A Sudden Crisis
A situation that came crashing down out of nowhere.
In the face of this life-or-death emergency, my brain worked faster than ever before.
“The left hallway’s blocked. I can hear someone coming down from the upper floor. Is the basement still safe?”
I’ve spent more than eight years on the front lines.
Being surrounded in the middle of enemy territory?
I’ve been through it countless times.
I’ve been trapped in places far worse than this—sealed warehouses, the tops of spires with no escape routes.
And yet, I survived every single time. I might have bled and lost chunks of flesh along the way, but I’ve stubbornly clung to life and made it here.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all those years of experience, it’s this.
In moments like this, staying calm is the absolute priority.
Keeping your head cool is the only way to make proper decisions.
“What in the world is going on, sir?!”
“It’s probably some kind of alarm spell or security mechanism! That’s not what matters right now—grab your stuff and follow me!”
Someone had just mentioned that the floor felt like it was shifting downward, so it was likely some kind of mechanical setup.
Not that it really mattered at the moment.
With the loot we’d quickly gathered strapped to our backs, we dashed down the only hallway that wasn’t blocked.
We kept turning corners to make it harder for anyone following us to track our path.
“Saintess, do you happen to know how many troops are stationed in the Holy See? Or anything about their locations or unit types?”
“I don’t know anything about military matters. I was never informed—apparently, the goddess’ representative doesn’t need to know such things…”
“I figured as much.”
It wasn’t a question I had high hopes for, but her response was still disappointing.
It made me wonder just how the Holy Nation treated the Saintess.
They didn’t even bother briefing her on the army stationed closest to her for protection?
The way she mentioned “hatred” earlier…
Did they lock her up somewhere and abuse or exploit her?
“Sir, up ahead!”
“Oh, great.”
There was no time to dwell on guesses, as enemies suddenly appeared right in front of us.
The Holy See was massive, with pathways branching out all over the place, so they must’ve gotten ahead of us through another route.
“We’ve found the intruders! Everyone, gather at the east—guh!”
“You really shouldn’t go around broadcasting other people’s locations without permission.”
Well, there weren’t that many of them, so taking them down wasn’t exactly a challenge.
One enemy had their carotid artery and windpipe slashed with a greatsword, and their body was hurled to impale the skull of the one behind them.
As the corpse was about to fall, I grabbed and shoved it forward to create a barrier against the remaining enemies while casting a quick ice spell.
“Icicle Lance.”
—Thwack!
It’s a simple spell with power comparable to a weak arrow and is pretty flashy, too.
Honestly, it’s not something you’d use on a battlefield where bullets rain down like a storm.
But the incantation is short, and if you hit someone in the head, it’s more than enough to kill them.
Summoning two or three at a time isn’t hard either.
In other words, it’s highly effective for situations like this—taking out close-range enemies who’ve lost their balance and can’t react.
“All right, let’s move.”
“As expected, your skills are incredible, sir. When I heard you’d taken down hundreds of enemy soldiers on your own, I thought it was an exaggeration.”
“Hundreds? Try thousands. Over ten years, I can’t even count how many necks I’ve personally severed.”
In the blink of an eye, we cleared out an entire squad.
The soldiers couldn’t hide their admiration.
I guess they picked mostly the newer recruits who came in after I stepped off the front lines; they’re impressed by something as minor as this.
Those who served for years alongside me wouldn’t even flinch at this—it’s just standard procedure to them.
Honestly, isn’t mowing down rookies with no combat experience a basic skill for anyone in the revolutionary army?
“Sl-slicing a person’s neck… like slaughtering a pig…”
On the other hand, the Saintess collapsed to the ground, her legs giving out beneath her.
Her eyes filled with fear, and it was clear she’d never seen someone die like that before.
I suppose treating this like any other situation and responding in my usual way was a mistake—I didn’t consider how someone like her would react to such brutal sights.
“Are you all right, Saintess?”
“I-I’m so sorry. I’m not all right at all. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life…”
“This is troublesome.”
If it had been a soldier, I’d have just yelled at them to get up and stop whining.
But she’s not just cooperative; she’s a key ally who’s already expressed her intention to defect. I couldn’t risk offending her.
Clicking my tongue internally, I hoisted the Saintess onto my back.
There wasn’t enough time to let her recover or show her any more kindness.
“Hold on tight. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
“Wh-what? Ah—EEK!”
A soft yet heavy sensation settled on my back, but I ignored it for now.
It was undeniably a delightful and blissful feeling, but there was no time to indulge in such things.
If I let my mind wander even for a second, I’d be truly doomed.
“But isn’t there no point in just running away like this? They’ll keep chasing us,” one of the soldiers pointed out.
“We’re running because I don’t have a way to make them stop chasing us,” I snapped, irritation lacing my voice.
“No matter how well we fight, if they keep swarming us, there’s no way to hold them off forever.”
We attempted to enter an alley, but the path was blocked.
The stables—our best means of escape—were in the direction where the guards were gathering.
With that option sealed, our only choice was to move on foot.
However, if we just bolted out recklessly, it wouldn’t be long before we got spotted again.
If only we had a way to completely block or confuse their pursuit…
Without that, we had no choice but to run, hoping to either gain enough distance or find an empty room to hide in and wait for an opportunity.
“Um, excuse me…”
The Saintess hesitantly called out as I finished explaining the situation.
“If that’s your concern, I might have a solution. If we turn at that corner, there should be one of the tunnels I’ve dug…”
She explained that over the past few days, she had dug escape tunnels all around the Holy See building.
Apparently, thanks to her physical strength enhanced by divine power, she had plenty of energy but no sense of direction, which resulted in dozens of misdirected tunnels.
One of them, as it happened, was located right nearby.
“I’ve covered them with paintings and wallpaper, so no one but me would be able to find them from the outside. How about we hide in one of them for a while?”
“Not a bad idea, but…”
As I mulled over her suggestion, a brilliant idea struck me.
“Saintess, do any of those tunnels lead to the armory or the powder magazine?”
“The powder magazine? Of course. If we go two sections over, there’s one that leads there,” she replied without hesitation.
Hiding was a good idea, sure. But what was even better? Active sabotage.
If something was breaking down, burning, or blowing up, they wouldn’t be able to focus solely on chasing us.
If the warehouse was packed with military-grade gunpowder, it was an ideal target.
Conveniently, we had just the right tools for the job.
“It’s close by. Georg!”
“Yes, sir!”
“I’ll hand you all the fuses and grenades we’ve got. Head there with Gunter and set it up so it explodes after a delay. We’ll regroup at the bushes outside.”
“Understood!”
The grenades of this era weren’t like the 21st-century ones where you pulled a pin and threw.
These were more akin to bombs that required lighting a fuse—a compact, lightweight version of something like the Bigyeokjincheolloe from Joseon-era Korea.
This meant that tying several grenades together with fuses essentially created a makeshift time bomb.
“We’ll wait outside. Staying in the building when it blows won’t do us any good,” I added.
Georg and Gunter gave sharp salutes, fully understanding the plan, and disappeared down the hallway.
We climbed out of a window and hid in the overgrown bushes in the Holy See’s garden, waiting quietly.
Before long, the soldiers returned, panting and sweating.
“I-it’s done, sir. It’ll explode in about a minute.”
“Good work. Here, have some water.”
With a mix of hope and nervousness, we waited.
And sure enough, the explosion went off.
-KWA-KWA-KA-KA-KABOOM!!!
-RUMBLE…RUMBLE…
“…Huh?”
It was far, far more catastrophic than we had anticipated.
Why did it turn out like this?
To understand, we need to examine two facts that Carolus was unaware of.
First, over the past few weeks, the Saintess had produced a massive amount of rubble while digging her escape tunnels.
Broken walls, shards of flooring, and other debris didn’t magically disappear.
That was to be expected.
But where had all that debris gone, given the lack of space to dispose of it?
Simple.
She used divine power.
With the overwhelming authority of the goddess coursing through her, she had performed the miracle of material decomposition.
Originally, the Saintess had repurposed a divine technique meant for cleaning up patients’ bodily waste and bloodstains.
While it allowed her to successfully dispose of the rubble without drawing attention, there was something critical she had overlooked.
Carelessly, she only dealt with the visible piles of debris and neglected the air.
In other words, the dust and fine particles floating around in the dug-out tunnels were left untouched.
As everyone knows, if dust isn’t properly managed, it can easily lead to explosions.
With dozens of such dust-filled tunnels spread throughout the Holy See, it was as if the entire building had been laced with hidden fuses.
“If any one spot ignites, the fire will spread instantly.”
On top of this, the Holy See itself was a remodeled fortress that dated back hundreds of years.
Its long history and numerous expansions over the centuries had made the layout incredibly complex—so much so that even the Holy Nation didn’t have a complete understanding of its internal structure.
Among the forgotten and abandoned spaces were, unsurprisingly, storage rooms filled with gunpowder or food supplies.
Some of these rooms were packed with flour that had rotted over centuries, while others were loaded with ancient, deteriorated gunpowder.
To make matters worse, the Holy See was also filled with flammable luxury items.
Once a fire started, it became almost impossible to extinguish.
In such a disaster-prone environment, deliberately starting a fire inside? The result was predictable.
“The Holy See is collapsing!!”
“Everyone, run! Forget the loot for now, just get out of the building if you value your lives!!”
“Evacuate His Holiness first! Get him to safety no matter what!!”
And the result?
Everything burned.
And everything exploded.
Small mushroom clouds rose here and there, shattering glass windows as flames consumed the building.
The intricately decorated exterior walls were scorched black, and flaming bodies and debris rained down to the ground.
The once-pristine white oil paintings, exuding a sense of classical beauty, burned with the acrid smell of oil.
Silks imported from Daiching, once symbols of wealth, were reduced to mere kindling.
The destruction was so massive that it was clearly visible from dozens of kilometers away.
It was as if the Holy See had become a giant, extravagant campfire, illuminating the Holy Nation just like Dong Zhuo’s human lanterns once lit up Chang’an.
And as for Carolus and his group…
“…Let’s just pretend we didn’t see anything.”
“…Agreed.”
They promptly fled from reality.
