Chapter 147
Chapter 147
“……”
[Challenger of the Divine]
Oz’s ultimate skill, and proof that he had obtained the right to challenge divinity.
I thought about it after using it—no, even before that, the moment I became able to use divine magic.
If I could touch even divine power, a power created by a god, couldn't I mimic other powers as well?
Excluding a few rare abilities, this world maintains a balance of five types of power: mana, divine power, Magic Power, demonic energy, and yokai energy.
Each has its own compatibility, and having obtained the means of divine magic, I gained an advantage in various aspects of compatibility. Only one, excluding yokai energy.
Therefore, after divinity, I chose yokai energy as my second power.
A skill that deploys one magic spell randomly from all mage characters.
[Mana Dominator].
Within that list of 'all mage characters,' there were definitely yokai.
Even [Azure Flame Fan], which I first used in the weekday dungeon, is an example.
That was magic used by a character classified as a yokai called [Blue-Eyed Spirit Fox].
It was magic mixed with yokai energy.
The possibility was there from the beginning.
The nature of mana is change. It merely creates phenomena like fire or water, but I can go beyond that and change its nature to mimic other powers.
In the first place, it was much simpler compared to divine power, a power created by a god.
Yokai energy is a power created by the [Yokai King] Gangcheol. Naturally, it's easier to catch up to a dragon than a god.
The theory was established. By coming into contact with the dense yokai energy within the Samdo River, I had directly felt its power.
I also used [Contemplation] on Soyeon’s magic many times; she was a maiden, a human who could use yokai energy. But it wasn’t enough.
It seemed there was a limit to merely [Contemplation]. Instruction was needed.
And the one who taught me, surprisingly, was…
“Anyway, I didn’t think you’d help so readily.”
“Hmph. Well, it’s not that difficult.”
The Goblin Bihyeong had mentioned, the one who would know Baekyang best.
It was Jeokmae.
She momentarily lowered the cigarette she was holding in her mouth and spoke.
“Do you know the biggest reason I hated that bitch the most?”
“I’m not particularly curious.”
“It was because her act of pretending to be fine was disgusting.”
“……”
Why are all these Goblins so brazen?
At this point, there should be someone who could break my prejudice again, but they’re all self-centered.
“So, if that disgusting aspect can be erased, well… personally, I was also interested in that ‘Yohwa Magic.’”
“It’s not Yohwa Magic; it’s Fairy Magic.”
“You’re a strange one. You must know that yokai energy isn’t some mysterious power. Why insist on such a name?”
“Because I can’t attach a derogatory term to a power meant to embody understanding.”
“Hmph……”
Jeokmae looked at me as if I were a strange creature, then put the cigarette back in her mouth.
After taking a deep breath, she then spoke nonchalantly.
“That girl certainly snagged a good man, much to my chagrin.”
“……We’re not like that.”
“It might be that way for you, but that girl probably thinks differently, don’t you think? Goblins usually pursue what they want until they die. You’ve seen a precedent, haven’t you?”
It’s no laughing matter.
Indeed, Baekyang struggled to understand humans until she was on the verge of death.
And now that I have proven it, it's safe to say that her goal is halfway achieved.
“From what I see, you’re already too late. The moment you showed that magic to Baekyang, it was already too late. A Goblin’s obsession is no joke.”
“Won’t Goblins also choose their humans?”
“That’s true. But you don’t seem to have any flaws, do you?”
Flaws, she says…
Her choice of words is too much.
“You’re surprisingly lacking in self-confidence. I’d think you’d be popular.”
“Haha, how could that be? Compared to my appearance, I’m not very popular, so I don’t have to worry about that.”
Eleanor said so.
She said I have a decent face but lack consideration, so I’m not the popular type.
I used to doubt it, but looking at recent results, there’s not a single false word.
Lucia said something similar… and hasn’t Latia, the student council president, personally shattered my arrogance?
That moment remains a trauma, still appearing in my dreams.
There’s a reason Eleanor kept emphasizing it.
She must have been worried that I, unpopular as I am, might get hurt.
She’s a kind person. Indeed, Eleanor and Arietta are the only ones I can trust.
“I think that’s what they call gaslighting in the Western Continent.”
“Oh, no, Noah can’t engage in such advanced psychological warfare. She’s cunning but foolish.”
“Yes, looking at you, it seems it’s already too late.”
She keeps spouting strange things.
This is why Goblins are no good.
They constantly try to push people into the middle of doubt.
I won’t doubt. Eleanor said I shouldn’t doubt.
I trust Eleanor.
“……Well, fine. Unlike you and Baekyang, I’m not particularly nosy, so I won’t ask any more questions. I’ll just assume you met your match.”
Jeokmae looked at me with a look of disdain. It was a familiar look I had received countless times over the past six months.
There’s no reason to shrink back now. I’ve been tempered enough not to be hurt by such looks anymore.
“Then, I should probably get going. I have something to do, and time has been delayed a bit.”
So, it's not because her gaze was uncomfortable that I'm running away.
I genuinely have a lot of urgent things to take care of.
It's the grand ambition of obtaining the World Tree's fruit. It's a means that can completely turn the tide of the war.
Of course, before that...
“Something to do, you say. I’d love to hear what it is, Apostle of Dawn.”
I'll have to deal with the immediate problem first. The [Imemangryang] excluding Jeokmae and Baekyang, and the rest of the elite Goblins, were surrounding me.
It was actually an expected event.
Bihyeong had dismissed his suspicions about me because he trusted his instincts, but the others are different, aren’t they?
Even during the meeting, many cast suspicious glances at me. The representative among them was this guy.
[SR Blue Goblin]
Cheongmang.
He’s the one who got hit a bit too hard by me and still holds a grudge.
He acts like a child, even though he’s not.
More surprising is the other one.
[SR Black Goblin]
Heukri.
A Goblin with a rock-like presence.
I didn't think he would get caught up in such emotional matters, so it's quite unexpected.
“……Even excluding Cheongmang’s emotional issues, your actions in this situation are far too suspicious. You know that too, don’t you?”
That’s true.
The situation feels too perfectly aligned.
I appeared shortly after an anomaly arose in the Federation.
However, there were even suspicions that I was the same person who had run rampant in the [Goblin Forest], and soon after, the maiden of the Samdo River appeared.
In such a state, knowing the cause, result, and solution to the anomaly occurring in the Federation, it's impossible not to be suspicious. Whether positive or negative, one can't help but be suspicious.
“We don’t intend to be rough either. We just want you to stay quiet without any sudden actions until this matter is over.”
Furthermore, it’s true that I’m moving while hiding something.
Bihyeong and Soyeon decided to overlook it, but these guys are different.
They don’t have animal-like instincts like Bihyeong, nor the flowing composure like Soyeon. It’s unavoidable because it’s their home.
“I don’t know about Cheongmang, but I’ll try my best to stop that.”
“Oh, you would, wouldn’t you?”
What a ridiculous excuse. How could he possibly stop it, having been instigated like this?
This is all because Bihyeong, the leader, cannot control them properly.
“Seeing as Bihyeong didn’t restrain you and left you alone like this, you must have annoyed him quite a bit.”
Bihyeong is foolish, but he is still the leader of the Goblins.
He would have known that these guys would have questions about me.
He might not think so, but that's just an unreliable intuition.
He couldn’t possibly persuade the Goblins with something like that.
So, he gave up on persuading them. He didn't specifically stop them from confronting me directly.
However, that can also be interpreted as follows.
“Even if I give you a beating here, Bihyeong won’t complain, will he?”
He intends to be a thorough bystander unless one side dies. Both the Goblins and my side.
“I’ll give you a beating that won’t affect the next wave.”
What a remarkably laid-back personality he has.
Someone who loves to pass the buck like this can't really be called a good leader.
“By the way, I know nothing about this. Don’t drag me into it unnecessarily.”
Jeokmae retreated to a corner, as if repulsed by troublesome matters.
If she's not an enemy, that's one less thing to worry about.
Since she cooperated in creating the Fairy Magic, I felt a certain debt of gratitude, so it was unsettling to wonder if this was a betrayal, but thankfully, it's not.
“But you guys, after getting beaten by me once, are you challenging me with even fewer numbers? Where does that confidence come from?”
Intermediate Magic
[Wind Piercing]
My specialty, a mid-level wind-attribute magic.
Because I use it so often, it's one of my few main skills that can be deployed almost as quickly as if I were using [Mana Dominator].
“Haha, do you really think we wouldn’t have made such preparations?”
“What are you talking about? Of course, you’d have something. Otherwise, it would mean you just came to get beaten.”
It’s nothing new.
If they had come out without thinking, I would have been more suspicious.
Sure enough, the intermediate magic I unleashed twisted like a paper airplane caught in a storm, then scattered into thin air.
It was probably a magic similar to ritual magic that required a long time to cast.
Cheongmang is also a support character who coordinates the [Imemangryang].
It’s natural for him to use debuffs or protective skills in this manner.
If my memory serves me right, that bizarre shield is Cheongmang’s ultimate skill, [Nodaebaram], which reduces the accuracy of incoming projectiles by about 95% for a certain period.
No matter how good my mana manipulation is, I'm not confident I can penetrate that and hit them with magic.
“Hahahaha! With this, you’re just a human with strong magical power. Even I can defeat a helpless you!”
Cheongmang rushed at me with a menacing smile.
Is a Goblin truly a Goblin, after all?
Even though he should be a support class with weaker physical abilities than a mage, his movements were quite agile.
“Uh, Cheongmang? That doesn’t seem like a good idea……”
“Too late.”
Still, it’s not comparable to my physical abilities.
Did this guy not hear the part where Jeokmae recited, during the trial, that Baekyang had been slammed headfirst?
From that moment on, I had no mercy for impertinent fellows like him.
“Gag?!”
Before Jeokmae could carefully speak to Cheongmang, I delivered a counter to Cheongmang’s jaw as he rushed in.
My stats, using [Physical Enhancement] magic, were comparable to an SR-grade warrior.
With all the training I’ve had, I won’t fall behind anywhere.
“I’ve been bothered by that mouth of yours for a long time.”
Yes, I admit it. It was my mistake.
What I should have hit in the meeting room wasn't those meager lips, but this firm jaw.
I should have shattered its foundation so that this impudent brat couldn’t babble carelessly ever again.
“In the first place, did you think I wouldn’t notice your crude encirclement?”
It wasn’t that I couldn’t notice until they surrounded me; I let them surround me.
To make it easier to take down all the bastards who complained about me in one fell swoop.
“I told you, didn’t I? The first time was hard. But the second time won’t be.”
I grabbed Cheongmang by the collar, who was clutching his jaw and stumbling backward, pulled him in, and struck his jaw again.
“No, come to think of it, I don’t think I ever said that out loud. But it probably doesn’t matter, right?”
I think I just kept it to myself.
But thinking that, it just makes me even more annoyed.
Who are you guys to pressure me so much with your intimidating atmosphere that I can’t even speak?
It was when I had struck his limbs, excluding his jaw, about three times.
Intermediate Magic
[Pharma Shield]
Indeed, even attempting to create a violent atmosphere like this was probably not enough to instill intimidation.
Instead of backing away, arrows flew towards me.
Arrows made of black shadows, without even a sound.
Heukri’s attack.
In my heart, I want to pick up Cheongmang and use him as a shield, but no matter how angry I am, I won’t go that far. He’s not some sworn enemy, so why would I need to kill him?
“Are you not going to rush in like this foolish fellow?”
“……”
As expected, he doesn’t even blink at my provocation. Is it that not only his demeanor but also his body is as hard as a rock?
This is quite troublesome.
Heukri is also an SR-grade archer.
Moreover, with the opponent aiming his bowstring while facing a wall, it clearly puts me at a disadvantage.
“If I had my way, I’d just overwhelm them with firepower without bothering to avoid anything.”
But I can’t.
Cheongmang’s ultimate skill shows overwhelming compatibility against projectiles, but its performance somewhat drops against area-of-effect attacks.
There’s a limit to how much you can dodge.
However, the problem is that if I do that, there will be 100% casualties.
In the first place, the opponent probably aimed for that when forming the encirclement around me.
“Shall I at least try an experiment?”
Fairy Magic
[Will-O’-The-Wisp]
It’s a skill I learned recently.
It would be a waste to let it rot as mere display magic.
“This… When on earth?”
The nature of yokai energy is ‘chaos’.
The Will-O’-The-Wisp that flickered in my hand instantly disappeared and then reappeared in the middle of the Goblin formation.
A tiny, unthreatening flame. In terms of magical power, a trivial flame, positioned between basic and elementary.
However, that flame, imbued with both ‘change’ and ‘chaos’ characteristics…
Intermediate Magic
[Blaze Burst]
It can act as a kind of medium connecting me and the space.
At this distance, there’s no way to avoid it.
The magic that erupted in the middle of the enemy formation shattered the formation itself.
Humans feel fear from what they cannot understand. Are Goblins any different?
Their faces began to turn pale at the bizarre phenomenon that could not be understood by either yokai magic or human magic.
“I guess that’s enough for the experiment.”
The one-man show was over.
It's enough to check my current skill level.
“Alexios.”
At the end of my words, Alexios emerged from a shadowy place, revealing his imposing presence.
He had been there from the beginning.
In the first place, we planned to depart as soon as Baekyang's matter was concluded.
He had been contemplating the situation and waiting until now.
“I was wondering what you were doing earlier, and it turns out you were just playing around?”
“Playing around? It was an experiment! More importantly, I’m about to prepare to move, so let’s clear these guys out first.”
“You’re also the type to unnecessarily make more work for yourself…”
Alexios cracked his neck and stepped forward. That alone made the Goblins flinch. It was the opposite of when they faced me.
Well, it makes sense.
The unknown breeds fear.
Even those who had been beaten by me once had underestimated me until they saw the Fairy Magic.
But there's no telling how fierce this newly appeared, fierce-looking fellow will be.
Furthermore, unlike the [Successor of the Mage King], he is the [Fist King], who is more famous in the Federation.
They must be realizing something.
“How far should I go?”
“Just simply break all their arms and legs.”
“……Are you sure about that? These guys also need to prepare for the next wave, don’t they?”
Why is he saying such tender-hearted things, unlike himself? He should just break everything as usual.
It can't be helped.
“It doesn’t matter because Arietta is here. Goblins also have high self-healing abilities, so even if their arms and legs are broken now, they’ll be able to recover before the next wave.”
“I-is that so?”
Since he apparently tried to use his own head, I specified the limits.
Isn’t that amazing? Truly, it’s nothing short of generous treatment.
“And for that bastard, smash his jaw so he can’t run his mouth anymore.”
Still, I can’t forgive you.