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Chapter 342

BOOOOM-!

The resulting sound resembled that of an explosion. Not even the sound of the artillery fire piercing through the plant stems summoned by the Cult Leader was as massive as this.

The Berakah of Diligence, Well, unleashed destructive power proportional to the caster’s accumulated efforts. And Dae-Man\'s life was filled to the brim only with diligence.

Thud, thump...

The punch sent Sun-Woo flying, and he rolled on the dirt. Sun-Woo had blocked Dae-Man\'s fist, but it hadn’t been enough. He managed to avoid a fatal blow, but he couldn\'t completely withstand the impact. Sun-Woo stood up, his mouth dripping with blood.

"..."

Even though he had blocked the blow, he might have suffered some internal injuries. A direct hit from those fists would be fatal. The look in Sun-Woo\'s eyes changed, now fixed on the staff he had planted in the ground earlier. He staggered toward it.

"No, stop him!"

The clergymen did not just stand around. They aimed and fired their guns at Sun-Woo in unison. Some infused divine power into holy artifacts and hurled them at Sun-Woo.

Bang, bang!

Boom―!

Gunshots rang out. Holy artifacts exploded, sending shrapnel flying.

Sun-Woo did not dodge. He simply gestured with his hand. The bullets lost momentum, stopped right in front of his nose, and fell to the ground. Dozens of bullets lay motionless, scattered on the dirt, unable to reach Sun-Woo.

Squelch, squelch...

A squelching sound came from the wet dirt as Sun-Woo continued to walk toward the staff. Sun-Woo’s footsteps were irregular. The clergymen were unsure whether it was because he didn\'t have the staff or because Dae-Man\'s blow had injured him, but it wasn’t the time to think about such things.

The clergymen rushed toward the staff. They intended to retrieve it before Sun-Woo could.

"Eeek!"

Grrrk, gttthhk...

However, the staff did not move an inch. It didn\'t budge at all, despite the efforts of several strong clergymen. Taking away the staff was impossible in the first place—it only moved when Sun-Woo touched it.

Bang!

A shockwave erupted from the staff, sending the clergymen clinging to it flying. Blood dripped from their lips.

Sun-Woo stepped over the fallen clergymen and grabbed the staff. It came out of the ground without any resistance.

Bang!

Sun-Woo struck the ground with the staff. The ground trembled. Stems erupted from the ground in various places. However, they did not attack Dae-Man or anyone from the Holy War Knight Order. They just wriggled and made strange noises in the air.

-Sacrifice.

The voice coming from the plant stems was Sun-Woo\'s voice. It sounded distorted and eerie. The plant stems continued to whimper and rustle.

-Sacrifice.

-Sacrifice.

The murmuring voice echoed in the clergymen’s minds. Even when they tried to block their ears and pounded their heads to silence the ringing voice, it never ceased. If anything, the more they resisted, the louder the voice sounded.

The guns pointed at the Cult Leader trembled. Sun-Woo raised his staff and cautiously aimed it at Dae-Man.

"Sobo."

***

-Sacrifice.

Simon heard the voice clearly. It sounded so unpleasant and alien. Simon knew the owner of that voice—the Cult Leader. He was up to something.

Simon instinctively felt uneasy and sensed danger. He turned his head and saw Yuk Eun-Hyung chasing after him.

"...”

Yuk Eun-Hyung no longer pursued Simon and stood still. It was strange. So strange and eerie that Simon felt uncomfortable. Yuk Eun-Hyung had clearly been running toward Simon with the intention to kill. The malice emanating from him had been so strong that it made Simon’s skin crawl.

However, Yuk Eun-Hyung now no longer showed malice toward Simon.

Splurt.

What was even more eerie was Yuk Eun-Hyung\'s self-harm that followed. He pulled out a dagger from his clothes and cut his own palm, adding to the injury he had sustained from grabbing Simon\'s blade. Blood trickled down from Yuk Eun-Hyung\'s palm. The thick crimson blood washed away in the rain and seeped into the ground.

Rumble, ruuumble...

Then, a more ominous and thunderous sound than usual echoed from the sky. It was an overwhelming roar that created the illusion of the heavens collapsing over their heads.

Everything felt very off: the Cult Leader’s whispers that haunted Simon’s mind, Yuk Eun-Hyung’s sudden and erratic behavior, and even the thunderclap that had instilled something more strange and foreign than mere fear.

Yuk Eun-Hyung wasn’t the only one who had stopped. The masked group attacking the Holy War Knight Order also stopped moving. They also drew daggers out from their clothes and slashed their palms. They let the rain wash the blood from their hands and seep into the ground.

The clergymen of the Holy War Knight Order found this grotesque and unearthly. To someone watching from the sky, it was the moment when a huge and perfect vévé was drawn.

BAAANG―!!

Vévé. The pattern of the Loa had been drawn in the blood of the Voodoo Cultists, including Sun-Woo. The lightning summoned using the vèvè was monstrous.

Simon\'s eyes momentarily went blind. For a few seconds, everything in front of him turned pitch black. He thought his eyes had been burned to crisps by the lightning.

Soon after, Simon\'s vision returned. The battlefield fell silent—no gunfire echoed between the Holy War Knight Order and the Cult Leader. He couldn’t hear Dae-Man\'s shout, nor could he hear the screams of the Holy War Knight Order members.

It was too quiet. Simon broke out in a cold sweat because he was afraid. The lightning that had struck them like divine retribution and the ensuing silence made him guess what had happened to the Holy War Kinght Order. His guess terrified him.

Simon ran. Yuk Eun-Hyung no longer pursued him as Simon ran away. He didn\'t even know what he was running away from anymore.

***

Dae-Man was lying down.

Sun-Woo looked at him on the ground. There were no other clergymen around. The Holy War Knight Order had all fled. Just before the lightning struck, Dae-Man had ordered them to retreat. Even in the face of imminent death, Dae-Man still prioritized the well-being of the Holy War Knight Order over himself.

"Sun-Woo," Dae-Man said.

His body was almost completely charred black. Strange sounds came from his chest with each breath. He had tinnitus in his ear, and his tongue tasted like a battery. He sensed that his death was near.

Sun-Woo crouched down next to Dae-Man. "Do you still have the strength to speak?"

"Of course. Have you forgotten how strong I am?" Dae-Man replied.

"I didn\'t expect you to be this strong."

Dae-Man chuckled. "Did it hurt when I hit you?"

"Yes," Sun-Woo answered.

"Good. At least I got one hit in," Dae-Man said. "I admired you. You were always someone I wanted to catch up to."

His voice was gradually weakening. He realized that he didn\'t have much time left to speak or have many breaths left in him.

"It would have been nice if we didn\'t have to fight."

Dae-Man lamented. He kept having meaningless thoughts about what would have happened if he hadn\'t fought Sun-Woo.

What would have happened if Sun-Woo hadn\'t been the Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult but remained as a skilled paladin of the Romanican Church? What would have happened if they hadn\'t fought but only competed?

"If things had not turned out this way, I would have caught up with you someday. Proudly, as a paladin..."

"I think so as well,” Sun-Woo replied.

Dae-Man smiled. "I’m glad."

He focused his eyes one last time and gazed at the sky. It was raining. Strangely, the rain didn’t feel cold at all. The wet ground from the rain was the same. It should have been cold, but it was warm instead.

The dark clouds cleared, and the rain stopped falling. Sunlight poured through the cracks in the clouds. The warm sunlight bathed Dae-Man\'s body.

"The earth, my bed, and the sky, my blanket. It can\'t get more comfortable than this. Really..." Dae-Man murmured.

Those were his final words.

A handful of light emanated from his body. It was the special blessing and light bestowed upon Dae-Man by the Pope. The light swayed in the wind and rose into the sky.

***

The Voodoo Cult emerged victorious.

They had succeeded. There was no other way to put it—they had achieved their goal.

Ha-Yeon and Jin-Seo were non-essential figures who could be returned to the Romanican Church from the start. The Pope\'s Proxy still remained with the Voodoo Cult. And the Head Guardian of Diligence, Dae-Man, had fallen in battle.

Thanks to Soo-Hyun and Soo-Yeong, they captured the Romanican Church\'s tanks. They had also retrieved all the firearms abandoned by the fleeing members of the Holy War Knight Order. These were excellent spoils of war that could be utilized in the upcoming battles.

The first battle of the Holy War Holy Army, created to suppress the Voodoo Cult, ended disastrously. The Romanican Church\'s morale was probably at rock bottom now.

The Voodoo Cult held a small banquet to commemorate their victory. They feasted on their rations and alcohol at the temporary barracks in the Gyeongsang Province. There was no reason to skimp on rations and alcohol since they had planned to abandon the temporary barracks after the battle.

"Did you see them trembling in fear? Their heads shook so much when they saw our masks!" a Voodoo Cultist snickered.

"What good is a gun if you can\'t shoot!" another exclaimed.

The members of the mercenary corps who participated in the battle laughed and shared war stories among themselves. They were already quite drunk. How could they not? The Voodoo Cult had also suffered casualties. They had to forget the sorrow of losing comrades through the joy of victory and intoxication.

The executives of the Voodoo Cult gathered together. Sun-Woo, Soo-Yeong, Soo-Hyun, and Yuk Eun-Hyung were present. Chorong, the leader of the Ravens Mercenary Corps, was also considered an executive, but he chose to stay with his own mercenary corps members as he felt uncomfortable sitting across from Sun-Woo.

As the banquet came to an end, Yuk Eun-Hyung said to Sun-Woo, "I\'m sorry, Cult Leader. The special forces you mentioned were here, but... we missed them."

Sun-Woo did not respond.

Soo-Yeong chuckled nervously. "It\'s okay. We still have Pope\'s Proxy with us, right? That should be enough."

Soo-Hyun, quietly contemplating while touching his chin, looked at Yuk Eun-Hyung and said, "I can’t believe you lost them, Executive Yuk Eun-Hyung. I would have caught them."

"Ah, oppa! Shut up!" Soo-Yeong said.

"Haha, Soo-Hyun is right. If I had been a little faster, I could have caught that guy and... I would have taken care of him myself," Yuk Eun-Hyung said regretfully.

Sun-Woo broke his silence and said, "It\'s okay.”

While staring blankly into the distance, he added, "This isn\'t the last battle after all."

Sun-Woo\'s murmuring voice lacked strength. He seemed a bit sad as well.

Yuk Eun-Hyung poured himself a drink. Soo-Hyun and Soo-Yeong also joined in and drank. The alcohol there had to be consumed or discarded anyway, so it was better to drink instead.

Sun-Woo usually didn\'t touch alcohol. He thought that alcohol clouded the mind and impaired judgment. However, unable to resist Soo-Yeong\'s insistence on having just one drink today, he also took a glass.

"So, you drink now?" Yuk Eun-Hyung said in surprise.

Soo-Hyun also expressed his amazement. "You don’t drink? That\'s impressive."

Seemingly surprised that Sun-Woo had listened to her suggestion, Soo-Yeong said, "Yeah, what\'s with you drinking for real today? You never touched your glass before when I told you to drink."

Sun-Woo chuckled. Encouraging the Voodoo Cult members for a day by sharing a drink didn\'t seem like a bad idea.

The real war was about to begin. This wasn\'t their last fight, but the first of many.

"Come on now, cheers!" Soo-Yeong exclaimed.

They clinked their glasses.