Master of All Sins

Chapter 4 : First Entry into Phantom world - 4

Even though I had thrown the flame, unable to bear the insult from Eul, the probability of me defeating it, in truth, converged to a number infinitely close to 0.

Eul was not only very rare, but its combat abilities were not well known.

However, judging from the fact that no one who had disobeyed its words had ever returned alive, it was clearly 7th-grade or higher.

The fact that I didn't know what abilities it wielded, and therefore how to respond, was also grim.

Of course, even if I did know, there was nothing I could do other than create a tiny flame.

I knew that an unknown power was hidden in this flame, but it was uncertain how effective it would be against that colossal monster.

“Even if the noble one says you dislike me, I will fight alongside you!”

The still inscrutable monster woman, Hoa, stood beside me, even while wearing a hurt expression.

Her words about handling flames were not a lie, as several fireballs floated around her like will-o'-the-wisps and just from that, she was already stronger than me.

“I told you before, I won't last long.”

“You just need to add the power of that flame to me!”

– Kuaaaaaaah! Who are you, you bastard! How do you wield that power!

Hoa's reply and Eul's roar echoed simultaneously.

The flame I had thrown while refusing its demand had just now landed.

Although the flame could not completely consume the monster as it had with the lesser demons, it burned persistently, not easily extinguished, and was inflicting deep pain on it.

– It hurts, it hurts so much! How can a fire created by a human reject me!

– Thump, thump!

Every time the giant stomped the ground with its foot, the surrounding earth shot up sharply, causing an earthquake.

I, with my weak body, had to struggle not to fall over, my breath already growing short from just that.

However, even while I was struggling to plant my cane in the ground and balance myself, I was desperately creating the next flame to shoot.

Even though it was, at best, close to a sorry excuse for a fight, having experienced even one such real battle helped to grant me the mindset of the battlefield.

“Noble one! The flame, to me!”

A shrill cry came from Hoa.

I could see Eul, having already shaken off the pain, raising a fist the size of a pot lid high.

At the unusual demonic qi gathering at its tip, I hurriedly turned my head to Hoa.

“What should I do with the flame!”

“Just throw it to me!”

I had no idea what she intended to do, but since I had no confidence in defeating the monster with my abilities alone, I had no choice but to do as she said.

When I flicked my fingers to send the flame I had created in my hand, Hoa caught it in mid-air with the fireball she had created.

What happened next was surprising.

The two flames mixed naturally in the air, maintaining their properties while increasing their size!

“What…….”

No matter how unskilled I was at properly handling sorcery, after handling this flame a few times, I knew it was not a power that other sorcerers could easily analyze.

After all, if the analysis was easy, the flame could be easily blocked, and eventually, a similar one could even be created.

While I was frozen, unable to believe the sight of her freely handling the flame containing my spiritual power as if to deny my basic common sense.

Hoa's eyes gleamed as she immediately shot the now-completed fireball at Eul.

“Fire Bomb, Art of the Chasing Rat!”

– Ungrateful wretches, to refuse the elder's grace—!

The flame, flying nimbly and mysteriously like a fox chasing a fleeing rat, made contact with the monster's right arm, which was brought down with a shout.

The flame instantly devoured and burned not only its sticky and dirty demonic qi but also its huge forearm.

Not satisfied with that, it clung to the remaining arm and blazed magnificently.

– Kuwoooooooh! I remember, I remember now! You wench, it was you who did this to me!

“Noble one, I ask you one more time!”

Eul, thrashing about in agony, its overwhelming entrance now a joke, roared with wicked demonic qi.

But its struggle was blocked by Hoa's firm voice and disappeared in vain.

I was already convinced that Hoa could finish off Eul at any time without my help, but since I still couldn't figure out her intentions, I played along for the time being.

“Alright, I will give you whatever you want.”

“Thank you!”

This was the last of it.

No matter how much my spiritual power had recovered in that short time, this was now the limit.

The flame I had barely managed to create by squeezing out every last drop landed softly on Hoa's palm, then momentarily enveloped her entire body.

“Fire God—Art of the Flame Jaw Seal!”

When she stretched out her hand and pointed at Eul's head—a brilliant flame shot out in a straight line like a beam of light and to prevent it from running its mouth any longer, it forever snatched away its mouth, its brain, and even its soul.

“We did it, noble one!”

“Haa…….”

Watching Eul's demonic power completely scatter and disappear over the shoulder of Hoa, who turned around with a proud expression, I let out a sigh of unknown meaning.

If I were to form a Shikigami contract with it, I would have had to neutralize it without taking its life, but since it wasn't a creature I had defeated with my abilities alone in the first place, there was no way a contract would be properly established and in truth, even if things had gone well, I had no intention of making a contract with it.

A nasty disposition could be fixed, but from ancient times, Eul was an ominous monster said to appear before a great war in the country.

If I were to bring such a monster back, not just the Shin clan but the entire nation would be in an uproar.

‘Of course, that wouldn't make the fact that it appeared disappear. Is a great turmoil truly about to befall this Aeshin Hanguk?’

“Noble one, now that we have escaped the crisis, there is something I must tell you about the flame you wield…….”

As I was sighing at the situation, which was too heavy a responsibility for someone who had just performed the Gatekeeper Ritual, Hoa spoke to me again.

I was startled to see my own reflection, wrapped in bandages like a mummy, in her eyes right in front of me.

The distance between us had become ridiculously close at some point.

No matter if she was a monster, there is a distinction between men and women, so how could she……!

I tried not to show my surprise, coughed dryly, and took a half step back as I replied.

“You mean about the reason why you can handle my power better than I can?”

“Such things do not matter right now.”

I had intended to prick her conscience sharply, but Hoa calmly brushed off my point.

The words that followed disturbed my mind even more.

“But noble one. It is never a good thing to arbitrarily draw on the power of another being, especially one that has attained divinity. The power of a mighty being widely known in Phantom world invites other beings familiar with it, or hostile ones.”

“……Ha, I see.”

Divinity.

A widely known being.

I gritted my teeth as I stepped back again to avoid Hoa, who was trying to get closer.

“Did you approach me for this from the beginning?”

“Absolutely not. I was merely concerned for your well-being, noble one…… Gak!”

– Whoosh!

At that moment.

A bright red hole was punched through Hoa's chest right before my eyes.

A magnificent flame, burning from the center of the hole, began to spread to her entire body. The energy contained in that flame felt strangely familiar.

It was the very same flame that I myself had been barely handling just a moment ago

– The wench is right.

Appearing suddenly without a sound and casting a shadow over my head was a giant beast.

Swinging the foreleg that had pierced Hoa's chest to the side and throwing her away like trash, the dog-like beast bared its teeth and growled.

– You shouldn't be carelessly brandishing His power. Especially not dirty human traitors like you. Because there are hunting dogs with a good sense of smell like me, see?

“A fire, dog…….”

Did they say the Fire dog starts from 7th-grade?

But there was no way the Fire dog before my eyes was a mere 7th-grade.

According to folklore, the Fire dog, which had a history of holding the sun and moon in its mouth and absorbing their light into its body, although it ultimately failed, is a spiritual beast whose nature can change at any time depending on the fire it contains.

If such a creature had trained for a long time while containing the fire of a mighty being with divinity, as Hoa had said, then its grade would be…….

– Especially from you, an even more disgusting stench of betrayal emanates. The evil karma you've built up must surely reach the heavens.

“……Ha.”

– A curse is originally the act of writing one's own name and the opponent's on the same tombstone. A curse from a being who has accumulated divinity is an act that requires enduring the pain of tearing off a part of that divinity. What would you know of that pain?

If it wanted to kill me, all it had to do was flick its claws lightly.

Nevertheless, since the opponent seemed to want an answer.

Letting out the breath I had been holding, I spoke as if murmuring.

“Did you ask me, if I know pain.”

– Grrr, you wouldn't know. It's not a realm a lowly human can understand. I forgot my beastly habits again and said something meaningless.

Is there a need for a distinction between the lowly and the noble in understanding someone?

The beast before my eyes would not understand me and I would not understand the ‘Him’ the beast spoke of, but that was not simply because of a difference in stature.

The heart of a mother who embraces her son with an unchanging smile, a son who ruined her entire life just by being born.

The heart of a father who has never come to see his child since birth, even though it is his own seed.

The heart of Geum Mo-a, who does not leave my side out of obsession, not loyalty or affection. I cannot understand any of them.

There is no way another person can understand the pain that only I experience.

– Enough talk. You, you have no intention of telling me where you got that power, do you?

“I do not know and you, do you know how I came to hold this power?”

– I don't like wordplay. No, I just don't like you. If you want to tease me without telling me, I'll just kill you as you are.

“See, even when we are honest with each other, we cannot understand.”

– Traitor, die!

At that moment, as I laughed emptily and just stared blankly at the Fire dog's foreleg approaching before my eyes.

“Fire Blood, Art of Self-Severing a Path to Life……!”

– What?!

The voice of Hoa, who I thought was dead for sure with a hole in her stomach, was heard.

As my body lost its balance and tilted to the side, I soon realized what had happened.

The wooden cane that had served as my third leg, as one of my own legs was disabled, had suddenly disappeared.

Even with death right before me, I was shocked by the fact that a single cane had disappeared, but I soon understood the meaning of the sorcery Hoa had cast.

Self-Severing a Path to Life.

Self-severing refers to the act of an animal cutting off a part of its own body to survive, such as to escape from a predator or to consume for nourishment.

Indeed, to not only arbitrarily include me while using a sorcery that sought survival in exchange for a sacrifice but to even offer my cane as the tribute instead of my body.

To call herself a lesser demon while using such an ingenious technique, there is a limit to jokes.

‘But when did she put a trick on my cane? ……I see, when we first met she handed me the cane. From that moment on, she had already prepared a means to escape with me! Hoa knew from the moment she saw me that things would turn out like this!’

The trick was so exquisitely clever that I couldn't stop laughing even as I was falling down in sheer disbelief.

Right after, an even greater shock hit me, and my consciousness faded.

I instinctively realized that the sorcery had been successfully activated and was about to teleport the two of them—no, one person and one monster.

I faintly heard the enraged roar of the Fire dog, which had lost its prey right before its eyes, and let it pass.

This time, I completely lost consciousness.