Cult (4)
Konkuk University Entrance, Daehak-ro.
Once brimming with the youth and energy of university students, the street had become a desolate ruin, barely recognizable from its former self.
Crushed one-room apartments and shattered commercial buildings lined the
area.
Broken signs lay in pieces, and metal structures were embedded in cracked concrete.
The only traces of life were the dried blood stains smeared between the debris.
The reason not a single human or monster could be found here was due to a single monster that had claimed this area as its own.
Clank-Clank-
The creature was larger than an 8-ton truck, and its form vaguely resembled a stegosaurus. But not a scrap of flesh remained on it.
Its body was composed entirely of sharp blades, with numerous holes poked through the metallic surface, suggesting it didn't even bleed.
A golem made entirely of blades-
Aizenblade.
This was its domain.
Boom-!
With each step, its enormous legs-replaced with thick, heavy blades instead of feet-left deep gouges in the concrete ground.
As it slowly roamed its territory...
Rustle.
At the first sign of movement, Aizenblade's head snapped in that direction.
The moment a man locked eyes with the massive blade golem, the color drained from his face.
"Hiiik!"
He immediately turned to run.
But-
Crashhhh-!
Aizenblade slashed in every direction with its four massive blades, catching up to the man in the blink of an eye.
A dark shadow loomed over the man.
Shhkk!
Before he could even let out a proper scream, his life came to an abrupt end.
Aizenblade used one of its fork-like legs to lift the man and shove him into its
mouth.
Shhk-Shhkk-
Thanks to the gaping holes that lined its body from neck to torso, anyone could see exactly how the man's body was being shredded once it entered.
The blades inside Aizenblade's body mercilessly tore through the man's corpse, sending chunks of flesh and sprays of blood in every direction.
Clank-Clank-
This was why no living thing remained in its territory.
Aizenblade tore apart anything that moved.
Be it a car, a human, another monster, or even a rat crawling through a
sewer-
It shredded everything.
Drip- Drip.
The blood of the unlucky man who unknowingly entered Aizenblade's domain soaked into the concrete.
And just nearby, his comrade remained.
"Huff, huff...!"
Lee Junyoung didn't even have time to mourn his friend's death. His only option was to escape from Aizenblade as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, he had just barely entered the creature's detection range.
Killing his companion had brought Aizenblade close enough that Junyoung was now within reach.
And Aizenblade was a monster that didn't miss even the faintest noise within a
certain distance.
Clank.
Its head turned precisely in Junyoung's direction.
Junyoung, stepping backward slowly while keeping his eyes locked on the beast, felt a chill of death crawl down his spine.
"Ah... I'm screwed."
Crashhhhh!
As the blade golem surged forward with terrifying speed once again, Junyoung could do nothing to resist.
His legs wouldn't move.
At that moment-
"Barrier."
A calm woman's voice called out from behind him.
Even as the giant monster charged at them, her voice remained unshaken.
Vmmm-!
A thin shield formed around Junyoung, and he felt a hand suddenly grab him by the waist from behind.
"W-what?!"
His body shot upward, rising nearly four meters, and he couldn't grasp what was happening.
Only after landing safely among distant wreckage did he realize—
The woman who had spoken earlier had picked him up and leapt away with him.
And right after that—
Crash! Boom!
One could see Eisenblade wildly swinging his blades in the direction where they had just been.
While the creature was venting its rage, Lee Junyoung tried to ask the woman what was going on.
"W-What is this?"
But then-
"Shh."
She raised her index finger, and he shut his mouth tightly.
"That monster is very sensitive to sound. So please, be quiet."
"...?"
Just as he was thinking, Shouldn't you be quiet too, then?, the woman responded naturally, as if she had read his mind.
"This barrier blocks sound from escaping. Whispering like this is fine."
"I-I see."
Boom! Boom!
The monster's rage intensified for a while, but it still couldn't find Lee Junyoung.
It thrashed the ground in vain for a while before giving up and walking away.
Only after the creature disappeared from view did the woman deactivate the barrier and reach out her hand.
"My name is Kang Yaeun."
"I-I'm Lee Junyoung."
Awkwardly shaking her hand, Lee Junyoung then bowed deeply and expressed his gratitude again.
"Thank you so much for saving me."
"I'd rather you thank the Lord, not me. It was the Lord who sent me here."
"Huh?"
Kang Yaeun asked brightly,
"Are you moving around alone?"
"Ah, no. I came out to find food, and I'm with a group of about a dozen or so people."
"That's great! The Lord must have sent me here to guide you all to the right path."
"Ah, ha, ha... I see."
Lee Junyoung had to struggle to maintain a forced smile.
After all, Kang Yaeun was the one who had saved his life.
"And she's gifted, too."
He had no interest in religion, but it wasn't hard to go along with the beliefs of the one who had saved him.
"We should be grateful for the Lord's grace."
"That's it! You are truly worthy of salvation! Ahh, the Lord foresaw this all along!"
"Amen."
At that moment, Junyoung's religious praise was just superficial.
But then-
"This is a gift."
"A gift?"
When he looked into the backpack Kang Yaeun handed him, his thoughts were completely overturned.
"!!"
The backpack was filled with food-fruits, jerky, and more.
"Come with me to the sanctuary. You won't have to worry about food anymore."
The hardships of the past flashed through Junyoung's mind.
The days he had to risk his life just to find something to eat came rushing back.
"R-Really?"
Kang Yaeun smiled brightly and answered,
"Of course. You have been chosen by the Lord."
"Huh... huuhhh!"
Lee Junyoung collapsed to the ground and cried with sorrow and relief.
"The Lord will save you."
***
Over the past few days, he had been investigating the JHS cult.
He simply couldn't figure out the right way to deal with it.
"It was very different from what I expected."
It was a cult led by a man who claimed to be God himself.
Of course, it sounded insane. He had assumed that everyone who believed in it was being deceived.
But after actually looking into it, the truth was a little different.
"Jung Hyunsoo actually performed miracles."
The very next dawn after returning from the 70th-floor labyrinth, having gained nothing significant and using a spirit summon to extract Moon Byung-ho.
During dawn prayer, he healed the leg of a man that had been severed due to a monster attack.
"Honestly, even the current Kim Dajeong could probably do something like that..."
But that didn't mean the power to cure someone's disability was trivial.
"It was an SR-rank ability."
Cult leader Jung Hyunsoo's ability was the power to materialize illusions into reality.
The labyrinth on the 70th floor had also been his creation.
Through the Eye of the Absolute, his level was revealed to be 52.
It was quite high, but from my perspective, not especially threatening.
I could kill him anytime I wanted.
But I didn't.
"He's become a beacon of hope for the people."
That wasn't all.
The JHS cult had many ability users.
Some used powers to accelerate plant growth and produce fruit, others
purified water to provide drinkable water from the Han River.
There were also those who generated electricity and supplied power. Several ability users were desperate to rescue nearby survivors.
Their efforts to save even one more life radiated a genuinely positive influence.
"Though, not everything is squeaky clean.
""
Using Moon Byung-ho's invisibility ability, I learned much about the cult's darker side.
Young, attractive women were brought to the 70th floor on a rotating basis. Some followers appeared unnaturally robotic.
"Among the gifted believers, many just silently worked like puppets."
They didn't interact with others, showed no emotion, and carried out their tasks like marionettes-without a word.
"It felt like they were brainwashed..."
There were also reports of regular people who resisted the cult being thrown into monster zones to die, or being publicly beaten until they praised the cult.
But it was hard to blame all that on Jung Hyunsoo directly.
Most of the time, his fanatical followers committed these acts without any explicit orders.
Maybe he had designed the system that allowed for this, but that was only speculation.
"He's definitely not a good person.
If anything, he was closer to being a villain.
However, his abilities-and the society he and his followers had built-saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
And even now, they were actively rescuing and recruiting survivors.
Just now, the woman who saved survivors from a blade-covered golem was a cult operative.
"It's complicated."
Jung Hyunsoo was clearly a villain, but the lives of hundreds of thousands rested on his shoulders.
Even if I killed him now and granted the people citizenship, they wouldn't accept it.
"But something about it still feels off."
That's why I couldn't decide to just let him be.
My gut told me I shouldn't leave him unchecked.
"Sigh... For now, I can only do what I can."
""
I issued a command to the Kellikan Kim Ga-young was riding as she followed Kang Ye-eun from the skies.
[Follow that monster.]
Screeeech!
As the Kellikan screeched, Eisenblade raised its head toward the sky.
Its body was drenched in the blood of the man it had just killed.
"...Apologies for being late."
Kim Ga-young aimed her bowstring at the creature.
Vwoom-
A bow and arrow made of light appeared in her hands.
Using the Ring of Communication, she didn't need to speak-she clearly understood her role.
"Enhance."
Fwoooosh!
Dark energy burst from her body as the arrow of light turned black and swelled.
Vwoooom!
The now massive black arrow came crashing down onto Eisenblade's head.
BOOOOM!
[You have hunted Eisenblade (Lv. 48).]
[You have gained an enormous amount of experience.]
[28,453,097,117 won has been deposited into the Absolute Being's home account.]
[Citizen Kim Ga-young has defeated the boss of 'Konkuk Univ. Station'.]
[An outpost can now be built at 'Konkuk Univ. Station'.]
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]