Ch.11Chapter 11

The boar Djin charged with wild eyes like a pig with its tail on fire, but it was still a Djin after all.

Roots and branches sprouted from the ground, intertwining to increase the boar Djin’s size. Though its larger body should have slowed it down, the boar Djin actually increased its speed.

“I’ll tear that rag-like body of yours to pieces!!”

The boar Djin’s charge, armored with tightly woven roots and branches, was as heavy as a tank.

Wendigo manipulated the cold air to erect a large, solid ice wall before him.

The boar Djin was startled by the massive wall but soon realized the ice wall didn’t contain much mystical power and sneered.

“What a fool. Trying to conserve power in a battle between Djin!”

The boar Djin was certain that the Djin before him was newly born.

No matter how noble a Djin might be, experience couldn’t be ignored.

Young Djin often didn’t know that when fighting other Djin, one shouldn’t conserve mystical power. Weak mystical power might be enough when facing humans and monsters.

But not against another Djin. Since they were equals, using shallow techniques only maximized the consumption of mystical power.

It wasn’t for nothing that the boar Djin had used excessively strong mystical power to don its armor. The boar Djin truly intended to finish Wendigo with a single collision.

When the boar Djin’s massive body shattered the ice wall, fragments flew skyward. As the fragments caught the sunlight and sparkled, the boar Djin squinted.

“Where are you! Stop hiding like a coward and come out!”

With fragments and sunlight obscuring its vision, the boar Djin shook its head while searching for Wendigo.

Wendigo didn’t hide but revealed himself. He was poised among the ice wall’s remains, holding a large ice sword high.

Sinister mystical power surged around the ice sword.

The ice sword, wrapped in dark blue energy and shimmering softly, contained incredibly powerful mystical power.

The boar Djin, who had been turning to charge at Wendigo, was shocked. The mystical power emanating from the ice sword was extraordinary.

“Y-you madman! Are you planning to unleash all the mystical power you’ve been gathering?!”

Battles between Djin were typically one-hit kills. That was true, but… no one prepared for a one-hit kill as extremely as Wendigo.

Mystical power that could contain everything a Djin possessed pulsated around the ice sword.

Faced with this terrifying concentration of mystical power, the boar Djin turned pale. It instinctively sensed that a direct hit would instantly shatter its own mystical power.

Wendigo swung the ice sword, his blue eyes flashing. With a sound like a scream, the ice sword flew toward the boar Djin’s head.

The boar Djin realized there was no way to avoid the ice sword.

Stopping was impossible due to its momentum, but charging meant taking a direct hit from the ice sword.

The boar Djin decided to accept some damage. Instead of being completely destroyed, it twisted its body to minimize the damage.

KAGAGAGAK!!!

The ice sword cut through the boar Djin’s root armor. No, it was more like tearing it away than cutting.

Without even time to be cut, the boar Djin’s foreleg froze with the ice sword and was torn off with a chilling sound. The only fortunate thing for the boar Djin was that it hadn’t taken a direct hit.

The powerful cold energy contained in the ice sword struck the forest, freezing buildings and wooden structures in the village.

If it had been a direct hit, the boar Djin would have become frozen pork. Though somewhat fortunate, Wendigo’s strike didn’t stop there.

The dark blue energy flowing from the ice sword penetrated the boar Djin and began devouring its mystical power. The roots and branches forming the Djin’s body turned white, died, and crumbled.

The boar Djin trembled at the mystical power that emanated such terrible malice.

“T-this… A being with such energy cannot possibly be a Djin. You… what are you?!”

Wendigo remained silent.

‘I’d need to know myself to answer that.’

Even Wendigo couldn’t determine who he was. But one thing he could be certain of.

Wendigo transformed the ice sword into a sharp spear. A double-edged spear, said to have been used for hunting boars, took shape.

“Seeing how you’re acting, you’re probably not a Djin. Thanks to you, I now know this isn’t fratricide, so I’ll send you off comfortably.”

“How dare, how dare you mock me!”

The boar Djin desperately drew out its mystical power. Roots burst from the ground and wrapped around Wendigo’s body. The roots writhed as if alive.

Wendigo silently trembled. Taking this as a sign that he’d been caught off guard, the boar Djin burst into laughter.

“Kuh, kuhahaha! Yes, I am the Boar Wearing Roots and Sticks. A Djin that has lived for over a hundred years! To think I would easily fall to someone like you whose origins are unknown…”

“You damn pig, how dare you wrap your tentacles around my body!!!”

As if expressing Wendigo’s emotions, a sharp cold wind swirled, freezing and tearing apart the roots.

Wendigo surrendered to the passion he felt for the first time since opening his eyes in this world. The spear transformed viciously, as if reflecting his emotions.

It was closer to a harpoon than a spear.

The spear dug deep into the boar’s body. The boar Djin tried to find a way to survive through the pain, but there was no time.

“G-gweeeeeek?!”

“I don’t know much else, but you won’t die peacefully.”

Ice flowers with thorns bloomed from the spear tip. The ice flowers extended their stems into the Djin’s body, growing thorns.

Though it was merely a created body, the boar Djin writhed in agony unlike anything it had experienced in life. It was pain that could sever consciousness.

“Stooooop!!! Please, please stop!!!”

“Stop? I’m just getting started.”

Wendigo created several more spears and thrust them into various parts of the boar’s body. The mystical power imbued in the spears resonated with each other, rapidly growing the flowers.

Beautiful ice flowers bloomed on the boar Djin’s wretched body. The Djin wished to return to mystical power, but couldn’t.

The bizarre energy contained in the spears held the boar Djin’s soul. Wendigo looked down at the boar Djin for a moment, then grabbed one of the spears.

KWADDEUDDEUK.

“KYAAAAK!!! Please, please end it!!!”

As the ice flower was torn out along with mystical power, the boar Djin begged to lose its status as a Djin and return to nature.

Wendigo indifferently continued pulling out the spears. His anger had subsided, but a new question had taken its place.

‘What is this scent?’

A subtle fragrance he hadn’t noticed at first.

For some reason, the scent he had smelled in the dead summoner’s house was emanating from deep within the boar Djin. He wanted to discover its identity.

“KYAAAAK!!!”

Because of this, the boar Djin wept loudly, but… well, it had brought this upon itself.

When the last spear was pulled out, the boar Djin could no longer maintain its form. Only its head remained somewhat intact.

Breathing heavily with trembling eyes, it looked like it could die at any moment.

Wendigo thrust his hand deep into the head. His rough touch rummaged through the head and pulled out the source of the fragrance.

It was a seed.

“This doesn’t seem to be the same seed that the summoner pulled out… Hmm?”

“D-Djin! O Djin!”

Wendigo felt the Djin’s mystical power dispersing and looked at the head. The head lost its vitality and seemed to fade, then turned to dust and scattered.

As his last lifeline disappeared so miserably, Lyurik turned pale and tried to grasp the dust, but the Djin did not return.

Wendigo slowly approached Lyurik. Lyurik tried to escape, but his legs were already frozen.

“What is the identity of this seed?”

“I-I don’t know! I’m sorry! I’m truly sorry! I was deceived by the Djin and showed disrespect to your noble self… Kakhuk?!”

Lyurik couldn’t break his habit and moved his tongue, but Wendigo grabbed his tongue and infused it with cold energy.

Lyurik died as the cold energy penetrated through his tongue and froze his brain. It was a pathetic death for a summoner who had contracted with a Djin that had lived for over a hundred years.

After tossing aside the corpse, Wendigo tried to understand the energy he sensed from the seed. What the seed contained was not ordinary mystical power.

“It feels like something more fundamental than mystical power…”

“Lord Wendigo. May I say something?”

Skadi Brynhild, who had approached without notice, carefully addressed Wendigo. She was trembling slightly with reverence and anger.

While the reverence was directed at Wendigo, who was the target of her anger? The boar Djin? Lyurik?

It was neither. Her anger was directed at herself. She was angry at herself for not properly understanding what kind of being she was serving as a summoner contracted with Wendigo.

Skadi was a woman who used her anger rather than burning with it.

‘I need to help Lord Wendigo at least a little to maintain my dignity as a summoner!’

When Wendigo had asked Lyurik about the seed’s identity, her brilliant mind had quickly rotated to deduce the seed’s nature.

When he nodded, Skadi spoke.

“Djin are beings made of mystical power. But mystical power isn’t all that makes up a Djin. In the first place, not all mystical power that Djin encounter is power they can handle themselves.”

“Certainly, not all Djin can eat delicious offerings or living sacrifices.”

“Yes, the reason Djin can handle mystical power obtained through sacrifices or worship as their own power is because Djin are born with a source.”

Source (根源)

All Djin have a source. The reason Skadi considered Wendigo a Djin was primarily because Wendigo also had a source, presumably the forest.

Wendigo fell into thought at the mention of the source.

The seed that hadn’t existed at first. The fragrance that flowed out when he scraped away the mystical power. The boar Djin that presumably died when the seed was extracted.

“Then this seed is the boar Djin’s source?”

“It’s a guess, but I think it’s the only possibility. For mystical power… it shines too brilliantly.”

Skadi swallowed dryly as she answered. She felt satisfied when Wendigo took her seriously.

Wendigo rolled the seed around with his fingernail, pondering.

How could he use this seed that was presumably a source?

Wendigo smelled the fragrance once more. The subtle scent captivated him and…

“It makes my mouth water.”

“Pardon?”

Skadi asked back, uncharacteristically, as Wendigo’s words were so unexpected.

Wendigo felt saliva flowing at the scent emanating from the seed. This was a desire from a different realm than hunger.

This time, Wendigo decided to surrender to his instinct.

“Skadi, guard the surroundings. Tell Geron and Hegilson not to approach me.”

“L-Lord Wendigo? Lord Wendigo, wait a moment!!”

Skadi urgently called his name as she realized what Wendigo was about to do, but it was already too late.

Wendigo chomped down on the seed, and.

Numerous roots and branches sprouted from Wendigo’s head and wrapped around his body.

Skadi stared at the sight in dismay.