The Prophesied One
—Kuooooooh!
A giant water snake, a little over five meters long, reared up before us.
An elite monster that only showed itself once every other creature on the first floor had been put down.
"How do you want to play it?"
"I'll take this one."
At Tak Yoonil's words, Kim Seohyun stepped forward, folding his hands together in front of him.
Shaaaaa!
A dragon took shape — one that was bone-deep cold and yet brimming with heat all at once.
The Blue Flame Dragon, wrought of azure fire.
Blue Flame?
It was a power that bent the very nature of mana, holding chill and heat in the same breath. When I blinked in surprise, Kim Seohyun grinned.
"Saw it in a video recently. Looked like fun, so I gave it a try — what do you think?"
"...You really didn't need to."
Honestly, Blue Flame struck me as a gimmick. It carried heat and cold at once, but that diluted its force compared to committing fully to a single attribute — and Seohyun had no real need for it.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. It comes off like a cheap trick. You already wield a dozen attributes — you'd get far more out of pushing one to its absolute limit."
"...Fair point."
Kim Seohyun nodded and stepped ahead. The Blue Flame Dragon hurtled toward the giant water snake.
Ssssssss!
Crackle, crackle.
—Kieeeek!
The cold crept in and froze the serpent solid while the heat seared its flesh.
Yet Kim Seohyun's expression was sour — the dragon raised through the Nine Heavens Nine Dragons Divine Art was weaker than he'd expected.
"It really is. Seoha, how did you know at a single glance?"
Because I'm the one they call Truth, that's why.
"...It just looked that way."
"Sharp eyes on top of everything else, huh."
Tak Yoonil studied me with an odd look on his face.
"Anyway — let's put that thing down first, then talk."
At my words, everyone turned their focus back to the fight.
"Hyaap!"
With a sharp battle cry, Kim Seohyun raised two flame dragons through the Nine Heavens Nine Dragons Divine Art. Growling low, they hurled themselves at the giant water snake.
—Kieheek!
They bit and tore at the serpent's hide, heat blazing with every strike. Sssss—thick steam erupted and swallowed the view ahead.
But no one here was about to lose sight of the enemy behind a little steam.
"My turn."
Park Unhyeok dropped his voice low, spear in hand, and dashed forward. Crack! Lightning coiled dense along the shaft and burst forth in a shockwave. Whoosh! It carved straight across the water snake's massive trunk, shearing it apart.
"Hmph. Nothing to it."
"Quit showboating and get back!"
Flowing into the Black Flash Step, I seized Park Unhyeok by the nape and hauled him backward. The split trunk swelled for an instant — then burst with a wet boom.
"What the—?!"
"It's a self-destruct mechanism that weaponizes water pressure. Wasn't in the briefing, but monsters that leave no corpse behind sometimes pull tricks like that."
Park Unhyeok's face went slack with shock.
Then again, monsters with that particular trait were rare to begin with.
Which makes it look like Tak Yoonil drew that out on purpose.
I shot a sidelong glance at Tak Yoonil.
Because the man carried a warped sense of justice inside him.
"Looks like it's almost over."
Kim Seohyun was pressing the water snake down with overwhelming majesty. The flame dragons — three of them now — had already burned the five-meter serpent down to less than one.
"...That's monstrous."
"Well. He is Kim Seohyun."
He was this world's darling, loved by it to an almost unreasonable degree.
A monster who had studied magic under the Wizard of a Thousand and inherited, whole and undiluted, the Thousand-Year Martial Pulse — the sum of everything the Central Plains Murim had ever produced.
And though it still lay sealed, held back by his own insufficient capacity, a Dragon Heart slept within his chest — one that would one day grant him mana approaching the infinite.
For now he ranked below Kim Ara, Erciel, and Hong Yuhwa. But the moment Kim Seohyun caught up to them even once, they would never close that gap again.
It's a little absurd, honestly.
The yardstick there, of course, was me.
Kim Seohyun was growing at nearly the same rate I had — as if hoarding every fortuitous encounter and every point of growth I'd ever stacked.
Even without taking first place in the Tower of Ordeals, Kim Seohyun had climbed that high on raw talent alone.
I should look into this whole 'bond' business.
The growth rate was beyond anything I'd predicted. Harnessed properly, it might let me accelerate the girls' development even faster than I'd planned.
"Shall we head underground, then?"
"Yes."
Tak Yoonil led the party down.
The underground level was crawling with water lizards half again as large as the ones upstairs. Kim Seohyun and Park Unhyeok cleared them out methodically, one by one.
"Holding back?"
"Yes. I'm stronger in anti-personnel combat."
"Is that so?"
Tak Yoonil asked it in a tone weighted with meaning. I glanced around. Tak Yoonil and the two guild members from Cheonryu — those two were his subordinates, but they were also the kind of men who would draw their blades the instant they learned he was a demon.
We had cleared out nearly every water lizard and stood on the verge of the boss room when Tak Yoonil spoke, his voice deliberate.
"Say — hypothetically. If you ever met an enemy you had no hope of resisting, what would you do?"
"...I'd run. Live to fight another day."
I looked at Tak Yoonil.
His black eyes gazed back like the mouth of an abyss.
"What if there is no 'another day'? What if you could scheme for a hundred years and still never win — throw every last means you possess at it and still never win? An existence that lets you feel that gap with your own two eyes, one you have no choice but to despair before?"
"...Couldn't say."
Tak Yoonil's voice was growing rougher by the word.
I knew why. I knew, too, just how strong the things invading from the outer realms truly were.
"Well, I'd figure something out. It's not like Korea and America would just sit there."
"I suppose."
Tak Yoonil nodded along, voice easy and agreeable.
No — that wasn't agreement. It was surrender. That was exactly the kind of man Tak Yoonil had been, the man who became a demon.
He never even fought. He looked upon the beings of the outer realms, frightened himself half to death, and decided to "spare" the students their despair — by killing them first.
That was the demon, Tak Yoonil.
"We're almost there, aren't we?"
Kim Seohyun sounded bright. He didn't look tired in the slightest — no surprise, really. Even sealed, the Dragon Heart kept pouring a staggering supply of vitality and mana into him.
We pushed inside. A vast cavern opened up before us.
"This is where the boss spawns. A giant water snake with the power of a cold wave — it's awakened the ice attribute, so be careful."
Tak Yoonil delivered the warning like a seasoned veteran.
"Should I take this one?"
"You want to go alone, Seoha?"
"If it's you, there shouldn't be any problem."
Kim Seohyun and Park Unhyeok both nodded their agreement at my stepping up alone.
I stepped forward.
Not Heukcheon — I drew the Winter Sword.
Shring.
A blade of piercing blue slid into view.
"Oho? A rare treasure of a blade."
Tak Yoonil sounded genuinely impressed.
"...A moment, Master? D-don't tell me you intend to abandon me?"
Abandon you? Hardly. I'm just getting some practice in.
Leaving the flustered sword spirit behind, I advanced.
The Winter Sword exhaled a chill mana. I looked ahead.
There it was — a frozen serpent a good ten meters long.
I cloaked my body in Reverse Heaven energy — but not the blade. The instant that energy wrapped around the Winter Sword, its own power would be smothered.
I need to get my hands on it soon.
Not the Reverse Heaven energy — that other 'power' I'd already been planning to claim.
Shaaaaa—!
The giant water snake moved, robed in its cold wave. The distance between us was considerable, yet the temperature plummeted all the same. Frost began to bloom across the ground. What surprised me was how little I felt the cold — the Winter Sword was shielding me from the chill.
Click.
I flipped the switch inside my mental image. The Star God Eye activated. The world took on color — a world rendered in mana of every hue.
Flick.
Right foot forward, blade angled left. I stoked my senses. The snake was slithering toward me.
I couldn't use the Reverse Heaven energy, but the body I'd hammered into shape through the Black God Dance over these past weeks was ferociously strong. By Korea Hero Academy standards, I could beat most students on physique alone, no energy required.
Shaaa—!
My instincts spoke. I found the gap in the instant the water snake lunged. A half-beat later, the Star God Eye caught the opening. I swung the Winter Sword like a bolt of lightning.
The blade shot out like light itself. No Reverse Heaven energy behind it, but my hardened body moved as fast as any martial artist's.
CLAAAANG!
Serpent flesh met the Winter Sword. Steel shrieked against steel.
—Kieeeeeeek!
The cut was shallow, but it opened the snake's body — and the cold wave came with it. The absolute-freezing power of the Winter Sword sealed the wound in ice.
A frozen wound on an already frozen snake... that's about as useful as it sounds.
I sheathed the Winter Sword and slipped it into subspace.
"—Lord Seoha, your swordsmanship was superb, but a bearer of the Reverse Heaven energy cannot bring any blade to its full worth — none save me, Heukcheon."
"—Indeed, Master. So going forward, you must continue to diligently maintain my body—hyahk!"
I ran a hand over Heukcheon with Dexterity still active, and she flushed crimson with a moan.
...
Forcing myself to ignore it, I poured the Reverse Heaven energy into Heukcheon. Ziiiing—the sword let out a strange hum as it resonated.
The Reverse Heaven energy began to cloak the blade. The air itself started to ripple with shockwaves.
"...That really is some incomprehensible power."
"Is that not a wicked heretical art?"
"No. It's a power of negation, and yet it's bound by some kind of law. It didn't come from the outer realms...?"
The Cheonryu guild members were thoroughly bewildered.
"You saw that, right? Isn't Seoha's power just incredible?"
Kim Seohyun was chattering away, practically bouncing with excitement.
Why are you the one getting excited?
Exasperated, I kicked off with the Black Flash Step and closed the distance.
The water snake's jaws gaped open. Sky-blue mana — visible to the Star God Eye — gathered inside its maw.
Hahp!
I leapt skyward.
Twisting midair, I thrust Heukcheon forward, channeling the essence of the Black Flash Sword Art. A swift, explosive force-strike rode the blade. Then I stamped a foothold out of empty air and jumped again.
SHRAAAAK!
And I split the water snake's head clean in two.
"...?"
I froze.
The snake had been winding up for something — and it had just died in one hit.
"—...That was a miscalculation."
"—It happened because the vessel that holds your power has grown, Master. Now that you've ascended to the Middle Realm, you can contain far more Reverse Heaven energy in a single stroke — and that has driven your offensive power up to monstrous heights."
...I see.
"—My previous master had moments like this as well... but this master's case seems considerably worse."
One wrong move and a friendly spar could turn into a killing. Uncontrolled power was the last thing I wanted. I mulled it over for a moment, then shook my head.
Because Tak Yoonil was watching me with dark, shadowed eyes.
"You."
A voice like iron scraping across iron.
Kim Seohyun, Park Unhyeok, and the two Cheonryu guild members must have sensed something off as well — they had shifted into wary stances around Tak Yoonil.
"So you were the prophesied one — born bearing the destiny to annihilate every demon in existence."
Tak Yoonil laughed, a sound that was somehow sorrowful and delighted at once.
And with it came the manifestation of a demonic art.