Chapter 43
"Hey!" Min-Seo shouted at Sun-Woo. She was out of breath because she had been chasing after the demonic beast. After shouting, she sat down to catch her breath for a moment. Whenever she fell behind in pursuit of the demonic beast, she used a blessing to increase her speed. Whenever she was tired, she used healing to force her body to continue. It wasn’t exactly because of the determination to save the other children. Rather, it was just to prove a hypothesis that popped up in her head.
"Hey, you. Wheeze. Flashlight, no. Cell phone. Do you have a cell phone or a laser pointer?”
“...”
Sun-Woo didn't listen to Min-Seo. He just stared blankly at the flying demonic beasts. The focus in his eyes looked to be blurred yet clear. It was impossible to figure out what he was thinking. Min-Seo frowned at Sun-Woo, who seemed to be ignoring whatever she was saying.
“Do you have a cell phone? You deaf id—”
“Shut up.”
“What the hell is wrong with this crazy bastard... What are you doing?"
Min-Seo stared blankly at Sun-Woo as if she was dumbfounded. With his gaze fixed on the demonic beast, Sun-Woo picked up a stone on the ground. The stone was about the size of a fist. Sun-Woo held the stone firmly in his right hand and took a pitching stance. It seemed like he was going to throw a stone to hit the demonic beast. It was a stupid decision that was beyond recklessness. There was no way he could hit a demonic beast that had already risen tens of meters into the sky with a crude stone like that.
“You retard, do you really think that’s going to...”
Rumors were usually nonsense. That was why she thought that all the rumors about Sun-Woo were either exaggerated or false. However, this guy was more stupid and idiotic than in the rumors. Min-Seo shook her head and let out a deep sigh. Sun-Woo ignored her and threw the stone.
Smack.
Immediately after, a dull splat sound echoed through the sky. Min-Seo was lamenting Sun-Woo’s incompetence while revising her plan when she raised her head. That sound had come from the stone that Sun-Woo had thrown and pierced the demonic beast's heart.
Sun-Woo immediately picked up the next stone and threw it again.
Smack.
The same sound rang out. The two demonic beasts that lost their hearts soon lost their strength and stopped flapping their wings. Jin-Seo and Jun-Hyuk, who were dangling from the mouths of the demonic beasts, fell violently to the ground.
Sun-Woo was getting ready to run by lowering his stance. It looked like he intended to catch them directly with his body. This was a really reckless idea. No matter how fast he was, it was impossible to catch two people with one body. Even if he caught them, it was clear that he would be seriously injured.
Min-Seo fired divine power almost instinctively without even thinking. Now was not the time for her to insist on proving her hypotheses. She had already depleted most of her divine power from chasing the demonic beast, but she had enough left to draw two blessing arrays.
'Now.'
Min-Seo counted the seconds inwardly, and when the time was right, she unleashed the blessing arrays. Min-Seo fused the intermediate blessing of peacefulness and the intermediate blessing of solitary yang.
The two incompatible blessing arrays, peacefulness and solitary yang, intertwined. The strokes she drew twisted and distorted together. The blessing array eventually lost its original shape and directly emitted the energy of the divine power itself rather than the light of a blessing.
Boom-!
An explosion occurred. With an explosion that was loud enough to ring in the ears, Jun-Hyuk and Jin-Seo’s falling bodies floated in the air for a brief moment. The shockwave generated by the explosion stopped them from falling. It would hurt a little, but it was better than dying.
“Fusion doesn’t work, but the collision works insanely well. How annoying,” Min-Seo muttered to herself while laughing self-deprecatingly.
Sun-Woo seemed a little taken aback by the sudden explosion, but he let out a sigh of relief when he saw that Jun-Hyuk and Jin-Seo landed mostly unscathed.
Min-Seo looked at Sun-Woo in amazement.
"Hey."
Before Sun-Woo could answer her, she immediately spat, “What the heck are you doing? What were you thinking to be doing something as stupid as that? What if the students got hit?”
Sun-Woo seemed a little taken aback by the bold reproach, but he soon spoke with a calm expression.
“They didn’t get hit.”
His tone of voice expressed his shamelessness as if he hadn't considered the possibility that the stone he threw would miss. His shamelessness was so excessive that it appeared to reach the level of confidence. Min-Seo absent-mindedly stared at Sun-Woo and let out a dry laugh.
‘What a totally crazy bastard,’ she thought.
* * *
“—What were you thinking to be doing something as stupid as that? What if the students got hit?” Min-Seo asked harshly. The sound was faint. Only the sounds of her heartbeat and breathing were clear. My whole body was hot, as if my blood was boiling, and my muscles tickled and ached.
It was because of Bossou's power. Bossou's power, which was restored after offering a sacrifice, was strong enough to far exceed my expectations.
“They didn’t get hit.”
My eyes were only chasing the demonic beast, and the stone I threw precisely pierced its heart. I believed in Bossou, and I believed in his power, so I didn't think I would miss my shots in the first place.
The only thing I wasn’t sure about was the explosion that occurred right after. The shockwave created by the explosion stopped Jun-Hyuk and Jin-Seo from falling, allowing both of them to land without serious injuries.
However, I still didn’t know why the explosion had occurred. Well, the truth was, I had an idea of who was behind it
“Min-Seo.”
"What."
“How did you do it?”
The Holy Name of Kindness, Min-Seo. She deployed two blessing arrays just before Jin-Seo and Jun-Hyuk hit the ground. And she forcibly fused them together. A collision phenomenon occurred, which resulted in an explosion. Min-Seo intentionally caused an explosion by utilizing the collision phenomenon.
[It was a gamble with her life as collateral.]
If there was even a slight error in the calculations during the process of creating the explosion, then not only Jun-Hyuk and Jin-Seo, but Min-Seo herself would have perished after getting caught in the explosion. It was a gamble with the lives of three people at stake.
“What do you mean, ‘How did I do it?’ I just did it.” Min-Seo answered as if it wasn’t a big deal. Considering the fact that she had just risked the lives of three people, including herself, she was too calm and unconcerned.
“What if everyone got caught up in it?”
“How did you... What if... You’ve been bugging me about this shit since earlier. Look at the results. Everything worked out.”
Min-Seo frowned and cursed at me. She was definitely the Holy Name of Kindness, but her way of speaking was very unkind.
She twisted her lips and smiled eerily as she added, “And if it weren’t for me, they’d all be dead. Shouldn’t you thank me first?”
“Even if you weren’t there, I would have figured it out on my own.”
“What a load of bullshit, seriously...” Min-Seo cynically remarked.
It was true that it made things a little easier, but even if Min-Seo hadn’t been here, I would have taken care of everything on my own.
Leaving behind Min-Seo muttering a string of curses, I walked toward Jin-Seo and Jun-Hyuk. Jun-Hyuk got up on his own and brushed away the dust and leaves on his body. His body was tough, so it didn’t look like I had to worry about him.
The problem was Jin-Seo. Perhaps she had seriously injured herself somewhere because she couldn’t get up easily.
“Are you hurt?” I asked as I reached out my hand to Jin-Seo. She grabbed my hand as if she had been waiting for this and quickly got up from the ground.
Looking at her now, she was completely fine with no injuries. It seemed like I didn't even need to give her a hand.
“I’m not hurt.”
“So why weren’t you getting up?”
“...I’m not so sure," Jin-Seo said resignedly as she brushed off the dust from her clothes. Unlike usual, the corners of her eyes were drooping slightly. Her face looked slightly sullen.
Looking closely at her, I noticed that the bracelet she always wore on her wrist was broken. It seemed like the shock of her fall had broken it. She clenched it dearly with her left hand. As I blatantly stared at her hand, Jin-Seo hid her left hand behind her back as if she was shy. And she pursed her lips for a while.
Eventually, she opened her mouth. “This–”
Flash.
At that moment, a flash of light cut her off. I lifted my head and looked at the sky. New demonic beasts were circling above our heads and flying as if they were threatening us. A thin ray of sunlight shone weakly through the cracks in the dark clouds—that was the only ray of light.
I carefully picked up a stone that had fallen on the ground. I aimed to shoot down the birds by throwing stones, just like before.
Flash.
Before I could even grab a stone, a flash occurred again. Along with the flash, a demonic beast suddenly changed its orbit. Then, through the pitch-black darkness, the beast descended at a tremendous speed. The sharply erect demonic beast's beak was pointing directly at me.
Crack!
However, the beak only hit a small rock. Just like that, the rock crumbled and turned into powder. If Jin-Seo hadn't pulled on my wrist, I would have been shattered instead of the rock. It looked like it was going to be impossible to hit the demonic beast by throwing stones like before.
"Are you okay?" she asked while crushing my wrist. It hurt a little.
“I’m fine, could you please let go?”
"Oh, sorry."
She hastily released my wrist. I checked for a while to see if my wrist was still attached and then looked at Jin-Seo. She was sharply glaring at the demonic beasts flying high in the sky.
"Do you see them?"
Dark clouds covered the sun. Even though light was leaking through the cracks, it was still dark. Within the darkness, Jin-Seo grabbed my wrist and helped me avoid a demonic beast's attack. That meant that she was able to see and read the movements of the demonic beasts within the darkness.
“If I focus,” she said while nodding her head. Her dynamic visual acuity was unbelievable—her eyes were still chasing the demonic beast.
Immediately after descending, the demonic beast glided up and ascended into the sky. Just like before, it flew around in the sky. The sight of it flapping its huge wings resembled a dragon instead of a bird. For a while, the demonic beasts continued to only fly above us.
“What the hell is this situation?”
Jun-Hyuk approached me from a distance while touching his shoulder. He looked at the vast number of demonic beasts flying in the sky and lamented, “It looks like some dragons are flying—”
Flash.
Jun-Hyuk was not able to complete his sentence. There was a flash, and a new demonic beast descended with its beak aimed at Jun-Hyuk's head. The beast was so fast that it was hard to follow with the naked eye.
Crack!
"Ack... Huh? What the..."
Luckily, Jun-Hyuk was able to avoid the demonic beast's attack. The moment the demonic beast descended, Jun-Hyuk tripped on a jagged stone. Thanks to this, the demonic beast's beak struck an innocent rock again. The rock crumbled and turned into powder.
It was a stroke of luck so great that it could be called a miracle.
“Wow, what the? Did I almost die just now? Oh my god."
Jun-Hyuk put his hand on his chest and took a deep breath. Even in the midst of this crisis, Jun-Hyuk didn't know how to be serious. His behavior could be described as consistent, but perhaps it was more appropriate to describe him as an idiot.
“No. Come to think of it, I almost died from the moment the demonic beast carried me away–”
“Don’t move.”
As Jun-Hyuk approached us and was about to mutter something meaningless, Min-Seo's gruff voice could be heard.
Jun-Hyuk instinctively stopped.
“Nobody move,” Min-Seo said in a somewhat serious tone. Jun-Hyuk, Jin-Seo, and I all listened to Min-Seo.
Nobody moved, and nobody said a word.
Flash.
And then, the light flashed again. However, the demonic beasts did not descend. Just like before, they were just spinning around in the sky.
At that moment, I caught a glimpse of Min-Seo's face. She was smiling—it was an eerie, bizarre smile as if her mouth had been torn on both sides. Delight could be seen in her shining eyes.
“...I found it."
When Min-Seo said that, her face was clearly filled with madness.
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