Chapter 234   – Witch Hunt (9)

Team: HH, thursdays, Yahiko

Just when the Magic Bayonet was about to land on Vieira Dune’s neck—

Clink!

The Magic Bayonet was flicked away by an invisible barrier. A murderous aura suddenly came down from above.

Yeon-woo quickly considered whether he should finish Vieira Dune off or leave.

Eventually, he turned to leave Vieira behind. At the same time, he put his mask back on.

Kwang!

As he did, something came forcefully down. The ground cracked with a shake.

“Oho. You’re pretty good. You read that? Your senses have become a lot sharper than when you were on the Five Mountains, kiddo.”

Most rankers would’ve run away. The attacker stood up with a light laugh.

Because the attacker was short, his robe was dragging on the ground.

His face that could be seen through the robe was smiling mischievously.

Yeon-woo could see the cold viciousness on his face. The Plague Ghost, the beast of the Devil Army that ripped apart everything except for his Lord, was in front of him.

“Kindred.”

“Yeah. It’s been a while. It seems like you know who I am, since you’re not surprised.”

Kindred flipped his robe back and chuckled. It was the first time they met after the Monkey King’s Palace.

However, it didn’t seem like it had been that long.

“I guess it would be weird if you didn’t know, huh? Our paths overlapped so many times. Our fates must be intertwined.”

From the Monkey King’s Palace, the Demons’ Forest, and now the Walpurgisnacht.

For the last few months, wherever Kindred went, there were always traces of Yeon-woo. Were there such things as coincidences in this world? Kindred thought not.

Everything in this world was controlled by the Heavenly Demon. So it meant that they were meeting like this because of the Heavenly Demon’s will. Kindred greeted Yeon-woo with a happy smile. He was being genuine.

“So. How’s Brahm?”

“Brahm’s dead…..”

“Haha. Nope! Even if we aren’t close, we shouldn’t lie. Did you think I asked because I didn’t know? Of course he must’ve died. But don’t you think I know that he’s walking around on his own two feet?”

Under the mask, Yeon-woo’s eyes hardened. How did he know that? All things related to the Despair of the Black King were kept secret.

Almost no one in his party knew about the real secret of the Despair of the Black King.

But how did Kindred, no, the Devil Army know?

Kindred curved his lips amusedly.

“There’s nothing we don’t know about where the Heavenly Demon will descend. But to be honest, we don’t know about your secret. However, the Heavenly Demon will know, so we’ll know as well. What else would this be if it isn’t the grace of the Heavenly Demon?”

They were right about only being able to understand half of what zealots said.

However, Yeon-woo learned something.

Like how he had watched the Devil Army from the darkness, the Devil Army was observing him as well.

He was wondering why they hadn’t been following him since the Monkey King’s Palace, but it was that they were just watching him quietly.

‘I’ll have to be more careful when I move from now.’

Yeon-woo clicked his tongue inwardly. What he did from now had to be done in secret. He could never let himself be caught by the Devil Army.

‘It’s a relief that they don’t seem to know too much though.’

If they realized who he was, they would’ve tried to kill him already. The Devil Army was the one that took the lead to get rid of Arthia. The relationship between his brother and the head bishop was that bad.

However, Kindred was showing a positive interest in him right now. It meant that he had another goal in mind.

And he was right.

“So kiddo. As the Heavenly Demon has proclaimed, you need to be with us now. I’ve been waiting for you to come.”

Yeon-woo asked with his eyes widened.

“Is it because of Sesha?”

“Half and half. If we have you, Brahm will follow, and that child will come too. But that’s not everything. Aren’t you a successor of the Monkey King? Then that means you’re our brother. We’ll make sure you’re satisfied.”

He didn’t know what the Monkey King and the Devil Army had to do with each other, but Yeon-woo was concerned about Sesha. It was clear as day why the Elohim were interested in her, but he didn’t have a clue why the Devil Army wanted her.

“What are you trying to do with Sesha?”

“I don’t know either.”

Yeon-woo furrowed his eyebrows.

“What?”

“Haha. Didn’t I say? Everything is according to the will of the Heavenly Demon. The Heavenly Demon tells me what to do, and I just follow his orders. Does there have to be another reason?”

These people were definitely crazy bastards who were hard to understand.

The Heavenly Demon needed Sesha? Most likely, it wasn’t the will of the Heavenly Demon, but of the head bishop instead.

‘Because it’s been a while since the Heavenly Demon gave orders himself.’

This meant that to protect Sesha, he had to go against the Devil Army, like the Blood Land or the Elohim. This was no different.

Kukukoong!

Just then, the fortress shook. The intruders had entered the castle doors. Kindred grabbed the back of the gasping Vieira Dune’s neck and extended his hand towards Yeon-woo.

“That’s enough small talk. The annoying heretics will come, so come with me.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

Just then, Kindred’s kind eyes narrowed. His genial atmosphere changed into a violent one. He bared his teeth, flashing his canines.

“You dare resist the Heavenly Demon’s orders? How disrespectful. Do you think you have a choice?”

“I can make choices of my own.”

“What are you talking…..!”

Just when the growling Kindred was about to take a step forward—

Kwang!

The fortress shook up and down. The shock from Kindred’s arrival couldn’t even be compared to this. With an earthquake, the fortress started to tilt to one side.

“What?”

Everything inside the fortress fell outside in the direction that it was tilted, and cracks appeared in the ceiling and the walls. Parts of the building came crumbling down with dust.

The fortress was about to topple.

The fortress of the Walpurgisnacht that had been around for thousands of years!

The Brocken Castle!

Rumble!

“What are you doing?!” Kindred shouted in a frantic voice. For the first time after becoming the second bishop, he felt a bone-chilling fear.

However, Yeon-woo just smiled behind the mask. Then, he spoke to his subordinates through the connection link.

‘Begin.’

* * *

“Our master wants us to begin.”

Brahm smiled coldly when he heard Yeon-woo’s voice.

Next to him, Galliard nodded and aimed his bow at a large blue crystal above in the sky.

“It’s that, right? The center of those strange barriers?”

The five barriers around the Brocken Castle.

The barriers had eventually allowed the intrusion of outsiders, but they were still in working condition.

It was to protect the Brocken Fortress.

The barriers were strongest in the sky. Because of this, the players couldn’t attempt to move through the air.

Brahm and Galliard wanted to get rid of these barriers completely.

There had to be a center to create the barriers, and the Walpurgisnacht had gone to great lengths to hide this however they could.

However, there was something they hadn’t been able to anticipate.

It was that no one could follow Yeon-woo’s footsteps for control over death.

[The 3rd Spirit]

[Lawless Book]

Using the two powers, Yeon-woo had received Boo’s help with the witches’ souls to find where the ‘center’ was.

It was hidden in the canyons around the Brocken Fortress.

Yeon-woo told his subordinates, who had gone off to find the rest of his party members, to wait at each of the locations of the centers.

So they could break each piece at the same time.

Right now, he had found the locations of five centers. There was one in each of the cardinal directions, and one in the middle.

Brahm and Galliard were at the eastern one. Shanon and Phante were at the west, Hanryeong and Edora at the north, and Rebecca at the south. Boo had said that he was prepared to destroy the center in the middle anytime.

Of course, it wasn’t like something would happen right away after the barriers were gone.

So, he would be able to attempt new attacks. Boo and Brahm were already prepared.

‘There are so many.’

Before he broke the center, Brahm looked below himself.

He could see the battles taking place in the fortress.

The Sea of Time was in the east, and the mercenaries of the West Wind Union were in the west. In the north, the Devil Army and rankers were waiting, and in the south, Elohim had just been attacked, but they were preparing their forces again.

There were countless mercenary guilds and assassination guilds. They looked like starving ghosts.

Although it was a stage they had set up, he felt sorry watching them enter not knowing it was hell.

They were definitely wise people to have reached that level, but what had blinded them?

Greed? Desire? Whatever it was, there wouldn’t be many to survive because of their foolishness.

“Kindred, that guy’s face will be crumpled. It’s a shame I can’t see it myself.”

Brahm tsked as he thought of Kindred, who was probably meeting his master right now. Would he know? That Yeon-woo was the one who had been waiting for him?

‘He made a mistake thinking he was the only smart guy out there.’

Brahm made a note to himself to ask Yeon-woo what kind of face Kindred made.

As he did, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

‘Even though the witches’ souls were investigated, Boo found the weaknesses of the barriers too quickly. Was it that easy? It’s something that the witches made after thorough experiments. I heard a lot of his old memories came back. Does it have something to do with that?’

But he stopped there. He had something he needed to do right now. Brahm looked back at his friend.

“Galliard.”

“Got it.”

Galliard nodded and lifted his hand from the string. <Explosive Arrow>. It was a skill that Dark Elves could receive along with Shunpo if they had the ‘Hunter’ title.

Kwakwakwang!

The arrow landed deep inside the blue crystal. As it exploded, there were smaller explosions inside the crystal, and the crystal shattered to pieces.

The first center was utterly destroyed.

The Ghost World Formation faded away.

Hwak!

Brahm pulled out a book and began to recite a spell. <Book of Mars>. It wasn’t as nice as the Book of Mercury, but it was also a grimoire with his knowledge of alchemy contained inside it.

“Come out.”

Brahm activated his summoning magic. It was magic that required an astronomical price to be paid to forcefully summon an item from the outer space inside.

A large magic circle was drawn in the air.

The price could easily be paid.

There were plenty of Philosopher’s Stones, as the witches had planted them inside the centers to strengthen them.

It was less refined compared to what Yeon-woo had, but it was enough to call items that were floating around outside.

The witches probably never imagined that what they created to protect themselves would hurt them in the end.

Kookookoo—

The sky vibrated, and a stone that was wrapped in heat in the magic circle began to reveal itself.

Brahm smiled coldly as he saw it.

“Meteor Strike.”

Kwang!

* * *

Just then.

Ting, ting, tititing—

Everything stopped like they had been waiting for it.

The Demonic World Formation and the Underworld Formation disappeared, and lastly, the Calamity World Formation scattered. There wasn’t anything left to protect the fortress.

Just then, a large stone fell right on top of the Brocken Fortress. It was a disaster.