Chapter 478
Chapter 478
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 478
Chapter Title: Seongcheon Yun Clan (4)
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Fear was one of humanity's most primal emotions.
...
Well, to be precise, it wasn't limited to humans alone.
Fear was the most basic crisis warning instinct embedded in all living beings.
Any creature incapable of feeling it would have been weeded out long ago in this unpredictable world where danger could strike from anywhere at any time.
'So what's wrong with striving to deeply understand fear, to savor and exalt it?'
Heresy? Heresy, you say!
Aren't those who recoil from and shun its very essence the true heretics, daring to call themselves practitioners!
He had encountered a fragment of that truth through some fateful event and attained enlightenment.
Afterward, he discarded all the chakra cultivation he had practiced up to that point and embarked on an entirely new path.
At the time, he was at the peak of his career within his sect, so the process was fraught with all sorts of twists and turns, but he paid them no mind.
He unwaveringly believed that trials and suffering were the rightful burdens of any true practitioner.
And so, after a long time had passed.
As if rewarded for his wise choice at that crossroads, he reached a remarkably high level within the Profound Realm.
Even if one scoured the entire world, there wouldn't be many he could confidently say were stronger.
Yet at the same time, he could feel it.
A colossal wall blocking his path ahead.
It felt like staring at the end of the world itself—a sheer, impenetrable cliff that filled him with utter despair, not even dreaming of scaling it.
[Ahh... This is...!]
But in this very moment.
A rope was descending from beyond the wall he had only gazed at longingly.
His main body writhed in ecstatic frenzy.
Rumble—
He wouldn't have been honest if he claimed to have no expectations at all when joining the plan.
He had hoped that if things went well and the world filled with terror once more like decades ago, it might bring some progress to his cultivation.
But who could have foreseen such a swift and direct serendipity!
[Even a fool has limits. Did you think mental attacks would work on me, who reached the Profound Realm through fear...? Regardless, I suppose I should be grateful. Thanks to you, I've gained the key to surmounting that wall.]
A torrent of stray thoughts flooded his mind.
Though mingled with elements beyond mere 'fear,' it posed no major issue.
After all, he was one who had ascended to his realm by delving to the extremes of negative emotions.
"Is that so? Glad it suits your taste. Then I won't hold back."
[...Hm?]
"Thanks to you, I've had a little epiphany myself. Since it's a rare chance, why not test it out right here with its debut?"
[What are you...]
...Yes, that's how it should have been.
Except he had overlooked a few crucial facts.
The world had a saying for excess: overdoing it misses the mark.
And the opponent before him wasn't just some lowly practitioner.
Immediately after, the influx of stray thoughts exploded.
Death, pain, oppression, rage, madness, murderous intent, sloth...
A barrage of negative stray thoughts assaulted him.
His inner world began to creak under the strain.
His spirit, tempered through years of ascetic trials, was far from frail—but even it had its limits.
[Wait...]
Justice, conviction, resolve, will, courage, tolerance, compassion...
A whirlwind of positive stray thoughts raged.
Noise disrupted the mental image he believed unbreakable.
Though not purer than the negative emotions, these were emotions with poor synergy against fear, making them burdensome nonetheless.
[How in the world...!]
Stray thoughts of utterly opposing natures, incapable of coexistence.
And each one's purity was nothing to scoff at.
They poured in relentlessly through the funnel jammed down his throat, like liquid being forced in.
Continuously.
Endlessly.
Without losing momentum.
[Kuh, how long will this...!]
He had surpassed his limits long ago.
He was merely gritting his teeth, mobilizing every ounce of his Profound Realm experience to endure.
But holding on changed nothing; no improvement was in sight.
'Unbelievable! No mere mid-tier practitioner could harbor an abyss like this...!'
He was right.
The source of the surging stray thoughts wasn't a mid-tier practitioner—nor just one.
Hans, Heinz 2nd, Heinrich, Harley, and more...
Beings who had transcended mere transcendence, even nurturing their own divinity.
How could a mere Profound Realm handle stray thoughts even celestial transcendents couldn't endure?
"Seeing you eat so heartily makes me proud."
At that moment, the culprit behind this crisis recited calmly.
His voice was serene, a stark contrast to the desperate situation.
"Plenty more where that came from, so eat your fill."
His consciousness began to blur.
By then, he had no choice but to admit it.
That what approached from beyond the wall wasn't a lifeline to elevate him further.
'...I can't comprehend it.'
The truly unknown.
Chakra was a mystery rooted in comprehension.
For a practitioner who wielded chakra, being devoured by something incomprehensible was fear itself—and more.
'I see. So this is...'
The unknown terror, impossible to gauge or understand.
[Ahh... At last, I have...]
This was the ultimate paradise he had so desperately sought.
[...finally faced true fear.]
With those words.
His fading consciousness was dragged into the eternal abyss below.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Gah! Cough, cough!"
Hun grimaced and let out dry coughs, struggling to maintain his composure.
Clutching his head against the throbbing headache from overexertion, he staggered in place before looking straight ahead.
"...Phew, pushed it a bit too far. Won't be using Stray Thought Overload for a while."
Before him stood a jet-black mummy, utterly motionless.
Its form, once too elusive to perceive properly, had long reverted to its initial appearance upon emergence.
No, even before that, no trace of life could be felt.
'Maybe it's only natural.'
It had been a miracle it was alive to begin with.
Its immense chakra, sufficient for the Profound Realm, must have been forcibly sustaining that unnatural life.
With its mental world shattered and its foundation lost, death was inevitable the instant it happened.
'It didn't quite reach transcendence, but getting this close is impressive enough. Should be worth studying.'
With no one around to regain their senses yet, now was the perfect opportunity.
Hun glanced around cautiously and swiftly stored the mummy using Subspace Storage.
"It held out better than expected, so I overdid it a little..."
'Stray Thought Overload' was an ultimate technique that mobilized Mental Resonance and all available communion chakra.
Naturally, unleashing such power came at a steep cost.
Having further amplified output with Limit Break, his burden had only intensified.
He'd probably need a few hours of rest.
'Still, it was worth it. Gained a lot from this.'
Communication was inherently bidirectional, after all.
Up until now, no one had lasted long against his mental assaults, so it hadn't been obvious, but this Profound Realm sorcerer-practitioner was different.
'Never imagined I'd break through to the Mid Realm in one go. And at this rate... I might reach the Upper Realm soon enough.'
It was like explosively leveling up by hunting a high-level prey.
Normally, delving into the enemy's mental world would have backlashed on Hun, costing more than the gains—but now, that was hardly a penalty worth noting.
And one more thing.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ The entity has met the conditions and attained enlightenment. You have acquired the skill Wheel Path. Acquiring the Yun Clan's secret art mid-process, which he'd been struggling to learn, was a massive boon.
Thanks to this Wheel Path, his 'communion'—previously limited to one mental image at a time—could now connect multiple simultaneously. Its impact on his combat prowess went without saying.
"Guess nothing beats real combat over training or whatever. Now, what's left is..."
As he muttered that softly.
Crackle—!
Sparks erupted in the chaotic front yard of the lodging.
"Hun! Are you alright?!"
Through the crackling electricity came a familiar voice, and Lusette appeared, her body wreathed in golden lightning.
Her disheveled form was smeared with dust and blood everywhere, just like when she'd been trapped in the spirit forest.
'Looks like she's already been through a fight somewhere.'
Well, that was only natural.
She was one of the Yun Clan's top fighters.
In the midst of this clan-wide upheaval, she wouldn't have sat idle.
"This is..."
Upon arriving and seeing Hun unharmed, her relieved expression hardened.
She had sensed the lingering remnants of a horrific aura in the air.
Her face grew grave as she heightened her vigilance and scanned the surroundings with a steely gaze.
'Even these traces alone are this intense...?'
As soon as chaos erupted in the outer fortress, she had rushed from orphanage to orphanage, doing everything to protect as many as possible unscathed.
Unlike places with combat-capable adults, the orphanages full of helpless children were the Yun Clan's most vulnerable spots.
'This aura... a Profound Realm sorcerer-practitioner? And definitely not below me. But what the hell happened here...'
To leave everything so intact?
As she swept her gaze around with those thoughts, she glanced at Hun.
There he stood, tall and proud amid the unconscious fallen.
And in that moment, realization dawned.
The trouble here had been cleanly resolved by that man.
'...No need to worry about him after all.'
Come to think of it, he was the powerhouse who had saved her from peril before.
He had more than enough ability to protect himself in this mess.
No intruder's corpse in sight meant he'd driven it off somehow—and in this desperate situation where every hand was needed, that alone was a huge contribution.
"The Yun Clan owes you another debt. We haven't even repaid the previous favor, and now this... How ever shall we return it?"
"Don't worry about it. Just doing what any guest under your roof should."
Stepping up when the home base was threatened was the bare minimum duty for a freeloader like him.
Especially since the intruder had targeted him directly—no need to say more.
"Still, we can't just let it slide. Who knows how much worse the damage would have been without you repelling a Profound Realm foe. I'll make sure to report this properly. Including your prior rescue, it'll be tricky deciding on the right reward."
"Well, if you're offering, I won't refuse."
"Leave it to me. I'll do my utmost to ensure you're satisfied. ...Anyway, seems fine here, so I'll head to the next spot."
To Lusette, even this conversation was just a brief breather.
With the crisis unresolved, every moment a powerhouse like her rested meant the clan's losses snowballed.
Crackle—!
After she vanished in a burst of lightning.
Hun moved the fallen into the lodging's inner lobby and headed to his room.
Guarding this unnecessarily vast lodging alone was inefficient; he planned to bring Lamy from his room down to the lobby.
The pricey place had its own barrier against unauthorized intruders, but with the outer fortress barrier already breached, he couldn't just leave the unconscious there relying on that alone.
"...!"
The moment he gripped his doorknob with that intent.
Shing—!
Hun jerked his head back as a razor-sharp blade aura sliced toward his face, cleaving the door in two.
But the sudden assault didn't end there.
Screech— slash slash—!
An invisible storm of blade auras erupted from within his room, rampaging through the lodging corridor.
Hun naturally dropped low, tumbling backward to evade.
Without Wheel Path, without the massive boost to physical prowess and senses from his newly ascended Mid Realm chakra, he might not have reacted at all.
"Kuh!"
But he couldn't fully dodge the ambush.
Something grazed his thigh, spraying crimson blood.
As he stumbled off-balance, not just his thigh but minor cuts riddled his body.
He who emerged unscathed against a Profound Realm sorcerer-practitioner was proving vulnerable to this sneak attack.
"...Not bad. I aimed to bisect you in one strike."
At that moment, someone stepped out from Hun's room, trampling the shattered door.
A towering man nearly two meters tall, tattoos covering his body.
"Anton... What the hell is this?"
Anton, the Earthling from Bellarus and an Upper Realm practitioner, glared at Hun with eyes gleaming mad desire.
A faint insanity flickered at the corners of his eyes—he was the epitome of a dangerous lunatic.
"What is it? I'm just reclaiming what's mine!"
He curled his lips arrogantly.
An incomprehensible claim.
But he twisted his face and pressed on stubbornly.
"I don't know why she's interested in you... But the solution's simple enough."
Threads barely visible slithered from between his fingers.
He gazed contentedly at his weapon dissolving into the air, then leered at Hun with a grotesque smile.
"Just make you disappear, that's all."
A madman blinded by lust for a woman, resorting to murder amid the chaos.
But calmly assessing the situation, Hun realized.
Anton wasn't in his right mind.
'...Maybe the traitors who breached the Yun Clan's barriers are in a similar state.'
To investigate, he needed to subdue Anton first.
For a smooth inquiry, he couldn't use Stray Thought Overload to smash his mind completely.
'Not that I could anyway right now.'
Subduing an Upper Realm practitioner without his ultimate.
Before, he'd have neatly given up.
But things were different now.
He had some decent new tools at his disposal.
"Hah, fine by me. Truth is, I never liked you much either."
Hun's eyes reddened.
Blood from his wounds converged into a sharp blade.
Then all gashes healed as his muscles pumped to their limit.
"Haha! Let's see how you handle this..."
For some reason feeling oddly cheerful, Hun let out a light chuckle.
And right after.
"...Come play to your heart's content!"
The figures, now numbering over a dozen, raced along the corridor walls and ceiling, charging straight ahead.