The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 43

"Hey!"

Yeo Min-seo shouted toward Do Seon-woo. She was out of breath from running while chasing the magical beasts. With those words as her last, she sat down and caught her breath for a moment.

When she fell behind while chasing the magical beasts, she used blessings to match their speed. When she was tired, she used healing to forcibly get her body moving.

It wasn’t quite the noble intention of saving other children. It was simply to prove one hypothesis that had come to mind.

"Hey, you. Huff, flash, no. Phone. Do you have a phone or laser pointer or something like that?"

"..."

However, Do Seon-woo didn’t listen to Yeo Min-seo’s words. He just stared at the flying magical beasts with vacant eyes.

The focus beyond his pupils seemed both blurry and clear. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Yeo Min-seo frowned deeply at Do Seon-woo, who was half-listening to her words.

"I asked if you have a phone. Are you deaf, you bastard..."

"Shut up."

"What kind of crazy bastard... what are you doing?"

Yeo Min-seo stared at Do Seon-woo dumbfounded as if she couldn’t believe it. Do Seon-woo picked up a stone that had fallen on the ground while keeping his gaze fixed on the magical beasts.

It was a stone about the size of a fist. Do Seon-woo gripped the stone tightly in his right hand and took a throwing stance.

It seemed like he planned to throw the stone to hit the magical beasts.

It was a foolish decision beyond recklessness. There was no way he could hit magical beasts that had already risen dozens of meters into the air with such a crude stone.

"This idiot, as if that would work..."

Rumors are usually nonsense. So she had thought all the rumors about Do Seon-woo were exaggerated or false.

But this guy was an even bigger idiot and fool than the rumors suggested. Yeo Min-seo shook her head and let out a deep sigh.

Do Seon-woo didn’t care and threw the stone.

Thwack.

Immediately after, a dull and squishy sound echoed through the sky. Yeo Min-seo, who had been lamenting Do Seon-woo’s incompetence and revising her plan, quickly raised her head.

It was the sound of the stone Do Seon-woo threw piercing through the magical beast’s heart.

Do Seon-woo immediately picked up the next stone and threw it again.

Thwack.

The same sound rang out. The two magical beasts that lost their hearts soon lost strength and stopped flapping their wings. Kim Jin-seo and Gu Jun-hyeok, who had been dangling from the magical beasts’ mouths, began falling rapidly toward the ground.

Do Seon-woo was crouching down, preparing to run. He seemed to be planning to catch them directly with his body.

This was truly a reckless idea. No matter how fast he was, catching two people with one body was impossible. Even if he did catch them, he would certainly suffer considerable injuries.

Yeo Min-seo emitted divine power almost instinctively without time to think. Now wasn’t the time to be stubborn about proving some hypothesis.

Although her divine power was already depleted from chasing the magical beasts, she had enough left to draw two blessing circles.

’Now.’

Yeo Min-seo counted seconds internally, and when the right moment came, she finally deployed blessing circles. Intermediate Blessing of Peace. And Intermediate Blessing of Solitude. Yeo Min-seo fused those two.

Peace and Solitude, two blessing circles that couldn’t coexist became entangled. The drawn strokes became twisted and distorted in various ways.

The blessing circles eventually lost their original form and emitted the energy of divine power itself rather than the light of blessings.

Boom!

An explosion occurred. Along with an explosion sound loud enough to cause ringing in the ears, the bodies of Gu Jun-hyeok and Kim Jin-seo, who had been falling, floated briefly. The shockwave that occurred with the explosion had prevented their fall.

It would hurt a bit, but well, it was better than dying.

"Fusion doesn’t work but collision works damn well. How annoying."

Yeo Min-seo muttered to herself with a self-deprecating laugh.

Do Seon-woo seemed a little surprised by the sudden explosion, but seeing that Gu Jun-hyeok and Kim Jin-seo landed without serious injuries, he let out a sigh of relief.

Yeo Min-seo looked at such Do Seon-woo with disbelief.

"Hey."

Before Do Seon-woo could even answer, she immediately continued speaking.

"What are you doing? What were you thinking doing such a thing? What if you hit the kids?"

At her rough way of speaking, Do Seon-woo seemed a little flustered, but soon opened his mouth with a calm face.

"I didn’t hit them."

His tone suggested he hadn’t even considered the possibility that the thrown stones might miss.

When shamelessness reached its peak, it actually looked confident. Yeo Min-seo stared at Do Seon-woo blankly and let out a hollow laugh.

This guy is completely crazy.

* * *

"What were you thinking doing such a thing? What if you hit the kids?"

Yeo Min-seo asked roughly. The sound was faint. Only the sounds of heartbeat and breathing were clear. My whole body was hot as if my blood was boiling, and my muscles were itchy and painful.

It was because of Bosu’s divine power. Bosu’s divine power, which had recovered strength through offerings, was far stronger than I had expected.

"I didn’t hit them."

My gaze was solely following the magical beasts, and the stones I threw pierced their hearts precisely. Because I trusted Bosu and believed in his divine power, I hadn’t thought from the beginning that I might miss.

However, what was puzzling was the explosion that occurred immediately after. Thanks to the shockwave created by the explosion preventing Gu Jun-hyeok and Kim Jin-seo’s fall, both were able to land without major injuries.

But why that explosion occurred was still unclear.

No, actually I had a guess.

"Yeo Min-seo."

"What."

"How did you do it?"

Holy Name of Kindness, Yeo Min-seo. Just before Kim Jin-seo and Gu Jun-hyeok hit the ground, she deployed two blessing circles. And forcibly fused them. A collision phenomenon occurred, and an explosion happened along with it.

Yeo Min-seo had intentionally caused an explosion using the collision phenomenon.

[A life-threatening gamble.]

If there had been even the slightest error in calculation during the process of causing the explosion, not only Gu Jun-hyeok and Kim Jin-seo, but even Yeo Min-seo herself would have been caught in the explosion and died.

A gamble with the lives of three people as stakes.

"How is what, I just did it."

Yeo Min-seo spoke as if it was nothing. For someone who had staked the lives of three people including herself, she was too calm and composed.

"What if you had gotten caught in it?"

"How, what if, you’ve been going on with this crap since earlier. Look at the result. Everything turned out fine."

Yeo Min-seo frowned deeply and cursed at me. She was definitely the Holy Name of Kindness, but her way of speaking was very unkind.

She twisted her lips into a bizarre smile and continued speaking.

"And if it wasn’t for me, those guys would all be dead. Shouldn’t you say thank you first?"

"Even without you, I would have handled it myself."

"Stop talking bullshit."

Yeo Min-seo spoke mockingly.

It was true that things became a bit easier thanks to her, but even if Yeo Min-seo hadn’t been there, I would have handled everything myself.

Leaving behind Yeo Min-seo, who was muttering curses, I walked toward Kim Jin-seo and Gu Jun-hyeok.

Gu Jun-hyeok had gotten up on his own and was brushing off the dust and leaves from his body. Since he had a sturdy body, there probably wasn’t much to worry about.

The problem was Kim Jin-seo. She seemed to have been seriously injured somewhere during the fall and couldn’t easily get up.

"Are you hurt?"

I extended my hand to Kim Jin-seo and asked. She grabbed my hand as if she had been waiting and quickly got up from her position.

Looking at her now, she was perfectly fine without any injuries. It seemed there was no need to extend my hand.

"I’m not hurt."

"Then why weren’t you getting up?"

"...I wonder."

Kim Jin-seo brushed off the dust from her clothes and spoke as if resigned. Unlike usual, the corners of her eyes were slightly drooped. Somehow she had a rather dejected face.

Looking closely, the bracelet she always wore was broken. It seemed to have broken from the impact of the fall. She was holding it carefully in her left fist.

When I stared at it intently, Kim Jin-seo seemed embarrassed and carefully hid her left hand behind her back. And she moved her lips for quite a while.

Eventually she opened her mouth.

"This..."

Flash.

At that moment, a flash of light interrupted her words. I raised my head to look at the sky. The bird magical beasts were flying in circles above our heads as if threatening us. Thin sunlight was weakly shining through gaps in the dark clouds. That was the only light.

I carefully picked up a stone that had fallen on the ground. I planned to throw the stone to shoot down the birds like before.

Flash.

Before I could even grip the stone, another flash occurred. Along with it, one magical beast suddenly changed course. And it descended at tremendous speed, piercing through the pitch-black darkness.

The magical beast’s sharply pointed beak was aimed at me.

Crash!

However, the beak only struck an innocent rock. The rock shattered and turned to powder.

If Kim Jin-seo hadn’t pulled my wrist, what would have shattered wouldn’t have been the rock but me.

It seemed impossible to hit the magical beasts by throwing stones like before.

"Are you okay?"

She asked while gripping my wrist as if she might crush it. It hurt a little.

"I’m fine, but this..."

"Ah, sorry."

She hurriedly let go of my wrist. I checked for a moment whether my wrist was still properly attached, then immediately looked at Kim Jin-seo.

She was glaring at the magical beasts floating high in the sky with sharp eyes.

"Can you see them?"

Dark clouds had covered the sun. Even though light was leaking through the gaps, it was still dark.

In such circumstances, Kim Jin-seo had grabbed my wrist and helped me avoid the magical beast’s attack. This meant that in this darkness, she could see and read the magical beast’s movements.

"If I concentrate."

She nodded and spoke. It was incredible dynamic vision. Her gaze was still following the magical beasts.

The magical beast, immediately after descending, glided and rose back to the sky. And like before, it flew in circles in the sky. The sight of it flying while flapping its giant wings looked not like a bird but like a dragon.

For quite a while, the magical beasts just flew above us.

"What kind of situation is this, really?"

Gu Jun-hyeok approached from a distance, touching his shoulder. He looked at the several magical beasts floating in the sky and let out a lament.

"These look like some kind of dragons flying around..."

Flash.

Gu Jun-hyeok’s words didn’t reach their end.

A flash occurred, and a bird magical beast descended with its beak aimed at Gu Jun-hyeok’s head. It was so fast that it was impossible to follow with the eyes.

Crash!

"Ah, huh? What."

Gu Jun-hyeok luckily avoided the magical beast’s attack. The moment the magical beast descended, Gu Jun-hyeok tripped over a rock and fell, so the magical beast’s beak once again only struck an innocent rock. The rock crumbled and turned to powder.

It was luck that could be called miraculous.

"Wow, what. Didn’t I almost die just now? Seriously."

Gu Jun-hyeok put his hand on his chest and caught his breath for quite a while. Even in this situation, Gu Jun-hyeok didn’t know how to be serious.

You could say he was consistent, but it would be more appropriate to describe him as an idiot.

"No wait. Thinking about it, I’ve been on the verge of death since the moment I was carried off by the magical beast..."

"Don’t move."

Just as Gu Jun-hyeok was approaching us while muttering meaningless words, Yeo Min-seo’s rough voice was heard.

Gu Jun-hyeok instinctively stopped walking.

"Nobody, don’t move."

Yeo Min-seo spoke in quite a serious tone. Gu Jun-hyeok, me, and Kim Jin-seo all listened to Yeo Min-seo’s words.

Nobody moved and nobody spoke.

Flash.

And another flash occurred.

However, the magical beasts didn’t descend. Like before, they just circled around in the sky.

Then I saw Yeo Min-seo’s face.

She was smiling. A creepy and bizarre smile as if her mouth was torn to both sides. Ecstasy could be glimpsed in her shining pupils.

"...Found it."

Yeo Min-seo’s face as she spoke was clearly filled with madness.