episode_0201

Once their intimate moment concluded, Lucretia, utterly exhausted, forced herself to gather her strength and put her clothes back on.

Sitting on the bed they had occupied for several hours, she put on her underwear and buckled her skirt.

“Ahem…!”

After buttoning up her top, she slapped both of her cheeks. Her somewhat drained expression quickly returned to normal. Although she had expended a considerable amount of physical energy, the vitality she had gained during those few hours was also significant. In other words, she had lost physical stamina but had exploited a more fundamental essence.

Lucretia turned around with a slightly concerned expression. She looked at the man who was also picking up his clothes, the same man she had been intimate with just moments before.

“Are you… okay, Hyunjin?”

“…”

To her very careful question, Lee Hyunjin did not reply. He simply loosened his shoulders as if his entire body was stiff, with a haggard face.

Lucretia glanced outside the door for a moment, then tiptoed over to Lee Hyunjin. And just as she was about to say something, she stopped, eyeing Lee Hyunjin with an awkward gaze. His complexion suggested a fatigue equal to, or perhaps even greater than, her own. Because his expression wasn’t very good, Lucretia wore a worried look. Although she hadn’t known this before… she suddenly had a thought.

‘Perhaps… I might have a bit of talent in this area?’

Lucretia secretly tugged at Lee Hyunjin’s sleeve and muttered to herself. The “this area” she referred to, where she might have talent, of course, meant sexual matters. Strictly speaking, wasn’t this her first time having such an experience today? She hadn’t even engaged in masturbation more than a few times, let alone been with a man. Yet, despite that, she had succeeded in pushing Lee Hyunjin to this extent… Surely Lee Hyunjin had far more sexual experience than her, right? But in the very end, he was the one who got exhausted first.

“Ahem.”

Lucretia felt a needless surge of pride, and her lips twitched slightly. To avoid revealing her true feelings, she subtly lowered her head. Regardless, having ability in any field was something to be proud of, not ashamed of. At least, that’s what Lucretia Hael thought. Moreover, given that they had been intimate, the fact that she had not only satisfied her partner but actually overwhelmed him was quite satisfying…

Lucretia, still with her head bowed, made her flushed face twitch at the corners of her mouth. And Lee Hyunjin, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, secretly sighed.

‘Oh, dear.’

‘Did she really think she could hide her true feelings by merely masking her expression? Her body language and aura revealed everything.’

Lee Hyunjin, of course, saw right through what Lucretia was likely thinking at that moment. Although they didn’t know much about each other, hadn’t they just spent a heated time skin-to-skin in bed? As such, Lee Hyunjin could somewhat guess the personality of the girl, Lucretia Hael. Therefore, he felt that she was finding satisfaction in a truly trivial matter…

‘If she likes it, what can I do?’

It was true that he had nothing to say. To be precise, it wasn’t that he had nothing to say, but that he didn’t want to say it aloud.

Lucretia was, of course, a girl with considerable physical talent. Considering her background in magic, he had initially guessed she was only at Cheon Soyul’s level, but upon experiencing it, he found her recovery to be excessively fast. That’s why she was able to exhaust Lee Hyunjin first in this manner. Only, behind that, the fact that Lee Hyunjin had deliberately not used one of his strongest abilities was hidden.

Lee Hyunjin clicked his tongue and glanced at Lucretia. ‘Look at that conceited expression.’

‘I should have just used Energy Absorption.’

‘Since it was the first time, I had tried not to cause her too much distress, taking that into consideration. If I had known she would become so conceited, I would have just broken her spirit.’

Lee Hyunjin felt an inexplicable discomfort and left the room first.

“Ah? Oh, wait for me…!”

Lucretia scampered after him. She grabbed Lee Hyunjin’s sleeve again and blocked the pouring sunlight with her hand. Speaking of which, now that she thought about it, they had been intimate since broad daylight. Lucretia felt somewhat embarrassed by this sudden realization, but…

‘Yes, it was something that had to be done.’

She decided to console herself that it was a relationship born of necessity. ‘Wasn’t it a task that had to be done?’ Although she had surrendered to pleasure halfway through, she casually disregarded that fact. After all, their task was clear. After leaving the abandoned house where they had temporarily stayed, they walked for a few more minutes.

“You’re here?”

The two of them arrived once again before the monster, which was sealed by a divine barrier and ice. Just then, in front of them, a girl with light brown hair was waiting with a prim expression.

Lee Hyunjin and Cheon Soyul’s gazes met directly. After a brief eye contact.

“Hmm…”

Soon, Lee Hyunjin, with a small sense of guilt and an awkward expression, subtly averted his gaze. However, Lucretia was still unaware of their relationship.

“…?”

She tilted her head at Lee Hyunjin’s strange reaction. She wondered why, but before she could find an answer, Lee Hyunjin changed the subject.

“Ahem. All right, let’s finish this quickly then.”

And raising his palm towards the sky, he began to generate magic power. Above Lee Hyunjin’s right arm, a platinum-colored aura began to shimmer. The power of Divinity. That power, which only Lucretia Hael of Europe could use in the entire world, was manifested in Lee Hyunjin’s hand.

“Hmm…”

Cheon Soyul, with her arms crossed, let out a brief, nasal sound that was difficult to interpret. The corners of her mouth were chillingly turned up, but her eyes held no trace of a smile.

Lee Hyunjin, dripping with cold sweat, sent her a pleading look.

‘You gave me permission, didn’t you…?’

‘Who’s saying anything?’

When he asked with his gaze, the reply he received was simply flat. Cheon Soyul quickly reverted to a normal expression and subtly shrugged her shoulders. It was as if she was indicating that she hadn’t said anything at all, so he shouldn’t worry about it.

Lee Hyunjin felt like crying for no reason, but he moved his divine power while feigning composure as best as he could. The platinum-colored aura that flowed through the air reached the sealed monster.

*Flash!*

The divine barrier was primarily released. And Lee Hyunjin similarly extended his left arm and recalled the cold energy contained within it. *Crack, crackle.* Cracks gradually began to appear in the monster’s frozen body.

[Grrr…]

And just as it finally regained consciousness and was about to let out a ferocious roar.

“Now, quickly!”

Lucretia extended her splayed palm and unleashed an explosion of divine power. As they had prearranged, Lee Hyunjin also slammed his power into the monster.

*Blaze!!!*

[…?!]

A pure white light burst forth, a light that could truly be called divine power without exaggeration. And that light, like a sun purifying evil, incinerated the monster’s body. Its entire body, including its lower and upper halves, instantly began to be eaten away by the light, and the monster wasn’t even given a chance to scream. Instead, it desperately preserved even that strength, scattering dark crimson power in all directions from its entire body.

“Gah…!”

Through this, it resisted the light. Lucretia forcefully held onto the divine power that threatened to recede, gripping her wrist. This was why another person was needed. If she had been alone, she surely would have messed up.

“We must finish it now…! If we give it even a slight opening, it will immediately split apart to buy time…!”

She glanced at Lee Hyunjin and shouted, and Lee Hyunjin silently raised his magic power. In terms of wielding divine power, he might still be inferior to Lucretia.

‘I can just patch it up with raw power.’

But when it came to the sheer amount of magic power he possessed, it was a different story. Lee Hyunjin twisted his lips and slammed an almost ridiculously immense amount of magic power into the monster. Even Cheon Soyul, who was watching from the side, made a disgusted face at such a crude method.

[Kieek…!]

But it was certainly effective. The monster let out a monstrous shriek for the first time since being exposed to the light, and its expression progressively contorted. Gwon Hwang, who had been waiting with formidable energy gathered in his fist in case of an unforeseen situation, sensed the end and relaxed his body. No matter how powerful the anomalous entity was, it wouldn’t be able to escape that aura. The power of the Saintess, by its very nature, was bound to have an exceptionally potent effect on monsters.

“…”

“…”

And so, after the two of them poured out their divine power together for a long time.

*Crumble…*

The monster’s body crumbled into ash. Then, a light breeze, arriving at just the right moment, effortlessly blew away even its remnants.

*Thud!*

Lucretia immediately collapsed to the ground, almost kneeling. Her entire body was drenched in cold sweat, and her complexion was utterly pale.

“Haa, haa…”

Since becoming an Awakened One, had she ever poured out this much power at once? Lucretia briefly looked back at her past, but it was indeed her first time. It was a worthwhile endeavor, and a situation that required it. Moreover, since the objective was successfully achieved, it was the icing on the cake.

“Whew…”

Regrettably, all strength had left her body, but the sense of accomplishment was incomparable. Lucretia wore an utterly satisfied smile and cast her gaze to the side.

“That’s a relief. There won’t be any problems for a while with this.”

“Indeed…”

Lee Hyunjin had also expended a considerable amount of energy. Lee Hyunjin replied, breathing softly, and Lucretia chuckled idly.

“It’s thanks to you, Hyunjin. If you hadn’t appeared, that aggressive woman over there would have truly killed the monster dozens of times over.”

“Mm.”

At her words, Lee Hyunjin subtly turned his head towards Eileen. From a quite distant location, stood the black-haired woman, waiting with an iron bar in hand. Standing proudly atop a half-collapsed building, her red eyes, looking down upon them and the surrounding area, felt quite terrifying. Anyway, since the task was finished, he wanted to relax his mind.

“Is there… still something left to do, Eileen?”

Since their relationship was that of an Awakened One and a villain for now, Lee Hyunjin casually threw out such a question. At least, they had shared the objective of preventing disaster, which led to a temporary cooperation. Strictly speaking, weren’t they clearly in an antagonistic relationship? Furthermore, Lee Hyunjin was soon to participate in the Moonlight Cult subjugation operation.

‘Since things have turned out this way, I’d like to have a bit more conversation…’

Lee Hyunjin thought that to himself and patted his stiff lower back. He also wanted to talk about the cult leader, Haru, and he had something to ask about her epithet as the “Serial S-Rank Killer.” The question of whether there was still business left was an implicitly thrown suggestion for her to wait if she wasn’t planning to leave immediately.

And.

“──Business, you say.”

Eileen, who had been standing atop the ruins for a long time, gave a brief reply to his words and moved behind the two in an instant. She approached with a speed no less than a wizard’s ‘Blink’ spell.

“…!”

At her sudden movement, Lucretia stiffened her body, and Lee Hyunjin’s thoughts also froze at the unexpected action. It was Lucretia who understood Eileen Lewis’s intention a little faster.

“Oh, no…!”

She was about to blame herself for being momentarily careless and turn around, but Eileen was slightly faster in striking the back of Lucretia’s neck.

“Gasp!?”

The moment she was struck *Thwack!*, Lucretia collapsed *Thud!*

“What…?!”

Lee Hyunjin, regaining his wits belatedly, conjured cold energy, and Cheon Soyul also hardened her expression sharply and held lightning in her hand.

“It’s already too late.”

*Boom!!*

Eileen, with an explosion caused by swinging her iron bar, blocked the sight of the two. And snatching ‘something’ from where the monster had turned to ash, she immediately shot out of the encirclement.

“Eileen!!!”

At that, Gwon Hwang let out a fierce shout loud enough to shake the surroundings, but-.

“I’ll see you again next time, Elder.”

Eileen coolly left only that one remark, then vanished. She erased her presence using magic, making pursuit impossible.