Chapter 119
[Champion ‘Nameless Man’ has achieved 170 consecutive wins.]
[Congratulations! Your bet succeeded and you receive 120 ‘Coins.’]
…the message appeared before her eyes.
Right after the match between Balzac and the Champion Nameless Man ended, Adora stepped into the ‘Creators’ Abyss’ with a tense look.
With all spectators evacuated, the only one remaining was Nameless Man… no, Park Chan-woo.
‘He definitely underwent demonization.’
She could not have misseen it.
Park Chan-woo’s mind was polluted for an instant and he became Half-Human, Half-Demon.
Merging with the shadow, he became Ajos and Charpham themselves.
Thus, as a witch who had lived in the abyssal depths, she could be certain.
For a moment, the mana she felt from Park Chan-woo was undoubtedly that of a demon.
Not a mere demon’s—an Archdemon’s mana.
‘……Once mental corruption proceeds, there is no return.’
It was common knowledge.
The end that awaited all summoners who handled Abyssal summons.
Incarnations too became Half-Human, Half-Demon through mental corruption by their Creators.
The problem was that one whose mind had been polluted and altered never returned.
It could not be treated, not even regenerated.
Once devoured, one lived the rest of one’s life as ‘something else.’
Forgetting everyone and losing everything.
Thus, the Abyss’s beings were inherently harmful to humans.
The closer you drew, the more your mind was crushed and your soul destroyed.
It was why Adora kept her distance from Park Chan-woo more than necessary.
She too was a being from the Abyss.
All the more, a witch born in the deepest ‘Abyss.’
‘If it’s not too late yet……’
Adora quickened her pace toward the colosseum.
Seeing it with her own eyes would make it clearer.
Park Chan-woo still stood there, gazing into empty air.
What was he looking at?
One thing was certain: he was not the Park Chan-woo of usual.
‘……Too late.’
Different.
There was nothing human left in appearance, and even the mana was ominous to the extreme.
That was not Park Chan-woo.
It was something in between Ajos and Charpham.
A fiercely savage aura.
As if it would destroy everything it faced, it was terrifyingly grim.
Just approaching sent chills down her spine.
“…Are you all right?”
Adora asked, tense.
She did not much expect an answer.
Rather, sensing her presence, he was more likely to attack.
Sss.
Soon Park Chan-woo lowered his head.
And looked at Adora.
Red light rose in the shadowed eyes.
Billowing black mana smoke roughly exhaled.
“Not bad.”
“……!”
…For the first time, Adora’s expression twitched.
He had clearly spoken.
In the same voice as ever, with the same gentleness.
A voice so identical you could not think his mind had been corrupted into another being.
“Are you… Park Chan-woo?”
“Have you already forgotten my name?”
“The mental corruption should have progressed……”
It certainly had.
He had even unfolded an entirely different ‘unique domain’ magic.
A domain magic of a transcendental tier no human could ever use.
A transcendence so different that it affected even the stands, which were separated from the arena.
There were few monsters in the Abyss who could do such a thing.
Unless one became an Archdemon like a Demon God, it was impossible.
Yet common sense had broken.
Corruption had indeed proceeded, but Park Chan-woo’s mind remained.
What on earth had happened?
“It was a bit hard.”
Park Chan-woo shrugged.
Once he pushed past 1,000% synchronization, a completely different world opened up.
Indeed, ‘mental corruption’ had proceeded.
What he saw, what he felt, even all his senses were utterly unlike the world he had lived in.
It felt like becoming a wholly different existence.
However, Park Chan-woo soon grasped the crux of ‘mental corruption.’
‘Mana wavelength.’
Mana wavelength.
The final veil that allows an Abyssal being to exist.
When life ends, the veil disappears, and thus one turns to dust.
The problem of mental corruption lay in ‘a completely different being’s wavelength’ mixing in.
The final line of defense—the wavelength protecting body and soul—twists as it mixes.
It was the cause of Balzac becoming Half-Human, Half-Demon.
His wavelength mixed with that of the Creator, ‘Cursed Immortal, Lord Arbanil.’
Thereafter even his inherent mana pattern changed, turning him into ‘something else’ entirely.
A summoner being merged with and polluted by a summon was the same in principle.
However—
Park Chan-woo could read ‘mana wavelength.’
He could read the vibration, intensity, flow, even the thickness of the wavelength.
If he could read it, he could also handle it.
“Are you truly all right?”
“Barely.”
Park Chan-woo said sheepishly.
It was true that with a misstep he might never have returned.
‘1,000% was the limit.’
He instinctively realized that going beyond that would be irreversible.
He had minimized interference of wavelengths, but did not yet know how to handle them properly, so the limit was clear.
Understanding that, he stopped at 1,000% synchronization.
Even with that alone, he could reach Charpham’s domain.
As its name implied, the Dimensional Interloper, White Whale Charpham’s ‘Dimensional Grand Glacier’ was an absolute magic that distorted dimension itself.
Who would have thought it would even loosen the Creator–Incarnation link.
It was the ‘Rule Interference’ he’d only heard of.
A miracle possible only for those of Demon God-tier or higher!
In other words—
‘Charpham possesses the tier of a Demon God.’
Realizing that sent a shiver through him.
And Charpham had said there were eight, perhaps nine, beings stronger than himself sealed within the ‘Grail of the Demon-Sealing God.’
He could not even guess what beings lay inside the Grail.
If Charpham was like this, the strongest sealed one might rival the ‘Great Nine Lords.’
Yet Park Chan-woo had not fully conquered even Charpham.
He had merely licked at one of his spells.
…How could he not be excited.
His heart pounded madly.
If you couldn’t be excited here, you weren’t a mage.
His goal was to step on the period of magic and become a true ‘Archmage.’
It felt like discovering another face of magic.
Only—
Adora’s gaze was unusual.
Park Chan-woo gave a faint smile and said,
“Were you perhaps worried?”
“……No. If you are fine, that is enough.”
In an instant she returned to her usual chilly expression.
In that moment—
‘Mm.’
Park Chan-woo’s form wavered.
His mana was depleted.
Forcing the synchronization rate higher had left him with no mental power either.
Whip!
Adora hurriedly reached out to catch his falling body.
Pop!
But she could not catch him.
She could not.
“……Ah.”
Adora let out a small sigh.
…Ajos’s shadow had been reverse-summoned.
—
How long had he been unconscious?
He slept and slept, yet was still drowsy.
He simply could not open his eyes.
He rose from bed precisely three more days later.
‘…It’s the first time I’ve slept this long.’
Handling the White Whale’s domain magic seemed to be the culprit.
Even after sleeping three days straight, the fatigue did not lift.
“This is what it means to sleep like the dead.”
Smack!
Park Chan-woo slapped both cheeks to wake himself up.
He could not waste any more time.
There was much to do right away.
First, the messages still floating before his eyes.
[The title ‘Nemesis of Creators’ has evolved into ‘Lordslayer.’]
[You have obtained the title ‘True Demon Hunter.’]
[Reputation increases by 40,000.]
[You have obtained the ‘Perfect Devil Box.’]
[Level up.]
[Level up.]
[Level up.]
[Level up.]
[With massive experience gains and a transcendental achievement, the ‘limit level’ is forcibly broken through.]
[Level up.]
Words so intense he read them again and again.
What first caught his eye was the many notices of level ups.
By felling both the True Demon Balzac and the Cursed Immortal, Lord Arbanil, his level had risen steeply.
A dramatic surge enough to neatly break the limit level.
‘Minus 79.’
Thus his level had now reached –79.
Still far from the summit, but he saw hope.
‘Days remaining on the death timer: 494.’
Within that time, he had to reach Level 1 to avoid death.
In other words, 80 levels remained.
At first, he had honestly thought it was close to impossible.
It was hard enough in a normal state, and it seemed to require more than double the experience to level up.
However……
‘It’s possible.’
Clench!
He tightened his fist.
He could do it. He had to do it.
In just over two months after regression, he had killed a Lord of the Abyss.
Who would have imagined it?
A human had ‘directly killed’ a Lord of the Abyss.
Everyone had called it impossible with one voice.
But he did it.
He made the impossible possible.
Likewise, achieving Level 1 would also be entirely possible.
‘…Perfect Devil Box, huh.’
When he tapped the message, a small black box appeared.
There was nothing particularly distinctive.
But it was the first time he had seen a box called the ‘Perfect Devil Box,’ not an ordinary ‘Devil Box.’
‘Han Shin monopolized all the Devil Boxes.’
Wasn’t it curious?
Han Shin hunted ‘Half-Human, Half-Demons’ with his all.
He never yielded.
Thus he monopolized every ‘Devil Box.’
Why?
What reason did he have to go that far?
Judging by Han Shin’s usual behavior, it was certainly out of character.
All the more, a box bearing the name ‘Perfect.’
There was no reason to wait.
‘Open.’
Pop!
[‘Perfect Devil Box’ is being opened.]
[Luck surges in and makes the contents of the Devil Box even more resplendent!]
The function of Easter Egg (001) manifested once again.
And the luck that came had never once disappointed him.
What would be inside?
“…Huh.”
Upon checking the contents, Park Chan-woo clicked his tongue.
The items inside were entirely unlike what he had imagined.
‘……So that’s why he tried to monopolize it no matter what.’
The reason Han Shin had done his utmost to hunt Half-Human, Half-Demons.
Park Chan-woo took the contents from the box.
Then—
[You have obtained ‘Glasses of the Resplendent Lord (Eternal, -79Lv)’!]