Chapter 80
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Talent
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She had underestimated Dion.
That was the Vault Keeper's honest admission, her assessment.
Innate abilities were things one had to be born with to even begin to learn.
Even high-rank Awakened Ones could only handle one, and only if they acquired the innate talent for it through a class.
But to wield four of them…
Whether it was power gained through a class,
Or something he was born with,
It was clear that Dion's talent was anything but ordinary.
Yet, even as she acknowledged this fact, she still didn't entertain the slightest possibility of defeat.
‘Hmph, how much could my master have learned about magic at his age?’
It might have been a different story with Aura or Psyche.
But for magic-based abilities like black magic and mana, the acquisition of knowledge was just as important as talent.
No matter how powerful one's magic was, one needed to master a variety of spells to use that power properly.
Even for an Awakened One with prodigious talent, ten years of dedicated study wouldn't be enough to pass as a proper mage.
And that was for just one ability.
What if one had to train four different abilities at once?
Even if there were overlaps in magical knowledge, the difficulty of training would inevitably multiply.
This was especially true given that failing to harmonize abilities with different properties could cause them to clash, leading to a decrease in power, death, or permanent disability.
From that perspective,
Dion's training couldn't possibly be profound.
The Vault Keeper's confidence in her victory was by no means arrogance.
But…
“Hmph!”
*Ssssk.*
The moment the shadows flickered,
A shadow spear, swollen larger than a ballista, flew through the air.
Though greatly weakened, it was an attack that could pierce a fortress wall, far beyond what a mere high-rank Awakened One could handle.
“Bone Wall, Sand Compression.”
*Craaack!!!*
But that attack…
Was blocked all too easily.
By a wall pieced together from the remains of the rock golem's corpse, reinforced by a second barrier of tightly compressed sand.
And as the shadow spear exploded against the wall,
A voice flowed through the debris of the crumbled barrier.
“Sandstorm, Dark Arrow.”
*Fwoosh!*
A sandstorm rose, obscuring vision, and through the gap, arrows of darkness shot forth like beams of light.
Their power alone was negligible.
The Vault Keeper casually blocked the dark arrows with a shadow shield.
She was unaware that Dion's true aim was the rock golem's debris, mixed in with the sandstorm.
“Corpse Explosion.”
*KABOOM!*
“Kyaa?!”
It was a hair's breadth.
She had let her guard down and thinned her shadow shield, barely avoiding being sent flying by another explosion.
As she moved her shadows again to launch a counterattack, the Vault Keeper couldn't hide her confusion.
‘What in the world is this?’
‘Not even an old lich who’s trained for a hundred years in the Magic Tower could use spells this well!’
‘And for non-incantation spells, why are they so powerful???’
Destructive black magic.
Efficient necromancy.
Unconventional sand magic.
Not only did he show no signs of inexperience with any of the three,
He applied them in a timely manner as needed, elevating the power of 1+1+1 to 5, 6, or even more.
The Vault Keeper, though clearly superior in terms of raw power, found herself struggling just to react to Dion’s schemes.
This was especially true because the power of each individual spell was abnormally strong for a high-rank Awakened One.
‘Hmm, I’m finally getting the hang of it again.’
But Dion himself accepted this phenomenal result as if it were natural.
It was only to be expected.
In his second life,
Dion had played a major role in the Calamity War, mastering countless classes.
Although the talents he gained back then had vanished along with the classes, the knowledge and experience remained intact.
In other words, unlike other magic-based Awakened Ones, Dion could draw out his full potential without the process of learning and mastering spells.
As long as he raised his level, accumulated magic power, and let his body adapt.
The result was this very situation.
He was fighting on equal footing with the Vault Keeper, a transcendent-class being.
“Shall we wrap this up?”
Of course, even so,
The Vault Keeper's power was on another level.
He was still at a disadvantage in a head-on fight.
To end this precarious stalemate, Dion brought his hands together and formed a complex series of hand signs.
Several times in a single instant.
His intertwined fingers crossed,
Guiding the power in place of an incantation.
Jet-black demonic energy,
Ash-gray necromantic power,
And milky-white mana,
Twisted together between his fingers, gradually weaving into a spiral.
It was the height of recklessness.
A suicidal act more dangerous than juggling bombs, one that would cause a mana overload ninety-nine times out of a hundred.
But the three energies, surprisingly stable, chased each other's tails in a seamless loop.
And at the moment the three distinct energies finally fused into one,
“—Crow of the Sand Inferno.”
*Fwoooosh!*
『Unlight Family's Unique Magic Art of the Myriad Demons
Unlight家 萬魔流 固有魔道
Crow of the Sand Inferno
沙炼狱之鸦』
What soared into the air, having consumed all of Dion's magic, was a colossal crow.
It was a beast of ruin, with black flames burning in its eyes and ash-gray wings that stirred a storm of sand with every flap.
“Grrr!”
*Ssssss.*
>
『Unique Authority: Dominion of the Void Dimension
固有權能 : 虛次元支配』
Was it because she sensed the magic's power, which surpassed the level of a high-rank Awakened One?
Or was it the pressure from the unique spell, a triple-cast woven into one?
Gritting her teeth, the Vault Keeper squeezed out what little power she had left.
To create two massive hands made of shadow.
And at the moment the purgatorial beast, wings spread wide, met the giant shadow fists,
*KWAAAAAANG!*
The Labyrinth trembled.
Severed fingers crushed the ground.
Sand pouring from torn feathers incinerated the surroundings with a black curse.
In the end, what remained was a single, giant hand.
It was the shadow of the void dimension, which had lost its other half and was riddled with holes, with only half its fingers left, but had still managed to crush the crow.
Having secured a decisive victory, the Vault Keeper smiled triumphantly, her face drenched in sweat.
—Or rather, she tried to smile.
“Hmph, do not underestimate me! This much is…!”
“Right, it wouldn't work.”
“…?!”
“But, Shuttle. Power isn't everything in this world.”
“Wh—!”
“Just as classes and traits aren't everything to an Awakened One.”
*Creeak.*
As she turned her head toward the voice that had suddenly appeared right behind her, she saw a familiar boy's face.
Contrary to his playful smile, his blood-red eyes held not a trace of mirth.
And flickering in the depths of those eyes was a colorless, transparent energy—powerful, yet completely unnoticeable.
Alarmed, the Vault Keeper immediately tried to create a shadow, but…
Dion didn't allow it.
*THWACK!!!*
“Kyauk!”
*Thud, thwack, THWACK!*
“Ugh, oof, aack!”
From her face to her abdomen,
An utterly merciless barrage of blows sent the Vault Keeper tumbling to the ground with a scream.
Her attempts to break free were futile.
Though she possessed the authority to command the void dimension, her physical body was that of a frail girl.
The moment she lost her shadow shield and allowed Dion to get close, escape became impossible.
“Ugh…”
“How about it, Shuttle? I think I've more than passed your test.”
That was why.
Why the Vault Keeper couldn't refute the words of the boy who had her pinned under his foot.
Because she, more than anyone, knew that Dion could have killed her long ago if he had wanted to.
“Hoo, hoo hoo. Very well. I shall acknowledge that my master is worthy of becoming the King's successor.”
The Vault Keeper thought.
How truly humiliating.
She had been careless,
And her power had been chipped away by all sorts of petty tricks,
And there had been unexpected variables, but she never imagined she would be so completely defeated by Dion.
But she could not deny the result.
She was, after all, the Vault Keeper.
A being whose purpose was to find a worthy individual to inherit the legacy of the King of the Dark Grotto.
“Therefore, you should consider it an honor.”
And so, with a faint smile,
The Vault Keeper’s blood-stained face twisted into a bewitching grin.
“—To be chosen as the new vessel for the resurrected King.”
*Click.*
The girl's chains broke, and an explosive surge of shadow erupted, swallowing everything.
***
‘Is it finally over?’
The moment Dion closed in on the Vault Keeper,
And the Soma Knights, who had been rampaging like mad with their bodies full of holes, collapsed in a heap,
The dark elf maid, Parsha, her entire body battered and bruised, hardened her expression.
When Dion had told her the plan, she had only reluctantly agreed, thinking the chances of success were low.
Indeed, the sight of the Vault Keeper facing hundreds of monsters alone had been terrifying.
But…
‘I have no idea how much more you're hiding, you black-hearted Young Master.’
Finally, or perhaps inevitably,
As she watched Dion succeed in his reckless plan, she let out a deep breath.
*Fwaaa!*
“…!”
Parsha’s face stiffened.
The chains on the Vault Keeper, who was being trampled by Dion, had broken.
The moment her body seemed to melt away, a massive shadow had swallowed Dion whole.
No, not just Dion.
Everything the shadow touched, from the scattered fragments of the rock golems to the half-collapsed ruins of the valley, was sucked in and vanished.
Parsha was no exception.
Despite throwing herself aside the instant she noticed the anomaly, she couldn't escape the shadow.
And…
*Tap.*
Darkness came.
As majestic as the night,
As vast as the sea,
And as empty as the void.
In the center of that place, where everything was cloaked in a shadow so deep and grand,
She stood alone.
Her glossy, purple hair cascaded down, not just to her feet, but all the way to the floor.
Standing atop a dizzying spire, made of something indistinguishable—be it stone, bone, or mist,
The master of this space opened her mouth.
“Once upon a time, there was a great king. He was born with outstanding talent and character…”
“…The King of the Dark Grotto, you mean.”
“Even if you know, you will listen again. This is an important story.”
As if telling a story to a small child, she continued in a soft, calm voice.
The story of a king who could have become the greatest of all monarchs, but who, in his despair from repeated betrayals and malice, destroyed his own kingdom.
And…
“The king became an enemy to the entire world and was eventually vanquished, but he left his everything behind as a legacy.”
“A common tale.”
“Indeed.”
She readily admitted it.
Rumors of treasures and ruins were all too common in Odobaekryeong.
But this rumor was fundamentally different from the others.
First, the power of the king who left the legacy was incomparably greater than that of any feudal lord.
Second, there was a being who had clearly protected and carried on that legacy.
And third…
“But don't you find it strange?”
“What is?”
“Why, and for whom, the king left his legacy.”
“…”
Yes, that was it.
A legacy was for succession.
A product meant to leave what one had built to someone else.
Therefore, there was a question that should have been obvious from the start.
For whom did the legendary king—who had destroyed his own bloodline, his people, his country, everything he had, and become an enemy of the world—leave a legacy?
“The answer is already set. Either that legacy never existed in the first place, or…”
“The legacy wasn't for someone else.”
“Precisely.”
Only after hearing that,
Did Parsha understand everything.
The secret of the King of the Dark Grotto's legacy, which Dion had briefly mentioned.
And the true identity of the monstrous being known as the Vault Keeper.
“My true role is to select a new vessel for the king who will one day be resurrected, and to pass on everything to them.”
“…So the legacy of the King of the Dark Grotto was a trap all along.”
“Oh my, you misunderstand. I am merely passing on all of the king's powers and treasures to his successor.”
*Heh, heh.*
With a low chuckle,
The Vault Keeper added one more thing.
“It's just that the legacy to be inherited also includes the king's memories and will.”
“And you say that's not a trap?”
“Of course it is an honor, is it not?”
“…”
“If you become the third King of the Dark Grotto, you will be able to achieve the great feat of exterminating the wretched human race.”
The spire she stood upon.
Looking down at the boy who was likely buried at its base, the girl smiled faintly.
She had wielded shadows as if they were her own limbs and displayed a might comparable to a transcendent Awakened One.
But that was merely her authority as the Vault Keeper and proctor.
The true power of the King of the Dark Grotto, who had overturned the world by himself, was so vast and absolute that it made her own abilities seem like ‘mere trifles’.
Anyone who obtained it could annihilate the vile human race and conquer the world.
She would have preferred to find a stronger and more powerful master to inherit the power, but…
‘That insolent master of mine at least has the minimum qualifications.’
Whatever despicable tricks he had used,
The fact that he had defeated her,
Was in itself proof of his qualification to become the successor to the King of the Dark Grotto. Above all, Dion's talent was genuine.
Therefore, the Vault Keeper set aside her regrets and smiled triumphantly.
Or rather, she tried to smile.
Until she heard the question Parsha, who had been watching her with a blank expression, casually tossed out.
—“What kind of race is this ‘human race’?”