Chapter 89
Chapter 89
12. Embodiment -2
Sergios had spoken about the attribute-based unity of 『Skills』.
But I couldn't follow that right now. I couldn't suddenly change Quick Flash or Azure Wind Wanderer to a fire attribute, could I? So I decided to go with the next best option.
If I couldn't bind them by attribute from the start, I would create a focal point to loosely tie together the skills that stood apart from one another.
It was a matter of the center.
A group without a focal point, an army without a commander, collapses easily. But if there's one leader inside a team who can seize control of the atmosphere—depending on the leader's ability, even a handful of sand that looks ready to scatter can become a rock.
Crackle—!!
└ Lightning Wick (F)
Progress: 100%
Form Synthesis with Lightning Wick as the center.
The reason I chose Lightning Wick as the axis among so many skills was simple. This thing was a 『Skill』 I had personally refined from the lightning that struck while I was hugging a lightning rod, and because of that, no external color existed in it.
No lingering traces of Glass Sword Lord, no lingering traces of Sky Roamer. And considering Quick Flash was also a secret manual passed down from Sergios⋯⋯ the only thing truly untainted was the lightning.
It was my own skill obtained from a natural phenomenon, and—precisely because the skill's rank was low—Lightning Wick had the highest ease of manipulation. It meant that the weaker it was, the more finely I could handle it.
So I would insert it in between as both the center and a buffer, absorbing the collisions between skills.
"Haaaaah——"
Of course, I didn't think it would work perfectly on the first try. But wasn't it an idea worth attempting?
I slowly gathered it in.
The wind of 『Azure Wind Wanderer』, the light of 『Glass Sword』, the speed of 『Quick Flash』—yet all those forms converged into lightning. It didn't stray from the center. Crackle, crack—a tingling sensation flowed through my entire body.
"⋯⋯Hoo."
The repulsion was still unmistakable. If I didn't suppress it, it thrashed about trying to escape in every direction, and the recoil piled up inside my body, inflicting internal injuries. The recoil hadn't decreased.
No, it actually seemed to have gotten worse.
"Kh⋯⋯?!"
I'd tried to reduce the repulsion, so why was the load increasing? Amid the confusion, I focused on the inside of the skill churning in turmoil. And I saw it.
Little by little. Slowly. In the exact opposite direction of what I'd intended.
Crackle-crackle-crack——!!
Lightning Wick had begun devouring the skills.
I'd definitely put it in as a buffer⋯⋯?
The skills thrashed about, insisting they couldn't become 'something else.' That was why the recoil was intensifying. It felt like someone had shoved a massive speaker inside my body and cranked it to maximum volume. My hands were trembling.
But the phenomenon that appeared was too remarkable to call a failure.
Crackle, crack—!
Lightning that billowed, lightning that flickered translucent, lightning that was swift. Lined up like that, the words looked rather strange, but they existed in the palm of my hand.
Above all, the power.
Even though I hadn't gathered it for long, this bizarre lightning was producing twice the power of my previous Synthesis. The result was unexpected, but it aligned with my intent. I'd proceed as is.
Compress it with Lightning Wick as the center. A little more. Just a little more.
Rooooar——
To stand against Sergios's storm, I needed a bit more power⋯⋯ wait a moment.
"Lightning, huh⋯⋯?"
My gaze suddenly went to the shield. When this thing fired 『lightning』, it used that as a trigger to convert into greatsword mode. I'd been using the method of accumulating impact to trigger the transformation, but originally it might have been used in a more modern way.
For example, connecting a massive battery to keep it in a constantly active state.
The point was that it was an artifact capable of receiving electrical power. If this 『Claw』 could hold onto my synthesized lightning even briefly, then this power—which I'd only been able to release in beam form because I couldn't control it finely⋯⋯ could also be used defensively.
And since I'd bound it together using Lightning Wick, emitting it in the form of a shield might be worth attempting. No—I had an intuition that I could do it.
"With the gate shut (閉門), nothing can be achieved, so all martial arts must rightly open the gate (開門) and burst forth. Moran, Afterwave Grasp, Whirlwind Thrust. Melt down the foundations of spear technique and nock them to the string."
Whish— whishhhh—
No time to think. The storm was imminent. It was coming soon.
I shoved the lightning churning in my grip into the 『Claw』 and raised a wall to block the storm!
"——Four-Origin Fusion, 『Throw-Intercept-Grasp-Thrust (投攔拿扎)』."
"Synthesis, 『Wind-Wave Golden Lightning (風浪金雷)』—!!"
Bzzzzzt——!!
Glittering lightning burst outward in a radial pattern centered on the shield. The lightning didn't stop in an instant; it lingered in space with a distinct form. It looked like an opened umbrella.
I felt it at my fingertips. It had been a guess, but my intent had gotten through. It worked!
The storm spear flew toward the center of that lightning.
Because it traveled ahead of sound, it was silent. The ferocious wind coiled around Sergios's spear was gnawing away at the area as if carving it out, yet it was absurdly quiet.
Lightning and storm collided.
KWAGAGAGAGAK——!!
The shield, which normally would have been flipped over by the gale, steadily held its ground and whittled away at the force of the churning wind. Three seconds passed in that fierce clash.
BOOM—!
In the end, I exhausted all of 『Wind-Wave Golden Lightning (風浪金雷)』 and then dispersed the small remaining remnant of the storm by tilting the shield and rotating it. It was a little short, but I'd blocked it.
What should my next move be? That technique must have required him to gather a fair amount of power, so he'd be considerably drained. In that case, I could leverage the advantage of the shield to wear him down further⋯⋯
That was when I was mulling it over.
Crack, crackle-crack——
The snapping sounds rang out clearly from Sergios's entire body. And I could also feel a presence slowly but unmistakably swelling.
The Battle-Demon Ascension rite had been completed, and 『Embodiment』 was in progress.
He seemed to be in considerable pain, frowning as he muttered.
"⋯⋯Embodiment has begun. So this is how it feels."
Sergios's body seemed to be reassembling itself. Each individual muscle was changing into a form optimized for using skills. Elijah, who had been standing by at a distance in her role as notary and firefighter, approached with a curious expression and asked.
"Does that strengthening process hurt? It looks like your muscles and bones are being stitched together."
"Not more than civilians can endure."
"Then there's no need to prepare painkillers for Noah. We're planning to undergo this rite too, you see."
"I never asked."
"You never said you wouldn't listen, either, did you?"
While Elijah and Sergios lightly bickered, I looked around the area broadly. There was a reason for it.
The two of them—even Sergios himself, the one directly involved—were focused on the transformation of his body, but I could see a bit more.
Haaaaah——
I could see the flow of power streaming in. From the footprints and destruction marks carved during my fight with Sergios, a whitish energy was seeping out and surging toward him, the subject of the rite.
This was where lightning and wind had clashed. Naturally, in addition to Sergios's storm, faint remnants of the 『Azure Wind Wanderer』, 『Quick Flash』, and 『Glass Sword』 that I had wielded were soaked into that energy.
From this, I could infer.
In the rite of 『Battle-Demon Ascension (鬪鬼昇格)』, the role of the sparring partner was not simply to receive the practitioner's attacks. The structure was such that the power and experience displayed by the sparring partner became nourishment that accelerated the practitioner's embodiment.
I didn't know exactly what effects this fact would produce, but thinking about it roughly.
Sergios's body would become more accustomed to my attacks and techniques. This would give him some degree of correction when facing me, but conversely, it would also be slightly beneficial when coordinating with me or launching a joint attack. In other words——
Wouldn't a kind of 'party bonus' form between me and that bastard?
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
"Oh? Noah? Why are you suddenly scowling like that?"
"No, it's nothing. I was just recalling an old resolution."
The resolution that I would never be in the same party as that Sergios bastard.
I knew he wasn't a bad-natured person, but that infuriating personality of his—as if he'd removed the word 'cooperation' from his head—wasn't going anywhere. And in team-based games, the most important thing isn't synergy between characters, it's synergy between people.
It was just a guess, so probably not. Even if it turned out to be true, I wouldn't do it. It was enough to keep him at arm's length as something like a missile I could occasionally ask to fire.
Anyway.
Crack— pop—
The snapping sounds from Sergios's body showed no sign of stopping. The change was gradual and slow. Was it progressing in a direction that minimized the burden on his body?
If that was the structure⋯⋯ then during the process of embodiment, of complete transformation, he must not use his body recklessly. If he got injured or overexerted himself, there was a risk that the embodiment would become incomplete or be interrupted. In that case, when I did it, I'd have to do it in a safe zone with no people around.
Like a secluded valley with not a single human footprint, for instance. So that was why he'd called me to his own planet.
Sergios, his whole body still making a racket, grinned at me and said.
"The transformation will be finished in a week. By then, I'll be promoted to C-rank, even if it's by the System's doing. This is farewell in advance, Noah Won."
The corners of his mouth were subtly lifted, as if pleased that he was going up first. Since it also looked like he was teasing me, I twisted up the corner of my own mouth and answered.
"Farewell? I'll be going up soon too."
"That's true enough. I'll go on ahead."
"Save me a seat. Don't go around beating up kids and building a bad reputation from the start."
"A pseudo-hero has no business knowing."
Trudge. Trudge.
Sergios turned around and walked toward the cave at the far end of the valley. That action was both his farewell and his dismissal of his guests. He seemed to intend to seclude himself in the cave and finish his complete transformation.
Elijah stared at his retreating figure, then said.
"You two get along better than I thought?"
"No, we don't."
"Noah, when will we do it? That rite."
"⋯⋯Are you prepared? You saw earlier—you need to be able to take attacks from me at about that level."
Given the specs I'd seen from Elijah just before, it might be a bit much for her. I'd asked out of that concern, and Elijah smiled with great confidence and tapped her 『Coffin』 with a thud-thud.
"I cleaned out a big mid-sized company last time. You can look forward to it. Or⋯⋯ I could show you right now."
Clank-clank. An ominous sound echoed from the coffin.
Right, Elijah was a machine. If she could somehow obtain the right parts, her specs would rise steeply. It seemed she'd salvaged something from her homeworld, which appeared to have highly advanced science and technology.
"We'll do it soon. Like you said, I have to follow him up."
The universe of C-rank would practically be a new world—once we went up, both he and I would have to adapt from scratch. In other words, as long as I went up with almost no gap in time, that Sergios bastard wouldn't be able to act like a senior anymore.
At least in terms of seniority, we'd be equal. So my desire to proceed with the rite back-to-back right away was burning like a chimney.
⋯⋯But not now.
"I understood after seeing this embodiment firsthand. During that complete transformation, you can't fight. The more you fight, the more you'll lose in terms of growth⋯⋯ you're essentially incapacitated while embodiment is in progress."
"But you have to do it someday, don't you? If it's about a week, I'll guard you. Noah."
"I have people to protect me. I can just hole up on Earth and kill time. But on that Earth⋯⋯ something's come up, as it happens. I think there'll be a fight soon."
"Heh⋯⋯"
Another letter had arrived. From the east.
Sent via a small hot-air balloon, with the sender field marked only as Count Yeon Arang and the contents themselves completely blank—that bizarre letter. The intervals between sendings had been growing longer, yet it had steadily crossed mountains and waters to reach us.
I sensed some kind of upheaval from that fact alone. I didn't know what it was, but something had happened to Count Yeon Arang. I needed to properly tie up loose ends here before going, so that my promotion wouldn't be disrupted.
It probably wouldn't take long. At this point, I could confidently say there was no hunter stronger than me over the Republic of Korea. Whatever the incident in the east was, I'd be able to resolve it in short order.
When I explained that, Elijah's eyes sparkled and she clapped her hands together, saying brightly.
"Aha. Then Noah⋯⋯ when you undergo the rite, will you invite me to your planet?"
"Probably."
"I'll have to prepare a housewarming gift!"
"You don't need to go that far⋯⋯"
Receiving a gift on top of everything felt a bit much. And the rite was something I'd be asking Elijah to do for me, wasn't it? If anyone was paying a cost, I was the one who should be paying an invitation fee.
Elijah probably knew that too, yet ever since seeing Joero's planet, she'd become noticeably more affectionate toward me. Last time she'd given me a fidget spinner as a gift. That was also why I was trying to dissuade her from the 'housewarming gift.'
Because if she did give one, it would probably be something like a regular icosagon cube.
But the words that followed were a bomb that blew past the threshold of that affection by about three times.
"Or⋯⋯ should I just give you myself as a gift?"
"?"
It was five minutes later, after a certain amount of misunderstanding had passed, that I learned she meant 'Since you're going to invite me when you undergo the rite anyway, wouldn't it be better to accept my help with the trouble you're currently facing, resolve it quickly, and get the rite over with in a flash? I'll count that as my housewarming gift'——
To turn the story back.
As for why I now judged the blank letters from Count Yeon Arang as an 'anomaly' when they'd come before—it was because this time, the envelope contained another object along with the letter paper.
Minsik and I placed that gruesome object on the table and sank into deep thought. We couldn't even begin to guess what it was meant to convey.
If she had time to send something like this, couldn't she just write the purpose on the letter and send it?
"Minsik, do you think it's a request for help?"
"No, ha⋯⋯ I really don't know. If it's a secret code, it's literally just blank paper. If she was wary of information exposure, I can't imagine who she'd be wary of. And if it was a delivery mistake, looking at this thing⋯⋯"
While the two confused men groaned over it.
Creeeak—
Hyejin, who had absorbed the 『Flame Goat Gauntlet』 and become a potential A-rank hunter, the hunter discipline officer of the city-state of Seoul, opened the door to the sealed room and walked in.
"What are you two doing in here? Usually one person stays at the post, but both of you left it empty, so I came to see if something had happened."
"Ah, Hyejin. Perfect timing. What do you think this means?"
"Huh? What's this⋯⋯ wait. A photocard?"
Lee Hyejin soon joined our confusion.
The blank letter sent this time contained merchandise from my idol days.