Without realizing it, Kim Seon-Hyeok became overly aware of Ophelia’s presence when he felt the presence of his dragon more clearly than before. He had committed so many sins that it wasn’t easy for him to tell her that he had to leave the capital once again.

“So, a dragon returned… and it’s not far away. I have to go get him…”

“It’s okay if you go.”

When he brought it up hesitantly, Ophelia looked at him blankly before replying. Then, she turned her back towards him.

Perhaps it was because of her mood, but her voice sounded a bit cold.

However, she didn’t say anything else; it didn’t seem like she planned on stopping him. He thanked her for being considerate, then turned to leave while throwing his cloak around himself.

“I’ll be back soon.”

He said his farewells. But just as he was about to leave the bed chambers, he heard a voice from behind him. It was a voice he didn’t dare disobey.

“Until dawn.”

It was a short phrase with no beginning or end, but it wasn’t difficult to understand its meaning.

Kim Seon-Hyeok checked the position of the moon rising in the sky through the window, then headed straight towards the Imperial Palace’s stables.

After riding without a break, Kim Seon-Hyeok arrived at his destination and looked around. He looked up when he didn’t see his dragon.

He couldn’t see anything in the heavily clouded sky, but a dragon was definitely there. Redvern had stayed by his side during the battle against the Demon King and had sustained fatal injuries from it. Now, he was calling Kim Seon-Hyeok to his location.

Shaaaaaa.

The sound of wind could be heard from high in the sky. Not long after, a red dragon appeared through the clouds.

“Redvern!”

Unlike the other dragons, Redvern’s appearance hadn’t changed much. The only things different were that he had grown a bit larger, his one pair of wings had become two, and now, he had sharp horns protruding from his forehead.

Paaaaaaaaawk.

Even his foolish sounding roar was just as Seon-Hyeok remembered.

“Redvern!”

When he called out that familiar name once more, Redvern flew down and landed violently in front of him.

Pawk, pawk, paaaawk.

With his chest thrust forward and his neck raised high, it was as if he was proud of something.

“You’ve become very cool looking.”

Kim Seon-Hyeok wasn’t saying empty words. Previously, Redvern had paled in comparison to the other dragons, but now, with another pair of wings and long horns on top of his preexisting appearance, Redvern looked quite strong.

Paaaawk.

At his words, Redvern raised his head even higher as he put on airs.

“Huh? But how come you’re not talking?”

When Goldrake and Bluegon returned, they had both greeted their owner fluently in the human language. But when Redvern returned, he only went ‘pawk pawk’ as he expressed joy at the reunion. It was rather strange.

Blink blink.

Redvern still didn’t say anything. He just continued to look at Seon-Hyeok with eyes full of joy.

“Your body has changed, but your head still hasn’t.”

Redvern vigorously shook his head at Seon-Hyeok’s sigh, then he shoved it toward Seon-Hyeok.

“No, not that head…”

Pawk?

In the end, Kim Seon-Hyeok could only laugh at Redvern’s consistent appearance.

“Well, so what if you’re a bit dumb? It’s not like it was great to begin with, this doesn’t change anything.”

When his owner laughed, Redvern also opened his mouth and squawked.

Smiling once more at Redvern’s antics, Kim Seon-Hyeok got on his back.

“It’s been a while since we flew.”

Even Redvern, who usually had difficulties understanding what Kim Seon-Hyeok meant, seemed to have understood Seon-Hyeok because he spread his wings without delay and flew up.

But his speed was way too fast.

“Guh.”

For a moment, Kim Seon-Hyeok felt suffocated by Redvern’s relentless speed ascending and his vision became blurry.Then, a terrible feeling of heavy pressure came over him. It felt as if his organs were being displaced and left on the ground, while all the blood in his body seemed to be rushing towards his toes.

Kim Seon-Hyeok opened his eyes so wide it looked like they would pop out of their sockets and endured the unstoppable force of gravity. Finally, the unusual weight pressing down on him disappeared.

“Why’re you so fast?”

He muttered, looking bewildered by how quickly they had flown so far away from the ground.

But it was an obvious mistake for him to have said that.

Pawk.

Thinking that Kim Seon-Hyeok was complimenting him, Redvern began to earnestly show his changed abilities.

Wooooooosh.

He flapped his two pairs of wings together and in an instant, the world was pushed far back.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

Startled by the incredible speed, Kim Seon-Hyeok screamed, but Redvern only began to move even more aggressively.

Only after a long time had passed did Redvern become docile. By that time, Kim Seon-Hyeok was already exhausted.

“Ugh… let’s go down for now.”

At first, he had planned on going back to the Imperial Palace on Redvern’s back like this. But now, he desperately wanted to rest for a bit

Pawk.

Thankfully, Redvern, who had been freely flying through the sky however he wanted, listened to his owner and Kim Seon-Hyeok managed to land.

Pawk.

Once on the ground, Kim Seon-Hyeok suddenly smacked Redvern on the head.

“I don’t have a saddle!”

Even though he had been given the nickname the Red Devil of the Sky, it hadn’t been easy for him to stay on top of Redvern without anything to hold onto.

Redvern’s flying ability was completely different from before, and the burden on his rider was beyond imagination.

Kim Seon-Hyeok felt like he was dying. It was almost like going back to the days when he rode Redvern through the skies for the first time.

“Ugh. It’ll take some time to get used to it.”

When Redvern couldn’t tell whether Kim Seon-Hyeok was complimenting or lamenting, he squawked in response.

Looking at how Redvern was stomping his feet and turning his head with a loud squawk, it seemed like he was rather offended that Kim Seon-Hyeok’s attitude was different from what he had expected.magic

Redvern was consistent as always.

Kim Seon-Hyeok sighed, then coaxed the pouting Redvern before climbing back onto him.

“Go slowly. SLOWLY.”

This time, Seon-Hyeok cautioned Redvern multiple times so that he wouldn’t fly as wildly as he did before.

“SLOWLYYYACKKKK!”

But the dumb dragon quickly forgot that the scolding from a moment ago and began speeding up again.

“Hey! You bonehead!”

Only the sound of a scream lingered in the place where Redvern had been, and soon, even that disappeared.

***

While Kim Seon-Hyeok was enjoying his reunion with Redvern, the situation in the central region was changing by the minute.

When the Warrior went around the frontlines miraculously proving himself, countless believers flocked to his side. The believers who gathered like this strongly condemned the evil deeds of the Temple, and even rejected the Temple itself.

The voices of the people criticizing both the Holy Kingdom and the Temple grew louder day by day.

The Temple refuted their accusations with all sorts of strange excuses, but as long as the Warrior had proved himself, nothing they said was going to work.

“The Temple is the true betrayer who colluded with the Demon King.”

All the accusations that the Temple had placed on Kim Seon-Hyeok were placed back on their shoulders and by that time, the solidarity of the central kingdoms that followed the Holy Kingdom ceased to exist.

In the end, the central region was divided into two - the southern kingdoms of the central region supporting the Warrior and the northern kingdoms supporting the Holy Kingdom.

The Holy Kingdom most likely wanted to burn the Warrior as well as the kingdoms that followed him immediately. The only reason the Holy Kingdom continued to make lame excuses while waging a battle on public opinion when there was no chance of them winning was that the Adenburg Empire had completely occupied Asrael and turned it into a bridgehead with no intentions of leaving the central region.

On top of that, even though the continent had entered a state of lull, the Eastern Kingdoms Alliance had deployed troops at the borders of the central kingdoms and were fully prepared to advance at any time. Added to that, the Holy Kingdom couldn’t do anything about the Warrior’s powerbase increasing day by day.

The Holy Kingdom’s prestige dropped by the day, and to make matters worse, the kingdoms that supported the Holy Kingdom began rebelling. The royal families had used up their own talents for the sake of the Holy Kingdom and the dissatisfaction that had been accumulating in them erupted all at once.

Now, the Holy Kingdom couldn’t expect any allies to protect them and the people believed the Temple would soon raise a white flag.

They believed that if they weeded out some people from the Temple, then they would be able to return to the Holy Kingdom of the past.

Because no matter what anyone said, it was a fact that the Holy Kingdom was at the center of the central region’s faith.

But the people’s expectations were completely wrong.The Holy Kingdom didn’t admit to any wrongdoings, nor did they raise a white flag.

While they no longer tried to manipulate public opinion, they maintained their strange silence.

But that was only the appearance the Holy Kingdom was showing the outside world.

The Holy Kingdom had completely closed their borders and the situation inside the country was turning more turbulent than ever before.

“The believers are agitated by the rumors that have spread both inside and outside the country and it’s causing quite a bit of trouble for the servants of God. Please, Your Holiness, help me to dispel this delusion.”

Although the top leaders of the Temple were as rotten as they could be, that didn’t mean the priests below them were as well. The majority of the honest and faithful priests flocked to the Temple once they finally heard the outside news.

“I do not believe that Your Holiness and the archbishops would have committed such unpardonable atrocities. But apart from that, I cannot understand the Temple’s silence.”

“The confusion is only growing worse because you are remaining silent, Your Holiness.”

Even in the midst of the disorder, the priests politely and earnestly requested a meeting with the Pope. But the Temple didn’t allow them inside, nor did they give the priests an answer. The Temple completely ignored the voice of the priests.

Under such circumstances, the provincial bishops arrived.

“I am Benellis of Castra. I must see His Holiness.”

Although they weren’t as high up as archbishops, the bishops were also high-ranking clerics in charge of a diocese and with the authority given to them, they requested a meeting with the Pope.

“We will open up the central square in front of the Temple to the public. As His Holiness has said he will personally give answers our brothers are looking for, let all those who have doubts sit down and listen to what His Holiness has to say.”

“Ooh! Finally!”

“It will finally be revealed today that the horrific rumors circulating everywhere in the public are false.”

“We can only hope that now, at the very least, the deceitful servants are able to lose their delusion.”

The hundreds of priests and bishops who gathered at the Temple to find out the truth followed the guide to the square.

“Where is His Holiness?”

When they entered the square and the Pope did not appear, one of the provincial bishops asked the guide.

“Huh?”

All of sudden, the guide, who until a moment ago had been in front of them, disappeared.

“What on earth is…”

The clergymen were confused but they didn’t make a fuss. Having come this far, they believed the Pope would appear and answer their questions.

But the trust of the naive and moral priests was answered in the most terrible way imagined.

Ping.

Bewildered by a sudden blow, one of the priests looked down at his chest at the odd sensation, then froze.

“Huh?”

Out of nowhere, an arrow had pierced his heart.

“Ah…”

When the red stain spread bit by bit, the priests who were next to him turned pale as they quickly chanted a spell for recovery. However, before the wound on the priest’s chest could be healed, the spreading bright light dimmed and then disappeared.

“Ack!”

The arrows that had pierced through the pitiful victim were now sticking out of the priests who had been trying to heal the others.

Then, arrows poured down from the sky.

“Gah!”

Screams could be heard everywhere as the innocent priests were killed.

“Ah, what on earth is going on…”

The simple priests had spent their entire lives caring for their followers and never thought of using their divine powers to stop the downpour of arrows.

They died crying and praying.

Of the hundreds of priests gathered at the Temple, only a dozen survived. And even they died after being brutally stabbed by the late-coming Crusaders’ spears and swords.

“Just what sin did they commit…”

One of the bishops bitterly shed tears as he complained. But the red-eyed Crusaders didn’t respond. They simply surrounded the bishop with blood-stained spears and swords gripped tightly in their hands.

“Oh, Heavenly Father, please watch over them…”

Instead of struggling and resisting, the bishop knelt down and prayed.

It was a devotional prayer where he mourned the hundreds of priests who had died innocently while asking for compassion for the murderers who had slaughtered them. Yet, despite the bishop’s saintly appearance, the Crusaders showed him no mercy.

In the end, even the last standing bishop was stabbed by ten spears and died. The massacre was over.

The priests who had devoted their lives to faithfully carrying out the will of God died and they were gathered as if they were trash and burnt in the name of purification.

The smoke from burning the corpses rose high up into the sky. The disgusting stench spread for tens of kilometers in all directions. The smoke and stench were so thick and nasty that the disgusting black ashes fell onto even the villages that were far away from the Temple.

Some of the curious devotees left their villages and headed towards the Temple to find out the cause of the disgusting smoke. However, days passed and none of those who left the village returned.

“What on earth are they burning…”

The people were consumed by fear as they looked at the black smoke that remained even after a few days had passed. Instead of going away, the black smoke got thicker as time went on.

About a week after the first fire happened, the smoke from the Temple was to the point of completely covering the sky for tens of kilometers in all directions.

Only then did the people realize that the smoke wasn’t auspicious. But by the time they realized it, the smoke covered the sky above their heads.