38. Religious Gathering (3)

-Boom!

The entrance to the first floor of the Youngsaenghwaranggyo headquarters building was shattered.

Soon, Blue Cross Group’s heresy inquisitors with blue banners rushed into the building.

Three Blue Cross inquisitors in total. They shouted at the panicked followers of Youngsaenghwaranggyo.

“We will now begin searching for devil worshippers!!! We have strong suspicions that everyone here is involved with heretics!! We ask for your cooperation by kneeling down for investigation!!”

It was a unilateral declaration.

They were announcing that they would thoroughly search the building for evidence since these people were suspicious, and if any objects indicating heresy were found, they would immediately execute the cult leader and arrest everyone under the charge of devil worship.

“W-wait!! Hold on!! We’re just ordinary citizens waiting for rescue following emergency protocols during the national crisis…”

“Enough!!! We’ve received verbal reports that devil worship is occurring here! Everyone must kneel and place your hands above your heads until verification is complete!!”

“We promise humane treatment if you cooperate.”

“However, any interference with our search will be considered a voluntary confession of heresy.”

“Heretics face summary execution. If you wish to confess your heresy now and undergo reeducation, raise your hand immediately. You may avoid death.”

“Let me repeat – filthy heretics who cause chaos in the world and sacrifice civilians will be executed on the spot.”

At the cold-blooded shouts of the heresy inquisitors, some believers who had been quietly assessing the situation cried out.

“W-who do you think you are!! How dare you barge in here causing trouble!!”

“Yeah, w-who gave you the right to talk about executions!!!”

The inquisitor frowned at the shouts about suppressing religious freedom, as if genuinely unable to comprehend such complaints.

“Who gave us the right, you ask?”

“Naturally, it’s according to the strict regulations of the Blue Cross Group.”

“Listen, if you want to talk about laws, remember that the current government collapsed last week.”

“South Korea no longer exists. What remains are only some guilds and those striving for the people’s salvation…”

Only our Blue Cross Group.

Yes, the current government had long since lost its functionality.

A new world order was being established, and the Blue Cross Group was one pillar of that order.

This meant they now had the power to operate differently from the previous era – before the world began its descent into ruin.

They no longer needed to consider the government’s stance or worry about public opinion.

Following the law of the strong, the Blue Cross Group decided to take harsher measures against criminals that were previously impossible.

Law and order. Morality and ethics. In this collapsed world, they forcibly imposed discipline and norms once again.

Part of this involved condemning corrupted religious groups, suppressing cults, and exterminating filthy heretics.

Truly, the realization of justice.

They would now clearly define those worthless human scum incapable of loving others as non-humans and cleanse them all completely.

Yes, the Blue Cross Group was also a thoroughly insane organization. To be precise, at least the Korean branch was insane.

Anyway, their overwhelming spirit of service had concealed their external image, but internally they were filled with the madness of those obsessed with justice.

Originally, the Korean Blue Cross Group was an organization composed of hunters so obsessed with justice that they voluntarily joined despite the meager salaries.

Now that the fences restraining these madmen had disappeared, it was almost natural for them to run completely wild.

In fact, factions had already formed within the Korean Blue Cross Group between moderates and hardliners, so they would soon disband. Then they’d split into crazier and less crazy factions.

Well, they were people who knocked on the Blue Cross’s door based on their own convictions from the beginning.

What atrocities might these people commit now that they were free from the social conventions that restrained their twisted convictions and overflowing sense of justice, and from the suffocatingly frustrating legal constraints prioritizing suspects’ rights?

Juvenile offenders protected by law were probably all dead by now.

Those who committed child abuse, killed people while drunk driving, and even those identified as school bullies would likely be executed.

Finally, the vicious criminals in prisons would all lose their lives under the Blue Cross Group’s own death sentences.

The Osung Group accepted this. Pax Company also decided not to interfere with these madmen.

“Sung-ho. Call for reinforcements and wait on the first floor. I’ll go upstairs and come back.”

“Understood.”

Kang Sung-ho, the least experienced of the three, remained on the first floor while the other two headed upstairs.

One might think just three people were insufficient, but these three were certified hunters who completed the Hunter Academy’s regular curriculum and passed the Blue Cross Group’s entrance exam – proven strong fighters.

These three alone could slaughter hundreds of ordinary people in just one hour. That was the level of difference between them. It wasn’t even a firearms issue.

“Damn it… shit…”

Na Il-sun, the cult leader’s son, broke into a cold sweat watching the two Blue Cross hunters go upstairs.

‘We’re fucked…’

An actual “divine summoning” ritual was currently underway in the building’s auditorium.

The words Elena Filgrin had casually shouted to lure the Blue Cross Group turned out to be unexpectedly true.

No, actually, since she had some understanding of what was happening here before shouting, her words were infinitely close to the truth.

Because Elena herself had vaguely realized it.

An ordinary cult wouldn’t stockpile so many firearms. Additionally, there were an unusually high number of Awakened.

Though Elena, needing to earn points, had complained there weren’t enough Awakened, compared to normal religious groups, there were clearly many.

This meant they were definitely involved in something that could yield benefits.

Anyway, based on these various circumstantial evidences, Elena vaguely realized that clearly some heretical practices were being conducted in this building.

Then the Blue Cross members happened to arrive.

They needed justification to raid a suspicious cult and wipe out all those bastards, so they happily charged in upon hearing Elena’s shouts.

In this world without media, they could execute about 145 suspicious people without facing condemnation.

If no survivors remained, no one would ever know.

Besides, cults and heretics harming civilians deserved to die anyway.

Faced with this, Na Il-sun – a heretic who deserved death and had devoted himself body and soul to Youngsaenghwaranggyo to receive his father’s holy marks – realized he’d die without accomplishing anything if he stayed still.

“Stop them!!! The cult leader is in danger!!! Don’t let them go upstairs!!!!”

Finally, the cult leader’s son Na Il-sun shouted loudly.

Simultaneously, he rang a bell from his pocket. Instantly, the eyes of the believers gathered on the first floor changed.

Like Pavlov’s dogs, upon hearing the bell, they drooled and lost all reason.

They were already thoroughly addicted to drugs. Moreover, their brainwashing was complete, making them practically zombies.

A state where they could even sell their own children at the cult leader’s word upon hearing the bell. These were essentially zombies without intelligence.

Thus, they fearlessly threw themselves forward for their beloved cult leader who always bestowed blessings (drugs). Hearing their leader was in danger, they rushed at the Blue Cross inquisitors without hesitation.

They no longer feared death.

The drugs were more important.

“Uwaaah!!!”

“Damn it!! They’re all heretics!! Everyone’s gone mad!!!”

“The building is already contaminated!! Eliminate them all before their corrupt knowledge spreads outside!!”

Soon, the Blue Cross hunters fired their guns at the rampaging believers.

They showed not a moment’s hesitation in their actions. After experiencing too many similar cases over the past week, they knew all too well that delayed responses meant they would bleed.

It wasn’t just Elena Filgrin.

The world was spiraling into madness much faster than expected.

Magic books that destroyed human minds circulated openly, and demons had already manifested in some areas.

Villains who wanted chaos seized the opportunity to spread all sorts of horrors among civilians, and survivors drank from poisoned chalices without hesitation to survive.

Moreover, evil gods who wanted direct intervention rather than being indifferent like the Hunting God were running rampant.

Was the Blue Cross Group’s response – laughing while shooting heretics – truly too extreme and wrong?

Just because this was relatively peaceful Korea, one shouldn’t expect humanitarian responses. Criminals deserved death, and those addicted to drugs causing harm also deserved death.

If you didn’t like it, the solution was to become strong enough to resist.

-Fwoosh!!!

The bullets fired by the Blue Cross inquisitors sent blood and torn flesh flying in all directions.

The flames spewing from the .44 Magnum purified the contaminated.

The purification swords wielded by the inquisitors bisected the bodies of the mindless believers.

As death spread, Na Il-sun took advantage of the chaos to flee to the auditorium.

“Haa… haa…!! Father!!!”

-Clang!

The auditorium doors swung open.

“Ugh, aah!!”

Na Il-sun tripped over something and tumbled into the auditorium without seeing what lay ahead.

“Ugh… F-father…?”

Rubbing his sore leg and looking up, Na Il-sun could clearly see the entity occupying the auditorium.

[You’ve come. My son.]

Kyaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!

As Na Il-sun screamed, the auditorium doors closed.

The blood mist thickened.

******

“Huff. Huff. Ugh…”

“Sung-ho, you okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine. Still, still okay.”

After subduing all the insane believers on the first floor, the three Blue Cross members caught their breath while waiting for reinforcements that still hadn’t arrived.

“They… probably won’t come.”

“What? Reinforcements aren’t coming? Why?”

“Non-humans started rampaging in Gangbuk… seems unlikely reinforcements will arrive. We got orders to retreat instead.”

“Damn it. Heretics are alive and scheming right before our eyes, and they tell us to just leave?”

“Unacceptable. The three of us will continue the assault. Judging by the group’s scale, it’s not god-seat level.”

“If not god-seat level…”

“Probably just some trash that wandered in. Very possible. How’s your magic reserve?”

“Fine. Still manageable.”

“I’m good too.”

“Then let’s move up.”

With normal thought processes, they should retreat here.

But judging it worth fighting, they began ascending.

“As expected, I sense something sinister inside.”

“The silence suggests the ritual might already be complete.”

“I-I’ll open the door now.”

“Do it.”

Kang Sung-ho kicked the door open with force.

-Whoosh…

“Ugh.”

“You crazy bastards..!!!”

No sane people remained in the auditorium.

Except for the Awakened directly involved and a few associates, all believers had been half-devoured by cult leader Na Seon-yeok.

Leader Na Seon-yeok, judging enough followers had gathered, used their faith to deify himself and grew enormous by absorbing their souls.

This was a method he’d mastered through the “Daesurim Soxin Gongyangseo Vol. 1” secretly obtained after the catastrophe.

Had they arrived just a little sooner, they could have stopped the ritual’s success.

[Who are you.]

But it was too late.

“Hoo. Permission granted for drug injection.”

“Confirmed..!!”

The three immediately injected the berserk potion embedded in their suits.

Fatigue vanished as their blood began boiling. Combat power rose. Fear disappeared. Holy warriors unafraid of death would never retreat.

“Charge!!!!”

Drawing their swords, they rushed toward the blood-soaked tree growing at the auditorium’s center.