Chapter 54: The Mireuk Cult (4)

“Why did the person who knows that abandon his younger sister?”Hearing those words, I couldn't help but flinch.

No, I never meant to abandon her. I just didn’t want her to become like our mother. I never once wanted Harin to end up like that.

I closed my eyes and bit my lip.

Now wasn’t the time to get caught up in such questions.

“Who are you?”

“Haha. Guess.”

A mocking voice reached my ears.

Hearing it filled my heart with a dark crimson flame.

Sure, I don’t know who you are.

But to use my sister to create this kind of cult?

I don’t care if it’s dangerous.

Here and now, I have no choice but to fight.

“No, it doesn’t matter who you are.”

I gripped the Black Sheath.

“I will make sure to crush you.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I struck down the fanatic in the room. With a sincere blow from my Black Sheath, no one could withstand more than two hits.

The mocking voice grew silent.

A masked woman rushed in amidst the screams of the believers, but she couldn’t match me. 

She tried to unleash some kind of power, firing something like a dagger, but it was too slow and predictable.

I struck her abdomen, making her vomit, then held the Black Sheath to her neck. 

It wasn't a sword, but it looked like one, perfect for intimidation.

“Is Harin alive? Do you want to get beaten up before you talk, or will you just talk?”

“Cough, cough. Impossible. You, a mere human, challenging one who sits on the throne?”

“What nonsense. Do you think I can’t kill you?”

The masked woman whimpered.

“Ugh. Then kill me.”

“Then die.”

I raised the Black Sheath high.

“Let’s stop there. What pleasure is there in tormenting weak children?”

A voice spoke from behind.

It wasn’t from a speaker; it was a real person in this room.

I turned around.

There stood the one I knew.

So, you were the owner of the voice from the speaker.

The strange guy who used to serve my sister.

It was Joo-cheol, whom I had always wanted to beat up.

“So, it was you, Joo-cheol.”

“Long time no see.”

As soon as Joo-cheol appeared, something strange happened. 

Every person I hadn’t beaten yet started crying, slamming their foreheads to the floor at a speed that seemed to shatter their skulls.

“We bow to the noble one!!!”

“Kill me, kill me, kill me, kill me.”

Even the ones I had knocked out got up and started banging their heads on the floor.

“We revere the noble one!!!”

“It hurts, save me, my brain is merging.”

They continued to bow until their heads were completely smashed, creating a grotesque scene. 

Watching them, I muttered to myself.

"The Noble One? Are you the Noble One?"

"Yes, in fact, I am also called the 'Noble One of Harmony.' But I prefer the name Joo-cheol, which was given to me by the Master. Please continue to call me Joo-cheol."

I had heard of it before.

The Noble One. It referred to the strongest demon in the world.

Could Joo-cheol really be that Noble One?

"How can I believe what I see with my own eyes?"

"The Demon King and the Noble One train their vitality, creating physical forms. Therefore, starting from the Demon King, they can imitate humans. Like this."

Joo-cheol grinned widely, showing his teeth.

They looked just like human teeth.

"Really? Knowing you're not human makes me feel relieved."

As I listened to Joo-cheol's nonsense, I tensed my muscles. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ N0ᴠᴇFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Whether Joo-cheol was the Noble One or not didn’t matter. What mattered was that Joo-cheol was showing the typical arrogance of a high-level psychic.

My plan was simple.

Beat the crap out of Joo-cheol to find out Harin's whereabouts.

And if Joo-cheol really was the Noble One, then I would exterminate him right here today.

"If you're not human, then I can beat you to death without any qualms."

"Killing me, you say. That's an exciting proposition. Come to think of it, the only one who ever pushed me to the brink of death was the former Heavenly Demon."

Joo-cheol smiled that unpleasant smile again.

Then he continued to speak.

"But you are weaker. Thus, in this era, there is no being stronger than the Noble One. By the words of children, I am the final boss, and by the words of the old ones, I am the end of the world. Even the so-called strongest of humanity, the Three-Honered One or the Saint, is no match for the Noble One..."

As soon as his words grew lengthy, I charged. 

Just as I was about to reach Joo-cheol in an instant, a concrete pillar rose up to encase me.

"Did you think I wouldn't know how to deal with a Demon King? The Demon King is a physical..."

Bullshit.

Joo-cheol, you know nothing about me.

He doesn't know how strong I am.

My fists can crumble through such a thin concrete wall in an instant.

Seeing this, Joo-cheol muttered.

"This is insane."

When my fist shattered the concrete wall, Joo-cheol's face twisted.

"The Heavenly Child of Mara, having such physical power is impossible-!"

Joo-cheol couldn't finish his sentence.

Because my fist was already planted in his face.

"Talk! Talk!! You bastard!!! What happened to Harin!!!"

Say she's alive.

Say she's alive.

Say she's alive!!!

She was strong enough to drive people insane just by appearing. A psychic that strong wouldn’t die just because her house burned down!!!

Tell me my sister is alive!!!

I stopped my punches to hear his answer.

Then Joo-cheol, now covered in blood, laughed.

His nose was broken, and his lips were split, yet he laughed.

"Ah, it hurts. Feeling pain for the first time in 500 years. Like the former Heavenly Demon, why are Heavenly Demons such troublesome beings?"

"Tell me before I beat you more. What happened to Harin?"

"The Master has passed away."

"Don't lie to me."

I staggered involuntarily.

Why, why am I so shaken?

In the end, I had no choice but to acknowledge it.

That bastard surely knew a side of Harin that I didn't.

After all, I was someone who couldn’t see ghosts.

But that guy was someone who saw ghosts like Harin did.

Someone who knew Harin in the ghost world.

Someone who had a foot in that bullshit spirit realm.

But if even he said Harin was dead…

Then it meant Harin really was dead.

That day, alone, abandoned by her brother,

Suffering the excruciating pain of her body burning,

If that was the truth, then she really had gone through such agony.

That kind of truth is really,

Really hard to accept.

I can’t accept that truth.

While I staggered, Joo-cheol muttered something.

"A body comparable to the strongest tiger among all beings. And Mara possessing such a body. It's a very dangerous combination."

Whatever Joo-cheol was saying didn’t register in my ears.

All I could do was hold back my tears.

"Whew, if only the Master didn't care about you, I would destroy you right now."

While I was in turmoil,

Joo-cheol had already begun forming seals with his hands.

"Principle Activation. Merge."

In an instant, cracks spread throughout this massive underground sanctuary.

No, the entire underground sanctuary was moving.

"Stay quiet until the day the Master returns."

What? Until the day the Master returns?

Does that mean Harin is somewhere else right now?

At that moment, the ground itself lifted.

No, the whole world was being lifted.

I looked down. Below, a vast open space had appeared. As far as I knew, there used to be a mountain called Jeonryusan down there.

And that mountain was now disintegrating, surrounding Joo-cheol and me. 

It was an overwhelming power, one that could only be described as god-like.

I spoke through gritted teeth.

"Are you some kind of god?"

"I have destroyed many gods of various myths. But I couldn't completely eradicate the god known as Mara Papias. Persistent."

Suddenly, the ground seemed to shrink.

It meant we were now over 100 meters high.

In just one minute, he pulled off this monstrous feat after forming those hand seals. 

How can I possibly defeat such a monster? Damn it. This was a hopeless fight from the start.

“What are you going to do with me?”

“I plan to merge all of this into one and seal it. I’ll infuse it with vital energy directly, so you don’t need to worry about dying.”

But I didn’t want to submit to such a monster. The frustration I felt at the Pyeon Station, the DMZ, and the research lab began to resurface.

Yet, I had no viable method right now.

I had no way to attack Joo-cheol, who was floating in the sky.

He changed the landscape with a single technique.

The scale of his abilities was different.

I hid my tension and spoke.

“When this merges into one, it’ll become a giant rock. What will you do with that rock?”

“It’ll become a new landmark for this country, I suppose? Or not. If this much mass falls from this height, the surrounding tens of kilometers will be devastated.”

Joo-cheol spoke in a cold tone.

It was truly the voice of a monster.

“But this is my true nature.”

He looked at me and continued.

“We were nothing more than the fierce wind blowing until the end of an era. Just a scorching wildfire and a surging giant wave. Until the Master gave us our names, we were merely a storm washing away corruption.”

Joo-cheol’s expression was inhuman as he spoke.

“This massacre is just another one of those.”

The merging stones then obscured my view.

– – – The End of The Chapter – – –

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