Chapter 102
The sky above the cathedral was covered by a swarm of bats.
It was a vortex.
A black vortex that spiraled around the central spire, casting a dark shadow over the ground.
Chichichit!
The flapping of thousands of wings created a noise as sharp as blades, and thousands of red eyes gleamed like ominous stars.
The last true-blood of the 'earth' that Solard failed to burn to the end, and its only successor.
The Ninth Apostle.
At this moment, the countless overlapping eyes of a fragmented self captured the woman with black wings.
Clad in a glossy black long coat, she lightly pressed down the fedora on her head with a gloved hand to keep it from being blown away by the wind.
A face that could only be described as beautiful curved into a red smile.
A smile that should have been hidden behind a strange mask.
[You, lunatic.]
"Hello, Blood Demon."
She greeted with surprising familiarity.
But the Apostle knew the truth.
She was a cursed heretic.
One who had abandoned the great cause and pledged allegiance to the river of the underworld.
"It's been a while."
Obsidian-like eyes formed a crescent shape.
As a smooth madness flickered across them, the bats' faces momentarily twisted in rage.
They had once been one, and in this moment, they seemed to share even their emotions—
[Why are you here?]
In the next instant, thousands of overlapping voices rang out toward the ground.
[Crow.]
Crow MadEye.
A necromancer of Styx, known as 'that lunatic,' lowered her gaze.
Then, the hand holding her fedora brushed against her face, and as she slowly raised her head, a dull silver mask covered it.
A long, pointed beak—a chilling visage.
Two round eye holes, black as an abyss.
A mask that Jin, borrowing knowledge from his homeland, would call that of a plague doctor.
From within, a neutral voice buzzed forth.
"Because you tried to break my treasure. How dare you."
[Treasure?]
Some of the bats' eyes turned toward the two fallen men.
Blood-soaked and limp, the gaze passed over the collapsed Thunder King and landed on the man with far more severe injuries.
Yet something seemed off.
Despite lying down, he appeared to be craning his neck to stare at his navel, veins bulging as he shouted relentlessly.
His lips formed the words—
What?!
This crazy—cough!
It was you?!
Plague Crow!
This is completely insane—cough!
Hey!
Enemy of Fenrir!
You're not dead?
Anyway!
Hey!
Cough!
[That is your treasure? The hatred directed at you burns like wildfire.]
"He's just in pain. He means it's your fault."
Crow replied nonchalantly.
Her long coat, billowing in the wind, suited her tall frame better than most men.
But what truly captured attention were the large black wings sprouting from her shoulders.
Seeing her sincerity, the Apostle spoke.
[So, you intend to interfere after all. Lunatic, you are as reckless as ever.]
"You must not have known—I do as I please."
It was a futile conversation.
And so, it ended there.
Pffft!
The bats burst into splashes of blood.
At least a hundred of them.
With the stench of blood thick in the air, they transformed into a magical force.
In an instant—
Like meteors, they rained down from the sky.
This time, their power was undiminished.
At the same time, a low chuckle filled the air.
"Maybe now, you'll understand a little of my sincerity."
Mana surged wildly around Crow.
Another incantation shattered.
She no longer needed to speak to wield her power freely.
As the frothing mana boiled over and shot skyward—
Crow and the Apostle—
Their powers clashed in midair.
"Ugh."
"Ack."
"Gah."
Once again, Jin was rolling.
Rolling left, rolling right.
And for variety, rolling forward and backward too.
It wasn't by choice—he simply curled up in response to an overwhelming external force.
He had no control over his movements, much like a pill bug.
A Rank 2 pill bug.
A truly rare specimen.
If put on display, it would surely attract crowds of all ages. "Is this real?" they would murmur in awe.
Honestly, wasn't that the case?
A Rank 2 existence could take a seat anywhere, a realm acknowledged and guaranteed by history itself.
In martial arts novels, it would be akin to the Absolute Realm.
Of course, in modern web novels, particularly fourth-generation ones, the Absolute Realm was so overused that even third-rate villains who harassed innocent barmaids somehow always reached that level—
"Hup!"
Jin snapped back to reality.
His head had smacked against the ground hard, momentarily causing his thoughts to spiral.
As if waking from a dream, he reeled in his wandering consciousness and took stock of the situation.
How should he describe this?
A battle between a bat and a crow?
Evil versus evil?
Was Michelle—always Crow?
What the hell was going on?
Amidst the chaos, Jin's gaze drifted to the cathedral's facade.
More than the collision of spells, what pained him was the building suffering repeated shockwaves.
A true Korean at heart, he lamented the destruction.
Damn it, those lunatics are going to ruin everything!
But it was fine.
The Grand Tournel Cathedral.
Once a cradle for the followers of the Sun God, it was built with blessed materials, its durability exceptional.
For now, Jin's concern was premature.
For now.
Boom—!
A thunderous explosion.
The shockwave from the epicenter slammed into Jin.
This time, he didn't roll helplessly.
His legs, which had just begun to regain strength, held firm against the impact.
Spitting out blood-tinged saliva, he sprinted forward, grabbed Kendrick's collar, and—
Blink!
Having already noted a safe location, Jin set Kendrick down and tapped his cheek.
"Hey, hey! You're not dead, right?"
Kendrick's cracked lips barely parted.
"…The…sky…is…pretty…I was…just…admiring…it…"
"You think that's pretty? Those damn bats are deadly. Have you never heard of corona?"
Even as he chided, Jin smirked.
If he still had the strength to put on airs, then he wasn't in immediate danger.
Even if he lacked rapid regeneration, this was still a body washed in elixirs.
Yeah, he better hold up.
"Just lie down for now."
Leaving those words behind, Jin hurriedly got to his feet, but Kendrick grabbed his wrist.
"Why?"
With no other choice, Jin brought his ear close once more.
The voice of the Young Thunder continued.
"...The third... monsters... stepping on that world...isn't a place... for you..."
"I know. I'll handle it, so just keep watching the sky."
Jin lightly tapped Kendrick's trembling shoulder before rising to his feet.
Passing the outer wall of the sanctuary, which stood firm like a shield, Jin returned toward the entrance.
The battle was still raging.
Spells, aimed at each other's throats, rained down like a storm.
They were shattered, neutralized, and countered.
Scattered incantations, compressed energy, relentless retaliations.
In just about a minute—while someone on the second world 60 steps—those combatants exchanged hundreds, of attacks.
The density of their lives was on another level.
Kendrick was right.
This was not a battlefield Jin could step into.
At least, not yet.
So he turned his head.
His eyes landed on the sacred relic inside the sanctuary.
The Sword Saint's words and the demands of the status window had aligned into a singular purpose—
That thing had to be protected first.
The moment the thought was complete, Jin kicked off the ground.
Pazizik!
This time, Polar Radiance roared.
The mana-consuming Sacred Flame was put away for now.
It had done enough by countering that damned vampire bastard.
For a situation like this, Rotation was still the most fluid technique Jin could use—
Boom!
Accelerating off his planted foot, Jin inhaled sharply and pulled his fist back before driving it forward with all his strength.
At the end of its straight trajectory—
Boom!!
A translucent barrier blocked the attack.
Had it realized the danger it was in?
Small cracks formed across the rough surface of the wedge, and from within those cracks—eyes flared open!
From their cold, eerie glow, a red laser shot forth.
Jin barely twisted away, executing an acrobatic aerial maneuver so extreme that even martial artists would have gasped.
What the hell is this?!
Jin didn't know.
But this, too, was an artifact.
A genuine, first-rate artifact crafted by the now-extinct dwarves.
A device meant for protecting sacred relics.
Of course, it had such capabilities.
Zzzzzng!
Beams of light shot toward him from multiple angles.
Dodging by a hair's breadth, Jin closed the distance and drove his fist forward again.
The rapid strikes, landing in a perfectly controlled trajectory, sent violent ripples through the barrier.
His precision was impeccable.
If it were a firearm, his shots would have clustered into a single, tight grouping, as if only one bullet hole existed, slightly expanding with each hit.
And at last—
Crack!
The barrier shattered.
Jin's hand plunged through the scattering shards and clenched around the wedge—
"Hot! Damn it!"
A scorching pain flared up, searing his palm.
For a moment, Jin flinched.
But only for a moment.
A lifetime of suffering and the tenacity forged from surviving this brutal world allowed him to endure it.
"Hup!"
He yanked the wedge free and hurled it with all his might.
As it flew far away, the ominous energy enshrouding the sacred relic visibly weakened.
In response, Jin's eyes gleamed.
It's working!
He immediately charged toward the second wedge—
But then—
Dozens of eyes snapped open at once.
The remaining three wedges had all activated simultaneously.
And in the next instant—
A full-scale laser barrage.
"Oh, shit!"
Like a disco ball spinning at insane speeds, chaotic beams of light flooded the space.
Jin's instincts took over, his body moving before his mind could think.
He avoided most of them, but one grazed his shoulder.
Chzzzzzt!
The acrid smell of burning fabric filled the air.
His body was already battered.
Had the hit been a little deeper, it could have been fatal.
To escape the continuous barrage, Jin took cover—behind the sacred relic itself.
More precisely, behind the golden protective barrier encasing it.
But then—
The already-weakened barrier melted away before the concentrated assault could even touch it.
And in the next moment—
Jin acted on pure impulse.
Shatter!
His hand broke through the glass case and seized the hilt of a sword.
Then, without hesitation, he swung.
Whoosh!
If any of Anarion's swordmasters had seen it, they would've grabbed their heads in horror.
There was no sword path to be found.
Others stripped away unnecessary movements for efficiency—
Jin stripped away technique itself.
Thus, his crude but rawly powerful swing—
Sliced through the incoming laser beams.
And no one was more surprised than Jin himself.
"Oh!"
It worked.
That was enough.
Riding the momentum, he surged forward.
Silver hair fluttered in his mind—
The image of Ryucard's flawless blade.
Yet the motion he executed was less like a master's sword strike—
And more like a hammer smashing into a mortar.
BANG!!
The second barrier shattered instantly.
Learning from before, Jin didn't use his hands this time—
He kicked the wedge away instead.
Now, only two remained.
With the sacred relic in hand—
Did he really need to break them all?
Of course.
Those damn things were brought by that vampire bastard.
They had to be destroyed.
And so—
With an ill-fitting sword in hand, Jin mercilessly cleaved through the remaining wedges.
"Haa… Haa… Haa—"
He barely caught his breath, his body swaying unsteadily as he staggered toward the sanctuary's entrance.
And there—
A familiar sight.
The Apostle, now returned to their humanoid form.
Facing them—
Michelle.
No—
Crow.
From within the Plague Doctor's mask, a voice, neither male nor female, flowed out.
"Shouldn't we be running? You and me both."
The distorted voice concealed any emotion, but Jin had a feeling—
She was smirking.
He just felt it.
"He's coming."
"..."
The Apostle's nose wrinkled, baring razor-sharp fangs.
"Don't for—"
But they never finished.
Jin had already blinked in.
His fist, wrapped in Sacred Flames, shot forward.
The Apostle attempted to strike back—
Jin dodged by the thinnest margin.
And his fist crashed into their face.
BAM!!
A perfect counter.
Another counter, with Sacred Flames.
And one more—boosted by the effect of the True Blood.
A triple-stacked counter-punch.
For a brief moment—
Their gazes aligned at the same level.
Then, the Apostle coughed up blood, their body flung backward.
"You little—!"
Rage twisted their face, but they didn't attack.
Because beside them—
The Crow pointed a thumb behind her back.
The Apostle grit their teeth.
"Very soon, I'll tear you bastards apart. Every single one of you."
Then—
Their presence vanished, dissipating into a crimson mist.
A hand landed on Jin's shoulder.
"I should go too. Goodbye—"
And just like that—
Crow disappeared as well.
"Hey, wait a—!"
Before Jin could even finish his sentence, Crow vanished without a trace.
Faintly, as if carried by the wind, he thought he heard a voice saying, See you next time.
"What do you mean, 'see you next time'?"
Jin muttered under his breath, staring blankly at the empty space.
Step.
A light footstep reached his ears.
His gaze naturally shifted toward the sound, landing on a middle-aged man with graying hair.
A sword in hand, he walked with a presence as if he owned the world...
Oh, come on.
Is this really important right now?
"Seriously, why are you showing up just now?! Do you have any idea how many times we almost died?! Kendrick is half a corpse, and he was staring at those damn bats talking about the weather!"
Jin completely disregarded the fact that the man before him was a Swordmaster. He just shouted.
Without realizing it, he even pointed at him with his sword.
"Hmm."
The Swordmaster blinked slowly at Jin's outburst.
Just as he parted his lips to say something—
Snap.
Without warning, the sacred sword in his hand broke cleanly in two, its blade falling to the ground.
Huh?
Jin's thoughts came to a screeching halt. His jaw slowly dropped as his brain struggled to process the sight.
(Complete!)
A congratulatory message popped up in front of him.
And then—
An overwhelming surge of experience points, a flood of dopamine, slammed into his brain like a hammer.
"Urgh—!"
Jin's entire body trembled.
His eyes rolled upward.
He was too battered to even pretend to endure it.
With a thud, he collapsed face-first at the Swordmaster's feet.
Still clutching the broken hilt of the sacred sword in a death grip.
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