The Power of the Original Final Boss
Every drop of mana in this world had been sown by Lamia — The Black Snake That Devours the World.
In the original course of things, Lamia would scatter mana in abundance before devouring a world, raising its quality and creating mana awakeners on a massive scale. The awakeners of this world had, in a sense, been born through her — but that did not mean she ruled them. All she had done was scatter mana, elevating the caliber of this world's souls.
And the place where that mana had concentrated most densely was the Republic of Korea — the very land where, originally, Lamia would have descended to swallow this world whole.
"These ones are of decent quality. The caliber of their souls has risen considerably."
Lamia spoke with evident satisfaction as she surveyed the fruits of this harvest. What I felt, however, was killing intent.
The villains who had moved to kill me the instant they heard my words were still on guard against me — a boy who was only fifteen years old.
"Don't let your guard down. That thing crawled out of a Rift. Keep your distance and hit him from range."
"Yes, Boss!"
Among the villains, those who specialized in ranged attacks immediately hurled their assaults toward me. There were flashes of light, and one of them even lobbed a massive fireball — as if he didn't care whether the mountain went up in flames. Explosions erupted all around me on top of that.
I didn't dodge a single one of them.
BOOOOM—
"D-Did we get him?"
No one had gone down in the first place.
"You idiot! Sense his presence! He's completely unharmed!"
It seemed the villains had finally realized that none of their attacks had affected me in the slightest.
"I told you not to let your guard down! Treat that kid as at least my equal — or stronger — and fight him accordingly!"
"Yes, Boss!"
They weren't complete amateurs, at least. The moment they recognized I was strong, they adapted immediately. The one they called Boss was an SS-class villain, and he issued that order without so much as a flicker of wounded pride — telling them to regard me as his equal or better.
Pragmatists, then.
I had a pretty good idea why Seomun Ye-jin was being held here.
They were probably planning to sell her at a slave auction for a fortune.
This hadn't been in the original story. I'd only learned it through Lamia — but in this world, beauty was no ordinary thing. Those gifted with exceptional looks were, at their core, people born with the world's blessing — women especially. But no matter how stunning the face, that blessing could never fully bloom unless its bearer was also a mana awakener. The moment a beautiful woman awakened to mana, however, the world's blessing revealed its true worth.
Seomun Ye-jin's value — both body and soul — was far beyond anything she could imagine. To beings capable of destroying the world, Lamia among them, such women were known as Treasures of the World. Their souls and bodies were each valuable enough to be separately designated for special management.
And even setting that aside, if you got your hands on Seomun Ye-jin — the original heroine, the highest-ranked among beautiful mana awakeners — there was a great deal you could do. That was why her price would have been astronomical. The villains would have wanted to sell her while she was still a virgin. The original story had been vague about it, but the villains and the underworld already had some idea of what a beautiful mana awakener was worth.
I don't need to worry about her getting hurt. Still, I should be careful.
And it wasn't just because she was the original heroine. She wasn't my enemy, and I had no reason to feel any aversion toward her. There was simply no reason not to help her.
He's strong.
Park Ji-hoon, an SS-class villain, felt a cold sweat run down his back as he watched the boy casually block his subordinates' attacks without so much as taking a step. Blocking attacks like that was something Park Ji-hoon could do himself, of course. The problem was that he hadn't been able to fully read the flow of mana the boy had used to do it.
Park Ji-hoon's specialty was reading an opponent's mana flow, discerning the principles by which they moved their power, and then exploiting the gaps. He had never once failed to read the mana of an awakener weaker than himself. Which meant that kid was SS-class at the very least.
I'll probe him with a few attacks. If it doesn't work out, I'll run.
True to his nature as a villain, Park Ji-hoon felt no attachment to his subordinates. His men followed him out of fear of his power and for their own gain — nothing more. There was no loyalty between them. If things went south, Park Ji-hoon fully intended to use his men as human shields and slip away alone. That was why he kept them around in the first place, and why he shared the profits with them in ordinary times.
"Hyaaaaah!"
Still, he couldn't just run immediately. There was always a chance he might win. With that thought, Park Ji-hoon drew his sword and poured mana into the blade. This attack, imbued with a pure will to destroy, was something even an SS-class mana awakener would struggle to block.
"The boss is attacking!"
"Watch out!"
His subordinates, who had seen this attack more than once, scrambled backward to put distance between themselves and the blast. Then the mana wreathing Park Ji-hoon's sword came crashing down, carrying that pure will to destroy.
BOOOOM—
"Boring."
Baek Seo-jun, watching the spectacle, looked thoroughly unimpressed. A spherical shape formed in front of him. No — it was more like a pitch-black passage, something akin to a Rift or a Gate. That black passage began to suck in Park Ji-hoon's attack with ferocious force. The strike he had unleashed was drawn into the passage so easily, so pathetically, that it vanished without a trace.
Watching his attack disappear into that massive black hole, Park Ji-hoon felt his skin crawl.
This bastard isn't SS-class!
He might even be SSS-class! No — he was definitely SSS-class or higher!
I have to run!
The moment Park Ji-hoon confirmed that fact, terror seized him and he tried to flee. His subordinates were still standing there, clueless, but he didn't have the luxury of worrying about them. Even if he ordered them to hold the line, they wouldn't bother once they saw him running. He needed to get behind them, let them serve as shields, and extract himself while they bought him time.
Park Ji-hoon felt something pierce both of his legs.
"Gah!"
He collapsed forward with a scream of agony, and in that instant he realized what had stabbed him: sharp, pitch-black tentacles, pointed and razor-edged. He could feel both of his legs turning black where the tentacles had punched through.
My mana... it isn't reaching?
A black energy spread from the puncture wounds, stripping him of all control over his legs. His knees had already gone completely black. Everything below still held its original color — but because the knees themselves had turned, his will could no longer reach anything beneath them. Even mana wouldn't pass through. Forcing his legs to move with power was impossible.
"Urgh!"
On top of that, the tentacles impaling both legs refused to come out. There was no escaping unless he abandoned both legs entirely.
If I want to live, I have no choice!
Park Ji-hoon was terrified, but he steeled himself. In the split second after being stabbed, he made a snap decision and tried to sever his own legs. Other tentacles were faster — they punched through both of his arms before he could act.
"AAAAAGH!"
At the sight of Park Ji-hoon screaming in agony once more, his subordinates finally grasped the situation — and their faces went deathly pale.
"Oh my god, the boss has been subdued!"
"R-Run! AAAAAAH!"
The moment the villains realized they were facing someone they couldn't possibly handle, they turned their backs and tried to flee. The swagger they'd shown toward the weak was gone without a trace. They had become cowards, scattering in every direction.
Countless tentacles punched through the torsos of the fleeing villains.
"Guh!"
"Urgh!"
The villains coughed up blood, writhing in pain, then went limp as their lives were snuffed out.
"Do not forget to collect the souls, Seo-jun."
"I know, I know."
The moment Baek Seo-jun finished speaking, every villain impaled by the tentacles — save Park Ji-hoon — dissolved without a trace, sucked into the tentacles themselves. Their bodies had been broken down. Their souls had been processed into an energy source and absorbed.
Not a bad harvest.
Baek Seo-jun felt his power grow — only slightly, a meager amount, but stronger nonetheless. Killing the villains was, in essence, his first act of murder in this life. Because they were villains, though, he felt no revulsion whatsoever. His mind, already tempered and hardened alongside the immense power he had gained in the Dimensional Rift, was not the sort to be shaken by something as small as the shock of taking a life.
That didn't mean he felt good about it. A certain psychological resistance to killing was still clearly there.
Still green, then.
Deeming himself still immature, Baek Seo-jun pointed at Park Ji-hoon and spoke.
"If you'd come at me in close quarters, I might have given you a proper fight. Sitting back and throwing ranged attacks, then trying to run? Tsk."
"P-Please... spare me..."
Park Ji-hoon begged for his life, groveling, tears and snot streaming down his face.
And Seomun Ye-jin, who had been watching the entire scene, stood with her lips parted wide, staring as if her soul had left her body.