Gift of the Abyss
Corax ignored the blood flowing from its wounded left wing. The pain only sharpened its feral instincts further. It stood like a massive steel rampart before the entrance to the haunted house, the last bastion where the survivors hid.
"Grraaah! Kill that bird!"
Deprived of their commander, the mermen lost all control and surged toward the enormous prey before them in a mad frenzy, driven purely by instinct. Confident in their numerical superiority, they came crashing like waves.
But what they faced was no mere bird.
Corax unleashed a roar of fury. It was no longer the graceful creature that soared through the skies. With feet planted firmly on the ground, it had become an incarnation of destruction.
A massive talon slammed down over the head of the first merman charging in, like a hydraulic press. Crunch! With the gruesome sound of a skull shattering, the merman's head vanished below its neck. Corax kicked the corpse aside and turned toward its next prey. Its movements were impossibly swift and efficient for such a gigantic frame.
Its razor-sharp beak pierced eyeballs like a spear, while wings of steel sliced throats like enormous blades, felling every approaching foe. But its talons were the most merciless weapons. A single sweep of its foreclaw sent three or four mermen screaming into the air, only to rain down as shredded chunks of meat.
"Ugh... uwaa..."
"My God..."
From inside the haunted house, the survivors watched the overwhelming slaughter with eyes filled with a mix of terror and awe. The horrific monsters that had threatened them moments ago were being literally carved up by something even larger and more ferocious. To them, Corax was no longer a frightening entity. It was their black guardian deity.
Chiharu cleaved through the fierce waves rising to her waist, pressing forward toward her master. Her eyes held only one goal: returning to his side.
"Kyaaak!"
A merman burst from the water, thrusting its trident at her. She twisted her body to dodge the spear and plunged into the depths, wrapping her arm around its neck in a stranglehold. With a crack, the merman's neck bone snapped. Using the corpse as a shield, she blocked attacks from other mermen and doggedly advanced.
Her body was already covered in wounds. The latex suit, scraped by tridents, tore open to reveal glimpses of pale flesh and red blood beneath. But she felt no pain. Only the burning conviction to prove her loyalty to her master drove her onward.
"You bitch...!"
Jinwoo, seeing his hounds struggle, unleashed his magic toward the envoy before him. Crimson-black tentacles of darkness erupted from the ground, slithering like serpents to bind her. Yet the envoy maintained her leisurely smile even before this overwhelming power. She waved her hand lightly.
Seawater gushed up from beneath her feet like a living creature, forming a massive wall of water. The moment the dark tentacles touched it, they lost their power and dissipated like smoke.
"Did I not tell you, crow mage? Your power is but a child's plaything before Her greatness."
She showed no eagerness for battle. She merely blocked Jinwoo's attacks without countering. Her goal was not combat. It was persuasion.
"Think on it once more."
Her voice pierced the storm's roar, resounding directly in his mind. "If you swear loyalty to Her, what you gain will be far more than mere wealth and power."
Her abyssal eyes sent a blatant, lascivious gaze toward his crotch. "She has taken notice of your bloodline. That strong, arrogant lineage of yours. You're probably planning to breed those pathetic Japanese bitches like bitches in heat to continue your line. But even so, you'll sire only a handful of offspring."
She licked her lips seductively. "But... if you receive the blessing of Her, the Mother of the Seas, your breeding and mating will ascend to a new realm. Your seed, blessed by the abyss, will take root in any female's womb. Those females will lay hundreds, thousands of eggs at once. You will command countless bitches, siring thousands of offspring in a single night, creating your own vast legions, your own new race. You will no longer be a solitary mage but the progenitor of a new species—a living god."
It was an irresistible, primal temptation. The promise of eternally and infinitely propagating his bloodline.
But Jinwoo merely laughed coldly.
At that moment, a black shadow pierced the storm at breakneck speed, hurtling toward him. "Master!!!"
It was Chiharu. Covered head to toe in blood and wounds after cutting through dozens, hundreds of mermen, she had finally reached her master's side. She leaped into the air, loosing an arrow infused with all her remaining magic toward the Sea Envoy on the ticket booth roof.
Whoosh! The arrow flew as a red streak, but just before striking the envoy, it hit an invisible water barrier and clang! fell harmlessly to the ground.
"Hoh."
The envoy glanced at the arrow that had come within inches, her expression showing genuine interest for the first time. "Quite the useful hound you have... Such ferocity and loyalty. She would have made an excellent general in Her fisheries. What a pity."
She addressed Jinwoo one last time. "Think it over carefully, crow mage. In this universe, no one as benevolent and generous as my goddess will make such an offer to you. If it were the others, your arrogance would have already seen your soul shattered into toys for their amusement."
With that, she drew a small treasure chest adorned with beautiful coral and pearls from her bosom and tossed it at Jinwoo's feet. "This is... a small reward from Her for the paltry but entertaining 'performance' you put on today."
The chest opened with a dazzling light, revealing a massive black pearl worth more than all the world's treasures combined, a seahorse statue of pure gold, and coral branches infused with magic that grew only in the abyss.
"Our next meeting... may be on the battlefield. Pray... you survive until then."
With those final words, her body burst like soap bubbles with a pop and vanished. Only a thick sea mist lingered briefly before scattering in the wind.
As she disappeared, the storm clouds blanketing the sky began to part as if by magic. The torrential rain ceased, and the water filling the amusement park drained rapidly into the earth like an ebbing tide.
"Grraaah...!"
Realizing their master's presence was gone, the mermen fell into chaos, wailing as they hurled themselves into invisible cracks in the ground as the water receded. In moments, the amusement park returned to its eerie silence, littered only with countless corpses.
"Master! Are you alright?!"
Chiharu leaped onto the roof and knelt before him. Her body was a map of wounds, red blood trickling from the tears in her latex suit. "I'm sorry... I... I was too late..."
Jinwoo said nothing, merely stroking her head. His gaze drifted silently to his other huntress, dragging her wounded wing from the haunted house ruins, tearing out the throat of the last remaining merman.
When the seawater had fully drained and an uncanny silence settled over the ruined amusement park, the injured Corax limped toward Jinwoo. A shark-tooth spear remained embedded in its left wing, black blood oozing around it.
By the time it arrived, Chiharu was already prostrated at her master's feet. Corax surveyed the surroundings. Something was off. The massive corpse of Onikuma, which had lain beside the carousel, was gone without a trace—swept away by the flood.
"Master..." Chiharu spoke, her voice thick with guilt. "...I'm sorry. The hunt succeeded, but I... couldn't offer tribute."
Corax, approaching from the side, bowed its injured form as well. It felt deep powerlessness and frustration at failing to secure spoils from its first hunt to present to its master.
Jinwoo looked down at his two faithful hounds with gentle eyes. "Raise your heads."
His voice was warmer than ever. "You both did splendidly today. Especially you, Corax. In your first hunt, you learned much: pain, rage, and... the meaning of protecting a comrade."
He gently caressed Corax's wounded wing with a hand infused with healing magic. The wound didn't close, but the pain visibly eased, and Corax bowed in gratitude.
"And... you say there's no tribute to offer?"
Jinwoo smiled, nodding toward the treasure chest left by the Sea Envoy. "That... is tribute offered by the enemy commander in awe of my power. It's as good as spoils from your victory. That is the finest offering you could give me today."
At his words, Chiharu's and Corax's eyes lit up once more. Chiharu sprang up, retrieved the chest, and knelt again before her master, raising it reverently with both hands as an ancient vassal might offer tribute to a king.
"Master. This paltry tribute born of our humble victory. Please... accept it."
As Jinwoo took the chest, Corax reverted to its small fledgling crow form, flapping wearily to perch on Chiharu's shoulder. For the first time, the two predators acknowledged each other, bowing together toward their shared master.
And from afar, in the haunted house ruins, the surviving humans watched, utterly entranced. In their eyes, the bizarre and sacred rite unfolding amid blood and death was etching itself as a grand myth—the tale of their saviors.
Jinwoo stored the treasure chest in his subspace, briefly recalling the Sea Envoy. Envoy. The word planted the seed of a new plan in his mind.
Even those outer gods send out 'public faces' to convey their will, negotiate, and sometimes threaten.
He had operated solely from the shadows until now. But his ambitions went beyond hunting nightmares—to reshape this new era as a conqueror.
To do that, the day would come when he must face the world's powers openly. But he couldn't do it himself.
I too... need an envoy to represent my will.
An image of a girl surfaced in his mind: brown hair, porcelain skin, and the symbolic status of the "beauty survivor" already known to the world. Kim Sea.
Yes. She... is perfect.
She was the only one publicly linked to the "Crow Mage." Her words would carry more trust and impact than anyone's.
If he fully conditioned her, imprinting the Ultimate Subjugation Seal, and molded her into a perfect puppet to voice his will...
She will be my 'face,' dealing with governments and corporations. Selling items from my magic workshop, gathering their loyalty and wealth as my beautiful proxy. And pulling all the strings from behind... will be me.
Jinwoo smiled, satisfied with his flawless plan. Now, he began assigning his bitches not just physical service but specific roles suited to their talents. His harem was evolving from a temple of pleasure into an efficient, ruthless bureaucratic machine to sustain his kingdom.