CH 271

“Kuheok…!”

“Ack!”

The Genesis Guild members in Aria City started dying in mysterious ways for some reason, and it was all because of the Head Crusher Guild members.

They had been fighting on the papacy’s side, but now, they were conducting guerilla warfare against the Genesis Guild members.

The guerilla tactics were so effective that the Genesis Guild members had no idea how or when they died. They only realized that they were dead after they were logged out of the game.

The Head Crusher Guild members were quite adept at subterfuge and guerilla warfare, and it was all thanks to the Genesis Guild.

They had been trampled on by the Genesis Guild in the past and were forced to keep running or go into hiding, so they naturally developed the techniques and knowledge to hide and fight from the shadows.

In other words, the Genesis Guild was reaping what they sowed. However, there were other victims of the guerilla warfare of the Head Crusher Guild aside from the Genesis Guild members.

“Kyak! Kyaaaaah!”

“Hoho! Quite the feisty one we got here!”

“L-Let me go!”

“Yes! Fight back! I love it the more you struggle!”

“And you call yourself a holy knight?!”

“I’m doing god’s work by purifying your body possessed by the devil! Kekeke! The pope has approved of my services to God, so open your—Kuheok!”

The holy knight forcing himself on a female NPC died on the spot with a sword piercing his throat.

“Please get up.”

A Head Crusher Guild member helped the female NPC up after killing the holy knight.

“Ack!”

“Who are you bastards—Ack!”

“Kwak!”

Then, the soldiers and knights of the papal faction started dying one by one after getting ambushed by the Head Crusher Guild members.

“T-Thank you! Adventurer-nim!”

“We don’t have time for this,” the guild member said. he pulled the woman away and continued, “Go straight to this alley and turn right in front of Ronan’s Toy Store. Go three blocks more, then turn right into the back alleys and keep going straight.”

“W-What do you mean by that?”

“You will live if you get there. Our guild members are waiting for you, so hurry up! The alleys have been secured, so don’t worry about anything and keep running!”

Siegfried managed to create an escape route for the people after obtaining the detailed map of Aria City.

“Hurry!”

“Ah, yes!”

The rest of the Head Crusher Guild members shouted at the NPCs that they had saved.

“Everyone! Hurry up!”

“Follow the path we told you! You will be safe if you reach that place!”

The survivors looked at each other for a second before they started running into the alley.

***

Meanwhile, at the base of operations of the papal faction within Aria City…

“Our soldiers and knights are dead!”

“A few of our holy knights have been found dead in an empty house!”

“Something is strange! This city does not have the manpower to do this!”

Cardinal Romulus was enraged at the report he received from the soldiers.

Bam!

He slammed his fist on the table and shouted, “What?! Who dares resist? Which damned bastards dare to go against the will of god?!”

“It must be the doing of the security forces in charge of Aria City!”

“Hmm… Those insects dare to go against us.” Cardinal Romulus muttered. He flashed a sinister smile and continued, “This leaves me with no choice. I wanted to do a simple cleansing of this place, but I guess I’ll have to do a thorough cleansing.”

“By a thorough cleansing, you mean…?”

“We will wipe out every living thing in this city.”

“Pardon me, Cardinal-nim?”

“Send more soldiers in and instruct them to kill everything and send them to hell. This city is a den of irredeemable devils.”

Cardinal Romulus could have never imagined—even in his wildest dreams—that Siegfried and the Head Crusher Guild members were behind the assassination of his soldiers.

He thought that this was the doing of the resistance forces hiding somewhere in the city.

Thus, he decided to take things further by ordering the deaths of every single living thing in the city.

Chae Hyung-Seok suddenly interrupted the cardinal and said, “No, it doesn’t seem like it. Something seems off…”

“Hmm? What do you mean by that?”

“This could be an inside job.”

“Inside job?”

“Siegfried van Proa. Do you know him by any chance?”

“Yes, I do. I heard he’s the king of a small and weak nation called the Proatine Kingdom, but he seemed to have racked up quite the achievement in this war.”

‘Is this fucker blind? Racked up quite the achievement? Who do you think made it possible?’ Chae Hyung-Seok growled inwardly. He almost let his words slip out of his mouth, but he managed to swallow them and continue smiling.

“I suspect Siegfried is behind all of this. I have a history against him, and he has the tendency to go against the teachings of the Nameless God.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Cardinal-nim. He probably questions the pope’s commands to cleanse these heretics possessed by demons.”

“Ha! How foolish! Does he truly not see the depth of the pope’s wisdom?! It must be true if you say so, Sir Desire.”

“He probably did this because he is foolish, but please don’t worry about him. I will personally go and take care of him.”

“Oh! Will you do that? I will make sure to inform the pope of you and your guild’s contributions to this war if you succeed!”

“Please leave it to me.”

“Haha! I will leave it to you, all right!”

Chae Hyung-Seok immediately mobilized the Genesis Guild after receiving the quest from Cardinal Romulus, and he was smiling almost ear to ear. He would have been jumping up and down in anger after getting the spotlight stolen from him, but he was in an extremely good mood right now.

‘Stupid bastard! What the hell is he doing? He dares to pick a fight against the papacy? Does he even realize what he just did? You attacked the papacy first, so the emperor can’t protect you anymore! Hahaha!’

Chae Hyung-Seok thought of Siegfried as a massive dumbass.

‘Well, I’m not complaining. I couldn’t attack the Proatine Kingdom because of the emperor, but it’s a different story if it’s the papacy. I can simply join the papacy’s conquest of Proatine as a mercenary and raze it to the ground!’

Chae Hyung-Seok started painting a bigger picture. He would lead the papacy to victory in this civil war and convince them to attack the Proatine Kingdom after they had secured influence over the entire Constantine Holy Empire.

In fact, he even went as far as imagining his Genesis Guild leading the charge into the gates of the Proatine Kingdom.

‘Hehehe… Just thinking about it is already making me happy!’ he thought with a grin.

***

‘They started making a move,’ Siegfried thought after sensing a change in the Papal Forces and the Genesis Guild.

‘This is bad. I still haven’t found her.’ Siegfried bit his lips in frustration.

He still hadn’t found any clues to Lucy’s whereabouts. He went around the city, even checking the corpses just in case one of them was her, but none of them looked like the girl in the portrait.

‘It’s impossible to keep searching now that they’ve started moving. They’ll discover me if I keep on dilly-dallying…’

“S-Spare me!”

“Please help!”

“Mercy, knight-nim!”

Around twenty female NPCs were being dragged away by the Papal Forces, along with some Genesis Guild members.

“Hey, owner punk. Isn’t that Lucy?” Hamchi whispered.

“Huh?”

Siegfried looked toward where Hamchi was pointing and found her among the women. He bit his lips and cursed under his breath, “Damn it… Why is she over there, of all places…”

He cursed after seeing the NPC he was looking for surrounded by a ton of enemies.

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The group of women was also being led down a main road, so he would be instantly surrounded the moment he made a move to rescue her.

To make matters worse…

“Search every nook and cranny! The guys just messaged me, and they’re certain that it’s that bastards doing!”

Chae Hyung-Seok was leading more than two hundred Genesis Guild members to search every corner of the city for him.

“Your Majesty, I believe Ms. Luna’s sister is being led to the main square,” Gringore suddenly said.

“The main square? Are you talking about this one?” Siegfried asked while pointing at the map.

“That is the only place they could be going to. The information we gathered so far says that they were stacking up firewood at the main square…”

“Those crazy bastards… They’re gathering them there?”

“That is most likely, Your Majesty.”

“Chae Hyung-Seok just went the other way, so…”

“An opportunity has presented itself. I believe it is feasible for us to quickly ambush the main square and rescue the civilians.”

“If it’s the main square, then…” Siegfried muttered while tracing the map with his finger. He had already planned numerous escape routes throughout the city based on the map, and quite a lot of the civilians had already been evacuated through them.

“It looks possible as long as we move fast.”

“If this operation is successful, then Your Majesty will be a hero praised for generations to come!”

“I don’t care about that. All I want is to see those bastards suffer.”

“Haha…”

“All right, we’re going to hit the main square,” Siegfried said and infused mana into the ring on his finger.

Wooong! Wooong! Wooong! 

A message was relayed to all of the Head Crusher Guild members throughout Aria City.

[Gather at once. Main square. Ambush and escape. Secure escape routes. Cover fire.]

A guild master could send a message to all guild members using the item that symbolized their guild.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Let’s go and teach those bastards a lesson! Kyu!”

Siegfried and his party mobilized to rescue the NPCs.

***

Aria City Main Square.

“Spare us! Please!”

“I lived piously my entire life! I’m not a witch!”

“Sniff… Sniff…”

“I… I repent! I repent, so please spare me!”

Hundreds of female NPCs were rounded up at the main square and tied to stakes.

Piles of firewood were beneath the stakes.

The stench of gasoline pervaded the air, and a small spark would be enough to set all of the stakes ablaze, inflicting agonizing pain on the women before killing them all.

“Silence!” Cardinal Romulus stepped forward. “I, the inquisitor, shall now give judgment to the heretics! Maintain your silence if you believe in the Nameless God!”

The soldiers and holy knights knelt on the ground.

“Through the authority vested in me by our god, I have repeatedly asked these heretics to repent. However, these wenches possessed by the devil colluded with the false emperor and dared to mingle with heretics!”

Cardinal Romulus was giving a speech that was nothing short of bullshit.

His speech lasted for ten minutes before he finally picked up a torch.

“Therefore, I judge that these wenches are beyond salvation and condemn them to purification by—”

Sukeok!

Cardinal Romulus’ arm abruptly fell to the ground.

Thud…!

“Hmm?” Cardinal Romulus tilted his head in confusion.

Chwak!

Siegfried appeared with obvious rage on his face right next to the cardinal.

“Head Crusher Guild,” he muttered, “Charge.”

“Hey! You fucking bastards!”

“You scums of the continent!”

“You’re the fuckers who have to die!”

“You disgusting bastards! Can you even call yourselves humans after doing this?!”

The Head Crusher Guild members hiding around the main square pounced on the holy knights and soldiers of the papacy.