novelraw Chapter 198 : He Who Opens the Way (1)
Chapter 198 : He Who Opens the Way (1)
He Who Opens the Way (1)
Park Jung-woo was not an awakener.
Therefore, in order to handle magic power, he needed a special facility.
"How can a human not have a mana hall?"
"If he has no mana hall, maybe he can accept demonic energy?"
In the other world Jung-woo woke up in, there was no such thing as a human without a mana hall.
Big or small, everyone had mana halls, so Jung-woo, who possessed none, inevitably stood out.
Those who secretly researched the demons' power.
They took an interest in Jung-woo and infused him with every sort of power from demons.
Moreover, he had to endure all sorts of experiments to see if perhaps he could use the special abilities of various races.
"He should've died, so why isn't he dead?"
Experiments that would have killed an ordinary human over and over again.
But even through those, Jung-woo did not die. Since he survived, his body slowly adapted to the experiments and gradually began to change.
That period lasted about half a year.
After half a year, Jung-woo killed everyone in that place and left.
It was in that process that he met Estella.
In the underground of the repulsive lab where he had suffered those experiments.
There, a Saintess had been imprisoned for a thousand years.
'I never imagined it was an imperial underground facility.'
That there's a facility researching demons beneath the Empire—led by the very faction known for supporting them—is nothing short of absurd.
'I've always harbored antipathy toward demons.'
It was inevitable.
That forced, alien power that had been shoved into his body.
He fought using it, but he found it impossible to feel any attachment to it.
That's why he felt such resistance to fully absorbing the Demon King's power.
'They stabbed the heart into my body so that the Demon King wouldn't be revived.'
For demons, the heart was like a vessel for the soul.
By accepting it, Yeon-ji had become a half-demon.
"I spoke directly with Yuria. Only then could we finally become one."
With a snort, Yeon-ji told the story like it was nothing special.
As if it was no big deal.
"The point is this: it seems the heart retains remnants of something—like a soul or perhaps a will."
In Yuria's case, clearly her soul remained.
But it was not guaranteed that all demons were like that.
However, judging from the demonic zones that had arisen so far, it was certain that a will remained in the demon's heart.
"You need to converse with it. If you do, won't you be able to use your heart's power much more easily than now? ... Well, then again, since you're a Demon King, it might be a bit different for you."
Jung-woo was not a half-demon.
But he was something similar.
Therefore, there was no harm in trying the method Yeon-ji mentioned.
'It's not about forcibly squeezing power out of the heart like before.'
He took a deep breath and contemplated inwardly.
It felt like time around him slowed a little.
The sand and rocks at his feet were split in two directions as the dungeon collapsed and were sucked into the opening rift.
From the front, Cade was charging at him.
'Ah-yeon will block the rift.'
He could sense Shin Ah-yeon's state gradually stabilizing.
Although she had been confused as some of Estella's power awakened, she was adapting to that power calmly, bit by bit.
Magic and Estella's power were different, but both dealt with "miracles".
If she understood the principle, Shin Ah-yeon would quickly come up with a solution to overcome the current situation.
"You—!!"
A wave of black sword aura flew toward Jung-woo's neck.
Jung-woo blocked it with his right arm.
"Why do you people keep blocking our way!!"
Cade, who until now had pretended composure, now shouted it with genuine emotion.
Three hundred years had passed.
A completely different world, and a long period of time had gone by.
The demons, who had once been defeated by humanity, had, after immense effort, finally gained the power to covet a new world.
And yet, why was he here?
Park Jung-woo—a name that, to the demons, was worthy only of hatred.
He didn't know why he was in this world, or how he had survived to this era.
"As if you weren't enough—why Estella, too!"
As if Jung-woo alone wasn't enough, there was a woman possessing Estella's power.
Was it reincarnation? Or was it Estella herself?
Cade was bursting with the urge to return to Damian at once and demand an explanation.
But Jung-woo, instead of answering Cade, raised his left hand and prepared to punch him.
"...!"
But, sensing rapidly approaching movement, he slammed his foot down to the ground.
KWAANG!!
"Khuh!"
As the ground burst, dirt and stones flew up, and from the shadow nearby, a demon leaped out. It seemed that while Cade kept Jung-woo occupied, this demon had tried to target Ah-yeon standing behind him.
"I told you—you won't lay a finger on her."
Jung-woo said this as he glared side by side with Cade at the demon who had now joined the fray.
'A top-rank demon.'
However, he wasn't as strong as Cade.
Judging by his unfamiliar face, there was a high chance he was a newly risen top-rank demon who hadn't existed three hundred years ago.
"Sebin, where's Henate?"
"He's keeping the others from coming here, along with the monsters."
They had forcibly opened a gate once again using the remains of the Demon King.
Countless monsters and Henate were putting all their power into blocking other S-rankers from intervening here.
If Henate had been at full power, maybe he wouldn't have needed to open a gate at all, but he had already taken damage from Jung-woo, so that wasn't possible.
'The tricky one isn't just the Saintess.'
The woman who wielded blue flames beside her, Soo-ah, was the problem.
Henate fought with overwhelming regenerative power, so holding out wasn't an issue, but the rate at which he used up his strength was far higher than when taking plain wounds.
There were other S-rankers, too; time was definitely not on the demons' side.
"No matter who you are, there's no way you can deal with both of us at the same time."
With two top-rank demons, they could definitely take on Jung-woo.
Plus, he had to protect someone right now.
'Even if the rift fails, I can at least force him to use the Demon King's power.'
Cade possessed Owen's body.
Naturally, whatever Owen could see, Cade could see, too.
"Even if you use the Demon King's power."
Estella's authority, which had until now protected Jung-woo from death, had grown dimmer.
Every time he used the Demon King's power, the burden on that authority increased.
If they could force him to use the Demon King's power, not only would it hasten the demonization, but it might also entirely consume the remaining authority.
"So what?"
Yet Jung-woo just flicked his hand at Cade with a mocking air.
He was telling him to stop talking nonsense and attack already.
Seeing that composure, Cade's brow furrowed.
"Park Jung-woo!!!"
Facing the two demons who came at him simultaneously, Jung-woo moved his hands.
Their goal wasn't to defeat him.
Their sole purpose was to kill Ah-yeon standing behind him.
If they were ordinary demons, he could protect her easily, but both were top-rank demons.
They were not opponents to be underestimated at all.
'Therefore...'
He needed to use the Demon King's power.
More seriously—earnestly—than ever before.
***
Estella's authority was an utterly foreign power to Ah-yeon.
A power that manifested by listening to the wishes of those around her and responding to them.
In a way, it was an altruistic power, but in other words, if Estella didn't empathize with their wishes, the power couldn't be activated.
After all, she had to sincerely desire to grant those wishes from her heart.
'Estella.'
Inside, Ah-yeon repeated the name.
She kept seeing Estella's past, probably because Estella was her previous life.
'Let this be the last time I act with your power.'
Stigmata, and the power of wishes.
Though it was hers, it was not Shin Ah-yeon's own power.
'I am not Estella.'
Therefore, using this power to completely close the rift was beyond her.
She instinctively felt that, used in this way, this would be the last time she could wield this power.
【What do we do about that rift? Can she really close it?】
【Please, someone close it! I don't want to die like this.】
Countless voices echoed through the Grand Canyon.
Ah-yeon followed the loudest among them.
A desperate wish for the rift to be closed.
She seized it in her grasp.
'Stay calm.'
Her back felt hot.
Her mind was still confused.
But someone was fighting for her right now.
'It's impossible to close the rift as it is.'
Perhaps if she were the original Estella, but she was not.
So what should she do?
'The real problem with the rift now is that there are two triggered at once.'
In that case, what if she merged them into one?
'That much... I should be able to do. ... No, I must.'
She reached her hands out.
Slowly, calmly, she grasped for each rift and closed the distance between them.
To combine the two rifts into one.
"What the—!!"
Sebin gasped as he saw the coordinates of the rift shifting.
'Is this even possible?'
Changing the direction of a rift was not something simple.
It meant moving the space itself.
For Sebin, who saw Estella's power for the first time, it was now clear why everyone was so wary of her power.
"She had weakened, huh."
But Cade, who had witnessed Estella's power several times already, sneered.
"If that were the real Estella, she wouldn't have bothered with such trouble—she'd have just closed it outright."
The rift was a catastrophe, but Estella's power was untouched by scale.
Since it revised the laws, it was a power that escaped the bounds of logic.
In other words, the power Ah-yeon was using now wasn't rewriting the laws—it was stuck within the framework of magic.
Compared to Estella, who had wielded that power for a thousand years, this was inevitable.
Ah-yeon had only just become aware of her powers.
"Seems it didn't go as planned, did it?"
"No."
Fending off Sebin and Cade's attacks, Jung-woo shook his head.
"It went exactly as planned."
"... Excuse me?"
"I never intended to close the gates myself from the start."
Closing two gates at once was something even Jung-woo was reluctant to attempt.
If he did, he might end up using the Demon King's heart even more than when he awakened Alencia.
"But now, as it is, there's no need to overuse this power."
The forms of Cade and Sebin were vastly outclassed by Jung-woo's power.
They tried to attack again, but could not move forward, overwhelmed by the power emanating from his body.
'Is this the Demon King's power? No—it feels different.'
The power Jung-woo had released before was much rougher and greater than this.
But now, he was emitting something entirely different.
Faint, but impossible to underestimate—a mysterious power.
"I finally understand a little."
"... Understand what?"
"The power of your king."
Until now, psychological aversion, physical strain, and ignorance of the method had made him hesitate.
But watching Yeon-ji, he had begun to grasp the principle.
Just a little.
Really, only a tiny bit—but the power in the Demon King's heart had fused with his own.
'I couldn't converse with it, as Yeon-ji mentioned...but still.'
He looked inward.
He examined his heart, searching for whatever was inside.
And finally, he found it.
'A massive gate.'
All Jung-woo did was knock on that gate.
Then, it cracked open just a little.
Effortlessly—so easily it was almost refreshing.
"A rift of that scale is more than enough for this."
Jung-woo gazed at the rifts merging into one.
Had they only merged?
Even the size was gradually concentrating into a single point.
As if it were waiting to be blown away all at once.
'...!'
Cade trembled as he watched Jung-woo clench his fist.
This was unlike the overwhelming force Jung-woo had wielded thus far.
But Cade could sense it vaguely—a certainty.
Even with his formidable defenses, he could not possibly withstand it.
"I'll say this in advance: it's best for you to stay right where you are."
That way, it would be easier to deal with them all at once.
Jung-woo thrust his fist toward Sebin, Cade, and beyond them—the rift.
Compared to before, it was not a fast blow.
But the consequences brought about by that action were by no means simple.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
The fact that Jung-woo is living on a borrowed time also adds to the suspense.
We all know that he is strong, but having a limit to when and how much he could use is a good element of the story.
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】