Chapter 26 : Saved Maiden Jeanne d’Arc

Jeanne’s manifestation time is 6 hours.

When the manifestation is released, she has to wait 2 hours before she can manifest again.

This was not a problem unique to Jeanne.

All the relics of parallel worlds I possessed had a fixed summoning duration and cooldown time.

If my mana was depleted, or if 6 hours passed, the relics would automatically disappear.

The relics’ cooldown time was also 2 hours.

To shorten this time, I had to increase my mana.

And the only real way to increase my mana was to enter a gate and defeat the “anomalies.”

==

Napoleon’s Rifle (1)

[Toulon Gate]

• Defeat the anomaly that has taken over the Port of Toulon.

[Difficulty: B]

[Status: Unstable]

[Clear Condition: Napoleon’s Rifle]

[Reward: Summon Reset Ticket]

==

“Going right away would be dangerous, right?”

Difficulty B.

It was a much higher level than the quests I had cleared so far.

The ‘Summon Reset Ticket’ listed as a reward was probably an item that reset the cooldown time.

There was no need to take the risk just for that, but the merit of easily obtaining high-level anomaly mana was tempting.

Relic-given quests were generally assigned a difficulty lower than the actual gate difficulty.

Noryang Gate was A-rank, and Myeongnyang Gate had an unspecified difficulty level.

Even so, I was able to clear them easily as if they were low-level gates.

That was because I possessed the relics required for the clear condition.

From my experience, when a relic was a clear condition, its efficiency skyrocketed the moment I entered the gate.

As if it had entered its own battlefield.

The Twin Dragon Swords saw nearly an 80% efficiency boost when I entered Myeongnyang and Noryang.

Napoleon’s Rifle would be no different.

However, the fact that this was a B-rank difficulty meant the ranking considered that factor.

So, I decided to start with a C-rank gate as a test.

It was said that real gates started at C-rank.

There was no need to rush, so I had to take it step by step.

“Are you heading out?”

As I put on my coat, Jeanne, who was watching the counter, approached me.

“Yes, I’m going out for a bit.”

It had been two days since Jeanne arrived in the modern world.

She had been learning how to help me with the work at the general store.

Surprisingly, she was picking things up at an astonishing speed.

Even though it was only her second day, she was already handling the counter and calculating transactions on her own.

It wasn’t that Jeanne lacked intelligence; she had simply never had the opportunity to learn.

She was incredibly sharp-minded.

That was probably why she had been involved in strategic planning and held a nominal command role even during the Hundred Years’ War.

Jeanne was not just a sacrifice—she had also been a visionary in the war.

The problem was that the Cambrai Bishop’s tactics, piled on top of Jeanne’s brilliant strategies, had been reckless sacrifices.

At that moment, Jeanne saw me packing my subspace backpack and asked,

“Are you heading to a gate?”

“…….”

I awkwardly shut my mouth.

I hadn’t intended to tell her I was going to a gate, but she figured it out first, leaving me speechless.

“I heard anomalies appear in gates. I’ll go with you.”

“It’s dangerous, so there’s no need for you to come.”

I tried to dissuade Jeanne.

She had already been forced into sacrifice too many times—I didn’t want to push her into battle again.

Perhaps reading my thoughts, Jeanne spoke.

“I’m not being forced. I want to help you of my own will.”

Her clear, violet eyes gazed at me.

“And, for some reason, I think it’ll be okay.”

The girl gave a bright, reassuring smile.

That smile left me with no choice but to allow her to accompany me.

If I refused, I would be no different from the Cambrai Bishop.

“Alright, let’s go together.”

Jeanne’s face lit up at my approval.

“But you must not go ahead. You have to stay behind me at all times.”

“Understood.”

Jeanne smiled brightly.

The reason I allowed Jeanne to come along was not only because I didn’t want to forcefully stop her, but also because I believed it wouldn’t be dangerous.

After all, it was just a C-rank gate.

I had an underlying thought that nothing serious would happen.

I had been hunting as safely as possible, but with a legendary relic in hand, a C-rank gate was nothing to worry about.

Technically, Jeanne was also labeled as ‘Legendary,’ but I couldn’t be too sure.

I had never actually seen Jeanne’s abilities with my own eyes.

If necessary, I thought, I could at least put Admiral Yi Sun-sin’s helmet on her.

It didn’t take long for me to realize how arrogant that thought was.

“Grrrraaah!”

Twenty ghouls melted away in the light, disappearing without a trace.

These undead monsters, known for their resilience against physical attacks and their tenacious vitality, had been wiped out in an instant.

All of this happened with just a single prayer from Jeanne.

“…Jeanne, you’re… incredible.”

“Seems so.”

Jeanne’s violet eyes widened like a rabbit’s, as if she was surprised by what she had just done.

“But I think I need to control my holy power. I don’t have that much of it.”

The reason Jeanne had a low amount of holy power was because of me.

Just as the efficiency of a relic was proportional to my mana, the total amount of holy power Jeanne possessed was also proportional to me.

Even considering that, Jeanne’s abilities were absurdly overpowered.

‘So this is holy power.’

The pure white light that spread with Jeanne’s prayer was different from “light magic.”

It was brighter, more radiant, and stronger.

I could only assume that holy power was a superior attribute to light.

After all, the undead ghouls had melted away, unable to withstand it.

[Saved Maiden, Jeanne d’Arc]

[Rank: Legendary]

At that moment, I truly realized just how powerful Jeanne was.

‘She may not be as strong as she was in her prime, though.’

During the Hundred Years’ War, Jeanne wielded her sacred banner with incredible might.

She alone illuminated the entire battlefield.

Allies within her light would stand back up, even after being stabbed or trampled by hooves, like living undead.

It was no wonder that the Bishop of Cambrai had disregarded strategy and ordered reckless charges.

Since Jeanne’s holy power had a limit, she could no longer perform miracles on such a large scale.

However, even without that, she was still extraordinary.

In the past, her role might have been limited to that of a healer, but now, her holy power also had offensive capabilities.

It was as if the people’s vague fantasies of “Saint Jeanne d’Arc” had shaped this power.

But more than anything, the best part was…

“Jeanne, is your back okay?”

“Yes, it’s fine.”

Her stigmata were no longer bleeding.

With my biggest concern resolved, I felt at ease.

[C-1 Gate Cleared]

[Clear Rank: SSS]

‘With this, I should be able to enter the Toulon Gate.’

It seemed things were going to be easier than expected.

“Again?! Another SSS rank!”

“I could understand it for D-rank gates, but clearing a C-rank gate with an SSS rank? How is this even possible?”

While Choi Jeosun and Jeanne were clearing the gate, Seoul was buzzing with news of a mysterious hunter.

After clearing all the D-rank gates with SSS ranks, they had now done the same for a C-rank gate.

People were eagerly watching to see how far this streak would continue.

“Isn’t someone messing around?”

“Brother, could you clear eleven gates in a row with an SSS rank, even as a joke?”

“Hmm, no, not even as a joke.”

Ha Jin-woo, the leader of Dawn’s first squad, replied with an awkward expression.

As an A-rank hunter, he was capable of clearing a C-rank gate with an SSS rank, but it wasn’t something he could guarantee every time.

If he made even the slightest mistake, the clear rank would drop immediately—that’s just how gate clearing worked.

But to do it flawlessly, eleven times in a row, from D-rank to C-rank?

And this “incident” was on a whole different level.

“It’s clean. There’s not even a trace left.”

Archbishop Ambrosio of the Yeoksam Cathedral scanned the completely emptied gate with his cloudy eyes.

The gate, which had been full of ghouls, was now spotless.

Not a single corpse or fragment remained.

As if they had all melted away under sunlight.

“Could this be the work of a Connector?”

“He is known to be specialized in the water attribute.”

“That’s right, he did clear the Myeongnyang Gate.”

To withstand the underwater pressure of the Myeongnyang Gate, one had to be specialized in water attributes.

But a water-specialized ability user wiping out ghouls so cleanly?

It wasn’t impossible, but it would require an extreme amount of effort.

The Connector didn’t seem like the kind of person who would go to such obsessive lengths.

And even if it wasn’t the Connector, no ability user of any other attribute could have done this.

Which meant…

“This was a miracle performed by someone blessed by the Lord.”

“So, you’re saying they’re a light-attribute user?”

“Yes. It seems they are deeply loved by Him.”

Light attribute was one thing, but talking about “blessings” and “divine love” seemed excessive.

Ha Jin-woo chuckled awkwardly at Archbishop Ambrosio’s reaction.

But the archbishop, oblivious to that, looked up at the sky with trembling eyes.

“Lord, I have found them.”

As he rolled his rosary beads, tears streamed down his wrinkled cheeks.