Chapter 340
Chapter 340
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 340
Chapter Title: Black Sky (4)
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A city shrouded in a dense fog of black clouds.
Niflheim, the kingdom of the Demonkin, had no towering walls, no tightly shut gates.
‘Is this some kind of invitation? Come in if you dare.’
Oh-jin let out a dry laugh as he gazed at the ashen buildings faintly visible beyond the black clouds.
Then again.
What Demonkin would ever imagine Niflheim being attacked?
‘Too bad.’
That arrogant assumption ends today.
“Let’s go.”
Oh-jin made his way toward the city veiled in black clouds.
Using Black Curtain to conceal his presence, he slipped leisurely into Niflheim.
‘So this is Niflheim.’
A city filled with a dreary, ashen gray.
Its appearance, wrapped in black clouds, was reminiscent of a European street during the Industrial Revolution.
He moved slowly through the streets, holding his breath.
He had intended to grab any nearby Demonkin to find out where the ritual was being held, but…
‘There’s no one here.’
The empty streets were devoid of not only Demonkin but also the demonic beasts they controlled.
“Tsk.”
At this rate, he had no choice but to find it himself.
Oh-jin leaped lightly onto a rooftop and activated the Stigma of Canis Major.
He felt his senses expand.
Along with a pungent stench, the full view of the city, previously hidden by the black clouds, came into sight.
“…What is that?”
The center of Niflheim.
He could see the black clouds gathered in the shape of a massive dome.
No, it wasn't exactly a dome.
‘A heart.’
The rumbling black clouds pulsed, *thump, thump*, as if a giant's heart had been ripped out and placed there.
‘So the clouds covering the city are flowing from there.’
From the colossal mass of clouds, which seemed to be several kilometers wide, black clouds spread throughout the city like blood flowing from a heart through its vessels.
“…That’s the place.”
It wasn't a conclusion reached through instinct or keen insight.
You could probably grab any three-year-old off the street, and they'd tell you that was the site of the ritual.
‘They never even intended to hide it.’
Should I be glad I was spared the trouble of searching?
Wondering if it was really okay to conduct a ritual to unseal the Celestial Demon so openly, he approached the black clouds pulsating like a heart.
And then.
“…It’s not that they didn’t intend to hide it.”
As he neared the black clouds, he felt a colossal energy surge, so powerful it was suffocating.
This wasn't an energy you could hide, one way or another.
A storm of magical power so fierce that any barrier erected around it would be blown away, barrier and all.
Oh-jin slowly walked toward the black clouds.
*Rumble, rumble!*
He placed his hand on the pulsating black clouds.
The magic, which had been raging ferociously as if to tear apart anything that approached, became as docile as a lamb the moment Oh-jin's hand touched it.
A familiarity, like that of an old friend, emanated from the black clouds that gently wrapped around his hand.
‘I suppose that's only natural.’
The energy coiling around his hand was none other than the energy of the Black Heaven.
‘It's similar… but different.’
The Black Heaven he possessed and the one the Celestial Demon possessed.
The energy felt similar on the surface, but if he closed his eyes and focused his mind, he could tell the two Black Heavens were distinctly different.
“Somehow…”
Would ‘precarious’ be the right word?
The energy felt flimsy, like touching a castle made of sand.
‘They said the Celestial Demon's Black Heaven was incomplete.’
When he first heard that, he hadn't understood what was incomplete about it.
But now, touching the Celestial Demon's Black Heaven directly, he could see the difference.
‘How could he have endured with it in such a precarious state?’
Wielding the Black Heaven in such an unstable state was tantamount to sprinting across ground made of sponge.
Ground where one misstep, one fall, would send you plummeting into an endless abyss.
“…What in the world are you trying to accomplish by going this far?”
His eyes wavering, Oh-jin bit his lip and stepped into the black clouds.
There was no time to ponder the Celestial Demon's motives now.
“This place…”
Inside the black clouds, which he expected to be pitch-black, was surprisingly bright.
Looking up, he saw countless starlights twinkling.
‘Are these the Stigmas the Black Heaven has absorbed until now?’
An immense number of starlights, far beyond comparison to his own.
For some reason…
The stars, densely packed and shining amidst the black clouds, evoked a sense of eerie horror rather than beauty.
“θυμηθείτε την ημέρα που υποσχεθήκαμε.”
“θυμηθείτε την ημέρα που υποσχεθήκαμε.”
As he went deeper, he saw hundreds, thousands of Demonkin gathered in a circle, muttering some unknown incantation.
Is this what a gathering of Satan-worshipping cultists would look like?
The sight of thousands of Demonkin prostrated on the ground, muttering their spell, was utterly bizarre.
‘So this is the ritual.’
Oh-jin narrowed his eyes and observed the prostrated Demonkin.
A complex magic circle was inscribed where the Demonkin lay, and it pulsed with a dark red light as the unintelligible chant continued.
‘So I just need to destroy that magic circle?’
A short sigh of relief escaped Oh-jin's lips as he surveyed the ritual.
Fortunately, the method for stopping the ritual seemed quite simple.
In that case.
‘I guess it's time for me to get ready, too.’
Just as Oh-jin reached into his coat as if to take something out…
“…A human?”
He saw a Demonkin staring his way, eyes wide with disbelief.
“Tsk.”
So not all the Demonkin were participating in the ritual.
He'd been so focused on the magic circle that he hadn't noticed the guard approaching.
“H-How is a human here…?!”
The Demonkin, a look of confusion on his face, reached for the sword at his hip.
Before the sword could be fully drawn from its sheath, Oh-jin kicked off the ground and charged toward the Demonkin.
*Crackle!*
Using the Stigma of Capricorn to silence his footsteps, he slammed his palm down hard on the hilt of the sword as it was being drawn.
‘Fast and quiet.’
He couldn't use flashy techniques like Explosive Lightning or Spear Lightning.
Grabbing the back of his neck to prevent him from screaming, he channeled lightning directly into his head.
“Gah, ack! Gkk!”
The Demonkin's eyes rolled back into his head as he passed out.
Just as he was feeling relieved for having subdued him before a commotion could start…
*Rumble! Rrr!*
The black horn on the Demonkin's forehead began to tremble, and a black cloud started to emerge from it.
The black cloud floated leisurely into the air and was sucked into the magic circle where the other Demonkin were prostrated.
“Intruder! An intruder!”
“H-How did a human get through the clouds of Black Heaven?!”
“How dare you interfere with the ritual!”
Several Demonkin who saw the black cloud seep into the magic circle turned their heads toward Oh-jin.
Black Curtain was only an ability to hide one's ‘presence’.
If they saw him with their own eyes, hiding his presence was useless; he was caught.
“Tsk.”
Oh-jin clicked his tongue and drew Dantalion from his hip.
The palm-sized folding knife instantly transformed into a spear.
‘I wanted to observe the ritual a bit longer.’
He'd planned to formulate a strategy on where and how to attack, but now that he was discovered, the luxury of leisurely examining the magic circle was gone.
“Hey, don't mind me. Why don't you get back to what you were doing? It's an important ritual, isn't it?”
“How does a human know about the ritual…?”
The Demonkin frowned, unable to comprehend.
Unrest spread at the appearance of a human who knew about their top-secret ritual as if it were common knowledge.
“How did you even get in here in the first place?”
One of the Demonkin narrowed his eyes as he approached Oh-jin.
The area where the ritual was being held was surrounded by clouds of Black Heaven.
Even a Demonkin with the title of ‘Grand Duke’ shouldn't be able to pass through the clouds of Black Heaven.
For a human, and a single one at that, to break through the clouds and enter…
It was a situation that defied common sense.
“Maybe he was hiding around here before the ritual started? I don't know where he heard it, but he knew about the ritual.”
“Ah, that must be it.”
Unable to even imagine that Oh-jin had personally controlled the surrounding Black Heaven clouds to get in, the Demonkin began to offer up their own plausible theories.
“So, what were you doing, hiding like a rat, human?”
The Demonkin who had drawn closer asked in a menacing voice.
Oh-jin shrugged with a relaxed expression.
“I came to interfere with the ritual, of course.”
“…What?”
His nonchalant answer drew scornful laughter from the Demonkin.
“This human bastard has lost his mind…!”
One of the Demonkin, his face twisted in a snarl, rushed at Oh-jin.
*Fwoosh!*
A black light flowed from the horn on the Demonkin's forehead, erupting into black flames.
The ferociously burning black flames shot toward Oh-jin.
“Sheesh, I give you a straight answer and this is how you react.”
Oh-jin let out a smirk and swung his spear, cleaving the incoming black flames in two.
*BOOOOM!*
As the bisected black flames hit the ground, a heavy explosion echoed out.
“This bastard!”
“Kill that arrogant human!”
Perhaps realizing from the ease with which he split the black flames that Oh-jin's skills were far from ordinary…
The surrounding Demonkin exchanged glances and then charged at Oh-jin simultaneously.
*Crackle, crack!*
Blue lightning erupted.
With every swing of the spear, an explosive torrent of lightning erupted, scorching the bodies of the charging Demonkin.
“Yeah, this suits me better than trying to be quiet.”
The power of his Stigma, deepened through the tenth awakening of the Black Heaven.
The Demonkin were pushed back helplessly by the powerful lightning strikes emitted from his highly condensed magic.
“Guh… Where did a monster like this come from!”
The Demonkin wore bewildered expressions as they witnessed Oh-jin's martial prowess, which was far greater than they had imagined.
“I see. So you do have the skill to back up your arrogant claims of interfering with the ritual.”
A Demonkin who had been sent flying by Oh-jin's brutal attack wiped the blood from his mouth as he approached.
“Still, for all your skill, you seem to be a bit lacking in the head.”
The martial skill of the human who had suddenly appeared to disrupt their ritual was certainly surprising, but that was all.
The Demonkin surrounded Oh-jin, their lips twisting into sneers.
“No matter how strong you are, what can you possibly do by yourself?”
The gazes of thousands of Demonkin focused on Oh-jin.
“Alone.”
Oh-jin let out a small laugh and nodded.
Just as they said, no matter how superhuman Oh-jin's power was, he couldn't face thousands of Demonkin by himself.
“In that case, I just need to not be alone, right?”
“What?”
The Demonkin frantically looked around, searching for reinforcements.
But no matter where they looked, there were no other humans besides Oh-jin.
“What nonsense are you spouting…”
“Before I came here, I had a run-in with a guy named Deimos.”
Oh-jin grinned and reached into his coat.
A tactic so simple it required no special training, yet could get them inside the kingdom of Niflheim with minimal casualties.
It was an order as absurd as being told to make hot ice, but…
The solution was surprisingly simple.
“Lord Deimos… Don't tell me?”
“He had a very useful little item on him.”
With a wry smirk, he took out a golden plaque engraved with a demonic crest.
*Whaaaaaaaaaam!*
As he infused the golden plaque with light, a brilliant golden radiance spread out in all directions.
From within the golden light, heavily armed Beastkin and Dragonkin emerged.
“Good work, Mr. Oh-jin.”
“What took you so long to call?”
Isabella and Ha-eun, who stood before the army of heavily armed Beastkin and Dragonkin, approached Oh-jin.
“Oh, right. I was supposed to say this, but I forgot.”
Ha-eun slung an arm over Oh-jin's shoulder, gave him a thumbs-up, and winked.
“On Your Left.”
What the hell is that supposed to mean?