Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: A Person Who Yields to Violence
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"Haaah~"
I'm currently glued to the TV. Yawning is inevitable. I mean, I'm watching the news, right? A yawn is just a reflex.
[A massive roundup of fiends operating in Gangnam. At the center were Detective Julia and the Ice Knight who vanished without a trace—]
I dug into my ear.
It's so boring I'm picking at my ears.
The demons have been cleaned up.
The emergence of demons in the human world was like a natural disaster, but this outcome counts as a mild one.
The Angel Punch made a big difference. This guy's actually super helpful, isn't he?
Devil-limited, though.
"What's with that look?"
"The look you give a helpful guy."
"Heh. You only just realized?"
"Helpful guys don't usually scoop ice cream straight from the tub in the living room."
They flinched.
All three of them flinched at my words.
[I, I didn't scoop it all out nya. I licked it nya.]
That's even worse.
[Am I useless, Levatein?]
No. You're useful. As a weapon only.
"Tsk tsk. You should eat it with some class, like me."
Raphael looked down pityingly at the two, but she's the most useless one. She thinks one good deed erases her past.
I shook my head and checked my recent gains.
The haul is huge. Not just huge—massive.
First up, this.
I examined the pattern etched on my arm. Not the one linking me to Lachesis on my wrist, but the eerie design spreading across my forearm.
It's connected to the devil. But that doesn't make me a fiend.
Fiends change when they offer everything to a devil in contract. Mine's an unfair deal.
What that means is she bears all the risks. In other words, I get fiend-like power risk-free whenever I want.
This alone is a massive win. Sure, Lily—who contracted with me—probably took my soul too and is swamped now, but who cares about some devil?
[I don't like it. I've never seen a devil contract end well—]
This old man's noisy. Go back to sleep.
Ignoring the voice, I opened my
and checked
.
The
performance was about the same. It absorbed mana but kept its name.
Instead, a new skill had popped up bold as brass.
Originally just 「Whirlwind (C+)」 and 「Soul Sever (A)」, but after devouring rare mana, it gained
.
Hm. Nice. The part about raising the "existence value" sticks out. Collect enough souls, and the weapon evolves, probably.
My gamer instincts say so. The gut feeling from a lifetime half-spent at a PC!
So, souls it is. Steady collecting. Yesterday alone, I snagged 26 vampire souls plus Lily's.
Feels like it'll stack up quick.
Next, items from those fiends. I tapped through my
to sort fast.
Something tugged from below. Grabbing my pants, like begging for attention.
I looked down. Golden-haired kid.
"What."
[Daddy. Bored.]
"Play with Raphael. You two were having fun earlier."
[Over there.]
I followed where Levatein pointed. Raphael was gaming with Lachesis. Two-player game.
"Is she really an angel?"
Ignoring the kid next to her for games? Angelic?
I looked down at Levatein. Big shiny eyes staring up. Annoying. Don't expect anything from me.
I don't live up to expectations.
"We're going out tomorrow, so playtime's over today."
[......]
Her face screamed no. Where'd she learn that? Sorry, but you got the wrong guy. Way wrong.
I won't play just because of that.
I ignored Levatein and flopped onto the bed.
Shocked, she climbed up, shook my body, slapped my face.
Tough luck. I told you a bunch. That won't make me—
"Ow! Ow!! I'm dying!!"
[Live!!]
"Who taught you that?! Don't say that!!"
Flame slaps hurt bad. Actual flames, burning pain.
I shot up and grabbed Levatein. I'm not one to yield to a kid.
"I'm a person who yields to violence."
I let her ride my shoulders and paced the room. Please be satisfied. Those flame slaps keep me up all night.
Raphael peeked at the commotion, yelling something like "Cheat!!" Ignore.
"Parenting is fucking hard."
[Fucking?]
Yeah. Fucking hard.
Two days later.
The day after the picnic with the damn blondes.
Monday. Pre-exam morning. Exams start Wednesday, plenty of time. Steal notes from Isia and Sophia today. No clue who made this world, but the tests are brutally tough.
"Damn it."
"I should be the one saying damn it. What're you doing out at the crack of dawn? Even chickens aren't up."
Chickens are. Sun's up. Diligent folks prep for the day already.
Raphael, sleepy-eyed and rubbing them, trailed me. Destination's simple.
Training grounds. Justitia's are 24/7, but dawn's empty.
Today's task: meditation. Quiet time's best.
That's why early. Blurry-eyed Raphael grabbed my collar.
"Just open your eyes."
"They won't opennnn~"
"Saw it yesterday when you played."
"You enjoyed yourself plenty too, Seong-hoon."
That's a stretch. Didn't enjoy. Just joined 'cause it looked fun.
No answer, kept walking. Raphael dozed, following close. Collar gripped tight.
Impressive.
Training grounds reached. Switched a private room to [In Use] and entered.
Damn blonde followed, flopped in the rest area. Too lazy to wake her, left her. Tossed the black cat on top.
"Sleep there if you're gonna."
[Nya]
No response. Shook my head, plopped on the floor.
FYI, Levatein’s in the
. Resists when awake, so snuck her in sleeping.
"Whew."
Now, meditation. Why sudden meditation? Essential.
I came from a mana-less world. Got mana here late.
Don't know how to use it. Runes are just my known spells in rune script; the hasty rare even only had a bit of my mana by chance.
In short: Never used mana once.
But my head's full of theory. Better than anyone's. Build from there.
First: meditation.
Opened
, pulled a machine. Looked like a sewing machine, but wasn't.
This draws magic circles. Made mimicking fiends' hexagram floor drawings for contracts.
Draws any circle you want. Not easy to get.
Input known ritual. Reacts to mana or demonic energy to draw.
Closed eyes smooth.
Hands on knees, meditate—
Random thoughts flooded.
What about my last skill? Higher devil shows, can Raphael handle? How weak is Kim Tae-hyun now? Need to expand Mind Map. What treasure to pick? How's the altered story unfolding?
Misc thoughts. Shook 'em out after a while.
Focus again. Real focus.
—For focus, imagine falling water.
Recall the line. Imagine falling water.
—Focus on heart. Mana circulation center.
All mana center. Absorbs mana, refines to magic power: heart.
Thump— Thump—
Tune into steady beats. Feel it faintly. With red blood, blue energy spreads body-wide.
—Feel mana? Simple next: wield it.
Wield.
Forcefully halt mana flow from heart outward.
Don't know how. Just did, worked.
No one teaches chewing; natural. Instinct.
Stopped flow stagnates, builds. Burst it elsewhere.
To arm. The one with machine. Mana spins. Builds explosive on arm.
Machine activates.
Click clack.
Draws circle with weird noise. Ritual unfolds into magic circle before eyes.
Soon, spell complete.
"Uh, what now?!"
Ritual perfect. Machine nailed it. Mana injected.
But no magic. Tank loaded, no fire.
"Uwaaaah! What do?!"
What if it blasts? Aimed hand up, fidgeted. Someone grabbed it.
Pale white hand. Everyone here's pale, no clue who.
"Incant."
"Incant?!"
Right. Incantation. First time, forgot. Cannon loaded, forgot trigger!
"《Shadows, rise.》"
Short verse one. Shadow spear erupted in response.
Vanished hitting ceiling, but first incant here—moving.
Felt a thrill. Looked at who held my hand.
Blue eyes met. Too close, stepped back; blue hair approached.
"Not bad for a first try? You meditated well too."
This girl. Watched whole time? How'd she enter?!
Felt chills from her beaming smile, shook hand free. Tingled from mana buildup.
"Kept mana clumped too long. Should've circulated outside arm."
Said so, grabbed and massaged my hand.
Pretend I didn't hear 'soft and smooth.'
"First spell, so machine to get feel?"
Nodded instead of words. She, stopped from rubbing on cheek, looked disappointed.
"Want me to teach? Nosy maybe, but our house tops world—no, universe—in body arts and meditation. If you want, visit home, spar too—"
Good offer. Skip sparring, but meditation and body arts worth learning.
Quick pros-cons. Nothing else anyway.
Grabbed smiling Shin Ga-yeon's shoulder.
Flushed red instantly, but irrelevant.
"Please do."
"Eep!"
Training ground's hot today.