Chapter 67: Black Fangs vs. Holy Church (6)

Caron once again checked the condition of the spring he was submerged in.

The Treasury of Stars.

The Hand of Grace.

The Seal of Radiance.

These were all holy relics that had etched their names into history.

Even within the crimson blood, they had not lost their brilliance, gleaming brightly.

And then there were the bones and flesh.

With the addition of the main ingredient from the Grail stored in the warehouse, the miraculous spring was restored to its former state...

No, perhaps it was now radiating an even more powerful energy than before.

In hindsight, it was only natural.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the entirety of the Holy Church’s power was concentrated here.

...With this, all preparations were complete.

Every card that could be played had been gathered. There were no more cards left to prepare.

Now, the only thing remaining... was the final battle.

“Your Eminence, if I may be so bold, are you sure this is alright?”

His subordinate asked anxiously.

It was only natural.

After all, this was nothing short of a gamble. A gamble where everything was at stake.

But there was no other choice.

There were no alternatives left.

It was all or nothing—either they would seize everything, or lose everything and fall into ruin.

This battle had already entered such a stage.

“I don’t mean to doubt you, but given the circumstances, wouldn’t it be better to wait for the others and ensure everything is perfect...?”

The subordinate hesitantly suggested, but it was clear what he truly wanted to say.

He was asking, was this really okay? Could they really win?

What if they lost everything in the end?

However, without a moment’s hesitation, Caron laid down and submerged his entire body in the red spring.

Lose?

What kind of foolish question was that?

No one enters a war expecting to lose.

Therefore...

They would win.

No matter what, they would win.

With that resolve, Caron closed his eyes.

An overwhelming sense of omnipotence surged through his body.

Caron clasped his hands together and prayed with unwavering determination.

This time, for real, it was time to invade the mind of the Black Fangs’ leader.

A consciousness endlessly drifting.

The scenery before his eyes changed hundreds, thousands of times.

After what seemed like an eternity...

‘...Did I succeed?’

Caron had finally reached the mental world.

...No, could this really be called arrival?

The place was too desolate.

Surely, a person’s mental world should be more vibrant. But this place was strangely empty.

What he could sense...

Was love.

Even though it must have been protected by overwhelming divine power, a deep affection reached him faintly.

A maddening, obsessive love directed towards just one person.

Caron instinctively realized.

Something was definitely wrong.

The voice echoed around the same time.

There shouldn’t have been any voices in a mental world, yet a chilling voice brushed against his ear.

Caron turned his head to find the source of the sound.

And then...

He came face to face with it.

A monster made of dark shadows.

A black wolf, grinning ominously as if something amused it.

The wolf slowly approached him.

With it, the ominous black shadow followed, seemingly ready to devour him at any moment.

The wolf continued to spout nonsensical words.

“Stay back!”

But Caron couldn’t make sense of what the wolf was saying.

Because Caron knew exactly what that wolf was.

The incident from 11 years ago, told to him by the Pope.

The Beast King, who was surely betrayed by the Emperor in his final moments, now stood before him.

Caron’s mind raced.

Could he defeat this wolf in this situation?

Could he overcome it and escape safely from here?

Even in the best-case scenario, the odds were fifty-fifty.

Assuming the wolf was weaker than in its prime, it was still fifty-fifty.

And even if he did manage to win, there was another problem.

He couldn’t afford to hold back against an opponent like this.

Even if he used all his strength to win here, what good would that do if he couldn’t then deal with the leader of the Black Fangs?

...No matter how he thought about it, there was no solution.

He couldn’t see a way to achieve his goal and get out of this situation unscathed.

As Caron stood there, sweating and facing off against the wolf, it happened.

“...What?”

In an instant, the ominous energy that had been swirling around him vanished. The dark shadow that had seemed ready to tear him apart disappeared.

The wolf, now completely calm, posed a question to Caron.

The path to the leader of the Black Fangs was no longer blocked. The wolf was even willing to open it for him.

So now he had to choose: give up and turn back, or enter the leader’s mental world.

It was a ridiculous situation.

As Caron stared suspiciously at the wolf, the creature swore on its name.

‘The chance that it’s lying…’

The proposal was so absurd that he considered the possibility, but it seemed unlikely.

Even putting aside the fact that a vow made in one’s name was unbreakable, no matter how high the being’s status…

Demons, by their nature, were such beings.

Their actions, while incomprehensible, were motivated by their own twisted sense of pleasure, regardless of good or evil.

There was no lie in this offer.

After much deliberation, Caron finally spoke.

He would move forward.

After all, he had no other choice.

The wolf spoke in a tone that seemed to mock him.

With a sinister smile, the wolf stepped aside, revealing a path.

The black void transformed into a white door.

Caron, eyes filled with doubt, looked at the wolf, but the creature reassured him.

This was indeed the path to the Black Fangs leader’s mental world.

Given the situation, there was no reason to hesitate.

’You should never take a demon’s word at face value. ’

Sure, it said it would step aside, but it never promised not to attack. There was always the possibility that it might ambush him from behind.

With that in mind, Caron quickly pushed open the door, desperately ignoring the ominous laughter of the wolf that echoed behind him.

Once again, his vision shifted.

This time, he found himself in a room filled with static noise.

A bizarre space, different from before.

But that’s exactly why Caron knew for sure.

This was the mental world of the Black Fangs’s leader.

It was just as horrifying as that wretched creature’s.

A mental world where interferable information was mixed with inexplicably unreadable information.

This was evidence, clear as day, that the owner of this world was an entity of a higher dimension.

As Caron scanned his surroundings…

He quickly noticed something odd.

The barrier that should have been protecting him suddenly lost its form.

The brilliant glow it once had turned to shadow and melted away.

‘This is…’

Only then did Caron realize what had happened earlier.

It was that wolf.

That damned wolf had set this up.

...It never intended to attack Caron directly from the start.

All it did was distract Caron, disrupting his concentration, while subtly interfering with the spell that formed the barrier.

The divine power that had been enveloping him was now scattering in all directions, having lost its focus.

...He was tricked.

Completely and utterly deceived.

The wolf had tampered with the spell, shattering the barrier and then fooling him with illusions.

It manipulated him into making a foolish choice, only to mock him afterward, saying that it was his decision.

A chill ran down Caron’s spine.

But...

Caron quickly grabbed hold of his rationality.

Now wasn’t the time to be angry.

This was dangerous.

Wandering around in a mental world belonging to a being of this magnitude without any form of defense was practically a death sentence.

So... he had to escape.

Considering the future of the Holy Church, it might have made sense to stand and fight the leader of the Black Fangs to the end.

But that wasn’t Caron’s concern.

Even someone like Caron, who had taken lives without a second thought, understood the value of his own life.

There was nothing in this world more precious than his own survival.

So, as he quickly turned toward the exit to make his escape...

“Huh...?”

A dumbfounded sound escaped Caron’s lips.

It was only natural.

The exit, which should have been right behind him, kept getting farther and farther away.

No matter how much he ran, the distance between him and the exit never closed.

He ran and ran, but the door only seemed to retreat further.

...No, this wasn’t just the door moving away.

‘Am I… being pulled in?’

Caron turned his head toward the force that was dragging him.

And then...

He faced it.

Something he should never have looked at.

His mind went numb. His head swirled. His thoughts were scattered.

Something incomprehensible had turned its gaze upon Caron.

Nothing was clear.

No mere mortal could comprehend the being now before him.

But if there was one thing Caron could be certain of,

“Ah…”

...it was that he had made the mistake of touching something he should have never, ever disturbed.

Join Patreon to support the translation and to read up to 5 chapters ahead of the release of "I Accidentally Created a Villainous Organization" and 4 chapters ahead of the release of "I Became a Childhood Friend With the Villainous Saintess": https://www.patreon.com/Jade43 ]