While My Mage Wife Grinds, I Power Up Idly

"Father, how come you...?"

Kakayather’s heart flickered with hope, but then he noticed the change in his father—the goat-like horns growing on his forehead, just like a Demon’s.

"Shut up. Listen to me. You’re the only son I have in this life. I don’t care if you can take in this last piece of fatherly advice, but I have fulfilled my duty as a father. When you return, live a good life. They have no reason to kill you a second time. You should let go of everything and atone for your sins. Don’t let me see you again here. Enough... I don’t know what else to say. Go back."

With that,

Kakarim tightly embraced Kakayather’s soul, then suddenly threw it high into the air.

Bathed in the eerie light that pierced through the Netherrealm’s mists, Kakayather’s soul rose high and eventually vanished from sight.

...

"Kakase."

Underground drainage system.

"Ugh—!!"

A nightmare-like voice suddenly rang out.

Ashu glanced over and realized that the one resurrected was not Kakarim, but Kakarim’s son, Kakayather.

"Damn."

Ashu was frustrated. As a Bishop of the new Cidi cult, to lead the second sacrifice and still get the wrong person—it was utterly embarrassing.

Could it be that the offering of ten cows and ten sheep had confused the Cidi god?

"Ashu, this is bad," Vivita said, looking at the resurrected Kakayather and then back at Kakarim’s still lifeless corpse.

What was happening meant this was all part of Kakarim’s plan. He used his own death to resurrect his son. Then, he would inevitably fall and become a Demon.

The fall of a Cardinal was a huge loss for a major city.

For the Holy Cultivator Guild, it was also a massive loss.

And it was an immense desecration of the Divine Mother Goddess.

The resurrected Kakayather sat up and looked around.

When he saw Ashu, he immediately shivered in fear.

"You?! How come it’s you? Where is this place?" frёeωebɳovel.com

Ashu wasted no words. He stepped forward and kicked Kakayather to the ground, demanding, "Tell me, what did you see down there?"

"Fa—Father..."

The angle at which Kakayather fell allowed him to see Cardinal Kakarim’s corpse. He immediately understood what had happened.

"You killed my father. No wonder, no wonder I saw..."

Ashu stomped Kakayather’s head into the ground and slowly dragged a blade formed from Magical Essence across his body. He couldn’t be bothered to listen to Kakayather’s complaints; he only wanted the information he sought.

"What exactly did you see? Tell me the truth, or I’ll send you back down again."

Kakayather was terrified. He really didn’t want to return to the Netherrealm.

"I—I’m telling you, I went to the world of the dead, got caught and bullied by Demons, and after who knows how long, I suddenly saw my father. He threw me up high, and then I returned to the living world."

"Say something I don’t know!" Ashu’s tone turned harsh. He stomped hard, breaking two of Kakayather’s molars.

Kakayather felt a sharp pressure rising inside his skull, as if his head was about to explode. He hurriedly added, "Y-Yes, I also saw that my father grew horns on his forehead. He said you wouldn’t kill me a second time and told me to atone properly."

"Horns..."

Ashu looked at Vivita. A Cardinal’s soul growing horns meant that Kakarim had completely fallen, siding with the evil god faction.

Vivita’s expression darkened. She said, "Although it’s only his personal fall, from the Holy Cultivator Guild’s perspective, this is a serious matter."

After a moment’s thought, she continued, "This is a big deal. Let’s go back and wait for further news."

...

Imperial Capital of the Atras Empire.

Inside the brilliantly radiant Holy Light Church, the Holy Pope was performing his daily worship.

Suddenly,

A dizzying ringing filled the air, and the Holy Pope staggered, even his sacred crown falling to the floor.

When the ringing stopped,

The Holy Pope knelt down with a thud, his eyes flashing sorrow.

The betrayal of a Cardinal was a massive loss to the Holy Cultivator Guild. A Devotee’s desecration of the Divine Mother Goddess was an even greater insult. As the earthly pinnacle of faith, the Holy Pope felt this deeply and was heartbroken.

He knew that just now, the Divine Mother Goddess had delivered a divine oracle.

"Ah, Kakarim, you shouldn’t have, you absolutely shouldn’t have..."

"Transmit: Holy Cultivator Guild Purge Order. Authorize Demon Huntress Nun Vivita Taan, bearing the ’luminous saint,’ to enter the Netherrealm and exterminate the traitor Kakarim."

The Holy Pope’s voice echoed through the radiant Holy Light Church. No one there directly received his command, but a sacred power would deliver this supreme order to the destined recipient.

...

Within half a day,

The Holy Cultivator Guild Purge Order reached "Kakase."

Vivita, one of the parties involved, was the primary responsible person.

"The Pope has ordered us to enter the Netherrealm and hunt down Kakarim," Vivita said after reading the letter.

"Enter the Netherrealm?" Ashu asked. "Are we supposed to die again?"

"No," Vivita explained. "Along with the Purge Order, headquarters sent special equipment that allows our souls to temporarily enter the Netherrealm. During that time, our bodies will remain motionless."

Hearing this, Anna was surprised. "I didn’t expect the old Pope to even release that thing. Looks like the Divine Mother Goddess is really angry about this."

"You’ve seen it?" Ashu asked.

"No. I’ve only read about it in Witch’s Guild books. It’s a Holy Relic called the ’Gate of Heaven.’ Its exact origin is unknown, but through the glorification of successive Popes, it has come to be regarded as the Divine Mother Goddess’s own handiwork," Anna explained.

"The ’Gate of Heaven’ leads to the Netherrealm?"

"Yes. Because names like ’Gate of the Netherrealm’ or ’Gate of Hell’ sound like something from the dark path."

"Alright then."

"With the ’Gate of Heaven,’ I feel reassured." Anna let out a sigh of relief. She hadn’t planned on letting Ashu take any more risks. "You two go ahead. I’ll stay outside and keep watch. The moment anything stirs, I’ll pull your souls back from the Netherrealm."

"Thank you, Your Holiness the Saintess."

After saying this, Vivita waved her hand and summoned the special artifact that the Pope had sent with the letter.

It didn’t look like a door, but rather a shimmering frame.

Ashu and Vivita lay flat on the bed, pressed closely together.

Under Vivita’s control, the shimmering frame swept down from above, enclosing the two of them.

The moment the glowing frame fully encompassed their bodies, their souls instantly fell away.

Ashu’s soul began to panic uncontrollably. He instinctively tried to activate Flight Magic but found it useless.

Fortunately,

Vivita caught Ashu in time and said, "We’re on the passage to the Netherrealm. Don’t struggle. The more you struggle, the slower it gets. If we hurry down, we’ll be fine."

Only then did Ashu understand. "I thought we’d arrive instantly."

Not long after,

A solid sensation came from beneath their feet, and the scenery before their eyes shifted in an instant.

The ground was like blood, and a rotten mist swirled around.

Ashu looked around, feeling as if he were dreaming.

"Ashu, we need to be careful. As souls sneaking in, we’ll be hostilely targeted by Demons and the Undead," Vivita said, pulling out a Demon Slayer Holy Crossbow from somewhere. "So it’s best we kill every one we see."

Hearing this, Ashu tried to summon the Demon Slayer Holy Crossbow returned by the system.

In a flash, it appeared in his hand as well.

Vivita glanced at the Demon Slayer Holy Crossbow in Ashu’s hand with some doubt, but after three seconds of hesitation, she convinced herself.

Maybe Ashu made it himself?

She then returned to the matter at hand and said, "By the way, most rules here are the same as in the living world. Magic and such skills can now be used normally. But don’t use the Sacred Codex. It’s almost useless here and will only draw the Demons’ wrath."

"Got it. Have you been here before?"

"One of the trials of the Twelve Demon-Hunting Nuns."

"I see."

Ashu said this as he loaded a Demon Hunter Arrow onto his Demon Slayer Holy Crossbow.

He had no spiritual perception talent, so he had to rely on human senses to perceive his surroundings.

After just a few steps, Vivita’s Demon Slayer Holy Crossbow fired an arrow.

The silver arrow pierced through the mist and instantly killed a Demon.

Here, Ashu could no longer rely on Anna to help aim. He had to watch the swirling mist carefully with his own eyes and ears.

"I need to find another way to sense things. Without Anna, I’m basically blind," Ashu thought to himself.

Even though his cultivation speed was extremely fast, without the spiritual perception talent, he was always at a disadvantage.

His sneak attacks could be sensed by others, but he couldn’t always detect theirs.

In a battle against someone of equal rank, he was essentially losing half the fight from the start.

Two hours later,

The two had fought their way to the edge of a vast chasm.

Vivita stopped and relaxed her arm holding the Demon Slayer Holy Crossbow.

She said, "Let’s rest for a moment. There haven’t been any Demon or Undead fluctuations nearby."

During those two hours, their vision had been continuously obscured by mist, making it difficult to tell how far they had traveled. Regardless, Ashu was certain their journey was at least equivalent to two round trips from Gorn Village to the town of Riven.

"Vivita, I want to ask—this Netherrealm isn’t the same size as the human world, right?"

"I don’t know," Vivita answered seriously. "It seems no one has ever measured the full extent of the Netherrealm."

"So we’re just wandering around looking for Kakarim without any real direction?"

After Kakarim grew horns on his head, he had completely fallen and become a Demon, no longer a mere soul.

Therefore, soul-harvesting sacrifices were useless now.

And Sion’s demon summoning ritual was random as well.

If there were a better way, Ashu would have chosen it.