Record of a Thousand Lives - Chapter 150

The Templar Knights were stupefied by Kang Yoon-Soo’s outrageous command, but none of them dared to voice out a single complaint, because they had lost in the duel. The Templar Knights lived up to their reputation of honoring the oaths they made in service of the doctrine of their church.

“Kyaruruk!”

The goblin chieftain tried to lead the way, but some of the goblins refused to follow their chieftain’s command. They had almost died at the hands of mercenaries not long before, so how could they trust the humans and follow them out?

However, Kang Yoon-Soo stood in front of them and said, “Kyaruruk. Kyarorok. Kyararak.”

The goblins noisily murmured among themselves in surprise. Their resistance ceased not long after, and they exited the cave one by one.

Rekil nudged Kang Yoon-Soo and asked, “Why are they suddenly like that? They became obedient all of a sudden.”

“I told them that their emotional scars would be healed as well if they go to the cathedral,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

Rekil could not hide his surprise as he whispered, “You… You know how to speak goblin too?”

“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo casually replied.

Rekil was dumbfounded by Kang Yoon-Soo’s reply. He immediately went to his sister and said, “Noona, this skeleton is strange.”

“Well, that is his charm, after all,” Reanna replied while smoking a cigarette.

The party made up of Templar Knights and goblins managed to reach the cathedral in peace. However, the goblins found the long benches and white walls of the cathedral to be foreign, and they started to become restless.

It was then that Kang Yoon-Soo said to the goblins, “Kyaruruk. Korok. Kyaruruk.”

Then, the goblins abandoned the long benches and sat on the floor, finding it to be much more comfortable. Kang Yoon-Soo stood in the midst of the goblins and started to preach in the goblin tongue.

“What a laughable sight,” Ravotel said, sneering at Kang Yoon-Soo and the goblins.

However, the other Templar Knights found the sight mystifying, as more and more amazing things happened the longer Kang Yoon-Soo’s preaching went on.

“Kyaruk! Kyarorok!”

“Kyarorororok!”

The goblins repeated Kang Yoon-Soo’s words and shouted something in unison, and a few of them even began to burst into tears.

Kang Yoon-Soo’s voice grew even louder as he started to preach more powerfully. “Kyaruk. Kyarok. Kyaruruk. Kyarurik. Kyaririririk. Kyaruruk. Kyaruk? Kyaririk!”

Rekil suppressed his laughter and said, “The atmosphere seems quite serious, but it looks really funny for some reason.”

“Religions are all like that anyway,” Reanna replied as she extinguished her cigarette.

Kang Yoon-Soo clasped his hands together. Amon was the first to follow him, kneeling down with his hands clasped; then, the other goblins did the same.

A solemn, quiet atmosphere descended upon the cathedral as the prayer started.

Thus, the goblins became the first monsters to convert to the Church of Madness.

***

The power of religion was something that had already been historically proven. Religions gathered followers and brought them together into a single unified body, and their beliefs were a force to be reckoned with. However, there had been no previous cases of monsters ever following a religion in the entire history of the continent.

“That’s because you can’t communicate with them. However, if someone were to find a way to unify the monsters through religion… That person would wield an immense amount of power,” Reanna explained.

“Is that even possible?” Rekil asked.

Reanna pointed at the Skeleton Church Leader with her chin and replied, “You’re witnessing it right now.”

Kang Yoon-Soo was preaching to several wyverns on the edge of a cliff covered with fog. Meanwhile, the Templar Knights looked pale because the bottom of the cliff they were standing on was completely out of sight.

At that moment, someone pointed toward the horizon and shouted, “Harpies!”

Several beautiful humanoid monsters with feathered wings in place of arms flew toward them. The Templar Knights drew their swords, and the harpies screeched threateningly at them, “Rekranid! Rwinkuradin!”

Such a thing would usually have signaled the start of a battle, but Kang Yoon-Soo shouted in response, “Shyaeritri. Icharinawee. Ahruinkura.”

The harpies retracted their talons and landed near Kang Yoon-Soo while still maintaining their vigilance against the humans. Soon after listening to his preaching, however, they began looking at Kang Yoon-Soo with docile, sparkling eyes. Meanwhile, the wyverns had begun crying while letting Kang Yoon-Soo stroke their heads.

Rekil looked as if he had already given up on trying to understand what was going on as he moaned, “How does any of this make sense? What kind of preaching is he doing to make these hostile monsters turn docile like a flock of sheep all of a sudden?”

The Templar Knights did not show it, but they were all watching in awe of what Kang Yoon-Soo was doing.

Rekil approached Kang Yoon-Soo after the wyverns and harpies had left, asking, “How did you convince the harpies?”

“I told them that they would be able to find good mates if they believed in the Church of Madness,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“What? Then what happened?” Rekil asked in disbelief.

“Four of them proposed to me,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“…Noona! Should I start a religion as well?” Rekil asked.

Reanna smiled and replied, “If you think you have what it takes.”

They all climbed down from the cliff. The animosity the Templar Knights had once harbored was nowhere to be seen. Most of them seemed to want to talk to Kang Yoon-Soo, but they could not freely do so because of Ravotel.

Ravotel angrily stomped his feet and said, “We’re definitely going to strike a nerve with the other churches with what we’re doing right now.”

“What do you mean? Why would we strike a nerve with the other churches?” Reanna asked.

Ravotel glared back at her. However, Rekil butted in before Ravotel could reply, saying, “Monsters are following a religion now. It’ll seem as if someone is trying to gather immense strength by converting the monsters.”

“So the other churches will attack the Church of Madness? Don’t you think you’re overreacting?” Reanna said.

“Believe what you want, but the large renowned churches are infamous for stepping on anything that might threaten their positions in the future. That’s how corrupt they’ve become,” Ravotel said in response.

A crisis was bound to strike when it was least expected. Another thing that was quite likely to happen was a griffin swooping down and crushing a Templar Knight in its talons.

“Aaaaghk!”

“Damn it! Lephonse!” Ravotel shouted as he ran toward his subordinate. Lephonse was about to roll down the edge of the cliff, but Ravotel managed to grab him just in time. The Templar Knight was still in shock, covered in blood due to the griffin’s attack.

“Kieeeeeeeek!” The griffin with golden feathers screeched loudly.

[The boss of the cliff, the Super Large Griffin, Ashneraga, has appeared!]

“W-Why would a griffin suddenly…?” the Templar Knights stuttered as they hastily drew their swords.

“It’s because of the wyverns and harpies,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“W-What do you mean by that?” the Templar Knights asked.

“I told the wyverns and harpies to spread the word of the Church of Madness to other areas, and that enraged the griffin,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

Rekil looked at Kang Yoon-Soo with pleading eyes as he asked, “You can make that vicious griffin turn docile with your preaching, right? …Right?”

“The griffon is enraged right now, so it won’t understand anything,” Kang Yoon-Soo nonchalantly said.

The others’ faces turned blue with horror.

Rekil closed his eyes and moaned, “We’re all dead. Noona, you’re pretty ill-tempered, but I want you to know that I love you a lot.”

“I’d suggest you move your ass if you have time to say your last words, my lovely dongsaeng,” Reanna replied.

“We’re at the edge of a cliff! It’s a struggle just to stand here, but that thing has the advantage in its home territory! We’ll die even before we get the chance to fight properly!” Rekil retorted.

“Then just peacefully fall and die,” Reanna said before lighting a cigarette and drawing her sword.

The Templar Knights followed suit and drew their swords.

The large griffin stood tall with its wings open wide, completely blocking the only way down from the cliff. It screeched, “Kieeeeeeeek!”

Electricity started to crackle between the griffin’s feathers. One of the Templar Knights shouted in surprise, “Lightning magic! That griffin uses magic too!”

The situation was quickly taking a turn for the worse, and Ravotel nervously bit his lips. He called out, “Hey, skeleton! You should know how we can get out of this situation, right?”

Rekil looked at him in disbelief before nodding in agreement.

The condition of the Templar Knight Ravotel was carrying on his back was slowly worsening, and he was almost at death’s door after being stomped on by the griffin.

“We’ll attract the griffin’s attention if we try to heal him with divine power. We have to go down as soon as possible,” Rekil said.

“You guys go ahead,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“Even if we want to go down, that griffin is blocking the way,” Rekil protested.

Kang Yoon-Soo pulled out his rusty sword and threw it at the griffin without an ounce of hesitation.

Kwachik!

The rusty sword hit the griffin’s beak before shattering into pieces, and some of the sword fragments flew into the monster’s eyes. The griffin started to tear up, blinking frantically as it tried to get the fragments out of its eyes. Then, it glared at Kang Yoon-Soo before letting out a rage-filled screech. “KIEEEEEEEEK!”

“See you later at the cathedral,” Kang Yoon-Soo said before jumping off the cliff.

The others cried out, shocked by what he had just done.

“Oh my god!”

“What are you doing?!”

“Hey, you numbskull skeleton!”

The griffin dove down the cliff as well in hot pursuit of Kang Yoon-Soo. However, what happened after that was shrouded in mystery, as a curtain of thick fog prevented the others from seeing anything.

***

Four days had passed since Kang Yoon-Soo went missing, and prayers hoping for his safe return filled the entire cathedral.

The goblin Amon was in tears as he thought, ‘I don’t see the skeleton.’

The goblins always dropped by the cathedral before sunset, but the skeleton that always fed them and told them numerous fun stories was nowhere to be seen.

Amon decided to shake off the depressing mood by clapping and singing, but it was at that moment that he realized, ‘Oh right! I don’t have a left arm!’

Anger welled up inside him, but there were other monsters in the cathedral as well, so he decided to suppress his anger. He thought, ‘The chief told me that one should only get angry at those who are weaker than them.’

Amon counted the number of monsters that were currently crying in the cathedral. ‘211 orcs, 137 gargoyles, 42 lizardmen, 5 ogres…’

Then, he realized something shocking. ‘Goblins are the weakest here!’ He began feeling anxious.

Rekil looked at the goblin with eyes full of suspicion, wondering, “What the hell is wrong with that goblin? It’s sitting there all alone.”

“Maybe it’s feeling sad because the Skeleton Church Leader isn’t here?” Reanna speculated.

Rekil clicked his tongue before saying, “We didn’t even ask him for his name, now that I think about it.”

The Templar Knights finished their preparations to depart. Ravotel stepped forward and said, “There’s no longer any reason for us to stay here, since the commander has disappeared.”

“Hmph! You’re speaking as if you treated him as the commander,” Rekil shot back.

Ravotel glared at Rekil, but he did not say anything in response. It was then that one of the Templar Knights, who was the smallest one among them, came upto Rekil and said, “Excuse me… I was the one who was crushed by the griffin before. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for using your precious divine power to heal me.”

Rekil scoffed in response, but Reanna suddenly asked, “Then why don’t you sing us a funeral song to show your gratitude?”

“Huh?” the Templar Knight responded, tilting his head in confusion.

“A funeral for the undead? What kind of funeral can you hold for something that has already died before?” Ravotel grumbled.

“Can’t you see those monsters are currently in mourning?” Reanna replied, pointing at the crying monsters.

It was truly a surprising sight. The monsters were not fighting against each other, nor were they picking a fight against the humans; instead, they were all gloomy and in mourning.

The Templar Knights looked expectantly at Ravotel, and he had no choice but to make a compromise. He said, “We’ll depart after holding the funeral.”

The Templar Knights sat in place upon hearing their captain’s answer.

The program of the funeral was quite simple. They would place glasses of alcohol atop a makeshift coffin carved out of wood, and the attendees would then sing a funeral song for the dead. It would have been more complicated and extravagant if it were the funeral of a noble, but this much was more than enough for a skeleton that had gone missing.

Reanna placed a glass of alcohol on top of the coffin, and Rekil cleared his throat before he started singing the funeral song.

Those who defy god will surely not live.

All will receive the call of god one day.

Those who depart from us will enter eternal rest.

It was a famous funeral song that all members of the clergy were familiar with.

Reanna and the Templar Knights sang along, and the monsters hummed along to the tune. At that very moment, the humans and monsters were singing along to the same song.

Mourn and embrace the dead.

Forever remember the sorrows of today.

The dead have not departed, but rather gained freedom.

They have broken free from the yoke of death forevermore.

Their end is the beginning of a new chapter for them.

Right as they sang the second verse of the funeral song, someone knocked on the door.

Rekil furrowed his brow in annoyance and grumbled, “What imbecile would knock in the middle of a funeral… Wait, who would come and knock on the cathedral door when it’s in the middle of nowhere…?”

Rekil hurriedly ran toward the door, and all eyes darted toward him the moment he opened it. Kang Yoon-Soo was standing in the doorway, and he nonchalantly said, “I’m back.”

The funeral song came to a halt, and silence ensued for quite a while. Eventually, Rekil broke the silence, shouting, “Hey, you skeleton bastard! You were alive! No… Is it even correct to call an undead being ‘alive’…? Ah, what does it matter!”

Rekil hugged Kang Yoon-Soo tightly, and the monsters cheered loudly while the Templar Knights smiled and nodded.

Reanna walked toward Kang Yoon-Soo with a smile and asked, “I knew you were going to come back, but what have you been up to these past four days?”

“I preached while riding the griffin,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“You rode the griffin…? How…?” Reanna asked with a surprised look.

“I mounted it and preached the entire day, and then it gave me a ride here,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

Rekil tilted his head in confusion as he asked, “What kind of monsters did you preach to, for it to take you this long to come back?”

Kang Yoon-Soo pointed to the horizon, and Rekil’s eyes grew large at the sight of their new follower.

Fwaaaaah!

The air in front of him instantly heated up, and Rekil fell on his butt. Then, he turned around and shouted, “Continue singing the funeral song! We’re all going to die here!”

“It’s alright,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“What’s alright?! A monster only heard of in legends is right in front of…” Rekil trailed off.

“Please welcome the new member of our congregation,” Kang Yoon-Soo casually said, introducing their latest follower.

Rekil was so nervous he almost passed out, and both humans and monsters trembled at the sight of their new fellow follower.

Kang Yoon-Soo nonchalantly walked toward the makeshift coffin and gulped down the glasses of alcohol on it, thinking, ‘Now it’s time to fight.’