Chapter 1052

〈Chapter 1052〉 The Divine Rank

I kept interrogating Kang Jiwoo.

The location of the Light Origin Sect’s branches. Politicians related to the Light Origin Sect. Their abduction methods, and so on. I gathered all sorts of intel.

“…Is it really okay for me to keep prying into the Light Origin Sect’s secrets like this?”

“It’s fine. You are a chosen one, Mr. Yoojin.”

Chosen one…

Even though they know I want to kill their high priest, they still treat me as some sort of honored guest.

“Is there truly no way to kill the high priest?”

“Not at the moment. But things might change in the future. There is one possible method for you, Chosen One.”

“Tell me that method.”

“You must ask Lord Lumina. He has great interest in you, so he will likely agree.”

My eyebrows twitched. Lord Lumina was my enemy. Isn’t he the one ultimately responsible for Han Harin’s death? And now that I think about it, his world isn’t normal either. Beautiful women turn into monsters. If I become his disciple, I’ll end up like the high priest—a tentacle monster. I have absolutely no desire to become a tentacle monster.

“…Are there any other ways?”

“Nope. With the divine ritual approaching, the high priest’s immortality has been perfected. It’s proof that Lord Lumina is getting closer to Earth.”

Kang Jiwoo stated confidently. After hesitating for a moment, I asked:

“…What if… what if it wasn’t now but in the past? Like, about a month ago, could the high priest have been killed then?”

“Hmm. Is such a hypothetical scenario meaningful?”

“It is to me.”

“If that’s what Mr. Yoojin wishes, I shall answer. A month ago… yes, there would’ve been a way. The high priest’s power is linked to Lord Lumina and this temple. Simply put, destroying this temple would weaken the high priest. Although now, even if the temple were destroyed, it wouldn’t affect him much.”

So, I found out how to kill the high priest. It was surprisingly easy, leaving me feeling utterly deflated.

“The entrance to the shrine. It’s not only in Japan, right?”

“Yes, correct. There are entrances all over the world. Recently, new ones have reportedly appeared.”

“Where are the other entrances?”

“I don’t know, except for the one in Japan. Other guides might be aware.”

“Got it.”

I gripped my sword. Kang Jiwoo neither fled nor showed fear; instead, she stared at me intently.

“Mr. Yoojin, are you going to kill me?”

After seeing Han Harin’s corpse, I made up my mind.

“I’ve decided to wipe out the entire Light Origin Sect. No exceptions, even for you.”

“I see. Then I gladly accept my fate.”

“Why? Don’t you want to live?”

“I do. But it’s your will, which means it’s Lord Lumina’s will. So, I’ll die happily.”

“Crazy woman.”

“Aaaah! Oh mighty Lumina, please take me into your fold…”

*Slice.*

Kang Jiwoo’s head fell off.

I looked down at her severed head with mixed feelings. Though she was crazy, we had shared a bed a few times. My stomach didn’t feel quite settled.

Leaving her body behind, I stepped outside. True to my word, I slaughtered every follower of the Light Origin Sect I came across. Still, my rage wouldn’t subside.

‘The structure of the temple is roughly understood. Aside from the ritual room, there’s nothing particularly special.’

I headed toward the ritual chamber, but my true goal wasn’t there. According to the high priest, there’s a sacrificial management room inside the temple.

‘Sacrifices are used in rituals, so the sacrificial management room should be near the ritual chamber.’

The ritual runs nonstop for 24 hours, with offerings presented every two hours. Therefore, the sacrificial management room must be nearby for convenience.

As I ran through the temple, an automatic camera floated beside me.

‘Is this it?’

A little away from the ritual chamber, there was a sturdy iron door tucked in a corner of the corridor. Everything else around here was either burned or broken, yet this place remained intact, as if protected by some unseen force.

I opened the tightly shut iron door.

As soon as the ritual chamber door opened, the smell of blood hit me. Here, there was a faint scent of disinfectant.

“……!!”

Naked humans were stored in tanks filled with transparent liquid.

‘They seem unconscious but are alive. This water isn’t ordinary.’

Judging by the numbers alone, there must be over a thousand people. Children and adult men and women were visible. After scanning around, I noticed no elderly individuals. They probably excluded old people deliberately since they weren’t suitable sacrifices.

There were also humans outside the tanks lined up as if waiting in queue. I realized their order represented the sequence in which they’d be sacrificed. The person at the front would be next in two hours.

I reached out toward the unconscious sacrifice. She was a blonde woman with D-cup breasts, pale skin, and spotlessly clean.

‘She’s alive.’

She seemed to be knocked out due to anesthesia. Of course, it makes sense. If the sacrifices woke up and caused chaos, it would be inconvenient. Especially when hundreds of them are gathered here like objects.

“Sssshh… Sssshh…”

I suddenly froze upon sensing movement from the ceiling and slowly tilted my head upward.

A spider-like monster hung from the ceiling…


That bastard.

Its appearance was bizarre. Three female faces with long hair were attached to its head section. Six eyes stared me down. On the spider’s back, six female breasts hung like fruits on a fruit tree.

“Are you the offering manager?”

The high priest turned out to be a tentacle monster. It wasn’t strange that the offering manager was a spider monster. Managing offerings must be very important. It makes sense that a more reliable entity would handle it.

The spider monster charged at me. The sharp spider legs aimed for my body. Trusting my armor, I stood against the spider monster.

Kaaang! Kang!

Stormbreaker armor protected me from the spider legs. However, it wasn’t perfect. Parts of the armor were pierced or dented. The strength of Stormbreaker correlates with my abilities. Meaning, the spider monster is stronger than me.

“But I managed to withstand it once, that should be enough!”

Aiming for an opening, I thrust my sword into the spider monster’s torso. Pajijjik. Red electricity flowed through the spider monster.

“Kieeeaaaak!”

The spider monster screamed. Transparent liquid sprayed from the six breasts on its back. Since I was in front of the spider, the liquid didn’t reach me.

“Die!!”

I put force into my sword. As it descended, it stopped. It was hard to cut through.

‘My strength is fading… damn it. My body isn’t moving as I want.’

Sleepiness overcame me. I realized the liquid the spider exhaled was some kind of anesthetic. I never expected it to work this effectively even without touching me.

“Heavenly Heart (Heaven Heart)!”

The sleepiness disappeared and my physical abilities increased. With that, I slashed down and split the spider’s body.

“Keeeeaaak…”

Intestines poured out from the split body of the spider. I kicked the spider’s torso falling towards me, making it fall backwards. Though I worried if it might be an immortal like the high priest, fortunately, the spider monster died immediately.

‘At least one thing, the anesthetic was incredible. If not for Heavenly Heart, it would’ve been dangerous.’

I hurriedly left the offering management room. I shouldn’t pass out from anesthesia right after Heavenly Heart ends.

Stepping outside, I frowned at the delayed pain from my left arm and shoulder. The armor had been pierced and dented. If I had killed the monster just a little later, I might have been the dead one.

‘I roughly know the structure inside the shrine now. But I can’t be satisfied with just this. I need to gather as much information as possible.’

Next, I needed to find the entrance leading to the space where the shrine was located.

I quietly ran out of the shrine. Inside the shrine, sounds of battle continued. I glimpsed Park Sooho fighting the high priest.

‘…Was Park Sooho this strong?’

It seemed thanks to the goddess’s power.

Anyway, it was a good opportunity. Because Park Sooho was buying time by battling the high priest, I could move around freely.

I aimlessly ran outside the shrine. It wasn’t where I came with Kang Jiwoo. I needed information about other areas.

Then I found the dungeon gate. More than ten believers, who looked like hunters, were guarding the gate entrance.

“Oh! A distinguished guest!”

“The shrine is on fire. What are you doing here?”

“We’re guarding this gate. It appeared about two weeks ago. Unpermitted individuals appear through here. Usually, the high priest destroys the entrance, but this time, strangely, he didn’t.”

“Why doesn’t the high priest destroy the gate?”

“He said it’s better to stay connected to the outside as the time approaches. We don’t know the details either.”

“I see. Just now, the holy man told me that he wants your lives.”

“Aaaaaah! The holy man desires us! How ecstatic! Holy man! Please take our insignificant lives!”

They raised their daggers and committed suicide.

I stepped out of the gate.

The air changed completely.

An oppressive sky and ground that squelched like fish welcomed me. It was a dark forest with a mixed smell. The black forest greeted me, and bone-only wyverns flew through the gloomy sky. They were undead monsters.

‘There are traces of a village. This used to be a village, not a forest. It’s too modern for a dungeon. This is… an erosion dungeon.’

This place is probably the Hokkaido erosion dungeon. Considering the connection between the gate behind me and Han Harin, it’s certain.

‘High priest… no, the offering manager. That spider monster alone could easily wipe out a raid party.’

The offering manager’s anesthetic was something I couldn’t endure for more than 10 seconds. If it weren’t for the status anomaly immunity effect of Heavenly Heart, I wouldn’t have been able to defeat that monster.

I hesitated before tearing up the prepared space teleportation scroll. This erosion dungeon information might also help me.

‘Since there’s plenty of time, let’s explore. With Illusiter, hiding from monsters isn’t difficult.’

Moreover, the monsters are undead. Compared to other monsters, undead have inferior tracking and detection abilities.

After wandering around for about three hours, I found people.

Hunters from the Japanese Hunter Association guarding the erosion dungeon.

“Survivor!!”

Judging by their reaction, it seems the second raid team of Suwol Guild was wiped out.

‘Suwol Guild… you useless bastards. If you had asked the association for help instead of being prideful, Han Harin might have been rescued alive.’

Grinding my teeth, I spoke to the Japanese association.

“Where are the others?!”

“Surely… they’ve been wiped out again?! What terrifying monsters are inside the dungeon gate? Is it not an A-Rank dungeon but an S-Rank dungeon?”

I shouted loudly while looking at them.

“I’m Ryu Hansol from Suwol Guild! The second raid team and I…”


“Everyone else was wiped out! That gate is an S-Rank dungeon! It’s on the verge of a Dungeon Break! Reinforcements! We need reinforcements! Hokkaido is in danger!”

The faces of everyone present instantly turned grave. This wasn’t the Korean Guild Suwol, but rather the Japanese Association. There would be no readily available information on individual members of Suwol Guild. Even if they investigated, it would take time… and one couldn’t easily ignore intel about an impending S-Rank Dungeon Break.

“I’ll lead Japan’s support troops back to the shrine and sweep them all away, then regress.”

Even if it were meaningless, I wanted to see those guys from the Church of Light die with my own eyes.

“In more detail! Tell us what was inside the dungeon gate?!”

“There were tentacle monsters and spider monsters. The tentacle monster wouldn’t die no matter how much we attacked it, and the spider monster sprayed some powerful tranquilizer…”

I mixed truth with lies in my explanation, deliberately omitting any mention of the Church of Light. Talking about them now would only invite disbelief. What needed emphasis was the presence of powerful monsters and the imminent Dungeon Break. From the perspective of the Japanese Association, that was far more pressing and serious.

“The second assault team from Suwol Guild has also been annihilated… this isn’t normal! Contact the association and request support from every guild in Hokkaido! We will handle the mess left by Suwol Guild’s failure!”

It seemed they were oddly pleased by Suwol Guild’s failure—perhaps because it diminished their reputation. Or maybe there was something else at play here that I didn’t know about. Maybe it was simply because they could side with Korea…

About four hours passed. I pretended to contact Suwol Guild while secretly verifying my identity with Baek Ji-eun’s help. Though this would eventually come to light later…

“There won’t be a ‘later.’ I’m regressing anyway.”

We were about to move out.

Approximately 500 A-Rank hunters had gathered, along with over 2,000 lower-ranked hunters. A massive force had assembled. Helicopters hovered overhead—a news crew. Things had grown larger than I anticipated. Still, it didn’t matter much to me.

“After the briefing, we’ll immediately attack the dungeon. Based on our measurements, it’s an A-Rank dungeon, but it’s where Korea’s second-largest guild, Suwol Guild, failed twice. There’s a high possibility it’s a Mutated Gate. Difficulty is estimated to be above S-Rank.”

As a Japanese Association staff member began the briefing…

KUUUUUUUWOOONG!

The world shook.

“An earthquake?”

“Not now! Of all times!”

“No, this isn’t an earthquake! Something… something’s appearing!”

Japanese hunters panicked.

I swallowed hard, sensing an overwhelming presence.

“What the hell is that?!”

“Is the gate expanding?”

“The gate is black! What’s happening?!”

The gate tore open, revealing a colossal being.

Tentacles.

Massive pillar-like tentacles slowly emerged from beyond the pitch-black gate. Red eyes glimmered through the darkness. The sheer enormity of the presence left Japanese hunters speechless with fear.

It appeared sooner than expected. Park Sooho must have been sacrificed, along with all the followers of the Church of Light. Perhaps even the leader himself made the ultimate sacrifice.

– Is this Earth? Feels good. I sense abundant karma here compared to other places. Earth, welcome your true master.

Brahma Sen, the fanatic, unleashed madness. His gaze brimmed with insanity.

Hunters went berserk. Some screamed and ran in all directions, others collapsed and took their own lives, and still others started fighting each other.

There were fewer than thirty sane hunters left, including myself. Eventually, as time passed, they all succumbed to madness.

– Although this isn’t a complete descent, you managed to withstand even one of my eyes. You are indeed a peculiar human. Sung Yoojin, become my apostle. I shall resurrect the woman you love.

“Shut up. I’ll save Han Harin without your help. And someday, I’ll kill you with my own hands.”

– After offering you a chance, you dare reject it? How foolish. You’re not essential anyway. Die now.

A tentacle shot toward me. It stretched over a kilometer in length and was thicker than fifty meters. Summoning a drone from the *[Vampire Detective]* world, I ascended into the sky.

‘If I’m going down, I’ll take you with me.’

Summoning a tactical nuke from my inventory, I dropped it.

A single city could be erased effortlessly by the *[Vampire Detective]* world’s tactical nuke.

Immediately after, I tore the spatial teleportation scroll and appeared in a luxurious inn. Trusting the Stormbreaker armor, I weathered the immense heat that demolished the inn around me.

“…Did he die?”

I muttered uncertainly.

He remained unscathed. He’d grown so large he was visible even from here. Two red eyes stared at me before a third appeared.

‘That’s just another part of his body.’

The tentacle extended further, surpassing fifty kilometers.

There was still time before it reached me.

“…How long have you been preparing for this?”

-I prepared long before you were born. Do you feel powerless? Don’t despair. It’s only natural.

“Huh? Too bad for you. In the end, you’re the one who will fail.”

Just as the colossal tentacle descended upon me, I used my 30-day regression ticket.

[Using the 30-Day Regression Ticket.]

[Regressing 30 days back.]

[The Leisure Life app is unaffected by regression.]

I watched the world regress except for me.

Clouds reversed their course, Brahma Sen’s tentacle shrank as it attempted to kill me, and the inn shattered by the nuclear explosion returned to its original form. Everything reverted to before the explosion.

I felt my consciousness fading.

[Regression to 30 days ago completed.]

I opened my eyes atop the familiar bed.