<h4>Chapter 22</h4>


    Kim Jin-Seo told me to go back home. She said she had something to talk about with Ko Jun-Min. However, I was not the kind of person to listen. I hid in a nearby park and eavesdropped on their conversation.


    When I heard Jun-Min say something simr to a confession...


    [Do Sun-Woo! It’s nearby. It’s that guy, the Satanist!] Legba said urgently. There was no room for rxation in his way of speaking.


    That guy.


    It was the Satanist hiding in the F.A. ss of Charity.


    [Corner! The bench next to the streetmp that’s turned off!]


    I turned to look at the location that Legba indicated. There was a man sitting on a bench located in a corner where the streetmp was turned off. His body was not that big, and his face was not visible because he wore a hat and a mask.


    In front of him was a magic circle painted in ck material. It was a Pentagram.


    [Follow him. He’s running away!]


    The Satanist also spotted me and began to run away. He was incredibly fast.


    <i>Is he a track and field athlete?</i>


    Leaving my silly question behind, I ran after the Satanist.


    "Bossou!"


    [Bossou responds to the call. Tired. Offering!]


    There was a sharp pain that seemed to tear my whole body. I felt a boiling sense of strength in my body, but it wasn’t at the level it used to be. It seemed to be because Bossou was in a tired state.


    <i>Damn it, if only I had the Altar!</i>


    It was meaningless to regret. I chased the Satanist through the grass and over the fence. The Satanist ran away while darting around in all directions like a slippery fish.


    "Huff Huff. Huff."


    <i>Rustle! Rustle!</i>


    Rough breathing, snapping branches, and dead leaves being trampled on the floor were the only sounds that resounded. There were no other sounds.


    The close chase continued for a few minutes. We soon entered a tree-lined path in the center of the park. There were many trees and fewer streetlights, so it was much darker than other ces.


    <i>Bang!</i>


    Then, there was a sound that resembled a gunshot. It was the sound of the Satanist leaping. He jumped up andnded on top of a tree and continued to run away while moving between the trees. He was extremely fast—I couldn''t keep up at this rate.


    It almost felt like a wild goose chase. He was so close, yet so far away. I decided to take advantage of the monstrous power that I got from Bossou.


    <i>Grind.</i>


    I clenched my teeth and contracted my body as much as I could. I put strength into my thighs and abdomen and maximized the sticity of my body. It was the same posture as preparing for a long jump.


    <i>Thump-!</i>


    With a dull sound, my body flew up into the air. I quickly shifted my view while midair and spotted a guy dressed in ck clothes. Perhaps it was thanks to the enhanced athletic abilities of Bossou’s power, but my body moved exactly as I intended. Soon, the distance from the Satanist gradually decreased.


    Five meters, two meters, one meter. He was within reach. I could catch him. If I just reached out, I could catch him.


    "Huh?"


    However, I couldn''t reach out.


    <i>Crunch—!</i>


    The leaves parted, and the branches broke. My outstretched hand could not catch the Satanist and could only hold on to a feeble branch. Waking up after a briefpse of consciousness from the impact of falling, I saw the Satanist looking down at me from the tree.


    "Heh."


    Heughed at me and resumed his escape.


    Did heugh at me? I wanted to twist his neck to kill him right away. But because I sprained my ankle whilending, I couldn’t.


    <i>Snap!</i>


    I couldn''t just stay still. I broke the branch in my hand in half and started sharpening the end. It was crude, but it roughly resembled a spear. It was said that Bossou was a javelin soldier during his lifetime, which meant that he could throw the spear incredibly well.


    I used Bossou’s power to throw the spear.


    <i>Smack</i><i>!</i>


    The spear hit him. No, it was more urate to say that the spear brushed by his body. The spear that brushed his head tore off his hood, and his back was revealed. His hair was not long, and there was a tattoo on the back of his neck. It was a goat tattoo.


    Unfortunately, I missed the Satanist. Still, I was able to gain some new information. I was d that I was at least able to find out that the Satanist had a goat tattoo on the back of his neck.


    [Are you not going to continue chasing?!] Bossou cried out with pity.


    However, the Satanist had already fled far away and disappeared. It was stupid to continue chasing after him. I immediately went back to where Jin-Seo and Jun-Min were, but the atmosphere was strange. When I was eavesdropping, Jin-Seo seemed to be interrogating Jun-Min, but now the situation was reversed. Rather than Jun-Min, it was Jin-Seo who was shaking.


    However, there was no particr reason for me to step up. I watched the situation while hiding behind the bushes. Suddenly, Jun-Min''s body made strange crunching sounds. His body repeatedly broke apart and recovered to form the shape of a monster.


    [Demon! The Satanist must have cast ck magic on him!] Bossou screamed while watching this.


    Demons.


    If ck magic was cast on a human instead of an animal, that person would be a monster acting ording to their desires, losing their self-control and gaining transcendental strength. People called this type of monster a demon. The problem was that a demon was much more dangerous and stronger than demonic beasts.


    "Ah, aggh......!”


    There was no time to spare. I immediately picked up some rocks that were lying on the floor. Bossou’s power remained, so I aimed for Jun-Min’s arm. He was now a demon, and he was holding Jin-Seo’s neck.


    “Bang.”


    The stone directly flew toward the demon''s arm and amputated it. Jin-Seo copsed onto the floor and let out dry coughs.


    Jun-Min stared at me with angry eyes.


    "Agh."


    Looking closer, it looked more disgusting than I thought. Originally, I was going to engage in hand-to-handbat, but I changed my mind. I thought it would be better to fight safely by throwing stones from afar.


    [Get closer to him! I''m going to rip him apart and kill him!]


    "Oh,e on. I don''t want to touch that." Bossou had lost his most cherished warrior to a demon. Thus, Bossou felt uncontroble anger whenever he saw a demon. He would go berserk at the mere sight of something resembling a demon, vowing to tear it apart and kill it.


    I first looked at Jun-Min''s appearance.


    His entire body was covered in something ck and eerie. As if he had a venereal disease, there were rough, scaly bumps scattered all over his body. There were also odd tentacle-like thingsing out of him.


    It was difficult to approach him because of his appearance.


    "Cough! Cough! Hgh, agh...!"


    Jin-Seo was coughing dryly and trying to alleviate her pain. I quickly approached her and used Voodoo magic—intermediate enthrallment, curse of fainting on her.


    It was a spell that made the opponent faint for about four minutes. When the spell was activated, Jin-Seo forgot the pain and fell asleep with afortable expression.


    That eliminated the witness.


    "These, these, trashy bastards. How dare they underestimate me!"


    Jun-Min approached, mumbling a slew of iprehensible words. Every time he took a step, a sticky squelching sound echoed. It was horrible to have to fight against something like that in hand-to-handbat.


    Jun-Min suddenly came closer and threw his fist at me. Perhaps it was because one of its arms had been blown off, but his center of gravity shook precariously. His fist was so slow that I could see with my eyes and avoid it. I easily avoided Jun-Min''s slow fist and grabbed his arm with my left hand.


    I felt a sticky and unpleasant texture on my fingers, but I clenched my teeth and endured it. In that state, I drew a curse array.


    <i>tter, </i><i>c</i><itter—!</i>


    Somethingrge and purple-shaded came out of the curse array. Depending on how one looked at it, it could have been a sword or an ax. But it was neither a sword nor an ax. It was so crude and huge that it would be better to call it a de.


    There were three kinds of Voodoo spells. There were enthrallment spells that could interfere with the opponent''s mind. The restoration spells could be used to heal wounds. Finally, there were replication spells that could recreate the tools used in ancient Voodoo as a form of Voodoo power.


    The spell I used was also a replication spell.


    The superior grade replication spell. Executioner’s Sword.


    <i>Crack. Crack.</i>


    The Executioner’s Sword that came out of the spell array shook eerily and made creepy sounds. The de of the Executioner’s Sword was by no means sharp, and if one looked at it closely, it was blunt. It seemed difficult to even use it to cut pork, let alone decapitate someone.


    <i>Slice!</i>


    However, Jun-Min''s arm was cut off just by swinging the sword down. At a nce, it looked dull, but this was an Executioner’s Sword replicated through the spell array.


    Thousands, even tens of thousands, of death row inmates were decapitated by the Executioner’s Sword. Their deaths honed the sword, and as a result, the sword became sharper and deadlier than anything else.


    It seemed that Jun-Min was not even aware that his arm had been severed as he tried to punch me with his remaining arm. But a fist didn''tnd. He couldn''t possibly punch me with both his arms amputated.


    "Ugh! Ugh! Gr-grrrr!!” Jun-Min shouted after btedly realizing the absence of both his arms. It was such a bizarre voice that it was hard to call it human. A cry rang through the park.


    "Ah, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!! Ugh—"


    <i>Slice.</i>


    However, the cry did notst long.


    It was because I sliced Jun-Min''s throat.