Rise of a Dungeon Lord

"Heroes! Heroes! Gather round!"

"The pope has an important announcement to make!"

Standing in the centre of the training ground, the tall blond knight held a sword as he shouted

Standing tall covered with shining metallic armour and a wipe cape with a cross on his back, just looking at this knight, a word appeared in the hero's mind.

Inquisitor!

Different from the knights which guard the palace and use life force and aura to fight, these knights called inquisitors are completely different

Born and raised in the church of various Gods, inquisitors from a young age are capable of wielding divine power to strengthen their body and attacks

It could even be said that they were the opposite of priests who could use their godly powers to heal, while inquisitors could only use it for destruction

With the strongest inquisitors capable of cutting down a huge mountain in one slash, it was due to this that no church could be underestimated in Aincrad

Especially since most Gods didn't act physically on the world, rather most of the time used apostles and envoys to deliver their will.

Now seeing someone as strong as that in front of them, most of the heroes who had already begun yearning for power couldn't help but feel excited

Unfortunately, the inquisitor in front of them seemed to think otherwise

"Silence!"

Giving an order, the inquisitor immediately released a tremendous amount of pressure forcing all the heroes to their knees

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

One by one like a set of dominos, the sound of heroes falling onto their knees resounded throughout the training ground

And if that wasn't the worst of it, rather under the pressure some could even remain kneeling and laid flat on the ground

*Damn! What the hell is this pressure, how on earth can someone be so powerful!*

Clenching his teeth angrily, Tomoki couldn't help but curse out in his mind His legs gave way due to the pressure

Just kidding, how could he who was destined to be a God kneel before a mortal

Thinking of this, Tomoki felt unprecedentedly angry as emotions such as shame and anger began to surge in his chest

In fact not only he felt this way, but a lot of his classmates felt the same

They couldn't believe that they as heroes would soon suffer such humiliation just a few days after their summoning

However, Hibiki and Kazuma had slightly different thoughts.

Kazuma on one hand, remained expressionless counting this as a character development arc in his protagonist journey

While Hibiki just focused her attention on the pope, after all, if not for the Pope's permission, she didn't believe that without the inquisitor would act without permission

And sure enough, she was right. Watching the gradually changing expressions of the heroes on their knees, after waiting for a few seconds the pope raised his hand

"Haha, don't be rude sir Kevin, these are the esteemed heroes that are going to save Aincrad"

"They shouldn't be doing such unsightly things as kneeling on the ground, let them go"

With his signature warm smile and calm expression, the pope seemed to express unlimited sympathy and anger toward their current situation

However, Hibiki who was already seen through his acting couldn't help but roll her eyes.

Fortunately, the pope was too busy with his charade to note this.

"Yes Lord Pope, however even as heroes they shouldn't show such disrespect to the number one follower of her majesty the goddess of light!"

Still expressionless, Kevin remained rigid as slowly retracted his aura while not forgetting to let the heroes know their place

Seeing this, although hidden, a smile flashed deep within the Pope's eyes.

*Good, with this these heroes should get a taste of reality!*

*No matter how much popularity you may get by those commoners on the outside world*

*But here in the empire, I'm In charge!*

Remembering the cheers of joy as soon as the king announced the successful summoning of heroes to the masses, the pope couldn't help but feel jealous

After all, he in his over hundred years of being the pope has never received such an ovation, yet a bunch of powerless kids from another world did.

Thinking of this, his gaze toward the heroes narrowed slightly

*Should I do something else to reduce their ego a bit?*

*After all, they'll soon start to make public appearances, we can't be having them gaining pride in the process*

With this in mind, The pope began to think about whether he should do something else to show them who boss

And even if he did, how to do it without completely angering them since mostly some of them would harbour a grudge after this whole kneeling incident

Although most of that anger would be directed toward Kevin than him.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard the pope thought he couldn't think up anything on the spot

Realising this, he decided to come back to it later as he had more important things to do

Remembering the words of the head knight before coming here, the pope suddenly turned to look at Tomoki with a smile

*Although I didn't expect all the heroes to be good people, but thinking that one of them had something like this in mind, it's truly amazing!"

"To be done in by a fellow hero, truly an unexpected plot twist*

Saying this in his mind, the smile on the Pope's face became wider. Obviously, his and Tomoki's plan coincided together

Unfortunately, seeing the Pope's smile, no one thought that he had anything bad in mind, rather they assumed it to be his usual kind gesture.

Sadly they were wrong, and this error in their judgement today would leave most of the heroes regretting in the distant future

However, that would be for way later.

Now looking at the heroes who were still patiently waiting for him to speak, the pope suddenly dropped a bombshell

"Get ready heroes, we're going into the dungeon right away!"

Saying this the pope waited for their reactions