Chapter 12

Chapter 12.

Tucked in a corner of the inventory, an icon radiating an ethereal glow.

Far from any weapon or armor.

Too ambiguous to call an ordinary tool, either.

I widened my eyes and read the accompanying information.

[Catastrophic Reward (1): Authority Combiner]

[Description: Blends two different authorities to create an entirely new authority.]

"......!"

A shiver ran through me.

Electrifying enough to make my hair stand on end.

I'd already been mulling over this exact problem.

'He Who Devours Disasters.'

This ability was broken, but it had a critical weakness.

The risk of 'being found out.'

Suppose I used Kartal's 'earthquake' or Tulkachya's 'volcano.'

What would the other gods think when they saw it?

'Huh? That's Kartal's power.'

'The wavelength is identical to Tulkachya's volcano.'

Suspicion would become certainty, and certainty would become a death sentence.

If the truth — that I killed gods and stole their power — got out, every god in Asgard would come for my head.

No matter how strong I was, becoming public enemy number one was not on my agenda.

But.

'What if I combine them into something completely different?'

That changed the game.

Erase the scent of the originals.

Launder the pedigree.

This was an 'authority laundering machine.'

'Perfect.'

I activated the combiner without hesitation.

HUMMM!

A massive holographic cauldron materialized before my eyes.

I grinned and fed in the ingredients.

First ingredient.

[Lesser Earthquake], stolen from the Lesser Earthquake God Kartal.

Second ingredient.

[Rampaging Volcano], chewed up and swallowed from the mad god Tulkachya.

Both were powerful, but one had innate limitations and the other was too conspicuous.

[Combine 'Lesser Earthquake' and 'Rampaging Volcano'?]

I nodded without hesitation.

The cauldron shuddered.

RRRRRUMBLE!

The dull vibrations of the earthquake clashed with the searing heat of the volcano.

Golden sparks flew.

System messages scrolled rapidly.

[Deconstructing authority 'Lesser Earthquake.']

[Dissolving authority 'Rampaging Volcano.']

[Analyzing the compatibility of the two disasters.]

[The power to shake the earth + the power to drive the earth berserk.]

[Synergy explodes!]

The authorities fused.

Messages continued to stream.

[A new authority has been born!]

[Authority grade is being recalibrated.]

[Reaching Mythic grade.]

[Authority name: Hellfire-Seething Earth]

The cauldron vanished.

Red letters blazed in the air.

Hellfire-Seething Earth.

An intuitive name.

Simultaneously, a new sensation awakened inside me.

The area near my heart burned hot.

As if I'd swallowed lava.

But it wasn't unpleasant.

The power coursing through every vein was exhilarating.

I raised my right hand.

HUMMM.

Dark crimson flames bloomed above my palm.

Not ordinary red fire.

A murky, viscous blaze where black and red intertwined grotesquely.

The surrounding air dried out in an instant.

Moisture evaporated and space distorted.

This was a disaster bearing the properties of both 'corruption' and 'destruction' simultaneously.

'Success.'

My lips curled.

A perfect laundering.

The dull vibrations of the lesser earthquake — gone.

The crude eruption of the rampaging volcano — undetectable.

The weaknesses of both disasters had vanished, and only their strengths remained, amplified and fused.

The earthquake had become the key that splits the earth and opens the gates of hell.

The volcano had become the flames of annihilation that fill those cracks.

No one would look at this power and think of Kartal or Tulkachya.

This was purely my power — Rag's.

'I like it.'

I clenched my fist.

The flames crumbled within my grasp.

What I'd be fighting were gods.

They possessed bodies of near-immortality.

Ordinary fire couldn't singe a single hair on them.

Physical strikes and conventional magic had clear limits.

But this was different.

Hellfire.

Flames that burn the very soul.

Even a god would scream before this blaze.

The caliber of my disaster had advanced a full tier.

"Master?"

Seria called out cautiously.

Her eyes were fixed on my right hand, wary.

Like a beast instinctively sensing danger, she had her hackles raised and was backing away.

Even Angragon on my shoulder had curled its tail.

A power threatening even to allies.

That reaction wasn't bad at all.

"Let's go."

I shook out my hand and extinguished the flames.

I started walking.

Destination: the center of Floor 1.

I crossed the empty white expanse.

An empty world.

The white scenery stretched on to the point of tedium.

True to Gugu's word, the previous owner really had scraped the place clean.

A desolate space where not even the wind blew.

THUD. THUD.

Footsteps were the only sound.

How long had I walked?

A faint light appeared beyond the horizon.

"There."

I quickened my pace.

The distance closed rapidly.

The closer I got, the clearer the light became.

Soon, a massive form revealed itself.

A crystal easily ten meters tall.

A translucent, blue-tinged crystal floated in the air, slowly rotating.

The core of Floor 1.

I stood before the crystal.

HUMMM.

The crystal responded.

A gentle pulse enveloped my body.

[You have entered a safe zone.]

[Mana recovery accelerating.]

[Physical fatigue decreasing.]

[Contaminated status ailments purified.]

Warm.

The battle in the Sanctuary.

The authority combination.

The fatigue from back-to-back forced marches melted away like snow.

As the tension drained, drowsiness washed in.

I plopped down at the base of the crystal.

When I leaned back, instead of cold stone, warmth seeped through.

"......Ha."

I exhaled deeply.

Finally felt alive.

Seria stood beside me.

She was still scanning the perimeter.

Even in this barren wasteland with nothing in sight, she refused to let go of her bow.

An incurable case of professional paranoia.

"Seria."

"Yes?"

"Stand down. There's no one here."

"......One can never be certain. There may be enemies specialized in stealth."

A rigid answer.

I smirked and shook my head.

Well, no harm in it.

A sharp subordinate makes for a relaxed superior.

I closed my eyes.

I was curious about Earth's time.

However long I'd spent here, the same amount should have passed in reality.

I'd killed one avatar.

Kim Yuhwan — the lesser god Kartal.

I needed to verify what ripple his death had sent through Earth.

And then the rest.

I still had to track down the gods' avatars hiding across the globe.

The hunt was only beginning.

"I'm going to rest for a bit."

I told Seria.

"Don't let anyone approach."

"Understood."

She gave a curt reply and lowered her stance.

Angragon crawled onto my knee.

I gave its head a single stroke.

The holy sword Abriel floated up beside my head, assuming a guard position.

A reliable force.

This place was safe.

I opened the system window without worry.

The button at the very bottom.

[Logout]

I pressed it without hesitation.

My vision flickered.

The white world bled into darkness.

A floating sensation as my consciousness was pulled away.

Simultaneously, the scenery of Asgard receded.

***

DING!

[You have logged out.]

[Returning to reality.]

I opened my eyes.

Outside the window, it was chaos.

Sirens blared without end.

I turned on my smartphone.

The internet was pandemonium.

— The monsters disappeared! Did the military take them all out?

— What is that in the sky? A mirage?

The world was pure confusion.

After the Great Cataclysm, countless people had awakened.

But they couldn't control their powers.

The system's guidance was still unhelpful.

Above all, what drew everyone's attention was the sky.

I opened the window and stuck my head out.

Far in the distance, shimmering between the clouds, a massive tower's silhouette flickered.

'The Tower of God.'

For now, it only looked like a mirage.

The place where Rag had just become the master of Floor 1.

You couldn't touch it, couldn't enter it.

The tower's gates would open exactly one year from now.

That's when the real hell would begin.

Right now was a sort of 'beginner protection period.'

A grace period for humanity to adapt to the system and for the awakened to build their strength.

Of course, there would be those who'd fill that time not with preparation, but with 'hunting.'

I raised my right hand.

Silent.

No reaction.

'Does it only respond when someone nearby is using disaster powers?'

Its detection range didn't seem very broad.

Or perhaps those bastards hadn't begun operating in earnest yet.

I clenched and unclenched my fist, reacquainting myself with the feel of my power.

I needed to organize my thoughts.

The authority of 'He Who Devours Disasters.'

Its classification split broadly into two.

First, single-use.

The 'Typhoon of Annihilation' that Heimdal had hurled.

If I simply ate an incoming spell or phenomenon, it was like a bullet — fire once and it's gone.

I could store it, but once used, that was it.

Second, permanent.

When I swallowed the 'source' of a disaster — a 'god' or an 'avatar' — whole, like Kartal or Tulkachya.

Because I'd absorbed their divinity, the authority became fully mine.

A wellspring that never runs dry — permanently usable.

'The latter is obviously more efficient.'

Single-use was emergency rations for desperate moments.

To truly grow, I needed to devour them whole.

The problem was difficulty.

Going up against a main body like Tulkachya was suicidal.

Without an ally like Abriel, I might have been the one who died in the Sanctuary.

Then the answer was clear.

'Avatar hunting.'

Their incarnations sent down to Earth.

Weaker than the main bodies, but prey that shared their divinity.

Like Kim Yuhwan.

'Finding them isn't hard.'

They were attention seekers.

Drunk on their superiority as gods, they indulged in playing hero.

Slaughtering monsters with power overwhelmingly beyond anyone else's, they craved worship as saviors.

Those who were absurdly strong from the very start.

Those who stood out during the tutorial period.

They were the targets.

A few names surfaced in my mind.

'Choi Taemin, the Lord of Fire.'

'Seo Jisu, the Witch of Frost.'

'Lee Dohyung, the Berserker.'

Korea's top ten, along with other renowned powerhouses across the world.

Hidden among them would be gods' avatars who'd deceived me — and all of humanity.

And though I hoped otherwise.

......Some might even be within the final strike force.

'I'll verify them one by one.'

Just as I was setting priorities.

DING-DONG!

A doorbell shattered the silence.

'Who at this hour?'

I put up my guard and checked the intercom screen.

A greasy forehead.

Beady, avaricious eyes.

A middle-aged man with a flushed face, pounding on the front door.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Jeong-seok! I know you're in there!"

A familiar voice.

And simultaneously, an unpleasant memory flashed through my mind.

"It's your uncle! Open up! Are you alive?!"

That face was familiar.

'Ah.'

My uncle by marriage — Park Gwangcheol.

The man who'd appeared after my parents died in an accident, claiming to be the only family I had left.

But his target wasn't me.

'The inheritance.'

The death insurance payout my parents had left behind.

The man who'd used every honeyed word to deceive me in order to seize it, and ultimately threw me out on the street.

Memories from my past life surfaced with vivid clarity.

Right after the Great Cataclysm, he'd exploited the chaos to forge documents and steal my personal seal.

Thanks to him, I'd lost my home.

I didn't even have money for food — had to scrape through hell.

"Jeong-seok! I came because I was worried! You saw the news, right? The world's gone insane!"

Worried, my ass.

He'd come to check if I was dead or alive.

If I'd been dead, he would've gone straight for the property deed.

BANG BANG BANG!

"Open up! It's your uncle!"

Frantic knocking.

I smirked.

Before I headed out to hunt gods.

......A rat that needed catching had come to my doorstep of its own accord.