Skill, Illusion
The top priority right now was reuniting with my companions.
Even the protagonist’s party in the webtoon never obtained an inventory during the Yeouido arc—and the gun inside it was the entire reason I had come here.
On top of that, the quest itself had changed into something called Blood Awakening.
The difficulty had almost certainly gone up.
So I absolutely needed that gun.
Still, I could handle this much on the way there.
Even if I didn’t, Yu Eunseol would.
“Where do you think this is… Guhk!!!!”
Teeth flew out like corn kernels from the mouth of the elder who had rushed out without even pants, just a filthy black robe thrown roughly over himself.
“Trash…!”
A Strength stat of 4 might sound low, but it was the same starting value the gym rats—those perpetual spirits of the weight room—received.
On top of that, at the speed she was running, she spun her body to dodge the elder’s outstretched hand and drove her elbow straight into his cheek with all the rotational force behind it. Of course his teeth got knocked clean out.
As expected of the Sword Dance skill?
Her movements were anything but ordinary.
Not that I needed anything that flashy to knock teeth out myself.
“You bastards…”
This was the difference Strength stats made.
The elder who took Yu Eunseol’s Strength-4 attack at least managed a scream. The one who took my Strength-9 fist to the face didn’t even get the chance—he just flew.
“Yu Eunseol!”
“Die!!”
I hastily grabbed her arm and yanked her toward me.
A kitchen knife lashed to a mop handle came flying into the spot where she had just been standing. Yu Eunseol, already backpedaling to my side, ducked low and drove her extended rear leg up into the jaw of another charging elder.
In that opening I seized the straight mop handle with my left hand, then lifted the arm still holding Yu Eunseol so she could straighten up properly.
“Hieek?!”
The moment the upright Yu Eunseol raised her hand as if to slap, the elder who had been gripping the mop handle let go with both hands and frantically covered his face—but the real attack came from below.
Crack!!!
Brutal.
“Guhk…!!!! Kuh…!!!!!”
The elder who had just lost his qualifications as a man collapsed to the floor clutching his crotch. Yu Eunseol looked down at the already pitiful bastard with pure contempt, then lifted her gaze and threw that same look straight at me.
I wanted to demand why she was staring at me like that, but there was no time.
Whoosh!!!
I yanked her arm back hard again and swung the mop handle in my left hand.
Snap!!!
He didn’t just block it—he punched the swinging mop handle dead-center with his fist and snapped it clean in half.
The Fake Cult Leader, blood pouring from his nose.
“You’re a real fun little bastard.”
“I’ll make it even more fun for you.”
I spun the broken half of the mop handle so the kitchen knife end pointed up and re-gripped it.
Whoosh!!!!
This time he wouldn’t be able to punch it.
There was a knife on the end, and the shorter length meant it was swinging that much faster.
Tap—
As expected, the Fake Cult Leader stepped back and dodged. In that opening I smoothly passed the mop handle from my left hand to my right and spun around.
“Run!!”
There was no need to take the risk of fighting this guy head-on.
But seriously, this was too much.
“You’re running off alone?!”
“Hurry up.”
I chased hard after Yu Eunseol, who was already sprinting ahead.
Fifth floor to fourth, fourth to third, third to second, second to first.
“Haa…! Haa…! Haa…!”
“Huff… huff… Isn’t that cheating?”
“You’re the one who had all the fun and then ran… that’s the real cheating!!!!”
We had beaten down every bastard who charged us on each floor and run until our lungs were about to burst, only for the Fake Cult Leader—who had casually taken the elevator down to the first floor—to come charging at us without even giving us a second to catch our breath.
The one silver lining was that Yu Eunseol was reading the situation correctly.
Thud-thud-thud!!
While the Fake Cult Leader and I traded blows and tangled together, Yu Eunseol started sprinting toward where the others were waiting.
That was enough.
Once she arrived and the party got here, thirty seconds tops would be plenty.
So if I just held out for thirty seconds, I won.
Of course, I might kill this bastard before then.
Whoosh!!
I leaned my head back and casually deflected the swinging right fist.
At the same time I thrust the mop handle in my right hand straight at his throat.
Swish!!
Grab!
His left hand shot up from below and seized the mop handle, and in the same instant my left leg drove into his side.
But the Fake Cult Leader brought his wasted right arm down and snapped the mop handle yet again.
Thud!!!
Crack!!
Giving up his side to take my weapon?
Solid choice.
Thud-thud-thud—
The Fake Cult Leader, shoved sideways, reversed his grip on the shortened mop handle with the kitchen knife still lashed to it and turned a disgusting smile on me.
“Fun. This is really fun.”
“It’s about to get even more fun.”
“Yeah… let’s play even harder!!!”
From here on I focused purely on defense.
I watched every twitch of the Fake Cult Leader’s body with sharp eyes and concentrated only on dodging and blocking every single motion.
I slipped the swinging kitchen knife, blocked the fists and feet that came at me, and kept opening the distance he tried to close—just buying time.
They would be here any second.
My reinforcements.
“Cult Leader!!”
“Protect the Cult Leader!!”
“Grab that bastard!!”
“Damn it…!”
The Fake Cult Leader’s reinforcements arrived first.
I couldn’t ignore the people pouring down the stairs.
They had no proper weapons—just whatever crude junk they could grab and swing—but when they charged in swinging like that, you still had to react.
And in the middle of all this, that crazy bastard—
Thump—
—shattered the tense balance in a way that went beyond anything I had imagined.
“Huh…?”
He shoved the man who had stepped in front of him to protect him, sending the guy straight at me.
And then—
Shunk!!!!
The pointed kitchen knife punched through the man’s stomach and lunged for my side.
Fortunately the length was just a little short and it never quite reached me, but that bastard was definitely insane.
“C-Cult Leadeeer….”
“How dare you kill one of my precious believers!! Kuhahahahaha!!!!”
Even now he kept laughing as he shoved the dying man forward, pressing me hard. The moment my body, stepping sideways, hit the massive chapel doors—
Bang—
—the doors flew open and I tumbled straight into the chapel like I had been poured out.
Thud-thud-thud—
Thud! Thud-thud-thud!! Thud-thud!! Thud!! Thud-thud-thud-thud!!!
I didn’t even have time to catch my balance as I rolled down the stairs; I just wrapped both arms around my head and curled up tight.
Kicks kept raining down the entire time I was tumbling.
Until the Cult Leader’s mad voice rang out.
“Out of the way!!!!”
I could see it.
Through the gap between the forearms covering my head, the Cult Leader’s feet pounding down the red-carpeted stairs.
Tap!!
I frantically shoved off the floor with both hands and rolled into the open space in front of the seats beside the stairs.
The second I snapped upright from the tumbling roll, an arm shot under my armpit, locked onto my shoulder, and clamped down like a shackle.
Whoosh—
Thud!!!!
The Cult Leader, launching off a chair, drove his foot straight into a face.
Not mine—the face of the man holding me from behind.
“Urgh…!!”
The instant the arm around me went slack I lifted my bowed head and vaulted over the seats beside me.
I kept vaulting seat after seat until I found myself down at the front of the platform.
When I turned my head toward the tiered seating, people packing both the aisle stairs and the seats themselves were slowly descending on me like a tightening noose.
More people kept pouring in through the open chapel doors.
I had no choice but to climb up onto the platform.
The moment I did, the doors on both sides below the platform also burst open and people flooded in from there as well.
Including the black-robed elders.
Thud— thud— thud—
While I was still reading the situation, the Fake Cult Leader climbed the stairs onto the platform, stripped off the bathrobe he had been wearing, and roared.
“This place is our final sanctuary! Our paradise!! And that devil wearing human skin is trying to defile it! Already one precious believer has lost his life!”
“You killed him.”
“Watch carefully, all of you!! Watch as I, the one chosen by God, execute that devil wearing human skin.”
“Divine punishment!!!!”
“Cult Leader!!!”
“Execute him!!!”
“Kill him!!”
“Protect our paradise!!”
The voices of hundreds of people began to shake the chapel as if they would tear it apart.
But no matter how loud the noise, no matter how much madness filled their eyes, it was useless.
One loud gunshot and they would all quiet right down.
Bang!!!!
The people who had been screaming in frenzy flinched and turned toward the chapel doors where the gunshot had echoed.
The Fake Cult Leader, still wearing only his underwear and that disgusting smile, also froze as he watched my companions coming down the stairs with guns in hand.
“What? Even a god is scared of guns?”
“……”
I sneered at the Fake Cult Leader, who was glaring back with eyes full of rage at the mocking words, then shouted to the party coming down the stairs.
“Shoot this bastard!! Hurry!!”
“Hey…! Even so…”
“Just shoot him!! Yang Jaeyeol! You shoot!!”
“Yes, hyung.”
“No! Don’t shoot!”
“Please don’t shoot our Cult Leader!!”
“Please spare us!”
“Please… please…”
“L-let go of this!”
“If you keep this up I’ll shoot!!”
“Ugh, these stupid bastards…!!”
People who had crawled across the floor on their hands and knees began grabbing my companions’ legs and begging.
There was no time.
If this kept up it could get genuinely dangerous.
I had no choice—I spun around and jumped down from the platform.
To shoot him dead myself.
But then a sound that absolutely should not have been heard started rising.
“Kraaaa…!!”
“Graaa…!!”
“Kraaaaaaa…!!”
The phlegmy howls of zombies.
I couldn’t wait any longer.
I tried to push through the crowd packed in front of the platform and climb back up to where my companions were, but it had already begun.
“Why are they here…”
“Kyaaak!!!”
“Z-zombies!!!!”
“Everyone run!!!!”
“The zombies are pouring in!!!!”
The people near the open chapel doors came scrambling down the stairs and vaulting over seats, fleeing toward the platform.
At the same time an impossible number of zombies came flooding through the chapel doors like a real tidal wave.
“Kraaaak!!!!”
“Kraak!!!!”
“Kraaaaaak!!!!”
“Kraaaak!!!”
“Kraaaa!!!”
“Kraaaak!!!”
It wasn’t just running.
Zombies were being shoved by other zombies, surging in like an actual wave.
“Don’t shoot!! Don’t shoot!!!!!”
“Kyaaaaaak!!!!!!”
“Uwaaaak!!!”
“Move!! Move!!!!”
“Aaak!!!”
“Kyaaak!!!!”
“Uwaaaa!!!!”
The deafening zombie roars and the screams of hundreds of people all at once completely buried my voice.
Yeah, of course it wouldn’t end this easily.
A red quest would never end this easily…!!
“No!! Don’t shoot!!!!!”
I shouted desperately, but it was useless.
My voice couldn’t reach them now.
Ratatatatatatatatat!!!!!!
Ratatatatatat!!!!!!
Ratatatatatatat!!!!!!
Ratatatatatatatatatat!!!!!!
My companions opened fire on the zombies pouring in.
I would have done the same.
With zombies flooding in like that, how could you not shoot?
But those were fakes.
They were an illusion created by Elder Choi… no, the real Cult Leader!!!
Click—
Click! Click!
The magazines emptied in an instant.
Not only that—everyone was swinging weapons, punching and kicking at the zombies pushing down on them.
They were fighting for their lives.
I could see the zombies too.
But this was fake…
Thud!!!
Damn it…!!!
Even the fleeing people now looked like zombies, and I could no longer tell what was real and what was fake.
If someone mixed in among those fake zombies and stabbed with a knife, I would be done for with no way to react.
Would this work? Would it really work?
If it failed things would get even messier…!
No choice.
I had to gamble.
Stat Amplification.
I had really debated between Durability and Stamina, but I had no confidence I could beat the Fake Cult Leader without taking a single hit.
So I cut Stamina and raised Mental.
Whether this gamble succeeded or failed, I would find out right now.
Mental stat resists LV.1 skill.
Perfect timing—here it came.
“Kraaaaaak!!!!”
“……”
I walked straight toward the zombie launching itself at me.
Without dodging, without blocking, without attacking—I simply walked.
The zombie passed through my body like a ghost and slowly faded away.
Truth and falsehood perfectly discerned.
Skill, Illusion (LV.1), has been dispelled.
All those zombies vanished in an instant.
My companions looked pitiful, swinging weapons and limbs at empty air, some even wrestling with zombies that weren’t even on the floor.
So I decided to help them.
Help them break free of the illusion the same way I had.
Tap!!
I weaved through the people running and fleeing until I arrived.
Right in front of Elder Choi, still wearing his black robe.
Then I reached out and grabbed him.
Specifically, the head of the small child who happened to be passing right behind him.
“W-why are you doing this…?”
“Why? Because you’re Elder Choi.”
“N-no! I’m not the elder…”
“Why bother denying it? The moment I touch you it’s over anyway. That’s how your illusion skill works.”
“….How the hell do you know that…!”
I pointed a finger upward.
And told him the truth.
“Because I’m the real one God sent.”
“……”
Sent to die, sure.
Anyway, it was over now.
Illusion was a truly broken skill, but the caster couldn’t run and couldn’t attack.
Even getting hit by someone’s spit would cancel the skill.
A skill that worked so overwhelmingly on both humans and zombies naturally came with massive restrictions and risks.
Skill, Illusion (LV.1), has been dispelled.
The gaze that had been looking down now rose until it was roughly level with mine.
Elder Choi, who had been wearing the form of a child, had returned to his own ugly true appearance.
“I don’t know how you know about my skill, but it doesn’t matter.”
“I know. You’re the head, but the main body is this guy.”
I yanked the hand gripping Elder Choi’s head toward myself and spun around.
Then I threw a punch.
Thud!!!!
A sharp pain shot through my fist as it collided with another fist in midair.
Hoo… Can I even kill this bastard without a gun?
“Let’s play again!!!!”
“Crazy bastard.”
But why did this guy’s eyes look like that?
Blood Awakening has begun.
⏱ Time Remaining: 00:05:00
The quest isn’t even over yet!!