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Chapter 182 – Christine in Crisis
Christine shouted at Douglas as he seized her wrist and ran without explanation.
“L-let go! What are you doing?!”
“It’s dangerous! Hurry—this way!”
At Douglas’s urgent shout, confusion surged through Christine’s head.
‘He wasn’t trying to betray me?’
When someone who doesn’t talk much suddenly acts out of character, it naturally looks suspicious.
Christine had thought Douglas was working with some organization to betray her—but she had been mistaken.
‘He was trying to save me.’
Just looking at how he was pulling her away from the approaching group made it obvious.
“Keep up! At this rate, they’ll catch us!”
“O-okay!”
Christine squeezed out every last bit of strength and ran, pulled along by Douglas’s hand.
She didn’t even have the breathing room to look back—she just ran straight ahead.
She wanted to ask what was going on, but there was no time.
She was too busy putting as much distance as possible between herself and the unknown group.
Had ten minutes passed like that?
Douglas finally stopped.
“Whew… This should be far enough. They probably can’t chase us anymore.”
“Hah… haa…”
With no strength left even to answer, Christine just braced her hands on her knees and gasped for breath.
But as a little composure returned, she could finally look around.
‘Where are we?’
The place where the two of them caught their breath was a forest she didn’t recognize.
She’d run so frantically she couldn’t even tell which direction they’d come from.
“I used search skills—looks like we shook them off for sure. Thank goodness, Crissy.”
“Douglas-nim… you know who those people are, don’t you?”
After a brief silence, Douglas nodded.
“Yes. They’re a group called the Despair Church.”
“Despair Church?”
“It’s a pseudo-religion founded on the ideology of driving the world into despair. It’s a rising new religion in America with a strongly negative view of the world, and it’s a large organization with over 200 Player members. Their cult leader is a Necromancer with the nickname John Delgado.”
Christine’s mouth fell open as she listened.
“H-how do you know all that in such detail?”
“That is…”
Hesitating, Douglas confessed as if making a heartfelt repentance.
“Because the Despair Church approached me and told me to join.”
“What? R-really?”
“Yes. Do you remember a new teammate from a few months ago—someone named Berber?”
“Berber-nim? Of course. I know him well. I even greeted him today.”
“He’s an executive—high enough to be considered cardinal-class—in the Despair Church. From the beginning, he infiltrated us as a spy to monitor Crissy-nim.”
“W-what…?”
Christine couldn’t help being shocked at something she’d never known.
‘B-Berber-nim… was a Despair Church spy?’
She’d never even heard of the Despair Church, and she’d never imagined there could be a spy among them.
In an instant, wariness rose in Christine’s eyes.
Could she really trust the Paladin in front of her?
He said he’d received an offer from the Despair Church, after all.
As if he noticed the shift in her gaze, Douglas smiled, as though reassuring her.
“Don’t worry. They proposed that I betray Crissy-nim and join them, but I only pretended to accept. To gather information on who would dare target the Saintess.”
“Ah… they’re targeting me? Why?”
“I’m still low-ranking, so I couldn’t learn the reason. What’s certain is that they chose today as the day to kill Crissy-nim. You can tell just by the fact they mobilized 200 believers.”
“S-so that many people, just to kill me…”
“More than Crissy-nim, they’re probably trying to wipe out your follower faction. They’re likely fighting a bloodbath right now.”
That snapped Christine fully awake.
“W-we have to go back.”
“Pardon?”
“You’re saying my companions are in danger. If I intervene, I can save them.”
“No. It’s too dangerous. The enemy outnumbers them two to one.”
“But…!”
“If Crissy-nim steps in, you might turn the tide. But do you think they don’t know that?”
“…”
“The enemy aren’t fools. The moment they find Crissy-nim, they’ll prioritize targeting you. Going out now is too risky.”
“I have Dominion. So somehow—”
“Does Dominion even work on higher-level opponents? And you can only use it ten times—how are you going to face 200 people with that?”
“…”
“Staying here safely and watching the situation is the only way Crissy-nim survives. Do you think I ran away with only Crissy-nim for no reason? If you go out, you’ll just be doing exactly what they want.”
“Haa…”
Because it was all painfully correct, Christine couldn’t stubbornly insist any longer.
‘Why are they targeting me? What did I do wrong…?’
Overwhelmed, Christine clutched her head and sank down.
No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t recall doing anything that would provoke them—why?
She’d never even contacted a religion called the Despair Church.
‘The cult leader is a Necromancer? There was even a job like that?’
Maybe they were in different zones—she’d never once seen someone like that appear in the rankings.
‘I don’t know the reason, but I learned there are enemies who want to kill me.’
Everything matched what the Prophet had said.
‘Then the person who saves me in a crisis is…’
Christine looked quietly at Douglas.
The Paladin praised among her companions as the Saintess’s knight.
He was the “prince on a white horse” from the prophecy—the one who would save her.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face?”
“N-no. I’m just… grateful.”
If it was him, she could trust him.
Even now, hadn’t he pretended to join the Despair Church and acted as a double agent?
Thanks to him, she’d escaped this crisis.
“Grateful? It’s nothing. If it’s not me, who would protect Crissy-nim? Heh.”
“Truly… thank you again. You saved my life.”
“I only did what’s natural. By the way—your wrist, is it okay? I didn’t grab you too hard, did I…?”
“You were trying to pull me out of there quickly. I’m fine.”
“Still, let me see. If your pretty wrist gets bruised, it won’t look good.”
Douglas took Christine’s hand and examined her wrist from side to side.
As he kept fiddling with her hand, Christine’s brow faintly creased.
‘What is he doing… at a time like this?’
A strange atmosphere settled in.
No—his attempt to steer it that way was obvious.
“That’s enough. I said I’m fine.”
Not wanting that kind of mood, Christine pulled her wrist back and cut him off.
“…”
“…”
An awkward silence suddenly fell between them.
Christine had never had interest in men to begin with.
No matter how much he’d saved her life, romantic interest wasn’t going to appear.
“Thank you for saving me, Paladin-nim.”
“Paladin-nim…”
Douglas’s mood shifted into something unsettling.
“Why are you suddenly calling me by my job instead of my nickname?”
“Huh? That’s…”
“Are you drawing a line? You hate me that much? Even after I saved your life?”
“…”
“You hate the idea of becoming lovers with me that much?!”
[Safety note: I can’t provide a line-by-line translation of the next section because it depicts sexual violence. I’m going to omit that portion and continue immediately after it.]
At that moment—
Douglas’s head snapped to the side.
Something had entered his detection range: a third party’s movement.
“Who is it? Which bastard—”
Douglas rose, ready to kill the interrupter, and then fell silent.
His expression froze stiff, and goosebumps rose along his back.
“Ah… ah…”
Because the Despair Church’s cult leader was standing right in front of him.
“So you were here, you rat bastard.”
The Necromancer John Delgado approached with a terrifying glare.
‘Ha… fk. I’m completely fked.’
Cursing inwardly, Douglas still hunched and closed the distance, acting servile.
He intended to slit the cult leader’s throat the moment he let his guard down.
“Cult Leader, you’ve arrived? Heh.”
“What are you doing here? I clearly ordered you to bring the Saintess.”
“Ah, well—”
Douglas didn’t get a chance to answer.
Thud—!
An undead that had appeared behind him was gripping his head.
“You don’t need to answer. The price for disobeying my command is death.”
Crack—
Douglas’s neck twisted around unnaturally, and his body went limp to the ground.
At the same time, the restraints released, and Christine was free—
but she couldn’t move recklessly.
Another undead, shaped like a skeleton, had already pressed a blade to Christine’s throat.
‘W-what? I didn’t even feel it get caught by detection…’
Was he reading her thoughts?
John Delgado spoke casually.
“My vassals have no substance. That’s why they don’t register even to detection.”
“Y-you… you’re the Necromancer John Delgado…”
“That horny traitor bastard must’ve spilled everything about me in the meantime.”
John Delgado was a thin-built American.
A typical mage-type class, in a robe and holding a staff.
At a glance he looked weak, but the aura of the summons he commanded was anything but ordinary.
‘Each summon… feels like it rivals a Player.’
Didn’t he just kill Douglas effortlessly?
“Doesn’t matter if you know who I am. You’re going to die in my hands now, Saintess Crissy.”
“W-why me…”
“Go to heaven, and think about it slowly.”
Snap—
As if the finger snap was an order, the undead raised its blade.
‘A-am I going to die like this? Just like the prophecy…?’
Christine’s vision washed white—
but it wasn’t an illusion.
Bzzzt—!
A white-blue bolt of light struck the undead behind her and erased it completely.
Startled by the sudden death of his summon, John Delgado frowned and turned his head.
Christine, too, lifted her gaze toward where the current had flown from.
And she saw it.
Who the “prince on a white horse” who would truly save her was.
‘That man… no way?’
A man carrying a massive scythe was walking toward them.