Chapter 101
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Ruins
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The well, newly reborn as a demonic realm, expanded its body at an explosively terrifying speed simultaneously with its metamorphosis.
From the old school building where the well was located, it spread to the adjacent research wing and the dormitories where students lived and slept.
Like flames clinging to fallen leaves, the demonic corrosion spread in an instant, devouring this vast expanse of the academy.
In terms of distance, it had seized a radius of a thousand zhang—about 3 kilometers—in the blink of an eye...
Not only the group in front of the well, but countless students, faculty, staff, and even graduate students had all been engulfed within the well's domain.
The well's newly awakened ego trembled in ecstasy.
The endless humiliation and torment it had endured as a mere tool, the long starvation—all of it was finally over.
With a burning obsession to chew on fragrant flesh, absorb souls, and fatten itself...
It sealed off the space to prevent escape and lifted all manner of objects to target human lives.
In the kitchens, plates and kitchen knives flew about wildly; in the bedrooms, shattered windows and candelabras shot out like arrows; on the lawns, erupting soil engulfed people.
Cats enthralled by the demonic influence bared their claws to slash at passersby, and a graduate student smashed a bottle over a professor's head in a fit of madness.
Even though it was a time when the sunlight should have been bright, vision was shrouded entirely in dark shadows, and the ears were filled only with shrill screams and wails!
It was truly a hell on earth, without exaggeration.
This was why demonic realms were so feared and guarded against.
The space itself—everything in existence—turned hostile, lunging to hunt and slaughter humans...
Even experts of considerable skill or skilled sorcerers were as helpless as ordinary mortals.
Even transcendent masters could do no more than save themselves; there was no proper way to counter it—a disaster specialized in harming masses, hence its danger.
Of course, it was a different story for those who could slice through space itself.
"Heh, causing such a ruckus in the children's place of learning? How disgraceful."
One swing.
In the pitch-black space, a pure white straight line was drawn without the slightest curve.
A single, perfectly straight line bisecting the vast demonic realm spanning a thousand zhang.
The space severed along that line twisted apart like cut bundles of rice stalks.
Two swings.
Another straight line crossed the first. The space quartered and twisted again.
Three swings.
The shadows draping the space split open, and blue sky peeked through the gaps.
Four, five.
So-hyang's lips curved, and her planted foot slammed into the ground with a thunderous boom.
The intervals between slashes began to shorten.
Six, seven. Ten.
The sounds of space being rent overlapped, almost like vibrations or shattering noises.
Twenty. Thirty, fifty, a hundred—
No need to target anything specific. The entire surrounding space had turned into a demonic beast hostile to humans anyway.
So, she simply shredded all the surrounding emptiness, tearing it to pieces.
In a fleeting instant—just a single breath—the barrage of consecutive slashes ended, and the demonic realm covering a thousand-zhang radius was utterly fragmented.
"Wh-what is this...?"
The people could not close their gaping mouths in shock.
"Wait, what have you done?!"
The professors, who had been preparing spells to respond, shouted at So-hyang with ashen faces.
Of course, they had no right to blame her.
A demonic entity they had secretly hidden and used as an experimental tool without handing it over to the authorities had suddenly evolved into a demonic realm.
It wouldn't have been an issue if nothing had gone wrong, but now that it had escalated disastrously, it was a grave crime bordering on national security.
The fault lay squarely with the academy, and they could not stand tall.
Moreover, So-hyang had subdued the rampaging demonic realm—yet instead of gratitude, they vented anger?
Utterly shameless and unjust.
However, they had reason for such a shameless reaction...
The sight before their eyes was simply too shocking.
Every direction they looked.
Buildings, facilities, ground, trees—everything was sliced into pieces and collapsing indiscriminately.
The lawn bathed in bright sunlight just moments ago,
The lecture hall filled with passionate debates and the scratching of pens.
The dormitory where someone had been sweetly napping.
All of it had been replaced by a massive ruin evoking a city center devastated by indiscriminate bombing.
So-hyang, the culprit behind this vast ruin, awkwardly smiled as she looked around.
"Ahaha, it was a bit extreme, but I had no choice...?"
Even for her, precisely targeting only the demonic realm while slashing through layers of overlapping space was difficult.
In other words, she had no choice but to slice away the overlapping real space along with the demonic realm...
And this was the result.
The sight of every building and facility within a thousand-zhang radius—everything in view—collapsing like diced potatoes was... profoundly shocking.
In some ways, even more so than the demonic corrosion.
"D-did you slice up everyone inside too...?"
That was why the professors' faces had turned deathly pale.
Destroying the demonic realm was one thing, but turning the interior to rubble was putting the cart before the horse.
They might have saved seventy or eighty percent if attacked by the demonic realm, but now there seemed to be no survivors at all.
And then what? No choice...?
Were they to kill everyone themselves before the demonic realm could? The professors couldn't fathom So-hyang's intentions.
"Tch, look closely. No one died."
Of course, So-hyang frowned and waved it off as nonsense.
"What? What are you talking about? There's not a single intact spot in all directions... Uh...?"
The professors, about to lose their tempers, finally noticed something off and fell silent.
Why... were there no dead bodies...?
As the well transformed into a demonic realm and explosively expanded its domain, So-hyang had spread her divine sense to envelop the area.
Even as she slashed space and ravaged the cityscape, she finely adjusted the sword's angle to avoid directly cutting anyone.
"Sure, some might get hurt from falling debris or being buried, but these are all skilled sorcerers, aren't they?"
The murderous intent of the encroaching demonic realm aside, collapsing buildings alone wouldn't cause serious casualties.
She had sliced carefully so the structures would crumble without total devastation, making it look like a horrific destruction site on the surface, but actual harm was minimal.
"Sigh, what do you take me for?"
So-hyang felt incredulous and a bit hurt, her mood souring.
Did they think she was the type to slaughter innocent young students?
"We're sorry, we misspoke... But... how exactly did you do it...?"
Not only dismantling the vast demonic realm by shredding it, but identifying and sparing thousands of people inside...
"It defies reason...?"
"And yet, ta-da, it happened."
"Hmm..."
She replied playfully, but wielding a sword that could slice space was no easy feat.
Fundamentally, it required immense power to pierce spatial resistance, and one had to precisely find the space's grain and trace an exact sword path.
Scattering dozens, hundreds of such strikes in succession to shred a wide area, while finely controlling to avoid casualties...
It was no feat possible at mere transcendent level; even for So-hyang, it demanded tremendous strain.
Due to the overexertion of projecting slashes far, her spirit sword's spiritual energy had halved despite the eternal core still running.
The momentary full exertion of her physical body left the titanium piercing in her right arm creaking on the verge of shattering.
"Hiss, that was pretty dicey."
As usual, protecting was harder than destroying.
"So, what should we do with this?"
Her trembling right hand relinquished the spirit sword to her left, which she aimed at the well.
Awakening an ego meant feeling emotions.
Right now, the well's deepest emotion was fear.
The unprecedented terror of its life's greatest, most desperate wingbeat being utterly dismantled by a single blade.
"Hmm...?"
And So-hyang noticed it.
Despite lacking expressions, posture, or heartbeat, she intuitively sensed it from the writhing darkness and the shrinking distortion of space.
"Ebi!"
So-hyang swung experimentally, and it flinched back in fright.
"Ahaha, kinda cute."