Chapter 63
The moment the elixir slid down my throat, a refreshing sensation wrapped around my body.
The body that had been exhausted to the very limit—so much that I felt I could collapse at any moment—quickly recovered.
My drained energy refilled, and my vision grew clear.
The wounds I’d taken while fighting Horus, as well as the mana exhaustion from blocking the final spell the cult priests had sacrificed their lives to cast, all healed in an instant.
‘The effect really is good.’
Even though I had only drunk half, my mana and stamina filled to the brim.
There was no need to drink more.
I closed the cap of the elixir and checked the item.
[Elixir 1/2 – Rank S]
[Description: A potion made from the purest power contained in the Fountain of Life. Since the amount is lacking, it cannot heal wounds that are close to death, but it can heal most injuries.]
The effects and rank had changed slightly.
It had once been SS-rank, but now it had dropped to S-rank.
The phrase “as long as you’re not dead, it can heal” was gone, replaced with “it can heal most wounds.”
Because there isn’t enough quantity—so that’s it.
“Hoo…”
I let out a sigh of relief and examined my body.
Now completely fine, my whole body felt as good as new.
While I was checking myself, Jormungandr asked,
— Elixir… Don’t tell me you got that from Hephaestus?
“You know about it?”
— My father once gifted one to Hephaestus. It looks exactly the same, so I asked.
The elixir that had been in Hephaestus’ vault.
It was the one I had stolen—the very elixir Loki had once gifted Hephaestus.
— If you had something like that, then I understand why you overextended yourself earlier.
Jormungandr flicked its tongue.
— So, are you going to wait for the cult priests to come?
“No.”
— Didn’t you say earlier you’d lure them out of their rabbit hole?
“I did.”
— And now you say you won’t wait?
I looked at the unconscious people lying around.
“Fighting here won’t do any good. They’ll just get in the way. Worse, the cult will likely use them as hostages to bother us.”
Even if these people woke up, they’d probably side with the cult rather than with us.
— So you’ll change the battlefield?
“Yeah.”
I planned to fight them in a place they would never expect.
I recalled when the suppression force in my past life hunted down the cult of Yamyung-gwa and his followers.
The Yamyung-gwa—literally “The Flame that Shines in the Night.”
True to its name, his priests mainly used fire and light-based magic.
Like a false lighthouse, his followers spread their misguided “light” to seduce many.
By the time Yamyung-gwa was about to fully descend, his cult had spread across countless bases and grown in power.
They all shared one thing in common:
They were people who had lost their homes and families to war, or who had lost precious things to the cruelty of the gods.
‘Yamyung-gwa isn’t a lighthouse that lights the way.’
He’s like an anglerfish in the abyss—using its lure to trick prey in the dark depths.
A cunning predator that hides the trap until the victim is swallowed whole.
Maybe that’s why the cult was such a nuisance.
Even after that otherworldly god was slain, his followers continued scheming and causing problems everywhere.
These ones would likely be no different.
‘So, I’ll create as big a mess as possible. That way, they won’t be able to ignore me.’
I would eliminate every cultist I could, and leave the remaining scraps to the guilds.
I could probably ask Gunter to take care of it, just like with Azure’s remnants.
— So where will you fight them?
“In a place where the sun shines too brightly for the night’s flame to even dare flicker.”
— …I don’t get it.
“You’ll see.”
The Eye of Horus on my left side glowed.
I prepared the spell that would weaken their power.
“Have you arrived?”
Lee Jung-woon, the cult leader of Yamyung-gwa’s followers, bowed his head to the woman who had come to see him.
“You seem to be doing well. Your complexion looks better.”
“Doing well? No, I’ve lived every day worrying about whether the Holy Lady has been keeping her sacred body safe.”
“You’re still a smooth liar. Some things never change, do they?”
As the woman approached, the shadows fell away to reveal her face.
It was Kim Young-ah—Horus’ Third Apostle.
Having killed Radames and returned to the cult headquarters, she no longer wore her old innocent expression.
She was the cult’s Saintess, Kim Young-ah.
Chosen by Yamyung-gwa, the god of the moonlight that shines in the night, the so-called lighthouse in the dark for many.
But she knew the truth.
She knew that Yamyung-gwa’s “light” was hypocrisy.
That he lured people in with false brightness, only to devour them and then shine anew with their remains.
And still, she wished for his descent.
‘Because Yamyung-gwa will make me a true Saintess.’
Kim Young-ah was an orphan with nothing.
It was the teachings of that otherworldly god that shone down upon her.
The priests had taught her:
If I want to live better, I must kill others to take what I want.
That became her survival instinct.
What was the point of living a bottom-tier life?
If a god who destroyed everything could raise her higher, wasn’t that better?
After all, thanks to Yamyung-gwa’s teachings, this once penniless orphan had risen to the title of Saintess.
“How could that be a lie? You are the spiritual leader of the faithful. As the cult leader, it is only natural that I care for your well-being.”
“You sent an envoy to Horus, didn’t you?”
“Yes. Has he arrived? I haven’t had word back yet.”
At his answer, Kim Young-ah frowned.
“Cult Leader… I think there’s a traitor among us.”
“What do you mean?”
“A man carved our symbol onto his body as camouflage, pretended to be our envoy, and came here.”
“What…?”
Kim Young-ah recalled the man from Horus’ guild who had forged their mark and pretended to be an envoy.
The man who killed Horus.
A face she had never seen before.
Her database had no information on him.
Yet he was human—and powerful enough to kill a god.
‘Until now, only Lee Hyun was like that…’
Where did this man come from?
Still baffled, Lee Jung-woon asked her,
“Don’t tell me you were deceived?”
“Are you asking about the envoy? Or about Horus?”
“…Did Horus realize the truth?”
“No. Horus is dead. He trusted his own power too much—and was slain by a human.”
“That’s impossible… Then the envoy…?”
“He’s probably dead. He carried your letter, after all.”
“If Horus is dead, doesn’t that ruin our entire plan?”
Seeing his face of disbelief, Kim Young-ah smirked.
“It’s fine. I’ve found a better sacrifice.”
“A… better sacrifice?”
She recalled again the scene of that nameless man killing Horus.
— Radames! Igor! Young-ah! Save me, hurry!
Horus had cried desperately for his apostles.
— Horus, die alone this time. Hathor won’t heal you now.
The man who killed him, frowning as though in sorrow.
— I still… haven’t become the sun…
And then, Horus died—slain by a mere human.
A human who not only commanded the great serpent Jormungandr of Midgard, but also withstood divine flame in mortal flesh.
He had survived that blazing heat, and in the end, reaped the life of a god.
“Cult Leader, was Azure’s cult really contending against Jormungandr?”
“Yes. I heard that Jormungandr blocked the Abyss that Azure opened, and they’d been struggling against him for a long time.”
And yet this human now commanded Jormungandr as a familiar.
“…Then the one who destroyed Azure’s cult is now targeting us.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. The man with Jormungandr killed Horus with his own hands.”
Small as it was, that was definitely Jormungandr.
She knew it because she had fought against it.
That aura unique to a divine beast.
“…Could this man be the ‘new sacrifice’ you mentioned?”
“That’s right. If a human can hold Horus’ flame in his chest and yet not die, then surely he can become Yamyung-gwa’s flame.”
Kim Young-ah couldn’t suppress her laughter.
It was almost complete.
A few accidents had happened, and things had finished sooner than expected, but…
With that man, Yamyung-gwa’s descent would be perfect.
Just then—
“C-Cult Leader! It’s terrible!”
A follower burst into the leader’s chamber, panicked.
“How dare you make such noise before the Saintess?”
“I-It’s… the fields. We’ve received a signal from the fields!”
“The fields?”
“A fiery explosion erupted—the priests burned away their life force!”
The “fields” of the cult.
Places where priests were planted to “harvest” the hopeless—turning ruined villages into loyal cult settlements.
“If a fire was lit… that means the entire field was destroyed…”
“It’s him. The man who killed Horus, the one commanding Jormungandr.”
Kim Young-ah’s voice rang with certainty.
“With Horus and the Apostles dead, no guild remains to hunt us.”
“What will you do?”
“We’ll go to him. He’s calling us out.”
Considering he had killed Horus, he was strong enough that they would need the cult’s full power.
“Bring everyone.”
“…All of them? Are you serious?”
“Yes. We need him. Without him, Yamyung-gwa cannot descend. Otherwise…”
They would waste time searching for another suitable sacrifice.
“…Understood. I’ll issue the order.”
“Please do.”
Kim Young-ah clutched her racing heart and closed her eyes.
The time was near.
Once Yamyung-gwa descended, she would no longer just bear the title of Saintess.
She would truly become one.
From a nameless orphan, to a genuine Saintess.
“I will make it succeed. Lord Yamyung-gwa.”
At the entrance of the resort, I watched as Yamyung-gwa’s cultists poured out.
“So, he lost one base, and now he’s called everyone here, huh.”
There were so many.
Even just counting those in sight, over a hundred.
‘There were this many?’
I could hardly believe it.
I had known the apostates who survived the Great Descent wouldn’t be few, but still…
“Why… are you with them?”
My eyes froze on the woman at their lead.
Kim Young-ah, Horus’ Third Apostle.
She was at the very front of the cultists, leading them forward.
