Chapter 216

The inside of the church turned into chaos in an instant.

The reason was the sudden appearance of a monster inside the church.

‘To be precise, my chimera.’

“Kyaaah!”

“Uwaaah! What the…! A m-monster…!”

With the sudden appearance of a grotesque monster, it was only natural that the people inside the church were thrown into complete chaos.

Some ran away in panic, while others who were praying just sat down and wet themselves.

And for good reason, this mutant chimera was rated as Legend Grade.

Its bizarre and ferocious appearance was more than enough to instill fear.

In other words, it’s only natural for ordinary people to react like that.

“Ah…?”

Sister Res stood in front of me, mouth agape, completely dumbfounded. She seemed to have lost her mind in this situation.

Her brain probably froze, unable to process what was happening.

When faced with such a sudden and shocking event, the human brain tends to stop thinking.

“Ah… ah…”

From Sister Res’s perspective, I had just taken a seed from my pocket, thrown it on the ground, and it instantly transformed into a monster.

“Th-this… this is…”

There were no civilian casualties yet, but given the size of the monster, the inside of the church was a complete mess.

The statue symbolizing Metatron was shattered, lying on the ground.

My companions seemed to have never expected me to go this far, all of them wearing stunned expressions.

“Sister Res. Don’t just stand there like an idiot. Get out of the church now, or you’ll die.”

“Y-you… what, what have you done…? Were you a… a Dark Sorcerer?”

“Is that important right now?”

“Divine punishment will come… for doing this… Metatron’s divine punishment will come for you!”

“…Hahaha!”

Even in this situation, hearing her talk about Metatron and divine punishment was just ridiculous.

When she should be worrying about her own life, she spouts such useless nonsense, making me laugh involuntarily.

It was funny seeing her worship a god she doesn’t even understand.

‘How amusing.’

The beings above are just administrators.

The so-called gods worshipped by the indigenous people are not necessarily benevolent or omnipotent.

Anyway, I gave her enough chances. Whether she stays here and dies or not, it’s no longer my concern.

Sister Res isn’t someone who deserves to die, but death doesn’t discriminate.

I no longer had any obligation to care about her, so I was about to leave when…

“Stop! How dare you…! What have you done…! Did you release that monster?!”

‘Knights.’

I was about to ignore them, seeing no value in dealing with them.

“…Hey, can you handle this?”

“Huh? Oh, I guess.”

Yoon Yeon seemed quite flustered by my unfamiliar appearance.

“You… if this goes wrong…”

“That’s why I told you. In the worst case, we might make enemies with the Holy Kingdom.”

‘Well, the chances of it going that far are slim…’

Given that my backer is the Saintess, it’s unlikely to escalate to that level.

The so-called Saintess probably had her own reasons for letting me do as I please.

“…You have a valid reason for your actions, right?”

I just smiled at Yoon Yeon’s question. She’ll understand once she sees it for herself.

There was some impulsiveness in my actions, but I wasn’t doing this without any thought.

After all, if the Holy Kingdom’s people found out how the Saintess was created, they wouldn’t be able to avoid criticism.

As I didn’t answer their questions, the knights growled in anger.

“You crazy Dark Sorcerer bastard…!”

“All this talk about Dark Sorcerers, aren’t you tired of it? You don’t even know who you’re serving, do you?”

“Shut up! Releasing a monster in a place of worship is unprecedented in the history of the Holy Kingdom!”

‘Did I just do something unprecedented? That’s quite an honor.’

Looks like I’ve achieved something in life.

Since it didn’t seem like these guys would back down, I gave Wi Ho-yeon an order.

“Ho-yeon, neutralize them. If they resist too much, you can cut off their limbs.”

It’s not that the people standing in my way were guilty, but what could I do? This situation couldn’t be resolved through dialogue.

Wi Ho-yeon bit her lip and reluctantly answered.

“…Yes. I will follow Lee Yun-seong’s orders.”

From Wi Ho-yeon’s perspective, she didn’t understand why I was doing this, but she seemed to believe there was a reason behind my actions.

‘Loyalty is definitely a good thing.’

It saves me from unnecessary explanations.

Wi Ho-yeon drew her invisible sword and approached the knights.

The knights were visibly tense. They must have instinctively sensed that Wi Ho-yeon was a strong opponent.

“…Damn it.”

“Everyone, stay alert. She’s not an ordinary woman.”

Soon, five knights charged at Wi Ho-yeon, but I wasn’t too worried.

‘It’ll be over quickly.’

I was confident that five knights wouldn’t even require Yoon Yeon or Choi Ga-in to step in.

Boom!

“Ugh…!”

As expected, two of the five were knocked down in an instant.

“Damn it! Why, why would a strong person like you help such an evil Dark Sorcerer!”

“…Watch your words. He is the one I serve.”

“Foolish! To betray the will of the gods and pledge loyalty to such a person! Aren’t you afraid of divine punishment?!”

“I have no personal feelings toward you. I’m just following orders. And the only one who can punish me is one person.”

Wi Ho-yeon swung her sword, and in an instant, the opponent’s sword was cut in half.

“What the…!”

‘Indeed…’

Indeed, Wi Ho-yeon had become much stronger than before.





Probably the trigger was the fight with Gwi Chang and Baek Si-hoon.

‘She deserves to take the spot.’

Although she lost to Gwi Chang, after his death, the vacant ranker position was taken by Wi Ho-yeon.

Judging by her current state, she’s probably stronger now than when she fought Gwi Chang.

When I glanced at Yoon Yeon, she looked utterly shocked. Seems like Wi Ho-yeon’s level was way higher than she expected.

“…This is ridiculous.”

“Why?”

“Because her level has skyrocketed. Seems like she had a major breakthrough.”

“…How does she compare to Yeon unnie?”

Yoon Yeon is undoubtedly one of the top players on this continent.

Even among the top 10 rankers, her name is always mentioned among the strongest three.

She’s someone who never slacks off in training.

Wi Ho-yeon is also a training maniac, but Yoon Yeon is a hard worker recognized by everyone.

“Well… Honestly, I don’t think I’d lose if we fought, but I can’t picture an easy win either. Even if I win, it’d be really tough.”

“That much?”

Yoon Yeon is someone who judges herself and others very objectively, so her words are probably true.

From my perspective, this is great news.

After all, Wi Ho-yeon’s loyalty and affection for me are no less than Seo Yoo-ju’s.

I’d never do it, but if I ordered her to end her own life, she’d probably do it.

‘She’s definitely stronger than before.’

Wi Ho-yeon, who had just taken down five people in an instant, approached me and reported.

“Lee Yun-seong, everyone’s been subdued.”

The knights were all unconscious but unharmed. I told her she could cut them up if she wanted, but it didn’t seem like she would, given her personality.

“Good job, Ho-yeon.”

Anyway, with the obstacles gone, I was about to head to the church basement when a figure blocked my way.

“No… You can’t! What are you trying to do…! What are you planning to do to the children!”

“Sister Res.”

“I can’t let someone like you go down there. The children have just started to smile again. I’ll do whatever it takes…!”

“Sister Res. Please know your place. Even if you stand in my way, you can’t stop me.”

If I were her, I’d have run out of the church to seek help elsewhere.

What she’s doing is utterly pointless.

I get that she genuinely cares for the children, but if someone truly malicious were doing this, she’d just be throwing her life away.

Running away and calling for help would’ve been a much better choice.

“Even if I can’t stop you…! I have to stop you for the sake of those children. Do you know what you’ve done?! You’ve destroyed the sacred church!”

‘Sigh, annoying.’

I hate pointless conversations like this, so I just felt annoyed.

“Choi Ga-in. Please move Sister Res outside.”

“…Yes, understood.”

Thud!

“Ah…!”

In an instant, Choi Ga-in appeared behind Sister Res and struck the back of her neck.

Sister Res lost consciousness, and Choi Ga-in supported her.

“…I’ll leave her outside then.”

After leaving Sister Res outside, we began to enter the church basement.

“…There’s a basement in the church?”

“Yeah.”

“How… do you know about this? Did you investigate it separately?”

“I found out today too. Well, you’ll see soon. Honestly, I’m not angry, just kinda pissed off.”

“What?”

“Those bastards using God and whatever as excuses to justify themselves. It’s annoying to watch.”

“…….”

Yeah, I’m just annoyed.

It’s not about meddling or anything, I just don’t like it.

Honestly, whether those saintess candidates suffer or not isn’t my problem.

‘I’m not the type to care about every little thing like that.’

I’ve come too far for that.

The bishop might’ve harmed less than a hundred people, but the number of people I’ve hurt in my first run far exceeds that.

In other words, I’m in no position to lecture that bishop.

‘Damn, but do people really need a reason or justification to act?’

Sometimes, you just want to mess someone up for no reason. People don’t always need a clear reason to dislike someone.

There was the door. A pure white door with no other colors mixed in.

Clank.

I tried to open it, but it seemed locked.

“Yeon unnie, can you break this door?”

“Sure, no problem.”

Yoon Yeon threw a punch.

Bang!

Crack!

The door looked sturdy, but it couldn’t withstand Yoon Yeon’s punch.

After clearing the broken door, we moved inside, and the scene from before came into view.

Everyone inside was staring at us.

Behind the terrified children, there was a girl undergoing the stigmata process and the bishop’s panicked face.