How the Cult Saves the World-Chapter 47

I headed for the small space in the wall first. Zain naturally followed me. The space looked like a cave, but it was very narrow.

"Wow!"

Even in this situation, Zain was able to gasp with his mouth wide open, thanks to the countless treasures lying on the floor.

There were gold coins filling the cramped floor, and some expensive jewels on top of them.

"There's really treasure here!"

Zain approached with his eyes wide open, as if he was bewitched. Then he sat down on the floor and grabbed the gold coins with both hands, sniffing them deeply.

"Hmm! Nice."

He was clearly crazy about money. I glanced at him and opened my mouth slowly.

"Zain, you can take one-tenth of these and leave the rest. I know roughly how much they are, so don't try to cheat."

Then Zain looked at me with a cheeky smile.

"Hey, can't you give me a little more?"

This kid? I raised my eyebrows.

"I gave you a lot already. Honestly, what did you do until you got here?"

"That's..."

Of course, I knew that Zain had suffered a lot following me. But he didn't suffer as much as I did.

"...I can't help it. Fine."

He seemed to admit it and nodded reluctantly. I looked at Zain for a while and thought.

No matter how I think about it, it's impossible for him to carry all these by himself. And if it's him, he might disobey my words and take more.

[Alphi, Chessy, Sasha.]

I called the kids in my mind. Then I heard an answer faster than light.

[Yes, Master!]

[Yay!]

[...Yes.]

There was one who looked annoyed, but.

[Can you come over here?]

The kids showed their actions before their words. In an instant, the air split and three kids appeared.

"Huh?"

Zain's eyes widened as he held a bunch of gold coins in his arms.

"Master! Did you call me?"

"Ma, Master. I'm here."

"..."

The three kids came up to me and looked up at me with their big eyes.

"Master? Don't tell me, right?"

Zain's pupils shook. Yeah, that's right.

"It seems like it's hard for you to take care of these by yourself."

I smiled slyly. Then Zain bowed his head.

"Alphi, Chessy, Sasha. Can you take these things and move them to the temple? Leave one-tenth for Zain."

I patted Alphius' shoulder and said. Then the kids nodded their heads vigorously.

"Leave it to us!"

"I, I can do it well!"

"...Yes."

Although Zain's shoulders noticeably sagged, what can I do? Now that the kids are here, he won't be able to take more than the limited amount.

"Please."

I smiled at the kids and left.

As I came out of the cave, I narrowed my brows slightly.

Why is the hidden quest reward the same as Woosebeop?

Most of the quests I've done so far were different from Woosebeop. Especially since this was a hidden quest, I thought it would be different for sure.

'It's a pity, but I can't help it.'

Anyway, I didn't come in for the hidden quest reward itself. There was something more important.

Well then... now let me take care of the real 'treasure'.

---My child.

As I approached the corpse of the giant worm, Kyros called me.

---Even though that creature's life is gone, I still feel a strong energy from it.

'Oh, really?'

---Yes. Near its tail. Now that its life is over, I can tell where its source is.

I smiled slyly. Actually, the energy that Kyros felt when he entered Beon Mountain was the energy of 'that thing' inside the worm.

But since the worm itself had lived for a thousand years and was no different from a spirit creature, it wrapped up the energy of 'that thing' inside it and couldn't detect it properly.

So now that the giant worm was dead, he could sense its exact location.

I approached the worm with a smile. People thought that the treasures that came out after killing the giant worm were 'treasure', but this was the real treasure for me.

I walked straight towards the tail of the dead Zine. Its body was no longer as hard as before. So I could pierce it with my hand.

---I can feel that energy a little above the tail.

"Here?"

I replied to Kyros and placed my hand on the exact spot where it was. About a meter above Zine's tail.

---Yes, that's it! You're right!

"Oh, really?"

I pretended to be surprised and then pushed my hand harder.

Puff!

The inside of Zine was moist and cold as I easily pierced through it.

"Ugh, it gives me the creeps."

I had simulated this situation in my head several times, but it still felt strange when I actually did it.

But I moved my hand anyway. Even though the crimson liquid covered my whole hand, I had no choice.

It was worth it to get that thing.

As I rummaged through the inside with a squishy sound, I finally felt something hard in my hand. I carefully pulled it out and revealed its appearance.

It was a black bead the size of my fist that I held in my hand.

This was what I wanted...

[You have acquired the hidden item 'Zine's Thousand-Year Stagnant Energy'.]

It was 'Zine's Thousand-Year Stagnant Energy'.

As the item acquisition message appeared, so did the description window.

[Zine's Thousand-Year Stagnant Energy

Grade: Legendary Item

Description: It is the stagnant energy that Zine accumulated in its body over a thousand years. It is an item that gives immunity to all curses and poisons when absorbed.]

I knew this description well, but it was still very welcome to see it. I brushed off the crimson liquid on Zine's Stagnant Energy and put it in my inventory right away.

The black bead looked dazzling in my inventory.

If I absorbed this, I would be immune to all curses and poisons in this world.

Of course, I could also use 'Universal Antidote' and 'Curse Removal Potion' even if I didn't get this. And I even knew their recipes.

But doing that every time...

"It's annoying."

To be honest, it was very annoying. I had to always have the ingredients in my inventory.

And that wasn't all. There could also be situations where I would be unexpectedly poisoned or cursed. So it was more convenient to absorb this Stagnant Energy in advance.

Well, I would still carry some ingredient items with me. What good would it do if only I had curse immunity and poison resistance? If the others who were with me got affected, I would need some potions.

But getting this Stagnant Energy was for when I moved alone.

I smiled contentedly and closed my inventory.

"I have to absorb this stagnant energy later... but it takes time, so I'll do it later."

As I turned around after finishing my thoughts, Zain came out of the treasure room.

"I got everything, Master. The kids went back with the treasure."

Zain said with a gloomy face as he came out. I looked inside the treasure room just in case, but there was nothing left. The kids must have worked hard.

Zain had a sack full of gold coins in his hand. Somehow, it seemed like the kids gave him less than 10%. But having something in his hand was better than nothing.

"Let's go if you've got everything."

I was about to walk past Zain's side.

"But, Master."

Zain followed me and frowned at me. His gaze kept going back and forth between me and the corpse of the giant Zine.

"What did you do to make your hand so dirty?"

There was a hint of distance in his eyes.

"What do you mean? You never know. There might be something useful from that thing."

As I said that and brushed off the liquid on my hand, Zain recoiled a few steps away from me.

"Eek! Oh, no matter what, a bug...!"

"What do you mean, a bug? Didn't you take a fang from the Darkwolf corpse last time?"

Why was he suddenly acting like this? As I looked at him in displeasure, he narrowed his eyes at me.

"That's different from that thing! No matter how much money it makes... I can't touch that."

He must really hate bugs if he said that as a money-grubber. There was nothing worth taking from the giant Zine anyway.

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"Whatever."

I muttered and walked past the giant Zine.

[The effect of 'Universal Antidote' has worn off.]

Just then, an alert appeared as an hour had passed. It didn't matter anyway, since the poison mist in the hidden dungeon disappeared as soon as I dealt with the giant Zine.

'He should be fine too.'

I glanced at Terdius, who was still unconscious. Zain noticed my gaze and looked at him too.

"Are you going to leave him behind?"

He would rush to kill him if he knew who Terdius was.

"Yeah. The poison mist is gone anyway."

I did enough for him, right? I didn't want to get involved with Terdius again if he woke up.

So I left the cave comfortably with Zain.

'Where am I?'

Terdius was in the dark. He floated in that space. He could think normally, so it didn't seem like a dream. Or maybe it was a lucid dream.

'Wow, Terdius!'

'You're amazing, Terdius!'

'Our hero!'

Then, at some point, the world was covered with light as people's cheers rang out.

He was still floating in the air. Below him was the capital of the empire. The crowd filled the streets and welcomed him as if he was a war hero returning on horseback.

'Our hero!'

'The light of Kyros Church!'

Why did they think of him as Kyros Church? That wasn't the only strange thing.

He was riding a white horse and smiling brightly at the people.

As if it was always like this, he waved and greeted them naturally.

"Huh...!"

He woke up from his dream at that moment. Terdius jerked up without realizing it.

'What is this? Why...?'

Why did it feel so nostalgic?

Terdius raised his hands to wash his face. Then he felt something moist. A tear fell from his left eye.

'Why...?'

Everything was confusing. What was his dream? What did it mean, and why did it show him such a scene?

Then he remembered the last memory before he lost consciousness. The memory of meeting Leviathan.

Terdius lifted his head and looked around.

He was sitting in the same place as before he passed out. It was a huge hollow, but there was a gruesome corpse of a giant Zine inside.

Judging by the disappearance of the powerful energy, this corpse must have been the source of it.

'But...'

He didn't see Leviathan and his henchmen.

'Maybe...!'

Terdius jumped up from his seat. He had a bad feeling about it.

But at that moment.

"Kruk!"

A piercing pain hit his head.

The pain was brief. But the next moment, Terdius' confused eyes were gone.

There was only one thing left in his head.

'I return to Diego.'