Vol 2. Chapter 377: It Must Not Have Been Enough (2)

Boom.

The Heavenly Demon’s foot slammed off the ground.

His body shot forward, rushing straight toward So Hee.

“You bastard—!”

So Hee moved both hands toward the Heavenly Demon, who was charging at her without a shred of fear.

Kiiiiiiiii—

White lines, vomiting the cries of beasts, burst out from both her hands.

Above, below, left, right.

White lines lunged at him from every direction, targeting all sides of the Heavenly Demon.

“This is impossible......”

So Hee muttered lowly, her eyes shaking violently.

“I definitely, definitely—”

have never seen a bastard like this!

Kim Hae-Yi.

She had never seen a Wanderer with that face before.

Which meant he was the kind of bastard beneath her notice.

And yet not only had he awakened individuality, he had created his own form for it on the spot?

So Hee. You truly are a genius. For there to be a Wanderer like this in the present age. Remarkable.

How had she been able to enter the Five Colored Blood?

It was the result she had achieved through her genius after individuality, after ancient power, had been sealed away.

In the past, even those who were not sole-born could possess individuality, and anyone could challenge the place of god, challenge beyond the limit. But because of the Celestials, that path was blocked.

Praise directed at her.

So Hee. You really are extraordinary.

How could a Wanderer of the present generation awaken individuality?

A life as a human.

In that life, So Hee had never received much attention.

But because she had been sole-born, she had become a Wanderer.

And because of that, she had been acknowledged.

“My place—”

My domain.

“How dare you covet it!”

She could not hold back the rage rising inside her heart.

Before he completes it!

And her rational judgment was moving even faster.

Kim Hae-Yi. Before that bastard completes his individuality, I have to kill him!

That was the judgment she was making as one of the Five Colored Blood.

“You weren’t an AI!”

That bastard was not an AI.

Rather—

“You were someone who came chasing us down from the Divine Realm!”

The Divine Realm was currently split cleanly in half by the God of Chaos.

This was not merely a conceptual statement.

It had literally been split in two, leaving each side unable to approach the other’s territory.

Kim Hae-Yi.

That bastard was a Wanderer.

And one who had dug up quite a lot of information about what they, the Five Colored Blood and their allied groups, were doing.

He has to die.

If that bastard had found So Hee and then reported it to the Divine Realm—

It could ruin every plan!

Without realizing it, urgency took root in So Hee’s heart.

So Hee. There’s a reason we’re only entrusting you with small tasks for now.

Words one of the Five Colored Blood had once said suddenly came back to her.

But So Hee had no time to think about them.

Only—

Kill him.

He dared covet her domain.

He might take her place.

She would absolutely kill that bastard.

Kiiiiiiiiii—

The white lines that had been extending toward the Heavenly Demon from all directions suddenly changed course.

Crunch!

Crunch, crack!

Eight.

A total of eight lines began stabbing down into the floor of the martial arena around the Heavenly Demon.

They moved at a speed incomparable to the eight thick white lines trying to surround the arena.

Boom!

The moment the eighth and final line stabbed down—

Kigigigigigi——

With a hideous shriek incomparable to before, countless fine white strands burst rapidly out from the white lines.

—Cale.

The Ancient Tree spoke gravely to the watching Cale.

—That’s not good.

The moment he said that—

“Securing the domain.”

So Hee’s eyes turned white.

“Domain expansion.”

And with those words—

Kigigigigi—

In an instant, white threads shot up from the ground and wrapped around the Heavenly Demon.

Like a cocoon, at the very moment the Heavenly Demon was about to be trapped in that white prison—

he lifted his head and looked up at the sky.

“It’s done.”

The white threads, the white prison, tried to block out the Heavenly Demon’s sky as they formed.

But—

Rumble—

The sky cried out.

“!”

The corners of So Hee’s whitened eyes twisted.

Goosebumps rose on her back.

There are ranks even among individuality.

Words once spoken by the one who had brought her into the Five Colored Blood.

Whether it is nature or a personal trait. Whatever it is, there are ranks.

We divided them into five colors.

The highest rank was Five Colors.

You are around blue.

Blue, just above black, the lowest.

Still, because your attribute is unusual, it has value.

Damn it.

Looking up at the sky swallowed by dark-crimson clouds, So Hee thought:

“...It’s above mine.”

That individuality, just born, was at least violet or higher.

A sky turned wholly dark crimson, like the real sky.

Looking at that sky—or more precisely, at the dark-crimson clouds writhing and rippling across it—the Heavenly Demon spoke.

“Beneath my sky—”

The Heavenly Demon knew he was not a true god.

And yet he believed himself to be the god of the Demonic Cult.

That subtle gap.

It was that gap that made him create not the sky, but clouds.

Beyond the clouds, both the sun and the true sky still existed.

But what those beneath him would ultimately see was the sky he had made.

If only he could become, to those who followed him, something irresistibly seductive.

Something that felt like the greatest being to lean on.

And if the Heavenly Demon himself never came to doubt his own existence.

Then beneath this dark-crimson sky—

“This is my domain.”

Inside the clouds, a beast of strange shape, still lacking a clearly defined form, opened its mouth.

Rumble——

The sound of thunder rang out.

Sshaaaaaa——

And the moment even the final remaining grain of sunlight was hidden by the dark-crimson clouds—

“Ah.”

People forgot even to keep running and looked up at the sky.

“The world—”

grew dark.

And red.

This was neither night,

nor the hour of sunset.

The sunlight pouring down from the sky passed through the dark-crimson clouds and turned dark crimson itself.

Dark-crimson light settled onto the backs of people’s hands, onto their faces.

“Th-There—”

And dark-crimson light touched the white lines as well.

Ssssss—

The white lines that had repelled the Heavenly Demon’s force.

Those white lines gradually began to be dyed dark crimson.

The eight thick white lines that had been trying to wrap around the arena were losing their original color.

“Beneath the sky of the Demonic Cult, all things are demonic.”

The Heavenly Demon smiled broadly.

As though utterly satisfied.

“Mad bastard.”

Cale said that while looking at him.

And from behind him, other voices rang out.

People who had been too frenzied with fleeing shouted:

“Internal energy works! We can damage it with internal energy!”

The white lines.

At last, scratches had begun appearing on the lines that internal energy had not worked on.

“Only the parts that turned dark crimson! Attack there!”

It did not apply everywhere.

Only where the lines had turned dark crimson.

Only where the dark-crimson light reached did internal energy work.

—The people of the Central Plains, the members of the Demonic Cult, use internal energy.

The Ancient Tree spoke as though dumbfounded.

—Amazing. Heavenly Demon, that bastard really is the Heavenly Demon in the literal sense. He has gained a power that will make him stronger the larger the Demonic Cult grows.

Until now, all the ancient powers Cale possessed were powers that created vast strength by themselves.

But the Heavenly Demon had created a power that made the Demonic Cult itself, those who followed him, stronger.

That—

—is the path the Heavenly Demon is walking.

It was exactly as the Ancient Tree said.

It was then.

“Aaah, dodge!”

Screams began erupting among the people.

“Domain expansion.”

So Hee was not standing still either.

The white strands that had been trying to cover the arena.

Those strands sharply changed direction.

Before they could be dyed dark crimson.

Kiiiiii—

“Aaaagh, m-my leg!”

They flew at people indiscriminately.

The fine white strands quickly wrapped around human bodies.

“Ugh!”

And began draining their nourishment.

Those white strands became brighter in color and stronger.

Like a spider feeding on prey caught in its web.

And—

Ssssss—

The white pupils of So Hee’s eyes shone more vividly, and white force began gathering around her body.

“You’ll regret underestimating me.”

A smile bloomed at the corner of So Hee’s mouth.

Not yet—

She still had not lost to this Kim Hae-Yi.

She wet her lips with her tongue.

“There’s so much prey.”

There was so much vitality around her.

So much prey.

The smile at the corner of her mouth deepened, and her hand moved once more.

Boom!

This time, she kicked off the ground and rushed toward the Heavenly Demon.

A white line was still connected from her hand to the Heavenly Demon’s arm.

Though that line was slowly being dyed dark crimson.

“Domain reset.”

Kigigigigi—

White covered over it again.

“For sure—”

And the Heavenly Demon opened his mouth.

“It won’t be easy to deal with you alone.”

Creating this new power and controlling it was no easy task.

At the moment a small trickle of blood ran from the corner of the Heavenly Demon’s mouth—

“However—”

But.

“You’re the one who shouldn’t underestimate us.”

“What?”

Just as So Hee was about to ask back—

Kigigigigi—

The white line connecting the Heavenly Demon and her.

It had turned dark crimson, then was being dyed white again, until barely any dark crimson remained.

At that moment, a ray of light plunged down from the sky.

Kwaaaaaang!

So Hee hurriedly retreated.

“......!”

She looked at the white line fluttering before her.

The line that had connected her to the Heavenly Demon.

The line that had been trying to drain his vitality.

It had been cut.

“Who are you?”

Her gaze moved to the space between herself and the Heavenly Demon.

At the center.

The being who had cut through the small dark-crimson section that had remained on the white line just moments ago.

“There are others who can handle the arena now.”

As if making excuses, Choi Han said that to the Heavenly Demon, then looked at Cale.

Nod.

Turning his gaze away from Cale, who gave him a nod, Choi Han stepped in front of the Heavenly Demon.

“You saved me.”

He expressed his thanks to the Heavenly Demon.

Because that was the truth.

Slice!

Alberu cut through one of the white lines dyed in dark-crimson light and shouted to those around him:

“Drag everyone wrapped in the fine strands into the light! Then cut the strands away!”

Now the people had something they themselves could do.

In truth, even without Alberu saying it, the people of the Lan Kingdom were already moving on their own.

“Ghk!”

“Please endure it just a little longer! Good. Now I’ll cut the strand!”

Dark-crimson light.

Rumble—

The sky’s crying did not stop, and the sunlight passing through the Heavenly Demon’s clouds continued to turn dark crimson and pour down onto the earth.

Against that unceasing light, the fine strands could only be pushed back in the end.

Drip.

But the blood running from the corner of the Heavenly Demon’s mouth was gradually increasing.

“To think I’d be doing something like Kim Hae-Il.”

The Heavenly Demon laughed as if dumbfounded.

And then he saw a man in a black mask appear between himself and Choi Han.

“What do you mean, something like me?”

It was Cale.

Though he was blond, he had covered his ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) face with a mask as he stepped in front of the Heavenly Demon.

“Try a little harder. Since it’s come to this, you should properly use the power that just bloomed.”

Cale said it.

“And I’ll deal with the Wanderer.”

Chaeng!

Choi Han drew his sword and charged at So Hee.

Choi Han had already possessed the power to cut the white lines.

Now that there was no longer anyone he needed to protect, he could rampage to his heart’s content.

“Mmm.”

Hearing the Heavenly Demon’s disappointed murmur, unable to hide his regret, Cale said indifferently:

“Give him a chance too.”

“That’s true.”

The Heavenly Demon immediately put away his regret.

Choi Han.

Right now, that bastard was like a man facing the enemy who had slain his bloodline.

“......”

The Heavenly Demon looked at Choi Han rushing forward and at Cale standing before him.

Seeing the two people protecting him, the corner of the Heavenly Demon’s mouth rose.

Perhaps this moment might be the most meaningful one in this world so far.

Perhaps he was only now learning a kind of pleasure he could never have felt in his life.

“......”

The Heavenly Demon closed his eyes.

And concentrated on the power rising from within himself.

The sky of the Demonic Cult.

Into it, along with the belief of a man who had become a god, the Heavenly Demon poured the human emotion he had just obtained.

Because he felt that perhaps pouring that emotion into it was important too.

After all, he had chosen to live a human life in the end.

Kwaaaaaang!

Amid the thunderous roar, he calmly closed his eyes.

Rumbleeeee—

But the crying of the sky only grew louder.

Enough for everyone outside the arena, NPC and user alike, to focus on it.

“Ghk! Where did another one like this come from?!”

And So Hee, her eyes shaking, stared at the black dragon opening its jaws at her.

Kwaaaaaang!

A black dragon made of savage black force.

At the center of that dragon was a sword, and gripping that sword, charging at her without the slightest hesitation, was Choi Han.

A Wanderer.

From the beginning, this one had always been Choi Han’s share.

Beneath the dark-crimson sky, Choi Han’s savage black dragon surged toward the enemy.

Dyeing the white light black as it advanced.