## Chapter 1061 – 1061. Divine Authority
Kwaang! Bang, bang, bang!
Explosions echoed.
I turned my gaze towards the temple. Black smoke and dust billowed into the sky. The temple must have been thoroughly destroyed. I hurried towards it.
‘I’ll kill the cult leader.’
I had ordered Amatsuka Koyori to focus on rescuing people above all else. Unless something extraordinary happened, she wouldn’t interfere in my battle with the cult leader.
“It’s an explosion!!”
“Check the ritual chamber first!!”
“Believers are trapped under the collapsed pillars!”
“Rescuing the believers is secondary! Put out the fire on the temple first!”
The believers were running around in confusion amidst the ruins of the temple. I clicked my tongue at the sight of the temple. I had planted enough explosives to blow the temple to smithereens, but only half of it was destroyed.
‘It’s not that the believers reacted, but rather the temple’s durability. The temple was sturdier than I thought.’
I clicked my tongue.
The cult leader’s power was connected to the temple. Since I hadn’t completely destroyed it, he would still possess some power.
‘But I don’t have enough time to smash the remaining temple right now. Amatsuka Koyori will be here soon.’
If I dawdled, I might lose the prey, the cult leader, to Koyori. That was something I didn’t want.
‘The situation is different from before the regression. The cult leader won’t have such overwhelming power.’
I retraced my memories and headed towards the cult leader’s chamber. On the way, I encountered several believers.
“Who are you!”
“An intruder!”
“The cult leader said. Kill any suspicious person on sight!”
The believers pulled out weapons from their robes. It was laughable. I used Flash Step to pass through them, slashing as I went. Even if they were ordinary people, as long as they were believers of the Light Source Church, I had no intention of letting them live.
“Aaaaargh!”
I heard their screams as they fell to the ground. I didn’t look back and continued towards the cult leader’s chamber.
‘As expected, the cult leader’s chamber is intact despite the explosion. At most, it’s just scorched.’
I kicked open the door to the cult leader’s chamber and entered.
Unlike the clean chamber I had seen before the regression, the current chamber was red. Blood and entrails were splattered everywhere. I stared at the human remains rolling on the floor. Among the remains, I could see clothing. It was the clothing of a believer.
“You killed the believers?”
“I didn’t kill them. They sacrificed themselves. For the Light Source Church, for the Light God. They will be saved by the Light God’s mercy.”
Squirm, squirm.
Tentacles wriggled from the cult leader’s body. Seeing the red blood on the tentacles, I understood the situation.
‘This guy just sacrificed the believers to gain power.’
I recalled the information about the Divine Authority Ritual. The Divine Authority Ritual involved sacrificing believers. The ordinary believers, brainwashed by the Light Source Church, were nothing more than high-quality sacrifices.
“Who are you? The Light God is watching. Take off your mask and show your face.”
“Are you an idiot? Why do you think I’m wearing a mask? To hide my face, of course.”
I had taken care with my clothes and weapons to completely conceal my appearance. They wouldn’t be able to identify me with other traces.
‘This is the Light God’s temple. Brahmasen is watching. I won’t use any noticeable lightning.’
But Flash Lightning was an exception. Flash Lightning didn’t look too flashy on the surface.
Crack.
Flash Lightning coursed through my body. I gritted my teeth at the sudden surge of pain. I channeled that pain into anger towards the cult leader in front of me.
“Your words are quite harsh. However, I understand one thing. You are the one who committed the sacrilegious act of destroying the temple!!”
The cult leader roared. Four thick tentacles sprouted from his back and lunged at me. I dodged to the side and cut all four tentacles at once with my sword. Blood splattered as the severed tentacles fell to the floor.
The tentacles lost their momentum and drooped. But that was only for a moment. The severed parts regenerated instantly.
My sword aimed for the cult leader’s neck. The cult leader recoiled in terror. The sword sliced through the air.
I jumped upwards, dodging the tentacles aiming for my legs. I didn’t push myself and retreated from the cult leader.
‘It’s different from before the regression. Before, he didn’t even dodge my attacks.’
He was a guy who would take my attacks as I swung my sword. It was a fighting style that was possible because he didn’t die even when I cut off his head or stabbed his heart.
‘But it’s different now. He dodged my attack.’
The cult leader in front of me was not immortal. He was afraid of death.
‘The tentacles regenerate instantly, but… compared to before the regression, the number and power of the tentacles have decreased.’
I already had experience fighting the cult leader. I knew from experience how he would use his tentacles in battle.
I was bound to win this fight.
Confident in my victory, I charged towards the cult leader. Tentacles reached out. I cut them down. It was unpleasant to get my body dirty with the blood from the tentacles, but the fact that I could kill the cult leader was more pleasing.
The cult leader retreated as I approached, creating distance. His limit was quickly reached. The cult leader’s back hit the wall. There was nowhere else for him to retreat.
“Heretic…! You heretic!! Light God!!”
The cult leader shouted with a frantic expression.
Did the cult leader’s cry reach the Light God? From his shadow, black tentacles emerged and burrowed into the cult leader’s body.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
The cult leader screamed.
I realized he was rejoicing.
The cult leader’s body transformed. His skin turned dark gray. Small, worm-like tentacles pierced through his skin, and his face melted away.
He no longer had a form that could be called human.
Before the cult leader could fully transform, I stabbed my sword into his heart.
‘There’s no reason to wait for him to transform.’
Blood flowed down the pierced sword.
“Hehehe.”
The cult leader laughed. Sensing danger, I abandoned my sword and used Flash Step to create distance. Over 20 tentacles sprouted from the cult leader’s body and swept through the area where I had been. If I had been a little slower, I would have been caught by those tentacles and suffered a terrible fate.
“You have good instincts.”
The cult leader pulled out the sword embedded in his chest. The wound healed instantly.
‘…It’s not at the level it was before the regression, but I can’t ignore it.’
The cult leader’s power was related to the temple. By destroying the still intact temple, I could reduce the cult leader’s power. But I had no intention of doing that.
‘His regeneration is just stronger. I can handle it.’
Hunter Killer’s Bone Harpoon. A weapon that puts the opponent in an unrecoverable state for 3 hours. I had it, but I didn’t take it out.
The Bone Harpoon was a last resort. It was too precious to use now.
‘I didn’t come here relying on just that.’
I summoned white gloves and quickly put them on my hands. The gloves had wings and a mace drawn on the back of the hand.
These were the White Gloves of the Inquisitor, obtained as a reward for clearing the Rainbow Fruit Dungeon. Once every 24 hours, they had the effect of imbuing an object with holy power for 10 minutes.
I had enhanced these gloves with the Light Ascension Technique. It still had a 24-hour cooldown and a 10-minute duration, but the effect of the holy power had been strengthened.
‘More accurately, it’s imbuing the weapon with Selbretina’s divine power.’
I imbued my sword with divine power.
The sword glowed with a golden light.
“Thaaaat poooower…!!”
The cult leader looked at me with a gaze mixed with disgust, as if he had seen a cockroach. His voice was strange. It seemed that not only his appearance but also his internal organs had transformed into those of a monster.
“Selbreetinaaa!!! You disgusting noooob!”
More than 10 tentacles were swung like whips. I focused my mind and cut down all the tentacles. Sizzle. The severed tentacles smelled of burning. Some of Selbretina’s divine power remained on the tentacles, burning them.
‘Just by seeing that they don’t regenerate immediately like before, I can tell. Selbretina’s divine power is their weakness.’
The reason they were wary of Park Suho was probably because Selbretina’s power was dangerous to them.
“Cult leader. This time, I’ll kill you for sure.”
“Light God… is watching…”
The annoying tentacles targeted me again.
I danced with the tentacles. I dodged and cut down the tentacles that aimed for my body, repeating the process as I walked forward. It didn’t take long to stand in front of the cult leader. The cult leader, whose tentacles were all cut off, trembled.
“The Light God… is watching…!”
“I know. That’s why I’m wearing a mask.”
Brahmasen. It didn’t change anything that he was watching. There was nothing Brahmasen could do now. At most, he could only give power to the cult leader to strengthen him, like he had just done. Of course, that also had its limits. The fact that he wasn’t doing anything now was proof of that.
Thwack.
I stabbed the golden sword into the cult leader’s chest. The cult leader writhed. Sizzle. The cult leader’s body was burned by the divine power. The small tentacles that had been wriggling like worms on his skin fell limply. The cult leader’s appearance, which had transformed into a monster, temporarily returned to that of a human.
“Selbretina’s dog! The whore’s man! The Light God will one day descend upon Earth! He will tear apart the whore of light and inflict eternal pain upon you!”
“I heard your last words. They were boring. Let me tell you one thing. No matter what Brahmasen does, I will never lose to him. Earth is my territory. I will protect it.”
There would never be a repeat of the time when Han Harin died so absurdly before the regression.
I clenched the hand holding the sword tightly, and then I felt the cult leader’s eyes turn red.
My gaze shifted.
It was a gaze I had felt once before the regression.
“Brahmasen…!! One day, I will kill you with my own hands!!”
-Arrogant thing. Don’t think this is the end.
A red light flashed in his eyes. I felt a sudden unpleasantness. I realized he had played a trick. He was probably trying to drive me crazy using madness.
“I still don’t like you.”
I pulled out my sword and beheaded the cult leader. I kicked the cult leader’s head, which was rolling on the ground. The head collided with the ceiling and shattered. With that, the cult leader was dead.
Kuuuuung! Thud! Kiiiiiiing!
The ground shook, and the intact temple began to collapse. The space was disappearing as the cult leader vanished.
‘Was the cult leader a kind of dungeon core?’
I came out of the cult leader’s chamber and looked around. As a hunter, I could tell. It would take more than 6 hours for it to completely collapse. There was plenty of time.
‘Let’s go to Harin.’
Han Harin was probably fighting the believers or rescuing the kidnapped people.
I found Han Harin easily. She was acting together with Amatsuka Koyori. Han Harin’s eyes lit up when she saw me. Even though I was wearing a clown mask, it seemed she had recognized me instantly.
‘There are only a limited number of men here… and Harin knows my physique well. It can’t be helped.’
She knew every nook and cranny of my body. Han Harin even knew the shape of my butthole, which I didn’t know myself.
Koyori also looked at me. Dressed in a shrine maiden’s outfit and holding a naginata in her hand, she stared at me with an unusual intensity.
“Who are you?”
“I don’t want to say.”
“……I see. You speak Japanese well.”
“Because I’m Japanese. More importantly, shouldn’t we rescue the captured people first?”
“Yes. Rescue is the priority.”
Koyori began to move. I didn’t move with them and stayed behind. There was no one here who could stop Koyori anyway. It would be troublesome if my identity was revealed by being with them.
“……”
“……”
I exchanged glances with Han Harin and headed into the forest.
