The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 134

Ma Yu-hyeon and Yeo Min-seo, who had set out to search for missing persons, encountered Gabriel around the time they were searching through the stable.

The stable was crawling with magical beasts. Animals had been turned into magical beasts by black magic. There was also one demon species. They formed a circle as if holding a banquet, letting out bizarre sounds and dancing in a circle, and at their center lay Gabriel collapsed.

"...Do we really need to see that? Anyone can tell it’s not taxidermy."

Ma Yu-hyeon stopped drawing divine power around his eyes to use a blessing. Yeo Min-seo nodded in agreement with his words.

Gabriel at the center of the demon species and magical beasts was clearly himself, not taxidermy. Blood was flowing from his body, and his lower half was burning as if being devoured by black flames.

Yeo Min-seo counted the number of enemies. There were roughly 10 magical beasts, and one demon species. No matter how she thought about it, there was no chance of winning.

Ma Yu-hyeon is the key here...

Yeo Min-seo stared at Ma Yu-hyeon with sharp eyes as he just kept laughing foolishly even in this situation.

"...Hey, can you fight at all?"

"Huh? I’m good at getting hit."

"Really?"

That’s enough.

Thwack!

"Uh, uhh?"

Yeo Min-seo kicked Ma Yu-hyeon’s back with her foot, pushing him toward the magical beasts.

Ma Yu-hyeon let out a single scream. Drawn by the sound, the magical beasts and demon species turned their heads. The red eyes of the magical beasts and their giant fangs dripping with saliva were all directed at Ma Yu-hyeon.

Grrrr...

Bark! Bark!

"Oh, hey guys. Don’t do this. We were friends..."

Ma Yu-hyeon tried to persuade the magical beasts while slowly backing away. Persuasion couldn’t possibly work. They weren’t beings that could understand language in the first place.

The demon species was the same. The demon species only showed hostility toward Ma Yu-hyeon and wouldn’t listen to his words.

"Yeo Min-seo, what were you thinking doing this..."

Ma Yu-hyeon turned his head and spoke to Yeo Min-seo. However, Yeo Min-seo was no longer beside Ma Yu-hyeon. She had already disappeared in the blink of an eye. Ma Yu-hyeon let out a hollow laugh and grimaced.

"Heh, hehe. Wow, what a rotten personality I’ve encountered..."

Ma Yu-hyeon muttered to himself while looking up at the sky.

Should I call now? No, wouldn’t it be wasteful to call for just something like this?

But thinking it’s wasteful is only possible while you’re alive. It’s too late to regret after dying. There was still distance and time left between him and the magical beasts.

Ma Yu-hyeon knelt down in place, looked up at the sky, and put his hands together. His joined thumbs crossed in a cross shape.

"Our Father who art in heaven... huh?"

Ma Yu-hyeon’s eyes widened as he was reciting the opening of a prayer. Light was shooting toward the magical beasts and demon species that had been approaching him. The light clumped together and became distorted. It was Yeo Min-seo’s blessing circle.

Boom!

The light exploded. The magical beasts scattered in the explosion. The struggles of the magical beasts dying while bleeding black blood raised dust clouds.

The explosion was sufficient to blow away the magical beasts’ bodies, but too weak to subdue the demon species. The demon species approached Ma Yu-hyeon with a limping gait.

Thwack!

Then, Yeo Min-seo’s body flew toward the demon species. Yeo Min-seo twisted her body and delivered a knee strike to the demon species’ jaw.

Wobble, the demon species’ body tilted as it lost its center of gravity. Yeo Min-seo didn’t miss the opportunity and shot out divine power, drawing a blessing circle on the demon species’ body.

"Hey, you..."

Ma Yu-hyeon, who had been watching, belatedly tried to stop Yeo Min-seo. Ma Yu-hyeon knew what Yeo Min-seo was trying to do.

She intended to make blessing circles collide inside the demon species’ body, completely blowing up the demon species. However, the distance between Yeo Min-seo and the demon species was too close.

If she made blessing circles collide at this distance, Yeo Min-seo herself would be seriously injured. No, not injured but killed.

Yeo Min-seo wasn’t unaware of this. Even so, she drew two blessing circles on the demon species’ body and made them collide. She had long been prepared for death.

Advancement was right before her eyes.

Boom!

Light exploded.

The demon species’ body was shattered, and Yeo Min-seo was hit by pieces of the shattered demon species’ flesh. Several large and small holes appeared in Yeo Min-seo’s stomach. Her cheek, caught in the explosion, was half gone.

She’ll survive this?

Ma Yu-hyeon was horrified seeing this. Yeo Min-seo’s fighting style was dangerously stupid.

She must be completely insane.

"...Ma Yu-hyeon, why are you... like that? Did I do something wrong to you?"

"You, you. Your face..."

"Go... call a healing priest or someone. Don’t just stand there gaping, you bastard. Don’t waste time..."

Ma Yu-hyeon slowly nodded and suddenly stood up from his place. With a face clearly showing panic unlike usual, he set out to find someone who could help, whether a healing priest or a teacher who was formerly a priest.

The face of Yeo Min-seo giving orders while looking at him with eyes tinted with madness was still vivid before his eyes.

Meanwhile, Yeo Min-seo wasn’t dead yet. She stopped the immediate bleeding through healing while bleeding profusely, then limped toward Gabriel. The side effects of self-healing would come later, but that wasn’t her concern. She had staked everything on this moment.

Yeo Min-seo looked down at Gabriel’s face and smiled.

"Ah, ha. Hahaha. Gabriel, sir. You saw that, right."

"..."

Gabriel didn’t answer. It seemed he didn’t even have the strength to speak.

Instead of answering, Gabriel blinked his eyes several times or slowly rolled his eyeballs. Gabriel’s lower half was burning, but this disgustingly tenacious old man was still alive without dying.

Gabriel was an elder. In this country, no, in the Romanica Church, the position of elder was never light. If you caught an elder’s eye, it was entirely possible to raise even a collapsing family.

Just as the position of elder wasn’t light, the merit of saving an elder wouldn’t be light either.

"...Elder. The one who saved you... was me."

"..."

"That... you really need to remember... okay? Understand?"

Gabriel didn’t answer. He had no strength to answer. Yeo Min-seo grabbed Gabriel’s white hair and forcibly made him nod. Yeo Min-seo smiled.

"Good, I’m glad you understand... Let’s go..."

Yeo Min-seo grabbed Gabriel’s hair and walked while dragging him across the floor... Yeo Min-seo saw the Holy Knights who had arrived late while searching for missing persons all heading toward Eden Garden. Therefore, her destination was Eden Garden. It was a vague thought that somehow things would be resolved if she went to the Holy Knights.

"Elder... your lower half is all burned... so I can’t carry you on my back. Please forgive the rudeness... hehe."

"..."

"There’s no choice in this... You understand, right? Heh, hehe..."

The pain from having holes punched in her stomach by demon species flesh and her cheek blown away by the explosion was great.

Yeo Min-seo muttered various things to Gabriel, who didn’t respond, as she headed toward the garden. If she didn’t do this, she felt like she would immediately faint and collapse from the pain.

"Gabriel sir... You absolutely must not die. If you die, I’ll kill you..." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"...Ugh."

"That’s right... Like that, make even a little sound. That’s how you live... Right? Heu, heh..."

Yeo Min-seo walked resolutely while pulling Gabriel’s hair. The smile lingering on her lips was eerie.

* * *

"..."

So Do-jin looked at Do Seon-woo’s condition. His stomach was pierced with a hole from being stabbed by a sword. What had pierced through Do Seon-woo’s stomach was none other than a practice sword.

His right half was burning from black flames. That was ’Erosion.’ Cursed flames that slowly gnawed at the target’s body, the flames of demons.

Clatter.

So Do-jin took out a medicine bottle he had been keeping in his bosom all along. It was medicine that Kim Chang-won had given him. If he gave this to Do Seon-woo, the fire attached to his body would be extinguished. That fire wasn’t real fire but flames caused by black magic.

"...Teacher, that, medicine...!"

Kim Jin-seo’s face brightened when she saw the medicine bottle in So Do-jin’s hand.

She looked back and forth between the medicine bottle and Do Seon-woo with reddened eyes. The smile that appeared on her lips was trembling.

Kim Jin-seo didn’t know what kind of medicine that was. However, it must surely be a panacea that could save Do Seon-woo’s life.

It had to be. If that wasn’t a panacea, Do Seon-woo would die.

"Medicine that stops the progression of... black magic."

"Do you drink it, or pour it? Whatever it is, hurry!"

"..."

If he gave the medicine, he could extinguish the fire attached to Do Seon-woo’s body. He could stop the cursed flames from gnawing at Do Seon-woo’s body.

But then what?

"Keu... keugh..."

Do Seon-woo’s breathing was thin. It was faint and at the same time rough. He couldn’t be sure exactly, but some organ was definitely damaged. So Do-jin’s colleague who had died with a hole in his lung had made similar breathing sounds just before death.

No matter how he looked at it... it wasn’t a body that could survive. It was already a dead body with only the last breath barely clinging to it. Moreover, Do Seon-woo’s right half was already mostly rotten. Even if the flames were stopped, the already rotted body wouldn’t regenerate.

Even if he miraculously survived, Do Seon-woo would be paralyzed on one side. He wouldn’t be able to become a clergyman. No, would daily life be possible? He wasn’t confident.

"What, what are you doing, what are you doing! Hurry! Feed it to him or pour it on!"

Kim Jin-seo poured blessings and healing onto Do Seon-woo’s dying body.

Gush, a nosebleed poured out. She didn’t care and continuously shot out divine power. That medicine in So Do-jin’s hand, plus healing and blessings, would save Do Seon-woo.

"You, bastard. Why always alone...!"

Kim Jin-seo swallowed the blood vomit rising in her throat and cursed. Her voice trembled. She felt a strange taste in her mouth, no, in her head. Her head hurt. She thought he might not come back.

"So, sorry. Sorry for cursing. Were you surprised? You must have been surprised..."

Kim Jin-seo apologized as if picking up the words that came from her mouth. As always, he would return. He wasn’t going to die, so there was no need to curse at him as if it were the last time.

He would suddenly get up at some point and joke as usual with a smile. Even if he had to live with a disability, that would be fine.

He would lie in a hospital bed looking at her, and she would look at him lying in the hospital bed, exchanging trivial jokes, and that would be happiness enough.

As long as he returned in any condition, she was confident she could take responsibility for his entire future. No, it was the opposite. Just returning alive would mean he was taking responsibility for her life.

"Tea, teacher. If you’re just going to hold that. Just give it to me. At this rate, at this rate if he dies, no. Anyway, hurry!"

"...Right. I’ll do it..."

So Do-jin looked at Kim Jin-seo. She wanted Do Seon-woo to survive. What Kim Jin-seo wanted would also be what her father, Chairman Kim Chang-won, would want.

The one who gave me this medicine was the chairman. Therefore, this medicine should be used on Do Seon-woo.

Most importantly, So Do-jin also didn’t want him to die.

He wasn’t confident that Do Seon-woo would completely recover. However, even if he wasn’t completely fine, it was better to save him. At least that’s what he thought.

Pop.

He opened the cap and brought the medicine bottle to Do Seon-woo’s mouth. The medicine was thick and didn’t come out easily. After giving the medicine, all that remained was prayer. He could only pray to God for Do Seon-woo to survive.

"Heu, heugh... Everyone’s here."

Then, Yeo Min-seo came. Leading a man whose entire body was covered in mud by his hair. The man she brought was Elder Gabriel. A man close to being a pillar of the Council of Elders, a person in power at Florence. Gabriel’s lower half was burning with black flames.

Gabriel also had ’Erosion’ cast on him.