No, How Can an Atheist Become a Saintess!?

No, How Can an Atheist Become a Saintess!? – 54

EP.54

Chapter 5

Belief and Reality (6)

The goblins weren’t sent back.

There had been talk about the goblins possibly using some form of language, but the problem was that their vocalization was quite different from human speech. It was something a person could imitate if they tried, but to isolate the words and translate them into our language would take a long time.

So, we decided to rely on a large number of reconnaissance assets instead.

Drones were deployed, and mages used observation magic. They stayed at the front to monitor the situation as we moved forward.

Moreover, simply walking wasn’t ideal for this mission.

The area beyond the gate was a place where a lot of things could be obtained, but the reason it hadn’t been explored further was because of the dense forest nearby. While there was enough space between the trees for people to pass through, building structures and maintaining a waiting post would require too many resources and manpower. As a result, the gate had primarily been used for the extraction of special ores from the nearby mines.

That said, the roads weren’t suitable for vehicles. Even with motorcycles, getting caught on vines or other obstacles could lead to serious problems.

…But how many times had the area beyond the gate been a dense forest?

Humans, as humans do, had their ways of adapting magic and incorporating technology. And what they had created in this case was the hoverbike.

Some called it a witch’s broomstick, but in essence, it was a wheel-less off-road motorcycle.

“Haha, it’s been a while.”

“You’ve ridden one before, right? You have a license, right?”

“Don’t worry. We’re not going to die.”

As if I could not be worried.

The vehicles I’d seen until now had all had wheels— even the airplanes.

“If you don’t trust my reflexes, well… what, are you going to walk? Are you telling me the Saintess candidate is too scared to ride on the back of a motorcycle?”

“……”

I glared at Ria’s teasing words, putting on the helmet.

I fastened the chin strap.

Ria smiled faintly at me before climbing onto the motorcycle.

While it looked like a motorcycle, it was powered by magic. It was expensive, and only a large organization like this could afford to operate one.

Since we were planning to travel far, it even had a cargo compartment in the back.

Ria had attached the sheath for her sword to the front, so it could be quickly drawn when needed. I placed my shield in the back, but kept my pistol in a holster under my armpit—just in case we had to fight while on the bike.

“Get on the back.”

Ria said.

“……”

I reluctantly climbed onto the back seat. At least the bike wasn’t cramped, so that was a relief.

I stretched out my arm, carefully wrapping it around Ria’s waist.

“Hey, that’s not where you’re supposed to grab—”

“Huh?”

“……”

Ria fell silent for a moment before saying,

“Never mind, just hold on tightly. It’s probably for the best.”

“Huh? What do you mean? Is there a handle or something?”

But Ria didn’t respond, instead looking ahead at the lead hunter.

She checked to make sure everyone had boarded their bikes. Most of the mages were on the back seats, just like me.

After all, they had to use observation magic.

No one seemed afraid. Even Lee Si-yoon and Han Yu-ri were fine.

Gloria, on the other hand, was looking slightly dissatisfied while sitting behind another female hunter— that was a bit funny.

“Waaah!?”

While I was distracted for a moment, I felt my body lurch forward.

I’d heard that electric cars had incredibly short acceleration times, but this weightless motorcycle was even more intense.

Without realizing it, I gripped onto Ria’s waist tighter. Embarrassingly, her body felt oddly soft and warm in this situation.

Even when my chest brushed against her back, it didn’t seem to bother her.

…I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was the only one concerned about this. That thought made me unexpectedly irritated.

*

After traveling about 5 kilometers, the goblin group appeared again in front of us.

As we approached at high speed, the goblins immediately dropped to the ground, crouching and trembling, with their hands on their heads.

It seemed that the goblins we had captured earlier had been part of the vanguard.

Even among the vanguard, there had been those who were injured by magical attacks. It appeared that they had sent them first to scout the area, suggesting the situation had been quite dire.

The remaining goblins were in much worse shape.

There was an older one lying down, covered with ragged cloth. And then there were those who seemed slightly gentler in appearance than the rough goblins I had seen before—those with long hair… Hmm.

In a situation like this, it felt a bit awkward to say it, but I thought these goblins were likely females. It was just a feeling—green skin, black hair.

But somehow… how should I say this…

No, let me rephrase. In a better light, they looked like female character customizations from Korean MMORPGs where you could choose a goblin race. Yeah, that’s the best way to describe it.

It reminded me of a dwarf woman I had seen in an online RPG before—no, never mind. I should stop thinking about this. It was getting weird the deeper I went.

There were about 50 of them. We had about 30 people, so they couldn’t overwhelm us. Most of them appeared to be those females I had mentioned earlier, while the others were badly injured and couldn’t even move. Some of them bared their teeth in an attempt to protect the group, but most of them looked fairly young.

The hunters exchanged glances, unsure of what to make of the situation.

“……”

Gloria’s expression was a little ambiguous.

I didn’t think it was the best time to ask about her thoughts—no need to complicate things with unnecessary questions.

“Let’s move forward to the front first.”

“There’s nothing clear yet…” Han Yu-ri said, but we all knew we had to check it out.

We weren’t planning on leaving any hunters behind. If we did, there was a risk of losing contact, or worse, we might end up in danger with too few people.

We contacted headquarters in advance to inform them of our location and continued forward, staying alert for any threats behind us.

And then…

“Wait, wait a moment.”

I tightened my grip on Ria’s waist, and she trembled slightly before stopping.

The hunters surrounding us, running alongside us, also came to a halt.

“What is it? Did you sense something strange?”

The mages using observation magic tilted their heads in confusion.

From what I could see, and from what they could see, there didn’t seem to be anything major ahead…

“……Ah.”

But it seemed there were others who had reacted the same way I did.

While it was hard to see while we were moving, standing still, something had changed.

…New monsters were detected by their magic, right?

I dismounted from the bike.

The slightly damp ground was soft, so it didn’t hurt when I stepped down.

When I reached down to scoop up some dirt, everything seemed fine at first—nothing unusual.

But then I infused a tiny amount of divine power into the soil.

Sss, something in the dirt that had been ‘moistening’ disappeared as if it had evaporated. The soil dried up and turned into dust, scattering like sand.

The area in front of us was entirely contaminated with a massive amount of magical energy.

“…What on earth…”

Han Yu-ri muttered.

“…I think I understand why they were fleeing now.”

I said, brushing my hands off. The fine sand that had remained scattered, then rapidly absorbed more magic, blending in so thoroughly that it was indistinguishable.

Gloria placed her hand on one of the trees growing nearby. It hadn’t completely died, but some parts of the tree had dried up and fallen off, like wet paper towels that had been left to dry and crumbled.

This place… was a dead land.

The magical energy gradually encroaching upon the land, so slowly that we couldn’t detect it at first. By the time the Hunter Association realized it had reached their territory, it might have already been too late.

Magic, in and of itself, was a phenomenon. Though the gate seemed to divide the two worlds, it was actually a passageway through which air or liquids could pass freely.

Sometimes, even without monsters crossing through the gate, the mere act of opening the gate could trigger a catastrophe.

…Magic spreads, even to the land beyond the gate.

Earth’s life forms, which had no resistance to magic, would have been quickly consumed by it.

Someone had already contacted headquarters. I could feel the eyes of the others turning toward me.

I dug into the ground once more.

I quietly gazed at the soil, saturated with magic.

Ria approached and silently observed the earth as well.

Though Ria didn’t say anything to me, I knew there was something I had to say.

“This isn’t the end.”

“Huh?”

Ria looked at me with wide eyes.

The hunters nearby turned their gazes toward me, and even Gloria was watching closely.

“This is just a phenomenon. A sign of something to come.”

Right. I had read about this in novels.

Some believed that the gate itself was the power of the gods. Others thought that this power had been ‘bestowed’ upon them by the gods.

The exact purpose was unknown.

But…

That’s why there were people who sought out the saintess.

“……”

I looked up at the sky.

It felt as though something up there was watching us.

“My God.”

Though I wasn’t sure yet, I had the strange sense that a few of the puzzle pieces, which had been scattered so carelessly, were beginning to fit together.

In the first place, if someone’s power was behind opening the gate—

If the very existence of the gate had started with a specific purpose—

Then even the act of closing the gate might simply be an impossible temporary measure for humanity…

“Ah.”

A sharp pain shot through my head.

Ria approached me with a slightly startled expression.

While she supported my arm,

“Wait, wait!”

One of the mages, who had not let down their guard, shouted.

“Something’s visible over there! It’s bubbling up…!”

Soon, their expression turned to one of confusion.

“…A lump of magic?”

No, it wasn’t just that. It wasn’t just a mass—it was something else.

“Ria.”

I called her name.

“We need to stop it.”

Yes. We had to stop it.

In stories, crises were necessary. And typically, those crises couldn’t simply be resolved by one isolated event.

What was needed was a grand, overarching crisis that spanned the entire narrative. A force that had to be stopped, fought against, and overcome.

That was what we needed.

So, we had to stop it.

If we didn’t, it would inevitably invade our world one day, breaking through any barrier, ignoring any force trying to hold it back.

Was it a stroke of luck or misfortune that we encountered this before our plan was fully prepared?

…If the entity above had a reason for sending me into this world, I thought perhaps it was for this very moment.