Regressor’s Life After Retirement - Chapter 369
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[(Side story) Prophet]
-Wheeik!
So Shin-han rushed forward like a thunderbolt, sharpened his hand blade and aimed at An Jun’s heart.
A deadly attack that feels like it will pierce your heart with a single blow.
‘What a crazy guy!’
Gritting his teeth, An Jun barely managed to block So Shinhan’s attack.
-Jjiik!
Even though I used my magic power to block it, my forearm was torn long.
Anjun quickly took a few steps back and shouted as he stopped bleeding from his wound.
“What are you doing?”
Unlike An Jun, whose expression was distorted with anger, So Shin-han prepared his next attack with an expressionless face.
“This is the priest’s order.”
That one word was enough. Formidable life force spewed out from Soshinhan’s body and he began to transform into a werewolf.
“Krrrrr….”
The muscles of the entire body swell and the snout becomes longer.
When Soshinhan, who had turned into a werewolf, showed his teeth and growled, the students of WHA, who were barely able to survive without even flinching, started shaking.
Anjun, who had received the brunt of that murderous attack, had already turned pale.
He stuttered in confusion.
“You you bastard! “You really intend to kill me…!”
“Kaaaaang!”
Soshinhan rushed forward with a loud roar and swung his long fingernails.
Because he was overwhelmed by the force before the fight even started, An Jun was unable to mount a proper counterattack and was constantly pushed back.
In an instant, his clothes were torn to shreds and covered in blood.
“Stop that!”
“Krrr…. Die for Him!”
So Shinhan cornered An Jun and pushed him into a corner.
The shadow of a huge black monster reflected on the dark basement wall approached the crouching boy’s shadow.
“Krrrrr….”
“Save me…”
The moment the monster’s shadow waved ominously and was about to attack the crouching boy’s shadow,
“Stop.”
At the priest’s words, Sosinhan stopped his attack like a still image.
The nail was placed exactly a short distance above Anjun’s head.
Soshinhan slowly turned his head and looked at the priest.
The corners of the priest’s mouth, revealed beneath the hood, were raised in satisfaction.
“I only did this to test your loyalty, and I didn’t really mean to kill you.
“…All right.”
Slurp.
The werewolf’s body shrank and returned to its original appearance.
The priest looked at the scene with interest.
“I’m glad there’s at least one useful guy.”
Then the priest turned his head and looked at the other believers who still had dumb expressions on their faces.
“The rest is substandard.”
“!!”
Only then did they realize that the priest’s order was a test for them, and they were all embarrassed.
“My priest!”
“We…!”
“Give me one more chance!”
But the priest’s gaze was already cold.
“Doubting my commands is tantamount to a lack of faith.”
“That…”
“There’s no need for an excuse. “I’ll keep an eye on you so I can make up for it.”
“yes!”
“Follow me.”
The priest who spoke coldly turned around and headed toward the gate.
Like ducklings following their mother, everyone hurriedly followed the priest.
Su Xinhan and An Jun, who were engaged in a fierce battle, followed them from behind.
“Treat the wound.”
“…….”
An Jun snatched the potion given by So Shinhan and applied it to his body. Then he glared at Soshinhan with a murderous gaze.
“you…!”
As the fear of death barely subsided, a fierce anger rose up.
An Jun sent a message to So Xin Han.
-Did you really plan to kill me?
-I just acted according to the pre-determined script.
An Jun knew that the priest would test the faith of the new believers.
He informed Daein and Sosinhan of this fact in advance and decided to pretend to fight with Sosinhan in front of the priest.
It was all a script to win the favor of the priest.
but.
-You just said that was an act?
-okay.
Just now, An Jun felt afraid that he might actually be murdered.
– That’s crazy! If only the priest had been a little late in stopping him…!
-It was calculated accurately.
“Who is this idiot…!”
Angry, An Jun gritted his teeth and glared at Su Xinhan.
At that time, the priest who was walking ahead glanced at them.
“Do you two have anything left to talk about?”
“no.”
Su Xinhan turned around and sent a message without even looking at An Jun.
-Ahn Jun. Don’t ruin your plans by getting excited.
As Sosinhan followed, the priest seemed to have lost interest and turned again and headed toward the gate.
‘That bastard…’
An Jun followed behind him and remembered the last look So Shinhan had looked at him just moments ago.
At that moment, goosebumps appeared all over my body.
‘This is not the person I knew.’
At best, Soshinhan’s performance was in the lower to mid-level in the WHA’s evaluation.
On the other hand, Anjun himself has never missed a top grade since entering school.
However, the difference in performance between the two in the fight just now meant nothing.
‘No matter how surprising it was…’
I was completely overwhelmed.
The priest doesn’t seem to be surprised at the fact that there is another hunting dog that absolutely obeys his commands, but… ‘If the
priest hadn’t told me to stop earlier… wouldn’t that guy really have killed me?’
Cold sweat trickled down An Jun’s back.
Then, I suddenly remembered a man I met during WHA’s final entrance exam.
‘It looks like that guy…’
A man who suddenly appeared at the moment when his plan was almost successful, calmed the storm of magic power that was running rampant, and saw at a glance the characteristic [Evil Eyes] that only Red Finger knew about.
-Child. Those eyes. Where did you get it from?
Aside from his turbulent posture and expression of annoyance with everything in the world, his cool, sunken eyes left an unforgettable fear in Anjun for the rest of his life.
He was a great man, but An Jun did not know his name or identity.
However, he clearly remembered the horror he experienced in the process of turning himself from Redfinger’s agent into a double agent for the WHA.
‘It’s like I’m looking at that guy…’
Grr.
An Jun’s body trembled as he looked at Su Xinhan’s back.
The two had completely different voices and faces – in fact, I couldn’t remember Daein’s face – but strangely, Sosinhan’s appearance overlapped with Daein’s.
‘…shit. ‘I wouldn’t even dream of betrayal.’
Anjun felt guilty about betraying Redfinger until the end.
Anyway, Redfinger was the organization that raised him from a young age, and even if it was mostly due to brainwashing, he still had faith in ‘him’.
But now, Anjun, who was shaken, had his heart completely tilted to one side.
‘Redfinger ends today.’
Kuuk.
Clenching his fists so as not to notice his hands shaking, An Jun followed So Shinhan and crossed the gate.
***
“This is the place.”
“Oh oh…!”
They crossed the gate more than ten times.
From city to city, from dimension to dimension, I visited places I had visited again and again, evading any traces that might have occurred.
Redfinger’s vigilance was strict.
Even the priests were searched every time they crossed the gate, and the loyalty of new believers was checked in a manner that bordered on torture.
-Pazy!
The powerful magic pulse rendered all their electronic devices and artifacts unusable.
After half a day, the exhausted group was able to arrive at a place called Redfinger’s headquarters.
‘This is Redfinger’s headquarters…’
Soshinhan pretended to look around with an expression of emotion and tried to secure all the information he could see.
A city where everything is twisted and misaligned, like a broken mosaic.
Redfinger headquarters was a space that could only be described that way.
Additionally, the flow of magical power was extremely artificial and there was not a single breeze blowing.
‘This… is not an ordinary land. It’s a sub-space of enormous size.’
So Shinhan rubbed his eyes and pretended to touch his earlobe, turning on the listening device and special lens camera placed inside his ear.
‘Fortunately, the equipment is fine.’
These devices also have location tracking devices, so WHA will be able to locate them within a few hours.
Soshinhan’s role was to obtain and convey as much information about this place as possible until then and to find victims who might be trapped somewhere.
“Then go.”
The priest took the lead, speaking in a weary voice. The believers, including So Shin-han, shrugged their shoulders and followed carefully.
“This earth is his kingdom, his tomb, and his sanctuary of resurrection.”
“When He is resurrected and spreads His wings wide to fly, all those who disturb the order of the universe will be purified.”
“In this way, utopia will be built throughout the universe.”
“We will be the first subjects of the kingdom he will build!”
The voice of the priest who returned to the main altar became increasingly powerful.
At that brainwashing, the believers except Anjun and Soshinhan nodded with their hearts filled with expressions.
Soshinhan followed them appropriately and carefully took in as much of the surrounding terrain as possible.
‘It’s a truly enormous subspace.’
In general, subspace magic is used for storing objects, etc.
It’s really big, about the size of a playground.
Moreover, creating an environment in which life can live inside subspace took dozens of times more effort than simply making it larger.
‘To create a sub-space of this size on a city scale and connect it with a gate…’
It was a level of ability that was difficult for Soshinhan to even imagine. He wiped the sweat from his palms on his pants.
“You are lucky.”
The priest grinned and looked back at them. His finger pointed in one direction.
“Before you are baptized, you will participate in a purification ceremony that takes place once a year.”
In the direction the priest’s finger pointed, a red tower stood high in the sky.
As I got closer, I could see the true nature of the tower.
‘This is crazy…’
– Ugh.
So Shin-han gritted his molars to avoid showing his burning emotions.
The Red Tower was made of corpses.
A tower made up of the corpses of countless races. The blood that flowed from their bodies formed a puddle at the bottom of the tower.
-Kyaaaaaaaaa!
-Kyaaaaaaaaa!
The souls of those who had died unjustly were wailing and circling around the red tower.
The tower wriggled intermittently as if it were alive, and Sosinhan couldn’t help but think about one thing as he watched it.
‘There may be someone still alive.’
I wanted to run to the tower to rescue any survivors.
However, Soshinhan struggled to look away from the tower.
I don’t care if my identity is discovered and I die.
However, if he moves clumsily and misses Redfinger’s leadership, there may be many more victims than there are now.
‘shit!’
No matter how much I trained and honed my body and mind, I couldn’t help but feel agitated in a situation like this.
However, because he went through a lot of training, Soshinhan was able to slowly regain his composure.
“Our prophet is waiting there.”
Just below the red tower.
Thousands of people had gathered there, and in front of them was a living sacrifice lying on the altar.
“…….”
The woman chosen as a sacrifice opened her mouth with a blank expression.
In front of him stood a figure wearing a blood-red hood.
“Lamb.”
The man who opened his mouth with a soft voice was the prophet of Red Finger.
He spoke with a languid expression while gently stroking the woman’s hair.
“Rejoice that you were chosen by Him. Your blood and soul will soon become a part of Him who will be resurrected and you will live forever in Paradise.”
“…Please take my soul. It is a great honor to give it to Him.”
The woman was happy, shedding tears, and the prophet stabbed the woman’s chest with the dagger he was holding without hesitation.
-Phew!
The woman’s chest was split open and her red heart was pulled out.
‘This is crazy…!’
Soshinhan, who saw the scene, gritted his teeth and held up the heart that the prophet had just pulled out with both hands.
The blood that spurted from the heart of the sacrifice stained the Prophet’s hands red and splashed on his face.
“All for Him.”
Thousands of fanatics on their knees raised their arms.
“All for Him!”
“All for Him!”
At the same time, the hood of the prophet who raised his head to the sky was pulled back, revealing his face.
The moment So Shin-han saw his face, he failed to manage his expression for the first time.
“…president?”
He had the face of a great man.
[(side story) Prophet] End
ⓒ Ganjjajang