Buncheon Society (1)
In the holy land of the Holy Church Order, at the very center lies the Rosellia Temple.
It has already been over two months since Heinrich arrived here, but his daily life remained unchanged today as well.
Crickity-crack—
“Hoo!”
With a sound akin to twisted metal, the massive metal chunk connected to the chains defied gravity.
“Hoo—”
Swish— crash!
The ton-weight metal attached to the fierce-looking workout equipment was diligently shredding the muscles of the rude human using it, through a periodic back-and-forth motion.
Then, at that moment.
Fwoosh—
“Eh?”
Like a dam breaking, divine power exploded from his body.
《The entity has achieved the prerequisites and gained enlightenment. Obtaining special skill “Blessing: Strong Body.”》
At the same time, the metal he had been struggling to lift shot up effortlessly.
Heinrich stood frozen for a moment in that pose, then closed his eyes to gauge the divine power coursing through him.
‘…Finally reached it! Arch-priest level divine power!’
He could feel that his divine power, which had seemed stagnant for some time, had finally surpassed the limit.
This must be a result of the newly acquired “Blessing: Strong Body.”
In high spirits, he hurriedly set down the chains.
Swish— bang!
In that moment, the metal chunk, unable to withstand gravity, crashed violently into the ground, but that was no longer his concern.
‘Who would’ve thought I’d actually surpass my limits during training?’
Of course, he hadn’t solely been training his body in the temple.
Education in theology, doctrine, history, and various martial arts as well as horsemanship, rituals, and holy laws followed as part of his training as a knight.
At least, training using his body was easier, thanks to “Mugol,” but he had really struggled in other areas.
Yet, somehow, he managed to meet the criteria.
Despite this, his divine power still stagnated below the arch-priest level, and he was worried until a senior knight assisting his training casually offered a solution.
“Just roll your body around. Roll around like crazy. If you recover quickly, then double the rolling. If that doesn’t work, roll several times more, and it’ll be solved.”
What a casual solution!
Of course, if you looked closely, the prescription made sense.
The condition for having arch-priest level divine power was to have at least one “Blessing.”
And the easiest blessing to obtain for knights was “Blessing of the Strong Body.”
Perhaps those following the path of priests would grow through other types of blessings.
Anyway, having surpassed the stagnation of divine power, he’d steadily continue to grow until he reached bishop level.
That was his greatest advantage.
Heinrich hurriedly tidied the workout equipment and moved towards the area where the knights were.
Now that he qualified to become an official knight, it was time to converse accordingly.
As he raced forward, a sound reached his ears.
Hrum hrum hrum~♪
The song of a nasal tune echoed from a nearby garden.
‘A nasal tune here, could it be…?’
He cautiously took a step closer to find the figure he had expected squatting, gazing at the flowerbed.
‘The saint of the Holy Church Order, Liesta Saint Hatyandus.’
Her soft, silvery hair swayed, and her golden eyes sparkled like they contained stars, fixated on the flowers.
Her radiant smile resembled that of any other 18-year-old girl.
‘If only you could exclude that halo around her head.’
Excluding that self-luminous aura surrounding her head was a different matter altogether.
That strong trace of blessing was, after all, proof of the saint.
“Hrum hrum, greetings! Saint! But why are you alone in a place like this?”
Having no choice but to greet her since they had already met, he cleared his throat lightly and spoke to her.
The saint seemed to sense his presence, smiling brightly and turning to greet him.
“Hello, Sir Heinrich! I was watching a ladybug. It’s so cute wiggling around that I lost track of time!”
…It seems she was watching bugs, not flowers.
Though it was a bit early to be called “Sir” since he wasn’t officially a knight yet, he decided to let it pass as she had already called him that several times without changing it.
During the over two months spent at the Rosellia Temple, Heinrich had one striking realization.
At first, this saint had felt distant, but in truth, she was very casual and liked wandering around whenever she had free time.
If you were a believer in the Holy Church, she treated anyone kindly and readily lent a helping hand.
With her gentle nature, she was beloved by everyone in the temple—a cheerful and quirky girl.
As strong in faith as she was in power, she also had a tendency to be particularly friendly towards those who were devout, like him.
This was why, even from the baptism ceremony, she had approached Heinrich first, expressing goodwill.
“By the way, congratulations, Sir Heinrich! You’ve finally obtained a blessing, haven’t you? I knew you’d achieve it soon!”
Perhaps it was part of being a saint, but how she knew about it was remarkable as she clapped her hands in joy, as if it were her achievement.
“Thank you. I was able to reach this point thanks to the help of many people.”
“No! The Blessing of the Strong Body is not something you obtain through others’ help. It proves you’ve exceeded your limits through hard training, so take pride in it!”
She seemed to have recognized at a glance which blessing he obtained.
Perhaps it was the influence of the shining golden eyes reflecting the blessing she carried.
They chatted cheerfully for a moment when she suddenly paused and looked up at the sky.
“Ah! Afternoon worship! How did time fly by so quickly! Well, I must be going! May the blessings of the Holy God always be with you.”
After measuring the time for a moment, she shook herself off, saluted, and vanished into the temple like the wind.
“…Hmm, she’s as incredibly spirited today as well.”
‘Scattered’ is a better description.
It might seem casually exhausting, but obviously, she didn’t exhibit that demeanor towards everyone.
‘She never compromises with evil.’
She showed friendliness towards those who followed the Holy God and strived to embrace those who did not.
However, she showed zero tolerance towards those tainted by evil.
And recently, this saint had been particularly obsessed with one matter…
The descendant of the Undead King, Hans.
‘That obsession is becoming somewhat terrifying.’
Word has it she prays several times a day, striving to track “Hans.”
Naturally, since he didn’t even exist in this world, finding him would be impossible, but that resolute act had become a part of her daily life.
Everyone else subjected to the repercussions of tracking that. It left them uncomfortably aware of their fate.
If the saint could sense the Undead King’s descendant as her focus, it would mean those she was targeting were performing some wicked ritual—truly a case of self-inflicted destiny.
‘In truth, it’s easy to understand why she would display such an attitude.’
Having received education regarding history, Heinrich understood what the Undead King was, which made it easy for him to empathize with her.
About a thousand years ago, the first Undead King suddenly appeared.
He transformed half of the continent into a land of death, causing countless sacrifices until numerous forces, like the Church, finally banded together to defeat him and restore peace.
However, a few hundred years later.
For failing to deal with the original Undead King extremely well, his powerful heart, the “Heart of the Undead King,” somehow fell into the hands of a dark magician…
Thus, the second Undead King was born.
The second Undead King, born from the consumed heart, brought chaos back to the continent, resulting in the Western Empire’s collapse and its fragmentation into many countries, as it is today.
Maybe it was due to it being the second.
The special task force targeting the Undead King worked hard to ensure that such an event would never happen again, working to properly deal with that heart.
However, that too ultimately ended in failure.
They managed to shatter the heart, yet that creature squeezed out its last power to spread it across the continent, preventing it from being sealed.
That was just a few hundred years ago.
‘And two of those pieces ended up in Hans’s hands. Once the last one is found, the third Undead King will resurrect, so it’s no surprise the Church is desperate.’
The Holy Church Order had consistently been on the front lines during every Undead King incident.
Thus, it was entirely natural for a saint raised on their history of sacrifice to bear animosity towards the Undead King.
Especially since she tended to regard fellow believers as family.
‘It’d be nice if everyone could get along. That friend is kinder and gentler than you’d think, yet no one seems to realize that.’
Indeed, the Hans of this generation, who might become the Undead King, didn’t aspire for the continent’s ruin.
He was diligently fighting against evil organizations for the public good even at this moment.
*
Boom!
“Guh…”
Park Kwangcheon, an executive of the Buncheon Society in a suit, surveyed his surroundings as he blocked an attack from the Hahoe Mask.
He had confidently led his forces and set traps, yet their entire plan had crumbled because of just two idiots.
‘Damn it, this is all that bastard’s fault for not bringing proper information! I completely misjudged the opponent’s strength!’
He cursed while recalling the blurry figure that had caused this uproar.
The critical reason things had gone astray was the sudden interference of a single vampire, but he didn’t have the luxury to contemplate that now.
Regardless of any excuses, a failure is a failure.
‘What’s done is done. Now I just need to handle the aftermath…’
Although he was still fighting against the Hahoe Mask with his remaining subordinates, it now felt meaningless.
The vibe made it seem more like they were being toyed with to capture them rather than genuinely trying to kill them.
‘At first, it seemed like they didn’t care whether we’d live or die, but now they must be planning to interrogate us for information?’
Park Kwangcheon looked around at the fallen subordinates.
More than half were dead, yet most of those recently taken down were just subdued without fatal injuries.
‘This is… wrong. There’s no longer any hope.’
Noticing the commotion from the vampires had quieted down, it seemed the situation on that side was already resolved.
And such silence was certainly not a good sign for him.
This meant that he had been entirely outclassed by a single target.
‘If I delay any longer, the vampires there will probably join forces here. I should sort this out as quickly as possible and escape alone.’
Though the barriers of the Buncheon Society and the Hahoe Mask had been set up double-layered, he could escape using his unique skill, “Space Manipulation.”
His last bastion that had saved his life countless times.
He raised his magical power one last time before activating his unique skill.
*
The situation on the vampire side had generally been sorted out, and the resistance of the Buncheon Society was now at its end.
The remaining enemies were taking time to leave as many alive as possible to read their memories for information, but that wouldn’t last long.
As they steadily cleaned up the battlefield, a sense of something ominous brewed as their leader seemed to be preparing something.
Though it was way past the point for anything to work, he still remained cautious—then…
“Everyone has worked hard this time. For the Buncheon Society! [Die for freedom—!]”
The final sentence reverberated through the air, infused with magical power.
In that instant, every member of the Buncheon Society’s body stiffened in unison.
Whether they were resisting or lost consciousness made no difference.
‘What now?!’
In that clear abnormal situation, Hans’s mind accelerated.
The surroundings froze momentarily, and time seemed to flow slowly.
Ssss…
‘What is this?’
An unidentified flow of magical power wormed its way into the minds of the living.
It wished to resonate with some energy embedded in their brains.
Simultaneously, with Hans’s vision unrestricted, he saw that man glaring at him while gritting his teeth, just as he began to grow faint.
This scene was gradually becoming more blurry.
‘Giving a self-destruct order to his subordinates. While he himself makes his escape.’
He quickly assessed the situation.
He didn’t know how one could move through space under a barrier, but this was a bizarre world, so that could be sorted out later.
Right now, a decision must be made.
To either find a way to prevent his subordinates from self-destructing due to this unidentified flow or quickly abandon the small fries and immediately hunt down their leader as he escapes.
Both options didn’t seem very promising.
‘Time remaining is but a few seconds; the opponent’s methods are unknown.’
Momentarily, irritation flared within him due to this forced choice.
In this situation, of course…
[Of course, I won’t abandon either!]
Swallowing his negative emotions and awakening to his individuality, Hans was both an incarnation of greed and obsession.
There was no way he would willingly give up either option!
All resources of the entities converged on Hans.
His mind accelerated further.
Time reached a near standstill.
The dark magic split into dozens of threads, each heading towards its target.
He hastily left marks on the figure that was nearly vanishing.
It wouldn’t be a proper tracking spell, as it would likely vanish quickly, swept away by the currents of space, but it would at least buy a few seconds.
The remaining dark magic burrowed into the minds of the survivors.
Forcing contact with something resonating with the external flow, he sought to glean information.
…It was unclear.
The complex ritual unique to the Buncheon Society.
His current research was inadequate to fully comprehend the intricately intertwined mess.
However…
As part of that complex ritual.
Mixed within were “Gold” and “Curse.”
These were things Hans was quite familiar with.
They were measures he often employed recently.
‘This is where it begins.’
Following the familiarity of “Malicious Wisdom,” he began to trace, and “Forbidden Knowledge” started its analysis.
While grasping the structure of the spell like pulling out a taro root, he approached the finale.
Located at the very end was…
‘Death.’
That was something that reached beyond familiarity and tied closely to Hans’s essence.
What he had experienced, what he had overcome, and what he had ultimately come to dominate.
‘Now!’
He intervened in the resonant formula.
Like inserting a foreign object into finely tuned mechanical parts, the formula began to go haywire, harming the originator.
If that were to happen, it would be a fail.
So, he removed some of the gears of the mechanical parts delicately.
After what felt like an eternity passed in that moment, the perpetually stretched tumult in the surroundings began to revert to normal.
Woooo—
The formula continued to resonate.
However, with significant parts missing, it merely fluctuated in place and failed to attain its original purpose.
[Heheh… Haha! I am the master of death. You really think you can flee from death in front of me?!]
Having completed his work, Hans erupted with maniacal laughter.
Of course, amidst this, he didn’t forget to send the dark magic to render the staggering underlings unconscious.
If they were awake, who knew what craziness they would pull next?
[And you shall not die easily.]
He immediately began tracing the dark magic buried just before that man vanished, and as he slipped out of the barrier, he pursued the remaining traces.
Focusing on unraveling the golden threads, he diverted attention to the power pattern of the entity creating the flow.
In contrast to when he only fought, this was information he could notice.
Using the traces left in the barrier as a guide, he anticipated the direction and estimated the distance using the weakened traces of dark magic.
Within the range he had seized, he specifically pinpointed the entity’s location.
He didn’t know how that person managed to escape this place, but judging by the absence of magical traces left in the barrier, there’s a high probability it was a unique skill.
But now, none of that mattered.
[…Found you.]
It could be handled by rummaging through their brains directly.
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