The Saint Just Wants to Rest 7

“Ah, but gem vampire bats. Who came up with such a childish name?”

The woman holding a large hammer said this as she crushed a bat rushing at her. Her name was Yoo Nabi. She was a member of Choi Jaeheon’s guild Stigma, in the tanker position.

“I know, right. It’s way too childish.”

The young man chattering beside her was Kang Minjae. A buffer position who raised speed and strength by roughly 10%. And beside him, the older middle-aged man carrying a giant bow was Park Jongseok. Among the guild members who entered the gem mine today, he was in charge of dealing alongside Choi Jaeheon.

“Straightforward is good. Straightforward.”

Originally, Park Jongseok had a gloomy personality. But today, since he entered together with Yoo Nabi and Kang Minjae, who were among the younger and more lively members of the guild, he talked a bit more than usual.

Normally you shouldn’t chat in a gate, but the reason for doing so today was entirely because of Choi Jaeheon moving ahead. Since he swept away anything that rushed at him by himself. The other three had extremely rare opportunities to step in.

Just now, a single gem vampire bat had slipped out, that was all. Still, the guild members didn’t voice complaints. That was because when they first joined Stigma, everything about that aspect had already been discussed.

When Choi Jaeheon was included in the party, the rest would focus on surveying the gate rather than dealing with monsters. For that reason, Yoo Nabi dealt with the monsters that were occasionally missed.

Park Jongseok stuck close to Kang Minjae, the buffer, performing guard duty. Since he was also conducting research on gates, he slowed down during times like this recording information.

Given the situation, only the screams of monsters dying at Choi Jaeheon’s hands echoed through the cave.

Kill, kill, and kill again. Then at some point, Choi Jaeheon felt something off. The undead, which had initially been scattered here and there before charging upon hearing sounds, began forming ranks.

They were showing intelligent movement. In the past, a researcher announced that monsters also feel fear. Basically they want to kill humans, but they also know to retreat from greater fear.

However, the monsters forming ranks, while trembling in fear, didn’t retreat. It felt as if someone was forcibly driving them to the front lines.

“Stop.”

At Choi Jaeheon’s voice, Yoo Nabi raised her hammer. And Park Jongseok stood guard around them with his bow, while Kang Minjae hid between them.

“The monsters’ behavior is strange.”

Just from a quick scan, Kang Minjae also noticed it.

“It really is strange.”

Yoo Nabi narrowed her eyes and glared at the monsters when suddenly the monsters began scattering in confusion. At the same time, someone’s scream could be heard from the dark passage visible behind the monsters.

“Ah, aaaagh! Cursed Regnasia! Why, why are you here!”

“Save me, I don’t want to die like this!”

“You, you!”

An unpleasant voice like nails scraping a chalkboard screamed out in anguish. However, the voice of whoever was making them that way couldn’t be heard. Following that, the monsters rushed forward as if fleeing.

Kiiiiik! Kieeeek!

Choi Jaeheon snapped his fingers, activating his telekinesis.

Thud!

An invisible force struck down the running monsters. Under the weight of the unseen form, the monsters died without even making a sound. It had been a gate they entered after lowering the rank in the first place. There were no monsters in this place capable of stopping Choi Jaeheon.

“Hey! Guild Master!”

At that moment, Kang Minjae shouted to Choi Jaeheon.

“The gate rank is rising!”

“What? The rank rose?”

“Yeah, it went up for a moment then came back down.”

Kang Minjae quietly put away the gate measuring device he was holding and hid himself. Gate ranks don’t fluctuate without reason. This meant this gate was different from other gates. After dealing with the rushing monsters, Choi Jaeheon stood still in that spot waiting for something.

The sound of someone’s footsteps could be heard through the now-quiet passage. That sound was small and steady.

Eventually, after time passed, what appeared was a tall man. He had sparkling blonde hair rare even among foreigners and purple eyes. It seemed right to call him strangely beautiful, as if mixing the features of Asians and Westerners together. That was the case even though looking at his height, broad shoulders, and chest, he was clearly a man.

“Filthy remnants of the Demon King!”

The man clicked his tongue as if displeased and brushed off his shoulder with his hand, then soon raised his head to look at them. Choi Jaeheon and the man’s eyes met.

“Who are you?”

At Choi Jaeheon’s question, the man tilted his head and smiled. Just from smiling alone, it created the illusion of a halo shining behind him.

Slap!

Yoo Nabi struck her own cheek hard.

‘The Guild Master is also a great-looking man, but that one is even more so. Is he even human?’

Kang Minjae and Park Jongseok seemed to have the same thought. The man’s purple eyes swept over them as they didn’t lower their guard.

“Hello?”

At the words Yoo Nabi cautiously offered, the man nodded his head and introduced himself.

“I am Vermouth, the closest sword serving Lady Regnasia, goddess of war and love.”

He wasn’t sure if this should be called communicating. Was there a religion that worshipped a god named Regnasia? Come to think of it, his attire wasn’t ordinary either. Although awakeners’ clothing had become diverse since gates opened, he’d never seen such garments before.

The clothes, mostly made of white, gave a sacred feeling. Combined with the man’s appearance, the word clergy came to mind.

“If you don’t particularly have business with me, let’s part ways. Parting is regrettable, but under the goddess’s blessing, we’ll surely meet again someday.”

Vermouth said with a benevolent smile. However, Choi Jaeheon had no intention of letting Vermouth go. It was common knowledge that gates close once a set number of people enter. But right after an abnormal phenomenon occurred in the gate, this cult-like person spouting bizarre words appeared? Naturally, shouldn’t he be detained and interrogated?

He might be able to find out the cause of the gate rank change that Kang Minjae mentioned.

The first to move was Choi Jaeheon.

Snap!

As he snapped his fingers to make a sound, tremendous force poured down above Vermouth.

“You use telekinesis.”

Even in a situation where he was being attacked, Vermouth remained composed. He was born a genius and broke all the world’s records. As such, he had never once lost to anyone. Situations that would shake him rarely came.

Ah, excluding when Ian slapped him. Since he was the Saint, that too must have been the goddess’s will. And there’s no one who would get angry just because the person they love slapped them a little, right?

At that time, after being slapped by Ian, Vermouth first checked if his hand was okay. That was because their durability differed greatly. Fortunately, aside from his hand being slightly red, Ian was fine.

Returning to the present, Vermouth thought this was a bit troublesome. He had clearly followed Ian, so why wasn’t Ian here? Moreover, right in front of him, a fairly decent strong opponent was attacking.

He was sure he had greeted them properly, yet how rude. If it were the original Vermouth, he would kill the opponent at times like this, but he couldn’t do that here either.

Because this was Ian’s world. He didn’t want to cause trouble for no reason and then later meet Ian and face an awkward situation. For that reason, Vermouth decided to ignore the people standing before him and leave.

Since this seemed like a dungeon, he’d just need to exit this place. Vermouth tapped the ground with his toes then kicked off the floor. His form vanished from before Choi Jaeheon’s eyes in an instant.

He lost him.

The moment he realized that, Choi Jaeheon’s ability raged violently. As he widened the range of his ability, the dead monsters were crushed once more and the walls crumbled. However, the unidentified being had already disappeared.

“Did he run away?”

When Yoo Nabi blinked and said dazedly, Kang Minjae shook his head.

“From what I see, it doesn’t seem like running away.”

“Either way, he disappeared, didn’t he?”

“That’s true. But just in case, let’s be careful.”

“Got it.”

While they were having that conversation, the gate began making strange sounds. It was a signal that it would soon disappear. When you kill the boss, gates normally close within an hour. That’s why dungeons that required continuous resource mining often kept the boss alive.

“What really was that person? It seems like he killed the boss too.”

And so the four who had entered the gate came out without even accomplishing their intended goal. Choi Jaeheon seemed to have lingering regrets to the very end, but obediently exited the gate. That was at least because Yoo Nabi, who was close to him, brought up Hong Seoyoon and Yoon Taegyeom.