Chapter 210

A silent and secret strike.

A single sword, slicing through the air of the Holy Sanctuary, pierced the Cult Leader’s heart at a moment no one had anticipated.

There was not even a scream. In an absolute silence where all noise ceased as if it were a lie, the movement of the colossal entity attempting to descend using the Cult Leader’s body as a vessel came to a dead halt.

The pressure that had been warping space vanished, and the vibrations that had made the Holy Sanctuary scream subsided. As if the film of a playing movie had been snapped, the flow of magical power that had been rushing toward its conclusion was brought to an abrupt stop.

‘What on earth happened?’

Everyone’s gaze turned toward a single spot.

Behind the Cult Leader, from within the shadow of the empty throne, a single silhouette slowly revealed itself.

The pitch-black uniform of the Apocalypse Society, a familiar scabbard at the waist, and eyes that were indifferent to the point of being serene.

The figure could only be one person.

“…Sister?”

A voice mixed with bewilderment escaped Yerin’s lips involuntarily.

Until just before the battle began, she had simply stood there as the Cult Leader’s faithful guard.

However, at some point, she had hidden herself within the shadows, and in this desperate moment, she proved her existence by plunging a sword into her master’s heart.

‘Did she regain her memories? But why?’

The sword embedded in the Cult Leader’s chest did not belong to Seoyoon. It was a sword with a black blade engraved with strange patterns that looked like flowing golden veins—the divine artifact of the Apocalypse Society bestowed by the Cult Leader himself.

“…….”

Seoyoon did not speak. With an indifferent expression, she simply readjusted her grip on the hilt and began to pour every last drop of the power remaining within it.

[How… could you…]

Finally, the first voice erupted from the Cult Leader’s mouth, entwined with pain and bewilderment. It was a wave of sound that could not be called human language; it sounded as if chaos itself, swirling within the body, was howling.

His gaze held pure questioning at witnessing an incomprehensible phenomenon, rather than anger over the betrayal.

Why had his Authority not worked? Why was a puppet who had lost her memories able to point a blade at him?

The Cult Leader sought no further answers. Hurriedly making his physical body shimmer like mist, he escaped Seoyoon’s sword and staggered away to create distance.

His human form had long since vanished. His skin, once like pale jade, had turned black and damp like the seabed, and beneath the surface, a nebula of chaos was swirling violently.

[…How perplexing.]

A gruesome wound left by the sword was vivid on the Cult Leader’s chest. The wound refused to heal, and black cracks spread around it like a spiderweb, eating away at his very existence.

The energy of the entity behind him, which had been attempting to manifest, was also constantly leaking out through that wound.

‘Now!’

A major shift had occurred in the situation.

And Taewoon was not one to miss such an opportunity.

‘He can’t use his full power. I have to settle this now!’

Taewoon quickly calculated his odds in his head. Thought immediately led to action. Beneath the Hunter’s Mask, Taewoon’s eyes began to shine as cold as steel.

Taewoon’s form exploded like a red comet, shooting toward the Cult Leader. It was to block the manifestation of the entity and simultaneously exploit the decisive wound Seoyoon had created.

[How dare you!]

The Cult Leader looked troubled and waved both arms in the air. As the leader who had guided the Apocalypse Society, he possessed treasures beyond imagination, and through the ability of one of them, space itself became a shield, blocking Taewoon’s path.

Following that, strange shackles of causality, as if twisting the flow of time, attempted to bind Taewoon’s ankles.

It felt as if the order of actions was being reversed, and the effective moves derived from a single motion were being blocked one by one.

However, Taewoon’s aura did not stop.

“Hngh!”

The Lightning of Destruction erupting from Keshatus shattered the spatial shield, and Aquila provided a new Spear Path through constant analysis.

Faced with Taewoon’s fierce aura, the Cult Leader had no choice but to act desperately to protect his own body.

This meant he had failed to complete the descent ritual in its full form.

[Khhk…]

Behind the Cult Leader, from the spatial rift where the entity attempting to manifest resided, the upper body of a gaunt mummy lunged out.

It was connected to the Cult Leader’s body like a macabre puppet, and from within the old bandages, a torrent of metaphysical characters poured out like a waterfall, repeatedly scattering into the air.

‘What an incredible presence… but the perfect manifestation failed.’

Even an incomplete descent exerted an overwhelming pressure that weighed down the entire Holy Sanctuary. Had that thing manifested in its complete form, victory could not have been guaranteed.

But Seoyoon’s wit and Taewoon’s actions had prevented that worst-case future.

The odds were sufficient. Seoyoon approached Taewoon, who was poised with an even sharper aura.

Instead of retrieving the black sword she had plunged into the Cult Leader, she had summoned her own original sword and held it in her hand.

“What happened?”

Taewoon asked the question he was most curious about. Her gaze, her tone, her aura—everything was the original Seoyoon that Taewoon knew.

“…It will take time to explain, so let’s finish the battle in front of us first.”

“Understood.”

Questions remained, but Taewoon asked no more.

Now was the time to trust her and focus on the enemy before them; that was the trust between comrades.

Finally, the three were gathered as one. Having grown to their limits through their respective trials, they were now becoming a single spear, intending to pierce through the massive wall that was the Cult Leader.

[Foolish things…]

As the Cult Leader spread his arms, the characters leaking from the mummy’s bandages hanging behind him scattered, creating a strange domain throughout the Holy Sanctuary. They then swam through the air, embroidering the space like ancient murals.

“Not so far!”

Yerin pulled out a strange cloth with haphazardly growing teeth from her bosom and threw it. The cloth opened a giant mouth in mid-air, moving like a living creature and greedily beginning to devour them.

However, it could not swallow all the characters. Some surviving characters glowed in the air and rearranged themselves, soon forming a complete sentence.

In an instant, along with a powerful wave of magical power, an Authority that shook the spirits of Taewoon’s party descended.

‘This is…’

Though the direction was different, it was a sensation similar to the Authority of the ‘Tormented Goat’ he had faced in the past. New memories were forcibly painted over his mind, attempting to deny the reality before his eyes and shake his perception.

But Taewoon’s gaze did not waver. The Authority of a being that had only managed an incomplete manifestation, and Taewoon’s mind, completed by the Hunter’s Mask, would no longer be played by such clumsy tricks.

【Condition Fulfilled】

▶【Cinema Skill: Final Rampart】

A golden fortress wall imbued with the Chaos Resistance Effect rose up and enveloped the party. Under the protection of the barrier, Yerin and Seoyoon, who had been momentarily shaken, quickly regained their composure and launched counterattacks in their own ways.

Blood-red rose vines blooming from the Cursed Flower bracelet entwined the Cult Leader’s ankles, and Seoyoon’s sword spat out Sword Qi as sharp as a wolf’s teeth, tearing through the Cult Leader’s domain.

[Khhk…]

Unable to withstand the coordinated attack, the Cult Leader hurriedly severed one of his own arms. The mummy’s bandages greedily swallowed the fallen arm and, manifesting a strange Authority, began to summon new enemies.

Familiar shapes emerged from the darkness. Ghosts of hell, The Nameless Head, a cloud with a thousand eyes. They were all formidable foes from the past, deeply engraved in Taewoon’s memory.

But there was not a hint of agitation on Taewoon’s face.

“…Is this all?”

Taewoon had already experienced similar abilities and knew the perfect way to dismantle them.

Above all, they were merely ‘hunted prey’ who had already lost to Taewoon. They were beings that could never escape the Authority of the hunter.

【Condition Fulfilled】

▶【Cinema Skill: Hunter of Dawn Forest】

A blue dawn mist rose from Taewoon’s body. Taewoon’s very existence became the silence of the forest, observing the battlefield, and he activated the ‘Memory of the Hunted’ ability without hesitation.

First was the soul-shaking wave emitted by the ghosts of hell; Taewoon crushed and annihilated it with a deeper, more fundamental wave.

Second was the causality of death brought by The Nameless Head. Taewoon froze it with the Authority of observation, then sliced it apart and erased it with the Blazing Sword of judgment.

Lastly was the storm of chaos poured out by the cloud with a thousand eyes. Taewoon released Divine Authority through Mitra’s Wings, countering it with an even greater storm and shattering it to pieces.

Before Taewoon’s overwhelming Divine Authority, the phantoms of the past turned into a handful of dust and scattered vainly.

[This is…]

The moment the Cult Leader swallowed a groan of astonishment and tried to prepare another Authority, Yerin’s Mystery Roulette began to spin, making a loud noise to announce the arrival of luck.

Shortly after, a cross filled with divine energy appeared in the air and began to bombard the Cult Leader, and Seoyoon, who had turned her sword into a blood axe, did not miss the opening and sliced through the Cult Leader’s shoulder.

[Khhuuugh…]

To make matters worse, the incompletely manifested entity began to show signs of collapse, screaming as it failed to handle its own power.

Cracks formed throughout the body of the mummy hanging behind him, vomiting black dust.

[…….]

A desperate situation. At the moment he had lost everything and faced defeat, the Cult Leader suddenly stopped all resistance. Then, with a face exhausted to the limit, he began to let out a chilling and ominous laugh.

[Khuhu, I admit it… it seems I underestimated you all too much. In that case… I shall need to urgently arrange a new board…]

A cold sensation brushed against the spine of Taewoon, who had been certain of victory.

The Cult Leader manifested his final Authority. This time, his target was not Taewoon’s party itself.

The Cult Leader reached into the countless traces of memory engraved in the deepest part of Taewoon and pulled out a single existence.

‘This is…’

Taewoon immediately recognized the identity of that energy and was horrified.

Because he had borrowed that power more deeply than anyone and had severed that connection with his own hands, he was able to notice quickly.

Using Taewoon’s memory as a conduit, the Cult Leader was attempting to contact ‘The Red Man’ who existed within the Theater.

[If I were to collapse so obediently… I would not have started this in the first place.]

The space of the Holy Sanctuary was dyed red, and a passage with a feeling familiar to Taewoon revealed itself.

Beyond the rift created by the Cult Leader, a crimson, overlord-like will that seemed ready to swallow everything was watching Taewoon’s party.