The Cult Leader in the Clergy Academy

Chapter 289

Min-Seo lowered her bow and approached me with her arms raised.

Despite that, I continued to stare at her without lowering my guard.

Min-Seo was not a person I could lower my guard in front of. At first glance, even though she seemed to be completely disarmed, she could pull out a hidden weapon and attack at any moment.

I took a step back with my spear pointed toward Min-Seo as she slowly approached me.

She suddenly stopped walking and chuckled. "Hey, I'm not going to do anything. What do I gain by attacking you?"

“...”

Nevertheless, I kept the spear raised. I only relaxed my stance when Min Seo was too close to launch a surprise attack with her bow.

Up close, Min-Seo seemed to have no intention of attacking me. She had already put down her bow and didn't seem to have any other hidden weapons on her.

"Strange," I said.

"What is?" Min-Seo asked.

"I didn't expect you to back down so easily," I replied honestly.

Min-Seo was the type of person to abandon morality and beliefs for personal gain. I thought she would resist me until the end, and I didn’t think someone like her would surrender so easily.

However, Min-Seo chuckled and shook her head. "Of course I would back down. I’ve seen you fight, and I’ve heard various rumors as well."

"What rumors?"

"There's a rumor that when Satanist Executive Lust appeared, you subdued a bunch of demons with a tree branch. It kind of sounds like bullshit, but well... It doesn't hurt to be cautious. I feel like I’ll lose if we fight anyway.”

To be more precise, I hadn’t used a tree branch but had a sharp fragment of a broken chair that I had fashioned into a spear to subdue the demons. Yet, Min-Seo was talking as if I had subdued the demons with some random junk lying around on the street. It seemed like the story had been distorted as it spread around as a rumor.

Nevertheless, she wasn’t wrong. The story of me subduing a bunch of demons with just a tree branch sounded somewhat exaggerated, but it was true. Above all, I was confident in defeating Min-Seo in a fight. She had made a wise choice to surrender without fighting me.

Min-Seo still had her hands raised as she continued, "And though it’s a training spear, isn't it a deadly weapon for you? Why bother fighting with someone like that?"

"That's true."

Min-Seo lowered her hands and said, "So, what I'm saying is, let's team up."

However, she did not completely let her guard down and maintained some distance between them.

I considered her proposal. There was nothing wrong with forming a team with her, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it wouldn't be a good idea either. Above all, I wouldn’t be able to feel at ease if I teamed up with Min-Seo. I never knew when she would betray me after all. I would have readily agreed if she had just suggested we go our separate ways without fighting, but it was difficult to accept an offer to form a team.

I lifted my spear and said, "No."

Min-Seo tilted her head in confusion. "Why?"

“Because it feels like you’ll betray me.”

"Hmm... wise decision. But I really won't betray you."

"How can I trust your words?"

"There's no reason for me to betray you, right? If we stick together, we'll definitely be in the top ten even if we don’t do anything."

She wasn’t wrong. It didn’t sound like a bad idea either.

Min-Seo said, “Nothing good will happen if you make an enemy out of me too, right? To be honest, it doesn’t really matter if we fight here... But don’t you think it will be a hassle?”

"Hmm."

"I'm not saying we have to stay as a team until the end. Let's just stick together until the riff-raff get eliminated."

Min-Seo persistently asked to form a team with me. Her battle style involved intentionally fusing blessing arrays incorrectly, forcibly triggering the collision phenomenon and the subsequent explosion. If I fought against her, the shock detection device attached to my body might get triggered, and I might get eliminated along with her. In that case, instead of making things difficult by picking an unnecessary fight with her, it would be better to team up with her.

After considering it seriously, I eventually concluded that it wasn’t a bad idea and nodded in agreement.

Min-Seo cautiously approached while still keeping her guard up and tentatively extended her hand.

"Let's shake hands as a sign of our cooperation.”

I accepted her handshake and then wiped my hand on my clothes.

It wasn't intentional. I just wiped my hand out of habit.

Nevertheless, Min-Seo frowned. "Why are you wiping your hand, you crazy son of a bitch?”

"Oh, did you see that?"

"How can I not see you wiping your hand when you’re doing it so blatantly? Wipe it when I'm not looking, you crazy bastard..." Min-Seo muttered, seemingly displeased.

In any case, that was how I ended up teaming up with Min-Seo. I felt a little anxious when I thought about how she might betray me, but I figured it would all work out in the end.

***

Su-Ryeon held her bowstring fully taut as she hid in the bushes and cautiously waited for an opportunity. She had learned marksmanship in one of the classes for the Department of Crusaders and gained recognition as a sniper during her dispatch training. Thus, she preferred holding a gun over an ancient weapon like a bow.

However, since training firearms weren’t available, she had to make do with a bow. She was actually very skilled with it. Su-Ryeon was very experienced with using a bow, but it was like a painful scar for her.

“...”

Su-Ryeon had grown up in a remote mountain village far from civilization. Before the Holy War, she lived a normal life like everyone else, but her home was destroyed seven years ago during the Holy War. Her family then found a way to survive by hunting, gathering, and cultivating fields in the mountains.

She had never told anyone her past, nor would she ever tell anyone.

She released the bowstring.

Twang...

Thud!

The arrow flew accurately toward the shock detection device of a student.

The student looked startled. They had let down their guard, unaware of Su-Ryeon skillfully hiding in the bushes..

Beep—!

The shock device beeped loudly, indicating the student had been eliminated from the exam.

Su-Ryeon approached the student staring blankly into the air with a look of stupefaction. She picked up the arrow that had fallen to the ground and strung it back onto her bow.

The student who had been eliminated glared at Su-Ryeon with resentment.

Su-Ryeon smiled brightly. "Sorry~ Actually, never mind. It’s an exam, so I guess I don’t need to apologize?”

“...”

A Florence Academy teacher waiting in the vicinity walked out and escorted the student out of the examination zone.

Meanwhile, Su-Ryeon hid in the bushes again and waited for her next prey.

Until now, she had eliminated dozens of students from the exam with the help of her excellent hiding skills and hunting prowess that she developed in the wild, along with her beast-like instincts. To Su-Ryeon who had grown up in the mountains where real predators roamed, Eiden Hill was nothing short of a playground.

She felt her instincts returning. The familiar feeling put her at ease, but it also left her a little edgy.

Rustle.

Suddenly, Su-Ryeon felt a presence approach her. Her ears perked up.

The footsteps sounded like they were getting closer, but it was impossible to tell exactly where they were coming from.

Su-Ryeon listened more intently.

The person making the footsteps seemed to be wandering around nearby, which made them all the more threatening. They seemed to be filled with confidence; they were solely focused on searching for prey, completely ignoring the possibility of being attacked.

Furthermore, they had an unpleasant and threatening aura. There was only one person in Florence Academy who could exude such an aura: Min-Seo.

"Ugh."

Min-Seo locked eyes with Su-Ryeon hiding in the bushes. Su-Ryeon's hiding skills should have been perfect, yet, astonishingly, Min-Seo still managed to detect her.

Su-Ryeon was unable to release the arrow she had strung on her bow. It was because Min-Seo also had her bow aimed at her.

A tense silence hung between them.

Min-Seo broke the tense atmosphere.

"What the? Isn’t it Su-Ryeon?" she casually said while lowering her bow.

Su-Ryeon considered whether she should shoot her arrow at Min-Seo. She believed that she might be able to eliminate Min-Seo if she took advantage of Min-Seo’s carelessness, but she decided not to. Su-Ryeon wasn’t that tenacious that she would shoot an arrow at Min-Seo, who was approaching her with a friendly greeting.

She lowered her bow so that the arrow pointed toward the ground and awkwardly smiled at Min-Seo.

"How’d you know I was here? I thought I was perfectly hidden."

"Really? You were sticking out like a sore thumb. Anyway, let's not fight each other," Min-Seo said as if it wasn’t a big deal.

Just like Su-Ryeon who had grown up in the wild, Min-Seo also possessed bestial instincts.

Su-Ryeon smiled, but she was actually flabbergasted by Min-Seo’s instincts. For some reason unbeknownst to Su-Ryeon, talking to Min-Seo eased the tension within her body.

"Yeah, there's no point in fighting each other. Why don't we team up?" Su-Ryeon suggested.

Min-Seo chuckled and said, "Not a bad idea. If the two of us team up, we'll definitely be at the top."

"Right, right. Besides—"

Su-Ryeon was about to say something when she suddenly turned her head and frantically searched for something. She’d felt a presence nearby.

No, it wasn’t just a presence. She could feel a hostile aura directed toward her.

However, the hostile aura disappeared soon after. Su-Ryeon concluded that the hostile aura had come from Min-Seo and relaxed.

Then she continued, "Sun-Woo... He's the problem. If we encounter him, it's just death. Death, I tell you."

"That's right. You’re absolutely correct," Min-Seo agreed with an exaggerated nod.

People already evaluated Sun-Woo as a monster, and he had been gaining even more notoriety recently.

Among the countless rumors, the most impressive one was undoubtedly the one about the entrance exam for the Central Paladin Order. It was rumored that he was able to accurately pierce the heart of a demon with a training spear, which was essentially just a wooden stick. Even a mere training spear could become a deadly weapon in Sun-Woo's hands.

Furthermore, he was not only skilled in handling the spear. He possessed sharp senses that were akin to Su-Ryeon's bestial instincts, which she had cultivated in the wild. Perhaps, he possessed senses that were even sharper than hers.

"If we want to defeat—no, avoid that guy, we absolutely have to team up.”

There was only one way Su-Ryeon could defeat Sun-Woo—by teaming up with Min-Seo and attacking him together.

The ideal situation would be for Su-Ryeon to team up with Sun-Woo instead, but Sun-Woo preferred to be alone, so it would not be easy to team up with him. Therefore, teaming up with Min-Seo was currently the most prudent choice.

"Yeah, you’re right. Everything you said is correct," Min-Seo said, nodding continuously as if she agreed with everything.

Su-Ryeon looked at Min-Seo with a strange gaze. For some reason, the way Min-Seo was agreeing with her seemed disingenuous, and her gaze also seemed a little odd. Su-Ryeon couldn’t help but feel uneasy and tense.

"..."

At that moment, Su-Ryeon sensed the hostile aura again.

Clang!

Before she could turn her head to identify the source of the hostile aura, a spear flew out of nowhere and shattered her shock detection device.

She felt a sharp pain despite receiving a blessing from an archbishop-level priest for injury prevention just before the exam.

Beeeeep!

Then a loud noise came from her shock detection device. It meant that she had been eliminated from the exam.

Su-Ryeon looked at Min-Seo with a bewildered look. Then her gaze shifted to Sun-Woo as he stepped out from his hiding spot.

Su-Ryeon was so dumbfounded that she was rendered speechless.

Min-Seo looked at Su-Ryeon and smiled triumphantly. "Sorry~ Actually, never mind. It's an exam, so I don’t need to apologize."

Su-Ryeon glanced resentfully at Sun-Woo.

Perhaps feeling pressured by her gaze, Sun-Woo explained, "It was a strategy that Min-Seo came up with. I just followed her suggestion."

"Oh, damn you. You're just like Min-Seo!" Su-Ryeon said angrily.

Sun-Woo frowned and complained, "That's a bit harsh..."

Min-Seo tapped Sun-Woo on the shoulder. "Hey, stop it."

Su-Ryeon thought Sun-Woo would never team up with anyone, but he ended up teaming up with Min-Seo. That was a variable Su-Ryeon could never have imagined. Disappointed after failing the exam in such a lackluster way, she left Eiden Hill under the guidance of a teacher.

Then she received the ranking list.

Su-Ryeon did not have high hopes for her ranking because she had been eliminated much earlier than she expected.

Yet, as she looked at the ranking list, she tilted her head.

"Huh?"

It had been less than an hour since the exam had started, but Su-Ryeon's ranking was eleventh. Only ten people were left on Eiden Hill right now, and the exam was nearing its end.