Treading the Void in Pursuit
I knew a fair bit about the Remaining Light Bearers and Devourers from playing through Dust Saga. They're basically like the heads of each faction.
The Abyss Star Cult has its own messy internal affairs, after all. It's split into two factions locked in fierce opposition. To put it simply, they're divided between the traditional faith faction and the taboo faction.
The traditional faith faction is exactly the kind of fanatical cult most people picture. They're obsessed with the otherworldly deities, worshiping them with blind zeal and desperately chasing after every trace they leave behind.
That's why the Remaining Light Bearers are born by absorbing the residual star traces left in those beings' wake. The taboo faction is the complete opposite. What they worship isn't the deities themselves, but solely the power of the Outer Gods.
Since their only purpose is to grow stronger, they're the kind of lunatics who charge forward without a second thought. During the war they drank the blood of fallen low-ranking Outer Gods or absorbed power from dead avatars. That's why they're called Devourers.
Both sides are equally annoying and repulsive, but…. If I had to choose the lesser evil, the Remaining Light Bearers were still better. Their bodies stayed relatively close to human form—like degraded copies of regular otherworldly avatars. The Devourers, however, who tore away otherworldly power by any means necessary…
They usually ended up looking like this.
Crunch. Crack!
Bashir's body twisted at grotesque angles before transforming into something no longer human. An abnormally large horn erupted from his head, his arms and legs warped at unnatural angles as they swelled in size, and razor-like blades extended from his fingertips. The other two Devourers were changing in much the same way.
“How dare you wound this seat’s body.”
“You senile old man. Still yapping about ‘this seat,’ huh?”
“Now that you have seen this form, I cannot allow you to live.”
“Eek! So scary.”
He was the one who kept going on about killing me or not earlier. Had he actually lost his mind?
“That attack just now must have been you pouring out everything you possessed. Do not even think of resisting.”
He was seriously misunderstanding the situation. Of course, Cheonroe Gaebyeok Gong consumed a massive amount of stamina. Using a human body to trigger a natural disaster was that kind of art. After pushing the technique to its peak and draining every last bit of lightning energy, even the magi inside my body had run completely dry.
However… I’m a little special.
Only my physical vessel was empty. Inside my magic stone, an enormous quantity of magi still slept. And that stone existed purely as a limiter, allowing only as much magi as my body could endure.
When the magi in my body runs out, it simply gets replenished from the reserves in the stone.
Therefore I was still at full strength. I just couldn’t use Cheonroe Gaebyeok Gong for now. Unless I ran into powerful foes like the Honcheon Noeje or the Mad Dragon again and had to push myself to the limit, I wouldn’t run out of magi anytime soon.
“What are you distracted by, you foolish demon whore?”
The slow-approaching old bastard swung his arm. That enormous limb clearly carried devastating force.
“Let’s see what you’re worth.”
Those who devoured avatar corpses or the blood of dead Outer Gods simply because they yearned to become avatars themselves—exactly how strong could they be?
I didn’t dodge. I met the blow head-on.
Even without dedicated training, my Sosu Magong had somehow reached the threshold of the fourth star. My hand, now pure white and brimming with cold energy, collided with the avatar’s own deathly pale fist.
C-c-c-crack—!
A faint shock ran up my arm, but… that was all.
“Huh.”
The old bastard’s arm, unable to withstand the chill of Sosu Magong, froze solid and shattered into pieces.
“KyaAAAAAACK! Damnable bitch!”
“Don’t use such strong words.”
It makes you sound weak.
I wanted to end him right there, but unfortunately the chance never came. The other two Devourers were charging at me from behind, and one of them had a face twisted into something truly grotesque.
Ah, that guy was actually somewhat handsome until a moment ago.
This is how terrifying the power of the Outer Gods truly is. A force that can turn even a good-looking person hideous. I decided then and there that I would never accept their power, even if a blade were pressed to my throat.
Wait… a blade pressed to my throat?
That actually sounds fun!
I casually deflected the once-handsome one’s attack using the principles of Hwa-gyeong, then slapped his cheek with full force.
“Mom told me not to eat random junk I pick up off the ground, idiot!”
Crunch!
His skull exploded. Bone fragments and chunks of flesh sprayed outward.
By then the old bastard had nearly finished regenerating his destroyed arm. No matter how fake an avatar he was, that regenerative ability was genuinely impressive.
“What in the world are you?! Don’t tell me… don’t tell me you’re that girl who recently received a new title among the Remaining Light Bearers!”
“Why do you people always assume that anyone strong you meet must be from the Abyss Star Cult?”
“If not that, then what is that white, bizarre hand of yours…!”
Ah. So the fact that my hand turned white from Sosu Magong had caused a misunderstanding. Plus, since my appearance hadn’t warped grotesquely and I remained an absolute peerless beauty, they had naturally jumped to the conclusion that I was a Remaining Light Bearer.
Still, I saw no reason to correct them by explaining it was simply demonic arts. Not when there wasn’t even the slightest thing about them that interested me.
They really are completely empty inside.
The fact that people who claimed to want strength had never once tempered themselves was painfully obvious. Their reckless charging style, their inability to even form proper protective energy—let alone Hosin Ganggi—showed they could only crudely throw together some magic power for defense.
I should finish this quickly and head back.
It was then that—
Clang—————!
The sound of hammering rang out from somewhere unknown, echoing across the heavens in every direction.
Are there more from the Abyss Star Cult?
Just as that thought crossed my mind, Bashir looked up at the sky with an ecstatic, almost deranged expression and muttered in rapture.
“Aah…! Lord Star Iron is hammering the stars!”
“We have finally located the position, Lord Bashir.”
“Good…. This seat will go find it now. You stay here and keep that demon bitch occupied. Can you manage that?”
“I will accomplish it.”
With those words, Bashir dashed off somewhere at high speed. The lone remaining Devourer stepped in front of me with a solemn, determined look.
They really thought they were the main characters here.
By the way, Lord Star Iron hammering the stars?
Aha. He’s finally started making my sword.
The sound that had just echoed must have been Mr. Octopus’s hammering. It made sense now why he had said he couldn’t make my sword right away—the noise was loud enough to shake the heavens. If Bashir found the hidden barrier and broke inside…
Bella and Leona are in there, but….
I didn’t think they would lose. But I also didn’t think they would win easily. In pure skill, Leona might be able to press the advantage, yet the tenacious vitality and regenerative power unique to Devourers were another matter entirely. The only way to avoid a headache was to crush their breath with overwhelming force in a single instant.
Still, Bella didn’t seem like the type to step forward and fight.
Better to stop him from reaching them.
With that thought I took one light step forward. The Devourer blocking my path glared at me with burning eyes and assumed a combat stance.
“You shall not pass. You will remain here with me until Lord Bashir returns to the main headquarters of the Abyss Star Cult together with Lord Star Iron.”
He genuinely believed he could stop me.
“I went easy on you and didn’t kill you immediately.”
“What?”
“You people really think you can stand on the same level as me.”
With a light leap I jumped clean over the Devourer. His eyes couldn’t even track me; he seemed incapable of perceiving my speed at all. As I passed overhead I kicked his head with the tip of my foot. It burst open like a watermelon on a summer beach.
“Hmm. So this is all you amount to.”
I stepped once on the scattering pieces of flesh, then leaped again.
Tracking Bashir as he raced toward the barrier wasn’t difficult. Not far ahead I caught sight of the old bastard’s back as he ran in frantic haste.
Magi exploded from the Yongquan points on my soles. With the sensation of stepping on empty air, I changed direction.
The realm of Void Treading Steps. Stepping upon the void, walking and running across it as though I had become an immortal, moving with complete freedom.
It’s not working quite as well as I’d hoped.
Probably because my physical realm was still shallow. If I performed the body transformation or my body fully matured, not only Void Treading Steps but even Riding the Clouds would become effortless. For now, however, taking a few steps through the air was more than enough.
With each stride the distance closed dramatically.
One step. Two steps. Three steps. And… now.
After a precise sensory calculation, on the fourth step I released all the stacked magi in my Yongquan points at once. Using the explosive propulsion as a foothold, my body shot forward like a bullet and arrived directly above Bashir’s head.
“Hello.”
I stomped down.
Thud!
His head crushed like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“And goodbye.”
The moment of reunion had become the moment of farewell. How terribly sad.
“My sword! My sword! I have to go see it right now!”
Bashir was probably up in heaven right now, happily meeting the Outer God he had longed for and living out his wildest dreams. Let’s go with that.
“Where did that Yongbak bastard run off to? Open the gate already…! Please!”
Bashir, I hope you’re happy there….