I Became the Substitute for the Runaway Heroine - Chapter 70

‘That’s the Saint’s Staff.’

It was undoubtedly thanks to the divine energy radiating from the Saint’s Staff that the monsters hadn’t yet poured out all at once.

But even that was only a temporary measure.

This method could not seal the Rift permanently.

Only divine power could be the answer to the Rift.

“Go, go now! Get out! I’m going to destroy this place.”

“Y-Yes, understood.”

Odette summoned her divine power to her fingertips, forming a thread of radiant light.

She hadn’t released any divine energy in two days—her power surged, almost overflowing.

After confirming that Jacques was ascending the stairs with Vera in his arms, Odette whipped the thread of divine light, wrapping it around the staff.

With a firm tug, she drew the Saint’s Staff into her hands.

At that moment, a silver brilliance burst from her fingertips, rushing through her entire body.

She could feel the ancient power dwelling in the staff being absorbed into her veins.

“Ah…!”

A gasp of awe escaped Odette’s lips.

Her consciousness was suddenly torn from reality, swept up into the current of time itself.

Before her eyes, countless threads of light shimmered.

Each thread was connected to a Grand Saintess.

Odette began to follow them, tracing their light back through time.

As she followed the first thread, she saw the Grand Saintess Melina, a hundred years ago, calling down rain with divine power.

Where Melina’s hands touched, parched crops revived, and barren land bloomed into fertile soil.

Odette could feel the holy power flowing from Melina’s fingertips as if it were her own.

Next, she was pulled into the memory of Ceres, Grand Saintess two hundred years ago.

Odette watched as Ceres healed the sick with a gentle touch.

And so, Odette was drawn further back—centuries slipping past—witnessing each Grand Saintess wielding the Saint’s Staff to save the world.

Their joy, pain, resolve, and love poured into Odette’s heart.

At last, following the brightest thread of all, she saw her mother—smiling gently, as if she had been waiting.

Her mother stood at the heart of Demuna, holding the Saint’s Staff.

She noticed a faint Rift, and pressing her hand to the tainted earth, began to purify it.

Sweat gathered instantly on her brow, and her once-red lips paled.

Odette saw with perfect clarity as her mother’s divine purification sealed the Rift, closing the fracture completely.

No trace of it remained.

Her mother turned her gaze toward where Odette stood and spoke:

“This is how you seal the Rift. You can do it, can’t you?”

I don’t want to.

No. I won’t do it.

Tears streamed down Odette’s face as she shook her head.

You were used. You should have controlled the divine energy through the Saint’s Staff—because you didn’t, you died young.

Who cares if the Empire, ruled by the Emperor who used and discarded you, crumbles or not? He deserved it.

But she swallowed all those words.

Odette reached out toward her mother.

“Hold me… Mother.”

But the vision vanished—and Odette was back in reality.

‘It’s cruel. So cruel…’

She bit her lip to stifle her sobs.

The staff in her hand was light—she could wield it easily with one hand—yet Odette felt crushed under the weight of its responsibility.

The moment she became its bearer, it was as if the burden of saving the world had fallen on her shoulders.

“Screeeeech!”

With the Saint’s Staff removed, the tentacles burst from the cave entrance, dozens of them reaching out.

Rumble—
The ground trembled as monsters surged forward, threatening to break through.

“What’s happening?!”

“Ah! The Staff is gone!”

“There—she stole the Staff!”

The guards, who had been napping while the sick and faithful prayed, now leapt to their feet, pointing at Odette with panic.

“There’s no God here!”

Odette’s voice rang through the darkness, echoing across the underground space like a command of judgment.

Even those being hunted by the tentacled monsters lifted their heads and stared at her.

“Even if we’re doomed to die—this isn’t right.”

A true God would never allow such meaningless deaths for those who believed and followed Him.

As if to answer her conviction, divine power exploded from Odette’s fingertips—stronger than ever before.

A brilliant light gathered and gathered, forming a massive orb like a second moon, radiating above her.

Tears streamed down the faces of the believers gazing at the orb of light.

“I… I want to live.”

“Please… save me.”

“P-Please, Saintess, deliver us…”

Odette raised the Saint’s Staff and pointed to the exit.

“Get out of here! If you run now—you’ll live!”

“Yes, let’s get out of here!”

“The Saintess told us to leave!”

As the believers rose to their feet, monsters lashed out, tentacles whipping toward them.

Odette twisted the Saint’s Staff, channeling divine power from its tip.
A blast of holy light struck the monsters, making them shriek and writhe.

The floor trembled as the beasts flailed in agony.

Odette attacked again—
Rumble! The cave entrance began to collapse.

‘I have to get these people out—now!’

Odette stretched out her hand toward the orb of light floating above.

Rising higher, the glowing orb pushed back the darkness, casting brilliant light on the stairs leading upward.

Drawn by the light, the believers began climbing, but the guards gave chase.

“Prey’s escaping—catch them!”

“Forget them—the staff! That woman took the staff! The gates of hell will open!”

No—this place already is hell.

Odette unleashed divine power toward the guards.
One was lifted off the ground and hurled across the basement. As he crashed to the floor, a monster’s tentacle lashed out, snatching him up.

“Aagh! Help—”

His scream was cut off as he was dragged into the depths of the cave.

“Looks like you can be the prey instead.”

As Odette raised the staff to attack again, the guards panicked, fleeing in all directions.

Some even shoved past the believers in desperation.

‘Are most of them gone?’

Alone now in the vast underground chamber, grand as a coliseum, Odette stopped holding back.

She released the power raging inside her.

A dazzling light exploded outward, the air twisting into a whirlwind.

Standing at its center, her hair fluttered gently—but everything else was torn apart.

Stones flew, cracks split the walls.

The monsters’ cave began to collapse, and with it, the entire underground structure.

The Rift, barely sealed with gold and the Saint’s Staff, was now uncontrolled, and its grip shattered.

Here. There. Even the walls cracked…

And from the fissures, a sinister black mist crept out.

Odette raised her hand toward the furnace.

A beam of divine light shot forth, splitting it in two—and the boiling gold inside spilled forth.

It flowed into the cracks—sealing the Rift with molten purity.

“Screeeeech!”

Odette rose into the air, lightly kicking off the last step. She ascended, then summoned every ounce of her strength, igniting her divine power in a massive explosion.

A deafening roar shattered the silence, and the space collapsed.

The ground beneath her crumbled like brittle cookies, and the ceiling plummeted toward her head.

Odette blasted through the basement door, sprinting outside the temple.

Moments later, the massive temple and the golden tower were swallowed into the collapsing Rift.

The monsters’ howls, echoing from the Rift’s depths, shook the earth.

“Aagh! What is happening?!”

“It’s an earthquake!”

“God is angry! We have to run!”

Saintesses, priests, and guards—rushing out from other buildings, shouting in panic, colliding in chaos.

Then—they felt it.

They paused, scanning the night air.

“I’ve never felt divine power like this before.”

“Where is it coming from?”

“There—that orb. It’s coming from that glowing orb.”

The radiant orb soared through the night sky like a second sun.
And beneath it, the believers followed its light.

“Follow it.”

“We have to go after that.”

Saintesses and priests began walking toward Demuna’s front gate, following the glowing orb.

“Where do you think you’re going?! Get back here!”

Guards tried to block them—
But just then, a deafening crack tore through the air, and one by one, Demuna’s temples began to collapse.

Support I Became the Substitute for the Runaway Heroine