Returned With Horns

* * *

Crash-!

One side of the church wall collapsed. The girl who created this blasphemous sight drew a twisted smile.

Holding a long straight sword in her hand, she was exuding an enormous killing intent. The long horns on her forehead and the two eyes glowing red seemed to prove that she was not human.

"Say that again."

"W-well, the church said they cannot return you to your original world."

"Ha. Hu. Hahah. Ha. Shit. Are you kidding me?"

Seeing the girl's smile twisting even more, Antonio, the Pope of the diocese, swallowed hard. A monster that couldn't be captured even if the church mobilized all its forces was spewing killing intent at him. Being the Pope, Antonio could barely withstand it, but even a cardinal would have fainted immediately.

Under the pressure that made his flesh tremble, Antonio calmed his shaking body and spoke as calmly as he could.

"...Dimensional transfer is essentially a holy magic that has undergone magical processing. It's impossible without the help of the Magic Tower."

"Do you think you can keep me here with such words? What a shallow trick, Pope."

The girl gritted her teeth. Seeing her clearly about to explode with anger, Antonio slightly increased the distance and said:

"Wasn't it you who destroyed the Magic Tower? Hero."

"Cut it out. You don't even sincerely think that."

Saying so, the girl kicked Antonio in the stomach. It was a light kick for her, but for Antonio, it felt like an elephant had pressed on his insides.

"Cough!"

Spitting out a dry cough and applying healing magic to his ruptured internal organs, Antonio looked at the girl with trembling eyes.

The girl, seemingly quite shocked, curled up and kept spitting out curses.

"Damn it, I followed all of your wishes. Becoming a woman due to the side effects of your damn magical procedure, growing horns on top of that, and even my mind, fuck! It's half gone. And now you're saying you can't send me back? You ungrateful bastard!"

The girl, who was calm at first, shouted with an increasingly agitated face. Her shout was half like a tantrum.

Antonio sighed as he watched her. She was a monster they had created. They couldn't let her loose in this world.

There was no room for her will to be reflected there.

Taking a deep breath, Antonio slowly looked at her.

"In any case, dimensional transfer magic is impossible without the Magic Tower."

"...Ha. It's not about the Magic Tower, but magicians, right? Hmm?"

"That's right. But you killed all the magicians too."

"Who says that?"

The girl's eyes shone strangely. At that gaze, Antonio suddenly felt uneasy.

The girl raised one hand. She slowly closed her eyes as she spread her palm.

"Ermoso."

Whoosh-

A bright light rose from her hand.

There were only two cases where human power could produce the light of divine power. Holy magic and magic. Either following God or imitating God.

"...You."

"Weren't you supposed to hate magic? They said I had to learn magic no matter what to catch that bastard, the Demon King. Hah, haha."

Ugh, the girl dry heaved and looked at Antonio with half-closed eyes. There was no way to stop her anymore. Judging so, Antonio sighed.

"...It can't be helped."

"Ha. Haha. Hahaha!"

The girl laughed cheerfully and suddenly looked at Antonio with an expressionless face. It was such a sudden change of expression that a stranger might have been scared, but Antonio knew it was a signal that the girl was in a good mood.

She was truly a beautiful girl when she kept her mouth shut like that. Long eyelashes and slightly dark red irises. With her long black hair mixed with purple hanging down and lips pursed, she exuded more dignity than most noble ladies.

It would have been even more so if not for the dangling straight sword at her waist, but Antonio decided not to pay attention to that magic sword anymore.

"I'll prepare right away."

"..."

Nod. The girl nodded her head. It was a change unimaginable from the girl who had been screaming like mad just moments ago.

Has she stabilized? Antonio glanced at her demeanor and then gestured outside. At that, priests rushed in from inside and cleared the surroundings.

When all the chairs in the chapel were removed, a huge magic circle was revealed underneath.

Looking at that magic circle, Antonio sighed. The source of everything and the magic circle that saved the current world. But it was also the thing that gave birth to another calamity because of it.

"Do you really have to go back?"

At Antonio's question, the girl twitched her eyebrows. Then she tightly closed her mouth. It was a signal that she didn't want to speak anymore.

Sighing, Antonio slowly began to infuse holy power into the magic circle.

"The magical power for transfer has been activated. All that remains is for you to construct the coordinates yourself. You know coordinate magic, right?"

"...Yes."

The girl slowly began to construct the coordinates. Watching her, Antonio swallowed hard. There was only one chance.

The dimension they had brought her from was a very peaceful one. A place where mysteries and miracles don't exist, where horned women don't walk around. That's why they couldn't send her to such a place.

"Slowly, infuse the magical power."

"..."

The girl began to infuse magical power into the magic circle while concentrating. In the process, Antonio slightly altered the coordinates the girl had constructed. Completely focused on infusing magical power, the girl didn't notice Antonio's misdeed and continued to concentrate until the end.

"In that world, I hope you live peacefully."

"If you hadn't dragged me out, I would have been living peacefully there."

"..."

The magic circle slowly began to activate. Seeing this, Antonio finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Even Antonio didn't know the coordinates of all dimensions, so he couldn't know where the coordinates he modified led to.

It could be hell, it could be heaven, but at least it wouldn't be her home planet. Feeling a bit sorry, Antonio activated the magic circle.

"Activate!"

"Ah, I have something to say at the end. Antonio."

"...What is it?"

"5..."

Numbers? Antonio blankly stared at her. But the girl just looked at Antonio with a twisted smile and counted numbers.

"4..."

Boom-boom-!

A storm of magical power instantly enveloped her and the girl disappeared.

What on earth was the meaning of the last numbers? Antonio tilted his head, then spat out something that suddenly came up.

"Uweeek!"

"...Pope-!"

Antonio, who vomited blood, collapsed on the floor. Antonio knew what this symptom was. The Curse of Mortality. It was one of the curses she had acquired during her travels.

Although it could only be cast once, the Curse of Mortality was a curse that killed everyone around once cast, but it didn't work on the Demon King, so it ended up being a useless curse.

Seeing that the surrounding priests were fine, it seemed she had cast it when she faced him.

"Did you... hate me enough to want to kill me? Hero..."

At first, he felt wronged, but thinking about what he had done to her, Antonio eventually accepted death without resistance.

Yet, as there was one last thing he had to say, Antonio put all his strength into opening his mouth.

"The next Pope... I leave the appointment to the Saintess..."

"Pope! Pope-!"

Hearing the cries and screams of the priests, Antonio's neck just snapped.

* * *

"Shit, where the hell am I?"

After the transfer magic was cast, when she opened her eyes, the girl had moved to some cave. In front of her were a giant fire dragon and several people who seemed to have given up fighting.

Before she could properly understand what was going on, the fire dragon rushed towards her.

"No, let me at least assess the situation!"

The girl grabbed the rushing dragon's mouth and forced it shut, then immediately punched its jaw.

Creak-! With a sound like tearing leather, the fire dragon flew off and got stuck in the wall. Watching this scene, Jinhyuk muttered blankly.

"...Is this a dream?"

"Dream or whatever, hey you. Is this really Earth?"

"...Huh? Well. Yes, it is."

"Then why is there something like that?"

Jinhyuk couldn't understand the current situation. He thought he was going to die for sure, but now the fire dragon was lying stretched out far away. And the person who easily subdued that fire dragon was the girl in front of him.

The girl's appearance was peculiar. A long straight sword dangled at her waist without a scabbard, and she wore an elaborate mask on her face. There were long horns on her forehead, and her clothes, which slightly revealed her plump upper chest, even felt a bit sexy.

Jinhyuk quickly turned his gaze away, then glanced at her again.

"...What about you, suddenly appearing in a dungeon. How did you do that?"

"Dungeon? ...Damn, what the hell is going on here."

Thud- Thud- Thud-

The sound of giant footsteps echoes through the cavern. A fire giant swings a huge flame sword, knocking down all the fire dragons. Seeing this, the girl sighed.

"Is it not the demon realm? No, he said it was Earth."

"Excuse me?"

"For now, let's clear that out first. Yeah. Mm."

The girl who had been muttering to herself like a madwoman drew the straight sword that seemed like it would cut her thigh. At the same time, her clothes lifted slightly, revealing her snow-white thighs. At that sight, Jinhyuk quickly turned his head away again.

"First dance. Shooting the Sun."

With the thought that the straight sword moved once, the giant's ankle was cut off.

Even to the eyes of Jinhyuk, a B-rank hunter who was considered relatively high in the hunter world, it was a sword strike he couldn't see. A thrust? A slash? He couldn't even tell that.

But the result was clear. As the ankle of the giant flame giant was cut off, it screamed and limped towards the girl, thumping loudly.

Calmly watching this scene, the girl moved her straight sword again.

"Second dance. Soul Slash."

Swish-

With the sound of the wind being split, Jinhyuk thought the cave had been split in half. For an instant, the flow of air stopped, and at the same time, the giant's body was split in two.

The giant, its body completely cut, collapsed.

At this unbelievable sight, Jinhyuk's mouth fell open. Even a fire dragon is a monster that only a decent S-rank guild can handle. To kill a giant that was killing fire dragons like ants in just two moves. It was a feat impossible for any existing hunter.

"...What? It feels like my strength has weakened."

The masked girl clenched her fist once and shook her head. Watching her blankly, Jinhyuk suddenly came to his senses.

"Hey, you are..."

"A-are we alive?"

"We're alive!"

"We survived!"

However, the question Jinhyuk was about to ask was drowned out by the cheers of the surrounding guild members. As the dungeon started to collapse, probably because that giant was the boss, Jinhyuk had no choice but to put his question aside.

"For now, let's get out."

"Huh? Oh, right."

The girl nodded and followed behind Jinhyuk, tilting her head curiously. Even as he stole glances at her, Jinhyuk felt like he was dreaming.