Muscles as if about to burst, skin as thick as a suit of armor, and several arms sticking out behind his back.
The giant, who looked like a Yaksha from the Buddhist scriptures, roared in a husky voice.
âChoi Noah! Whereâs Choi Noah?!â
Everyone gathered at the training grounds had perplexed expressions on their faces.
Who were these monsters looking for Noah? Were they friends or enemies?
Depending on their alignment now, the conflict could easily shift, so neither the Hero Association nor the trainees thought to move hastily.
It was the same for Pamir who was quietly gauging the situation as he looked at them full of wariness.
Theyâre not normalâŠ
Even the monster with several arms. It was hard to guess his power.
He was at least A-Rank. Maybe he was an existence that had reached the S-Rank like himself.
In addition, the goat-head woman and insect-winged man standing beside him also seemed dangerous.
As such, he slipped his hand to the sword at his waist.
There was a moment of silence as everyone measured each other.
Soon, one of the monsters, as if he had found it hard to bear such silence, scowled and remarked.
âAre you seeing this? Why isnât anyone answering this one?â
ââŠâ
âHoho, I guess they donât understand if we just ask nicely.â
From the air, the Yaksha took out a colorful gold ornament engraved with something.
It was a Vajra, a Buddhist instrument used in ancient Buddhism to practice asceticism. Although these days such a thing was simply sold as a tourist souvenir or something that could only be found in museums.
However, one difference from what was commonly known was that the Vajra held by the monster was big enough to be called a blunt weapon.
âWell, if you guys are going to be like that, Iâll personally help you open your mouths.â
The monster stamped the huge Vajra he was holding on the ground.
Boomâ!
The training ground cracked like a fissure, and from the Vajra, dark red lightning erupted.
Soon, the monstrous red lightning stretched out violently like a wild beast.
Bangâ!
Peopleâs bodies began to explode like firecrackers one after another.
Those standing nearby became soaked in blood as if they were covered with red paint.
It all happened in an instant before people knew what had happened.
Dozens of people had turned into a pool of blood with one simple attack.
The targets included both the Hero Associationâs people and the trainees who supported Noah.
âK-kyaaak!â
âM-murder!â
People who understood the situation one step later screamed, while those covered in blood had no choice but to freeze with their faces as white as a sheet of paper.
âV-villainsâŠâ
âV-villains! V-villains are here!â
Only then did people realize.
The monsters in front of them werenât on anyoneâs side but were villains who had come to kill them.
Everyone sitting in the stands who were watching ran away in a fit of panic, but at some point they were forced to stop in place.
âFuck! Itâs blocked!â
âHeuk! I want to go homeâŠLet me out! Let me out!â
An enormous barrier surrounding the institute was blocking them.
In addition, even their phones were blocked, so it was a situation where the outside couldnât be contacted.
âHuh? Youâre leaving without answering this oneâs question. What insolence!â
Dark red lightning rose again from the monsterâs body.
Then, with a giant lightning bolt in hand, he pulled his arm back like an Olympic athlete preparing to hurl a javelin.
âYou need to be punished.â
After a short run-up, he used his tight-stretched muscles to throw the lightning bolt.
Boomâ!
Along with the deafening sound of thunder, the red lightning bolt flew toward the stand.
But at that very moment,
Kiieeekâ!
A blue feathered grouse intercepted the lightning bolt with its body.
From its body, blue electric currents flashed.
âHuh? Whatâs this? What a strange creature.â
The monster couldnât believe there was a creature perfectly intact even after being struck by his lightning.
He looked at the grouse full of curiosity.
While he was in awe, from somewhere came the sinking voice of a man.
âVillainsâŠâ
âHmm?â
âI donât know who the hell you are or why youâre here, butâŠâ
Behind the giant grouse, a man somberly stepped forward.
It was the worldâs most capable lightning ability user and hero of S-Rank, Shin Cheonho. Pointing the tip of his sword at the monster, he continued.
âIâm going to make one thing clear.â
âHuu? What the hell is that?â
âThatâsâŠâ
The grouse standing next to Shin Cheonho turned bright before seeping into his body.
His body grew increasingly blue as blue lightning arced.
Soon, Shin Cheonho, who had become something like the spirit of lightning, warned the monsters coldly.
âThe moment you kill innocent civilians, youâve already forfeited your life. SoâŠdonât ask me for mercy.â
âKeuhahaha! How dare an ordinary human be arrogant in front of this one. Then, shall we take a look at your skills?â
As a result, a battle of blue and red lightning began to clash.
* * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, the goat-head woman who was watching the scene sighed briefly inside.
HuuâŠI knew this would happen.
Fighting Spirit King, Yaksha. Although he was one of the strongest executives in Eighth Layer Hell, one drawback was that he would get carried away and forget his original purpose once a mission started. In fact, she didnât expect much when she had set up this operation.
Well, anyway, Iâm glad heâs taking care of the strongest among them.
It was important for them to move to the next part of the plan quickly while Yaksha was keeping Shin Cheonho occupied.
âEveryone move to the gym!â
âIf anyone from the audience has a hero license, please help direct the way!â
Dokgo Hakju, other faculties, and several trainees were seen leading people to evacuate.
Was it because they were from the hero industry?
Unlike what you would expect from normal citizens, their actions were quite orderly and systematic despite the sudden situation.
Itâs just a trifling struggle in the end.
In order to easily find and kill Noah, the more hostages, the better.
As such, it was rather a beneficial situation for Eighth Layer Hell if they gathered in one place on their own.
She turned around and looked at the man with insect wings behind her.
âHenri, Iâll leave that over there to you.â
âHeuung~ Good. But do you mind if I play with some?â
âFine. But, please leave some alive so we have hostages for the plan.â
âHuhuâŠAll right. Even if itâs hard, Iâll hold it in.â
Henri smiled wickedly and disappeared as if he had melted into the air.
The goat-head woman immediately turned her head and spoke to those who were drawing their weapons at her.
âThank you for waiting.â
âThereâs no reason to refuse when the enemy would disperse on their own.â
The man in silver armor said calmly.
Maybe he was from the Hero Association, but surprisingly, he didnât seem to care much about the safety of the citizens.
âYou could certainly think that. And, this isnât for me to say, butâŠArenât you worried about those citizens?â
âFor the greater cause, sacrifices are inevitable. It was judged that revealing your identity was a priority over the lives of a few citizens.â
âHuh?â
An unexpected answer.
The goat-head woman observed the man, wondering if he was up to something, but as if he had really meant it from the bottom of his heart, there was no sign of agitation.
âHuhuâŠas expected, this world is rotten. Thanks to you, I am convinced once again that my choice to follow his will was right.â
***
Reaper Scans
[ Translator â Yasi ]
[ Proofreader â Karane ]
Join our Discord for updates on releases! https://discord.gg/reapercomics
***
She gave a pleasant smile after hearing what the man had said.
Meanwhile, the man was still looking at her full of vigilance.
ââŠSo who the hell are you people? Whatâs your purpose?â
âHmmâŠI was just going to clean up everyone because it was cumbersome. Well, your words moved me, so Iâll let you know.â
Raising her hands in the air as if she was holding the hem of a skirt, she lowered her head.
âNice to meet you, heroes. My name is Sophia.â
Shriiikâ
Her clothes were torn and the wings of a bat revealed itself from behind her back.
âIâm the chief executive of the villain group that you know as Eighth Layer HellâŠâ
Her clearly exposed body had six breasts and below it were bent legs that resembled those of a goat.
Along with a rush of dark red mana, a pentagram magic circle was formed around her body.
ââŠAn Apostle who was bestowed the name âBaphometâ by the great Angra Mainyu.â
She said, smiling and revealing her teeth.
âIn other words, the end of the world is near.â
Yellow breath gushes out of her mouth.
The smell of sulfur stung everyoneâs nose, and at one point, the surrounding landscape was turned into hell covered with acrid black smoke.
At the same time, all over the ground, rotten blood soared like hot spring water as it suddenly swept the Hero Association workers by surprise.
âHuhâŠ? Wh-whatâs this?â
âM-my bodyâŠKkuaaak!â
Just one drop. Even though it was just a little graze on their bodies, those who had touched the liquid began to rot, spewing pus from all holes.
One of the workers wrenched in pain, reaching out to a colleague nearby.
âKeuk! S-save meâŠâ
âH-hold on a second! IâŠKueeook!â
The colleague who was touched also began to rot and showed the same symptoms.
However, one difference from earlier was that the symptoms seemed to have weakened.
Sophia kindly explained.
âHuhuâŠthis curse gets weaker the more itâs divided. If you really care about your colleagues, why donât you share the pain?â
In response to her words, those who had fallen to the ground raised their heads and began to stagger towards their colleagues.
âI want to live, I want to live, I want to liveâŠâ
âI-I have to liveâŠMy daughterâŠMy daughter is waitingâŠâ
However, no one stood up and reached out to them.
Everyone could only look away and repeat the word âsorryâ to themselves.
Looking at such a gruesome scene, the Hero Association workers closed their eyes tightly.
At that very moment,
Swiikâ!
The heads of those struggling to live fell to the ground at once.
âI understand now. It was a filthy cult.â
Pamir shook off the blood from his sword and scowled at Sophia.
âWell, for a heretic like you, I guess unsealing it will be fine.â
Pamir threw off layers of his silver armor one by one. Light began to gush out of his body a little more each time that happened.
âThis is just perfectâŠIâve been meaning to ask you something about Eighth Layer Hell.â
After finally throwing off the last layer of armor, he charged at Sophia with six white wings behind his back.
* * * * * * * * * *
It was fortunate people had scattered after the monstersâ appearance since it would save me the trouble of dealing with witnesses later.
Thanks to that, I safely used < Camouflage > and was able to get close to the Inspector.
I was going to wait for an opportunity to stick a sword behind his back.
ButâŠ
âŠWhat the hell was that?
A naked black man with angel wings while wielding a burning sword.
And across from him was a naked woman with six breasts spreading all kinds of evil curses.
I stared blankly at the terrible sight.
Didnât Kim Taehi say he was A-Rank?
According to the information she had given me, Pamir was an A-Rank hero.
But the power I was sensing from him now was comparable to the dragon I had fought just a while ago.
That meantâŠ
He was at least S-Rank.
Why wasnât anyone aware of it?
It was impossible for a hero of this caliber not to be known.
And the goat-head who was dealing with such a fellow was also formidableâŠ
DamnâŠit seemed I needed to change my plan.
I opened my status window and checked the new Challenge that had appeared a moment ago.
[Challenge â Evil Godâs Apostle(1)]
Condition: Eliminate the Apostles of an Evil God.
Time: Unlimited.
Reward: Varies depending on performance.
Originally, I was going to kill Pamir quickly and then the monster to get the reward.
But to say that could be done, those two were stronger than I had thought.
Frankly, when I had killed the dragon in Hong Kong, I was able to defeat it because the skills and weapons I had were good against it.
But in this situation, Gramâs buff was useless, and in the case of < Giant Hunter >, there wasnât much difference in size, so it was likely ineffective.
And in the worst case scenario, those two would work together to subdue me.
Sophia said she was here to catch me after allâŠ
HuuâŠWhat should I do?
My mind became a mess.
I just wanted those two to fight each other like this and perish together.
The moment I thought as such, an idea flashed across my mind.
Hmm? Wait a minuteâŠPerish togetherâŠ?
I stopped for a moment and tapped on a calculator quickly. And the conclusion wasâŠ
ThisâŠwasnât it possible if I do it well?
Naturally it wasnât easy for me to balance the fight between these S-Ranks, but it wasnât completely out of the question either.
That was all I got right nowâŠ
When my crazy thoughts reached up to that point, just in time someoneâs groan broke out from where the two were fighting.
âKeukâ!â
The naked Pamir had crashed to the ground at a rapid pace. Blood could be seen leaking from his mouth.
And across from him was Sophia with a dried, withered arm emitting sinister energy in her hand.
âHeuk, heukâŠI didnât expect to use the power of the relic.â
It was a body part similar to the arm in Elizabethâs safekeep.
âKeukâŠWhat is that evil power?â
âThis is the power of the great Angra Mainyu! So be honored. Kneel before his great power!â
A vortex of dark red energy surrounded her body and in no time she began to grow in size.
Her white skin became covered in pitch black fur and behind her hip a lengthy snake head grew.
FinallyâŠ
In the middle of her forehead, an ominous-looking third eye appeared between an upside-down pentagram.
âThis will be the end.â
Sophia, who had really turned into a monster, lunged one of her giant legs toward Pamir.
In that moment of desperation,
Bangâ!
I had activated < Divine Shield > to block it.
âChoi Noah, A-Rank hero. Itâs not much, but Iâll cover you!â
âY-youâŠ? Why are you hereâŠ?â
In the heat of the sudden event, Pamir stared at me with a puzzled expression. I grabbed him by the arm and lifted him up.
ââŠThis is naturally where Iâm supposed to be.â
Saying so, I put on the most heroic smile I could muster.