Record of a Thousand Lives

Chapter 154

Ravotel ordered the Templar Knights, “Search the plains! We’ll hold a funeral for our fallen knights.”

“What should we do about the dead monsters?” one of the Templar Knights asked.

Ravotel glanced at the monsters and said, “Collect them too. They were our comrades, and fought alongside us. We’ll hold a funeral for them as well.”

“Yes, sir!” The Templar Knights responded, then scattered.

Afterward, they held a funeral for the deceased at the now-ruined cathedral.

Reanna asked, “What will you do now?”

“I’ll be leaving,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“To do what?” Reanna asked.

“Unify the religions,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“…” Reanna’s eyes shot open, but she did not really say anything.

Kang Yoon-Soo got up before dawn while everyone was sleeping.

“Are you going alone?” someone asked.

Kang Yoon-Soo turned around and saw Rekil. He replied, “Yeah.”

“Can a church leader abandon his congregation like this?” Rekil asked.

“From the beginning, I taught that they should learn how to survive on their own without depending on others,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Oh yeah… Then I guess it can’t be said that you’re abandoning them,” Rekil said with a sigh. He mumbled, “You appear out of nowhere and disappear like the wind.”

Then, he suddenly stopped mumbling and exclaimed, “Oh right! I have something to ask!”

“What is it?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.

“Tell me your name. It’s been quite a while since we met, but I still don’t know your name,” Rekil said.

“Kang Yoon-Soo,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“What a strange name,” Rekil grumbled.

Kang Yoon-Soo’s body slowly floated upward.

Rekil crossed his arms over his chest and said, “Anyway, take care of yourself if you’re going, Kang Yoon-Soo.”

“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied before flying off into the horizon.

Rekil stared at the skeleton until he could no longer see it. Then, he scratched his head and grumbled, “Take care of yourself… What the hell did I just say to a skeleton…?”

He had left the Church of Sylphia, and the Skeleton Church Leader was gone as well. Rekil had a dilemma, as he no longer had a god to believe in. What would he and his sister do from now on? He wondered, ‘Should I look for a new religion?’

As Rekil was thinking, the sun eventually started to rise on the horizon. He muttered, “Ah…”

The sun was rising, spreading its warmth all over the plains.

“That’s right,” he muttered, remembering what the Skeleton Church Leader had said. “Only you can save yourself.”

Rekil walked over to his sister to wake her up.

The sun had risen, and it was the start of a new day.

***

Kang Yoon-Soo had planned to unify the religions, but it would have taken a long time to achieve that if he were to convince the humans. Thus, he had thought, ‘I’m going to preach to the monsters instead.’

That was the exact reason why he had built a cathedral and preached to the monsters in the first place. Humans were bound to put up strong resistance if Kang Yoon-Soo tried to absorb their religions, but most monsters did not have a religion in the first place.

Thus, Kang Yoon-Soo went around to various monster habitats.

[192 species of monsters on the continent believe in the Church of Madness at present.]

[A multitude of monsters have started to believe in the Church of Madness.]

[A clue has been given as to how you may achieve religious unification among the monsters.]

[To achieve religious unification among the monsters, you will need to convert five boss monsters and make them believe in the Church of Madness.]

Current Boss Monsters Converted:

Phoenix

Remaining Boss Monsters: 4

‘I don’t have much time left,’?Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

There were only two days left before the Full Moon of Darkness, and the third trial would end in three days.

‘I should have had more time than this…’?he thought.

He had wasted a lot of time to construct the cathedral and kill the Bone Dragon. The difficulty level of the third trial had gone up a notch because he intended to collect the bonus reward as well.

‘I have to convert the next monster,’?he thought.

Kang Yoon-Soo moved as quickly as he could. He was able to greatly reduce his travel time after evolving into the Immortal Church Leader because of his ability to fly. The place he flew toward was the Desert of Death.

‘It’s been a while,’?he thought as he stood in front of the lair of the Ignus Dragon. He entered the dragon’s lair after scaling the volcano it nested in.

The salamanders appeared the moment he entered the lair.

“It’s a skeleton!”

“How dare an undead try and enter this lair?!”

Unlike the previous time, Kang Yoon-Soo had no time to waste on the spirits. Thus, he ignored the salamanders. The spirits were enraged by the fact that he had passed them without even pretending to have heard them.

“What a rude skeleton! Why don’t you have a taste of this!”

“See what happens if you make a spirit angry!”

The spirits’ flames set Kang Yoon-Soo’s body ablaze.

[Overwhelmingly hot flames have covered your bones!]

[You will not die due to the immortal trait of the Immortal Church Leader.]

[Your followers’ faith is maxed out.]

[Your bones will not melt in spite of the overwhelmingly hot flames.]

“W-What the hell is this skeleton?”

“We aren’t making a dent in it?!”

Kang Yoon-Soo continued walking, even as the salamanders were in shock. The salamanders continued to follow him from behind while shooting their arrows and swinging their hammers, but he did not sustain even a single scratch from their attacks.

“I-It dares to enter this deep into the lair!”

“That skeleton is crazy!”

“The owner of this lair will kill us if we take a single step beyond this point!”

The salamanders stopped following Kang Yoon-Soo when he entered the depths of the dragon’s lair. The deeper he went, the hotter the air grew.

At the end of the corridor, an ogre with bulging red muscles charged at Kang Yoon-Soo while holding a greatsword, yelling, “Kruoooh!”

Kang Yoon-Soo clenched his bony hand, and a dark, sinister aura emanated from it. The aura coiled around the ogre, then tore it to shreds.

Kwachiiik!

Kang Yoon-Soo walked past the ogre that had been reduced to strips of meat. Once he reached the deepest part of the lair, a loud, booming voice greeted him. “How arrogant of you to intrude into my lair. Do you not value your life?”

“I need your help in the battle to come, Ignus Dragon,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied. The large creature before him rose to its feet, towering over him. The Ignus Dragon looked exactly like the last time he had seen her.

The Ignus Dragon breathed a stream of fire toward Kang Yoon-Soo, hitting him head-on. However, even as he was hit by the dragon’s fire, his bones instantly regenerated.

The Ignus Dragon cried, “Dragons are neutral beings! Do you really think I would involve myself in a fight between insignificant creatures?! How foolish!”

Kang Yoon-Soo knew very well how to convince the dragon, as the trials all took place in the past. He might have hatched the dragon’s egg back in reality, but the Ignus Dragon in this trial was still mourning over her dragon egg that would not hatch.

“I will help you hatch your child if you help me,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“Silence! Such a thing is impossible!” the Ignus Dragon roared.

“You can save your child if you listen to me. Look at me; I came back from the dead. I can promise you that your child will not resurrect as an undead, but rather, will come back to life as a living being,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“…Tell me more in detail,” the Ignus Dragon said.

Kang Yoon-Soo managed to convince the Ignus Dragon through his lies. Thus, the dragon moved according to his will, due to her strong desire to save her child.

Kang Yoon-Soo would not have lied to the dragon in reality, as he would then have to worry about the dragon hunting him down, but this world was only a temporary one created for the sake of the trial. Whatever happened during the trial had no influence over reality, and he would be free to leave as soon as he cleared it, so there was no reason for him to concern himself with the consequences.

“Believe in the Church of Madness,” Kang Yoon-Soo said. He added, “I also need your close friends.”

The past had more active dragons compared to the present.

***

It was a period in time when religion ruled over everything. The Church of Sylphia held the highest authority in the present Reorkan Empire, and its main cathedral was the strongest building in the entire empire, which no fortress or castle could compare to. The cathedral, which was built in an elevated location, was the headquarters of the church; it was also a training ground for their troops.

‘They wouldn’t be able to bring this place down even if all the soldiers in the empire attacked at the same time,’?the current head of the Church of Sylphia, Ravelstir, thought while sipping on his tea. He smiled as he mused, ‘I’ll finally be able to achieve religious unification in the?not-so-distant?future.’

The cathedral was merely a stepping stone for his true goal.

‘I’ll swallow the empire whole using religion,’?he thought, his eyes glittering.

That was the main reason why Ravelstir, who had once been the strongest black magician on the continent, had hidden his past and become the head of the church. He dreamt of taking control of the entire empire and using it to build a world where he ruled supreme.

‘Come to think of it… What happened to Rawelkan?’?Ravelstir wondered, feeling perturbed.

He had sent his old disciple, whom he had locked up, to get rid of the thing called the Skeleton Church Leader after it became a thorn in his side. However, it had been quite a while since Rawelkan last contacted him.

‘What a useless fool,’?he thought, clicking his tongue.

Ravelstir did not really care whether Rawelkan was dead or alive. However, the fact that Rawelkan had failed to kill the Skeleton Church Leader was quite unsettling to him.

It was then that someone suddenly opened the door. One of Ravelstir’s disciples entered with a pale, horror-stricken face, shouting, “C-Church Leader-nim! It’s an emergency!”

Ravelstir hated having his tea time disturbed, but he tried his best to avoid showing any agitation as he asked, “What is the matter?”

“D-Dragon… There’s a dragon!” the disciple exclaimed.

“Calm down. What are you talking about?” Ravelstir asked.

“A dragon! A dragon is heading for our cathedral!” the disciple cried, trembling uncontrollably.

However, Ravelstir gently smiled and replied, “Is that so? A dragon is heading for our cathedral? Worry not. Why do you think we trained thousands of soldiers? Was it not for moments like this? We will not lose to a dragon as long as we are under the protection of goddess Sylphia.”

Ravelstir was not saying baseless, empty words to calm his disciple down. He was actually quite confident that his army would be able to handle a single dragon. Apart from that, he had already prepared various sacrifices hidden in the basement of the cathedral. The blood of those sacrifices would amplify the strength of his army.

‘My followers grow stronger?with?every offering?I sacrifice. That’s right, a single dragon isn’t going to pose a threat against me,’?he thought confidently.

However, the disciple shook his head and said, “It isn’t a single dragon...”

“What do you mean by that?” Ravelstir asked, furrowing his brow. The disciple pulled the curtains open, and Ravelstir looked out of the window.

Three dragons were flying toward the cathedral.

***

The ruler of the Desert of Death, the Ignus Dragon.

The owner of the Equile Ice Mountains, the Ice Dragon.

The great power of the tropical forests, the Dust Dragon.

The three dragons, said to be the strongest creatures on the continent, flew side by side toward the cathedral.

While riding on the neck of the Ignus Dragon, Kang Yoon-Soo thought, ‘I have no time to waste.’

Current Boss Monsters Converted:

Phoenix

Ignus Dragon

Ice Dragon

Dust Dragon

Remaining Boss Monsters: 1

It was the last day of the third trial.

‘I have to convert the final boss monster before the moon rises tonight,’?Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

It was not possible to clear the trial by converting a normal boss monster; he had to convert a boss monster that was at least on par with the phoenix or the dragons to do so. That said, he had no time to convert any of the other dragons, as he would not make it in time.

Therefore, Kang Yoon-Soo decided to focus his attention on the main cathedral of the Church of Sylphia, where the final boss monster was. However, it would have been impossible for him to intrude on that place due to its extremely strong security, if not for the three dragons accompanying him.

“Start the siege,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“I am only taking sides this time because the enemy is a corrupted church, and because I am doing this for my child. Remember your promise,” the Ignus Dragon said with a threatening growl.

The other two dragons spoke as well.

“There is no way that thing would have lied if it knew the consequences of lying to a dragon. I will trap it in ice for the rest of its meager life if it turns out to be lying.”

“I really hope that you will be able to save our noonim’s child.”

“I don’t lie,” Kang Yoon-Soo lied once again, then jumped off the dragon.

The three dragons flew swiftly toward the cathedral; they were greeted by a rain of arrows and magic that barely grazed their scales.

“Kruuuuuwaaah!”

The Dust Dragon spewed acid that melted the walls of the cathedral, and the two other dragons breathed out fire and ice as they laid siege to the cathedral.

Kang Yoon-Soo used the diversion created by the dragons to sneak into the cathedral, but he soon found himself face-to-face with the Templar Knights guarding the interior.

“A monster has invaded the cathedral!”

“Hurry up and kill it!”

These Templar Knights were much stronger than ordinary ones, as their stats had been greatly amplified by the sacrifices.

[You have sustained a strong impact!]

[You have been hit by 147 arrows.]

[You have been cut by swords and stabbed with spears.]

[You have been inflicted with enough damage to crush all of your bones.]

[However, you have escaped death due to the special trait of your evolution.]

[You have absorbed the divine power embedded within the enemy’s weapons.]

[Your repeated escapes from death have slowly begun to use up your power of immortality.]

Kang Yoon-Soo gathered dark divine power in his hands and swung them toward the Templar Knights, flinging them backward and crushing their plate armor and bones.

The cathedral was in chaos due to the rampaging dragons. Most of the troops had mobilized to deal with the dragons, and only the bare minimum had been left behind to guard the interior

‘I have to reach the top of the cathedral,’?Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

The top of the cathedral was protected by a barrier, so it was impossible to sneak in through the window. The only way to reach it was by climbing up the stairs inside the cathedral.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo did not climb the stairs, but rather flew up instead. He came into contact with a group of guards, but he easily took care of them by using his divine power. He broke the door down and entered the room at the top.

“Ahk! Undead!” a disciple screamed in surprise.

Kang Yoon-Soo used his divine power to instantly kill the disciple.

“What the hell are you?” Ravelstir asked, furrowing his brow.

Kang Yoon-Soo replied, “I know you’re a lich, Ravelstir.”

The gentle look disappeared from Ravelstir’s face as he asked with an icy expression, “What do you want?”

“Change your religion. Now,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

Kang Yoon-Soo had just ordered the head of the largest church on the continent to convert.