Chapter 109 - Wuthering Heights
# A Heterogeneous Pink Sky
A sky glowing with an alien pink light, wind so fierce it was hard to even open your eyes.
In the heart of this storm, which even Stardust struggled against, stood a man dressed entirely in black.
Yes, that's me. I'm talking about myself.
"...So this is what it feels like?"
The wind blew fiercely enough to easily sweep away a small child.
And toward me came attacks erupting from dozens of magic circles.
This storm that no hero could penetrate, no matter how desperately they tried.
I was walking through it as casually as if taking a morning stroll in my front yard.
"Geez, why are there so many flies?"
Swatting away star-like objects flying at me with psychokinesis was just a bonus.
These things that belonged on top of Christmas trees kept flying at me—so annoying.
With a single smooth gesture of my hand, I deflected the star clusters hurtling toward me.
As a result, the purple star that missed me and crashed into the ground—
BOOM—
With a tremendous sound like a bomb exploding, it completely shattered the ground where it fell.
"Wow... damn...."
I clicked my tongue as I watched.
Yes, indeed.
The power was truly beyond imagination.
How could a normal attack be this powerful?
I looked up.
A pink storm rising so high it blocked the entire sky.
Indeed, it lived up to its reputation as the event that ultimately destroyed Seoul completely in the original story, unstoppable by any hero.
It's hard to believe any human could stop this.
Of course, that doesn't apply to me, who already knows everything.
With that thought, I blocked a purple destruction beam flying toward me by simply extending my hand.
Despite being fired with fierce intensity, the beam didn't even touch my hand before scattering in all directions.
I smiled slightly at the sight.
Yes. The Moon Priestess. An extremely powerful and threatening enemy. If we're talking about difficulty in defeating her, she's even tougher than the giant weapon of the Han-Eun Group from before.
But that's only when fighting without knowing anything.
I grinned widely and clenched my outstretched hand.
And immediately—
BOOM—
The magic circle shooting the beam shattered into pieces.
Yes, the core of this terror attack isn't the Moon Priestess, but the buff devices the cult leader had set up in advance.
The magic circles placed throughout Seoul.
They weaken heroes' abilities, enhance the Moon Priestess's firepower, jam transmissions, prevent darkness abilities, supply magical power—they have all sorts of terrifying options attached.
In fact, these magic circles are the core of this terror attack.
The Moon Priestess has fairly strong basic magical skills, but she's not overwhelmingly powerful enough to completely dominate Stardust, Icicle, and Shadow Walker. If she fought Stardust one-on-one, she'd barely hold on before losing.
Therefore, what makes her nearly invincible are the cult leader's buff magic circles.
This is the key to countering this terror attack and essentially the center of everything.
In the original story, they barely discovered this secret after Seoul was almost completely destroyed, and succeeded in killing the Moon Priestess by destroying the magic circles in advance.
...Thinking about it reminded me of the Moon Priestess begging to be killed. Well, that was just the cruel original story. Not anymore.
Anyway, I took it one step further.
I hacked the magic circles to work in reverse.
In other words, this massive magic circle placed in Seoul...
Makes me stronger and weakens my enemies.
Which means...
Inside this storm, I have absolute power.
"Up you go, that's right~"
I deflected the purple lightning striking at me with my hand, sending it back to the sky.
I simply sliced through incoming lasers.
I just exploded star clusters with psychokinesis.
I leisurely approached the center of the storm where the Moon Priestess would be.
Ah, this is so easy,
I'll be seeing the Moon Priestess soon.
***
"Haa... haa...."
At the center of the storm.
There, she was gasping for breath.
"...Hic..."
Inside the storm she had created.
Someone was approaching, breaking through all the barriers she had made.
'...How did they do it?'
The barriers based on her magic, amplified by the cult leader.
Dozens, hundreds of attack magic circles surrounding where she stood.
She could feel someone breaking through all of them and advancing.
'Who could it be?'
In the previous two terror attacks, many had rushed to stop her.
However, they all retreated without even making it halfway through the storm.
But the current intruder was coming toward her at high speed as if walking through their own home.
'...Probably another hero, I guess.'
She thought quietly.
Finally, someone is coming to stop everything.
Yes, that's actually good.
She paused for a moment and looked at her hands.
Although she was standing at the eye of the storm, a place without even a hint of wind,
Her hands were trembling like those of someone with palsy.
Grasping that hand with her other hand, she smiled bitterly.
Yes. This is for the best.
Just three times, including this one. Only three times.
And it's already this difficult, this painful.
If I had to do this dozens more times...
Could I have endured it?
The constant crushing guilt.
A life trapped in the Moonlight Church, gnawing at herself and living in self-blame.
Yes. Perhaps it's better to end it here.
What meaning is there in living while hurting others?
That person approaching...
They'll probably try to capture or kill her.
But capturing is useless. She'll just be controlled by the cult leader anyway, and they'll end up being used instead.
So she'll resist as much as possible.
If that happens...
She'll die here.
'...I didn't want to die, though.'
As she said this, tears welled up slightly in her eyes.
In truth, she had been prepared to sacrifice her life if necessary.
But...
She didn't expect it to come so quickly.
Given how helpless the heroes had been until recently, she thought it would come after dozens more attacks.
She didn't expect someone to reach her so soon, on the third terror attack.
'...What am I thinking? No, this is good. We can stop before more damage occurs.'
Though she tried to steel herself with such thoughts,
She was still a little scared.
She was somewhat aware of people's reactions from the beginning.
People who called her a monster, feared and despised her.
And especially the hero...
That hero strong enough to break through all her barriers...
What expression would they make when they saw her? Anger? Disgust? Contempt?
Having to endure such gazes...
And the possibility of dying right here...
It was too frightening for her.
"....."
Still, she was resolved.
Yes. She had to pay for her sins.
She couldn't run away forever.
When the hero arrived...
She would provoke them slightly, then fight, naturally letting her guard down and taking their attacks. When the decisive blow came...
As she sadly planned how she would die...
Imagining the hero who would look at her with contempt, she steeled her resolve and finally faced...
The person who emerged through the storm.
"Hello there!"
A man who greeted her with a bright smile.
'...What?'
***
Having easily penetrated the pink storm, also known as the magic storm, using the reversed magic circles, I finally arrived at the eye of the storm.
Unlike the surrounding area where the wind was howling fiercely, the center was completely calm without a hint of wind.
And in the middle...
A woman stood wearing a white priestess outfit with her hair tied with a red string.
She looked like she had stepped out of a manga.
A slightly mysterious impression, yet she looked too kind to be the one who caused such terror.
With a height slightly taller than Seo-eun, looking down at her gave me a slight Seo-eun feeling.
The Moon Priestess, who dies so pitifully in the original story. I finally met her, the one behind all these terror attacks.
...Though her face appeared stern and indifferent as she looked at me, her eyes were filled with fear.
So I decided to greet her.
"Hello there!"
I smiled and spread my arms wide in greeting.
It's always good to smile when meeting someone for the first time. Of course.
And as a result...
Her fearful eyes momentarily changed to bewilderment.
...Well, at least they changed, so that's something?
Anyway, momentarily stunned by my sudden greeting attack, she seemed to regain her composure, hardened her face again, and snapped at me with a cold expression.
"...Who are you? No, that's not important. If you've come to stop me, I want to tell you it's useless."
After saying that, she took a deep breath.
And simultaneously...
ZIIIIIIING—
Dozens of magic circles began to appear in the air around her, emitting a purple light.
And at the same time, with her red eyes fixed on me,
She murmured softly.
"I will continue to fight. Whether you stop me or not, that's not important...."
"Baek Eunwol."
I cut off her words and spoke.
"Baek Eunwol. Called the Moon Priestess in the Moonlight Church. Picked up and raised by the cult leader. Can use magic given by the Moon God. Doesn't like the Moonlight Church and opposes the cult leader's ideology. However, because of the spell he cast, she has no choice but to follow his will. She doesn't want to cause terror."
I said all that in one go.
At my words, she froze, even stopping her magic.
To her, whose eyes were wildly shaking, unable to process this sudden situation,
I smiled and said:
"Ms. Eunwol, why don't you abandon that cult-like Moonlight Church..."
"And join me instead?"
Now.
Let's really start talking.
***
[Everyone! Breaking news as we speak! Egostic has appeared at the Moon Priestess's terror attack scene in an airship!]
And while Egostic was doing that inside the storm,
South Korea was, in real time, being turned upside down.