Episode 85.
Jung Si-woo had already absorbed Setnak’s mana from the atmosphere and to find where the source was. However, it was only a trace fragment, and no one thought he could absorb the enormous mana of a god.
“But it actually happened…”
“Ah-rin, you seem like you’re kind of liking this.”
“Well, I’m just trying to relax!”
In other words, the mana was transmitted to Jung Si-woo. Soo Ah-rin was surprised by Jung Si-woo’s words, which seemed to have already found some composure, and answered back recklessly with her staff held high. Setnak’s mana, which was filling the inside of the barrier, was quickly absorbed by Jung Si-woo, reducing the burden on her holding up the barrier, but the problem was no longer her.
“Oppa, are you sure you’ll be fine…?”
“Of course. I should’ve realized this earlier.”
Jung Si-woo was speaking casually, but Soo Ah-rin couldn’t understand him. The mana was overwhelmingly powerful enough to belong to a god. It came into Jung Si-woo and flowed through his heart, gradually accumulating inside of him! Even Setnak, the god of the undead, was shocked and unable to understand it!
[That…that’s ridiculous…the power of the dragon I felt earlier!]
“Don’t be so brief. Just explain it properly.”
[…]
If you asked him straight out, he would close his mouth. Perhaps that was a disciplined mental attack skill to scratch the enemy. Unfortunately for him, however, Jung Si-woo already had a rough idea. Just as there was no way that a person couldn’t understand a girl’s confession because there was a sudden strong wind, even if a person slurred their words when talking about secrets, if you combine some words you understood, the truth can be dug up.
He certainly put the word “dragon” in his mouth. Then, the answer was simple. The tail of the lizard that Jung Si-woo gained as an underground player, the dragon that he saw in his dream, the power that he gained from waking up from that dream! Jung Si-woo must be related to a dragon or dragon-like existence. That gave Jung Si-woo control over mana and allowed him to accept the mana of other beings freely. Wasn’t it the same reason that the level of monsters on earth was rising? He didn’t know more than that for now.
[Your level has risen.]
[Mana has increased by 3]
[Soul Collection Skill is causing a mutation. It will take time to mutate.]
‘But.’
He could feel his body creaking slowly. He felt like it was screaming to stop eating. He thought he could suck it in without limitation, but he couldn’t help but feel burdened by accepting god’s mana directly into his body, converting it, and accumulating it. It was “fatigue” in the absolute realm that couldn’t be covered by the resilience gained by accepting god’s mana and records. He intuitively sensed he would reach his limit soon. What was fortunate was that he managed to overcome the aftereffects of his skills with the successive level-ups.
“But I can’t let this mana get away…!”
“Oppa, if you overdo yourself…”
“So I thought of something.”
Saying so, what Jung Si-woo took out from the inventory was none other than the essence of Dullahan, Caina’s head.
“Ugh!?”
“It’s responsive.”
Soo Ah-rin almost inadvertently screamed again, but as soon as it was exposed, she shut up when she saw Setnak’s mana respond to it. Jung Si-woo found the answer!
“A stronger divine power. It’s one of the resources needed to create a new Caina. Perhaps there could have been another divine power, but it goes without saying that it is the power of the undead.”
[It’s impossible!]
“It’s possible!”
Caina would never open her eyes just because she was exposed to god’s power. However, as Jung Si-woo began to guide Setnak’s mana earnestly, clutching it with both hands, the Caina’s cheeks that were no different from a corpse began to gain some semblance of life.
[What…?]
It wasn’t enough that he accept it with his own body, but Jung Si-woo successfully pushed the mana into Dullahan’s essence! It was an incredible control of mana.
“I’m scared! I’m afraid she’ll open her eyes!”
‘Don’t worry. It won’t be completed with just this!’
[The essence of Dullahan…I can’t believe he’s going to capture my strength and put it inside Dullahan. I can’t…believe you actually did it.]
Thanks to the unbelievable sight and, most of all, the fact that the power of this area was lost to Jung Si-woo, the voice of Setnak was weakening. However, Soo Ah-rin’s barrier was slowly approaching its limit. It was a miracle that she endured it so far, but she didn’t want to fail. In the end, Jung had no choice but to overdo it again.
“Hhh…ohhhhh!”
He was focusing the god’s power on Caina’s head and accepting mana, while pushing the remaining mana into his body! In other words, it was multitasking.
“Ahhhhhh…!”
“What do I do, Oppa?”
“Don’t worry. It’s…easy work!”
Deep in his body, his heart was squealing and screaming in pain, but Jung Si-woo didn’t stop. If he couldn’t overcome this much pain, how could he endure their power when he met one in person? It was a tremendous amount of grit, but Jung Si-woo’s body endured the mana with his physical endurance. He was training himself in the process to become stronger!
[A man with a dragon’s power…I’ll remember you.]
Setnak felt a kind of awe beyond astonishment. It was proof that he wasn’t buffering his voice. However, Jung Si-woo’s answer was easy and simple.
“You don’t have to remember right now. You’re going to be sick and tired of hearing it soon enough.”
[Keu…hahahaha!]
He was suffering from the power of a god, and Setnak stopped laughing at Jung Si-woo’s attitude. He realized that he would only suffer more loss if he said more, so he shut up. How long had he endured the pain? After focusing only on himself and the Mana, two sentences popped up in Jung Si-woo’s retina.
[Mana increased by 1]
[Your level has risen.]
[The essence of the Dullahan, Caina, evolved into the Core of the Death Knight, Caina.]
At the same time, the inflow of Mana was cut off. Neither Caina’s head nor his body could accept any more of Setnak’s Mana. It wasn’t because of their limitations, but because there were no more of Setnak’s mana left.
“I did it.”
Jung Si-woo stretched his arms, mumbling to himself. Eventually, he succeeded in pouring all the mana in the Grand Canyon into his own body and the essence of Caina. He laughed bitterly.
“I really did…oh, I’m so tired. The aftereffects of my skills are really exhausting me.”
He felt like he wanted drop on the spot. However, it was really annoying that he couldn’t do that. He still had a lot of work to do.
“Whooo.”
Jung Si-woo put Caina’s core in his inventory, holding back his desire to read the information on his status and Caina’s head. He ignored the undead who were just blankly staring into space and flew up into the sky.
“Marina, is she still holding up?”
“She’s holding up! Surprisingly!”
The situation in the sky remained the same. The confrontation between Marina Bissett and Seria Wilson went on. If Marina provoked Seria Wilson as best she could, she might somehow regain her senses. For a few minutes, they managed to maintain the bizarre confrontation.
“What can I do?!”
“Actually, I don’t know!”
“Hey!”
When Jung Si-woo answered, Marina, stopped flapping and almost fell. If she did that, she would be torn to pieces by the angry undead. When she stared at him, Jung Si-woo smiled bitterly and shrugged.
“I really don’t know what to do. But there’s a possibility, so we have to test it.”
“Are you going to do it the same way I took Setnak’s power?”
“No one has the gift of taking away the power that has already settled in others.”
Now Seria Wilson was in a very complicated situation. Her Mana, her soul, and her body are all being encroached by the power of Louisos, and it wouldn’t be strange if she turned into a monster right now. The point was that the power that eroded her belonged to Louisos, not to her.
“I’ve been absorbing Setnak’s mana, so I have a sense of how to convert it roughly. So to change the mana of a god into that of a human… in other words, if you replace the Louisos’s mana with hers…”
“I’ve given up on understanding, so just do something.”
Without asking how it was possible, Marina pushed him towards Seria Wilson Anyway, Seria Wilson was one of the bad guys who she had been fighting against since the opening of the Sky Castle. She had no intention of recognizing her as a rival, but she wasn’t happy to see her collapse in vain. She meant…she wanted her to live if possible.
“Okay, let’s do it.”
Not just for Marina, but to soothe his own uncomfortable feelings, Jung Si-woo approached her and grabbed her hand. He thought it wouldn’t be odd if she attacked him, but she didn’t resist. This was because she was fighting the energy inside her body.
“Listen. From now on, I’ll analyze your mana and somehow transform it into your own…oh, it’s alright if you can’t hear me.”
They had to get a little wild. Of course, Jung Si-woo had never interfered with other people’s mana before, but he thought he could do it. Jung Si-woo trusted his intuition so much that there was no hesitation in his movements.
“Let’s get started.”
The tattoo of the soul collection engraved on the back of his left hand shone brilliantly. Even now, the shape of the tattoo was quite blurry because the skill was mutating, but he thought that maybe what he was doing now was affecting the change.
‘I hope it’s a positive effect!’
“Keuh…!”
“Hold on. I’m just analyzing right now.”
Just a few seconds after touching her, Jung Si-woo managed to analyze Seria Wilson’s mana and grasp it completely. No matter how different the characteristics of each person were, they were only small differences. That’s how it was for the general public, but the problem was the god’s mana.
“Hang in there…!”
“Keueuaagh!”
Accepting Setnak’s mana was reckless and dangerous, but guiding Seria Wilson was another level of difficulty altogether.
‘But I have to make it.’
Because he wanted to do it, he didn’t need any other reason.
“Come with me! Okay? I will transform the Mana of god into your own!”
“Kagh…!”
[What, nonsense…!?]
Jung Si-woo opened his eyes and injected his mana into her, beating the god’s mana back in earnest. Louisos’s power was more violently rebellious than Setnak’s, but the host was rebelling so it couldn’t directly harm Jung Si-woo. Seria Wilson’s will was a buffer between Louisos and Jung Si-woo. It was truly amazing that she was enduring the shock.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve!
“Of…course…!”
At that very moment, Seria Wilson, who he had already thought was unconscious, managed to catch his compliment and responded with a weak smile. It was the moment when she regained her body! As soon as her will rose to the surface, Louisos’s power weakened, and Jung Si-woo’s mana became stronger. That was the moment that Jung Si-woo was waiting for.
His mana poured into her body like water, joining forces with her to suppress Louisos. By giving her internal organs some will, she began to transform Louisos’s mana. It was like expressing his passive skills through other people’s bodies, but he was doing it! However, one thing is still lacking. It wasn’t Jung Si-woo, but what Seria Wilson had.
“Reject him.”
Jung Si-woo spoke firmly.
“Tell him that you won’t follow him. Reject him.”
“I am…”
Seria Wilson bit her lips as she recalled the moments when she was intoxicated by the power of Louisos. More and more, her will was being reflected in her body. There was nothing she could do about the changes, but her mind was intact.
“Louisos…I don’t need a god anymore!”
[You foolish mortal!]
“Good job!”
The very moment she rejected god, god’s power was extremely weakened. Her will and body moved along with Jung Si-woo.
[I won’t…forget…]
“I’m the one! I will…I’ll kill you!”
Louisos’s voice was cut off, completely buried by Seria’s cry. That was it; there was no more sign of god in her body.
As a result, Jung Si-woo had won three out of three battles against the fragment of a god.
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