Chapter 48

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Item Luck Volume 7

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The Pope roared.

"Do you not know who I am? I am Pope Drevigo! The father of seventy million believers and, as the representative of the goddess, the most sacred being in the world! And yet, you dare to draw your sword against me? Heretic, are you not afraid of divine punishment?"

"Hmm."

Grid, who had been listening silently, suddenly spoke.

"Spit."

"What, what? Impudent scoundrel!!"

The masked man had been detestable from the moment he appeared.

He barged in and knocked down the holy knights, then helped the traitors, and now his insolent words were unbearable.

The Pope's face turned beet red with anger.

"I will personally bring down divine punishment upon you! Don't even dream of returning alive!"

Grid shot him a cold glare.

"You keep talking about divine punishment... Pope, haven't you grasped the situation yet? I am the one who has come to bring divine punishment upon you. It's not me who will receive it, but you. You should have behaved better, shouldn't you? Tsk."

The current situation was not pleasant for the Pope alone. Grid was also in a foul mood.

If the Pope had been a normal person, the quest to receive the goddess's blessing at Fabranium would have been easily completed.

However, the Pope's corruption was putting the Rebecca Church in danger, and as a result, the quest had changed, causing unnecessary suffering.

"Even after getting a letter of introduction from my master, it turned out to be useless... You're really annoying."

Boom!

Grid swung Dainsleif nervously. A powerful sword aura flew towards the Pope.

But the Pope was not one to stand idly by. He fired a light magic in response.

Boom!

The dark sword aura and the white light collided, causing a powerful explosion. The impact caused a giant carpet, at least ten meters long, to thrash like a snake on fire and tear into pieces.

Grid showed a troubled expression amidst the remnants of the carpet, which fell like red rain.

'The sword aura was neutralized?'

Grid's sword aura contained the power of red lightning and Damian's buff skill.

However, the fact that it ended in a draw against the Pope's magic was evidence that the Pope's magic was fundamentally stronger than Grid's sword aura.

'My current attack power is higher than Malakuss's magic. Even if Malakuss deployed his shield in three layers, he couldn't block my sword aura, right?'

Grid couldn't understand.

After all, the Pope's combat power, which his insight had quantified, was only 24,000.

Considering that Damian, a ranker at level 227, had a combat power of 12,500, 24,000 didn't seem particularly high.

By the numbers, it meant that two rankers at Damian's level could display combat power surpassing the Pope.

'Using Damian as a benchmark... If we assume that the average combat power of the Chedaka guild members during the Malakuss raid was around 12,000...'

There were 17 Chedaka guild members who participated in the Malakuss raid. If we calculate their individual combat power at 12,000 and sum it up, the total combat power exceeded 200,000.

However, even with over 200,000 in combat power, they were overwhelmed by Malakuss's strength, weren't they?

In other words, Malakuss's combat power at the time was at least 200,000, and the Pope, with a combat power of only 24,000, should be about ten times weaker than Malakuss.

But when they exchanged blows, the Pope felt stronger than Malakuss. It was perplexing.

'Somehow...'

Grid's high insight began to understand the concept of combat power correctly.

'Combat power can show a significant gap even with a small difference, it seems.'

He was right. Since the combat powers of Rebecca's daughters, the Pope, and Damian were in the ten-thousands, Grid had been casually dismissing the differences in the tens and hundreds. However, combat power was a delicate value that could be felt even in single-digit differences.

Moreover, combat power was not a concept of 1+1=2.

If we assume that a combat power of 1 is an ant, then a combat power of 2 is a grasshopper. Two ants together cannot defeat a single grasshopper.

Therefore, combat power is a concept where 1+1 < 2.

This was the reason why 17 Chedaka guild members were overwhelmed by a single Malakuss during the raid.

"The sum of combat powers is meaningless. Just as 17 cats can't defeat an elephant. And Pope, you are a top predator that can devour even an elephant. You are truly incredibly strong?"

"Cats? Elephant? What are you talking about?"

The Pope couldn't understand Grid's incomprehensible muttering.

Perplexed, the Pope received a smirk from Grid.

"Whether I'm a cat, an elephant, or a stray dog, this is a good opportunity to gauge it."

"I don't understand what you're babbling about. Heretic, are you insane?"

"Don't talk so rudely."

Even after realizing that the Pope was much stronger than Malakuss, Grid was not discouraged. Instead, he felt his blood boil.

'I'm curious about how far my strength can go!'

Through the Guardian Raid, Grid had learned how to freely control his sword aura. He thought that he could compensate for the lack of destructive power with control.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Dainsleif was swung from different angles in Grid's grip. Dozens of sword auras flew in various trajectories.

Some boldly aimed straight ahead, some from the side, and some from blind spots, enveloping the Pope from the rear.

It would be impossible to intercept these sword auras one by one with magic without eyes on all sides!

Grid smiled with satisfaction.

But the Pope was not as easy to handle as Grid had expected.

Initially, the Pope continuously deployed light magic to intercept Grid's sword auras one by one. However, he soon realized that it was impossible and resorted to an extreme countermeasure.

"Tricks won't work!"

Light magic was released widely from the Pope.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

It was an overwhelming sight.

The dark sword auras were effortlessly shattered by the white magic, which extended like sunlight.

"Wow."

Grid, who witnessed the dark remnants fading in the radiant light, was genuinely impressed.

"You're really strong."

Was he discouraged this time?

No, he wasn't.

"Great! Now I'll give it my all from the start!"

There is a unique buff skill for the descendants of Pagma. Although it can only be used on oneself, its effect is exceptional.

"Wrath of the Blacksmith!"

[The effect of Wrath of the Blacksmith has been activated. Attack power and attack speed will greatly increase for 20 seconds.]

"Uaaaaaah!!"

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The speed at which Grid swung Dainsleif doubled. It also meant that the speed at which sword auras were generated doubled.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The continuous sword aura spectacle, like a torrential rain, was due to Grid's relentless sword swings.

"Wha...!"

The Pope's face turned pale.

He continuously fired light magic to counter the sword auras, but the speed at which light magic was generated could not keep up with the speed of the sword auras.

Finally, the Pope once again released light magic from himself.

He intended to sweep away Grid's sword auras in one go.

However, a different result occurred this time.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

With the effect of Wrath of the Blacksmith, the dark sword auras became even more powerful. Instead of being destroyed by the Pope's light magic, they tore it apart and enveloped the Pope's body.

"Stronger? Gaaaaah!!"

The sword auras, which had become powerful enough to overwhelm the light magic, struck the Pope, struck again, and struck once more.

The Pope's terrifying screams echoed throughout the shaken hall, and the system windows kept updating in Grid's view.

[13,300 damage dealt.]

[13,910 damage dealt.]

[14,080 damage dealt.]

[The effect of the Ideal Gauntlet has been activated. The target is attacked twice.]

[28,300 damage dealt.]

[Critical!]

[31,050 damage dealt.]

The Pope's life bar, which allowed the sword aura bombardment, was rapidly decreasing.

Grid compared the damage he dealt with the Pope's life bar to gauge the total life of the Pope.

'About 300,000?'

The Guardian had a total life exceeding 1.2 million.

However, it was a golem, not a human. In contrast, the Pope was human, and his innate life was inevitably lower than that of a monster, which boosted Grid's confidence.

'If I hit him about 20 times in this state, I can take him down?'

He felt that he could defeat the Pope with his own strength, even without Isabel's help.

"Ha ha ha ha! I'm looking forward to what items the Pope will drop!!"

Grid, confident of victory, burst into laughter. While continuously firing sword auras, he reduced the Pope's life to a quarter.

Just then, the effects of Ultra and Wrath of the Blacksmith ended.

"Let's finish this here!"

The Pope, in a near-death state, staggered. The pure white robe embroidered with gold had long been reduced to rags.

Grid ran towards him with all his might. In an instant, he closed the 10-meter gap and used his strongest skill, concentrated with anger and murderous intent.

"Pagma's Sword Dance, Kill!!"

Kwooo!

The overwhelming killing intent heated the air to a boiling point.

Steam rose around the dark blade of Dainsleif.

Just as Dainsleif was about to pierce the Pope's heart.

"Breath of the Goddess...!"

The Pope used magic. His life bar was instantly fully restored.

'Healing for hundreds of thousands?'

The Pope's magic effect didn't end there. A translucent green shield was deployed, completely nullifying the Kill.

Grid was taken aback.

"An invincibility skill? Damn, are you a Guardian Knight?"

He never expected the Pope to use an invincibility skill, which was known to be exclusive to Guardian Knights!

Grid, who had not anticipated this, stepped back in dismay.

The Pope sneered at him.

"The holy blessing of the goddess perfectly protects my body and soul. No matter how much you try, you cannot harm me!"

Fundamentally, the Pope is a priest. While Rebecca's daughters are at the pinnacle of Holy Knights, the Pope is at the pinnacle of priests.

He, who had been reduced to a bloody mess by the sword auras, regenerated his body and used a wide-area healing spell on the Holy Knights who had retreated due to severe injuries. Then he ordered them.

"What are you doing! Execute this heretic immediately!"

"......"

The Holy Knights despised the current Pope.

They did not want to follow this evil being who was corrupting their church.

However, even if he was a corrupt figure, the fact that he had ascended to the position of Pope made him a clear representative of the goddess.

High-ranking Holy Knights with deep faith could not ultimately refuse the Pope's command. They picked up their weapons and charged at Grid en masse.

"Hey, Lord Damian. What are you doing? Are you going to watch forever?"

Grid, who was about to face the Holy Knights with the Pope in front of him, reacted irritably.

Damian, who had been watching Grid's battle in a daze, finally came to his senses.

"I apologize!"

To be able to stand toe-to-toe with the overwhelming Pope, despite being only level 150, was astonishing.

What was Grid's true identity? It was suspicious to the extreme.

Despite the deep questions and confusion, Damian supported Grid with the single-minded intention of protecting Rin.

Clang! Clang!

Damian blocked the Holy Knights' sword strikes with his shield and counterattacked. His sword strikes were so sharp that the Holy Knights could not easily defend themselves. Soon, Holy Knights began to bleed.

Thanks to the awakening of his abilities and the acquisition of the strongest buff skill through this quest, Damian had become strong enough to overwhelm the church's high-ranking Holy Knights.

Although neither Damian nor Grid knew it, Damian was now stronger than Tovan, the top-ranked Holy Knight. While he couldn't defeat 23 Holy Knights on his own, he could at least hold them off for a while.

"Great! I'll leave this to you!"

Grid, judging that Damian could handle it alone, once again targeted the Pope and charged.

However, the Pope was no longer willing to let him approach.

As if warning him not to come near, the Pope continuously fired light magic to stop him.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The magic bombardment was concentrated on Grid alone.

Grid, who seemed to be dodging skillfully, began to struggle as the Pope grasped his movement patterns and reaction speed and used the light magic more efficiently.

"Ah!"

Boom!

A white flash narrowly grazed Grid's hair as he craned his neck in shock. Then, without a moment to catch his breath, another flash pierced his face.

Zzzz!

Grid hastily summoned the Shield of Holiness for defense.

A notification window appeared.

[The durability of the Shield of Holiness has decreased by 78.]

'Crazy!'

The Shield of Holiness is famous for its strength against dark magic. However, even without that feature, it is a top-tier shield with fundamentally high defense.

Yet, the durability of this formidable shield decreased by one-eighth with a single strike of the Pope's magic.

Grid lamented.

'If the Shield of Holiness in my possession was of the legendary grade, it wouldn't have been this bad...!'

He wanted to quickly defeat the Pope and retrieve the legendary-grade Shield of Holiness.

With the shield at the forefront, Grid continued to advance.

"A heretic using the church's holy equipment! How despicable!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!!

Every time Grid took a step forward, light magic flew and struck the Shield of Holiness. The shield rapidly became severely distorted and began to crack.

When Grid took his seventh step.

The Pope thought that this strike would shatter Grid's shield completely.

However, Grid had no intention of watching his item be destroyed.

Boom!

Upon confirming the approaching white flash, Grid retracted the Shield of Holiness. He then equipped the Ideal Dagger and deployed a wind blade.

The swirling wind slightly altered the trajectory of the white flash. The flash narrowly grazed Grid's cheek.

Zzzz!

A part of the frost orc chieftain's helmet shattered, revealing a bit of Grid's face.

Grid was taken aback.

"This method works."

The Pope gritted his teeth.

"You're a tricky one!"

The flash, which should have decapitated the helmeted man, flew to an unintended spot and exploded, frustrating the Pope. Just as he was about to deploy more magic,

Two golden discs, unknown in origin, struck his back.

"Kuh?"

The Pope was taken aback.

Grid, who had successfully closed the distance with the Pope through swift