How the Cult Saves the World

Terdius' gaze became colder as he looked at Khalid. His lips slowly parted.

"Five Apostles, weren't you looking for me?"

Khalid twisted his mouth and looked at Terdius.

"Yeah. The First Apostle was nagging me because you didn't show up. Annoying. Well, at least I found someone I like thanks to you."

Khalid smiled innocently like a pure boy. But Terdius' expression didn't change much.

"Then, let's return."

Khalid raised an eyebrow.

"Already? It's getting interesting now. I've tamed those dogs."

Khalid pointed at the Cartel Village with his finger. Terdius followed the hand with his eyes.

He saw Leviathan's group confronting the humanized darkwolf leader in Cartel Village. The young paladin of Kyros Faith charged at the darkwolf leader, and Leviathan, who had a mace in his hand, also looked for an opening.

They seemed to be aiming for the Black Arc.

But their movements were,

"Clumsy."

As Khalid said, they were very clumsy. Khalid laughed out loud.

"Oh, really. That guy, you know. He has such poor skills, but he doesn't fear me at all?"

Khalid laughed until tears came out of his eyes. He wiped his eyes and his eyes sparkled again. Khalid's pupils reflected the moonlight and shone brightly.

Terdius read madness in those eyes.

"I heard that guy is the leader of a religion called Kyros Faith."

Khalid looked at his own hand. He remembered the light that flowed out of Leviathan's body a few minutes ago. He pursed his lips. It was obvious that the strange power was the power of the Kyros Faith.

"How about this, Third Apostle? You take care of Kyros Faith and bring him to me?"

Terdius knew better than anyone that Khalid's suggestion was sincere.

He also knew very well that Khalid was persistent.

Terdius' brows furrowed. What the hell was Leviathan doing, attracting such a weird guy?

'He should have just stayed in Rovel. Why did he come to this forest?'

Terdius swallowed a sigh and answered indifferently.

"Don't move without Diego's order. Unless you want to increase the divine punishment."

"Tsk, boring."

Khalid pouted his lips, but Terdius ignored him.

"Let's go back."

At that, Khalid dusted off his seat and got up. In an instant, the two shadows disappeared into the darkness.

I swallowed a dry saliva. It was not easy to catch the movements of the black werewolf who was quite fast in the dark village where the sunstone disappeared.

Clang---!

The long claws of the Darkwolf leader and Chester's sword clashed again. Whenever there was a gap in the Darkwolf leader, I tried to intervene to remove the Black Arc, but it was not easy to withstand the power of the Darkwolf leader, who had changed into a human form.

-I can feel the evil energy of the snake from that beast's forehead. He must be fighting with the power of the snake.

'Yes. The guy we met earlier gave him that gift to the darkwolves. He's an apostle of Diego Faith.'

-I see. Oh dear, are you okay?

Kyros asked with a worried tone. I didn't answer right away. I put my mace in my inventory and answered Kyros,

'I have to try.'

I was useless in close combat anyway. Even if I trained with Fanatic, it was only to increase my stamina. I didn't have professional knowledge like Chester.

Chester was not pushed back by the powerful power of the Darkwolf leader. Rather, he seemed to learn the movements of the Darkwolf leader as time passed.

Whik~ Paat!!

Zain also shot arrows whenever there was a chance, but it didn't mean much to the Darkwolf leader.

Alphius was also busy protecting the villagers.

Then there was only one thing left.

'...I can do it.'

I clenched my fists and opened my mouth.

"Chester! Can you hold down that wolf's movements for a moment?"

Clang!

Chester was pushed back by the claws of the wolfman again.

"I'll try!"

He looked determined as he fought with the werewolf.

If there was a gap just for a moment, it wouldn't take long to defeat the Darkwolf leader.

Then, Chester flew high into the air. He aimed at the head of the Darkwolf leader and swung his sword hard.

The Darkwolf leader also read the attack and raised both arms, crossing his long claws to block it.

'Now!'

I immediately put my hands together and aimed at the Darkwolf leader. And then,

Hwaaak---

I released my holy power.

It was not like before, when I shot with one hand, but I gathered all the holy power in my body with both hands.

Although I felt like all the strength in my body was sucked out, the thickness of the holy power I released was twice as thick as before.

Kraaa!!

My holy power hit the forehead of the Darkwolf leader.

Finally,

Crack---

The Black Arc cracked and began to break.

-Well done, well done, my child!

I smiled and wiped the sweat on my forehead.

No matter if it was a fake, it was still a bead that contained the power of an evil god.

The power of an evil god and the power of Kyros were opposite forces. And what I used to break the Black Arc was pure holy power in itself.

He couldn't withstand it.

I had to use up most of the holy power I had, but,

Kraaaa!

The Darkwolf leader with a broken Black Arc, roared. He swung his arms wildly, but the Darkwolf leader was already turning into black dust from his toes and disappearing.

Feet, legs, torso, and finally face. The Darkwolf leader was gone.

"We, we survived...!"

Someone sighed from behind, and the villagers rejoiced.

"The darkwolves are all dead!"

"We survived, we survived!"

I listened to their hopeful voices and wiped the sweat on my forehead.

'I'm exhausted.'

I wanted to sit down and rest right away, but I barely endured it for my dignity. Then my companions came to me.

"Leader! You were so cool!"

"You were awesome!"

Alphius and Cyril were very happy.

"Phew. That was hard. Good job, master."

Zain said he hadn't used a bow for a long time and rubbed my shoulder.

Chester was still standing in the same spot even though the battle was over. Somehow, his back looked gloomy.

I went straight to Chester and patted his shoulder.

"Chester, good job. You did very well."

"Le, Leader..."

Chester looked up at me with moist eyes.

"I'm sorry for making you step in. If I had been stronger, I could have defeated him faster..."

Oh no. He was even worried about that.

"No, Chesi. You fought really well. I could defeat him because you were there."

"Leader..."

I hugged Chester who was sobbing and I stroked his round head.

It wasn't that Chester was weak. Rather, Chester fought very well.

A Black Arc that should have appeared in the mid-game appeared in what was almost a tutorial. The battle had to be difficult.

If Kyros Faith's influence had been a little stronger, Chester would have won.

So I had to expand Kyros Faith's influence as soon as possible.

The power of the paladins, the holy power, and the origin are all from Kyros.

All of these things become stronger in proportion to their faith, the power of Kyros.

'This damn game.'

I cursed the game in my mind as I let go of Chester from my arms. Then, someone ran up to me.

"Leader!"

It was Kess, the gatekeeper.

"Thank you so much."

Kess smiled brightly and bowed his head to me and Chester.

"Thank you, too, knight! No, thank you all!"

I put on a business smile.

"It's nothing. I just did what I had to do."

Then Kess and the villagers behind him looked moved. Good. I started to talk.

"Now all the darkwolves in this forest are gone. The magic that the Darkwolf leader had cast on the forest must have disappeared too, so you can get out of this forest."

Then, Kess and the others choked up.

"Oh, really..."

Kess even shed tears.

[You have saved 16 villagers of the Cartel Village!]

I smiled happily as I saw the system window that appeared at the same time.

[Sub Quest 'Salvation' 3. <Savior of Cartel Village> cleared!]

[Sub Quest reward will be sent to your inventory.]

'Good. Quest cleared.'

I opened my inventory right away, and there were five shining lottery tickets in one slot. Ah, really. I came all the way here to get this.

'I did a good job, me.'

I praised myself when another message window appeared.

[15 of the villagers who were saved by you are interested in Kyros Faith!]

Oh, they are interested? I can't miss this.

I put on a business smile again and approached the villagers. Zain, who met my eyes, smirked.

'This guy...'

Hmm, I cleared my throat and spoke to them.

"You all have suffered a lot. It must have been hard for you in this dark forest, because of the evil monsters. But, don't be afraid anymore."

As soon as they heard that, tears started to flow from their eyes.

At that moment, Cyril came up to me at the right time. He bowed his head and thanked me.

"Leader, thank you."

I lifted him up by his waist and spoke in a warm voice.

"It's nothing, Brother Cyril. I just came to this village as Kyros led me."

As I spoke, I glanced at their reactions. They looked happier, so it was obvious that they were hooked.

I didn't give them a chance and attacked them with my words.

"Kyros loves everyone. Even if you walk a different path, Kyros will be with you."

-How can you express my heart so well? You are truly my first child!

Yes, yes! That is me!

"Oh, Kyros..."

"We were saved by him."

"Yeah, if Cyril hadn't prayed to Kyros, we would have been the darkwolves' food without a fight."

The people praised our achievements in their own ways.

And then.

[15 villagers of the Cartel Village became believers of Kyros Faith!]

I barely held back the smile that was about to reach my ears.

Although it was a very small village with a very low population, 15 out of 16 became followers of the Kyros Faith.

The only one who couldn't accept Kyros Faith was obviously the elder who was reddening alone.

'It's a shame that I couldn't persuade everyone, but what can I do?'

I did my best too.

At that moment, another notification followed.

[You have converted Diego Faith's believers into Kyros Faith's believers for the first time!

[Caution! The evil god Diego may detect a slight change!]

...What?