The 31st Piece Turns the Tables
chapter-59

Karuna gave Seol a serious look after a horrifying shriek rang throughout the forest.

“Master!”

“Alright.”

Seol decided to listen to Karuna’s request.

“What? Are you out of your mind? We’re going to fight that monster?” Jamad shook his head in disagreement.

“There’s a way.”

“Krgh… Why do we have to do something so crazy…”

It was crazy.

Karen was so powerful that Seol wouldn’t even have a chance if they faced each other head-on.

But it was also for that reason that Jamad believed Seol only decided to head back because he had a surefire way to overcome this situation.

“...So you really do have a method.”

“I do.”

Jamad grinned from ear to ear.

“Alright! If you’re saying that, then I really bet there is a way.”

“Thanks for believing me.”

This was why trust between the summon and the summoner was important.

Oftentimes, intelligent summons would refuse their master’s order if it was a ridiculous request. And if that process repeated itself multiple times, the summon would sometimes even leave their master.

It wasn’t the case for Seol, though.

Seol, once again, ran toward Karen.

“Gasp… Gasp…”

The Boots of Narrow Escape’s effects were amazing.

Even though Seol was simply returning where he once came, it was costing him almost double or triple the stamina he used.

And after ten to twenty minutes of running, Seol returned to the location.

“Stop her! Stop that monster!”

“Tie her down! Bring more chains!”

“Everyone, hang on! The archbishop is about to arrive soon!”

BOOM!

BOOM!

The earth continued to explode.

Seol became nervous for a moment when he saw the scenery that was reminiscent of a battlefield, but even so, Seol went in. The more he delayed, the worse the situation was going to get.

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

Inhale…

After taking a deep breath, Seol yelled out.

“What the hell is going on?!”

Seol sounded natural when he reprimanded them, like a boss scolding their employee.

Currently, Seol was at The Church of Death’s Truth’s campsite. His viewers were all in shock as he was practically running into the enemy’s maw.

- This psycho!

- He’s a mad lad!

- Is he insane…?

- It’s all gone wrong! Karuna, Jamad! Save yourselves at least!

The members of The Church of Death’s Truth all looked shocked as some weird person appeared out of nowhere to scold them when they all already had their hands full with the unleashed undead.

“Wh-who is that?”

“I don’t know…”

But then, the owner of the tent that Seol infiltrated to get the crystal appeared.

It was a fat necromancer.

“Who are you to intrude here?”

Seol acted calmly.

And since he often watched how Jamad acted, he knew exactly how someone arrogant acted.

“Hmph, did you not receive communication? I’m sure the church has told you to wait.”

“What do you… church? D-Don’t tell me you’re…”

“Yes, it is I.”

“Are you an envoy from The Church of Eternal Life?”

“You only realized it now? How slow…”

“I apologize… But… What brings you here…?”

Since Seol knew their situation, he was able to lie easily.

“Why would The Church of Eternal Life ignore your request? I was late because there was a bit of confusion, but I came here myself to directly help you all.”

“Hah…”

- Is he a genius?

- Did you see his acting? He deserves an Oscar.

- Look at how bold he is LMFAO. Knowing the truth only makes this funnier.

- WTF Snowman’s the imposter. ඞ

The fat necromancer’s pupils rocked back and forth.

He didn’t know what to do.

The archbishop was coming to do the ceremony specifically because The Church of Death’s Truth believed that The Church of Eternal Life abandoned them. But now, a member of The Church of Eternal Life showed up without notice.

The necromancers were shocked, like a scared husband who had their drinking party caught by a wife who returned home early.

Boom! Boom!

“Kaaaargh!”

“Block her!”

And the situation was only getting worse and worse.

It was difficult for the necromancers to make a proper decision in this situation. Seol, knowing this, wedged himself in more.

“What are you dawdling for?! Is there not a problem?”

“Th-there is.”

“And what is it?”

“That undead has been unleashed and is resisting. Thankfully, not many have died, but the problem is that the undead is becoming stronger.”

“Oh no, this is a huge problem. Do we have any reinforcements?”

“The archbishop is about to arrive soon.”

“What fortunate timing. The archbishop’s foresight is going to save us all.”

“Uh… sir, we have something to request…”

“I already know what you’re about to ask! I’ll buy as much time as I can until the archbishop arrives. After all, you are practically our sister church.”

Seol complained, pretending as if he had no other choice to do it.

The fat necromancer teared up and lowered his head.

“Krgh… Thank you.”

“There’s nothing to be thankful about. It is the rightful charity that The Church of Eternal Life should bestow upon you.”

“Yes! We will help you as well!”

- He’s like a professor who likes to show off. LMFAO

- He made the mess and is pretending like he came here to help out LOL

- To be honest, even I would fall for him haha

Seol, before arriving here, had returned Karuna and Jamad into his Shadow Space.

‘I have to hide my powers as much as I can.’

Since he was in the middle of enemy territory, pretending to be an ally, there was nothing bad about being careful.

So that’s why Seol decided to only summon Karuna.

“Karuna, come forth.”

Glow…

Fwirl!

Clang…

“Yes.”

When Karuna was summoned before Seol, the fat necromancer started to shout.

“Someone came from The Church of Eternal Life! Open a path!”

“Someone? Who?”

“The Church of Eternal Life is getting involved? I was sure that…”

“Regardless of the reason, that’s something for the archbishop to figure out! What we have to do now is help him!”

“You’re right!”

With countless cheers from the necromancers, Karuna walked toward the front and stood at the vanguard.

“Grrrr…”

And there, an elf’s corpse was holding onto a sword while drooling all over.

‘As expected, there’s a bunch of penalties stacked on her now.’

Karen’s status, when Seol first checked it, was monstrous.

But now, she was only barely able to go even with the necromancers, who looked weak at a glance, just because they had numbers. This simply meant that she had massive penalties placed on her.

‘This is an opportunity.’

If I can’t defeat her, I just need to hold on until the archbishop shows up. And if I’m somehow able to beat her, then the situation is simply over.

“Karen…”

“Grrrrr…”

“Forgive me.”

Unsheathe.

Peerless.

Breath revealed itself for the first time in front of many people.

Shine!

Glow…

[Karuna has entered the 1st Stage of Soaring Moonlight, Crescent Moon.]

As Karuna’s obviously impressive blue sword was revealed to the necromancers, they became relieved.

“He was right!”

“He’s from The Church of Eternal Life!”

“They didn’t throw us away!”

The first to move was Karuna.

Dash!

CLAAAAAAAANG!

Even though Karuna was extremely fast, to the point that most monsters wouldn’t have been able to react to him, Karen reacted to it like it was nothing.

“Grrr…”

‘Did she react with just her instincts?’

With beast-like movements, she faced off against Karuna.

Claaang! Clang!

Fwoooosh…

CLAAAAAANG!

She cut and cut and cut and spun to cut.

Karen impressively gained back the momentum with just one combo.

“Help him!”

Fwoooosh…

A few strange spells were placed on Karuna’s body.

[Jetura, a necromancer, used ‘Living Bone Armor’.]

[Karuna’s defense is increased by 10%.]

[Ming, a necromancer, used ‘Dark Blessing’.]

[Karuna’s element resistance is increased by 5%.]

……

The light from more spells surrounded Karuna as well. They might have been small buffs, but they were definitely welcome.

Clang!

“Grrrr…”

“Karen, wake up!”

“Graaaaah!”

Claaaaang!

Karen was easily able to dodge any spells, and Karuna was also too busy trying to keep up with Karen’s animal movements.

Glooow!

“This isn’t over yet!”

[Karuna has entered the 2nd Stage of Soaring Moonlight, Half Moon.]

Blue light radiated out of Karuna’s helmet.

“Ohhh!”

“As expected!”

As Karen’s armor was broken from the start, even a single proper attack landing would lead to her armor being destroyed.

However, there was no way a hit would land on her.

“Grrr…”

“Hyah!”

Creaaaaak!

Not only was it awful that Breath let out a shrill metallic shriek as it lost out to a half-broken sword, but Karuna was also repelled all the way back to a rotten tree.

BAAM!

“Krgh…”

“O-Oh my goodness… the undead…”

“Is too strong!”

Karen used that opening to start swinging her sword at the necromancers.

SLASH!

“AAAAARGH!”

Stab…

“Argh… Grgh…”

A shade cast over Seol’s face.

‘Karuna still lost her movements… even though he’s in the Half Moon stage?’

In fact, it almost seemed like he was getting pushed back more in the Half Moon stage than the Crescent Moon stage. Seol quickly realized that it was not a normal situation.

‘She’s becoming stronger!’

Seol didn’t know what penalties she had as an undead, but the penalty from reviving doesn’t last that long.

It was likely that Karen was slowly recovering from the revival penalty and was slowly regaining her stats.

‘Damn it. At this rate, I won’t be able to defeat her alone.’

The situation wouldn’t have changed if he summoned Jamad either. Furthermore, summoning Jamad would also practically leave Seol’s life to fate.

Because in the end, he was still in the middle of enemy territory.

It might be a 2 vs. 1 right now, but in truth, it was a 1 vs. 1 vs. 1 free-for-all.

‘In the end, I need to hide Jamad if I want to win.’

A gambler who recklessly shows their hand will always inevitably lose. Seol, knowing this, simply decided to wait and see.

Bam!

Crush!

But it wasn’t like Karuna’s attacks were completely pointless.

As he landed a kick on Karen’s right shoulder, her pauldron was destroyed.

“It landed!”

“Now! Reorganize the lines!”

The lost necromancers picked themselves back up and assisted Karuna once again.

‘There’s less than twenty necromancers now.’

The campsite originally had roughly fifty members, but the number had shrunk this much before Seol realized.

It was clear that they either died from the shockwave that Karen unleashed as she was reborn or from her animalistic movements.

“Graaaah!”

“Karen!”

Karuna was pressing down on Karen with his sword.

And she was repelling Breath with her sword, which had been broken in half.

Clash…

“Do you not recognize me?”

“Graaaaah…”

“I’m back, Karen. Open your eyes!”

“Graaaaaaaah!”

BOOOOM!

‘Damn it!’

Karen exploded with energy and burst into flames. Up until now, she was only facing Karuna with swordsmanship or martial arts, but now the situation has changed.

Slide…

Pressure.

Air sucked toward her, almost like it was prepared for her.

And then, it returned with a massive explosion.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

BUUUUUURN…

Fssssssss…

“Guaaaargh!”

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!”

“Fire! Someone take out the fire on my body!”

It was a massive explosion, even the nearby necromancers were caught up by it.

As Seol was also in the range of the fire, flames shot out toward him as well.

Frss!

[Spirit's Barrier activates.]

[Fire Barrier is used.]

[It will be ready again after 1 minute.]

Seol’s belt, Space, had activated Spirit’s Barrier, one of its unique effects, to block the elemental attack.

‘So this is how powerful the fire attribute is…’

Seol gulped.

The fire attribute, compared to the other attributes, simply had pure firepower. It also spread extremely well.

And now, Karen was showing off incredible power, almost as if she were trying to boast about the fire attribute’s greatness.

“The person from The Church of Eternal Life is fine!”

“Continue to help him!”

Seol coldly judged the situation.

‘The undead’s stat penalty is slowly going away. At this rate…’

It was possible that Karuna would die in vain.

In fact, Karuna was currently giving his all to only not be pushed back by her.

‘Should I cancel the Full Moon stage?’

Karuna reaching the Full Moon stage this early was bad for Seol.

When The Church of Death’s Truth eventually found out the truth, Seol would need not only Jamad but also Karuna to fend them off.

And if Karuna was pushed back by Karen even in his full moon stage, then he would obviously have to summon Jamad as well.

‘There’s no choice.’

But just as Seol was about to tell Karuna to enter his next stage, the news he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

The fat necromancer was screaming at the top of his lungs.

“The archbishop has arrived! Archbishop Galifa has arrived!”