CHAPTER: 20
“I’m going to win in the end. As long as you don’t help me.”
“Huh?”
Giselle tilted her head.
Ignoring her, Berk calmly stared ahead.
He had to face the facts.
Objectively, the monster was stronger than him right now.
It was on a completely different level from the riffraff he'd dealt with earlier.
But he could win in the end.
‘The key is whether or not I can hold out until then. That's all.’
A gamble he had to bet his life on.
But it was a gamble worth taking.
‘I will use this thing to complete my first ring.’
To die, or to complete it.
That was the question.
‘Interesting.’
He had thought fighting the Demon King would be the first and last time he'd have to fight with his life on the line.
But the thought that in this life there would be many adversaries he'd have to devour for the sake of his own growth made him feel strangely excited.
‘In any case, the die is cast.’
If he survived this,
‘I'll be able to take the first step toward a realm I couldn't even reach in my past life.’
Waking from death, he had been given a second chance.
He had lost everything, but that also meant he was in a position to redraw everything from a blank slate.
In truth, even in his past life as the Necromancer King, he had been clumsy and lacking in many ways at this age.
However…
‘...This life is different.’
He would be able to build everything perfectly from the ground up.
Berk glanced at Giselle.
“Giselle. You stay far back. You'll just get in the way. If by some chance I actually die, don't even look back, just run. You can at least do that, right?”
“Okay, I understand.”
Giselle moved back.
Berk stared forward.
“Good.”
Focusing his entire body, he gathered his mana.
Above the head of the enemy, who had increased its mana output, more red Magic Circles began to form.
But Berk, on the contrary, calmly steadied his breathing.
And he pictured it in his mind.
A ring.
A brightly shining Baekgwang.
Finally, when all preparations were complete,
“Berk…!?”
He dispelled all the magic that was defending him.
Leaving himself in a defenseless state.
“Khehehe…!!!”
The monster seized the opportunity.
At the creature's grotesque gesture, the tentacles poured out all at once.
Toward the boy standing alone in the darkness, without any magic.
In that moment,
Shiiiik-!
Light exploded.
“Kuuuuh…! What….”
The monster twisted its neck.
“What… what… What is this…? Why isn't he dead…? How did he block it…? Huh?”
The boy still had nothing.
There was no visible magic protecting him.
There was only a hand, shining brightly with the light of Baekgwang.
“Actually.”
Berk grinned.
“Even if you don't answer, I have a pretty good idea who made you.”
“Kuuuh… what are you talking about….”
“The magic you used.”
Berk beckoned with his finger.
“I know it well.”
‘Because… I saw one of the traitors in my past use it until I was sick of it.’
Even within the same Union, each faction passes down its own unique Magic Circles as secret techniques.
But the man once called the Necromancer King could read much from those Magic Circles, and discern if it was a Magic Circle from the Necromancer Union.
What kind of technique it was, which faction had secretly passed it down. No matter how complex the formula, to his eyes, everything appeared as a few clear lines.
“It's been a while. Well then, shall we try it out today?”
Berk recited in a low voice.
“Canis.”
Soon, a white Magic Circle began to unfold.
The Magic Circles bloomed one by one, like flower petals opening around the boy.
It was a Necromancer's formula.
“Kuuuuh…?!”
The monster's eyeballs trembled.
Purple veins throbbed at its temples as if they would burst.
‘What is this guy… What the hell is he…!? How does he know the Master's formula…!?’
The creature's fingers bent grotesquely.
The fingers, bent in different directions and wiggling, were a truly horrifying sight.
But from that display, Berk read the creature's anxiety.
Seeing the creature's reaction, which was exactly like someone whose secret had been exposed, the corners of Berk's mouth lifted.
“Hmm. This is how you draw it, right?”
“Kuuuuh… Dieeee…!!!”
Countless red dots unfolded.
Soon, the red dots widened, forming an ominous Magic Circle.
From within it, tentacles poured out all at once.
Peong-!
Peobeong-!
But the tentacles couldn't reach the boy.
“Kuuuuh…!!!?”
The panicked creature swung its tentacles frantically.
But Berk's sharp gaze captured the trajectory of the incoming attacks.
As Berk calmly moved his palm, the position of the Magic Circle shifted, and the tentacles were caught by it.
Chaeng-!
Each time, the Magic Circle exploded, severing the tentacles.
The densely arrayed Magic Circles, like a barrier, did not permit the enemy's attacks.
Peo-eok-!
Dark red blood splattered all over the audience chamber.
On the marble floor, now marred everywhere, thick clumps of tentacles fell and writhed.
“Kuuuuuh!!!”
When its attacks failed, the monster ground its teeth between its torn lips.
“Ohh….”
But the creature soon gave a chilling smile.
“I see… You… that must use a lot of mana.”
Giselle, watching from behind, also clenched her fists.
‘Berk….’
The mana she could sense from him was gradually weakening.
‘At this rate, he's in danger.’
But Berk's two red eyes just shone sharply, as if testing his own limits.
“Aheheh… Die!!!”
Convinced of its victory, the monster continued to create Magic Circles.
The dark red tentacles rushed in mercilessly.
Before long, the Necromancer's Magic Circles that had been spread around Berk also began to diminish, one by one.
Then, finally,
“Only one left now, eh? Khehehe…!”
A single remaining Magic Circle of light.
The monster licked its lips.
“I'll pierce your skull… I really want to eat… your heart….”
At that moment, Berk chanted.
“Canis-”
Paang-!
Scattering light, more lines were drawn onto the white Magic Circle.
“Kuuuh…?”
“Sephira.”
The Magic Circle shone brightly.
But this time, it didn't explode.
Instead, emitting a brilliant light, the wicked magic was fully completed.
It was the magic of a Necromancer.
Kaang-!
A white streak of light shot out.
‘Light…!?’
The light soon intertwined, becoming brightly shining bones.
Bone connected to bone, becoming a white chain adorned with sharp thorns.
“Kuuuh…!?”
The monster hurriedly shot out a tentacle.
Paaak-!
The dark red tentacle the monster shot was not severed.
The moment it touched the light emanating from the bones, it burned away powerlessly.
“Kuuuh…? What!?”
Meanwhile, Giselle, who was watching all this from behind, held her breath.
‘Is that the true power of a messenger?’
Sensing a new energy, Giselle's gaze instinctively fixed on Berk's wrist.
‘That's…!?’
Giselle's and the monster's pupils widened at the same time.
“Kuuuuuh…!!!!!”
The creature hurriedly summoned dozens more tentacles.
“Die!”
“Says who.”
Berk laughed as if it were pathetic.
“You still haven't grasped the situation, have you?”
Chwaaak-!
The tentacle of light summoned by Berk sliced through the dozens of dark red masses of flesh,
“Kuuuh…!!!?”
Chwaaak-!
severing one of the monster's hands that had been casting the Magic Circles.
“Kkeo-heo-eok!!”
The creature's forearm, which had been spinning in the dark space, soon lost its dark red light and vanished, turning to ash in the darkness.
With the monster writhing in pain, Berk approached it, his hand, imbued with Baekgwang.
On it hung something that hadn't been there just a moment ago.
A white ring.
It was no longer a ring that only Berk could picture in his mind.
It was a materialized ring, emitting a powerful energy.
A completed ring.
“Kuuuuuh. A ring…!?”
Vomiting blood, the monster shrieked.
“A thing like you… had a completed ring…!?”
“I told you. I didn't have one before.”
Sssss…!
A white Magic Circle, filled with killing intent, unfolded as if draped over the monster's neck.
“It just formed.”
In the darkness, Berk's eyes shone like rubies.
And on Berk's wrist, a ring of light was burning brilliantly.
“Kuuuh…!?”
The lord… no, the monster thought.
‘What the hell is this bastard!?’
The creature's pupils slit vertically.
‘Kuuuh…!?!?’
It quickly snapped its head back.
Pajik-!
The Magic Circle that had unfolded where its neck had been exploded in mid-air.
‘Kuuuh… I dodged…!’
Peo-eok-!
The sound of flesh bursting.
‘Kuuuh…!?’
No matter that it was a monster, the pain was the same.
“Kuuuh… Aaaaaah!!!”
Its remaining arm, torn from its torso, flew off, scattering dark red blood into the air.
With frantically darting eyes, the creature spotted the remnants of a Magic Circle dissipating where its last forearm had been.
But the arm was already severed.
“Kkeuk⋯!!!!!”
Feeling a chilling killing intent, it looked at its ankle and saw that a Magic Circle was already draped there as well.
‘There wasn't just one…!?’
The Magic Circle shone brilliantly,
Peo-eok-!
and the sound of flesh bursting once again split the air.
“Kuaaaak-!!!”
The two legs supporting the monster were helplessly severed.
And the monster's torso, collapsing helplessly.
Peong-!
Berk kicked it, imbuing his foot with mana.
Kwang-!
“Kuuuh…! Kuuuuuk!!!”
From the creature slammed into the wall, dark red blood and killing intent poured out mercilessly.
“You son of a bitch!! I'll rip out your heart and devour it!!!!”
“Says who.”
Berk with his eyes cold, slowly approached it.
“Still, you did well. I intentionally made the Magic Circle on your neck obvious so you'd dodge it, but I was still a bit nervous.”
Berk grinned.
“About what I'd do if you just died then and there. I still have things to find out from you.”
“Kuuuh!!!”
The monster, its mouth full of blood, ground its teeth.
“You have big dreams, human...”
The creature, unable to admit defeat even with its limbs severed, gave a foul smile.
“But it’s useless… No matter how much you torture me, I won’t tell you anything. Ughhh!”
“What have you been babbling about?”
Berk stopped and stood tall before the creature.
“Why would I torture you?”
“Ughh…?”
“Frankly, like you said, it’s not like you’d tell me anything even if I did torture you, right? And….”
The red eyes of the boy in the priest’s robes flashed.
“Didn’t I tell you? That I have a pretty good idea who made you.”
“Uggghhhh…!”
“So don’t get the wrong idea. What I’m about to do isn’t torture
”
Baekgwang gathered in Berk’s hand.
“It’s a dissection.”
Berk’s hand moved toward the creature’s heart.
As the white light touched it, the creature’s flesh began to burn away.
“Let’s see. Hmm, yes. It seems this one was also created by concentrating mana into its heart.”
Berk’s eyes narrowed.
It was a method he’d seen often when fighting the Demon King’s army in his past life.
“Guhk…! Guuuhk!”
The monster, writhing in pain.
Suddenly, it began to laugh as if it had lost its mind.
“Kekekek…! My lord…!”
At that moment, sensing something, Berk quickly threw himself backward.
The monster was stained with a black aura.
A powerful but unstable energy erupted from it.
“Uggghhh…!”
It muttered weakly.
“My lo—.”
KABOOM-!!!
The creature’s body exploded along with the black aura.
‘Tch. What a mess.’
Berk scowled in displeasure.
But he soon let out a smirk.
“…Not bad.”
The smoke from the explosion slowly settled.
Where the monster had been.
All that remained were the creature’s tattered remains and a crater in the floor from the force of the blast.
‘Looks like they drew a Magic Circle on the monster’s heart. Set to explode when it detects external mana.’
Berk had originally planned to carefully analyze the mana lingering in the creature’s fresh heart.
It could have been helpful in tracking down the monster’s creator later on, but…
‘So they don’t want to leave any traces. Interesting.’
Certain that it was the meticulousness of a veteran, Berk smirked.
He couldn’t perform the dissection he’d intended, but he wasn’t entirely displeased.
‘When we finally meet, they’ll make for some good growth material.’
‘Yes. I’ll find them.’
‘We’re fated to meet anyway.’
‘So just you wait until then.’
Watching the monster’s remains burn to ash, Berk smiled coldly.
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