The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 121

The restroom he arrived at was emanating a thick smell of blood from the corridor itself. There was also a faint acrid chemical smell.

Near the entrance to the women’s restroom, a female student was crawling forward with difficulty, her body flat against the floor, trembling hands stretched out in front of her.

"...Tea, teacher... My head, my head...!"

"Damn it...! What happened!"

So Do-jin hurriedly approached the female student. Even at a glance, her condition was serious. Her right ankle was cut off in an uneven section as if it had been bitten, and there was a hole in her side. Magical beast bite marks were scattered all over her body.

Her entire body was soaked in blood, with particularly heavy bleeding from her head.

Fortunately, if it could be called that, it seemed like other vital areas besides her head hadn’t been attacked. If she was taken to the hospital immediately, she could probably avoid death. So Do-jin sheathed his sword and tried to lift the female student up.

"Tea, teacher. Wait a moment. My head, my head...! Please look at my head first..."

Then, the female student swept back her hair with both arms and showed So Do-jin the top of her head. So Do-jin emitted divine power with the intention of using healing.

He wasn’t confident in healing, but he knew how to draw basic healing circles for emergency first aid to stop bleeding.

"What’s wrong with your head! Stay calm and speak clearly. That’s the only way healing is possible... Hurry!"

"He, here. Teacher, my head is white, what should I do... Inside my head is completely..."

"Stay calm. You can live. If we go to the hospital right now, you can live. So..."

He couldn’t tell exactly where on her head was injured.

If Ha Ye-jin were here at a time like this. She would probably pinpoint the student’s injury location and heal it without even looking.

Damn it, why does it have to be me instead of Ha Ye-jin at a time like this...

"Here, here..."

"I don’t understand when you just say ’here.’ Calm down and let’s get you on my back to the hospital first-"

"Here, ugh. Tea, teacher, inside my head is completely..."

Riiiiiiip...

Then, the female student’s head split open. Literally split open. The female student used both hands to split open her own head, showing the inside. The skin tore and split, revealing what should have been white skull.

No, it wasn’t skull. It was cotton. The inside of the female student’s head was packed full of cotton.

"Completely... isn’t it pure white? Wow!"

"...Huh?"

BOOM!

The taxidermy exploded. Thud thud, bone fragments and flesh flew out and embedded in his body. He tried to draw his sword to block them, but it was insufficient.

Sharp pain spread from his arms and legs where the bone fragments hit. But now wasn’t the time to writhe in pain and waste time.

"Ah, shit..."

He had to immediately get out of the Divine Training Ground and assess the situation. There must be a reason they lured him here.

They were definitely trying to tie his feet down here and cause an incident elsewhere. From the Satan worshipper’s perspective, his existence as an active Holy Warrior would be a thorn in their side.

So Do-jin bit his lips and tried to ignore the pain spreading throughout his body, quickly moving out of the Divine Training Ground. He planned to go to the broadcasting room and send out an evacuation order to the entire school.

"..."

But when he left the Divine Training Ground, there was the Divine Training Ground again.

So Do-jin tried to exit through the back door. But even going to the back door, it was the Divine Training Ground again. Through windows, even breaking through walls, it was the same. No matter what he tried, So Do-jin’s body couldn’t get outside the Divine Training Ground.

His complexion darkened.

The Bottomless Pit.

It was the name of a technique frequently used by Satan worship’s ’Pride,’ who had been actively operating in America until a few years ago.

It was black magic that blurred the boundaries between places, making it impossible to leave a specific location.

Thud, crack, splat...

The black magic didn’t end there. Dog magical beasts and taxidermy were pouring down from the sky like rain. So Do-jin looked up at the ceiling.

On the high ceiling of the Divine Training Ground, five massive black magic circles were drawn. Magical beasts and taxidermy poured out from them, hitting the ground with sticky, squishy sounds.

Grrrrr...

Splash, splash, splash...

Magical beasts showing threatening fangs and making menacing sounds, and grotesque taxidermy made by haphazardly sewing together corpses and hides.

Those things that had fallen with eerie sounds approached So Do-jin step by step.

"...This is So Do-jin. Anyone, please respond."

So Do-jin took out a burning bush branch from his pocket and infused it with divine power. Then he brought his mouth close to the burning bush and began contacting other teachers.

"Black magic presumed to be ’Bottomless Pit’ and ’Summoning’ is active in the Divine Training Ground. Request evacuation order broadcast and exorcist priest support. Repeat. In the Divine Training Ground..."

Slash!

So Do-jin swung his sword. And the body of a charging magical beast was cut in half.

The bisected corpse writhed wildly like an earthworm before going limp. As if that was the signal, three more magical beasts charged at him in a pack.

So Do-jin spread the light of blessing throughout his body and took his stance. He held his sword in his right hand and gripped the burning bush branch tightly in his left.

Stab.

He pierced the magical beast’s forehead with his sword. When he pulled out the sword, the beast’s body collapsed to the floor. Brain matter and blood poured from the pierced forehead.

Two beasts.

So Do-jin concentrated the light of blessing in his legs. Then he stomped down on the head of a magical beast charging from the right with his heel.

Crack!

With a dull sound of the skull breaking, the beast’s two eyeballs popped out and rolled on the floor.

So Do-jin didn’t stop and moved the light of blessing to his left hand. He threw the burning bush branch he was holding in his left hand upward, and transferred the sword from his right hand to his left.

Slash.

He swung the sword with his left hand. A long horizontal line was drawn across the magical beast’s head. Following the line, the beast’s body was cut in half.

The burning bush branch that had been soaring skyward began falling to the ground. So Do-jin caught the falling branch like snatching it and brought it to his mouth. Then he repeated what he had said before.

"...Request evacuation order broadcast and exorcist priest support. Repeat, black magic is active in the Divine Training Ground..."

Slash, stab, splurt...

"Repeat, any listening teacher, anyone please respond..."

The sounds of cutting, stabbing, and blood splattering. And So Do-jin’s voice pleading for help through the burning bush branch echoed repeatedly. However, the number of magical beasts and taxidermy falling from the ceiling showed no signs of decreasing, and no response came from the burning bush branch.

Even in such a desperate situation, So Do-jin silently stabbed his sword into magical beasts’ foreheads, slashed taxidermy hides, and pleaded for help through the burning bush branch.

How much time had passed? When the corpses of magical beasts formed mountains and the chemical smell from taxidermy flesh had permeated his entire body.

- Ah, ah.

From the burning bush branch that hadn’t even produced proper static noise, let alone a response, a voice could be heard.

Stab!

So Do-jin swung upward the sword he had embedded in an approaching taxidermy’s torso, tearing the hide.

Cotton and sawdust shot up into the air then poured down like rain. So Do-jin, who had been doused with sawdust soaked in acrid-smelling chemicals, brought his mouth to the burning bush branch. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"This is So Do-jin...! Black magic is active in the Divine Training Ground. Request evacuation broadcast for students and exorcist priest support. If you understand, please respond!"

- I understand. I’ll instruct students to sit in their classrooms and conduct normal classes. I’ll ask the exorcist priests how they’re doing. Over.

"...You bastard, who are you? I’m not joking around right now-"

- Yeah, keep spinning your wheels. Good work.

Click.

The fire on the burning bush went out. He infused divine power, but the fire that had once gone out wouldn’t relight.

This meant all other connected burning bushes had been damaged or malfunctioned. So Do-jin’s face crumpled.

"This fucking bastard-!"

Crunch!

Then, a magical beast behind him bit So Do-jin’s right hand.

It was a beast he hadn’t been able to deal with because he was focusing on the voice coming through the burning bush. He pulled his hand out of the beast’s mouth. Thud thud, along with blood, the fingers that had been caught in the beast’s mouth fell to the floor.

What was torn off were his index and middle fingers. Only his ring finger, pinky, and thumb remained attached to his palm.

Clatter, the sword in his right hand fell to the floor with a dry sound. It was too heavy to hold with the remaining three fingers.

Stab!

So Do-jin stabbed the magical beast’s eye with the now-useless burning bush branch. Then he picked up the fallen index and middle fingers and put them in his pocket. The beast staggered backward in pain from the stabbed eye and fear of losing sight.

Rip.

So Do-jin bit and tore his sleeve with his teeth. After barely gripping the sword with his ring finger, pinky, and thumb, he wrapped the torn cloth around his hand and sword to secure them.

Slash.

He swung the sword to cut the neck of the magical beast that had taken his fingers. It wasn’t as good as when his fingers were attached, but this level seemed manageable for combat.

"Whew."

So Do-jin caught his breath and stared at the taxidermy and magical beasts swarming toward him.

They seemed to charge endlessly, but there must be an end. So Do-jin didn’t have the ability to dismantle the black magic circles carved on the Divine Training Ground’s ceiling. But he was confident he could swing his sword accurately and sharply.

Then he just needed to cut down all the taxidermy and magical beasts until no more appeared. That would stop the black magic circles from operating. A gun without bullets is just a decent-looking lump of metal.

Thud!

Then, something huge fell from the sky.

It wasn’t a magical beast. It wasn’t grotesque taxidermy either. It was a person. No, it was taxidermy that perfectly reproduced human form.

So Do-jin didn’t know how to distinguish between people and taxidermy that imitated people. Even so, he could tell that thing was taxidermy.

"Kim Bok-dong."

Kim Bok-dong approached So Do-jin step by step. His massive frame, fierce muscles attached everywhere asserting their presence. An innocent face in contrast to all that.

How could he mistake it? No matter how he looked, it was definitely his old friend Kim Bok-dong.

"Haha..."

So Do-jin let out a hollow laugh. Strength left his right arm holding the sword. The blade scraped the floor.

Right, this is what they should do. There’s no way they could tie down my feet with just a few magical beasts and taxidermy. They used their brains for once, the fucking bastards...

These were words he wanted to mutter to himself, but he no longer had the energy even to speak, so those words remained only as thoughts.

Splash, splash...

He glared at the approaching taxidermy while mulling over the voice he had heard through the burning bush.

Definitely a voice he seemed to have heard somewhere. But he couldn’t remember whose voice it was. However, he would definitely remember. And somehow find them. He would find and kill them... without fail.

So Do-jin raised his sword.