Chapter 313

Seong-Hwi’s Wings of Evolution flashed, racing forward as if he were riding a jet stream.

[Activating Item Skill: Night Thrust.]

The pointy end of the Knox Stiletto in his hand was dyed red as per the effect of Night Thrust, which was said to be able to pierce the night itself, and exuded a chilling aura.

Seong-Hwi grunted as the Wings of Evolution flashed repeatedly, and the current burst as he repeatedly vanished and reappeared. Every time he appeared, the Underfish vomited dark red blood after their os were pierced and sank to the bottom of the sea.

“Gyeeehh!”

“I can’t see—Kurgh!”

“Surround h—Gaaahh!”

The iridescent wings then changed from a hexagonal pattern to a wavy pattern and were dyed blue.

[Converting Destiny Force to Stream Force.]

Seong-Hwi immediately realized how to move faster in the water and control the ocean currents.

“Chaaaaahhh!” he shouted, displaying the full power of his Stream Force, using his nearly boundless Destiny Force as fuel.

The ocean currents, dyed by the dark red blood from the Underfish, surged in different directions. It was like seeing a dark red tree that had grown within the blue sea. Seong-Hwi placed his hand inside the starting point of the current and activated a skill.

[Activating Skill: Rust of Ruin.]

The Rust of Ruin spread throughout the tree made of water via the blood, dyeing the currents. As a result, even a graze from the currents allowed Rust of Ruin to enter the Underfish and destroy their os.

The corpses of the Underfish sank to the bottom one after another, but Seong-Hwi’s expression did not show either joy or a sense of accomplishment. He simply took a deep breath and grabbed a golden card from his Tarot Deck of Destiny.

[Activating Unique Skill: Borrowing Destiny.]

[Takehaya-Susanoo-no-Mikoto]

[Activating Unique Skill: Symbol Embodiment.]

[Ame-no-Habakiri]

“I am the storm that tears up the calm sea!” Susanoo shouted from inside Seong-Hwi’s head.

Seong-Hwi infused mana into the sword in his hand, the Ame-no-Habakiri, which caused a blue storm to thresh along the blade.

“HAAAAAHHH!” he screamed, swinging the Ame-no-Habakiri horizontally toward the wall of black shadows in front of him.

[Activating Exclusive Skill: Ocean Splitter.]

The sea was split like an apple, and so was the wall of shadows that spat out a huge amount of blood. However, the black wall was instantly repaired like clay. Seong-Hwi panted heavily as he glared at the black wall, an army of millions of Underfish.

“Kekekekeke!”

“Kill him! Kill him!”

“I wanna gobble him up!”

No matter how many I kill, there’s no end to them! Seong-Hwi thought, calming his breathing as he turned diagonally in the direction where Lodon was fighting alone as he protected Taumafiskur.

***

[Activating Unique Skill: Blackwater Punch.]

“Hup!” Lodon grunted, blackwater gathering around his fists.

They were currents made of blackwater, which Lodon had learned to control after being trapped in it for years. One normally couldn’t control blackwater with the average Stream Force because it was so heavy, but Lodon’s imprisonment in the blackwater cell had been a blessing in disguise because he came to understand the blackwater’s qualities better than anyone and learned to control it efficiently.

“Chaaahh!” Lodon shouted as he swung his fists.

The organs of the Underfish hit by the Blackwater Punch turned into mush as if they were tofu, and they coughed up blood. Although Chaos Mana was known to tear apart mana, it couldn’t defend against Lodon’s Blackwater Punch, which used blackwater.

[Activating Unique Skill: Blackwater Teeth.]

Lodon did not wrap blackwater only around his fists, but his entire body. Every single scale on his body was coated in blackwater, and any Underfish that even grazed him turned into fish porridge.

As he was slaughtering the Underfish, he suddenly felt an immense wave of mana from afar that had no intention of hiding itself. It was blatantly aiming for Taumafiskur behind him.

“Taufi!” he shouted.

Tauma coughed up blood. Although Sagara Venenum had been detoxified thanks to Seong-Hwi, she had suffered severe internal injuries from defending against the attack that had come after. It was common sense to aim for the weak first in battle.

Tauma groaned, sensing the bloodlust blatantly aimed at her as if she were prey. She tried to activate a defensive skill, but they were continuously canceled because her mana patterns were a mess.

[Activating Unique Skill: Ananta Tenfold.]

Damn... it all! Tauma thought as a pillar of red light was about to engulf her, and closed her eyes.

However, death did not arrive for her. Rather, smooth air bubbles touched her face. She opened her eyes and saw Lodon, his arms stretched forward. He had created a barrier of blackwater that was blocking the red pillar of light.

“HAAAAAHHH!” Lodon screamed.

Although the red pillar of light carried immense mana and the power of unique caliber, it couldn’t penetrate Lodon’s all-out defense. The blackwater, heavy enough to crush even janateel, did not let even a trace of the red mana through.

“Huff! Huff!” Lodon panted heavily.

“Lo...don...” Tauma mumbled, her light blue eyes trembling as she stared at Lodon’s shaking back.

Lodon turned his head to stare at Tauma, his red eyes filled with worry, and asked, “Are you hurt, Taufi?”

“You...” Taufi stared at Lodon in a daze.

Her eyes then suddenly widened because she noticed a current unnaturally bending behind Lodon. Something was quickly approaching him.

“Watch out!” she shouted.

The unnaturally bending current broke, and appeared a crustacean Invasive Chaos with a giant pincer covered in Chaos Mana as black as the night sky.

“Gotcha!” the Chaos monster said as it grabbed Lodon with its pincer.

The Chaos Mana around the pincer was so destructive that it easily tore apart Lodon’s skin teeth.

“Gaaahh!” Lodon screamed in pain.

A camouflage trait! A Hispar? No, this is at least a tertiary transformation! A Lang-rank Chaos! he shouted inwardly.

“Gahaha! I’ll slice you in half!” the Chaos monster shouted.

Lodon tried to fight back, but the Chaos monster’s giant pincer had grabbed hold of him completely.

“Gurghhh!”

“Lodon!” Tauma shouted as she stretched her arm forward, but she couldn’t activate any skills due to her internal injuries.

I have to move the blackwater! Lodon thought as he was about to use Stream Force to use the blackwater and escape the Chaos monster’s pincer.

However, that was not the only issue. Hundreds of Underfish who had been lying low for an opportunity simultaneously charged at the restrained Lodon.

“Master Cray has captured him!”

“This is our chance!”

“Tear him apart!”

“U-urgh!” Lodon grunted.

He wrapped the giant pincer with blackwater, using its immense pressure to break the pincer, but the Underfish were already too close to Lodon.

“Die!”

“Kyehehehehe!”

“We will bring you salvation!”

Am I... going to die here? I must save Taufi, at the very least! Lodon thought, steeling his resolve as he was about to prepare his final skill.

Just then, everything turned dark blue. Unsettlingly flashing electricity spread via an ocean current and cast a net over the Underfish. Their os were destroyed like cookies by the dark blue electricity, and a framea spear pierced the forehead of the crustacean Chaos monster holding Lodon. Its head was fried by the dark blue lightning and exploded, and the Chaos Mana wrapping its pincer dissipated.

“Gurgh! Huff! Huff!” Lodon panted heavily as he destroyed the weakened pincer.

He looked up to see Seong-Hwi with a dark blue lightning mark on his right temple like a teardrop, staring at him pitifully.

“What do you think you’re doing, debtor? Are you planning on dying before you pay off your debt?” Seong-Hwi asked.

“Huff! Huff! Thank you for your help,” Lodon replied.

“We’re in a pinch as it is, but you’re carrying around a burden.” Seong-Hwi stared coldly at Tauma with bloodshot eyes. “Shall I take the weight off your shoulders?”

“What a bad joke.”

“Do you think I’m joking?” Seong-Hwi asked, shifting his gaze to Lodon. He pointed at the black wall and continued, “We need to get through that wall together and escape. Leave the burden here.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Then what do you suggest we do? Die here together?”

“You... can go on ahead.”

“Huuu...” Seong-Hwi sighed, sweeping his hair back with an annoyed expression. “Look, I came all this way to stop Pontus’s civil war. You’re the key to stopping it, and you want me to just leave you behind?”

“I will survive somehow and be right behind you.”

“How are you going to manage that?”

Lodon couldn’t respond. The number of Underfish did not seem to reduce, no matter how many they killed. The Uluhatu, Hispar, and Lang-rank Chaos among them were dangerous enough as they were, but at least two Recorders were also among them.

He knew Seong-Hwi was right. They were both Recorders, so they could get out of here one way or another by joining forces. However, to do that, they needed to leave Tauma here.

“I... can’t leave Taufi to die,” Lodon said.

“Even if it means being unable to stop the civil war?” Seong-Hwi asked.

“What if I say... yes?”

Seong-Hwi was lost for words, staring at Lodon’s innocent eyes.

What kind of bullshit romanticism is this? Is he seriously filming a romance drama at a time like this? In the face of Pontus’s destruction?

However, the biggest problem was that Seong-Hwi knew exactly how Lodon felt. If he were in Lodon’s shoes, and if it were a Calasanz member instead of Taumafiskur, he wasn’t sure whether he could abandon them.

Shit! What do I do?

As he was frantically racking his brain for a solution, a spine-chilling voice filled with curiosity echoed inside his head.

“What an aesthetically pleasing dilemma.”

A green eye slowly opened somewhere within Seong-Hwi’s deep subconscious. The voice belonged to the Second Fiend, the incarnation of curiosity.

Curiositas! Seong-Hwi shouted inwardly.

“The boy named Lodon chose love over survival. What will you choose?” Curiositas asked with genuine curiosity.

Naturally... survival. There is no saving him. I will leave them both here.

“If you do that, you won’t be able to keep your promise with Grandis.”

It can’t be helped. Even if I must pay the price later, retreat is the correct choice here.

“Incorrect. The full-mark answer is already in your grasp, but you are trying to hand in a half-mark answer.”

What are you... talking about?

“Do you want me to tell you?”

Seong-Hwi swallowed his saliva, considering Curiositas’s offer.

Why are you helping me? Is this also just one of your whims? he asked.

“Kekek, you are feigning ignorance,” Curiositas said as he chuckled, then pierced Seong-Hwi’s shallow heart with words. “You wanted me to help you. You were counting on it. Isn’t that right?”

I... wanted your help?

“If you didn’t, why do you still carry my genes despite learning the secrets of Blood Domination? Is it simply because you were curious about the next letter?”

Seong-Hwi couldn’t refute Curiositas. He was right. Seong-Hwi was certain that he could remove Curiositas’s genes from inside himself after obtaining Blood Force, but didn’t carry it out for one simple reason: because Curiositas was helpful. He had been the sole reason Seong-Hwi was able to prevent Necrophilia’s participation in the battle at Blood Castle.

“You count on me. You depend on me. You are being dyed in my colors, and you are letting me.” Curiositas continued charmingly, “Now, is that beneficial to you, or me?”

I... will not deny that I have been counting on your help, Seong-Hwi acknowledged his shallowness.

However, he would shake his head without hesitation if asked if that was a bad thing. He found nothing wrong with using what he could, even if it guided him down a path of destruction. All that mattered was that it would allow him to shine brightly at the end of the path.

So... please meet my expectations, Curiositas.

After a short silence, Curiositas laughed crazily and shouted, “AHAHAHAHA! That is the Cheon Seong-Hwi I know! I would expect nothing less from the actor I have chosen! Very well! Since much of my curiosity has been sated thanks to you thus far, I shall tell you the full-mark answer!”

The green eye staring at Seong-Hwi shone with anticipation and playfully curved.

“You are likely not a human.”