Chapter 236

Chapter 236

Dongdaemun had an atmosphere distinct from Neo Seoul and the other slums.

Gothic buildings reminiscent of the medieval era, air so heavy it was hard to breathe, and the stiff faces of the people all carried a strange madness.

Levin and Briel were sitting by a second-floor window of a building that gave them a clear view of the street.

The place they were in was a house that had been abandoned long ago.

For reasons unknown, its owner had left, and it had been neglected for a long time.

Levin and Briel had somehow found the empty house.

Since they had slipped in secretly through Ghost Transformation, no one noticed that they had hidden themselves here.

Outside the window, a massive Church could be seen.

It was the Church where Johan usually stayed.

It was the center of Dongdaemun, and a place that was practically its symbol.

Levin murmured,

“So there’s a high chance the top-grade Mana Stone is beneath that place?”

“That’s the information we got from the Goblin Market.”

Briel answered.

Before entering Dongdaemun, they had contacted Yu Se-hee, the Guildmaster of the Goblin Market.

Yu Se-hee had handed over the information she had gathered to the two of them.

She said that on the day the top-grade Mana Stone was stolen and NSSC Team 2 was wiped out, suspicious movement had been detected at this Church.

Because the security was so tight, they had not been able to get close, but many Paladins and monks had gone in and out of this place.

Since this was the central Church of Dongdaemun, the frequent entry and exit of Paladins was not a problem in itself. But there was such a thing as an average.

If one took the average, the number of people entering and leaving each day was consistent. The fact that an unusually large number of people came and went on that day was certainly strange.

Levin looked puzzled.

“But they’re not stupid. Would they really keep the top-grade Mana Stone in their own headquarters? If they get caught, they won’t even be able to make excuses.”

“They must be confident they’ll never be caught.”

“That’s confidence worthy of fanatics, huh?”

“Their heads are so stiff they probably don’t even think that deeply.”

“Anyway, we have to get inside, right?”

“What, not confident?”

“Hmph! Who do you think I am?”

“The only Ghost Transformation Awakened in Neo Seoul?”

“As long as you know. Just trust me.”

“Of course I trust you.”

“Hmph!”

Levin snorted in an exaggerated way.

Briel knew it was meant to loosen the tension, so she merely smiled.

‘All we need to do is find the top-grade Mana Stone. Then everything ends.’

The top-grade Mana Stone was the most certain physical evidence.

If they found the top-grade Mana Stone in Johan’s residence, even they would not be able to make excuses.

The problem was how to infiltrate the Church.

At a glance, it looked like an ordinary Church, but it was surely covered with all kinds of barriers and magic circles. On top of that, countless Paladins guarded the Church’s perimeter.

No matter how much Levin had the ability of Ghost Transformation, infiltrating would not be easy.

Briel knew that too, so she did not rush Levin.

They had to wait for the right moment to infiltrate.

“It should be about time they get caught.”

“What?”

It was then.

“There are suspicious people.”

“Intruders have been discovered in Block 3.”

Urgent voices came from the street opposite the Church.

The Paladins guarding the Church reacted to the words “suspicious people” and ran off.

Briel sprang to her feet and said,

“That must be Eaton’s group getting discovered.”

“Really?”

“Who else would be doing suspicious things in Dongdaemun if not them?”

“That’s true! Nice.”

Levin threw an uppercut into the air in excitement.

Eaton’s group probably thought they were moving secretly, but avoiding the surveillance network of Dongdaemun, which was packed with fanatics, had been impossible from the start.

Their suspicious movements were naturally detected by the fanatics.

It was somewhat unfortunate for Eaton, but this was exactly what Levin and Briel had wanted from him.

To split the attention of the Paladins guarding the Church.

Thanks to that, a gap had formed in the dense security network.

Levin held out his hand to Briel.

“Let’s go!”

“Mm!”

The moment Briel took his hand, their bodies turned hazy like ghosts.

In their ghostly forms, they approached the Church.

Zap!

As they drew near, sparks flew with powerful resistance.

The barrier protecting the Church had activated.

At that instant, Briel took a blue jewel from her chest and pressed it against the barrier.

It was an item prepared by Yu Se-hee of the Goblin Market.

‘She said it induces a status abnormality and briefly disables the barrier, right?’

Briel did not like Yu Se-hee all that much, but she acknowledged Yu Se-hee’s competence. That was why she used the item Yu Se-hee had prepared without hesitation.

Srrrrk!

As if it were a lie, a gap formed in the barrier.

Levin and Briel quickly entered through it.

As soon as they infiltrated the Church, the barrier returned to normal as if nothing had happened.

Since the Paladins guarding the area near the door were also absent, they entered the Church without hesitation.

‘Ugh!’

The moment Levin and Briel entered the Church, their expressions stiffened.

A strange energy scraped at their nerves.

The Church was filled with an aura that ominously stimulated their peripheral nerves.

It felt as if they had stepped into a swamp inhabited by all kinds of insect-type monsters.

The murals inside the Church were not normal either.

Most depicted Johan floating in the heavens while people worshiped him.

The people worshiping him were weeping in rapture, but the madness filling them made them look anything but normal.

Here, Johan was God.

They could tell that the god Johan preached about was none other than himself.

‘A false god.’

‘Is he trying to become a god himself?’

Just imagining it made them feel sick.

They pressed down their nausea and moved forward.

Suddenly, Levin pointed at a bookcase standing against the wall and whispered softly.

“That place looks suspicious.”

“Why?”

“Why would there be a bookcase inside a chapel? And there aren’t even any books in it.”

“You’re right!”

Indeed, there was not a single book on the bookcase.

The fact that no Bible could be seen was especially suspicious.

The two pushed their heads into the bookcase.

Since they were in Ghost Transformation, they could pass behind the bookcase without any resistance.

Just as Levin had guessed, there was a suspicious space behind the bookcase.

A staircase leading underground stretched out there.

A secret passage leading beneath the Church.

Levin and Briel looked at each other.

“Looks like we found it.”

“Let’s go down.”

Without needing to hesitate further, they descended underground.

The spiral staircase continued dozens of meters below the ground.

When they reached the bottom, Levin released Ghost Transformation.

“Looks like we can walk from here.”

“Good work.”

Briel nodded and started walking.

Underground, there was a long corridor.

On both sides of the corridor, small rooms with iron doors tightly shut were lined up.

“What is this?”

“Wait. Let me check.”

Briel opened the small window at the top of one iron door and looked inside.

At that instant, her face turned white.

“Fuck!”

“Why?”

Instead of answering, Briel covered her mouth and stepped back.

Levin looked inside the room with a puzzled expression.

“Fuck!”

After checking the inside of the room, his face twisted.

That was how horrific the scene inside was.

Someone whose identity they could not tell was nailed to the wall as if hanging on a cross.

The problem was that the person nailed there had his stomach cut wide open, and the organs that had spilled out were piled across the floor.

Naturally, the person nailed there had already stopped breathing.

His entire body clearly bore the traces of all kinds of torture.

Not only his fingernails and toenails, but even all of his teeth had been pulled out. His flesh had been sliced away as if filleted, and his left leg had been cut off around the calf.

Flies and maggots swarmed in the rotten wounds, and the foul stench of the rotting corpse stabbed at their noses.

Levin hurriedly opened the window of another room and checked inside.

The situation in the other room was the same.

There too, someone had died while still bearing the appearance of being tortured.

“This place is a torture chamber.”

“Those insane bastards! They claim to believe in God, and they torture other people to death?”

“Those sons of bitches!”

Briel’s and Levin’s eyes turned bloodshot.

They took the opportunity to check the other rooms as well.

Every room was the same.

Not a single person was alive.

Even while living in the slums, this was the first time they had ever seen such a horrific scene.

Even in the slums, where vicious infighting was part of daily life, people did not kidnap and torture so many others like this.

“What the hell did these people do wrong?”

“No one knew about this? Don’t tell me even City Hall doesn’t know?”

“City Hall probably isn’t even interested in this place.”

Levin gritted his teeth.

City Hall almost never paid attention to the slums.

The only place they cared about was Neo Seoul.

Whatever happened in the slums was outside their interest.

The people inside Neo Seoul and the people living in the slums were all human. But the value of their lives was different.

Even if they told Neo Seoul about this, they would not move.

Levin forced himself to shake off his thoughts and moved.

They searched all the way to the last room, but all they saw were people who had died under torture. The top-grade Mana Stone was nowhere to be seen.

“Is this not the place?”

Just as the two looked at each other with troubled expressions, it happened.

CLANK—!

From the opposite end of the corridor, they heard the sound of a door opening, followed by the presence of someone coming down.

Judging from the footsteps, it was not one or two people.

“Hide!”

The two entered Ghost Transformation and hurried into one of the cells.

Right after they hid, a group appeared.

They were Paladins in heavy armor.

Unaware that the two were hiding inside the cell, they talked.

“Why are we suddenly moving an item that was perfectly fine where it was?”

“Because it’s suspicious.”

“What’s suspicious?”

“Don’t you think it’s strange? Eaton, who had fled, suddenly appeared in Dongdaemun.”

“Well, that’s......”

“All the Paladins of Dongdaemun are chasing him. And yet he showed up in Dongdaemun as if putting himself on display. There’s no way he’d act like that without some kind of motive.”

“Mm!”

At the older Paladin’s words, the young Paladin who had asked the question looked annoyed.

He felt as if his superior was overreacting.

The older Paladin’s name was Victor.

He was the Deputy Paladin Order Commander, whose position was second only to the Paladin Order Commander.

When Victor reached the end of the corridor, he placed his hand against the wall, and dazzling light burst out.

The magic circle hidden in the wall had activated.

Levin and Briel, who were secretly watching, widened their eyes.

‘There was a secret space in a place like that.’

Unaware that the two were there, Victor and the Paladins entered the secret space.

Levin and Briel hurriedly followed them into the secret space.

Because they moved so secretly, Victor and the Paladins did not notice their presence.

At the center of the secret space, a large mineral was radiating dazzling light.

Levin and Briel immediately recognized the mineral’s identity.

‘The top-grade Mana Stone?’

‘So it was here.’

The moment they discovered the item they had been desperately searching for, their breathing naturally quickened.

“Who’s there?”

At that instant, Victor looked toward the two in Ghost Transformation and shouted.

He had sensed the subtle change in the two of them.

Victor’s eyes shone blue.

He was trying to find the two through a Skill called Eye of Truth.

Hiding was useless.

Briel quickly ran toward the Mana Stone and said to Levin,

“Hold them off for a moment.”

“Damn it!”

Crackle!

Levin’s purple current filled the secret space.