episode_0135

‘What is that idiot doing?’

Cheon Soyul felt a surge of indignation. It was, naturally, a righteous anger directed at Lee Hyunjin.

An S-class equivalent Bishop of the Moonlight Cult was rampaging wildly right in front of them!

That idiot, right now! What in the world was he distracted by?! He wasn’t even properly attacking, and was dumping all the counter-measures onto her…!

Unbearable fury was about to shoot out at Lee Hyunjin in the form of lightning.

Cheon Soyul thought a shock might knock some sense into him. Just as she was about to blast Lee Hyunjin with sparks.

‘…But he keeps looking up at something.’

Cheon Soyul realized that Lee Hyunjin was staring intently at the sky.

Astounded and irritated, Cheon Soyul instinctively tilted her head upwards.

“…!”

Soon, she too confirmed the presence of the Moonlight Cult Leader.

There had been no presence felt at all.

But the moment she ‘recognized’ that presence, *boom!* The expanded presence began to weigh down on Cheon Soyul’s shoulders like a thousand pounds.

“Ugh…!”

It felt as if killing intent had materialized. The moment the sky-haired girl cast her gaze upon her, a weighty will took the form of a blade, piercing her body everywhere.

Only after hastily wielding magic to envelop her entire body in the currents of heavenly lightning did she feel a little more at ease.

Even that wasn’t absolute. Cheon Soyul had long since broken through the limits of A-class, but she still lacked some aspects to be considered a fully fledged S-class.

‘No way, the Cult Leader…?!’

Unlike Lee Hyunjin, Cheon Soyul couldn’t immediately discern the true identity of Haru, the Moonlight Cult Leader.

She hadn’t directly confronted her like he had, nor had she received rough information through Violet.

Yet, paradoxically, recognizing her identity was not difficult.

It was simple logic. Someone with that much power couldn’t possibly be merely a Bishop.

There was only one being above a Bishop in the Moonlight Cult, so that young-looking girl must be the ruler of that cult-like organization.

The Moonlight Cult Leader, herself.

“…”

Cheon Soyul calmly parried the man’s returning hammer swing, her expression settling into contemplation.

The Moonlight Cult Leader herself had arrived in Busan.

It was highly probable that, in addition to the somewhat intellectually impaired man in front of her, two more Bishops were also present, meaning all of them had come.

If so, what was their goal, their purpose? What were they targeting?

‘Red Tiger Academy…’

Cheon Soyul let out a soft groan inwardly. It was, in fact, obvious. She and Lee Hyunjin had been about to take the train back to Daejeon…

The location of the terror attack was none other than the sea in front of the station, the campus of Red Tiger Academy.

What they were targeting was relatively clear. They must certainly have been moving with something inside the campus as their objective.

“…Lee Hyunjin!”

Having finished her thought process, Cheon Soyul immediately cleared her mind and shouted.

Lee Hyunjin, who had been fixated on the Moonlight Cult Leader for a long time, flinched and finally snapped back to reality.

Cheon Soyul, gripping a spear made of lightning in one hand, twisted her lips.

“I’ll handle this brute, so you run to the campus right now! Do you understand what I mean?!”

“…What?”

Lee Hyunjin asked back, greatly flustered. But the situation was not lenient enough to spend time on such exchanges.

Cheon Soyul knew it, and Lee Hyunjin knew it… Yet, the reason they hesitated was that the enemy was none other than an S-class Bishop.

Lee Hyunjin, who briefly alternated his gaze between Cheon Soyul and the burly man, clenched his teeth.

“You’ll be overwhelmed on your own. It’d be better to, instead, cooperate with me to take him down as quickly as possible and then cross over to the artificial island—”

“Enough with the trivial talk! Just go.”

Cheon Soyul irritably cut off Lee Hyunjin’s words, glaring fiercely.

Why was this guy, who knew the seriousness of the situation as well as she did, and was even more rational than her, acting like this?

She was inwardly grateful that he seemed to be hesitating for her safety, but… this wasn’t the time for it.

Cheon Soyul stopped trying to persuade him with words and stomped her foot hard, striking the ground.

*Rumble!*

In response to her call, dozens of bolts of lightning poured down onto the ground.

The man laughed ferociously and swung his hammer, batting away the lightning bolts.

“Go. Hurry.”

Cheon Soyul no longer looked back at Lee Hyunjin and spoke briefly.

Lee Hyunjin didn’t hesitate any longer either.

“…I’ll be back soon.”

Lee Hyunjin turned his body, shaking off his hesitation, leaving only those words behind.

Cheon Soyul secretly glanced at his retreating back and chuckled softly.

“Back soon,” my foot. By all accounts, Lee Hyunjin, who had to face the Cult Leader and possibly more Bishops, was going to have it much harder.

Compared to her, who only had to deal with one S-class villain, the difference in difficulty was on another level.

“…I’ll be following soon. Not you coming back.”

Having muttered that last remark, Cheon Soyul raised her head to look up at the man.

Just then, the man, having dispersed all the lightning, turned his murderous gaze towards her.

“Where did the man go, leaving you alone, woman—!”

*CRASH!* The man, having stomped the ground and launched himself high into the sky, pulled his lips into a wide grin, raising his hammer.

He seemed intent on bringing it down, and a direct hit would likely mean instant death.

She would be reduced to a splatter of blood, not even leaving a trace. Cheon Soyul felt a shiver run down her spine, certain of this fact.

Nevertheless, she calmly rolled her body, dodging the attack with lightning speed.

*Thud!*

The hammer struck down, flipping the ground upside down, but Cheon Soyul remained unharmed.

Regardless, she was a proper combat mage.

Even if she was closer to a pure-blood, she had several combat experiences.

Cheon Soyul cupped her hand as if to fire a gun, forming lightning within it.

*Crackle, crackle…!*

A battlefield where killing intent was directly unleashed.

In other words, a real fight.

Surprisingly, unlike Lee Hyunjin, she didn’t have as much real combat experience… Nevertheless, she was one of Cheongsong Academy’s few ‘experienced individuals in unusual situations.’

Can’t modern Awakened individuals, after attending an academy for a bit, face S-class villains?

At least, the closest male student to her had such an academic life, and was continuing to have it.

Recalling such a slightly warped ‘common sense,’ Cheon Soyul forced a cold sneer.

“…An ignorant brute like you, I can handle perfectly fine on my own.”

Cheon Soyul spoke provocatively, and the man twisted his lips.

“Hmph!”

The man, having let out a sneer, once again flashed his eyes and began to charge at Cheon Soyul.

*****

“…Hmph.”

In the sky, with her hands clasped behind her back, circling around as if treading on clouds.

Haru, the Moonlight Cult Leader, wore a refreshing smile on her lips.

It was a smile so innocent it seemed incapable of harm, yet…

The true identity of the smiling girl was none other than the ruler who governed all the disciples of the Moonlight Cult, the largest villain organization in history.

She looked down at Lee Hyunjin with an expression that showed no hint of threat.

The young man’s speed, as he hastily moved to cross the large bridge leading to Red Tiger Academy’s campus, was not inferior to that of most close-combat Awakened.

His appearance was too alien to be considered a typical pure-blood mage.

Haru, still with a smile on her face, closed her eyes and pondered for a moment.

She must have first seen that young man a year ago. Perhaps, around the time she infiltrated a disciple into Cheongsong Academy, targeting Kanzaki Rie and Jinyong.

Because he somehow precisely saw through her plans and interfered, she grew interested and tried to make contact.

And after that, she had always watched him with keen interest. The disciple of the Ice Empress, the movements of the next-generation Archmage.

Haru knew that his actions had been radical even when he was a first-year student, but they had been especially groundbreaking this year.

‘─That’s strange.’

Haru couldn’t understand it. Lee Hyunjin, Lee Hyunjin. She kept repeating the three characters of his name in her mind, but nothing came to memory.

‘He definitely shouldn’t have existed…’

Haru looked down at Lee Hyunjin, her eyes forming a faint smile.

She recalled. She recalled memories, knowledge, and information.

Thunder Monarch Cheon Soyul.

Fist Saint Baek Ayun.

Black Heaven Ryu Seeun.

And.

Vampire Queen Kanzaki Rie.

Ice Empress Seol Hayeon.

Flame Lord Hong Yeonhwa.

“Heh heh…”

All of them were the seeds of heroes existing in ‘this world.’ Haru had clearly glimpsed the future where they would confront destruction.

A great calamity of a danger level incomparable to previous gates or dungeons.

At the end of that apocalypse, those struggling desperately, their struggles, the sight of them perishing… Haru remembered it all.

And Haru, who remembered all that.

Had no recollection of seeing the name ‘Lee Hyunjin’ within the entire history of resistance.

Even across all the characters in the ‘book’ she had read— Lee Hyunjin’s existence, was not there.

“Ah-ha…”

So, there was only one conclusion.

Haru placed her hands on both cheeks and smiled.

“You, too, are a ‘transcendent’ being, just like me. Isn’t that right? Lee Hyunjin-gun…”