The Soul-Calling Art of Summoning Gods
The place I arrived at after walking was none other than the Temple of the Sun, located on Erytheia.
Originally, it was a place that worshipped only Helios, the master of the Red Island, Erytheia, and the original Sun God, but now it was a place that worshipped Apollo as well.
"Is what I asked for prepared?"
"Yes! Oh, God!"
A live pig.
An incense burner forged from bronze.
Even clean paper and a pen.
"Good, you've worked hard."
It might be simple, but this was enough to achieve what I wanted.
"P-please, take back your words!"
"Everything we do for the one who leads us is merely a joy!"
The giants, who bowed their heads repeatedly, overwhelmed by my gratitude, retreated. Antaios, who had been standing blankly behind me, asked cautiously.
"Um, Great God. Why on earth did you ask for these things to be prepared?"
"Ah, these? It's nothing. I just thought I should use the Bang-sul (Taoist art) instead of the Ma-gong (Demonic Arts) for the first time in a while."
"Magic!? By any chance, Dianes, do you have a deep knowledge of magic as well?!"
"A little."
Originally, the arts of sorcery and Bang-sul were already in decline in the Murim world where I was active, barely maintaining their lineage.
In particular, the Udo-bang (Righteous Path), the orthodox school of Taoist magic, had its origins extinguished in the present world long ago, making it almost a legendary tale.
Even the Bang-sul practitioners of the Jwado-bang (Leftist Path), who were barely keeping the lineage alive within the Demonic Cult, were not mobilized unless showmanship was needed, due to their instability compared to their effectiveness and the excessive preparations and sacrifices required.
'Even so, there was a monster who rose to the position of Cult Leader using only sorcery and Bang-sul...'
That monster was the Shin-i-jae-gwi (The God Who Returned).
It is said that in his lifetime, he turned the sky upside down and made the earth rise to conquer the main mountain, and even buried all the empires of the desert beyond the mountain under the sand.
It is said that after his death, a true Bang-sul practitioner could no longer be found in the Cult.
Of course, to me, he was just a crazy magic-obsessed guy who kept talking about the Twelve Palaces and the Eight Trigrams even while being nagged by the other Twelve Divine Demons...
"Now, help me with the preparations."
"As you command."
Antaios lifted the prepared luggage and entered the temple first. The Temple of the Sun, which I entered following his guidance, was, how should I put it—it was pure, unadulterated waste of money.
"Ugh..."
Gold, gold, and more gold.
Wherever I looked, there was only gold.
A sun made of gold, murals made of gold.
Among them, the absolute pinnacle of eyesores was none other than the massive statue of Apollo erected in the center of the temple.
"People come and bow to that and offer tributes?"
A detestable face that looked exquisitely arrogant, unnecessarily detailed physical depiction, and Greek-style clothing that looked like it would flow down at any moment.
The golden statue of Apollo, placed next to a baby deer symbolizing purity and a bow and arrow representing his divinity as the god of the hunt.
'Should I have put a hole in his face instead of his stomach?'
Seeing the state of the temple, which was the absolute pinnacle of waste, such thoughts came naturally.
However, apart from that, seeing the massive spiritual energy circulating, similar to the Great Temple of Aphrodite in Acrocorinth, I had at least found the right place.
"The hard work starts now."
-Thud!
At my gesture, the bronze incense burner that Antaios brought was placed exactly in the center of the temple. I looked around the unnecessarily flamboyant temple and roughly gauged the flow of the earth veins and spiritual energy.
"Hmm... Good. Antaios, the pen and papyrus."
"H-here it is. But, what on earth are you trying to do..."
"I told you. I have to ask for forgiveness from the god who committed the rudeness."
However, since the person in question ran away to his lair before I could do anything, I had no choice but to drag him out by force.
"Chu-hon (Chasing the Soul), chasing the soul. Seop-hon (Seizing the Soul), binding the soul. So-hon (Summoning the Soul), calling out the soul."
-Whoosh!
-Whiz!
As I flicked my finger, a pitch-black fire burned in the brazier, and at the same time, along with the sound of a whistle, all the lights in the temple faded as if they had been robbed of their brilliance.
And it wasn't just the light that faded.
Despite it being the dawn of daybreak, the temperature inside the temple, which was warm as if it had entered the sunlight of noon, dropped in an instant, and a chilling energy began to bloom as if we had entered a ghost lair.
My divine power, which had already trampled and conquered Apollo once, caused even the Sun God's divine land to surrender and begin to fill the place with my energy instead.
"...Dianes, are you sure this is okay?"
"It's fine. In fact, it's the best."
Antaios asked me anxiously, as if he felt something ominous, but I was on the verge of laughing at the situation, which was too easy.
'Originally, I had to struggle and calculate for hours to chase the soul of even a very small evil spirit...'
I was even worried by the fact that everything was being solved smoothly, starting with swallowing the center of the divine land.
'Is this the age of myth, where gods are alive and primordial spiritual energy is in full bloom...!'
Suppressing my fresh admiration, I carefully reached out toward the flickering black flame in front of me.
This black flame was one of my powers, so to speak, blooming due to my Shin-ma-gi (Divine Demonic Energy).
It wouldn't burn even a single piece of fluff if I didn't want it to, but if I commanded it, it was a hellfire that wouldn't stop until the opponent's soul burned, no matter who they were.
"That's why there's nothing better suited for the art of finding and dragging out the opponent who needs to be burned."
-Whoosh!
Like a puppy begging for food, I pulled out the energy I had gathered in the corner of my Dantian toward the black flame that licked and tickled my hand.
The energy I pulled up was none other than the divine power of Apollo that I had absorbed earlier on the sheep island.
I gathered that divine power, which was now almost absorbed, and the golden arrow that remained in my body, that is, the divine power of sunlight.
And.
"O-on-wi-pa-gong (Five Aggregates Breaking Wave Art) - Saek-on-man-byeon (Form Aggregates Transformation)."
-Shhh...!
I drew it out with the Wi-pa-gong, which encompasses all the tangible and intangible energies of the universe.
-Pop, pop-pop!
"...Is that, by any chance, Apollo's divine power?"
"Ugh... To be precise, I should say it's divine power sublimated into gold."
While shivering at the strange feeling as if the particles in my blood vessels were being sucked out, I, like Antaios, could not help but admire it inwardly.
Just as Artemis's divine power turned into silver powder in Paphos last time, Apollo's divine power crystallized and took on the appearance of gold dust.
The sight of intangible energy turning into tangible matter.
It was even mysterious, as if watching a strange miracle recorded in myths or scriptures.
-Whoosh! Whoosh!
The black flame greedily swallowed the gold dust falling to my fingertips, and seeing the energy inside the brazier becoming stronger, I guessed that the time had come.
"Antaios, step back five paces and prepare for any possible shock."
"Yes? Ah... Yes!"
Confirming that Antaios had definitely stepped back, I unfolded the scroll that had been lying next to me into the air with telekinesis.
-Swish!
'...It's not Great Imperial Paper, but this papyrus is even better?'
All the rivers of Greece were springs and rivers protected by water gods, ruled by the daughters of Oceanus, and all the land and the plants on it were under the care of the goddess Demeter and the minor spirits, the nymphs, beneath her.
Papyrus grown on such land is naturally full of spiritual energy, and when it is refined into paper, it is refined with water and sincerity, not fire.
When setting up a formation by carving spells like this, it was truly the optimal divine object.
"A divine land to call a god, a divine altar to call a god."
Originally, the Red Island, Erytheia, was a land where the sun sets and a land where the sun rests, making it a very meaningful divine land for the sun and moon.
And a temple full of spiritual power built on that divine land.
However, that temple had already fallen into the hands of a demon, and the vessel that received the god's divine power and spiritual power began to fill with darkness and reflect the abyss.
[Divine blood to bind the god, divine jade to seal the god.]
I lifted one index finger, wrapped it in sharp energy, cut the carotid artery of my wrist, and scattered fresh blood toward the papyrus.
-Splatter!
[ईश्वरं आह्वयति द्वारं भव। ईश्वरं बध्नाति पाशः भव। ईश्वरं कारागारं करिष्यति इति जेडः भव।....]
The old divine language of the Heavenly Regions (India), which no one remembers anymore, not even in the original Potala.
The Am-ryeong-cho-wol-bak-hon-jin (Dark Spirit Transcendence Soul-Binding Formation) of the Shin-i-jae-gwi, which was created by twisting and modifying this, was activated.
The blood scattered in the air permeated the papyrus, carving the spell, and the papyrus with the spell carved on it shone pitch-black, announcing that the preparations were complete.
Finally, forming a seal, I blew Shin-ma-gi (Divine Demonic Energy) toward the black flame and declared.
[अधुना तं मम पुरतः आनयतु!]
-Kwooooo!
Then, the black flame filled the formation surrounding the brazier, and a pitch-black void opened its mouth.
[Gyaaaaaa!]
A terrible scream, as if heard from hell, echoed through the temple.
"No way. No way...!"
"Antaios, it's too early to be surprised."
The scream of a man echoing from beyond the pitch-black void.
With that voice, which seemed to be resisting with all its might as if it wouldn't go, and the ray of divinity and brilliance felt beyond the pitch-black void, Antaios must have also intuited where that end was connected.
"Step back ten paces and prepare for battle. If the sorcery cannot win, you will crush it with your power."
"Yes, yes!"
As Antaios retreated, the Bak-hon-jin (Soul-Binding Formation) began to fluctuate toward the god who was resisting without responding to my call.
"...Yes, bring him. The god who defies the command of a god. Before me."
-Ping! Ping! Ping!
As I nodded and commanded, a pitch-black rope stretched out from the formation beyond the pitch-black void and shot out like an arrow.