The Church of Outsiders (2)

It’s the weekend, but the church was empty.

The entrance had been destroyed, and the church building was half-collapsed.

Dozens of Awakened individuals were hiding among the bushes.

No matter who saw it, it was obviously a situation with something shady going on.

Come to think of it, I remembered what I’d heard on the bus.

[These days at this crossroad, some strange swordsman is wandering around every night, you know? If those people were here, the student’s head would’ve flown right off.]

The sound of a blade scraping stone rang out.

It wasn’t hard to realize those “swordsmen” the driver had mentioned were these people.

According to him, their wanderings hadn’t happened just once, and the context suggested it was because of this church.

But as for why they targeted this particular church, and what their true identities were, I still didn’t know.

“Seongjin.”

“I know.”

Srrrk—

The branches rustled.

They were slowly approaching.

Despite emerging from the thicket, I couldn’t make out their forms, which suggested they had an invisibility skill, like Choi Sumin.

“Who are these people?”

“They’re probably here to attack the church.”

“But why?”

“That’s what we’re about to find out.”

There were 40 in total.

One was A-rank, and five B-rank.

The rest were classified as C-rank and D-rank.

“Sang-ah, you take the ones coming from the left. I’ll handle the right.”

“The left…?”

“That’s where the weakest ones are grouped. The ones on the right? They’re not for you yet.”

“Okay.”

It seemed she’d already realized the ones on the right were the strongest.

Sang-ah still struggled to face A-ranks unless she went berserk.

Last time, she’d been lucky and won—but it had been a razor’s edge.

After going berserk, she’d been covered in wounds.

Besides, now was the time to focus on fighting with her own strength, not relying on rage mode.

Thus, she needed to take on only the weakest opponents.

If she could even gain real combat experience, all the better.

Swish-!

“They’re coming!”

Someone creeping up from the left kicked off the ground.

The hunter, closing the distance in a flash, released their invisibility as they swung a sword.

Clang-!

A cold blue blade sliced directly at Sang-ah.

But it didn’t reach her neck—just got lightly blocked by her arm.

If it had been an ordinary human arm, it would’ve been severed, but her arm was covered in crimson scales.

“How did you know…?!”

“I could hear you!”

It seemed they could hide their bodies, but not their sounds.

Since Sang-ah’s hearing was sharp, they couldn’t fool her.

That meant she could also detect arrows flying from a distance, just by the sound.

Snatch-!

While she was blocking the sword, an arrow came flying, but Sang-ah easily caught it.

Then, with a quick decision, she stabbed the arrow into the attacking hunter’s arm.

“Kraaagh!”

Fwoosh—

While he writhed in pain, flames rose from Sang-ah’s scaly arm.

With a fist blazing like a torch, she struck the attacker’s face.

The figure flew off, crashing into the bushes where he’d been hiding. Soon, the other hidden hunters revealed themselves.

“That damn brat!”

“Don’t go easy just ’cause she’s a kid! Take her out!”

Their stealth blown, they drew the swords from their waists and encircled us.

Maybe they’d realized we weren’t easy prey for mere kids, so they didn’t attack recklessly.

They seemed trained and belonged to some organization.

Especially, the swords at their belts looked familiar.

For details… I’d have to ask the guy approaching rapidly from behind.

“Hey.”

“…!!”

Footsteps too fast for the eye. Sword drawn in a flash.

But the moment I spun around and threw a punch, the guy flinched and jumped back.

He must’ve been rattled by a kid reacting to his speed.

Not that I cared about such things.

****

“Just who ordered you to mess up the church like this?”

“…”

“Answer while I’m still being nice. Don’t waste time.”

The boy before him glared with fierce eyes.

That alone made A-rank hunter Ryu Hwan shiver.

He’d registered his speed with his own two eyes, even though it had been a surprise attack.

Instinctively, his hand on the sword trembled.

It felt ominous.

And sure enough—

Clatter—

“Huh…?”

The sword he’d just swung broke and hit the ground.

Judging from the break, it looked like a punch had done it, but he hadn’t even seen a fist strike the blade.

“You hiding back there, come on out too.”

“…”

From the bushes on the right, his subordinates appeared.

Now that they’d been found out, surprise attacks were meaningless.

Besides, after seeing Ryu Hwan’s sword break, it was doubtful they could win.

‘This one’s not ordinary.’

Ryu Hwan surreptitiously activated his earpiece communicator.

Just in case, so that this situation would be transmitted to his own guild.

This could end up being the final fight.

“For the great Lord Sura…!”

“For the cause!!”

As Ryu Hwan shouted, his subordinates responded in unison and gathered around him.

Soon, all their magic power began to flow into Ryu Hwan.

“Urgh…”

“May it…”

“For Lord Sura…”

“To victory…”

His underlings, entirely drained of their magic power, lost consciousness and collapsed.

Absorbing all their magic power, Ryu Hwan’s body started to grow.

Picking up his broken sword, it restored itself in his grip.

His size grew even more enormous.

“What’s with all the group nonsense?”

Watching the transformed Ryu Hwan, Ma Seongjin sighed.

He was reminded of an A-rank hunter he’d met long ago at the Yong-in Gate.

‘His name was Yun… Yun Jaeho, right?’

That man who became a kidnapper after being seduced by some cult, even after belonging to the Angel Guild.

Back then, he’d received a “black flame” buff or whatever—that power felt exactly like this one.

An A-rank hunter powered up by a buff.

“For Lord Sura… for the cause!!”

With another bizarre rallying cry, Ryu Hwan swung his massive sword.

Sang-ah, watching from the side, worried about Seongjin, but this wasn’t the time to be distracted.

“Ugh!”

Another arrow flew her way, forcing her to twist her head to dodge it.

The surrounding hunters launched a fierce attack.

They all seemed about C or D-rank, so her sturdy scales could block their swords easily.

But a counterattack wasn’t easy.

If she just kept defending, she’d never seize the advantage.

‘If only I went berserk, it’d be over quickly…’

But she’d promised Seongjin not to use rage mode except in emergencies.

Hadn’t she trained for this, to have a replacement technique?

This was the real-life test.

Bang-!

The group of them brought their swords down at once.

Sang-ah barely managed to block it, but was being pressed down.

To make matters worse, arrows were still flying at her.

〈Counter〉

But the arrows bounced away before they even reached her.

Not only that—the hunters pressing down on her were blasted away by a sudden shockwave.

While training with Seongjin, she’d mastered a new skill—Counter, which returned impact to the enemy as a wave.

‘Now’s my chance!’

While the enemies were exposed, Sang-ah dropped into a low animal stance.

Then, charging at high speed, she slashed at the hunters with her claws.

“Graaagh!”

“Guhh!”

“Arghhh!”

As they staggered, Sang-ah cut them down with her dragon claws.

The blazing sharp claws were fatal even to them.

“So that’s where you are!”

After taking them down, she glared at a certain spot.

Taking a deep breath, she expelled it in that direction.

Fwoooooosh-!!

All the way up to the treetop.

The hunter hiding there, shooting arrows, was startled by the jets of flame shooting up at him.

“Eek!”

It was too late to defend; he was burnt black on the spot.

The tree caught fire too, but luckily didn’t start a forest fire.

She’d trained under Seongjin to be able to control even such details.

****

“Craaaagh!!”

Having absorbed the strength of his comrades and grown massive, the guy charged at me.

But despite the power up, I had him pinned, his arm twisted.

‘It’s similar to that Yun Jaeho guy’s power…’

Back when Yun Jaeho powered up with the black flame, I’d been pushed back.

It wasn’t until I took on the Demon King form that I could overpower him.

But this guy—well, he was just out of luck compared to Yun Jaeho.

I haven’t been slacking since then.

“Come on. Give it a rest, will you?”

“Ugh…!”

But the more I looked at these guys, the more suspicious it all felt.

Why would members of a sizable organization target such an ordinary church?

Maybe they knew about the “not-so-ordinary” parts of the church.

“Spill it while I’m still being nice. Who sent you? Why did you destroy this church?”

“…”

He didn’t look like he meant to answer.

So, I lit a black flame on his arm.

“It’d be smart to talk before your arm turns to charcoal.”

“AAAAAGH!!”

He writhed in pain as his hand burned.

Before long, the terror of never using that hand again forced him to open his mouth.

“Sura… We’re part of the Sura Guild!”

“Sura? You mean that big Chinese guild?”

As soon as he talked, I lowered the flame’s heat.

I had heard plenty of “Lord Sura this and that” a moment ago.

“Why would that huge guild target a little church in the sticks?”

“That’s…”

He seemed reluctant to answer.

So I showed him Sang-ah’s mother’s bracelet.

“Is it because of this, by any chance?”

“…!!”

He froze when he saw the mark on the bracelet.

“You—how did you get that…!”

He definitely recognized something.

To Earthlings, it was just a drawing of a religious symbol—

But for him to react so sensitively, there was clearly more to it.

For example… he might not be from Earth.

“Let’s change the question then. What about the pastors here? Don’t tell me you killed them all?”

How he answered this would determine what happened to him.

He stammered out, trembling.

“We… We didn’t kill them. There was no one inside…”

“Why are you looking for those people?”

“You should listen to me, too. This church isn’t an ordinary one… It’s a place that worships demons!”

He pleaded desperately.

“The demon who dragged down God and slaughtered Him, bringing ruin to the world! You must never let a group that worships that thing go free!”

“…”

“All this is for the sake of ‘Earth.’ If you want to live, you should cooperate, too!”

The instant I heard those words… I froze.

I’d known Mewzealand’s people had come to Earth, but assumed it was only a handful.

But hearing him talk, I had a bad feeling.

“That your Sura Guild’s ideology?”

“You could say that. To defeat that demon… we shall bring forth the existence of ‘Sura’. For the sake of Earth!”

“…”

It seemed it wasn’t just a few, but a large number had settled here.

And that Sura Guild, biggest in the vast land of China—

It looked like that massive organization had become the Mewzealanders’ den.

No, not “become”—maybe it was created by them from the start.

“Haa…”

I couldn’t help but sigh.

My ominous intuition was dead on.

“But listen. There’s one thing I need to tell you.”

“What is it?”

I chuckled involuntarily.

Then I took the communicator out of his ear and crushed it.

That was his clumsy attempt to send word to home base.

Then, I said:

“That ‘demon’—is me.”

“What?”

The moment he heard that, he tensed up.

His hand was hot… but the air turned cold.

A chill beyond words gripped him.

Suddenly, the black flame on his hand burned even brighter.

“Huh…?”

Fwooooosh-!

“AAAAAAAH!!”

Now, not just his hand and arm—his entire body began to burn.

I let go of his pinned arm, and he writhed in pain, staring up at me.

“You… you—!”

But unable to finish his words, he turned to ash.

Since they hadn’t killed the church people, I’d wanted to end it painlessly—

But judging by his words, he was definitely from Mewzealand.

Those bastards who treated our people as toys.

These kinds who showed not the slightest respect for the rights of any being besides humans.

There’s no place for peaceful rest for such creatures.

‘You say the world was destroyed? That’s your own damn fault.’

And what he said turned out to be true.

He hadn’t harmed anyone, it seemed.

An “Observer” searching the church basement detected signs of life.

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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