135
135 ― The Upside-Down World
Just moments ago, Praysiar had been in the heavens.
Not referring to Earth's sky, but a higher, superior world. The Spirit Realm. With her roots in that place, she had been watching over Earth through the surface of a thin lake.
She had some interest in Earth. She hadn't before, but now she did. It was because of an intriguing existence she had met in the 3rd floor was there.
Conversely, aside from that existence, she had absolutely no interest. She knew it was a planet Jeraxon was passionately focused on, but she didn't know why. She couldn't empathize either.
'A filthy world with no order, only chaos.'
It wasn't because Jeraxon had ruined it. That planet had been disorderly from the beginning. A truly beautiful world meant one thoroughly managed and controlled by a divine existence. Earth had that concept, too. It was sometimes called Heaven, sometimes called Paradise.
But Earth had no such existence. There was no absolute being capable of managing an entire planet, no god. A planet swarming only with mortals appeared to her eyes in the Spirit Realm as nothing but a den of insects.
In contrast, her world was beautiful. A garden managed solely by her hands. The profusely blooming flowers were beautiful according to her thoughts, and the flowing streams and refreshing verdure were as refreshing as she desired.
'Should I clean that side up too?'
That's why the thought occurred to her. Just because it was a filthy planet didn't mean it had to remain that way forever. If someone took responsibility and cleaned it up, it could become beautiful.
If Jeraxon had succeeded, it might have become so through his power, but he died. All that remained was a disheveled planet left abandoned mid-cleaning.
If not for the intriguing existence, Kang Jin-woo, she wouldn't have even thought of continuing the cleanup herself. But once it caught her eye, motivation somehow welled up.
So she proceeded with the work, even resorting to the means of descent. Thinking that such forceful measures were necessary to complete the work quickly.
Still, she was careful never to go down directly. Even if it was scheduled to become clean in the future, it was still dirty now. A filthy bog mixed with mud, insects, and filth.
But then.
"Kuaaaaaaah!"
From the water surface where she had been watching Earth, branches of the Soul Tree burst forth. They coiled around her neck, grabbed her limbs, seized her waist, and plunged her into the water. It happened so suddenly that she was dragged down without a chance to resist.
And so she was thrust into the bog. Into the lawless lower world, she had thought she would never set foot in.
Humiliation, shame, degradation. All kinds of emotions exploded, but she couldn't even surrender herself to those emotions. Attacks from insects were pouring in from all directions. They were annoying, and more than anything, he was among the insects.
Kang Jin-woo. His sword passed through the neck of Praysiar, who had fallen into the bog.
***
'I cut her!'
There was a satisfying sensation. I definitely cut her.
Blue blood surged up from the split neck. The other Hunters' attacks weren't without damage either. With their attacks, feathers were plucked, wings were torn off, and Praysiar was becoming a complete mess.
"This is our chance! Keep attacking!"
"Break all her wings!"
Powerful firepower poured down, burning and breaking her wings. The Hunters didn't know that she had been dragged down from the Spirit Realm. To their eyes, it only appeared that an enemy who had been positioned in the air and was difficult to touch had been caught by tree roots and crashed down.
Flying monsters are threatening, but once they fall to the ground, not so much. Flying-type monsters that have fallen to the ground are much weaker than ground-type monsters. Faithful to that basic principle, they saw this as a golden opportunity. The process was wrong, but the result was the same, so there was no problem.
However, Jin-woo felt a strange sensation. No, it wasn't a sensation but certainty. He had cut the neck, but he hadn't cut the flame.
'She's still alive.'
Not only was she alive, but she hadn't taken much damage either. The crash itself was a big deal, but there was no additional damage at all.
Jin-woo hurriedly pursued her black flame. The flame, which had been as large as her massive body, had now completely shrunk and was rampaging inside her body.
'Now!'
He thrust his sword toward the flame that was rampaging here and there. Chwaak! Her torso, whether steel or carapace, was cut, and the sword touched the flame.
But he couldn't cut it. Once again, the flame evaded Jin-woo's sword and then burst out from the split torso. Paaaa― scattering bright light.
The flame that burst out with the light had a human form. A beautiful woman with turquoise hair. A beautiful goddess looking down upon the world while wrapped in light.
But it was grotesque. She didn't seem like a existence of reality. The reason was immediately apparent. There were no dark areas on her form at all.
Places covered by long hair, sleeves, and between fingers. Where there should naturally be shadows, no shadows existed. Everything was shining. Naturally, there would be no sense of reality.
[ Kang Jin-woo! And that damn Soul Tree! ]
She, who didn't seem like an existence in this world, wore an all-too-realistic expression. Even in her expression distorted by humiliation, there were no shadows, but the emotions she was spitting out were utterly real.
"Wh-what!"
"A person burst out!"
"You crazy bastard! Does that look like a person to you!"
The Hunters were momentarily flustered, but their judgment was quick. Even though she had the form of a beautiful woman, 'that thing' with absolutely no shadows was grotesque beyond measure. No matter how you looked at it, she didn't appear human.
"That's the main body!"
"Eliminate it!"
The first to strike was lightning. Was it Reinhardt? The other Hunters weren't idle either. The ground rose up, and it melted and poured down as lava. Ice shards scattered chaotically, diffusely reflecting the light Praysiar was scattering.
Among them was someone who raised thick roots to restrain Praysiar. It was Shartia. Having arrived at some point, she raised a forest and trees from the white ground, restricting Praysiar's movements.
[ Hmph. ]
Praysiar only sneered. Neither lightning nor lava nor anything could penetrate the light she wore. Shartia's trees at some point lost their nutrients and withered, dry and twisted.
[ Trying to bind me with things raised from my land. ]
Upon closer look, the white ground where the trees had been planted was dyed black. Praysiar had eroded and dyed the white ground she had once restored back.
"Kyaak!"
The light Praysiar shot out cut down the withered trees, and those trees fell. It was Shartia who screamed, but she wasn't hurt.
However, Shartia couldn't use her power as usual on the black earth. While on intact ground, she had the power to fight several S-ranks; on ground that wasn't intact, she couldn't. Her power had the vulnerability of being dependent on the state of the earth.
Similar to Ireland. Even if the situation was different, the result wasn't. Even with dozens of S-ranks rushing in, they couldn't inflict a single wound on Praysiar.
Rising into the air with the light, she looked down at the Hunters with cold eyes. Looking at Jin-woo's face among them, her icy expression broke and became utterly distorted.
[ I thought you were a somewhat interesting existence, but to dare drag me down to this place. ]
She spoke while twisting up the corners of her mouth. It was an expression that didn't look amused at all.
Jin-woo raised his sword. As mana gathered in that sword, the clouds in the sky moved. The Sorcery of God Greeting, he had learned from Kanok.
"Kang Jin-woo! Lightning doesn't work!"
Reinhardt shouted from somewhere. It was the cry of a man who had poured out countless lightning bolts, not a single one of which had worked.
'Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!'
He swallowed his indignation. He hadn't thought he would experience such emotional fluctuation at this age. That's how tremendous his sense of powerlessness was.
'Again after Ireland.'
He had thought he'd reached the top upon becoming an S-rank Hunter. Though still insufficient to be called the pinnacle, he had thought he'd reached a sufficient level as a man.
Even the Dragons of the 5th floor didn't take his lightning lightly. That didn't mean he had ever defeated a Dragon 1-on-1, but he was threatening enough. He had thought that if there were just three people like him, even a Dragon would be easy.
There was no one to block him anymore. Except for S-ranks stronger than himself.
That confidence was first shattered during the Ireland incident. And today was the second time.
[ You think that will work? ]
Praysiar also sneered. She no longer spoke in honorifics. This was much better. She was more human now than when they met in the 3rd floor. Though that wouldn't be a compliment to her.
'Lightning descending from above doesn't work.'
Ordinary attacks didn't work. In Earth's sky, there was no lightning capable of defiling her light.
But Jin-woo had one more sky. The seed he had taken from Jeraxon, who had been called the God of Sky.
That itself was a world. It harbored a vast sky no less than this Earth. Wasn't that Jeraxon also sealed inside this, unaware of anything?
He released the power of the seed. Centered on Jin-woo, the world unfolded again.
At that moment, heaven and earth flipped. Only two people in this place clearly felt it. Jin-woo and Praysiar.
Only an extremely small number of the other S-ranks noticed the strange signs. Reinhardt, who had been chewing on his sense of powerlessness until just now, knew that Jin-woo had done 'something'. But he didn't know what it was.
Shartia, who had watched Jin-woo and the World Tree he had raised, felt something similar. What she noticed was a bit more than Reinhardt, probably because she had known Jin-woo longer. But she too hadn't sensed it clearly.
In the end, everyone was off stage. Most of the S-ranks didn't even notice the stage itself. Only Reinhardt and Shartia felt a sense of incongruity.
On stage were Jin-woo and Praysiar.
[ You don't tell me... ]
The world flipped centered on Jin-woo. Praysiar, who had originally been in the air, was now beneath Jin-woo's feet. Above her, the sky unfolded from Jin-woo's hand. Along with ominous dark clouds.
'Sorcery of God Greeting.'
For Goblins, lightning itself was an object of terror, and at the same time a benefactor who brought fire. Therefore, they worshipped lightning as a god and left behind this sorcery.
The sky Jin-woo unfolded contained a different energy from ordinary skies. The power of the seed. The power of erosion. Originally, it had been to deceive the imprisoned Jeraxon, but now it was used to create stronger lightning.
Kwaaaaaa-kwaaang!
The sword Jin-woo finally brought down was imbued with black lightning.
[ Bl-...! Kyaaaaaaak! ]
At that moment, she tried to condense light to block it, but Jin-woo's sword all too easily cut through the light and left a large wound on her body. From shoulder to waist. It was an injury severe enough that her body splitting wouldn't be strange.