Chapter 99
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: Holy War Without Light
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Darkness.
Four men pressed forward into the pitch-black void where they couldn't see an inch ahead.
Guided by the shaman, they descended deeper and deeper without hesitation.
The Fixer might have already crossed through the hole by now.
To avoid getting caught by him, they had to reach the depths of the Backside World as quickly as possible.
They needed to hurry and transport the captured "vessel" to the "Mother's Altar" deep in the heart of it all, even if just a moment sooner.
This operation wasn't just about buying time to stall the Fixer.
The real goal was to acquire an Oracle of exceptional talent. With the Lunar Blossom Sect's shrine maiden having fully regained her power, extracting an Oracle from Mujin City was impossible.
That's why they'd targeted Nam Yu-ha from the Fixer Office and kidnapped her to head for the depths.
Yes, a total of three operations were underway simultaneously up to this point.
1. "Moss Removal," centered on the Human Front radical faction.
2. The Brotherhood of the Oath's "Saint Resurrection."
3. The Bloodless Victory Corps' "Dalma Liberation."
If they could just bring Nam Yu-ha to the Mother's Altar, the Bloodless Victory Corps and the Brotherhood of the Oath would naturally achieve their goals.
They could eliminate the moss, trap the Fixer in the depths to liberate Dalma, and even claim the reincarnated vessel born of virgin conception.
Success was right around the corner.
-Just hold on a little longer. Surely. Surely he'll come to save you.
Haeyul's voice reached her faintly from a distance.
Her limbs bound and stuffed into a body bag for transporting corpses, Nam Yu-ha nodded weakly at Haeyul's voice, holding back her tears.
An hour ago, a priest in a gas mask had ripped the Silence of Mokhae—where Haeyul resided—from Nam Yu-ha.
Haeyul had fiercely resisted, slaughtering nearly thirty members of the kidnapping team, but she was eventually subdued by the follow-up team waiting for her seal to break.
Attacking in waves left even Haeyul helpless, especially when the man cloaked entirely in black robes uttered a curse word, strengthening her seal several times over until she couldn't resist at all.
Nam Yu-ha had never heard such a horrific curse in her life.
The black-robed shaman wielded a power beyond human reason, as if connected to "something."
In the end, the Silence of Mokhae lost its light due to the shaman's dreadful curse.
"Body Binding Seal, Limb Restraint Seal, Flowing Water Stands Still."
"Soul Binding Seal, Total Self-Forgetfulness Manifest, Will Fracture."
Nam Yu-ha gritted her teeth. The monk's mutterings had started up again.
Her head throbbed as if it would split from the torrent of his incantations.
"Ugh..."
The ropes binding her body tightened even harder around her limbs and neck.
She couldn't resist. She had lost freedom of her body.
She had also lost her ability to communicate with the Five Flower Bell Spirit.
The being that had always been with her since puberty began.
The voice of the Five Flower Bell Spirit no longer reached her.
The spirit that had shared her childhood.
Had been completely torn from Nam Yu-ha's body.
'Spirit Lady...'
The kidnappers had forcibly extracted her guardian spirit from the spirit medium's body.
The shock of her soul being shaken left Nam Yu-ha wracked with nausea.
Just like Oh Se-eun, the spirit medium she'd met at the academic festival, who had lost her guardian spirit and fallen into spirit death syndrome.
Nam Yu-ha too sank into profound loss, terror, and despair.
It was too much shock for a 19-year-old girl to endure.
Nam Yu-ha clung to Haeyul's consolations to barely hold her crumbling mind together.
-Breathe deeply. Even if your body is frozen, your spirit hasn't gone out. You must endure. You have to. Hold on to your... hold on to your will.
But now even Haeyul's voice was fading away.
Even in her fully sealed state, Haeyul had encouraged Nam Yu-ha to the end.
She kept talking to her so the girl wouldn't break, assuring her everything would be okay.
Now even that had come to an end.
Haeyul had fallen into a deep sleep once more.
Just like when she was trapped in the Black Yao Society's Wuyuan Heart Palace.
She seemed completely swallowed by the curse.
'Don't... leave me alone...'
Nam Yu-ha desperately called for Haeyul.
But there was no answer.
Nam Yu-ha swallowed her sobs and called for the Five Flower Bell Spirit.
But the Five Flower Bell Spirit still couldn't be felt.
No one was by her side.
Nam Yu-ha's heart gradually stained with negativity.
The Oracle's soul was dyeing the Backside World's darkness ever blacker... blacker.
"Let's stop here. We need a short break before entering the depths."
The black-robed shaman leading the four-man kidnapping team halted in front of a collapsed building.
Beyond this lay the heart of the Backside World.
A despairing abyss where stepping in without resolve meant abandoning any hope of returning alive.
They needed to recover their stamina before descending to the Mother's Altar.
The thirty vanguard had bought time against Haeyul, but they'd been exposed to her attacks too, leaving them mentally and physically exhausted.
"We came too deep. Breathing's getting hard."
A monk of the Bloodless Victory Corps grumbled as he swapped the filter on his gas mask.
The deeper they went, the scarcer the oxygen and the denser the pollutants.
Breathing without a gas mask was nearly impossible.
"We're struggling this much—hope the little bitch hasn't croaked already?"
"She's alive. She squirms if you poke her."
"Yeah? What the hell's this bag made of? Keeps the contents intact even this deep."
"It's a company product. You can guess the materials, right?"
"Com... company...? No way... It's from the non-everyday world...?"
"Fuck. I don't wanna touch this bag anymore."
The Bloodless Victory Corps monk flung the bag containing Nam Yu-ha to the ground.
As the girl writhed in pain inside, the Brotherhood priest scowled.
"That bag holds an underage girl. A precious vessel, so don't handle her so roughly."
"Bullshit. If you're gonna nag, carry her yourself. She ain't gonna break from a toss."
"What did you say...?"
"Don't give me orders like that. One more time and I'll rip your mouth off."
"Rip my mouth off? Funny. Try it, you bald bastard."
The Bloodless Victory Corps monk glared at the priest. The priest reached for the iron mace at his waist.
A powder keg ready to explode. Just as a fight seemed imminent, a radical faction believer stammered between them to mediate.
"P-Please stop. Fighting among ourselves gains us nothing."
"That bald fuck started it. Should I hold back? I hate it when weaklings like him act tough."
"P-Please. Just until the op's done. C-Can't you hold it in? I beg you. A-And the bag... I-I'll carry it."
"Tch. Rotten Jesus freaks. Do whatever."
The Bloodless Victory Corps monk backed off, still radiating menace.
Only then did the radical faction believer wipe sweat from his brow and apologize to Nam Yu-ha in the body bag.
"Baby, sorry. D-Did it hurt...? From now on, I-I'll take care of you. Really... I'm so sorry."
The radical faction devotee knew their actions were wrong.
But he couldn't stop. It was a direct order from the radical faction's chairman, practically their cult leader.
The chairman's word was absolute and not to be defied, so he apologized to Nam Yu-ha but didn't release her.
"Ten minutes to catch our breath should be enough. Let's head down again. Once we're in the depths, even that Fixer won't catch us easily. He'll wander lost in here for ages."
At the shaman's word, they prepared to plunge into the depths without hesitation.
Four hours before the Moss House merged with the Lunar Blossom Sect.
After dealing with Lee Mu-young, the Fixer entered the Backside World through the hole.
"This is... a school?"
"It's a school..."
The place they opened their eyes was a school shrouded in darkness.
And Nam Yu-ha and the kidnappers had already left the school behind.
"Just anomalies here."
"I can't sense Yu-ha's presence..."
"We need to find her quick. Before she gets farther."
Realizing no other human presence lingered in the school, the Fixer moved to smash a window and head outside.
"W-Wait a sec!"
"What's wrong, Eve?"
"Moving like that will twist the paths. I... I'll call the elevator."
Eve quickly explained the Backside World's mechanics to the Fixer.
To go where you want here, you had to follow specific routes. To reach a school, for instance, you needed to find a door connected to it.
"So, we need to find the door those bastards who took Yu-ha used."
"Y-Yeah... but there's another way..."
"What way?"
"Using the elevator to fly straight to the desired spot..."
Eve fiddled with a classroom wall and pressed a hidden button.
The school building shook, and an elevator materialized before them.
Any decently old school would have at least one elevator for disabled students.
That's why Eve could summon one here easily.
If this were an open field or a place hard to generate an elevator, it'd have been trouble.
"Riding this... lets you go anywhere in the Backside World."
"Then straight to Yu-ha."
"The issue is... you need to know exactly where you're going."
"Pardon?"
"Like... you can't just crash-land in front of something moving in real-time. You have to know precisely where it is to use the elevator."
In other words, they needed coordinates for where Nam Yu-ha might be.
But the Fixer didn't know where she'd been taken.
"I'll... try to find her. If her consciousness hasn't faded... if she wants to return home... I can sense it."
Baek Sowol took position in the elevator's center and began praying.
Once Baek Sowol located Nam Yu-ha, Eve would move them there.
That was the plan.
"Ugh... Ah! Found her."
"You did!?"
"Yes... it's faint. Her mind's on the verge of closing... gripped by despair."
Ten minutes after detecting Nam Yu-ha's position, Baek Sowol successfully observed her location.
Baek Sowol quickly described the scenery and atmosphere she'd seen to Eve, who then operated the elevator based on that intel.
"It's... pretty far. Didn't think they'd reached the depths' entrance already... It'll take at least ten minutes to get there. And... it'll shake a lot, so hold on tight."
The kidnapping team had already reached the depths' vicinity.
They'd taken the shortest path straight there.
Eve realized they had a guide among them.
No other way they'd reach the depths so fast.
Clang-!
As Eve warned, the elevator began shaking violently.
The Fixer clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly to suppress his anger.
Thank goodness Nam Yu-ha was still alive.
Alive, at least.
"...."
The Fixer prayed Nam Yu-ha was safe, and soon the elevator arrived at its destination.
-Rift.
-It's a rift.
Just before dragging Nam Yu-ha into the depths, the kidnapping team froze at the sound from behind.
This was the depths' entrance, a rift.
No elevator chime should ring here.
"...Fuck. What the hell is that?"
"An elevator...?"
"...."
"Wh-Why's that here. In a place like this."
About a little over an hour since the kidnapping team crossed into the Backside World through the hole.
Reaching near the depths in record time via shortest path, they believed no one could follow.
That belief was shattered before their eyes.
And it didn't take long for shock to turn to terror.
The moment the elevator doors opened, Nam Yu-ha's kidnappers were speechless.
They were powerhouses who had survived Haeyul's—a calamity-grade anomaly's—assault.
Surviving a calamity-grade meant top-tier human sorcerer skill.
They feared nothing.
Or so they thought.
"Yu-ha. You there?"
The Fixer who stepped out called for Nam Yu-ha.
Park Daniel, the Human Front radical faction pastor blessed most abundantly by the Trumpet.
The bag he held twitched ever so faintly.
Name: Cradle of Judas
Danger Level: Incident-Grade
Classification: Storage, Transport, Corruption
Base: Bag made by stitching together 12 living humans
Usage: Open the entrance and insert the righteous. For the greater good. Corrupt them.
The Fixer saw it.
The bag holding Nam Yu-ha.
A transport bag made from 12 living humans.
That bag was horrifically still alive.
"W-Wait! Hold it! Move and the girl in this bag..."
Do-heon, top of the Bloodless Victory Corps' Three Great Emissaries and embodiment of indestructible Vajra, tried threatening the Fixer but couldn't finish, clamping his mouth shut.
Drip...
Drip..
One drop.
Two drops.
Blood drops fell.
"...."
"Fuck..."
Somehow, two items were now in the Fixer's hands.
One was the bag with Nam Yu-ha.
The other was...
Spurt-!
Blood sprayed from the severed arm's stump.
In the Fixer's hand was Park Daniel's arm, the man still not grasping the situation.
"Wha...? Wha. Wh-what.. Aaaah. AAAAAH!"
The radical faction devotee, robbed of both arm and bag, screamed in agony, clutching the wound to stem the bleeding.
"When the hell...?"
"Didn't see a single move..."
They couldn't track the Fixer's movements with their eyes.
Those who prided themselves as Korea's strongest had lost him in an instant.
Their bodies froze under the overwhelming pressure.
They'd never trembled like this even before a calamity-grade anomaly.
Paralyzed by intimidation, they couldn't move a step, forced to stare at the Fixer.
"Yu-ha. You okay?"
"...Uncle...?"
The Fixer carefully opened the Cradle of Judas and pulled out Nam Yu-ha, steeped in despair.
The Five Flower Bell Spirit was nowhere to be seen.
She'd already been extracted from Nam Yu-ha.
"Uncle... Th-the Spirit Lady... the Spirit Lady... she's gone... Those fuckers... took her from me... from me! Kill them. Let me kill them myself. Drench the ground in their blood. I can't forgive them. Uncle, help me. Tear them apart, rip them to shreds, make them suffer eternally. Help me... please help me."
"Yu-ha, calm down. Yu-ha!"
"No! I can't calm down! I want revenge. Those bastards who took my Spirit Lady... I want to tear them apart one by one with my own hands. Kill them! I have to kill them! They need to be punished. Those fuckers deserve fitting punishment for their crimes!"
Nam Yu-ha's eyes were stained black.
Her kind heart had sunk, replaced by rising hatred and rage.
The Cradle of Judas had dyed her heart black.
It had corrupted the young sorceress.
If left like this, submerged in rage... she'd shatter completely like Oh Se-eun with spirit death syndrome.
She had to be stopped.
Prevent the hatred in her heart from growing further.
Stop her corruption from spreading like a tumor—for now, calm her down.
"Yu-ha. Get a grip on your heart. If you let rage swallow you and fall to corruption... you'll never see the Spirit Lady again."
"But... I already lost the Spirit Lady..."
"Yu-ha. Don't lose your divinity to hatred and rage. Endure it. You have to. Uncle will handle the revenge for you. No need to dirty your hands. Uncle will bear it all. So leave it to me."
To soothe her, the Fixer held Nam Yu-ha's hand, easing her sorrow and fury.
Even as she poured out hatred, he embraced her, stroking her back for a long while, comforting and consoling.
She's still a child. Does this kid's hands need blood on them too?
Bearing blood is enough for him alone.
"Yu-ha. Think of this as a really bad nightmare. So, sleep a bit while the nightmare ends. When you wake, we'll go see the Spirit Lady again."
"Really... can we meet again...? The Spirit Lady... she'll be lonely without me..."
"We'll definitely meet again. Uncle will make sure of it. There's a way. We'll find it. Every problem has a solution. You know Uncle's job, right?"
"Fixer..."
"Right. Fixer. No problem a Fixer can't solve. So, take a nap."
Staring deeply into the Fixer's eyes for a long moment, Nam Yu-ha finally seemed to calm a little, slowly closing her eyes.
The Fixer designated her a "Human Protection Zone."
So no one could touch her anymore.
"Hubby. What now?"
"Sowol, guard Yu-ha. Please. And Eve."
"Yes.."
"Keep them from escaping."
"Got it.."
The Fixer assigned tasks to the two anomalies, then approached the trembling kidnappers.
"Where's Lady Haeyul?"
"Th-This...?"
Father Baor, the Brotherhood priest who wielded the sharpest sword, reached into his bosom and pulled out a gem.
Or pretended to, drawing a gun and firing at the Fixer.
"Ha... haha... dodge the gun...? What, you Jesus reincarnate? Fuck... how do we beat this?"
Father Baor saw his hand and the pistol from his bosom mangled together.
As if crushed in a hydraulic press—the Fixer, now right before him, had fused Baor's hand and gun into one.
The Fixer rummaged through the raving priest's bosom, who laughed madly at his shattered right hand, and retrieved the Breath of Mokhae.
Haeyul was asleep. The Fixer carefully tucked the sleeping Haeyul into his coat's inner pocket so she wouldn't wake.
All that had been taken was reclaimed.
Now came the time for punishment.
Time to punish the ignorant sinners who dared challenge him without fear.
"This is the holy war you started first. Are you prepared?"
The Fixer accepted Nam Yu-ha's request.
She wanted the sinners to receive fitting punishment for their crimes.
The Fixer agreed.
Eliminate Those Who Usurp God's Name
📍 Targets: Bloodless Victory Corps, Human Front Radical Faction, Brotherhood of the Oath
⏰ Objective: Execute those who commit demonic acts in God's name
Bloodless Victory Corps.
Human Front Radical Faction.
And Brotherhood of the Oath.
Slaughter those who, borrowing God's name, have wrought devilish deeds.
The Fixer accepted the Heretic Extermination Quest.
He resolved himself.
This holy war would have no light.