Chapter 113
Seong-Hwi had been observing the battle, aiming for the perfect chance to kill-steal the exhausted boss Chaos, and did not miss the opportunity once it arrived. First, he operated the Wings of Evolution, of which there were now six, and used the secondary force he newly obtained.
[Converting Destiny Force to Demon Force.]
It wasn’t just any Demon Force, but the Demon Force extracted from the Second Fiend’s genes. The Wings of Evolution were dyed pitch black, and white pentagrams gathered to form the veins, resembling a constellation.
So, this is Demon Force... Its ferocity and wickedness surpass Draconic Mana, Seong-Hwi thought.
Next, he activated the trait, Natural Enemy of Chaos, to boost his attack by fifty percent, drew the Penetrating Spear on the Chasing Bow, enveloped the spear with Rust of Ruin, and fired it. The Rust of Ruin impaired Adolf’s Nuclear Reactor Heart, and one arrow was all it took to kill a defenseless foe.
“Ahaha! Crazy son of a bitch! He seriously did it!” Yuri shouted as he burst into laughter.
“Hah! I’d love to examine his brain to see what makes him so insane,” Enrique mumbled as he shook his head.
Taizet and Seriel were also dumbfounded.
“Kik! Kikik! Did he just... steal our kill?” Taizet said.
“Cough! Is that... a fairy?” Seriel wondered as he stared at the man with six blade-like wings on his back.
But something feels different. This energy is... Demon Force? he thought as he stared at Seong-Hwi in confusion.
“Kik... Huh?” Taizet also felt the Demon Force Seong-Hwi was exuding, but his reaction was nothing like Seriel’s.
This aura... This Demon Force... I’ve felt it somewhere before... Gasp!
He recalled the terror he had felt from the individual he had met only once, but could never forget until his dying breath.
“C-could it be... the Supreme One?”
The unchallenged first place in the demon ranking, third in the world ranking, the Supreme Demon God! Taizet shouted inwardly.
“H-how could you be here? W-was this dungeon your territory? I-I didn’t know! I had no idea!” Taizet continued to make excuses as he trembled uncontrollably. “Are you watching me through that toy? I beg of you... Please forgive me!”
“Cough! What are you talking about?” Seriel said as he stared at Taizet.
However, Taizet immediately ran away, unbefitting his position as an archdemon. Krypta’s body crumbled once Taizet left it, and the Demonic Sword Fatum fell lifelessly.
What just happened? Did he mistake me for one of Curiositas’s servants? Seong-Hwi wondered.
Taizet’s response became a lesson that he shouldn’t use Demon Force around demons. At that moment, the same Akasha Message appeared before everyone in the mass incubation room.
[Death of the second-in-command, confirmed.]
[Commencing decay of the Chaos Nuclear Reactor, the energy source of Weishaupt Research Institute, due to a lack of control.]
[Radioactivity levels soaring.]
[198 Sv/h.]
[220 Sv/h.]
[280 Sv/h.]
...
Seong-Hwi and the others expressed shock. The end of the world was approaching.
***
“Retreat! Enrique, take point! Guide everyone down the shortest route to the exit! Leo! Take Onie Yuki!” Seong-Hwi quickly ordered.
“What about you?” Frank asked.
“I still have something to do here. I’ll be right behind you, so go.”
“Dammit, you’d better be! You’re our only healer now!”
Seong-Hwi’s teammates sprinted toward the mass incubation room vents. Once Seong-Hwi confirmed they had left, his eyes sank deeply. He turned around and stared at Saurix of Clan Gliders, Charles Borromeo of the Golden Cross Knights, and the fourth-grade angel Seriel.
“Hoot! Dammit! Cough! I have to... escape!”
“Huff! Huff! Damn it... all!”
“Ahhh! O Almighty God of Heaven! I’ve failed you!”
Seong-Hwi approached the barely standing Seriel.
“Cough! Fairy! There isn’t much time! Find the Elixir hidden somewhere in this dungeon! I must offer it to the God of Heaven!” Seriel said.
“The Elixir? I already found it.”
“Really? Cough! Ahhh! What a relief. Help me up. I must get out of here!” Seriel commanded as if it were natural that an inferior race would do whatever a superior race told them.
A corner of Seong-Hwi’s mouth rose from the nonchalant arrogance, and his eyes flashed with bloodlust. The voice of a filthy serial killer, trembling with the pleasure that the superior race’s life was in his hands, echoed throughout Seong-Hwi’s head.
“Ahhh! This is it! The strong has become the weak, and the predator has become the prey! This is... exhilarating!”
Seong-Hwi charged at Seriel and stabbed his heart with the Zanaka Karambit.
“Kurgh! B-bastard!” Seriel’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“You must have gotten so used to life at the top that you’re oblivious to the nature of those at the bottom. We inferior races don’t hesitate to pounce on whatever chance we’re given! After all, any chance might be our last.”
Seong-Hwi pulled out the Zanaka Karambit from Seriel’s chest and then beheaded him.
[You defeated an enemy of superior caliber.]
[10,058,080 Karma obtained.]
[Black Quest: Pleasure of Killing, cleared.]
[Permanently borrowing the destiny of Richard Ramirez, Devil of Los Angeles.]
Seong-Hwi’s lips quivered as he read the Akasha Messages. He was overflowing from head to toe with ecstasy from killing a superior race. He had never felt such a filthy orgasm.
This is dangerous, he thought.
He was sure his psyche had been severely corrupted. He only used to kill when necessary, but now he understood the taste of killing for pleasure.
Seong-Hwi took deep breaths to quell his ecstasy and grabbed Seriel’s head. Now that his halo was gone, he looked no different from a human. He also took the Demonic Sword Fatum, picked one of Krypta’s vertebrae from his remains, and fastened it to his arm.
His action of collecting parts of corpses would seem like a murderer collecting totems or souvenirs to remember their victims and relive the control they felt at the time. However, to Seong-Hwi, they were nothing but materials to feed his Wings of Evolution.
“I’m not picky when it comes to a feast,” Seong-Hwi said as he turned to the other two men, looking up at him in shock.
He had no vendetta against them, but they were both High Rankers with a significant accumulation of caliber. They were too charming as prey to leave behind.
This dungeon has made me realize that I need more power. Enough to trailblaze my destiny and the destiny of humanity! For that, I will do whatever it takes!
[3,212,900 Karma obtained.]
[2,554,155 Karma obtained.]
...
[Heightening the caliber of Health.]
[Heightening the caliber of Dexterity.]
[Heightening the caliber of Magic.]
...
***
“Yeah—!”
“We won!”
“Humanity did it! We finally reclaimed a city in the fourth zone!”
They were in the main conference hall of the National Assembly Building in Yeouido. Hundreds of seats were laid out in a semicircle, and Remy Martin stood on a red platform in the center. A giant spider was dead at the level of his feet.
“The pioneering faction has emerged victorious! Be proud! We have written history!”
“Yeah—!”
“Woo—!”
Over ten thousand people cheered as they stomped their feet to their heartbeat. Just then, Akasha Messages appeared before every human in the Mirror World.
[The race Human has reclaimed a city in the fourth zone.]
[Upregulating the value of the race Human.]
[Humanity is judged capable of handling more lives and destinies.]
[Commencing Lost-All.]
[Day 1: 50,000,000 individuals of the race Human will be Lost to the Mirror World from the dimension Earth.]
[Bestowing Race Quest: Adjustment to all individuals of the race Human.]
...
[Adjustment (Race Quest)
Rank: —
Description: A race quest given only to the race Human. Help the humans who will be Lost to the Mirror World throughout the next 7 days. Rewards will be paid based on rank, calculated by one’s contribution during 150 days.]
The Lost-All, which had occurred several years faster than Seong-Hwi’s past life, stirred humanity.
***
[Current Chaos radiation level: 289 Sv/h.]
[300 Sv/h.]
[440 Sv/h.]
[530 Sv/h.]
[1,100 Sv/h.]
...
1 Sv/h (Sievert per hour) caused one to feel nausea within several hours. 2 Sv/h was enough to cause serious radiation poisoning. One could survive from 4 Sv/h exposure with immediate medical attention, but they would likely die within thirty days. Exposure to 8 Sv/h would kill someone within several hours, but those in the Mirror World could survive much higher radiation levels for much longer.
The maximum radiation level detected during the Chernobyl disaster was 300 Sv/h, and it was 530 Sv/h for the Fukushima disaster. Not even an individual with high stats could handle 1,100 Sv/h. However, even in such radiation hell, one man walked as if on a stroll through Weishaupt Research Institute.
“Interesting. How very interesting. It is rare to find such an interesting specimen these days,” the man said.
His black, silky hair reached his waist, and he was abnormally pale. Although his left eye was black and his right eye was green, what stood out the most were the two curved horns, like those of a sheep, growing from his temples. He was Curiositas.
“Cheon Seong-Hwi... I like him. He’s bold and goal-oriented. Such individuals are always fun to observe.”
Curiositas recalled his first impression of Seong-Hwi. Although the caliber Curiositas had emitted was merely at an unconscious level, Seong-Hwi still attacked him under that immense pressure. Not many in the Mirror World were capable of such a feat.
His shining eyes were resolved for death—no, he was not even thinking of death. They had been so dazzling that Curiositas wished he had pulled them out to keep for himself.
“Just from that, one would think he is impulsive, but... his actions show that he is also rational.”
Curiositas had been watching what Seong-Hwi had done in the mass incubation room. Based on his observations, he concluded that Seong-Hwi possessed both a rational and an impulsive side—a contradictory and representative trait of the human race. In that sense, Seong-Hwi was more human than most.
“And above all...” Curiositas trailed off as he raised his right hand, which was still scorched black. “How exciting. What a powerful curse. Who is it? Who has marked you? Whose protection are you under?!”
The lock on Seong-Hwi had canceled Curiositas’s skill, Memory Tracking, the ability to read one’s memories. On top of that, the curse planted in the lock had engulfed his right hand.
A curse that works against even me, number one in the demon ranking! I’m positive it is at least an S-rank skill.
Curiositas severed his right hand with his left. A new right hand grew from the stump, but it was also scorched black.
“My, my... This will take a long time to lift. Perhaps I should have taken one of the Elixirs for myself.”
As he walked down the corridor, he stopped and stared at the two water tanks across the destroyed door of the director’s room. Inside were two babies, sleeping peacefully, knowing nothing of the outside world.
“Honorable S.G., they may be imitations, but your legacies will live on.”
[Closing Dungeon: Research in Progress.]
...
Curiositas vanished without a trace.
***
“Huuu... How much longer do we have to stay locked up in here?” Frank mumbled as he looked around.
He, Leo, Enrique, Sonya, Yuri Nazakov, Onie Yuki, and Seong-Hwi were detained in a large room. They had escaped the dungeon with all their might, flying out of the fountain in the eastern plaza. The dungeon was closed soon after, so the birdfolk, undead, angels, and demons waiting for the results were naturally outraged that only seven humans made it out.
Seong-Hwi and the others were detained to investigate the illogical result by Penna, the birdfolk society.
“At least they treated us. What else can we do but wait?” Yuri remarked nonchalantly.
“Dude, don’t you understand our lives are at risk?”
“What’s that gonna change? Do you have some way we can escape Pollon Nest?”
“We could get in touch with a Black Market warp gate user and—”
“Forget it. That’ll brand us as real criminals. Seong-Hwi said he has a winning move, so let’s be patient,” Enrique interjected.
When they were on the verge of being oppressed by the birdfolk of Penna, Seong-Hwi had shouted, “I demand a fair trial by the Sēmen, the great race conference! We swear to reveal truthfully everything that happened in the dungeon!”
The dungeon excavation was sensitive because it could escalate to a clash between angels and demons. In the midst of that, the human demanded the Sēmen’s involvement. Because the birdfolk society could face irreversible backlash if they oppressed the humans after that, they were forced to keep Seong-Hwi and the others in a room instead of a prison until the Sēmen decided on an appropriate measure.
“You’re sure you have a plan, right, Seong-Hwi?” Frank asked.
Seong-Hwi, his eyes closed, answered, “Who knows?”
“Whoa, whoa. Don’t even joke around like that. If you don’t, they’ll take everything from us, and that’s the best-case scenario.”
Seong-Hwi opened his eyes and turned to Leo. “You have those well-hidden, right, Leo?”
“Of course,” Leo responded as he patted Rhodes’s head.
The lion Rhodes, in the form of a shield, retched as he purred.
“Keep your mouths shut once the emissary from the Sēmen arrives. I’ll be speaking as our representative. Is that okay, Onie Yuki?” Seong-Hwi asked as he turned to Yuki, who was mostly healed.
She stared at him and nodded. “Let’s see what you can do.”
“It’s nothing special... From my expectations, the Sēmen will likely send—”
Just then, a knock interrupted Seong-Hwi. A beautiful woman with light pink hair, eyes, and skin opened the door. Her ears were pointy, and she exuded a refreshing and sweet fragrance.
“Hi, humans! I’m Floriana, a consul of the Sēmen. It’s nice to meet you all.”
Her eyes began to shine with an emerald light as if they could see through anyone and anything.
[Activating Race Skill: Veritas Oculus.][1]
“Why don’t we have a nice talk?”
1. These are the Eyes of Truth mentioned by Chlor in Chapter 61. ☜