I Reincarnated into a Game Filled with Mods – Chapter 90

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Why were clerics called late bloomers?

It was because “Faith”, the concept equivalent to mana for magic that was consumed when using holy spells, employed a very unique system.

The only way to replenish Faith was through natural recovery.

While both health and mana could be replenished with potions, there were no potions in Brightest Darkness 4 that could recover Faith.

The recovery speed was proportional to the Faith stat and Sacred Power stat.

The higher one’s Faith and Sacred Power, the faster the natural recovery rate.

When both stats were maxed out at 99, the recovery speed became so tremendous that it was practically impossible to deplete Faith through normal means.

At least during battle, there was never any concern about resource shortage.

Health could also be recovered with holy spells, and the Faith used for health recovery would quickly replenish itself.

Due to this unique system, a high-level Faith character became a complete character who could essentially use spells an infinite number of times, had a vast array of usable holy spells, and could deal tremendous damage.

A low-level Faith character was exactly the opposite.

They would enter cooldown after just a couple of holy spells, could only use a few spells, and even their damage output was insignificant.

This was why clerics were called late bloomers.

It was also why I had to wait for quite a while to reuse Solar Eclipse.

Its tail swept across the floor.

I dodged it by rolling, approached the creature’s front, and swung the blood-stained sword at its calf.

There was a sound like the impact of hitting a wooden block, thud, thud.

The blessing enchantment from Solar Eclipse had long since disappeared.

Now was the time to exchange attacks moderately while waiting for Faith to accumulate.

Since I had raised Sacred Power to 10 for increased buff duration, natural recovery was at least possible.

However, the speed was far too slow to apply enchantments right on time.

I glanced upwards and caught sight of the second right hand moving.

It was an attack starting with the flail, the countermeasure flashed through my mind.

I dodged the vertically descending flail by rolling, and turned my attention not to the weight embedded in the floor but to the creature’s left hand.

The arm holding the bludgeon was fully extended to the side.

It was a horizontal swing.

As soon as the flail lifted, the bludgeon came flying.

I deflected the bludgeon by swinging the blood-stained sword.

With a loud clang, my body was pushed back quite a distance.

Naturally, the creature’s next attack sliced through the air.

My arms and legs felt heavy, as if the combat fatigue gauge had filled to the max.

I lightly shook out my numbed hands to lower my combat fatigue.

My sluggish limbs regained their condition.

‘Rolling must come first. It’s impossible to roll after deflecting.’

With my current specs, deflecting even one of the creature’s attacks would fill the combat fatigue gauge to the max, so I couldn’t roll to dodge the next attack after deflecting one.

If I mixed up the order, it would be over.

The creature snorted and spat out irritably.

I retorted without backing down.

“Weren’t you originally not this talkative? Why are you chattering so much?”

Most bosses, with a few exceptions, only spoke three times: once during the cutscene, once to indicate a phase change, and once like a death cry when dying.

The Creature Abandoned by God was no different, yet the one before my eyes now was excessively talkative.

It had been constantly expressing irritation, telling me to stop dodging and just die already.

It was unclear whether this was part of a grand plan to lower my concentration by constantly talking to me, or if its personality had changed.

Boom!

The axe struck right next to me.

As I narrowly avoided it by lightly moving my feet, I swung my sword and answered.

“Of course I know. You’re a monster exiled by God for being ugly, right? I heard they call that an orphan in human society, I wonder if you knew that.”

In fact, one of the nicknames users called the Creature Abandoned by God was “orphan” or “orphan bastard”.

Posts crying out “How the hell do you beat this orphan bastard?” were abundant on community forums.

The original name was awkward to abbreviate, and using it in full was too long, so it was called by its nickname far more often than its actual name, as the nickname was quite fitting.

As I widened the distance again, it threw the flail it was holding in its right hand straight at me.

I dodged it by rolling.

The flail sank into the abyss, causing a massive shockwave.

The flail embedded in the abyss disappeared as if melting into the ground.

Instead, shadows floating aimlessly in the air gathered in its right hand, forming a new weapon.

“It’s not like I said anything wrong, is it?”

If the blood-stained sword had been under a blessing enchantment, this would have been an exciting free damage time, but sadly it wasn’t, so I leisurely widened the distance while waiting for the next attack.

The reason I could afford the luxury of engaging in this banter and taunting it was because forcibly sticking close and attacking now would yield far less return compared to the risk.

I couldn’t take risks just to chip away 20 or 30 health points.

It was much better to keep my distance like this and induce patterns that were easier to dodge.

Of course, after using Solar Eclipse, I would have to beat it mercilessly regardless of risk.

The creature lifted one foot in place.

As soon as I saw that, I prepared to roll to the right.

Simultaneously with its foot stomping down with a boom, a massive tentacle rose from my left.

The risen tentacle crushed the spot where I had been standing with a squelch.

Of course, I had already rolled away to a distance.

In vanilla, this was a pattern that could be avoided by walking if the timing was right, but in the Darkest Light mod, doing so would instantly turn you into a pancake.

Squelch! Squelch!

And it came two more times.

‘It feels like quite some time has passed, why is there no reaction?’

I fiddled with the catalyst tied to my waist.

There was still no reaction.

The speed at which Faith was accumulating was much slower than I had thought.

‘At this rate, it might really take over four hours to defeat it— Huh?’

Just as I was about to recalculate the estimated clear time in my mind, a sudden sense of incongruity ran through my entire body.

I looked down at the sacred catalyst again.

A soft golden light was leaking from the catalyst.

It meant that sacred power had fully recharged.

‘…What?’

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“Look at that, Inquisitor.”

Stella, who had been pacing near the building, pointed somewhere.

The purple eyes that had been blankly staring into space while sitting with her knees hugged to her chest and back against the wall slowly turned.

The tip of her slender finger was pointing at the building that served as the entrance to the underground of the Holy Kingdom and also as a barrier.

“…Is the sacred power getting stronger?”

Selene instinctively understood what Stella was trying to say.

That the barrier surrounding the building was gradually strengthening.

This was a barrier that had been maintained since the Holy Kingdom first became aware of that monster’s existence.

The fact that it was suddenly changing was a sign that something was happening inside.

However, in all the years past, they had never experienced the barrier getting stronger.

Even in the Holy Kingdom’s archives, while there were records of the barrier weakening, there were no records of it strengthening.

Faced with this unprecedented situation, not only Stella but even Selene looked at each other’s faces and the building alternately with bewildered eyes.

“How long has it been since the esteemed guest went in there?”

“30 minutes and 17 seconds.”

“…You were counting down to the second? How intense. Anyway, it’s clear that the esteemed guest is accomplishing something against that monster. Otherwise, this kind of thing wouldn’t be happening.”

“I agree, Inquisitor.”

Stella had personally experienced how powerful the monster sleeping in there was.

The moment she laid eyes on the abyss contained within, she felt her limbs stiffen.

Not from fear or terror, but from some power that transcended human ability itself.

If the Popes hadn’t wrapped her in sacred power, she surely would have been dragged into the depths of the abyss without being able to put up proper resistance.

As an Inquisitor, she had faced countless heretics and demons more numerous than she had fingers, but never had she felt as powerless as she did then.

Yet here was someone fiercely battling against such a being.

Thinking about it now, it might not have been surprising that Stella herself couldn’t win in their duel.

“So this is where you were, Inquisitor.”

“…Your Holiness.”

Along with sensing an intense divine power from behind, a loving and merciful voice was heard.

In the Holy Kingdom, there were only two beings who could exert sacred power more intense than Stella’s.

Stella turned her head.

Selene had already knelt on one knee and was bowing her head deeply in respect.

“Raise your head, Inquisitor of the Moon. That greeting is sufficient.”

“How could I dare to do so before Your Holiness? Please, pay no mind to someone like me.”

Selene only raised her body after bowing her head for nearly ten seconds.

It was worlds apart from Stella’s slight nod of the head.

The Pope of the Sun approached the barrier.

Her arm, wrapped in fluttering see-through fabric, reached forward.

Her delicate finger touched the surface of the barrier.

Floretta carefully stroked its surface.

“Did Your Holiness also sense the anomaly?”

“Yes, that’s right. The maintenance of the barrier is entirely our responsibility, how could we not notice? Not just me, but the Pope of the Moon must have noticed as well. No, she’s probably sensing it even more keenly than I am.”

“Then, the Pope of the Moon…”

In response to Selene’s question, Floretta gave a small chuckle and glanced slightly to the side.

At that, something that had been there vanished in surprise.

The distorted space returned to normal.

Such stealth that could deceive even the senses of the Inquisitors, and skill great enough to freely distort space.

It was obvious who that gaze belonged to.

She had probably been observing this place even before Floretta, as soon as the barrier started strengthening.

Her past behavior towards others had likely held her back from coming down directly.

But Floretta knew that even those harsh words and insults had been forced.

They were actions taken deliberately to be hated, so that the remaining people wouldn’t be sad when she sacrificed herself.

So that those left behind would grieve a little less.

Though she had tried her best to act wickedly in her own way, there was no way Floretta wouldn’t see through her true intentions.

So Floretta decided to pretend not to notice this time as well.

“I too wouldn’t know about that.”

At this answer, the space that had just returned to normal subtly distorted again.

The smile on Floretta’s face grew even brighter.

“…Well, it can’t be helped. The Pope of the Moon isn’t one to open her heart easily.”

“It seems it’s already half open, though.”

Floretta inwardly chuckled at Stella’s response.

The Pope of the Moon, her sister, was probably still watching this place anxiously even now.

For the Popes, revelations were that absolute a power and truth.

Just as Floretta had burst into tears upon hearing the interpretation of the revelation, realizing that salvation was imminent, the Pope of the Moon must also be pinning her last hope on that new knight, regardless of her outward appearance.

If she truly didn’t believe in the revelation, she wouldn’t be watching this place like this.

Thinking of her sister peeking out from the cathedral to watch this place, Floretta’s lips curved up involuntarily.

“I too shall wait here, Inquisitor.”

“Eh… Really? Will that be alright?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

Floretta gave Stella a benevolent smile, then clasped her hands together in prayer in front of the door.

She prayed that her prayer might be of even a little help to that savior.

The silver-gray figure secretly watching this scene also quietly clasped her hands together.

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