Chapter 67

Chapter 67. The Appearance of a Great Demon (4)

"They say that if you want to hide a tree, you should hide it in a forest. So if you want to hide a Holy Relic, should you hide it in a room full of sacred objects? Well, I suppose someone who can't sense aura wouldn't be able to tell which ones are genuine Holy Relics."

That was Michael's first impression after following the line through the iron door.

The floor was made of polished black marble tiles that gave the room a dignified atmosphere. Luxurious display cases were arranged at regular intervals, matching the elegant appearance of the floor. The Holy Relics placed inside the transparent display cases looked precious even at a glance, and there were more than ten of them.

"Everything looks fine, except for one thing that doesn't belong in a treasure vault."

At the far end of the room, one of the display cases had been opened.

"M, make sure you deliver this to Lord Marbas. Hehe. Hehehe!"

Matsumoto, who had been trembling with fear earlier, was now behaving like a completely different person as he took something out of the display case. The object resembled a small sprout. He attached it to an insect that looked like a fly.

Bzzzzzz!

Having received its instructions, the fly began flapping its wings and flew toward the exit where Michael was standing. The approaching fly made an incredibly loud buzzing noise and was about as large as an adult man's thigh. Seeing its disgusting appearance, Michael naturally reached behind his back.

Shing.

Michael drew Durandal and swung it at the approaching fly as though he were hitting a baseball with a bat.

Perhaps because of its compound eyes, the fly managed to read the path of Michael's sword and twisted its body to avoid the attack.

"Oh? Look at this thing. Durandal, you can handle this much, can't you?"

Fwoooosh!

Durandal, which had not yet awakened from its dormant state, was currently nothing more than a sturdy sword. However, it was still possible to forcibly wrap Durandal in aura. Michael didn't particularly care about its condition and coated the blade in White Flame, preparing to launch an attack at the fleeing fly.

"He, hehe! No, you can't! You can't do that! That's an extremely important object that must be delivered to Lord Marbas!"

Matsumoto, whose mind had been consumed by madness, staggered toward Michael like a drunkard.

Michael released white fireflies from his hand and turned around to deal with Matsumoto. He bent his right arm, which was holding Durandal's hilt, toward his waist.

The moment an insect took control of him, there was no way to bring him back.

Ending Matsumoto's life as quickly as possible would at least spare him unnecessary suffering.

Having made his decision, Michael focused on Matsumoto's position. He intended to swing his sword and cut off the man's head the moment he could accurately determine his location.

"Fine, come at me. I'll send you off quickly... H, holy fuck! You look absolutely disgusting!"

Matsumoto's face, with its bulging, multicolored eyes, resembled a snail infected by a parasite.

"Marbas, you crazy bastard! What the hell did you implant in him?!"

The confident expression Michael had worn moments earlier immediately collapsed at the sight of Matsumoto, who looked even more disgusting than the fly that had just passed him.

Michael's eyes visibly trembled, and he unconsciously took a step backward. Seeing his reaction, Matsumoto gained confidence and grabbed his cassock.

Pop, pop, pop!

"Hehe, hehe!! With this... With this? I don't know! Anyway, it's over! For Lord Marbas!"

Matsumoto threw away his thoughts as carelessly as buttons falling from his clothes and pulled his cassock wide open.

Michael's eyes widened in an instant.

"You crazy bastard!"

Could there possibly be anything more capable of triggering trypophobia, the fear of clustered holes and patterns? Beneath the opened cassock, reddish aphid-like insects were packed tightly together against the black fabric.

"Fuck. Isn't this going way too far?!"

As the abdomens of the Exploding Bugs grew increasingly red, Michael imagined exactly what was about to happen and quietly expressed his opinion.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

An enormous explosion erupted, so powerful that its sound could be heard throughout every corner of Myeongdong Cathedral.

Black smoke filled with terrible demonic energy engulfed the exhibition room. Since the room couldn't contain all the smoke, the excess escaped through the ventilation ducts and entrance.

When the smoke finally cleared,

Patter, patter! Patter, patter, patter!

Chunks of Matsumoto's flesh, which had been torn apart by the explosion, rained down like hail.

Blood soaked the floor, and the metallic smell of blood filled the room. Some of the fragments that had been blown away had stuck to the walls and were slowly sliding down.

Plop.

A bright-red lump of flesh fell onto a half-dead figure who was lying against a wall for support.

The falling lump landed on exposed white bones that were clearly visible because pieces of flesh had been torn away by the explosion.

"Ah... Ah..."

A faint, breathless sound escaped from the living corpse holding a sword. His vocal cords had been damaged, so no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't produce a proper sound.

"H, hh, ah. F..."

After several attempts, he finally managed to form a few clumsy words. And the first sentence he spoke was,

"Fuck. That hurts like hell."

It was a curse.

The areas where his flesh had been torn away began regenerating, gradually restoring the living corpse to Michael's appearance. Once his body had recovered enough for him to move, Michael used Durandal as a walking stick and stood up.

"Haa. Your master is going through hell, and you're just enjoying a nice, peaceful nap."

Durandal, which had entered its dormant state because of Michael in the first place, naturally gave no response to his criticism.

Showing absolutely no conscience, Michael staggered around like a feeble old man and examined his surroundings.

"No wonder the security here was so weak."

Considering the enormous explosion that had just taken place, the room was remarkably intact apart from the blood and flesh scattered everywhere. Given the number of Exploding Bugs that had detonated in an attempt to take Michael down with them, that should have been impossible.

Wooooong. Wooooong.

He could see defensive barrier formations glowing around each display case. It was a sight he hadn't noticed when he first entered.

"Come to think of it, it was strange that a room storing so many Holy Relics had only two security guards."

By now, Michael had almost completely recovered. He carefully examined the barriers. Even from his perspective, they were exceptionally well constructed, and neither their formulas nor their materials could be easily identified.

"In that case, what about that one...?"

Michael's gaze settled on the display case Matsumoto had opened. There were no signs that anyone had disabled a barrier around it, which meant the situation had almost certainly been arranged deliberately.

John had known that Marbas was after the object that resembled a sprout.

"Hmm. That bastard is like an onion. The more layers you peel away, the more you discover."

The fact that John had left that particular display case without a barrier meant he had deliberately allowed the demons to take the object.

"Did he know about the White Horseman too?"

Michael's gaze turned cold.

"Just how much does he know?"

He remembered the chapter book that supposedly contained an account of the final Battle of Lourdes. John had spoken as though he would eventually show it to Michael if Michael continued fulfilling their mercenary contract. However, it seemed there was something else Michael didn't know about.

"Haa. There's no way for me to find out right now."

Michael shook his head. John wasn't even here, and dealing with the approaching White Horseman was currently his greatest priority.

Michael's eyes sharpened as he looked at the line connected to the Guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Rustle. Creak!

He had no further business in this room. Michael wrapped Durandal in some spare cloth lying on the floor, strapped it to his back, and prepared to return to the religious-goods shop.

Step, step, step, step.

Multiple sets of footsteps could be heard approaching from above. Apparently, Myeongdong Cathedral had finally responded to the explosion.

"Well, aren't you quick?"

Considering the Exploding Bugs scattered outside, perhaps their arrival was actually quite fast.

When Michael stepped out of the room, he saw several priests wearing black cassocks gathered near the religious-goods shop. Because of the thick smoke mixed with demonic energy, some of them were covering their noses.

Michael was about to walk past them when he suddenly stopped. The way the priests were looking at him was suspicious. Some had even identified and blocked his possible escape routes.

"Am I being treated as a suspect right now?"

A sudden terrorist attack, black smoke pouring out of the religious-goods shop, and Michael standing there without a single injury. From anyone else's perspective, he certainly looked suspicious enough to be mistaken for the terrorist.

"It's all right! It's all right! He's not the one responsible!"

Just when the situation was becoming extremely troublesome, a savior appeared. Sia suddenly emerged from among the priests and began defending Michael.

"He's someone who signed a contract with Bishop John. He's the kind of person who would solve a problem, not cause one!"

"How are we supposed to believe that?!"

"Exactly. Maybe he was waiting until the insects were dealt with before carrying out his plan!"

No matter how passionately Sia defended him, the priests refused to abandon their suspicions.

"...I'll stake my cassock on it. There's absolutely no way this man is responsible!"

Jungon's daughter had declared that she would stake her position as a priest on Michael's innocence. If the other priests continued arguing, they might attract Jungon's displeasure, so their resistance gradually weakened.

This was the method Sia disliked more than anything. Raising her voice in front of other people like this could make it seem as though she was borrowing her father's authority to get her way. However, at the moment, she had no other choice.

"Well, if you're willing to go that far..."

As proof that their resistance had been broken, the priests no longer raised any objections.

With the suspicion surrounding Michael finally settled, the priests went to inspect the religious-goods shop, the underground area, and the surrounding rooms.

"Phew. Are you all right?"

Now that she could finally relax, Sia examined Michael. Her eyebrows were drawn so close together that they almost touched, showing just how worried she had been.

"Pfft."

The tiny tears gathered at the corners of her eyes made her look rather cute. Michael couldn't help letting out a small laugh.

"Wh, what's so funny?! Instead of thanking me, you're laughing at me! Let me see if you're injured anywhere..."

As Sia looked Michael over, her face suddenly turned red. His wounds had completely healed thanks to his regeneration, but his torn clothes hadn't been restored.

"Where are you looking?"

Sia immediately turned her head away from the occasional glimpses of his lean muscles and scars, then cleared her throat.

"Ahem, ahem. Everyone?"

At Sia's call, animals suddenly emerged from every direction.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp!"

"Hissss!"

The wild animals made their usual sounds as though trying to hide the embarrassed Sia from Michael's view.

"Why do you keep getting more of them?"

"Ahaha. I know, right? I don't even know how they managed to find me..."

A kestrel with a hooked beak had taken the sparrow's place, while a wildcat with fierce eyes, the kind normally seen in the mountains, had pushed the ordinary cat aside.

Although Sia was smiling, her voice sounded full of exhaustion.

"Phew. I can't believe those exploding insects managed to get all the way down there. Wait, why were you down there in the first place?"

"Took you long enough to ask."

Just as Michael was about to explain what had happened,

"Sia, what about the underground area?"

"Oh, you're here?"

Jungon, who had arrived a little later, was brushing off his hands. A white liquid with a faint reddish tint covered them.

Did he kill all of them?

Apparently, Jungon had crushed the Exploding Bugs to death while they were asleep. He seemed like a completely different person from the man who had been trembling with fear earlier.

"Several priests have just gone down to investigate."

Jungon's expression darkened when he heard Sia's answer.

"...So he was already in Korea?"

There was no need to investigate to know that Marbas was responsible, considering the timing. Their mistake had been assuming they were safe because they believed he was still overseas.

Jungon glanced toward Michael, hoping he might at least have some clue about Marbas's objective.

"What happened in there, sir... I mean, what happened in there? Judging by the broken door, I don't think it was simply an insect that got inside."

Suddenly remembering Michael's age, Jungon found it a little difficult to decide how he should address him. He hadn't paid attention to that during their conversation in the reliquary chamber because he had been too relieved after hearing Michael's explanation.

"Just talk to me the way you normally do. A thief broke in. It was that guy who came from Japan. He was being controlled by one of Marbas's insects."

Jungon frowned in confusion.

"But when we examined him, there weren't any traces of demonic energy or signs of disease. How could that happen?"

"Insects from Hell can hide their demonic energy. It's only natural that you couldn't find it. And that Japanese guy wasn't sick. A parasite had taken over his brain."

If Matsumoto had entered while hiding insects that could conceal their demonic energy, it made sense that they hadn't been detected.

Hearing that such insects existed in Hell, Jungon nodded in understanding.

"So that's why we didn't notice."

After hearing Michael's story in the reliquary chamber, Jungon's trust in him had increased considerably. Now, when Michael provided new information, Jungon was more inclined to believe him than to question him.

"Anyway, thank you for dealing with the problem."

How Michael had discovered the threat wasn't important. What mattered was that he had dealt with it.

"Forget it. The problem hasn't been completely solved yet. Marbas was after something that looked like a small sprout. Do you know anything about it?"

To understand why John had allowed the demons to take the object and why the demons wanted it in the first place, Michael needed to identify the sprout the fly had carried away.

"The seedling?! But that's the thing we found at the monastery!"

The answer came more easily than expected. Sia folded her arms, rested her index finger against her chin, and searched through her memories.

"We found the plant in the refining room at the Golden Bull Monastery, so we gave it to the bishop. He told us to put it in a new display case and leave it there, so that's what we did."

The Golden Bull Monastery? Suddenly, Michael remembered that Hagenti had mentioned a tree at the monastery.

The refining room, the barrier, the tree, the seedling?

A sudden chill ran down Michael's spine, and goosebumps spread across his entire body.