Chapter 418 - The Awakened Princess
The rapid growth of the Church of Splendor got explosively faster after the God of Splendor manifested at the base of the church and performed a miracle. The devotees of the Church of Splendor in other nations besides Arnan were also making branches of the church of their own accord.
The main factor that influenced the explosive growth was of course the holy water made with the God of Splendor's blood, which could heal any injury or cure any illness of those who drank it. The devotees prayed sincerely day and night just to procure the holy water distributed only to the most devoted members of the church.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Slushy burped as it bounced up and down after absorbing the overflowing faith across the entire continent from the windowsill. After absorbing a large amount of faith, it rolled toward Oh Kang-Woo and stuck to his arm. The Divinity converted from faith flowed into him through the Key of the Demonic Sea.
Kang-Woo, who had been sitting while looking through the document that Mihile had sent him, smiled in satisfaction.
"It's become quite a lot," he remarked.
It had been worth taking action personally.
'Well, it still can't be compared to devouring Deific Essence with the Authority of Predation, though.'
That could not be helped since eating Deific Essence to collect Divinity would naturally give more Divinity than converting faith into Divinity.
'But at least with this, I have a stable and endless supply of Divinity.'
It was like depositing a sizable sum of money in a bank and earning interest. Although it was not much at the moment, Kang-Woo was able to earn Deific Essence for free without much work.
"A few decades of this and it'll sum up to an enormous amount," Kang-Woo mumbled as he patted Slushy, who was dozing off as if it had gotten tired from eating faith.
If a few decades passed like this, he would be able to gain enough Divinity as what he had gotten after devouring the Constellation of Fear; it would unfortunately not be as much as what he had gotten after eating Tai Wuji. It was an incredible amount considering Kang-Woo had not been able to defeat the Constellation of Fear without opening a Door back when he had faced him for the first time.
Not only that, but the future of the Church of Splendor was very bright since it had not yet spread throughout the entire continent.
'But...'
Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes. Desire was endless; he couldn't have cared less when the means did not exist, but now that he was collecting Divinity through the Church of Splendor, he was dissatisfied with how little he was collecting each time.
"I'd prefer to have something more impactful."
Kang-Woo could not think of anything that would be even more impactful than the holy water.
'At this point, bringing the dead back to life would be the only way.'
However, that was impossible even for Kang-Woo.
"... If not that, I'd need the appearance of some sort of villain."
After the death of the Constellations of Evil, there had been no appearances of beings that could be a threat to the continent. Lucifer was cooped up who knows where, and Amon had not taken any action since his taunts.
'I mean, I could pretend to be Lucifer again, but...'
It would be inefficient to go out of his way to raise people's faith in that manner. No matter how perfect the plan was, he needed to take into account every variable that could risk the exposure of his identity. It was not worth going through the risk just to be able to collect a little more Divinity from the Church of Splendor.
At the moment, the amount of Divinity that he was earning from the Church of Splendor was nice to have but not to the point that he depended on it. The cease in supply would not have a significant impact in the slightest.
'I'll wait a little longer.'
Since Amon had gone out of his way to taunt Kang-Woo, Kang-Woo was hoping for him to take some sort of action. He got out of his chair and left his room. The moment he opened the door, he happened to see Cha Yeon-Joo walking along the hallway.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the great God of Splendor?" Yeon-Joo waved as she snickered.
"Where are you off to?" Kang-Woo asked.
"To check up on the princess,"
"Iris? Why all of a sudden?"
"Layla asked me to check up on her since it's weird that she still hasn't woken up."
"Hmm."
Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes. He had completely forgotten about Iris due to matters regarding the Church of Splendor, but Iris had not woken up for almost two months.
"That's true," Kang-Woo remarked.
As Layla had said, it was far too late. Although Elune, the leader of the high elves according to Douglas, possessed Top-rank Deific Essence like Gaia, it was still far too late.
'Layla said it would take around a month.'
Although the time taken for one to accept Deific Essence and become an incarnation varied between people, one couldn't help but wonder if there was some sort of issue when it had almost been two months.
"I'll go with you," stated Kang-Woo.
He followed Yeon-Joo to check on Iris.
Creak.
Once they slowly opened the door, they could see Iris lying in bed completely still like a dead person. One would think she was indeed dead if not for her shallow breaths and the faint green energy flowing out from her.
"H-Have you come to see the princess?"
The maids who had been nursing Iris quickly bowed once Kang-Woo and Yeon-Joo entered. They could not hide their anxiety as they looked at Kang-Woo, who was being treated with more respect than any noble after the war.
Kang-Woo nodded and asked, "May we check Princess Iris's condition for a moment?"
"O-Of course!"
"We will leave you to it! Please call us back once you're finished!"
The maids backstepped toward the door while bowing repeatedly. Although Kang-Woo's party members were considered VIPs, it was unreal to leave them alone with a member of the imperial family without any guards. However, Kang-Woo currently had as much, if not more, influence than the emperor himself.
The maids quickly left the room and closed the door. Kang-Woo walked toward Iris, who was lying still in bed.
Yeon-Joo scanned Iris and remarked, "Nothing seems to be off about her from a glance."
"That's the problem," Kang-Woo responded.
There was no way to know why Iris had not woken up yet if nothing was wrong.
"Hmm." Yeon-Joo poked the sleeping Iris and said, "Actually, there's something I've been curious about all this time."
"What is it?"
"Is it okay for her not to eat and stuff?"
"Apparently, it's fine since nutrients are automatically generated while one is accepting Deific Essence."
"Really? Then, uhhh... What about the bathroom?"
"..."
'Huh?'
"That I don't know," Kang-Woo said.
"..." An awkward silence fell. Yeon-Joo glared at Kang-Woo and got between him and Iris as if protecting Iris. "I won't stand for it if you're imagining weird stuff."
"You're the one who brought it up first. Besides, what the hell would I be imagining?"
'Is Layla influencing you?'
"Ngh. Whatever the case, she sure has it rough. She's pretty much a vegetable with no signs of waking up."
Kang-Woo nodded as he sighed. "Yeah, we need her to wake up so we can get back to Earth as soon as possible."
Although they had gotten used to life in Aernor, there were still many things that they missed about Earth. Kang-Woo clicked his tongue and placed his hand on Iris's forehead. Just then...
Whoooom—!
The faint green light flowing out of Iris suddenly grew thicker.
"A-Arghh," Iris groaned as her fingers slightly twitched.
"H-Huh?" Yeon-Joo, who had been poking the sleeping Iris, expressed confusion.
Kang-Woo turned to her and said calmly, "Go bring Layla. Seol-Ah, too."
"O-Okay!" Yeon-Joo nodded quickly and ran out the door.
Kang-Woo's eyes widened as he was checking Iris's condition.
'Her ears... are getting longer.'
They were just like those of the elf Kang-Woo had seen among Reynald's party.
'Is the incarnation process finally over?'
The opportunity to gain information about the location of the Demon God's corpse had arrived at last after almost two months of waiting. Kang-Woo bit open his finger and poured blood into Iris's mouth just in case. He used the Authority of Regeneration, but nothing about Iris changed.
"A-Arghhh!"
Iris's movements grew bigger.
Bang!
The door swung open fiercely and entered the party members one by one.
"Kang-Woo!" Han Seol-Ah shouted.
"I brought them all!" Yeon-Joo said.
"Hyung-nim! What was that energy just now...?" Kim Si-Hun asked.
"Just a moment, Kang-Woo." Layla walked forward and closed her eyes after grabbing the groaning Iris's wrist.
Her white light and Iris's green light mixed.
"This is..." Layla's eyes shone. "A sign of Deific Manifestation."
They had seen Deific Manifestation multiple times in Layla.
Kang-Woo nodded and asked, "Does that mean a high elf is trying to manifest here by borrowing Iris's body?"
"Yes. Not only that, they are very powerful... It might be Lady Elune, whom Douglas had mentioned last time."
"I see."
Kang-Woo nervously scanned the light pouring out from Iris.
'Would she figure me out?'
Kang-Woo was more or less sure that he would not get caught after awakening the Deific Essence of Splendor, but he could not help but get chills down his back.
'Should I just stay as far away as possible?'
That was the best way to ensure his safety.
'No, it would be too unnatural.'
He would have considered it if he was already far away, but it would be far too unnatural to leave all of a sudden since he was already in the room. Not only that, not showing himself to the high elf when he was worshiped even more than Si-Hun as the savior of the continent after becoming the God of Splendor was a stretch. Worst-case scenario, it would cause the high elf to have doubts about him.
'I'll just conceal my energy as best as I can.'
Kang-Woo stuffed the demonic energy spread throughout his body into the Ten Thousand Demon Core and replaced it with sacred power. The golden light that had been radiating from him became even brighter.
"... Wait." Layla frowned as she was touching Iris's wrist.
"What's wrong?" Kang-Woo asked.
"Something... is off." Layla tilted her head as if she couldn't understand. "This isn't a normal Deific Manifestation."
"Pardon? What do you mean?"
"... The Deific Essence I'm feeling is highly unstable."
Layla closed her eyes tightly and felt Elune's Deific Essence flowing through Iris. It was shaking violently as if it had been damaged. Then, Iris's eyes slowly opened.
[C-Cough!!] Iris coughed up blood as soon as she opened her eyes. She swayed as she covered her mouth with one hand. [Argh, urgh. Wh-Where am I...?]
A mystical voice, completely different from that of a human, which felt like it was echoing within one's mind, flowed out of Iris's mouth.
[Cough!]
Iris— no, Elune, who had borrowed Iris's body, coughed up blood again while covering her mouth. Kang-Woo grabbed her arm as she was violently coughing up blood.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
[Wh-Who are you...?]
Elune slowly looked up. Kang-Woo and Elune's eyes met.
Kang-Woo carefully supported her and said without hesitation, "This is embarrassing for me to say myself, but I am the one who has been chosen by Splendor."
Splendid, beautiful, and warm golden light poured out from Kang-Woo.
[Aaaahh, you must be...] Elune remarked with a trembling voice. [The... savior.]
Kang-Woo smiled faintly and nodded. "That's right."
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