Ch.8228. To the Slavian Kingdom (2)

The group arrived at the diocesan office in a car provided by the Far East Diocese.

A majestic white cathedral stood before them. Around it were buildings with white marble exterior walls.

“Flame will be granted exorcism qualifications at this meeting.”

A priest who was guiding us led us to the meeting room. It was like a chapel, with an atmosphere completely different from the Association’s conference rooms.

Archbishop Enrico, who had invited Flame, was there.

‘Archbishop Enrico was looking for me?’

This wasn’t our first meeting. After completing reconnaissance for a cooperative mission, he had attended an urgent meeting with the Secretary-General.

In other words, Archbishop Enrico was at least equal in rank to Choi Seung-hoon, the Secretary-General of the Association.

As the head responsible for the White Cross Society’s Far East region—including the Kingdom of Slavia, Korea, China, Wu Kingdom, and Japan—his presence commanded respect.

Everyone from Flame showed great deference in front of him. Even the usually playful Arin had a tense expression.

There was a brief meeting and a formal award ceremony.

“In the face of the unspeakably evil Archdemon, Flame’s faithful were not ruled by fear…”

We had to pray like we were in worship at each step of the process. For me, it was quite a tedious procedure.

‘But getting exorcism qualifications isn’t bad.’

It’s certain that the Red Lake is related to demons.

If that’s the case, then the prophecy I discovered with Zerfield—the Red Dragon mentioned in that prophecy—must be connected to this.

‘If the end of Akahunter leads to destruction…’

Though it’s an ongoing novel with an unknown ending, I can see a direction. The Red Dragon—the resurrection of the evil god also called the Demon King in Ailetan.

An evil god means a god of demons. The Red Lake might be involved in activities related to its resurrection.

‘Missions related to demons have very strict participation requirements. I’m fortunate to have obtained exorcism qualifications this way.’

The Red Lake—a shadowy organization suddenly introduced by the original author, RedLake.

But considering that all of the original Siwoo’s actions were aimed at preventing the foretold end of the world…

RedLake might have planned the Red Lake as a villain from the beginning. The problem was just the lack of foreshadowing and the overpowered balance when they appeared.

‘Still, is this better than the original work?’

At least we clearly know about the enemy now. While I was lost in thought,

Archbishop Enrico stood at the podium and began to speak.

“I believe that’s enough for the formalities. Since everyone from Flame is very busy, it would be right to quickly discuss what lies ahead.”

At his words, everyone in the group focused on the Archbishop.

‘What lies ahead?’

I too waited for his next words. As he looked at the large screen installed in the conference room, a video was activated.

In the footage, a city was burning.

Against the backdrop of a dark night, screams and explosions could be heard. It was an urgent scene, as if a war or terrorist attack had occurred.

“This footage has not been released to the general public due to media control. The following scenes are brutal, so please prepare yourselves.”

Archbishop Enrico made the sign of the cross. Then the scene he warned about followed.

“This can’t be…”

Father Stefano quickly made the sign of the cross as well.

In an auditorium at night, there were people who appeared to be hostages. People who looked like White Cross Society priests, hunters, and even ordinary citizens.

They were kneeling with their hands bound. In front of these hostages stood a white man. Just by his expression, one could tell he wasn’t normal.

The typical appearance of a villain consumed by desire. And under his eyes was a red dragon tattoo.

Then he shouted with maniacal laughter:

“Cursed be those who oppose the grace of the great Red Lord!”

As he said this, he placed his hands on the hostages’ heads.

*Pop*

Like a watermelon bursting, the hostage’s head exploded. The villain laughed even more gleefully as he killed the hostages.

Dozens of people died this way.

“And O Great Demon Astaroth! I offer you these sacrifices. Kahat!!”

The blood-red hexagram drawn behind the villain glowed. A demonic ritual offering living sacrifices.

Even Yuri and Soso, experienced hunters, turned away, finding it difficult to watch.

But I couldn’t take my eyes off the scene. Though obviously not the same person,

I had seen someone with a very similar laugh before. And the hostages in the auditorium and that hexagram—I knew someone with a very similar method.

‘The Doubt Demon.’

That red dragon tattoo under the eyes—the Doubt Demon had the same tattoo as the man in the video now.

Of course, I killed the Doubt Demon myself, so this man is obviously a different villain. And that tattoo clearly indicated:

‘That he’s a member of the Red Lake.’

That tattoo seemed to be evidence of a contract that appears when connected to a demon. And I already knew who this man was.

“Juan Soriano. He escaped from Saint Helena Special Detention Facility and immediately caused this incident in the Middle East.”

As the Archbishop said, he was Juan Soriano. The very member of the Red Lake that Chae Min-ah had helped escape.

“Juan Soriano declared the uprising of the Red Lake, those demon worshippers, in this Middle Eastern city. The city is currently in the hands of villains.”

At those words, everyone’s expressions hardened. All members of Flame were directly or indirectly related to the Red Lake.

The Red Lake, which had been operating secretly until now, had officially declared its intention to act openly.

On screen, Juan Soriano was ranting madly, declaring rule by villains and proclaiming dominance through blood covering the world, reveling in their criminal manifesto.

“These individuals have begun to rampage like this because they’ve succeeded in making contracts with Archdemons. The recent appearance of Crosel is evidence of this. It seems that Juan Soriano has even succeeded in making a contract with that unspeakably blasphemous demon… Astaroth.”

In the otherworld continent of Ailetan, the legends of the ancient empire tell of a figure called the King of Wisdom.

Once the ruler of the ancient empire, he turned it into a living hell. A legendary figure.

The 72 demons that the King of Wisdom commanded are still recorded in the confidential documents of the White Cross Society. The Archbishop briefly explained this legend.

“And the Red Lord that villain mentioned is none other than the Red Dragon, the evil god who reigns at the top of the 72 demons. A being that foretells destruction.”

The Archbishop’s expression was filled with fear. He is not just a religious figure or politician. As someone who rose to the rank of Archbishop, he is a cleric with very high faith and holy power.

The fact that even he felt fear meant that the foretold destruction was not just a possibility but approaching reality.

The atmosphere in the meeting room became terribly somber. The Archbishop, as if trying to change the mood, spoke with a solemn expression.

“But we must not surrender to those villains, those controlled by demons. Just as we recently sent the Archdemon Crosel back to the netherworld, the power humanity has built since the dimensional fusion is by no means insignificant.”

As he said, today’s Earth had somewhat overcome the hellscape of gates opening and monsters emerging.

“It is time to show those demons once again the hope and light that humanity has created through the sacrifices of Awakened Ones and hunters.”

Making the sign of the cross once more, the Archbishop said:

“That is why I invited Flame here. From now on, we will need the cooperation of hunters and guilds who will not yield to demonic temptations and threats.”

At that moment, the Archbishop’s gaze turned toward me.

***

After the meeting and the formal exorcism ordination,

Archbishop Enrico called me separately to his office. Just as the priests who guided us at the airport had sought me out first.

It seemed he had something to discuss with me privately.

The Archbishop sat at his antique-looking desk. And beside him stood a priest.

‘An Inquisitor?’

With my keen senses, I could immediately tell he was powerful. More so than Yuri, Soso, and even myself.

The Knights of Light and the Inquisition of Darkness—the two military groups representing the White Cross Society.

Considering the symbolism and position of the Far East Archbishop, it wasn’t strange that a high-ranking Inquisitor would be assigned as his guard.

The Inquisitor’s gaze was like a well-honed blade.

“This might be an uncomfortable situation for you. Please understand.”

“Not at all, Archbishop.”

But the Archbishop was relatively considerate toward me. And he soon stated his reason for calling me.

“You may not know this well, but the White Cross Society has been watching you, Lee Min-soo.”

“Me… sir?”

“Yes. Although the Red Lake’s major uprising began not long ago, they have actually been a villain organization existing for a long time.”

I knew that fact. Even people like Team Leader Seo Du-ho were aware of their existence.

‘But why me…’

Suddenly, a few things came to mind. If the Vatican, the Holy See, had been monitoring the Red Lake for a long time,

They might have been investigating me behind the scenes, given my connection to them.

“Ains Academy. That incident at the famous academy in Seoul two years ago. You were deeply involved in that incident.”

As expected, the starting point was the tragedy at Ains. Since the Doubt Demon was a member of the Red Lake, the Holy See seemed interested in me, who had eliminated that Red Lake member.

And since that incident was also directly related to Chae Min-ah, a demon contractor, it was certainly worth reinvestigating by the Holy See.

‘So that’s why they called me here.’

The Archbishop continued.

“Since the recent summoning of an Archdemon, the Vatican has been gathering all information about the Red Lake, no matter how trivial. In the process, it’s only natural that your name would be mentioned as someone who eliminated an S-class villain of the Red Lake.”

And such mention isn’t necessarily a good thing. Just as an Inquisitor stands beside the Archbishop, those who have contact with demons are always of primary interest to the Inquisition.

The presence of the Inquisitor might also have that meaning. For Inquisitors, when it comes to matters related to demons, they habitually doubt, and doubt again.

The Inquisitor was sending a vigilant gaze toward me.

“And that’s not all. This recent cooperative mission. It’s said that the two daughters of the Five Great Celestial Families performed well, but the Vatican has also analyzed the battle records. Your care as an operator minimized their magical contamination.”

After a brief silence, he said:

“In situations involving contact with demons, it’s difficult enough to maintain one’s own sanity. The fact that you could stabilize others’ minds as well means your resistance to magical contamination is very high.”

The Inquisitor’s gaze grew even colder. I immediately realized what the Archbishop was about to say.

“So I checked all your MCI and threshold values since you started hunter missions. But those figures were strange. If you were someone with high magical resistance, your MCI wouldn’t have risen to such levels in the first place.”

I remained silent at his words. I have a special constitution with an MCI of 0. That value never changes.

‘Actually, it’s a blessed constitution for hunter work.’

But even Dr. Seong Chae-rin couldn’t explain the reason for this constitution.

So to prevent any potential trouble, I had been manipulating my MCI records through mana stones.

“Are you perhaps manipulating your MCI records?”

The Archbishop asked me. I could immediately tell it wasn’t really a question. The fact that an Inquisitor was standing here meant he was already certain.

MCI and threshold values are sensitive elements. They’re the most reliable way to distinguish between Awakened Ones and villains.

‘The Archbishop’s thinking is…’

But the Archbishop quickly reassured me. He raised his hand to stop the Inquisitor who was emitting a strange pressure toward me.

“I’m not trying to interrogate you. If I doubted your identity, I wouldn’t be meeting you directly like this. And you…”

Our eyes met. As he said, there was no suspicion in his gaze at all.

“You recently had direct contact with a holy relic of the Cross Society, didn’t you?”

“A holy relic… are you referring to the prophecy?”

“Yes. The object you found with Ernst Zerfield in the ancient dungeon.”

“That’s correct. Yuri Tarkovskaya and I helped him.”

At my answer, surprise crossed the Inquisitor’s face. He too relaxed his suspicious and vigilant gaze at the Archbishop’s words.

“I heard about it through the Vatican. That prophecy was recognized as a holy relic through a meeting at the Vatican. There’s absolutely no way that you, who first came into contact with that holy relic, could be a villain or a demon contractor.”

And at his next words, I was momentarily surprised.

“So please tell me honestly. Why have you been falsifying your MCI values? Depending on your answer, I’m thinking of entrusting you with the Sacred Fire of Parma.”