LGHTNOVELBOOK C78
Chapter 78
Suddenly, I thought of the guys from the Yeonbaek Guild whom I had dealt with when I went to pick up Seungwoo.
They were the ones who awakened as magi users through something called the “Elixir of Awakening.”
Because they had incomplete magi power due to the drug, they couldn’t actively use magi.
But the guys here were different.
Swoosh!
These guys were used to using magi.
Like the ones I faced at the 2nd building of the Ability Management Bureau, they used magi to transform their bodies.
Tentacles made of magi reached out toward me, and magi burrowed between the tentacles.
That wasn’t all.
Some of them rushed toward me, injecting all their magi into their bodies, seemingly trying to embrace me and self-destruct.
But their struggles couldn’t touch me at all.
It was a battle that wasn’t even valid from the start.
[Active skill
[No corrupt energy can invade your holy domain.]
The light that emanated from my body instantly annihilated all the magi.
As the organization grew, the limitations of causality were greatly relaxed, so the magi of these insignificant pests couldn’t handle me.
My holy power was given to annihilate magi in the first place. Unlike other priests who perform divine miracles, I existed to administer divine punishment.
For those who had embraced magi with their bodies, it had to act with the force of extreme toxicity, far worse than the most potent poison.
“You think hiding behind a barrier will actually hide you?”
I sneered at them and slowly walked forward.
For these kinds of guys, I didn’t even need to move my body.
Szzzzzt-
The bodies of the enemies that came in contact with my holy power crumbled.
Their bodies, transformed by magi, melted like mud, and those who had been emitting magi from their bodies turned into ash.
It took less than a minute to clean up all the guys waiting on the first floor.
I passed through the hall covered in mud and ash and headed for the stairs.
The second and third floors were just distractions.
“These bastards, how deep did they dig underground?”
The magi was rising from deep underground.
Aaaaaaah-!
A beast-like howl echoed from below, and soon, a two-headed monster jumped out from the darkness of the underground.
A red-bodied dog, a Hell Hound.
The appearance of a monster in a place without a gate meant that someone had offered sacrifices to summon it.
“Still, it’s just a dog.”
I had hunted countless monsters in Eden. The Hell Hound appeared with a strong momentum, but as soon as it saw me, it trembled and retreated.
It was a result of the passive skill called
I lightly crushed the heart of the terrified Hell Hound as I continued to move down.
And shortly after.
“It’s you?”
I was able to face the person who was standing in front of a summoning magic circle while wearing a robe.
Around him, there were corpses of people who had been used as sacrifices. Behind him, I could see what seemed to be a place for imprisoning people, filled with iron cages.
The only good thing was that there were still some people alive inside.
I hadn’t expected something like this to happen on South Korean soil.
Had they been so confident they wouldn’t be caught?
Seeing this, I was sure of it now.
“This is the altar, right?”
This is the place called ‘altar’ that Lee Se-hee was talking about.
At first, I didn’t understand what it meant, but the ‘altar’ was literally an altar, a place where sacrifices were made.
I let out a light breath as I looked at the robed figure.
The sour smell of blood and decay came from the tip of my nose. And the source of the rotten smell was the person wearing the robe.
Thanks to that, I could easily identify who he was.
“A Lich.”
“The great one’s plan has already been fulfilled. Slave of the gods, this time you were a step too late.”
When he removed his robe, his appearance was clearly that of a human, but his essence as an undead couldn’t be hidden.
A chilling voice reverberated through the air.
A Lich.
This guy was definitely a Lich.
Thinking back to the one who terrorized the Ability Management Bureau, I had assumed other branches were handled by humans.
But that was just my mistake.
I hadn’t expected there to be a Lich disguised as a human.
‘Capturing him and extracting information is a lost cause now.’
Until I entered here, I had intended to capture the branch head alive and extract information from him.
But given the situation, I’d have to give up on extracting any meaningful information.
“Now, even the undead are Chinese-made? Seriously, I can’t even try to see the good in these bastards.”
“Our plan is realized…”
“I didn’t ask.”
There was no need to hear any more.
I immediately rushed at the Lich and grabbed its neck.
As my holy power touched him, the human disguise he had worn was stripped away, revealing a skeleton with greenish eyes.
As I poured my holy power into him, he was on the verge of disintegrating.
Unlike the Lich from the Guro-gu Gate, who had struggled, this one didn’t even try to resist.
Instead, it met my eyes and spoke in a cold, eerie voice.
“Unlike that world, in this world, the only one stopping us is you. The damned Limen, the one you serve, can’t help you now, can she?”
It recognized me.
That meant this bastard had come from Eden as well.
It looked down at me with mocking eyes.
“This world is full of hatred. Truly a great world in the eyes of the one above. I wonder if the mortals here can unite and fight? Though we were defeated in Eden, Black Pope, your world will eventually crumble.”
A voice filled with curses.
I looked up at the chattering Lich.
“Damn Lich, you talk too much.”
“Choke in your own helplessness. Your end is fitting for someone as alone as you—”
Sssss-
As I poured my holy power into him, the Lich’s body collapsed from the head down.
He didn’t even scream as he turned to ash, and I shook off the black ash on my gloves, frowning.
“Who’s alone, you damn skull bastard?”
He knew I had no contact with Limen. So, could it be that the reason there’s no contact with Limen now is because of these bastards?
My mind started to get tangled but I didn’t have time to think.
Rumble-!
Was it because the Lich had been destroyed? The building, no, the ground where the building stood began to shake violently.
It was the explosion caused by the Lich’s death while the magi corruption hadn’t been purged.
“Quiet solutions are out of the question now.”
There were still survivors here so I had no choice at this point.
I sighed and then spread my holy power in all directions.
I have to save the people.
After calming the rampage of the magi with my divine power, I immediately went to check on the survivors who were trapped in the cage.
The number of survivors was twelve in total.
Naturally, their condition was not good. Aside from the physical trauma, they were all engulfed in mental shock.
How many people could maintain their sanity after witnessing a scene where people were sacrificed right in front of them?
Moreover, half of the twelve were children. At most, they were elementary school-aged.
It was probably inevitable. The purer the soul, the higher its value as a sacrifice, and of course, children’s souls are purer than those of adults.
Perhaps these children were sold from somewhere.
“I’m sorry I’m late.”
The only thing I could do for the victims, whose minds were half gone, was to let them rest comfortably for a while.
I gently surrounded the trembling victims with my divine power.
Then, they all quietly fell asleep.
After briefly putting the survivors to sleep, I turned around and returned to the magic circle where the bodies of the sacrifices had been left.
The corpses, which had been possessed by magi due to the ritual, were all purified.
However, there were some bodies that died without even being able to close their eyes in agony. I approached them and closed their eyes. Then, slowly standing up, I spoke.
“Quick to deploy. I think it’s been over 10 minutes, but wasn’t this supposed to be your assigned area?”
A group of hunters emerged from the faint darkness.
The hunters wearing the armbands of the Hive Guild, whom I had seen earlier in the outer area.
They entered the floor where I had been, prepared for battle with swords, spears, and shields, ready to fight at any moment.
I quietly watched the hunters from the Hive Guild.
Perhaps they were planning to kill me, as they showed no signs of lowering their guard.
But that lasted only a moment, as soon the man standing at the front, wearing a helmet, took off his helmet and stepped forward.
“I apologize. It’s a Code Yellow situation, so my team members were on edge. I apologize, Pope Kim Siwoo.”
“We’ve met before, haven’t we? I thought you’d stop by the temple, but I was a little disappointed when you didn’t. Oh Junwoo. It’s good to see you again, but the place is a bit unfortunate.”
Oh Junwoo, the S-rank hunter from the Hive Guild, whom I met at the Wolmido Gate when Luna first came to Earth.
I still remember his foolish face, completely smitten by Luna.
Until Luna left the scene, he had been staring at her with a blank expression, right?
It was thanks to him that I managed to get out of that scene back then, so he left a lasting impression on me.
“But…it seems like your team members have a different opinion, Junwoo?”
I pointed to the hunters behind Junwoo, who were still pointing their weapons at me.
“Captain. It’s Code Yellow. You have to follow orders. According to the upper command, all survivors are to be eliminated…”
Boom!
“I’m sorry, Siwoo. Our new recruit doesn’t understand things well. I hope you’ll understand with a big heart.”
Junwoo punched the team member who had just been talking and said.
The team member struck by Junwoo flew and slammed against the wall, and only then did the other team members quickly lower their weapons.
“Quite a strict superior.”
“I saved that guy’s life.”
“I was thinking of compromising, maybe just with one arm, considering Junwoo’s face.”
“Thank you for your broad understanding.”
“By the way, I think I heard that the order to kill all survivors was given. Did I hear wrong?”
Junwoo nodded with a heavy smile at my question.
“Code Yellow. It refers to a situation where a deadly contamination occurs. What the new recruit said was based on the worst-case scenario.”
“Worst-case?”
“Sometimes, villains research deadly bacteria or viruses using players’ abilities. It’s the last resort to suppress the spread of contamination…I think that’s what it is.”
Junwoo’s face, as he said that, was filled not with certainty, but with regret and doubt.
When I met him last time at Wolmido, Junwoo was brimming with confidence, but now there was no sign of that confidence on his face.
I silently stared at Junwoo’s face for a while. Then, in a quiet voice, I spoke.
“You’re not asking what happened. If it were me, I’d be curious enough to ask right away…Or maybe…”
I slowly walked closer to Junwoo.
Then, I placed my hand on his shoulder and quietly whispered.
“Do you already know something?”
No matter how secretly the Purifiers operated, they must have been continuously gathering sacrifices.
This was the Hive Guild’s home ground.
Could it really be that they knew nothing?
“Junwoo.”
“…Yes, Pope.”
“If you weren’t wearing that expression right now, my attitude might have changed.”
Junwoo was staring at the bodies on the magic circle, clenching his fists tightly.
He was gripping them so hard that blood was dripping from his hands.
I looked at Junwoo and spoke quietly.
“I’ve already called the Special Operations Bureau. We’ll handle the cleanup here. So, Junwoo, you can go back.”
“But…”
“You look like you have a lot on your mind. May I give you some advice?”
His hands still weren’t covered in blood.
Junwoo wasn’t a bad person.
It was just that the situation was leading him to become someone bad. If he were truly someone worthy of being called
Perhaps the reason Luna was kind to Junwoo back then was because Luna instinctively recognized his humanity. Luna naturally has such abilities.
So, I want to give him a chance.
“People get sick if they hold everything in. Even our Lady Limen can’t easily cure that kind of sickness. You should speak what’s on your mind, don’t you think?”
“Pope.”
“The offer I made last time still stands. When you have time, drop by the temple. Let’s have a good talk then.”
Did he understand the meaning behind my words?
After making up his mind, Junwoo nodded heavily and replied.
“Thank you for the advice.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Collapse always begins with a small crack.
Just like now.
I exhaled quietly as I looked at Junwoo’s face.
I wonder if he will move as I hope