Became an Apostle of an Ancient God

Chapter 3

Iron Mask, who helped Haru stand up, pointed his thumb toward the stairs while listening to the sound of guards approaching.

"Let's go. We don't have time to dawdle. It sounds like a storm is raging outside, so maybe we can take advantage of the chaos and seize the ship."

"Seize the ship? You and I are going to steer this big ship on our own?"

"No, I mean stealing a lifeboat. A ship this big should have a small boat for going to and from land. We just need to steal that and escape. Let's go."

"You arrogant Masked Revenant, how dare you escape?"

At that moment, an Inquisitor who had rushed in after hearing the commotion from below revealed himself. When he saw Iron Mask, stained black and radiating an unknown aura, he shouted in shock.

"Emergency situation! The great sinner of Anatolia has used the power of the mask. Requesting immediate backup!"

Punishment of the Heretic.

Boarding this ship for that sole purpose, he called for reinforcements and immediately activated a rite powerful enough to easily pulp a person.

[Guiding Missile.]

The moment three golden arrows flew toward Iron Mask, he drew a sharp spear from the shadow cast beneath him.

It seemed he intended to time the incoming missiles and either slash or deflect them with the spear. However, the man called Iron Mask never swung the spear.

The rite Lee Haru realized through the whisper wasn't just the Rite of Distortion.

[Deflect.]

"What...!?"

The three arrows flying straight at Iron Mask twisted in bizarre directions and smashed into the ship's wall.

Just as water began pouring into the ship through the holes, Iron Mask dashed forward like a mad dog, grabbed the priest's neck with his left hand, and pierced his abdomen with the spear, killing him instantly.

"Not bad at all."

"Well, it's nothing much..."

Just as he was about to finish saying that.

Like he was struck with sudden anemia, Haru's consciousness was shaken.

And that wasn't the only abnormality in his body.

From Haru's nose, vivid red blood suddenly gushed out without warning.

"Pff. Ugh!!!"

"Haru...?"

As Iron Mask looked at him with a worried face, Haru wiped his nose and replied.

"I'm fine, ah! I can still go...!"

"No, I don't think you are..."

The bright red blood dripping from Haru's nose, and the sudden intense dizziness that hit Lee Haru—these are symptoms typically seen in those who have overused Divine Power.

It was a side effect of trying to understand and commune with a god using a mortal's brain.

"Something's wrong. The symptoms are too severe. He barely used any rites."

Unable to leave the staggering Haru, Iron Mask wiped the blood from his nose with his hand and lifted him onto his back.

"Wait! What are you doing! I said I'm fine!"

"You haven't used rites much before, so let me tell you now. If your body starts bleeding for no reason, it means your Divine Power is nearly depleted. If you force yourself to use a few more rites like the one just now, you'll die."

"...What? Ugh...!"

Tilting his head at Iron Mask's words, Haru suddenly clutched his forehead, consumed by a splitting headache. It was enough to make him think getting smashed in the head with a mace might hurt less.

Then faintly, a voice was heard.

The voice that had taught him how to use the rite...

That voice was searching.

Somewhere on this ship, it had been trapped...

It was looking for him.

"The voice. I hear the voice... I have to go up."

As if nosebleeds weren't enough, now he was even hearing hallucinations. Frowning, Iron Mask carried the half-unconscious Lee Haru and rushed upward, again and again.

'I can't let the boy push himself any further. We have to escape quickly...'

'But can I really defeat all the priests here and break through with just the mask of the Shadow while protecting one child?'

'How much longer does the mask's effect last... just a few minutes left?'

Just as the two of them were hurriedly running up the stairs. Thinking about it, the number of Inquisitors guarding the prison and the number of visible sailors was oddly low.

The guards they encountered on the way up were only three or four at most. All of them were Inquisitors assigned to supervise prisoners.

Then where were the rest?

Amid the questions, Iron Mask finally kicked open the door leading to the deck and rushed outside. Almost simultaneously with Iron Mask stepping out, a priest's scream echoed with the thunder.

"S... save me. Save... me...."

Unlike Iron Mask, who had come out from inside the ship onto the deck, a priest was desperately trying to get inside from the deck.

The priest's eyes were bloodshot, and his face was frozen in terror.

Throwing away even his dignity as a believer of Serre, he begged the Heretic Iron Mask for help, crawling on all fours to get back inside.

But the priest never made it back inside.

Whoosh—a purple tentacle flew in from somewhere.

It wrapped around the priest's leg and yanked him away.

"Save meeeeeee!!!"

The priest struggled to avoid being dragged, but it was useless. He was pulled toward the owner of the tentacle, his flesh torn and bones crushed, and was devoured by 'it.'

"Wha....."

* * *

Iron Mask saw it.

On the deck, corpses of more than dozens of Inquisitors were blooming like flowers, and at the center of those corpse-flowers was the 'monster.'

Its size... somewhere between medium and large-class monsters.

Comparable to a basilisk or a temple guardian golem.

The monster had no legs.

All it had were bundles of tentacles.

With those bundles of tentacles fluttering, the monster seemed to be desperately searching for something. At least, that's how it appeared to Iron Mask.

What exactly was it searching for, he had no clue.

Atop the legs made of tentacle bundles was an upper body resembling that of a human girl.

On its chest was a massive purple abyss, and from its back extended dozens of beautiful tentacles reminiscent of angel wings.

And the face.

Though its eyes were closed, the girl's face was more beautiful than any goddess depicted in sacred paintings he had defiled.

A beauty so overwhelming it could pull in one's consciousness.

Just looking at it brought a sense of peace.

But Iron Mask shook his head and didn't let his guard down.

Because the abyss on the girl's chest was clearly stained with blood, and from it, something like breath-like steam was being emitted.

"What... the hell is that..."

Meanwhile, Lee Haru saw it.

On the deck, corpses of more than dozens of Inquisitors were blooming like flowers, and at the center of those corpse-flowers, the 'girl' was turning her head toward him.

She was perhaps a head taller than Haru.

She had the average height of a teenage girl, probably between 16 and 19 years old.

The girl had bare, beautiful white legs and wore sandals like someone out for fun at the beach. On her toenails, visible between the sandals, were star-shaped pretty cubic gems that added to her cute charm.

The girl was searching for something.

No, rather than 'something,' it would be more accurate to say she was looking for 'someone.' Because she kept calling out someone's name.

Haru approached the girl quietly, holding his breath.

Over her beautiful bare legs, she wore a white one-piece dress. Below her shoulders, soft black hair flowed down like a waterfall.

No doubt about it.

Slightly blushing cheeks, and purple eyes. A girl who looked somewhat sad, yet as if expecting something. A girl in love stood there.

Lee Haru saw her and instantly knew who she was. He could never forget. That face, that body, everything. She, who stood in the middle of the corpse-flowers before his eyes, was...

The noona that Lee Haru had been searching for so desperately.

* * *

'It' turned around.

The moment its purple eyes met Lee Haru's black eyes.

It, unable to hide its joy, tied up the priest of Serre standing between them with a tentacle, flung him to the corner of the deck, and rushed toward Lee Haru.

[Found you...! Haru...! Haru! Are you okay?]

With a voice full of joy and delight, it shouted in a language not of this world. Tears of emotion flowed from her long-shut purple eyes.

"You damned monster of enthrallment...!"

Seeing it close the distance at a terrifying speed, Iron Mask naturally took his stance. If it did anything foolish, he intended to grab those tentacles and throw it into the sea.

But the one who stopped Iron Mask was Haru. Just before Iron Mask swung his mace, Lee Haru jumped off his back and ran toward it.

"Noona! Shub noona!! I missed you... I really missed you. Noona...!"

"..... What?!"

That thing.

That tentacled monster...

Is what this boy had been searching for so desperately... and he called it 'Noona'?