Divine Seat
I had one lingering worry as I prepared to enter the temple: that the cult leader might sense me the instant I stepped inside.
Before the regression, the moment I entered that space, the cult leader himself came out to greet me.
It might not have been because Kang Jiwoo had contacted him in advance. He might simply have been able to detect anyone entering the temple. If I was found out, I planned to turn around and run without a second thought.
Fortunately, I never had to run.
I used the Illusiter to vanish from sight, opened the door, and stepped into the temple’s space. No one noticed my presence. The cult leader did not appear, and there were no guards at the door.
This is way too easy. Is it a trap?
The thought crossed my mind for a moment. Before the regression the place had felt fairly tightly secured, but now it was almost laughably lax.
The difference from before the regression… right. Every Gwangwon Sect branch across the world is under attack right now. Even the main temple is in chaos.
I did not go deeper into the temple. Instead I hid nearby and watched it in secret. Believers were rushing about, looking extremely busy.
I focused mana into my ears and sharpened my hearing. Their voices reached me clearly.
“Cult Leader!! Where is the Cult Leader?!”
“The Cult Leader is currently heading to the British branch!”
“Britain? The urgent one is America! The offerings on the American side have been locked down! The Fourth Guide was murdered by apostates! We need the Cult Leader’s power! When will he return?!”
“It will take at least three hours. But apostates…? That’s impossible!”
“It is possible. People are breaking free of the Light God’s power one after another!”
“Everyone! The Indian branch is in danger! Please help!”
“America is more urgent!”
“The Cult Leader went to Britain! He is not in the temple right now! Handle it yourselves!”
“We need support! Support!”
“Damn it. The Divine Seat ritual is almost upon us, and this is what we get?!”
“There you all are! The Association and the public security forces have stormed the Chinese branch! They’re holding out desperately, but they’re reaching their limit….”
“We have no capacity to send support. Handle it yourselves.”
“We have to abandon what we must abandon. Right now we need to focus on the American branch.”
“Are you ignoring China? Do you know how large China’s population is? And it’s easier to operate there than in other countries! Where is the Cult Leader? I need to speak with him!”
“The Cult Leader went to Britain. For the love of—please shut up!”
“O Light God…!”
Listening in on the believers’ conversation, I grinned. I understood exactly how the situation was unfolding.
They’re taking this more seriously than I expected. Setting up branches all over the world wasn’t just for kidnapping offerings.
The important part was that the cult leader was not currently in the temple.
As long as it’s not the cult leader, there’s no one else truly dangerous. Ah, wait—there is one. The Offering Manager. But that spider monster seems completely focused on managing the offerings, so it won’t react unless I touch it directly.
I moved in secret and planted bombs throughout the temple. After that I slipped into the forest outside.
For several days I hid in the forest and watched the temple’s movements. Once the cult leader returned, the chaos settled. After that he shut himself inside the temple. It seemed every Gwangwon Sect branch across the world had been cleaned up.
Sunday, June 13th.
The time had come for the double dungeon to appear inside the Hokkaido erosion dungeon.
Kiiiiing. Kiiing.
The sound of space twisting filled the air.
A sign that a gate is about to appear.
I stared at the spot where the gate would open. Space was warping. The location was no different from before the regression. Once the gate opened, Han Harin would come through.
I sensed a presence. I activated the Illusiter, turning my body transparent and erasing my presence as much as possible.
“…….”
The cult leader appeared with a group of believers. He watched the distorting space.
“Another door is opening. This too is the will of the Light God…. The door’s location is Hokkaido, Japan. Have the believers gather information on Hokkaido within two hours.”
“…Cult Leader. Two hours is far too tight. The Japanese branch has already been annihilated… if we want detailed information, we will need a full day.”
“The door will open in three hours.”
“…….”
“Tsk. I will have to move personally.”
The cult leader and the believers left.
Two hours later the Offering Manager appeared. Three women’s faces, six breasts dangling from its back. It was the same spider monster I had seen before the regression.
The Offering Manager stood motionless in front of the warped space and simply waited. Clear liquid dripped from the breasts on its back. Anesthetic.
Just as I thought—they moved the Offering Manager. Anyone who breathes that anesthetic will drop the moment they come through.
Kiiiiiiiiing.
Space tore open and the gate appeared.
The Offering Manager stood still, staring at the gate. Another two hours passed. Then people began emerging through the rippling gate.
It was the Suwol Guild’s raid team.
“Hahk! I’ve never seen a monster like that!”
“Combat ready, now!”
“Ugh…. Suddenly my body….”
Thud. Thud. Thud.
One after another, in the order they came through the gate, they were anesthetized and collapsed to the ground.
Han Harin appeared near the very end. Unlike the others, she did not drop immediately. She had prepared against the anesthetic exactly as I had told her.
She put up a barrier around her body with her gravity manipulation. The anesthetic can’t touch her.
Only then did the Offering Manager, which had been standing still, begin to move. It charged straight at Han Harin.
I moved as well. The spider monster was too much for Han Harin to handle alone.
Kwaang!
An invisible force of gravity smashed into the spider monster and sent it flying. Surprisingly, Han Harin was holding her own. The spider monster tumbled across the ground a few times before righting itself.
Crackle.
Electricity sparked around my body.
Flash Thunder. Acceleration. Charna.
The side effect of Flash Thunder made my legs creak. But I could not stop for something that minor. I closed the distance to the spider monster’s back and swung Hwaryeonbido with everything I had, severing its head.
It was a somewhat anticlimactic end for the spider monster. I split its body open as well to finish the job. There was no magic stone inside.
“Harin! Are you okay?!”
Leaving the spider monster’s corpse behind, I ran to Han Harin.
She stood with her arms crossed and nodded calmly.
“I’m fine, so stop fretting. It was nothing special.”
“That’s only because you knew about the anesthetic. If you hadn’t, you would have gone down just like the rest.”
“So. What now?”
“We run and hide. I need a day.”
Han Harin looked at the hunters sprawled across the ground.
“…You’re just going to leave these people? Seong Yujin, the rotten ones are the Suwol Guild executives. These people have nothing to do with that.”
“I know that, but we don’t have time to save all of them. And the Gwangwon Sect won’t turn them into offerings immediately. They already have plenty of prepared offerings, and it looks like they need some kind of preparation first.”
Honestly, whether these people died as offerings or not was none of my concern. The only one who mattered to me was Han Harin.
“…….”
Han Harin’s expression was dark. Even now she was thinking of the people dying as offerings somewhere.
It could not be helped. I could not overturn the plan out of pity. The Gwangwon Sect had to be dealt with thoroughly.
“Do we really have to hide until tomorrow?”
“If we want to be certain, yes.”
Han Harin let out a sigh and nodded. I took her hand and led her into the forest to hide. From a distance we watched the gate.
A few hours later the cult leader and the believers appeared. They had come to check because the Offering Manager had not shown up. They saw the spider monster’s corpse and recoiled in shock, then carefully recovered the body. The believers carried the unconscious raid members toward the temple. Some of them took up weapons and formed a defensive line in front of the gate.
I rested my arm across the shoulders of a grim-faced Han Harin. She was clearly worried about the raid members who had been taken, but I felt relieved simply because she was beside me.
“Harin. Tired? Let’s go that way. I found a decent spot earlier. We should be able to rest comfortably there.”
“Alright.”
In a secluded corner of the forest I had prepared a tent. We went inside. The interior was cramped. With the two of us in it, the space was completely full. It could not be helped. If the tent was too large, the chances of the enemy finding us increased.
I threw myself onto the mat I had laid out on the tent floor. The soft cushioning eased my tension, if only a little.
Han Harin sat beside me and stared outside the tent. Unlike me, she could not relax easily. I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her into my arms. Once she was lying against me, her gaze turned toward me. I could feel her warm breath against my neck.
“…….”
“…….”
Our eyes met. For a short while we simply looked at each other and did nothing else.
I tightened the arm holding her just a little. Han Harin’s body trembled, then went limp. Only then did the tension leave her.
Our lips met naturally. As always, our tongues tangled. Han Harin wrapped her long arms around my head, and my hand moved from her waist toward her chest.
I had expected her to push my hand away. She was surprisingly rigid about certain things, and I thought she would not allow her body to be touched in a situation like this. My prediction was wrong. She did not refuse my touch.
“Haa, haa….”
It did not take long for us to get worked up. We knew each other’s bodies too well. Once we were naked we caressed and pressed against each other. The fondling was a little rough. Han Harin rocked her hips and rubbed her pussy against my cock while I kneaded her large breasts with both hands. Her nipples were hard against my palms.
“That’s enough. Put it in.”
Her voice was sweet. Han Harin moved her hand, gripped my cock, and aimed the head at her entrance.
“Why aren’t you moving? Do you want that again?”
Han Harin frowned. The way she scowled while lying under me was cute. I could tell she was struggling over what words she was supposed to say.
“Harin.”
“…What?”
“Do you love me?”
“…….”
Han Harin’s face turned red. Her eyes wavered. She was embarrassed by the blunt question. When she got excited during sex she would spit out all kinds of filthy words, but we had not even started penetration yet.
“…Don’t ask when you already know.”
“I’m asking because I don’t know. Answer me.”
Han Harin rolled her eyes this way and that, then answered in a small voice.
“…I love you. If I hated you I wouldn’t be doing this.”
“Since when?”
Her pussy twitched. Because the head was pressed against her, I could feel the state of her entrance perfectly.
“…I don’t know either. By the time I realized it, I was already in love with you. ……What about you?”
“Same for me. Harin, I love you.”
Whispering love, I pushed my cock inside her.
“Hnnnnngh…!”
It was different from usual. Her inner walls clenched and fluttered. Han Harin had climaxed the moment I entered her. I carefully studied her face. She was desperately managing her expression so I would not notice she had come the instant I put it in.
I let out a quiet laugh. I lowered my head and slowly licked from her collarbone down to her breasts.
“Aah, aaaaaah!”
Her reactions were excellent. I felt the payoff of all the conditioning I had done to her, knowingly and unknowingly.
Schlick. Schlick. Schlick.
The wet sounds from where we were joined were steady and rhythmic.
“Haaaah… Yujin…!”
The next day.
The time had come.
I took a clown mask out of my inventory and put it on. I had no intention of playing Red Light. I simply needed to hide my face.
I would be operating separately from Han Harin. There was no need to worry. She would not let her guard down, and I would be the one to kill the most dangerous person in the temple—the cult leader. On top of that, I had already called in reliable reinforcements. Now that things had come this far, the Gwangwon Sect was finished.
She’s here.
In the distance, a woman appeared through the gate. The moment she arrived she engaged the fanatics in combat.
Amatsuka Koyori.
Japan’s S-class hunter.
Before the regression she had been unable to come for various reasons, but the current her was different.
A prophecy has been delivered. There’s no way she wouldn’t move. The Prime Minister already believes the prophecy of Japan’s destruction with absolute certainty.
I opened an app on my smartphone. I lightly tapped the red button at the center of the screen.
Kwaang! Kwang-kwang-kwang!
The sound of explosions rang out.