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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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-Bishop Mainen, a candidate for the papacy, was accused of being a demon. The rumors that he, who had refused the cardinal’s offer and cared for many orphans as a priest, ate children, are absurd. He even raised the Saint herself…
-However, in the end, he didn’t even have the chance to prove his innocence. The head of the Frum family, without even listening to his defense, had him publicly executed.
-Paladin Palmoel has died. Some believe that God took him as he died peacefully in his sleep, but he wasn’t the kind of person to leave like that.
-The investigation revealed no traces of poison or external injury. His death was a mystery, but there was no proof. After his death, the Saintess confined herself to her room. It seems she knows something, but she remains silent.
-Priestess Vladina, who served by the Saintess’s side, was accused of being a witch. Pope Motitus of the Radiant Church, who claimed to have received a divine revelation, personally identified her as a witch, and the kings of Maladin and Malikos agreed.
-An emblem depicting a demon was found among Priestess Vladina’s belongings. She claimed innocence, but she was executed on the spot.
-They officially began to suppress the Earth Mother Church. Due to various circumstances that occurred recently, they began to distrust us. They started expelling domestic believers and priests from the country.
-The other kingdoms remain silent. Even when we request help, they don’t respond, perhaps believing that we lack justification.
-The Kingdom of Maladin announced that they would no longer recognize the Earth Mother Church as a religion.
-The Kingdom of Malikos declared the Earth Mother Church a demon-worshipping group. The two kingdoms designated us as enemies of the continent. It is said that some bishops confessed to worshipping demons.
-The other six kingdoms didn’t agree, but under pressure from the Radiant Church, they didn’t offer any defense.
-Countless temples and believers were massacred. Likewise, many apostates emerged. It was painful, but there was nothing we could do.
-The Saintess disappeared. Is she still alive?
-The Kingdom of Septran offered us a way to survive. They told us to create a faction and change our symbol. We couldn’t accept it.
-We received secret support from the six kingdoms, but we reached our limit. The paladins and inquisitors of the Radiant Church finally found the priests of the Earth Mother Church and secretly eliminated them.
-We were no match for them. Oh, who will be next after we fall?
-We accepted the Kingdom of Septran’s offer. We changed our symbol and created a faction. We changed the name from Earth Mother Church to Earth Church and transferred the young priests. They will be under the protection of the Kingdom of Septran.
-Following our Earth Mother Church, the Blue Sea Order and the Order of Struggle seem to have become their targets, as endless investigations, suspicions, and battles began to occur frequently.
-There were attempts by several orders to join forces, but they ultimately failed.
-Evidence emerges from numerous orders linking them to demons, warlocks, and demonkind. Something is strange. Perhaps…
-Many orders have fallen. The holy grounds of the fallen orders fall under the control of the Radiant Church, the Holy Nation declares itself an Empire, and the Kingdoms of Maladin and Malikos join under its rule.
-There was no other way. We searched for the Saintess, but we couldn’t find her.
In the end, the diary’s owner, having given up on everything, fled to this place, the last remaining temple.
The subsequent entries were mostly filled with regret and self-blame.
It seemed they had activated the guardians to protect the last remaining sacred artifact of the order…
‘But in the end, it all fell into my hands, tainted.’
The Earth Mother Church.
It seemed this was the origin of the Earth Church.
Based on the dates, it seemed to be a story from about 200 years ago.
‘Accused of being demons, assassinations, witch hunts…’
They openly oppressed other religions in collaboration with nobles and kingdoms.
It seemed there was a significant power difference.
The fact that a bishop who raised a Saintess was publicly executed without a proper trial and a close aide of the Saintess was killed on the spot after being accused of being a witch…
Still, it seemed the other kingdoms had provided support from behind the scenes, though they couldn’t do so openly.
‘Considering that they declared themselves an empire right after the suppression, if they had openly opposed it, it would have been the end.’
Thinking about the fact that the six-kingdom alliance was declared after the Holy Empire, this incident could have been the trigger.
‘Should I keep this…?’
I hid the Earth Mother Church scripture and diary.
Honestly, I wasn’t interested in the scripture.
‘I’m a warlock, not a priest.’
It might be useful someday.
The diary was practically useful, so I had to take it with me.
Apart from the behind-the-scenes stories of history, it also indicated the locations of several holy grounds.
Interestingly, one of them was a place I knew very well.
‘The Earth Shield was one of the Earth Mother Church’s possessions…’
The Earth Shield, one of the artifacts I intended to claim in the future, belonged to the Earth Mother Church.
‘A temple holding a mana-based artifact…’
It was not unheard of.
There were also paladins appointed from outside the church who used mana.
It wasn’t strange to convert to a religion even if you possessed different skills.
It was also common for entire families to believe in a religion.
After all, religion was also a form of power, so nobles were inevitably connected to religion in one way or another.
The robe and golden cup I obtained this time were also mentioned in the diary.
‘They were both sacred relics.’
The robe I obtained this time, just like the golden cup, was a sacred relic.
‘Mother’s Embrace and the Chalice of Abundance, was it?’
The robe was said to protect the wearer from external attacks and maintain their condition at its peak, while the golden cup supposedly had the ability to infinitely produce holy water that fertilized the land.
‘How will they change when corrupted?’
Usually, when sacred relics are corrupted, their effects are altered.
Some retain similar effects, while others completely change.
Honestly, I hoped the robe would retain its original effects.
‘It would be perfect as my armor.’
I gained a lot from this incident.
Even the fact that my class level had increased felt like an extra bonus.
‘I need to unseal the sword and armor, and there’s also the cleanup…’
Although I learned about the oppression of other religions, honestly, I already knew that the Goddess Religion was corrupt, so while I was surprised that such a thing had happened, I wasn’t overly shaken.
I was a bit surprised that the diary’s owner suspected that the Radiant Church (Goddess Religion) might be involved with warlocks.
‘There’s no evidence, though.’
Perhaps the reason they excessively suppressed warlocks was related to this.
Even if I knew now, there was nothing I could do about it immediately.
Still, I was satisfied with the unexpected information I had gained and the fact that I had learned about a history that was almost buried.
‘And I also learned the locations of hidden temples with treasures.’
Considering that the Goddess Religion secretly discovered and assassinated people, it was unlikely that all of them would be intact.
However, just like the place where the Earth Shield was found in the future, I should be able to claim a few.
Therefore, it wasn’t a wasted effort.
“Have you finished reading?”
“Huh? Ah, sorry. Did I make you wait?”
“No, it didn’t take that long. It seems it was quite interesting.”
“Yes, it was interesting. And there were some achievements. It seems there are a few more places like this.”
“Places like this?”
“Yes. Well, if what’s written here is true, it seems unlikely that all of them will be intact.”
As Kayla seemed curious, I briefly summarized the contents.
“…Nobles and priests are no different.”
“Well, the Goddess Religion might be particularly dirty.”
Indeed, there were some decent small temples I had seen in the past.
‘There are some decent ones even within the Goddess Religion.’
However, there was no denying that they were fundamentally corrupt.
“It would be best to keep this information hidden.”
That was my intention.
“I’ll fully cooperate in destroying the temple.”
There was no need to act nice for now.
The more I grew, the more they would dislike me, but for now, I was just a talented warlock, so they wouldn’t openly antagonize me.
My talent might seem excessive, but that was enough for now.
We immediately went upstairs and hid the scripture and diary.
We also contaminated the Chalice of Abundance to a certain extent, just like Mother’s Embrace, and then called Tildi.
“I’ve confirmed it. You’re fast.”
“It’s because the purity of the demonic energy is high.”
“That’s certainly true. It seems you made a contract with a high-ranking demon.”
I smiled faintly and avoided answering.
It was common to hide the identity of the demon you made a contract with, so Tildi didn’t press further.
‘They don’t care as long as it’s not a Demon Lord.’
To be precise, they equally disliked all demons except for Demon Lords.
If you made a contract with a Demon Lord, you became a target for extermination, going beyond mere hatred.
“Well then… let’s destroy the temple as promised.”
“The scale is larger than I expected, so it might take some time…”
“Well, it won’t take that long.”
“Because you broke through the wall this time.”
I intended to show them a new undead.
I smiled lightly at Tildi, who looked puzzled, and began preparing to create the undead.
Having reached 5th class, I could control more undead and create higher-ranking ones.
Among them were some that belonged to the medium to large category.
‘I’m finally making this.’
As the chalice became corrupted, the divine power within the temple was gradually decreasing.
It was a shame that the destroyed guardians were corroding as the divine power weakened, but it couldn’t be helped.
‘There were no Soul Shadows either.’
I couldn’t even analyze them properly.
Since they were created with holy magic instead of regular magic, the system itself was different.
So, although I had been briefly interested at first, I had completely lost interest now.
‘I’d like to make a Draugr or a Flesh Golem, but…’
I lacked the materials.
I had used up a lot of Minotaur corpses with the Corpse Explosion.
Therefore, my choices were limited.
‘Fortunately, there are plenty of bones.’
As the divine power in the temple decreased, the Minotaur bones, which had been saturated with it, were also losing their divine power.
Thanks to this, I could use these countless bones within the temple with just a simple treatment.
As my magic activated, the entire bone pile began to shake.
Then, the bones started to break apart and combine, forming a giant body.
‘The condition isn’t very good.’
The durability of the bones had significantly decreased.
They were old bones, and since they had once held divine power, many of them couldn’t withstand the influx of new demonic energy.
Therefore, if I used them as they were, there was a risk of them collapsing, so I began compressing the numerous bones.
Whirrr.
The ring spun rapidly, consuming a large amount of demonic energy from my body.
But I didn’t stop.
‘Without this, it would take forever to destroy this place.’
Plus, having a medium to large undead is very useful in many ways.
This wasn’t just an undead to be used and discarded.
It was going to be one of my collections, a sturdy vanguard for a while.
Although it would take up so much space that I wouldn’t be able to store any additional permanent undead…
‘There are other ways.’
As my class level increased, the things I could do expanded significantly, and I could handle that much.
As I compensated for the lack of materials with quantity and my own abilities, the Bone Golem began to take shape, starting from its feet.
Although it was made of bones, the golem, influenced by my demonic energy, became gray, almost black.
Looking at the completed golem, Athena commented,
“It’s not as disgusting as I thought.”
“It’s just made of bones. Besides, there’s no need to make it look like a skeleton when I went through the trouble of making it into a golem.”
Appearance was important.
A repulsive appearance only leads to rejection.
Therefore, it was better to avoid a repulsive appearance if possible.
“We finally have a big guy too. It looks about 4 meters tall…”
“It’s certainly huge. It would definitely be intimidating to have something like that at the front.”
Most low-level mercenaries would die instantly if hit by the golem’s fist.
‘But it’s just for slaughtering commoners.’
It was effective against humans, but its limitations against monsters were clear.
‘It has strength, but it’s not easy to deal with wild monsters.’
It probably wouldn’t even be able to defeat a troll alone.
The story would be different if I provided support, though.
Of course, we’d have to actually fight to know for sure.
‘Well then, let’s see how powerful it is.’
“Let’s begin.”
Tildi nodded at my declaration.
The golem raised its hand, and then…
Rumble!
One of the temple pillars instantly shattered.
Bang! Crash! Boom!
The Bone Golem rampaged according to my will.
The place that was once the last temple of the Earth Mother Church slowly began to lose its traces.
It might be heartbreaking for the Earth Church, but honestly, I didn’t care.
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