## Chapter 503 – 503. God’S Atlantis
Herpo rushed back to his office, panting.
There was no time for a leisurely dinner at the restaurant. If Harnea had reported him to the Angelus Legion, a unit from the Angelus Legion would arrive in a few hours.
‘Harnea! That crazy bitch betrayed me?! After all I’ve done for her! Ungrateful wench!’
Just thinking about it made him furious. He wanted to strangle Harnea to death right now.
But revenge could wait. Right now, he needed to gather his belongings first.
‘I’ll make you regret this! Harnea!’
Back in his office, Herpo first crawled under his desk. He scratched at a thin panel disguised as the floor with his fingernails, lifted it up, and opened the lid of a secret compartment.
‘The ledger… it’s gone?!’
Herpo’s face turned pale. The ledger, which was everything to him, was gone.
He needed the ledger to escape the Angelus Legion, change his appearance, and start over with a new job.
“Wh, who… ?!”
He needed the ledger. It was his weakness and his lifeline. It was essential for continuing his deals and knowing his connections.
“Th, the culprit is one person… no, one woman! Harnea!! Why else would that damn woman betray me! It’s because she stole my ledger!”
Bang! Crash! Bang!
Herpo kicked the desk and chair in a fit of rage.
Although anger surged to the top of his head, his mind cooled down. It was unlikely that Harnea had done this alone.
‘Harnea isn’t the type to be a leader. At best, she’s just someone who follows orders. Someone… someone contacted Harnea! Maybe the one who has the ledger is…’
The assassination might be related.
‘…I can’t handle this alone.’
If someone else was involved, killing Harnea wouldn’t change anything. He still wouldn’t find the ledger, and the Angelus Legion would execute him as an example.
‘Let’s escape. Even without the ledger, I have hidden money! It’ll take longer without the ledger, but with my unique trait, I can start over!’
The most important thing was to stay alive. If he could just survive, he could start over somehow.
Herpo quickly packed his things, put an emergency space-movement scroll in his pocket, and began to sneak out the window.
To use the space-movement scroll, he had to get outside the barrier surrounding the village.
But Herpo couldn’t get far. Someone was blocking his path.
***
Herpo, who had been arguing loudly in the restaurant, stormed out, fuming.
“…I apologize for showing you such an unpleasant sight. I will contact the Angelus Legion, so please rest assured. I will resolve this matter.”
Sister Harnea told the people.
The nuns and children seemed relieved when she spoke. They didn’t know that she was just as human as Herpo.
‘She’s acting calm, but she must be freaking out inside.’
The reason Harnea betrayed Herpo was because I had threatened her with the ledger. I promised to spare her life in exchange for her betrayal. Of course, from my perspective, it was a promise I could ignore at any time.
‘Should I go see Herpo?’
Taking advantage of the fact that everyone’s attention was on Harnea, I secretly slipped out the door.
There was only one place Herpo would go. Where the ledger was.
‘Heh heh… He’s moving as expected.’
I hid my presence and followed Herpo. I planned to knock him out and capture him in a suitable place. Even though he had the ledger, there was a big difference between him being alive and dead. If he died here, the Angelus Legion would deny any involvement and start a cover-up.
‘Shall I make my move? Heh heh.’
But someone appeared in front of Herpo faster than I did. An angel with white wings and pink hair who fell from the sky. Ariel.
‘I thought she’d be crying in some corner… Was she watching Herpo?’
The Rainbow Angel, Ariel, was mentally young. No, pure was the right word. That was why she couldn’t hold a high position in the Angelus Legion and was in this remote place.
‘But her power is real.’
I decided to watch for now.
“A, Ariel-nim…!”
Herpo, who was trying to escape, was flustered.
“Where are you going?”
“I, I was just feeling a bit stuffy and was going to step outside the village for a bit.”
“Don’t lie. You’re planning to run away.”
Sweat beaded on Herpo’s plump face.
“Lying? Am I lying right now? Ariel-nim, you can see the truth. Ariel-nim, please believe me. I am truly innocent.”
“You’re telling the truth. I can feel it. But hiding the truth is a lie, isn’t it? I can’t trust you. If you were really telling the truth… you wouldn’t need to run away right now.”
Ariel spread her wings. Her wings began to glow with a rainbow light, and wind began to gather around her.
“Huk! Ariel-nim! Pl, please calm down! I’ll go back! I’ll go back and reflect, so please calm down!”
Invisible blades of wind sliced at Herpo’s body. His clothes tore, and blood splattered from his skin. The wind blades didn’t cut deep into his body.
“You did it, didn’t you? You killed the humans… and sold the children.”
“No! It wasn’t me! Ariel-nim! Please listen! Aaaah! My arm…!”
His arm was sliced by the wind as if it were being ground in a mixer. It wasn’t a fatal wound. With a potion, it would heal completely in a few hours.
“Herpo. You have to pay for your sins.”
“I’m innocent! It’s all Harnea’s, that bitch’s lies… Aaaah!”
“If you’re so innocent, you wouldn’t need to run away. Why do you humans lie? Lying is a sin. The more you lie, the darker your souls become. You shouldn’t lie, even for your own sake.”
Wind appeared in front of Ariel. A swirling wind. Wind that shouldn’t be visible was visible before my eyes. Wind that could easily tear a person apart.
“Sh, shit…! That damn retard! I’m telling you it’s not a lie!”
Herpo, becoming impatient, cursed and began to run away from Ariel.
“…Okay. That’s your true nature. Punishing humans who have sinned. My sister said that’s one of the things angels should do. Herpo. I will punish you.”
I couldn’t just keep watching. If possible, I didn’t want to get involved with Ariel like this. But just now, Ariel had murderous intent towards Herpo. If I left it alone, Herpo would die.
‘Tsk! Heavenly Demon Divine Art!’
I drew up my Heavenly Demon energy and leaped forward, swinging my fist at the wind.
Wham!
I blew away Ariel’s whirlwind with my fist.
“Human?!”
“Kang Myungjin-nim?!”
Ariel and Herpo were surprised by my intrusion. I stood in front of Herpo.
“Get out of the way, human. Herpo must die!”
“I cannot move.”
“O, oh! Kang Myungjin-nim! I won’t forget this help! I’ll repay you for sure, so please, just for a moment, stop that angel!”
Herpo’s face brightened. Unlike his words, he didn’t even look at me and was only thinking about escaping. Seeing his face made me angry. I didn’t like the fact that I had stepped forward to save a guy like him.
Thwack!
“Cough!!”
I punched Herpo in the head, knocking him unconscious.
“Ariel-nim. The crimes this man committed should be punished according to human law. He will surely be executed, so don’t worry. I’ll take him.”
“……You.”
Ariel didn’t back down. Instead, she showed hostility towards me. More intense than her hostility towards Herpo.
“I smell a demon on you. You made a contract with a demon!”
“Ah.”
I understood why she was reacting so strongly.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
She felt the power of the demon.
“…You deceived me too.”
“I never deceived you.”
“You were hiding that demon power!”
“It’s not demon power, it’s a martial art called Heavenly Demon Divine Art. And I didn’t hide it, I just didn’t use it. There was no need to.”
“Don’t try to deceive me! I won’t be easily deceived by you humans anymore!”
Ariel reacted sensitively. Powerful winds gathered around her. Now that it had come to this, fighting her was unavoidable.
‘…Damn it. I was planning to take on Ariel slowly, but things aren’t going as planned.’
[A Fallen Star donates 10,000 AP. “Tear her wings and kill her!”]
I ignored the Fallen Star’s message. Kill her? What a joke. My dick wouldn’t allow it.
“Demons who destroy the world must be eliminated! And the humans who follow those demons too!”
“Seriously. I’m telling you, I’m not a demon.”
I kicked Herpo’s body aside. To prevent him from getting caught in the fight and dying.
I activated my Heavenly Demon energy throughout my body. Sharp winds wrapped around me, but they didn’t cause any damage.
‘It consumes a lot of mana, but I don’t plan to drag out the fight. I need to end it before someone else finds out.’
Heavenly Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) Dragon Fist (竜拳).
I threw a punch at her, who was flying in the sky. Heavenly Demon energy shot out from my fist like a laser beam. But the Dragon Fist couldn’t penetrate the wind barrier surrounding Ariel.
‘If the Dragon Fist doesn’t work, I’ll have to get close and punch her directly.’
I leaped into the air. I had to hit her before she flew too high.
“This is a place for children! Why do you do this?! Why do you make innocent children unhappy?! I can’t forgive you!”
The wind moved as if it were alive, grabbed my waist, and threw me upwards. Even though I was covered in Heavenly Demon energy, I was momentarily stunned.
I floated higher than Ariel, high into the sky, and sensed the wind gathering around me. Ariel was planning to grind me to pieces with the wind from above.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) Heavenly Demon Dragon Spin (回天魔龍).
I rotated the Heavenly Demon energy surrounding my body. It was as if I had become a black tornado. I reversed the wind that was trying to grind me, kicked the air to gain momentum, and fell towards Ariel.
“……!!”
Ariel, startled, hurriedly flapped her wings to dodge. But my hand grabbed the tip of her left wing. The rotating Heavenly Demon energy from my body transferred to Ariel.
Ariel’s wing was torn off. I grabbed Ariel’s ankle with my other hand. The rotating Heavenly Demon energy enveloped me and her.
“Kyaaaaaaak!”
We both crashed to the ground at the same time.
Wham!
A vortex mark was left on the ground. It was because the rotating Heavenly Demon energy had collided with the ground.
I had prepared in advance, so I was able to land relatively well, but Ariel was not.
‘She’s an angel, so she probably didn’t die from just this, right?’
I quickly checked Ariel’s condition. Her left wing was torn and tattered, her clothes and skin were cut, and she was covered in blood. The joints in her legs and arms were also twisted. She seemed unconscious, but she was still breathing and her heart was beating. Thankfully, she was alive.
‘…I was only planning to capture Herpo, but somehow I got Ariel too. Is this what they call killing two birds with one stone?’
I carefully picked up Ariel. I had already caused a commotion. Soon, the children or nuns would appear. I had to leave before that happened.
I kicked Herpo, who was lying on the ground, and dribbled him away.
“Cough!”
Blood splattered from my mouth.
‘I took some internal damage. The Heavenly Demon Dragon Spin was still too much for my current skill.’
It was when I entered an alleyway.
“Heavenly Demon-nim. This way.”
Sasha led me to the house where she was staying. It was too much of a hassle to sneak into the cathedral, so I followed her.
There was no need to rush.
‘Harnea’s claim that she would call the Angelus Legion is a lie. In reality, the Angelus Legion won’t come even after a few hours.’
If those guys came and cleaned things up, I would be left empty-handed. I had no intention of doing them any favors.
Sasha’s house was old, but it was quite large. And unlike the other children, she seemed to live alone.
“……I’m leaving the village in two months. Thanks to that, I’m getting a lot of consideration. …The children I used to live with have already left the village.”
Sasha said to me as I looked around the house.
“It’s nice and quiet. Sasha. Call Lucy.”
