Chapter 46
"Sorry, I’m late.”
The flames that covered the bear went out, and the bear’s face was revealed. It was Bok-Dong. Bok-Dong seemed to be blaming himself for being late, but we were just thankful that he had come. If it hadn't been for him, we would have inhaled the smoke and died slowly, or the oncoming fire would have consumed us.
Bok-Dong led us through the fire with large strides. After exiting the flames, we arrived in front of Ye-Jin. Divine power was pouring out from her body into her surroundings. It was a formidable amount of divine power. The rain that had extinguished the flames seemed to have come from a miracle replication spell that she had cast.
“Was it scary? Quick, get on board! These are good kids! They are not demonic beasts!”
Two huge dogs stood behind her. They had muzzles covering their mouths and saddles on their backs. There was a soft light flowing around their bodies. They were from the lights of blessings.
Jun-Hyuk tilted his head and said, "Eh. There are only two of them though?”
"Oh no! We are in trouble! Wait a second, we can fit two people on one of the dogs! They are strong dogs!” Ye-Jin exclaimed frantically.
While she was casting her miracle replication spell, she simultaneously drew a blessing array and a healing array with both her hands. Just like that, she drew dozens of blessing arrays. It was chaotic enough to make people dizzy.
Jun-Hyuk looked back and forth between Jin-Seo and me.
“Well, I will ride alone. I have erm dog... dog sickness,” Jun-Hyuk smiled awkwardly and got on the dog's back alone.
It was a ridiculous excuse. It’s not like it was seasickness, but dog sickness? And what did this have to do with motion sickness in the first place?
But there was no time to think. The fire was spreading with the wind. Jin-Seo and I rode the same dog. There was plenty of space. Confirming that we were all on the dogs, Ye-Jin strode forward.
“Good boy, let’s go back~”
Woof!
Ye-Jin caressed her dog's scruff with her right hand, and in response, the dogs barked in unison. The dogs carried us through the mountain roads.
Soon after, the darkness was lifted, and light from the Florence campus shined from the distance. The dogs were quick, and the ride was very comfortable. Even though we were going down such a steep mountain road, there was little shaking.
Grab.
Jin-Seo grabbed my shirt from behind. I was startled and looked back. She was gazing at me with a composed face.
“I feel like I’m about to fall.”
“...Who?"
"Me." She turned her head away as if she was stating something obvious. Since the wind was blowing her hair, it was hard to see her face.
The dog was still running, however, as I stated before, the ride was very comfortable, as there was very little shaking.
Maybe Jin-Seo was suffering from what Jun-Hyuk called ‘dog sickness.’ If I could alleviate her motion sickness with just my shirt, I could give it away as much as she wanted. But was there really such a thing as dog sickness?
[Well... I guess this is what you can expect from someone who learned flawed psychology.] Legba murmured.
However, it wasn’t the right situation to respond to Legba’s statement, and there wasn’t any time to respond either. It was because the dogs had come out of the mountain and had arrived in front of the Florence Academy Main Building.
The dogs vigorously shook their bodies as if they had just taken a shower. We dismounted by sliding off the dog’s back.
Woof!
The dogs barked as if they were addressing us, and then they went back the way they came. I couldn’t help but think that they were incredibly fast. Just like that, the dogs disappeared into the darkness.
In front of the old-fashioned Main Building, the three of us just stared blankly at each other without saying anything. Within the silence, Jun-Hyuk opened his mouth.
“What the heck? What are we supposed to do now? Don’t tell me we have to just go back to class like this—"
Bang.
Then, someone fell from the sky like a meteorite. Jun-Hyuk stopped talking and let out an exclamation similar to a scream.
The person who had fallen from the sky was Do-Jin. The black blood of the demonic beasts was smeared on the blade of the sword he was holding, and the light of a blessing flowed softly from his legs. He put his sword back into his scabbard and said, “There is no class today, so go home. Get some rest and come back tomorrow.”
"Oh. Hell yeah.” When Jun-Hyuk responded with a smile, Do-Jin frowned.
“You have to take supplementary classes instead.”
"Ah," Jun-Hyuk sighed. I stared vacantly at Do-Jin.
Then Do-Jin glanced back, and our eyes met. His eyes, which were always tired and blank, were strangely clear at the moment. There was something resembling a glimmer of tenacity within his eyes.
“Anyway, don’t go anywhere else. Go home right now. If you get caught wandering around, it'll be a penalty point.”
Bang.
Shortly thereafter, Do-Jin disappeared. To be precise, he ascended the mountain at an extremely fast speed, but it seemed as if he had disappeared because my eyes could not follow him.
When looking at the professors in charge of each department in Florence, there were times when I wondered whether they were really human beings. Bok-Dong, Ye-Jin, and Do-Jin were all like that.
Among them, the one that caught my eye was Do-Jin.
The light of blessing flowing through his body felt somewhat disparate. It didn't come from a blessing array. Instead, it looked like the light was manifesting from inside his body. It was difficult to explain it clearly at the moment. However, I could vaguely guess that Do-Jin was something different.
“There’s nothing to do even when I arrive home. Ah, I can go to the training center.”
It was Jun-Hyuk who broke the brief silence. Even in the midst of such a disaster, Jun-Hyuk wasn’t serious at all and was actually smiling like an idiot.
Jin-Seo looked at him in a dumbfounded manner and said, “I thought you said you decided not to go there since yesterday.”
“Hey, come on,” Jun-Hyuk whined while glancing at me with a strained smile. “Just let it slide! Yeah? I helped you earlier, remember?”
I couldn't understand their conversation at all. Perhaps it was more appropriate to say that I couldn't keep up with the context.
Jin-Seo listened to Jun-Hyuk and turned her head to look at me. As always, there was no expression on her face, so I couldn't guess what she was thinking.
“...Okay. Only this time,” Jin-Seo said with a small nod.
What did Jun-Hyuk help with, and why did Jin-Seo agree? I was the only one who was out of the loop.
“They are talking about something that only they know again...” I muttered to myself while feeling a sense of alienation.
* * *
“Do-Jin! Do you see anything?”
“Three to the southeast, one to the north.”
“What’s the situation like?!”
“Looks fine. I don’t think they know that there was a forest fire, and you’ve dealt with all the demonic beasts, anyway.”
Do-Jin looked around Eiden Hill with bleary eyes from the top of a tree. The light of a blessing was radiating from his eyes. Do-Jin had been gazing at the hill for a long time, and he almost stumbled down from the tree. It was due to the dizziness he was experiencing as a result of overwork.
"Sigh," Do-Jin sighed while touching his forehead. He then asked, “How many people have you evacuated so far?”
“283 people!”
“How many people are there in total?”
“287 people! As long as we save the remaining four, we should be good!” Bok-Dong shouted in a booming voice from under the tree. Do-Jin frowned.
“Speak a little quietly. I can hear you clearly.”
"What?!"
“I said it’s okay to speak quietly!”
"Ah! I got it!!"
Bok-Dong seemed to have no intention of lowering his voice.
Do-Jin shook his head in resignation and moved the light of blessing from his pupils to his legs.
“I will be right back. Put four dogs on standby,” he then said as if he were ordering Ye-Jin. Ye-Jin scowled while extinguishing the fire with a miracle replication spell.
“What the? Am I your subordinate? Fix your tone.”
“...Put them on standby, please. Thanks."
"Sure. Please come back quickly,” Ye-Jin replied bluntly.
Do-Jin bent his body as if he was trying to compress it and then leaped southeast like a projectile being launched. Ye-Jin watched him while clicking her tongue.
Bok-Dong strode toward Ye-Jin.
“Ye-Jin. Good job.”
“As long as you idiots are aware. Think before you move.”
"Hmm. I will heed your advice.”
Bok-Dong nodded. Ye-Jin turned her head away with a disapproving expression on her face.
When Bok-Dong and Do-Jin thoughtlessly stormed off to Eiden Hill, Ye-Jin immediately went to the Paladin Order in front of Florence to borrow military dogs. As an enhanced species, they were very large, and their receptivity to blessings was good.
Thanks to this, all the students were rescued without injury, and the time required for rescue was drastically reduced. It was for this reason that Bok-Dong and Do-Jin could not refute Ye-Jin's words.
"By the way, why aren't reinforcements coming from the Paladin Order?"
“Have you ever seen them arrive on time? I never expected anything from them in the first place.”
“You’re being quite harsh here. Can’t you see that there is a former paladin right in front of you?”
“Whatever. You’re not even a paladin anymore, so why does it matter?”
At Ye-Jin's words, Bok-Dong awkwardly laughed out loud.
Woof, woof!
At that time, the military dogs who had gone down the mountain with the students returned. The dogs painted with their tongues out, waiting for Ye-Jin's praise. Ye-Jin smiled and approached the dogs. She then caressed their necks.
"Good job. Well done~” The dogs rolled over and exposed their stomachs on the dirt.
Although the dogs were larger in size due to selective breeding, they were just ordinary puppies with docile personalities, except when dealing with demonic beasts. Ye-Jin was startled and tried to lift the military dogs back up, but they were too heavy for her to lift.
“No, boys! It's dirty. Get up quickly. Come on!"
“The puppies are really cute.”
“Please help me! Don't just watch!” Ye-Jin shouted in a shrill voice. Only then did Bok-Dong help Ye-Jin lift the dogs.
“The priests must have had a hard time. They had to train the military dogs, after all.”
Since priests had weaker physical bodies compared to paladins or crusaders, they used livestock with good receptivity to blessings in fights. There was also a section in the Department of Priests training curriculum where students would learn how to train their personal military dogs.
"Of course. We have a lot more to do than paladins. We also have to do research on a lot of different things as well.”
“...Please refrain from making comments that demean other people’s jobs.”
"It's not a disparagement, it's the truth," Ye-Jin teased. Bok-Dong laughed wryly. He had no way of refuting.
Paladins had a brief golden age about nine years ago, but ever since then, it had been an unfortunate profession that has continued to decline to this day.
Do-Jin flew in and landed behind Bok-Dong, who had been lamenting the fate of the paladins. He had four students in total, with two in each hand. It looked like he was carrying food waste.
“Ugh...”
“Mr. Do-Jin... You can let go now...”
The students moaned with pale, zombie-like faces. Do-Jin handed the students who were near fainting over to Bok-Dong. Bok-Dong put them on the back of a dog.
The military dog barked and went down the mountain. Bok-Dong then smiled proudly as he placed his hand on his waist.
“With this, all 287 members were rescued. As for the forest fire extinguishing—”
“The extinguishing is complete. No reinforcements came from the Paladin Order even until the end,” Ye-Jin said after interrupting Bok-Dong’s sentence. Do-Jin stood next to Bok-Dong and furrowed his eyebrows.
“Have you ever seen them arrive on time? I never expected anything from them in the first place.”
"Oh, my god. I just said the same thing. We’re in sync.”
"Okay? So what?”
“I’m just saying, you have a habit of questioning everything...” Ye-Jin clicked her tongue and continued.
“Are the number of birds correct?”
Do-Jin tilted her head and pretended to think for a moment.
“Well, I killed a total of seven demonic beasts. Bok-Dong, what about you?”
“I killed six.”
“Then the total is thirteen. There are twenty-one birds in the barn, so we’re eight short.”
"Okay? Then the rest will be over there,” Do-Jin said while pointing with his chin at the far darkness beyond the forest that had been reduced to ashes.
Without anyone saying first, the three of them started walking toward it almost at the same time. Rain-soaked ashes clung to their feet.
"Eww."
Ye-Jin was disgusted by the unpleasant feeling on her shoes. Do-Jin also seemed very displeased, but he only frowned and didn't show any other reaction. Bok-Dong, on the other hand, was moving forward with big strides as if he was accustomed to this feeling. They walked for a while, and eventually, in the distance, they could see something that had turned to ashes piled up like a tower.
Do-Jin paused and frowned. Then, he stopped Ye-Jin, who was following him.
“Wait here for a second.”
"What? Why!"
"Just."
Ye-Jin mumbled something behind him, but Do-Jin didn't care.
Do-Jin stopped her for one reason. It was because, like the ‘Tower of Corpses’ he saw earlier, there was a possibility that the ashes in front of them were also made of human corpses. Do-Jin didn't want to see Ye-Jin vomit again.
Bok-Dong fearlessly strode toward the pile of ashes and examined it. Then he raised his eyebrows as if he had found something odd.
“It is not the corpses of humans but demonic beasts. They must have died from being struck by lightning.”
Some of the feathers had completely burned away, leaving bright red scars on the exposed skin. At first glance, the scar resembled a Lichtenberg shape. It meant that the deaths of demonic beasts were caused by lightning. Bok-Dong counted the number of dead demonic beasts one by one and inspected their bodies.
“All seven were struck by lightning and died. Two of them... were they shot?”
Seven died from being struck by lightning, and two died because of a hole in the heart. It seemed that they had been shot with a rifle or something.
So, there were a total of nine demonic beast corpses here.
“...Nine bodies?”
“Nine bodies? Why are there nine bodies?”
"Get out of the way!"
Flap!
A bird-type demonic beast they thought was dead flapped its wings and tried to take flight.
Do-Jin hurriedly drew his sword and took a stance, but Bok-Dong did not back down. He was looking at 'it' with curious, no, fearful eyes.
“That's a taxidermied creature.”
Cotton and sawdust were pouring out of the demonic beast's broken wings. The blurry eyes of the demonic beast flashed and let out a beam.
Bok-Dong clenched his fist and, without hesitation, struck down the demonic beast's head. The demonic beast's head exploded with a slap. A mysterious, machine-like object came out of it. Bok-Dong picked up the machine. The flashes had been coming out from the machine.
“The technique used is exactly the same as that case two years ago,” Bok-Dong said. His eyes were trembling with fear, and they were unfocused. He was reminiscing about the tragedy of that time two years ago—the day when dozens of taxidermied creatures ran amok in Incheon.
Weee wooo weee—!
The sound of sirens broke the silence. The Paladin Order had arrived.
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