The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 128

Clang, clang clang...

Kim Jin-seo, left alone, walked aimlessly while dragging the sword tip along the ground. She should have gone up to the classroom long ago, but she didn’t feel like it.

She wandered around the building Do Seon-woo had entered after crossing the playground, and sometimes entered buildings she had never visited before just to look around.

The school was vast.

She had vague memories of exploring various parts of the school with her father and mother when she was young, but somehow it seemed even larger than back then.

Did the school grow bigger as her body grew?

It was a ridiculous thought. She laughed emptily.

The school being strangely quiet wasn’t just because classes were in session. The school was as empty as it was vast, and the students’ chatter couldn’t fill those empty spaces. So the school was quiet because it was vast. In that vast and quiet space, she was alone.

"..."

The air was cold and the sky was low. It was lonely and frightening. She suppressed the trembling of her fingertips by gripping the sword handle tightly.

She walked but her steps had no destination, and eventually she went in circles back to where she started. Tired from walking, she crouched down and stared at the ground. Five ants were walking in a neat line.

Crunch.

"Ah."

Someone’s foot that approached her stepped on the ants. Four out of the five died. The remaining ant circled around the corpses of the dead ants.

Kim Jin-seo jerked her head up. He was looking down at her with a gentle smile.

"What were you doing?"

"...I was watching ants."

"Ants?"

"You just killed them."

At those words, Do Seon-woo jumped and lifted his foot.

"Ah, sorry. I really didn’t know..."

"You shouldn’t apologize to me."

Kim Jin-seo said with a smile.

His flustered appearance was funny and cute.

She pressed her knee to stand up from her spot. And she looked at Do Seon-woo. He was still staring at the ground with a sorry expression about the ants he had stepped on.

"What did they say at the principal’s office?"

Kim Jin-seo asked while gently nudging Do Seon-woo’s shoulder with her head. Do Seon-woo, who had been alternately looking at his shoes and the ground, started walking as if being pushed. Kim Jin-seo walked alongside him. Do Seon-woo looked up at the sky blankly and opened his mouth.

"They didn’t say much."

"So what kind of talk was it?"

"This and that. Well... it seems there was some misunderstanding. About Satan worship."

Do Seon-woo spoke as if it was nothing. Kim Jin-seo nodded slightly.

She had vaguely guessed that it was related to Satan worship. It was because of the words "non-compliance will be considered rebellion against the Romanica Church." That was also why she had been worriedly circling around the building.

Anyway, from what Do Seon-woo said, the misunderstanding seemed to have been resolved well. That also meant Do Seon-woo wasn’t a Satan worshipper.

She had never suspected him in the first place, but even so, she felt newly relieved. Do Seon-woo looked at such Kim Jin-seo as if she was cute and opened his mouth.

"Were you waiting?"

"...I wasn’t waiting."

"Really?"

"I wasn’t... waiting."

Kim Jin-seo said while glaring at Do Seon-woo with narrowed eyes. Do Seon-woo smiled slightly.

They walked without words for a while. Suddenly Kim Jin-seo realized that the strength in her hand gripping the sword handle had loosened. Her body was no longer trembling.

She raised her head to look at the area around Do Seon-woo’s neck. The wound that hadn’t fully healed yet remained as a scab.

"It’s almost healed."

Kim Jin-seo gently touched the wound with her fingertips. Do Seon-woo carefully brushed away her hand.

"The wound was shallow to begin with."

"What about your hand?"

"Um... That wound was a bit deeper."

Do Seon-woo said while making a fist to hide the wound. It seemed he didn’t want to show it. It would be okay to show it though.

However, since she could somewhat understand Do Seon-woo’s feelings, Kim Jin-seo nodded and turned her gaze away. Something was sticking out of his pocket and swaying with his steps.

"What’s that?"

"Ah, this."

Do Seon-woo took it out of his pocket and showed it to her as if it was nothing. It was an anti-magic mask. She had heard from her father before about where anti-magic masks were located.

Kim Jin-seo tilted her head.

Why was something that should be in the chairman’s office in Do Seon-woo’s pocket? It was puzzling but not suspicious. This was because Do Seon-woo’s attitude in showing it was too confident. Do Seon-woo put the mask back in his pocket and opened his mouth.

"The chairman asked me to keep it. If it’s in the chairman’s office, a Satan worshipper might take it."

"Ah."

Kim Jin-seo nodded. Do Seon-woo, who made a fuss even about stepping on a few ants, wouldn’t have stolen a mask from the chairman’s office.

In the first place, Do Seon-woo wouldn’t have known that there was an anti-magic mask in the chairman’s office, so her father must have given it to him directly.

And they walked in silence again. At this rate, they would end up going around the entire school. The school she walked with him was small. Like the school she had wandered around with her mother in childhood.

"...But where are we going?"

Kim Jin-seo, who had been mindlessly following Do Seon-woo, spoke up when his steps gradually headed toward the wall. Do Seon-woo silently put on the mask, then looked at Kim Jin-seo through the small eye holes and opened his mouth.

"I’m going to run away."

"Run away?"

Do Seon-woo nodded and looked at the sky. Dark clouds were gathering. The sky covered in darkness was ominous and desolate.

"From what I heard at the principal’s office... the school seems to be in a very dangerous state. So I have to run away."

"...What about the other kids?"

"At least I have to survive."

Do Seon-woo said this and walked briskly toward the wall without even waiting for Kim Jin-seo.

She barely caught up to him with quick steps. Do Seon-woo walked fast. Kim Jin-seo realized that he usually matched his pace to others.

"Wait, then what’s the mask for..."

"There’s magi around the wall, so you can’t cross the wall without a mask."

"...Are you really going to run away?"

"What else? Are you going to stay here?"

Do Seon-woo, standing in front of the wall, asked. The wall was high, but not so high that it couldn’t be crossed. Especially for Do Seon-woo, a wall like that would be easily crossed.

Toward the hesitating Kim Jin-seo, Do Seon-woo spoke as if urging her.

"What will you do?"

"...I..."

"Let’s just run away together."

"..."

"I’ll cross over and throw the mask over the wall to you. Then you can run away too."

Do Seon-woo extended his hand to Kim Jin-seo. Kim Jin-seo hesitated to take that hand while keeping her head down. Tens of thousands of thoughts arose in her mind.

She understood that the school was in a dangerous situation. However, she felt a strange sense of incongruity from Do Seon-woo’s suggestion to run away. He wasn’t the type of person who would choose to run away even in the most urgent situations. Rather, he was the type who would choose to save everyone and die alone.

Such sacrifice would never be desirable. Rather, Kim Jin-seo wanted Do Seon-woo to be a little selfish, to prioritize saving his own life over saving others’ lives.

However, even considering that, she felt an unpleasant and unfamiliar sensation from the Do Seon-woo in front of her.

As if... he wasn’t the real Do Seon-woo.

"What will you do? Hurry."

Do Seon-woo’s expression as he asked urgently was cold as could be. He had half-turned his body as if he would leave at any moment, and seeing him made her feel anxious. She thought it wouldn’t be bad to grab his hand and run away together like this.

Then suddenly, she remembered the Jeong In-ah taxidermy that had run to Do Seon-woo and hugged him this morning. Instead of blood, sawdust, cotton, and chemicals had flowed from the taxidermy’s body.

Kim Jin-seo raised her sword.

"...Sorry."

"Huh? What are you sorry for..."

Do Seon-woo stepped back with a clearly flustered face. Kim Jin-seo took two steps toward such Do Seon-woo.

Stab.

Kim Jin-seo’s sword, biting her lip, pierced through Do Seon-woo’s palm. In front of Do Seon-woo, who couldn’t even scream and writhed in pain, Kim Jin-seo breathed roughly. Her heart was beating so fiercely it seemed it would jump out of her body at any moment.

She thought the Do Seon-woo in front of her was taxidermy. There was no particular evidence. His words and actions were a little different from usual, that was all. Even so, Kim Jin-seo didn’t hesitate to stab the sword into Do Seon-woo’s palm.

It was an action born from her conviction that she alone could distinguish between Do Seon-woo and taxidermy.

"What are you doing right now...! Ahhhhh!"

"..."

Kim Jin-seo’s expression hardened coldly. Instead of blood, sawdust flowed from Do Seon-woo’s palm as he writhed in unbearable pain.

It was taxidermy after all. She was relieved it wasn’t real. And she felt shabby and miserable for having thought of that thing as the real Do Seon-woo, even briefly.

Slash!

She pulled out the sword she had stabbed in and split Do Seon-woo’s palm in half.

Thud thud, sawdust poured onto the ground. She looked down at the sawdust with cold, chilly eyes, then raised her head to stare into the taxidermy’s eyes. The fear that rose in the taxidermy’s eyes made her hesitate.

However, that fear was also false. Kim Jin-seo bit her lip until it bled and gripped the sword handle. The swung blade rushed toward the taxidermy’s neck.

Slash, the taxidermy’s left wrist, which had tried to block the blade, was cut off. Kim Jin-seo put more strength into cutting the taxidermy’s neck in one stroke.

"..."

However, the blade stopped in front of the taxidermy’s neck. Kim Jin-seo’s shoulders, staring at the taxidermy with reddened eyes, were trembling.

"Ah, sob. It hurts. It hurts... Please, why. Why are you doing this...!"

Through the small eye holes of the mask, she could see Do Seon-woo’s face shedding tears. Kim Jin-seo knew that was taxidermy. She also knew those tears were false. Kim Jin-seo chewed her lips to steel her resolve and swung her sword.

Slash, slash, slash...

Kim Jin-seo swung her sword several more times with arms that had no strength. Like chopping with an axe. Finally, Do Seon-woo’s head, separated from his body, rolled around on the ground.

Before long, it rose to the sky as black smoke. In the place where the taxidermy died, Do Seon-woo’s clothes and the anti-magic mask remained.

Kim Jin-seo picked up the anti-magic mask, put it in her pocket, and began walking unsteadily. Her steps had no destination.

She had no strength in her arms. What she had killed was merely taxidermy that imitated Do Seon-woo’s appearance, but the fact that the imitated appearance happened to be Do Seon-woo tormented her.

The image of Do Seon-woo looking at her with tears and pitiful eyes was hovering in front of her like a hallucination.

"...What... run away..."

"...Save... what..."

Students poured out in front of Kim Jin-seo, who was wandering the school aimlessly. They were all shouting something with faces distorted by terror. A broadcast flowed from speakers installed throughout the school. However, the sound circled around her ears and soon scattered and disappeared.

Thud.

Her shoulder bumped into one of the fleeing students. Her legs lost strength. She felt like sitting down rather than continuing to walk unsteadily.

She had met a Do Seon-woo taxidermy earlier and killed it by cutting its neck with a sword. Then where was the real Do Seon-woo? She couldn’t see Do Seon-woo’s face among the pouring students either.

A Satan worshipper might have kidnapped him. Or he might have gone missing for some reason. Or the broadcast calling him to the principal’s office might have been a trap, and Do Seon-woo might have been caught up in it and died.

What about father?

The Do Seon-woo taxidermy had the anti-magic mask that was in the chairman’s office. Her father might have been killed too.

"Ah..."

Her head hurt. Her steps kept drifting in unknown directions. She seemed to have lost her way. The school was too vast. The empty space was so large that even the screams of the pouring students couldn’t fill it.

Swoooosh...

When she came to her senses, it was raining. Her school uniform and hair were wet with rain. A cold and cool sensation stuck clammily to her skin. Her steps were heavy as if lead weights were attached. Her consciousness was hazy.

Screeeeech!

Then, a giant magical beast appeared in the playground from who knows where. A bizarre cry she had never heard before, neither human nor animal, awakened her consciousness.

The beast was chasing fleeing students with its six legs. The students ran away. Because of that, their faces couldn’t be seen. Do Seon-woo might be among the fleeing students, but she couldn’t find him because of the beast.

The hair all over her body stood on end. The sudden threat to life was sending signals to her body. Even so, she didn’t stop walking. Rather, her steps were heading toward the magical beast.

"Please just, get lost..."

Kim Jin-seo muttered and moved toward the magical beast. The beast stared at her with six eyes and bared its dirty, rough teeth.

Her heart beat so fiercely it seemed it would jump out of her body. With each step, the playground floor sank down. She felt like her body was sinking below ground level.

The magical beast charged. She raised her sword. The beast had three heads. She wouldn’t be able to cut off all three heads in one stroke. So what she aimed for was the head in the middle. There was no reason. She just chose the head that looked easiest to cut.

Screeeeech!

Toward the magical beast charging while letting out a roar, Kim Jin-seo swung her sword.

Crash!

At that moment, a light that struck down temporarily blinded her. Her vision turned bright white and then returned to normal. When she belatedly came to her senses, the magical beast was lying in front of her.

With its middle head completely shattered by lightning.

Screech, screech...

The magical beast groaned in pain.

Crackle, the beast’s body twitched and sparks jumped like writhing. Lightning struck it again. The beast’s movement completely stopped. The beast’s body, turned to ash, melted in the rain and stained the ground black.

Crack!

It wasn’t over. Lightning struck again. The light split the beast’s belly.

Somehow the situation was similar to when she had been surrounded by bird magical beasts in Eden Garden. The difference was that Do Seon-woo had been there then, and now Do Seon-woo wasn’t there. Kim Jin-seo looked around.

She felt like he was secretly watching her from somewhere.

"Where are you..."

However, his figure was nowhere to be seen. In the first place, the thought that he was watching her was just an illusion.

It was natural. She just hoped that Do Seon-woo was watching her.

"..."

She silently bowed her head. Raindrops fell on the back of her head.

Drop, drip.

Raindrops flowed down her hair.

Screech, screech...

Then, the magical beast let out a weak roar.

The entrails that flowed from its burst belly became smoke. The smoke seemed to shoot up to the sky, then changed direction and settled on the ground. Black smoke wrapped around the students’ bodies.

Seeing this, Kim Jin-seo belatedly came to her senses and raised her sword properly. She was thinking of completely cutting off the beast’s remaining weak breath.

Screech... gack!

However, the beast’s breath finally stopped completely. Along with its death throes, something poured out of the beast’s mouth. Covered in gastric juice and saliva, it was swords and gold.

"That, it’s gold. It’s gold...!"

"Is it really gold? Really?"

"It must be real gold! It’s like boss defeat rewards! It’s gold that came from a magical beast!"

Students who had inhaled the smoke from the beast’s entrails approached boldly.

Students who hadn’t inhaled the smoke also showed interest at the mention of gold and cautiously approached the beast’s carcass. Only Kim Jin-seo was wary of the gold and tried to distance herself from it.

"Look, it really is gold! If we sell this..."

"Hey! That’s mine!"

"Why is that yours? You crazy bastard, did your eyes go crazy when you saw gold..."

The beast’s entrails continued to emit black smoke endlessly. The pupils of students who inhaled the smoke lost focus.