Although the guild was honored to be the first to slay a boss monster of the North, they were not able to feel any emotion. Because they had lost their lives so many times, they did not regard this act as a great achievement.
Daymond and the Predators of the Land guild went into the guild’s dismal and dark basement.
“Captain.”
“Yes?”
“Why, of all times, are we going to the basement now?”
Daymond answered Nardo’s question with a relaxed attitude.
“Because it’s fitting for us who are planning something sinister.”
“Che! I keep telling you, you go with the flow too much.”
Daymond only grinned and laughed at Nardo’s rebuke. Then, he pulled out the map fragments from his chest.
“Then I’ll try to fit them together now,” he said in a voice clearly filled with tension.
Daymond took the 7 pieces of the guiding fragments, and started to adjust their placement, as if he was solving a puzzle.
Hwa-reu-reu-reuk!
The map suddenly caught on fire.
“Ah!”
And then Daymond’s and his guildmates’ bodies stiffened.
A video composed of a set of pictures was formed in the fire.
After passing a sunken land, and you pass a place where many monsters’ bones lie; climbing mountain and field, and you go through a cliff with barely any foothold, you will cross a Forest of Fog. The dried and dead trees will be a landmark.
Once you cross the forest, a Church of the Death will appear.The place was closed for several hundred years. After seeing a set of heavy doors at the place, the pictures ended.
Only burned-up ashes remained of the map, and the rest disappeared.
Daymond raised his flaming eyes at his guildmates.
“Everyone remember what they saw?”
“Yes, we memorized it perfectly.”
“We’re going to go to this place right now.”
Daymond and the Predators of the Land guild immediately set forth. It wasn’t a place too far from Morata.
They rode on fast horses and they went 3 days south and then went west, across the wastelands.
Since the wastelands is mostly composed of dungeons, it was a place rarely visited by adventurers.
“Deriam Desert; to think we would have to pass this place.”
“This is the place where the boss monster we hunted resides.”
“I do seem to recall a memory of going through a lot of trouble to find the place the bastard was hiding in.”
The Northern expeditions and the adventurers had already searched a considerable amount of places. However, usually they only scratched about in places like the wasteland or the Forest of Fogs.
Because the Versailles continent was so wide, if one did not know their exact location, they could even pass over dungeons.
Although the Wastelands encouraged exploration in the beginning, there were only a few visible dungeons because there was no feasible way to go over the whole thing. In order to find the place shown in the picture, the Predator of the Land guild passed through the Wastelands and the cliffs. They were barely able to find the dried-up, withered trees at the Forest of Fog, and they were able to take a guess at the path.
After passing all the difficulties, they finally reached the shrine of the Church of Death. They had arrived at a shrine exuding a mysteriously evil aura, just as the fragment had depicted.
It was a discovery that would go down in the history of the Versailles Continent.
Daymond had spent long hours and finally saw the thickly dust-coated, unspoiled-magnificence of the shrine.
“What does it say on the door?”
The guild magician interpreted in their stead.
“It says ‘Door of Hell’ in ancient language.”
“It means the door is not meant to be opened.”
For a split second, Daymond struggled immensely.
They did not know what would happen if they opened the door to the stone shrine; they did not know what pure terrors lay ahead.
Even though they did not want to stare at a door which perfectly fit the frame and left no cracks, they had a feeling it should not be opened.
“However we cannot just give up after getting this far.”
Daymond gritted his clenched teeth.
The quest did not end simply by finding the Church of Death.
“No matter what is at the end of this road, I want to see it.”
Daymond opened the iron door widely.
He was then greeted by a fearful number of malignant demons. They were gruesome monsters looking like they came straight out from imaginations.
The boss-level monsters they had hunted in order to arrive there were also there.
“D-Daymond! Be careful.”
Their head warrior, who was known to show no fear, said in a shaky voice.
Nardo observed the malignant demons. “It seems they aren’t attacking.”
“Huh?”
“They’re just watching us calmly.”
Whenever Nardo moved, the eyes of the thousands of demons moved and followed him. They didn’t take an aggressive stance, but silently guarded their places. The demons were lined up on either side, and there was a passage where a person could fit in between them. They felt they could get eaten as soon as they were a toe out of place, but Nardo did not even hesitate.
“Let’s try this path.”
“Yeah, seems like we should go through this path.”
Daymond and the Predators of the Land Guild walked with heavy steps.
They were unaware of anything when they were trying to gather all of the map pieces for the S-rank difficulty quest. They began to suspect more as they got closer to the Church of Death, but they were overwhelmed by the pressure now.
Daymond squared up his shoulders and walked forward.
‘This life… I’ve already intended to throw it away.’
If there were enough demons, then one’s will to resist would actually rise.
The demons were gathered at the Church of Death. They would be no more than a single meal to these monsters, who were nameless and were shaped in every way possible, draining their courage.
‘Since we’re here now, is there anything left, but to die?’
A realistic sculpture of a village, which was in the spitting image of the village they saw at the entrance, was there, and on the altar were incomprehensible symbols and words written down in ancient times.
— I long for a place where those who died with regrets can live on.The power of resurrection is the eleventh authority of the Embinyu Church.
The more dead there are, the greater the number of brethren of the Embinyu Church.
This is your duty: to kill many people; to save many people.
The written phrases were hard to understand.
Daymond did not think about the written phrases in depth.
“Embinyu Church? This is the first I’ve heard of it, but if it’s a passage we have to know, then we’ll figure it out eventually.”
Since they were at the Embinyu Church, there were many things they wondered about.
The shut rooms, ornaments, and packed items.
As if to say their suffering was at an end, there were many places they could explore. However, Daymond and his guildmates did not get reckless.
“Since we found the Church of Death, it’s the time to learn more about the priest. Let’s go to the rectory first.”
Therefore Daymond and his guild moved in preparation to fight.
— Resurrection Priest’s Rectory
While they came knowing it was the Church of Death, there was the word “resurrection,” completely contrary to their belief.
“Are you sure there aren’t any other rectories?”
“There isn’t. I can’t see any; this is the only place which says ‘Rectory.’”
“Then let’s go into this rectory. Everyone, be on your guard.”