Chapter 101

I looked at the dazzling pure white light bursting from my hands and broke into a wide smile.

“Watch closely!”

I stepped a little away and placed both hands on the pitch black ground. This place was already corrupted, even the soil stained black.

‘Come to think of it, this is my first time using a skill on the ground?’

My heart started racing for the first time in a while.

The main character, the Pope, purifying nature.

Flaaaash!

It was a moment that gave players a huge sense of awe in the game too.

From beneath my feet, the pitch black corruption slowly began to fade away.

Purification pushed out filth and corruption.

And sometimes, it even brought life sprouting back into nature.

Pop!

A tiny sprout pushed up from the ground, and I smiled faintly.

Ah, that’s cute.

“W-what, what, what, what is that?!”

Thud!

I didn’t even need to see the result to know what happened.

Because when I turned my head, Alexa Michelle was there, pale as if she had seen a ghost.

She had fallen flat on her butt.

“Waa, waaaah! Did you see that? You saw it, right?!”

“Alexa, calm down.”

“Move your face, Bernard! This is insane!”

It wasn’t just Alexa who was shocked.

“I-it’s real, it’s real! I can tell even better because I’m a priest! That’s purification, the one only passed down in legends!!”

“Priest Ern, you’re blocking the view!”

The others hurried over too. Honestly, they were all so tall it felt a bit overwhelming.

Even Bernard, who usually spoke the least, looked at the sprout in amazement.

“Captain, this is truly a living… sprout.”

“…”

And Daddy was looking at me with a complicated expression, like he had a lot to say.

‘He looks surprised. But this is…’

Pity.

“…You really are the Pope.”

Daddy trailed off, his voice almost catching, before murmuring quietly.

“Then someone this small and young… has to stand on the front lines from now on?”

I widened my eyes.

Wow, even though I already knew this line… hearing it in person felt different.

The hero Derek laments that the Pope is such a young child.

After all, he himself had to stand on the front lines at just sixteen.

He must understand that burden and feeling better than anyone.

I smiled as if I didn’t know.

“Now it’s proven, right?”

The members of the Azure Holy Knights, who had been admiring me, all froze at once.

They had similarly complicated expressions like Daddy.

“Um, Captain. Do we now have to escort that child, I mean, His Holiness, to the Order?”

“…W-will that be okay?”

Everyone grew serious. Especially Alexa, whose voice was loud.

“Is it really okay to send them into an Order that’s already rotten to the core these days? No matter how I see it, they’ll just get used…”

“Come on, Lady Alexa, you should phrase that more gently.”

They all looked serious.

Then it happened.

“W-woaaah!!”

Priest Ern, who had been quiet for a moment, suddenly screamed.

Everyone turned their heads. With all eyes on him, Ern stood awkwardly and gave an uneasy smile.

He bowed his head slightly while staying frozen in place.

“Um, everyone… I’m sorry. I’m really sorry!!”

“What is it, what happened?”

“H-haha…”

Ern slowly pointed at his feet.

“I think… I may have stepped on one of the ‘buttons’ of the paranormal phenomenon?”

“What?!”

At that moment.

Not just beneath Ern’s feet, but under all of us, a massive black hole split open with a crack.

“You idiot!!! I told you to be careful!!”

“Aaaah, I’m sorry!!”

Starting with Ern, black vines shot out from the hole and wrapped around him, dragging him in.

Of course, the same thing happened to me.

The moment my body tilted.

Thump!

A slightly less solid embrace than I remembered caught me.

“It’s alright, don’t worry. Your Holiness.”

Young Daddy held me as we fell into the pit together.

His expression was serious and resolute.

“No matter what happens, I’ll protect you.”

At those words, I swallowed what I wanted to say.

Sorry, Daddy.

Actually, no matter what we did, we were going to fall anyway…

Because this is the main event of this chapter.

Alright, let’s go grow stronger!

* * *

Step.

We had fallen for quite a while, but Daddy landed lightly on the ground.

‘Oh, that was like a movie hero.’

I quietly admired it and looked around.

Where we stood looked like a massive arena.

Something like an ancient Greek colosseum.

But the members of the Azure Holy Knights, who should have fallen first, were nowhere to be seen.

“I don’t see my subordinates. I can’t even sense their presence.”

“Will they be okay?”

Daddy adjusted his hold on me slightly.

Strangely enough, even though Daddy at this age should also be awkward holding a child,

this embrace felt just like the Daddy outside, the present one, when he held me.

“Don’t worry. My subordinates are all strong enough to protect themselves.”

Ah, when Daddy was younger, his smile felt different.

It matched his age, fresh and bright, which made me feel strange.

‘In Korea, that would make him a high school or college student right now.’

And yet at that age, he was fighting on the front lines to save the world…

Even though he looked concerned about his fallen subordinates,

I didn’t really need to worry.

‘We’ll see them soon anyway.’

Because I already knew.

Rumble!

At that moment, the arena floor beneath Daddy’s feet began to shake.

“This is bad, there’s nowhere to evade…!”

The entire ground was trembling like an earthquake, and it was too wide to escape.

Rrrrrrrk!

“Look over there!”

Pretending not to know, I pointed up at the sky.

From the ceiling, a large rectangular iron cage chained with metal links was descending.

“W-what is that?”

“Uh? Captain!!”

And inside the cage were the Azure Holy Knights who had fallen before us.

“…What is that supposed to be?”

But the four of them looked strange. And for good reason.

Boom! Boom! Boom boom boom!

Bernard had three massive drums in front of him, each as big as he was, his hands tied to drumsticks, forced to play them.

Clang! Clang! Claaang!

Next to him, Lilia held something like cymbals.

Bwooo!

Priest Ern was blowing a trumpet.

And finally, Alexa Michelle was beating a slightly smaller drum than Bernard’s.

Her hands were tied to drumsticks as well.

“Captain! My hands won’t stop moving!!”

That was Alexa’s last shout before I couldn’t look at them anymore.

Rumble!

As the shaking ground stopped, far in the distance, from the crack in the split earth.

A massive earthen statue emerged.

It had multiple arms and countless eyes, like some grotesque Buddha statue.

The largest eye among them snapped open.

‘Wow, seeing it in person, it’s even bigger and scarier.’

While I was admiring it, Daddy quickly stepped back while holding me.

“Bear with it even if you feel dizzy…!”

I understood why he suddenly moved.

Soon, the ground where we had been standing, along with the surrounding land, began to distort.

Crash.

The ground collapsed.

And in its place, blazing red lava began to boil up.

And above the lava, only a single rock floated.

Just a few steps away from us.

Almost like it was inviting us to step onto it.

I calmly looked at the situation.

This was the trial we had to overcome in this chapter.

‘The Whispering Stepping Stones.’