Ch.42Chapter 42: Unexpected Test (1)

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After taking more than a thousand steps, I stopped counting and focused solely on the red light as I continued walking.

The whitish fog that had obscured my vision gradually thinned due to the red light.

At first, I could barely make out my own body, but now my vision had improved enough to see a few steps beyond myself.

As the fog thinned, what became more prominent was the increasingly vivid red light and…

“It’s hot.”

The heat was intense enough to make my face feel quite flushed.

I slightly furrowed my brow and turned my gaze toward the source of the red light.

It wasn’t emitting light bright enough to blind me like the sun if looked at directly, but I could definitely feel it.

Compared to the sun in the sky, it might be weaker, but that light clearly contained enough heat to warm this desolate space and then some.

That heat was probably why my face felt so flushed.

Well, I wasn’t suffering from the heat making my face flush after coming all this way. I was just about to slowly continue walking, feeling that I was getting closer to my destination, when…

“…Huh?”

Surprised that my steps weren’t flowing as smoothly as expected, a dumbfounded sound escaped my lips.

When I first set foot here a week ago, I felt this fog not only obscuring my vision but also strongly binding my body. However, the pressure I felt now was even stronger than back then.

Though I felt puzzled, I couldn’t back down, so I tried to continue walking with determination, but…

-You dare try to face me without even wrapping yourself in battle qi?

I quickly realized the reason from the words spoken by that voice, which even after a week I couldn’t forget—filled with ferocity and mockery.

It seems the creature was checking my condition by restraining my body with some invisible force.

Along with the heat that was gradually making not just my face but my entire body flush.

-Prove it. Prove that you’re worthy to approach this primal heat and karmic fire.

As the creature’s voice grew increasingly provocative and growling, I realized.

Indeed, that red light wasn’t just visible light but flames containing mass and heat.

-Don’t arrogantly face me without wrapping yourself in battle qi. Show me at least the weak battle qi I saw last time.

I could see the red light beyond undulating with an ominous wavelength.

It was emanating an aura that threatened to engulf me at any moment if I didn’t demonstrate battle qi at a level satisfactory to it.

“Hmm….”

I let out a light laugh and tried to gauge the creature’s intentions, but the conclusion was simple.

‘I just need to prove myself, that’s all.’

It was the same when it ambushed me a week ago, hiding its presence in the fog.

Even though the attacking creature had plenty of opportunities to inflict fatal wounds on me, apart from the body slam it used to expel me from this place at the end, it didn’t employ any particularly lethal techniques.

Like trying to slash me with the edge of its hand.

It did use foot techniques with formidable angular power, though somewhat heavier than hand techniques, but they were merely for show.

Even I, who was desperately dodging, got the feeling that the creature was gauging how much force to use so that I could narrowly avoid its techniques.

This time too, while there might be differences in degree, there wouldn’t be much difference overall.

If I don’t properly display battle qi, that light I’ve been using as a landmark might disappear from my sight again, the fog might thicken, and that creature might attack me again. But this time, I’m confident.

A week might be a short period, but considering the effort I’ve put into increasing the size and durability of my vessel during that time, I’m confident I can produce results that will entice that arrogant voice over there.

“If you want me to show you, then I will.”

Having finished my thoughts, I used the arcane breathing technique Prikasa, which I had intentionally avoided using for a week, to draw in as much mana as possible from this place.

It was time to reveal the true value of my body, which I had trained using my super-regeneration ability without relying on battle qi.

Despite the whitish fog, this place was surprisingly full of mana, so even with my incomplete breathing technique due to insufficient learning, mana gathered in my lungs, circulating throughout my body and overflowing from the start.

Once the lungs gathered both the price for breathing and mana, I needed to move to the next step.

“Haaah!”

Taking another long breath, I channeled the refined mana from my lungs to my heart, converting it into battle qi to strengthen my body.

“This should be enough.”

The battle qi gathered in my heart spread through my capillaries with each heartbeat, circulating throughout my body.

I had activated the body strengthening technique that enhances basic physical abilities with battle qi.

The effect was tremendous.

The heat that had made my face quite flushed no longer exerted any physical influence on me.

And the invisible force that had made my steps heavy no longer pressured me.

-Hmm….

After observing this scene from somewhere beyond my sight, a heavy sigh flowed from the creature’s mouth.

The red light, which had shown a distinct color even in the fog, began to take on an even deeper hue.

Beyond simple red, it turned into a vivid blood color, so clear it seemed like it might smell of blood.

Given that the light didn’t disappear but rather intensified in color, it seems the creature was quite satisfied with the battle qi I was emitting.

“Now that I’ve shown you what you wanted, don’t run away.”

I issued a warning of sorts to the creature as I slowly moved forward.

I thought I might be able to face the being hiding its presence in that red light after just a few more steps, but…

Clap clap clap clap

The sound of hands clapping interrupted my thoughts.

-Ohhh….

An exclamation completely opposite to the previous ferocity came out, followed by:

-Yes, this is what I needed to see to make my summoning worthwhile.

From the voice that continued clapping, I could easily notice that its ferocity had subsided.

Perhaps because of that subsided ferocity?

The creature’s voice, which had initially been so growling that I wondered if it was metallic, still wasn’t clear enough to determine its gender, but it now revealed a clarity that could be described as beautiful.

Clap clap clap clap

‘How long is it going to keep clapping?’

As if seeing through my growing impatience with the endless clapping…

Snap

The creature suddenly stopped clapping, and this time a clear sound of two fingers meeting was heard.

I wondered why it was making such a sound, but that didn’t last long.

The hazy fog that had made it difficult to even identify my own body disappeared without a trace.

‘What kind of being can control this vast space at will?’

At this point, I could only express amazement at my opponent.

So I stopped my step, folded my arms, and spoke in a calm voice:

“Impressive. Can you control this entire space with just a gesture?”

The ability of this creature to freely change the environment of a space so vast its size couldn’t even be estimated with just a gesture was beyond extraordinary.

It would certainly be an exaggeration to call it a demon god, but even drawing on my memories from before my regression, I couldn’t recall any great demon or devil showing this level of skill. So it was pure admiration I expressed.

-Of course.

The creature’s response to my admiring question was brief, but the pride in it was easy to feel.

-How is it? Isn’t it easier to breathe now that the fog has cleared?

At the creature’s words, I took a deeper breath than when I was using the breathing technique to feel the surrounding air.

“Keh!”

And I realized.

‘…How terrible.’

That this creature was now playing a trick on me.

As the fog cleared and my vision opened up, giving me visual freedom, I had vaguely thought that the quality of the air filling this place would naturally improve, but that wasn’t the case at all.

A strange smell that seemed to sting my nose was stimulating my sense of smell.

‘Like hellfire.’

I’m not comparing the smell to hellfire because my senses are wrong.

This smell that sharply stabs my nose was most appropriately compared to what I remembered.

When I faced my first death and became an agent of the demon god against my will, forced to stay in the demonic realm…

It was similar to the stench I felt from the black flames that arose solely from the malice of beings continuing their existence, as my body was invaded by malice and I continued to resist.

It was a terrible smell, like sulfur burning, so distinct that I could clearly recall it even from the hazy memories where only my consciousness seemed to stand at a distant window, watching the evil acts committed by my body invaded by malice.

“Tsk… You’re lying.”

I clicked my tongue, grumbling at having fallen for the opponent’s trick.

I wanted to hold my nose until I got used to the smell, but it seemed my opponent had no intention of letting me do such a leisurely thing.

-Hahaha. The one who gets fooled is the fool. Even though you’ve improved your skills quite a bit, seeing that you still have this naive side, you really are exactly like that woman from a thousand years ago. Blood doesn’t lie, does it?

The voice, which had shed its ferocity and now carried a strange playfulness, spouted several important words that couldn’t be simply ignored.

A thousand years ago, some woman, and bloodline that couldn’t be disguised.

These were utterances suggesting that the identity of this voice’s owner was close to what I had been thinking.

-That’s enough playing around. I’m tired of waiting too, so I’ll come to you.

Amazingly, the creature’s voice changed its emotional wavelength with each utterance.

When I first encountered it in the form of a sword, it threatened me with a fierce and vulgar tone that showed no respect, making the sword name ring out.

And now, not content with just showing a playful tone with subdued ferocity like before, it was even displaying a formal, respectful tone.

The voice was the same, but the speaking subject seemed like a completely different person, which was confusing. But the creature didn’t seem to want to give me time for confusion, as it was already heavily imposing its presence toward me right after finishing its statement about approaching.

Along with the red light that I had been walking toward since setting foot here.

Seeing my target light approaching me instead, I initially felt relieved that I wouldn’t have to continue the somewhat tedious walk, but…

“Ugh….”

I soon realized how foolish that judgment was.

As the light got closer to me, the density of battle qi that filled this space along with the heat increased beyond measure, to the point where it felt like countless needles were stabbing my body.

At first, cold sweat flowed involuntarily, and even with my body enhanced to the extreme through the body strengthening technique, I was barely enduring.

“Nngh…!”

As I gritted my teeth and endured the pressure of the creature’s battle qi, fortunately, the intensity of the battle qi causing me pain gradually loosened.

-It’s been a while since I’ve drawn on my full power, so my control wasn’t delicate. I apologize.

The voice of the space’s owner now contained only formality, with no trace of the initial ferocity or playfulness.

I couldn’t simply welcome this sudden change in the opponent’s attitude, so I raised my battle qi to the maximum possible extent in anticipation of any potential situation, waiting for the being to arrive.

Boom-! Boom-!

These weren’t my footsteps.

They were the footsteps of the owner of this space, who had declared they would come to me on their own.

They had a heaviness that was completely different from the footsteps I had made.

-Hmm…. Your vessel has improved much since you first arrived here, but the state of the water filling that vessel is quite lacking.

As the footsteps continued, the opponent’s calm voice, seemingly evaluating my condition, followed.

It sounded as if they were keenly reciting observations made over a long period of close watching, making me feel involuntarily shrink.

Following ferocity, playfulness, and formality, now there was detachment in the voice, giving an impression of coldness if heard casually.

The constantly changing voice of the creature was giving me a warning stimulus that couldn’t be ignored.

No matter how much the ferocity initially felt in the voice had decreased, if the identity of the creature that had drawn me here was the evil dragon I was thinking of, caution was essential.

‘Better safe than sorry.’

Having prepared to deal with any situation that might arise here by raising my battle qi to the maximum possible, I heard the creature’s quite formal voice again.

-Stand there quietly and listen. I am a spirit dwelling in a sword. Due to circumstances, I cannot reveal my identity, but my soul is held in pledge to uphold a covenant made a thousand years ago.

As if reading my anxiety, the owner of the space gradually revealed bits of their identity to me.

Though not fully disclosed, based on what the creature had let slip earlier, it wasn’t hard to deduce its identity.

It must be the evil dragon that gave its name to the other sword that my ancestor reportedly used—the one that called me here, now hanging at my waist.

What puzzled me was the attitude of this evil dragon, which must have been subjugated by my ancestor, treating me without showing much of the temperament that remained intact in the legends.

-The covenant is simple. If darkness covers the world to the extent that this sword needs to be drawn again, be a strength to the one who wields it.

…How on earth did my ancestor not only kill the evil dragon that displayed such ruthlessness in my dreams but also make a covenant that held its soul in pledge?

As the creature leaked information bit by bit, my confusion was about to intensify, but…

-So I need to gauge. Whether you, who have entered this space, fully qualify for me to fulfill my covenant.

“Huh? What are you sa—”

Due to the creature’s sudden declaration about verifying my qualifications, my confusion fortunately didn’t continue.

BOOM-!! BOOOOOOM-!!

…I correct myself.

My internal confusion…

“Shit….”

Unfortunately, couldn’t continue due to the crisis brought about by the earth-shaking roar.

“Where are you?”

I hurriedly raised my spiritual perception to locate the creature that wanted to “verify” my skills, but…

“I’m here!!”

By the time I heard the voice, which had been coming as an echo but now sounded clear and distinct, I realized I was a bit late.

The direction was the sky, still at some distance.

I hurriedly looked up to prepare for the creature’s attack, but what awaited me in the sky was beyond my imagination.

“The first verification is.”

The opponent’s massive silhouette, having switched back from formality to a voice where playfulness and ferocity coexisted, was greeting me while flying through the sky in a spiral pattern with intense rotation.

It was a spiral rotational movement accompanied by such fierce rotation that it seemed unbelievable for a body made of blood and flesh.

The spiral, which seemed to endlessly rise toward the sky, stopped ascending at a certain point and changed direction.

Right toward me.

“Try to receive this in any form. Whether you break its momentum, flow around it smoothly, or confront it head-on to destroy it, the choice is yours.”

This time the voice was calm again.

After finishing speaking, the drill… no, the creature was flying toward me with a ferocity that seemed intent on piercing and killing me.

“Ah. Don’t worry. Even if you suffer a fatal wound here, it will only end with you being expelled for now.”

How can that be meant as reassurance?

“I’m screwed.”

I was astounded by the creature’s casual use of a new example of sentence construction while preparing for the drill flying toward me with the momentum to pierce me.

Shing

I drew the dragon sword from my waist.

“In that case, I’ll have to try.”

My own ultimate technique, which I had used before when facing an attack coming with no less ferocity than that one, though the probability was low.

“Back then I succeeded with an old iron sword, but this time I’ll have to push through with the power of this sword.”

It seems it’s time to pay the price for fearlessly stepping into the world led by the sword with a determination to become stronger.

Even brief thoughts seemed like a luxury as the drill, repeating its fierce rotation while approaching me, was forcing me to make a choice.

Whether to retreat here and wait for another chance, or to continue what might seem like a reckless challenge, trusting the creature’s words that even a fatal wound would only result in expulsion.

Of course, my choice was already made.

First, I gripped the sword with both hands, raised the handle above my head, taking an upper stance filled with the spirit of fire and challenge that could cut anything approaching me head-on.

“Haaaah!!”

With a deep breath, I drew in even more battle qi and imbued it into the dragon sword, completing the battle qi sword.

What I need to cut with the battle qi sword is…

The obstacle blocking my path—I who have a duty to protect the happiness of those around me.

That’s all there is to it.