"Seal them? Those spirits? It's dangerous!"
"Don't worry. If I can't handle that much, I don't deserve to be an Archbishop. Once I make it off this island, I can take them out separately and seal them forever."
It is similar to the method of appeasing the spirits of ghosts and releasing their resentments.
"How do you do that? Isn't it dangerous? You can't even use your divine power, and you do realize they are not just spirits, right? They are strong enough to fuel the evolution of monsters."
"All you need is a sealing stone. You don't need divine power to use it, it's an object that contains divine power in itself."
A sealing stone?
"You have that now?"
At my question, Ruzef nodded and pulled out the necklace he had tucked inside his priestly robe.
The pendant that has a sun-like pattern has a key-shaped end.
"If you're an Archbishop, you wear it on your person at all times."
I narrowed my brow, listening to him, then shook my head again.
"But suppose you seal those spirits inside your body, you don't even know what will happen after that."
"It's not like there aren't any cases like this, I learned about it in theory when I was a seminarian."
"You do realize that theory and practice are different, right?"
"Of course. Oh, and by the way, if suppose I lose consciousness, can you convey my words to Lord Kayden?
"What?"
Ruzef hesitated for a moment, and then he scratched his cheek in embarrassment.
"I am useful too."
At a loss for words, I looked into Ruzef's eyes.
It's because Enoch and Kayden have otherworldly abilities, and never once did I think Ruzef was useless, because he tried his best in his own way.
But he had been thinking about it all along and was putting his mind to it. Why didn't I think of encouraging him with all my heart?
Is there really nothing I can do to help him in this situation?
"Don't look at me like that. I'm not dying."
How did he interpret my expression? He said that with a smile.
He took off the necklace around his neck and drew a circle on his palm with the sharp point of the pendant, making a gash.
[Oh, no! No!]
Then the tree turned toward us. Its roar was so loud that it shook the entire cave, and I quickly covered my ears.
Eunji spewed fire at the tree from afar, but it glowed pure white, absorbing all the fire.
Hell, is there really no other way than for Ruzef to become a vessel?
The tree trunk, reaching for us at breakneck speed, attacked me, not Ruzef. The tree trunk, sharpened like an awl, pierced me with its aggression.
[Mana! Now! Give it to me!]
"Margaret!"
"Young lady!"
I heard the panicked shouts of the three men. I calmly pulled a flare gun from my crossbody bag, loaded it, and quickly rolled on the ground.
I could see a tree trunk deeply embedded in the ground where I had just been.
I took advantage of the gap and jumped on top of it, climbing up the trunk to the main body of the tree. The faces clinging to the tree quickly turned toward me. Their glaring eyes were creepy.
The tree trunk stuck in the ground quickly came back to attack me. I pulled the flare gun's hammer down, aimed it at the main body of the tree, and pulled the trigger.
-pow! pow!
I expected it when it absorbed Eunji's flames, and of course, it also absorbed all of the flare blasts.
Damn it, I have to think. I can do it.
I rack my brain to figure out how I'm going to fall from the top to the bottom of the ten-foot tree trunk.
Hopefully, I'd only end up with a fracture.
With that decision made, I was about to jump down.
[Ah!]
Suddenly, I heard the agonized screams of the spirit tree. The tree trunk that had come close to me struggled away.
When I turned my head, I saw Ruzef smiling calmly as he lowered his hand with his key-shaped pendant.
[Almost done!]
The tree's plaintive voice echoed through the cave, tearing through the air.
Kayden ran up the tree trunk and lifted me up on his back, and Enoch, who had come with him, quickly descended downward, wary of the surroundings.
Once on the ground, I thanked Kayden and Enoch, then turned to look at Ruzef.
He spoke to the tree, "I'll make you comfortable, and you won't be alone, because I'm here."
There was something truly divine about the calm, compassionate way he spoke.
[No! No! It's unfair!!]
The tree trunk reached out aggressively toward Ruzef. Startled, I reached out for him, but the trunk was much faster.
The thick trunk quickly wrapped around Ruzef's waist and lifted him up.
"Archbishop!"
Despite my panicked shout, Ruzef remained unperturbed. Unlike the man who always looked frightened, he was very calm even though he was being dragged by the mother of monsters.
The tree trunk that was lifting Ruzef aloft split in two. It looked like the open mouth of a beast.
Before long, it ate Ruzef.
It... ate him?
Wait a sec.
My mind went white. I couldn't think of anything.
"Archbishop!!"
I turned to run toward the mother of monsters, but Enoch and Kayden grabbed me from either side, stopping me.
I couldn't come to my senses from the shock that came over me. The image of the cowardly man's courageous sacrifice stuck in my mind and wouldn't leave.
'No, what am I thinking about?'
This is not a sacrifice. Ruzef will be fine. Neither Diego nor Ruzef were the ones who would leave in vain like this.
I wonder if this is all part of Ruzef's plan. Recalling his calm appearance, I think it might be.
'Please, you have to stay alive.'
As I stared at the mother of monsters with despair and a little bit of hope, the ground shook with a heavy rumble from outside the cave.
-crunch, crunch! bang!
Small stones shattered in a cloud of dust overhead. The cave seemed to be collapsing.
Damn, I didn't even use the flare gun properly, but now I'm going to be buried in this cave.
"This is going to be dangerous, we have to get out of here fast."
At Kayden's words, I glanced back at the now subdued mother of monsters.
"We can't just leave the Archbishop and Sir Diego behind. We've come this far, we can't just go back like this!"
"But we can't die here either."
Even so, I shook my head vigorously. I can't leave Ruzef and Diego behind. I believe in Ruzef.
While Kayden was still trying to convince me, Enoch grabbed both of us by the shoulders.
"For a moment."
He glanced around as if sensing some other movement. The oscillating and luminous body of the tree stopped moving. What is happening? Is it Ruzef's influence?
Then, along with the sound of the walls of the cave collapsing, I heard what sounded like thunder. And then,
-flash!
Lightning crashed down from the ceiling and struck the mother of monsters, the pure white tree.
-flash! -flash!
The lightning didn't end with one bolt, but several in various forms.
The sight was strangely holy.
"A combination of powerful spirits, a vessel of divine power, and stormy weather like today should be able to appease and trap that mass of vengeful spirits."
Ruzef's words from earlier must have meant something like this.
[No-! No-!]
I could see the tree writhing in pain. A great roar filled the cave, and I could see it gradually collapse.
-flash!
When the lightning struck once more, the tree that was manifesting pure white light was shattered like broken glass.
[Aaahhhh-!]
With a frenzied roar, the light was extinguished without a trace, and in its place, Diego and Ruzef collapsed to the ground.
"Sir Diego!"
"Ddaggari!"
Enoch and Kayden hastily picked the two up. A little relieved, I picked up my backpack that had fallen on the ground and looked at the collapsing ceiling.
As Kayden said, we have to get out of here fast. If we delayed, we'd be buried in a truly collapsing cave.
***
Arthdal put down the bow and sighed. He had run out of arrows.
Yuanna, sitting with him on a high branch, also sighed. Beneath their feet, monsters that were hard to recognize were waiting for them to fall with their mouths open.
"I wish I could use my divine power."
As soon as they reached the North Island, they encountered monsters that had evolved into grotesque forms, and not only that, but they were so numerous that they eventually gave up trying to deal with them and ran away.
"Ugh."
Arthdal groaned briefly at the pain in his back and leaned back against a tree. Yuanna looked at him with an uncharacteristically worried face.
"Are you okay?"
He nodded, barely able to answer.
His condition was improving over time, but it was a bit embarrassing as this was the first time in his life that he had experienced this kind of pain.
How could he, who was called the golden key of the Kingdom of Hestia, go through this kind of pain?
I think I heard that Margaret has some painkillers in her first aid kit. If I can find her... since she has mana, maybe Kayden's magic can cure me.
As Arthdal was thinking about that, the midday sun was swallowed up by rapidly gathering dark clouds, and a frightening amount of rain poured down.
Arthdal looked at the monsters, who hadn't left despite the rain, and turned to Yuanna.
"Didn't you say that when a monster's blood and water meet, it catches fire?"
"I know what you're thinking, but for that to happen, we'd have to make those monsters bleed. Is that even possible in our current situation?"
Arthdal sighed at Yuanna's skeptical retort. Yuanna had no weapons, and the arrows he had were all out.
-flash!
"Ahh! That startled me."
As she was talking to him, a ferocious bolt of lightning struck the sky
-flash, flash, flash!
A series of incredibly ferocious bolts of lightning struck the same place one after another.
-boom, boom, boom! -boom!
The thunder that followed was just as majestic, and it could overwhelm anyone in an instant.
"What is that? I've never seen anything like that before."
Yuanna looked at the distant mountains. Lightning was striking the same spot over and over again.
It was a terrifyingly bizarre phenomenon.
"There must be something over there," murmured Arthdal.
Yuanna turned to him and said, "We'd better go."