Chapter 270

Chapter 270
Chapter 270
Outing (2)

Pain rippled across his entire physique.

Ring—

A sharp, piercing drone resonated inside his ears.

His skull throbbed painfully, a wave of vertigo overcoming him due to the abrupt blast.

-Ahahaha! For a world of freedom!

-Kyaaa—!

-Seong-hyeon! Get out of here…!

-Stop!

Shards of suppressed recollections broke through, flashing across his consciousness.

‘Damn it, what the hell was that?!’

Yet the sensation lasted only a brief moment.

His paralyzed flesh swiftly mended, and his disoriented thoughts snapped into focus.

The fragmented flashbacks retreated, sinking once more into the deepest parts of his mind.

His physical form instantly returned to an immaculate state.

It was the combined result of his immense attributes, the effect of “Super Recovery”, and the constant passive buff from his unique ability.

‘What kind of psychopath detonates an explosive inside a medical facility…!’

However, ensuring his own safety was not his main concern.

Gritting his teeth, he forced himself up from the far edge of the clinic’s courtyard where the blast had flung him, immediately inspecting the two individuals he had shielded.

‘They appear to be unharmed.’

He had calculated the danger within that microsecond.

He had expanded the boundary of the defensive artifact he constantly kept on his person to its absolute limit while placing his own frame in harm’s way, mitigating the primary shockwave.

Consequently, despite being thrown from the clinic’s entryway all the way into the greenery, neither of them had sustained critical trauma.

They had merely lost consciousness from the sheer force of the impact.

‘Tae-san will recover easily, but his grandmother remains frail. She was just permitted to leave today… this situation could turn fatal.’

He had moved purely on instinct, leaving him uncertain if he had chosen the wisest path.

There might have been a more efficient solution.

Furthermore, and more pressingly…

“Ugh… It hurts so much… Somebody help…”

“Aaaagh—!”

“This is an act of terror! Run away! Everyone, flee!”

In a mere blink of an eye,

The entire zone had devolved into utter bedlam.

Wounded individuals wailed in agony, and citizens scattered in sheer terror.

Despite being a fair distance away from the point of origin, the magically infused detonation boasted a far greater blast radius than a conventional explosive, leaving widespread devastation in its wake.

If the situation was this dire on the periphery, he could scarcely imagine the state of those caught near the center of the eruption.

“I-I have to dial… What?! There’s no signal!”

“My device is completely unresponsive too!”

“W-we have to escape this place…!”

A few bystanders with minor scratches attempted to use their mobile devices to summon assistance, but they quickly abandoned the effort, their expressions twisting into absolute dread.

He comprehended the underlying cause.

‘That monster… he engineered this entire scenario from the start.’

This was no ordinary detonation.

Not only had it been saturated with malevolent mana, but it had also discharged a pulse designed to short-circuit technology.

Similar to an electromagnetic pulse generated by a nuclear detonation.

‘…This is a medical center, packed with delicate life-support machinery!’

He clenched his jaw, forcing his composure to hold, and hoisted the two unconscious forms to their feet.

Their protection remained his absolute highest priority.

Yet that did not mean he could simply disregard the plight of the general public.

‘Right within my domain… ’

How many souls had perished from that solitary strike?

Those caught directly in the fireball, those dependent on electronic life support…

And judging by the minor concussions that persisted in echoing from the interior of the medical center, it appeared the perpetrator was currently engaged with the awakened security forces.

He doubted the resistance would endure for long.

‘First, I must stabilize this crisis. Hans… is out of the question. His particular energy signature would only worsen the condition of the casualties. Then Heinz… No.’

He recognized that this was the harsh reality governing this world.

Even with Hahoe Mask and Phantom purging wrongdoers, the Blood Alliance managing the criminal underworld, and himself preserving order from the shadows…

Tragedies of this nature would persist as long as the fundamental makeup of society remained unaltered.

‘Eliminating the perpetrator is a simple matter. However… ’

What was the proper approach to managing this crisis?

A multitude of calculations darted through his brain.

“…”

Right then, his eyes drifted down toward the unconscious elderly woman.

Her complexion had turned far more ghostly than before, her fragile frame entirely unable to withstand the immense shock.

“Sigh, so be it.”

That sight instantly solidified his resolve.

He spun around and stepped inside an adjacent shopping arcade, which had already been abandoned by its patrons.

‘I had intended to mend her condition regardless.’

He had no reason to worry about surveillance systems.

Virtually none of the electronic infrastructure in the vicinity remained functional.

He marched directly toward the public restrooms.

After depositing the two unconscious figures safely inside a cubicle,

He backed away—.

And invoked 「Individual Projection」 without a single moment of hesitation.

His physical form shifted in an instant, resembling a sudden change of filters.

His stature altered.

The internal power within him converted.

His perception of reality adapted.

And the tether connecting his being to the cosmos… contorted.

“Hmm.”

He stared into the glass, studying his new countenance.

Strands of silver hair, spilling out from the base of his headpiece, fractured the incoming light, while eyes of pure gold gleamed brilliantly.

His heavily built frame had shifted into that of a veteran combatant, outfitted in polished, pale white plate armor.

Saaaa—

A comforting, radiant energy flowed outward from his being, blanketed over the immediate environment.

Click—

He snapped down the front plate of his headpiece.

“Well then…”

He had fully transitioned into Heinrich, the Saint representing the Auterica’s Main God Church.

—

The catastrophe struck without warning, on a bright and clear afternoon.

A colossal concussive force tore right through the main foyer of a grand medical institution, a sanctuary dedicated to healing and recuperation,

Kaboom—!

…reducing it instantly to a landscape of absolute pandemonium and slaughter.

Crimson stained the floors, shrieks rent the air, and groans of agony filled the space.

The devastating ambush had fatally wounded the caught-off-guard awakened security details, and the resulting shockwave had plunged the entire facility into absolute disarray.

Crackle— Crackle!

Subtle electrical currents danced along the tips of the perpetrator’s fingers.

“Pfft… Khehehe… That is what you get… you filthy swine.”

The culprit, a man well into his fifties, released a twisted laugh as he observed the final member of the security detail drop to the ground.

He scanned the shattered lobby, a predatory sneer contorting his mouth.

“A medical facility… how pleasant… Huh? Outstanding! To think even awakened sentries… Just as expected from an opulent establishment… Haha.”

He babbled, his speech fractured and erratic, his sanity seemingly entirely shattered.

The sentinels had not been exceptionally powerful, mere hired blades… but that detail was irrelevant to him.

His sole focus lay in releasing his long-festering fury.

“Hmm, I recall… I visited this place once before. My Seyeon as well… Huh? If only she had been granted care…”

Decades of deep-seated bitterness, the agonizing trauma of losing his flesh and blood.

“I… I stated that I would acquire the funds… Could you not have bided your time a bit longer…?”

He had been cast aside simply because he lacked the means to pay for her care, and having lost his solitary relative, he had drifted aimlessly until he was summoned to an alternate realm.

Subsequently, consumed by an insatiable thirst for retribution, he had journeyed back, seeking nothing but raw might.

“Yes… Yes, I shall join you shortly, Seyeon. But… bide your time just a little longer… alright…?”

His gaze, previously unfocused, began to re-establish its clarity.

A deformed grin surfaced on the face of the fractured individual, a slayer driven entirely by his warped convictions.

“Seyeon must feel so isolated… Father will bring along a multitude of companions for you.”

Crackle—!

His bottled-up magical reserve expanded violently, the electrical discharges growing grander and far more potent.

The identical spell he had utilized for his opening salvo.

Except now, there was zero requirement for stealth.

It materialized far swifter and with greater ferocity than the previous instance.

“Ugh… Help… someone…”

“Kuh… Ugh…”

The souls still holding onto a thread of life, their limbs shattered, twitched and whimpered… yet he completely disregarded them.

Entirely trapped within his own delusions.

“Yes… These wealthy swine… they will suffice perfectly. Therefore…”

His internal energy hit its absolute zenith.

A malicious grin, mirroring the mental image of his child’s laughter echoing through his thoughts, spread across his features, his gaze saturated with absolute insanity.

“…Perish, you swine.”

Rumble—

Right then, consecutive discharges of volatile energy, laced with electrical currents, burst forth from his body.

They rippled outward, threatening to swallow the entire structure…

[“Main God, grant your benevolence upon this soil.”]

…And then dissolved into nothingness, canceled out by a surge of magnificent radiance, paired with a commanding, deep tone.

A completely flat resolution to the strike.

“Huh?”

Yet that did not signal the conclusion of the bizarre anomalies.

“…Plated armor?”

Where the radiance had just vanished, a figure outfitted in full armor now stood in its place.

As the perpetrator, startled by the development, began to marshal his inner reserves once more,

Saaaa—

An unyielding pressure, radiating directly from the armored warrior, saturated the environment.

Blanketing the flooring, the masonry, the rafters, and even the oxygen itself.

“Main God, bestow fortitude upon those who endure agony, so that they may taste joy once more.”

An incredibly unblemished energy signature, entirely unlike any power he had ever encountered, rippled outward, reaching not merely the mangled bodies holding onto life in the ruined foyer, but every single soul inside the structure and the surrounding perimeter.

It stood as a staggering exhibition of raw power, completely eclipsing the potential of any ordinary mortal.

Furthermore, it was breathtakingly magnificent, inspiring absolute reverence.

Resembling a literal act of God, enacted by a celestial being manifested upon the mortal plane.

“…Divine authority.”

The culprit, completely paralyzed by the sight, shifted his eyes toward the armored presence.

It gave off an incredibly comforting and merciful essence… yet simultaneously, a suffocating gravity that made it difficult to draw breath.

The culprit, a survivor who had endured countless gauntlets within an alternate realm, recognized the reality instantly by instinct.

This was an insurmountable gulf in their respective standings.

The entity standing before him represented a cosmic force he could never dream of besting.

“So… you manifest here as well.”

Even so, he managed to grind out a scornful reply.

His distorted smirk had completely vanished, his mouth pressed into a straight crease, though his gaze blazed with hostility as he locked eyes with the armored entity.

He had once attempted to beg for the intervention of holy miracle workers himself.

Yet they had been entirely overwhelmed, their capabilities pushed to the brink, leaving him with no choice but to walk away after waiting fruitlessly for his name to be called.

“Pfft… Khehehe… If only… if only I possessed this scale of divine authority back then…!”

“Be silent, transgressor.”

However, his frantic declarations were instantly severed by a majestic tone, resembling a celestial decree.

The armored champion, Heinrich, possessed zero concern for his tragic background.

He would mete out judgment utilizing his own standards, as he always had.

‘There is no purpose in squandering moments.’

Regardless of the rationale, this scale of butchery merited but a single resolution.

Execution.

Furthermore, despite the perpetrator’s relatively notable power scale, he remained a vast distance away from true expertise.

A mere insect, unworthy of the holy weapon wielded by the Saint.

Swish—

Nevertheless, Heinrich still unholstered his consecrated blade.

Not for the purpose of engaging the culprit, but rather to magnify his divine resonance, exploiting the weapon’s innate properties.

‘I cannot restore those who have already crossed over… but those who still linger on the edge… ’

Distinct from the Saintess, whose capabilities were oriented entirely around mending and safeguarding, his own power specialized strictly in the annihilation of malevolence and the execution of the corrupted.

To maximize its output, he was required to utilize every tool at his command.

‘I also possess the trait “Dimensional Barrier Weakening”, meaning the impact should be exceptionally pronounced.’

He completely ceased paying attention to the perpetrator, whose vision had turned bloodshot with pure malice.

“Transgressor, offer your contrition in the next realm.”

And with that.

His ‘exceptionally pronounced’ divine energy…

Whoosh—

…Enveloped the medical complex and the surrounding territory in a raging torrent of pure radiance.

—

Seoul Southern Branch of the Korean Returnee Association.

“What… What on earth is this?!”

Crash—!

Yoon Ji-yoon, the presiding branch executive, who had been idly distracted by a phone game, leaped up from her desk.

Her seat, upended by her abrupt movement, slammed loudly against the floorboards, but she paid it no mind. She shut her eyelids, sharpening her extra-sensory perception.

“…Divine energy? On Earth… This magnitude of holy authority…? Is such a thing even structurally plausible?”

She whispered in complete awe, expanding her sensory awareness of the local mana field.

It was widely understood that holy authority suffered severe degradation when channeled on Earth.

Yet for it to manifest with this level of intensity… How monumental must its output be within its native plane of existence?

“Ha… Haha… Is it the Saint? The Saintess? No, could it be an actual manifestation of a divine bloodline?”

Furthermore, she was far from the only individual reacting to this phenomenon.

Not just the elite awakened figures and religious practitioners acutely attuned to divine frequencies…

…But the Korean sector of Pantheon, the multi-world theological coalition that had remained largely stagnant due to internal power struggles, suddenly began to mobilize as well.