The God That Crawls Through the Dark

Paewang had told Lee Seoha he was heading home first. He had not gone home.

It seems Ara's heart is set on him, after all.

She was the apple of his eye — the living fruit of the love between him and his wife. But most of the men who circled her were empty husks. Most would faint dead away from nothing more than a glance from him, and above all, her body and talent were so extraordinary that any man who looked at her wanted to make her his disciple rather than his bride.

He knew that one day his daughter would leave his side. And if she had to leave, then he wanted her to marry the right man. That was Paewang's wish as a father.

A fellow like that one might do.

With such thoughts in mind, Paewang moved — toward his daughter and the girl called Kim Seohyun.

"What are you two doing here?"

"…We followed Seoha."

"You don't need to worry about that brat."

So saying, Paewang waved it off and turned his gaze to Lee Seoha, who was battling the being known as the Vermilion Bird. From start to finish, Seoha held the advantage. The two of them drew on powers rooted in the same source, yet Seoha was crushing his opponent completely.

And yet… why? Something felt inexplicably ominous.

Transcendents gained powers akin to foresight once they crossed over. If he felt a sense of foreboding, it meant something was going to happen — and soon.

Paewang swept his gaze across the surroundings. Something pitch-dark and filthy was lurking nearby.

This sort of thing, though, was never my strong suit.

Among Transcendents, he had no doubt he would yield to none of them. If anything, most Transcendents hated fighting him — nearly all of his abilities were built for battle and nothing else. But that was precisely why Paewang had no confidence in matters like this. He was straining his senses, scanning the area, when he caught sight of Kim Seohyun staring hard at a single spot.

"Isn't that thing over there dangerous?"

"Dangerous, you say?"

Paewang fixed his eyes on Kim Seohyun. This one, too, was something special. Too many different powers were jumbled together, leaving him weak for now, but past a certain point the growth would be monstrous.

Or he'd amount to nothing at all.

Paewang studied her for a moment. She didn't seem to be lying.

"Then we move. That side doesn't look like it'll give us any trouble."

He looked at Lee Seoha — overwhelming his opponent from start to finish, all but toying with it. But the eyes that never let their guard down marked that one as reliable enough.

Paewang made for the cave.

A raw, fishy reek of blood struck him full in the face.

Those mad bastards. Paewang's face contorted. Just how many humans had to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠die for a stench to turn this vile? His expression hardened, and his fist clenched. The demons' methods always defied imagination — they wielded unknowable powers brought from beyond the outer realms.

I'm not leaving a single one alive.

The deeper they went, the more unbearable the stench became.

"What the—? Where'd these bastards come from all of a sudden?"

"Heh. What are the odds — women walking right into our laps? Oi, the purple-haired one's mine—"

Splat. A demon's head burst. The head of the demon beside it burst as well, and before long both were scattering into drifting ash as death claimed them. Under ordinary circumstances he would have kept one alive to ask what they were doing here, but he could not bring himself to spare men who had tried to sexually defile his daughter.

If it came to that, I could simply pry the answers out myself. And Paewang possessed more than enough power to do exactly that.

They pushed into the cave's depths. And there it was — an altar.

Paewang covered Kim Ara's and Kim Seohyun's eyes.

"Dad…?"

"Don't look, you two."

The altar — no. It was made of hundreds of corpses. Hundreds of human bodies, piled and packed into the shape of an altar. He ground his teeth. Paewang understood at once what it was.

Human sacrifice.

Atop the mound raised from hundreds of bodies, a single line had been inscribed.

An altar enshrining an entity from beyond. The outer entities lent their power to the demons, and the demons received it and hymned their praise — and this was the sort of thing they usually demanded in return. So Paewang killed every last one of them, leaving none behind. The same fate awaited anyone connected to them; even the word ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠vermin was too good for the likes of them.

Primordial Force condensed in his fist. The power that severed all things at their most fundamental level turned upon the altar — and blew it apart.

"My, my. We worked ever so hard on that, and you smash it the moment you see it? How rude."

The instant the altar shattered, an eerie voice rang out through the cave. It was a voice Paewang, too, knew all too well.

"You're supposed to be inside the Boundary, aren't you?"

"Kyahaha! Oh, Lord Paewang, how adorably naive of you. Did you truly believe we'd stay locked in the Boundary forever? Even the greatest hero in human history — the greatest of the great — couldn't manage that. We were cooped up in there for a whole fifty years! And you never once noticed Jan-ak and Heung-ak slipping outside every now and then?"

The eerie voice sent ripples through the air around them. Paewang stared hard toward its source — all while keeping himself between it and Kim Seohyun and Kim Ara.

This isn't good. Paewang was a specialist in one thing alone: breaking things. Guarding others like this was not among his talents, and the fiend's mana was already gnawing at Kim Ara's and Kim Seohyun's minds with its every word.

"So what's a bitch like you doing here?"

"You think I'd give you a straight answer? Hm, perhaps I'll consider it — if you offer up that body of yours to our god? Kyahahaha!"

As expected, the thing had no intention of answering. Paewang rolled his hand into a fist.

VWOOOOONG! The space around him warped and buckled. The most fundamental power there is — the force that severs all things — condensed to its utmost in Paewang's hand.

"No need for you to say a word. I'll just pummel you to the brink of death — that's all it'll take."

"My, my. Still all muscle and no sense, I see."

"And you two — fall back past this point. This place is about to become dangerous."

"…Yes, sir."

Kim Ara and Kim Seohyun nodded. Their faces were drained white. He had shielded them from the fiend, yet its power had bored straight through his protection and wounded them regardless.

Kim Seohyun clenched her teeth. Lately, all she ever seemed to do was chew on her own helplessness. Back in America, too — at the decisive moment, she had failed to help a single person.

It isn't that I'm weak. Kim Seohyun was strong. She already stood gazing at the far end of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Intermediate Realm, and she could feel her powers fusing together, step by careful step. Her grandfather had told her that once her martial art reached completion, no being of equal standing would ever beat her. And yet she still felt wanting.

"Let's go."

"Mm."

Kim Seohyun screwed her eyes shut and started for the cave mouth.

KUUUUNG! A colossal roar — and she felt the cave begin to collapse behind them. This was no battlefield for the likes of them. If anything, their presence here might be the very thing that cost Paewang his fight against the fiend.

What is this? The closer she drew to the exit, the more her legs felt rooted to the earth. No — it was fear, raw and instinctive. As if the moment she stepped outside, she would come face to face with death itself.

"S-Seohyun…"

Kim Ara's face had gone ghost-pale. Something was out there. Something dreadfully ominous, and festering. Merely sensing the presence beyond, the two of them were drowned in a feeling neither could put into words.

What on earth is going on…? She wanted to turn and run, right then and there. But Lee Seoha was outside.

Forcing one foot in front of the other, Kim Seohyun stepped out of the cave — and saw it. A black something smothering most of the sky. A colossal black seed. Something very close to death itself.

Apostles. Beings brought into existence so that the outer entities could descend upon the surface with ease — creations made for the invasion of Earth.

Their grades varied widely. But one thing was certain: kill an Apostle, and kill it again, and still it would not die. And the more negative emotion they devoured, the stronger they grew. That growth had a limit, technically speaking — but you might as well have called it limitless.

At its peak, wasn't it more than three times the combined stats of the Emperor and the Stars?

The Emperor's own martial strength was unremarkable, but add the Stars to the tally and he surpassed even Paewang. If an Apostle exceeded three times even that combined total, then from that moment on there would be scarcely anyone left on Earth who could stand in its way.

Thankfully, it's still in its early stages. And that was a genuine mercy. That seed had yet to grow into what it would become. Give it time, and it might take several Transcendents hurling themselves at it just to destroy part of it and banish the rest beyond the Boundary.

I calmly ran a check over my body. Peak condition? I glanced down at the Vermilion Bird's carcass, then used the Knot of Absorption to take in Defying Heaven. This was different from absorbing the dragon — this time I had to take in the Vermilion Bird's remains whole.

"Hnngh." Unfiltered, exactly as it was, the Vermilion Bird's power coiled around my body. In the long run, that was a terrible thing — the Vermilion Bird's power was weak, and it would dull the purity of the Black Flame Radiant Star God. But right now, it was the best response I had.

Maybe I should have brought Seo Gayeon. With her here, this fight would become downright winnable. Seo Gayeon's power affirmed the death of demons. It affirmed that they belonged to the outer realms. It was a power specialized in banishment and death.

But Seo Gayeon was not here. Even so, it would be all right. Paewang was close by. Even if he couldn't sense what lurked around him, the descent of a presence that size onto the surface would bring him running at once.

Survive until then. Then fight.

It couldn't match the Starlight Mana Seo Gayeon carried, but Defying Heaven's power was still honed for one purpose above all: killing demons. Even against an Apostle, it would earn its keep.

If there's one mercy, it's that this is the god that crawls through the darkest places. That god had no ceiling on its strength, and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it wielded every species of instant-death technique — one misstep, and I could simply drop dead. But power like that came with a price: in the earliest stage of its descent, it was also the weakest of all Apostles.

Well then — time to move. Gripping Heukcheon, sheathed within Baekhong, I sprinted toward the seed.