White Star."

The pressure she then gave off was even stronger than Dragon Fear.

Mock was sweating bullets because of this pressure that was focused solely on him.

"Hoo hoo. Count Mock, you look terrible."

Mock started to frown at Duke Fredo who was smiling at him.

"…You damn traitor-"

Clang!

A sharp sword appeared in front of him.

"You talk too much. Just hurry up and answer whether it is possible or not."

Choi Han's sword was pointed at him.

'Motherf*cker!'

Mock truly felt upset at this situation.

'How did I, the great Mock, end up like this?!'

His insides felt like they were flipping over.

Nobody cared and the weakest but most heinous bastard pushed a document toward Mock.

"Here, that's your script."

Alberu gently continued to speak to Count Mock who was glaring at him.

"Just report to the White Star following the script when I give you the signal later."
"…How can I lie to my liege that I conquered this Black Castle?"
"What's wrong? It's not that hard."

Mock was at a loss for words at Informant Bob's response. Alberu didn't care as he got up and patted Count Mock's shoulder.

"You're dead if he finds out because you're so stiff like earlier. Let's practice a lot so that you look natural. You have to do it naturally. Got it?"

Mock's shoulders slumped down.

Alberu left him in the room and walked out with Duke Fredo and Choi Han.

It was because Lord Sheritt said that she would watch over Mock.

The three of them walked into the next room.

Raon, who was sitting in front of a video communication device, fluttered his wings as soon as they came in.

"The human hasn't contacted us yet!"

This was the strategy room.

Alberu pointed to a seat in the strategy room next to Duke Fredo, who still thought that he was actually Bob.

"Why don't we sit down and wait?"

Alberu, Choi Han, and Fredo all sat down inside the strategy room.

They just had to wait for Cale to contact them now.

* * *

"Deputy Chief Priest-nim."

A priest slightly bowed toward Cotton with a solemn expression.

"Please work hard a little longer as it is a tiring but happy day."

She gently cheered on the priest whose arms were full of gifts for the citizens and entered the Temple of the Demonic God.

Her trusted subordinates were walking right behind her.

Of course, her trusted subordinates were holding gifts and other items as well.

"Ah! Deputy Chief Priest-nim! Did everything go smoothly with what you needed to do?"
"Of course. I brought back everything we needed."
"Oh! I'm relieved!"

Every priest they passed talked to her or respectfully greeted her.

Cotton heard someone right behind her start to whisper.

"Amazing."

Cotton quietly whispered with a smile.

"Shut the hell up."
"You're quite an amazing talker, Deputy Chief Priest."
"This much is good for the enemy."

Cotton lightly responded to Cale who was following behind her while disguised as a priest.

Cale was stealthily looking around rather than looking at her.

– The atmosphere here is not as evil as I had expected it would be.

He heard Eruhaben's voice in his mind. Cale nodded his head without making it look too visible.

The Temple of a Demonic God.

This place that the Chief Priest was said to take special care to maintain was pretty empty even though it was festival time.

'Most of them are in the garden outside the building.'

The Temple of the Demonic God had set up close to a hundred long tables in the garden to treat the visiting citizens.

Sniff sniff.

He heard Bud sniffing behind him.

Cotton headed deeper into the Temple as Bud's sniffing became more frequent.

"Let's stop here."

Cotton stopped walking.

"Those who are carrying things, deliver the goods to their respective locations. The rest of you come with me."

She gave orders to her trusted subordinates and over half of them started to move elsewhere.

Cotton only took Cale's group and a few of her trusted subordinates as she walked forward again.

– It must be over there.

Cale heard Eruhaben's voice and observed the large door in front of him.

A black door that did not fit this white building was blocking their way.

"Deputy Chief Priest-nim."

Multiple priests stationed outside the door holding swords and spears recognized her.

"You are working hard even during a day like today."
"Not at all. Deputy Chief Priest-nim, did you come to pray?"

Cotton nodded to the priests who were serving as the guards.

"It's a joyous day, so I wanted to show my respects before it became busier."
"I understand."

The priests opened the door.

The door seemed to be so heavy that multiple people had to push it.

Screeeech-

The door slowly opened.

'Ho-'

Cale barely managed to hold back his gasp.

'What is that?'

In the large empty area…

There was a seriously heinous looking human sculpture on the high platform at the center.

"Let's go in."

Cotton walked into the area.

Cale matched the trusted subordinates' movements as he walked in as well.

'…It's cold in here.'

This area was cold unlike the outside.

The air in here was colder than in the other parts of the temple. That temperature and the heinous human sculpture together gave him the chills.

Boom!

The black door closed again.

Cale turned toward the closed door. He heard Cotton's voice at that moment.

"Nobody bothers my prayer time."

He turned toward Cotton. Her trusted subordinates quickly walked over to the black door and stationed themselves there as she motioned with her hand.

Clang.

Of course, they took weapons out of their pockets.

"Since this place was created, the rule is that nobody opens the door while Gersey, the White Star, or I am praying in here."

Smile.

Cotton started to smile.

"That was the only way for the White Star to progress with becoming a member of the Demonic race without any disturbances. And that is going to be advantageous for us right now."

She finished speaking and started to head toward the sculpture.

"We are going to go underground using the hidden passage in this sculpture. Just wait a little bit."

Cale looked at the sculpture as he waited.

Bud walked up next to him.

"Who is that?"
"I'm not sure either."

Eruhaben was the one who answered.

He was looking at the sculpture as if he found it odd.

"This human's face looks extremely heinous and as if he has fallen into despair. But I cannot tell who it is."
"Me neither. But it must be someone related to the White Star if he would create this sculpture."

Bud agreed with Eruhaben's assessment before turning toward Cale.

"Do you know who that is?"

He was just asking.

"Sort of."
"…What?"

Bud, Eruhaben, and Cotton all looked toward him in shock.

"You know who that is?"

Cotton was the one with the most shocked reaction. She stopped opening the passage and turned toward Cale in shock.

"When did you see him?"
"I have no plans on telling you, so just open the passage."
"Ha...…."

Cotton started to frown as she resumed moving the device to open the passage. It seemed to require a special power to activate, as the ring on her finger was giving off some kind of power.

"Who is it?"

Cale shook his head at Eruhaben's question.

"The White Star's face without a mask."
"Ho-"

Eruhaben gasped in shock.

'How shocking.'

Eruhaben who had been looking at the sculpture while wondering if a human being could have such a heinous expression had to look at the sculpture in a different light now.

'What…is making the White Star have such an expression?'

He felt an odd sensation as a question filled his mind.

As the Deputy Chief Priest had mentioned…

'How does Cale know about the White Star's bare face?'

Eruhaben had not heard about the information Cale had gathered from Duke Fredo yet.

"He has such a vicious expression. He wouldn't look so heinous if he had a regular expression on his face."

That was Bud's assessment of the sculpture.

As for Cale, he was looking at the sculpture of the White Star's bare face with an odd sensation.

'My face really looks despicable with that kind of heinous expression.'

Seeing this face on a sculpture made him really think that Kim Rok Soo and the White Star looked quite similar.

'I need to make sure to destroy this thing.'

Kim Rok Soo never had such an expression.

Cale walked up to the sculpture with an iffy expression.

'Did the White Star want people to worship him?'

Cale found it laughable that such a sculpture existed at the center of the Temple of the Demonic God.

It made him think that the White Star really was out of his mind.

Cale walked a little closer. He wanted to take a closer look.

Screeeeeeeech, screeeeech-

Cale saw the sculpture move up at that moment. He stopped walking and turned toward Cotton.

Cotton pointed to the passage that appeared now that the sculpture had moved up.

"I'm going in, so follow me closely."

She walked into the passage without any hesitation.

"We need to hurry because you wasted some time with the hostages."
"Isn't it still plenty of time before one hour is up?"
"…Did you not look at the information Duke Fredo gave you?"
"I did."

Cale responded as he walked down.

It seemed like a typical underground passage, however, it was extremely large. It was wide enough for ten adults to walk side by side.

'Something is weird.'

The coldness he felt in the area above became even colder.

He could clearly tell that the temperature here was much lower than outside.

'…This is weird.'

For some odd reason, it made Cale start to have an ominous feeling.

This unexplainable sense of uncertainty swept over him. It gave him the chills.

'Why do I feel this way?'

He heard Cotton's voice at that moment.

"As the information Duke Fredo gave you should have said, the underground facility is divided into three locations."

She quickly walked down.

"Gersey and the White Star can go to all three places. I am only allowed in two."

Tap. Tap.

The sound of the four people walking down echoed through the passage.

"But the most important place is the third location. The place I can't go. We must go in there and destroy it today."
"What proof do you have that the third location is the most important?"

Cale asked since the reasoning was not mentioned in the information he received last time.

Why was Cotton emphasizing that the third location was the most important?

They reached the end of the staircase.

Cotton started to speak with a serious expression.

"We don't have time, so I'll explain on our way over. I definitely have proof to back me up."

Her eyes seemed confident that the proof she found was reliable.

"This is the first location."

At the end of the staircase… This place looked like a naturally constructed cave.

However, the things inside were not natural.

"It is a dead mana storage facility. The White Star absorbs the dead mana here periodically."

The numerous large beautiful glass containers were full of black liquid.

"These were all someone's life in the past."

Bud had a bitter expression on his face.

However, Cale calmly counted the number of glass containers as he started to speak.

"We should move all these black liquids elsewhere."
"Looks like I need to step in."

Eruhaben walked toward the glass containers.

"Please."
"It's easy."

Eruhaben said it was easy, but it was actually difficult. There were quite a lot of them.

Shh.

Eruhaben put his hand on one of the glass containers.

It was at that moment.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep- beeeeeeeeeeeeeep-

A sharp noise echoed around them.

"…Shit!"

Cotton turned pale.

"They found us!"
"What?"

Cale walked over to her in shock.

Cotton took an orb out of her pocket.

"This is the signal my trusted subordinates were to send if they were caught! Who is it? Who found us? It's not the White Star!"

She looked at Cale and urgently continued to speak.

"Gersey! I'm sure Gersey is the one who found us! My trusted subordinate would not have been able to send me a signal if it was the White Star! They'd be dead long before they could do that!"

She bit down on her lips.

"Why? Gersey was supposed to come an hour later, so why did he come here earlier? He's kept this rule for many years, so what changed?"

Her eyes looked chaotic.

Beeeeeep- Beeeeeeep-

The alarm started to get louder.

Bud who was watching this walked over to Cale in shock.

"Hey, what do we do?"

It was at that moment.

Crack!

Cracks were starting to appear on the orb.

"Damn it!"

Cotton threw the orb into the air.

Baaaaaang!

The orb then exploded.

"…This orb is connected by the power of those who serve the Demonic race. Only another priest could destroy it."

Cotton's eyes filled with fear and urgency.

"I'm certain. Gersey has found us."

She looked at Cale.

"He will chase after us."

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]