The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 131

"Ahhh! Let go! You bastard!"

"You already picked up one earlier! I haven’t gotten even one!"

"Not getting one is your own fault, you idiot!"

Those who hadn’t picked up gold beat those who had. Those who had picked up gold either ran away or hid their gold. In the muddy playground filled with puddles, they tangled together and fought. Black tears spread across the playground.

Thanks to wearing the anti-magic mask she had brought, Kim Jin-seo was able to avoid inhaling the magi. However, everyone except her was intoxicated by the magi.

The children clawed at each other’s skin with their fingernails and bit each other’s necks with their teeth. Before the gold, they fought like beasts rather than humans. In this banquet of madness, her sanity was gradually wearing thin.

"Stop it, stop!"

Kim Jin-seo, who had belatedly come to her senses, tried to stop them. However, it had no effect. Even trying to separate them by force was useless. The children who had inhaled magi moved roughly and with great strength, as if they had truly become beasts.

But she couldn’t draw her sword. Those weren’t magical beasts, demon species, or taxidermy. They were real people.

"Kids, please, just..."

Thud.

A piece of gold fell from the bosom of a female student she was trying to separate. The children covered in muddy water stopped fighting and looked toward where the gold had fallen.

Then they looked at Kim Jin-seo. Among them were faces she knew and faces she didn’t, but all of them were showing strong hostility toward her.

"A witch..."

One of the children muttered while looking at the sword in Kim Jin-seo’s hand. The child looked up at the rainy sky with vacant eyes, then began screaming while clutching their own head.

"A witch! A witch has come!"

"The witch came to kill us!"

"There’s a witch here!"

"Witchhhh!"

Starting with the child who had been screaming in terror, other children began screaming in agreement as if in chorus.

They pointed at Kim Jin-seo with the same hands they had used to claw at each other, screaming in terror. They no longer chased after gold but instead chased after Kim Jin-seo.

"What witch..."

It was absurd that those intoxicated by black magic were talking about witches. Kim Jin-seo stepped backward and swung her sword at the children chasing her. It was meant as a threat, and the sword didn’t even touch the children.

Splash!

But one child at the front collapsed as if they had really been cut by the sword.

If she had cut them by mistake, she would have felt it in the hand holding the sword. However, Kim Jin-seo felt no sensation in her hand.

"Ah, ahhh...!"

"The witch... killed someone!"

"Oh Adonai...!"

The child collapsed pretending to be cut even though they hadn’t been. It was obviously an act to Kim Jin-seo’s eyes, but not to the other children’s eyes. They stepped backward with terror-stricken faces, crying out God’s name. Their pupils looking at the fallen child were trembling left and right.

"First... before we die first, we have to kill her first..."

One of the children picked up a sword and aimed it at Kim Jin-seo. When he began wildly swinging the sword while muttering, other children also picked up swords that had fallen on the ground one by one. They were practice swords. Why were the ones from the Divine Training Ground here?

Clang!

Without even time to think, the sword flew toward Kim Jin-seo. The sword of a child who didn’t take swordsmanship classes was slow and dull. Thanks to that, blocking it wasn’t difficult, but instead, the hand holding the sword tingled sharply. Practice swords were as heavy as they were dull.

"The witch is flustered!"

A child who had belatedly picked up a sword shouted. It was half true. Kim Jin-seo was surprised by the appearance of children intoxicated by madness calling her a witch, and by the fact that the swords they swung were heavier than expected.

"..."

She thought while driving away the children approaching with swords.

She could probably subdue the children by cutting them with her sword if she wanted to. However, she didn’t feel like it. She wasn’t cutting demon species or taxidermy. She would be cutting real people, and real blood would flow profusely. Such imagination made Kim Jin-seo’s movements sluggish.

Clang!

Then swords flew at her. Literally, swords that flew rather than being swung. When the children couldn’t find openings in Kim Jin-seo’s stance, they began holding their swords like spears and throwing them.

"Die! Die!"

"The witch is casting spells...!"

"..."

Clang, clang, clang...

Kim Jin-seo easily blocked the swords flying toward her. Blocking swords thrown carelessly without putting body weight behind them wasn’t particularly difficult for her. Not a single scratch appeared on her body. However, her heart was wearing thin and fraying.

How the violence of many against few drives a person mad. Kim Jin-seo knew this very well from being on the receiving end.

"Enough already...!"

A mixture of helplessness and anger surged up. Swept up in that emotion, Kim Jin-seo raised her sword. The blade of the sword raised without rational judgment glinted ominously in the rain.

Swoosh!

"...Huh?"

The sword was swung. The blade flew toward the necks of the children intoxicated by magi. However, it wasn’t a sword swung by Kim Jin-seo’s will.

The sword was leaving her hand and swinging by itself. The children were hit on the back of their necks by the flat of the sword and collapsed limply to the ground.

After carefully striking the back of each child’s neck intoxicated by magi, the sword soared into the sky.

The sword that had left Kim Jin-seo’s hand was fast and agile, and looked hot. The reddened blade was boiling and evaporating all the raindrops that touched it. The white steam flowing from the blade was mixing and tangling with the black smoke from the children’s tears.

Rumble!

Thunder struck, and lightning fell toward Eden Garden. The swords that had been floating aimlessly in the sky moved toward the flash as if chasing the lightning. The children fainted, the swords fled, and the playground was filled with silence. The sound of falling rain filled that silence. Kim Jin-seo stood alone at the center of the silence.

"What was that...?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Han Dae-ho, Oh Hee-jin, and the assault team had come to the hospital attached to Florence after hearing a support request from the rescue team. Rescue team members and two students were carrying patients on their backs toward the school gate. Han Dae-ho approached a rescue team member who was guiding the evacuation of patients who could move on their own.

"What happened!"

"The Satan worshipper said they would blow up the hospital! Regardless of whether it’s true or not, we need to evacuate the patients first!" The rescue team member spoke in a disciplined voice. What he said was right. Regardless of truth or falsehood, the patients had to be evacuated first. This was because there was a risk that the hospital might actually explode, and even if it didn’t explode, there was a risk of chaos arising among the patients.

Han Dae-ho ordered some of the quick-footed subordinates in the assault team to help the rescue team’s evacuation. And he looked at the two students who were voluntarily helping evacuate patients.

"What are those students’ names?"

"We don’t know because they don’t answer when we call them! But they’re being quite helpful!"

The girl’s face was plain and unremarkable. The boy was very large in build. Whoever they were, he was grateful that they were being quite helpful. Han Dae-ho delegated rescue duties to part of the assault team, then tried to leave the hospital.

At that moment, dozens of swords shot up into the sky from the center of the playground.

They didn’t just shoot up. The red-hot swords spun around as if wandering through the air, then all flew toward Eden Garden when lightning struck. All the raindrops they touched were absorbed by the heat of the swords and disappeared. The sword tips pointed toward Eden Garden as if aiming at it.

The swords flew in parabolic arcs toward the eastern part of the garden. The swords that had been flying through the sky suddenly crashed to the ground. Their speed was no less than that of raindrops, so it wouldn’t be wrong to say that a rain of swords was falling on the garden as divine punishment.

A miracle. All the Holy Knights who saw that scene thought it was a miracle. They believed it was not a half miracle through reproduction, but Adonai’s complete miracle descending upon this earth.

Oh Hee-jin looked up at the sky with sleepy eyes and muttered.

"Flame swords..."

Rumble...

The garden wailed. The mountain echo reverberated and spread.

* * *

[Prophet, having finally spoken honestly, I, Ogun the Loa of iron, gladly lend you my power.]

"..."

[All iron is in your grasp. The heat of iron is not mine but yours, born of your anger.]

Ogun’s voice was trembling with excitement.

I didn’t stop walking and continued toward Gu Jun-hyeok. Splash, splash. Taxidermy were approaching me making squishy sounds. However, I wasn’t concerned. I knew their fingertips couldn’t reach me.

[Fight! Make the soil fertile with their corpses!]

"Sobo."

Rumble!

Ignoring Ogun’s words, I called down lightning. A thin flash split the sky in half. The lightning burned and shattered the bodies of the approaching taxidermy. The taxidermy crumbled to ash.

However, there were still some taxidermy that moved even after being struck by lightning. I raised my hand. The swords floating in the sky rotated toward the ground.

Crash!

A rain of swords fell. The swords became nails that drove the taxidermy’s heads into the ground.

The taxidermy with their heads pierced by swords waved their hands and feet in the air, unable to reach me. Their appearance of flipping on their backs and waving their limbs was like insects. When the heat of the swords burned and melted the sawdust and cotton filling their bodies, the taxidermy lost strength and went limp.

Rain fell and the taxidermy melted. Eden Garden, which had been filled with flower fragrance, was soaked with taxidermy corpses, and the air was murky with magi. The swords that had been stuck in the taxidermy’s heads shot into the sky and rushed toward the ground again.

The rain of swords falling again was aimed at Gu Jun-hyeok.

Crash!

Swords piercing both wrists nailed Gu Jun-hyeok’s arms to a tree. The pelting swords rushed at him. Several swords stuck straight into the ground and dozens of swords pierced through Gu Jun-hyeok’s body.

Two swords that bounced and changed trajectory in mid-air cut his ankles. Swords were stuck in his calves and thighs, forearms and shoulders in sequence.

Stab.

The last sword pierced his heart. The reddened sword melted his blood and flesh. Stab, stab, stab. The last sword was pulled out and stabbed Gu Jun-hyeok’s heart again.

The sword seemed to rampage alone. Blood flowed from the pierced chest. The blood was as red as mine. The blood washed away by rain soaked the soil.

Splash.

I walked toward him, stepping on the humid and sodden mud. My steps made squishy sounds. I looked at the bloodied Gu Jun-hyeok. His heart was beating quietly and evenly. Gu Jun-hyeok looked at me while breathing faintly.

"So it was you... cough, cult leader..."

Dark red blood flowed from Gu Jun-hyeok’s mouth as he spoke with a smile. It was definitely real blood. Gu Jun-hyeok, his entire body torn apart by the rain of fallen swords, was not taxidermy.

We had finally faced each other’s truth that we had been chasing all along, but that reunion was bitter.

"If I tell the Vatican... what will you do about... revealing your identity?"

"..."

Reproduction, Executioner’s Sword.

Creak, creeeeak!

A sword was drawn from the sorcery circle that had been drawn. The sword was screaming and wailing. It was the wailing of countless criminals who had died by the sword. I held the sword and aimed the blade at Gu Jun-hyeok’s neck. The sword was light.

"It’s fine. I’m going to kill you anyway."

Ahhh, ahhh. Ahhh...

The sword’s mournful wailing mixed and flowed with the sound of rain. Gu Jun-hyeok’s voice would soon be included in the screams of countless criminals that the executioner’s sword produced. Since he would die here, it didn’t matter that he knew I was the Voodoo cult leader.

"Ha, ha... Hey you bastard... let’s have... a conversation..."

Gu Jun-hyeok laughed. I swung the executioner’s sword.

Swoosh!

Gu Jun-hyeok’s neck was cut so futilely. I felt no sensation in my palm. The sword was large but light, and Gu Jun-hyeok’s head was small but heavy. Gu Jun-hyeok’s half-open mouth was filled with Eden Garden’s sodden soil.

However, it was still alive and not dead. Black, elongated tentacles poured out from the severed section. The tentacles connected the body and head.

Just as I was about to swing the executioner’s sword again, a headache struck. A voice that wasn’t human was flowing from Gu Jun-hyeok’s mouth.

"AUM SHRIM MAHA LAKSHMIYEI SWAHA AH-UU-MM..."

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.

My heartbeat quickened. My body wouldn’t move as I wanted. My muscles convulsed and trembled. Blood vomit came from my mouth.

"...SH-REE-M MAH-HAH LAHK-SHMEE-YAY-EE SVAH-AH."

Boom!

An explosion occurred. The explosion happened from inside my body. The steps I had taken with effort moved away. Gu Jun-hyeok’s severed wrists and head stuck to his body through tentacles. Black magi became a giant hand and wrapped around Gu Jun-hyeok’s body. The swords that had been stuck in his body corroded and melted in the magi.

"Cough...!"

The blood vomit flowed endlessly. Tinnitus spread in my ears. My vision was blurry. Gu Jun-hyeok held a sword in the distance. He picked up one of the red-hot swords and cut his own wrist. Splash, splash. Thick blood clumped and fell to the ground.

"אני מבקש את עזרתכם בהחזרת הקללות הללו, מעצם לשולחים שתקפו אותנו על שעשינו את עבודתכם!"

Gu Jun-hyeok shouted while looking at the sky. The magi took shape. It was a giant hand. The fingernails at the tips of each finger were long and sharp, and there was an eye in the center of each nail. There were six fingers and six nails and eyes.

I tried to face that hand with my own eyes.

"Ah, ugh...!"

However, my pupils kept turning to the side. When I turned my head, my pupils turned, and when I turned my pupils, my head turned. When I turned both, my body turned. My instinct was refusing to face that hand with the naked eye.

Swoosh.

The hand moved. A long, black wavelength swept past my side. The blood vomit stopped, and the hand disappeared. Two hands had disappeared. The giant hand made of magi, and my hand. My hand had fallen from my body but was still gripping the executioner’s sword tightly.

"Ah...!"

No scream came out. Belated pain soaked my body. Blood was flowing from the severed section.

I held up my severed wrist and shot out Voodoo magic power. My hand was burning in flames. It was hot. The palm that touched the flames burned black.

"Ha, haa, haaa...!"

I caught my breath with screams and drew a sorcery circle. Supreme restoration. It was a technique that even I couldn’t use more than 5 times. However, without the supreme level, I didn’t think I could extinguish the sparks attached to my hand. Because it was demon fire, it didn’t go out even in the rain.

Hissss...

Mist flowed from the sorcery circle. The mist that poured out reattached my wrist. Even so, the sparks didn’t go out. Like choking breath, the sparks climbed up my right arm and reached my shoulder. I gripped the executioner’s sword with my burning arm.

Creak.

Taking steps forward in the midst of searing pain was never easy. I gritted my teeth, bit my lips, and bit my tongue. The blood that flowed from my mouth was washed away by rain and flowed to the ground.

My approaching steps were heavy. Gu Jun-hyeok set fire to his severed wrist to stop the bleeding, then touched the back of his neck with his remaining hand.

"Ah..."

An involuntary sigh escaped. There was a goat tattoo drawn on the back of his neck. I had thought Gu Jun-hyeok had a habit of scratching the back of his neck when embarrassed. However, he didn’t scratch the back of his neck when embarrassed. When using black magic, he touched the back of his neck.

Creak, creeak, creeeak, creak...

The magi that flowed from the back of his neck became a black magic circle behind him. The black magic circle turned with creaking sounds like a broken gear. From the black magic circle, taxidermy were squirming out. No, they weren’t taxidermy. It was just a giant lump of flesh.

"You bastard... didn’t you say you wanted to... have a conversation..."

"Liar."

Gu Jun-hyeok gestured.

Kyaaaak! Ahhhhk! Uwaaak, gaaahhh!

The lump of flesh screamed and charged at me. Its appearance was like a giant snake. Dozens and hundreds of mouths attached to the squirming flesh screamed. It was the scream of hell. The spirits of hell dwelt in the lump of flesh. Thousands of arms attached to the lump of flesh reached out to grab my body and lead me to hell.

"Bosu, I need your power. Granbwa. I call you from the wilderness."

My voice was broken intermittently by pain. I muttered with my half-severed tongue and held up the executioner’s sword.

The thrusting I had learned today - I didn’t think I could cut through that lump of flesh with it. However, it would be enough to buy some time.

I took my stance. I thrust the executioner’s sword at the approaching lump of flesh.

Ahhhhk! Ahk! Kyaaahhhhh!

Ahh, ahh, ahhh!

Screams tangled with screams.

Clang!

The power of the thrust delivered with Bosu’s superhuman strength was strong. It was insufficient to cut through the lump of flesh containing hell’s spirits, but it was enough to buy time.

"Se pou forè a sou bò pa m, nan non Bondye."

Forest, please be on my side. In the name of Bondye.

Thanks to that, I was able to finish the prayer.

Rumble!

Eden Garden was trees and grass and flowers in all directions. All those plants awakened. The mountain wailed. Thunder struck. Heaven and earth were filled with the cries of Loas. Tree roots and flowers and leaves that broke through the ground were hit by rain. They swayed and grew, and as they grew, they clumped together.

The plants that broke through the mountain became one giant mountain ridge. The mountain ridge rolled like waves and swung its fist at the giant lump of flesh. Like thousands of arms attached to the lump of flesh swaying, thousands of flowers and grass attached to the mountain ridge swayed.

Crash!

Life and death collided.