Chapter 142
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 142
Chapter Title: War Between Two Forces (4)
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“Smoke screen? No, poison?”
The smoke was too faint to be a smoke screen.
Judging it poison, the Heresy Inquisitor stopped breathing.
'Trying to do something with mere poison.'
Having awakened mana and transcended the human body, fighting without breath was no challenge.
But the moment the Heresy Inquisitor lunged forward after holding his breath, his head spun.
“...!?”
Not only that—a searing pain spread from his skin to his internal organs, as if they were burning.
Realizing he'd been poisoned merely from contact with the smoke, the Heresy Inquisitor swiftly retreated.
“Blow... blow away the poison. Urk!”
Scarlet blood gushed from the mouth of the Heresy Inquisitor who barked the order.
The other Heresy Inquisitors had also been touched by the poisonous smoke, poisoned and barely able to stand.
“W-what is this? Della, what poison did you use?”
“...”
Everyone, Jake included, stared at Della in shock.
Della was just as flustered, but she soon glanced down at the bracelet on her wrist.
'No way... is it this bracelet...?'
It was indeed the [Bracelet of the Venom Dragon Pabinus] that Lee Seongmin had given her.
The bracelet boosted poison potency by 500 + 30%—a substantial effect.
“Anyway, this is our chance. Della, withdraw the poison.”
“Got it.”
Della collected the poison she'd dispersed, nullifying it.
At that, Jake leaped out like he'd been waiting, yanked off a staggering Heresy Inquisitor's helmet, and stabbed with his dagger.
“You bastards. Can't even kill you properly because of that armor.”
Aside from that, Della's poison potency normally clocked in at around 300 if quantified.
It was enough to effortlessly poison and kill even B-rank heroes within minutes.
But with the bracelet from Lee Seongmin, that 300 potency surged to 1040.
'What the hell kind of bracelet did that guy give me?'
The over threefold boost was more than enough to poison the Heresy Inquisitors.
Thanks to that, Jake, Brian, and Lorella's vampire trolls swept through, and the Heresy Inquisitors crumbled swiftly.
“Whoa~ Thought we were done for when the Heresy Inquisitors showed up at first. Didn't expect it'd end this easy.”
Jake, having felled all the Heresy Inquisitors, grinned smugly.
Meanwhile, inside the village hall, the Archbishop and priests stared at the Villain Alliance in stunned faces.
“Archbishop! We must execute those heretics at once!”
“Head priest, continue the ritual with me. We'll borrow the god's power to execute them.”
Despite the shock on his face, the Archbishop declared he would proceed with the ritual to invoke Geneva's power.
“You think I'll just stand by and watch?!”
Jake shouted that, but he had no choice but to watch.
The remaining priests charged all at once, heedless of their lives.
“These damn fanatic bastards!”
“Jake!”
Della stopped Jake before he could use his innate ability, short-range spatial leap.
Their main purpose here was filming the Geneva Cult's atrocities, so waiting was the right call for now.
“Damn it.”
Jake caught on to why Della had called him and engaged the charging priests.
The priests attacked Della's group using even the power of destruction, making it no easy fight—but not insurmountable either.
Kraaaah!—
The vampire troll took a hit from the power of destruction and its body burst, but it quickly snatched a priest and shoved him into its maw.
Crunch crunch—
With gruesome sounds of flesh being torn and chewed, the troll's destroyed body rapidly regenerated.
Unlike the Heresy Inquisitors, the priests weren't adept at wielding the power of destruction and couldn't kill the troll in one go.
'If the Heresy Inquisitors were still around, even the troll wouldn't have lasted.'
A few swings of weapons coated in destruction power would drop it easily.
But the priests they faced now could barely extract the power and hurl it.
Flash!—
At that moment, the corpses inside the building turned blood-red and were sucked into the golden chalice the Archbishop held.
“O God! I offer the sacrifices gathered thus far! Please grant the power to execute this heretic!”
Simultaneously, the golden chalice floated up, and the blood-red contents inside rose ceaselessly.
Despite the clear presence of a ceiling, the blood-red mass ignored it, rising and evaporating away.
“Jake, that's enough!”
Assuming her body cam had captured the scene, Della called out to Jake.
“Been waiting for this!”
With that, Jake instantly short-range spatial leaped to the Archbishop and swung his dagger without a hint of hesitation.
Slash!—
Jake's dagger severed the Archbishop's neck with perfect precision.
“Kuhuhu.”
“...!?”
Yet not a single drop of blood spilled from the Archbishop's severed neck.
The moment Jake saw that, alarms blared in his head, and he immediately spatial leaped away.
“The god has answered my earnest call.”
The Archbishop's neck then knit back together in an instant, just like a troll's.
“I'll make you vermin experience what eternal hell is truly like.”
The Archbishop felt an ecstatic sense of omnipotence from the power Geneva had directly bestowed.
Sensing something ominous, Della flung poison once more, but the result differed from the Heresy Inquisitors.
Boom!—
The poison Della threw shattered the instant it touched the red aura emanating from the Archbishop.
“Huh? What was that just now?”
“...It looked like my poison broke apart.”
“How does poison break?”
Della couldn't explain it herself, but that's how it appeared.
Moreover, the Archbishop now exuded a danger incomparable to the Heresy Inquisitors.
“Let's retreat. We've achieved our goal anyway.”
Della quickly decided to fall back.
“Retreat? What about that holy grail?”
“Forget it. Our lives come first.”
Naturally, the Archbishop had no intention of letting the Villain Alliance goons escape.
“You think that's possible? I'll shatter your limbs first, then toy with your torsos.”
Following that, red aura rapidly spread from the Archbishop's body.
Knowing what contact with that red aura would entail, Della immediately called for Lorella.
“Lorella! Summon everything and break through!”
“You're insane.”
Lorella spat a short curse but ultimately summoned her trolls to force a path.
Fortunately, by sacrificing the boss-grade Vampire Troll King and all 50 existing vampire trolls, they managed to escape.
And similar incidents unfolded across the world.
'Hm?'
Checking the news on my tablet once a day as usual, I spotted articles completely different from before.
[Shocking Footage of Villain Alliance Occupying Broadcast Stations!]
[The Hidden Side of Geneva Cult No One Knew. Is It True?]
[Missing Persons Vanishing Daily. Culprit: Geneva Cult?]
[Geneva Cult Strongly Denies. It's the Villain Alliance's Scheme.]
From the headlines, it seemed the Villain Alliance had finally made their move.
They must have seized broadcast stations to air the Geneva Cult's atrocities.
—Finally, the Villain Alliance has made their move.
Lee Seojun, reading the articles beside me, spoke as if the moment had inevitably arrived.
“Can the Villain Alliance turn things around with this?”
—I doubt it.
Lee Seojun stated flatly without even pondering.
“Doubt it?”
—The Geneva Cult has built up a lot of goodwill. Plus, healers are rare.
The Geneva Cult takes people's abilities and talents, turning them into healers.
But since healers are inherently rare, this alone wouldn't topple the cult.
—That said, the Geneva Cult won't be able to operate openly anymore. Sourcing sacrifices will get tougher.
Of course, I wasn't satisfied with that much.
Ideally, both the Villain Alliance and Geneva Cult would emerge with their forces halved or worse.
“Speaking of which, there's a cultist at this Hero Officer Academy too, right?”
—There is, but just a regular priest. They wouldn't know the details.
There was a cult member at the academy, but it meant little.
“Let's keep watching for now.”
—Are you thinking of stepping in yourself, Seongmin?
“If the Villain Alliance starts getting crushed too hard.”
—Then it'd be Levatein's debut.
Debut?
Hearing Lee Seojun, I thought announcing Levatein to the world might not be a bad idea.
We'd formed it as a crime syndicate, but so far it'd only handled the academy's cleanup without any real crimes.
'Reviving as healers, conquering gates as grand wizards, smashing raiders as destroyers.'
Listing them out, it was hard to tell if we were a crime org or campus security.
“If we go with your idea of a debut, how should we do it?”
—What do you mean?
“Might as well make it known worldwide.”
All members were clones anyway, so no issue if the world knew.
If we needed to hide, we could just disguise as someone else.
—Ah~ Just raid the Hero Headquarters in America and loot the place. Do that, and America will brand you a world-class crime syndicate.
“Hero Headquarters? Big deal?”
—Every hero worldwide has at least one rep there. They also handle troublesome gates that appear globally.
Come to think of it, Lee Seojun once mentioned that if a dragon appeared in another country's gate, America handled it.
“You said before that if a dragon comes out of a gate, America takes care of it. That's the Hero Headquarters?”
—Yes. They usually get paid by countries, but dragons are an exception—they handle them for free.
Lee Seojun confirmed my guess and continued explaining.
—Anyway, since they conquer gates worldwide, they've got all sorts of rare skill stones and artifacts.
“All speculation, huh? You haven't confirmed it yourself?”
—I got into Hero Headquarters, but not the treasure vault.
Perhaps that's why he was trying to lure me there.
But hitting up Hero Headquarters first—unlike Villain Alliance or Geneva Cult scum—was a bit much, looting and all.
“Anywhere besides Hero Headquarters?”
—If not there... it'd take time, but we'd hit national-level crime syndicates.