Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: Sparrow Hunt
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Seeing the dead Angelus transform into a demon threw everyone into panic. Many people fled, while others looked around in confusion, unable to keep up with the situation.
Those with deep faith in angels still stood before them, trying to protect them, but even their eyes showed their faith wavering.
“That man is right! He is the true angel sent by God! I have received the revelation! Faithful ones! Step away from these fakes!”
Pastor Seo Hyeon-tae appeared at just the right moment and shouted. The guy who had been sucking up to the angels and selling land until now had turned his back on them.
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
Archangelus grabbed Seo Hyeon-tae by the collar.
“Have you forgotten the promise to let you and your family live in the heavenly realm if you cooperated?”
Archangelus whispered quietly so the surroundings wouldn’t hear. But I could hear everything.
“Hmph... What good is going to the heavenly realm alone if everyone else dies?”
Pastor Seo Hyeon-tae glanced back at the camera behind him.
I had secretly called Pastor Seo Hyeon-tae away from the angels and told him their goal was the destruction of the world, and he flipped sides as easily as turning over his hand. He had to use the money he’d greedily scraped together, but it would all be meaningless if the world ended.
“You’ve finally revealed your true colors! Demon scum! Killing me won’t change anything! The whole world won’t forgive you!”
Seo Hyeon-tae shouted in a dramatic tone. But most of his followers had already distanced themselves from the angels and were slyly moving toward the new “angel.”
Princhpatuus placed a hand on Archangelus’s shoulder as he held Seo Hyeon-tae and shook his head slowly.
“Urk...”
Archangelus realized that killing the guy right here would make people scatter even faster, so he released the pastor.
“Come on, everyone! Let’s follow the true angel!”
Most of the people left the holy site following Seo Hyeon-tae and the demon who had transformed into an angel.
The angels wore frustrated expressions. But this was far from over.
The incident at the Korean holy site flooded the internet and news nonstop.
There were some posts from angel worshippers still clinging to their faith even after seeing Angelus die and turn into a demon, but hundreds of times more posts blanketed the internet.
-Saw that coming. In a world overrun by monsters, they sprout wings and demand our money. Tsk tsk.
-I was there that day. Saw the other angels’ sclera turn black too. They’re real demons. Proof pic attached.
-WTF is the government doing?
-They couldn’t do shit because the angel cultists kept blocking them.
-So the angels are fakes and demon minions? What about the people who did the ascension ritual?
-Reliable source says the ascension ritual steals your soul for the demons. Don’t do it.
-What source?
-Just don’t do it, you fuck.
-Crazy bastard.
* * *
“Kyaaack!”
Archangelus had swung his sword so rarely that people might suspect his sheath didn’t actually contain a real blade, but not this time. The black sword mercilessly sliced through human bodies.
“P-Please... spare me!”
“Die for the new world.”
The expressionless Archangelus severed a woman’s neck, and her head hit the floor with a thud.
Someone hiding in a wardrobe, filming the scene on their phone, started breathing heavily in terror. Did he hear it? Archangelus ripped the door off and hurled it backward.
“Uwaaak!! S-Spare...”
Slash!
The sword cleaved the man in two, and blood splattered over the camera.
Angelus stared solemnly at one spot with a grave expression.
“Cut!”
Gap shouted, and the man who had just collapsed bleeding rose to his feet.
“How was that?”
I asked the camera director.
“Perfect! To film a scene like this without CG!”
The woman whose head had been severed groped along the floor, picked up her head, and pressed it to her neck.
Then she stood up as if nothing had happened, and the Archangelus who had been swinging the sword moments ago transformed into a demon.
“Thank you for your hard work!”
“Thank you.”
The demon and the woman bowed politely. Polite demons, huh.
They were low-ranking demons summoned by Gap. They had weak combat power but special abilities like transformation and body separation, so he’d summoned them. Being weak demons, the summoning cost was just pigs and goats.
“...Those subordinates of yours will go back after this is over, right?”
“Of course.”
Gap grinned. I didn’t quite trust that smile. But with angels being more dangerous than demons, there weren’t many options.
“I was worried that cooperating with demons meant they’d attack humans or steal souls, but if it’s something like this, no problem at all.”
Bureau Chief Baek Young-shin looked around the filming site, excited.
“This is demon power too. But this country is surprisingly well-prepared for this. Optimized for fabrication, incitement, manipulation, and all that. Even the demon realm isn’t this good at it.”
Gap smirked.
In our country, with its comment brigades and tight media control, this kind of info spread even faster.
“Ahem...”
I wasn’t sure if Gap said it to diss Bureau Chief Baek Young-shin, but the government official’s face turned red.
Seeing Gap enjoy it confirmed he’d said it knowingly.
* * *
[What you’ve just seen is footage from an incident this morning in the suburbs of Seoul. Angels are rampaging worldwide right now.]
[Hunter deployments have eliminated the rampaging angels on site. The angels claim they aren’t demons in disguise. The World Hunter Association and UN have completely revised their policies on angels.]
[Citizens, do not approach areas with angels. If you spot one, report it to the Management Bureau immediately.]
It wasn’t just news videos—they had demons perform live acts in crowded districts around the world. Hunters and special forces in civilian clothes secured the sites nearby, hidden cameras captured the scenes, and they aired on the news.
* * *
“Preparations are sufficient. Civilians around the angels have been reduced to a controllable level.”
The ministers from each department gathered at Awakener Management Bureau HQ gave their report.
“What about the remaining few civilians?”
President Son Yun-tae, hearing the report, asked for details on the plan. His expression had relaxed considerably now that things were going as desired.
“Any complaints from the few can be handled by eliminating the angels first and then controlling the media.”
“What about the enemy’s forces?”
“The female-type angel Princhipatus is C~D Rank, Archangelus is E Rank, Angelus is F Rank. They’re numerous, but each individual is weak.”
“Then let’s start the cleanup. Operation Sparrow Hunt, commencing at 2300 Korean Standard Time.”
The president approved the operation, with the World Hunter Association leading the planning and control. Since the angels communicated in real time, they had to set a specific time, and as it was a Korean government proposal, they used KST.
“You’re surrounded!”
“Get lost! Leave the angels alone!”
Hundreds of people still believing in and protecting the angels remained, facing off against soldiers.
“Disperse immediately, or we’ll use force!”
“Do it! You’ll have to trample our corpses!”
The angel worshippers crossed their arms and sat down in rows.
They had given all their money, jobs, and lives to the angels and were now penniless. They couldn’t back down now that heaven was off the table and they were told to return to their old lives.
I watched from behind, then leaped forward dramatically to land in front of Princhipatus.
Boom!
As some believers charged at me, Archangelus extended a hand to block them.
“Humans, you shouldn’t have tried to stop the monsters.”
“Oh, so just die?”
“Death is not the end. It’s the foundation for creating a new universe.”
“So you’re saying sacrifice us to the destruction god? Then any universe will do. You sacrifice yourselves for the greater good.”
“You foolish, lowly thing. We are necessary to maintain the world’s order. Don’t you understand?”
“Order or whatever, we’re not dying. If you want to die, sacrifice yourself.”
“I knew words wouldn’t get through to you.”
“So that’s why you shook the world like this? The damage isn’t minor because of you. Satisfied?”
“No. I thought we could do a bit more. Disappointing.”
“To think you lot were all they sent—Metatron’s not all that impressive either.”
“Shut your mouth! Don’t utter that name with your filthy lips!”
“What? Metatron? That coward can’t even come himself?”
Princhipatus ground her teeth.
“Do we look like a joke to you? Metatron-sama doesn’t need to come for the likes of you. Just Cherubim-sama...”
“But he can’t come, right?”
“Doesn’t matter. You die here today.”
Princhipatus pointed to the tens of thousands of monsters gathered behind her.
“That’s a lot.”
She sensed something off from my casual glance and lack of worry.
“Know what this is?”
I showed her the switch in my hand.
“......Attack!”
At Princhipatus’s command, Archangelus swung his sword. Something controlling the monsters seemed embedded in that blade.
The monsters began to writhe.
Click.
I pressed the switch.
Boom!
A massive explosion erupted at the outskirts where the tens of thousands of monsters were clustered.
Hundreds of low-level monsters shattered instantly, and even the standing C-Rank+ large ones weren’t in good shape. It wasn’t your standard modern bomb ineffective against monsters.
“I packed it with magic stones and monster claws. Pretty effective, huh.”
“...Hahaha! That’s all?!”
Princhipatus sneered, seeing only a fraction of the tens of thousands had blown up.
“Of course not. Just testing one for power.”
“Kwaaaagh!!!”
The monsters charged at the hunters and soldiers blockading the holy site. The hunters didn’t fight back—they ducked and covered their ears.
“Detonate!”
Kaboom kaboom kaboom kaboom!!!
Flames shot up from the outer explosions, then chain reactions detonated the ones next to them, and the next.
“Second wave, fire everything!”
Then thousands of fireballs rained from the sky to finish off the monster horde.
Kaboom kaboom boom!!!
Explosions rocked the ground one after another, blanketing the area in flames and dust.
“Hee-ya... What a sight. Thanks to you gathering the monsters, we cleaned them up in one go. Appreciate it.”
Princhipatus’s face trembled with rage.
“Wh-When did you...?”
“Your believers didn’t check possessions, right? We sneaked them in bit by bit and buried them.”
Hunters who had been hiding among the believers stood up and brushed themselves off.
“So what?! Hundreds of believers are still here! Can you harm them?!”
“Subdue the nonbelievers!”
Despite Archangelus’s order, the seated believers didn’t budge.
“What... What is this?”
“Like I said earlier, our people were among them.”
Na Young, who had been sitting among the worshippers, took off her hat and stood. Under Na Young’s hypnosis, everyone sitting fell asleep in place.
“You bitch!”
Archangelus reached for Na Young.
Thwack!
His head vanished. Chang-hee’s long-range shot.