231. The Church

Snow raised up her right hand. Her breath was at first quick, but over time, she was able to control her breath even more. It was slow but filling. The magic in her hand throbbed with excitement. Something about Dairen's curse was reacting with her magic.

A bright light erupted outward, making everyone around her temporarily blinded. Dairen covered his hand over his eyes, trying to dampen the Light. Even still, he could barely open his eyes.

A whirl of light magic swirled around Dairen. With one quick movement, the light magic invaded his body. It didn’t take long for the light magic to snip through the intricate tangle of the curse and Dairen’s magic.

Suddenly, Dairen groaned. He hunched over, his body shaking from the intense Light. His face paled, sweat dripped down his face as his breath became ragged.

Snow couldn’t stop. Her magic swished through his body, becoming stronger and stronger over time.

Dairen coughed, spitting out blood onto the ground.

“Dairen?!” Mike called out in worry. He didn’t expect to see such a harsh reaction from Snow’s ability.

Snow eyebrows creased. Her control with her light magic was becoming tighter and firmer, trying to combat the curse that was struggling to stay inside Mike.

“Oh no, you don’t.” Snow grunted. Her right hand moved in a circle, grasping the curse that was trying to escape. She reached over, grabbing it in midair.

Dairen's chest squeezed. He leaned forward, falling into Snow. Snow could feel the weight of Dairen, smooshing into her body. Her other hand fumbled around, holding a part of his shoulder. She could feel more, and more of his weight was being pushed into her body; eventually, he fell completely on top of her.

Snow hesitated for a moment. The light energy around her was moving in a chaotic manner that moved and danced around her to the point where it finally grabbed ahold of the last remaining curse.

With a vicious motion of a cut to the side, the curse dissipated into the air.

Dairen was breathing hard, unable to open his eyes.

“Are you okay?” Snow asked with concern.

“Give me a moment to take a breath,” Dairen said on her shoulder.

Snow didn’t move. It was a bit awkward, but she didn’t want to make Dairen any more uncomfortable.

Finally, Levian spoke. “Okay, the curse is broken. Enough with the dramatic action.” Levian reached over, grabbed Dairen’s right shoulder.

Snow frowned. Her free hand stopped Levian from pulling him back. She shook her head.

“What?” Levian had said with a frown from stopping him.

“Let him rest.”

“Fine.” Levian pulled back.

For another few minutes, they sat in silence. Dairen eventually was able to pull back, allowing him to breathe a bit easier. He was still pale, giving him a more ghostly look.

“What happened?” Mike blurted out, looking at the two. “This had never happened before. I never got such bad reactions from breaking a curse.”

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“His energy was feeding off the curse and merging with him,” said Snow. “Which created a symbiotic relationship for a while. With the curse gone, it should now allow him to bring back all

of his abilities that were locked away.” Snow assured them. She was glad that the curse didn’t ravage his body anymore. She was worried that she might have caused him more harm than better.

“How?”

“He’s the disciple of the Darkness. That’s how.” Levian rolled his eyes. “They can turn curses to their benefits. I wouldn’t be surprised if he would be able to completely revert the curse into his own later down the line.”

Mike thought over Levian’s words. “How did you know this?”

“I just do.” Levian shrugged his shoulder. He didn’t explain any more than he wanted to. “Anyways, the assassins had been dispatched a while ago. I think we should head toward the Church instead.”

“Why?” Mike asked.

Stopping the assassins was one thing, but going into the Church was another thing.

“Because we need to assassinate the Pope,” Levian stated as if it was the most normal thing to say.

“What?!” Mike's voice went up an octave, looking at Levian as if he was crazy. “You’re out of your mind!”

“Absolutely not.” Levian rolled his eyes at Mike. “I’m quite sure that he had finally managed to complete what he wanted.”

Snow was next to Levian. “Is this what you were saying about taking control of the Church?”

“Well, kind of, but not completely. If we get rid of the Pope, it should be easier for you to sway the people.”

Snow thought of it for a moment. She didn’t want to murder the Pope, but if Levian was telling the truth, this meant something more to this than she thought. Had the Pope really committed a crime that would affect everyone?

“We should leave now and get to the church.” Levian stood up. “Everything should start…..” he looked at the clock.

A few seconds ticked by.

“Now.” Levian tapped his watch.

With a click, the hands hit 12.

“What’s happening now?” Mike asked.

“The dungeon is open.”

“That’s normal. We have new dungeons out there every week.” Mike rolled his eyes.

“Not this one.” Levian shook his head. “This one was personally summoned.”

“By who?”

“The Pope.”

His words were heavy. A Pope calling upon a dungeon. Such a thing would be considered blasphemous, especially when it came to monsters.

Snow thought over what Levian had said. “Let’s go.” She stood up, passing by Levian, who had the door open for her.

Levian smiled at Snow’s decision. He looked at both Mike and Dairen, who wanted to say something but didn’t.

Snow left the room. Levian and her needed to move. If what Levian said was true, whatever the Pope was concocting needed her attention now. Months, she was trying to figure out how to deal with the Church's problem, but it landed on her lap, wrapped in a present.

“How many did you get rid of?” Snow asked Levian, who was next to her. She had a gut feeling that he had taken a bit longer when he parked the car. The amount of time she had spent time with Levian, she had noticed some peculiarities about him.

This was one of those moments. Snow caught on quick that he had done more than she knew.

“Give or take a handful of them.” Levian had lazily said. The others followed behind, keeping up with them.

“That many?” Snow said, a bit taken aback by Levian’s comment.

“It’s not much.”

“Whenever you say not much, it tends to be quite a few.” Snow frowned. “Well, I’m glad you dealt with the problem.”

Everyone took the elevator and finally made it downstairs. Levian went over to pick up his car, which everyone hopped in on.

Speeding off, Levian drove quickly through the street, making their way back toward the Church of Light.

This time, Levian parked a few blocks down in a lot where customers from grocery stores came to park.

Opening the door, Snow stepped out. She carefully looked around for any unusual activities but found nothing.

“Don’t worry too much about it.” Levian words brought confusion to Snow.

“Why?”

“Because they won’t have time to deal with us right soon.”

“I’m not sure what you are implying.”

Before she could ask for anything more, a tremor shook the very ground. People screamed in fright. Others ducked and fell flat onto the floor, thinking something terrible had happened.

Snow crouched low, bewildered at the sudden earthquake. Her instincts were on overdrive. She knew this feeling. This awful dread that crept into her guts, telling her that there was something wrong.

The earthquake settled, allowing Snow to be able to stand back up.

“An earthquake?” said Snow.

“Do we have another S-level Dungeon?” Mike asked with concern.

“I hope not.” Snow wasn't’ a fan of an s-class dungeon. Dealing with one was very difficult, and the repercussion at the end could result in a terrible rebound. With such an outcome, most hunters and Players might not even want to join in such a dangerous mission until they were strong enough. There weren't many who could even deal with such a high-level dungeon.

“Do you guys sense anything?”

“Nothing.” Dairen and Mike shook their heads.

“Come, we need to get to the church now.” Levian start heading toward the direction of the Church.