Predation – 1
The atmosphere of the battlefield changed completely. No doubt, quite a few people noticed the magic I just used was beyond humanity, but I didn’t care. They would just continue to judge me based on my appearance, which looked like a human’s, as they always had.
“He just stopped the attack…”
“Is that…?”
I drew my sword, reaching it out. I realized I hadn’t repaired it yet; it still had the damage it sustained during my fight with Marcocias. It was due to my meeting with Katsuragi and the maintenance underground that I completely forgot. A sigh left my mouth as I regretted my own foolishness. Even in such a short moment, the attacks continued to fly in. Warriors were beginning to pop out one after another as if they thought that just shooting magic from a distance wouldn’t be enough. The guild master of Incheon stepped forward.
“We can take them on. Do something about that damn child Lee Minha somehow.”
“Good.” I put away my greatsword. If it were torn asunder, that would be irreversible. It would be better to fight bare-handed. That’s when I remembered that I did have a weapon to use. I killed Marcocias and received two items, the Pure White Reaper and a Mirror Shawl. The Pure White Reapermust be the dagger she used. I danced out of the way of the magic attacks and pulled it out from my inventory.
[Pure White Reaper (2,987/3,200) – Attack 1,200]
That was all the information I had, but it was surprising enough. It was a small dagger, yet it had almost twice the attack power of the Twilight sword. Shortly after I confirmed it had no room for traps, I grabbed it. It felt odd; the moment I held it in my hand, it felt like it was made just for me. I thought it was just a coincidence that it bore the name Reaper, but then I felt a bit silly. I didn’t think there was a correlation. It also made me realize how stupid Marcocias was in using it.
The mana pouring out from the dagger made me instinctively realize one function of it. I swung the dagger as if to cut through the fog ahead. The energy contained within it sucked up the mana in the mist, creating a new dagger in the air. It melted before long, a series of mysterious occurrences visible only to me.
“Kuh, he’s here too.” The fog gathered once again, obscuring my view. I could hear Lee Minha’s voice this time.
“I thought you would come, so I couldn’t help but make a move.” Magic whistled through the air and rushed towards my heart. Swallowing it up with Predation, and once again making a dagger in the air, I easily found him. He was in the middle of a group of dozens of elites. A translucent gray shield covered him, and I instantly recognized it from the Rookie’s Battlefield.
“It’s crazy to think about using it for just a single time.”
“You can sense it right away, demon.” Magic like a pitch-black earthworm wriggled in the air at me; its mana too strong for me to devour whole. The mana was sticky and dirty, and it disgusted me to think of how many lives had to be mutilated and lost to create such magic.
“If sin had weight, you wouldn’t be able to raise your head.”
“To whom are you speaking to, I wonder.” It was energy different from Jinma or Elakatra, standing at a point opposite of the two. I could tell it would permeate through my veins like poison the second I Predated it. It was magic that seemed to be tailored for killing me. Instead of Predation, I filled the dagger with the energy of Reaper to cut through it.
“Did Elakatra prepare that for you?”
“No way.”
“They must have known this would be impossible with your own strength.”
“What? Kgh.” He let out a laugh that felt more at home in a cartoon.
“This world has become really fun. How long has it been since I’ve heard the word impossible.” It came to me in a flash. Hearing his words, it all became clear. His actions, why he was here, why he cooperated with the elves…I smiled.
“You must’ve felt pretty bad when you noticed there was an entity stronger than you.”
“…!” Magic flew in once more, multiple versions this time. Unlike the energy of Elakatra, I wasn’t able to analyze it at all. It would be foolish of me to try to eat it with Predation. I hesitated for just a moment before activating Space Destruction. It didn’t matter how much power the soul had compressed; it couldn’t sustain itself against an explosion that occurred with no warning. Lee Minha’s laughter was distorted; I wondered if he expected that I would eat the magic and disappear.
“I should get rid of you here.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” I expanded my senses to scan the whole space, but the contaminated human souls were gathered at a high enough density to distort it. However, I could tell that Lee Minha was using some sort of device to concentrate the power of the elite guild members into himself. Their faces gradually turned white, confirming my suspicion.
“To wield souls like this without any study or determination…” Was there another reason for the Elakatra to study soul monsters, or did they just want troops? Was it really as simple as I thought? Perhaps.
“No one can look down on me.” With that arrogant remark, he reached out. I could feel deteriorated mana fill the space around me, but I swung the Pure White Reaper.
“Huh?!” The dagger finally revealed itself, having been absorbing mana until now. Daggers poured down like a meteor shower to tear away the mana that was concentrated on me, continuing on to the drop point where Lee Minha and his men were.
“Kahak!”
[You gained 283 experience.]
It was just his subordinates, but I gained experience. They were neither higher nor lower entities, yet the deterioration of their souls had distorted the very structure of our species. No matter how many I killed, I wouldn’t get any gold either. They were beings that had been cut out of the system that governed the world. The Elakatra must have had a reason to give such power to humans.
Lee Minha had been unable to hide his greed and ambition, and as a result, he was used by the elves. There was nothing more to learn from him, disappointingly. The ominous mana-filled mist cleared, and what I saw filled me with confusion. Lee Minha was the only one standing there- not a single other person was visible. The daggers had tremendous destructive power, but the sight was strange. He had defended himself with the shield made of souls, but where was everyone else who had been killed?
“Whoo.” He sighed harshly, and I could tell his appearance was distorted.
“Now, through this.” The contaminated mana swirled inside of him, transforming his body to an unparalleled level. His soul had transformed and mixed with countless others, forming a disgusting shape. It wasn’t like the Wind of Eutinus. Rather, it was a terrible shape willed into existence by this man.
“It’s almost complete.”
“…” There was only one answer as to how the elites had vanished.
“It wasn’t me you prepared for.” The magic was meant to kill and absorb his own men.
“No one can stand above me. I’ve been thinking about it since the elves told me I should never come into contact with you. The time has come for me to reclaim my place. Everything exists for me, to sacrifice itself for me.”
Only
“So you contaminated their souls as well?” Just for this moment, to absorb them easier. It was so ridiculous, I couldn’t laugh. The mana of the dirty soul expanded enormously, more than five times than my own. I put away my dagger, and he laughed as he watched it disappear into my inventory. He seemed to think I’ve given up.
“You’re finished. Both demons and elves will be erased from the Earth, and I shall sit on the throne prepared for me. Blame yourself for your fate.” I didn’t really feel like listening to him anymore. I clapped, and a dark green flash shot through the air to hit Lee Minha directly. It was healing magic. I had learned magic since I became a monster, but the only healing magic I had worked on the body. But what about the healing magic of those who learned to touch the spirit? It was magic that healed the soul. It returned the distorted and twisted souls to their original form.
“Oh, groaoaaaaaah!” One side of Lee Minha’s face, which was grotesquely deformed, was pierced. That was just the start; every part of his body began to twist, shrink, swell, and explode.
‘Lee Minha, did you know? The elves themselves see you as disposable.’
[Yes, did it work?!]
“Don’t memorize any resurrection spells.” I made a face at Katsuragi, the hero who could heal, and rushed toward Lee Minha’s body. I had only one thought in my head.
Even if I hated it, the truth would come to me.
And it wasn’t far.
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