——————
[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
——————
Chapter 49
Most of the Hunters in the auditorium had their hands raised or were lying face-down on the floor.
Any sign of movement was met with immediate retaliation from the assailants.
Tatatatang—!
“Kyaaaah!”
“O-okay! I won’t move, don’t shoot!”
A man who had tried to shift slightly raised his hands in surrender.
But then, his eyes widened in shock.
A woman had appeared behind the armed man.
At the same time.
Shffk—
The assailant’s head was severed cleanly.
Thud.
The headless body crumpled to the ground.
That was the beginning.
Shffk— shffk—
With each chilling snip of scissors, another attacker dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.
“W-what the hell?!”
“Shoot her!”
Tatatatang—!
Panic-stricken, the assailants fired wildly at the woman wielding the scissors or swung their weapons in her direction but struck nothing but air.
Shffk—
Only the attackers were falling.
It was like they were fighting a ghost, something that had no true form.
Their will to resist didn’t last long.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Goddamn it! Why’d you lock the door?!”
“Open it! Hurry!”
“S-she’s coming! Aaaaaagh!”
The white-robed attackers began to flee the auditorium in terror.
***
The ones in white were retreating, fleeing the hall.
Vanessa, it seemed, could be left to handle them on her own.
Maybe in a wide-open auditorium it would’ve been a different story but in the tight hallways and inner rooms of the hall, where there were plenty of places to hide?
Fighting Vanessa there was suicide.
The attackers abandoning the auditorium had essentially thrown themselves into their own graves.
Not that they could leave the quarantined building anyway.
‘Guess I’ll make my move now.’
Letting go of my concern for Vanessa, I summoned my Twin Dragon Sword.
“Jeanne, go assist them.”
I pointed toward Marquis Cunningham and the others fighting the attackers.
“What about you, Sir Seojun?”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll move from the shadows.”
I had no intention of stepping into the spotlight.
Sure, summoning Jeanne and Vanessa had been a pretty loud statement but I hadn’t really thought through the aftermath…
‘Well, I didn’t have much choice.’
If I hadn’t summoned them, I might’ve been in real danger.
And if I wanted to save people, I needed both of them anyway.
“I’m counting on you, Jeanne.”
I entrusted Jeanne with securing the Marquis of Cunningham’s support and turned toward the tightly sealed emergency stairwell.
It was right then.
“Sir Seojun, just a moment.”
Jeanne called out, stopping me in my tracks.
Then, without warning, she tore a strip from the hem of her skirt.
Riiip—
With a long piece of fabric now in hand, Jeanne looked at me and said,
“May I have your wrist, please?”
“?”
Puzzled, I offered my wrist.
Jeanne wrapped the torn cloth around it and tied a firm knot so it wouldn’t come undone.
“All done.”
“What is this for?”
“This way, no matter where you go, I’ll be able to support you.”
==
[Cloth of Jeanne d’Arc]
– It has no special effect, but carries the essence of Jeanne d’Arc’s spirit.
==
‘A remote buff, huh.’
Even if we were physically apart, carrying something of Jeanne’s would allow me to receive her aid.
There was likely a range limit, but as long as we were inside the same building, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Guess I owe her a new outfit after this.
Seeing the torn hem of her skirt made me smile involuntarily.
“Thanks, Jeanne.”
“Come back safely.”
She sent me off with a clear, bright smile.
I gripped my Twin Dragon Sword and headed toward the emergency stairwell.
There was no one guarding the sealed door.
Thanks to Vanessa, the intruders who had locked down the auditorium had all fled.
I struck the padlock with my Twin Dragon Sword.
Clang—!
The lock broke cleanly, and the heavy chain dropped to the floor.
I opened the door and climbed the emergency stairs.
4F
The very top floor of the hall—the fourth floor.
Lined like a baseball stadium with seating surrounding the auditorium, the fourth floor was completely empty.
―Summoning Napoleon’s Rifle.
I called forth Napoleon’s Rifle and stepped up to the railing, looking down into the auditorium.
Marquess Cunningham and his retinue were entangled in combat with the intruders.
‘Not the easiest shot…’
The distance was just over 20 meters.
It would be simple to hit a stationary target at that range—but a moving one? Much harder.
One wrong shot, and I could hit an ally.
At least, that would be the case with an ordinary gun.
[Battlefield energy detected.]
[Napoleon’s Rifle is unlocking its traits.]
[Grape-Shot General, Napoleon]
[Accuracy: +65%]
I took aim at the intruders with Napoleon’s Rifle.
Watching carefully, I pulled the trigger the moment one of them broke away from the others, separating from the group after clashing swords.
Bang!
The magic bullet shot out with a crack.
***
As soon as she was summoned, Vanessa assessed the situation.
The auditorium had been completely overrun by the intruders.
Without hesitation, she eliminated Nikolai first, the man who had dared to raise his blade against him.
She knew that killing the Korean archbishop of the Orthodox Church would stir up new enemies from Moscow, but she didn’t care.
Raising a weapon against Benefactor was, in itself, a crime deserving death.
Then, by Benefactor’s command, Vanessa deliberately drove the Church’s enforcer-priests out of the auditorium.
She made sure they didn’t harm anyone on the way out.
Because if someone were to die, the Benefactor would grieve.
“Die!”
Slash!
A priest hiding behind a door rushed out, only for his arm to be severed in a flash.
“Huh?”
Still not grasping what had happened, the priest’s head fell soon after.
Step. Step.
Vanessa ignored the fallen priest and kept walking.
As she strolled down the corridor, she suddenly stabbed into a nearby wall—without even glancing at it.
Shluk—
Blood seeped out.
Thud.
A priest, disguised as part of the wall, slid down and collapsed.
Under desks, behind doors, atop lockers, in the ceiling, tucked into corners of the inner rooms...
The enforcer-priests had hidden themselves throughout the building like they were playing hide-and-seek.
A foolish tactic.
Because hide-and-seek was Vanessa’s specialty.
She located their positions as naturally as breathing.
It was terrifying no matter where they hid or how, Vanessa hunted them down like a ghost.
Eventually, the priests abandoned their hiding spots and started fleeing from her outright.
But Vanessa didn’t rush after them.
She herded them slowly, steadily, into a corner of the building.
Step. Step.
Like a hunter casually corralling rabbits.
***
‘What the hell is going on!?’
Wang Wei was completely rattled.
Back when the operation was first being planned, it had seemed foolproof.
He had accepted the Orthodox Church’s proposal to steal the Essence only after determining it was well within their capabilities.
And at first, it really did go smoothly.
Once they breached the barrier and got inside, the only people in the auditorium were a few low-ranking Hunters and the Marquess Cunningham’s small retinue.
Sure, the Marquis himself was an elite Hunter but even the best can’t take on ten people at once.
When the specialized Chinese sweepers, armed with top-tier gear, charged in, even the Marquis had been unable to make a difference.
It looked like the Essence was just within reach.
But then, everything changed.
When that girl appeared, holding a flag.
Flap— flap—
As the girl waved the flag, white light spread outward, and the wounds on the Marquis’s attendants vanished as if they had never been there.
‘What kind of absurd ability is that…?!’
Wang Wei was left speechless.
It was as if none of them had even fought, the injuries were completely erased, and everyone had been restored to their original condition.
And thanks to that insane level of healing, their numerical advantage no longer meant anything.
Every time they showed signs of fatigue, another burst of light would erupt, restoring them again and again.
The enemy was overflowing with energy while the Chinese Hunters were the only ones wearing down.
And that wasn’t the only problem.
Bang! Bang!
“Gah!”
“Agh!”
“That bastard—!”
Wang Wei’s eyes burned red with fury as he looked up toward the fourth floor.
From that vantage point, a masked figure was relentlessly firing a rifle.
His shots were so perfectly timed that the Chinese Hunters were pinned down, unable to move properly.
Taking full advantage of the disruption, Marquis Cunningham rampaged like a wild beast.
Age meant nothing to him; he showed no signs of tiring as he swung his sword with brutal precision.
And the Orthodox Church allies who were supposed to help? Nowhere to be seen.
Wang Wei realized it then.
They were screwed.
He bolted toward the exit.
Slamming the doors open in desperation, he was greeted by pure white nothingness.
He barked at the adjutant behind him.
“D-Dimensional shift! Hurry up and shift us out!”
“We can’t!”
“What do you mean, you can’t?!”
“The barrier we can’t exit through it!”
Wang Wei already knew that but panic had overridden reason.
Even Nikolai had said it would take at least thirty minutes to get out of the sealed zone.
And now, even Nikolai’s head was rolling around on the floor.
Thud. Thud. Thud!
Wang Wei pounded his fists against the white wall.
And then did his desperation trigger something?
“Oh! It’s opening! Look, it’s cracking!”
The blank void began to ripple, small fractures appearing across its surface.
“Keep hitting it! Break through!”
“Yes, sir!”
Just as Wang Wei and his adjutant readied to strike harder, hope glimmering in their eyes
CRACK! FWOOOOSH!
The barrier shattered.
And beyond it stood a woman, wielding a golden sword.
‘Behind her?’
A sea of Hunters flooding in.
Wang Wei froze, mid-punch, fist still raised.
***
It’s over.
The barrier collapsed, and Hunters from the outside poured into the hall.
“Benefactor.”
Vanessa approached my side.
“Are you finished?”
“Yes. I’ve cleared them all.”
She meant the ones who had tried to flee none had escaped.
“You’ve done well.”
“You too, Benefactor.”
She smiled kindly.
Meanwhile, down on the auditorium’s first floor, the remaining intruders were being subdued.
“I’m sorry, but may I return home and greet you properly later?”
“Of course.”
I sent Vanessa back. Jeanne followed after her.
“What the—?!”
“She vanished!”
The Hunters murmured in confusion as Jeanne disappeared.
I made my way down to the first floor, trying to casually blend into the crowd.
I pushed open the emergency stairwell door to slip out quietly.
“Ancestor…?”
A voice stopped me in my tracks.
I turned my head.
A woman with silver hair and striking blue eyes was staring at me in shock.
——————
[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
——————
