NOVEL NEXT chapter 85
85 – Cognition (2)
A surge of rage and hatred rising from deep within.
It felt as if my reason was melting away under the heat of destructive instincts.
Moreover, there had been a voice echoing in my head since earlier.
Tear apart and kill the evil.
Each time that voice rang out, the demons around me were destroyed.
Simultaneously, it felt as if my consciousness was fading, as if someone were pulling at my feet.
‘…I think I finally understand.’
Asuka and Lee Seo-yeon, why they had been so afraid when they couldn’t control their talents.
‘This is what it feels like to be consumed by talent.’
As if some impurity were mixing into my soul.
It felt like a symbiote had chosen Spider-Man as its host.
‘…If I lose consciousness like this, my talent will consume me.’
So I constantly thought of killing the demons to keep my mind intact.
Fwoosh, fwoosh!
The ground ablaze with hellfire.
This land is nothing but barren soil where not a single blade of grass grows.
The smell of sulfur brushing past my nose.
There’s no way the scent could penetrate the armor’s purification filter.
Instead of water, lava flows through the Yalu River.
Baekdu Mountain has yet to erupt. Therefore, while it may be dry, there’s no way lava could flow.
So the hellish landscape visible to me now is merely an illusion created by my talent.
Thinking this, I chased after the demon fleeing from me.
“Where do you think you’re running?”
I reached out my right hand toward the demon’s head.
At some point, the Thunderbolt was no longer visible, but… it didn’t matter.
Even without a weapon, it was enough to kill a demon with my bare hands.
Crack!
I seized the fleeing
The demon’s head vanished with a pop, like a balloon bursting.
Thud, splat.
As the headless demon collapsed to the ground, it disintegrated into ash.
And just as it turned to seek its next prey.
Splash, splish-splash!
Various attacks rained down upon my body.
Yet, I felt only a slight jolt; no real damage was done.
I clenched my fists tightly, exhaling a hot breath.
Then, I began to unleash overwhelming violence upon the demons.
I launched a kick at the nearest demon.
Boom!
With a sound that seemed unimaginable for a mere kick, the demon’s waist exploded.
As I watched the demon vanish into ash with its dying gasp, I kicked another nearby demon into the air and brought my elbow crashing down.
And mercilessly, I snuffed out the pitiful lives of the demons.
I pierced one demon’s chest.
I grabbed another and drove my knee into its waist.
I severed the head of yet another demon from its torso.
As I continued to massacre the demons with sheer physical strength, without the use of weapons,
at some point, the demons stopped charging at me; instead, they began to retreat, their bodies trembling with fear.
And with one demon turning its back to flee,
『……!』
『…! ……!』
『……! ……!!』
The demons around me—no, those witnessing my slaughter—let out incomprehensible shrieks as they fled.
Seeing their panicked forms, I shook off the black ash clinging to my hands and opened my inventory.
From within, I pulled out two mini-guns and 33 thunderbolts in a rush.
Click, click.
I gripped a mini-gun in each hand.
At the same time, I levitated the 33 thunderbolts that had fallen to the ground with my telekinesis.
The reason I chose the Thunderbolt instead of the Minigun is that it possesses firepower that rivals the Minigun while being lighter.
Moreover, I was still not adept at telekinesis, and the maximum number of projectiles my magic allowed was 33.
It was, quite literally, my optimal setup for the massacre of demons.
『……! ──!!』
The demons, upon seeing my armament, screamed in terror, their faces contorted with fear as they struggled to escape from me.
However, the demons gathered here were clustered together like ants, making it impossible for those trying to flee to slip through the gaps.
As a result, some demons gave up on fleeing and charged at me instead.
Boom, bang, bang─!!
Of course, the demons rushing at me in a state of despair left no trace as they were obliterated by the 33 Thunderbolts swirling around me like panels of a Gundam.
Wiiiiiiiiiiing……!!
The barrels of the Miniguns in my hands began to spin.
In response, the movements of the fleeing demons grew frantic.
And just as one demon, deciding it could no longer squeeze through the crowd, kicked off the ground and leaped into the air.
Kwaaa──!!
With a deafening roar, two white flashes erupted from the Miniguns I held in both hands.
Simultaneously, the 33 Thunderbolts unleashed a thunderous storm of lightning upon the demons.
Demons swept away by the white flashes and lightning storm burst apart with explosive force.
As I watched the demons vanish without a trace, I was engulfed in a thrill that transcended mere exhilaration.
Feeling such emotions, I began to devise the optimal method for slaughtering even more demons, more efficiently.
And just as I was contemplating how to make the demons feel pain before they died quickly,
Ding.
[The activation conditions for the derived skill ‘Calm Mind’ from ‘Strong Will (A)’ have been met.]
[Would you like to activate ‘Calm Mind’?]
A system alert appeared in my field of vision, confirming the use of the skill.
‘Ah.’
At that message, I felt a chill run down my spine.
Without hesitation, I activated the number one injector of the automatic potion injector.
Pshh.
The injector’s needle pierced into my waist.
At the same time, I felt a surge of vibrant life energy, a refreshing aura spreading throughout my body.
And as that energy seeped into my head.
The feeling of clarity washed over me, and all the cruel and merciless methods of demon slaughter faded away.
‘…Wow, I really swung that naturally.’
Thoughts I would never entertain under normal circumstances.
And even if I felt a sense of superiority, there was no way I could feel ecstasy or pleasure from killing a fallen one.
‘…When did I start swinging?’
I pondered as I dealt with the demons… no, the fallen ones around me.
At first, I had denied the surrounding scenery one by one, trying not to lose consciousness.
The land, the river, the smells.
I dismissed the hellish landscape as an illusion.
And then I began to kill the fleeing demons… Ah, it was from this point.
I realized that I had been swayed by my talent since the moment I tore a demon apart with my bare hands instead of a gun.
‘Ah, I was trying to control my talent with pure strength.’
This won’t do.
I resolved to actively use the automatic potion injector that I had intended to avoid using except in emergencies.
At that, the talent ‘Demon Slayer (S)’ suppressed by the energies of the Golden Apple and the Spirit of the Divine began to rebel fiercely, as if it could not follow my thoughts.
I scoffed and activated the second injector.
With a whoosh, the sound of the injector activating spread throughout my body.
In response, the anger, hatred, and destructive instincts that had tried to sway me sank deep, as if crushed under stone.
Even so, the talent struggled to sway me in any way, but it was pinned down by the energies of the elixir and the divine medicine, unable to budge.
Then, the hellish landscape began to revert to its original state.
The land that had been ablaze with hellfire returned to ordinary earth.
The sulfurous smell that had brushed against my nostrils vanished.
The river that had flowed with lava returned to the Yalu River.
Moreover, the fallen ones, who had appeared demon-like, reverted to their original human forms.
『…aaah! Run away─!』
And the incomprehensible language returned to my ears.
As I swept away those fallen ones with the minigun and Thunderbolt, I pondered what to do about my talent.
‘Hmph…, I can’t evolve my talent to S+ grade like this.’
The condition for evolution is to control the talent with pure physical and mental strength, not with external forces like potions or items.
But at my current level, it seems I won’t be able to control my talent… so, reluctantly, I think I’ll have to rely on the power of the potion for the time being.
As I thought this, I replaced the automatic potion injector (A) with a new one.
‘Tera.’
– Master!
Tera’s voice came through immediately, as if she had been waiting for my call.
– At last, you can hear my voice.
Though her tone remained dry, it carried a hint of concern and relief.
I informed her that I hadn’t been able to hear her voice due to being swept away by my talent, apologizing in the process.
‘…So for now, I think I’ll have to control my talent with the potion.’
– I believe that is indeed necessary.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Tera agreed with me, prompting a sigh to escape my lips as I asked.
‘Tera, what level do you think I need to reach to control the Demon Slayer talent?’
– Currently, your level is mid-high tier… Master, a Corrupted is attacking from behind.
‘Oh, I know.’
Even without Tera’s warning, I sensed the incoming attack through my instinct.
As I detected the threat, I swiftly turned and obliterated the body of the charging Corrupted with my minigun.
Seeing this, Tera seemed to relax a bit and continued her interrupted thought.
– Since you are mid-high tier, to control the Demon Slayer talent, you should at least reach mid-high tier.
‘Mid-high tier, huh… that makes sense.’
It was the answer I had expected.
After all, the Demon Slayer (S) was a talent with a point value of 4.5 million, starting from the 1 million point mark of S-rank talents, making it quite a high-tier ability.
Given that, I thought it reasonable that one would need to be at least mid-high tier to control an S-rank talent… and indeed, it was true.
‘Wait a minute… then what about Lee Seoyeon? She evolved her talent when she was at a mid-high tier, just like me, right?’
The talent Lee Seoyeon had since birth, ‘Sword Prodigy.’
When I checked the point value of the Demon Slayer before, I had also looked up the point value of Sword Prodigy, which was 3 million.
For her to evolve such a talent to a mere mid-high tier was absurd.
As I pondered this and asked, Tera let out a sigh for the first time.
– Ha… Master, you must consider the Black Fox as an exception.
An exception?
Why?
– The reason the black fox was able to evolve its abilities was because of you, my lord… No, that’s not it.
‘What? Why did you stop speaking?’
– …It would be more beneficial for your well-being to consider it an exception.
‘…Is that all?’
– Yes, that is correct.
…Then I suppose it must be treated as an exception.
I nodded at Terra’s counsel and came to a halt.
The place where I stood was roughly in the middle of the black wave.
And it was also just outside the explosive range that would occur at Magi’s leg.
“Stop it! No, protect it!”
“Prevent that monster and the golems from reaching Magi’s leg!”
“Hey, you b*stard! How are you going to stop it? How are you going to get through that hail of fire?”
‘Exactly, how are you going to stop it?’
No, beyond stopping it, how am I supposed to get through the firepower being unleashed around me right now?
How am I supposed to maneuver through this barrage of two miniguns and 33 thunderbolts that are continuously spewing fire!
I spun in place, shouting a question that wouldn’t be heard by them.
…For the record, I had no choice but to turn in place.
The effect of super accuracy means that I hit with 100% accuracy wherever I ‘focus.’
It may not look graceful, but I had no choice but to shoot while turning my body.
Of course, I could use ‘Clairvoyance (A)’ without needing to turn in place.
However, right now, I was managing 33 thunderbolts with telekinesis.
And Clairvoyance consumes more magical power than I expected.
That’s why I couldn’t use Clairvoyance in this situation.
As I was thinking this, several corrupted beings charged at me as if they had some plan.
Seeing their bodies transform into something like steel, it seemed they possessed a physical enhancement skill.
But unfortunately, what was being fired in the direction they were charging was not thunderbolts, but miniguns.
And the minigun, the Angel of Death, has an effect that deals “additional damage and fixed damage to ‘armored’ enemies with ‘special armor-piercing rounds (B+).'”
“Come on, everyone, follow me! I’ll break through… Argh…!”
“No, why can’t you stop it…?”
Those who thought they could protect themselves with various reinforcement skills and magic barriers were reduced to dust and disappeared in the white flash.
Then, the reinforcement-type corruptors who were following behind them made a sudden U-turn and tried to flee.
No, they tried to flee, but the white flash had already pierced their bodies.
As they fled, their bodies, like the corruptors who had been struck, turned to dust and vanished.
Thud, thud!
The sound of heavy footsteps echoed from behind.
I turned around to confirm, and saw that the golems, who had jumped into the black wave with me, were cutting down the corruptors with their electric saws and charging towards us.
“No way! Block it, block it!”
“What the hell is this magic barrier? It’s so thick!”
“Hey, you b*stards! Focus your firepower on the golems… no, don’t run away!”
As expected… corruptors are corruptors.
Even with tens of thousands of people gathered, the corruptors’ unique survival instinct was unstoppable.
“Ahh! I don’t want to die!”
“I can’t die in a place like this! I won’t die!”
“You higher-ups, you block it! We’ll escape!”
From the lower ranks to the mid-upper ranks, the corruptors below the higher-ups all rushed towards the magic barrier.
As a result, a massive chaos erupted as the corruptors who were trying to cross the barrier collided with those who were fleeing.
– Sorry about that.
“What’s wrong?”
– I’ve consumed all my computational power and can’t control the drone, which is unfortunate.
“…What’s going on? Can’t you control it infinitely with machines?”
For some reason, even though my inventory was open, the drone wasn’t coming out.
– I’m afraid not. Just like how you consume magic to use skills, I also consume computational power to hack or control machines.
“Computational power… I’ve never heard of it.”
– That’s right. Computational power is a system-exclusive resource, not a resource unique to this world.
“…What? System-exclusive resource?”
Can I just use it freely?
– Don’t worry about it. The computational power used for hacking and control is allocated separately, so we won’t have an emergency system check like last time.
“Good, then.”
I let out a sigh of relief and used my mini-gun and thunderbolt to take down the higher-up corruptors who were trying to block the golems.
Of course, even though the lower-tiered Fallen had fled, there were still many high-tiered Fallen, so it was impossible to prevent all of them from approaching the golem.
『…Damn it! Am I going to die here, or die while trying to escape?!』
Several Fallen cursed as they clung to the golem’s body.
Then, they released all their magical energy and self-destructed.
Kwahhh──!!
An explosion of black and white erupted.
The grenades inside the golem also detonated along with the self-destruction of the Fallen.
– Master! Quickly, the Aegis!
At Terra’s urgent shout, I tossed aside not only the minigun but also the Thunderbolt I was levitating with telekinesis, and I hurriedly pulled out the Aegis from my inventory.
Then, I transformed all 35 Aegis into shields and thrust them toward the direction of the explosion.
At the same time, the golems caught in the blast began to explode in a chain reaction.
Kwahhh─! Kwahhh─! Kwahhh──!!
With a deafening roar that felt like the heavens and earth were collapsing, a white explosion engulfed me.
Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle…!!
One, three, five, seven… the Aegis that came into contact with the explosion rapidly disintegrated.
I continued to pull out Aegis, resisting the explosion.
When the number of Aegis exceeded 35 and reached 72, the explosions finally ceased.
“Wow…, I thought I was going to die.”
I let out a deep sigh of relief and discarded the Aegis I was holding.
As it transformed from red to gray, the Aegis crumbled to ash and vanished.
Seeing the Aegis in that state, I felt an odd sense of fatigue, even though my infinite energy was still ‘ON.’
Of course, it was just a feeling, so it didn’t hinder my ability to move.
“…Did all the golems explode?”
– Yes, that is correct. However, with all the golems exploding, a large number of Fallen have been annihilated.
As Terra said, the once-crowded Fallen were nowhere to be seen.
“…Can this place be restored?”
It was no wonder, as the once-flat ground was now pockmarked with craters, as if meteorites had fallen here and there.
It had literally turned into a wasteland.
– That is the task of the superhumans with restoration abilities. There is no need for you to worry, Master.
No, no matter what, the one who caused this is me, right?
– Master, didn’t you intend to protect this place? And besides, there’s no harm to ordinary people or even the superhumans, so it’s all right.
At Terra’s assurance, I tilted my head, wondering if that was really the case.
– Master, if you’re still uneasy, you can consult Kali later.
“Oh, then that’ll work.”
I nodded at Terra’s words and stomped my feet on the ground.
Then, stepping onto the solid land outside the crater, I spoke.
“Are the only remaining corrupted ones those crossing Magi’s legs over there?”
– Yes, that is correct.
“Terra, operating the golems also requires computational power, right?”
– Yes, unfortunately, that is the case.
“Then it seems there’s no other way.”
I took a short, deep breath and approached Magi’s legs.
As I neared the maximum transmission distance of 50 meters, I sent five boxes of grenades onto Magi’s legs.
At the same time, I activated the derived skill of ‘Sniper’s Keen Sense (A+),’ called ‘Live Focus.’
The grenade boxes falling from the sky.
The corrupted ones fighting each other on the legs.
Even the dust swirling in the air.
Everything began to slow down.
Of course, I too was only perceiving things as they were; my own movements had become very sluggish.
In response, I executed what I had been contemplating since last time.
Speed Limit Release [ON / OFF]
Ding dong.
Speed Limit Release [ON / OFF]
It was precisely turning on the speed limit release while using Live Focus.
And just as I had imagined.
Thud.
In the slowed-down world, I regained my original speed.
But as expected, there is always a price to pay.
Ouch!
The consumption rate of my magical power accelerated to an alarming degree, to the point where I could feel the pain in my heart.
Just walking, not even running, was enough to…
Puff!
My body was under immense strain, and the Aegis I had deployed earlier was on the verge of shattering, its color fading to gray.
I activated the injector containing the magical power recovery potion and summoned a new Aegis.
And then, I slowly raised my arm… No, even this much movement was enough to shatter it?
“Is it because the Live Focus is activated?”
It couldn’t be that even simple actions would cause damage.
After all, during the previous training session, I had moved my arm freely without any harm, even with the speed limit release enabled.
I thought that if I made a mistake, I could die, so I temporarily released the cheat.
And I took out ten Aegises from my inventory and equipped them on my ten fingers.
I wanted to equip more, but since only one effect could be applied to each finger, duplicating them would be pointless.
Ding dong.
I switched the speed limit release back to “ON”.
And, with an extremely slow motion, I raised my arm towards the falling grenade box.
With my raised hand, I transmitted the training pistol and fired it, consuming two Aegises.
Ta-a-a-a-ang……
The sound of the pistol firing echoed slowly.
But the bullet fired at an incredibly fast speed, thanks to the super accuracy and speed limit release effects… no, even faster than that, towards the grenade box.
Psss-ew…
The gun disintegrated.
At the same time, the grenade box on the bridge began to explode slowly.
Witnessing that, I took a step forward towards the next bridge.
&
I moved, consuming ten Aegises per step, for a while.
After exhausting an enormous amount of Aegises and magical power recovery potions, I managed to transmit and detonate five grenade boxes on five bridges.
Now, all I had to do was escape the blast radius.
Pffft.
I activated the injector containing the magical power recovery potion.
And, I transmitted the ten Aegises to my ten fingers, equipping them once again.
And when I had distanced myself from the bridge while repeating the actions I had been doing earlier.
Ding.
As I switched the speed limit release to ‘OFF,’ I ended the live focus.
Suddenly, the world, which had slowed down, regained its original speed.
Kwaaah──!!
The bombs on the five bridges exploded with a tremendous roar.
With that explosion, not only the bridges but also the corrupted beings on them were obliterated in an instant.
Huuuh…!
A powerful gust of wind swept over me from the shockwave.
However, as I had switched to using Aigis as a shield and thrust it forward the moment I ended the live focus, I was neither shaken nor pushed back.
And so, a brief moment passed.
– Situation Ended.
Terra informed me that the situation had concluded.
With the five bridges connected to the continent of death and the hundreds of thousands of corrupted beings all annihilated, it was indeed over.
But… what was this unease?
I took out the Thunderbolt from my inventory, feeling the lingering anxiety.
And the moment I held it in my hand.
『Lee Yoo-jin.』
My name was called from above, accompanied by the distinct voice of a corrupted being.
I looked up to confirm.
There, I saw a corrupted being with flowing red hair.
And… I knew that corrupted being very well.
I immediately raised my gun, aiming at it, while switching the speed limit release to ‘ON.’
『Nice to meet you. I am Greed…』
As Greed leisurely introduced himself, I pulled the trigger of my gun.
Boom──!!
With a thunderous sound, the Thunderbolt disassembled and vanished.
At the same time, an immense blue light flashed, and then.
…Crackle──!!
『……What!』
A massive energy barrier made of lightning pierced through greed.