The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 81

The Succession Ritual.

It refers to a ceremony to inherit the power left by the previous cult leader. If I offer the bone powder of my grandfather, Do Jun-gil, the first cult leader of Voodoo, I would inherit his power.

[Let me ask one thing. Do you have no regrets about this choice?]

Baron Samedi asked. He was sitting with his legs crossed in an arrogant posture, looking down at me.

"None."

[Truly?]

I nodded silently. I was confident I would never regret this choice.

No, more precisely, if I didn’t receive the succession ritual, there was a high possibility that I wouldn’t even have a future to regret today’s events.

Baron Samedi sat in his chair looking at me sideways and smiled faintly.

[However... there’s one problem that’s arisen.]

"A problem?"

[As you must know, your father Do Myeong-jun never received the succession ritual. This is a very significant problem. Do you understand what I mean?]

Baron Samedi suddenly stood up from his seat and strode toward me.

When he gestured, a glass filled with rum suddenly appeared in the air. Baron Samedi lifted it and downed it in one gulp.

Crash!

The rum glass thrown toward a temple pillar shattered into pieces. Glass fragments rolled on the floor. The pieces glittered in the temple’s purple lighting.

Baron Samedi stepped on the fragments as if it were nothing and approached me.

His red gleam was soon right before my nose. Eyes of death with unfathomable depth looked me over coldly.

[In just the second generation, the ’tradition of succession’ was broken. Due to your father’s negligence.]

"...Is that my fault?"

[Of course, it’s not your fault. But it’s not my fault either. No, it’s nobody’s fault. Not your father’s fault, not your mother’s fault. However.]

Baron Samedi took out a cigar from his pocket. When he snapped his fingers, the cigar lit up.

Baron Samedi took a puff of the cigar as if it were delicious and exhaled thick, heavy purple smoke. The sticky smoke clung to my face.

[The problem is that trust has been broken. The trust between the cult leader of Voodoo and me, the Loa of death.]

"What’s the conclusion?"

[The conclusion is that I have no reason to perform the succession ritual for you. Who knows, you might die in the future without leaving even a handful of bone powder like Do Myeong-jun did.]

Baron Samedi rubbed the cigar against a temple pillar to extinguish it. A blackened mark remained on the purple wall surface. Then he threw away the cigar that still had more than half left.

Throughout this series of actions, Baron Samedi was subtly watching me with narrowed eyes. A look as if he wanted something from me.

What he wanted from me was all too obvious.

"Fine. You can include me in the ’cycle.’ That way the broken trust can be restored, can’t it?"

At my answer, Baron Samedi laughed. It seemed like he was either laughing heartily or sneering. It was a strange laugh whose meaning was difficult to discern.

[That’s the answer I wanted.]

Whoosh!

As Baron Samedi’s words ended, a dark and murky purple radiance enveloped me. The magnificent temple scenery disappeared, covered by the purple radiance. Beyond the radiance, Baron Samedi’s red gleam shone clearly.

[With the bone powder of the previous Do Jun-gil as payment, I appoint Do Seon-woo, who is here now, as the successor.]

Baron Samedi said.

[In return, Do Seon-woo must pass his own bone powder to his descendants. The descendants must definitely offer Do Seon-woo’s bone powder to me, the Loa of death, through the succession ritual. This is a contract with death.]

A wind blew from somewhere unknown. The purple mist and light swayed and rippled in the wind.

In the storm, Baron Samedi continued speaking.

[With this, the third cult leader Do Seon-woo is included in the cycle of death and circulation.]

I nodded. Soon the mist cleared and the temple disappeared. And once again, cold reality came before my eyes.

The taxidermy surrounding me, and beyond them the pervert leisurely watching the situation. The forgotten pain also returned. Pain so great that I couldn’t move a single fingertip.

"This should be enough. Fortunately, it’s not too late. If that person had come, it would have been terrible..."

Splash, splash.

A taxidermy with no head but three arms and three legs each approached and roughly picked me up. Then it loaded me onto the back of a spider taxidermy. The spider taxidermy carried me, moving its eight legs like a spider, and transported me to the front of the pervert.

Splash!

The spider taxidermy shook its back and roughly put me down on the floor. Due to the impact, the already severe pain became even more intense.

"You’re alive, right? Hey there?"

The pervert was giggling as he crouched in front of me where I had fallen and tapped my head with his finger.

His finger was very long and thin, so it looked more like a poker than a finger.

The pervert played with my body, rolling my head this way and that, or lifting my limp arm as a test.

"Well, you’re alive. Then..."

Hissss...

The pervert’s words stopped as he was about to grab my hair and take me somewhere. Mist was flowing out. The source was the spell circle I had just drawn. The mist that flowed out was thicker and more viscous than usual. The pervert looked at the spell circle emitting mist and let out a snickering laugh.

"It won’t work. About half of my body isn’t human."

"I know."

I said as I stood up from my position.

The sorcery I used was ’intoxication.’ The target wasn’t the taxidermy or the pervert, but myself.

In my body that had deeply inhaled the sorcery mist, I no longer felt pain. Only pleasure so intense it made my mind dizzy filled my entire body. The pain that had made me unable to move disappeared from my body.

It works.

Sorcery works on my body.

"Now this is a bit better. Hmm..."

There was nothing left to hinder me. I drove away injuries with restoration sorcery and pain with intoxication sorcery. Actually, I didn’t drive it away but just forgot it temporarily, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was the fact that I couldn’t feel pain right now.

My body was trembling. However, it wasn’t trembling from pain. Only trembling from pleasure and ecstasy... Perhaps because Bosu’s power and intoxication sorcery were mixed, tremendous elation was boiling throughout my body.

[Don’t become intoxicated.]

"It’s fine."

Legba’s warning echoed in my head. I smiled and nodded. It wasn’t like I did this without any thought.

I could feel that my Voodoo magic power output had risen a level through the succession ritual. The sorcery became sharper, and the intensity of the sorcery easily surpassed my resistance. In other words, it was now possible to cast sorcery on myself.

If so, it was also possible to drive away pain with intoxication sorcery. The problem was the risk of becoming addicted to intoxication sorcery or losing motor function by becoming too intoxicated.

"It’s fine. Better than I thought..."

The problem was solved by lowering the sorcery output. Just enough moderate pleasure to forget the pain.

It was too thrilling and sticky to be called moderate, but at least it wasn’t enough to become addicted or intoxicated.

"...You, how did you get up?"

The pervert said while backing away in apparent panic. It was understandable to be flustered when someone who had been shaking as if about to die suddenly got up laughing.

The pervert hastily gestured and gave instructions to the taxidermy. Then the taxidermy behind me approached with big strides. Their steps made squelching sounds.

I drew a spell circle.

Crack!

The Voodoo magic power flowing from the spell circle took the form of a sword with a sharp sound. It was an executioner’s sword. The blade was well-sharpened, and the handle had dangling decorations.

It was much more precise and sophisticated reproduction than when I had killed Go Jun-min who had become a demon species.

After the succession ritual, my reproduction sorcery skills had improved noticeably more than anything else.

Slash.

The leg of the spider taxidermy that had been charging at me with its front leg raised was cut off.

A faint scream flowed from the executioner’s sword. It was the wailing of criminals who had their heads cut off by executioner’s swords long ago. Reproduction sorcery that had reached mastery reproduced not only the form but also the sounds of that time.

"Ah, ah! Taxidermy! The taxidermy! That’s, that’s that person’s work!"

The pervert said. Even through the face skin he was wearing, his terrified appearance was evident. Following his urgent gestures, the taxidermy quickened their pace toward me.

The pervert seemed to have used his head somewhat, as the taxidermy aimed for the left opening rather than the right side where I held the sword.

Squash!

I grabbed the taxidermy’s head and crushed it as it was. Cotton and sawdust that had been packed inside the head fell down along with blood. The taxidermy whose head had disappeared lost strength and crumbled limply to the floor.

The pervert gestured even more urgently. The taxidermy followed him, approaching me with irregular, unpredictable movements.

Crack, snap, slash...

The taxidermy coming from the left I crushed their heads or twisted their necks. The taxidermy coming from the right I cut with the executioner’s sword.

The dozens of taxidermy were rapidly reduced to about ten, then from about ten to just three or four.

Each time a taxidermy fell, a thrilling pleasure that seemed about to overflow bubbled up from my solar plexus.

"Ah, ah, ah, the works, the works...! Damn, damn time!"

The pervert muttered meaningless nonsense and kicked the floor angrily. Soon only one taxidermy remained. However, that taxidermy had no hands or feet. A taxidermy crawling toward me with cut elbows and knees.

Stab.

I pierced the taxidermy’s heart with the executioner’s sword. The taxidermy struggled briefly, then finally drooped its body as if it had completely lost its life force.

"Ah..."

A sigh flowed from the pervert’s mouth. I strode toward him. Each step made a squelching sound. However, I didn’t feel like I was being chased by that sound.

I was no longer in the position of being chased.

Thump.

The pervert looked at me in dismay, then seeing me who had approached right before his nose, he knelt down on the spot. The dry expression of the face skin he was wearing looked up at me.

"Please spare me. I did it because I was ordered to. Everything, everything was done because that person ordered me to. I am a good person. I was ordered, I received commands and had no choice but to commit these acts. If you spare me, I’ll become a Voodoo practitioner. Really, just give me one chance..."

The pervert grabbed onto my leg and clung to me. Sticky tears were pouring out through the face skin. I had intended to cut his throat immediately, but seeing that sight somehow made me hesitate. My right hand holding the executioner’s sword was trembling.

The pervert groped my leg like that for a while, shedding tears, then suddenly lifted his head.

"Thank you. For giving me a chance."

Snap!

There was a sound of something being cut. My body tilted and collapsed. The pervert had cut my Achilles tendon with a scalpel he had hidden in his wrist. Sharp pain traveled from my ankle up my leg to my waist.

The pervert looked at my grimacing face and giggled, then got up from his position and ran away.

"That person will come soon. You will become taxidermy with just one gesture from that person, in a body that is neither alive nor dead..."

Stab.

The pervert’s body collapsed to the floor as he was running away and threatening me. The executioner’s sword was stuck in his chest. I had thrown it.

I strode toward him. The cut Achilles tendon was already attached, and the pain had long been covered by pleasure.

In the eyes of the pervert who was coughing up blood and looking at me, clear fear was evident. No, now he seemed to have transcended fear and looked enlightened.

"I gave you a chance."

"...How exactly are you walking around? The feeling of cutting the tendon is still vivid in my hand."

"Who knows."

The reason I could walk around so soundly was because I had reattached the cut Achilles tendon with restoration and covered the pain with intoxication. But there was no need to tell him.

"What are you trying to find out?"

Crack!

I kicked the pervert’s head. With the sound of neck bones breaking, the pervert’s body went limp. Something was flowing out of his burst skull. Half was blood-mixed brain matter, and the other half was sawdust and cotton.

Half of the pervert’s head was stuffed with cotton and sawdust like taxidermy.

"As expected."

The reason sorcery didn’t work was because the pervert wasn’t entirely human. He was half human but half taxidermy, so sorcery only worked halfway.

Even thinking about it now was meaningless... In this place, there was a pungent, fishy, and sour smell mixed with blood and chemicals, and the smell of rotting flesh. It was a smell that might come from food waste left for several months. I quickly left that room as if fleeing.

I passed through a corridor where bizarre-shaped taxidermy were standing like statues here and there, and finally reached the 4th basement level. The dim and faint light of the parking lot felt incredibly bright. My clothes were soaked with blood. It was my blood that had flowed from the back of my head and mouth. It didn’t seem like it would wash off even if I wiped it.

Rumble rumble rumble...

Then, an explosion sound echoed from behind. The sound was small and faint as if heard through multiple layers of soundproof walls. However, it was definitely getting closer.

Swallowing the sudden rising anxiety, I headed toward the elevator. Even when I pressed the button, the elevator didn’t come down. It just remained stopped on the first floor.

[Don’t just stand there stupidly. Take the stairs!]

Boom, rumble rumble...

The explosion sounds and sounds of structures collapsing gradually got closer and were soon heard right in front of me. The pillars supporting the parking lot were shaking from the explosions. Soon anxiety became certainty. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

This building was collapsing.

Leaving behind the non-functioning elevator, I ran to the stairs. I hurriedly climbed the stairs two or three steps at a time. Dust fell from the ceiling.

My legs, which had been fine just a moment ago, were now trembling. It meant the intoxication sorcery was wearing off. The forgotten pain began to creep up. At this rate, I would surely collapse from pain before long.

Whoosh!

I emitted Voodoo magic power. It was much thicker and purer compared to before receiving the succession ritual. The vivid purple color was brilliant enough to be called splendid.

The spell circle I would draw with the emitted Voodoo magic power was naturally intoxication sorcery.

[You can’t. You won’t die, but both your body and mind will completely collapse.]

However, at Legba’s warning, I stopped my hand that was drawing the spell circle.

"If I don’t use it now, I’ll die. Definitely."

[Looking at it long-term, it would be right not to use it. If you just go up one more floor, you’ll reach ground level. Endure it.]

The spell circle was already more than half drawn. With just one more stroke, it would be complete. I fell into thought while continuing to climb the stairs without stopping.

Legba’s words that it would be right not to use it looking long-term were true. If intoxication sorcery was overused, there was a high possibility of addiction.

No, but if I don’t use it now, I’ll die.

Pain was gradually spreading from my lower abdomen to every corner of my body. Without borrowing the power of intoxication sorcery, I would collapse before long. This was not speculation but certainty.

Hissss...

In the end, I drew the final stroke to activate the sorcery. When I inhaled the mist, the pain disappeared as if washed away.

Perhaps because I used intoxication sorcery consecutively, thrilling pleasure that made me feel like I would lose consciousness at any moment rippled throughout my body.

[Crazy bastard! You frog-like bastard! You really never listen to what I say!]

"Heh, hmm... Ah, I’m sorry. Really."

Legba scolded me with a roar. I barely managed to apologize while forcibly swallowing the laughter that was leaking out. Even though the situation was so urgent, for some reason I felt like laughing.

I hurried my steps and left the building. The musty smell characteristic of basements disappeared and I could smell the fresh air of the ground. Several fire trucks were parked in front of the building, and Holy Knights were gathered looking at the building. Except for the presence of fire trucks, it looked deceptively peaceful.

Crash!

Before long, peace was shattered by an explosion that occurred in the building.

The Holy Knights hastily took out equipment and prepared to rush in, and citizens who had been gathered chattering at the unexpected commotion began screaming.

I turned my head to look at the building.

"...Ah."

The building was tilted. The explosion that occurred underground seemed to have collapsed the building’s foundation.

All the windows visible from the outside were broken, and countless signs that had been attached fell down. The explosion caused fire, and the fire caused smoke, so black smoke was rising to the sky. Screams were flowing from everywhere.

Before that devastation, the Holy Knights were just standing there blankly looking at the building. Only one Holy Knight was quickly assessing the situation and attempting to rush into the building. All the other Holy Knights couldn’t get their wits together.

I closed my eyes tightly as I left the building. The screams kept echoing in my ears. Someone was screaming because of the explosion I had caused.

Nevertheless, only one Holy Knight was trying to rush into the building to save people. Just one. There was no way that one person could rescue all the many people trapped in that big building.

[Don’t say you’re going in to rescue them. You’ll definitely die of smoke inhalation.]

"..."

[You don’t have proper equipment, and your body is already in tatters. If you go in, you’ll die.]

Legba’s words were right. I was currently barely maintaining consciousness with restoration, intoxication, and Bosu’s power.

Jumping into flames with my bare body in the midst of this would be insane. Far from rescuing people, I’d be lucky not to faint from inhaling smoke.

If it were with a bare body without any equipment.

"Hey! Quickly change into firefighting gear! The chief already went in!"

"You bastards, did you really receive training? Hurry up and put it on!"

"S-sorry!"

In front of the burning building, in front of the fire trucks lined up, I could see Holy Knights busily putting on equipment. Firefighting equipment was piled up beside them.

As I silently stared at the equipment, I heard Legba’s flustered voice.

[...No, thinking about it, even with equipment you’d still die the same. I misspoke.]

"Legba wouldn’t misspeak. You’re not Legba, are you?"

[You’re currently intoxicated by sorcery and can’t think straight. Get your senses... Where are you going now, this, this crazy bastard! Do Seon-woo! Stop! Do Seon... Hey!]

Legba screamed. My steps were heading toward the equipment piled beside the fire truck.