If You Ask Who Is the Strongest, It's the Goddess of Light and Salt
If you were to ask who was the strongest, the answer would be the Goddess of Light and Salt. That was the name of the goddess revered by the Church of Light and Salt.
Light symbolized the birth of all things, and salt represented purification and tolerance. The Church of Light and Salt, which upheld birth and tolerance as its doctrines, prioritized the extermination of Demon King followers above all else. It was no surprise, then, that they possessed a great many sacred armaments forged for the great war against the demons.
From swords to battle hammers and maces. Even holy siege weapons designed for every conceivable form of combat. But among them, two were held in the highest regard, and one was a white full plate mail forged from blessed ore, steeped in consecrated salt, and completed through a century of prayers.
It could not corrode. It repaired itself even if shattered. It nullified all curses. It absorbed physical impacts and resisted all attributes. It granted purification properties and tireless vitality to the wearer. It bestowed the blessing Steel Heart. It bestowed the blessing Combat Regeneration.
This armor of tremendous power immediately became a divine relic of the Church of Light and Salt, passed down through generations to the leader of their supreme knight order. No one knew how it had ended up in Cheon Ji-hoo's hands.
In any case, it was precisely that which Cheon Ji-yoon now wore.
There was even a saying: "Fear the one who dons the divine relic of the Church of Light and Salt." The supreme knight order leaders of ages past had smashed the skulls of countless Demon King followers.
If you ranked them by who had crushed the most, first place would go to Cheon Ji-hoo, with second through fifth taken by the Church of Light and Salt's supreme knight order leaders.
And so, Tol of the Ominous Clouds scowled openly the moment he laid eyes on the divine relic of the Church of Light and Salt, his displeasure plain to see.
That armor disrupted the mind and eroded mental strength simply by being nearby. It was the worst possible matchup for Demon King followers.
"Are you a knight of the Church of Light and Salt?"
"……."
No answer came despite Tol's question. Cheon Ji-yoon had received a warning from Cheon Ji-hoo not to respond, so she simply raised her sword in silence.
Oppa called him a bum, so he must be weak, right?
And with that, she kicked off the ground.
She charged with unbelievable speed for someone clad in such heavy armor. Tol leaped back to evade her, but Baek Sung-jun didn't miss the opening and kicked off toward him as well.
Enemies closing in from front and back.
Then the clown blocked Baek Sung-jun's path, while Jeokhyeon blocked Cheon Ji-yoon's.
The clown swung his karambit daggers in both hands with blinding speed to halt the approach, while Jeokhyeon swung his greatsword wide, aiming for Cheon Ji-yoon's neck.
Cheon Ji-yoon had no intention of dodging the greatsword coming at her. She simply pressed forward stubbornly, swinging her Light Sword.
"Die!"
With a short shout, Jeokhyeon unleashed red light from his greatsword, but Cheon Ji-yoon made no other move beyond her swing. Because the wings on her back swiftly enveloped her, deflecting all impact.
Jeokhyeon's bewildered expression flashed as his chest lay wide open. Cheon Ji-yoon slashed downward in a powerful diagonal arc.
The sword of light traced an elegant path. Like painting on the canvas of empty air, the Light Sword's smooth curve rent Jeokhyeon's chest wide open. A sizzling sound accompanied the black blood spurting from the gash.
The black blood stained the white armor. But it lingered only briefly. The black blood that had painted the white armor soon vaporized and vanished cleanly.
Golden light gleamed from within the white helm, and the momentarily paused sword moved again.
It mercilessly carved into Jeokhyeon's body. A demon's body, baptized in the 'baptism,' could not withstand attacks infused with the Church of Light and Salt's prayers.
The first strike was a mortal wound. From the second onward, they were strokes of certain death.
The Light Sword slashed his chest several more times before Cheon Ji-yoon spun grandly and severed his neck.
Black blood erupted like a fountain once more, but it was soon volatilized by the holy aura emanating from her armor and vanished.
"Damn it!"
Tol's curse, laced with lament, rang out.
'Jeokhyeon' had been a useful blade. He did as told, cut well, and killed well. Replacements were plentiful, but if they couldn't escape this place, there would be no chance to find one.
Gnashing his teeth, he glanced back.
The clown was holding strong. No, he was even pressing the attack. Against an S-rank hunter named Baek Sung-jun, he overwhelmed with rapid swings of his dual karambit daggers, leaving the man barely able to defend.
So if he just dealt with the holy knight of the Church of Light and Salt in front of him, he could turn the tide.
This isn't what I saved my power for.
A situation demanding more power than planned. She wore a divine relic, but he'd seen her fight Jeokhyeon. Jeokhyeon had lost by an overwhelming margin, but that was mere matchup disadvantage. He judged the holy knight's skill in that white armor to be that of a total novice.
Tol clapped his hands together.
A screech like nails on a chalkboard erupted, and the air began to tremble. Viscous black mana seeped from between his slowly parting palms, spreading outward and encroaching on the space.
He was beginning to impose his 'domain' on this space. To minimize the holy knight's influence, he needed to erect a powerful domain, even if it meant expending a massive store of souls.
Cheon Ji-yoon couldn't charge in recklessly. Cheon Ji-hoo had told her to observe unfamiliar techniques first, then engage if it seemed safe. But the sight before her set her instincts screaming in alarm.
Viscous mana dripped to the ground. Each droplet hit the floor and rippled outward, devouring the surroundings like an expanding stain—much like the goo from that old game Space War eating away at the terrain.
But it lasted only a moment. The expanding black ripples halted as if time itself had stopped.
Then, centered on the ripple's edge, transparent streams of water shot up, forming a wall of liquid that imprisoned Tol.
A few onlookers watching the scene thought the same.
It's Oppa!
……He's here.
Fuck, for real…….
* * *
Cheon Ji-hoo hadn't joined the battle from the start. He'd dispatched Cheon Ji-yoon via crow(?) and now overlooked the scene from the stratosphere, where no one's gaze could reach.
Like a god, with the cosmos at his back, he floated in the air, contemplating from between the clouds.
The world viewed through the Clairvoyance spell felt like peering into a diorama.
He first examined the demon who had introduced himself as a servant of the 'Silence Demon King.'
An unfamiliar face. But the mark on his forehead was similar to the one from his dream, though slightly different.
That was the problem with prophetic dreams. They showed one highly probable branch among countless divergences, so details varied…….
Which meant this demon and the one from another world weren't from the same lineage. But the general appearance matched, so it was probably the same guy.
"The Silence Demon King, huh……."
A name he'd never heard before. In the other world he'd been in, there was only one Demon King—no prefixes or modifiers.
He needed to investigate this first and foremost.
Next, the positions of the other Demon King followers. Cheon Ji-hoo peered down again via Clairvoyance.
Cheon Ji-yoon, descending via crow, smashed through the monster formation with brutish swordplay and sliced open a strange woman's chest, killing her. Black blood flowed, suggesting she'd been cursed by a demon.
"That curse is pretty dilute. Not a strong one."
Cheon Ji-hoo chuckled softly.
Daring to rampage with this level of skill? This was his world. A place no one could invade recklessly.
As he watched, the bastard now tried to erect a 'domain.' Black mana from souls soaked the ground, creating small ripples.
That looked dangerous. A demon with an established domain gained certain 'authorities' within it.
The standard counter was to disrupt it before completion.
"Well then."
Shall we begin?
He rose from his reclined position, stood straight, and spread his arms wide.
A massive magic circle, unlike any seen before, unfurled along his mana circuits. Immense mana formed flows.
Against the backdrop of the universe like a galaxy, it formed rivers, gradually shaping formulas and structures.
A huge magic circle positioned above Cheon Ji-hoo's head. Adorned with myriad formulas and mysteries, it exuded weighty presence as it began to rotate slowly.
He intoned the spell's name. A threat cast upon reality.
"Dragon Ascent."
The response came soon after.
Screeech, screeeeech.
As the magic circle spun like ancient gears turning, a world-shaking sound reverberated.
Forming a circle with thumb and forefinger, he peered down via Clairvoyance once more. The spell had activated perfectly—streams of water surged precisely around the demon and the boundary.
The geysers began to rotate, transforming into a waterspout. It sealed off the exterior completely, then sucked upward.
It arrived at the stratosphere before Cheon Ji-hoo, waterspout and all. The pillar subsided, revealing the demon.
A mark symbolizing the Demon King on his forehead, viscous black mana floating around him.
The demon clutched his throat. They were in the stratosphere. No normal breathing possible in just his skin.
Even attempting to breathe would be agony.
A new spell deployed. Two magic circles appeared above Tol's head, adjusting oxygen levels and pressure. Only then did he manage ragged breaths and regain his wits.
"I have questions. Servant of the Demon King."
"……."
Tol, coming to his senses, stared at the man before him. T-shirt and jeans. Barefoot. Distinctive long white hair and blue eyes. An appearance not quite human. A being transcending all, with utter detachment.
He couldn't even guess the identity.
"Answer. Where are you from?"
Tol clamped his mouth shut at Cheon Ji-hoo's question. This man could deploy grand magic alone. Instinct told him leaking information would lead to disaster. With a voice thick with rage, he roared.
"Kill me—!! You damned mage! I'll rip your fucking jaw off!"
"I said answer."
But Cheon Ji-hoo merely asked again with calm composure. This was the second question, and with it, he gradually reduced the output of the spell binding Tol.
Tol writhed in agony once more. Exposed bare in the stratosphere, fluids in his blood vessels began to boil into gas. The resulting bubbles clogged vessels, eventually blocking arteries to the brain, leading to damage and death.
Somehow his demon body endured, but Cheon Ji-hoo had no intention of going easy.
Rooting out demons took priority over simply killing villains. He wouldn't let Demon King bastards toy with the world at will.
"I said answer."
He extended a hand and seized Tol's nape.
Tol felt as if the world was being swallowed by darkness.
No, it's not an illusion.
Not an illusion. Immense mana blanketed the sky. Was the figure before him a polymorphed dragon? No, even a dragon couldn't do this.
This was a form only a transcendent being could manifest.
Mana pouring from Cheon Ji-hoo dyed the sky pitch black. In the blackened heavens, a single eye opened, its glowing blue pupil quietly regarding Tol.
He couldn't avert his gaze. All he could do was tremble in terror, nape gripped.
"Answer."
The third question came.
In the end, Tol opened his mouth.