〈 Episode 636 〉 White (白).
Hwarrr—!
Wrapped in flames, he ascended into the air.
Cold air brushed his cheeks as he surveyed the void toward the darkening sky.
‘The snow has stopped.’
It had changed to rain, but.
At any rate, what had been falling from the sky was no longer falling.
‘Thanks to that, my vision has cleared.’
His vision, obscured by the blizzard, cleared, and he felt a little more room to breathe.
However.
‘The chill has deepened.’
It felt as if the cold air blowing in from the North Sea had grown stronger.
The reason was likely.
A glance.
He lowered his gaze and surveyed where he had leaped up from.
‘The destruction of the Ice Crystal…’
The Ice Crystal that had been blocking the extreme cold had shattered.
That was probably the cause.
‘To begin with, the reason it was there was utterly filthy.’
To create a pretext for forcibly using the life force of the Blood Clan.
To suck their life force dry. Since that was the reason the Ice Crystal existed.
He felt it might have been better for it to break, but.
‘To think its destruction would have an immediate effect.’
Simply because the North Sea’s Ice Crystal was gone, it was already affecting the North Sea.
As if to prove its role had been real, cold air gradually began rising throughout the North Sea.
Moreover, that speed was considerable.
‘If I can already feel it this much.’
Before long, the entire North Sea might be completely frozen solid.
‘Tch.’
Damn it.
Nothing ever goes smoothly.
Well.
“My life has always been like that.”
Though it’s not a human life anymore, but a dragon’s life.
Keh, keh.
He tried to force a laugh at this irritating situation, but.
‘Now is not the time to think of such things.’
He knew this was nothing more than escapism.
“What is going on—!”
“It’s an enemy attack!”
“Report to the Grand General immediately—!”
Because he had wreaked such havoc, it seemed the forces in the palace had finally caught on.
Loud voices were rising from below.
‘No, they just noticed now.’
Their grasp of the situation was terribly late.
No reinforcements had arrived while the palace was being smashed. And what they noticed now was ultimately.
‘Probably due to the Authority shifting to this side.’
A problem arising from that bastard’s Authority, which had been spread around the palace, disappearing.
‘…Hmm.’
He furrowed his brows, feeling the new mark branded on his soul.
There had been two Authorities flowing from Mang.
Now he possessed only one.
Because he had passed the regeneration part to Woohyeok.
‘…’
Recalling this, he furrowed his brows.
Because he regretted it? Of course, that was part of it. How could he not regret it?
It was none other than the power of regeneration.
A power that would let him heal even after being beaten and stabbed, so it was naturally regrettable.
But that wasn’t the only reason.
What he had discovered in the process was the problem.
The fact that he could pass an Authority to that guy.
That was the biggest problem. It was none other than.
‘…What Cheonma used to do.’
In the past, it resembled what Cheonma had done to the demons.
The baptism she had bestowed upon several demons in the name of abilities.
The most representative example was my Demonic Heavenly Absorption Technique. And the abilities of the early demons were the same.
‘Thinking about it now, it’s strange.’
Not content with demonizing them, she even granted them an unknown power in the name of baptism.
Until now, he had glossed over it because Cheonma was a bizarre being.
But it truly could not be anything but strange.
What exactly was Cheonma, and how was such a thing possible?
Could it be that the things Cheonma spread as baptism.
‘Felt like passing on Authorities, as I did?’
If so, Cheonma must have held countless Authorities in her hands.
Setting that aside, the biggest question was.
‘…How did she pass them on?’
If those were Authorities, how on earth did she pass them on?
Authorities could only be obtained by becoming a half-dragon, or a dragon.
But the abilities were passed on by Cheonma to the demons as baptism.
‘Can I consider Authorities and abilities to be different things?’
They merely felt similar.
He wondered if they could be treated as completely different things.
‘Then, how was I able to pass on an Authority?’
He ran into yet another problem.
When passing the Authority to save Woohyeok, he had learned a few things.
First.
‘Passing on an Authority requires using demonic qi.’
He had to pass the Authority of regeneration again to save Woohyeok.
He had tried to somehow inject it again upon recalling that.
This was based on memories of when Cheonma had bestowed baptism.
Right after he had gained the ability to turn others into demons.
He had always harbored such thoughts.
Might he gradually be able to do what she had done?
If that was true, this was no coincidence.
It was a truth he had known for a long time.
The current flow felt as if he was being pushed to take Cheonma’s place.
‘…Setting aside the relationship between Authorities and abilities.’
The second piece of information.
‘Even a dragon can be corrupted into a demon.’
Perhaps because Mang had devoured him and filled him with energy, Woohyeok’s body had clearly become a dragon.
This seemed to remain even if Mang disappeared.
He had taken such a body of Woohyeok and.
‘Made him into a demon.’
He had injected demonic qi to corrupt him.
And then, he had flowed the Authority into him.
Fortunately, he had succeeded, but something unsettling remained.
The reason was.
‘The necessity of using demonic qi to insert the Authority, and the inevitability of corruption in that process.’
And.
The reason he could pass on the Authority was precisely.
‘…The Demonic Heavenly Absorption Technique.’
The demonic art within his body, and Cheonma’s ability.
The Demonic Heavenly Absorption Technique.
That was the reason he could corrupt others and pass on Authorities.
Stealing Authorities was the role of Greed, but.
The act of giving it to someone was borrowing the power of the Demonic Heavenly Absorption Technique.
‘What the hell is going on.’
Unlike his past life where he simply extracted energy from demonic stones.
Not only could he turn opponents into demons, but the reason he could pass on Authorities was this as well.
‘…This is really.’
The power that Cheonma had shown, it was exactly that.
It was an incomprehensible situation.
Perhaps if it had been possible from the start, but these were things he couldn’t do in his previous life.
So he formed a hypothesis.
‘Leaving aside whether I can pass on Authorities using the Demonic Heavenly Absorption Technique.’
Was he able to pass it on because the recipient was a dragon?
Or was it because he had become a demon before becoming a dragon?
And.
‘…The relationship between the Demonic Heavenly Absorption Technique and my Authority.’
Greed and the Demonic Heavenly Absorption Technique resembled each other somehow. He felt there was definitely a connection.
‘Could this matter not be related to Cheonma?’
He expressed it as a doubt, but.
It was actually a certainty.
How could it not be?
Having come this far, it was impossible not to know, even if he tried.
The one who made him regress was Cheonma, and the Demonic Heavenly Absorption Technique had come from Cheonma.
He could see that she was entangled in the entire process.
The things he was experiencing were inevitably related to her.
Gnash—!
He ground his teeth.
‘…Even while knowing that.’
He had met Cheonma in a back alley of Hannam.
Thinking of that meeting made his head throb.
‘Even though I knew Cheonma was in Hannam, I came here.’
Why had he done that?
It was a mystery now.
A being he had resented so much.
After his regression, she was the one he wanted to be wary of and stop, second only to Jang Seonyeon.
Rather than focusing on Cheonma, he had come to the North Sea.
What was the reason?
Simply because something terrible happened to Namgung Bia?
This was indeed a serious matter that couldn’t be dismissed.
But if asked whether he had turned everything around and come to the North Sea for just that one reason.
‘That’s ambiguous.’
He knew Cheonma was there, and there were matters in Hannam itself as well.
Thinking back on using Namgung Bia’s situation as an excuse to come to the North Sea, there were many clumsy parts.
No matter what excuses or pretexts he piled on, the essence didn’t change.
He had simply.
‘Wanted to get away from Cheonma.’
Or.
‘…Must not meet Cheonma.’
He shouldn’t recall her. Shouldn’t try to meet her. He seemed to have had such an inexplicable feeling.
That was why he had fled to the North Sea as if running away.
‘Why?’
He asked himself.
‘Why did I run?’
He understood fear.
She was surely a being to be feared.
But he couldn’t understand running away.
It wasn’t a tactical retreat for the sake of a plan.
It was simply freezing up and fleeing.
That was why he couldn’t understand.
Why he had to do that. Moreover.
‘Why am I only now realizing how strange that was.’
An indescribable frustration welled up.
To relieve this suffocating feeling, there was only one way.
‘I have to meet her.’
Meet Cheonma.
That was the decided conclusion.
Perhaps this was what he should have done from the start.
“Hugh.”
He let out a sigh.
Mixed with his breath and the cold air, white steam was visible.
Having decided, his mind felt a bit clearer.
He recalled and wrapped his body in energy.
Hwarurururuk—!!
A ring of fire coiled around his waist.
Using that heat as a cloak, he shot forward.
Kwang—!
A great boom erupted in the air as his body shot forward.
He increased his speed.
The more he raised it, the more he felt his heart tightening.
Feeling fatigue, he furrowed his brows.
‘I don’t have much energy left.’
Because the battle had been fierce.
On top of that, he had used martial techniques he had barely succeeded in mastering continuously without restraint, so the energy in his vessel was gradually hitting bottom.
Moreover, his body was injured as well.
‘If I had known this, I would have used some of it before giving it away.’
Before dumping the Authority on Woohyeok, he should have used some himself.
A belated regret flashed by.
‘Should I take it back?’
He had somehow treated him.
He wondered if he could take it back, but.
He soon erased the thought.
For if he stole the Authority back.
‘Woohyeok will die.’
A dragon that has its Authority stolen dies. Because that was one of the conditions and effects of Greed’s theft.
Taking back what he had given Woohyeok was impossible.
‘Anyway, it’s a strange power that seems good.’
Against dragons, it had an overwhelming effect.
Since it could block the irrational power called Authority, he could fight with mere hand-to-hand combat and martial arts.
However.
‘That’s all there is to it.’
The problem with this power was that if he was weak, it was all meaningless in the end.
He had to win to steal.
He had to win to kill.
It seemed like a gilded lily at a glance.
He had that feeling, but.
‘Still, it’s better than nothing, so that’s fine.’
In the end, knowing that the beings he had to kill were dragons, Greed was nothing short of what he needed most.
As such, he wanted to return to the Central Plains right away.
‘Tch.’
The fact that he couldn’t was irritating.
‘…I’ve done everything I needed to do.’
He had already found Namgung Bia.
He had roughly finished things with that bastard Woohyeok as well, so he could just leave.
Since the Ice Palace Lord had refused treatment.
It was the point where there was no longer any reason to stay.
‘Anyway.’
He had to furrow his brows deeply at the energy he felt from the front.
Right now, whether it was Greed, the Demonic Heavenly Absorption Technique, Cheonma, or whatever, that was the most urgent matter.
‘Nothing is easily resolved.’
A thought that arose as he felt the energy.
When had it started?
Probably from the moment he had passed the Authority to Woohyeok.
Swoosh—!
Increasing his speed, cold wind brushed past him.
Something was definitely mixed in that wind.
Energy.
The energy felt from far away swept over him via the wind.
‘This is insane.’
He was simply stunned by the intensity.
It was far more intense than when he had met Yuseon, or when he had met Mang wearing Woohyeok’s form.
What was this terrible energy?
And why was he suddenly feeling such energy?
The location where the energy was felt was also a problem.
Of all places.
‘It’s the hideout.’
Namgung Bia and Dang Soyeol.
And energy was being felt from the hideout where various others were.
‘Damn it.’
He could tell instinctively.
This was a problem caused by Mang reaching annihilation, and that bastard had definitely done something.
‘What the hell have you done?’
Moving at maximum speed for several minutes, something gradually began to be caught by his senses.
‘What is this?’
He felt and thought about this first-time sensation.
Could he have felt wrong? He couldn’t help but think so.
No. He had felt correctly.
It was simply an overwhelming presence that made him wonder if it was an illusion.
‘…Is this for real?’
The very size he sensed was different.
It wasn’t referring to the amount of energy.
It literally meant it was huge.
A gigantic scale he had never felt before.
An alien strangeness that made him question if a living being could possess such physical size.
Something enough to elicit such thoughts was being caught by his senses.
Hwarrr—!
Arriving as if flying, he looked down below.
Then.
“Huh.”
His eyes widened involuntarily at the situation unfolding.
-Kwaaaaaaaa—!
-Retreat!
-Protect the Palace Lord—!!
A giant hole had been punched in the ground where a cave should have been.
Above it.
-Kyaaaaaaaah—!!!
A monstrous creature of enormous size was violently destroying everything around it.
“…Crazy.”
It was a demonic beast.
However, it was no ordinary demonic beast.
If red demonic beasts were the size of ordinary dwellings, that one possessed a size several tens of times larger.
He could see lustrous scales protruding on its exterior.
The most important point here was.
“…White?”
The fact that the scaly creature’s body was dyed a pure white color.
“No way.”
What those words meant was.
It was the leader of the demonic beasts that had hidden their traces centuries ago, and the greatest demonic beast that had originally been called a dragon.
A calamity-class existence that, merely by appearing, left aftershocks enough to change the very terrain of the continent.
It meant the White Monster (白色魔物).
******************
At that moment, as Goyang Cheon was encountering the demonic beast.
“…Ungh.”
Left alone, Woohyeok held his throbbing head as he rose.
“…It’s a total mess.”
Woohyeok smiled faintly as he looked at the surroundings reduced to chaos.
“What on earth happened here?”
He wondered what could have happened to turn part of the palace into such a mess.
But even as he expressed doubt, he knew the culprit from the start.
Sizzle, sizzle.
Between the smashed walls, there were traces of something melting.
He could feel heat lingering faintly in the air.
Then who was the culprit?
It was obvious.
“…Heh heh.”
It must have been his crazy friend.
Woohyeok was certain of it.
The reason was likely.
‘Was it because of me?’
Because he had disappeared as if dragged away.
Recalling that, Woohyeok had to make a bitter expression.
‘I made him do something dangerous.’
Because of his incompetent self, he had made him do something unnecessary.
Such guilt arose.
What was somewhat unexpected here was.
‘Why did he go this far?’
He couldn’t understand why Goyang Cheon had to go this far for him.
He himself was the same, but Goyang Cheon had even less reason to.
They hadn’t been close since childhood.
They hadn’t done anything that would cause such friendship to sprout.
In truth, he had unilaterally clung to him calling him a friend.
Goyang Cheon had accepted it nonchalantly.
Even though that was clearly the situation.
‘For what.’
For what had Goyang Cheon gone this far?
It was something Woohyeok simply couldn’t understand.
Moreover.
[Come on your own.]
As if he had urgent business, he had dumped him there and disappeared alone.
It seemed something serious had happened, but he didn’t know that either.
He looked around and let out a deep sigh.
The palace reduced to a mess.
He hadn’t been able to hear from Goyang Cheon what had happened inside.
Woohyeok intuitively felt that his body had changed.
His hair had suddenly turned white, and overflowing energy as well.
How had this happened?
His deep doubts lasted only a moment.
‘Whatever the case, I need to move first.’
Staying still here wouldn’t let him learn anything.
Woohyeok also had to check what had happened to Yuseon.
As he tried to take a step to find out.
From somewhere.
[The seal has been broken.]
He flinched—!
A voice was heard.
Woohyeok turned his head at the unknown voice.
‘From where?’
Where on earth was the voice coming from?
He looked around warily.
[How strange. It shouldn’t be time yet.]
The unknown voice continued to ring in Woohyeok’s ears.
“…Who are you?”
When Woohyeok asked in a tense voice.
[Hmm?]
The other side finally reacted.
[Can you hear my voice?]
“…Yes.”
He could hear it very well.
[Really? How curious.]
A voice that seemed light yet boundlessly cold.
Even merely exchanging words, he felt an uncanny sense of dissonance, as though he might be cut.
[Not only are you not a child of the main house, but a brat of Wudang hearing my voice.]
Woohyeok’s eyes widened at the words.
He wondered how the voice knew he was a person of Wudang.
However.
[Very well. Now is not the time to quibble over such things.]
The other party spat out as if such matters were of no concern.
Swoosh—!!
“…!”
Cold air suddenly began gathering before Woohyeok’s eyes.
Seeing that, Woohyeok urgently brought his hand to his waist.
‘Damn.’
He just had to have no sword.
Crackle—!
For some reason, amidst the gathering cold, a frigid energy seeped in.
Gradually the energy gathered and at some point took on a form.
“…Huh?”
Woohyeok, who had been watching this warily, soon had to stiffen his expression.
He had no choice.
The form created by the energy was a human body, and the face of that body was.
“Master…?”
His own master.
Because it looked exactly like Namgung Hyeong, the Wudang Eccentric Immortal.