Chapter 37
[You arrived at the Mirror World.]
[Mandatory Quest: Path to the Mirror World, complete.]
[1,000 Karma obtained.]
[Generating Coin System.]
[You are of the race Human in the Mirror World.]
[The Race Stone of the race Human is not under control.]
[You are a free race.]
[All life in the Mirror World is bound by duty to head to the center to obtain the Master Stone.]
...
[Path of Life (World Quest)
Rank: —
Description: Head to the center of the Mirror World and obtain the Master Stone. Everything you want will be granted.]
Everything, huh? Shin Jun thought as he read the messages repeatedly, focusing on unfamiliar words like the Coin System, the race Human, Race Stone, free race, and Master Stone.
Huuu, I thought it was all over, but I suppose this is only the beginning.
Jun and the others defeated four Fallen Knights to obtain Teleport Rocks the standard way, thanks to Seong-Tae’s D Weapon rule. They were teleported to the Mirror World with a white flash of light and found themselves in a building made of giant pillars like that of the Parthenon in Greece. Jun could barely keep his eyes open due to suddenly being teleported from the Dark Forest, where it was always night, to a bright area. He then heard familiar voices.
“Jun! You’re finally here!”
“Hwa-Yeon unnie!”
“Ho-Geun! Seong-Tae! But... where’s Seung-Jun?”
They were Min-Jae, Ye-Ji, Ha Rin, Hee-Gyeong, and Do-Hyun, who had gone to the Mirror World before them. According to them, they were forced to stay despite arriving a while ago.
Just then, a man charged at another man hiding in a corner.
“Fucking traitor! How dare you kill Jennifer?!”
Another one, Jun thought.
There had been several instances like that. Among the people here, some were traitors who killed their comrades on the sacrificial altar to obtain a Teleport Rock, and the other comrades who had to go through hell to obtain Teleport Rocks charged at the traitors to take revenge.
“Die!” the man shouted, activating a skill as he swung down his sword.
Just then, a man wearing a brass full plate armor appeared at incredible speed and dealt a hand chop to the man’s neck.
“Gurgh!”
The man passed out without even knowing who attacked him. Everyone here was a survivor of the Dark Forest, meaning they had overcome life-threatening situations. They were superhuman by normal human standards, but the man in the brass armor knocked out the man with the sword as easily as taking candy from a baby. The sounds of people swallowing their saliva rang from everywhere. None of them had caught the brass-armored man’s movements.
The man lifted his brass helmet visor, revealing his black eyes. He said, “Huuu, listen up, newbies. I’ve already told you this, but this place is under the control of the Bronze Cross Knights. No amount of disturbance will be tolerated.”
A dozen people wearing brass armor surrounded the group. They had the newcomers, who had just arrived in the Mirror World, under control.
“W-what are you planning on doing to us?” a man asked.
The brass-armored man answered, “Once one hundred people arrive, we will head to the Union-affiliated education facility, Edu. You know nothing about this world. One wrong move, and... you’ll die without even knowing how.”
The man’s voice induced fear. The newbies could only nod in place like moths caught in a spider web.
This is... the energy that Cheon Seong-Hwi occasionally emitted! Jun thought as his expression hardened.
𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎
Jun did not know that it was the chilling bloodlust of those who had killed people.
Another man in brass armor approached to say, “Captain, time is up.”
“Hm? I see. It appears we have only ninety-eight people this time. Get ready, everyone. We are moving to Edu.”
“N-no! My big brother Chan isn’t here yet!” a girl in a braided ponytail shouted, running to the man addressed as the captain.
“Kid! Get back here!”
“Don’t defy him!”
The people worried about the girl confronting the brass-armored man because she looked so weak to the point they had no idea how she managed to reach the Mirror World.
“Your brother? Siblings, Lost together? I wonder if that’s a blessing or a curse.”
“Chan told me to wait for him! I-I won’t go!” Shaya Singh Rai shouted as she sat down with the intent of not going anywhere.
Seeing that, the man said, “The quest time is up. From what I know, no one has ever survived against the Judge.”
“Y-you’re wrong! Chan is a brave Gurkha warrior—”
The man placed his hand on Shaya’s head, and she passed out before she could finish her sentence.
“Let’s go,” the man said to his subordinates as he carried Shaya.
The newbies began to leave the building, guided by the people in brass armor.
What’s going on? Jun thought, looking around as he walked. I... don’t see Cheon Seong-Hwi.
Jun couldn’t imagine Seong-Hwi losing against a Fallen Knight or failing to obtain a Teleport Rock.
Where in the world are you and what are you doing?
***
[Time Remaining: 00:00:02]
[Time Remaining: 00:00:01]
[Time Remaining: 00:00:00]
...
[Time is up.]
[The Judge, Demon Knight of the race Chaos, judges all life remaining in the Dark Forest.]
“It’s begun,” Seong-Hwi smiled as he read the Akasha Message.
The final piece to obtain in the Dark Forest was unleashed. Thunderous sounds echoed from afar, and a giant dust storm formed, trees collapsing one after another. Seong-Hwi sensed an unsettling and chaotic energy.
“It’s been a while since I’ve felt Chaos Mana.”
It was the unsettling and powerful energy exuded by the Chaos of Lapang-rank and above. Seong-Hwi dashed to where he could feel the Chaos Mana.
***
Grrrr!
It was a monster—no other word could describe it. It was at least two meters tall and as big as a gorilla. Spikes covered its black armor, and it easily swung a greatsword the size of a human with just one hand, destroying everything in its path. Its purple eyes inside its black helmet shone with a sense of purpose, and the grey aura enveloping its entire body as if light and darkness were mixed was so enormous that just looking at it felt suffocating.
“R-run!”
“I don’t want to die! I don’t wanna die!”
The people wandering around the Dark Forest, unable to obtain a Teleport Rock, were reduced to mere insects before absolute death.
Graaah!
The Demon Knight dug its foot into the ground to charge, reaching the fleeing people in a flash. The rearmost person was pierced by its black spikes and turned into a bloody pulp as if they had been hit by a spiky train moving at full speed.
“Aaaah! Go away!”
“H-huh?!”
A man pulled another man backward to make more time for himself to run away. The man who was pulled was split vertically into two as he expressed confusion and betrayal.
“Urgh!” The man who betrayed his comrade grunted. However, he met his end soon after. “Gurgh!”
The Demon Knight punched the man’s back, folding the man’s spine backward to the point that the back of his head hit his feet. He tumbled across the ground like a plush toy and died.
“Ahhh!”
The woman running at the front of the group swung her sword at the Demon Knight, refusing to die without a fight, but it shattered as soon as it made contact with the Demon Knight’s Chaos Mana.
“No w—”
The Demon Knight punched the woman, blowing her away. She trembled as every bone in her body broke, and soon went limp.
Grrrr!
The Demon Knight looked around and sped through the forest, the trees unable to block its advance. It charged like an armored vehicle to judge the humans remaining in the Dark Forest.
***
“That’s insane,” Seong-Hwi muttered as he watched the Demon Knight from afar speeding through the Dark Forest.
It was an Invasive Chaos of a demon, a superior race. It was nothing like the Invasive Chaos of other races with much lower basic combat prowess. On top of that, a Lapang-rank Chaos that could use Chaos Mana was strong enough to be the boss of an E-rank dungeon.
Its strength is a problem already, but the real issue is its Chaos Mana.
Chaos Mana was more unconventional and vicious than the secondary forces of other races. Leaving aside its destructive capabilities as if light and darkness had collided, it also possessed extraordinary defensive capabilities because it tended to shred any mana it made contact with. Most of all, all races instinctively feared Chaos Mana because being corrupted by it turned one into a Chaos monster.
I need higher Magic if I want to break through its Chaos Mana to deal any kind of damage to it.
[Karma: 4,105]
Seong-Hwi immediately opened four E-rank Magic stats cubes.
[Magic E(8) obtained.]
[Magic E(12) obtained.]
[Magic E(14) obtained.]
[Magic E(12) obtained.]
[Extinguishing excess Magic E(2) points.]
[Magic E(55) → Magic E(99)]
As a result, his Magic stat reached the maximum value of E-rank.
My Health is at E(56). It’s manageable.
Mana higher than one’s health could tolerate could destroy them from the inside. Just like a low-capacity machine overloading from excessive energy input, using mana from a high Magic stat without the appropriate Health stat to balance it destroyed one’s body.
However, Seong-Hwi was confident in his mana control. From his calculations, the gap was small enough to cover with control.
I’d love to use Borrowing Destiny, but... I can’t even borrow a three-card destiny with these stats. My D Weapon, Magic, and Destiny Force stats must be at least D-rank.
Hence, this was the best he could do at the moment. All he could do now was wait for an opportunity to strike.
I’ll take advantage of the opening formed on its next hunt!
***
Graaah!
“Block it! Do something!”
“How are we supposed to block that monster’s attacks?! Just fucking run!”
“Aaaah! Goddammit!”
Twenty people panicked as they encountered the terrifying Demon Knight that appeared, destroying every tree in its path. They were Spanish from District 4, Ghanans from District 5, and Costa Ricans from District 6, who knew they couldn’t obtain a Teleport Rock in time and banded together to live in the Dark Forest.
However, they had overlooked the presence of the Judge that the Akasha Message had informed them of. The Akasha Message never lied—it mentioned a judge would appear to judge their sins. As for what sin the remaining people had possibly committed, it was indolence.
The Demon Knight swung its fist down on the man with a shield, flattening him under his shield like a burger patty.
“Ahhh! Abraham is dead!”
“We can’t beat it!”
The man with the shield was from District 5 and the strongest tank of the group, but he couldn’t even tank one strike from the Demon Knight. The others, realizing they had no chance of survival against it, scattered. The Demon Knight killed each of them one by one. One was split into two with a swing of its greatsword, another was turned into a bloody pulp from being smashed by its charge, and people were sent flying as if they were hit by a truck at full speed with each Chaos Mana-filled punch.
Grrrr!
The Demon Knight’s purple eyes gleamed, entertained.
“A-aaah,” a woman groaned as she watched the Demon Knight raise its greatsword to split the woman in half.
She closed her eyes to accept her destiny. Just then, a steel spear flew across the forest at incredible speed. The steel spear, densely infused with mana, spun as it tore apart the Demon Knight’s Chaos Mana and pierced its plackart.
Graaah!
The Demon Knight, surprised by the unexpected attack, explosively drew out more Chaos Mana to stop the spear from digging any more into its torso.
Grrrr!
It intensely glared with its purple eyes at the thicket from where the spear flew.
Just then, a silhouette jumped out of the thicket and charged at the Death Knight, cursing, “Fucking Chaos Mana! It would’ve been done already if my Magic was at D-rank!”
It was Seong-Hwi.