Chapter 34 : Fanatic Hunt (3)

The heart of the fanatics.

Leading the priests, a man moved to stop the young Jinjo.

“Jinjo… where is she.”

At the heavy resonance, several priests flinched their shoulders.

“N-Now she will be circling the exterior of the Forbidden Zone, looking for other brothers.”

“High Priest, we should move to another area now and plan for the future…”

“No. If we can’t control that monster here anyway, we all die.”

“…..”

The man, Vernard Neigrim, told them the future that was set for them.

There is no paradise in the place you flee to.

Even if they escaped the clutches of the young Jinjo right now, it was clear they would die at the hands of priests in other areas.

“Or, do you harbor other intentions?”

The priest who received Vernard Neigrim’s cold gaze hastily bowed his head.

“I-I have never harbored any wicked thoughts…!”

“Then risk your lives and focus on carrying out your mission. You must not forget our destiny.”

The High Priest, averting his gaze, headed towards the center of the ritual, the altar where blood-red mana flickered.

The place where all preparations were in place had already disappeared due to the young Jinjo’s rampage.

“We must secure the ‘Vessel’ somehow. Many lives depend on this.”

“…High Priest, but around the Vessel, there is interference from those who came from outside.”

“Are you saying you can’t even handle those mere b*stards?”

The person who had spoken to the High Priest, along with the sensation of his body being crushed, hastily shook his head.

“I will somehow kill those b*stards and secure the Vessel..!”

“You must hurry.”

Vernard Neigrim turned his gaze from the departing priest and looked at the altar.

“Prophet.”

And then he prayed.

That they could be a new light to those who had not yet opened their eyes, that their long-cherished wish could come to this land in its proper form-

Thus, with his hands clasped in prayer, he was trying to continue his failed life once more.

He knew nothing.

That he was merely a cog in this place, that it was all a stage of lies.

And that, after several failures, it had been reconstructed, continuing an unending puppet show.

Roughly pushing through the dense bushes, a priest was fleeing with a terrified expression.

-Swish! Swish!

Behind him, several presences followed.

Like predators leisurely chasing a wounded herbivore.

The hunters silently maintained their tension and followed the target.

“Th-This…!”

The fanatic, finally giving up on escape, stopped in place, seething with resentment.

There was no place left to run.

All the comrades who had gathered their strength to fight back had been slaughtered.

On his cheek, there was a trace of blood from a comrade who had been breathing until just moments ago.

“Hell awaits you!!! Do you know what you are doing right now?!”

The priest, drawing explosive mana from his hand, swung it wildly.

The target was the entire area where he presumed the hunter was.

The bushes and trees touched by the mana shattered, and their fragments scattered.

But, unfortunately.

“….!”

The hunters who had been following the priest had already disappeared from their positions.

“Where are you! Where are you!!”

The frenzied priest spat and screamed at the top of his lungs.

-Pajik! Pajijik!

With mana drawn in both hands, ready to attack at any moment, the bloodshot-eyed priest glared straight ahead.

“Heung, heu-eung~”

And near that priest, a presence was heard.

A hum that was completely out of place in a situation where one could lose their life at any moment.

Light footsteps, and beyond that darkness.

“…Ah.”

The priest realized who the owner of the presence was.

“J-Jinjo.”

The monster they themselves had created had gained a self and approached them.

“Hellooo~”

As if responding to his expectation, Jinjo, who emerged from beyond the darkness, smiled brightly.

“D-Don’t come! Don’t come!!”

The priest, having lost all will to fight, trembled and stepped back.

Jinjo, Eira, chuckled as if enjoying such a reaction and observed his ridiculous appearance.

When she judged the time was ripe, she raised her hand and pointed behind the priest.

“….?”

“behind you.”

At those words, he suddenly got goosebumps and turned his head, but.

Do Yoon, who had already approached nearby, swung his curved sword.

With a slight resistance, the entire upper body was severed.

The priest, whose heartbeat had stopped, glared at Do Yoon with wide eyes.

However, as if mocking such a warning, only the priest’s upper body fell and rolled on the floor.

Do Yoon, who was looking at him, tore his gaze away and looked at Eira.

“Did I do good?!”

“You did well.”

Dododo! Easily catching Eira who ran towards him, he looked around.

His eyes met with a hunter who was swallowing hard with a tense expression.

“What are you doing?”

“W-What…”

“If you have nothing to do, you should move right away and catch the others. Aren’t you going to get your reward?”

“…Ah.”

Only then did the hunters’ feet loosen, and they quickly spread out.

‘…Why are they so unreliable?’

Wanting to dismiss it as just a feeling, Do Yoon stroked the head of Eira, who was clinging to him.

“Shall we go to the next one?”

“Yes…!”

Do Yoon continued hunting fanatics with Eira.

Excluding the central area where their leader was presumed to be.

The fanatics, whose command system had collapsed, were busy fending off the hunters in disarray.

Originally, they should have cooperated with the hunters to stop Eira, but that world line had long since passed.

Now, they had to accept that disaster had arrived without any help.

“Where to next?”

“Here!”

Eira, who had naturally gotten a piggyback ride on Do Yoon’s back, confidently pointed with her finger.

“Okay.”

Do Yoon nodded at that and immediately ran in that direction.

The strong wind actually cooled his heated body.

With a pleasant sensation, Do Yoon spotted the target in the rapidly passing scenery.

“Th-That b*stard is…!”

“Jinjo! It’s Jinjo…!”

“Run away, don’t confront that b*stard! He’s with Jinjo!!”

‘Good.’

Do Yoon, watching the fanatics dismantle their own group, inwardly suppressed a laugh.

It would be troublesome if they tried to counterattack systematically.

But the presence of Eira beside him was instilling fear and a desire to scatter in them in real time.

Even amidst Do Yoon’s rough movements, Eira let out an innocent laugh as if she was having fun.

A fanatic witnessed their appearance.

In the darkness where the moonlight shone down.

Two pairs of eyes, gleaming menacingly, faced them.

“….Ah.”

The fanatic who became the very first target last saw the flickering blood-red mana.

Chain-like mana was shot out.

Eira handled long-range interception in real time, and Do Yoon, carrying her on his back, moved swiftly, designing the optimal attack route.

Space was no longer their sanctuary.

Do Yoon and Eira hunted, and the fanatics fled.

It was the fun game of tag that a girl had so longed for at the scene of torture.

“Kyahat! This is fun!”

Although his body almost froze at the reactions heard from behind him at times, Do Yoon didn’t lose focus and continued to target the

fanatics.

“…Where are you looking.”

A hunter following them left a word of warning to a captured fanatic.

The bat-like fanatic who had already switched sides felt 괜스레 guilty and made an excuse.

“I-I wasn’t thinking anything.”

“It would be best not to.”

The skinny hunter warned.

Having already betrayed them once, if he changed his words again here–

It seemed unlikely they would just let him go easily.

He thought he might end up in a more miserable state than those currently being hunted.

“….Were those things always that weak?”

“Our senior hunters definitely told us never to antagonize them…”

Originally, the fanatic priests possessed combat abilities equal to the current hunters.

“…If it looks easy.”

The skinny hunter provided an answer to that situation.

“It means that man is exceptionally strong.”

“…That’s absurd. He’s definitely receiving help from the Object-“

“Does that look like the result of one-sided help to you?”

-Paat!

Do Yoon, instantly closing in on the fanatic, swung his curved sword again.

In a shape like the Grim Reaper’s scythe, a fanatic’s life was extinguished in an instant.

“Die…!”

However, a fanatic who was aiming for a chance to turn the tables, using a comrade’s life as a sacrifice, appeared from a blind spot.

Before he had even retrieved the curved sword from the corpse.

In a fleeting moment, Do Yoon let go of the handle and grabbed the fanatic’s neck with his bare hands.

[Acidic Digestive Fluid].

The fanatic’s tender skin melted due to Do Yoon’s skill.

Witnessing the scene where the neck and body were separated, Do Yoon picked up the curved sword rolling on the ground.

“Sticky, sticky!”

The Object, who hadn’t even realized the recent situation was a crisis, still marveled at Do Yoon’s skill with an innocent voice.

“Dirty.”

In any case, it probably wasn’t clean.

The hunters, feeling a strange sense of disconnect at that sight, reluctantly left the place to chase after the remaining fanatics for other

achievements.

‘Now….’

He felt that the end was not far off.

The head of the fanatics.

The mana that b*stard possessed could be felt distinctly, even without Eira pointing it out.

“Do Yoon.”

“Yeah.”

“He’s over there. The super big bad guy.”

According to Eira.

There was a guy called the ‘High Priest’ in their central area.

A fanatic who led the other priests and held their actual command authority.

“That person hurt me a lot.”

“Right.”

“I’ll make him hurt just as much.”

Eira, on his back, gnashed her molars in frustration.

Thus, after some more hunting.

“The foolish worshipper of the demon has arrived.”

Facing the High Priest, who exuded immense pressure, Do Yoon aimed his curved sword.

“Hand over the reward.”

“Hand it ovet!”

Behind him, Eira cutely mimicked Do Yoon’s words. That was the last reaction.

The group of fanatics targeting Eira, and Do Yoon’s team, rushed at each other to take each other’s lives.