Survive as a Prison Guard in the Game

Chapter 177
Preparation for War (1)

*Flap* *Flap*

Flying through the sky on the back of the Shadow Dragon, Redin quickly reached his destination.

A gap in the canyon below.

Down there was the laboratory that he’d learned about from Yodun’s memories.

Redin reverse-summoned the shadow dragon and entered the gap in the canyon. After descending through the narrow fissure for a long time, the ground finally appeared.

A place with hardly any light.

Redin heightened his senses, scanning the area for any signs of the cultists, but there was no sign of them.

“What the…”

Walking slowly, Redin traced the path from Yodun’s memory to the laboratory.

There were no sentries.

He could not sense a single trace of demonic energy.

A large lake leading into the laboratory appeared. Using dragon magic, Redin parted the waters of the lake, revealing a path downward.

Descending the stairs, he found a wide-open door.

He could now start to sense demonic energy.

At the bottom of the stairs, a passageway appeared, and as he continued to walk along it, a huge cavern appeared.

The laboratory resembled the one where Redis had been imprisoned before.

It was definitely the lab from Yodun’s memories.

However, none of the test subjects or the demon cultists conducting the experiments from Yodun’s memories were present.

“They must have fled.”

Those who had been using the Demon People to watch the unfolding battle.

They must have known that Yodun and the others were dead, but they couldn’t have known that he would come straight to this place.

To have fallen into such a trap.

It was clear that they knew about his ability to absorb the memories of those he killed.

Hoping to see if they left any information behind, he walked into the lab and found the walls littered with magic bombs.

*Beep, beep, beep!*

A blue light flashed from the beeping magic bombs. They were about to explode. He created multiple shadow alter egos.

The shadow alter egos clung to the detected magic bombs and opened their mouths. It swallowed the magic bomb whole.

*BOOOOOM!!*

Within the body of the shadow alter egos, magic bombs exploded. Its belly bloated and it belched black smoke.

It seems they set up a trap to kill him.

“Looks like they know quite a bit about me.”

He walked around the lab, checking for anything that might be of use.

They’d hastily packed up the place.

There were remnants of experimental data and such left behind.

There wasn’t anything he could immediately identify, but if he passed it to Heather, he might find something.

As he gathered everything he needed and exited the lab, he sensed a presence he hadn’t felt earlier.

A black hooded figure perched above the canyon.

Redin used his [Fairy Wings] to ascend to the top of the canyon, and the black hood twitched and tilted his head to the side.

“Hooo. You’re alive?”

“Did you think you could kill me with a simple magic bombs?”

“Because it wasn’t just an ordinary magic bomb.”

“It wasn’t that special,” said Redin.

The black hood that the apostle was wearing flew off in the wind.

Entirely black skin, with blackened eyes. A head that was bald, devoid of any hair.

The apostle’s lips curled into a grin.

“So, did you get all the information you wanted?”

“It’s a bit incomplete, but I’ve found something that can fill in the gaps, so it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“It seems like it’s me. But what now? I don’t know the location of the headquarters either. Kekeke.”

“….”

“You can kill me, but you won’t get the information you want.”

“I’ll confirm that myself.”

Redin drew his sword, Cairo.

Then he lunged forward, swinging the sword at the Apostle.

*CLANK!*

A black shield appeared, blocking out his attack.

Channeling his mana, Redin formed an aura blade, which he used to slice the shield in half.

The Apostle caught the tip of his sword with just two fingers. It didn’t budge, like it was glued on.

“The ones you’ve fought so far have been boring, haven’t they?”

“Are you different?”

“Totally different.”

As the Apostle grasped the tip of his sword and twisted, Redin’s wrist followed suit, turning on its own accord. With a kick to the ground, he spun around, employing the power of purification.

The sword glowed brightly as the purifying power flowed into it.

Letting go of the blade’s tip, the apostle smirked.

“Yes, don’t hold back anything you have. Only then will your chances of winning increase.”

Redin looked at the apostle calmly.

The Apostles he’d dealt with so far tended to be overconfident.

He figured he was one of them.

Suppressing the aura blade with just their fingers felt fundamentally different from the opponents he had faced so far.

“If you just keep wasting time, you won’t get any where, will you?”

Looking at the apostle’s relaxed demeanor, Redin took out a vial of holy water.

The greatest weakness of the Demon Church is Divine Power.

Forming the Sword of Judgment in his left hand, he raised the sword Cairo in his right, and charged at the apostle again.

Storm Slash.

He swung his sword at the apostle like a storm. Seeing the apostle try to retreat, he quickly closed the distance.

Then the apostle raised his fingers.

With two fingers, he parried precisely the swords he was swinging.

Demonic energy flowed out and materialized in the form of a balde at the tip of their fingers.

“It’s hard to understand how someone not chosen by the gods can wield such immense power.”

“…….”

“There were no variables like you in the plan of the Demon Church.”

The Apostle counterattacked.

The move was simple, but the power it contained was tremendous. Demonic Energy that could not be easily extinguished even by the Sword of Judgment.

As they continued exchanging blows, something peculiar became apparent.

The fighting style of the Apostle in front of him.

He fought using only his right index and middle fingers.

“Demon body?”

“Oh. Correct.”

The apostle grinned broadly and snapped his fingers, and the black aura blade at the end of his finger stretched out like a whip.

The multiple strands of the whip-like blade lashed out swiftly from all directions.

He summoned his shadow alter ego and used Storm Slash to intercept every whip launched by the apostle.

Seeing that the apostle was so relaxed, Redin used the Moonlight Sword.

Over the course of the battle, he’d grown accustomed to using it.

He disappeared from sight.

“I’ve already learned your tricks from the Demon People.”

The flurry of demonic energy whips continued to lash out as the apostle’s fingers kept moving.

If he can’t get through them, he could deal with him from within.

With his shadow alter ego, he stepped into the line the Shadow had created and swung his sword.

*Swipe!*

He felt as if something had been cut.

It was the whip created by the apostle.

“I already know your tricks.”

The smirking Apostle counterattacked.

Parrying the apostle’s sword, Redin activated the [Archmage’s Desire].

Consuming all his mana, he invoked Dragon Magic.

A spell he learned from a Dragon while in Purgatory.

An ability he’d saved up to hide its power as best he could.

Once used, it had a cooldown period before it could be used again, so he kept it hidden until he really needed it.

“Stop.”

As the words flowed out of his mouth, the magic manifested in reality.

A spell to restrain the opponent’s body.

Seeing the apostle’s body temporarily freeze, Redin made a swift slash.

Cutting off his right arm and slicing off two of his fingers with the Sword of Judgment, he pulled out a vial of holy water and doused the fingers with it.

Sacred water poured out, purifying the fingers.

Watching the apostle’s fingers turn to dust and disappear, Redin swung the sword in his right hand to behead the apostle.

*Tumble!*

Even as the apostle’s head hit the floor, he was still grinning from ear to ear.

‘What is this uneasy feeling?’

[Acquired a Cursed Soul].

Reading through the man’s memories.

The memories of the apostle, which began in the laboratory, showed scenes of closing the laboratory and moving the experiments being conducted inside to another location.

A special magic circle.

Among those standing on it was one of the Demon People.

-Finish the experiments on the sword saint at the main headquarters. It will be the key to our cause.

-Agreed, we’ll complete the Demon People project, which will be of great help in the resurrection of the Demon God.

-I don’t know if Redin will hear this, but it doesn’t matter. He won’t be able to find it.

With a hearty laugh, the apostle activated the magic circle, and everyone in it vanished.

Teleportation magic.

They must have used it to get to the main headquarters. The remaining apostle wandered around the area, planting magic bombs and waiting for him outside.

The memory ends here, and the apostle’s eyes blur as he looks across the canyon.

Time to ask him some questions.

Turning to the apostle, Redin opened his mouth.

“How do I get to the main headquarters of the Demon Church?”

-I don’t know.

“And how did the others get there?”

-To get to the main sanctum, you need a portal that the main sanctum opens.

So the magical circle he saw in the memory was a portal opened by the Demon Church?

“What are you trying to do with the Demon People Project?”

-We’re trying to resurrect the Demon God.

“How.”

-We have the soul of a Demon God, and we’re going to transplant it into a Demon Person and bring him to the present.

“How far along is the research?”

-It’s in its final stages.

That’s why they said it’s okay to talk about it.

As the research reached its final stages, it moved to the Demon Church’s main sanctum, so unless he could locate the main temple, there was no way to stop it.

“Then what is the real Demon Gate, and what does the copied one do?”

-The Gates to the Demon Realm on the continent are copies of the Gate at the main sanctum. The energy that flows through the copied Demon Gates will flow into the real Demon Gates.

“How far are you along with the Demon Gate?”

-This too has reached its final stages. Soon, demons will appear on the continent, announcing the advent of the Demon World.

With that, the conversation came to an end.

Redin could see why the dead apostle was smiling.

Even if they died.

With everything already in the final stages, the world would change according to their plan.

“….Hmm.”

Time was limited.

A limited amount of time according to the apostle.

He had to think about what would be efficient in the meantime.

“We must prepare for war.”

It seemed better to prepare for their appearance in the world rather than wander around trying to find the Demon Church’s main temple at this point.

Marek Casino is currently in the process of completing the construction of a building in the Oberg Empire.

There, Redin plans to gather the talented individuals from all the Kingdoms to create a training center and prepare them for the Demon Church.

Also.

The future heroes and named NPCs who will be active in the future, as well as the hidden ones.

If he can recruit them all to form a coalition, and if he can reach the next level.

They’ll be able to stop whatever the Demon Church has planned.

“The hidden pieces I haven’t taken care of so far.”

There were things that could instantly increase his power, or increase the power of others.

He plans to collect them, and he’ll also stop by the Temple of Paraike.

The reason he was told to come there.

What brought him here?

“Time for me to go back.”

Creating a shadow dragon, Redin headed for the Oberg Empire’s encampment.