The Proof of Faith
Hero's Advanced Spirit Power Enhancement (B) proficiency has increased.
Dexterous Hands (B+) proficiency has increased.
Flame of Yeomsang (S-) proficiency has increased.
I stepped outside.
A slightly warm air greeted me, along with the dark sky hanging overhead. I made my way toward somewhere with fewer people around.
The magic beasts nearby had been hunted nearly to extinction alongside Seol Hwaryeon, so I'd have to go a fair distance out. Aside from a handful of truly powerful ones, the magic beasts in the Seoul area were basically picked clean, after all.
I hailed a taxi nearby and headed down south. The fare came to about thirty thousand won, but I felt nothing at it. Back in the day, my hands would have trembled paying that much.
I headed into the back alleys—toward a hideout of magic beasts that the Electronic Witch had tipped me off about.
Contemplating my own body, I manifested the Flame of Yeomsang.
Fwoosh.
The Flame of Yeomsang, born riding atop the power of Defying Heaven, blossomed to life. Black flame—Heukyeom—lingered in my palm, then quickly faded away.
...Huh. It works way better than I expected.
The qi of Defying Heaven hadn't rejected the Flame of Yeomsang. Maybe it was thanks to my conceptual stat, the kind that dominates other concepts.
I'll have to run more experiments on this later.
If Defying Heaven could fuse with my other abilities, I could revise quite a lot of my plans. In a good way.
Or maybe it was simply because the Flame of Yeomsang applied itself to whatever energy I happened to be using.
But first, there was something I needed to test. I was curious about its destructive power.
Black flame.
Fwoosh.
Black fire rose from my hand.
The power I felt was one that sought to negate everything in existence except itself—and woven into it was the nature of flame. The nature of wanting to burn everything down.
The qi of Defying Heaven had transformed into a power that negated and devoured all things.
Instinctively, I realized the Flame of Yeomsang was a perfect match for that power.
[Hero's Advanced Spirit Power Enhancement (B) proficiency has increased.]
[Dexterous Hands (B+) proficiency has increased.]
[Flame of Yeomsang (S-) proficiency has increased.]
"Hm? What's this? Some lost little lamb?"
Click.
With the sound of something switching on inside my mind, the Eye of Insight activated. Eyes that gazed upon a bright dawn—those eyes marked the figure before me as a magic beast.
Fwoosh.
"A black flame...?"
Those were the magic beast's last words.
At my will, the black flame shot toward the creature, and it vanished, leaving nothing but ash behind.
...That's absurd.
Extreme aggression, through and through.
But I also realized I couldn't use this very often. The mental drain from wielding the black flame was greater than I'd anticipated. And the hand that had cast it was singed. It hurt quite a bit, actually.
I pulled a potion out of my subspace, sprayed half of it on my hand, and drank the rest. It tasted like lemon wasabi mayo.
What is wrong with this flavor?
Just as I was furrowing my brow, I heard movement behind me. I whipped my head around.
"Hello there."
A feminine voice drifted over. When I turned, a familiar doll came into view—a woman in a black dress, raven-black hair fluttering in the wind.
The Retribution Brigade. The Magongnyeo.
"...Why are you here?"
"I have news for you. Though it seems you've gotten even stronger since we last met."
Her voice carried a faint note of rapture. The trace of it vanished just as quickly—so brief it could have been my imagination.
"What is it?"
"The Retribution Brigade is after you."
"Me?"
"Yeah. If they capture you alive, they plan to negotiate with the Paewang. He's keeping the Brigade's vice-captain alive right now, you see."
"..."
The Paewang's thinking was easy to read. I won't run. If you want to save the vice-captain's life, come to me yourselves. That was the message, no doubt.
"So why are you telling me this?"
Truthfully, I already knew. The Magongnyeo was an outcast within the Retribution Brigade—shunned by the others.
Her goal was...
"You are the successor of the Heavenly Demon. And I am one who venerates the Heavenly Demon. That's why I chose Magongnyeo as my alias. Well, I suppose that alone isn't reason enough."
With those words, the Magongnyeo smiled at me.
"Anyway, be careful. Those bastards have identified the power you carry as an anti-demon force."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. They'll prepare thoroughly. Your strength isn't something we can afford to underestimate."
The Magongnyeo studied me as she spoke.
"And there's a chance the Nazi admirals might join in as well."
"The Nazis too?"
"Yeah. Our captain seems to be even more cautious than I expected."
Saying that, the Magongnyeo turned her gaze toward the academy.
"Then why not simply... not do it?"
"...Because the captain loves the Retribution Brigade."
"..."
At her words, I had to stop myself from twisting my mouth into a sneer.
The captain who led the Retribution Brigade didn't love it. It was something far more fundamental than that.
Each and every one of them was the captain's power.
"Anyway, thanks. Was delivering that message all you came for?"
"Yes."
As if that were the end of her business, the Magongnyeo turned her back and left. I watched her go for a moment, then set out to hunt magic beasts once more.
I finished hunting the magic beasts and cleaned up after myself. Thanks to the Faceless Mask of Glamour, all I had to do was change into spare clothes and deal with the bloodstains.
My stat didn't go up one bit today.
It was as if Defying Heaven was telling me, this is as far as you climb with the small fry. From now on, I'd need to take down powerful magic beasts to rise any further. As I walked along with a bitter smile, a strong sense of wrongness washed over me.
The Sword Demon's senses were warning me.
────────!
A ringing filled my ears.
A tinnitus that began from deep within the city and gnawed its way outward. As I heard it, the Sword Demon's senses reacted with violent intensity.
I ran a thumb over my mask and stepped forward.
Ding.
A translucent blue window unfurled before my eyes.
You have acquired faith through the discipline of alchemy.
In this world, you have become so exalted that the study of alchemy can no longer be discussed without invoking your name.
But the divinity you truly desire is not that of an alchemy god.
You must display your worth to the world, and claim your divinity for yourself.
◈ Reward: Fragment of the conceptual stat Divinity
"..."
The moment I saw the quest, a dozen thoughts collided in my head. The Alchemy Guild. And the Jecheon Society.
The conceptual stat, Divinity.
I had to obtain Divinity.
But I had no intention of becoming a god of alchemy.
Alchemy was an incredibly useful discipline, and it was my main strength—but gaining divinity through it would never produce a good result.
It would be what people call the prayer meta.
A life spent tending to others, never stepping forward, cheering them on from behind. Not a bad life, exactly. It would certainly be easier.
My mouth twisted. If I'd wanted that kind of life, I wouldn't have ground myself into dust the way I had from the very beginning until now.
I sprinted toward the sound of the explosion.
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Why is there an explosion downtown—?!"
"It's a magic beast! Contact the Association, now!"
Had I been running for long? Screaming civilians scattering in every direction came into view.
There were far too many of them. The streets were chaos. I wreathed my feet in the qi of Defying Heaven and leaped high.
Tap!
Kicking off a streetlight for another boost, I spotted the magic beast rampaging below. It stood roughly two meters tall.
Its body was hideous. Where arms should have been, massive tentacle-like appendages writhed, crushing the buildings in between.
-Kuooooooooh!
A mouth taking up half its face gaped open and roared.
The civilians who'd heard that roar up close were either dying with blood bursting from their ears or writhing in agony.
"Ahh, I did warn it not to throw a tantrum like that. This is exactly why I hate things empowered by the Outer planes."
A calm voice. Utterly mismatched with the situation—the words came from a man in a tone that seemed to belong to somewhere else entirely.
Who is that?
"Well, you know what they say—as long as you get to Seoul, any road will do. Feels like I took the scenic route through Daejeon, Daegu, and Busan before catching the train up here."
The man curled the corner of his mouth upward.
"Hey. Get him."
At the man's command, the magic beast moved—charging straight at me.
BOOM!
"...?"
"You stupid son of a bitchhh—!!"
I sidestepped neatly, and the magic beast slammed straight into the man—the presumed Villain—obliterating his arm.
What the hell?
Caught off guard, my body was already moving before my thoughts caught up.
I drew Heukcheon from its sheath at my back. The qi of Defying Heaven clung to the blade, forming its edge.
Lee Seoha original technique.
Rakshasa Flash.
A black gleam tore down a straight line. Hiding itself within the night sky, the dark flash hurtled toward the magic beast. The target: its chest.
At that same instant, the Sword Demon's senses shrieked. It warned me that I might die right here.
I recalled Heukcheon and twisted to block my flank. Something like a colossal hammer, wrapped in dark qi, smashed into the blade.
CLAAANG!
"Hup!"
A staggering impact crashed over me. I scattered the force and vaulted backward, putting distance between us.
"Heehee. Now that's a fine piece of work. I thought I'd found your blind spot, and you counter on top of it?"
Chuckling, the man who'd just had his arm wrecked by the magic beast pushed himself up. His hand had long since regenerated.
"But you're a real piece of shit, you know that? I told you to go easy. Fucking great at ambush attacks, but you're supposed to dial it back when it's my power on the line, asshole."
The man grumbled his curses and spat onto the ground.
So he's a regeneration type.
The man's eyes gleamed, slick and wet.
"Interesting mask you've got there. Even with one eye broken, I can't make out your face. An illusion-type? Well... either way, you'd fetch a nice price."
Muttering that, the man began walking toward me. I steadied my breathing.
This is worse than I thought.
The hit I'd taken from the ambush had done real damage.
I stoked my energy and faced forward. My head spun a little.
Thump.
At the same moment, the faith settled inside me reacted. The power of faith, which had never moved properly before, bared its teeth.
[The special stat Faith is reacting to your threat.]
Whoosh.
Golden light lingered in my hand. It was unlike any power I'd wielded before—warm, yet bending to my will like something alive.
This is...
Until now, faith had been a power that resided quietly within my inner self. It gave vitality to my body, but I'd never been able to use it to its full potential.
Until now, that is—
FWOOSH!
The Flame of Yeomsang answered the call, layering its fire upon my faith.
Golden flames roared to life, revealing themselves to the world for the very first time.