Ch.55Chapter 55 – Airplane (2)

According to the Bible, Eloach is the god of light and creation. Eloach is also the god of justice and love, the god of compassion and fate.

Eloach governs various concepts, and in contrast to his adversary Rohim, the god of darkness, he seems to guide any normal intelligent being to believe in him… (omitted) … Priests who serve Eloach carry divine power in their souls. For priests, the amount of divine power is considered a measure of love or attention from the god. Their lifelong goal is to increase their total divine power through devout prayer, good deeds, and various religious activities.

Priests can use divine spells with their divine power. According to the Bible, when Eloach first created the continent of Eden around the World Tree, the elven race was created as guardians of the World Tree. Elves also served as priests of Eloach, and it is said that divine spells were first passed down to the High Elves at that time.

… (omitted) …

Divine spells typically manifest as light or lightning, though they are not as diverse as magic. There are several reasons for this. The main reason is that throughout Eden’s long history, only useful spells like healing and attack spells were frequently used, while less useful spells naturally fell into disuse. Such spells are occasionally rediscovered in ruins or ancient texts.

The difficulty of mastering divine spells has exacerbated their loss.

Since divine power is received from the god and difficult to control, it takes long training to master even a single spell. The activation conditions for divine spells are the harmony of precise aria, clear imagery, and intense will. Apprentice priests and holy knights sometimes took months or even years to achieve balance among these three conditions.

However, priests who have undergone extensive training can cast spells without reciting the complete aria due to their intense imagery and will. This is called aria abbreviation and is an important criterion distinguishing high-ranking priests from ordinary ones.

Priests repeatedly researched beyond the stage of aria abbreviation, hoping to modify or develop divine spells, but they could never change the actual effects of divine spells. This is because divine spells are miracles permitted by the god—borrowed power, in other words. It is impossible for users to arbitrarily change power that belongs to someone else.

… (omitted) …

In ancient times, new divine spells were occasionally bestowed through Eloach’s oracles, but at some point, as if the god had fallen into slumber, oracles became rare.

Around that time, a new constellation appeared in the sky. This constellation, which suddenly emerged in the celestial sphere as if newly created, consisted of celestial bodies rotating around a bright star. Strangely, it moved as if it had a different flow of time from Eden, making it difficult for astronomers to observe.

Scholars named this star cluster the Solar System.

From “The Book of the Sage.”

***

The battle continued in a similar pattern for about 30 minutes.

What changed was that the captain’s evasion skills became increasingly proficient, allowing him to easily avoid the fireballs without the help of the mysterious hunter, and that the faint neural electricity gradually accumulated in the wyvern’s body, slowly paralyzing its movements.

While desperately focusing on fighting the monster, Wilhelm had almost forgotten about the mysterious hunter’s existence, but he felt hope. The wyvern’s flight had definitely become more sluggish, and now it was taking most of the lightning strikes.

But Wilhelm’s mana was also starting to run out. He couldn’t prolong the battle any further. It was time to make his decisive move…

“Haaaaaah-!!!”

Wilhelm shouted with effort as he gathered all his remaining mana. From somewhere, mana surged, fluctuating at a rampant level and sending off sparks.

With the mana gathered in his determination to finish the fight, dozens of arrows formed. It was the largest number he had created so far, and each one contained a distinctly larger and more violent energy. Wilhelm intended to end it with this attack.

The wyvern, its body scorched in various places and lacking the energy to maintain its camouflage, realized that its opponent was making a final desperate move. The wyvern also concentrated magical energy in its mouth. An ominous black flame rose. The heat was so intense that the surrounding air appeared distorted.

Both attacks were simultaneous. One fireball and about twenty lightning bolts were fired in a straight line toward each other. Brilliant sparks and embers chaotically decorated the sky. The attacks from both sides flew, dispersing clouds and burning the air in their path. The trajectories of the projectiles overlapped. Wilhelm focused all his attention on controlling his magical power, anticipating the collision.

“-!”

Finally, the fireball and lightning collided in the middle.

Crackle, BOOM-!

Dozens of lightning bolts blocked a single massive fireball. As both sides refused to yield and tried to advance, they trembled in the middle as if testing each other’s strength. Blood vessels bulged on Wilhelm’s face as he controlled his magical power, and blood flowed from his nose.

All passengers on the plane clenched their fists tightly, swallowed hard, and mentally cheered for Wilhelm. They didn’t even dare to breathe loudly for fear of breaking his concentration.

Swoosh-

Amid everyone’s focus, something unexpected happened.

A particularly large lightning bolt flew from behind. Even as he saw the lightning, Wilhelm somehow felt that it was flying freely, beyond his control. Had he reached a new level after fighting with all his might? He couldn’t tell as this was his first experience…

While Wilhelm pondered, the lightning didn’t stop. The golden lightning bolt, flying with fierce momentum, pierced straight through the dark red fireball.

BOOM-!!!

The lightning dispersed the magical energy with a thunderous explosion. The fireball, pierced through its center, lost its power and dissipated. The lightning, not losing its momentum even after destroying the demonic fire, shot powerfully toward the one who had created the fireball.

‘Please..!’

The lightning, carrying everyone’s wishes, cut through the sky. The demon tried to avoid it, but its body was paralyzed and couldn’t move freely. While the wyvern flapped in terror, sensing its impending death, the lightning finally pierced its chest.

“G̴̟̿̃̊̿̕̚r̷̦͈͖̱̤̼͓͎̉̌͑͗͆̀͜ą̶̨̩̲̰̭̼̱̮͎̗̗̒á̶͕̙̥͉̀̄a̶̧̦̣̲̲͎͓̔̇̒͆̚a̶̛̟͖̝͕̱̩̿͒͝a̴͓͙̗̣͉͕̓̿̆̏̿͊̑̑̈̑̕̚͝ą̸̧̼͓̟͙͈̪͓̖̭̦̓̐̎́͜͠a̵̡͓̺̯̪̳̠̣̼̼̩̒̔̊̾͑̕͜͜͜ͅa̸̬̥̾̉͐̂̊͘͝ą̵̢̗̮̞̼̠̘̭̋̆̑̓̑̉̈́a̸̧͇̙̬̻̔̅͐͗̐̊̉̆͜͝ȧ̵̝̖͈̝̲̺͈̜̭̖̮̣̐͝ą̸̳̠̬̥̲͙͖̰̭̹̻̽́͛̾̓͋͂̿̄̃͂̀a̸̻̙̞̱̎̓̉̋̅̎͆͘͝͝͝a̴̡̨͎̫͚͐̊̐̑̓̎̇́͐͂̆̽̋̒ä̵̧̳͚̪̺̩͇͓̖̾a̶̳͒͐̾å̴̬̥̗͖͇̃̈̃̄̀͗̅͋̋̀̓̕!̴̡̨̩̯̩̠̭̩̜̲̺͌͋́̍͝͝ͅ!̴̱͔̹͚͎̜̥̅ͅ!̸̢̟̘̥̳̣̤͕̼̤͓̀̾͗̅̾̑͆͝!̸̨̧̘̮̘̤͈̩͙͗̐̿̾̈́̃̈́̌̓͛̿͝”

The lightning that struck directly into the body burned the demon from within. The demon let out a scream of agony. It was clearly a fatal wound.

Somehow unable to heal with magical energy and confused, the wyvern emitted smoke from its wound as it plummeted to the ground. That became the wyvern’s final thought in its lifetime. The screaming gradually diminished until it could no longer be heard.

[Level up!]

Wilhelm watched the falling monster until it completely disappeared from view, then finally relaxed and collapsed into his seat. Only when the level-up notification sound and the passengers’ cheers hit his eardrums did Wilhelm truly realize that he had defeated the monster…

***

‘What? It died in one hit?’

Shin Jaehyuk, the one who had formed the barrier, was inwardly surprised. He had been watching the escort hunter’s fight, only helping at extremely dangerous moments to avoid revealing his power. But when the escort hunter seemed to be struggling too much, he secretly fired a lightning spear at the end, and the demon just died.

‘Did I help unnecessarily? The magical energy I sensed was unsettling, but to think it would die from one lightning spear…’

Having rarely used divine spells while maintaining his false identity as a regeneration hunter in the gates, Jaehyuk was amazed at how dramatically the power of his divine spell had increased.

‘To think the effect of leveling up is this significant! Now I understand how S-rank hunters managed to surpass the Eden 12 Heroes, who were once humanity’s strongest, in just a few years..!’

Marveling at the effectiveness of the system and leveling up, he reviewed the technique he had just used. The moving celestial barrier and the lightning spear he fired. As his control over divine power increased, his existing spells had evolved. In fact, the change in abilities was so dramatic it should be called evolution rather than development.

The celestial barrier, which previously couldn’t move once deployed, could now move with the caster, and the lightning spear, which previously had to be held and thrown by hand, could now be fired like an arrow without needing to throw it directly. These changes completely eliminated the previous inconveniences, like scratching an itchy back.

‘This must also be the influence of the “Divine Blood” achievement… It’s an incredibly generous effect for just one achievement. What secret does Divine Blood hold?’

Divine Blood was a substance fused with his soul, but even Jaehyuk himself didn’t fully understand what it was or what effects it had. Probably only Iscariot, the original owner and the person in charge of the “God Hand Project,” would know.

‘But Iscariot died by my hand… so there’s no way to find out now even if I wanted to.’

While Jaehyuk was marveling at the new effects of Divine Blood that kept emerging like layers of an onion, Mephisto, who had been quiet until then, suddenly spoke.

“Impressive.”

Unlike the passengers who were going crazy with joy at being alive, he remained composed and calm without a trace of disorder. Despite being so concerned about his life that he had investigated passengers for potential assassins, he appeared remarkably composed in the face of mortal danger.

Finding it awkward to ignore him in this joyful situation, Jaehyuk casually agreed.

“Yes, Wilhelm was amazing.”

The next words surprised Jaehyuk.

“No, I was talking about you.”

“-?!”

“The barrier. That was you, wasn’t it?”

Jaehyuk was startled. How? It was a subtle and swift technique that only the direct recipient should have noticed. It was definitely not something an unawakened person could detect…

Mephisto read the shock in his expression. He whispered softly.

“Don’t be so surprised. I have good eyes. There are only two hunters on this plane, you and Wilhelm, and Wilhelm’s ability wasn’t a barrier, so by process of elimination, it must be you. But you’re not a regeneration skill awakener?”

“Ah… well.”

Jaehyuk’s face hardened. If this person reported him, it would become very troublesome. If it was discovered that he had forged his identity and license… the consequences were too unpleasant to imagine.

He needed to silence the other party. But how? In Korea, he might escape using Park Jugwan as a backer, but the plane’s destination was New York. And no matter how he thought about it, Park Jugwan’s influence probably wouldn’t extend to New York law.

Fortunately, Mephisto’s next words reassured Jaehyuk.

“Whoa, relax. Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.”

“…Why?”

“I told you, didn’t I? I want to be friends with you.”

Mephisto handed him a business card. A phone number was written on the cleanly designed card. The intention was clear: I’ll keep quiet, so let’s be friends.

‘Of course, he doesn’t mean purely friendly relations; he probably wants me to help him with his work occasionally…’

Should I accept it? Jaehyuk thought. Despite appearing frivolous, the other party was quite calculating. He wouldn’t risk alienating a promising A-rank hunter by leaking his secret. Mephisto’s offering of the business card carried an underlying meaning of trust and promise.

“…I’ll accept it with gratitude.”

There was only one choice from the beginning. Jaehyuk took the card and put it in his pocket. Mephisto grinned.

“Great! If you need anything while in New York, don’t hesitate to contact me anytime.”

His smile was unsettling, but at least it didn’t feel malicious.

‘I’ll keep it for now. I probably won’t have any reason to contact him anyway…’

Thinking this, Jaehyuk looked out the window. The Empire State Building stood tall in the middle of land that looked as if it had been twisted by an earthquake.

About 15 minutes later, the plane landed smoothly at John F. Kennedy International Airport.