“Pierce through that? Or find a good way around it?”
“Yes, sir. I’ll figure it out myself. I’ll call if I need you.”
After sending Hermes off, Sinhyeok stared at the structure.
“They probably don’t know what metal that’s made of either, do they?”
“Probably not. They look stupid at a glance.”
She judged them exactly as they appeared.
“What are you going to do, mister?”
Baek Arin carefully checked the lights visible around them.
The gods were watching the two of them.
“Those idiots. They’re really staring.”
“They must be afraid.”
Sinhyeok had felt it while getting involved with Priest Eijar, the Night World Tree, and Namgung Jincheon.
‘What I hold in my hand doesn’t distinguish between friend and foe, nor does it care about above and below.’
He could touch and interfere with everything.
The only drawback was that he had to pay the price himself.
“They seem to know what I can do in more detail than anyone else.”
There was something he could sense from those subtle gazes and movements.
‘I don’t think they intend to let me live.’
Behind their astonished voices and expressions, there were subtly cold gazes.
‘You always have to watch your back.’
Sinhyeok made a bitter face.
“I need to do something about this.”
“What are you going to do?”
He examined the structure closely.
“I feel like the answer to this might actually be that.”
He looked at the central sphere.
‘The two are perfectly compatible.’
“First, a test.”
Leaving Baek Arin behind, Sinhyeok advanced toward the central sphere.
- What’s he doing?
- What is he doing?
- That’s suspicious.
- Hey, hey, hey! He’s touching it!
The startled gods rushed over in a flurry.
Sinhyeok was immediately grabbed.
- Hey!
- Are you trying to die?!
- We said we wanted to live, so why did you decide we should all go down together?!
If it had been another god, they would have simply thought he was touching it.
But because it was Sinhyeok of all people, they all freaked out.
However, Sinhyeok’s hand had already touched the central sphere.
The sensation was—
‘Dense.’
He felt it the moment he touched it.
He instinctively saw its particle structure.
A thick barrier was packed tightly together, showing no gaps.
There was no reaction whatsoever.
Sinhyeok was seized by a god and dragged away.
- I’m warning you just this once.
- Not that. We want to live. We don’t want to die.
- Mortal. Do not invite death. There lies the beginning of the end of all things.
“You’re all much too timid.”
They gradually began to show anger.
- Hah. This insect-like bastard.
“Don’t get so angry. First of all, I’m not interested in what’s inside that thing either. Not the inside. That. I mean the metal covering the outside.”
- You mean adamantium?
He had learned its name.
“Do you have any of that left over?”
- You should’ve said so sooner. There should be one.
- If you look around here, you’ll find an anvil and a hammer roaming around. Use them well. They’re made of the same metal as that.
The gods kept watching Sinhyeok in a state of tension.
Sinhyeok stared at the central sphere with a strange expression.
‘The Akashic said this place was Jormungand’s nest.’
And that Jormungand possessed the function of circulation, not the end.
‘If the Akashic’s information is correct, that isn’t the end. It only looks like the end.’
“Let’s find that metal first.”
The gods watched Sinhyeok.
- We mustn’t let our guard down.
- I know. He’s even more dangerous than the others.
- Surely he doesn’t know what that thing truly is, does he?
- There’s no way he could. The records were already erased from the world.
- We cannot be certain. He eliminated Mimir.
They looked at Sinhyeok carefully.
- We’ll have to get rid of him the moment he leaves.
- Naturally. We cannot invite needless danger.
Sinhyeok confirmed the lights of their figures, which kept flickering.
‘I don’t know what they’re saying, but at a glance, it’s obvious they’re discussing how to make me do all the work and then kill me.’
For now, he ignored them and wandered around the space.
‘There’s a lot of debris.’
There were far more things here that looked like the island’s remains.
“Ah, no.”
He had thought they were the island’s remains.
As it turned out, they were residue coming from the central sphere.
‘That’s floating stone.’
The mineral the Akashic had told him he absolutely had to secure was here.
“Wait, that’s…”
He saw something else.
‘Uranium.’
An extremely dangerous mineral, already well refined, was here.
‘Let’s steer clear.’
He smoothly avoided it.
As he passed by, his gaze turned toward it.
‘Would it work?’
He quietly looked toward the gods stationed here and there in the corners.
‘Let’s secretly set off just one shot. The method to make it is…’
Sssssss.
He didn’t know.
“I’m screwed.”
“Mister! I think this is it!”
Baek Arin had found something.
He quickly swam over and reached her.
“It’s a hammer.”
A thick black hammer was in her hand.
The moment he touched it, he felt it.
‘This is exactly the same.’
A metal so empty it showed no particle structure or reaction at all.
- You found it well, huh? I was going to tell you if you couldn’t.
Hermes approached.
Seeing him come closer, Sinhyeok grew wary.
‘He’s acting unusually friendly.’
Because he was being so helpful in this space, suspicion simply sprouted up on its own.
And seeing that bastard made even suspicions he hadn’t had sprout up.
“Do you know how this is made?”
- No. No one knows how to make it. That’s the end of it.
Sinhyeok found his answer odd.
‘He doesn’t know.’
It was possible he didn’t know.
But he sensed something strange from the way he concluded at the end that that was the end of it.
- Be careful with everything. And don’t go near that central sphere.
“Yes, yes. I won’t.”
Hermes chuckled and gave a precise warning.
- That thing has had a hole punched through it before. The owner of that hammer punched a hole in it while trying to make that, and it caused a huge mess. So be careful.
He said it while staring straight at Sinhyeok.
At the same time, his face was revealed.
A man full of mischievous boyishness looked at Sinhyeok with interest.
- Understand?
From the look in his eyes, Sinhyeok felt as if he were a child who had discovered an expensive toy.
“Get lost.”
- Hahahaha. What an amusing human.
Hermes slipped away, full of anticipation.
“What’s wrong?”
Baek Arin found it unexpected to see Sinhyeok suddenly answer so harshly.
“His eyes disgusted me.”
As Sinhyeok lifted the hammer in his hand, he felt a fairly heavy weight.
“Adamantium.”
She snatched the hammer from Sinhyeok’s hand.
“This is the material those annoying knight bastards’ weapons were made from?”
She was referring to the spear knight they had encountered before.
“That’s right. Now we need to run a test with this.”
He immediately held up the hammer and looked at the Astra Ring.
‘It will definitely work.’
The one thing bothering him was where the owner who had made this was.
He hurried toward the outer edge.
The gods showed no interest even as he approached the Astra Ring with the hammer.
‘I’ve learned one thing. This method doesn’t work.’
He immediately thrust his hand in.
He interfered with the outer curtain and melted it away.
When the metal surface was exposed, he struck it with the hammer.
Clang!
Along with a dull sound, a small crack appeared.
“Ah.”
And he immediately witnessed that crack regenerate.
- Kuhahahahaha. That was all you came up with?
- Hahaha! Well, for a human, you were fairly clever!
- If that had worked, do you think we’d be stuck here like this?!
- Idiot!
Their mocking voices rang out to their hearts’ content.
“Ah, yes.”
With an annoyed face, Sinhyeok ignored the gods as they excitedly chattered away.
“Still, the fact that there’s a reaction is promising.”
“I know, right?”
Baek Arin also looked disappointed.
[Sys……]
Something flashed past Sinhyeok’s eyes for an instant.
“Mister.”
Baek Arin had seen it too.
“Arin.”
The act they had said was meaningless had gained meaning.
Baek Arin took the hammer from Sinhyeok’s hand.
“I’ll strike it. Mister, you clear away this curtain thing.”
- I told you, it’s meaningless.
- Just give up already.
- Honestly, is that pointless persistence a trait of insects?
They heard the gods’ mocking voices, but ignored them.
“It’s pierced!”
- Wow~ Impressive.
Their emotionless admiration rang out.
[The system is reconnecting.]
Baek Arin kept striking, trying to widen the hole that was filling back in.
“Uaaaaaagh! It’s so damn heavy!”
[Administrator!]
Sinhyeok hurriedly said,
‘About adamantium!’
[There is nothing precisely known about adamantium. However, by inferring from related content in myths and legends, I can provide compiled information.]
“Mister! This is going to close!”
Seeing the hole on the verge of closing, Sinhyeok hurried.
‘Quickly! It’s closing right now!’
[It can only be handled by giants…….]
Baek Arin set the hammer down with an exhausted expression.
“Mister. Did you get anything?”
Sinhyeok nodded.
“I asked one question and got some information.”
He looked at adamantium, the metal making up the central sphere.
“It says only giants can handle it.”
What on earth did that mean?
He had obtained an enigmatic hint.
* * *
[Administrator? Administrator!]
Namgung Jincheon had gone outside to train and devour.
He flinched when he saw the Akashic’s message floating in the air.
“Hong Ichan?”
Hong Ichan was also looking at the same message.
“What is it? Akashic? Akashic! Hey!”
When he hurriedly shouted, the Akashic soon made an announcement to everyone.
[We were temporarily connected to the Administrator. We have identified his current location and confirmed that he has survived together with Miss Baek Arin.]
At those words, the two let out sighs of relief.
[However, it has been confirmed that they are imprisoned within a peculiar barrier and that their energy is being drained in real time.]
“What?”
At the Akashic’s final words, both of their expressions turned serious.
[Please hurry.]
Seeing the Akashic fall silent again, Namgung Jincheon sighed and rose from his seat.
“Seems we cannot afford to rest.”
Hong Ichan also stood.
“I’ll herd them over, so warm up a bit.”
Namgung Jincheon opened his status window.
[Status Window]
Name: Namgung Jincheon (LV.157)
Class: Martial Artist (Transformation Realm)
Strength: 3154
Agility: 3945
Stamina: 2945
Internal Energy: 4 cycles
Traits: Lord of Night Thunder, Spirit Predator
[Owned Skills]
=====================
[Main]
Heavenly Thunder Emperor Divine Art (LV.MAX)
Night Thunder Energy (LV.46)
Heavenly Wind Movement Art (LV.79)
Heavenly Wind Sword Art (LV.36)
Great Star-Absorbing Art (LV.24)
[Sub]
Curse of Flame (LV.16)
=====================
“It has risen a great deal.”
There was one new thing he had learned.
‘So I can raise my level even without something called a core. That’s fortunate.’
However, the troublesome thing he had gained was a “curse.”
The price he had paid for devouring spirits, his own kind, was a curse bestowed by every flame spirit.
Every young flame being that had taken in spiritual energy and awakened a sense of self would curse him and try to kill him.
Namgung Jincheon moved while shaking off flames with his sword.
“Hong Ichan, I’m ready, so send them all over.”
A corner of the Realm of Ruin.
The pitiful spirits who had lost their home had encountered a mad predator.
Namgung Jincheon raised his sword and apologized to them.
“Curse me.”
Hong Ichan herded the flame spirits over with his shadows.
“Here they come!”
“Haat!”
Namgung Jincheon immediately charged toward the mindless flame spirits surging toward him like a wave.
Sssk!
Each time his sword moved, black lightning roared, and the spirits were split apart.
‘Absorb.’
The shattered spirits were drawn into him in their entirety.
At the same time, flames burned across his whole body.
With his entire body aflame, Namgung Jincheon steadfastly raised his sword.
“Come. I am accustomed to pain.”