Chapter 233: Traitor (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 233: Traitor (8)
A hidden cave beneath the Hero Faction’s residence.
A massive magic circle drawn in blood.
A charred corpse in the center.
And two Apostles standing guard over it.
Alexei and… Aria.
I realized it instantly.
My intuition was screaming at me.
Tear the corpse apart.
If you don’t…
It will be dangerous.
Swoosh!
My body reacted before my mind could even finish the thought.
The spear shot from my hand, hurtling toward the corpse.
But…
Thud…
My strike was blocked by Alexei.
Dammit…
Not one Apostle, but two.
Yu Hana and Kang A-rin should be on their way by now.
But two Apostles… the two of them won’t be enough.
I need to summon every hero in the vicinity.
Until then, I have to hold out—
Stab.
“Huh?”
But the situation… unfolded in a way I had never expected.
Alexei’s hand pierced through the heart of his comrade, Aria, from behind.
And then.
Rip.
Without a shred of hesitation.
He tore her heart right out of her chest.
Aria’s eyes, filled with incomprehension, slowly lost their light.
Her body collapsed.
Thump.
Alexei tossed the heart to the blackened corpse.
It soared through the air and landed on a scar on the charred body bound in chains.
And then… it slid into the corpse’s gaping chest cavity.
It was a heart filled with the Evil God’s energy.
To throw it like that was…
No different from handing over the Evil God’s Authority.
In that case…
Whose corpse is that?
“Seong… Si-woo…”
Cheon Yeo-wool muttered beside me.
Seong Si-woo.
I readjusted my grip on the spear that had returned to my hand.
The one the Evil God had chosen, even at the cost of killing his own Apostle, Aria… was the corpse of Seong Si-woo.
Cheon Yeo-wool was supposed to have personally incinerated it with Holy Fire.
For it to be here, half-burnt in such a secret place, meant something had gone wrong.
She was meticulous by nature.
Which meant this was a trap anyone would have fallen for.
“I’m… sorry…”
Cheon Yeo-wool apologized from behind me.
“No.”
I had no intention of blaming her.
Who could have possibly imagined the Evil God would target Seong Si-woo’s corpse?
It was beyond our control.
But it wasn’t irreversible.
I just have to… fix it.
“It’s fine.”
I aimed the tip of my spear at Seong Si-woo’s corpse.
The skin where the heart had entered began to squirm, sealing itself shut.
Boom!
I kicked off the ground and charged again.
If throwing the spear wasn’t enough, I would do it myself.
Kaaaaang!
My spear failed to connect once again.
An eardrum-shattering roar echoed as the impact shot through my grip.
“You’re… quite impatient.”
It was Alexei.
He was now standing before Seong Si-woo, blocking my path.
And in his hand was a massive weapon that hadn’t been there a moment ago.
“…It would be fun to have a proper duel right now, but.”
A crescent moon blade, its edge well over two meters long.
Alexei had blocked my spear with a swing of the colossal weapon.
Screeeech!
Black flames sparked where the spear and blade met.
“My only job is to block.”
He might have been right.
However.
“And you think you can?”
I tightened my grip on the spear’s shaft until the veins on my hand felt like they would burst, and met his gaze head-on.
Alexei. The 2nd Seat.
He was undoubtedly strong.
An Irregular.
But I, too, have walked this path to annihilate the Demonic Force.
And above all, I knew the most fatal chain he was bound by.
I let a cruel smirk play on my lips and spoke.
“Why don’t you bring her out?”
My voice carried to Alexei’s ears.
“Your wife.”
In that instant, the composed expression on his face vanished.
“……!”
His eyes flew wide.
His dilated pupils glared at me.
The black demonic energy flowing from his body lost control for the first time, lashing out in every direction.
“As I thought… you…”
The smile on Alexei’s lips deepened into something darker.
“You know far too much.”
BOOM!
The moment he finished speaking, Alexei pulled back his massive crescent moon blade.
Using its immense weight for momentum, he spun his body like a top.
A spinning slash.
Crack!
With a sound like space itself was tearing, the giant blade drew a semicircle in the air and rushed toward my waist.
It carried enough weight to crush my bones even if I blocked it.
Of course.
I had no intention of blocking.
Swoosh…
I shortened my grip on Catastrophe’s shaft and precisely extended the spear into the path of the incoming blade, deflecting it.
…Shing.
I felt none of its weight.
I simply redirected its flow.
Scraaaaape!
The deflected crescent moon blade scraped against the basement wall.
If it continued on that trajectory… Seong Si-woo would be the one cut down.
Alexei instantly twisted his joints to regain control of its path.
I deflect.
The stronger his attacks, the more, paradoxically, he was unable to protect Seong Si-woo.
As he left an opening while correcting the blade’s trajectory, I struck him hard with the shaft of my spear.
Then I drove a kick into his exposed abdomen.
Thwack!
“Ugh…!”
A groan escaped Alexei’s lips.
And Cheon Yeo-wool did not miss that opening.
“Purify.”
A pure white energy flowed from her hands as she stretched them toward the floor.
The energy rushed straight toward Seong Si-woo.
Sent reeling by my kick, Alexei forced himself to correct his broken posture and leaped into the attack’s path.
It would be more accurate to say he threw his body in the way.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
“Kuh…”
The particles of light slammed into his body like machine-gun fire.
His pristine suit was scorched away, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air.
I had no intention of giving him a break.
“Bam!”
Screeeech!
At my call, the jet-black bird of prey that had been waiting flew in like a meteor through the large hole in the entrance.
Kieeeek!
Shrouded in black qi reinforcement, it accelerated and slammed straight into Alexei.
Craaaash!
A tremendous impact kicked up a cloud of dust and dirt.
“……”
But as the dust settled, what was revealed was…
Alexei, still standing firm, his feet planted on the ground.
His massive crescent moon blade was barely blocking Bam’s beak.
I could see his breathing had become ragged.
His hair was disheveled. He was clearly exhausted.
I aimed my spear and spoke.
“You really think… that damn god will bring your wife back for doing this?”
Alexei wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief and forced a smile.
“Well… I’m not so sure about that myself, but…”
He gave a slight shrug.
“I have to at least try, don’t I?”
I felt it was impossible to break Alexei’s will right now.
Protect Seong Si-woo.
If that was the Evil God’s command to him…
He would never disobey it.
But that also meant it was impossible to get past him and reach Seong Si-woo.
He was blocking every attack as if he were ready to throw his life away.
I had to make a decision, and fast.
Either focus solely on Alexei.
Or force my way through to stop the ritual.
I had to give up on one of them…
It was then.
‘Hae-in.’
Someone called my name inside my head.
It wasn’t a voice I heard with my ears, but I could tell who it was.
A voice that echoed and resonated.
It was Sion.
‘…Don’t be alarmed. Just think your reply quietly.’
‘Where are you now?’
Clang!
I parried an incoming attack and urgently asked in my mind.
Are you near the Cult’s headquarters?
‘The Vanquisher’s dorm, in the yard.’
“…?!”
I sucked in a sharp breath.
Telepathy is possible from that far away?
And… if he’s there, he can’t help.
‘Because the moon is bright.’
I paused my parry and instinctively looked up at the hole in the ceiling.
It was supposed to be broad daylight outside.
But the sky visible through the hole was…
A pitch-black night.
And in its center.
A cool full moon was hanging.
The full moon was shining directly down into this basement.
‘Artemis’s… Bow.’
The weapon I brought to her.
The moon goddess looks down upon the world from anywhere.
And anywhere the moonlight touches… is within Artemis’s range.
The concept of distance no longer existed.
In that case.
What I had to do was simple.
Pin him down.
So he can’t even be aware of the bow.
Focus all his nerves and senses solely on me.
Vroooom…
It was then.
The blood-red magic circle began to waver.
“It’s spatial teleportation!” Cheon Yeo-wool shouted.
The Evil God was preparing to teleport.
This was my last chance.
I immediately abandoned my defense.
I diverted all my mana into my attack.
“……!!”
I roared and let my power run wild.
The jade-green mana gathered at the tip of my spear blazed.
Phalanx.
Craaaaaash!
Startled, Alexei spread his massive crescent moon blade wide like a fan to block my attack.
My immense spear strike slammed straight into his defense.
However, there is always a price to pay for ignoring one’s defense.
Shunk…!
While blocking my spear strike, the tip of his crescent moon blade simultaneously rotated and pierced deep into my abdomen.
Along with a searing heat… I felt the cold sensation of metal protruding from my back.
But I didn’t back down.
Instead, I grabbed the blade embedded in my abdomen with my bare hands.
“I’m not… letting go.”
I smiled through a bloody mouth, putting all my strength into gripping his clothes.
His gaze was fixed squarely on me.
Alexei’s vision was filled with nothing but me.
In that moment.
The sounds of the world vanished.
…
Without a single sound.
A single streak of light flew in a horizontal trajectory.
Crumble.
There was no sound of impact.
Only a sound like a dry leaf turning to dust.
“……Ah?”
The arrow passed by.
And that arrow…
Crumble…
Had pierced Seong Si-woo’s heart.