Demon Worshipper (3)
“It’s a secret just between you and me, sis. You get it, right?”
As I laid down the threat, Seol-ah noona nodded with a reluctant expression.
“O-Our little secret…… Yeah!”
What had happened was simple.
Sword Intent: Meteor Shower had blanketed all of Yeouido, annihilating the corrupted B-class hunter Park Chang-seok in the process.
Of course, it couldn’t get out that I was the one who wielded that power.
I have to keep it hidden.
Hiding things wasn’t really my style, but……
Demon worshipers had appeared.
They were the trigger that led the world of Raise a Sword to destruction.
Fucking bastards.
That’s why I had to conceal my identity until I’d built up enough strength.
Because—
‘Four seconds.’
First Sword, Reinhardt Euclid.
[4/100] was four hours in the Tower.
But outside, it was merely four seconds.
Even with momentary omnipotence, four seconds didn’t leave much room for action.
What happens after those four seconds pass?
I needed to prepare for what came next.
“Master must grow to fully wield my power.”
I was still lacking.
It wasn’t wrong.
‘I’m just a level 2 who awakened yesterday.’
On top of that, I hadn’t fully absorbed all the insights from the swords yet.
Anyway, as I sorted through these scattered thoughts, I finished giving my statement to the Awakener Management Agency staff as an ordinary employee.
Thanks to Seol-ah noona’s cooperation, we were able to head home without a shred of suspicion.
Before going back……
“……”
Seol-ah noona looked at me with a strange glint in her eyes.
I knew that expression meant astonishment.
Her close junior, who’d just awakened yesterday, had suddenly summoned a massive sword and obliterated a villain—what’s not to be shocked about?
“Pretty cool, right?”
I asked for her thoughts on my sword.
She leaned back slightly and murmured, “Yeah……”
Then she smoothly changed the subject.
“Secret’s safe with me. Promise kept.”
She was still too embarrassed to praise my sword outright.
“Thanks.”
I smirked and nodded.
That smile carried my own resolve.
It’d be tough handling a bomb like demon worshipers all by myself.
I’d hide my identity, but their existence needed to be known.
“How long do you plan to keep this a secret? I know you’re not the type to do anything reckless, but……”
I cut off Seol-ah noona and got straight to the point.
“That bastard Park Chang-seok was a demon worshiper.”
“A demon worshiper?”
The corruption of B-class mage Park Chang-seok had been bizarre.
When a mage corrupts, they become a black mage.
That was the truth in Raise a Sword.
But on Earth, it was different.
‘Corrupted and using power outside gates in the real world?’
If that was the absolute nature of corruption, the world wouldn’t be as safe as it seemed.
Her father, Kang Mu-jin—a noble, upright prosecutor favored by the Patriot……
‘He can at least prepare the minimum defenses.’
After this explanation, Seol-ah noona tilted her head.
“Is it okay for Dad to know your identity?”
“I’ve met him a few times.”
Chief Prosecutor Kang Mu-jin.
He was a true gentleman and sage.
The fact that he had the Patriot’s favor said it all.
Chief prosecutor was just a title; the power he wielded could make the president pale in comparison.
‘He’d win the presidency in a landslide if he ran.’
His public approval was sky-high.
That’s why I could trust him.
“It’s like we’ve stumbled into some secret society all of a sudden…… What the hell did you awaken as—?”
“Sword Master. That’s my class.”
With that, I left the agency.
“Seol-ah, that eunuch bastard…… awakened as a Transcendent, is that what you’re saying?”
Chief Prosecutor Kang Mu-jin.
He was so flabbergasted by his daughter’s words that he was at a loss for them.
Shin Si-woo, his daughter Kang Seol-ah’s same-year colleague at work.
And……
‘Eunuch bastard.’
Kang Mu-jin’s daughter was a stunning beauty by any standard.
She had her mother’s delicate features as a baseline, plus consistent workouts and meticulous self-care.
Naturally, as a father, he was strict about her guy problems.
But Shin Si-woo was different.
“Hello! I’m Shin Si-woo, Seol-ah’s colleague!”
Kang Mu-jin recalled the first time he met Shin Si-woo.
Tall stature, handsome features.
And a fairly solid build to boot.
Standing next to Seol-ah, they looked like a perfect match.
A young man who inexplicably earned his favor.
“Dad, I’m gonna grab a drink with Si-woo!”
From that day on, Kang Mu-jin gave Shin Si-woo a free pass.
A pass to hang out with his daughter, that is.
The guy was a real keeper.
“10 PM…… Right on the dot.”
Kang Mu-jin, axe in hand as he waited for his daughter’s return, witnessed the man’s admirable side.
No matter how drunk Seol-ah got, he’d bring her home precisely at 10 PM.
At first, he loved it.
But……
‘Eunuch bastard.’
He hadn’t expected it to last five straight years.
Shin Si-woo seemed to see Kang Seol-ah purely as a close noona.
Yet he subtly left openings, making him a sly one for sure.
Like this.
“Dad! Don’t call him a eunuch! Words have power, you know?”
Thirty-year-old Kang Seol-ah.
Shin Si-woo was the one who’d kept his daughter single and chaste for over five years.
And yet she defended the guy.
Kang Mu-jin grudgingly got to the point.
“So, Park Chang-seok was a demon worshiper, and his corruption caused all this mess?”
“Yeah.”
His chest felt heavy.
In Yeouido, 126 casualties including civilians and soldiers.
The mage had targeted the Awakener Management Agency, which kept the damage to that level—if he’d aimed for a massacre, it would’ve been at least 1,000 dead.
“A B-class Awakener suddenly wielding Transcendent-level power. We didn’t even know the cause…… How does that guy know all this? What did he awaken as?”
Kang Seol-ah handed over Shin Si-woo’s file.
[Shin Si-woo: Swordsman / A-class Hunter]
Awakening details and basic personal info were listed.
Practically blank.
“You wiped it?”
“Yeah. Si-woo asked me to keep it secret.”
“But it’s okay to tell me?”
“Yep.”
Kang Seol-ah recited Shin Si-woo’s class and awakening background.
Kang Mu-jin clenched his fist tightly as he listened.
“Raise a Sword?”
“He said he became the master of the swords he raised…… I don’t know the details. This huge sword appeared, and Park Chang-seok just vanished.”
“No one knew he’d been playing that game?”
“Nope. I first heard it when he registered as an Awakener! I was floored……”
Shin Si-woo was Korea’s second SSS-class Awakener.
An unprecedented one who awakened directly as a Transcendent.
‘Someone we absolutely have to protect—but—.’
Kang Mu-jin trembled with rage.
Now he knew why his daughter had been kept single for five years.
“He’s a natural Awakener too, so he must’ve been nuts about something somewhere.”
“Who’d have thought it was a game about raising murderous blades.”
Father and daughter exchanged deep sighs.
“You okay with this?”
“Honestly? I’m fine as is.”
Kang Seol-ah smirked.
Things with Si-woo were good enough as they were.
‘Who has time for dating in a world that could end any day?’
Truth be told, she wasn’t interested in romance.
Yet everyone nagged her about it.
Especially her dad.
—No interest in dating, right?
—You too?
—Let’s stay close, then.
Shin Si-woo felt the same.
They were the perfect wholesome duo in everyone’s eyes.
So they stuck together on purpose to dodge the matchmaking busybodies.
‘Though Si-woo was just obsessed with swords—.’
That was fine, but……
Kang Seol-ah had a different issue.
‘That sword he drew was terrifying.’
The massive greatsword Si-woo had wielded.
It vanished in seconds, but that brief glimpse instilled real fear in her.
The hypothesis was that an Awakener’s power scaled with their trial’s intensity—if true, Si-woo had endured something insanely dense.
“Raise a Sword—a game that shut down on Steam ten years ago. The fact that he was the only one playing it on PC while everyone used WorldNet……”
Anyway, they’d reached a conclusion.
No info on the game Shin Si-woo played.
But he wasn’t the lying type, so—
“Get him a license for solo gate raids. Until the Patriot returns, I’ll look into it myself.”
As expected……
Noona’s the best.
I smiled contentedly at the small card in my hand.
There were only about 300 A-class hunters in Korea.
No matter how high your awakening rank, jumping straight to A-class was rare.
‘Gates are that brutal.’
Not the public gates with goblins and such.
The [public gates] accessible from the agency basement were for gaining experience.
I meant the [Red Gates] eroding the world.
‘What took my parents.’
[Red Gates] scaled in difficulty by size.
Even the smallest ones were too much for a typical hunter solo.
With sky-high mortality, the government tightly controlled entry to preserve hunters.
You needed a stable party and approval.
Not me, though—.
The hunter license from Seol-ah noona.
A-class rating with a “solo raid permission” stamp.
Only natural treatment.
‘I’m basically a quasi-Transcendent.’
I drove straight to the Goyang area.
To raise my small, precious “baby sword.”
Corruption leading to Transcendent-like power outside gates wasn’t normal.
I needed to get stronger, fast.
Vroom—.
“Brutal.”
A blood-red sea came into view.
On a normal road, right next to Seoul, a crimson ocean sprawled.
An eerie sight.
Yet familiar.
‘Erosion.’
Goyang City was fully eroded.
Spewing endless gates, expanding its domain—one of Korea’s biggest headaches.
“Sir! Hunter ID check, please!”
Soldiers blocking the road stopped my car.
I showed the license.
“Solo raid……”
The soldier’s eyes widened as he muttered.
Like he was looking at a war hero.
‘Solo permission is special.’
Moments later, he handed it back with crisp military precision.
Solid discipline.
“Entry approved!”
I was a hunter now.
It was starting to sink in.
Look at that respectful gaze.
Not every hunter got that.
“Solo raid permission” meant you were flawless in character and devoted enough to tackle gates alone for the country.
‘Great pay, respect……’
Though you died easy too.
Anyway, the attention felt weirdly good.
I parked and headed into Goyang’s red sea.
Woooong———.
Eerie resonances echoed from all sides.
The [Red Gates] luring hunters.
‘It’s really pulling me in.’
If I just wanted levels, the Tower would do.
But that wouldn’t grow my [baby sword].
Levels might rise, but……
‘No real experience.’
Conquering Tower floor 1 had triggered the “baby sword” growth message.
Meaning I had to swing it myself, like the NPCs in Raise a Sword.
Swing the sword.
Fight together.
‘The key to fastest sword growth.’
I stepped onto the red sea near Goyang.
In eroded Goyang, you could walk on water.
Among the countless floating gates, I picked a smaller one and leaped in.
Fwoosh!
Entered the Red Sea.
I’d entered the gate.
Why pick Goyang’s? Simple—tons of info available.
‘A sea that isn’t a sea.’
Shwaaaaa———.
Waves crashed from all directions.
Yet I stood on solid ground.
Like Jesus parting the Red Sea?
Seas flowed skyward to my left and right.
I walked the path between them.
Gripping my small, precious baby sword.
Everything was red.
The Red Sea was the mother gate eroding Goyang.
So this small gate followed its rules too.
The enemy here? The sea.
Precisely, monsters formed from surging water jets.
‘Snakes will pour from the sea.’
I expanded my senses.
Not as sharp as with First Sword Reinhardt, but……
‘I can feel them.’
A perfected swordsman’s senses dwelled in me.
My goal: hone them until my body adapted fully.
Method: simple.
‘Like the final sword.’
This time, raise the [baby sword].
No mimicking the brutal blade I made as a kid for fun.
So I gripped the sword upright, stance pure.
Splash———.
A sound.
Water jet surging behind me.
I turned.
Kieeeek——!!!
A snake emerged from the sea.
Made of viscous red water.
Countless ones.
I stepped forward without hesitation.
And swung.
Splash—! Slash!!
The snake shredded.
My sword stained red with the sea.
Small gate, so not too tough.
‘Manageable.’
I swung relentlessly, walking the parted Red Sea path.
At the end lurked whatever sustained this gate.
After a bit, a massive coiled serpent silhouette appeared ahead.
‘The core maintaining this gate.’
Like a boss monster.
Before the showdown, I readied my sword.
But……
‘My baby sword!!!’
My small, precious baby sword had turned red.
The Red Sea’s hue was thicker than expected?
I tried to wipe it clean.
“Wahhh!!! I’m hungry!”
But……
Suddenly, the baby sword made a weird noise!!!
‘Self-aware from the start?’
As I tilted my head……
Sizzle———.
The blade absorbed the red liquid coating it.
Then an unbelievable message appeared.
Fwoosh!
The baby sword has feasted on human blood.
The baby sword has familiarized itself with a completed knight’s swordsmanship.
Baby sword alignment — Good 50 : Evil 50 / Chaos
Messages from Raise a Sword when a sword matures.
‘Not the direction I intended—.’
Nothing infuriated me more than botching a sword’s training due to NPC errors.
I’d done the same.
But……
‘Chaos alignment?’
My heart raced.
Apparently, my final sword—
The “baby sword” had its own growth path.
Fwoosh!
Choose the sword’s path.
1. Chaos
2. Extreme Evil
3. Extreme Good