Chapter 6

Chapter 6. The Equation of Collapse

***

Magic Resistance.

Beginners despair the moment they hear that phrase. They mistake it for an absolute shield that magic cannot affect.

But to me, who had once touched the principles of the Ninth Circle, resistance was nothing more than 'a slightly thicker wall'.

There is no spear that cannot pierce.

It was only ever a lack of power.

"Your Majestyyyy—!"

It kicked off the ground again.

The red brigandine armor rattled, producing a ferocious clamor.

It was a simple charge, but the weight behind it was no different from a tank's.

A head-on contest was out of the question.

With my current body, even being grazed would kill me.

I had to change the flow.

I gripped the shortsword in a reverse hold and stared at the soil beneath my feet.

"[Entangle]."

RUSTLE—!

The ground reacted before the incantation even ended.

Blue-green grass roots pierced through Donggureung's wet soil and surged upward like snakes.

This was no ordinary Entangle.

This was a royal tomb (mausoleum) of the Joseon Dynasty.

An auspicious site where the royal family's energy and the earth veins had been preserved for hundreds of years.

"Grrrrrk?!"

Its ankle was bound in midair.

Roots as thick as an adult's forearm coiled around its shins and thighs.

They were no mere plants.

They were nature's chains, imbued with the sacred energy steeped in this land.

To the undead, they were shackles of absolute opposition, causing searing agony with nothing more than contact.

"This isn't a burial plot for bastards like you."

SIZZLE—!

Black smoke rose from the gaps in the armor where the roots touched.

It roared, thrashing in pain.

"Yyyour Majestyyyy! Your Majestyyyy!"

It had been caught fast.

The more it flailed to break free, the deeper the roots dug into its bone joints.

Now was my only chance.

Before it tore through the restraints, I had to drive in one decisive blow.

I stopped breathing.

I spun my mana core to its limit.

My blood vessels screamed as they expanded.

"[Tree of Sephiroth]."

Invisible branches of mana stretched through the air.

A spell formula of overlap and chain reactions, branching from a single root.

I layered and stacked attributes of absolute opposition, one on top of another, to crush the bastard's resistance.

A unique trait only I could use.

'[Fire], [Wind], [Lightning].'

VMMMM—

Three circles rotated at once.

Wind swirled over the blade of the shortsword, flames blazed, and blue lightning ripped through the space between them.

Triple attribute fusion.

It was an amount of mana that would have blown apart an ordinary artifact long ago.

The newly bought shortsword failed to withstand the heat and began glowing red-hot.

"Airi. Raise [Quick Slash]'s output to 15%."

[Warning. Dangerous.]

[With the current body's durability, the recoil cannot be endured. Mana backflow probability exceeds 85%.]

[Weapon destruction imminent.]

Crimson warning windows flooded my vision.

I ignored them.

A broken arm was a problem for later. If I failed to take it down now, I would lose my head.

"Doesn't matter. I'm ending it here."

I drove my sole into the ground.

Explosive acceleration.

I threw myself forward, ignoring the sensation of the ligaments in my ankle stretching.

My vision narrowed, and only the creature's helmet, my target, appeared clear.

I swung the mana-infused sword like a baseball bat.

"Goodbye."

It felt as if an earthquake had struck.

The instant the tip of the sword touched its helmet, the three compressed attributes exploded at once.

The explosive force of flame, the cutting force of wind, and the penetrating force of lightning.

CRAAAAACK—!

A repulsive metallic shriek tore at my eardrums.

A fissure ran through the red brigandine armor that had seemed impossible to pierce.

I had broken through Magic Resistance's critical threshold.

Fragments of the helmet scattered in every direction.

It had been pierced.

Now all I had to do was cut down the main body.

Just as I was about to put more strength into it—

CRACKLE—

A sense of lightness came from my fingertips.

The shortsword had disappeared.

No, to be precise, the blade had failed to withstand the explosion and shattered into pieces.

Clutching a hilt with only the handle remaining, my body was thrown into the air.

'So cheap gear really won't cut it.'

In the end, the weapon had failed to withstand its master's output.

"Your Majestyyyy!!"

The creature burst out of the smoke.

Half its helmet had been blown away, revealing a hideous skeleton, but it did not stop.

If anything, its murderous intent grew even denser.

It tore the Entangle roots away by force and swung its broken saber.

Distance: two meters.

In my hand, only a broken hilt remained.

[Successor, no weapon detected. Evacuate!]

"No."

There was nowhere to retreat. Instead, I would dig in deeper.

I focused the remaining mana into the soles of my feet.

"[Leap]."

The ground caved in.

An explosive leap.

Its blade brushed past the tips of my feet.

My body soared upward, light as a feather.

A floating sensation that defied gravity.

In an instant, I reached five meters above the creature's head.

I could see the crown of its head below my feet.

It snapped its head up, glaring at me with a flash of red light in its eyes.

But I had seized air superiority.

I reached toward my waist.

A heavy object hanging beside my bag.

A spare wooden sword carved from ebony.

The one I had picked up from a corner of the Hunter Shop after seeing nothing but the phrase 'highest nature-attribute conductivity'.

Metal repelled the energy of nature, but wood embraced nature.

In this situation, using Donggureung's earth veins and linking them with [Entangle], wood was better than metal.

The backup plan became the finishing blow.

I twisted my body in midair.

I added rotational force.

This was not a simple wooden club.

If I added the precise mana control of a Ninth Circle mage to it, it would become a warhammer capable of smashing steel.

"[Rock]."

At my low murmur, the wooden sword took on a blue glow.

Mana seeped between the grains of the wood, increasing its density.

It was reinforcement-type magic that raised physical hardness to the extreme.

Now this sword would be harder than diamond.

'This is enough.'

I surrendered my body to gravity.

Free fall.

As acceleration gathered, the wind slapped my ears.

The target was its exposed skull.

I stopped breathing.

Every muscle in my body, the mana I had left, and even the last fistful of Aura I wrung out.

I loaded all of it onto the tip of the sword.

There was no need for flashy technique.

The simplest, stupidest, and therefore strongest blow.

'Heavy Slash.'

I roared.

A simple skill name became an incantation and shook the world.

KABOOOM—!

It sounded like a cannon had gone off.

The wooden sword struck the crown of its head.

The shockwave spread outward in concentric circles.

A sharp CRUNCH rang out.

The red glow in its eyes went out.

The remaining fragments of the brigandine armor scattered, and the white skull collapsed like a sandcastle.

Its spine compressed, and its ribs burst outward.

The violence of overwhelming mass.

The huge mass of armor sank to its knees, then pitched forward, raising a cloud of dust.

I barely supported my staggering legs.

My wrist throbbed and rang.

[Battle ended.]

[Target silenced. Subjugation successful.]

Silence arrived.

Only my ragged breathing cut through Donggureung's dawn air.

DING—!

[Level increased.]

[Lv. 1 -> Lv. 10]

[All stats increase greatly.]

A warm energy wrapped around my entire body.

The blessing of leveling up repaired my ruined muscles and replenished my depleted strength.

Explosive growth that leapt nine steps at once.

Life force flowed through my blood vessels, which had been like dry kindling.

"Haa... Haa..."

I raised my head and looked at the sky.

The sky inside the Gate, which had been dyed red, was slowly recovering its true color.

'It's over.'

I approached the collapsed heap of bones.

Two spheres wrapped in black mist were rolling among them.

They were dropped items.

[Unidentified Artifact x1.]

[Unidentified Weapon x1.]

'I'll need Identification.'

Normally, they came out with their shells already peeled away, but the ones wrapped in black mist like this were the real thing.

At least Rare Grade or higher.

Spoils worthy of an elite monster.

The blue Mana Stones scattered beside them looked fairly profitable too.

Converted to cash, they were worth roughly eight million won.

No, ten years ago, I might be able to get even more for them.

It was cheap for the price of a life, but not bad as starting capital.

I roughly swept them into my bag.

The Gate hummed as it prepared to close.

Space began to distort.

"Let's go."

I tucked the wooden sword back at my waist.

Leaving the remains of the shattered skeleton behind me, I walked toward the exit.

FLASH—

***

I passed through the blue membrane and emerged into reality.

Cold dawn air sank deep into my lungs.

The moment relief at being alive hit me—

"I'm out..."

My heart dropped with a thud.

My vision spun.

The world that had seemed fine tilted sharply.

VMMMM—!

A ringing in my ears (tinnitus) sounded. It was not simple ear ringing.

It was the sound of the mana that had been flowing through my blood vessels backflowing and hammering against my eardrums.

"Airi..."

The words would not come out properly. My tongue had gone stiff.

[Warning! Mana backflow detected.]

[Aura circuit overheating. Body temperature rising rapidly.]

[Skill-use restriction recommended.]

A ball of fire surged up inside my chest.

A burning sensation scorched my esophagus.

It felt as though lava had been poured into my stomach.

The edges of my vision burned black, then blinked white.

"Me... with mana backflow."

I staggered and set my bag down.

My hands trembled on their own, making it hard even to open the zipper.

I took out the potion I had bought at the Hunter Shop.

I popped the cap and poured it into my mouth.

Gulp, gulp.

The bitter liquid passed down my throat.

The flames did not subside.

Even though the level-up a moment ago had raised my body's grade to Level 10, it was nowhere near enough.

The recoil caused by the collision between magic and Aura was destructive enough that even reinforced blood vessels could not withstand it.

It was like trying to bail water with a dipper after a dam had collapsed.

Triple casting that had already exceeded the limit.

Reckless Aura operation, and even the recoil from the final [Heavy Slash].

It was not a calculation a novice Hunter's body could handle.

RUMBLE—

I felt a vibration like my internal organs were twisting.

Phantom pain, as if my bone joints were slipping out of place, swept over my whole body.

My vision went black.

THUD.

The strength left my legs.

I collapsed as if sprawled across a bench.

The chill of wood touched my cheek, but my body was hot as a ball of fire.

[Danger threshold exceeded! Consciousness cannot be maintained.]

[Immediate medical attention required!]

Airi's urgent voice buzzed in my ears.

But instead, a weak laugh escaped me.

"Don't make such a fuss."

Because it was familiar.

Before my regression, it was the pain I had endured every single day to reach the Ninth Circle.

You cannot grow without surpassing your limits.

To me, mana backflow was an everyday occurrence, no different from a medal.

When others were carried to hospitals, I collapsed on the floor of the guild laboratory and reconstructed my mana circuits.

"Call the Hunter Emergency Rescue Service."

[Understood. Transmitting location...]

I had insurance.

I would not die.

The problem was time.

With backflow of this degree, I would be unconscious for at least a day, two if it lasted long.

That time was precious.

I could not waste it just sleeping.

I forced myself to hold on to my fading consciousness.

"Airi, open it."

[...Successor? I cannot parse your meaning.]

"The Altar of the Successor."

[In your current state, it is dangerous. Rest is required.]

"Shut up. Before I pass out, shove my consciousness into the altar."

Let the body in reality rest while the mind trained.

It was insane, but its efficiency was the best.

I had to take even this pain, turn it into data, chew it up, and devour it.

[......Understood.]

I thought I heard a faint sigh mixed into its voice.

For an add-on, it sure was quick on the uptake.

The corner of my mouth twisted upward.

My eyelids grew heavy as a thousand, then ten thousand weights, but inside my head, a cold fire burned even brighter.

The instant darkness swallowed me, I recalled that cold, deep-blue floor again.

Donggureung was not over.

Pain, mana backflow, even my fading consciousness.

I had to use everything.

Not one minute, not one second, could be allowed to flow in that Evil God Dragon's favor.

"Ah, here it comes."

Around the time that thought settled in me, my consciousness snapped off.

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