Chapter 276
Chapter 276
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 276
Chapter Title: Unlocking Power (8)
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***
"...Unleash."
Even as the word left his lips, Cheon-seong's heart felt as if it were being consumed by a great fire.
An endless flame engulfed his heart, and the murky emotions welling within it erupted, causing him to unconsciously utter the word.
■■■■■...!
The change began immediately.
Within the domain filled with Vermian's power of darkness, in a space flickering with faint light, a golden current suddenly bloomed and began to swallow Cheon-seong.
*Swoosh…!*
The desolate, shimmering darkness started to recede as if exploding outward from Cheon-seong. In the space cleared of darkness, a brilliant golden light enveloped him, bathing him in its glow.
—A torrent of power.
Just as the lingering golden light brilliantly erased all surrounding darkness.
—!
The golden afterglow suddenly vanished, wrapping around Cheon-seong's body and allowing the darkness back in.
The golden light shrouding his body soon enveloped the spear in his hand, causing it to emit a soft glow.
...Vermian, who had been staring blankly at Cheon-seong at the word "Unleash," couldn't understand.
"You call that Unlocking?"
A voice thick with disbelief echoed through the space.
The Unlocking that Vermian knew was a power that placed a space under one's dominion. It brought any space under one's control, maximizing one's own power.
Though the nature of Unlocking might manifest differently for each individual, there was a common thread.
Most fundamentally, the body was strengthened, and a 'resistance' to external interference was gained.
But to Vermian's eyes, Cheon-seong's body, wreathed in golden light, didn't seem that much stronger.
His physique, and the energy he carried, felt only faintly enhanced.
Normally, a certain radius of territory would fall under the dominion of the one who had manifested Unlocking. A more spectacular and immense afterglow of power should have been felt, but it wasn't so.
"I don't know where you heard about Unlocking, but cloaking yourself in such a meager amount of power can't even be called that."
Even as he spoke with conviction, his thoughts of Karite had completely vanished.
The sight before him was utterly absurd. He knew a strange current had spread out from Han Cheon-seong along with the Unlocking.
Being enveloped in a golden current was a power he couldn't comprehend, yet it was clearly far too weak to be considered Unlocking.
Unlocking was a special power that only a few among the instructors could awaken. At the level Han Cheon-seong had displayed, it was a realm he should never have been able to reach.
As his thoughts momentarily continued, Vermian let out an involuntary, hollow laugh.
"I see. Was that it? Did you want me not to kill Karite so badly that you'd go to such lengths?"
As Vermian slowly spoke, his eyes turned cold and settled.
Han Cheon-seong, shrouded in golden light, still made no move. After uttering the word "Unleash," only a strange change had swept over him.
Even now, the gaze fixed on him was filled with pure killing intent. It seemed he was waiting for an opportunity, so at least it didn't look like he had lost his mind.
It was a strange contradiction.
He exuded a massive killing intent that made it seem he could lunge at any moment, yet he was carefully watching Vermian's every move, gripping his spear tightly, as if not to miss a thing.
Then, Vermian naturally came to an understanding.
"......."
For a moment, Vermian felt a sense of pity looking at Han Cheon-seong.
-It wasn't that Han Cheon-seong had to die for some crime he committed.
-Nor was he being tested for the sake of killing him.
It was neither of those things.
It was a selfish desire to see if he met the standard of hope that Vermian himself had established.
In the first place, how great a will could he have expected from a mere cadet?
"Ha..."
Letting out a self-deprecating laugh, Vermian slowly shifted the hand aimed at Karite toward Han Cheon-seong.
To mock him for his last-ditch effort of uttering "Unleash" would only make himself look foolish now.
Therefore, he changed his mind.
His intention to capture Han Cheon-seong alive had also completely disappeared. Testing whether he would rise from despair after killing Karite was now meaningless.
Even if he tried to capture Han Cheon-seong later, the boy would choose death himself in that moment.
"Alright, Han Cheon-seong. I'll kill you first."
With a settled voice, Vermian made up his mind.
And for the first time, he began to manifest his power toward Han Cheon-seong.
***
"Alright, Han Cheon-seong. I'll kill you first."
His voice brought not the slightest waver to my heart.
The metallic tang of blood filled my mouth, the only thing grounding me in reality.
—I see. I'm not dead yet.
The apostle's voice from a moment ago was brief. But from that alone, I instinctively knew what he meant.
He had noticed Karite was alive and was about to kill her again.
*Ggrriind...!*
With a gruesome sound like grinding teeth, my melted heart now began to seethe, spreading a burning heat throughout my entire body.
Through my gold-tinged eyes, I took in the apostle before me.
■■■■!!
Darkness slowly bloomed from the hand aimed at me, forming a sphere of pure shadow.
Even knowing he was about to attack, I felt a sense of relief.
"......"
I relaxed the defensive stance I had prepared in anticipation of the apostle using his power on Karite and transitioned.
The apostle's outline was now perfectly clear in my vision.
*Shimmer...*
As my vision continued to flicker with golden light, I saw the condensed darkness finally erupt from the apostle's hand.
*Fwoosh!*
As the overflowing darkness shot toward me like an explosion,
"..."
A crooked smile leaked through my twisted lips.
*Grip!*
I poured enough strength into my spear-wielding hand to make my arm feel like it would burst, slowly pulling it back.
It was perhaps natural that the apostle didn't perceive my Unlocking as the real thing.
It was a power I shouldn't have been able to reach.
My body, and my understanding, couldn't keep up with the concept of this power.
That's why I hadn't even tried it since the lucid dream.
Because I knew it would put a great strain on my body.
It was a manifestation of Unlocking completely different from the various concepts Kalli had taught me, so I couldn't even predict the side effects.
———!
Watching the surging darkness, I threw the spear I had pulled back far without a shred of hesitation.
*Pa-ang!*
With an explosive sound like the air itself bursting, the spear left my hand, its tip tracing a golden line across the void.
"..."
At the same time, a pain as if my grip would shatter ran through me, but it didn't matter.
I had already experienced this kind of pain countless times.
—————————!!
The trajectory of the golden-wreathed spear as it met the surging darkness, and then its path as it pierced straight through that darkness—I could see the golden trail with perfect clarity.
And in that same instant, I had reached the thrown spear.
"...!"
It was the first time I had experienced the power of Unlocking in reality, and it was the very height of unreality.
The trajectory of the spear that had left my hand.
My body arriving, following the path of the spear that had been thrown like a beam of light.
"How..."
In the space I reached after tearing through the darkness, I saw the apostle, his outline almost fully revealed.
Feeling the hand of darkness that had blocked the tip of the spear I'd thrown, I pushed it straight through.
*Sliide!*
And at the same time, I fully unleashed the power contained within the spear.
*Kwaang—!!*
With a deafening explosion that threatened to burst my eardrums, the darkness enveloping the apostle violently scattered and wavered.
I knew that even though I felt the impact on his body, which I had easily pierced before, I hadn't dealt a fatal blow.
However,
From now on, it would be completely different.
"Cough...!"
I saw the apostle spewing a strange darkness, sent flying back by the force of my spear, rapidly receding from my view.
*Thud.*
As I landed, holding the golden-wreathed spear, my vision kept shifting, forcing me to stagger.
...It was a side effect of manifesting Unlocking.
My body was weaker than it had been in the lucid dream. The time my body could endure while forcibly using a power I hadn't properly attained was extremely short.
'I have to end this... within one minute.'
Even as I thought this, I pulled the spear back again.
My mind was blank, but I was aware.
The Unlocking I was manifesting now wasn't a power that placed the surrounding space under my dominion like others used.
—It was to place only my spear under my dominion, imbuing it with my will.
That's why, when I threw my spear, I could somehow follow the golden trajectory it left behind.
The space carved by my spear's power falls under the influence of my Unlocking. It made a chain of attacks that should have been impossible, possible.
*Grip...!*
I poured all my strength into the hand gripping the spear.
While using the power of Unlocking, I couldn't use skills simultaneously. I didn't have the capacity, and my body couldn't take any more.
I just took my pure mana and, as if twisting its very nature, poured it into the spear shaft.
*Sssshhhk...!*
As the golden current formed a spiral, I once again swung my arm as if to throw the spear.
*Pa-ang!*
The golden spear shot forward, even faster than before, and I had already followed it, reaching the apostle's immediate vicinity.
"...!"
I saw the apostle now trying to bat away my spearhead with both hands.
However, even that seemed slow to me, who had already reached the speed of my thrown spear.
*Slice!*
My hand, having already caught up to the spear I'd thrown, struck the end of the shaft, twisting the trajectory of its power.
As if it were the most natural thing in the world, the golden spiral current had already bypassed the apostle's hands.
*Puuuk!!*
Amidst a ghastly sound, the spear completely pierced through the darkness.
But it didn't stop there.
With the spearhead still pushed forward, I slammed it down, driving my spear into the apostle's entire body.
*KWAAANG!!!*