𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟗𝟖
Whooooooooosh.
Coo, coo, coo.
“. . . . . . .”
I had finally cleared the second trial of the Blue-White Soul Mirror, but strangely enough, the spatial transformation had not ended.
And for some reason, I could feel the power of the Shadow Assimilation trait contained in my shadow gradually increasing.
Swish.
Boom!
The wreckage of the collapsed arena was swallowed up by the black curtain that had risen from all sides, and soon the entire vast space was covered in a writhing shadow.
In a space where nothing else existed, I was the only thing that could be perceived.
“This is. . . . . . .”
A mysterious phenomenon, but I didn’t think it would lead to a bad outcome.
Rather, I felt like I had come to a place that was more familiar and comfortable than ever before.
Swish.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.
The shadow, which had expanded endlessly and swallowed up the entire space, began to slowly return to its original place, as if a spring was being rewound.
In the white space where everything had disappeared, I was finally able to find the door that signified the end of the trial.
“. . . . . . .”
Now, it was time to truly move towards the final battle.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
The second trial of the Blue-White Soul Mirror, which seemed impossible, but the obstacle that truly made it impossible was myself.
And now that I had completed the trial, I could feel that several major changes had taken place within me.
【Han Kang-yoon】
▶Level 78
▶Ability Scores
【Stamina: A-】
【Spiritual power: S-】
【Spellcraft: A】
【Mental Strength: S-】
▶Traits (10/10)
【Shadow Assimilation (EX)】
【Awakening (S)】
【Witch’s Echo (A+)】
【Dragon’s Body (A+)】
【Tenacious Struggle (A+)】
【Giant Slayer (A)】
【Spirit Absorption (A)】
【Yongrimse (A)】
【Challenger (B+)】
【Mental Spellbook (B)】
First of all, my level and ability scores had increased, and I had acquired an S-rank trait called Awakening.
Also, most surprisingly, the Shadow Assimilation trait, which I thought had already reached its completion, had evolved once more.
「𝙀𝙓 𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙠. . . . . .?」
A unit indicating an off-scale rank, and in the 1st installment of the exorcism series, only Yoo Ha-on’s Anti-Demon trait had it.
I knew that the Shadow Assimilation trait had reached that level, but I couldn’t predict what changes it would bring about by evolving.
Even the original pioneer of this trait, Shadowless, had not reached this level.
It was more correct to say that the power of the Shadow Assimilation trait had already entered a realm that even I, the player, could not fathom.
「𝙄’𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚, 𝙗𝙪𝙩. . . . . .𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙙.」
And at the same time, I was somehow convinced that the current Shadow Assimilation trait would create new possibilities for me in dealing with Polar Night.
Knock, knock.
“Are you back?”
As I was checking my own changes, a familiar voice came from outside the room.
It was Yoo Ha-on.
“What about Cheong Juhwa?”
“She went out for a while on business. So I was guarding the room instead. . . . . .Did you pass the trial?”
“Yes.”
“. . .You must have had a hard time. Juhwa will be happy too.”
As the owner of the same EX rank trait, Yoo Ha-on kept tilting her head as if she felt something strange about me.
Also, I, too, was able to realize the true nature of her Anti-Demon trait, not simply as knowledge, but to some extent.
「𝙄 𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙨. . . . . . .」
When I checked it out, it felt a little different.
The results may be the same, but is it a bit of a misnomer?
What was certain was that there was a difference from the power of the Anti-Demon that I had vaguely thought of.
「. . .𝙎𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨.」
Ironically, I was able to find the answer in the setting book of the exorcism series, which read as follows:
「𝙊𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮, 𝙚𝙭𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙢 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙧𝙚.」
Now, it has a complex system such as the operation of spells and spiritual power, but that was the essence of exorcism.
It is the fundamental principle of exorcism that a strong wind, and desire, take shape and act on reality.
And I thought that Yoo Ha-on’s Anti-Demon trait was probably a power that worked on such desires themselves.
A power that crushes other desires using the user’s desire as fuel. That is the secret of Yoo Ha-on’s Anti-Demon trait.
“Can I ask you a favor? Can you cast a spell with the power of the Anti-Demon?”
“Yes? Ah. . . . . .I’ll do that.”
Yoo Ha-on seemed to understand that I was trying to test the power I had gained from the trial, and immediately summoned the power of the Anti-Demon and unfolded a simple intermediate attack spell.
And as I received it, I was able to confirm that what I had guessed was close to the truth.
「𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙣𝙩𝙞-𝘿𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙭𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙢. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙮. . . . . . .」
In fact, when I came up with this hypothesis a little while ago, there was one part that I didn’t quite understand.
The power of the Anti-Demon trait is to crush desires.
So it can have an advantage against all kinds of spells, and it has a great advantage against the tricks of yokai.
However, if you think about it, there is one more target that the Anti-Demon trait is very effective against.
That is the yokai itself.
「𝘾𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙮, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙮𝙤𝙠𝙖𝙞 𝙙𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙡𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙣𝙩𝙞-𝘿𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙖 𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙖𝙘𝙠.」
If I recall when I was playing the game, there were even numerical corrections, and in fact, as I mentioned earlier, there were also yokai for whom the Anti-Demon trait itself was the strategy itself.
So isn’t it a little strange?
If the Anti-Demon trait is a power that acts on desire itself, why can it be so deadly to yokai?
Many things come to mind, but if you think about it simply, you can come to one clear conclusion.
That is, yokai are also beings derived from desire.
“. . . . . . .”
Yokai are born from human fear.
It wasn’t a phrase specifically related to the exorcism series, but it was a phrase that often appeared when describing yokai in reality.
And fear can also be expressed as a fragment of strong emotion, or a negative desire.
So what is the origin of yokai that have plagued humans for so long?
Perhaps, in the history of this world, wasn’t the first thing to give birth to yokai someone’s strong negative thought itself?
For some reason, I had a hunch that it would be deeply connected to the origin of Polar Night.
Polar Night is also a kind of phenomenon that was born from someone’s strong desire.
Rather than a yokai, it can be said to be a kind of spell itself.
And such Polar Night can dominate all kinds of yokai and make their power its own, and it tries to come back again and again to fulfill some purpose.
“Are you okay?”
“. . .It’s nothing. I just have something to think about.”
It may just be a simple misunderstanding, but it seems that the outlines of the cause and effect surrounding all of this are gradually becoming clear.
What is certain is that I can now understand more clearly what kind of being Polar Night is.
And the closer I get to Polar Night, which was close to being an unknown itself, the fear and dread I felt towards it gradually fades away.
In my mind, Polar Night was no longer an untouchable being.
It is clearly a phenomenon that can be solved, and a crisis that can be overcome.
The more I thought about it, the stronger and firmer my resolve became.
「. . .𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙩𝙧𝙮.」
I will no longer back down. This time, I will definitely subdue it and fulfill the wishes of everyone, including Ho-chung.
And when I made up my mind like that, I heard urgent footsteps, and soon Baek Eun-seo appeared, holding a window.
“Emergency! A powerful yokai has appeared on the outskirts of the barrier near Daejeon!”
“Ugh. I’ll go right now.”
“What does it look like?”
When I asked for confirmation even in an urgent situation, Baek Eun-seo recalled her memory, and soon as if she remembered, she conveyed the appearance of the guy to us.
“A huge ball of fire with yellow hair and blue eyes. . . . . .That’s the only way I can describe it.”
It’s definitely Byakuganwa.
And that meant that the gears of this last Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, which had been stopped, were starting to turn again.
I quickly prepared with Yoo Ha-on next to me, and headed to the announced gathering place to join the other colleagues.
There were already other groups and exorcists gathered there, and everyone’s expressions were not good, perhaps recalling the fierce battle with Cheongwiho last time.
“Damn it. Until when. . . . . . .”
“Hoo, I wonder how many people will die this time.”
After all, in the battle with Cheongwiho, two elders of the Three Great Houses lost their lives.
No matter how many exorcists there were, it was only natural to feel fear at the sight of it.
“Stop being so pessimistic! Cheong So-ha is already blocking the guy, so we just have to hurry up and finish it off.”
Cheong Gi-beom, the 4th elder of the Cheong family, who was in charge of the nearby area, shouted and boosted the morale of the exorcists.
Since he had also trained through the Blue-White Soul Mirror, he was definitely showing off his skills one level higher than the other elders, so the exorcists relaxed a little and headed towards Daejeon.
「𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙧, 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙙 30% 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙡. . . . . . .」
The situation in other areas was probably not much different, so it was possible to roughly predict the number of exorcists who would gather in Daejeon.
「𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙨.」
As I had expected before, Byakuganwa’s power would not be something they could handle.
Even if Cheong So-ha is there, it’s the same.
She had grown even more through the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, but it would be too much for her to defeat such a great yokai alone.
But it was okay. Knowing that, we had been desperately building up our strength in the world of sorcery.
“Shall we depart?”
Cheong Juhwa, who had learned the spell that Guimei had taught her after returning to the present, summoned clouds with a spell.
This time, in addition to the six of the seven who had gone to the past, excluding Han Seo-ah, all the remaining colleagues were also present.
Although there might be a difference in level now, that alone gave the rest of the group a sense of fullness and relief.
The condition is perfect, and the preparation is sufficient.
Our goal in this battle is to defeat Byakuganwa, and beyond that, to pass on the flame of hope to others.
With our determination to take on that heavy responsibility, we got on the cloud and headed towards Daejeon where the guy was.
Finally, the grand finale towards the final battle had begun.
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