Chapter 152
“Se-hee unnie!”
“Sorry I’m late!”
“No, you’re not late at all. Perfect timing.”
“That’s a relief. So, the opponents… there are two?”
“…Including the woman at your feet, it’s three.”
Jo Se-hee casually and coolly snapped Eruogens’ neck.
“This one’s out now.”
If it were other heroes, they might have hesitated about whether to kill an already subdued opponent… but Jo Se-hee was a villain-turned-hero.
She had no sense of duty, and her moral compass as a hero was practically nonexistent.
Since she didn’t consider Satan Church believers as human, she didn’t hesitate for a second to take Eruogens’ life.
Jo Se-hee’s appearance completely flipped the flow of the situation.
Jeong Gyeoul, who had been fighting to protect Lee Ha-yoon while outnumbered, was now free.
In fact, they were now ahead in numbers.
“Se-hee unnie, Ha-yan. Can you handle that guy for a bit?”
“That’s it?”
“That’s enough.”
Jeong Gyeoul, who had asked Jo Se-hee and Lee Ha-yoon to take care of Fury, slowly raised her sword.
Gula, who stood where Jeong Gyeoul’s sword was pointing, flinched.
Was it fear?
Or was it because the aura of Jeong Gyeoul, who had her sword aimed, was overwhelmingly massive?
What followed was utterly overwhelming.
The moment Gula felt Jeong Gyeoul move, she was already standing right in front of her.
Gula reacted belatedly and swung her sword at her, but Jeong Gyeoul’s sword was faster.
First Form, Thunder Strike.
Jeong Gyeoul swung her sword like lightning, slicing through Gula’s shoulder.
It didn’t cut off the arm, but the flesh was more than halfway torn, and blood poured endlessly.
“Kyaaaaah!”
“Shut up!”
Whoosh—
The sword, leaving a silver trail, continued to swing.
The sound of the sword cutting through the air was crisp and refreshing.
Craaack!
Gula desperately flailed her intact arm to block Jeong Gyeoul’s attacks.
Just blocking Jeong Gyeoul’s seemingly random swings was already exhausting.
“Fury! Damn it, Fury! Save me!”
“….”
Gula desperately called for Fury, hoping for salvation.
She thought fighting Fury would be much easier than dealing with this monstrous woman.
‘That crazy bitch! Someone’s holding off two against one here!’
If Gula was lost in this situation, there was no hope.
She tried to move to help Gula somehow, but….
Due to Jo Se-hee and Lee Ha-yoon’s relentless pressure and interference, she couldn’t get close to Gula.
In the end, Gula had no choice but to desperately defend without any help.
Splat!
The sound of flesh tearing could be heard.
Gula’s body was now filled with torn wounds and the blood pouring from them.
“Kuuuaaah! You crazy bitch!”
Gula cursed at Jeong Gyeoul, who showed no mercy, but Jeong Gyeoul didn’t even acknowledge it, swinging her sword like a machine.
Her movements were so fast it was like watching a cut-and-paste edited video.
With each frame cut, new wounds and screams emerged, and Gula’s body became more drenched in blood.
Thud!
This time, the sound was different from the earlier tearing of flesh.
It felt more blunt.
“Kuh… gurgle… sa… save me….”
The blade that pierced Gula’s abdomen came out through her back.
In response to her plea for salvation, only cold eyes met her.
“Have you ever saved someone who begged for their life?”
“….”
At Jeong Gyeoul’s words, Gula remembered all the people she had killed in her life.
‘Damn… is this how it felt?’
Gula had never imagined she’d be on the receiving end of death.
Before this fight began, she had no doubt that the Satan Church, empowered after Satan’s descent, would sweep the world.
But fate didn’t flow as she wished.
Splat!
The sword that had pierced Gula’s abdomen and stirred her internal organs was pulled out.
A spray of blood as long as the sword erupted as Gula fell backward.
The long-standing evil ties of the Satan Church were being severed one by one.
Jeong Gyeoul left Gula’s corpse behind and began ransacking the church.
But no path revealed itself.
‘It’s not here… it can’t be….’
Jeong Gyeoul’s family wasn’t inside the church.
She was sure they were supposed to be here, but they were nowhere to be seen.
That left only the underground.
After confirming that Jo Se-hee and Lee Ha-yoon were pushing Fury back.
Jeong Gyeoul searched for a way to the underground to find her family as quickly as possible, but no matter how much she searched the church, no path downward appeared.
In the end, Jeong Gyeoul gave up searching and rejoined Jo Se-hee and Lee Ha-yoon.
“…Unnie! Ha-yan! We need to subdue that bastard!”
“Got it!”
“I don’t know what’s going on, but… I’ll subdue him first!”
***
Fury had been fighting 3 against 1 earlier, just like Jeong Gyeoul, but unlike Jeong Gyeoul, he couldn’t hold out.
Even in a 1-on-1 fight, he couldn’t beat Jeong Gyeoul, let alone 3 against 1.
Fury being subdued was a foregone conclusion.
“Kuh… you cowards!”
“…What’s he saying?”
Jeong Gyeoul’s telekinesis, Lee Ha-yoon’s magic, and Jo Se-hee’s strength simultaneously pressed down on Fury, leaving him unable to move.
“Tell us where the path to the underground is.”
Jeong Gyeoul used her telekinesis to press down on Fury’s body while grabbing his neck.
His face turned red as if it might burst at any moment.
“Kuh, heh heh heh. Kill… kill me….”
Even as she tightly squeezed his neck, Fury only laughed.
He showed a strong will not to reveal anything.
“Move aside, Gyeoul.”
“…Okay.”
Jo Se-hee stepped forward with a dagger, as if she intended to torture Fury.
But….
Thud—
Her dagger cleanly sliced off Fury’s head.
“…Unnie!”
The only person who could guide them to the underground had just been killed by Jo Se-hee.
Jeong Gyeoul looked at Jo Se-hee with disbelief.
Jo Se-hee also shook her head, looking at Jeong Gyeoul as if she were exasperated.
“Gyeoul… what did Jeong Ha-yul teach you? You’re still so rigid.”
“…?”
“…?”
Jeong Gyeoul and Lee Ha-yoon didn’t understand what Jo Se-hee was talking about.
But as soon as they saw Jo Se-hee’s next move, they immediately understood what she meant.
Craaash—
Jo Se-hee channeled magic power into her fist and smashed through the floor.
“…Amazing.”
“Why didn’t I think of that…?”
If there was no path to the underground, they’d just make one.
Since they couldn’t sense any presence below, there was no need to worry about hostages getting hurt.
“Let’s go down now.”
The three jumped into the newly created hole, moving quickly as if they had no time to waste.
They searched every corner of the underground while using magic to sense the entire area, trying to locate Jeong Ha-yul, Yoo Eun-chae, and Baek Kang-woo.
But none of the family members were found.
“…Where are they! Unnie! Oppa!”
As time passed, the anxiety and unease grew harder to hide.
Then, Jo Se-hee and Lee Ha-yoon returned to Jeong Gyeoul after finishing their search.
“…They weren’t there either.”
“All I found were some bizarre books.”
“My side was full of weapons.”
In the end, they found nothing.
“Let’s go down another level.”
“…Is there a second floor?”
“Gyeoul, are you sure they’re here?”
“Absolutely!”
Jeong Gyeoul distanced herself from Lee Ha-yoon and Jo Se-hee and punched the floor.
“There’s a second floor… let’s go.”
The second underground level also yielded nothing significant.
It seemed like they were trying to research chimeras, as there were several monster corpses fused together, and there was also what appeared to be a resting room.
“One more level! We’ll keep breaking through until we find them!”
The further down they went, the more sinister the atmosphere became.
Finally, on the fourth underground level, they found Yoo Eun-chae and Baek Kang-woo imprisoned.
They looked emaciated, as if they hadn’t eaten for ten days, and their dry eyes showed a sense of confusion.
“Oppa! Unnie!”
“…Gyeoul? Is that really you?”
“Yes, it’s me! Jeong Gyeoul!”
Jo Se-hee quickly fed them potions, as they seemed both mentally and physically exhausted.
Finally, the haze in their eyes seemed to clear.
“Gyeoul! Hurry down to the sixth underground level!”
“The sixth level? Is Ha-yul unnie there?”
“We were captured as hostages before we could even fight properly. They’re doing some kind of ritual there. You need to save her quickly!”
Baek Kang-woo relayed what he had heard while imprisoned to Jeong Gyeoul.
“Se-hee unnie! Can you take care of our family?”
“Of course, I’ll protect them. Go ahead.”
Jeong Gyeoul left Jo Se-hee with Kang-woo and Eun-chae and headed straight to the sixth underground level with Lee Ha-yoon.
The sixth underground level was different from the others; the entire space was wide open, visible at a glance.
And… in the center, a reverse pentagram was drawn in blood.
Jeong Ha-yul lay on top of it.
“Ha-yul unnie!”
She seemed unconscious, not reacting to Jeong Gyeoul’s voice.
The cult leader was the same.
Even though it was clear that Jeong Gyeoul’s intrusion meant the apostles were all dead and the ritual would soon be disrupted, the cult leader showed no movement.
Instead, feeling uneasy, Jeong Gyeoul slowly approached the center.
The moment she got close enough to see the cult leader’s face.
Flash—
The cult leader opened his eyes.
“…ST-156 has come to me on its own.”
