The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 71

As soon as the exam started, Yeo Min-seo checked the note.

The passing condition for the first gateway was ’entering the ark within the time limit.’ Since the ark was on top of the mountain, examinees inevitably had to climb the mountain.

After finishing her calculations, Yeo Min-seo transmitted orders to Seong Ha-yeon and Han Su-ryeon, then used blessings to rampage across the meadow.

"...Is this enough?"

Soon, she found a suitable rock. A low and wide rock, like an iron plate. She placed her body on the rock, then drew blessing circles and caused them to collide.

BOOM!

An explosion from the collision. Due to the shockwave it created, the rock floated up into the sky. Yeo Min-seo flew through the sky with her body clinging to the rock.

"Cough, huff. Huff... I can do it. I can do it. Huff."

Yeo Min-seo muttered while flying through the sky. Blood was pouring from her mouth.

Her internal organs seemed to have burst a little from the explosion, and her leg bone seemed broken, but it didn’t matter. Inside the ark, being injured wasn’t really being injured, and dying wasn’t really dying.

Just like dreaming of being killed or injured doesn’t actually kill or injure you. Everything that happened inside the ark was all just an illusion. Even the pain was all just delusion.

CRASH!

The body of Yeo Min-seo, who had been flying through the sky, crashed near the mountaintop. A thunderous roar like a meteor falling erupted. Yeo Min-seo forcibly raised her battered body.

"Damn it, this really hurts unnecessarily."

Of course, even if it was an illusion, there was still pain. Yeo Min-seo touched her broken legs and arms, and her stomach which was presumably burst internally, then wobbled toward the summit.

Even taking a single step was so painful and her injuries were so severe that it was difficult, but after performing emergency treatment through blessing circles and healing circles, she could at least walk.

Originally, performing self-healing through blessing circles and healing circles with an injured body was a suicidal act.

If you use the stamina needed for recovery to emit divine power, you might be fine for now, but the aftereffects that come later as a reaction would be considerable.

Nevertheless, Yeo Min-seo didn’t care. After all, all of this was just an illusion anyway.

"Huff."

Soon, Yeo Min-seo reached the summit. Rain was pouring from the sky, and water was gradually rising in the meadow below.

In the meadow, she could see children running toward the mountain in panic. They looked like ants fleeing from rain.

Yeo Min-seo infused divine power into her holy item, a fragment of the burning bush, in the rain. She was holding two fragments of the burning bush. One connected to Seong Ha-yeon, one connected to Han Su-ryeon.

The one she was now infusing with divine power was connected to Han Su-ryeon.

"Ah, ah. Han Su-ryeon. Can you hear me? Answer if you can hear me."

"Yeah~ I can hear you? Why?"

"Where are you coming from?"

"I’m currently going with Gu Jun-hyeok through the ’shortcut’~ No problems with the operation!"

"Okay."

Yeo Min-seo nodded with a satisfied smile.

The Charity Holy Name re-election exam, though this was also illegally obtained information, was divided into the first gateway and second gateway.

Filter out the failures in the first gateway, aggregate the records of the second gateway to calculate final scores, and select the Charity Holy Name based on those scores.

The purpose of Yeo Min-seo’s plan was to eliminate everyone except Do Seon-woo and Gu Jun-hyeok in the first gateway. Thus making those two face each other in the second gateway.

The reason Yeo Min-seo had taken the summit at the risk of explosive death was all for that plan.

"But aren’t you in disciplinary period? Is this okay? What if you get caught?"

"What if I get caught. I’ll get suspended if caught. Then I’ll just rest from school for a while. I was wanting to rest anyway."

"You’re really crazy, aren’t you? Got it anyway~"

Han Su-ryeon cheerfully spoke and cut off communication. The ember attached to the fragment gradually grew smaller, and Han Su-ryeon’s voice also grew distant.

Yeo Min-seo was under disciplinary action. If she got caught illegally obtaining information about the re-election exam while under that, it wouldn’t end with just any ordinary disciplinary action. It was a matter that could warrant at least suspension, or even expulsion if severe.

Nevertheless, Yeo Min-seo wasn’t afraid. She was confident she wouldn’t get caught. She wore a bizarre smile that caused discomfort in onlookers while silently drawing blessing circles.

"This side is ready too." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

She looked at the blessing circles she had drawn and nodded with satisfaction. It was a fusion blessing circle connecting a total of 12 blessing circles.

However, it wouldn’t activate. It wasn’t a blessing circle drawn for activation in the first place.

Yeo Min-seo, immediately after completing the blessing circle, infused divine power into the fragment connected to Seong Ha-yeon. Fire ignited on the burning bush, and soon Seong Ha-yeon’s voice came through with static.

"Seong Ha-yeon. Can you hear me? Answer if you can hear me."

"Ah... what... help..."

"...What, can you hear me or not. Hey, answer!"

Even when Yeo Min-seo called again, only static leaked through without an answer. But she could hear Seong Ha-yeon’s voice and Do Seon-woo’s voice.

It seemed she had at least approached Do Seon-woo, but whether she had succeeded in guiding him to the ’shortcut’ was unknown.

"Hey, hey! Are you coming through the ’shortcut’? Can you hear me? Are you at least listening?"

"Thank... off..."

"Hey, you bug who acts up believing in daddy’s backing! Hey, won’t you answer even now?"

Yeo Min-seo tilted her head. It seemed connected, but apparently her words weren’t reaching the other side.

Well, since she could hear Seong Ha-yeon’s voice and Do Seon-woo’s voice. It seemed better to assume things had gone roughly according to plan.

Yeo Min-seo looked at the children below the open path, struggling up through the rain with grim faces. Their appearance, crawling up the slope with all sorts of expressions, was quite ridiculous.

Is this how a bear feels watching salmon swimming upstream? Seeing prey crawling into a trap on their own feet naturally brought out laughter.

"Now then..."

Yeo Min-seo emitted divine power while muttering lowly.

"Good work climbing up, and sorry."

BOOM!!!

The blessing circle Yeo Min-seo had drawn connected with the fusion blessing circle she had drawn earlier. The blessing circles became entangled and eventually caused a collision.

A total of 12 blessing circles simultaneously collided, causing a chain explosion.

Rumble rumble rumble... The gravel and rocks scattered on the mountaintop, and the mud that had become heavy and thick from the rain, let out heavy screams. They soon became masses and flowed down the mountain in a squelchy manner.

The masses flowed along the ridge, growing in size, and eventually became waves large enough to uproot deep-rooted trees entirely.

The landslide that Yeo Min-seo had so carefully created swept down the children who had been climbing the path.

Probably just being swept away would result in a death judgment, immediately causing elimination and expulsion from the ark.

The only path safe from this massive landslide was one: the ’shortcut’ that Yeo Min-seo had set.

Other children who didn’t know the location of the shortcut, let alone its existence, would all be swept away by the landslide and eliminated, while only Do Seon-woo and Gu Jun-hyeok, who were guided to the shortcut by Seong Ha-yeon and Han Su-ryeon, would survive.

Thus, only Do Seon-woo and Gu Jun-hyeok would pass the first gateway. Which of the two would win in the second gateway could be left to heaven and capital.

"Wow, that must hurt a bit."

Yeo Min-seo muttered while looking down at the children. The children were being swept down by the landslide, screaming, shrieking, with faces filled with despair.

* * *

A landslide was approaching. No matter how optimistically I thought about it, a landslide so massive that it absolutely couldn’t be avoided. With threatening momentum that seemed ready to cover me and Seo Ha-rin at any moment.

"Uh, ah, this, what?"

Seo Ha-rin, as if unable to feel reality about the disaster unfolding before her eyes, muttered with vacant eyes. All the words she uttered had no meaning and scattered away.

ROARRRRR!

"...?"

Soon, as the roar created by the landslide approached, Seo Ha-rin’s voice became inaudible. All around was filled with the sound of the mountain collapsing. The occasional screams heard were from children swept away by the landslide.

I stared blankly at the landslide that had approached right before my nose for a moment. Time seemed to flow slowly for a brief moment.

Could it be that what Seong Ha-yeon said earlier was real?

Could it be that Seong Ha-yeon’s absurd claim that this path was a trap and going this way would definitely result in elimination was actually true? Was Seong Ha-yeon’s statement about knowing a shortcut also true? In the end, was Seong Ha-yeon right and was I, who couldn’t trust Seong Ha-yeon, wrong?

I didn’t want to admit it.

"..."

Bosu.

[Landslide! Bosu likes landslides. Because they’re noisy.]

"..."

The summoned Bosu spouted nonsense but I ignored it. I gave him one instruction.

[...Since it’s the prophet’s command, I’ll follow it. However, it’s dangerous. Is there no taking back this choice?]

Unlike usual, Bosu’s cold warning. However, there was no change in my choice. I used his divine power.

Suddenly boiling blood. My body that had cooled from being soaked in rain became hotly heated. My hair stood on end. The back of my eyeballs hurt with a stinging pain.

I didn’t know for sure, but it seemed my optic nerve was damaged due to increased intraocular pressure. My vision was blurry and I couldn’t see well.

[The divine power has exceeded the prophet’s limits. There will be strain.]

"..."

[It’s not okay. You might lose your sight.]

No, it’s okay. Everything that happens inside the ark is an illusion.

Even if I lost my sight, it would be no different from losing sight in a dream. Even the current excruciating pain throughout my body was all just phantom pain. All injuries that would heal naturally once I left the ark.

Being able to use Bosu’s divine power to its maximum limit was only possible now when I didn’t need to worry about my physical condition.

ROARRRRR!

In the very brief moment before the landslide covered me, I grabbed Seo Ha-rin’s wrist and climbed up a nearby tree.

The tree, unable to withstand the force of the landslide, was swaying precariously as if it would fall at any moment. Though I had climbed the tree in urgency, it didn’t seem I could keep holding out here.

"Ahhh...!"

Seo Ha-rin, whose wrist I was holding, grabbed her shoulder and screamed. It seemed her shoulder had been dislocated while I was pulling her wrist. Since I was using Bosu’s divine power, I couldn’t control my strength.

It was an unavoidable situation. However, I still felt uncomfortable just watching Seo Ha-rin scream in pain.

I laid the pain-stricken Seo Ha-rin down on the tree.

CRACK!

Then, I struck father’s ring against the tree. A crack appeared in the jewel embedded in the ring. Through the crack, the sorcery mist I had imbued slowly flowed out. The mist headed toward Seo Ha-rin, who was half-unconscious.

"Ah...?"

Soon, Seo Ha-rin let out a single scream and lost consciousness. However, her eyes weren’t closed.

The pupils visible through her half-open eyelids were unfocused. Those pupils seemed to be following something beyond unconsciousness.

The sorcery I had contained in the ring was illusion, specifically ’hallucination’ sorcery. A very high-intensity hallucination at that.

Unlike fainting, consciousness exists with hallucinations. Instead, the boundary between consciousness and unconsciousness becomes blurry, and cognitive ability falls below normal. You become unable to question whatever situation unfolds before your eyes. If you give commands skillfully, it’s even possible to control the other person.

I had chosen this sorcery because it could be utilized in various ways unlike fainting sorcery... Unfortunately, right now it had become a sleeping pill to put Seo Ha-rin to sleep.

It was a bit disappointing, but I had to put Seo Ha-rin to sleep anyway. Seo Ha-rin was absolutely necessary to keep by my side to prove ’that hypothesis.’

For the next ten or so minutes, Seo Ha-rin would continue sleeping like that. Anyway, I had put out the urgent fire.

"...Ha, shit."

Nevertheless, curses automatically spilled out. Because the real problem wasn’t Seo Ha-rin.

ROARRRRR!

Mud, stones, gravel, trees pouring from the summit. Once started, the landslide continued pouring with momentum. I had to climb the mountain within the time limit and enter the ark, but there was no sign the landslide would end within the time limit.

I couldn’t travel by climbing trees either. All the trees had been swept away and disappeared in the landslide. The tree I was standing on now was the last one.

[The method Bosu recommends is to break through this landslide.]

Bosu suggested a method. Breaking through the landslide... Bosu’s divine power. If it was Bosu’s divine power with output raised to maximum in exchange for my optic nerve, it might be sufficiently possible. No, it was definitely possible.

"..."

However, the force of the landslide was formidable. Just grazing it would tear my skin off. Even if not, I would have to endure tremendous pain. Fear came first, and finally doubt arose.

Would breaking through the landslide and climbing the mountain be possible? Had Bosu suggested an absurd method?

CRACK!

The situation didn’t give me time to think. The tree broke, unable to withstand the force of the landslide.

It was time to make a decision.

* * *

"...What, why are there so few people?"

Gu Jun-hyeok, who had reached the summit, looked around and voiced his question. Han Su-ryeon, who had guided him to the mountaintop through the shortcut, smiled and opened her mouth.

"I wonder. Why would that be?"

It was a somewhat suspicious answer, but Gu Jun-hyeok didn’t have much doubt and strode forward. Eventually he reached the large ark placed on the rock. The ark was so large it looked like another mountain had been placed on top of the mountain.

"Wow... They made it really realistic."

Gu Jun-hyeok looked over the ark and let out fresh admiration.

THUD!

At that moment, a sharp kick struck Gu Jun-hyeok’s back. The kick was Han Su-ryeon’s. Gu Jun-hyeok, unable to even scream, rolled and fell into Noah’s ark.

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

SWOOOOSH!

Gu Jun-hyeok looked up at Han Su-ryeon with eyes filled with betrayal. Pure white light poured around him. Eventually, Gu Jun-hyeok assimilated with the light and disappeared.

"Examinee Number 065626 Gu Jun-hyeok, ark entry. 1:02:32.72."

Then, a mechanical voice came from the ark. It was an announcement indicating that Gu Jun-hyeok had passed the first gateway and successfully moved on to the second gateway.

Han Su-ryeon, who seemed satisfied with her completed mission and was smiling, was approached by Yeo Min-seo striding over.

"What, did you send Gu Jun-hyeok?"

"Yeah, just now."

"Okay, so that’s one done. Do Seon-woo’s side is..."

Yeo Min-seo’s eyes widened as she stretched her words and looked around. In the distance, Seong Ha-yeon was walking through the shortcut. However, Do Seon-woo wasn’t beside her.

Do Seon-woo wasn’t beside Seong Ha-yeon, who was supposed to bring Do Seon-woo...

Yeo Min-seo’s face twisted bizarrely.

"Hey. Where’s Do Seon-woo?"

"He stubbornly refused to come even when I tried to persuade him. I couldn’t help it either."

"Isn’t persuading him and bringing him your role? Have I been thinking wrong about the concept of roles all this time?"

"That’s why I said I’d stick to Gu Jun-hyeok’s side."

When Yeo Min-seo growled, Seong Ha-yeon confronted her with an unmoved face.

Han Su-ryeon just stood at attention watching the argument. Normally she should stop it, but somehow she didn’t feel like stopping it now.

After all, everything happening inside the ark was an illusion. Watching the two fight would also be quite an entertaining spectacle.

"So, right now, Do Seon-woo is coming not through the shortcut, but through the side where this fucking landslide happened?"

"Yes."

Seong Ha-yeon nodded. There was no sign of apology. Her face seemed to feel no need to be sorry in the first place. Yeo Min-seo’s face crumpled.

"Ha, look at that expression. Don’t you think acting up believing in daddy has limits?"

When Yeo Min-seo brought up parents, Seong Ha-yeon’s face, which hadn’t even moved, twitched with displeasure. It was a dangerous atmosphere where a fight could break out at any moment.

In that explosive situation, Han Su-ryeon took a step back and quietly watched the fight while thinking.

’They really don’t get along badly.’

The seven, no, now six student council members all didn’t get along.

Especially Yeo Min-seo would start fights first whenever there was something even slightly disagreeable. Han Su-ryeon was always in the position of mediating those fights.

"Girls, let’s not fight among ourselves..."

"From what you’re saying, it seems you don’t have a trustworthy father either."

"..."

Wow.

Han Su-ryeon, who had been trying to stop the fight, stopped in her tracks and observed Yeo Min-seo’s expression. It was twisted more bizarrely than any face she’d seen before. Her eyes staring blankly at Seong Ha-yeon were completely empty.

Both Yeo Min-seo and Seong Ha-yeon had crossed the line. This wasn’t a fight that could be stopped by mediation.

Whether the two had a fistfight or knife fight, she was certain it wasn’t a fight she could stop.

"...Handle it yourselves, just."

Han Su-ryeon gave up and turned around. Divine power flowed from Yeo Min-seo’s fingertips. Seong Ha-yeon crossed her arms and looked down at her with a leisurely face as if to say hit me if you want.

"Is hitting people when things don’t go your way a habit? You’re not even an animal."

"Yeah, kids like you come to your senses when you get hit a bit. Don’t you know because daddy never hit you?"

"...According to your level, your words are quite low-class too."

"You need to fix that fucking way of talking that ranks people..."

CRACK!

Yeo Min-seo, who had been rushing toward Seong Ha-yeon in anger, stopped. From the side where the path had collapsed due to the landslide she had caused, a sound like something splitting was heard.

CRAAAACK!

The sound approached toward the summit, getting closer. Seong Ha-yeon, Yeo Min-seo, and Han Su-ryeon, who was watching the situation from afar, all listened to that sound. It was too large and alien a sound to ignore and pass by.

Yeo Min-seo withdrew the divine power she had emitted and looked beyond the landslide she had caused.

The path that had been steeply carved due to being swept by the landslide. Rain like bamboo poles gathered along that path to form a single waterfall.

The waterfall had currents as strong as the rain. It was impossible to climb through this waterfall.

Impossible, it had to be done.

As if mocking that thought, someone was climbing up against the waterfall.

Using some plank-like thing as a shield to block the waterfall, they were silently walking toward the summit.

CRACK CRACK...

Eventually, the sound stopped.

The man who had climbed to the summit against the waterfall carelessly threw away the plank he had used as a shield and walked past the confronting Yeo Min-seo and Seong Ha-yeon toward the ark without a word.

"..."

Seong Ha-yeon looked at that man... There wasn’t a single uninjured part on his body. His clothes were torn, and his skin was scraped or peeled off.

His hair, soaked by the waterfall, was sticking all over his face, and beyond that, bloody tears were flowing from his vacant eyes.

"That guy’s really a crazy bastard..."

"Examinee Number 041666 Do Seon-woo, ark entry. 1:09:12.67."

Yeo Min-seo looked at Do Seon-woo’s retreating figure and let out a hollow laugh. It was truly admirable.

"Examinee Number 032811 Seo Ha-rin, ark entry. 1:09:13.02."

Then, consecutively, another announcement echoed from the ark. Yeo Min-seo’s eyes widened upon hearing it.

"...No, isn’t this guy completely crazy?"

Behind Do Seon-woo’s back, someone unconscious was hanging.

Do Seon-woo had carried a load on his back, blocked the current with just one plank, and climbed to the mountaintop against the waterfall. Even while his whole body was torn and bloody tears were dripping.

Yeo Min-seo recalled Do Seon-woo’s vacant eyes that had passed by. She had witnessed the same eyes before. When Kim Jin-seo and Gu Jun-hyeok were carried away by bird magical beasts, and he had shot down the magical beasts with a single stone.

"Examinee Number 041666 Do Seon-woo, ’2. [Undisclosed condition]’ satisfied."

"Examinee Number 032811 Seo Ha-rin, ’2. [Undisclosed condition]’ satisfied."

When he made impossible things possible, he always had those eyes.