The Seedling's Desperate Sacrifice
The last High Orc let out a pig-like squeal as it collapsed.
Ellen, who had just snapped its neck, tossed the corpse aside with a casual flick and strode straight toward Senior Kim.
“Mister Kim?”
“Ah, yes.”
Senior Kim answered with clear unease in his voice.
It was understandable. Ellen was still maintaining her Incredible state, and her overwhelming presence could intimidate anyone.
The moment she reached him, Ellen spoke without hesitation.
She even tried to hand him a business card. Hey, wait a second.
“Executive Director Ellen, don’t you think that’s crossing the line a bit?”
This woman was already trying to poach my people!
Ellen let out a bright “Hoho,” and gracefully stepped back with a smile.
“Senior, you should let proposals like that go in one ear and out the other.”
“I have no intention of leaving the Guild Master.”
“You’ll be hearing a lot of offers like this in the future, so just think of it as practice.”
I patted Senior Kim on the shoulder.
Among all our guild members, he was the only one who had stayed completely out of the media spotlight.
But a pearl in the mud eventually shines. As time passed, more and more people would recognize Senior Kim’s true worth.
“I plan to keep putting you in charge of command going forward. Will that be alright?”
“Now I understand why Mister Yu recommended you.”
Even afterward, Ellen kept muttering things like, “How could they have overlooked such command talent?” and “I need to report this to the Master right away.”
I had Devoured the corpse of the Tarigirion’s Branch, but my progress had only gone up by a measly 3%.
Back on the 19th floor of the Tower of Babel, it had been classified as a hidden boss, so a single one was enough to completely fill my essence gauge.
Essence absorption rate: 3%
-What a shame.
“What’s there to be ashamed of? I’ll fill it up again soon enough.”
I answered confidently.
Even after defeating the Tarigirion’s Branch, our search of the DMZ continued.
Our main objective was, after all, to resolve the Gate Break incident.
Thanks to the map we received from the search team, we encountered several more Tarigirion’s Branches.
“Falsehood shall become truth, and truth shall become falsehood!”
“Save your nonsense for the afterlife.”
Oops. Maybe I used a bit too much force.
I had punched it straight in the chest, and its upper body exploded with a loud bang, scattering into pieces.
A bloody mist spread across the area.
At that exact moment.
The lower half of the Tarigirion’s Branch—the only part left—shot a sinister black light into the sky.
Dark clouds instantly dyed the heavens pitch black.
An energy completely opposite to mana—negative-dimensional mana—began to surge violently.
The once-green vegetation was corrupted by the negative-dimensional mana and turned pitch black.
Screeeech! Ghostly wails echoed from every direction.
You have been exposed to Dark Mana.
Concentration speed has decreased by 10%.
You have become vulnerable to mental attacks.
…….
Cold Blood has been triggered.
The mental interference skills couldn’t break through Cold Blood.
The countless essences I had devoured so far had massively increased my resistance to mental debuffs, so I wasn’t affected in the slightest.
My teammates frowned or looked around with fear in their eyes, but thanks to the supporters from Golden Circle and Yellow Storm, their complexions quickly returned to normal.
“Well, at least we found our target.”
I casually pointed toward the center of the dark clouds.
A swirling black current was rising upward.
The group slowly advanced toward the source of the black current.
Not even the chirping of birds or the rustling of the wind could be heard.
After walking for some time, a massive altar wrapped in dark clouds finally revealed itself.
It looked remarkably similar to a ziggurat.
Ping Lei let out a low groan.
“Doesn’t this look almost identical to the 19th floor of the Tower?”
A massive structure enveloped in black currents.
The hazy silhouette was so similar to the structure we had seen back then that it triggered a strong sense of déjà vu.
“Heh, those guys called it a ‘Branch’ or something too.”
Ellen muttered with genuine curiosity.
As expected from America’s top team—they must have cleared the hidden mission on the 19th floor as well.
“It’s because they’re a sect of Klyphoth. Their affiliation is slightly different.”
The ones who had built the altar on the 19th floor were from the ‘Gaagshebla’ sect.
This time, the enemy we had to face was the Tarigirion sect.
“Junior, there must be a strategic reason for you to deliberately mention that, right?”
“The Gaagshebla sect specializes in cold energy, while Tarigirion focuses on debuffs and summoning.”
Once you knew the nature of a sect, countermeasures naturally followed.
Shin Junseok let out a short “Ah,” in understanding.
On top of the pitch-black altar stood dozens of dark mages.
Below them, an even greater number of High Orcs and Trolls had gathered—more than the total number of monsters we had defeated so far.
It looked like they had drawn in every monster in the area.
The enemy numbered in the thousands.
On the other hand, our group barely reached thirty people.
“You foolish unbelievers! How dare you trample upon this sacred ground with your filthy feet!”
A deep, resonant voice boomed from the top of the altar.
Tarigirion’s Sapling.
Unlike the ‘Branch’ rank, this elderly man wearing an ornate robe glared with the third eye on his forehead and hurled curses directly at me.
To use curses with nothing but words, without any activation phrase.
Not bad at all.
Cold Blood has been activated.
All mental curses failed to cross the wall of Cold Blood and were completely nullified.
If he had targeted someone other than me, it would have been quite entertaining.
I casually dug at my ear with my left hand.
“What is this guy even saying?”
“Y-you insolent unbeliever!!!”
The Tarigirion’s Sapling radiated murderous intent.
I snorted and turned my gaze toward Senior Kim.
“I’m counting on you, Senior.”
“Then I must do everything in my power to live up to the Guild Master’s expectations.”
Senior Kim swallowed nervously once more.
“Don’t worry. Our team trusts Mister Kim’s command ability completely.”
“I’ve never lost anything by listening to Junior. I believe this time will be the same.”
“Command us however you wish, Commander.”
Even the Rankers who had already tasted Senior Kim’s command ability set aside their pride.
This was exactly why an outstanding commander was so important.
“Ah, Goddess.”
-Have you prepared an offering?
“You already know what I’m going to say.”
-Just hearing your voice is enough for me to know what you wish to ask.
Damn it.
This was why having a sharp-witted goddess was such a pain.
“Can you block that guy’s attacks?”
I pointed at the Tarigirion’s Sapling standing in the distance.
* * *
There were nine sects of Klyphoth in total.
While each sect pursued different goals, their internal hierarchy was identical.
First came the ‘Branch’ rank—those who had only recently accepted the power of the imaginary world.
The Branch rank made up over ninety percent of any sect’s members.
Only when the power of the imaginary world rooted in one’s soul sprouted did they finally qualify as ‘Sapling’ rank.
“Hmph, nothing but insignificant worms who receive the Tower’s protection…”
Kaberg clicked his tongue.
Starting from the Sapling rank, one gained the mighty authority to twist the rules of the world itself.
The Tarigirion sect excelled in summoning and mental interference.
Although he had expended a considerable amount of power crossing over from the imaginary world through a gate to reach Earth,
Kaberg was still overwhelmingly powerful.
『Sleep a little more. Slumber a little longer. Fold your hands and lie down a little deeper.』
The imaginary world—the symmetrical counterpart to this dimension.
He manifested its power through spoken commands and poured curses upon Jinho’s party.
A powerful curse that could render its target completely helpless just by hearing it!
It was incomparably stronger than the curse he had cast on Jinho earlier as a mere greeting.
The inverted laws of the imaginary world were something no one could escape.
At that moment.
A dense darkness surged up and enveloped Jinho’s entire party.
It was the origin power of the Goddess of Night, Nyx.
The power of Polar Night spread out like a thin veil and completely absorbed Kaberg’s curses.
“You would counter the same darkness with darkness? Not a bad idea.”
Kaberg did not panic.
The power carried within his commands did not vanish so easily.
Even purification through holy relics could not completely erase Kaberg’s curses.
Even if it was some unknown darkness that had absorbed his spoken commands.
Whether it was black magic,
or power granted by a Constellation,
if its origin was ‘darkness,’ it could never surpass Kaberg.
An absolute difference in compatibility.
“What nonsense are you spouting, you who walks the path of heresy?”
If Kaberg had one misfortune,
it was that the one standing at the very apex of ‘darkness’—the Goddess of Night herself—was his opponent.
The moment Kaberg used his curse, Nyx had immediately manifested and countered his commands with the power of Polar Night.
『The flow of time is something no one can escape. All things shall wither away.』
『Place upon your brow a crown of thorns.』
Commands filled with aging and agony.
They would have been fatal curses to anyone in the party except Jinho.
“So this is why you asked me for help.”
Along with Nyx’s murmur, the surging Polar Night completely devoured Kaberg’s curses.
“Insolent fool! What kind of sorcery is this?!”
“You who have deviated from the natural order. Your darkness also originates from night. Therefore, it holds no power before me, the origin of night.”
Upon hearing Nyx’s kind explanation, Kaberg instead flew into a rage.
“You dare humiliate me!”
Laziness.
Corruption.
Confusion.
All kinds of curses poured out, but none could pierce Nyx’s Polar Night.
Instead, while Kaberg was tied down, disaster descended upon the monsters gathered below the altar.
Yellow Storm.
Mugeuk.
Golden Circle.
And the main force of Yeokcheon, including Jinho.
The four main axes rotated like perfectly meshed gears under Kim Youngsoo’s command, grinding the army of High Orcs and Trolls into dust.
Although the monsters had been strengthened by the power of the imaginary world,
they fell helplessly before the perfectly coordinated movements of the Yeokcheon Guild.
“Kurrk!”
“Guaaaargh…”
High Orcs and Trolls vomited blood as they collapsed.
The Tarigirion’s Branches tried to support the monsters, but timely attacks from the long-range dealers canceled out their efforts.
By the time Kaberg realized what was happening, two-thirds of the forces protecting the altar had already been wiped out.
“A-at this rate, I won’t be able to fulfill my mission.”
The specialty of the Tarigirion faction was curses.
However.
Not a single curse worked in front of Nyx.
He could still deploy attack magic, but with so many monsters already lost, there was no chance of victory.
Having sensed defeat, Kaberg planted the staff he had been using to support himself into the altar.
“To bear the mission given to us, there is no other way.”
The Tarigirion’s Branches who had been fighting below the altar widened their eyes in horror.
“S-Sapling, sir!”
“You must not do this!”
Kaberg ignored their cries and poured his power into the altar.
[Sacrifice of the Offering]
Rumble—!
The altar began emitting an eerie light.