Chapter 229: Descent
“What is this?”
“What do you think? The most loyal servant of Seo-ha has arrived.”
Eternal Heaven spoke with a sly smile.
Her aura was different from before. She seemed lively, to the point of feeling a sense of disparity.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
It was probably because she had acquired a new body.
I glanced over her with my seven-colored eyes.
“Can you see me clearly?”
Eternal Heaven placed her hand on her waist as she spoke.
As if to make it easier for me to see.
In fact, it did become easier to see her.Several barriers she had were easily undone.
Well, even without that, thanks to the power of my absolute stat, it wouldn’t have been a problem.
‘Top-tier.’
The power I felt was top-tier.
But it was odd.
It felt as if she was just shy of touching the level of a transcendent being.
‘Is it because of the Energy of Defying Heaven?’
This was the only reason I could think of.
Inside her body, the Energy of Defying Heaven existed. Additionally, there was an unknown golden energy. It seemed like something close to an ominous force, judging by the sinister energy I felt. Ŕ𝙖
‘Could it be the power she originally had?’
As I was making that assumption, Eternal Heaven leapt to my side.
“Ah, as expected, being near Seo-ha makes it behave better.”
Eternal Heaven spoke while stroking her belly.
I looked at Eternal Heaven with a dumbfounded expression.
That area was what was commonly referred to as the Dantian, and it was filled with the Energy of Defying Heaven.
It was probably influenced by the Black absolute stat, but for her to say such nonsense…
“Enough, go upstairs. There might be something you can help with.”
“Something to help with?”
“Assist the Divine Maiden and Kim Seo-hyun. And keep in mind that, unlike you, Black Heaven hasn’t devoured the Heavenly Demon. Got it?”
“Black Heaven?”
Eternal Heaven looked puzzled, but soon nodded her head.
I sighed and moved forward.
The star within my body began to rotate.
The black energy swirled around my entire body.
The combined body of the giant race and the dragon race was overwhelmingly superior to an ordinary body. Just in terms of physical strength alone, I had become at least twice as strong as before obtaining all of this.
‘Even though I devoted most of it to durability.’
As my abilities evolved.
The strength of the giant and the dragon was not focused on enhancing my physical power and agility, but rather on stamina.
Instinctively, it felt as if my body couldn’t fully handle the power of “Infinite Black Flame Star (Ex)”.
‘They’re excellent abilities.’
It was not just power that belongs to a special stat. But these powers already had owners, and since they governed some kind of concept, they manifested as degraded powers in the form of special stats.
I walked forward. Attention was drawn to me.
The Divine Maiden was reported to be torturing the heads of the Martial Alliance, and they had come here, assuming it was a rebellion.
‘From their perspective, they’re not wrong.’
I could understand their position.
Had they known what kind of treatment the Divine Maiden had endured, this standoff might not have happened. Some might have even sympathized with the Divine Maiden and joined the rebellion.
‘But I don’t know who they are.’
The targets of the Divine Maiden’s revenge had to be dealt with by her own hands.
While pondering, I figured out how to handle the situation.
‘Subdue them.’
Subduing them seemed appropriate.
However, if they resisted too violently during the process, some limbs might get torn apart.
“What’s all this commotion!!”
A booming voice filled the space.
As the door opened, a martial artist with a fierce aura appeared.
He had long hair neatly tied back and a long beard. He looked to be around 40 years old.
A massive sword was strapped to his back.
“Blade King, Heo Jae! He’s with the Martial Alliance too?!”
“If Heo Jae is here, he can stop the Divine Maiden!”
The riffraff were making noise.
I quietly observed them.
“You… possess an unusual power.”
The one called Blade King, Heo Jae, took a stance.
“I shall face you with my greatest strength.”
He drew his sword. A ki of intention formed around the blade. The energy followed that intention.
Swish! Swish! Sharp sword energy gathered at the tip of the blade. The cheers around him grew louder.
“Indeed, Heo Jae, the master of the pinnacle!”
“Let’s see you take this!”
The man called Heo Jae charged at me.
‘But he’s only high-tier.’
And he had just barely reached that level.
I raised my fist.
Heo Jae, who came flying at me, met my fist.
Boom!
Then, he was sent flying.
“…Huh?”
The surroundings fell into silence.
I opened and closed my fist as if to reaffirm what had just happened.
‘This is just the power of my body.’
I had activated my body slightly with the Energy of Defying Heaven, but the sheer physical power was on a whole different level than before.
Was this the power of the dragon and the giant?
With that thought, I took a step forward.
I looked at the martial artists.
Their eyes began to fill with an emotion called fear. I spread the Energy of Defying Heaven around.
I imbued it with my intention.
I spread killing intent. Just from that, the complexion of those around me turned pale, their bodies trembling in terror.
Thud.
The suffocating killing intent made one of the martial artists faint. That was the trigger for others to start foaming at the mouth and collapsing.
I walked downwards.
I scanned the surroundings. My sensory perception began to pick up all sorts of things. They would come, starting with these.
‘Should I blow them all away?’
Though I had planned to subdue them, that thought briefly crossed my mind.
As if responding to my thoughts, a star began to shine in my mindscape.
“Seo-ha…?”
A voice came from above.
I turned my head to see Kim Seo-hyun descending.
“What about the situation upstairs?”
“It’s mostly over. The Divine Maiden handled most of it.”
Kim Seo-hyun had a somewhat sorrowful expression.
“They said she doesn’t have much time left.”
“Hmmm…”
It was a pitiful matter.
Kim Seo-hyun looked around. Most of them had fainted, and the few remaining were pale-faced, lying flat on the ground.
That so-called Blade King had flown through a wall and crashed several kilometers away.
‘It’s alive, but…’
It was safe to say it was nearly dead.
Its limbs were grotesquely twisted, and its blood vessels had burst due to the rampant flow of energy.
Unless some extraordinary elixir or divine intervention arrived, there was no saving it.
“You’ve become incredibly rough.”
Honestly, I could relate.
Since obtaining the power of the giant, my temperament had grown more aggressive. I was becoming more dragon-like. Was it because I had gained the blood of the Dragon-Giant?
It was fair to say that my nature had become more violent compared to before.
I had always fought efficiently. Killing my opponent with minimal movement—that had been my way of fighting.
But while fighting the Heavenly Demon, and during this process of subduing these people…
I hadn’t fought like that. I used power. The more the Heavenly Demon’s techniques increased, the more I tried to crush her with brute force.
Perhaps it was a downside of having too much power.
“It’s okay.”
Kim Seo-hyun smiled at me as I pondered.
“I actually prefer it rougher. Oh, I wouldn’t mind if you got even rougher…”
It suddenly struck me that there wasn’t a single normal woman around me.
“So why don’t you attack the Apostle first?”
Kim Seo-hyun asked me.
The Heavenly Demon, the Thousand Sorcerer, also looked at me.
“I was curious about that too. I’ve never faced an Apostle, but I wondered if it was necessary.”
“Even your grandfather hasn’t?”
“There was a time when a returnee fought an Apostle, but I was elsewhere at that time.”
It was a reasonable question.
The Heavenly Demon also gave me a puzzled look.
“By the way, who is that woman?”
“Eternal Heaven.”
I answered casually to Kim Seo-hyun’s somewhat chilly question.
“She was originally a summoned creature like the Heavenly Demon, but she found her body this time.”
“She found her body?”
“Hmm… it’s a bit complicated.”
It was a complicated story to explain, but one that couldn’t be avoided.
“I am Seo-ha’s loyal servant. No need to worry.”
Eternal Heaven said with a sly smile.
“But why aren’t we attacking the Apostle? They’ve built an altar and seem to have performed the descent ritual. Wouldn’t destroying the altar deal a serious blow?”
“That’s right.”
I agreed with Eternal Heaven’s words.
However, that altar was the real trap.
It was also a method they enjoyed using.
“Then why are we staying still for two weeks?”
The Heavenly Demon asked.
There was a reason for preparing during that two-week period.
If I were to rush to stop the Apostle now, their power would weaken.
They were originally set to descend two weeks later. The descent ritual itself couldn’t be completely stopped. This was because the ritual was summoned with the Apostle’s soul as collateral.
‘It’s really troublesome.’
I gave them a simple answer to their question.
“Because it’s a trap.”
And it wasn’t just any ordinary trap.
If we destroyed the altar where the Apostle was being summoned, we could stop them for now.
But we shouldn’t do that.
The law.
The law that governed this world—no, the law that governed the entire universe.
Just as I could twist the world’s laws after reaching high-tier status.
If you became something beyond a transcendent being.
If you became a monster on the level of an alien entity.
They too could twist a part of the universe’s laws.
The law set by the god of creation was so powerful that they could only twist very minor laws, but even that was enough for them.
‘And those altered laws…’
They work incredibly against us.
If we tried to stop the Apostle from descending, they’d pretend to be hindered at first.
And just as they were about to fail the descent, they’ll stop.
At that moment, people would see hope.
But the law didn’t allow that.
Just like in transformation hero shows, where the villain doesn’t attack during the hero’s transformation—it’s a principle.
If we interrupted them too early, it could weaken the Apostle’s power, but the infinite beings of the outer universe could empower the Apostle even more.
‘That would be truly horrific.’
If the infinite power of an outer being descended into the Apostle’s body…
The Apostle’s body was too weak to withstand it, but what if it self-destructed? The Earth wouldn’t be able to handle it. At least half of the continent known as Asia would be blown away, and the rest would suffer immense consequences from the aftermath.
‘It’s actually happened.’
It really happened.
In 《Epic World》. Early on, if you interrupted the Apostle, it would come back with the power of an outer being.
I tried to quickly grow stronger by capturing it, but when the Apostle was about to die, it self-destructed.
The result was the catastrophe I mentioned earlier.
That’s why I decided to spend the two weeks training.
“……What the hell.”
When I explained all this, everyone had dumbfounded expressions.
“So even if we try to stop it now, it’s too late, and if we mess up, they’ll actually descend?”
“Yeah. So, we have no choice but to wait.”
However, that wasn’t entirely the case.
If they twisted the laws of the universe, there existed a power that could reverse that.
‘And I’ve almost gathered it all.’
The sword of the four seasons, which I could create by combining the series of four realms in the subspace, and the summer sword, which I had yet to obtain, could do that.
“Then we just need to prepare.”
“…There’s a lot to talk about after becoming human, but I guess I should stay quiet too.”
Eternal Heaven said with a sullen expression.
“The more time we have to prepare, the stronger mages and sorcerers become. Eternal Heaven will endure these two weeks well.”
With those words, Eternal Heaven disappeared somewhere.
The Thousand Sorcerer also followed suit.
I looked at the Heavenly Demon and Kim Seo-hyun.
“Shall we start moving too?”
“Us?”
“Yeah. We need to properly create the Black God Martial Arts.”
With that, I led them both.
And two weeks passed.
“They’re coming.”
The Apostle had descended.