Chapter 437

Chapter 437: Overwhelming (2)

[The 3rd trial, Proof of Faith, has ended!]

[According to the rules of the stage of the ritual, the descended Administration Department resource will be forcibly repatriated.]

Along with the system's red message, Seferin's physical body, which had been tied to the tip of Hell Rhapsody's blade, began to blur translucently.

Simultaneously as the trial ended, the infinite mana and descent maintenance time the system had granted her were forcibly cut off.

"……."

Looking down at her fingertips scattering away smoothly, Seferin stared at Kim Minwoo with a rigidly stiffened face.

'Is he really…… a Higher God?'

His status itself was clearly terrible.

At best, the level of a normal participant.

Such a person had easily played with her, who had drawn out the power of an Intermediate God.

A joint attack so precise it gave her goosebumps.

On top of that, even movements that cleanly dispersed and absorbed her power.

It was a battle that could not be shown unless their skills themselves were on completely different levels. It wasn't enough to be toyed with; even all her moves had been completely read.

'He didn't even allow…… martyrdom.'

He had perfectly seen through the fact that killing her would provide a justification for the system to intervene, and had clearly stalled for time on purpose until the sacred relic was destroyed.

What if Kim Minwoo had made up his mind to harm her?

A creepy chill shot up Seferin's spine. Even with the system's infinite mana at her back, she could not break through that iron wall.

If they had made up their minds and spewed murderous intent instead of defending, it was certain that the shell of radiance she was wearing wouldn't have lasted even a single minute and would have been torn apart.

'A Higher God…… That person has definitely reached that distant status.'

The arrogant Seferin's lips trembled pareureu.

'Did I delude myself thinking…… a mere angel could dare to rub shoulders with a god.'

No matter how high a status an angel has, they are ultimately nothing more than a dependent of a god.

At best, a Lower God.

If luck followed, at a level where they could barely lick the feet of an Intermediate God.

She was a frog in a well.

All that arrogance of boasting within the Heavenly Realm's hierarchy and considering participants from the human world as dust on her toes was smashed to pieces in a single clash.

In the end, without being able to spit out even a single word of resentment toward Kim Minwoo, she turned into a cluster of light with a stiff face and completely disappeared.

Paaaaat―!

The control room of the golden altar. Along with a streak of light pouring down from the empty air, Seferin knelt below the platform.

The nobility of the Higher Angel who commanded 5,000 fanatics until just a moment ago was nowhere to be found. A pale face and trembling shoulders.

"……Archangel. I am sorry."

Seferin reported with a crushed voice, her head bowed deeply.

"I have miserably failed…… my mission."

A short silence hovered in the control room.

It was the moment Seferin squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for a thunderous reprimand to fall at any moment.

"You've worked hard, Seferin."

"……Pardon?"

A soft touch reached the top of her head.

As Seferin flinched and raised her head, the Archangel was patting her shoulder with an extremely gentle and benevolent smile.

It was the perfect composure of a superior, where neither anger nor astonishment could be found.

"A-Archangel. I……."

"I don't know what you might think, but I rather consider it a good thing."

The Archangel slowly paced the control room with his hands behind his back and opened his mouth softly.

"I will be honest. I was always inwardly worried about that haughty arrogance of yours."

"……."

"Of course, I understand. A Higher Angel directly under our Administration Department is strong enough to put ordinary lower gods under their feet. To make a comparison, you are an executive of a large corporation called the system, and those lower gods are presidents of small and medium-sized enterprises who just became self-made from the bare ground."

The Archangel looked down at Seferin with soft eyes.

"No matter how self-made a president is, isn't it the way of the world that they must bow and yield in front of a large corporation executive. Therefore, it's not unreasonable that you've come to disregard divine status itself after meeting such mediocre lower gods all this time."

The Archangel's fingertip pointed at the hologram monitor.

There, the image of Kim Minwoo checking the settlement window was displayed.

"But Higher Gods are different. They are a massive world unto themselves. Even if the strength and authority of Park Hyunsung, no, Kim Minwoo, were restricted to the level of a shell on this stage…… the essential status of that existence has not been lowered."

"Essential…… status."

"Yes. Today you faced a true Higher God for the first time in your life. And you must have felt it bone-deep. The distant gap that can never be measured by numerical values represented by numbers."

Seferin's pupils wavered minutely.

The Archangel's words were correct.

Even while holding infinite mana, she was merely a dancing clown in front of that overwhelming composure.

That terrible sense of helplessness completely cured the bone-deep arrogance of the angel who had lived nobly her entire life.

Seferin's head bowed even deeper.

"I am simply bewildered. I was stripped of all my believers in front of the vulgar meat smell of the heretics…… and I could not even achieve martyrdom for the system's justification. Please, hand down a severe punishment to this useless person."

"It's fine. What punishment."

The Archangel smiled benevolently and waved his hand.

"Although you may have lost, the fact that we clearly experienced on our end and confirmed through data that he is a true Higher God has a very great meaning in itself."

"But if things stay like this, the justification to intervene……."

"As for justification, we just have to twist the system's rules somehow and hand it over again. You get some good rest. I'll take care of everything, so don't worry too much."

That reliable and mountain-like back.

Thick emotion and awe filled Seferin's blue pupils.

'Aah…… As expected of the Archangel.'

She was blaming herself for being perfectly toyed with without even becoming bait.

The Archangel was making even this terrible failure a part of a massive plan to confirm the bastard's identity.

That composure.

He definitely already had his next move prepared to patch the system's loopholes and ensnare that malicious heretic.

"I will keep that in mind, Archangel……! I will never forget this favor!"

Seferin bowed deeply with a choked-up face and withdrew outside the control room.

The heavy golden door closed smoothly, leaving only the Archangel alone in the control room.

"……."

As soon as the door closed, the gentle and benevolent smile of the Archangel began to tremble like an aspen tree.

His palms, which had been behind his back feigning composure, were already drenched in cold sweat.

The Archangel stared at Kim Minwoo in the hologram monitor and tore at his own hair with both hands.

'I'm screwed.'

A plan?

The next move?

There was no way there was any such thing.

Because that heretic bastard didn't bite the bait and snatched a bypass victory, the justification for punishment was perfectly blown away.

On top of that, adding the 3rd trial victory reward that had to be paid according to the rules, the sacred relic destruction points, and the faith buff from absorbing 5,000 believers, the resulting value was an astronomical amount enough to tear a fatal hole in the system.

'J-just how many resources did that bastard suck up alone! How on earth am I supposed to report that to the higher-ups!'

Afraid of looking too pathetic, he had forcefully squeezed out the composure of a superior in front of Seferin, but the Archangel's stomach was on the verge of developing a hole from stress.

'Find a justification? I can't even see any grounds to intervene, so where do I find a justification! If that bastard goes to the next trial, he'll devour the stage itself!'

On the outside, he was a benevolent executive of a large corporation, but on the inside, his insides were burning black like a low-level section chief waiting for the audit team after causing a multi-billion won deficit in an approval document.

＊ ＊ ＊

At the same time, the Plateau of Abandoned Gods.

Not dreaming in his wildest dreams that the Archangel was suffering from a stomach ailment, Kim Minwoo was smiling very satisfyingly looking at the pouring golden hologram windows.

Ttiring―!

Ttiririring―!

[The final settlement for the 3rd trial, the Proof of Faith, is complete!]

[Enemy Faction Sacred Relic Destruction Reward: 5,000,000 P]

[Hostile Faction Absorption Reward (Bonus): 4,000,000 P]

[Hidden Achievement Unlocked: Bloodless Conqueror!]

[A total of 9,000,000 P has been settled.]

"Keu-eu."

Counting the number of zeros trailing behind the digit, Kim Minwoo smacked his sweet lips.

'What I received after sweeping all the stairs during the 1st trial was around 2 million points at best.'

As expected of the 3rd trial, the stakes themselves were different.

A whopping 9 million points.

'With this much, my points would rot and overflow even if I fed them all top-grade meat three meals a day.'

This side was a jackpot too.

Nearly 5,000 perfectly intact laborers.

He had gained seeds to sow across 5,000 planets.

"Nasar."

"Yes, Master!"

"Pass it onto the newbies. Tell them we provide infinite steak refills for all three meals."

At those words, Nasar's mouth tore open to his ears.

He roared toward the battlefield with a massive volume as if he would cough up blood at any moment.

"Did you all hear! Our benevolent Cult Leader said he will fill your bellies with top-grade meat for all three meals! Line up properly! Don't push!"

"Waaaaaah―!"

It was truly a crucible of frenzy.

"Oh great God of Death!"

"Long live the Cult Leader! Long live meat!"

A bizarre sight of tearing meat and praising the Death Cult in front of sizzling grills.

To them, the salvation of light was already out of their minds. The elixirs and steaks piled up before their eyes were the truth and absolute faith.

― What a massive success.

"Steak eaten after working hard is originally the best."

Cedric shook his bones looking down at that party.

Kim Minwoo's gaze headed toward a spot in the empty air of the canyon's ash-gray sky.

Definitely beyond there, the system bastards who failed to screw him over would be glaring this way shedding tears of blood.

Kim Minwoo smiled widely toward that empty air and slightly raised his middle finger as if to show off.

"Burp. Thanks for the meal."