The Cult Leader in the Clergy Academy

Chapter 291

"Huff, huff! Fuck, what is this? What is this?!"

An unknown opponent was chasing Yu-Hyun. Based on their movements and presence, it seemed like a fierce beast. It would pass through the trees, glide along the ground, and chase after Yu-Hyun at a crazy fast speed.

Its movements were so agile and powerful that it made Yu-Hyun wonder whether the movements were from a human. Yu-Hyun panted heavily as he desperately ran from the thing.

When his legs trembled so much that he couldn’t move any further, he used a blessing to remove the fatigue from his legs temporarily. And then he continued to run again.

When he was so out of breath that it felt like knives were stabbing his lungs, he used another blessing to forget the pain.

However, continuing to escape like this was only momentary.

"Huff, huff... Ugh, ugh...!"

By the time his legs could no longer move, breathing became difficult, and he could no longer use blessings due to using up all his remaining divine power. He stopped running. After that, he hunched over and vomited.

Nothing came out because he hadn't eaten anything. He just kept vomiting gastric acid on the ground before sitting down.

Crunch, crunch.

The thing that had been chasing Yu-Hyun approached him as he was sitting down. Dry leaves crunched loudly under its feet.

Yu-Hyun slowly backed away while still sitting on the ground and said, "Why? Why are you doing this?"

"..."

It did not respond to Yu-Hyun's words. It just gripped its sword even tighter.

"Aaaargh!"

Thud.

Yu-Hyun's scream echoed through Eiden Hill. 'It' mercilessly shattered his shock detection device with their sword.

Beeeep—!

The noise from the device echoed throughout Eiden Hill.

***

After Dae-Man and Su-Ryeon were eliminated, Eiden Hill was enveloped in even deeper silence.

Previously, they could hear sounds of battle occurring in various places, along with screams and loud noises, but now it was completely silent.

At this point, the only people left on Eiden Hill were probably the elite, such as Jin-Seo or Yu-Hyun.

We weren’t sure when or where they would attack us. Thinking about it made me nervous and tense, but a strange sense of upliftment spread throughout my body. Honestly, I didn't have high expectations before the exam, but it turned out to be more fun and exciting than I thought.

[Really?]

"..."

No, I actually wasn’t sure. I didn’t respond to Legba’s words and instead turned my head toward Min-Seo.

"Min-Seo. Who is left now?"

"We probably only need to be on guard against Jin-Seo from now on."

Whoosh!

Min-Seo quickly turned her head and stared at something.

I gripped my spear and followed Min-Seo's gaze. She stared intently at a point in the distance.

There was nothing in the direction she was looking toward. More precisely, there was no one. I could only see the lush forest and numerous large and small rocks.

"What are you doing? There's nothing there?"

"I thought I heard something. Must be my imagination...!"

Boom—!

An attack came rushing in before Min-Seo could finish speaking.

"Nevermind! Jin-Seo, you’re finally showing your true colors!"

Min-Seo bent down to dodge the attack and then raised her head.

I looked at Jin-Seo who appeared in front of us. She was tightly gripping a sword. Although the blade was quite dull since it was a practice sword, in her hands, it looked quite threatening. The worn-out edge of the blade hinted at how many battles she had fought.

I gripped my spear, and Min-Seo drew her bow.

Jin-Seo looked at us. Her expression was so blank that it was terrifying.

"Are you two a team?" Jin-Seo asked.

"Yeah. Does that trigger you?" Min-Seo replied bluntly.

Jin-Seo chuckled and glanced briefly at me.

Then, she nodded and said, "Yes, very much so."

Swish!

Divine power flowed from Jin-Seo's fingertips. It quickly took the form of a blessing array, and the light of blessing immediately enveloped Jin-Seo's body.

I turned my head to look at Min-Seo, who clearly had a bewildered look on her face.

In fact, Min-Seo and I had already devised a plan to confront Jin-Seo. Min-Seo was good at using blessings. Specifically, she was great at abusing the collision phenomenon to nullify the opponent's blessing array. Thus, we decided that when Jin-Seo appeared, Min-Seo would focus on nullifying her blessing arrays while I would engage in direct combat.

However, due to Min-Seo impulsively drawing her bow, she failed to nullify Jin-Seo's blessing array. Min-Seo hastily released her bowstring.

Twang—!

The arrow flew toward Jin-Seo. However, the arrow veered off course due to carelessly releasing the bowstring without focusing properly.

Thud!

Jin-Seo did not miss the opportunity due to Min-Seo’s mistake and charged forward. Min-Seo's arrow completely missed, and Jin-Seo quickly closed the distance between them.

Min-Seo tried to step back to create distance again, but it was already too late. Without a chance to escape, Jin-Seo's sword swooped toward Min-Seo.

"Oh, sh—!"

Thwack!

Jin-Seo's sword accurately struck Min-Seo's head.

"Ugh, urgh!"

Min-Seo let out a wail that didn’t even sound like a proper scream. She looked at Jin-Seo with bloodshot eyes before trembling and collapsing onto the ground.

Just like that, Min-Seo lost consciousness in such a pitiful state. Maybe she had skillfully attacked the shock detection device’s blind spot because the device did not beep.

It most likely wasn’t a mistake. She intentionally incapacitated her instead of eliminating her from the exam, and the reason was clear.

"Now, only two of us remain."

It was to create a situation where only the two of us would be left.

I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine.

I nodded and responded, "Yeah, it seems like it’s just the two of us.”

Then, I firmly gripped my spear. I had no intention of seriously fighting against Jin-Seo. Since I was using Bossou’s power, if I got serious while using the spear, there was a chance she would get injured.

Like I had done throughout the exam, I planned to fight while holding back.

Jin-Seo read my mind and said, "Fight properly this time. Don't go easy on me."

“...”

I couldn’t respond immediately to her words and kept my mouth shut.

Jin-Seo was strong. She was strong at the beginning of the semester, and now she seemed even stronger. I felt it when I saw her attack Min-Seo. The Jin-Seo right after entering school and the Jin-Seo right now were completely different people.

However, compared to the other Florence Academy students, she was just strong. Outside of Florence Academy, Jin-Seo was only at Joseph’s or Yuk Eun-Hyung’s level at best. To be honest, I didn’t really know if she was comparable to Joseph or Yuk Eun-Hyung at all.

I couldn’t exactly use Bossou’s power at full capacity against someone like that. She would obviously get hurt.

"I've never gone easy on you before," I lied.

Now that I think about it, I never fought against Jin-Seo with all my might. It was because there was hardly ever an opportunity to fight her outside of spars.

There was no reason to fight her with all my might if it was just a spar. I once took the practical evaluations seriously and tried my hardest to get good grades, but now there was no need to do that.

I also didn’t need to use Voodoo spells or the power of the Loa, and there wasn’t even a need to properly use Bossou's power. As Do-Jin said earlier, I could just play around and take it easy. That was all I had to do to get my desired result.

In the future, I would most likely never need to fight with all my might. If there was ever a need, it would probably be in a situation where...

Jin-Seo glared straight at me and said, "Don't lie."

The hand she used to hold her sword was trembling.

"You haven't ever taken a spar seriously, and there has never been a need to fight outside of a spar.”

“There’s no need to take it seriously after all. I just need to try hard enough to win.”

"That’s what pisses me off."

"Pisses you off?" I repeated her words in irritation.

The words 'pisses me off' bothered me. What exactly was pissing her off?

I tried my best at the beginning of the semester, but I didn’t do so anymore because there was no need to. I could get good grades without doing my best, and there were many other things that required me to give it my all.

I had a lot to think about, such as Yu-Hyun and Joseph, Ha-Yeon and Sung Yu-Da, my father and mother, the Holy War, and the underground prison. I also had to think about Yoon-Ah, In-Ah, Ji-Ah, Uncle, Soo-Yeong, the executives of the cult, Yuk Eun-Hyung's mercenary corps, Noah's Ark, the underground chapel, Voodoo spells, and the power of the Loa. Besides all those things, I had many other things too.

And I also had to think about Jin-Seo. I simply wanted to save my strength when doing things that didn't require my best effort. I knew I would quickly get tired if I gave my all in everything.

I just wanted to rest comfortably when I could.

"Do you think you can beat me by taking it easy?" she asked.

I thought for a moment and then nodded. Honestly, I could probably win even if I half-heartedly fought against her. With Jin-Seo holding a practice sword instead of a real one, I could easily defeat her with my bare hands.

"Shall we make a bet then? The winner grants one wish to the loser."

"I've made too many bets. I'm getting tired of them."

"Tired? Not up for the challenge?" Jin-Seo teased me with a small smile.

Seeing her provoking me with a smile, it slightly triggered my competitive spirit. My pride was slightly wounded as well.

Normally, I wouldn’t easily succumb to such provocations, but Jin-Seo's provocation felt different. I stared intently at Jin-Seo smiling relaxedly and then nodded.

"Alright, let's do it."

It wouldn't hurt to fight against her for once properly.

I pushed Bossou’s power to the limit. My heart raced, and my vision blurred. I could feel my blood boiling.

I hadn't felt this sensation ever since I got the hang of how to use the power of the Loa after recovering the Altar.

***

Jin-Seo held onto her sword and glared at Sun-Woo as she prepared for battle when she suddenly felt the atmosphere around them turn icy.

The birds perched on the branches spread their wings and flew away. Sun-Woo emanated an ominous and eerie energy.

"..."

Sun-Woo no longer said anything. Instead, he looked at Jin-Seo with empty eyes.

Jin-Seo clenched her jaw and glared at Sun-Woo. She then waited for an opportunity, a moment when his posture faltered or his vision lost its focus. If she attacked during such an opportunity, she could win in most fights.

However, Sun-Woo did not easily show any openings. His gaze seemed empty, but it was precisely aimed at Jin-Seo, and his posture, although seemingly sloppy, had no gaps.

Jin-Seo felt a strange tension as she swallowed her saliva.

Boom!

Then, the wind blew. Jin-Seo reflexively closed her eyes as dust flew toward her, only to belatedly open her eyes after realizing she had made a mistake.

Sun-Woo had already disappeared from her sight. Jin-Seo’s eyes darted in all directions in an attempt to follow Sun-Woo's movements.

However, it was difficult to track him with her eyes. She had to trust her instincts, and so she raised her sword defensively.

Clang—!!

Sun-Woo appeared out of nowhere and swung his spear. The clash between Jin-Seo's sword and his spear created a loud noise. It was too noisy to be a collision of mere training weapons.

Jin-Seo was holding the sword with one hand, but Sun-Woo's attack was so powerful that she wasn't able to block it with just one hand.

As Sun-Woo briefly withdrew the spear to prepare for a second attack, Jin-Seo switched to holding the sword with both hands. She aimed to block his attacks more stably and launch a stronger, more daring counterattack.

"Huh...?"

At that moment, a gasp escaped Jin-Seo's lips. The instant she switched to holding the sword with both hands, Sun-Woo dropped his spear and reached out to firmly grasp Jin-Seo's hands.

He then pushed Jin-Seo's body towards a tree. Jin-Seo was immobilized against the tree, unable to move with both her hands bound. She tried to resist, but it was futile.

Jin-Seo felt Sun-Woo's strength through her immobilized hands. No matter how much she resisted and struggled, she couldn't overpower his overwhelming strength.

Sun-Woo firmly pressed Jin-Seo's hands against the tree trunk and said, "Is this enough?"

“...”

Jin-Seo remained silent and looked into Sun-Woo's eyes, which were fixated on her. She could sense a sharp and rough desire simmering within his gaze.

It felt strange and frightening to see his eyes, which were usually gentle, contain such an unfamiliar emotion. But she didn’t feel that it was entirely bad either.