CHAPTER 53
The serial killer, awakened as a Modified Body. The cultist, who had willingly become an Apostle.
The cave was being devastated by the battle between two inhuman beings.
A single Corpse Spider arrived safely.
The Corpse Spider was incredibly single-minded.
No matter the situation, it pressed forward, determined to eat a corpse.
Soon, the Corpse Spider finally found a tasty-looking body.
Without hesitation, it sank its fangs into the corpse.
Thunk!
But its fangs didn't pierce the flesh; they bounced right off.
"Screeeech!"
The Corpse Spider shrieked and flailed from the pain in its fangs. The human covered in red tattoos was that hard.
The Corpse Spider eventually turned toward another body.
There had been a few other corpses in front of it, but they had vanished as soon as it found them.
It couldn't understand what was happening, but the Corpse Spider was persistent.
It finally arrived in front of a new corpse.
There lay a man with a rugged face.
He was trembling faintly, blood trickling from his mouth.
It looked like one of his internal organs was injured.
But he did not meet the Corpse Spider's criteria.
The man was not yet dead.
The Corpse Spider had no choice but to wait for the man to die.
Likewise, the man just stared at the Corpse Spider.
"Hah... dammit."
He let out a sigh and lowered his head bitterly.
His life had started as an apprentice to a mage in his youth, then he became a mercenary, then a pioneer, leading him to this day.
He had never imagined his life would end like this.
It is the way of people to meet an unimaginable end.
He knew this as a matter of course, but everyone wanted to frame their end beautifully.
The death the man named Bulldog wanted was a simple one.
To die in front of the wife and son he loved.
But he could not achieve this.
The wife he had loved with all his being was murdered by the hands of a wicked serial killer.
The day he'd gone out drinking with friends he was going to invite to his son's wedding, he had returned home drunk to find his wife, brutally murdered.
Bulldog had screamed like a child.
He had hugged his wife's body and shed a lifetime's worth of tears.
After that, all he had left was revenge.
He used forbidden magic.
And through it, he learned that his wife's death was at the hands of the No-Named Serial Killer.
Without even telling his son about his wife's death, he quietly left home.
To save his wife and take revenge on her killer.
He became a member of the Radiance Faith and waited for this day.
But he hadn't gotten a shred of revenge and was now dying so meaninglessly.
He could see the serial killer and the cultist clashing.
The cultist was one of the Bishops of the Radiance Faith.
It was impossible to tell who would win the fight.
The battle was that far beyond normal standards.
He would not be able to see the end of this fight.
His broken ribs were piercing deep into his lungs, which were filling with blood.
"...Elena."
With the memory of his beloved wife in his mind, Bulldog met his tragic end.
His breathing stopped.
At the same time, the Corpse Spider began to move.
Just as the spider raised its fangs, a dagger shot out from its shadow.
Before the Corpse Spider could even notice, the dagger had severed one of Bulldog's fingers.
The dagger then vanished without a trace, along with Bulldog's finger.
The little spider still knew nothing.
It was simply happy with its meal for the day.

Inside the Moss Flower Cave.
"Guuh, keuk."
The Radiance Faith Bishop, now an Apostle, coughed up a large amount of blood. The No-Named Serial Killer's sword was embedded deep in his chest.
The Bishop gripped the sword, his hand trembling.
"In... sect..."
As he insulted Transferees with his last breath, the serial killer swung her hand.
The Bishop's head was lopped off and rolled across the floor.
After finishing off the Bishop, the serial killer gasped for breath.
She had won, but she was just as battered as he was.
Half of her left side was torn away, her entrails spilling out, and her neck was a tattered mess from being bitten.
Her right leg was twisted at an odd angle, and she couldn't walk properly.
Her Modified Body was constantly breaking down.
The Modified Body is not perfect.
It was a trump card she had only played because the situation had become so extreme.
Normally, it was a move she would never have used.
That's how fierce the battle between the serial killer and the Bishop had been.

She staggered, turning her battered body around.
She confirmed that the other members of the Radiance Faith were all dead.
To think the Radiance Faith would go this far.
An unexpected variable had appeared.
She had to return quickly and report this.
Furthermore, she had to kill that Japanese Transferee, Cain.
She laboriously made her way out of the Moss Flower Cave.
In any case, I'll be using my 'Jinny' persona, so I can probably get help from the Regular Army.
Everyone connected to Jinny was dead, with the sole exception of Cain.
And judging by how terrified Cain was, he wouldn't even be able to give a proper statement.
"Hngh..."
The situation was critical, yet her thoughts kept turning positive.
It seemed her condition was truly deteriorating.
The assassin tried again and again to steady her mind.
Clack-
It was then.
A single footstep reached her ears.
The assassin slowly lifted her blood-soaked face.
Her eyes, steeped in blood, had turned red.
Through her crimson vision, she saw a woman standing there alone.
Her hair was black, with the inner layers shining pure white.
An unreal beauty.
Moreover, the golden glint of her eyes flashing in the darkness made it feel as if the grim reaper itself had come for her.
Crackle-
Red sparks flew from the sword the woman held.
With her vision already stained red with blood, she could barely see.
The assassin steadied her breath.
"...A member of the Radiance Faith?"
"No."
Not the Radiance Faith.
Then who was this person blocking her path?
And why was there such a burning enmity in those eyes?
"Did you really think you could get away with this after killing so many people?"
She understood.
This was a grim reaper, born from the vengeance of all the people she had killed.
How many had she slain to this day?
The nameless No-Named assassin could no longer even count them all.
Long ago, she had simply missed the home she had left behind.
She missed her only young daughter, back on Earth.
That was why she had done whatever it took.
She had lived to this day, even volunteering for the role of bait that could cost her her life.
She had known for a long time.
That she could never return to Earth.
That she would meet a miserable end in this world.
But a mother was someone who would do anything to see her child.
Even if it meant killing countless people and becoming a murderer, she had to do it.
"I will not die."
A fighting spirit once again filled her eyes.
"I will never die until I see my daughter."
Aranseol exhaled.
She felt no sympathy.
Her eyes were filled only with disgust.
"If you knew your own child was precious, you should have known that others have precious people, too."
"My child is the most precious thing to me."
With that, the assassin kicked off the ground.
With a battered leg, she couldn't generate much speed.
But the power contained in the sword she gripped was real.
A strike powerful enough to pierce even the hardened skin of an Apostle.
Aranseol had no intention of taking the blow head-on.
Instead, Aranseol used her clean footwork to evade the assassin's sword.
The assassin didn't stop, continuing her pursuit of Aranseol.
The air screamed every time her sword swung.
But Aranseol paid no mind to the fierce assault, simply continuing to dodge.
That alone was rapidly draining the assassin's stamina.
Aranseol did not let her guard down, even against the wounded assassin.
A wounded beast is the most dangerous enemy of all.
She was more focused than ever on carefully taking the assassin down.
The assassin recognized this as well.
If she were in perfect condition, it might be a different story, but in this state, she couldn't defeat Aranseol.
And then there was the electric current in Aranseol's sword.
That was proof of an Attribute Awakener.
While not as strong as the Bishop she had just fought, this one was also a formidable opponent.
Most importantly, unlike the Bishop who relied on overwhelming destructive power, Aranseol knew exactly how to fight another person.
Clang!
The assassin barely managed to parry Aranseol's sword as it shot out to exploit an opening.
Sparks of electricity flew.
The assassin charged again, but Aranseol retrieved her sword and skillfully disengaged.
Clean, refined swordsmanship.
It felt like a style honed through a lifetime of effort.
Furthermore, the killing intent imbued in the sword was thick.
Aranseol's sword was one mastered for the purpose of killing people.

A sword tempered for revenge.
A sword like this only grows sharper with time.
In contrast, the assassin's sword was losing more and more of its power.
There was no path to victory.
Her opponent had no intention of ever letting her close the distance.
'If there's no other way.'
The assassin finally made her decision.
She slammed her broken leg hard onto the ground.
In that instant, with a surge of leg strength, she swung her sword with all her might.
Faced with her ferocious charge, Aranseol hurriedly backed away.
A very brief opening.
The assassin charged straight ahead.
She intended to escape.
That is, until a beam of fire appeared before her.
FWOOSH!
"K-Ghaak!?"
Instantly engulfed in flames, the assassin rolled on the ground.
A fierce pain shot through her entire body, piercing her mind.
At the entrance she had been trying to reach, a red-haired woman stood with her staff aimed.
Babiyen let out a light snort and readjusted her grip on the staff.
"Where do you think you're going?"
The assassin, having rolled on the ground to extinguish the flames on her body, shakily pushed herself up.
Just then, Aranseol swung her sword at her without hesitation.
Aranseol had come here today for the sole purpose of finishing the assassin.
This wasn't a duel; it was a war to the death.
Thus, she unhesitatingly slashed at the assassin's back.
The blade had originally been aimed at her head, but the assassin had narrowly dodged by rolling on the ground.
The assassin slammed into the wall, a complete mess.
The searing pain throughout her body made her feel like she would lose consciousness.
Crackle-
Meanwhile, Aranseol was condensing electrical energy as she closed the distance.
To tenaciously maintain her distance even then—this was no ordinary woman.
Were there others with her from the start?
Her escape was blocked, and she was losing the fight.
An irreversible end was beginning to close in on the assassin.
"My daughter..."
Aranseol ran, her sword leveled.
The current in her blade reached its maximum, illuminating the entire cave.
The assassin no longer had the strength to move.
Barely dodging Aranseol's sword earlier had been her limit.
The sword drew near.
Revenge, in its turn, had finally come to claim her life.
In her final moment, the assassin looked behind Aranseol.

A shadow was cast there, containing the form of someone else.
With that, the assassin quietly closed her eyes.
Thump!
The assassin's heart was pierced by Aranseol's sword.
As her body gave a final shudder, Aranseol pulled the sword out. A gush of blood poured out, and her vision blurred.
"El..."

In vain, she wished for her daughter, and then her head fell.
Her form collapsed.
In its place was the figure of a woman with straight black hair and red eyes.
As if she was meant to die in this form.
The No-Named assassin who had plunged the world into fear and created numerous avengers.
In the end, she met her death by another's sword, just as she had done to so many others.