#166

I put down the poker and raised my hands high, palms facing forward.

The urgent matter right now wasn’t listening to Callister’s nonsense.

‘First, I have to persuade Athanas.’

I am a Watched One.

In a chaotic situation like this, if I’m seen wandering around perfectly fine on my own, the first suspicion will be that I’m in league with the culprit.

‘I am harmless, I know nothing…’

Furthermore, I was currently with Callister, who looked exactly like ‘Fabio.’

It was obvious to anyone that Callister was a being that deviated from Order.

Considering his track record of driving an arrow into Reyes’s head without even giving him a chance to explain, there was a high probability he would attack Callister the moment he came within range.

‘…Since neutralizing the threat before assessing the situation is the standard procedure.’

There was nothing wrong with Athanas’s response.

However, while players were ravaging the Capital Church, I wanted to avoid causing any meaningless commotion by strictly following protocol.

“Callister, you put your weapon down and put your hands up too. Stay still and don’t move! Don’t follow me. Absolutely. Got it?”

I walked slowly toward Athanas.

Cold sweat trickled down the nape of my neck.

‘Fuck…’

Maybe it was because of the situation.

For some reason, I kept seeing the Athanas from ‘Die Heretic!’ overlapping with him.

‘Surely Athanas won’t attack me, right?’

What if Athanas was confused due to contamination?

What if he was being controlled by the Lord of Nightmares?

Countless possibilities swirled in my head.

‘Fuck, why is his Halo active?’

That only appears when using divine power.

Does he consume divine power when a Sacred Relic for mental interference defense is activated?

Or…

‘…He’s not gathering strength for a long-range attack, is he?’

But I couldn’t act wary of Athanas.

If I did, I’d look like someone with something to hide.

‘If I run, I’ll be attacked instead.’

“Athanas! It’s me! You’re safe!”

As I got close enough to recognize my face, Athanas placed a finger over his lips.

‘Telling me to be quiet…?’

Since he recognized me, he was probably telling me not to make noise.

As Athanas approached, the smell of blood grew thicker.

I swallowed hard.

‘What the hell happened in the meantime?’

“Athanas…”

Athanas stopped in front of me and, with a slow motion, sheathed his sword into his belt.

I quickly scanned Athanas’s attire.

‘No crossbow.’

It seemed he had no intention of a surprise attack.

However, the amount of bandages wrapped around him bothered me.

‘Are those wounds from removing the contaminated holy bodies?’

“Athanas, what happened…”

“Fabio.”

Before I could finish my sentence, Athanas suddenly pulled me into a tight embrace.

For a moment, I thought my heart was going to jump out of my mouth.

‘Gah! Fuck!’

“A-Athanas?”

“…Are you hurt anywhere?”

There was no hostility in the voice echoing in my ear.

The relief made my legs go weak.

‘I thought he was going to crush me to death in a hug.’

In ‘Die Heretic!’, when equipped with unarmed weapons + breastplate, the critical attack is ‘Hugging.’

Because the broken ribs pierce the lungs and heart, the enemy vomits blood like a fountain…

‘…Let’s stop thinking about that.’

“U-um, Athanas. First, I’d like to introduce Callister.”

Athanas released his grip and grabbed my shoulder firmly.

His dark blue eyes stared intensely into mine.

“…Why are you so reckless?”

“Athanas?”

“Just what on earth do you believe in…”

I could see Athanas’s jaw tighten.

I don’t know why, but I could feel his anger, which made me shrink back a little.

“Athanas, I was wrong.”

‘Let’s just apologize first.’

“…What were you wrong about?”

“Everything. I was rash.”

Athanas’s brow slowly furrowed.

“I didn’t know. I didn’t know what it meant to share blood and flesh with another… I swear, I didn’t intend it. If I had known it was against Order, I wouldn’t have done it.”

“……”

“Athanas, I know that as the sword that upholds Order, you cannot overlook sin. But in a situation like this, shouldn’t we focus on restoring Order first? If you can overlook Callister just until everything returns to normal, I will take care of him somehow after that. So…”

“…And what measures do you intend to take?”

“Pardon?”

‘He’s asking how I’ll handle Callister?’

My plan was that if the other Callisters returned to normal safely, I’d have this ‘Callister’ blend in among them.

But if all the Callisters, including the lab director, had vanished forever even after the matter was resolved…

‘…I’ll feed him pork and then order him to turn into a pig.’

It’s a sin for something that isn’t human to pretend to be human, but animals aren’t subject to that in the first place.

Then wouldn’t it be fine to turn Callister into an animal and keep him by my side?

Since animals have no souls, giving one a name wouldn’t count as a ‘Baptism.’

‘Still, I can’t put him in a pigsty with actual pigs…’

I planned to get a house with farmland by insisting that I missed the farming life.

Since most medieval serfs raised livestock inside their homes, it wouldn’t look strange to raise Callister that way.

It would be absolutely terrible to live in a house worse than a plastic greenhouse, rolling around with all sorts of livestock, after leaving behind a wonderful private room in the Capital Church that provided heating without soot…

‘…But since I picked him up, I have to take responsibility, even if he screams and oinks at me to raise him.’

“If keeping him as a human is the problem, I’ll have him live as an animal.”

“An animal? What kind of animal? A dog? A cat? A donkey?”

I clearly told him to stay still, but Callister had already crept up close to my side.

“I’d like to be a dog if possible! When morning comes, I’ll make sure to wake Fabio up by licking his face.”

“…You intend to raise that.”

Athanas’s gaze darkened slightly.

‘Fuck.’

I was desperately trying to persuade him not to euthanize him, arguing that even if he seemed strange, he didn’t have rabies, and here is this crazy son of a bitch acting like a dog foaming at the mouth.

Should I just let him be burned at the stake?

‘Is this the time to be talking about wanting to be a dog?’

A dog over 70 kilograms.

What is he, a Direwolf?

If I raised something like that, rumors would spread through the whole village that I’m a serf raising wolves.

‘Let’s change the subject for now.’

“Athanas, the important thing right now isn’t the fact that I tamed the Host Tabernacle. Commander Casimir, who is unconscious, has been kidnapped. We must rescue her as quickly as possible.”

I don’t particularly like players who skip the plot without reading, but for once, I wished Athanas was a ‘skipper.’

‘Time is passing even while I’m explaining this!’

“Callister knows Casimir’s location. If there’s anything you want to ask, I’ll explain everything later! We must move right now. If those wicked people use Commander Casimir’s body as a sacrifice, it will be irreversible.”

“…I understand.”

Athanas nodded readily, despite having heard only a woefully insufficient explanation.

I let out a sigh of relief.

‘Thank goodness.’

Thank goodness Athanas isn’t a Heretic Butcher who swings the Divine Hammer at any being that deviates from Order without question…

‘…By the way, how did he get that blood on him?’

Because I had already said we’d talk later, it became awkward to ask what had happened.

‘Is it blood from a wound caused when Ledeia’s adult disappeared? No, it’s not seeping from inside, but blood that splashed from the outside…’

I was so bothered by it that I kept looking at Athanas, and our eyes met.

‘…You scared me.’

Perhaps because I had a guilty conscience, my heart pounded as if it were going to vomit just from a brief moment of eye contact.

‘Standing before a Holy Knight after committing a sin is terrifying…’

I deliberately turned my gaze toward Callister.

Callister, who had taken the lead to guide us, was walking while looking at the ground, and whenever he found a maggot, he went out of his way to step on it and crush it.

“…Why are you crushing them one by one?”

“Huh? They’re disgusting. These are maggots that have completely forgotten how to mimic and only have a craving to eat something left. It’s better to kill them.”

“…If we find a way to remove the contamination, they might return to normal too.”

“Haha, are you suggesting we recycle the holy bodies rolling on the ground? You’re very frugal. I don’t think anyone would want to put something like that in their body…”

Callister continued, rubbing his shoe against the ground.

“Even if that weren’t the case, there’s a reason they must be killed. The screams these things let out are so loud they’re incredibly annoying. We have to remove the maggots in the direction we’ve come so we don’t get confused about the location of the next maggot. Now, it’s in that direction.”

‘…Screams?’

The maggots are screaming?

That’s a bit…

“We’ve almost arrived. It’s right inside that building.”

‘A cafeteria?’

Of all the buildings, a cafeteria.

My brow furrowed instinctively.

‘Surely they aren’t just gathering people there, but actually crunching and munching on them?’

If Nyapoleon is inside, the right answer is not to enter.

Who knows what kind of traps a cunning player has laid.

‘Athanas is still a low-to-mid tier Unit.’

“Do you think there’s a Watched One inside? If there is, don’t push yourself…”

Instead of answering, Athanas drew his sword.

“There are six small ones and one large one. And many unconscious people.”

“…Can you detect that from the outside?”

Athanas slammed his sword down into the ground.

‘Yikes.’

Fuck, what is that?

Something like a crawling macaron trembled violently, pierced by the sword.

“It’s an insect that finds humans. Likely used for locating targets.”

Athanas took out something like a piece of chalk and drew a circle around me.

“It’s the simplest form of barrier, but it will stop insects of that level from approaching.”

‘…I think there was an insecticide similar to this.’

With a fluid motion, Athanas gripped a dagger, cut the back of his hand, and let drops of blood fall onto the ground.

Soon, the macaron-like insects swarmed over, licked the blood, and crawled in a line toward the cafeteria.

“Now the small ones will come looking.”

“…Do you know what kind of creatures are inside?”

“I encountered a few of the small ones on the way.”

Just as Athanas said, following the path the insects had taken, a water bird the size of an ostrich began to waddle toward us.

The bird, which resembled a cormorant, had hollowed-out pits where its eyes should have been.

‘Fuck, what is that.’

“It seems they are also affected when they encounter contaminated holy bodies; their hearing and sight have been destroyed.”

Athanas cut the blind bird’s throat with a simplicity that almost made me sigh.

Red blood splattered across the ground.

As if they had no learning ability, he was able to kill all six birds in the same manner.

I stood there doing nothing while Athanas performed his easy ‘hunt.’

Blood from the six birds pooled on the ground.

“Now only the large one that isn’t moving inside remains.”

“…As soon as you go in, aim for the upper beak. If only the upper beak is broken, it will be completely neutralized.”

“Do you know what that creature is?”

“……”

I gave no answer.

Athanas looked at me blankly, readjusted his grip on his sword, and headed into the building.

‘Athanas…’

He’ll be fine.

Because what’s inside isn’t an attack unit.

‘Fuck.’

Do I know?

Of course I know.

When playing Witopia, to send every single person to heaven, I created several units specialized in ‘live capture.’

The ‘mother goose,’ a modification of a pelican that swallows humans whole.

And the ‘baby goose,’ a modification of a cormorant that holds humans in its throat before spitting them out.

Those birds lying on the ground with their necks cut were definitely ‘baby goose.’

‘…That bastard Nyapoleon.’

He’s copying the exact strategy I used?

No, the copying itself isn’t the problem.

‘One person is consumed every time one of those is made…’

“Blegh.”