Chapter 09: God's Apostle!

In a large room made of marble, two people were walking towards a huge stone mural on which was carved a figure surrounded by a halo. It was the same room where Nader had stepped the first time he had come to this world.

The two people were indeed the Pope and the King, who came to pray and worship their God Ehit every week at midnight.

The King, as always, wore royal robes of red and gold along with a golden crown on top of his head. But even though he dressed like a king, at this time he was no different than a normal person without his ruler's aura. The reason for this was the Pope, who, as usual, wore a white robe with a bishop's cap over his white hair.

"Do you think it's right to send only 200 people to catch him?" Said the King with a slightly anxious expression.

For some reason, he felt something wasn't right. As more time passed, his heart was pounding more than normal, which had caused him to feel an anxious feeling.

"You're too worried, as usual, Eliheid. Even though they are not the best soldiers in the Kingdom, they had been trained in the best possible way to deal with any situation." Said the Pope with a casual smile.

The King sighed and, with a bitter smile, said, "I would have at least sent Jose Raincaid to lead the troops."

The Pope gave him a sidelong glance and said, "Eliheid, even though that boy has monstrous stats, do you think a boy of his age will have the experience to defeat all two hundred rigorously trained men?. Even if he is a hero from another world, it would not be possible."

If you had looked closely at Nader's state plate, the Pope would not be thinking the way he was thinking at the moment.

When the examination of the heroes' status plates had occurred, Captain Meld had been so shocked by Nader's stats that before he could see his abilities, Nader had already taken them out of his hands again.

Just as the King was about to open his mouth, they heard a piercing sound heading towards the Cathedral.

?!

Alarmed, the Pope raised his staff while muttering a magic spell with a solemn look on his face.

The staff in his hands glowed with a golden light as the light shot towards the ceiling before spreading out and creating a protective barrier of about five square meters.

When the barrier was completely closed, the thing that was heading towards them pierced the roof of the Holy Church, producing a shuddering noise.

Not half a second later, a sound much louder than the previous one thundered in the skies as the object thrown by Nader hit the hard ground. The entire mountain where the Cathedral was built shook, it was as if a fierce earthquake had occurred.

If a person had seen what was happening at that moment, they would have witnessed mushroom-shaped smoke rising to the white clouds above the Holy Church.

-----------------------

A being that was in one of the most luxurious rooms of the Cathedral of the Holy Church opened its eyes, revealing a cold and emotionless glow.

This being was a beautiful girl who had long silver hair that was covered by a winged helmet made of metal the same color as her hair. Although her expression was drab, she maintained a charm that could cast a spell on any man who looked at her. Her slender but firm figure was embraced by a white dress covered by silver metal plates. These silver plates covered each side of her waist where rested two silver swords with bluish blades that glowed with a cold light.

"As you command, My Lord", she uttered in a monotone voice as, with her hands covered by silver metal gloves, she unsheathed her two swords from her waist before disappearing from her spot.

--------------------------

Both the Pope and the King observed the thick dust that covered the entire room outside the golden barrier. All that could be heard was the sound of the noisy rubble crumbling.

The barrier was still intact. Nothing had happened to it as the stake had not hit it.

The tense atmosphere was dissolved when the pope opened his mouth: "Someone attacked us?".

The instant those words left the Pope's mouth, the two men caught a glimpse of Nader's silhouette in their minds.

Not wanting to believe it, they shook their heads trying to erase those thoughts. But it didn't matter when they tried to erase it, it was still there as their only enemy right now, aside from the demons, was Nader.

'But how?' Were the mutual and synchronized thoughts of the two men.

Before they could go any deeper, they were pulled out of their thoughts when a swirl of wind made an appearance in the center of the room, blowing all the thick dust out through the huge crack in the ceiling.

His eyes instantly fell on the figure of an expressionless woman holding two sharp swords in her hands. Their eyes widened, not because of the girl's beauty, but because they knew her quite well.

The Pope quickly undid the spell of protection and knelt at the same time as the King.

"Hail to Lord Ehit's Apostle Noint!". They said in unison as they looked at the ground, without looking up.

An awkward silence was followed by the greetings of the Pope and the King. They felt an invisible pressure weighing on their shoulders.

The Apostle, who called himself Noint, only gave them a glance before nodding and saying:

"Lord Ehit gave me a job..."

The two men raised their heads, revealing their surprised eyes.

Apostle Noint should have been known to only make moves when no one else besides her could handle a situation. But when they connected the dots, they knew it was related to what had happened a few minutes ago.

Just as Noint turned around to depart and carry out her Lord's order, the Pope's curious and trembling voice stopped her:

"W-can we know what exactly has happened?".

"An irregular has appeared." It was a simple statement, but those present at that moment knew that these words carried great weight and danger upon them.

When the Pope wanted to ask more questions, Noint disappeared from his place, leaving only a silvery blur behind.

The two sighed and stood up as they looked at each other.

"Eliheid, I know you're imagining the same thing I am. I guess we underestimated that boy quite a bit."

"But it's a good thing Lord Ehit's Apostle took care of him before he grew up". The king nodded with a relaxed expression, he felt as if his previous old age had been erased.

"As expected of the Lord Ehit! He knows exactly when we need his help!" The Pope prayed aloud.

The King smiled and they started walking towards the crater that was a few meters deep. Cracks were strewn across the floor like spider webs.

When they reached the edge of the crater, they could see something that made them break out in a cold sweat.

Right in the center of the crater was a wooden stake with a human head nailed to it.

The two swallowed audibly before they caught a white cloth fluttering underneath the head.

The King and the Pope looked at each other and nodded at the same time as they started down into the crater before heading to where the stake was stuck.

When they saw the face of the person on the stake, they could recognize him. It was one of the warriors who had been selected today to deal with Nader. With this, it was clear to them that Nader was the one who caused all this.

With a grimace, they ignored the head and the Pope untied the white cloth that was tied to the stake. For some reason, his hands were shaking as a cold sweat ran down his cheeks.

[I hope you liked my gift. The next head that will be at stake will be yours].

His body visibly trembled as he read what was written on the cloth. Not because he was afraid, but because, for the first time in a long time, anger surged inside his heart.

He let out a long, deep sigh and a mocking smile hung on his face.

'Let's see whose head will fly off first. Your life will soon be purged by the sword of Lord Ehit.' He thought as he imagined Noint painfully killing Nader.

The King peeked his head behind the Pope and looked at what was written on it as he furrowed his brows.

"Lord Ishtar. With the Apostle's work, surely Nader will die, so what about tomorrow's declaration?".

Without much thought, the Pope said, "Do as we have planned, that way we can explain the reason we killed him."

The King simply nodded.

The Pope knew that Nader was well-liked by the female group in the capital even though he was hardly ever seen, so if he simply disappeared overnight, they would come looking for explanations.

For the Pope, it was better to turn those same people against Nader, so that all the blame would fall on him.

--------------------

"Hm? Is someone after me?" Nader's eyebrows furrowed as he tried to think who the person following him might be.

As far as he knew, the Pope should be the strongest one there was in the kingdom. But the Pope didn't have enough power for him to move through the air at this speed.

'I guess they had a trump card...' He thought.

He knew that if he didn't use everything he had right now, he wouldn't stop for a few seconds before he was caught.

His brain worked faster than usual as he imagined what he could do to escape.

"Limit Break" Nader muttered and instantly felt his strength, speed along with all his parameters triple.

He then made his Lightning Law circulate through his body before materializing a sharp, whitish-colored dagger in his right hand. With a thought, he imbued the dagger with his senses, and with all the strength he could muster, he threw it forward.

The dagger went flying as it cut through the street and houses like butter. What was left in its wake were only straight-line furrows that cut the city in half along with the dust that was blown away by the wind.

Adding to the speed at which Nader ran together with the inhuman strength he possessed, the dagger had broken the sound barrier.

Nader stomped hard on the ground. The streets next to the nearby houses were made void as he leaped skyward while at the same time materializing a thick white platform vertically.

The instant he stepped on the platform, he bent his knee, and with all the strength he had, he propelled himself and shot forward.

Up to that moment, it was unknown whether the people living nearby were alive or dead.

Like the dagger, Nader's speed had broken the sound barrier, reaching a staggering 1,200 meters per second.

But this was still not enough for him to escape his pursuer. He sensed that he was only about fifty meters behind him. Which meant that in less than a second he would already catch up with him.

"Stop!" Nader's deep voice thundered across the heavens.

As if time had heard him, everything that was in motion, stopped. The dark colors of the night lost color, gaining a grayish hue.

Nader felt that instantly 10% of his entire energy was unbanished. But it was a small price to pay to escape.

Although his pursuer did not come to a complete stop due to Nader's limited understanding of the Law of Time, it was enough to slow his enemy's speed.

Taking advantage of this small opportunity, he tried to feel the dagger imbued with his senses.

With a cackle that echoed in the night, Nader's eyes sparkled with white lightning and he disappeared from his place, leaving only a residual image that was cut into four parts by two sharp silver blades.

Noint floated in the sky with his silver wings protruding from her back as he looked at where Nader had disappeared. Her face was as drab as ever.

She thought the irregular was stronger than she expected, but not to the point where it could cause problems for her Lord.

She could kill him and fulfill the mission given by her Lord at any time, so she decided she would let him go for this one.

Not knowing that this understatement would someday make her regret it, her figure shimmered in the moonlight and disappeared from her place, leaving behind only monotone words:

"See you later, irregular."

----------------------------

Nader was breathing heavily behind a large fissure in the rock face.

This place was where previously his dagger had stopped, allowing him to use his teleportation thanks to his Law of Space.

Of course, he could only teleport as far as his senses covered, which in this case would be fifty square meters, but because he had used his energy dagger imbued with his senses, he was able to teleport directly to where the dagger had stopped. But that proved to be extremely exhausting as his energy was completely drained.

Not caring about the rocky debris falling on him, he took out a round bottle that was the size of a fist from his [Storage].

He uncapped it and popped the crown of the bottle into his mouth, letting the thick bluish liquid run down his throat. The taste of the potion was sour and it smelled quite foul. After a few seconds, he emptied the entire contents of the bottle and tossed it into his storage as he pulled out another bottle before consuming it all.

Even the fatigue and numbness caused by the side effect of the [Limit Break] skill had completely healed.

"Phew! That was exhausting", he sighed as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"How long ago was the last time I ran away from someone?" he said with a small smile.

With his energy renewed, he stood up and patted his clothes.

With a jump, he jumped out of the small cave and disappeared from his place because he had sensed some people from the adventurer's guild coming to inspect what had happened.

Earlier, the people of the guild were casually talking in the beautiful room that guarded the entrance of the labyrinth when, suddenly, a white light appeared and destroyed the entrance of the Great Orcus Labyrinth. Although there were no casualties, there were quite a few adventurers who were seriously injured.

Oblivious to the others, Nader appeared again in another location as he began to walk around and inspect the surroundings.

The cave he was in was wide and the ceiling was suspended some twenty meters above the ground. Scattered along the rocky walls were embedded luminous green stones that dimly illuminated the dark cave.

Soon, a group of grey creatures with red eyes shot out of the cracks in the wall. Their appearances were grotesque. To say the least, they were giant rats standing on their two hind legs while their sinewy, reddish hairless muscles were on display.

Not wanting to waste any time, Nader materialized thick, white chains that twisted around the rats' bodies. Their bodies swelled before exploding into bloody mists.

Nader didn't know if the being was still chasing him or not, so he began to blink at his normal forward speed.