Building A Human Empire By Creating A Clan [EN]: Chapter 83

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Raindrops began to fall as I arrived at the Grand Temple.

I led Calliope and several familiars to the main gate.

A hymn echoed clearly from beyond the gate, as a service was in progress.

Like a lighthouse on the dark sea—

Your holiness, which dictates rules to all—

“How awful.”

I muttered unconsciously.

Calliope looked at me, her thoughts showing interest.

It was rare for me to reveal my inner thoughts so carelessly.

“Isn’t it awful that they praise the thing that destroyed the lighthouse, the thing whose rules imprison humanity?”

I took out a pack of cigarettes from my pocket and put one in my mouth.

A familiar lit the cigarette, and I took a deep drag, exhaling the smoke.

‘Confirmed. The Archbishop is inside.’

The familiar who had infiltrated the temple sent a thought.

He was an assassin under the command of Mountain Hermit Nuadh.

Among the familiars, a select few with special talents such as concealing their presence or altering their appearance operated under Nuadh in a formation called the Assassin Squad.

Most of them had already begun operations at the Germania border, but I had urgently gathered Nuadh and a few others and ordered them to search the Grand Temple as soon as they arrived.

‘Did Nuadh search himself?’

‘No. Nuadh did not enter the city. It seems there is another guest outside, and he is investigating.’

Outside the city?

I narrowed my eyes.

‘It is true that the Archbishop visited the Theocracy. He appears to have arrived with the descendants of Thurdlet who accompanied him at the time.’

‘Anything suspicious?’

‘He was holding something in his arms. I couldn’t see what it was.’

Holding something in his arms, huh.

I recalled a few suspicious objects from my memory.

However, those were things that were too early to appear, chronologically.

I stroked my chin, pondered for a moment, and said.

‘Can you kill the Archbishop?’

‘Impossible.’

I nodded.

“Let’s go in.”

Calliope opened the massive main gate.

The wooden main gate was taller than a multi-story building.

Not just the main gate, but everything was like that.

The Temple of Horbid fundamentally embraced grandeur.

It was designed to overwhelm the believers and make them bow their pride.

‘The weak cannot be ruled without embellishment.’

I sneered and went inside.

From the moment you passed through the entrance, the temple was lined with pews.

The pew area occupied a space larger than the hall of Duke Thurdlet’s mansion.

Large enough for thousands of people to sit packed together and sing hymns.

My strength, punish all nations—

Punish all who deviate from your rules—

And they were actually doing it.

On the altar, the priest sang with his arms spread wide, and thousands of believers followed, raising their voices in unison.

Deafened by the loud singing, I headed towards the altar.

“You are interrupting the service.”

“Please step aside.”

The monks stood in our way.

Their faces wore smiles, but their voices were firm.

“I’ve come to see the Archbishop.”

“The Archbishop is currently absent.”

“The Archbishop is not someone anyone can meet.”

The number of monks increased, surrounding us.

Still smiling, they approached us step by step.

Each one was inhumanly large.

Their heads were shaved, and strange tattoos were etched on their bald heads.

I saw a faint light emanating from the tattoos.

“I know that Archbishop Gottlob has already arrived.”

A slight flinch.

“I am Edar of Thurdlet. No, Edar Lundringen. Go to him and tell him. I wish to see him, so show your face.”

The smile disappeared from the monks’ faces.

At the same time, the singing that filled the temple ceased.

The believers’ heads turned towards me, and thousands of eyes looked only at me.

“Calliope.”

Thump!

Calliope stomped her foot on the floor.

The temple shook, and dust fell from the ceiling.

The monks and believers lost their balance and staggered, but quickly regained their composure.

Passions boiling up from the depths distorted their expressions.

They bared their teeth, their bodies trembling as if they were about to pounce.

“You are not very polite.”

At that moment, a soft voice was heard.

Those who had surrounded us parted to the left and right.

A young priest approached me with a smiling face.

‘He is Archbishop Gottlob.’

The familiar hidden among the believers sent a thought.

A young man who seemed too young to be an archbishop.

I narrowed my eyes, as he was not someone in my memory.

“Polite? Isn’t it ridiculous to demand politeness when you are bewitching people’s minds and clouding their reason?”

“Bewitching? We are teaching them what is right.”

I stomped out the finished cigarette.

“Is it right that humans are inferior to other races and, because they are inferior, are destined to live as slaves?”

“Not slaves, but people. Look. Is your family, Thurdlet, like slaves? What was the result of your ancestor’s loyalty? Their power rivals that of a king, so how can they be like slaves?”

I scoffed.

How many humans were sacrificed to maintain that so-called loyalty?

“Do not grieve. They were born with such a fate.”

“There is no predetermined fate for humans. Humans determine their own lives by their own will, not by some god.”

Even after hearing the words ‘some god,’ the Archbishop smiled.

“Indeed! Such is the thought of an infidel. There is no room for conversion!”

“······.”

“I also know why you have come to find me. You intend to kill me, don’t you? You are trying to stop Lord Horbid’s grand plan, aren’t you? Do you think you can do it?”

The monks and believers took out daggers from their robes.

They exuded a fierce murderous intent, ready to rush at me at any moment.

The familiars, except for Calliope, were widely positioned around me.

“You show no signs of tension. Do you also know? That you will not die.”

The Archbishop laughed heartily.

He took out a fist-sized gem from his robes.

The gem, with a reddish hue, was pointed on one side like a cone.

I felt the presence of Horbid from the energy flowing from the gem.

That must have been why he visited the Theocracy [a government ruled by religious leaders].

“Gottlob. Do you know what you hold in your hand?”

“Of course. I know. I hold Lord Horbid in my hand.”

That is a part of him.

Like Vlad’s ring and Tiamar’s gem.

It is a gem containing a part of Horbid.

“Do you think you can stop me with that?”

“It is impossible for me, for us, to kill you. I never intended to target you in the first place.”

The believers pointed their daggers at their own necks.

“It is useless for the likes of us to target you. We will not target you. We will target not you, but what is yours. Everything you can have.”

That is, humans.

They will annihilate humanity.

A voice I could not hear with my ears echoed in my mind.

“Horbid, watch over me.”

The Archbishop stabbed the gem into his forehead.

A demonstration.

Archbishop Gottlob.

The moment he embedded the gem in his forehead, Calliope kicked off the floor.

The distance of a dozen steps was instantly closed, and a flash of light flickered.

Swish!

The flicker was the light reflected from her sword as it came out of its sheath.

Immediately after the flash disappeared, a long, thin line was drawn on the Archbishop’s neck.

Thud!

The Archbishop’s head rolled across the chapel.

The gem fell from his forehead as his head hit the floor.

The Archbishop’s body slumped and twitched for a moment before its movement stopped.

The flame of life had been extinguished.

“······.”

However, Calliope did not back down.

Her gaze was fixed on the gem that had absorbed the Archbishop’s blood.

The gem’s red light grew brighter and brighter, and magic flowed.

She was certain that this was not the end.

Pssssssss——

The gem vibrated, and the Archbishop’s blood on its surface boiled.

Blood vapor rose, and the heat haze flickered with a reddish light.

Tentacles? I narrowed my eyes and assessed the heat haze.

The heat haze, tinged with color, really did resemble tentacles.

Swoosh!

The tentacles stretched out towards the Archbishop’s head in an instant, and Calliope reacted immediately, swinging her sword again.

“······!”

However, the blade passed through the tentacles as if cutting through the air, and the tentacles clung to the Archbishop’s head and his body as well.

“Cough!”

The closed eyes of the severed head flashed open and coughed.

“Ooooo···!”

The monks and believers rejoiced.

To them, the dead had come back to life.

They had witnessed a miracle that banished death.

“The Archbishop has risen again!”

“Horbis punishes even death!”

The Archbishop’s body rose, grabbed his head, and placed it back on his neck.

The staggering body began to change as soon as the head was attached.

Just as Bishop Bowler had done in the Marquisate of Rozen.

His body shed its human form and became a wolf.

【Lv. 84】

“A bit bigger.”

The only differences were that he stood on two feet and had a gem embedded in his head.

I chuckled and gestured to Calliope.

She rushed towards the werewolf Archbishop.

– Behold the glory of Lord Horbid!

Whoosh—!

The Archbishop slammed his foot down.

Calliope dodged it and burrowed under him.

– Huh···!

As he tried to step back with a surprised sound, she raised her sword and stabbed him.

The sound of the blade sinking deep into his neck was so refreshing to hear.

I was certain that the Archbishop had met his second death at this moment.

Slash—!

The sword, embedded to the hilt, was swung around and pulled out.

Pssssssss——

However, it was different from the first time.

The blade cut through, leaving his neck half-severed.

The wound on his neck bubbled with blood and healed.

– Horbid has not allowed me to die!

“Punish the sinner!”

“Chastise him!”

The believers shouted in response to the Archbishop’s cry.

A miracle of regaining life twice.

But I saw it.

Among the believers, there was one whose head had been cut off.

At the same time as the Archbishop’s neck was cut off, his neck was cut off.

‘Did he sacrifice his soul?’

The soul emerged from the body of the beheaded believer.

The soul floated into the air and was pulled back.

As if a fishhook was caught in the back of its neck, like a person swept away by a rapid current, it flailed its arms and was swallowed by the gem embedded in the Archbishop’s forehead.

And the Archbishop’s wound was completely healed.

“You’re doing dirty tricks.”

– It is a beautiful sacrifice!

The Archbishop retorted with a smile.

Calliope continued to attack him.

But each time, he ate a soul and recovered.

No matter what wounds his body sustained, the souls of the believers healed them.

The believers did not hesitate to sacrifice themselves for the Archbishop.

“Horbid! Take me!”

“I offer my soul to you!”

The living believers clamored to offer their souls.

The believers who had died and become souls regretted it belatedly, flailing and being eaten.

I could only shake my head at this contrasting spectacle.

They could not know unless they experienced it themselves.

– More! More! More! More faith!

The fight continued without pause.

Neither side was tired or injured.

The Archbishop’s attacks could not reach Calliope,

And Calliope’s attacks were immediately healed by the sacrifice of the believers.

Moreover, neither side was weak enough to feel fatigue.

Clang!

The Archbishop struck Calliope’s blade, pushing her back.

The distance widened, and the attacks stopped for a moment, and he let out a long sigh.

– I guess it won’t work.

The number of dead believers reached dozens.

That meant the Archbishop had died or been injured that many times.

But Calliope did not shed a single drop of sweat.

The overwhelming gap between the two was clear.

– I didn’t think I could win against you in the first place.

The Archbishop stretched out his hand to the side.

The monks reacted to this and shouted.

“The Archbishop wants us!”

“The time has come! Let’s go to the eternal kingdom!”

The monks and believers gripped their daggers again.

Stab!

And they stabbed themselves in the neck without any hesitation.

Thousands of lives disappeared, and their souls headed towards the Archbishop.

The gem shone more intensely than ever before.

– Hahahahahahaha!

The Archbishop laughed loudly.

The laughter was so loud that the temple shook.

– Do you see! The power that faith creates!

I narrowed my eyes and looked at him.

【Lv. 89】

His level had certainly increased significantly.

But he was still no match for Calliope.

‘The power is rapidly draining away.’

Along with the light emitted by the gem, I also heard a ringing in my ears.

That ringing was the scream of the souls swallowed by the gem.

The screams of foolish souls who had been deceived by a false god and offered themselves.

The souls struggled to get out of the gem.

Crack···

A very small cracking sound.

Too small to be heard, but I heard it with my eyes.

The gem was suppressing it, but it was gradually cracking.

The splitting cracks naturally conveyed the sound to my mind.

And the sound of power leaking from the cracks as well.

“There’s no point in gaining power through such petty tricks. What you’ve done won’t last long.”

– Petty tricks? You are mistaken about something.

The Archbishop placed his hand on his forehead and smiled.

– I’m not trying to kill you. Didn’t I tell you?

Magic surged wildly.

The screams of the souls trapped in the gem grew even more intense.

The Archbishop was drawing out the power they possessed.

– What if there is no light in this world?

The ceiling collapsed as he raised his hand high.

The familiars knocked away the falling debris around me.

– It was Horbid who gave light to humans who lived in the dark ages.

Another dark cloud gathered in the cloudy sky.

It was not a rain cloud.

It was a dark cloud containing the magic emitted by the Archbishop.

As the cloud covered the sky, the light began to disappear.

It blocked the light shining from the sun, creating darkness.

– I will take away the light from those who dare to betray Horbid. Taking the destruction of this city as an example, I will clearly show those who waver in your temptation how grave a sin it is to abandon faith.

Calliope rushed forward and beheaded the Archbishop.

But the dark clouds did not dissipate and continued to gather.

The Archbishop’s severed head uttered a curse with a laugh.

– Realize your sins in the darkness and be seized by fear.

The moment the cloud covered the sun, complete darkness fell upon this land.