Chapter 44 - Temple of the Forgotten God

Author: Dawn

-You hunted down a Lamia!

-Your level has increased!

-You hunted a renowned monster of the labyrinth. Your fame increases!

The Lamia he encountered was much larger in size compared to regular Lamias, so it yielded a significant amount of loot.

The quality of the leather, especially, was remarkable.

“With the Frost Sword and the newfound power to wield the Claw Sword, dismantling the loot has become easier.”

Having experienced a period of frailty, having such strength brought immeasurable joy to him.

Of course, defeating the Lamia, being a venomous monster, it was easy to kill it for a high-level monster.

“I’ll have to be careful with this.”

-The Lamia Venom has been recorded in the Donguibogam.

Ethan recorded the Lamia Venom in the Donguibogam, making sure to keep the remaining venom safely.

With his subspace pouch full, Ethan’s heart was full.

If need be, he could use the venom to escape or launch an attack.

“But why would a Lamia be here?”

Normally, Lamias wouldn’t be found in this location.

‘There can’t be a labyrinth nearby.’

Ethan was very familiar with the geography of the vicinity.

There was no labyrinth nearby. At least, one would have to travel quite far from here to reach a labyrinth. It didn’t make sense for a Lamia to have come from there.

“For now, I should enter the temple and find out.”

The temple was different from what Ethan remembered.

Inside, a vibrant blue aura filled the air, accompanied by a refreshing fragrance.

With each step Ethan took, the floor illuminated, as if blessing his path.

Following the radiant glow, Ethan ventured further inside.

After walking for about ten minutes, a magnificent door came into view. Ethan opened the door and entered.

Shaaaak!

As the door swung open, moonlight bathed Ethan from above.

-You have entered the Temple of the Moon Goddess!

Inside, there was a statue of the goddess. It depicted a winged figure with hands clasped in prayer, gazing up at the sky.

However, something peculiar adorned the statue, resembling what Ethan had seen on the exterior pillars of the temple.

Next to it stood an altar where offerings could be made.

Ethan offered the severed head of the Lamia, which he had kept in his subspace pouch.

“The descendant of the Moon Goddess has arrived.”

Despite his words, nothing seemed to happen.

“Is something wrong?”

Ethan approached the statue and noticed something behind it.

“This is…”

He was well aware of the significance of this symbol.

“They’re symbols of the Followers of the Moon.”

Beneath the symbol, a magical inscription was drawn, and something was drawn into the inscription.

Simultaneously, there was a gaping pit beneath it, and something seemed to be trying to emerge from that pit.

“It’s absorbing the power of the Moon Goddess, present within this temple. And this pit…”

Ethan noticed a creature attempting to crawl out of the pit.

[lv 59]

“A monster? Could it be that this pit is connected to the labyrinth?”

The reason why the Lamia was in this temple became clear.

“So, the followers of the Moon have already begun their invasion of the Holy Empire?”

MePan had a main event.

Also known as the main scenario, the objective of this quest was to stop the followers of the Moon.

The followers of the Moon were individuals who sought to bring down the moon and reset the world.

MePan’s players had to prevent these followers from achieving their goals.

“Perhaps they believed that as the Moon Goddess, she would help them in their quest to drop the moon? Or maybe they needed the power of the gods?”

Both possibilities were likely.

Regardless, he couldn’t leave things as they were.

“While I hadn’t planned on intervening in the main event just yet…”

Leaving things unresolved meant the quest would be impossible to clear. Moreover, there was a possibility of losing the power of the Moon Goddess as well.

‘If all my power is taken away, it would render the Moon Goddess’s descendant and everything else useless. If that happens, all my power will disappear.’

There was a possibility that his class itself could disappear due to unfortunate circumstances.

Alternatively, the class might remain, but the power could vanish.

‘Regardless, if all the power of the Moon Goddess’s descendant is drained, it means losing all the advantages I gained from becoming her descendant.’

“That can’t happen.”

After all, he had obtained a growth-type class. If he gained recognition from the Moon Goddess, his class would undergo further growth.

But if the Moon Goddess disappeared?

That was something he absolutely couldn’t allow.

“Don’t get in my way.”

Ethan gripped the Frost Sword.

At that moment, a rumbling sound came from the pit.

“A human worthy of being my prey.”

Thump… Thump…

Emerging from the pitch-black pit was a half-human, half-beast creature, a centaur.

As the centaur was halfway out of the pit, Ethan swung his sword.

“Do you really think I’ll wait for you?”

“Wait, hold on! This goes against the natural order!”

Ethan plunged the Frost Sword into the creature’s weak spot.

“Frost Slash.”

The area where the sword was embedded froze, and the centaur became frozen in place. The frozen centaur got stuck in the pit, essentially becoming a lid, sealing the pit shut.

“For now, let’s block it off.”

Ethan crossed his arms, contemplating how to resolve this situation.

-The will of the goddess reaches the Moon Goddess’s descendant.

-The quest has been updated.

<<New Successor of the Moon Goddess -2>> Grade [A+]

[You have arrived at the Moon Goddess’s temple, which has been ruined by unknown individuals. They are aiming for the power of the Moon Goddess and have drawn sinister magic circles. Time is running out. Restore the temple to its original state.]

[Reward: Blessing of the Moon Goddess]

[Additional rewards will be given for completing the quest].

-Remaining Time: 05:00

“What? 5 minutes?”

Ethan was taken aback.

No, this was getting ridiculous no matter how you looked at it.

However, time was ticking away even amidst his confusion.

“There’s no other choice.”

There was no time to calmly remove the magic circles now.

‘While it may be a bit extreme…’

This quest was directly bestowed by the Moon Goddess herself.

That meant the Moon Goddess was watching Ethan.

“I suppose I can be a bit more extreme. After all, she personally gave me the quest.”

As the descendant of the Moon Goddess, Ethan had to perform sacrilegious acts, but if he didn’t do this, resolving the situation quickly would be impossible.

The symbol, the magic circle, and even the pit were all connected to that statue.

In other words, breaking the statue would solve everything.

Although the statue held significant meaning, if Ethan couldn’t resolve this situation, it would essentially be a meaningless statue.

Swish.

Ethan swung the Frost Sword without hesitation.

Kwang-!

With a loud noise, the statue shattered into pieces, collapsing.

Kurrrrrrrung-!

With the disappearance of the pit, the centaur that had been trapped within it was also shattered into pieces. Since it was already frozen, it broke apart as soon as it was released.

Suddenly, the surroundings fell silent. At the same time, the aura of the Moon Goddess grew stronger once again.

“I resolved it.”

As if in disbelief, the aura of the Goddess trembled. She probably didn’t expect that he would resort to such a drastic method to break the statue.

 The statue was a sacred representation of the Goddess herself.

And to shatter it so aggressively.

But the statue was just a statue.

By breaking it, he could quickly eliminate the corrupting magic circle that was stealing the Goddess’s power.

It was a swift and perfect resolution.

Although he had broken the statue, there was a reason behind it. Surely the Goddess wouldn’t consider it a failure or an act of sacrilege.

As Ethan waited, the clear window appeared belatedly.

-You have cleared the quest!

-You have cleared the quest in a way the Goddess did not expect!

-The Goddess was surprised by your choice but satisfied.

-The Goddess bestows her blessing upon you, the new descendant!

-Additional rewards are available!

-You have surpassed the conditions perfectly to clear the quest! The rewards are enhanced!

As a result of clearing the quest, Ethan received the original reward, the blessing of the Goddess.

The blessing of the Goddess was quite simple.

-The Goddess has acknowledged you as her new descendant.

-Your class has grown!

Class growth.

Among the numerous classes, this was one of the classes that could grow, so as soon as Ethan received the Goddess’s blessing, a new star was engraved in his class window.

[Class: Heir of the Moon*]

The effect of class growth was an increase of all stats by +10.

‘This is it.’

It was worth the difficulty of obtaining the class.

-Additional rewards will be granted.

-You can choose one of the Goddess’s relics to take with you.

‘Goddess’s relics?’

Ethan immediately checked the list.

[Relic – Goddess’s Ring], [Relic – Goddess’s Necklace], [Relic – Goddess’s Elixir], [Relic – Goddess’s Boots], [Relic – Goddess’s Sword]

“Wow.”

Relics generally referred to items used by heroes.

They were usually heavenly in their effects.

Receiving a blessing from a god, being forged by powerful magic to be indestructible, or having the legendary Archmage imbue all their power into it. Such backgrounds existed.

The Goddess’s relics listed were items that the Goddess herself had personally bestowed powerful blessings upon.

‘There are a lot of counterfeits, though.’

There were many counterfeits made to resemble relics.

These items could be sensed through appraisal, and among the counterfeits, there were quite a few that were well-made and usable.

However, the items in this reward list didn’t require appraisal at all.

Since they were rewards directly given by the Goddess, they could only be genuine.

Looking at the five relics, Ethan smiled contentedly. He couldn’t have imagined obtaining such high-level items at this point.

‘Compared to these items, the Frost Sword is a step below.’

Ethan pondered deeply.

He had to choose the item that would be most helpful at this point.

After much contemplation, Ethan made his decision.

-You have chosen the [Relic – Goddess’s Ring] as your reward.

-The reward will be granted!

‘What I need right now is a ring.’

The necklace, elixir, and boots were all decent items, but among them, the ring provided the highest increase in health points.

Moreover, the ring had a special effect.

[Moonlight Defense]

-Automatically activates when under attack. It defends against any attack once. [Cooldown: 24 hours]

Moonlight Defense was a special effect that automatically activated when attacked. It nullified any attack once.

‘The cooldown is one day.’

For one day, Ethan would be able to withstand any attack once.

‘It’s a ring that can complement my most important defense.’

Ethan immediately put on the ring.

The silver ring with a blue glow slid onto Ethan’s ring finger.

-The temple has been restored to its normal state.

-You can offer a tribute to the Goddess.

Ethan placed the Lamia’s severed head on the altar as an offering.

In an instant, the offering disappeared.
-The Goddess has given you a new mission.

-As a descendant of the Goddess, you have taken a step forward. Retrieve the forgotten followers of the Goddess. Activate the forgotten temples to grow your class.

It was a chain quest. It seemed like a growth quest for the descendant of the Moon Goddess, where Ethan had to discover and activate temples just like he did now.

‘Like the fairies, there were once followers of the Moon Goddess who lost their faith over time. I need to find those followers and increase the number of the Goddess’s devotees.’

Furthermore, the reward was the growth of his class.

“I should practice my acting skills a bit.”

Ethan muttered to himself.