Chapter 35
Chapter 35
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Fanatic Hunt #3
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The heart of the fanatics.
Leading the priests to block the young progenitor, one man set out.
"Where... is the progenitor?"
His heavy voice made several priests flinch.
"R-right now, she's probably circling the outskirts of the forbidden zone, looking for our other brothers."
"High Priest, we should move to another sector and bide our time for—"
"No. If we can't control that monster here, we're all dead."
"..."
The man, Bellnar Neigrim, had just spelled out their inevitable fate.
There was no paradise in flight.
Even if they escaped the young progenitor's grasp right now, the priests in the other sectors would surely kill them.
"Or do you harbor other intentions?"
The priest who met Bellnar Neigrim's chilling gaze hurriedly bowed his head.
"N-no, I've never had any treacherous thoughts...!"
"Then stake your life on the mission. We must never forget our destiny."
The High Priest withdrew his gaze and headed toward the ritual's center, where blood-red mana rippled atop the altar.
All the preparations had already been destroyed by the young progenitor's rampage.
"We have to secure the 'vessel' somehow. So many lives depend on this."
"...High Priest, but there are interlopers from outside stirring trouble around the vessel."
"You mean to say you can't handle a few rabble?"
"...Urk."
The man who had spoken felt a crushing pressure on his body and frantically shook his head.
"We'll kill them somehow and secure the vessel...!"
"We must hurry."
Bellnar Neigrim turned from the departing priest and stared at the altar.
"Prophet."
And he prayed.
May they bring new light to those who have yet to open their eyes, may their long-cherished wish manifest rightfully upon this land—
Clasping his hands in prayer, he sought to continue his failed life once more.
..
....
He knew nothing.
That he was merely a cog in this place, that it was all a stage of lies.
And that after several failures, it had been reconstructed, continuing an endless puppet show.
#
-Crackle! Crackle!
"Hah, huff...!"
One priest fled through the thick underbrush with a face twisted in terror.
-Rustle! Whoosh!
Several presences trailed silently behind him.
Like predators leisurely stalking a wounded herbivore.
The Hunters followed their target without relaxing their tension.
"Y-you...!"
Finally giving up the chase, the fanatic halted in place and spat out his rage.
He had nowhere left to run.
His comrades, who had banded together to fight, had all been slaughtered.
On his cheek lingered the blood of a comrade who had been alive just moments ago.
"Hell awaits you all!!! Do you even know what you've done?!"
-Crackle!
The priest drew explosive mana from his hand and swung it wildly.
Aimed at the entire area where he assumed the Hunters were.
-Boom!!!
The mana shattered bushes and trees, sending debris flying everywhere.
But alas.
"...!"
The Hunters who had been tailing him had already vanished from their spots.
"Where are you?! Show yourselves!!"
The frenzied priest bellowed, spittle flying from his mouth.
-Crackle! Crackle!
Mana surged from both hands, ready for attack at any moment, as the bloodshot-eyed priest glared ahead.
"Heh, heh heh~"
Then, a presence approached near the priest.
A carefree hum utterly out of place in a situation where death could strike from anywhere.
Light footsteps approached, and from beyond the shadows...
"...Ah."
The priest realized who the presence belonged to.
"P-progenitor."
The monster they had created themselves was approaching, now fully self-aware.
"Annyeong~"
As if responding to his realization, the progenitor emerged from the darkness with a bright smile.
"D-don't come closer! Stay back!!"
The priest, his will broken, trembled and backed away.
The progenitor, Eira, giggled as if savoring his reaction, observing his pathetic display.
When the moment felt ripe, she raised her hand and pointed behind the priest.
"...?"
"Hee hee, behind you."
A chill ran down his spine at her words. He whipped his head around, but...
Do-yoon, who had closed in silently, swung his curved sword.
-Slash.
A faint resistance, and the priest's upper body was severed clean off.
His heart stilled as he glared at Do-yoon with bulging eyes.
But that glare proved meaningless—his upper body tumbled across the ground.
"..."
Do-yoon looked away from him and turned to Eira.
"Did I do good?!"
"You did great."
He effortlessly caught the bounding Eira and scanned the surroundings.
His eyes met those of a tense Hunter swallowing hard.
"What are you doing?"
"W-what..."
"If you got nothing better to do, move out and catch the rest. You want your reward or not?"
"...Ah."
Only then did the Hunters snap out of it, scattering quickly into the area.
'Why are they so unreliable...?'
Dismissing it as just his imagination, Do-yoon stroked Eira's head as she clung to him.
"Shall we head to the next one?"
"Yeah...!"
Do-yoon continued the fanatic hunt alongside Eira.
Excluding the central area where their leader was presumed to be.
The command structure shattered, the fanatics floundered, too busy fending off the Hunters.
They should have cooperated with the Hunters to contain Eira, but that timeline had long passed.
Now, they had to face the calamity alone.
"Where to next?"
"Here!"
Eira, now naturally riding on Do-yoon's back, pointed confidently.
"Okay."
Do-yoon nodded and dashed in that direction.
The fierce wind cooled his overheated body.
Amid the pleasant sensation, Do-yoon spotted his target in the blurring scenery.
"Th-that guy's...!"
"The progenitor! It's the progenitor...!"
"Run! Don't fight it! The guy's with the progenitor!!"
'Perfect.'
Do-yoon stifled a laugh inwardly as he watched the fanatics scatter on their own.
A coordinated counterattack would have been a hassle.
But Eira's presence sowed real-time fear and division among them.
"Kyaha!"
Even amid Do-yoon's rough movements, Eira laughed innocently, thrilled.
A fanatic spotted them.
In the moonlit darkness.
Two pairs of fiercely gleaming eyes met theirs.
"...Ah."
The first target witnessed the rippling blood-red mana as his last sight.
-Slash!!
Chain-like mana shot out.
Eira handled ranged interceptions in real time, while Do-yoon, carrying her, moved swiftly to plot the optimal attack path.
The space was no longer their sanctuary.
Do-yoon and Eira hunted, the fanatics fled.
It was a delightful game of tag for the girl who had so desperately wished for it from her torture chamber.
"Kyaha! So fun!"
"..."
Do-yoon nearly froze at her reactions from behind but kept his focus, targeting more fanatics.
"...Where do you think you're looking?"
One Hunter trailing them warned a restrained fanatic.
The rat-like fanatic, who had switched sides early, whined defensively.
"I-I wasn't thinking anything."
"Better not."
The lanky Hunter cautioned him.
After one betrayal already, changing his tune now—
They probably wouldn't let him off easy.
He might end up in worse shape than the ones being hunted right now.
"...Weren't these guys supposed to be tougher?"
"Our senior Hunters said never to antagonize them..."
Fanatic priests originally possessed combat prowess equal to current Hunters.
"If they look easy..."
The lanky Hunter provided the answer.
"It just means that guy's strength is off the charts."
"No way. He must be getting help from the object—"
"Does that look like one-sided help to you?"
-Flash!
Do-yoon dove into the fanatic's guard in an instant and swung his curved sword again.
Like the reaper's scythe, it snuffed out one fanatic's life in a blink.
"Die...!"
But another fanatic, using his comrade's life as bait, lunged from a blind spot for a reversal.
Before Do-yoon could retrieve his sword from the corpse.
In that split second, Do-yoon released the hilt and seized the fanatic's throat barehanded.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Acidic Digestive Fluid -Sizzle...!
"Grrrk!"
The fanatic's soft flesh melted away under Do-yoon's skill.
Witnessing the neck separate from the body, Do-yoon picked up his rolling curved sword from the ground.
"Sticky sticky!"
The object, oblivious to the crisis, marveled at Do-yoon's skill in her innocent voice.
"Exactly."
It definitely wasn't clean.
"..."
The Hunters felt an odd disconnect at the sight but chased after the remaining fanatics for their own kills.
'Almost...'
Do-yoon sensed the end drawing near.
The fanatics' head honcho.
The mana he wielded was potent enough to sense without Eira pointing it out.
"Do-yoon."
"Yeah."
"He's there. Super big bad guy."
Do-yoon nodded.
According to Eira.
Their central figure was a guy called the High Priest.
He led the other priests and held real command authority over the fanatics.
"That guy hurt me a lot."
"Yeah."
"I'll hurt him back just as much."
-Grind!
Eira, on his back, gnashed her teeth in anger.
After some more hunting...
"Foolish devil worshippers have arrived."
Facing the High Priest radiating immense pressure, Do-yoon leveled his curved sword.
"Hand over the reward."
"Hand it over!"
With Eira cutely mimicking him from behind...
The fanatics targeting Eira and Do-yoon's team charged at each other to claim lives.