WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 43: Pastor Go of Gangnam Holy Temple Church (3)

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You'd think exorcists only cared about ancient Bibles and holy relics, but apparently they were surprisingly serious about modernization.

"The invention of guns was huge. No matter your build or training, one shot can put someone down."

"Does that work on anomalies too?"

"It does. Not as well as it does on people, but it works."

It wasn't like physical force did nothing to anomalies.

Unless they were spirit bodies like ghosts, even monsters and vampires died if you physically tore them apart.

"Guns are good equipment. In an emergency, there isn't a more reliable option. You can use silver bullets against things like vampires, too."

Pastor Go took out a shotgun from somewhere.

"The SPAS-X Leviathan, an automatic anti-monster combat shotgun. Its barrel is forged from holy iron alloy soaked in holy oil and dried under sunlight. Its reinforced, silver-plated chamber contains powdered Armenian obsidian. It uses Korea Explosives VX-13 high-pressure propellant. Twelve-gauge. Consecrated buckshot, pure silver-tungsten composite flechettes, blessed salt crystals, and a greater-exorcism composite shell loaded with fragments of a silver cross!"

"Uh..."

"Overall length, ninety-four centimeters. Weight, 5.8 kilograms. Maximum effective range, eighty meters. Maximum capacity, twelve shells. No creature can keep its form after being hit by this!"

He seemed kind of excited.

"If you're confident in your shooting, a rifle would be good too. The Golgotha is an anti-monster combat assault rifle. It has a cold-forged holy iron alloy barrel and fires 6.8x51mm APHE armor-piercing explosive rounds with pure silver jackets alloyed with nickel, sealed with mercury and holy oil. It's the pinnacle of tactical weaponry, capable of sending even demons to the hill of Golgotha."

"..."

Some seriously ridiculous weapons had come out, but after hearing the specs, I understood.

I couldn't use these.

They were way too heavy.

Sure, I could carry them around inside Gari's mouth, but they weighed three or four times more than an ordinary rifle.

Maybe if I were a gym freak like Pastor Go, but I couldn't picture myself fighting while carrying one of these.

"Can I try them?"

"Oh, did one catch your eye? They're not something you can strap on and carry around, but their firepower is incredible."

So he knew they were heavy.

I took the shotgun and rifle Pastor Go recommended, then began the consecration rite.

Gari's halo shone, and the holy water it scattered enchanted the bullets.

"This is..."

Pastor Go tilted his head as he watched.

Anyway, once I fired the consecrated shotgun at the range...

Bang!

White flames spread out with an effect not all that different from my previous consecrated rounds.

"Uh..."

"The barrel..."

It had melted.

No, it was much better than what happened to the Remington last time, but the barrel had still melted.

"It happened again."

"An alloy barrel that can withstand a lycanthrope's claws..."

Pastor Go stared at the melted barrel for a long time, like he couldn't believe it, before reaching a conclusion.

"Yohan, I don't think you should use consecrated rounds. If you absolutely have to... yes, you'd need something at that level."

"Like what?"

"A twelve-gauge shotgun made by melting down the silver crosses from the Vatican's four major basilicas."

Jesus. That wasn't a gun. It was a holy relic.

"That actually exists? What kind of lunatic melts silver crosses from old churches to make a gun?"

"There was one. One person."

"..."

Who was it... No, I probably knew without asking.

"Anyway, let's put the guns off for now. I'll try making something even better."

"No, it's fine..."

It was disappointing that guns were out.

I could use regular lead or silver bullets, but if that was all I needed, I might as well use an ordinary rifle.

【Devour······.】

Just then, Eight-Foot Sister seemed interested in the rifle.

Come to think of it, she had taken down one of the high-ranking vampires.

Who would have thought Eight-Foot Sister would start blasting away with a gun there?

"Want to try it, big sis?"

【Devour!】

Eight-Foot Sister picked up the Golgotha, the supposedly amazing assault rifle.

It looked very small compared to her height, but she still got into a decent stance.

Then Eight-Foot Sister pulled the trigger at the range target.

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

She emptied the entire magazine in one go and looked oddly refreshed.

【Devour!】

"This is amazing. You hit better than I expected. More importantly... there's no recoil? You've got monstrous strength."

That was true.

Even when I'd only fired single shots in the army, rifle recoil had been pretty intense.

That was with 5.56mm rounds. A 6.8mm rifle had to kick even harder. Yet Eight-Foot Sister didn't sway at all, even after emptying an entire magazine.

"Maybe you're talented at shooting, big sis?"

【Devour!】

She seemed to have developed a taste for shooting and wanted to try more.

Even without consecrating silver bullets, regular silver or lead rounds would still be effective enough.

Should I get a gun for Eight-Foot Sister?

I did have the K2C1 and M249 machine gun I bought last time.

"Hmm, but the gun's too small."

"That's true, but isn't that unavoidable?"

"No, we can just make one that suits her size."

That was an option?

"What do you think? I'll make a gun fit for an Eight-Foot-Tall Ghost."

"I'd appreciate that."

"Good. Still, giving you only that would be a little lacking..."

Pastor Go brought out a few more items.

This time, it was a crossbow.

"This is a licensed version of the Helsing Family's secret crossbow. It folds up, so it's easy to carry, and it's quiet enough to use anywhere."

"Oh... Helsing..."

"For the record, they're a genuine Dutch vampire-hunting family, not related to that Japanese manga across the sea, so don't get confused."

"Come on, I can tell manga apart from reality."

Though this world wasn't exactly realistic either.

"But if you have the Gutenberg Bible, Seventh Edition... this might be the better choice."

Pastor Go brought over a page.

A Bible page. It was fairly new, yet it had the strange feel of restored old paper.

"If you have the Gutenberg Bible, Seventh Edition, you'll need a way to replenish it too, right?"

"Ah, I was going to ask about that. Pastor Kim's user manual said the church had outsourced the work."

"That's right. This was the place that replenished that Bible's pages. We've also developed a new technique. It was developed seventeen years ago, but we never got to use it..."

"A new technique?"

"Watch closely."

Pastor Go lightly grasped the paper, and it suddenly changed into the shape of a sword.

"Is that magic?"

"It's a secret art that temporarily changes the shape of holy paper soaked in holy oil. One of the Gutenberg Bible's functions was changing forms, right? This technique automates that."

The Bible could consume pages to create barriers that blocked entry, or replicate multiple forms and manifest them.

I had heard they were temporary, so they could only be used as consumables.

"This new holy paper can also consume spiritual power to add a simple guidance function."

Pastor Go threw the sword made of holy paper. It flew straight at first, then suddenly changed course and struck a target off to the side.

"Whoa...!"

"We'll supply you with this new holy paper from now on."

"That works for me!"

We immediately made a verbal agreement to supply the holy paper.

He said they would only charge the minimum labor and material costs, so of course I had to take the offer.

"Lastly... we should discuss the vampires' blood."

Right.

Vampire blood was too dangerous to put on the market as it was.

It needed to be processed first, and apparently only a limited number of groups could do that.

"What can you make with vampire blood?"

"It's simple. You can temporarily gain a vampire's power."

It was like a stimulant.

It granted a vampire's regeneration and physical strength. It couldn't give you special abilities like transforming into a bat or mist, but that was already incredible.

"The problem is that although we have the technology to refine vampire blood, it may take some time to restore the process. It's been a long time since anyone handled vampire blood."

They needed to pull old equipment from the corner of the warehouse and call in technicians.

I handed over the blood collected from the vampires by the Association.

"I think we've wrapped up everything. Want to have chicken for dinner, Pastor? Rice Barrel Chicken is famous around here."

"Sounds good. But we'll need to order a lot. Gari eats too."

"An angel eats chicken..."

Gari can never get enough of it. Gari goes absolutely crazy for it.

* * *

At the chicken place Pastor Go introduced me to, we talked about many things.

"I see... a brass ring and the power to command demons. You're practically King Solomon."

"Right? I think I'm connected to him somehow too."

"You can even use Decarabia's necromancy?"

"Yes, but only on birds."

"Decarabia is a demon that handles birds. Even if you're limited to birds, that should lower the synchronization rate and the difficulty of commanding them."

That was true.

Even though I was commanding a huge number of bird souls, I hadn't had any problems.

"But you can command them with just a bird's corpse? How far does that go?"

"If there's only bones left, I can somehow manage it."

"...Right there on the spot?"

"Yes. Is that weird?"

Pastor Go silently thought it over before opening his mouth.

"Normally, to call forth a soul from old bones rather than something freshly dead, you'd need to perform a soul-summoning ritual or a spirit-possession rite. Black magic and sorcery are the same. Honestly, it's hard to believe."

"Hmm, should I try it with these chicken bones?"

"Chicken bones?"

Pastor Go looked dumbfounded, so I gathered the bones from the chicken we had just finished and poured spiritual power into them.

One bone wasn't enough. It worked best when I could gather most of the bones.

Cluck!

Soon, a soul settled into the chicken bones. The chicken soul stood up just fine and began clucking loudly.

"This is insane..."

Pastor Go saw it through his glasses and unconsciously let out a curse.

"Something like this... is possible?"

"This is how I completed my Gugu Legion."

I sent the chicken soul back. Without a familiar contract, it returned to the afterlife like this.

"...Yohan."

"Yes?"

"The power of King Solomon didn't settle within you by chance. You know that, don't you?"

"Yeah, well..."

Even if it had been a coincidence, I would have just let it go.

Still, when I thought about how my parents had suppressed my spiritual power through Pastor Park and Pastor Kim since I was young... there had to be a reason for my spiritual abilities.

"You devoured Decarabia, one of the seventy-two demons, even if it was a lesser one, and you're using its power. Other demons will be watching you too."

And that would bring danger.

I had the power to command immortal demons like slaves.

"You need to grow stronger from now on. Obtain equipment, train, and learn how to handle your power."

Pastor Go took out his wallet, then pulled a business card from inside.

"I think you should go see this person. Their organization has ties to our church too."

I accepted the card he handed me and slowly read its unusual title.

"Society Head of the Black Lotus Society... Dragon Maiden Bodhisattva Bang Seoryeong?"

Was she a shaman?

* * *

There were five major powers that had protected the Korean Peninsula from monsters, wandering spirits, and strange beings.

Gangnam Holy Temple Church, a Christian coalition of exorcists.

The Great Unification Church, a heretical cult derived from Christianity.

The Diamond Sect, which had trained demon-fighting monks for ages.

Cheonghak, which had studied the scriptures of ancient sages since the Joseon era.

With the exception of the relatively young Great Unification Church, each was a traditional organization with centuries of history. Even so, they had to defer to the Black Lotus Society, a group of male and female shamans.

Their history stretched past Joseon and Goryeo, even before the Three Kingdoms period. They were the oldest exorcist group on the Korean Peninsula.

Then Bang Seoryeong, the current Dragon Maiden Bodhisattva and Society Head of the Black Lotus Society, received an unexpected call from Gangnam Holy Temple Church.

"I understand what you mean. But this young lady has no intention of doing it for free."

[I was under the impression a "debt" was owed to our church.]

Bang Seoryeong gave a firm answer to Pastor Go's words over the phone.

"The Black Lotus Society owes a debt to Pastor Kim, not Gangnam Holy Temple Church. Since he has passed away, the first right to collect that debt belongs to his birth mother, Madam Park."

[Madam Park belongs to the Black Lotus Society, does she not?]

"That is correct. And she has not collected that debt of gratitude."

[Haa...]

Hearing the sigh, Bang Seoryeong thought, I've won.

[Then let us owe you a debt instead.]

"Will that be all right? You're not even the Great Elder. You aren't in a position to speak of a debt between organizations."

[The senior pastor will naturally permit it.]

"..."

He was that certain? Who exactly was he sending?

As Bang Seoryeong sank into thought, Pastor Go casually changed the subject, perhaps in retaliation for getting under her skin.

[And if you intend to speak of "qualifications," why not settle your family matters first?]

"You..."

[They say all internal conflict begins at home. I hope it is resolved well. It would be troublesome if the leader of one of the Five Great Lineages were replaced too soon.]

"...Tch."

The call ended there.

Bang Seoryeong clicked her tongue, then rang a bell to summon the attendant outside.

"You called for me, Society Head?"

"We'll be receiving a guest. Prepare to welcome them."

Footnotes:

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