I Became The Pope, Now What?

Boom!

Boom!

Bombs were going off every ten seconds, each being as powerful as the last one. With those fiery explosions, there was an ocean of dead snakes around Sir Dolorem and Gabriel. Since they knew what they had to do now, and as the effect was visible, they went all out.

"It's working!" Sylvester roared from a distance as he felt the Bloodling was slowing down with more snakes dying.

Sir Dolorem nodded and once again stopped using light crystals to act as bait. Their strategy was simple: they first let the snakes get attracted to them, and once they came close, they reactivated the light crystals after throwing an IED bomb out.

Each wave that came ended as a bloody dirty paste and corpses of half-destroyed snakes. It was disgusting to see, and even the stench was getting overbearing.

Miraj was also there, but he was small and somewhat scared of snakes, so he just tried to stay as close to Sir Dolorem as possible, even jumping on the man's shoulder a few times, but for some reason, the old knight didn't react to it.

"Wait! Did you hear that, Sir Dolorem?" Gabriel suddenly stopped frantically moving. They were sweating like crazy since it was the middle of the day. They appeared lower than the lowest commoners.

Sir Dolorem also stopped and looked at the ground, there was an occasional thump echoing from a distance, and the fine sand beneath their feet was shaking. "Be prepared! Something is coming--Something big!"

Gabriel nodded and quickly took out IED bombs and prepared a dose of light in his left hand. Sir Dolorem, meanwhile, held his broadsword to his front and initiated some magic, making the edges of the blade shine in deep blue.

Thud!

Thud!

"W-What's that?" Gabriel stuttered when the shadow of something huge was visible behind the edge of the purple mist in the distance.

Then, finally, it came into the small dome of the open area they had created. Without wasting a moment, Sir Dolorem slashed his sword horizontally towards it, sending away a wide arc of blue light-like blade meant to cut.

Bam!

It made contact and threw the creature to the back. Soon, the incoming horde of snakes took over the creature and covered it.

"F-Fuck!"

However, just then, a loud curse came from the creature. Then more words, clarifying everything. "Don't attack! It's me! Bishop Lazark! I conjured this golem and took hold inside it... help!"

"This mad man... how did he survive so long?" Sir Dolorem was in awe of this man since it must be doubly hard for him to survive here as he was a dark wizard.

"Gabriel, throw the light crystals on him." Sir Dolorem ordered.

This way, they ensured the snakes could not hold the stone golem down. Bishop Lazark then slowly got up, moved as fast as he could in that giant body, and arrived closer to the rest.

And the first thing he did was curse at the Bloodling in the sky. "This unholy filth! Look at it! Is it a man, a bird, or a snake? Ugh! Fucking evil! Give me a Solarium crystal, please... I feel like I will die any moment."

Bishop Lazark, however, didn't come out of the golem and just absorbed the crystal given to him into the golem's body. It took him a few seconds to start feeling its positive effects. "Is there a plan?"

"Kill the snakes, as many as you can! That's what Priest Sylvester needs to kill the Bloodling." Sir Dolorem advised.

Bishop Lazark looked towards Sylvester at first and noticed the state of the young man, battered, bruised, and bloodied, yet giving a fight to the vile creature. Then he looked at the horde of snakes. "I think I can help in that regard...a lot! But I will need more solarium crystals."

"What's the plan?" Sir Dolorem questioned.

"I have nearly eight hundred zombies scattered around the land, covered with mountains of these snakes as they eat them--what if I can make them explode?"

Gabriel gave him a handful of solarium crystals quickly. "What are you waiting for then, Bishop? Start blasting."

...

Sylvester struggled and got hurt every now and then as he was not invincible and the strike from tentacles of the Bloodling was akin to strikes from swords. They still cut him and made him bleed.

He finally felt the Bloodling was weakened enough to go for the final kill--for the head. So he prepared his spear by heating its edge and then adding a taste of light magic to it. This was one of the things he envied about knights. Their weapons were highly versatile with magical runes.

Boom!

Sylvester strategically took out an IED bomb and threw it towards the Bloodling to blind it with the light. Then, with a quick leap in the air with Light Step, he slashed the Spear of Infinity with a zap. The Bloodling was trying to wave its tentacles at him blindly, but Sylvester was mindful of the gap.

"Die--filth!"

With the halo still radiating behind his head, and his leaping image with the spear, in the eyes of Sir Dolorem, Gabriel, and Bishop Lazark, the scene was going to be immortalized--as if they witnessed a god fighting a demon--where Bloodling's purple mist tried to push against, and Sylvester's light obliterated all in its way.

The image was reinforced when Sylvester's strike finally landed.

Slash!

Sylvester's blade made contact with the Bloodlin's neck, just where the head started. Then, effortlessly, it passed through, chopping all the snakes and beheading the creature.

Thud!

The head fell to the side like a stone on the sand, and the body remained still as the light killed all the snakes that built it. The fight was finally over, and Sylvester felt rejuvenated. Being on the toes for all this time, wondering if he'd even survive, this was a relief.

Boom! Boom!

Just then, loud explosions started to resound all around. Weakened, he looked at his team. "What's happening?"

Gabriel shouted back. "It's Bishop Lazark! He's exploding all the zombies!"

'A bit too late, I'm afraid... ugh! This hurts.' He sat down right there as his arm felt numb, this was where the vile creature had hit him the first time, and now it was likely infected. 'Let's wait for the mist to disperse and then...'

His mind stopped thinking as soon as he tried to look where the skull of the Bloodling had fallen. To horrifying shock, he noticed the eyes on it were still as bright, and the fifth vertical eye was even blinking, while at the same time, all the snakes from around tried to get to it no matter what, even if they were dying.

"Fuck! It's not dead!" He jumped to his feet and bellowed. "Keep exploding them!"

Grrrr...

Just then, he heard a rumbling noise, and the ground seemed to shake. Alerted, he quickly jumped ten feet in the air and made a light step to stand on. "Good lord!"

His jaw fell at the scene, and his eyes contorted as this smelled dangerous. He quickly warned the rest. "They are coming! All of them! Use all the light and solarium crystals!"

The horde of snakes had left all their activities as their master had fallen. Sylvester reckoned the skull was still alive and was summoning them to form its new body.

"So I must destroy you first."

He made himself stand a few feet above the spiky skull with five eyes on a tile made of light. Then he sat down on his knees and aimed his right-hand palm at the head. "I don't know what you are made of, and since you're not dying from my halo either--this is all I have."

He took a long deep breath. 'I hope I don't run out of solarium too much with this.'

Grrrr...

"Max! Be quick! There are too many!" Gabriel exclaimed loudly, despair evident in his voice.

Sylvester also stole a glance, and his heart sank in an instant. The snakes were crawling toward them from all sides, but they appeared like a tide in the sea, as tall as 50 feet. Their menacing gray color and their always open salivating mouths looked nothing but a nightmare.

Sylvester hurried and initiated the process of using the Wrath of the Heavens and combined light and water elements together. Then he started to sing the hymn, more like bellowed.

♫O' Creature of the devils--I condemn you to die.

Erase you from existence and clear the dark sky!

You have sullied the lands and hurt folks enough.

I call forth the light to end and have your poison rebuffed.

I speak the word of Lord, don't take them for a bluff.♫

His palm finally started to shine bright in golden light. But it was taking too long as he noticed the horde had already covered Bishop Lazark's Golem and now hurried towards Sir Dolorem and Gabriel.

♫The bard sings for the grace to befall

The heavens cry, let my enemies halt.

On this blessed land, let not the evil crawl.

Save your believers, and hunt the sinners.♫

Finally, he felt the beam of blinding and burning light come out.

♫These creatures in darkness who dwell.

Kill this filth! Erase the darkness! Let it rot in hell.

I am a slave to your rules and spells.

For nothing but your name--I yell!♫

BOOM!

A thunderous explosion of blinding golden light and the rumbling stronger than the horde arrived, it shook the lands as the mountains cried, and the creatures lurking in the shadows pried. What was happening? Who was this man--how does he summon the thunder of the gods?

The light that menacingly bombards--It was nothing but the ender of the pure evil--from the bard amongst the bards.

Sylvester kept his hand steady as the beam of deadly light struck the earth, melting a hole in it. So hot, nothing lasted--turned the sand into glass, and the rocks melted to let it pass.

"Fuck!"

However, he noticed just when he was about to hit the head of the Bloodling, a snake dug out of the ground and shifted it underneath the light tile he stood on. Cursing, Sylvester just jumped into the air high and let the beam of light hit the ground so wide in size that there was nowhere left to move to.

"Haaaa!" Sylvester forced his eyes to stay open as the light tried to leave his embrace. His body was running out of Solarium, but he just needed a few seconds more of the Lord's grace.

He, too, fell into the bottomless dark pit of unimaginable depth he had just created, but it was essential to ensure the Bloodling ended. So he didn't stop himself and fell--more and more as long as he saw even a speck of the bloodling remain.

First vanished the spikes around the head, then slowly the four eyes, and at last remained the fifth eyes, yellow in color and appeared like a marble--the core, Sylvester reckoned.

'Just one final push!' He thought as he bellowed the last hymn with a breaking voice.

♫One or two! To all gods, I beg.

Let your warmth end this heathen.

May this light end all--bloodling or demon!

Don't let your bard be beaten.

I sing--I sing--to Solis--Amen!♫

Whoosh!

Crack!

A crack appeared in the yellow crystal as a sudden burst of extra-intensity light released off his palm. Sylvester cursed as he felt like nearing his limit. He pushed further as much as his body could permit.

Shhh...!

Suddenly, when the cracks opened wide, a strange black menacing dark mist appeared. It didn't attack but, in a hard-to-understand demonic voice, whispered before it disappeared.

"Forev-errr...can't...win--when... etern-al dar-knesss arri-vesss--I sh-all rissse from all--from within..."

Crack!

Boom!

The crystal exploded in a dark light, somehow. Was it light or just darkness? But it seemed to have taken all Sylvester could harness. His eyes finally felt heavy, and began to droop. The halo disappeared and ended the reign of light and hymns.

And then there was just--darkness. In the pit he created, which seemed endless... he fell--and fell--in the deep dark abysmal hell.

Unconscious...Lost...Hurt...He fell where reaches--not even the loudest yell.

400 GT = 1 Bonus chapter.

1 Super Gift = 1 Bonus chapter.[Thank you, Dagorith. Much ape love to you!]

APE TOGETHER STRONG!