KWA-AAANG!!!!!!!! CRASH!!!
All done.
Now I understand why they told me to pray from a distance.
There was no hesitation in her movements as she smashed the altar.
Boldly demolishing the altar entirely, she pulled out an unknown powder from her chest and began sprinkling it over the broken altar.
Thud-thud-thud—
Then, after sprinkling the powder again, she transformed her weapon into a massive hammer and began pounding down with force.
BANG! KWA-AAANG!! BAM!!!
Will my prayer even have an effect?
When it’s being hit like that?
Wouldn’t she be too angry to even hear my words?
‘I should at least try to soothe it.’
I closed my eyes and decided to focus on prayer.
CRACK!
KWA—ANG!!
KAA-AAANG!!!
From a young age, I was harshly trained to focus on prayer.
No matter what happens around me, I must concentrate on the task at hand.
When they said that harsh training would be useful one day, I didn’t believe it.
But surprisingly, the priest was right.
What would I have done if I hadn’t trained so rigorously back then?
‘Priest, you were right.’
Thank you for training me so harshly that I can focus on prayer even in moments like this!
At some point, I could no longer hear the loud crashing sounds.
I prayed with all my heart to guide those freed by the destruction of the dark altar to Him.
Even if they had offered their bodies to the altar believing in the dark god, they wouldn’t have expected to be trapped there for 300 years.
And if they still believe in the dark god…
‘I wouldn’t know about that.’
It’s not my job to judge them.
If I can guide them to Him, they’ll be judged for their deeds in life.
So, my role was simply to lead them to Him for judgment.
I prayed that my prayer would safely guide them to Him.
“It’s over, Priest. You can stop now.”
“…Oh.”
A voice brought me back to reality.
When I opened my eyes, the leader was carefully waking me, and there were quite a few eyes watching us.
“Is it already over?”
It seemed my effort to focus had paid off; everyone around was already searching the area.
If Sister Melody had not dealt with the altar completely, she wouldn’t have let them in, which means the work was already done.
“Yes. You were so deeply focused that we tried not to disturb you, but we’re nearly done with our search now.”
“Oh…”
It was clear that more time had passed than I’d realized.
‘This is a bit embarrassing.’
I could only imagine how ridiculous I must have looked, praying alone so intently.
“You could’ve just called me right away…?”
“We couldn’t interrupt someone praying so devoutly. I’m sorry again.”
I’d caused trouble by focusing unnecessarily deeply.
I’d never been this absorbed in prayer before, so I felt a bit embarrassed.
I hurriedly stood up, thinking I should clean up the temporary prayer room.
“I’ll tidy up immediately.”
“Are your legs okay? You’ve been kneeling for a long time…”
“This much is fine.”
The moment I opened my eyes, I had already healed my numb legs with divine power.
This was one of the first techniques every priest learns.
Think about it.
A priest limping from numb legs after praying in front of worshippers—
‘That would be disgraceful.’
To maintain dignity, priests immediately heal their numb legs with divine power after prayer.
Ordinary people, unaware of this technique, often look in awe at priests standing effortlessly after long prayers.
At times like that, priests firmly keep their composure and humbly assure everyone that they are fine.
After standing up and surveying the surroundings, the altar had completely disappeared, leaving only an empty space.
“Where is Sister Melody?”
“If you go outside, you’ll see her immediately. She’s burning the items from the altar.”
“Oh~! I should head out too. If you find anything suspicious, don’t touch it and call me immediately.”
“Yes. Sister Melody gave us the same instructions.”
As the leader said, the moment I stepped outside, I saw Sister Melody burning the altar’s items.
She was skillfully digging into the frozen ground with a shovel.
It seemed she was planning to bury the remnants of the burned altar.
“Have you finished your prayer?”
“Yes. It seems I was too focused on praying. I didn’t even realize it was over. Is the altar completely dealt with?”
“Yes, thanks to you, it was resolved without major issues. Are you feeling alright?”
“Of course, I was just praying on the side.”
There was no reason for my body to not feel fine.
“You must be tired, though.”
“Prayer is something I’ve always done, so I’m perfectly fine.”
“Do you not realize? The purification of the altar was influenced more by Priest Arthur’s prayer than my power.”
“What?”
I didn’t understand what my prayer had supposedly done.
“I was just praying…”
“That prayer was no ordinary prayer.”
“???”
Sister Melody explained.
At first, it was just an ordinary prayer, and she herself was concentrating on purifying the altar.
While they were following the proper procedure to destroy the altar…
“Suddenly, light began to flow from around your body.”
Light? From my body?
I’m not a firefly—how could light come from a person’s body?
It was baffling, but I decided to stay calm and keep listening.
“That light grew larger and larger. Then, in an instant, it consumed the altar. It expelled all traces of the dark god’s power.”
“Light came from my body?”
“Yes.”
I’m not some saint from an ancient scripture, and the idea of light coming from me just because I prayed sounded absurd.
But she said she saw it with her own eyes, and I had been praying with my eyes closed, unaware of anything.
There was no reason for her to lie, so I had no choice but to believe her.
“When the light faded, there was no trace of the dark god left on the altar. It had become just an ordinary object.”
“So I wasn’t the one who purified the altar. It was a miracle created through Priest Arthur. That’s why I asked if you were tired.”
The altar must have been steeped in the dark god’s presence for a long time.
Even though the altar had been dealt with, letting ordinary people inside so soon felt hasty—but now everything made sense.
“Hmm… I think it’s less something I did and more something he did through me.”
In the end, I chose to hide behind him.
If someone asked me to do it again, I doubted I could.
So my explanation wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
“That might be true. Perhaps he lent his power to defeat the dark god. If something like this happens again, could you pray for us then, too?”
“I can’t guarantee the same thing will happen if I pray again. It wasn’t something I did. But if you wish, I’ll gladly do it anytime.”
Praying wasn’t a particularly difficult task, and if it could help purify dark altars, there was no reason to refuse.
The items from the altar had now become completely ordinary and were buried, rusted, deep in the ground.
Even if someone dug them up again, they would find nothing but useless scraps.
“It would’ve been fine to just leave them, but even leaving traces behind didn’t feel right, so I burned and buried everything properly.”
“You’re thorough. I would’ve done the same—it doesn’t feel right leaving traces behind.”
Discovering a dark god’s altar ultimately meant finding nothing of real value.
Even if the others searched inside, they wouldn’t find anything worthwhile.
And sure enough…
“Did you find anything?”
“No. We wasted our strength for nothing. There’s nothing here.”
The team returned empty-handed, having found only the bones of what seemed to be the heretics’ sacrifices.
Princess Lasiell approached us after receiving the report from the leader.
“Is it normal for dark god altars to be discovered this frequently?”
“It’s quite rare, actually.”
“Yet we’ve encountered them twice now.”
Princess Lasiell didn’t seem pleased about encountering dark god altars twice.
And honestly, her reaction was justified.
Altars of dark gods, filled with curses…
Just laying eyes on one was enough to feel uneasy.
I had my own theory about this.
“I believe this path might have been a route used by heretics.”
“This path? Used by heretics?”
“Yes. That’s likely why we’ve discovered two altars along this route.”
Otherwise, the heretics wouldn’t have foolishly left altars in such accessible places.
Altars aren’t something you can just casually build anywhere.
‘How many lives are sacrificed just for one altar?’
When an altar is destroyed, the power gained from sacrifices also disappears.
The strength they wield depends on that power, so they wouldn’t have placed an altar somewhere easy to find.
‘But here, they were easy to find.’
If the heretics were in their right minds, they wouldn’t have left altars out in the open.
They must have been confident this place wouldn’t be discovered.
“Should we have chosen a different route, as the guide suggested?”
“With me here, what’s there to worry about? This path might have been a disaster for others, but for us, it’s just a small inconvenience.”
Princess Lasiell let out a small laugh at my words.
“Calling an altar of the dark god just a ‘small inconvenience’… It feels almost wrong, but I must admit, it’s reassuring.”
“Even if we encounter more altars in the future, don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”
And then…
“At the end of this path, I believe you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for. In the past, heretics amassed great wealth through vile means. While much of it went into building these altars, there must still be treasures hidden away for personal gain.”