Chapter 665
“W-What?”
Lee Hong-seop went pale at the sudden anomaly.
His hands and feet trembled.
His breathing hitched, like he’d just run a marathon.
It was inevitable.
[The ritual is complete.]
[The ‘Nature of Yottlearm Canyon’ is moved by your noble sacrifice.]
The ritual that had continued for about ten minutes finally came to an end.
Heh heh heh!
“Keuh. Keheuk.”
“Cough.”
“Ugh… uwaaaah.”
His companions screamed in agony and collapsed where they stood.
As the Purification Ritual completed, the life force within their bodies began to be drained away.
Except for one person, of course.
Jinhyuk.
While everyone else performed the ritual, he moved just slightly differently.
‘He approached Livolt in the most efficient way.’
Jinhyuk nodded, satisfied.
If he’d been alone, he would’ve had to choose a far riskier method, but thanks to the white sharks that came smelling blood, everything went smoothly.
Still, the sacrificial ritual only extracted Mana and essence. It didn’t take their lives.
Sure, their physical age would increase by about twenty years, but that was still better than dying, wasn’t it?
‘I’m being so kind to the guys who came to kill me… I’ve gotten too soft these days.’
After the Fountain of Oblivion erased humanity’s memories, he had been quietly preparing, and his heart seemed to have softened.
Jinhyuk strode through the tattered Swingbat Assault Team.
“You…”
Eden, the strongest among them, looked up at him.
Still the leader, he was the only one who hadn’t lost consciousness yet.
“Let’s skip the cliché about being tricked. You know better than anyone that this world is survival of the fittest.”
“…You knew all along? That we were after you? That the stag was using us as bait?”
“Of course.”
“The information… was wrong.”
Eden’s face crumpled.
The unease he’d felt the moment he first met Jinhyuk.
Now he finally understood what it was.
The reason he couldn’t see the other’s level wasn’t because he was weak.
It was because he was so high that there was no end in sight.
The one he’d assumed was pathetically weak was actually a predator at the top of the food chain—so strong, and so cunning, it was impossible to measure.
That was why he’d been able to handle everything so calmly, so smoothly, like an old fox, even while surrounded and pressured by a large group.
‘Coming at someone like that with just this team…’
This result was inevitable.
The mission had been doomed before it even began.
He couldn’t understand why someone this strong had remained unknown until now, but it didn’t matter anymore.
Eden stared blankly as Jinhyuk approached the stag.
Then—
Jinhyuk reached Livolt and took out the Fragment of Light.
“Keueu… euooo…”
Livolt, having regained a shred of sanity through the Purification Ritual, struggled against himself to return to what he once was.
“Just hold on a little longer. I’ll pull you out of this nightmare soon.”
Crackle! Sizzle!
White sparks scattered in every direction.
Jinhyuk watched and waited for the opening.
If he went in bare-handed, he’d be caught in the Flames of Fear.
Then—
[Unique Holy Spear ‘Seraphim’ is activated!]
Dazzling Divinity manifested as another form of light.
A beautiful pair of wings unfolded, and golden rays pierced the ancient power rooted deep within Livolt’s body.
…Now!
Wearing the Crown of Swiftness, Jinhyuk pushed his acceleration to the limit.
Kwaang!
Footprints gouged deep into the ground.
In the blink of an eye, Jinhyuk was right in front of Livolt.
[The ‘Fragment of Light’ is injected!]
[Livolt’s mind is rapidly recovering.]
Uuuuuung!
The Fragment of Light touched Livolt’s heart.
Golden and purple waves intertwined, whipping up a violent storm.
Unpredictable currents tangled as Mana synchronized and clashed over and over.
Just a little more.
Just a little more, and it would be done.
“Keuo… eu… uhuh…”
Livolt’s vacant pupils rapidly regained life.
But then—
Kwaaaang!
Unexpected Mana struck from the side.
A stream of light wrapped in blue flames lunged in with terrifying speed.
A shield formed under Seraphim’s blessing, but the moment it collided, Jinhyuk realized it instantly.
He couldn’t block it with a shield he’d thrown up while focusing on Livolt.
His body moved before he could even decide.
Boom!
A massive crater appeared where Jinhyuk had been.
Flames raged.
This wasn’t some ninth-circle hellfire.
It was far higher-dimensional magic.
“Whew! Good reaction.”
A woman with pink twin-tails whistled.
Behind her stood a black-haired Asian man and a Westerner over two meters tall.
The Mana they radiated made the Swingbat Rankers look like infants. Their sticky, melting killing intent weighed on the air itself.
‘Of all times…’
Jinhyuk clicked his tongue.
He knew exactly who they were.
‘Clemence, the Sorceress of Pain.’
A dark archmage who tortured and drove others to death in countless ways. A nightmare who single-handedly conquered an empire in a world where the Holy Empire held overwhelming power.
In her dimension, Clemence was called the “Walking Apocalypse.”
The massacre magic she started with monsters spread to demons, then the Demon King.
In the end, it reached even the empire and the ordinary citizens who had praised her as a hero.
Over ten million dead.
In fact, Clemence’s setting was that she returned to this world because there were no living beings left to kill.
“Kihik! To think you can purify something infected with a sapling like this. How interesting. How very interesting.”
“Indeed. The primordial beings have reason to entrust us with this task directly.”
The other two were no less formidable.
A slender man spun two chain scythes, while the muscular man stood like a wall.
Returnees who had conquered different worlds.
“It seems you’ve been hurt by that human… I’ll give you a chance.”
Clemence produced a glass bottle filled with murky liquid.
Swirl.
She tossed the rapidly spinning bottle in front of Eden and the Swingbat members.
“Drink it. Then you might live.”
Clemence wore a crooked smile.
A poisoned chalice offered by a devil.
But those on the verge of death had no choice.
“Ugh…”
“If I can just live…”
“Keuek…”
With trembling hands, they raised the bottle to their lips. The black liquid gurgled, wetting their mouths.
“W-Wait…”
Eden tried to stop them.
He knew these newcomers weren’t offering goodwill. But his men had already swallowed it.
Thump…!
Their fading pulses accelerated into a frenzy.
For a moment, their eyes turned pitch-black.
“Kuaaaaah.”
“Keuoooooh.”
Berserkers consumed by madness.
Those infected with Primordial Blood could no longer be called human.
“Kyahaha! They actually drank it. Idiots.”
Clemence clapped, eyes sparkling.
Just watching them go mad from agony made her body shiver, as if she were intoxicated.
She really was insane.
It was the first time she’d felt this kind of madness since she first met Casey and Judro.
Jinhyuk let out a deep sigh.
Things had gone too smoothly in the canyon, and of course those damned primordial beings weren’t going to leave him alone.
He hadn’t expected them to recruit those capricious Returnees.
[‘First Blade’ is summoned!]
Two daggers settled gently into his palms.
“Heueung. Are you going to fight us?”
“You ruined a sure thing, so I have to give you a knuckle sandwich.”
“Oh my. How scary. A gentleman trying to hit a lady. This world is so harsh.”
“Seeing a villainess who grinds men alive talking about ‘gentlemen’ makes me want to vomit. Enough. If you don’t want to regret it after you die, start with all your fancy magic.”
Sizzle…!
As the Grave of Swords activated, terrifying energy surged from the purple blades.
The atmosphere changed in an instant.
The Returnees’ expressions shifted completely when Jinhyuk fully unleashed his Mana.
“Clemence.”
“I know.”
The muscular man spoke, and Clemence clicked her tongue.
“I’m very sorry I can’t kill a man like you here, but our plan was never to wage an all-out war.”
[Clemence activates ‘Dimensional Subspace’!]
Rip!
A massive mouth opened in the air and swallowed Livolt whole.
…Damn it.
Was their main objective to take Livolt?
“Not on my watch.”
Jinhyuk immediately tried to accelerate using the Crown.
Just then—
Kwakwakwakwakwa!
Those infected with Primordial Blood rushed him all at once.
Magic and attack skills poured down like a storm.
Slash!
Jinhyuk cleaved through the space itself.
No matter how much Primordial Blood they carried, their base specs were mediocre. Drawing stripes on a pumpkin didn’t turn it into a watermelon. There were limits to how far crude enhancement could take them.
But—
“Bye-bye. Grumpy oppa.”
Clemence never intended to use them to kill Jinhyuk.
All she needed was one second.
[Space Warp is activated.]
A large-scale Space Warp twisted the world, and Clemence, Livolt, and the other two Returnees vanished.
An empty forest.
Jinhyuk raked his fingers through his hair as he stared at where the Mana remnants still lingered.
He’d been completely outplayed.
Still—
‘It wasn’t a complete loss.’
[Currently tracking Livolt’s location.]
Jinhyuk fiddled with the Fragment of Light in his hand. Since the rest remained inside Livolt’s body, he had a hidden card of his own.
And knowing the Returnees’ identities, personalities, and traits was a major advantage.
Because he knew their preferred styles and methods…
…his chances of predicting their next move were that much higher.
“I should go back for now.”
He’d told Undine he’d be right back, but he’d been gone for hours.
It was time to regroup and prepare for the next battle.