〈 Scribe (2) 〉
A familiar human shape wrapped in the glow of sunset.
In front of me was my archenemy, whom I had faced several times before and with whom I had to fight fiercely each time.
‘Beoncheonhoeju.’
A sense of crisis soared, and alarm bells rang in Harris’ head.
I was definitely expecting that it wouldn’t be able to move easily, but I never thought it would suddenly show up like this.
It was such a sudden appearance that no omens could be detected in the surrounding formations.
“Tch.”
Faaat—
He stepped back a long way with a single stomp and tightened his grip on the bow, heightening the tension.
Before he knew it, the spirits he had summoned gathered around him and entered an iron-clad defense stance.
Harris, a spirit archer type,’s specialty is long-distance sniping that actively utilizes evasion.
Facing such a strong enemy at such a close distance…
‘Wait, is that…?’
While all kinds of thoughts were passing by without stopping.
Harris’s eyes narrowed as he pondered whether to retreat like this or call in reinforcements to fight back.
His starry pupils, hidden behind his helmet, continued to twinkle and he began to closely analyze the clues he had missed in the sudden situation.
“ah.”
After the attack was blocked, it took only a few seconds to step back and assess the situation.
Then, finally realizing the nature of the discomfort, Harris complained softly.
“…You were really surprised.”
In front of the scribe was the image of Beoncheonhoeju, still engulfed in light.
But when I looked closely, I could clearly see it.
That’s not the real guy, it’s just a projection of some of that shadowy thought.
‘It was an overreaction. Is this some type of sacred law using divine power?’
It seems that he was more nervous than he thought because he even assumed the possibility that the Lord of Beoncheonhoe himself might actually come forward.
Of course, the current situation was not always optimistic.
No matter what, that thing easily blocked an attack containing his full power just by appearing.
[Adeline.]
“Ah—! My Lord! “This lowly servant has seen his master!”
[It looks like a troublesome guy is involved.]
“I’m sorry! “Because of my lack of ability…!”
The booming voice spread, and a heavy presence weighed down the son-in-law.
The secretary had already paid no attention to Harris and was kneeling in front of him and repeatedly bowing his head.
It is clear that it is not the Beoncheonhoeju himself, but just a part of the fragments projected from him.
[I’m sorry, but now is not a good time. Because the divinity has been damaged, the interference of the Earth is stronger than ever.]
“No shame, Lord. This is also an ordeal given to me. “I will confidently overcome this and prove my worth!”
[Hmm…]
A human-shaped thought body made of divine power turned its head and looked toward Harris.
A stranger dressed in very suspicious clothing, surrounded by numerous spirits and sharpening his blades.
‘…Do you recognize me?’
Harris, who was carefully examining the situation, swallowed his saliva.
Since he had also played a part in the previous fight in Outerica, it would not be surprising if the head of the Buncheonhoe recognized him.
No matter how much he only deals with ultra-long-distance sniping and has never met him face-to-face, if he’s at that level, it wouldn’t be a problem to identify him with just his energy.
[There is a limit to maintaining the projection. There isn’t much time left.]
But contrary to his expectations, the guy didn’t show much of a reaction.
I don’t know if it’s just that they don’t show it, or if there’s some kind of restriction other than the main body.
He looked down at the scribe who was bowing to him again and spoke solemnly.
[Adeline, my apostle. I will grant you a spiritual body. With your own hands, punish anyone who interferes with Gaebyeok and offer their body and spirit as a sacrifice.]
“Ah! Thank you, Lord, for your grace!”
Then, as if it had suddenly appeared, the body instantly disintegrated into light and began to be absorbed into the body of the woman kneeling in front of it.
Harris, who had saint-level knowledge about sacred power, was able to figure out what it meant at a glance.
‘Gangshin (降神)?’
The scribe is a priest who worships Beoncheonhoeju as a god and an apostle who receives power directly from him.
Her sacred power exploded in an instant, boiling over violently at the consciousness that only a select few among the highest-ranking clergy could perform it.
“iced coffee! I feel that the Lord is with me! Glorious and holy!”
A powerful wave spread around her, and the weapons made of divine power she wore around her body also burned with hot energy like lava.
Harris frowned slightly at the momentum, which was clearly different from before.
‘For some reason, it didn’t seem like it would end easily. Is it Phase 2?’
Due to the influence of the ritual, both the quantity and quality of her divine power began to grow explosively, three or four times more than before.
If you just look at the divine power, it was that much, so the overall combat ability, including other abilities, would be much greater than that.
The secretary, who had entered a state of spiritual insanity, was becoming a powerful enemy that even Harris could not guarantee victory over.
However, there was one crucial difference between media such as games and reality…
‘Now!’
The point is that he is not a friendly enemy who waits until the opponent completes his transformation.
Oooh,
Harris’s star-shaped pupils glowed as the “Observer of the Milky Way” caught a gap in the spirit’s consciousness.
Of course, there was strict security attached to the ceremony itself as it was presented so openly, but it was not enough to completely deceive Harris, who was also well-versed in sacred power.
Goohoh—
「Legitimacy of the World Tree」, 「Natural Fairy Tale」, 「Nature’s Call」, 「Natural Retardation」, 「Fairy Justice」, 「Melody of Harmony」, and even 「Muyu Bagua Bigong(改)」.
All of his abilities came together, and the power he had secretly gathered from the advent of the Buncheonhoeju until now, looking for every opportunity, was unleashed all at once.
———!
To the scribe who has not yet finished preparing.
***
“Hectare!”
Rumbling!
As Harris shouted, a huge stone wall rose from the ground.
It is not just a simple stone, but a chunk of rock filled with the energy of nature and so hard that not a single crack will break.
It quickly grew in size and blocked Inyoung’s path.
Quaaaang!
It couldn’t hold out for long under the barrage of large hammers that flew in soon after and was torn to pieces.
As initially expected, I was only able to grab the opponent’s ankle for a very brief moment.
‘It’s trickier than I thought. Because of the formation system, there are limits to the range of movement.’
Harris clicked his tongue and frowned.
Even as he continued to retreat, he continued to move his hands and flick the bowstring to keep his opponent in check.
Towards the female warrior secretary who rushes forward like a tank, scattering reddish light.
Hiss—! Wedge!
Coo! Quang!
The lightning that fell from the sky was blocked by the shield, and the fire that was engulfing all around was pushed back by the wind pressure of the hammer.
The sharp wind only scratches the solid surface of the armor.
The sight of silently advancing through all obstacles, engulfed in the glow of the sunset, was literally the height of the sky itself.
‘Tsk, it’s still a lot more worth doing than I first expected…’
That was all thanks to the all-out surprise attack that caught them off guard during the spiritual ritual.
As expected, the ritual was protected by a powerful divinity, but it could not have been completely unaffected by the deadly attack that was planned from the beginning and struck suddenly.
It would have been the icing on the cake if it had ended with that, but it would be too greedy to hope that far.
“dare! dare! “I’ll kill you, you unbeliever!”
Of course, the other person didn’t seem to think that way.
Harris shook his head at the sight of the secretary pouring out harsh words with a lot of blood running down his face, as if the respect he had shown before was gone.
“Why don’t you calm down a bit? That wouldn’t be very good for your health…”
“You’re interfering with a glorious ceremony! “I will definitely burn you alive as a burnt offering to the Lord!”
“No, I thought I was confident because I ignored it and did things confidently even though I was clearly in front of me. There are degrees of insensitivity to safety. If it was that important, you should have paid more attention to security by doing it in a safe place…”
“Shut up! “I will definitely rip out that tongue!”
I laid out the facts in detail and complained about the unfairness of the treatment, but the person with the eyes wide open with a face like a murderous murderer seemed to have no intention of listening to me.
Well, the purpose of speaking up in the first place was to provoke.
‘Anyway, this is difficult. It’s taking longer than I thought. There may be a time limit for reinforcement due to the river spirit, but….’
The problem was that the timeout for this incident would come before the river spirit was even over.
Looking at it objectively, isn’t he just a terrorist who attacked the Pantheon’s leadership?
In fact, the delay so far has been quite burdensome.
‘I tried to hide the traces as much as possible by using natural guards.’
Of course, it couldn’t last forever either.
Whether the formation eventually collapses due to accumulated shock from within or is discovered through a search from outside, this situation will sooner or later come to an end.
Now, it wouldn’t be surprising at all if American guardians came in right now.
‘…I can’t leave it like that. If you miss this golden opportunity, you never know when the opportunity will come again.’
The situation was different from the Ruler who was active in the shadows and the Duke Doctor who voluntarily led him into a trap.
The scribe is a person who acts in a sunny place… and as a leader in the religious world called the Pantheon.
If she feels threatened by this incident and decides to put on a bright shell and endure, she will not be able to mess with her.
If we are not careful, it could not only worsen public opinion but also cause unnecessary division among those who should be working together.
“I pray, my Lord! “Give me the power to judge the unbelievers who block the path to enlightenment!”
At that time, the secretary approached Harris through all the obstacles and swung a huge hammer at him.
Although the restrictions on the spirits were eased by 『Dimensional Barrier Relaxation』, it was not enough to suppress the opponent’s heightened momentum.
In the first place, the divine power itself was a higher energy.
Wedge!
“Hmph!”
“Huh? what…!”
However, the large battle hammer that rushed through the air did not hit the target.
It was swung in a large trajectory, but before it could fully unleash its destructive power, its trajectory was naturally twisted by Harris’ strangely extended hand.
Coo!
In the end, the hammer ended up hitting an empty floor.
He frowned as he stepped back to avoid the sunset-colored divine power burning hot in the cracks and turnings of the earth.
With one hand, he repeatedly massaged the wrist that had suffered the attack.
‘…It’s heavy. ‘I can’t believe it’s like this even though I tried to use as many tricks as possible.’
Until now, he had mainly been using it to assist natural forces and spirits, but the “Muyu Bagua Bigong (改)” he learned was definitely a branch of martial arts.
It is no exaggeration to say that it is truly the best in one dimension, with an overall rating of S level.
For him, who had tasted the principles of martial arts through Hugo’s “Manyu Guizong,” applying them was nothing.
‘It may be a little less efficient, but.’
More than that, as things progressed to this point, my mind became more determined.
This is an opponent who shows that level of power even with restrictions.
If you let him live like this, he will definitely come back with 100% regret.
“You’re so good at running away. But how long can we do that?”
At that time, the fever in his head from the previous attack seemed to have subsided to some extent, and the secretary, who had been running wild like a runaway locomotive, calmly opened his mouth.
The tone of speech that used to be harsh verbal abuse has changed back to its original polite pretense.
“You used this barrier formation method? I know it was definitely derived from the martial world, but it’s surprising that a spiritist uses it. A dimension where those two mysteries are mixed would not be that common…”
She furrowed her brows and pondered for a moment, then shook her head and burst into laughter.
As if it doesn’t matter now.
“Anyway, it’s over now. No matter how much effort you put into the mysteries of Gyeonggye-ryu, there is a limit. “It was sturdier than I thought, so it took a bit of time.”
Harris’ expression hardened at his confident attitude.
As she said, the accumulated shock eventually shook the formation and caused significant cracks.
As soon as we figured it out, we did our best to restore it, but originally, security loses its value the moment it is breached, even if it is done 100 times well.
“Ten minutes at most. By then, the Pantheon and Guardian elites will have completely blockaded the area and stormed in. “It’s a pity that I can’t crush you with my own hands right now… but it’s just a bit of a delay.”
The secretary finished speaking and smiled brightly.
The sight of him, clad in red-tinged divine power and calmly making bloody noises with a smiling face, was so frightening that he looked like a servant of the devil rather than an apostle of God.
“At most, 10 minutes…?”
Of course, Harris, who had no reason to feel fear, paid no heed to such threats.
He quietly looked around, nodded slightly, and spoke slowly.
“It’s a little tight, but… well, that should be enough.”
“…under?”
The secretary’s face distorted at that nonchalant response.
Then, perhaps because he thought it was just a bluff, he quickly regained his composure and had a sneer on his lips.
The corner of his mouth was twisted as if it were ridiculous, and his arrogant eyes were shining coolly.
But unfortunately.
His attitude was neither bravado nor overconfidence.
That’s right—.
「Individual gathering」
“Kahahaha! It’s been a while since this happened! “I want to relax and enjoy it, but it’s a shame I don’t have time!”
“…It would be best to take some time. Let’s finish in five minutes.”
Because he had something he really believed in.
A long-standing tradition handed down from generation to generation by warriors of justice.