Chapter 283

Chapter 283

I Became the Only Non-mage in the Academy.

Episode 283: The One Who Devours Stars

A mountain of corpses lay stacked.

These were the human sacrifices performed by the Mines.

However, the ritual was crude.

It felt like something only those who had just become Mines would attempt—sloppy and unrefined.

Most importantly, there were no living sacrifices, which would have pleased the Evil Gods the most.

What stood out was that the altar was filled only with the bodies of beasts and Mines.

“Keuhuhuhuhu.”

Deceptive Evil let out a bitter laugh, thick with defeat.

Normally, such an act could be seen as a grave insult to the Evil Gods.

Killing their own followers and offering them up? If one considered the nature of these gods—where power was neither a necessity nor an obligation—then Deceptive Evil should rightfully be punished for committing such an act.

-@%$^@!$

But his god whispered that it was fine.

A shadowy force swallowed all the offerings on the altar.

Deceptive Evil instinctively realized that the entity was close to descending.

‘Damn it.’

For the past year,

Deceptive Evil had endured all kinds of suffering. Even now, the mere thought of it made him tremble with rage.

Most of the Great Evils had been slaughtered by a single boy, and Mad Evil had betrayed them—only to be killed by those very people.

Throughout this process, Deceptive Evil had been preparing for the future.

The Evil Gods he served.

Among them, there was one he truly worshiped—the one who crawled from the deepest darkness.

That being alone could turn this situation around.

-Ta-da~! Here’s the corpse of the Great Evil you’ve been searching for. This should help summon the Evil God, right?

However.

Though Deceptive Evil always prided himself on his cold and rational mind, when he recalled that moment, he could never maintain his composure.

It happened about a year ago.

A golden-haired girl, with stars twinkling in her eyes, had stood before him and spoken.

From that moment on, they began to move.

-So, you’re that annoying bastard Deceptive Evil? That guy said something, so I’ll let you live. But first, you’re taking a hit.

Starting with the Overlord, who appeared out of nowhere, struck him, and then ran off.

-I’ve always been curious—what happens if you substitute human sacrifices with Mines? Ah, before we offer up Mad Evil’s corpse, mind if I dissect it first?

The old man, Celestial, who constantly lurked like a vulture, eyed Mad Evil’s corpse.

-This seems better suited for making a puppet. Mines tend to weaken when turned into dolls, but… since this one was once a Great Evil, the story changes.

-So, everyone seems interested in Mad Evil. I still don’t understand why that bastard wanted to summon an Evil God.

The Emperor was intrigued by the idea of turning Mad Evil into a puppet, while the Thousand Sorcerer was more interested in looking at Deceptive Evil as if he wanted to kill him.

Transcendent beings watched him from all directions, interfering with his every move.

‘Damn bastards.’

There were many problems.

He couldn’t use the most potent human sacrifices.

Above all else, that person despised harming innocent heroes or civilians.

As a result, Deceptive Evil had no choice but to offer criminals, villains, or Mines.

Occasionally, he’d use powerful beasts that radiated pure energy.

And on the days when he was so desperate for money that he had to hunt monsters…

-Oh, that core looks nice. Thanks for your hard work~.

Like clockwork, some Transcendent bastard would swoop in and snatch away his loot.

Days of humiliation and persecution.

Deceptive Evil endured. And endured. And endured.

And through it all, he learned many things.

The Black God Martial Artist, Lee Seo-ha, wanted him to summon an Evil God.

The only time the Transcendents interfered with him was when he was preparing for the summoning.

‘Arrogant bastard.’

Truly an arrogant bastard.

Which meant that he genuinely wanted the Evil God to descend.

And he also had the will to kill it.

For Deceptive Evil, this was an opportunity.

And so, Deceptive Evil became capable of calling upon the Star-Slayer.

Lee Seo-ha was training them.

Ha Seong-hwi, who was barely remembered by Lee Seo-ha as “Ha something,” didn’t think too much about it.

While the Elder and the Witch Maiden were delighted, Ha Seong-hwi only questioned whether she really needed to go through all this.

Sure, strengthening her physical body would be beneficial.

But her main strength lay in illusion magic.

If illusion magic worked on the opponent, it was incredibly powerful.

She could toy with beings of higher rank and outright massacre those of lower rank.

However, Lee Seo-ha did not show up for their training.

Instead, taking the place of the lazy bum who called herself the Heavenly Demon and the shut-in lunatic…

The true Heavenly Demon finally revealed herself.

“Unnie!!!!”

“That person is the master of the Heavenly Demon….”

“As expected of someone who calls himself the master of the Heavenly Demon. Even the atmosphere is different.”

Black Heaven swelled with pride at their praise.

‘Master really doesn’t understand how valuable I am.’

Formed entirely from black energy, Black Heaven wasted no time in putting them through their paces.

“Do you know what you are lacking?”

“Power.”

“Correct. And what do you need to increase your power?”

“Basics.”

“Wrong. The boundary of life and death.”

From Black Heaven’s perspective, what they lacked was an opportunity.

The three highest-tier combatants were formidable. But they had yet to accumulate the deeds necessary to challenge transcendence.

‘It’s simple. If I push them to the brink of death, that should do it.’

Unfortunately, Lee Seo-ha did not consider Black Heaven as part of his full power.

Black Heaven was strong.

After mastering black energy, she had transcended her previous limits.

However, the problem remained that, even with black energy, she still fell short of Lee Seo-ha.

There was another issue.

Since Lee Seo-ha began fully harnessing black energy, she occasionally showed signs of wavering.

It was hard to believe that Black Heaven’s soul could be shaken merely by power, but given that the power was black energy, it made sense.

Because of this, whenever Lee Seo-ha fought, Black Heaven focused entirely on wielding the Black Heaven Divine Sword.

In other words,

For the first time since receiving black energy, Black Heaven was unleashing her full strength.

‘Maybe 10% of my full power should be enough.’

With a smirk, Black Heaven expanded her mental domain.

‘Infinite Purgatory.’

Upon reaching a celestial level, certain memories surfaced.

Others would release their inner world to manifest power.

But Black Heaven’s mental domain was different.

Back in her days as the Heavenly Demon, it had been similar to theirs.

But when she ascended to the celestial realm, she repurposed it for training.

A space where she could recreate enemies based on any environment or imagination.

‘Another authority….’

A space where one could die, yet never truly die.

Ha Seong-hwi, the Elder, and the Witch Maiden experienced over a thousand deaths within it.

The power of black energy and the power of blue energy.

To pierce through their essence and wield them as my own.

‘This doesn’t feel right.’

The blue energy had revealed many discoveries.

I even found new ways to use it. But black energy remained a mystery.

Something else was lying dormant within it, yet I couldn’t access it.

‘It’s like a locked door.’

And like a door, it needed a key.

I had a guess as to what that key was.

‘Starlight magic.’

The power possessed by Seo Ga-yeon.

Unlike when I used the power of gray, this wouldn’t be about synchronizing with her.

Most likely.

The condition was to consume Seo Ga-yeon’s power.

‘In a literal sense.’

Black energy sought to devour starlight magic.

For that reason, I put this on hold.

‘Do I need something else?’

I couldn’t be sure.

So, I trained my body, honed my skills with the Black Heaven Annihilation Sword, and reinforced both my blue energy and physical strength with the Celestial Water Moon Art.

Each day, I completed my routine, pondering over black energy and blue energy.

I grew stronger by the day, yet I wasn’t satisfied.

And then, at that moment—

[Talent, Celestial(?), gazes upon you.]

He had found the answer.

A year had passed.

Many things had happened.

Five new Transcendents had emerged during that time, and the Mines had been nearly wiped out.

Nations focused on recovering from the damage inflicted by the Mines and strengthening their heroes. Any remaining villains were systematically eradicated by Transcendents who now had time to spare.

“These days, I have way too much free time.”

“Well, the Evil Gods have been quiet lately.”

Other changes had also taken place.

Dragons had begun to involve themselves in the world more directly.

Previously occupied with sealing the rifts that summoned Apostles, they finally found themselves with some breathing room.

“If we had known this would happen, wouldn’t it have been better to just go all out and wipe out the Mines back then?”

“And did it ever occur to you that you might have been one of the casualties?”

“…….”

Once the dragons intervened, they eliminated anything that stood against their beloved youngest.

Mines, monsters, villains—anything deemed a threat disappeared.

For Deceptive Evil, this only made things harder.

“But I still don’t get it. Why keep that guy alive just to summon an Evil God?”

“Because our youngest isn’t reckless or weak like you? Even before becoming a Transcendent, he was capable of cutting down an entire Evil God—even if that one had been weakened. He’s proven himself. And we trust him.”

Despite saying that, there was still lingering concern.

Evil Gods were dangerous.

They weren’t mere beings that could be compared to Apostles.

They were true calamities, capable of destroying entire planets alone, toying with billions of lives as if they were nothing.

Existences so ancient that their age could not even be estimated—beings that had existed since the beginning of creation.

“Well then, should we go visit the youngest after all this time?”

“He’s in seclusion.”

“Does it look like I care? I want to see him!!”

“How about we beat some sense into you, so you start caring?”

Just as Heo Sang-ryong was seriously considering it—

-Lee Seo-ha has emerged.

The Electronic Witch had sent a message.

“I’m going.”

Heo Sang-ryong warped space and instantly appeared in front of the guild master’s office.

Unlike other dragons, she at least maintained some dignity—so instead of kicking down the door, she simply pushed it open and stepped inside.

“You’re here?”

“……Youngest?”

Heo Sang-ryong and Eun Yu-ha both stood there in a daze, staring at Lee Seo-ha.

It was definitely him.

But the changes over the past year were far more extreme than expected.

His skin had grown even paler, and his black hair and eyes had deepened into an even darker shade.

Even among the dragons, renowned for their beauty, there was no one who could compare to him.

As for his strength… they couldn’t tell.

Nothing.

He looked just like an ordinary person, as if he had never awakened any magic at all.

‘Just how strong has he become?!’

As they screamed internally, an ominous presence suddenly filled the air.

“Not yet. Something is blocking its summoning.”

Lee Seo-ha, watching intently in one direction, muttered.

“……You can sense that?”

“Roughly. But more importantly, we have guests, and I haven’t even offered them proper hospitality.”

“Guests? We’re family.”

Eun Yu-ha chuckled and began gathering things to give to the youngest.

When Deceptive Evil hunted monsters, she had beaten the cores out of them.

When she got bored, she raided villain hideouts and looted artifacts, spirit elixirs, and other useful items.

“……That was owned by the Blood Demon.”

“I don’t really care. I just raided some villain’s stash to get gifts for the youngest.”

“Thank you.”

Lee Seo-ha accepted the gifts.

One of them was particularly useful—a material that could be used to craft an Ex-rank intangible sword, previously owned by the Blood Demon.

After collecting the items, Lee Seo-ha called for Ershil.

“……You really didn’t come out for an entire year.”

“Sorry.”

“I thought you’d sneak out now and then. Anyway, be prepared. A year’s worth of work has piled up.”

“Sure. But there’s a guest at the guild entrance. Could you bring them here?”

“A guest?”

After sending Ershil off, Lee Seo-ha fell into brief contemplation.

‘I have a rough idea of who it is.’

Though the visitor was unexpected, he wasn’t surprised.

More than that, he was looking forward to the Evil God.

‘It’s probably going to be the one that devours planets.’

As a first opponent, it wasn’t bad.

As he was considering the being known as the Star Devourer, Ershil returned.

With the guest.

“I am the Fist Demon.”

A rather unexpected visitor.