Chapter 134
Chapter 134
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 134
Chapter Title: rsk yv ct ymu bhy 134i
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 134
Chapter Title: Followers of the Evil Transcendent
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Followers of the Evil Transcendent Being.
They call themselves the Transcendence Cult.
What is the sublime goal proclaimed by the Transcendence Cult?
That goal is to one day become one with the Evil Transcendent Being.
To be cradled in the arms of the Evil Transcendent Being and seek eternal peace.
That was their ultimate objective.
But to achieve it, there was one thing they absolutely had to accomplish.
The gospel declares:
To unite with the Evil Transcendent Being, all mortals must be eradicated.
And so, the Transcendence Cult's final purpose is the end of the world.
To this end, they carry out all manner of terrorism without hesitation.
Even if it means sacrificing their own lives in the end.
They commit any atrocity for their destined fate.
The only reason they cherish their own lives is this:
They haven't killed enough people yet.
The empire doesn't tremble before the Transcendence Cult for no reason.
They are a true pack of insane cultist terrorists.
Such priests of the Transcendence Cult.
They had gathered atop a hill shaped like a volcanic crater.
A crater crafted to confine the apostles of the Evil Transcendent Being.
What they performed there was a culling using the apostles.
KABOOM! BOOM!
"Gieeeek!"
"Kahak!"
Screams of the apostles echoed through the crater.
They devoured one another, losing all reason and revealing their grotesque forms.
A hellscape where thousands of apostles writhed together.
The sight made even the Transcendence Cult priests, who revered the apostles, furrow their brows.
Among those priests.
"Hic, hic."
One priest wept every time an apostle died.
A middle-aged man priest with graying hair.
Unlike the others, his attire was bizarre.
His eyes and lips were painted pitch black, his upper garment gaping open to expose his chest.
And the suit he wore was cropped short enough to reveal his wrists and ankles.
An outfit that inspired unease in any beholder.
He wiped away tears in that grotesque getup.
"High Priest Gullian, are you still so heartbroken?"
A short-statured priest beside him asked reluctantly.
"How could I not weep when such beautiful apostles must sacrifice themselves like this? My heart feels torn asunder."
"Ah, haha, I see."
The inquiring priest gave an awkward laugh at High Priest Gullian's words.
He too was one of the Transcendence Cult's madmen.
But he simply couldn't match Gullian's sentimentality.
"Still, won't the culled apostle be born soon?"
At that, Gullian's eyes sparkled like stars in the night sky.
Like a girl in love.
"Yes! I can already feel my humble heart pounding at the thought of how magnificent the new apostle will be."
What's with that massive pectoral anyway?
The short priest forced a smile and turned back to the culling.
In the midst of that, the short priest tilted his head.
"Hm?"
He sensed something off about his shadow.
It was clearly night now.
Moreover, the skies over Flamehand Plateau were infamous for their perpetual storm clouds.
Yet his shadow stretched unnaturally long.
With no light source nearby.
What in the world?
"High Priest Gullian..."
The moment he tried to call out to the nearby High Priest Gullian.
Whoosh!
The shadow suddenly seized his ankle, yanking his body forward.
The short priest's head whipped back.
No time to react to the sudden event.
He was dragged straight into the crater in an instant.
"Uwaaak!"
The short priest tumbled into the crater.
He hastily lifted his head, face pale with panic.
The short priest gasped.
Because right before his nose.
Was an apostle bristling with tentacles from its mouth.
The short priest blinked as his eyes met the apostle's.
"Uh."
And the instant he uttered that bewildered sound.
Snap!
The apostle snatched the short priest with its tentacles and swallowed him whole.
Crunch—
The short priest's bones and muscles crushed, his innards bursting.
The short priest perished on the spot.
But he was the lucky one, going peacefully.
Here and there inside the crater.
"Aaaah!"
"Let go, let me go! I didn't sign up to die like this!"
"Ahh, O Evil Transcendent Being."
Priests' screams erupted everywhere.
Suddenly, their shadows had stretched long beneath their feet.
Those shadows seized the priests and hurled them all into the crater.
As a result, the maddened apostles from the priests' spells devoured the fresh prey before them.
The priests had never imagined they'd fall victim to the culling themselves.
They died without even mounting a defense.
Crunch, crack—
The sounds of dying priests echoed everywhere.
In the midst of that utter chaos.
"Oh, ooooooh!"
The bizarrely dressed man let out a cry of ecstasy.
Transcendence Cult High Priest Gullian.
He too had been caught by a shadow and dragged into the crater.
His lower body was already inside an apostle's maw.
The sea anemone-like apostle chomped on High Priest Gullian.
It had no teeth but was venomous.
Normally, he'd melt away the moment he was eaten.
Yet for some reason, Gullian remained unscathed, merely crying out.
"So this is it. This feeling! Ahh, how warm and comforting!"
He kept exclaiming in admiration, his face flushed red.
High Priest Gullian showered the apostle with affection.
A sight that would disgust any onlooker.
"That's right. Eat up well so you can grow big and strong."
He stroked the apostle lovingly with his gaze.
"Transcendence Cult High Priest Gullian."
At that moment, Gullian heard his name called and looked up.
There stood a man with his sword dangling loosely.
Red sparks emanating from his body poured out a menacing aura.
Sword Saint Begriss Fernando.
Gullian beamed upon facing him.
"Oh, the famous Sword Saint!"
"Imperial Law Article 251, Section 1: Those who summon apostles of the Evil Transcendent Being shall be sentenced to death."
Red sparks exploded from the Sword Saint's body.
"You're sentenced to death."
The Sword Saint's sword surged forth, activating Lightning [SS].
Just before his blade cleaved Gullian's neck.
CLANG!
A deafening roar resounded.
There stood Gullian, blocking the Sword Saint's sword with his teeth.
The Sword Saint's eyebrows twitched.
He'd swung with Lightning [SS], intent on decapitation.
Yet blocked with teeth.
An inhuman feat.
Blood dripped from the Sword Saint's blade.
Blood from where Gullian's lips had torn against the edge.
Gullian's face trembled faintly.
Even for him, blocking a sword with his teeth was burdensome.
But still, his eyes curved into smiling crescents.
Crunch!
Gullian clamped down on the Sword Saint's sword with his teeth and pried open the apostle's maw with brute force from his arms.
The apostle showed dismay, but.
Gullian nonchalantly forced its jaws apart and pulled his body out.
Thud!
The Sword Saint kneed Gullian square in the chest.
At the same time, he twisted his sword free from Gullian's mouth.
Gullian's mouth nearly tore apart on the blade.
But Gullian bent backward impossibly, dodging the sword.
Then, like a gymnast, he flipped through the air and landed gracefully.
Gullian leisurely traced his lips with a finger.
"That won't do. I still have so much I want to accomplish."
The Sword Saint retrieved his sword, eyes narrowing.
Transcendence Cult High Priest Gullian.
The Sword Saint knew this vicious criminal well.
Confirmed kills: 10,000 people.
One man had slain ten thousand.
But the real problem was elsewhere.
He hadn't killed with apostles like typical cultists.
No, all by himself.
With nothing but his bare fists.
Flames blazed in the Sword Saint's eyes.
For the sake of his victims, he could never let this man live.
In that moment, Gullian realized the tear in his lip wasn't healing.
Gullian's gaze fell on the Sword Saint's sword.
His eyes gleamed transparently.
"That sword... it's the [Faded Dream of Divinity], isn't it?"
The reason was the Sword Saint's sword.
A holy sword that punishes evil.
[Faded Dream of Divinity].
The worst matchup for followers of the Evil Transcendent Being.
"And the Sword Saint has become a Holy Swordsman to boot."
It had been ages since the Sword Saint last acted.
Thus, Gullian had relied on outdated info.
But today, it was updated.
He was an enemy who could threaten the Transcendence Cult.
The Sword Saint's eyes quietly glared at Gullian.
He'd deliberately hidden his Holy Swordsman status.
Yet Gullian had seen right through it.
'A skill.'
He undoubtedly possessed a skill that revealed opponents' information.
One that pierced even an 18th Ascension Holy Swordsman like himself.
'Followers of the Evil Transcendent Being are empowered by it.'
They operated outside the empire's ascension rules.
They couldn't be treated like ordinary pioneers.
Phantasmal beasts. Apostles.
That was how he had to regard and fight them.
As the Sword Saint heightened his focus, immense holy power began pouring forth.
Seeing this, Gullian grinned suddenly.
The moment he didn't grasp the meaning of that smile.
A chill ran down his spine—
The surroundings, noisy with apostles clashing until moments ago, fell silent.
The Sword Saint's eyes swiftly scanned around.
Gazes pressed in from all directions.
Everywhere his gaze landed.
All the apostles there stared fixedly at the Sword Saint.
More precisely, at the holy power he emanated.
"The Sword Saint isn't too bright, is he? With so many apostles around, you pull out the holy power they hate most."
The Sword Saint had committed a fatal blunder.
"Of course it'd turn out like this."
Gullian smirked, and the apostles kicked off the ground.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The apostles charged at the Sword Saint to kill him.
The Sword Saint was instantly buried under the horde of apostles.
Watching this, Gullian leisurely turned away.
"I need to gather people to resume the ritual."
He scaled the near-vertical cliff with ease.
The Sword Saint's appearance was unexpected, but.
The ritual had to continue.
As Gullian thought this and tried to exit.
Suddenly, weight pressed on his chest.
Puzzled, he looked up.
A foot emerged from the cliff's shadow.
That foot pinned Gullian's chest firmly.
Soon after, a figure appeared with the foot.
A man cloaked entirely in blackness.
The moment he saw him, Gullian's head slowly tilted.
"Huh?"
Gullian panicked upon seeing the man.
His skill Probing Desire [SS] extracted information from any opponent he visually recognized.
Yet this man before him yielded no information at all.
"Where do you think you're crawling, pest?"
Before Gullian could voice his confusion.
Grass whipped around the man's foot, infusing it with immense power.
BAM!
Gullian was overpowered in an instant and tumbled off the cliff.
Gullian rolled across the ground.
The man from moments ago landed before him.
Gullian twisted his body and rose.
"...What are you?"
Gullian faced an utterly incomprehensible being.
It was the first time his Probing Desire [SS] had failed.
"Just a passing necromancer."
The pinnacle of necromancers, called the mastermind.
Abyss, Leyzon.
The moment his lips curled into a smile more ferocious than Gullian's.
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