## Chapter 1634

ㅡCrunch!
ㅡThwack!

“Talk.”
“Kuh-heok…!”

After interrogating the evil cultists before me and repeatedly using mind-scanning, I was able to roughly figure out what kind of place this world was.

Of course, it was based entirely on the cultists’ perspective, so there were some serious confirmation biases and logical fallacies, but I could easily clear that up by checking it myself.

So, let’s summarize the current situation.

These guys are cultists belonging to a group called the Demonic Heavenly Sect. They’re considered enemies of the continent, and people call them evil demonic cultists.

The charges against them were countless.

“Human sacrifice, indiscriminate kidnapping, serial rape, pleasure killings, various acts of sabotage with strong terrorist tendencies, habitual petty theft, and even daring arson! My god! Every single one is a terrible felony!”
“That’s all been framed by that evil Emperor…!”
“Bullshit, you bastard. Then what about the kids in the basement?”
“The cult members all voluntarily offered those children! For the future of this world!”

But the power of these demonic cultists is by no means light. They occupy the western part of the continent and can be considered a religious nation.

A nation of fanaticism.

They voluntarily offer their own children as sacrifices for human sacrifice. The children who were having their blood sucked in the basement were all the firstborn children offered by young cult members to perform rituals.

“Oh. Screw you.”

ㅡCrack!

I immediately moved my finger and crushed his neck.

“The situation is a bit complicated.”

I understand that these cultists are an evil group. But they all believe that they are righteous, and all the rumors are framed by the Emperor of the true evil empire beyond.

They even claimed that those heinous criminal acts were all committed by powerful families within the empire, and they were just being wrongly accused.

“Alchemy.”

Because human blood and souls are needed to create a secret medicine that strengthens the fundamental power of humans… a divine elixir? A golden elixir? Something that can be translated as an elixir.

The powerful families of the empire are obsessed with this alchemy and commit indiscriminate criminal acts to procure fresh, human ingredients, and then frame the demonic cultists for it.

“It actually works.”

This alchemy actually worked.

But even these wronged demonic cultists are using alchemy involving human sacrifice very well.

Above all, that evil thing in the basement.

In my eyes, it’s just a monster from another dimension, but these guys believe it’s a divine creature. They’re using that thing very well too. Just the kind of thing cultists would do.

Anyway, these Demonic Heavenly Sect guys were beaten down within the empire and retreated to this western region, where they set up their base.

In that situation, the sect leader constantly repeated training and cultivation to burn down the empire, and eventually performed a descent ritual to ascend.

“But I came out? What do you think, buddy?”
“Kuh-heuk…! O-Of course, it was an expected situation, but…”
“You expected it, but you still did it?”
“We judged that the sect leader who ascended to become a Heavenly Demon would take care of everything… Ugh?!”
“Too naive.”

They were too naive in opening a gate to another dimension.

“Good. I’ve got a rough grasp.”

This world is one where stronger power governs everything. A world where powerless people are literally sacrifices for alchemy. That’s how the world looks from the perspective of the demonic cultists.

But the demonic cultists are also obsessed with alchemy.

The demonic cultists decided to burn down that dirty world and establish their own order on the land.

“I’ll have to check it out myself.”

ㅡThud.

I threw the corpse of the cultist onto the pile of corpses.

“What kind of world is this mess?”

From what I can see, it’s a world somewhat similar to martial arts? That’s what I can think, but it seems a bit different from the martial arts I know. Aren’t martial arts about righteous warriors who train themselves and gain stronger power?

But these guys are digging into strange methods like alchemy to become beings similar to gods.

“Energy.”

Looking at the mana-like power in the atmosphere, it seems like you can get stronger just by training or cultivating.

Human sacrifice is in vogue?

It seems like they’ve taken a seriously wrong turn. I couldn’t even imagine that such an inhumane world would exist. It’s so terrible that I’m holding back the urge to scream wildly right now…!

“I have to burn it! I have to destroy all these bastards!”

I immediately deploy the Demonic Heavenly Divine Art!

“Heavenly Demon Advent Step!”

ㅡKugugugugugung!

As I took a step, a light earthquake occurred, and the building was smashed.

ㅡKwagagagagagang!

The children in the basement were already sent to human settlements nearby using Demonic Heavenly Psychokinesis.

“This will take some time.”

First, I need to see what kind of world this is myself. If it’s a world where human sacrifice openly occurs, I need to beat them up a bit. Then shall I go meet that Emperor guy?

ㅡKwoong.

Soon, all the buildings turned to dust, and only then could I see the sky. But looking at it, this must have been the basement of a huge castle. Of course, it’s all dust now.

ㅡKwang!

I immediately kicked off the ground and flew into the sky.

* * *

“Hmm.”

Flying around, this area is a bit desolate. Anyway, I just need to go straight east. The place called the Empire is said to be in the east.

How long have I been flying?

Looking down, it seems like some merchants in that forest have encountered bandits and are being unilaterally slaughtered.

ㅡSwish.

As soon as I recognized it, I exerted my power and restrained everyone at the scene, preventing them from moving, and then landed.

“Kuk… Kuh-hak! Fan Master! My body suddenly won’t move!”
“Me too!”
“I can’t move either!”
“Be quiet! I’m the same! What the hell is going on…!”

The bandits fell into confusion.

I approached them and said.

“Hey, guys, what are you doing right now? What are you doing here?”
“Huh? H-Heok! What a size!”

The man called Fan Master looked up at me and shouted in surprise.

“Who are you guys, and why are you beating up the merchants here? Don’t tell me you’re bandits?”
“B-Bandits? N-No! Great Hero! We are Green Forest Bandits!”
“Green Forest Bandits?”

Roughly translated, that’s what it means, but it means bandits.

“Why are the Green Forest Bandits attacking merchants?”
“That’s… because these guys didn’t want to pay the toll!”
“Toll?”

Perhaps overwhelmed by my size, the guy called Fan Master confessed everything without much resistance. But actually, he can’t even move, so of course he would.

“You guys collect tolls?”
“That’s right…”
“Why? Is this mountain yours?”
“You could say that. This is our mountain. So we were collecting tolls… G-Great Hero, don’t you know about the Green Forest?”

Of course, I don’t.

“Oh. I don’t know much about it. Tell me about it.”

As I said with a smirk, the guy swallowed hard and answered.

“So… we Green Forest Bandits are the owners of this mountain. So we’re just collecting tolls.”
“No. You’re just collecting money? Isn’t that just being bandits?”
“Don’t say that! We’re not bandits!”
“You’re collecting money. Aren’t you bandits?”
“We Green Forest Bandits are different from bandits!”

Fan Master strongly refused.

“Bandits are vicious criminals who repeat robbery and murder without being the owners of the forest, but we Green Forest Bandits manage this forest, defeat thieves, and maintain the roads. We are honorable martial artists. So we collect money. You could say it’s different from bandits.”
“Is that so?”

In other words, they’re guys who occupy the forest and guarantee the safety and comfort of passage in exchange for money.

Well, I understand that they’re saying it’s similar to a toll road.

“Then those guys are complete assholes? The merchants didn’t pay the toll.”
“T-That’s right…”
“Liaaaaar! It’s a lie! Great Heerooo!”

Then the merchant who had fallen shouted.

“That bastard!”

Fan Master growled, but I immediately grabbed his face with telekinesis.

“Ugh?!”
“Quiet.”
“G-Great Hero? Don’t tell me that we can’t move is all… because of the Great Hero’s power?”
“Oh. That’s right.”
“Master!!!”
“I’m not a master.”
“Then?”
“I’m a murder master.”
“Murder master?!”

I immediately approached the fallen merchant. He had a sword wound, but thanks to my power pressing down, the bleeding had stopped.

“Merchant. You just said it was a lie? What does that mean?”
“That’s right! It’s a lie! Those guys are assholes!”
“Why? Wasn’t it you who didn’t pay the toll?”
“There’s a reason!”
“Tell me.”
“First of all, we encountered bandits twice on the way! The road wasn’t maintained at all! This is a breach of contract! They didn’t earn the toll!”

Breach of contract.

“So when we said we wouldn’t pay, they said they couldn’t accept it! So when we said we would report it to the sect, they attacked us!”

I roughly understand.

“Ah, so to summarize. The Green Forest Bandits breached the contract, and when you tried to report it, they drew their swords?”
“That’s right! It shouldn’t be like this! Meeting bandits and then collecting a toll! It’s a clear breach of contract!”
“Okay. You’ve said it well.”

There’s a reason why I’ve been humoring this trivial story and listening quietly until now.

One is to hear what kind of mindset the common people here live with, and the second reason is that I wanted to know how this world works.

“Merchant. Just a moment.”
“Yes?”

ㅡGrasp.

I grabbed his head and used mind scanning.

“Oh.”

The merchant’s words were true.

“And Fan Master? Put your head here too.”
“Yes?”

I immediately grabbed Fan Master’s head and scanned it. That confirmed that the merchant’s words were true.

“Fan Master. Here. Can you see this?”
“I-Isn’t that a fist? My god. Your fist is huge…”
“Look closely. Barley. Barley.”

ㅡRice.

The moment I shouted.

「ㅡTooo-kwakakakakakakakakakakakakakakakang!!!」

At the same time as my fist was fired, the Green Forest Bandits turned to dust.

“Hehehe, you goddamn bandit bastards. What? Green Forest Bandits? You’re full of shit.”

They’re the kind of guys that real adventurers would hate.