The Cult Leader in the Clergy Academy

Chapter 258

—I know what you really desire.

Jin-Seo briefly lost consciousness after hearing the demon’s roar. When she opened her eyes, she was in total darkness.

Beyond the darkness, she heard a woman’s seductive voice. A familiar hallucination unfolded in front of her eyes.

In the hallucination, Jin-Seo was crying. The sound of rain could be heard outside the window. She cried alone, helplessly, as no one came to console her.

Then, a man came. He was soaked from the rain. As if trying to comfort the crying Jin-Seo, the man embraced her. The warmth from her body heated up the man’s cold, wet body. Jin-Seo and the man just held each other silently. The constant sound of falling rain filled the silence.

She had seen the same hallucination before when the demon from the examination site roared before it died.

Even though she knew that she was in a hallucination, she did not try to escape from it. She had been too happy. But now, she was not happy at all. No, in fact, she was disgusted.

"...This is getting old," Jin-Seo said with a wry smile. "You think this is all I want?"

—Oh...

The surprise was evident in the seductive voice as it echoed through the darkness.

Jin-Seo closed her eyes tightly and opened them.

Thud.

With a crack, she snapped out of the hallucination. Jin-Seo quickly regained her composure and assessed the situation. More demons poured out of the dead demon’s belly. Crusaders and priests struggled, unable to escape the hallucination created by the demon’s roar.

There was a demon in front of Jin-Seo as well.

Swish.

She slashed the demon’s neck with the sword in her hand. The demon thrashed around for a while even after its neck was severed. Then it disappeared, turning into smoke.

Jin-Seo stepped on the decaying bodies of the demon and the remaining residue with her foot, making a squelching sound.

Jin-Seo looked around, counting the number of demons in the area. Although there were many of them, they were all small in size. It would be easy to strike them down.

The accompanying crusaders and priests were all unconscious and had fallen due to the black magic, and even those who regained consciousness were not in the right state of mind to engage in the battle.

She had no choice but to defeat all the demons alone. She gripped the sword tightly and drew a blessing array.

Baaam─!

She charged forward, compressing the power of the blessing in a short time frame, a technique she had learned from Do-Jin. Thanks to her mastery of the technique, she could use it automatically without making a conscious effort.

She approached the demon who was just about to attack the director of the Northern Crusader Order while clutching her sword in her hands.

Krrk!

She struck the side of the demon’s head with the blade. Black blood splattered on the fallen director of the Northern Paladin Order and Jin-Seo's face.

The leader of the Northern Paladin Order jolted awake in surprise.

Jin-Seo wiped the demon's blood off her face with the back of her hand.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

The director of the Northern Paladin Order looked at Jin-Seo with a bewildered expression. He looked around, then chuckled and got up from his seat, brushing off his clothes.

"Hah, this is embarrassing. Thank you."

He gripped his sword and glared at the demon that was going to attack his comrades. After drawing the blessing array, he advanced toward them.

Jin-Seo confidently drew a blessing array and swiftly eliminated the demons in the area, one by one. She slashed their throats, pierced their hearts, and exploded their heads by hitting them with the flat side of her blade. Her once pristine clothes were gradually stained black from the blood of the demons she slayed. The ground she stepped on was filled with the black smoke emanating from the demons’ corpses.

Slash!

Just like that, she cut down countless demons. Despite swinging her sword numerous times, it seemed like the number of demons was not decreasing. Instead, it appeared that the more she killed, the more there were.

Jin-Seo gritted her teeth. The demons’ attacks kept injuring more and more people. She needed to move faster. With determination, she drew the blessing array and slammed the ground with the power of the blessing.

“Ugh!"

Her legs buckled as a sharp pain shot up from her knee. It felt like she had injured her joints. Jin-Seo tried to get up by force. However, she kept feeling pain in her right knee, making it impossible for her to stand up.

The demons seemed to have noticed that Jin-Seo was injured, as they gathered and slowly surrounded her.

“...”

The tiny demons that emerged from the giant demon’s belly were cunning. They only attacked the crusaders who had lost their minds to black magic, but when they saw Jin-Seo, they ran away without even looking behind them. However, now that Jin-Seo seemed to be injured, they immediately gathered to attack her.

Jin-Seo gripped her sword. Despite an injured knee, she could still wield her sword. Although she wouldn’t be able to kill them all, she could at least take down a few.

Crush!

At that moment, a spear flew out of the blue. The spear pierced through three of the heads of the demons surrounding Jin-Seo.

Jin-Seo's eyes widened. A spear throw strong enough to cause a gust of this caliber? She only knew one person who could display such skill.

"What are you doing? Are you hurt?"

"A little."

"Then you too—"

Before Sun-Woo could finish his sentence, a demon lunged at him, baring its sharp fangs. Sun-Woo casually held his spear up to impale the demon in the head. He then quickly pulled out the spear and swiftly took down the nearby demons.

He threw his spear, pulled it out by swinging or stabbing, and threw it again. The demon turned into black smoke without even getting a chance to put up a fight against him. The numerous demons disappeared in an instant.

Sun-Woo's spear skills were rough and in some ways primitive. He had no flashy techniques, but that made him even stronger.

"Phew."

After defeating all the demons, Sun-Woo caught his breath. Jin-Seo silently watched Sun-Woo.

She pointed to Sun-Woo's shoulder. "What's wrong with your arm?"

His right arm, which had thrown and swung the spear multiple times, was hanging loosely by his side. Even with a short glance, it looked like a serious injury. His shoulder looked like it would be pulled off from his body if he threw the spear one more time.

"Oh, it got dislocated." Sun-Woo casually mentioned it as if it was nothing, and he touched his right shoulder with his left hand.

Then, he suddenly exerted force.

Pop!

With a terrifying sound, Sun-Woo's dislocated shoulder snapped back into place. Jin-Seo’s mouth hung open as she stared at the unbelievable sight in front of her eyes.

Sun-Woo tested his right arm a few times as if to see if it moved properly, then nodded in satisfaction.

"If you're hurt, run away. You have enough strength in you to escape, right?"

"I think I'm okay. No, I'm fine," Jin-Seo said, shaking her head.

Then she stood up with the sword in her hand. Her knees still hurt, but she was doing much better than before. No matter how much it hurt, she wanted to fight alongside him. She didn’t want to lose.

***

I saw Jin-Seo staggering toward the demons with her sword in her hand. She didn't look too good, but I knew she’d be fine. I could help her if it looked like things became dangerous.

I focused again and started to concentrate on defeating the demons. As I fought the demons, my thoughts started to fade away. I couldn't even remember why I was defeating the demons to save the Romanican Church clergymen. Every time thoughts like that would pop up, I would remind myself that the reason I was killing these demons was for myself, not for the Romanican Church. I was building up achievements to join the Central Paladin Order.

[It’s been a while since I’ve participated in battles like these. It reminds me of the old days!]

Thud!

I ignored Bossou's words and threw the spear. It pierced straight through the demon's forehead. After throwing the spear, I picked up any nearby weapon and threw it toward the demon again. Thanks to the crusaders, I had an arsenal of weapons to choose from nearby.

Thankfully, I didn't have to retrieve the spear. I could just pick up any nearby weapon and throw it.

"..."

Amid the chaotic battle, I suddenly felt a gaze upon me. To be specific, I felt a sense of unease.

The number of demons in our proximity had noticeably decreased. Only Jin-Seo, Han Dae-Ho, and I were currently engaged in battle. Although Han Dae-Ho was strong, he was not particularly agile, and his method of defeating the demons one by one did not significantly reduce their numbers.

No, it must have been a mistake. With the increase in the number of combatants from two to three, it was natural for the number of demons to decrease at a faster rate. I put aside my doubts and raised my spear, aiming it at the demon in front of me.

Krrk!

Just before I could throw the spear, the demon’s head crumbled. The headless demon staggered for a moment before collapsing and turning into black smoke.

Initially, I thought it was a sniper from the Crusader Order who had shot with a shotgun, but it wasn't. Someone was moving at a speed invisible to the eye, destroying the demons’ heads.

"Sun-Woo."

"..."

The voice came from behind me. I only felt the presence of the speaker right after hearing their voice. I turned my head.

Joseph was smiling at me as usual while holding a mace. Black blood dripped from his mace, and something sticky that seemed to be demonic flesh was stuck to it.

"It's good to see you here. Do you know how upset I was because you didn’t call me back? What have you been up to?"

"I'm sorry. I've been busy."

"You must have been. I've been busy as well, thanks to you." Although Joseph's tone was relaxed and cheerful, there was also a hint of sarcasm and anger mixed in.

He looked at me with a grin. "That was an excellent throw of the spear. I didn't know you had such talent."

I swallowed nervously.

"Shall we catch up after this battle?" Joseph said, raising his mace and striding confidently toward a demon.

In a stance I had never seen before, he swung the mace. The demon’s head disappeared. Joseph adjusted his clothes immediately after the swing. Then, he approached the demon again and struck it with the mace.

Han Dae-Ho and Jin-Seo were also swiftly dealing with the demon, but they couldn't compare to Joseph.

I stopped fighting and watched Joseph's movements. With a light swing of his mace, he shattered the demons’ heads. His movements were extremely controlled, but I could see the underlying ferocity in them.

[I want to fight him,] Bossou said, his voice trembling with excitement. [I want to fight him while he’s wielding that mace.]

Clang.

Eventually, Joseph defeated the last remaining demon. Even after the battle, Joseph's clothes were neatly arranged, as he had adjusted them after each demon he vanquished.

After casually tossing the mace to the ground, he approached me.

"It's quiet now. We can finally have a conversation, don’t you think?"

[Prophet, raise your spear. Aim it at the head.]

I tried to ignore Bossou, but my heart started pounding uncontrollably. It wasn't my will. The battle intent from Bossou caused my heart to race.

I swallowed nervously and tried to catch my breath, but I couldn't. My breathing continued to quicken and became rougher.

[I wanted to fight right away. He is a worthy opponent!]

"Maybe this isn’t the place to talk? Yes, how about we get the Paladin Order you are currently assigned to—"

Click, clack.

The clear sound of clicking boots echoed. Joseph stopped speaking and turned to look in the direction of the sound.

His expression, which had a relaxed smile on his lips, stiffened. I also turned my head. A man was walking toward us, looking around at the fallen priests from the Department of Crusaders.

Splatter!

The man drew a dagger from his belt and cut his palm. Then he let the flowing blood into a blessing array, which shone brightly.

Pure and clear, the light of blessing gradually expanded, illuminating the area. The light spread out, enveloping the bodies of clergymen who had fallen under the influence of black magic.

"Filthy creatures," the man muttered, frowning as he watched the clergymen gradually coming to their senses.

I stared intently at the man's face. He also looked at me. A heavy silence filled the air.

"..."

Sung Yu-Da stared at me with a stern face.