The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 126

"Aren’t those just kids coming up?"

"This building only has faculty offices, so what would kids be doing here? They’re not teachers."

"No, just evacuating..."

"The evacuation order hasn’t even been issued yet, has it? If you’re going to say nonsense like that, shut up and look for weapons."

Click, click, click...

While Ma Yu-hyeon and Yeo Min-seo exchanged meaningless conversation, the footsteps kept getting closer.

I held my breath and listened to the sound. I didn’t know who it was, but it definitely wasn’t just one person. The footsteps were irregular and too numerous. It was certain there were at least two people.

However, there were three of us here. Yeo Min-seo would probably handle it somehow, or if not, I could take care of it.

Moreover, Ma Yu-hyeon had the ability to distinguish taxidermy, so most enemies wouldn’t pose a threat.

"They’re starting to become visible... Ah."

Yeo Min-seo, who had been sticking her head out over the railing, suddenly straightened up and looked at Ma Yu-hyeon.

"Get ready. You, that thing, the eyes."

"Eyes? It’s a proper blessing with a name, you know."

"Ah, right. Anyway, hurry up and get that ready."

"You’re treating me like a complete tool..."

Ma Yu-hyeon grumbled as he drew a circle around his eyes. I didn’t know the name, but anyway, it seemed he could distinguish taxidermy with that blessing.

Had he used that blessing to distinguish Voodoo practitioners during the ’Starless Night’?

Probably not. According to the testimonies of survivors from that day, Ma Yu-hyeon appeared to distinguish Voodoo practitioners with the naked eye.

It wasn’t important. We faced the two people climbing the stairs with tense expressions. It was Kim Jin-seo and Seong Ha-yeon.

They were familiar faces, but we couldn’t let our guard down. In the current situation, it wouldn’t be strange for anyone to appear as taxidermy. Ma Yu-hyeon first stared at Kim Jin-seo.

"Kim Jin-seo is... fake. Seong Ha-yeon is..."

Bzzt!

At that moment, sparks flew from the circle drawn around Ma Yu-hyeon’s eyes. The circle that had been emitting brilliant light spat out ash and disappeared. Ma Yu-hyeon contorted his face in pain and covered his right eye with his palm.

"Ah shit, I used it too much!"

"What? You crazy bastard! If there’s a limit, you should have said so beforehand!"

"No, I didn’t know the limit would come now!"

"Crazy bastard...! Anyway, Kim Jin-seo is taxidermy, right?"

"Yeah, but I still don’t know about Seong Ha-yeon. My eye hurts like hell, ah..."

"It’s fine. I can catch Kim Jin-seo with my bare hands."

Yeo Min-seo took her stance.

Kim Jin-seo was looking up at us from below the stairs. Her eyes were vacant. She was holding the practice sword we had used at the Divine Training Ground in her right hand. Because it was in Kim Jin-seo’s hands, it looked more threatening than most real swords. Even knowing it was taxidermy, it was somehow creepy.

"Yeo Min-seo."

Kim Jin-seo said this and slowly walked toward us. The sword dragged on the floor, making sharp and chilling sounds.

Yeo Min-seo smiled wickedly as she drew a blessing circle, then spat at Kim Jin-seo who was climbing the stairs.

"Don’t call my name. It’s disgusting."

"...This isn’t the time for us to fight among ourselves."

"Shut up, you orphan bitch. It’s nice that I can speak freely since I know it’s taxidermy."

"Huh? Why are you suddenly trying to fight... What are you all doing, not stopping them...!"

Seong Ha-yeon, who had been watching the standoff, spoke in a trembling voice, trying to stop the fight. Looking at what she was doing, she seemed like the real Seong Ha-yeon, but on the other hand, she also seemed nothing like Seong Ha-yeon at all.

"..."

I watched the situation and thought for now. Kim Jin-seo approached Yeo Min-seo dragging her sword, while Yeo Min-seo prepared to fight Kim Jin-seo in an immobile stance.

Could Yeo Min-seo beat Kim Jin-seo? I hoped so, but if Yeo Min-seo lost, I would inevitably have to engage in combat too.

However, I couldn’t beat Kim Jin-seo with just blessings. That was confirmed in this morning’s sparring match. If I used Bosu’s power, I could probably win.

But I had just used Bosu’s power moments ago. I was afraid of the side effects. I wasn’t the type to spare my body, but I didn’t want to overwork my body more than necessary either.

But I couldn’t wait for Yeo Min-seo to lose and then step in belatedly. Whether I stepped in now or later, the result would be about the same.

I had to think. A way to beat Kim Jin-seo without using Bosu’s power. I had to synthesize all the information I’d gathered so far to reach the best conclusion.

The habits of taxidermy, Ma Yu-hyeon’s abilities, Kim Jin-seo’s personality. Numerous pieces of information floated in my head. I organized them and combined them into one.

"...Ma Yu-hyeon."

I called Ma Yu-hyeon. He was still holding his right eye while groaning in pain. Ma Yu-hyeon looked up at me with his bloodshot left eye. I gave him one instruction.

"Why do you always pick fights when you see me?"

"Who knows, ask your mom. Oh right, you don’t have one."

And I intervened between them as they exchanged harsh words, mediating the fight.

"Don’t fight."

Kim Jin-seo looked at me with surprised eyes and put away her sword. Just from her actions, she was no different from the real Kim Jin-seo. But that wasn’t the real Kim Jin-seo, just taxidermy. I couldn’t forget that. Yeo Min-seo frowned excessively and glared at me.

"What are you doing right now?"

"There’s no need to fight. Like Kim Jin-seo said, this isn’t the time for us to fight among ourselves."

"What is this bastard saying now? Are you bewitched?"

I lightly ignored Yeo Min-seo’s sarcasm and approached Kim Jin-seo. Then I placed my hand on her shoulder. Kim Jin-seo’s body flinched. However, she never brushed away my hand, nor did she show any displeasure.

My hand traveled along her shoulder and eventually began stroking her slender neck. Kim Jin-seo bit her lower lip gently and looked at me.

"J-just wait. Here is too..."

"It’s okay."

I verbally reassured her as she hurriedly tried to stop my hand. Then I suddenly grabbed her neck.

"Guk...!"

My fingertips dug into her neck. Her face began turning blue and her lips became purple.

Her bloodshot red eyes stared at me. I put strength in my arm and lifted her body up.

Kim Jin-seo struggled in mid-air, kicking me and scratching my arm with her nails. It hurt but was bearable.

"Ma Yu-hyeon!"

"Uh, uh!"

I signaled to Ma Yu-hyeon. Ma Yu-hyeon pointed his finger at Yeo Min-seo... The blessing light that had been flowing through Yeo Min-seo’s body along his finger entered me. Strength filled my entire body. I moved the gathered strength to my right arm with the Blessing of Superhuman Strength and gripped Kim Jin-seo’s neck even more forcefully.

Crack!

There was a sound like something breaking. It was the sound of the neck supporting her head breaking. Sawdust spurted from the crack in the broken neck and cotton poked out.

I stuck my hand inside. And pulled out hair. The hair I pulled out was black and thin.

Thud.

Only then did the taxidermy finally lose strength and collapse to the floor. The corpse disappeared like evaporating and emitted black smoke. Where the taxidermy had disappeared, the clothes she had been wearing and the sword remained.

"...Whew."

I sighed and sat down in front of the taxidermy that was disappearing as smoke. The plan had succeeded, but the mental fatigue was considerable.

Just before dying, Kim Jin-seo’s bloodshot red eyes staring at me were vivid in my mind.

When I killed the Bae Seong-hyeon taxidermy, I hadn’t felt this way, but when killing the Kim Jin-seo taxidermy, my heart felt strangely heavy.

It was probably due to the difference in killing methods. Piercing the heart to kill instantly versus strangling the neck to kill slowly. Which would cause greater guilt was self-evident without saying.

No, actually when I killed the Bae Seong-hyeon taxidermy too... my stomach felt a bit queasy. I just didn’t show it.

"Ah, ugh. Heeek...!"

Meanwhile, Seong Ha-yeon, who had been watching the situation, made strange sounds and collapsed.

She looked alternately at the taxidermy disappearing as smoke and me with reddened eyes, then hung her head low and dry heaved. Ma Yu-hyeon tried to approach Seong Ha-yeon but stopped, while Yeo Min-seo approached me with a dumbfounded expression.

"Why did you interfere? Did you want to strangle Kim Jin-seo’s neck that badly? This is completely insane."

"...Don’t talk nonsense. I used a safer method."

The personality of taxidermy follows the original.

The Jeong In-ah taxidermy had many tears like the real Jeong In-ah. I judged that the Kim Jin-seo taxidermy would also be friendly toward me like the real Kim Jin-seo.

So I pretended to mediate the fight to reassure the taxidermy, then naturally grabbed its neck. However, I wasn’t confident that I could break the taxidermy’s neck at once with just blessings.

So I gave instructions to Ma Yu-hyeon. ’When I call your name, transfer Yeo Min-seo’s blessing to me.’ If I used Yeo Min-seo’s blessing together with the Blessing of Superhuman Strength, I could break the neck at once and subdue the taxidermy.

It was an instruction that considered Ma Yu-hyeon’s talent for freely manipulating blessing light.

If I did it my way, I could definitely subdue Kim Jin-seo. If I trusted Yeo Min-seo, variables would arise, but if I trusted myself, variables would disappear. So there was no reason to trust Yeo Min-seo.

"Safer method my ass. You were just satisfying your personal desires."

"What kind of crazy bastard satisfies personal desires by strangling necks?"

"You’re a crazy bastard. Aren’t you?"

"No."

There was also a reason for targeting the neck instead of the heart. When the Jeong In-ah and Gabriel taxidermy died, hair remained in their places. Where the Jeong In-ah taxidermy died, brown hair remained, and when the Gabriel taxidermy died, white hair.

The main components of taxidermy are hide, cotton, and sawdust. But what constitutes their behavioral patterns would be the hair. If you put Jeong In-ah’s hair into taxidermy modeled after Jeong In-ah, it would imitate Jeong In-ah’s behavioral patterns.

In other words, if you remove the hair inside the taxidermy’s body, you can neutralize the taxidermy. It was an action based on such speculation, but honestly, it was a gamble. Because the basis for the speculation was insufficient.

Anyway, my speculation turned out to be correct in the end, so it worked out well.

"As if, you crazy bastard..."

Yeo Min-seo muttered and approached Ma Yu-hyeon.

"Ma Yu-hyeon. What’s the cooldown on that eye thing?"

"Hey, I told you not to call it the eye thing."

"Ha, ah. Haah..."

Seong Ha-yeon was still hanging her head low. She seemed to have stopped dry heaving and was catching her breath. Ma Yu-hyeon crouched down and looked at Seong Ha-yeon with one eye as he spoke.

"About... 30 minutes?"

"That’s fucking long. Hey, Seong Ha-yeon."

Yeo Min-seo lightly tapped Seong Ha-yeon’s shoulder with her toe. Seong Ha-yeon jumped in surprise and raised her head.

"Yes? Ha, haah... Why?"

"You saw it, right? Kim Jin-seo who came with you was taxidermy. So what are you?"

"...I’m me. I’m not some disgusting taxidermy like that...!"

"So I’m telling you to prove that, that’s what I’m saying. But what method is there to prove it? I’ve been thinking about it."

Yeo Min-seo stopped talking there and caught her breath.

If it’s a method to prove you’re not taxidermy, I had an idea. You could see blood. If you check whether what flows in Seong Ha-yeon’s body is blood or sawdust and cotton, you could confirm whether she’s taxidermy or not.

"Strip."

...What crazy thing is she suddenly saying?

Yeo Min-seo stood with her arms crossed, a fishy smile on her lips as she looked Seong Ha-yeon up and down. Seong Ha-yeon sat collapsed, slowly backing away while looking up at Yeo Min-seo with eyes filled with bewilderment and fear.

"What do you mean by that?"

"If it’s taxidermy, there should be marks where hide was patched somewhere on the body, or anyway, there should be some awkward part somewhere, right? If there isn’t, then you’re human. Right?"

"That’s ridiculous..."

"Ah, don’t hesitate and strip quickly. If you’re embarrassed, we can make the guys cover their eyes. Or should I strip you?"

When Yeo Min-seo took a step toward Seong Ha-yeon, Seong Ha-yeon trembled as if terrified and backed away.

I don’t know why she’s trying to make Seong Ha-yeon strip like that.

I was about to say it would be better to make a wound and see blood instead, when Ma Yu-hyeon, who had been staring at Seong Ha-yeon, suddenly grabbed her hair.

"Nothing to see. This is taxidermy."

Bang!

Ma Yu-hyeon struck Seong Ha-yeon’s head to the floor with his thick forearm. Seong Ha-yeon lost consciousness immediately without even screaming.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Ma Yu-hyeon repeatedly lifted Seong Ha-yeon’s head and smashed it to the floor. It was such a sudden action that there was no time to stop him. The actions of Ma Yu-hyeon and Yeo Min-seo, these two people, were truly unpredictable... Eventually, sawdust began pouring out from Seong Ha-yeon’s burst head. And Seong Ha-yeon taxidermy’s head swelled up as if it would burst at any moment. Ma Yu-hyeon didn’t panic and threw the Seong Ha-yeon taxidermy under the stair railing.

Psshhhh...

Seong Ha-yeon’s swollen head made a balloon deflating sound as it shrank. Black smoke spewed out.

Ma Yu-hyeon’s face was calm as he watched the rising smoke. Both I and Yeo Min-seo looked at such Ma Yu-hyeon with surprised eyes.

Feeling the gazes directed at him, Ma Yu-hyeon smiled awkwardly.

"No, she had a scar on her hand that wasn’t there before. So I just killed her."

"A scar?"

"There was a long scar on her left palm, right? The real Seong Ha-yeon doesn’t have scars on her hands. So I killed her for now."

Ma Yu-hyeon spread his palm and showed it to us as he spoke.

Last time, Seong Ha-yeon had wounded her palm to use the purification blessing circle, and I had healed that wound.

However, the healing circle I drew was extremely crude, and because of that, a scar remained on Seong Ha-yeon’s palm. In other words, the real Seong Ha-yeon’s palm also had a scar.

Fortunately, what Ma Yu-hyeon killed was taxidermy, not the real Seong Ha-yeon. However, even if it had been the real Seong Ha-yeon instead of taxidermy, Ma Yu-hyeon would have smashed Seong Ha-yeon’s head without hesitation.

And Ma Yu-hyeon would have smiled calmly. Ah, it was real, sorry, but why do you have a scar on your hand? He would have spouted such nonsense.

Imagining it gave me chills.

"A scar... Hmm."

Unlike the carefree Ma Yu-hyeon, Yeo Min-seo looked at the Seong Ha-yeon taxidermy with a deliberately serious face and muttered.

The taxidermy disappeared as smoke, leaving only traces behind. School uniform, and white hair.

"The appearance isn’t completely identical to the real thing, is it? Like the scar on Seong Ha-yeon’s hand."

"Uh, seems like it. It’s like finding differences in pictures, kind of fun."

Come to think of it, where the taxidermy died, only clothes and sword remained, but no rosary was visible. The real Kim Jin-seo always wears the rosary I gave her on her wrist. She even wears the rosary when exercising.

The taxidermy looked indistinguishable from the real thing at first glance, but if you looked closely, there were several differences from the real thing.

Why would a Satan worshipper pursuing ’perfect taxidermy’ make such mistakes? If I dug deep into the reason, clues about the Satan worshipper would probably emerge.

However, my mind wasn’t working well right now. This was because the sensation of strangling the Kim Jin-seo taxidermy to death still remained at my fingertips. It was also because of the disgust and horror toward Ma Yu-hyeon, who found fun in such situations.

Ma Yu-hyeon still had a creepy smile on his lips as he looked at Yeo Min-seo.

"But why did you specifically tell her to strip? You could just stab with a knife and see if blood or cotton comes out."

"Ah, that."

Yeo Min-seo answered indifferently to Ma Yu-hyeon’s question.

"Just... I was curious whether albinism makes the whole body really white."

"Oh! That is kind of curious."

Ma Yu-hyeon sincerely agreed.

"Ah..."

I hung my head and held my head in my hands. Being between this insane duo made me feel like I was going crazy too.