Free Web NovelA massive gray fortress.
Its towering walls and achromatic presence exuded a pressure that seemed to reject any uninvited guests.
And deep within that fortress.
At the top of the enormous tower at its center.
Inside the spacious room there.
There was a man.
His back straight, his hands clasped behind him.
A man gazing indifferently at the scenery beyond the window.
And then.
Creeeak.......
The door to the room where the man stood opened.
And presences approached.
“We heard you summoned us.”
Not one person, but several.
They looked at the master of the room and spoke.
“We have answered your summons for now...... but frankly, it is not pleasant.”
“I do not know about the other two, but we are not your subordinates. To be summoned in this manner is honestly displeasing.”
They showed a strangely dissatisfied air.
At that.
“I apologize for the discourtesy.”
The man inside the room.
Rose from his chair and looked at them with his hands behind his back.
“However, I ask that you understand it was urgent enough to require such haste.”
“......I did not say that to receive an apology, so never mind. Then, why did you call us?”
“A slight problem has arisen. So I would like to borrow your assistance.”
The man spoke in a gentle voice.
At his words, the others frowned and answered.
“I do not know what situation you are in, but it should have nothing to do with us.”
“If it were my personal affair, then of course that would be true. However...... this matter is not mine alone.”
“What does that mean?”
“The person likely in a difficult situation right now is not me.”
He smiled.
“It is your ‘benefactor.’”
***
Thump.......
The believers approached me.
Then carefully laid hands on my body and forced me to kneel on the floor.
At that.
Slide.......
Perhaps thinking they could not look down at me.
They knelt with their eyes lower than mine.
'Forcing someone to kneel, then acting as if you’re worshiping him.'
It was a sight that could only make me laugh hollowly.
And then.
One figure walked out between the kneeling people.
“Ahh.......”
A woman holding a familiar crown in her hands.
Lee Haein approached me.
“O leader of ours, appointed by the system.......”
With those words.
She approached, holding up the crown with a reverent attitude.
I looked at that sight and thought.
'......The reason I could resist mental interference was thanks to the system.'
It would have been fortunate if it had been thanks to Ariella’s blood or Luca’s surgery.
But that ability was something I had received as a reward for achieving a feat.
Now that the system’s power was gone, that resistance likely no longer existed either.
'A way to escape.......'
Mm.......
It was not that there was absolutely none.
There was exactly one method that could get me out of even this situation.
If I used it.
Even in this current state without the system’s power, it was a method that could wipe all of them out and let me escape.
The problem was.
'I don’t know whether I’d be able to come back afterward.'
Even returning once had already taken an enormous amount of suffering.
There was no guarantee I could return to being human again this time, too.
......If that method caused me to leave humanity behind.
That would bring about a worst-case outcome even worse than being captured by these people.
“Ahh.”
In the end.
“So you have finally decided to accept us......!”
I.
Decided not to avoid the crown approaching me.
Seeing that attitude from me, she murmured in a voice filled with emotion.
And tried to place the crown on my head.
“You.......”
And just before that crown was placed on my head.
I looked at her and said,
“Can you handle it?”
At that.
Lee Haein smiled softly and said,
“I know you are an immensely powerful person. But there is no way you can resist this crown again. Please do not be too afraid. It may be a little uncomfortable now, but once you accept it, naturally.......”
“No.”
I cut off her words.
And said with a faint smile.
“Not me.”
“Pardon?”
There was no way for me to resist any further here in my current state.
I would not be able to avoid that crown.
But.
If asked whether that meant I had given up everything.
“The Legion.”
......That was not the case either.
“The Legion will come.”
“.......”
“You people. Are you confident you can handle them?”
At those words.
She answered instead with a smile brimming with confidence.
“Of course.”
And.
The crown in her hands was placed on my head.
“Because none other than you will lead us......!”
“.......”
“If we receive your guidance, there will be no enemy we cannot handle, whatever they may be......!”
And.
From the crown placed on my head, I felt a strange energy.
'I wonder.'
I felt that energy.
Infiltrating my brain.......
'We’ll see about that.'
Well.
We would only know by watching.
***
“......Sergeant Shin!”
Just before their hands could reach him.
A grotesque light shone over Sergeant Shin Youngjun’s body.
“.......”
And with it, the bodies of those caught in that light suddenly vanished.
Then.
The soldiers stared for a moment at the place where Sergeant Shin Youngjun had disappeared.
“......How dare they.”
Soon.
“These insane religious bastards, how dare they......!”
They clenched their teeth with a grinding sound.
And rage filled their faces.
“All personnel!!!”
A giant two heads taller than the others.
When Corporal Jeon Gwangil shouted, the broad cathedral building shook.
“Subdue the enemies!!!”
From his body, black energy.
[Madness] exploded.
Tatatatatatang......!
That anger was not only the [Berserker]’s.
Every soldier erupted with fury and began fighting the Church’s believers.
“Brothers!”
“Subdue those atrocious invaders!”
In response.
Voices burst out from the believers’ side as well, and the battle began in earnest.
In numbers, the believers were overwhelmingly superior.
Perhaps because of that.
At the beginning of the engagement, the battle between the two forces seemed somewhat even.
“Uh.......”
......But.
After a little time passed.
“Uaaaaaaaagh!”
“Br-Brother......!”
“We are no match! We have to run......!”
The balance of the battle.
Clearly tilted to one side.
To begin with.
The believers’ level was only ordinary for awakened beings.
No matter how many more of them there were.
They were not at a level where they could defeat soldiers made up of carefully selected elites.
“......Gulp.”
And.
Once the tide began to turn that way.
Those who sensed that the situation was going strangely attempted to flee outside the cathedral.
At that moment.
Taang!
“Kyaaaaaaaagh!!!”
Together with a gunshot from somewhere.
A large hole was punched through the leg of a believer who had swallowed dryly and decided to flee.
A middle-aged man wearing clothing strangely more ornate than the other believers.
He collapsed with a scream of pain.
“I’ll ask one question.”
“......!”
The moment he thought he had fallen to the floor.
A man suddenly appeared from a place where he had thought there was nothing.
'Wh-when did he.......'
The man with the hole in his leg felt cold sweat running down his body.
He was an awakened being with a fair amount of confidence in his own skill.
But even he had not sensed this man’s presence at all just now.
No matter how excellent someone’s stealth might be.
A heartbeat, body heat, and the like.
There were things a human could not hide.
But.
'I did not feel them.'
No heartbeat, no human body heat.
None of those things could be felt from this man.
It was the same even now that he had revealed himself.
......Unless the blood flowing through that body had gone cold.
It would be absolutely impossible.
And.
“Sergeant Shin Youngjun suddenly disappeared. If I cannot sense him either, then it seems he has been moved somewhere fairly far from here.”
As if it were difficult to tell whether he was truly standing before him.
The man whose very existence felt like an illusion aimed the muzzle of his gun at him and said,
“Answer me. Where did you move Sergeant Shin Youngjun?”
At those words.
The believer clenched his teeth and answered.
“Do you think I would answ.......”
Taang!
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!”
But.
Before that answer even finished, a bullet lodged in his body.
“It hurts a lot, doesn’t it? I had those custom-made in case a situation like this came up. A masterpiece that reduces power and increases pain.”
“Grrk.......”
Just as he said.
The pain that bullet inflicted surpassed imagination.
“It would not be difficult to put several dozen more into your body here. With vitality like yours, you should be able to endure it without dying.”
A shock enough to make him instantly forget even the resolve he had held a moment before.
If he could die quickly, that would be one thing.
But because its power was weak, the possibility that he might not even die was even more terrifying.
“If you do not want to end up like that, it would be best to tell me anything you know.”
Even so.
Even while feeling that pain.
The believer opened his mouth with tears flowing, his face half twisted.
“No, no matter how much pain you give me...... it will be the same.”
“Hm.”
“I am...... a priest who serves the system. No pain...... can surpass my loyalty to the system....... If you think such petty pain can make me open my mouth, you are gravely mistaken......!”
At those words.
The man...... Corporal Seo Suhyeok stared at him for a moment.
“Really? That is impressive.”
He nodded like that.
Then raised the gun again.
Taang!
The believer squeezed his eyes shut, expecting the pain from that gun to come again.
“......?”
Though the gunshot had clearly echoed.
The believer felt no pain at all.
Had his loyalty toward the system made him forget even pain...... he wondered.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!”
“......!”
No.
It was not that.
The agonized scream erupted...... not from his mouth, but from somewhere else.
From the mouths of believers other than him.
“What have you done!”
“You said no pain could make you open your mouth, did you not?”
The man smiled lightly.
“I can only thank you for giving me such valuable information.”
“Wh-what...... are you talking about.......”
“It is probably true that giving you pain would be meaningless. So instead of wasting precious bullets on you.”
Click.
“Would it not be more efficient to shoot someone else?”
Taang!!!
The gun went off.
And another believer hit by that gun screamed from the tremendous pain.
“From now on, the targets will be other believers, not you. If you do not answer, then I have no choice but to inflict pain on other believers like this.”
“......!”
“It seems you can endure it...... but what about the other believers?”
Taang, taang, taang, taang.......
He silently continued firing.
The believers hit by those bullets collapsed, writhing in pain without being able to say a word.
And some of them.
“Grrk.......”
Because of that tremendous pain.
Collapsed with foam bubbling from their mouths.
It was impossible to tell.
Whether they were alive or dead.
Despite that sight.
Corporal Seo Suhyeok’s face was utterly calm.
'This insane, psychopathic bastard......!'
A cold-blooded appearance that made one wonder whether he had any emotions at all.
At that sight, the believer could not help being horrified.
Even in the meantime, his muzzle continued to spit fire.
And.
Click.
Corporal Seo Suhyeok took aim at another person.
At the end of that muzzle was a young believer.
Just before the trigger was pulled toward that believer.
“S-stop......!”
The believer shouted desperately.
“A child, that is a child. There is no need to inflict such pain even on a child.......”
“Then I will ask again. Where did you move Sergeant Shin Youngjun?”
At those words.
The believer opened and closed his mouth several times, then lowered his head and said,
“I-I do not know.”
“......Ah, you do not know?”
Clatter.......
“I-It is true! I am not saying this to hide anything!”
When that muzzle lifted again.
The believer sobbed and crawled on his punctured leg, almost clinging to the muzzle as he shouted.
“E-everyone here is only a lay believer. I, too, am nothing more than a middle manager assigned to supervise those lay believers! I know there are important facilities somewhere in the Church, but except for the people who work in those facilities, it is normal for us to know nothing.”
“There should be people who know, even if you do not.”
“Th-there were until the coronation was underway. But...... they all disappeared with that light earlier.......”
“Hm.”
“It is true. Please...... please believe me. Or else give the pain to me instead. Not those innocent people, but me instead......!”
At those words.
Corporal Seo Suhyeok wordlessly stared into his eyes.
......Originally, he was a person indifferent to the emotions of others.
He had a congenital disability that made him unable to understand other people’s feelings.
But if he remained that way, he could not blend into society.
So even if he could not understand other people’s emotions, he was fairly confident in “observing” them.
And later.
After becoming an awakened being and eating Sergeant Shin Youngjun’s cooking.
His senses had become incomparably sharper than before.
......Those sharpened senses had exponentially increased his ability to observe others as well.
“Tch.”
Thanks to that, he had been able to determine that this man was the kind of person who could not be made to talk through pain.
And at the same time.
'He is not lying.'
He could tell, to a certain extent.
That what this man said was not false.
***
Pak!
When he struck the man’s head with the butt of his gun.
The believer’s body collapsed to the floor.
After knocking the believer unconscious, he rose and looked into empty air.
[Guild Message]
[Sniper Squad Leader : Sergeant Shin, please respond!]
A long while ago.
The guild message he had sent the instant Shin disappeared.
No reply to that message had arrived even now.
He frowned and thought.
'Do they have some means of making guild messages unusable?'
These were people who had handled a strange item that made only the people they wanted disappear.
Perhaps they could use some suspicious method like that as well.
......But.
If.
'If there is no such thing, and he simply cannot answer.......'
In Corporal Seo Suhyeok’s mind.
An ominous imagination began to rise.
