Climbing up the mountain, the building I witnessed.

It was unmistakably the Satan Church to anyone who saw it.

A location that would never be noticed unless someone deliberately came looking.

Jeong Gyeoul was convinced that the Satan Church had taken her family.

If so, the place where other heroes headed was as good as a bust.

Of course, villains committing crimes there would be waiting, but…

What’s important now for Jeong Gyeoul and those helping her isn’t just any villain but Jeong Ha-yul, Yoo Eun-chae, and Baek Kang-woo.

“Hayan, I posted on the group chat that we found it.”

“…We found the Satan Church, but is Ha-yul unnie really there?”

“Yeah, definitely, Eun-chae unnie, Kang-woo oppa, and Ha-yul unnie are all inside.”

“I just posted the coordinates here, they’ve read it, so they’ll come this way.”

“Then let’s go in.”

“…Aren’t we waiting for backup?”

“It’s not that we’re not waiting, we can’t wait.”

It’s already been 10 days since the kidnapping.

We don’t know if they’re being fed, given water, tortured, or what the situation is, so every minute and second is precious.

The difference of a moment could mean losing them, so Jeong Gyeoul couldn’t help but be impatient.

“…Alright, then let’s go in as carefully as we can.”

“Let’s go.”

Jeong Gyeoul slowly stretched her limbs, warming up.

As she rotated her magic power, a fierce noise erupted from her body as if an engine was running.

“Woooooong—”

“…What? Your body makes that sound?”

“…I just warmed up lightly as usual, and this happened.”

The magic power flowing inside her body wriggled as if it had a will of its own, slowly seeping out.

The leaked magic power, unintended, wrapped around Jeong Gyeoul’s body, protecting her, lightening her weight, and aiding her movements.

“…A magic version of the Hero Suit or something?”

“…I don’t know either.”

Even though Jeong Gyeoul didn’t intend it, the magic power moved appropriately for the situation.

Her eyes glowed blue with magic, and magic power surged out with each breath.

Her presence far surpassed what a human could possess.

‘…It’s like seeing a transcendent species I only read about in books.’

Lee Ha-yoon couldn’t bring herself to say, “You’re like a monster,” to Jeong Gyeoul and only thought it to herself.

Carefully, slowly, quietly.

Unlike the initial plan to infiltrate the church stealthily, it was too noisy.

Jeong Gyeoul just lightly warmed up, but it was so unusual that the four apostles in the Satan Church couldn’t help but notice.

“…What’s this?”

“You’re talking about what’s being felt outside, right? Damn, I thought I was imagining it.”

“I thought everything was over once we got Jeong Ha-yul… Where did this monster come from!”

“At least it’s not the S-class from Korea, we’ve checked all their powers.”

“This feels familiar, isn’t it ST-156?”

At Gula’s words, recalling the magic sphere that swept away the followers in the academy’s auditorium, Fury responded.

“…I’m not sure, maybe Park Seol-hwa was more outstanding than we thought…”

“As the Apostle of Pride, it’s not something I should say, but I don’t have the confidence to win against that.”

Eruogens, uncharacteristically, froze.

“What are you talking about? Say it so I can understand.”

Meanwhile, Rage alone seemed not to understand and was frustrated.

“Damn it!”

Eruogens turned her head sharply towards Fury.

“How long will it take?”

“The ritual? Or until that monster kills us?”

“Of course, the ritual! Once that’s successful, that thing is nothing!”

“About an hour, after that, we can corrupt Jeong Ha-yul’s mind.”

The Satan Church’s leader was in the process of summoning Satan.

The ritual to corrupt Jeong Ha-yul’s mind and make her receptive to Satan was underway.

“Once that’s done, Satan will descend immediately, right?”

“Yes, even now, he’s watching from the demon realm.”

“…Then we just need to hold out for an hour.”

“The important thing is, even if we all die and become corpses, we must not let the leader be reached.”

“If you had explained it this easily earlier, how much better it would have been! Anyway, ST-156 is that terrifying presence, and even if we die, we just need to stop it, right? Got it.”

Finally, as if his curiosity was satisfied, Rage smiled.

“…They’re coming!”

Kwaaaaaang!

Originally, there was no one to come here, so no locks were set.

Even though it was a thick iron door, it would slide open if pushed.

But as if to seize the initiative, the door crumpled like paper.

“Pfft, it’s so different from when Eruogens broke through Infinite Cheongdam.”

“…Don’t make me curse in this situation.”

The iron door that flew inside landed in front of the apostles.

A deafening noise erupted, but no one paid attention.

If anyone turned their head, blinked, or tried to cover their ears at the noise, they might die.

Sure enough, a flash of light shot from outside the church.

Whoooosh— Kwaang!

“…A dagger?”

The dagger flew towards Eruogens’ neck.

Anticipating an attack through the fallen door, she barely managed to block it.

“That was a critical strike…”

As the four apostles predicted, ST-156, Jeong Gyeoul, walked in through the breached main gate.

Her body was semi-transparent, as if under some perception debuff.

Yet, Jeong Gyeoul’s striking appearance wasn’t hidden, and the apostles could recognize her.

“That… she’s wrapped in magic power.”

“Isn’t that really inefficient?”

“For us, yes… but that monster seems different.”

They didn’t even glance at Lee Ha-yoon, who followed in.

Jeong Gyeoul’s overwhelming presence was too much.

“Am I too late? Where’s my family?”

“You’ve gained some power from the seal breaking, ST-156. But you’re just a sacrifice to Satan, a disposable tool we created!”

“…ST-156? A sacrifice? Created?”

ST-156 had escaped to Korea, her homeland, when the lab was destroyed.

She found a slum where people rarely went.

Not long after, realizing her body couldn’t handle the excessive magic power and would break, she sealed her abilities sevenfold.

In the process, she lost consciousness and fell into a deep sleep, but the current Jeong Gyeoul possessed her and woke up.

But Jeong Gyeoul, unaware of this, couldn’t understand the apostles’ words.

“Is that my origin story? Or some dramatic twist?”

If the situation were different, she would have used every means to make them tell the truth.

But the origin, the reason for possession, the method of possession—none of that mattered now.

What mattered was her family’s safety.

“Whatever, you’re all dead now.”

“…Arrogant bitch.”

Jeong Gyeoul sneered.

“Kill her!”

At Fury’s words, the four apostles charged at Jeong Gyeoul.

Instead of immediately responding, Jeong Gyeoul calmly watched them.

Even compared to S-class heroes, they wouldn’t easily be pushed back, and it was a 4 vs. 2 fight.

No matter how strong she had become, she hadn’t fully adapted to her new magic power.

She was confident she wouldn’t lose to them, but they weren’t pushovers.

Moreover, these were just the Satan Church’s apostles.

Above them was the leader, who was likely with Jeong Ha-yul.

She wasn’t sure if she could save her family after expending significant magic power against them and reaching the leader.

‘But what if they’re just buying time?’

She didn’t know what tricks they were playing inside…

If they used Eun-chae and Kang-woo as bait or did something to subdue Jeong Ha-yul, she could just kill them.

There was no need to keep Jeong Ha-yul alive.

Jeong Gyeoul recalled Fury’s earlier words.

-You were just a sacrifice to Satan.

‘Were’ is past tense.

That means they’ve either given up on summoning Satan or have a new sacrifice.

‘That must be Ha-yul unnie…’

She realized time was running out.

Jeong Gyeoul had to quickly break through the four apostles and rescue Jeong Ha-yul from the leader’s grasp.

The four apostles had to buy as much time as possible for the leader by holding off Jeong Gyeoul.

They clashed, each aiming for their own goals.

As the four apostles charged, Jeong Gyeoul wasn’t just standing idly by.

She secretly drew in magic power and, timing it right, drew her Yodo.

Ra Sword, Mid-Level Move “Falling Star”

She was still stuck at the first form, having not learned the second.

But that was enough.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaang—

A roar incomparable to when the iron door crumpled erupted.

Half of the church building was blown away by the sword wind.

“Uuuuaaaah!”

“What kind of sword wind is this!”

“The power is no joke!”

The apostles helped Rage block the sword.

Even with all four blocking, Rage’s elbow bent, and bone protruded from his flesh.

“I’ll kill you!”

Rage’s eyes turned red, drool dripped from his mouth, and he exhaled heavily.

He proved he was the Apostle of Rage, enraged the moment his elbow broke.

To the point of losing reason.

“No! Rage! Snap out of it!”

“…In this situation, how important one person is, we’re about to lose one,”

“Let’s coordinate as much as we can, if we can keep him alive until he regains his senses, it’ll help somehow.”

But Jeong Gyeoul wouldn’t miss this chance.

“Hayan! Ice Spear!”

“I was waiting!”

Lee Ha-yoon shot out Ice Spears, having gathered magic power, 30 spears poured out.

Jeong Gyeoul imbued each spear with telekinesis.

The result was different from before.

Previously, controlling over ten Ice Spears at once showed unnatural movements, even pausing at times…

Now, they flew smoothly as if each had a will of its own.

But that didn’t mean the power within was gentle.

The Ice Spears, moving as if alive, shot forward.

“Damn it! Is this even possible!”

“Shut up and just block!”

The apostles frantically began blocking the Ice Spears.

Rage, having lost reason to rage, couldn’t even charge at Jeong Gyeoul, busy blocking the spears.

The Ice Spears, with increasingly dazzling movements, pressured the apostles, and with Lee Ha-yoon’s support from behind, they were pushed back, forced to create distance.

Eventually, the four apostles were all scattered.

“Now it’s just you.”

“Uaaaaah!”

Jeong Gyeoul began walking towards Rage.