Chapter 100
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: Light the Flames of Counterattack (1)
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─I humbly beseech you.
"【Grant me the blessing of the eastern sunrise in the morning】."
⟨ Tribute Moon ⟩
The incantation, or prayer.
As she murmured the words against her own chest, one of the seals implanted within her unraveled.
Spiritual power flooded into her previously empty spiritual core.
The spiritual power's light, which had blazed red before, now turned pure white and spread through Wolryeong's arms.
Unlike the previous time with the Imugi, when the white flames had engulfed her entire body and even scorched the surroundings, they now only covered her arms and limbs.
Yet even so, it far surpassed the power of an ordinary top-grade exorcist.
"You all had better brace yourselves. I'll make you pay back the sins you've committed a million times over, with interest."
The sacred flames of subjugation that did not burn humans.
Wolryeong declared it boldly, her limbs wreathed in those flames as she tightly pulled Mina into her embrace.
"These bastards."
What in the world was going on?
Vice Priest Yeom was bewildered.
That bewilderment soon crossed the tipping point, morphing into fiercely burning rage.
His face, which had always worn a kind smile, was now completely distorted.
His hideously reddened, ferocious features looked ready to explode and rampage at any moment.
"This one... that one...!!!!!"
His body swelled, ripping through his clothes.
The yoma form he had shown before.
In that form, he had violated Wolryeong and, even before that, killed the innkeeper who had turned into a yoma.
Wolryeong grew more vigilant, pulling Mina closer.
Vice Priest Yeom's appearance was far more monstrous than before.
He had grown stronger by devouring Wolryeong's spiritual power. He had evolved. Even in her current state with the eastern seal released, she couldn't defeat him easily.
"Aaaahhh!!! This is frustrating! I'm pissed!! What the hell is going on?! Why isn't it going according to plan?! I'm perfect and superior, so why?! What did you do?! I must have drained all your power! So what the hell is that flame?! What is it, you bitch!!"
"I'm an exorcist. I drive out vermin like you."
She answered in a calm voice.
But Wolryeong's eyes blazed with a mix of emotions.
Vice Priest Yeom found that attitude infuriating.
That woman, that bitch, suited lying beneath him, whimpering and moaning. That's how it should be.
"I can't understand it, I just can't! What even is an exorcist?!"
"I told you. Someone who deals with trash like you."
"Don't make me laugh! You're no exorcist! You're a sacrifice! A sacrifice for 'That One,' a breeding hole for us! Nothing more, nothing less! You wanted it yourself! You admitted it yourself!!!"
"You're the one who's ridiculous."
Wolryeong retorted coldly.
"There's no way I sincerely admitted that. It was all lies, all an act. Just a ploy to lower your guards."
─It's a lie.
Wolryeong had submitted sincerely.
She had truly acknowledged it and truly given up.
"It wasn't what I wanted, but I tricked you into selecting me as the sacrifice so I could get close to that yoma you worship and follow. And then exorcise it from right there. Too bad it didn't work out."
─It's a lie.
If she had been selected just like that and dragged away without any mishaps, she would have ended up exactly as Vice Priest Yeom intended—captured by the yoma, utterly toyed with, and drained of her essence.
Naturally, she could never have thought of pretending to be the sacrifice to exorcise the yoma.
Even if the thought had crossed her mind, she never would have acted on it.
"I'm an exorcist. Exorcists don't lose to yoma. They must never lose, and they never do—that's what makes them exorcists."
─Another lie.
Even exorcists lose when they have to.
They must never lose, but always winning is impossible.
The history of exorcists is stained with blood.
Hundreds of exorcists have died to a single yoma.
"I'll protect everyone."
"I'm an exorcist, born to protect everyone, standing here to drive out evil!"
"So I will! Protect everyone! Protect Miss Mina!!"
─This is the truth.
Wolryeong was born for it, received that power for it—to drive out evil yoma and protect the innocent.
The flames wrapping Wolryeong's arms and shoulders blazed even fiercer, rising higher.
Even Vice Priest Yeom, now a yoma, instinctively faltered before that sacred blaze and momentum. The other cultists gathered there felt it too.
Wolryeong had been hypnotized to feel deep affection for their cult and its followers.
Just facing them made her body go into heat, melting and writhing, turning her into an obedient bitch who fawned over them.
Resistance was unthinkable.
Resisting loved ones? Absurd. It was only natural.
And that hypnosis still lingered.
Her affection for them remained.
But her sense of duty overpowered that affection.
『Protect humanity.』
『Slay the evil yoma.』
『You were born for this.』
『I live for this.』
"Wolryeong~ You're full of spirit! Should I take care of protecting that girl for you?"
Wolryeong turned around.
There stood Dom, grinning from ear to ear.
"...Snapped out of it?"
"Yup yup. Right? Seeing how cool you look woke me right up~"
Liar.
As if my appearance woke her. She doesn't look it at all.
But it seemed genuine that she was free of the hypnosis.
Wolryeong hesitated briefly, suspecting it might be another act, but trusted her instincts and handed Mina over.
"Good. I'll protect her for sure. You do whatever you want, Wolryeong. Do everything our Wolryeong wants~"
She didn't need to be told.
And then, Dom reached out into empty air.
The next moment, something dropped from the void.
Dom caught it and handed it to Wolryeong.
"Need a weapon?"
"...I can manage without, but it'd be nice."
"Glad I could help☆"
What Dom handed over was Wolryeong's sacred tool, her wooden staff.
Wolryeong gazed at it with complicated eyes for a moment but soon composed herself, sending a calm look its way.
She turned her body, surveying the assembly hall once more.
Before she knew it, the hall was filled with yoma.
The followers, who had been in human form, had all transformed into yoma at Vice Priest Yeom's command moments ago.
They came in all shapes and sizes, their powers varying wildly.
There were mere trash yoma, but also ones that looked A-grade at a glance.
Above all, five stood out as particularly powerful.
Probably the vice priests. But Vice Priest Gui was nowhere to be seen.
Not that it mattered.
"Sacrifice."
As Wolryeong eyed the encircling yoma warily, the fully transformed Vice Priest Yeom spoke.
"If you repent now and submit to us, we can forgive you. There'll be some punishment, but I promise you'll be satisfied."
No need to reply.
Wolryeong gathered spiritual power in her feet and legs against the floor, then kicked off in a leap.
With a boom!, the floor cracked deeply, and her body shot toward the yoma horde like a cannonball.
The assembly hall was in chaos.
Many followers, heeding Vice Priest Yeom's will, had yoma-ified and charged at Wolryeong.
Their fearless assault stemmed from overconfidence in their newfound yoma strength and ignorance of a special-grade exorcist's power.
Of course, that wasn't all.
Most were devout believers united in their faith under the yoma they served.
Under Vice Priest Yeom's command, they united as one, charging without regard for their lives. Bound by strong faith, they knew no hesitation.
But not everyone in the hall was like that.
Some weren't used to violence, others lacked such deep faith.
Those followers tried to flee as soon as battle loomed.
They rushed to the doors, trying to escape the panic.
But they couldn't.
─Wh-what?! The door won't open!
─We can't get out!!
The doors wouldn't budge.
No matter how they pulled, kicked, or smashed with superhuman yoma strength, it was useless.
"Hehe, sorry everyone☆ But since our Wolryeong is pumped up☆"
With a snap of her fingers, Dom, holding Mina, chuckled softly.
Dom's power sealed the assembly hall's doors.
Not just doors—walls, floor, ceiling—no matter how they broke through, they couldn't escape.
The entire hall was trapped in a barrier.
She had done this before.
When Wolryeong first learned of this gathering, she had planned to kill them all. Dom had helped then too.
It had fizzled out after meeting Mina, but now she was doing exactly what she couldn't then.
Was this some kind of karma? Dom thought with a smile.
Dom and Mina were concealed by stealth magic.
No one paid attention to where they were. No one could even see them.
In that state, Dom leisurely observed.
Wolryeong, flying like a cannonball with her arms blazing, tore through the yoma.
She had just ripped apart a horde of followers along with two vice priests.
One was Vice Priest Geon, that nasty one who had tormented her—giving Dom a slight sense of satisfaction.
"Our Wolryeong is beautiful, strong, and cool as ever today. You think so too, Mina?"
As Dom whispered to Mina in her arms, Mina nodded faintly in agreement.
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