Leaving Baek Sogo, who fell asleep while in tears, Lee Sungmin rose up. His emotions were stirring.
Listening to Baek Sogo’s tears, her words, her hardships and doubts, Lee Sungmin sympathized with Baek Sogo’s feelings.
How small one human being was, in such a huge world.
How helpless one person could be to fall victim to the large fate of an entire world.
Even Sima Ryunju, who was the most powerful man alive, was unable to escape the clutches of death.
Although he escaped from the world of Eria with an enlightenment at the last moment, Sima Ryunju could not overturn the fate of Eria despite being able to overturn his own.
It was the same with Heoju. At least, when he was alive as a monster, he…… even he could not escape his own death.
‘That’s how it was decided, as it should be. Yes, that was the very definition of fate.’
When he realized that fate was truly something that was inescapable, Lee Sungmin’s body shook lightly with fear, breaking free of his own will.
The fate of this world was so grand that it would not accept anything other than the predetermined outcome of all life ceasing to exist.
Everything he had ever done, no, apart from just himself. All the things that people of this world had done was for a purpose that only the creators of Eria would know. After they had obtained what they wanted, there was no need to leave the cattle alive.
No wonder Baek Sogo fell into despair. Her beliefs were the exact opposite of the nature of destruction.
Not only Baek Sogo, but also countless people who had hope that included a brighter future, would despair like Baek Sogo if they learned the truth.
But…
Even if one human being was just a small and insignificant number compared to the entire fate of the world. If one human being could change their own fate, then just maybe this world could have its fate altered as well.
It could be changed. Lee Sungmin was living proof that fate could be altered.
Even if his fate was to become the Predator of Massacre, he had created countless smaller variables that in the end were able to change the outcome of his personal fate. Even if his body was completely transformed into a monster’s at the end, it was Lee Sungmin who was in control of his own body and nobody else.
If the variables were small, but also impactful enough to not break one’s own will, then their fate could definitely be changed.
Lee Sungmin wanted to believe so. Sima Ryunju had altered his fate of inescapable death by enlightening at the last moment and being able to ascend to a higher dimension.
Lee Sungmin’s ego, which should have been extinguished by the Predator of Massacre, survived as a result of adding variables atop of other variables, and in reverse, it was able to work adversely for him and helped him defeat the Predator of Massacre.
Fate could be changed.
It had to be possible to change……. If not, what Lee Sungmin had done so far was nothing but a giant joke.
The death of Abel, the death of Sima Ryunju…… Their deaths could not be completely meaningless.
“You can change it.”
Lee Sungmin muttered to Baek Sogo, who was sleeping soundly. It had to be. So that Abel and Sima Ryunju’s death would not be meaningless…. For Wijihoyeon, who was wandering around from dungeon to dungeon for the past decade…. So that her efforts were not meaningless.
First, he would have to find a way to treat Baek Sogo’s poisoning.
Lee Sungmin had to think of the opponents he would go up against if he wanted to do this. Geniella and the rest of Predator. Her direct descendants were not easy opponents up until the 5th direct descendant.
In addition, there was Juwon and the Lycanthrope Tribe. Nero, whom Lee Sungmin had met in Cheped, said he was Juwon’s henchman.
He didn’t want to fight Lee Sungmin, but if he had risked his life to delay Lee Sungmin at all, Lee Sungmin wouldn’t have been able to end it quickly at all.
That’s how strong Nero was in Lee Sungmin’s eyes. How many more werewolves from their tribe would be as strong as Nero?
Fortunately, Predator’s faction of monsters mostly went under Yana after the death of Henemy.
Strictly speaking, Yana did not collect them or take them under her wing. In the first place, Yana did not try to manage any of Henemy’s former assets after killing him.
However, the City of Endless Night was Henemy’s main domain and area of action. Therefore when Yana took over the position and started to stay in the City of Endless Night, the faction of monsters within Predator, now were more or less aligned with Yana, rather than Predator.
Yana’s refusal to enter Predator led to many monsters within Predator announcing their will to leave the faction entirely.
But even if the monsters didn’t belong to Predator any longer, there were still some Death Knights and several liches.
As long as Volander and Arbeth were dead, and Kim Jonghyun was in another dimension, the Death Knights and Liches wouldn’t be as strong as individual factions compared to the Vampires and Werewolves.
But just because they were relatively weak to other factions within Predator, did not mean they were weak when compared to humans.
Even if Volander died, hundreds of martial artists would be unable to deal with the Death Knights that survived unless they were from the Holy Church or Peak Realm Aesthetics.
The same is true of the Liches. Dark Magic was something that was very difficult to go up against unless there were people who knew of Dark Magic and its properties. The only thing was that because of Kim Jonghyun’s massacres, a lot of the Dark Magicians had turned away from the public.
In comparison, Lee Sungmin had even fewer colleagues. Lee Sungmin knew well that he couldn’t do it alone.
No matter how strong he was, he was not confident in handling Geniella one-on-one, and it would be absolutely impossible if he had to also worry about dealing with several monsters near or at the level of her at the same time.
That is why colleagues were absolutely essential. Yana, who did not want Heoju’s death, did not want Lee Sungmin’s death either.
In the future, Yana would likely help Lee Sungmin overcome the danger by his side to keep him from dying.
If asked, Scarlett would also help Lee Sungmin. What Lee Sungmin wanted to do was to prevent the Apocalypse from ending the world.
How many people would it take for them to gather up in order to prevent the end of the world? Lee Sungmin did not know.
‘But… not Musin.’
Musin was a puppet of the gods. The Divine Spirit may fool others, but Lee Sungmin knew the truth. The Divine Spirit wanted the Apocalypse to happen. But what if it was the Black Dragon and the Spear King instead?
The problem is that he didn’t know where the two of them were, but if he could meet them… Lee Sungmin felt he would be able to get help from both of them. (T/N : I can’t even imagine how hyped I would be to see Kang Seok and Lee Sungmin fighting together side by side. #speargods?)
But rather than any of that, treating Baek Sogo came first.
He had to meet Teresa.
The next day, Lee Sungmin woke up early in the morning. He already told Yana and Scarlett that he would go to see Teresa the night before.
Yana said she would go with him, but entering the Holy Church together with a monster of incredible power like Yana who was unknown to the public…. Would bring more problems than solutions.
Yana agreed to this and said that she would not go with him this time, because it made sense. Scarlett also wanted to stay back and make sure Baek Sogo would be alright.
It was better for Lee Sungmin since he preferred to move alone for tasks like these.
“Lee Sungmin.”
Baek Sogo’s voice made Lee Sung-min stop. It wasn’t a voice that gave the impression of a still sleeping Baek Sogo.
Since when had she woken up? Baek Sogo was no longer sleeping. When asked when she had woken up, Baek Sogo slowly raised her body that was originally lying down and smiled bitterly.
“…I feel shameful at the disgraceful sight I showed you yesterday.”
“It wasn’t a disgraceful sight.”
“That’s what I felt…… Sungmin-nim, I’m sorry.…and…. Thank you.”
“……No.”
“……Your words were true. I’ll believe… in them.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“……Thank you.”
Maybe because she cried too much last night, Baek Sogo’s eyes were red and bloodshot. Lee Sungmin replied to Baek Sogo’s words with a faint smile.
“Please wait here, I’ll be back.”
The Holy Church was further South than the City of Endless Night, nearing the area of where the Zhuge Family Main Headquarters was located. It was located in a city situated near the very ends of the Southern border, near the sea in a large port city known as Prabach.
Prabach was a city of faith. The other religions that settled in Eria had adapted to each other in order to survive. As such, the once numerous religions within Eria no longer rejected each other’s beliefs.
In this wave of understanding, the Holy Church was founded in Prabach as a central figure for all of these religions.
The Saint was a symbol of the Holy Church. There was a pope that was periodically elected as well, along with several Holy Knights, Paladins, and Priests.
Lee Sungmin had never been to Prabach. However, he had been to a good amount of cities within the nearby vicinity.
The City of Endless Night, Germane and so forth. They were not too far from Prabach. At Lee Sungmin’s speed, he would be able to reach Prabach in less than a day.
In the early morning sunlight within the Forest of Fairies, Lee Sungmin summoned the Pegasus without any further delay and the space started to distort around him. Perhaps because it had been a day, Lee Sungmin didn’t feel as nauseous or dizzy as he did yesterday when he arrived in Germane with the Pegasus. But there was still an unpleasant feeling. It was because the interval in between warps was still somewhat short.
Before the discomfort disappeared, Lee Sungmin started to circulate his internal energy and kicked the ground to start running. From the information he knew of beforehand, he made a straight beeline in the direction of Prabach.
* * *
The Church was open only on Sundays each week. It was not always open, and one wouldn’t be allowed to enter for as long as they liked since the visits had time limits.
Only those who were qualified and truly desperate could be blessed and purified by a high priest on Sundays.
The road to the Holy Church was crowded with people. The Church was a symbol to all the religious people in Eria.
There were very few non-religious people in the City of Prabach. The reason it became so busy these days was because a lot of the religious members would come to the Church as a form of pilgrimage. Therefore, there were a lot of people lined up that day.
Thanks to running nonstop, Lee Sungmin arrived a little after noon. Standing at the end of the long line, Lee Sungmin looked up at the cathedral.
The cathedral was a large white castle worthy of its name. Looking at the gates near the entrance, Lee Sungmin measured the distance.
The number of people allowed inside the shrine was limited. Most of them wouldn’t be able to get in and would have to wait for next week.
Of course, Lee Sungmin had no intention of doing that. Although he felt sorry for those who waited in line honestly, Lee Sungmin’s body disappeared. He ran through the crowd like a phantom without even creating a wind, and breached through the open gates like an assassin.
But…something stimulated his senses as soon as he broke through.
[They got you.]
No matter how fast and secretive Lee Sungmin’s movements were, it was limited to the movement of martial arts and not magic. It was impossible to penetrate the boundaries of magic as a martial artist unless he destroyed the location spells ahead of time.
There was nothing he could do about it. Lee Sungmin also knew that there would be a magical boundary that would set off an alarm if anybody trespassed. He also knew it was inevitable. To a certain extent, everything was going as Lee Sungmin intended.
Passing through the gates, he set off several alarm spells. Whenever he triggered a new alarm, the magic invoked in the spell would numb his senses ever so slightly. Lee Sungmin stopped in a deserted hallway and waited quietly.
Not long afterwards, several Holy Knights rushed in. They wore priestly clothes instead of armor, but they still held their weapons. Before asking who the intruder was, Lee Sungmin first opened his mouth.
“I’m the Ghost Spear.”
He did not hide his identity.
Lee Sungmin killed Volander, the Monarch of the Death Knights. Kim Jonghyun, the man-made Devil also fell thanks to his efforts. Anybody in the Holy Church knew of his exploits.
Strictly speaking, it was not Lee Sungmin who killed Kim Jonghyun, but rumors that started 10 years ago with the members of the Holy Church, sourced the rumors saying he did.
The Church could have lied and took credit for it because Lee Sungmin was sealed, but they didn’t. They were honest and gave him the credit.
As for what happened in Germane, the church spoke out in his stead and revealed the truth to the world.
Due to their actions that displayed true virtue, Lee Sungmin believed in the Church’s abilities and character to some extent.
“I came here to apologize for what happened 10 years ago.”
And he was also there for a favor, but Lee Sungmin didn’t bother to bring it up yet. The confusion and disorganized Holy Knights were flustered.
Lee Sungmin waited patiently without showing any intentions of malice. In times like these, it would be better to just go with the flow of things.“Theos will come to see you in person.”
After a little while, one of the holy knights spoke to Lee Sungmin in a cautious voice. Lee Sungmin easily remembered the name.
Theos.
Theos was the man who fought alongside Lee Sungmin against the Death Knights and was the man who led the brigade of Holy Knights in the raid 10 years ago.
Lee Sungmin read the emotions in the knights’ eyes. Awe, curiosity, fear. In their view, Lee Sungmin was a person known to have died 10 years ago. He was a man who was revered as a hero who had completely stopped the disaster of Kim Jognhyun’s massacres and took down one of the Black Stars of Predator. He was supposed to have supposedly died after going completely insane, but nobody in the public knew the truth.
“Lee Sungmin.”
The band of holy knights split on both sides like a river.
Ten years had left Theos with some traces of time on his face. There were some new wrinkles on his face, but he still had the same warm smile and young features as he did before.
There was no fear whatsoever in his action as he held his hand out for a handshake.
“Long time no see.”
“……Yes.”
Lee Sungmin shook Theos’ hand.
“I heard you were woken up.”
“Did the rumors spread all the way here?”
“There are some of the warriors you saved that day that are staying in Prabach right now, so we learned from them.”
Theos said so and let go of Lee Sungmin’s hand. He turned slowly and said.
“Let’s go talk somewhere more privately for now.”
“Thank you.”
Theos walked in the lead and Lee Sungmin slowly followed behind.
“I apologize for what happened 10 years ago…… I-.”
“At that time, I went crazy. It seems that you all in the Church went through a lot of difficulties because of me. It should be me apologizing, not the other way around.”
“……Are you all right now?”
“Yes.”
“If you don’t mind…… Can you tell me what happened to you?”
“Kim Jonghyun cast that spell on me before he died. I couldn’t avoid it. Eventually, I was sealed by the Silent Flare and the Arch-Sorcerer, Frau. I’d been sealed for the past 10 years, so I just woke up.”
“Oh…… I see.”
Theos did not seem to doubt Lee Sungmin’s words. Lee Sungmin, observing the atmosphere, spoke slowly.
“I’d like to see Teresa.”
“For a blessing?”
“No… it’s a small favor.”
Theos tilted his head at the remark.