The two weapons collided, and with a brilliant sh, a thunderous explosion echoed throughout the underground temple as if a bomb had gone off.
The subterranean environment amplified the sound into a reverberating echo, while the sh quickly dissipated.
Despite the enormous forces at y, both individuals stood their ground confidently as if nothing had happened.
“Ugh…”
Correction: rk, with his axe resting casually on his shoulder, appearedposed, while Kate’s expression betrayed her difort.
Her beautiful face twisted in agony, as if struggling to endure the pain.
Indeed, the crimson blood dripping steadily from her hands, which gripped the mace, painted a vivid picture of her suffering, staining the ground beneath.
Although it was merely a sh of weapons, her palms had beenpletely torn.
Throbbing pain shot through her hands, and even her wrists were in a poor state.Fortunately, thanks to her physical enhancements, the worst-case scenario—broken bones—was narrowly avoided.
Still, the pain was excruciating, and if the impact had been slightly stronger, her bones might have fractured.
As she hurriedly used divine power to heal her injuries, Kate kept her gaze fixed ahead.
rk remained still, showing no intention of attacking.
‘His strength…’
Kate, who had fought countless battles during her tenure as a Grand Inquisitor, was no stranger to fiercebat.
Before confronting demon worshipers, she had subdued heretics and honed her strength through those experiences.
Yet, it was virtually the first time she felt utterly overpowered by sheer “strength.”
In a straightforward sh, the skeleton emerged unscathed, while she bore the brunt of the damage.
Divine power, like mana, could be used to enhance the body or imbue weapons.
Thus, the amount of divine power directly influenced one’s strength.
Moreover, as someone blessed by Luminous, Kate’s divine power was unparalleled in the present day.
Her ability to defeat countless heretics and demon worshipers, as well as powerful adversaries, stemmed from her overwhelming divine power.
[It’s not good to rely solely on your god, young one.]
rk, as if piercing through Kate’s confusion, offered a bitter piece of advice.
Her power, namely her divine energy, was indeed exceptional to an unparalleled degree.
Even someone like rk, who had survived countless battles, acknowledged it.
However, her dependence on power had left her sorelycking in “technique.”
It was a ring vulnerability, particrly fitting for a fanatic—someone who, due to blind faith in their god, failed to reflect on themselves and instead drove themselves to ruin. ?à??????S?@@novelbin@@
“Silence!”
Ovee with anger at rk’s unsolicited advice, Kate shouted loudly.
Though she had been overpowered in strength, she had not yet been defeated.
Besides, as long as she had even a second to spare and her divine power remained, she could heal herself at any moment.
As she moved her mace-wielding hand, rk, seemingly expecting this, gripped his axe.
<em>ng!</em>
Kate swung her mace, engulfed in golden mes, but rk’s axe handle effortlessly blocked the attack.
Using all his strength, rk pushed the axe forward, forcing Kate to retreat, and quickly moved his legs.
In an instant, rk disappeared from Kate’s sight. Despite hisrge and heavy frame, his swift and nimble movements defied expectations.
Even so, Kate remained unfazed by his sudden disappearance.
Unless he teleported, any physical movement would naturally stir the air, making his location traceable.
<em>Boom!</em>
“Ugh!”
Yet, it seemed even that realization came toote.
By the time Kate turned her gaze, rk had already acted.
As he had done when subduing the initial investigation team, rk stomped hard, creating a minor shockwave.
Debris, including fragments of stone, flew toward Kate’s face, disrupting her vision, while the ground shook, throwing her off bnce.
While forming a protective barrier with divine power to shield her face, Kate noticed rk retreating slightly, gripping his axe’s handle with one hand.
Utilizing his strength and momentum, he swung the axe powerfully.
“…..!”
Kate quickly leaped backward to avoid the massive axe de descending toward her.
Even with a barrier, she knew it would not be enough.
The earlier sh had already shown her that a contest of strength against rk was futile.
<em>Crash!</em>
rk’s axe struck the spot where Kate had just been, embedding more than half its de into the ground.
The impact sent debris flying in all directions, and the entire cavern trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
The thought of taking such a blow head-on was horrifying.
Catching her breath, Kate tried to devise a strategy to confront the skeleton before her.
A direct battle of strength was out of the question, and her divine power seemed ineffective.
She would have to rely solely on physical skill and brute force to take him down.
[Hmm.]
Meanwhile, rk pulled his axe from the ground and fell into brief contemtion.
As expected, his strength was far from what it used to be.
Being resurrected as a skeleton, he could still feel sensations through his five senses and wield mana simr to what he had in life.
However,cking even a single muscle due to his skeletal form, he could not exert the same level of power he once had.
Whether it was dodging, rolling on the ground, or swinging with momentum, nothing fully satisfied rk in his current state.
‘This can’t be helped.’
Even so, he had more than enough strength to subdue the naive fanatic before him.
After recovering his axe, rk turned his gaze back to Kate.
Her beauty was undeniable, but what caught his attention more was how much she resembled someone else.
[Hey, what’s your name?]
“What?”
[I asked for your name.]
Kate, puzzled by the sudden question, quicklyposed herself and replied coldly.
“I have no name to offer a defiler of divine order.”
[Ha.]
rk exhaled a hollowugh at her fanatical response and shook his head.
Fanatics like her were exhausting to deal with, but there was one surefire way to get through to them: overpower thempletely.
While killing them might be the simplest solution, it was far from ideal in this case.
After all, even if they died, they would simply repent to their god,menting their inadequacies, leaving a bad aftertaste.
[Ellie, at least, was reasonable… but I guess there’s no other way.]
Absentmindedly stroking his skull—or rather, his head—rk muttered as he fixed his gaze on Kate, who was still brimming with resolve.
Earlier, she had said he must prove that he was not evil.
For someone like rk, who had lived a life of endless battles, the only way to prove anything was throughbat.
Persuasion and eloquent arguments were skills he sorelycked.
<em>Taat!</em>
The moment that thought crossed his mind, rk leaped high into the air.
Whether it was due to his skeletal form or something inherent in his nature, his movements were unnervingly light.
Kate quickly followed his ascent with her eyes.
She could not afford to lose sight of him, even for a second, or she would risk missing his movements entirely.
While airborne, rk shifted his grip on the axe slightly, then hurled it like a boomerang.
The sight of the massive axe spinning in an arc through the air might have seemed like a circus act to an observer.
For Kate, however, it was an attack she absolutely had to avoid.
<em>Boom!</em>
The spinning axe embedded itself into the spot where Kate had just been standing.
Although she narrowly dodged it, the attack was far from over.
Still airborne, rk arched his body like a bow and shot downward,nding near the axe.
Grabbing its handle, he immediately swung it at Kate, who had barely evaded.
“Ugh…!”
Kate gritted her teeth as she dodged rk’s relentless assault. However, each evasion only brought another fierce attack.
Unlike swords, axes tend to have straightforward attack patterns, and rk’s style was no exception.
The problem was that there were no discernible openings—attempting to counter felt like a gamble.
His wild, feral, and aggressive fighting style was backed by overwhelming strength.
The sheer force made defending seem pointless.
‘I have to avoid it somehow.’
For now, evasion seemed like the only viable option. Striking the axe with her mace to deflect its trajectory?
That was beyond Kate’s skill set. Until now, she had defeated her enemies with overwhelming divine power alone.
As her faith deepened, so did her strength, requiring nothing more than prayer.
She would simply bring divine judgment upon those who threatened her god or Isaac.
But now, facing an opponent immune to her faith, Kate’s confusion only grew.
<em>Crash!</em>
rk spun in ce before mming his axe into the ground with one hand.
The powerful strike sent debris flying everywhere, creating a momentary opening.
Seizing the opportunity, Kate swung her mace at rk’s body.
The golden mes flickered along the mace as it hurtled toward his shoulder.
<em>ng!</em>
The sound of metal striking metal reverberated through the underground temple.
It was not the sound of bones shattering.
rk’s shoulder remainedpletely intact, despite taking a direct hit from the mace.
Kate stared in disbelief at the absurd durability of his skeletal frame.
Even upon closer inspection, the skeleton’s bones appeared entirely ordinary.
<em>Woong!</em>
In the blink of an eye, rk adjusted his stance and swung the retrieved axe sideways.
Kate hurriedlyposed herself and stepped back.
But her mind was inplete disarray.
The strength-versus-strength contest had failed, and even her meticulously timed attack was rendered futile by rk’s absurd durability.
What kind of being is this? Why aren’t my attacks working?
Could it be that my divine power is this weak?
Was my faith in the divine insufficient all along?
Could my devotion to Luminous and Isaac have been more shallow than I believed?
As an Inquisitor, Kate had faced countless walls, endured horrific pain, and confronted desires she shouldn’t have acknowledged.
At first, she struggled, but she overcame them all.
Each time, she surmounted those walls through faith, endured the pain, and humbly embraced her desires.
‘No…’
Kate shook her head violently. The divine is always just.
The divine always guides her on the righteous path. Therefore, this, too, must be a trial.
Attacks not working? Then she just needed to infuse even more divine power than before.
As these thoughts coursed through her, Kate began regaining herposure. But just as she did, rk spoke in a heavy voice.
[Immature believer. Faith doesn’t solve everything.]
“What… are you trying to say?”
[I’m saying, don’t treat yourself like a tool. Do you think the divine would rejoice at this? They would grieve.]
The notion that the divine wouldn’t be pleased was a direct repudiation of her fanatical beliefs.
Especially for Kate, who had lived her entire life for Luminous, it struck a nerve akin to an unpardonable insult.
“… It’sughable that someone who goes against the natural order would dare say such things.”
[Using only what your eyes see and ears hear to judge everything, and then offloading your judgments onto the divine as their will—nothing is more irresponsible. Isn’t that what you abhor as heresy?]
Another heavy blow of truth struck.
rk had mentioned earlier that he wasn’t eloquent, but his experiencepensated for it.
He had encountered many zealots like Kate before.
Having traveled the world and faced all kinds of people, he could make incisive remarks that pierced to the heart of Kate’s essence.
And when a person’s essence isid bare by someone else, they grow furious—especially if it’s tied to something they’ve devoted their entire life to.
“Silence!”
Kate was no exception. She charged at rk, enraged by his direct repudiation of her beliefs.
Her blue eyes burned like mes, and her beauty, usually imbued with the purity of a country maiden, was now marred by anger.
“How dare someone who defies the natural order im the right to say such things!”
At this point, the game was effectively over.
The mes wrapped around her mace burned fiercer than before, but that was all.
To rk, she was just a novice, easily provoked and unable to control her emotions.
Still, her qualities as a cardinal and her faith were undoubtedly genuine.
The divine power imbued in her mace was evidence enough. The issue was simply that, like many zealots, it manifested in a distorted way.
The only constion was that she wasn’t yet extreme.
[That’s enough.]
rk shouted firmly as he watched Kate charge at him, answering her rage with calm resolve.
Slowly, he raised his tightly gripped axe.
[Neither humans… nor even the divine…]
Just before their weapons shed once again, rk uttered his final words.
[… are perfect.]
For some reason, his words carried a tinge of bitterness.
<em>Boom!</em>
The underground temple was engulfed in blinding light.
★★★
The battle between Kate and rk ended much sooner than expected.
If they had fought without saying a word, it might have dragged on, but rk’s provocation of Kate brought it to an early close.
Of course, as a result, the interior of the underground temple was left in disarray.
The remains that archaeologists had painstakingly organized for research were scattered everywhere, with some even damaged.
Had the schrs seen the aftermath, they would have been distraught.
Fortunately, they had already evacuated and were unlikely to return for a while.
Entering again before the fighting had concluded or without reinforcements would only cause trouble.
Thus, only Kate and rk were left in the underground temple.
Katey unconscious on the floor while rk waited beside her in silence.
Ideally, rk would have liked to read the <em>Chronicles of Zenon</em> he received from an archaeologist, but the recent battle had destroyed it.
The same went for his cigarettes—he nced around for any fallen packs but found none.
With nothing else to do, rk waited quietly beside the unconscious Kate, asionally reflecting on the past.
“Ugh…”
As he waited, Kate furrowed her brows and let out a groan—a sign that she was regaining consciousness.
rk turned his gaze toward her.
He watched as she grimaced a few more times before slowly opening her eyes, revealing irises that evoked the blue sky.
After blinking a few times, her eyes fully opened.
“…”
Now awake, Kate silently stared at rk, who was seated beside her.
At first, she wondered who the skeleton was, but soon her memories returned with rity—the rejection of her beliefs, and the sharp words that had stung her deeply.
Strangely, she didn’t feel anger as before. Instead, her mind felt unusually clear.
[Have youe to your senses?]
rk’s deep voice broke the silence.
Kate attempted to rise but paused midway.
The aftermath of the strike she unleashed before passing out left her entire body aching.
Not only did her muscles throb with pain, but her palms were scraped again, and this time her wrist seemed broken.
While she could heal herself with divine power, there was something she needed to confirm first.
“Why…”
[Why didn’t I kill you? Because, as you said, I’m not an evil being.]
“…”
rk anticipated her question and answered before she could finish.
Kate pressed her lips together, unsure how to respond.
rk was an enigma to her in many ways. It wasn’t just that divine power didn’t work on him—nothing about her seemed to affect him.
There was no point in being stubborn anymore; the result would only be the same.
After a moment’s thought, she remembered why she hade to this ce in the first ce.
The oracle of Luminous—to bring back an important guest.
Fighting rk had been unnecessary.
Still, there were unresolved questions, so she stood up.
In the short time it took, her damaged hands and sore muscles were almost fully healed.
“Haa…”
[Do you have something to say?]
“Yes.”
Kate’s tone remained informal, her distrust evident even though rk hadn’t killed her.
She red at him sharply as she asked her question, her voice filled with hostility.
“The expedition told me your goal is to find Lord Isaac and Sir Hawk. Is that true?”
[Yes.]
“What’s your purpose? If you don’t answer truthfully, I’ll stop you even if it means my death.”
She knew she couldn’t win against him, as the recent battle had shown. But there were things she had to do, regardless.
rk, unconcerned, shrugged and answered in his characteristic deep voice.
[I’m going to meet my son and grandson. Do I need a reason for that?]
“…What?”
[I’m going to see my son and grandson. Normally, just my soul would suffice, but my son wanted to bury my body. This was the only way.]
“…”
Hearing his answer, Kate blinked in disbelief.
If anyone else had heard, they would have dismissed it as nonsense.
But she was here under a divine oracle to escort an important guest from the underground temple.
That realization struck her like a hammer to the head.
At the same time, she felt a chilling premonition that she had made a grave mistake.
“W-wait. Hold on.”
[Hmm?]
“Excuse me, but your name… no, your full name, please…”
Even as she asked, she prayed it wasn’t true. If it was, then she hadmitted an unforgivable sin.
But mercilessly, rk answered inly.
[rk Michelle.]
“Michelle…?”
Hawk had a middle name, Duker, but rk did not.
That made sense since the middle name was granted to Hawk and Isaacter on.
The absence of a middle name only lent more credibility to rk’s identity.
Kate felt dizzy, her mind spinning as her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish.
Finally, she spoke softly.
“Why…”
[Hmm?]
“Why… didn’t you tell me?”
If he had told her, this situation could have been avoided. But she swallowed her words.
rk raised a bony brow as if to say, “What nonsense is this?”
Though he was little more than a skeleton, the glowing light in his eye sockets conveyed his expression.
[You never asked. You just barged in, iming it was the will of the gods, and attacked.]
“B-but the expedition…”
[They didn’t believe it either. Honestly, I wouldn’t have believed it myself.
A resurrected skeleton iming to be the grandfather or father of a famous figure?
Without an oracle, no one would believe that. So I stayed quiet.]
“…”
Though unintentional, rk’s words felt like daggers stabbing Kate’s heart.
The opportunity had been there. If she had gathered more information from the expedition, she might have learned rk’s name.
But she had ignored that chance, choosing instead to confront rk directly—and even fought him.
If she had taken a little more time to investigate, kept her faith in check, and stayed calm, this disaster could have been avoided.
“…”
It was a sin—a sin she could never forgive herself for.
She had defied the oracle of Luminous and nearly harmed Isaac’s grandfather.
Thankfully, rk was far stronger than she was, or else…
No, this was pure sin. She had wronged both Luminous and Isaac.
“Ugh… ugh…”
[Hmm? Uh…?]
“Uwaaah…!”
As the realization dawned on her, tears began streaming down Kate’s face. rk, seeing her start crying, panicked.
[Hey, hey. Why are you crying?]
“I’m… sorry… so sorry…”
[It’s fine, just don’t cry. Everyone makes mistakes.]
Unfamiliar with the full context, rk tried his best to console her.
Though he had lived a rough life, he wasn’t indifferent to a woman’s tears and awkwardly patted her back.
“Uwaaah!”
It didn’t help much.