chapter_0072

Chapter 70: Emerald and Black Flames

The cursed doll had reverted to being a mere ordinary doll.

Seria, who was inspecting it closely, infused it with magic several times, her expression filled with disbelief.

Just a few minutes ago, she had seen it move as if it were a living human.

Not only did it move, but it had even cast magic despite having no magic circuits or core within its body.

That doll had undoubtedly contained immense magical power—enough to withstand Seria’s attack without issue.

So, something should have remained.

There should have been traces of an implanted magic circuit or at least a device that allowed it to receive magic remotely.

“Is there really nothing?”

But contrary to her expectations, the doll contained absolutely nothing.

Its exterior was made of ordinary cloth, and its insides were nothing but pure white stuffing.

Nothing else.

Even after dissecting it herself, Seria couldn’t believe it.

She stared down at the remains of the doll before letting out a deep sigh.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can find anything…”

“No, it’s normal that you can’t.”

“Huh?”

The emerald glow in Si-woo’s eyes had yet to fade.

It wasn’t dead yet.

Within those emerald eyes, a black aura began to form.

This wasn’t just a metaphor.

A black flame, invisible to Seria, ignited within Si-woo’s emerald eyes as he focused on the pentagram engraved onto the doll.

A crimson-black energy pulsed from the pentagram-like magic circle—no, it was closer to a summoning circle than a mere magic formation.

Seria, however, saw nothing.

Even though she had awakened her engraving and unlocked dormant talents, recognizing this summoning circle was beyond her capabilities.

That’s why Si-woo cursed it.

A black energy, forged solely for the purpose of slaying demons, surged toward the summoning circle.

The flames, imbued with a curse against demons, began to burn away at the pentagram’s summoning formation.

Seria, who had only now noticed the belatedly manifesting black flames, stared at them in disbelief.

It hadn’t existed.

She hadn’t felt it. She couldn’t perceive it.

But the moment those flames erupted, Seria immediately recognized the magic circle carved into the doll.

“…Hah…”

A wave of nausea washed over her as she realized her own inadequacy.

But she couldn’t afford to stand still.

She analyzed the remnants of the summoning circle as it burned in the black flames.

Neither the knowledge imprinted in her engraving nor the magic she had learned could help her understand the demonic summoning circle.

“Then I just have to memorize it.”

She burned every single inscription into her mind, down to the tiniest magical formula.

If she couldn’t understand it now, she would commit it to memory and dissect it until she did.

With the summoning circle engraved into her mind, Seria began her analysis.

She visualized the summoning formation in a three-dimensional structure, tracing each line of magic, the direction in which the flames had burned, and the complete shape of the sigil.

A sharp pain pulsed through her head.

Just memorizing a magic formation she had never seen before was already pushing Seria’s mind to its limits.

But she didn’t stop there—she added three additional steps: memorization, analysis, and reconstruction.

“Hoo…”

She just had to believe it wasn’t impossible.

As long as she didn’t think it was impossible, it was possible.

Her engraving existed for that very purpose. It layered the illusion of possibility over the reality of impossibility.

Suppressing the headache, Seria exhaled a heated breath.

It wasn’t perfect, but she had reconstructed the magic formation using her mana.

“Figuring out the principle behind it was still too much for me.”

“…Wait, I didn’t show you this so you could reconstruct it.”

“I know.”

But if she didn’t do something, she wouldn’t be able to stand it.

She couldn’t allow that woman to run wild, not even for a second longer.

She suppressed the murderous intent rising in her chest.

She held back the hatred, the contempt, and the disgust that threatened to surface.

She could express her emotions freely in front of anyone else.

“But you never know. I need to prepare for everything.”

But in front of Si-woo, she couldn’t.

She didn’t want to show these kinds of negative emotions to someone who had lost his own emotions.

More than anything, she didn’t want these emotions to be the first ones he awakened.

If possible, she wanted love to be the first emotion he regained.

‘… What a foolish dream.’

A self-mocking smile crossed her lips.

It was a selfish wish.

Si-woo had lost his emotions because of love.

Yet, out of her own selfishness, she wanted love to be the first feeling he reclaimed.

She had no right to criticize that woman.

Suppressing her frustration, Seria completed the magic circle she had reconstructed.

“We should be able to figure out its effects once we analyze it. Since the original summoning formula burned away, tracking it back might be impossible.”

“That won’t be the case.”

If it was a summoning circle rather than just a magic formation, then it should have a function to specify the target.

Otherwise, something completely unintended could be summoned.

And demons, in particular, were known for crafting magic circles with precise targeting mechanisms.

“Demons… that’s just how they are.”

Selfish hedonists.

What they desired wasn’t just someone’s destruction or the suffering of lowly humans—it was tragedy itself.

“They have no interest in things they can’t see. They need to witness the tragedy unfold before their eyes in order to feel satisfied—those damned bastards.”

Yet, despite their twisted nature, demons didn’t enjoy tragedies born from the unknown.

They wanted tragedies that they themselves had carefully crafted from beginning to end.

Simply watching a tragedy unfold wasn’t enough.

If a human caused a tragedy outside of their control, it only disgusted them.

Like a director watching an actor stray from the script, demons wanted everything to move according to their will—completely oblivious to how arrogant that was.

“…”

She was furious.

Her emotions toward demons were undoubtedly rage.

‘…I’ve never felt this before.’

Seria had never once experienced this feeling.

It was an emotion she was never meant to harbor, an emotion that should never have been directed at anyone.

Yet now, for the first time, it burned within her—raging against the unknown existence of demons.

“Of all things.”

No, perhaps this was inevitable.

A feeling that could burn far more intensely than love.

If there was a single most powerful and overwhelming emotion a human could possess, it had to be this.

Si-woo’s emerald eyes blazed with black flames for a long time.

Fueled by the resentment of a single girl.

Burning darker and fiercer than before.

“Haa… haa…!!”

The first thought that surfaced was how?

Yoon Ga-eun was no stranger to fear.

As a Hunter, the monsters she encountered beyond the gates constantly provoked human terror.

The number of times she had felt the overwhelming urge to flee was too many to count.

Yet, even in those moments, Yoon Ga-eun had never once run away.

Not when she faced a monster for the first time.

Not when, as a mere C-rank, she encountered an opponent she could never defeat.

Not even in her first S-rank gate, where she watched her comrades be torn apart before her eyes.

She had never run.

“What… the hell… was that?”

She was familiar with fear.

But this time, she ran.

Even when standing on the brink of death, Yoon Ga-eun had never fled.

Even when her mana was depleted, she had clenched her staff, determined to survive, to fight back.

So why—?!

“Why did I run away… when Si-woo was right there?”

Screaming wouldn’t change anything.

Throwing a tantrum like a child would only make the truth clearer.

“…I have to go back.”

Her body, still consumed by fear, was screaming at her to keep running.

Her legs trembled like brittle branches, and the hands she used to prepare the summoning were ice-cold.

Yoon Ga-eun, her face as pale as a corpse, desperately infused her magic into the ritual and screamed.

“Hurry! Pour the demonic energy in! I have to go back right now!!!”

In response to her summons, it answered.

The being that had slumbered within the crown that had long lost its luster spoke, as it always did, offering its contract holder a kind explanation despite her fear.

“That’s impossible!”

She had created that summoning circle herself—she knew its properties.

No human could have even perceived it, let alone destroyed it.

Perhaps a demon or an angel could have, but for a mere human to not only recognize it but annihilate it?

Just as she had been unable to in the past.

“I’ll make it again! As many times as it takes—twice, three times, it doesn’t matter!”

It cared little for Yoon Ga-eun’s foolishness.

No, it simply had no time to care.

Beyond the destroyed magic formation, it had sensed the ominous black flames.

The flames of resentment, something that did not exist even within its vast memories.

After all, that human had just given it another reason to stay alive.