< Chapter 634 > White.
Crackle—!
Debris was crumbling, and the stench of scorching filled the air everywhere.
The walls were melting under the crushing heat, and the frigid cold that had filled the space was nowhere to be found.
Only an inexplicable heat saturated the area.
“Kuhluk.”
Inside the ruined space.
I pushed through the wreckage and barely managed to rise.
“Ptui.”
As I spat out pooled blood and raised my upper body.
Throb—!
“Tch….”
I had to furrow my brow at the pain radiating from my torso.
My ribs were obviously out of place, and every time I moved, something felt seriously wrong in my abdomen.
The spot where I had been pierced by the sword, along with the gash across my chest, were also a problem.
“Fuck.”
Not to mention, a chill had settled deep within my body.
It felt like it had penetrated to my very core.
I immediately circulated my internal energy.
Suuu.
Heat enveloped my body, making things somewhat bearable.
I kicked aside debris as I walked.
The explosion had swept me away, slamming me into a wall.
I think I lost consciousness for a moment back then.
At most, a few seconds.
“Hoo.”
I walked, regulating my breathing.
‘That was close.’
If I hadn’t blocked the impact with my protective qi, my insides would have been completely overturned.
Having taken so many beatings, I’d more or less figured out self-preservation.
Well, not exactly preservation. More like how to get hurt less.
I dusted myself off and kept walking.
“Why is there so much smoke again?”
I channeled internal energy into my hand and waved it lightly.
Huuuuk—! The wind swept the smoke away.
I barely secured a clear field of vision and continued walking toward my destination.
A wall stood hollowed out wide open.
The debris inside was bubbling and boiling, resembling molten lava.
And beneath it.
“…Keuk…keoheok….”
Mang was collapsed there.
With a hole punched straight through his abdomen, at that.
I observed this and approached him.
I looked at his torn arm and pierced abdomen, tilting my head.
‘His regeneration is slow.’
His arm still hadn’t grown back, and his abdomen was the same.
Considering how he had been regenerating, I had thought wounds of that degree would heal effortlessly.
‘Seems like his regeneration isn’t infinitely smooth after all.’
Was there a limit, or perhaps a set number of uses?
“Keuheu….”
He groaned, vomiting blood.
Seeing him like that wearing Uhyeok’s face gave a truly bizarre feeling.
“You okay?”
I asked him.
Of course, I asked knowing full well he wasn’t.
At this, he directed his gaze toward me.
“Heu…heuheu…damn it all….”
Mang let out a laugh, his expression gradually darkening.
“…Who would have thought things would get so twisted….”
Blood flowed every time he spoke.
The fact that he still wasn’t regenerating suggested there was definitely a problem.
Of course, I kept my energy sense active throughout.
Because I didn’t know if this was a trick.
“I am but a blood clot that was just born… To think you would obstruct me to this extent.”
I clicked my tongue at those words.
“I’ll say this in case you misunderstand. I had no intention of interfering.”
If bystanders hadn’t been dragged into this, I wouldn’t have thought to step in.
I wouldn’t have even come to the Northern Sea, let alone gotten involved.
Which was why I only had questions.
‘What happened to this guy in my past life?’
He had clearly said with his own mouth that his resurrection was imminent, so in the past life where I existed, this incident should have already erupted.
‘But there wasn’t any such information.’
Perhaps because it concerned the Northern Sea, nothing much came to mind.
Which meant.
‘Either he resurrected and was biding his time in hiding.’
Or, he failed to resurrect.
Or.
‘Like this incident, someone else prevented his resurrection.’
One of the three.
Which one was it? It was impossible to know for now.
“What was it you said? That this was the third time?”
“…Yes. I….”
“No, actually I’m not really curious about that or anything else….”
“...”
It was obvious at a glance that this would be a long story.
There wasn’t enough leisure to wait for it.
Not for me. For him.
So, I decided to ask the most important thing simply and directly.
“What is the Dragon Lord? That guy. What the hell is he actually doing?”
Straight to the main point.
At the question spat out flatly, Mang’s gaze turned to me.
A villain of the past said to have caused a blood tribulation.
The first calamity to descend upon this world. And someone who remained even now, scheming something.
I asked Mang about him.
“…Heuheuheu….”
Mang let out a laugh at that question.
“…Truly cold-hearted.”
“Hm?”
“My dear friend’s body is dying like this, yet what you ask now is such a thing?”
My face scrunched up fiercely at those words.
“Don’t waste my time. Whether you’ll answer or not. Just tell me that.”
“…If I answer, will you save me?”
“Who knows? If you beg for your life while talking, I might listen.”
“Keukeuk….”
Blood kept flowing from his upper body every time he laughed.
I secretly observed him closely.
‘He must be reaching his limit soon. Seeing how he still hasn’t regenerated.’
I felt quite certain that it wasn’t that he wouldn’t, but that he couldn’t.
While I watched Mang carefully with such thoughts.
“You wish to hear the answer?”
“Oh? You’re going to answer—”
“Ptooey—!”
He spat out blood-filled saliva, so I turned my head to dodge it.
And swung my fist right then.
Kwaaang—!
“Keok!”
“Oops.”
Seeing Mang’s head snap back, I inwardly panicked.
I hadn’t planned to hit him anymore, but it was a reflex.
I immediately withdrew my hand and spoke to him in annoyance.
“If you won’t answer, just say so. Why the hell did you spit at me?”
I ended up beating him without thinking.
“…Huu…heuheu.”
Mang laughed even after taking the punch.
Had I hit him too hard? He seemed a bit unhinged.
“…Do you think you’ve won?”
“Hm?”
“Ninth… You don’t know what a grave mistake you’ve committed.”
“What did I do?”
“…With this choice, you will… ultimately be defeated and devoured by the Dragon Lord… You can never defeat him.”
Hearing that, I smirked and said.
“Like you?”
“...”
At those lightly spat words, Mang’s mouth clamped shut for an instant.
A brief silence passed, but it didn’t last long.
“Yes, like me….”
The sight of him admitting it so readily looked somehow wretched.
“You, left alone, do you think you can defeat him?”
“Why? Because you’re not here?”
“The other purebloods were helplessly devoured by him. What can you, born alone and young, possibly do? No, it’s impossible.”
Hearing that, I stroked my chin with my hand.
“You, ultimately….”
“So get to the point. What’s your conclusion?”
I cut him off.
The conversation seemed to be drifting in a strange direction. It looked like I needed to rein it in.
“You couldn’t do it, so I probably can’t either. Is that what you’re saying?”
“It’s not such a simple matter….”
“The hell it isn’t. Anyone can see that’s what you’re getting at.”
Arrogant bastards, the lot of them.
Whenever I tried to have a conversation, it never went anywhere.
“I get that you’re angry from getting beaten up in the past. If you lost because you were weak, just shut up about it. What’s with this pathetic display?”
“…Huh?”
“‘Huh’ my ass.”
Ha.
A sigh escaped me.
I hadn’t grabbed him to have this kind of conversation anyway. If he wasn’t going to give me a proper answer, it would be faster to just dispose of him.
‘If his body dies like this, it’ll be a problem too.’
Mang’s body. To be exact, if Uhyeok’s flesh was left like that, he would really die.
That was unacceptable.
So, I had to wrap this up soon. I looked at him and asked.
“How do you know whether I’ll lose or win against the Dragon Lord? You lost to me, after all.”
“…!”
When I said it like a light jab, Mang’s expression crumpled.
“You merely faced me inhabiting this worthless flesh. Do you truly think you won?”
“Worthless or not, you lost just now.”
“Ha…!”
Mang made an expression of disbelief and spoke.
“Although I lost this battle….”
At the words he spat out like an excuse, I was able to smile.
‘Got him.’
Those words were important.
Bubble.
I felt a sensation at the tips of my feet.
It was a sign that the condition had been met.
Feeling it, I immediately muttered inwardly.
‘Devour him.’
“That is why you can defeat the Dragon Lor—!?”
Mang, who was speaking, clamped his mouth shut in an instant.
Hwaaraaak—!
Because black energy spewed forth from the tips of my feet toward him.
“Keuk!?”
Mang, covered by the energy in an instant, tried to struggle with his injured body, but fortunately, the energy looked far tougher than I expected.
“You—! What are you trying to do…!!”
Crunch.
“…Keueuk!!”
I heard something being chewed at my ears.
It was definitely a sound coming from within the energy.
Starting with that single sound.
Crunch—!! Crackle—! Munch—!
Together with the continuous sounds of chewing and swallowing.
“Keueuuuaaaah!!”
Mang began screaming from within the energy.
“Keueuu…Euhaaaaak!!”
It was a scream loud enough to grate on the ears.
As Mang shrieked to his heart’s content in what must have been excruciating pain, I had to scrunch up my face while watching.
Not because I sympathized with his pain or felt sorry for him.
The problem was the sensation I felt inside my body the more he screamed.
Suuuuu—!
The black energy connected from the tips of my feet.
Something was seeping into my body through Tam’s stem.
It was ambiguous to call it energy.
Yet it was also vague to say it wasn’t.
Memories, perhaps?
Or perhaps thoughts?
If not those, then the soul itself?
An indescribable sensation traveled through the stem to my heart, merging with the soul settled within it.
‘What a creepy feeling.’
It was as if I was stealing something that shouldn’t be stolen.
Guilt? No, it wasn’t that.
It was a truly inexplicable discomfort.
However, thanks to that.
‘So this is what Authority is.’
I could clearly feel that this was the sensation of Tam stealing Authority.
Yes, it steals Authority.
Right now, I was devouring Mang’s Authority.
Crunch. Crackle—!
“Keuheu…Euaaaaah…!!”
This was something I couldn’t do during battle.
If I were to ask why I could do it now.
‘Because he admitted defeat.’
The condition for Tam to steal Authority.
Admitting defeat to me.
And speaking it aloud.
It was thanks to satisfying these conditions.
‘What a shitty condition.’
Winning in battle is one thing, but making him admit it and say it out loud?
It was an unbelievably bizarre condition.
‘Is it because it wants so badly to be acknowledged as the winner?’
It seemed like a childish and pathetic sentiment, but when I recalled that Authority reflected my emotions, it was a sufficiently plausible story.
“Heuuuaah…n-no…nooo…!! My…don’t take…my…!”
Mang, consumed by greed, spat out desperately, but Tam had no intention of stopping its meal.
For quite a while.
And after chewing and swallowing for another long while.
Slurp—! Gulp. Keueeeugh….
Tam let out a burp, as if it had finished its meal satisfactorily.
Slither.
Afterward, Tam returned into the shadows.
“Hoo.”
Only after Avarice returned could I finally exhale.
At the same time, I felt full.
That thought came to mind. Even though I wasn’t the one who had eaten.
Feeling this, I looked ahead.
“Keu…eu…eo….”
Mang was gasping for breath with a deathly pale face.
Seeing that, I let out a slight smile.
“So this is what it was. I was wondering.”
“…You…my…thing….”
Mang reached out to me with a trembling hand.
“Give it…give it back… My…power…hand it over….”
At the desperate voice, I struck away his outstretched hand.
Tak—!
I struck it casually, but the hand flopped down limply.
“Give what back? It’s mine now.”
“No…it’s…not. That’s…mine….”
“Yeah, it was yours.”
It had certainly been his originally.
“But it’s not anymore, is it?”
Now it was mine.
“How…dare…!”
At my words, Mang twisted his face fiercely as if in rage.
That was hardly a threat.
Since I had nothing more to do with him now, I spat out words bluntly.
“I’ve taken everything I need. Now get lost.”
“Heuu…keuu…!!”
Mang moved as if trying to resist somehow, but his body was already ruined.
It was far from being a threat, and from what I could see, he didn’t have much time left.
I could feel it while stealing his Authority.
That the moment I took it, even his time would end.
As proof.
“Regrettable….”
The life in his eyes was gradually fading.
What remained behind—was it resentment toward me?
“I…curse…you… I will…curse you….”
Thud.
The one who had been speaking stiffened like stone and stopped moving.
The pureblood dragon met a miserable death.
It wasn’t a very moving death.
“...”
I placed my hand on his chest.
‘He hasn’t died yet.’
His breathing was very shallow, but he was breathing. His heart was beating too.
It was thanks to barely stabbing the spear while avoiding the vital points.
In other words, Mang, who had been coveting Uhyeok’s body, had vanished.
What remained was Uhyeok.
However, this wasn’t a very comfortable situation either.
‘At this rate, he dies.’
Was it because I had absorbed Mang’s energy inside the ice crystal palace?
Uhyeok’s flesh had also changed like my body, but.
Seeing that, I let out a slight smile.
Mang was gasping for breath with a deathly pale face.
“So this is what it was. I was wondering.”
The wounds were severe, so there were many problems.
‘…Tch.’
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Up to here was more or less expected.
Moreover, the original plan had been to steal Mang’s Authority and use it to heal Uhyeok’s body.
“This seems pretty fucked.”
There was an unexpected problem.
I had stolen two Authorities, and I knew immediately what kind of Authorities they were.
‘…I can’t save this guy with this.’
The Authority regarding regeneration was completely different from my expectations.
Just as Yuseon had treated my internal injuries. Though that might have been possible originally.
From what I could feel now, such a thing was impossible on my end.
It increases my body’s regenerative power.
Using this, I could regenerate a severed arm instantly like Yuseon, but.
‘It can’t heal others.’
The second power Mang possessed.
The Authority of ‘Regeneration.’ Its condition was like that.
‘…Was it always like this?’
Seeing what Yuseon had done, it didn’t seem like it had to be that way.
Why did this problem occur?
…Could it be?
‘As the Authority transferred over… did its performance weaken?’
The thought that it might be so flashed through my mind.
Perhaps it was impossible to steal it completely, and its efficacy degraded during the digestion process.
It was a somewhat reasonable story, but.
The problem was.
‘Realizing this in the current situation.’
It was a meaningless situation.
‘What should I do?’
Should I just leave Uhyeok to die like this?
Even if I took him to a hideout right away, he would breathe his last along the way.
Even if I luckily got him there, could he be treated?
In this state, not even a divine physician could save him.
“...”
Then what should I do? What on earth should I do?
As I pondered, I had to grit my teeth.
‘Fuck, I feel like I could’ve saved him just fine before. Now I’m getting nerfed like this?’
It maximally amplifies the regenerative power of the possessor.
This was exactly what I had wanted, but now….
“Huh?”
I paused while recalling those words.
Something suddenly came to mind.
‘It amplifies the possessor’s regenerative power…?’
Thinking of the condition, I recalled a certain situation.
The not-too-distant past.
Memories of the Heavenly Demon, now a past life.
To be exact, not her era, but the time when she was creating the demonkin.
‘Why did this have to come to mind now.’
Those who had become demonkin under her touch had distinguishing features.
Including the powerful flesh obtained through fall. They received a certain power.
‘Demonic martial arts.’
Not only strengthening the martial arts they originally possessed.
Some also received peculiar abilities that could hardly be called martial arts.
The demonkin called this process baptism.
Recalling that I too had received the Demonic Heavenly Absorption Technique from the Heavenly Demon, I overlapped the common points with this situation.
‘…They’re similar.’
The flesh that grew stronger upon becoming demonkin resembled the state of a dragonkin.
And the abilities received through baptism somehow resembled Authority.
Even if their levels differed somewhat.
Could this really be a coincidence?
I didn’t know.
Whether it was a coincidence or not wasn’t important.
‘Perhaps.’
Perhaps it might be possible.
That thought occurred to me.
Suuuu—!
My blue eyes gradually tinged with purple light.
Demonic energy, raised after a long time, dominated my body with a murky weight.
I gathered demonic energy over my hand placed on Uhyeok’s upper body.
Before scattering it all at once.
“...”
I paused for a moment looking at Uhyeok with his eyes closed.
Not if this failed, but if it succeeded.
When you open your eyes.
‘Will you resent me?’
Because of that, I hesitated for a moment, but when I weighed this thought against Uhyeok’s death.
The answer came simply as expected.
‘I save you.’
That was the only answer for me now.
Hwaarak—!
Demonic energy burrowed into Uhyeok’s body.