Heavenly Tribulation Thunder Rain
Standing at a high vantage point, I could feel the countless presences converging on me from every direction. A single thought drifted through my mind.
They look like a swarm of ants.
When ants discover food too large for one to carry, they summon their comrades. Then they pool their strength and haul it away together.
But what if that food was fake? What if the offering was a trap, and a human stood above them, watching as the ants gathered in one place so they could be exterminated in a single sweep?
What else is there to do?
They simply have to die.
Roughly counting through my senses, there were about forty of them. More than I expected. A few in the middle seemed fairly strong, but most were on the same level as the old man from earlier or slightly weaker.
There are too many to handle one by one.
Stamina wasn’t the issue. Against opponents of this caliber, even several times their number wouldn’t matter. This was purely a question of efficiency.
It’s just not fun.
Personally crushing the skulls of weaklings who weren’t even worth fighting would be an excruciatingly boring chore.
As that thought crossed my mind, the ones who had drawn close enough now stared up at me. Every last one of them wore gray robes, practically screaming that they were members of the Abyss Star Cult.
“Excuse me. Was what you said earlier true? About Lord Ksael, I mean.”
“Young demon girl. Tell me how you know the name of the Star Iron Duke. Lie, and I will kill you.”
“More importantly, selling out the Star Iron Duke? What kind of nonsense is that?”
Heh.
A laugh slipped out before I could stop it. Is this how celebrities feel every day?
The flood of attention and fascination directed at me was strangely thrilling.
“Laughing with us standing right in front of you?”
“What an arrogant bitch.”
“Now that I look closely, the amount of magi she carries is no joke. Regular believers, stay on guard.”
The ones speaking now were the ones with actual skill. I could sense the faint power of the otherworld on them. These must be the Devourers the old man who died yesterday had mentioned.
Among them, the old man who had threatened to kill me earlier raised his voice.
“Demon girl. Why do you remain silent? This seat is asking how you know about the Star Iron Duke!”
“Ah… that? I see… so you still don’t know…”
That’s something… I still can’t tell you yet….
“Are you mocking this seat right now? I’ll give you five seconds. Come down immediately and explain everything you know in detail! If you refuse…”
“Raise your voice.”
“What?”
“Don’t raise your voice like that.”
Right now, the ones who appeared to be Devourers—including that old man—were each strong enough to handle around a hundred well-made golems on their own. In villages without the protection of a major organization like the cult, they could reign as godlike beings.
In other words…
They’re at a level where they could have a fair fight with ten-year-old Regina.
Though when I factored in that the me from back then could easily shatter a hundred golems and possessed a cuteness that could prove fatal, it was clear the younger me held a slight advantage.
I nodded in satisfaction. The young man glued to the old man’s side suddenly shouted.
“His Excellency Bashir, who stands above all great Devourers, is speaking, yet this bitch has no intention of coming down!”
Bashir looked rather pleased, apparently believing his underling was properly upholding his dignity.
“But looking down from up here feels amazing.”
“You biiiiitch!”
“Ugh. So noisy!”
I casually thrust my palm toward him. The distance was over thirty meters, but that didn’t matter.
Empty Palm Strike. Simply put, a technique that used explosive force to strike at range—the same thing people usually called palm wind.
The strike crossed the distance in an instant and slammed into the underling’s chest.
“Keuk…!”
He clutched his chest and doubled over. Blood poured from his mouth. My casual swing had left a deep palm imprint right in the center of his chest. Every rib must have been shattered.
Bashir watched with wide eyes, then broke into a cold sweat. He glared at me with the expression of someone who had just taken a hit.
“So the fledgling had a hidden card after all.”
“It’s not a hidden card~ Not a hidden card~.”
“Casting wind-attribute magic without a chant. Are you affiliated with the Magic Tower?”
“That’s not it either~.”
This old man had clearly lived his years in the wrong place. Not a single guess was correct.
“But your insolence ends here, wench. You don’t seriously believe you can handle every Devourer and cultist here by yourself, do you?”
“Why does this senile old fart keep calling me ‘wench’?”
It was unpleasant for the wench who had to listen to it.
That aside, I hadn’t expected my first attempt at Empty Palm Strike to work so well. In that case… maybe that would work too?
It was definitely worth trying.
I concentrated magi at my fingertips. It writhed in a manner different from the martial arts I normally used.
It’s closer to simple qi projection than actual martial arts, but…
If it possessed killing power, there was no reason it couldn’t be called a martial art.
The finger brimming with concentrated magi pointed at the old man’s underling.
The lightning of Cheonroe Gaebyeok Gong rising from the magic stone began to support the magi at my fingertip like a fuse.
Here it goes.
Tenma Death Beam
“Tenma Death Beeeeam!!!”
Dark blue magi erupted from my fingertip and pierced straight through the man’s body.
Silently. Quietly. Then, moments later—boom! His body exploded.
The lightning qi planted inside the beam had detonated within him.
“It actually works.”
“This damned wench dares…!”
As I admired the result and blew on my finger like cooling a gun barrel, the old and sickly Bashir flew into a rage. He must have cherished that nameless underling more than I realized.
Then I should send him along too. I fired another Tenma Death Beam at Bashir. Once I had the knack, it wasn’t difficult.
However, Bashir’s skill was higher than expected. He dodged the beam with ease, and the regular believer standing behind him took the hit instead. His body exploded.
“Did you think this seat would fall for a technique I’ve already seen once before!”
But the kid behind you fell for it.
Or maybe he trusted Bashir to block it and didn’t even try to dodge.
You killed him, you devil.
So the Tenma Death Beam is a technique that despises the weak.
Anyone above a certain level could dodge it easily, but for those below that threshold… its cruelty was endless.
The enraged Bashir kicked off the ground and charged at me. I fired several more Tenma Death Beams to keep him in check, but he dodged every single one. The regular believers charging alongside him exploded each time as a bonus.
When Bashir lunged with claws raised, I lightly twisted my upper body to let the attack flow past and fired a few more beams at the believers.
The performance is solid, but…
It just wasn’t fun. Simply pointing a finger and saying “yap” made them drop dead like they’d been hit with Avada Kedavra.
I wanted to blow them all up with one big blast.
Maybe I should create a wide-area ultimate technique.
Something like the Myriad Heavenly Flower Rain that poured down iron petals to cover the sky, the Lion’s Roar, or the lightning domain Honcheon Noeje had used.
A martial art that would let me completely dominate the entire surrounding space.
I already have something in mind.
I drew inspiration from Master Honcheon Noeje. This wouldn’t count as plagiarism, right?
A regular believer had closed in and was swinging his sword. I grabbed his head. Unable to withstand the cold of Sosu Magong, frost spread across his skull, turning it pure white. The chill had likely frozen his brain solid. Instant death.
I ripped his head off like pulling a radish, tossed it aside, and brought the technique I had only been conceptualizing into reality.
I raised Cheonroe Gaebyeok Gong to its absolute limit and formed hand seals. They were meaningless, but they looked impressive.
In an instant, every trace of lightning qi inside my body surged out and shot into the clouds.
A thunderous roar that seemed to tear the sky apart rang out several times.
“W-what the hell is this…”
Bashir’s bewildered murmur served as the signal.
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga————!
Thousands of lightning bolts slammed down vertically.
A wide-area lightning technique that summons thousands of lightning bolts from the sky, devastating everything in its range like pillars connecting heaven and earth.
“Wow.”
It was a feat that released all the power of Cheonroe Gaebyeok Gong at its peak in a single instant. Once used, I wouldn’t be able to use it again unless my stamina recovered or I absorbed the lightning energy through Cheonroe Hwanwon Gong.
Even considering that, it’s pretty useful.
Especially in a situation like this, where there were no allies nearby and weak enemies were scattered everywhere….
“Huh?”
Come to think of it, didn’t I have one ally?
“So this is Yong-bagi’s miserable end….”
In your next life, please be born as someone with normal sexual desires.
Enough with the jokes. When I properly expanded my senses to check, Rian seemed unharmed. The technique’s influence had barely reached him, and he appeared to have protected himself with holy arts just like Leona had in the dream.
“Whew. I almost became a murderer.”
Fortunately, it seemed the only ones I had killed were about forty devout believers of the Abyss Star Cult.
At that moment, I felt a staggering presence right beneath my feet.
“Keuk…! Kkuk….”
“Huh?”
Old man Bashir. He was still alive? Not only that, I could see two others barely managing to stand.
So being a Devourer makes a difference?
Judging by the energies inside their bodies, all three were Devourers who had scavenged the remnants left by otherworld avatars.
They had survived, but all three were in terrible shape. It wouldn’t be strange if they collapsed and died at any moment.
“That’s why mom told you not to pick up weird things from outside!”
The things that fell to the ground are garbage. Of course you’d get sick from eating stuff like that.