Chapter 32

Chapter 32. An Authority of Origin Grade

It was massive.

It was heavy.

Qualitatively different in sheer mass from every Lesser god I'd swallowed before.

My wrist ached to the point of throbbing.

Choi Taemin. No—the thing wearing his shell.

He had been on another level entirely.

A mere Avatar, and he'd pushed me this far.

The rate of absorption was sluggish.

It felt like something was lodged in my throat.

I had to give it everything I had.

I focused every nerve into my right hand.

But inside, I was screaming.

'Please.'

I begged.

I pleaded with this goddamn right hand.

Take the Divinity.

Don't touch him.

Just leave the soul of my friend, Choi Taemin.

The greedy golden rune drained the very last drop.

CRASH—!

The feast was over.

The colossal pillar of fire vanished completely into me.

Ding!

A message appeared before my eyes.

[You have devoured the Disaster, 'Grande, the High-ranking Fire God.']
[Absorbing a vast Divinity.]
[You may permanently use the Authority, 'Living High-ranking Flame.']
[The class 'He Who Devours Disasters' is strengthened!]
[You can now manifest 2 Disasters simultaneously with your left hand.]
[Level increased!]

"Hoo......"

A quiet breath.

A class enhancement.

An unexpected windfall.

The more Divinity I consumed, the larger the vessel itself grew.

Its functions expanded.

'Two at once.'

The range of applications had just leaped forward.

I could lay down Hellfire while launching a typhoon.

I could attack and defend simultaneously.

It was nothing short of a tactical revolution.

'I got lucky.'

Layering Hellfire onto the Holy Sword Abriel.

It had been an insane gamble.

I'd expected either the Holy Sword to shatter or myself to burn to death.

But it held.

Most likely thanks to the Hidden Trait, 'The One Who Surpasses.'

Tearing down the boundary between magic and martial arts—and harmonizing two opposing forces.

I lowered my gaze.

A man lay collapsed in the ashes.

Choi Taemin.

His chest was rising and falling, just barely.

"......He's alive."

He was breathing.

In critical condition from the shock of having his Divinity ripped out, but clinging to life.

Relief flooded through me.

At the same time, a question mark surfaced.

'How?'

Every Avatar I'd stripped Divinity from until now had died.

But Choi Taemin was alive.

Was it because he'd been a high-ranking god's Avatar?

If not—could it be because I'd begged my right hand?

Could it be that the golden rune had actually understood my plea to spare him?

......Whatever the reason.

'Saving him comes first.'

I had to save him.

I couldn't let him die here.

I was about to reach into my Inventory.

GROOOOAN!

That was when it happened.

A roar that split the air battered my eardrums.

The ground heaved.

[Warning! The Great Calamity has been completed.]
[The 'Demonic Beast of Black Greed' has fully descended (100%).]

I looked up at the sky.

The center of the black lightning.

A colossal monster was staring down at Seoul.

When it roared, buildings crumbled like cookie crumbs.

There was no time.

If I left that thing alone, Choi Taemin and everyone else would die.

I had to deal with it first.

I needed a more powerful blow.

'The Authority Combiner.'

The ingredients were ready.

My existing Mythic-grade Authority: Hellfire-Seething Earth.

The brand-new Authority I'd just obtained: Living High-ranking Flame.

Both were fire.

But of a different caliber.

One was a Disaster that melted the earth. The other was a god's flame imbued with will.

[Would you like to combine the two Authorities?]

There was no hesitation.

"Combine."

The cauldron boiled over.

[Disassembling Authority 'Hellfire-Seething Earth.']
[Dissolving Authority 'Living High-ranking Flame.']
[Analyzing the affinity between two Disasters.]
[Synergy explodes!]
[A new Authority has been born!]
[Authority grade is being recalibrated.]
[Reaching 'Origin' grade.]
[Authority name: Living Primordial Fire]

Origin.

The root and beginning of all things.

It had surpassed Mythic, leaped far beyond Ancient, and regressed to the primordial.

A grade I had never seen before.

But I knew it instinctively.

This was the domain where true gods played.

HUMMMM!

A flame blossomed on my left palm.

It had no color.

So scorching and so pure that color itself was denied—a transparent shimmer of heat.

It was alive.

It read my will, resonated with my killing intent, and danced.

'Living Primordial Fire.'

I extended my hand.

Toward the Demonic Beast of Black Greed, far in the distance, its jaws gaping to swallow Seoul.

CRASH—!

A transparent wave leaped across space.

Distance was meaningless.

The Authority that left my hand engulfed the beast's colossal body in an instant.

SKREEEE......?

The beast couldn't even scream.

Its body vanished as though erased by a rubber eraser.

The black lightning, the Calamity aura that had cloaked it—all of it.

Before the Primordial Fire, not even a fistful of ash remained.

Overwhelming erasure.

'Destruction' was an insufficient word.

It was a power that negated existence itself.

"......Ugh!"

In that moment, a pain like my skull splitting in two crashed over me.

My vision spun.

My legs nearly gave out beneath me.

'Mana depletion.'

A single second.

I'd only unleashed the Authority for barely over one second.

And the vast reserves of mana inside me had been drained dry.

It wasn't like pouring water into a bottomless bucket.

It was a black hole.

It felt as though it was gnawing away at my very life force.

'Dangerous.'

Instinct sounded the alarm.

If I passed out here, it was over.

I clenched my teeth and stood.

I forced my staggering body to move.

I clung to the consciousness that was fading to black and hid myself in the darkness.

Toward home.

My safest fortress.

***

"Hah!"

I opened my eyes.

A familiar ceiling.

Mold-stained wallpaper. A musty smell.

My studio apartment.

'I survived.'

Relief came hand in hand with crushing exhaustion.

But there was no time to rest.

Golden messages were exploding before my eyes like fireworks.

Ding! Ding!

[You have annihilated the 'Demonic Beast of Black Greed' in a single strike.]
[An impossible achievement!]
[Episode 3, 'Prologue of the Great Calamity,' has concluded.]
[Calculating results.]
[The Hall of Fame has been updated!]

The ranking announcement followed.

[1st: NONAME]
[Score: 1,000]
[2nd: Yamamoto]
[Score: 950]
[3rd: Aritolt]
[Score: 800]
[4th: Flunum]
[Score: 660]
[Perk: Experience gain rate increased by 50%]
[Title acquired: 'The Reigning Champion']

1,000 points.

A perfect score.

Having single-handedly erased the catastrophic entity in a single blow, it was the only natural result.

But the real reward was something else.

[Distributing Episode Clear reward.]
[Rolling a die (1~200).]

'200?'

My eyes widened.

Last time, the range had been around 66 and 100.

This time, it had expanded to 200.

The die's scale expanded based on the episode's difficulty and one's Contribution, or so I'd been told.

But 200.

What kind of monstrous reward was this going to be?

Clatter.

The die rolled through the air.

I swallowed hard.

Click.

The die stopped.

The number was revealed.

[200!]
[Jackpot!]
[Highest-grade reward granted!]
[Reward (1): Ancient-grade Equipment Chest]
[Reward (2): Rune - 'Berl']
[Reward (3): 20 Fragments of the Broken Golden Rule]

Thank god.

I let out an inward sigh of relief and checked the rewards.

Then I was stunned.

The Ancient-grade equipment chest was remarkable enough.

"B-Berl......!"

Because I never dreamed I'd obtain a Berl Rune.