Jenia's Charge
Originally, Jenia had been racing up from the direction of the Great Forest. Terrified she might arrive after Garam or that her fellow disciples would get there first, she had sprinted like a madwoman. The thought of the humiliation she would suffer if she were even a moment late was unbearable.
Following the directions she had received, she was nearing the Royal Capital when she suddenly felt a familiar energy shifting in another direction. Under normal circumstances that energy should have been faint—something she ought not to have sensed at all. Yet this time it reached her with startling clarity and intensity, as though someone were deliberately drawing her toward it.
“Hey! You lot head straight for the capital and support them! You can clean up the stragglers later!”
“H-huh? But, Hero?!”
She redirected every one of her followers toward the battle at the capital and accelerated after the familiar energy at full speed.
Jenia’s guess proved correct. Before long, a mass of pitch-black clouds rolled in, bringing with it a nauseating, repulsive aura. Sensing the clash between that pure energy and the foul presence, Jenia pushed herself even harder. Her body protested the strain, but she paid it no mind. If she arrived even a second too late, she would gladly smash her own skull in.
With a powerful leap, she used her massive jet-black spear like a pole to vault high into the air. Twirling the weapon—over two meters long—mid-flight, she flipped it so the blade pointed downward and drove it straight between the two men who were about to clash.
BOOM!!
“You disgusting piece of shit! How dare you show your face here, you worthless bastard!”
Rage surged through her. This was the very “Enemy’s Will” she had heard so much about—the malice directed at the world itself. She had never encountered it until now, and here it stood right in front of her master, who had only just returned to this world.
She had come following Namgung Hyeon’s energy according to his plan, but Jenia had no way of knowing that. All she could do was vent her fury. If she had only tried harder, this vile thing would never have appeared before her master. Because she had failed to do her duty perfectly, her master had been forced to deal with this troublesome matter. It was a clear failure on her part as a disciple.
“You filthy bastard. I’ll kill you and erase every last trace—”
“Jenia.”
It was neither an angry voice nor a disappointed one. It was simply the ordinary tone she remembered from calmer days—the voice of the person she had missed so desperately yet could never visit. Even with enemies right in front of her, tears suddenly welled up. Jenia answered louder than usual, afraid her master might see her crying.
“Yes!”
“Clear this mess up. I can’t see a thing through all this dust.”
Only then did Jenia notice the enormous dust storm she had created. She had drawn up her inner energy in her haste to descend and had focused it entirely into the spear without holding back, carving out a massive crater. The whirlwind had risen from that very spot.
“Ah, yes! Understood! I’ll take care of it right away!”
She yanked the spear free and dispersed the core of her inner energy. The raging winds quickly died down, restoring her vision.
Keeping her guard up toward the enemy, Jenia turned her head slightly.
“Master!”
She worried he might scold her for coming, or ask why she had shown up when Garam had managed to stay put. She had kept going while holding only the image of his voice, face, and presence in her mind. Now that he was truly standing right behind her, her heart pounded and her chest tingled so much she could hardly bear it.
“There’s an enemy in front of us, Jenia. Save the greetings for later.”
Though the words might have seemed cold, Jenia’s expression brightened instead. Namgung Hyeon’s voice had carried a hint of laughter and warmth. It meant that once the enemy was dealt with, he would not mind if she clung to him or threw herself into his arms.
Her blue eyes gleamed even brighter.
“Understood, Master! Please watch me! I’ll show you how much stronger I’ve become! I’ve become a disciple worthy of standing on equal footing with the Sword Hero!”
With that, Jenia adjusted her grip on the spear and charged straight at the Fragment of the Demon God. Even though the distance between them was considerable, the blade reached the enemy in less than a second. Just as the black spearhead aimed for its neck, the Fragment blocked it. Without hesitation, Jenia swung the shaft and struck the enemy with the butt of the spear. She wielded the enormous weapon as if it were a simple staff, filling the air with heavy whooshing sounds.
“Kuhahaha! Ahahaha!!”
The Fragment laughed maniacally in an indescribable voice. Disgusted by the sight, Jenia leapt back a few steps and concentrated her inner energy. The tip of her spear began to glow a fierce red as a sinister aura gathered around it.
“You mutt. I’ll put a hole through you so you can’t make those disgusting noises anymore.”
Her language was unusually crude for an elf. Any other elf witnessing the scene would have muttered about how vulgar she was and questioned how such a person could be considered one of their own. But to Jenia, her master, her fellow disciples, and her juniors mattered far more than any kin she had never met or cared about.
BOOM!!
Jenia’s precise thrust continued to drive the Fragment back. When it tried to escape elsewhere, Namgung Hyeon clicked his tongue and followed after the two of them.
“Uh, ah!”
“Let’s go.”
The twin Demonic Humans, who had been silently watching in case they got in the way, tried to follow once they realized the Fragment was outnumbered. But they quickly realized the worst possible opponent now stood before them.
“How insolent. So this seat is meant to clean up after such trash?”
Clicking her tongue, a woman with jet-black and crimson hair approached slowly. She had already returned her drawn sword to her waist and was walking forward with measured steps.
Step. Step.
With every step she took, the twin Demonic Humans swallowed dryly, unable to stop themselves. The Fragment and the swordsman they had faced earlier had been strong and frightening enough, but the woman drawing near now radiated an entirely different kind of pressure. It was an instinctive, inexplicable fear—the terror born from the desperate will to survive, the primal dread of something that threatened their very existence.
“This seat’s mood is rather foul. Dealing with trash like you is part of it.”
Step.
“I even wanted to take a walk while wearing the clothes my disciple bought me.”
Step.
“But everything has gone awry. What a shame. Truly a shame.”
The black-and-red woman—the Heavenly Demon, Cheon Yeon-hwa—quietly gazed at the twin Demonic Humans and the Demon God Worshippers behind them with eyes that seemed to ripple like blood.
“My disciple used a sword against the likes of you, but…”
She extended only her index and middle fingers.
“This seat will show no such mercy.”
No one could bring themselves to call her arrogant or ask why she refused to use a weapon. The moment they saw the perfect crimson blade forming from her fingertips, they all realized the same thing: the world was far larger than they had imagined, and there were far more powerful beings in it than they had ever known.
I had asked him to go easy on them if possible, but that was probably asking too much. Who in their right mind would beg the Heavenly Demon to “please spare some enemies” right before a battle? The reason I wanted the Demonic Humans kept alive was because of causality. There was no need to wipe out all the mid-bosses and summon the final bosses in quick succession. Even if we defeated them, there would be no reward, so there was no point in raising the difficulty ourselves.
It would be better to stall for time, have the disciples deal with one of the final bosses that had already appeared, and let them grow another step. That had been my plan and reasoning for the current situation. It carried some risk, but since the Fragment of the Demon God had appeared earlier than expected by breaking causality, we needed to accelerate their growth. If we kept slaughtering monsters and Demon God Worshippers at this pace, the number of Fragments would outstrip the disciples’ growth rate. Right now we still held the numerical advantage, and we had to make full use of that to minimize casualties.
“Hero! Hero!! Hero!!!”
“Shut your damn mouth! I’ll tear you apart!!”
In front of me, Jenia was always gentle and meek, but in front of everyone else she showed this incredibly sharp side. It was fortunate that she at least toned it down a little with her fellow disciples. I had heard that after descending to this world, she had beaten every noble who tried to cling to her half to death. When I heard that story, my first thought wasn’t “This is bad,” but “Oh, thank goodness.” She hadn’t impaled them on her spear—she had only beaten them with the shaft. Half-dead and completely dead were two very different things. That alone was proof she had grown another level.
“Starting with you, I shall paint this world in ashes!!”
“You’re not some edgy kid. What kind of nonsense is that?!”
Watching the Fragment’s words and actions, and thinking back to the twin Demonic Humans earlier, I confirmed my suspicions. Because it had appeared earlier than expected by breaking causality, its power was not as strong as it should have been. The calamities that should have fed it with fear and despair had been blocked in advance by my disciples running themselves ragged. So from the Fragment’s perspective, it had only received half the energy it needed.
Of course, that didn’t mean Jenia could handle it alone. I drew my sword and waited for the moment right after the Fragment blocked Jenia’s attack—when it was not yet prepared for an attack from my direction.
“Kyahak!”
I still couldn’t reach it. I couldn’t cut it. Whether it was some damned rule or law, it seemed I still couldn’t sever it. But distracting it and breaking its focus was more than enough. After all, Jenia wasn’t the only one fighting the Fragment.
“Hey! Move! If you don’t want to get cut in half too!!”