Somebody Stop the Pope – 267



Episode 267

87. Unholy War

1.

The beginning was Ja-Hyeon’s winning streak.

Phew. 

Ja-Hyeon’s sword which had penetrated into the darkness of the mountain pierced the neck of the Baek Myeong-Gyo knight who was standing at the front.

He lost his life without even being able to scream. 

And after a while the hundred believers who confirmed that their colleague was dead all shouted in unison. 

“It’s an ambush!”

“All forces ready for battle!”

The knights of Baekmyeonggyo each took out their weapons. 

Unlike the knights of our sect who mainly use hammers or swords the knights of Baekmyeonggyo mainly carry spears.

The organization was different from our church.

Especially priests.

The priests of Baekmyeonggyo were obviously positioned towards the rear. 

It was a contrast to some of the priests of our church who were combat priests fighting on the front lines.

“Sweep!”

Our religious order’s troops who had been lying in wait everywhere rushed forward at once.

From now on it will be a battle of pure physical strength.

The divine power that has always protected our church from evil is of little use in this battle.

Kaaaaaaaang-!

A clash of beliefs and convictions.

A clash of pure physical force like never before.

“For Limen!”

“Longing! Take my body!”

A pure battle close to its original form begins.

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The mountain ridge that was filled with darkness is instantly bathed in brilliant light.

The light emitted by knights and priests of different faiths drives away the darkness.

But what took the place of the darkness was not sacred justice or heart-warming hope.

“Kwaaaaah!”

Pain and screams.

The place where beliefs clash is never noble or honorable.

Beliefs dyed in blood.

The conflict continues without any retreat.

It was a battle so terrifying that it was unholy.

“ha.”

I took a deep breath and took in the entire battlefield.

Ja-Hyeon who jumped into the battlefield ahead of me dispersed the battle lines faster than anyone else. 

Although not as much as me it seems that Ja-Hyeon has also lived his entire life on the battlefield. 

He knows how to crush his enemies effectively.

After first destroying the leadership jump in between the enemies and cut through the seams. 

Enemies are completely isolated even though they are on the same battlefield.

And the price of that isolation is only death. 

-It’s easy to suppress the vanguard… but when on earth do you plan on moving brother?

Ja-Hyeon’s voice flowed in through the communicator built into the suit. 

I answered simply stretching my body.

“The boss is supposed to move last.”

-Is the Archbishop detected? You say the Archbishop is an irregular.

“Well. As of now… I can’t see it.”

The power held by the Archbishop is clearly irregular. 

Although it is not officially recognized by the government I was able to confirm this through past meetings.

A woman who was baptized directly by the ancient gods.

What if she joins this fight?

The story of the beautiful Geumgangsan Mountain may come to an end in our generation.

I continued speaking while looking at the main force of Baekmyeonggyo approaching from afar.

“Baekmyeonggyo’s main force participates in the battle.”

-I confirmed it. What should I do?

“Focus on organizing the vanguard. I will personally take care of the main force so you take care of our church members. Every time someone gets hurt you will be held more responsible. Do you understand?”

Before I knew it the smell of blood had thickly permeated the air.

As the followers of Baekmyeonggyo cry out to their god and die the main force finally enters the mountain pass.

“Move quickly!”

“The numbers are more than ours…”

The moment the commanders of Baekmyeonggyo were urging their troops and preparing to advance in earnest I immediately jumped up.

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Kuuuung.

The meeting point of the advance party and the main force of Baekmyeonggyo.

I settled lightly on that spot. Then I quietly looked at the main body of Baekmyeonggyo.

They quickly entered the battlefield but as soon as they saw me they froze in place like stone.

I looked at them without saying anything.

The Archbishop was nowhere to be found even after looking hard. So are there other troops besides this one?

Or did only the archbishop leave the Korean peninsula?

“You’ll find out if you question them directly. Even if I ask you guys you won’t answer me readily right?”

“Kim Siwoo!”

Woooooooooooooooo-.

Among the guys a huge spear the size of a building pillar flew out menacingly.

A size so enormous that it brings to mind a siege weapon.

But I lightly punched the huge window.

Kwaaaaang.

The moment the fist and spear met a huge explosion rang out. 

The blade crumpled like paper and the shaft that supported it crumbled like dust.

“It’s a little spicy. Can I have more?”

Fear quickly spread across the faces of the Baekmyeonggyo believers who witnessed the tea ceremony show I showed them with their own eyes.

It is natural to feel fear in the face of overwhelming power.

Even the most fanatic of believers cannot help but be afraid when confronted with a force that is far beyond human scope.

But there are oddities everywhere.

A desperate voice came out from among the main body of Baekmyeonggyo.

“Kim Si-woo! Even if you reject our justice and persecute us it doesn’t matter. Eventually a new order will be established on this land and the god you serve will also be under that order-.”

I quickly squeezed through the gap and found the owner of the voice.

And then he slowly grabbed the guy by the neck and lifted him up.

“Persecution is not the word to use in this situation.”

The believers of the Baekmyeong Church surrounding me were trembling and holding their weapons but no one was reaching out to me.

The guys already know.

The moment they attack me I’m telling you what will happen to them. 

I spoke softly to the Baekmyeonggyo believers who were trembling as they looked at me. 

“As of now we will subdue the vicious criminals who have committed various crimes including treason as irregulars of the Republic of Korea. Before we begin I will ask you only once so listen carefully. Those who have no intention of resisting and are willing to cooperate immediately lay down your weapons and surrender. You will have exactly 5 seconds.”

But no one put down their weapons.

Those little guys have pride.

“Yeah that’s how it’s fun.”

I never thought he would disarm so easily.

If the guys were going to surrender so easily they wouldn’t have fled through Geumgangsan in the middle of the night in the first place.

“Kkaaa …

I threw the thing I was holding high into the air smiled brightly and looked around at the followers of Baekmyeonggyo.

“Then we will now begin the forced execution. If you wish to surrender raise both arms.”

I’ll break both of those arms you know.

2.

To cut to the chase the battle continued until daybreak.

Perhaps because it was summer the daylight began to brighten quickly but the problem arose when the remnants of Baekmyeonggyo chose to flee.

“Search thoroughly!”

“You must not act alone. If you go alone you will be defeated individually!”

“yes!”

Naturally it was easy to seize the opportunity to win the battle.

With Ja-Hyeon and I in this two-horse carriage we turned the battlefield upside down so there’s no way the battle would go smoothly.

If you have asymmetric powers at the level of tactical nuclear weapons and still struggle to fight you are just a fool.

The problem arose after the battle.

The remnants of Baekmyeonggyo who had become defeated hid themselves in the mountains of Geumgangsan instead of continuing the resistance.

Suddenly guerrilla warfare began.

“These guys aren’t guerrillas or anything? What is guerrilla warfare? Guerilla warfare!”

“Brother what are guerrillas?”

“How do you not know about the guerrillas? Haven’t you been in the military?”

“I went to Jungwon instead of the military.”

“I’ve been to another world and also served in the military.”

“As expected you are my brother. You are amazing.”

“…Your hair has grown a lot lately?”

In the first place this type of guerrilla warfare is not a guerrilla warfare aimed at victory.

It was a blatant declaration of intent to buy time.

Even though it is our church it is impossible to completely root out all the guys hiding in these vast mountains.

I wonder if it would be possible to borrow Raphael’s skills.

Every time something like this happens I really miss Raphael.

If Raphael had been here he would have caught him with a drone a long time ago.

“They’re blatantly trying to stall for time. Now it’s downright blatant.”

Baek Myeong-gyo seemed to have no will to fight.

Some fanatics fought while calling out the name of God but their strategies and tactics showed no ambition for victory. 

Only a delay measure.

The intention was to somehow tie up our church’s hands and buy time.

“The archbishop never showed up.”

Ja-Hyeon sighed as he stuck his sword into the dirt floor.

“I wonder where it went.”

“Maybe it has already emerged on the Korean Peninsula.”

“Isn’t there a bounty on your head right now? Hmm… I guess a bounty on your head is meaningless.” 

How could a wanted poster be effective against an irregular-level strongman?

If you want to escape you can escape and an Irregular-level Awakened person is someone who can do whatever they want.

This has drastically reduced the possibility of the Archbishop staying in the country.

“It seems like they’ve already left the Korean peninsula.”

Let’s start again from the beginning.

These guys came to South Korea to tie up the feet of our church.

If you think about it that way it’s completely understandable why we’re waging a war of delay like we are doing now.

Guerrilla warfare that is there is no way to waste time like guerrilla warfare.

After going through various deductions we were able to reach one conclusion.

“Should we eventually advance towards northern China?”

China where altars to Baekmyeonggyo are being built rapidly.

There is no doubt that our sect is plotting something dark there after making mainland China pay attention to it.

It’s also a bit shady that the Purifiers are raiding Xi’an.

“Is Se-min hyung waiting in China?”

“yes.”

“Is that the extent of the power that can be mobilized? Even though China is divided in two it is still one on the outside. It is also true that the government in Beijing has legitimacy.”

“That’s the problem.”

Even if it was eaten by Baekmyeonggyo China is still a sovereign state. 

Our religious order’s forces alone were limited in advancing into the inland areas of northern China let alone southern China.

So this time we need to form a united front again… This is actually a really complicated problem. 

“Even I can’t be sure.”

There is no information or justification.

It was clear that something was happening in mainland China but since we didn’t know what was happening we couldn’t come up with an excuse.

In addition the situation was becoming very chaotic as riots broke out in South Korea.

According to what I’ve heard Japan is similar.

“If we keep doing this I think we’ll miss the golden time.” 

The result of having left Baekmyeonggyo alone until now was this riot. In other words the longer we drag it out the greater the disaster will be.

Even Terra who had been passing along information about the ancient gods from time to time had not contacted us for two weeks.

From here on out it’s truly uncharted territory.

“My head hurts.”

“Let’s put our heads together and think about it hyung.”

“Then what will be the answer?”

“It’s better than worrying alone.”

From now on we must devise a strategy by mobilizing all of the capabilities of the church.

Perhaps we need to prepare for more than just a war with the Purifiers.

With the flames of war raging all over the world it may not be a problem that can simply end in China.

While I was rolling my head around like that.

Ring ring ring ring.

The phone in my pocket rang.

The sender is Director Kim of the Ability Management Department.

Are you calling to ask about the outcome of the battle?

“Yes Director Kim. We are currently pursuing the remnants of Baekmyeonggyo…”

That was when.

An urgent voice came over the phone.

– 7 minutes ago a small-scale local battle broke out between the Chinese government and the Sinuiju area. The scale of the battle is about 300 people on both sides and it seems that the possibility of an all-out war cannot be ruled out. The NSC has been called. The Pope and the awakened Cheon Ja-hyeon have also been called so I have contacted you urgently to inform you of this. 

“…what did these kids eat wrong?” 

Something was going wrong.