Distorted Cognition

Distorted cognition. 'As expected… They can’t even detect the Flame Explosion.' I was far from the blast zone, but more than that, I shared no direct link with the flame marks themselves. The instant a mark was engraved, it became a finished product. All I did was press the button. Unless the enemy had sensory abilities, Jo Giman would have no way of knowing I was the one who had attacked him.

Clack. Clack. I struggled to keep my shoulders from shaking with laughter as I watched Jo Giman’s face twist into a hideous scowl.

A roar of agony tore from his throat. The flames had burned so fiercely that a vivid scorch mark now branded one of his arms. The pain on his face was unmistakable. Watching him, I found it slightly strange. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠'Hmm… That reaction seems a bit much. Even if it ignores defense, does that little damage really hurt him this badly?'

If I got a little closer, I could probably gauge exactly how much health he had lost. But the murderous aura rolling off him kept me at a distance. The way he whipped his head around with an expression like he had seen a ghost told me something was happening that I didn’t understand.

“That’s impossible?! Why is the achievement applying in reverse?!”

Jo Giman was so agitated he couldn’t even see his surroundings anymore. He spat the complaint out loud. 'What kind of achievement would make him react this violently?' I had no idea what it was, but the way he seemed to be searching for someone put me on edge.

I decided to ignore the reason for his fit for now. There was only one thing that disappointed me. 'Is it because I didn’t carve the mark directly with Flame Slash? The “health destruction” effect didn’t trigger.'

When I thought back to the giant skeleton I had met in the Dungeon of Nargul, a message should have appeared if the effect had applied. Still, a new dot had appeared on the minimap, pointing directly at Jo Giman.

'Ohh?! Nice! At least that part worked. Haha—' I felt like shouting with joy. Now that I could track his position, dealing with him in the future would be far easier.

[Gyaahhhhh!!]

“Krrgh! You filthy persistent monster! Get lost!”

Jo Giman had been frantically searching for something when the beast that had been blasted away by Flame Explosion latched onto him again, preventing him from doing what he wanted. Even while taking the explosion, the monster never stopped attacking him. Its obsessive madness was so intense that even Jo Giman looked sickened by it.

'What an impressive monster.'

Then came the fifth and final explosion. A ferocious black flame surged into the sky, and the Great Calamity and Jo Giman’s bodies overlapped, freezing in place as if time itself had stopped.

Kiiiiiiing———

It wasn’t just them. Everyone except me had been caught in the same state. Inside the extremely slowed flow of time, only my thoughts moved normally. Once this state ended and the Great Calamity disappeared, Jo Giman would be even more confused when he regained his senses.

'It’s coming.'

The five pillars of flame that had shot upward tangled violently, swirling like a dragon rising from the sea. From their center, lightning containing blinding light tore the world apart, and something so enormous it was difficult to take in at a glance revealed itself between the cracks.

And then the message appeared.

'……Last time, the word “fury” wasn’t there…'

While I trembled in fear, the colossal being opened its maw wide and descended. Just like before, its form was blurry and impossible to make out clearly. Yet I could still feel its overwhelming rage. That existence swallowed the nameless Great Calamity in a single bite.

Chomp——!

[……!!!]

The Great Calamity let out a horrific scream and writhed in agony, but it lasted only a moment. '……' True extinction. The Great Calamity vanished from this world without leaving a single trace. Aside from the overwhelming presence of the Great Existence, the event itself lacked any particular impact. It felt like nothing more than blowing dust off the floor with a casual breath.

Watching it, I couldn’t tear my eyes away through my terror. If only I had lost consciousness like last time, I wouldn’t have had to feel this fear. 'I passed out around this point last time. Did my class advancement raise my rank enough to endure it?'

My consciousness still felt like it was boiling and on the verge of collapsing, but I somehow managed to hold on. After devouring the Great Calamity, the Fragment of the Great Existence seemed slightly less angry, though I couldn’t tell why.

Shudder shudder shudder.

And then there was Jo Giman. The man standing where my gaze had stopped was trembling like an aspen leaf. 'What? If he has a backer like the Seven-Headed Dragon, can he actually resist it?'

The moment the message appeared, the fear in Jo Giman’s eyes flipped completely. He raised his head and glared at the Fragment of the Great Existence with murderous intent.

“Krrraaaaagh…! It’s nothing but a single fragment, yet—!!”

'?! What? This bastard is still conscious? If that’s the case, he’ll realize someone here used that ability!'

I grew anxious. Even as he vomited dark blood, Jo Giman’s eyes burned with rage as he struggled desperately. The sight of him exerting every ounce of strength to endure the colossal being’s power almost looked pitiful.

Crack— Crunch—

Eventually, deciding he couldn’t withstand the immense power in his current form, Jo Giman began revealing his true body.

'What the hell is that?'

Crack. Crunch—

His reptilian face split into two, and his wings became a complete pair. 'That aura… No way. This can’t be happening. Fuck, is this even possible?!'

As his appearance changed, an unmistakably alien energy exploded from Jo Giman. Watching him transform into something beyond anything I could have imagined, I realized things had gone terribly wrong.

Crack—!

In an instant his body swelled, growing into a giant well over ten meters tall. The two heads were about to split into four when the descended Fragment of the Great Existence, which had been watching the transforming Jo Giman with interest, suddenly vanished.

'Huh?!'

Yet as it disappeared, the Great Existence’s gaze brushed against me for a brief moment. For some reason, those eyes seemed to crave something more. '……?'

I couldn’t tell exactly what it wanted. Since it had eaten the Great Calamity and its anger had eased a little, was it telling me to bring it something stronger? 'Something stronger than a Great Calamity… I only got lucky this time… More importantly, can’t you do something about that bastard—'

'It’s gone?! Then what about Jo Giman?'

The moment the Great Existence vanished, the restraint on me lifted. I tried to check on Jo Giman.

Thud—!

But I collapsed to the ground like a felled log. My head spun. I couldn’t move a single finger. A nauseating sensation rose, but since I couldn’t actually vomit, only a filthy feeling kept surging up.

Thump—

In the distance, I saw Jo Giman collapse as well. He had returned to human form, his expression vacant as if his soul had left his body. 'Did he revert? He probably doesn’t remember what just happened, right?'

If he remembered the Great Existence, he would definitely harbor ill intentions. The power I had just witnessed from Jo Giman far surpassed anything I had imagined. And that hadn’t even been his complete form. If he had only grown two heads, he might have crushed the Great Calamity outright. If someone like that began searching for the person who had summoned that being, no one would be able to stop him.

Hundreds of earthworms seemed to writhe across Jo Giman’s body. At times it swelled as if it would burst; at others he suddenly vomited a bucketful of blood. 'It’s clear the transformation puts a heavy burden on him…' It probably wasn’t something he could use often. There might be other restrictions, like a limited number of uses or a time limit. That was fortunate, at least.

I felt the flow of time slowly returning to normal. The thick dark clouds that had filled the sky had cleared away, revealing an impossibly blue expanse. The cracks that had torn the sky vanished as if they had never existed. At the same time, life began returning to Jo Giman’s eyes.

He struggled to sit up, then began muttering incomprehensible words and laughing like a madman.

“An existence outside my authority… Such a singularity shouldn’t be possible. Heh heh heh…”

Watching that self-mocking laughter, I grew afraid. '……That’s still not Jo Giman, is it? How can he maintain it this long?'

The monster whose consciousness had mixed chaotically with Jo Giman’s remained exactly the same. It even seemed to remember everything.

“Hoo… I don’t know who is playing this prank. In that case, I have no choice but to kill everything present…”

'What?!'

The moment he declared he would massacre the hunters, I desperately tried to move my body to activate Madness Exploding Bullet. But then Jo Giman suddenly clutched his head and began rolling on the ground.

“Krrraaagh! Aaaaaagh!!”

He was in so much pain that I didn’t even feel any satisfaction. “This is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ridiculous…! I prepared for this long, yet you still speak of balance!”

'Balance…' It was my fault for not anticipating even the slightest possibility that an evil god could descend, but what he was trying to do was clearly a balance break. He shouted as if he had been doing something all along to overcome it.

The writhing man suddenly fell silent as if dead, then abruptly stood up and staggered like a zombie.

“Ugh… Blue Eye… That hateful existence… set a trap to kill me… Since an existence outside my authority cannot exist…”

He repeated the muttering as if possessed. '……?' I didn’t know why the story had suddenly turned this way, but Jo Giman kept cursing and howling about the Blue Eye.

'……I see. Is this a side effect of excessive intervention? I don’t know exactly what happened, but his will to kill us has cleanly vanished.'

The murderous aura that had felt like he would charge at any moment disappeared. I stored away the self-destruct skill I had been about to trigger. A short while later, the flow of time returned to normal. The moment Kang Yeonsu and the other supreme hunters were about to regain their senses, Jo Giman, who had been sitting on the ground tearing at his hair in agony, suddenly shot to his feet.

He leaped high into the air and swung a hand blade, reinforced with Lightning Strike, in a wide horizontal arc.

'?!'

The slash flew to the exact spot where the barrier sorcerer Geum Jae-hyeon had been hiding.

“Krrraaagh…! H-how…?!”

Geum Jae-hyeon appeared, his neck half-severed and spraying blood like a fountain. Having sliced open Geum Jae-hyeon’s throat, Jo Giman spoke toward an invisible someone as if swallowing his rage.

“Blue ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Eye…! You filthy, hideous bastard. To use a rat like this to perform a transfer technique! The only one who could summon such a horrific thing is you! Just wait a little longer. This time, I absolutely will not run.”

Jo Giman shouted several times at Geum Jae-hyeon, who was clutching his split throat. Then he grabbed the man’s head in a crushing grip and ripped it from his torso.

Spluuuursh—!