Chapter 1050

〈 Episode 1050 〉 1050. Divine Spirit

“It seems I’ve kept you waiting for too long, honored guest. Please enter the temple. A room has already been prepared just for you.”

“I need a woman… Is there one available?”

“All our beautiful female disciples have been gathered for you. They await you in your chamber.”

“Is this also a divine prophecy?”

“I’ve heard the report from Jang Ji-woo. And we’ve been watching you for quite some time now. It was Grand Priest Ha’s prophecy back then… Though at that time, you weren’t yet the honored one you are today. But now, none of that matters.”

I was slightly shocked to hear that they’d been watching me all along.

‘I didn’t sense anything strange… Were they monitoring me from afar?’

If not, it must have been some level of background investigation on me.

Either way, it made me uncomfortable. But I didn’t have the power to confront the high priest directly. Even if I did, I’d probably only get an apology out of it.

The high priest addressed Park Soo-ho and the other followers.

“Tomorrow, all of you will become offerings. Offerings for the Great Spirit, for the salvation of the world. Accept your destiny. This will be the ultimate service to the Great Spirit. Do you understand?”

“Yes, High Priest. For the Great Spirit, we gladly sacrifice ourselves.”

One of the followers spoke on behalf of everyone. The others bowed deeply in agreement, including Park Soo-ho. The high priest smiled contentedly.

I prayed silently for Park Soo-ho’s soul.

‘I’ll take good care of your sister Gae-in. Farewell, Park Soo-ho. We had fun while it lasted.’

Suddenly, the goddess Selbrethina seemed utterly foolish. Why did she choose Park Soo-ho as the hero?

“Very well. Purify yourselves through bathing and prayer until the ceremony tomorrow. Cleanse both body and spirit.”

“Yes, High Priest.”

“There. Go that way.”

The followers stood up and headed toward the direction the high priest pointed to.

I raised an eyebrow slightly. As Park Soo-ho passed by me, he lightly tapped my hand. For some reason, his brainwashing seemed to have worn off. Perhaps it had something to do with this temple space.

‘Because he’s called a hero or something… He must have special powers.’

There might be a way out with Park Soo-ho. I should meet him later.

Later, the high priest personally guided me to my room.

It was decorated no less luxuriously than a five-star hotel. Inside the spacious room, beautiful women in sexy lingerie awaited—both Eastern and Western beauties, all stunning.

“Welcome, honored master.”

“We shall serve you, honored master.”

“We can accommodate any kind of play.”

I swallowed hard and took off my pants.

•••

After enjoying a satisfying session of sex, I showered and stepped out of the room, planning to meet Park Soo-ho. No sneaking around. I’m the honored one. I deserve respect even from the high priest. It’s the followers who should be watching their step around me.

“Hey.”

I called out to a passing follower. Upon seeing me, he immediately bowed. He was a foreigner with brown hair.

“Yes, honored master.”

He replied in English. Thanks to my leisure app, I could speak English fluently like a native.

“Where’s Park Soo-ho’s room?”

“Park Soo-ho…? I don’t know what you mean.”

“The place where the offerings for tomorrow’s Divine Spirit Ceremony are praying.”

“Oh! You mean the offering prayer room? Yes, I know where it is… but under the high priest’s orders, entering there arbitrarily would defile the offerings… so entry is forbidden.”

“It’s fine for me. Or what? Am I unclean or something? Huh?”

“Ahh, no! If you’re the honored one, it’s perfectly fine! Yes! That’s absolutely correct!”

Judging by his reaction, maybe my status is even higher than the high priest’s.

‘Could this be related to Brahma-sen trying to make me a disciple?’

I looked at the follower walking ahead of me. Judging by his clothes and demeanor, he seemed to be of fairly high rank among the followers.

“Hey, what’s a disciple?”

“A disciple is someone who receives the power of the Great Spirit… Essentially, a reincarnation of the Great Spirit.”

“So it’s higher than the high priest.”

“In terms of status alone… Yes. That’s correct.”

“And I’m supposed to become a disciple…”

“Perhaps that…”


“Something terrible is about to happen.”

It was the Apostle (True One).

“So even the leader is kind to me. I smirked. Not bad.

“Here it is.”

We stopped in front of a white door. The door was tightly shut.

“You’ve worked hard. Go on now.”

“Yes, I’ll be going. And my name…”

“Your name is enough. Since I remember your face, just go already.”

“Yes, Your Eminence.”

The disciple who knew how to socialize a bit retreated. I watched him disappear and then opened the door and went inside.

It was a place filled with marble floors. On one side, clean water flowed, and on the other side, naked disciples knelt on the marble floor, facing forward and concentrating on their prayers.

The disciples didn’t react to my presence. They were that focused on praying. And on the front wall, there were plenty of unpleasant patterns drawn.

‘Probably those also have brainwashing effects. Park Sooho might have fallen for it again.’

At that time, I should’ve gone back without looking and just had sex.

I found Park Sooho sitting among the disciples. Park Sooho was also naked, his gaze directed forward. I realized he hadn’t fallen for the brainwashing because his penis was erect. It must have been from seeing the nearby beautiful female disciples. I quickly averted my gaze. Any traces of cum were instantly erased from my mind.

“Hey, Park Sooho! Are you still sane?”

Park Sooho looked at me.

“Brother! Why did you come so late?!”

“Do you think this was easy for me to get here?”

“I thought you abandoned me.”

“Do you know me so little? I’m not that kind of guy. Anyway, stand up.”

Park Sooho stood up from his spot. His legs wobbled. I frowned immediately.

“What’s with the erection?”

“It’s because I’ve been kneeling for so long, my legs aren’t responding. And the erection… well, you can’t help it when you look around.”

There were both men and women. Especially women, most of them were beauties. Their numbers exceeded a hundred. Some of them bowed down on their knees, praying, exposing their butts, making their vaginas clearly visible.

“Hmph. Lucky you’re relatively fine. You really have strong willpower.”

“Relatively fine? I’m completely fine.”

“Pfft. Don’t act tough after coming all this way. If you were really fine, you wouldn’t have done those things.”

The things I did at the Kwangwon Church flashed through my mind. I decided to keep quiet about this matter.

“So… do you have any plans? Should we go out and ask the association for help?”

“No. If we do that, it’ll be too late. According to Selbritina and the Goddess, if we don’t stop the divine ascension ritual immediately, it’ll be dangerous.”

“…Did you actually talk to Selbritina?”

“Yes. She said this space is closer to Selbria than Earth. And since this is a temple, Selbritina and the Goddess can exert some power here.”

“If that’s true, what are we going to do now?”

“First, we need to stop the divine ascension ritual. It’s impossible to completely stop it right away, so… we need to destroy the ritual room and buy some time. Then we escape outside and inform the association about this incident.”

“To easily move the association… we’ll need evidence, right?”

“There’s plenty of evidence around. Just look at this scene… and Brother, you have a smartphone, right?”

“What about me?”

“As soon as I entered the prayer room, they took all my clothes.”

“Got it. Let’s head outside first. We can steal clothes from the believers outside.”

With Park Sooho, I slipped out of the prayer room. Park Sooho stole clothes from a believer passing through the hallway. As soon as I ordered him, the believer immediately handed over his clothes.

“Brother, you truly possess absolute power.”

“It’s not something I wanted.”

But it’s the power I desire…

I swallowed the last part and, together with Park Sooho, wandered around the interior of the temple. It was to leave evidence that could move the association.

“We’ve checked everywhere we need to. Now let’s head to the ritual room.”

The ritual room was underground in the temple.

It was easy to find out by asking a believer. By the way, the temple holds rituals 24 hours a day. This was different from the special divine ascension ritual. This ritual was one that Kwangwon Church had been conducting daily since long ago.

“Brother, what’s ahead… it’s gonna be really bad. Are you ready?”

“That sounds like something you should prepare yourself for.”

Park Sooho’s expression was stiff. We knew what kind of ritual was happening here.

Ritual.

This was on a completely different level from the rituals held at the Kwangwon Church retreat.

In this temple, they perform human sacrifice rituals. Every two hours, they kill a person as an offering. That means 12 people die as offerings every day.

‘Kwangwon Church obtained this temple about 2 years ago… so at least 8,000 people must have died as offerings.’

The offerings weren’t believers. They were humans abducted from all over the world. Offering believers only happens during the divine ascension ritual.

Park Sooho and I entered the ritual room.

It was dark. And the air was hot. The smell of blood was so strong it made breathing difficult. It was a wide space like a gymnasium, and at its center, on a staircase, there was an altar. On top of the altar…


The body of a man lay on the ground, his head severed from his neck. Blood trickled down the stairs like a crimson river.

“Lord! What brings you here?!”

A man came rushing toward me, breathless and disheveled. Though not the High Priest himself, he was dressed in extravagant robes.

“Are you a guide?”

“I am Murat, the First Guide!”

“Is that so? Die.”

Crackle.

I swung my fist, charged with crackling lightning. Murat’s head exploded into pieces, scattering in all directions.

“Eugene-senpai!”

“What, got something to complain about?”

“No! I just thought you might need a weapon!”

Park Soho was slicing through fanatics with a sword he’d stolen from a nearby disciple.

“I’m good.”

Disciples wielding swords charged at Park Soho. They were at least C-Rank Hunter level, yet Park Soho effortlessly took them down. It wasn’t entirely his own power—something else was aiding him.

“My Lord! Why do you slay us?!”

“The Holy Light commands your deaths.”

“Ah, I see. Then please, take my life!”

“…”

Dropping their weapons, they spread out their arms, urging death with serene smiles upon their faces. Irritated by their fanaticism, I electrocuted them to death with lightning, but their euphoric grins never faded.

“Ah… returning to the Holy Light…”

Their blissful expressions only made me feel worse. With no resistance, Ha and Park Soho silently exterminated all the disciples. They clearly prioritized the High Priest’s orders over mine.

“Brother. These guys deserve nothing less than death. Who could possibly offer human sacrifices?”

“I get it, calm down. You’re the problem here. Right now.”

“Ah… damn.”

Park Soho clenched his eyes shut. His body trembled slightly, but only for a moment. Regaining his composure, he began destroying everything in sight used for the ritual, buying us more time.

I spotted a door at the back of the ritual chamber, smeared with blood.

Opening it revealed a staircase leading downward.

‘Another basement? Could this be the real ritual room?’

The door was too obvious to be a secret passage.

Descending into the underground chamber, my eyes widened in horror.

Countless bodies were piled up like hills, over ten thousand of them scattered carelessly everywhere. The pooled blood reached up to my shins.

Most had their heads cut off, followed by those with split-open stomachs or exposed hearts. Severed corpses were rare.

‘They’re naked… these must have been humans offered as sacrifices. And they haven’t rotted, meaning some measures were taken. Are they planning to use these bodies later?’

Plomp plomp.

As I moved forward, I realized this was merely a storage room for corpses. But then something caught my eye.

“H-Hey! W-What the hell?! Brother! Where are you going?!”

Ignoring Park Soho’s cries from behind, I approached the figure before me.

Han Harin.

Her abdomen torn open, her insides exposed.

“…”

Rage surged within me, momentarily blanking my mind.

Crackle crackle crackle!

Intense blue lightning coursed through my legs, spreading outward. The blood boiled away, and the corpses began to burn. Flames engulfed every single one.

Crackle crackle crackle!

The lightning continued to rage uncontrollably.

“Brother! Brother! Snap out of it! Eugene Brother!!!”

“I’m perfectly fine.”

My Absolute Calm wouldn’t let me lose control to madness. Even as anger and hatred filled me to the brim, I maintained my sanity.

“…Park Soho. What day is it today?”

“Today? It’s the 28th… no, since midnight has passed, it’s the 29th. Brother, we need to leave now! This place isn’t safe for either of us. We’ve gathered enough evidence and delayed the ritual. Let’s escape and seek help from the Association!”

“…”

Only after confirming Han Harin’s body was completely incinerated did I step outside.

My destination: the High Priest.

“Brother! Where are you going?! We need to escape! We’ve done what we needed to do and disrupted the ritual. We should seek help from the Association!”

“You go ahead. I’m going to kill that little priest first.”

“That High Priest isn’t weak like the others! He’s definitely empowered by the Holy Light! Brother, please think this through!”

“I’m thinking clearly. Since I’m calm, you do whatever you want, and I’ll do the same. At this point, none of it matters anymore. From now on… this is just about venting my frustration.”

“What do you mean by that? Ah, seriously! Brother, please!”

When Park Soho tried to block my path, he hesitated and stepped back. He knew better than to stop me. If he had persisted, I would have killed him without hesitation.

“Augh… fine! Do whatever you want, Brother. I’ll do what I think is right!”

Park Soho left.

At the entrance to the High Priest’s chamber, I summoned my Hwaryeonbidu sword and kicked the door open with a mighty crash.

BOOM!