How the Cult Saves the World-Chapter 156

About thirty minutes had passed since the battle between Keren, the tenth Child of the Demon God, and Revelof had begun.

During that time, Keren had been wounded fatally once again and had used the Demonic realm's energy to heal himself.

Revelof exhaled heavily, watching Keren recover.

"Phew. I'm already tired, and there's still a lot more to go."

It seemed like he hadn't been able to manage his energy properly. Revelof brushed his sweat-soaked hair aside.

'I should have decapitated him right away, even if it meant pushing myself a little at first, so he wouldn't have had time to regenerate.

'Of course, there was no guarantee that defeating Keren would end the Estate defense battle. If I used all my strength to defeat Keren and then more of the Demon God's children appeared, it would be even more troublesome than the situation I'm in now.

'I held back my power because I thought it would get dangerous...'

If that happened, this battle could have continued endlessly. Moreover, Revelof knew all too well that losing in a battle that could drag on endlessly would ultimately mean his own defeat.

'I shouldn't delay any longer.'

Revelof made up his mind. In that moment, Keren, having finished regenerating his body, realigned his dislocated neck and stared at Revelof with cold eyes.

"...This is fun. Indeed, you're strong enough. But it's starting to get boring now... Consider this your last chance, let's have a proper fight."

As he finished speaking, Keren's mouth stretched wide into a long, torn grin. With that grotesque smile, a crackling sound came from Keren's ribs.

"...!"

Revelof's eyes widened. Two more arms had sprouted from each side of Keren's waist.

Ten tails and a total of six arms. Keren's appearance was truly monstrous.

'If I let my guard down, I'll die.'

Revelof instinctively realized this. He bit his lip tightly. At that moment, Keren charged at him.

Claaang-!

The six arms and the mace Revelof was holding collided. This time, Revelof had to grip the mace with both hands. The strength coming from his six arms was beyond imagination.

At that moment, Keren's lips curled up in a creepy smile.

Whoosh-!

Then, Keren's ten tails gathered into one and extended long. The elongated tail immediately aimed to strike Revelof's back.

Whip!

However, in that moment, Revelof seized the brief opportunity and infused holy power into the 'Guardian Barrier'. The legendary item quickly reacted and created a protective barrier around Revelof.

"Using tricks, are we?"

Keren, being bounced back by the sudden appearance of the barrier, scoffed at Revelof. Keren tied his hair into a single knot as he continued to gaze at Revelof.

Then, Revelof exhaled harshly.

'If I had been just a little slower, I would've died.'

Revelof deactivated the Guardian Barrier. After Keren became even stronger, Revelof couldn't shake the feeling of being overpowered.

'How should I...hold that guy down?'

No matter how much he used the Holden breathing technique to continue the fight, he knew he wasn't a match for Keren.

'The way I'm fighting now is at best just slightly above the level of the Holden knights.'

Even though he had been training recently, it was obvious that his skills wouldn't reach the level of Sword Master Helena Holden.

In other words, the only attack that could possibly defeat Keren with the current power Revelof had was the 'Holy Power Release'.

'But Keren keeps trying to restrain my Holy Power Releases.'

That's why he's creating multiple arms, preventing me from using both of my hands.

'Is there...no way out?'

Even though he has become ten times stronger due to the Administrator's buff, he was barely able to clash with Keren.

Revelof furrowed his brow and pondered deeply. Then, one clever idea came to mind.

'...I might die, but.'

Still, the only method that came to mind was one.

"Oh, your expression has changed. Have you...made up a resolve?"

Keren looked at Revelof with a sneer. However, Revelof simply raised his mace without showing any change. It was then.

Keren, who had been watching Revelof with interest, suddenly disappeared in an instant.

'Here...!'

Claang-!

The six arms and Revelof's mace clashed again. But this time, it was different.

"Cough-!"

Revelof, holding the mace with one hand, allowed Keren's attack, and as a result, four of Keren's arms struck Revelof's waist on both sides.

Thud thud-

He barely avoided the left side, but couldn't dodge the right. Several centimeters of Revelof's waist were torn.

"You let your guard down, human."

Keren smiled smugly. Revelof didn't miss that opening.

'Holy Power Release.'

Fwoosh-!

Even as his body swayed and his eyes started to close, Revelof focused all his attention on his right hand.

Instead of using his left hand, which he had been using to attack Keren until now, Revelof gathered holy power into his right hand and released it.

"...!"

As a result, he was able to pierce Keren's chest and abdomen in one strike. Keren looked at his own body with a shocked expression. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't.

Keren's tail was already gradually disintegrating.

Watching that, Revelof collapsed to the ground with a satisfied smile.

'Sacrifice the flesh to take the bone, huh...

'I can't do this again.

'It hurts too much.'

Revelof used all the remaining holy power in his body to activate a healing skill for the pain starting from his right waist.

His consciousness began to blur, and his eyes were about to close, but he fought through it with his mental strength.

Revelof checked Keren, who had nearly been completely annihilated, once again. This battle was his victory.

'Ah, but why am I so...sleepy?'

Thanks to using the healing skill, the injury on his waist quickly healed. However, his consciousness was quickly fading.

At that moment, as Keren fully disintegrated, the dark energy barrier he had created disappeared.

Revelof felt himself falling and closed his eyes as he did.

'Still, there's no way I'll die, right?'

He felt system messages appearing in front of him one after another, but he couldn't see the letters properly.

And just as his body was about to crash to the ground.

Rustle-

Someone caught Revelof. Due to the black robe draped over him, Revelof couldn't easily recognize him.

'Who is it?'

His vision was already blurred, so he couldn't see clearly. But the next moment, he heard a voice that shouldn't have been able to reach him.

"Leviathan. Don't die."

It was Terdius.

'Could it be... I'm dreaming?'

Revelof lost consciousness with a smile.

***

When I opened my eyes, I saw a familiar ceiling. Ah, this is...my bedroom. It was definitely the bedroom in the temple of Rovel.

'But... What happened?'

Maybe it was because I used all my holy power, my body felt a bit heavy. My head also hurts. So, when I couldn't open my eyes easily...

"Ch-Church Leader! Are you alright?"

I heard Alphius's voice.

"Alphius? I'm fine. So...keep your voice down."

Hearing Alphius's high-pitched tone made my head ring.

"Ah, I'm sorry."

"Yeah. Hold on. Let me just come to my senses."

I asked Alphius for understanding and briefly closed my eyes before opening them again.

Then, the delayed system messages appeared.

[Warning! You have defeated Keren, the 10th Child of the Demon God.]

[The Demon God acknowledges your power.]

[Since the instigator of this attack, the Demon God, has acknowledged you, the Estate defense battle ends earlier than scheduled.]

[The Demon God is watching your actions.]

Ah, it seems that as soon as I defeated Keren, the Estate defense battle ended.

'Still, it seems like the Demon God won't be directly attacking for now.'

From the way it appeared in the messages, it seems that the Demon God actually acknowledged me.

'Come to think of it, before I lost consciousness...'

I vaguely feel like I heard Terdius's voice. If the Rstate defense battle ended as soon as Keren was destroyed, it would make sense that Terdius was already inside the territory.

'But, what was going on?'

He must have come to see me for some reason. If that's the case, then since I've just regained consciousness, he should still be in the estate.

'I'll think about that later.'

I checked the next messages that had piled up.

[Sub-Quest <Large-Scale Rift Incident> Cleared!]

[Sub-Quest reward has been added to your inventory.]

I immediately opened my inventory to check, and ten senior member recruitment tokens and two portals had been added.

'...This isn't a bad reward, but it's not exactly amazing either.'

Still, the additional portals would be helpful when more temples are built in the future.

It was when I had roughly finished checking.

"Oh, my child!!"

Kyros's voice came through, not in my head, but actually in real life. When I turned my head, the little puppy, Kyros, who had just entered the bedroom, flew toward me.

Bang!

Then, he immediately threw himself at me. No matter how much of a small form Kyros had manifested in, pain struck me when he suddenly launched into my chest.

"Ugh, Lord Kyros. It hurts."

"Ah, I'm sorry!"

Kyros was startled and quickly apologized, and then a bright white light radiated from him.

The holy power flowing from Kyros immediately entered my body.

"This power..."

Receiving holy power from Kyros, my heavy body felt much lighter. Then, Kyros laughed.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you. By the way, what happened while I was unconscious?"

Just before the Estate defense battle began, Kyros had very little holy power left within him. However, the power he gave me now was a considerable amount.

"I'll tell you everything slowly."

Kyros smiled and began to tell me the rest of the story. The Serpent's child, that is, Terdius, caught me after I fell from the sky. Then, he suddenly left the place.

After that, I was moved to the temple and slept for a full day.

In any case, after Keren was destroyed and the Estate defense battle ended, the Demon God's barrier that had been shrouding the entire territory disappeared.

Thanks to that, the news of what had happened in the territory quickly spread like wildfire. That the Kyros Church had dealt with the five rifts that appeared in Holden and the numerous Demon God's Children.

"Because of this incident, the majority of the people in the territory have become my followers."

"Really?"

I quickly checked the religious status, and the number of followers had surpassed 130,000.

'It was tough, but I'm glad there was some benefit from it.'

Then, Kyros began to talk about the situation in the territory.

The damage caused within the territory by the rifts is currently being repaired with everyone's combined efforts. It seems that the Holden House and Kyros Church tried to help, but the people of the territory stopped them.

"Everyone witnessed the battle with their own eyes and decided to show their gratitude that way."

"I see. I feel somewhat grateful for that."

"Right? As expected, humans are...such good-hearted beings."

Kyros smiled contentedly.

Then, he quickly jumped off me and said energetically,

"Alright, now let's go eat!"