Chapter 6

Chapter 6. Demon Worshipper (2)

"At last...... I've cast off my shackles!!!"

B-rank Mage, Park Chang-seok.

He rose into the sky above Yeouido Plaza, his robes billowing.

Everyone stared up at the airborne mage with shocked faces, each activating their [World_NET] to start recording. Several people even went live on social media.

"Holy shit, did another Transcendent appear in Korea?"

Even high-ranking Hunters rarely wielded their power outside Gates.

Crossing the boundary of worlds to exert influence on Earth was an absurdly difficult feat.

Yet a select few had succeeded.

They were called Transcendents.

But then.......

WHOOOOOOSH———.

"You lesser beings—."

Park Chang-seok was a mere B-rank.

And yet he flaunted his mana in this world.

"Ooh—. A mage in real life."

"Who's that guy? I thought there were only a handful above S-rank......"

At first, everyone watched his power with curiosity.

"Think he'll show us something cool like the Patriot?"

Anticipation was rampant, even.

Because they assumed it would just be a 'show,' like when the SSS-rank Hunter, the Patriot, had first unveiled his power.

But then.......

"W-wait—. What the hell is that?"

CRASH—.

The towering buildings of Yeouido.

Their windows shattered helplessly against the cutting wind.

Beyond that, the spell Park Chang-seok had launched sheared clean through the top floor of a building.

"Is this guy some kind of lunatic?"

Someone muttered.

Given the mental state of natural Awakened, they'd written it off as just some crazy stunt.

That misconception crumbled in an instant.

SLASH.

A blade of wind severed his neck.

The cleanly decapitated head of a middle-aged man rolled across the middle of Yeouido Plaza.

"Huh?"

The citizens froze.

A human head, rolling on the ground.

A sight that was hard to witness unless a Gate Break had occurred.

A few seconds to process.

Then terror seized them all.

"AAAAHHH!!!"

"R-run!!!"

Citizens in the middle of Yeouido Plaza scattered in every direction.

A twisted smirk.

Park Chang-seok grinned at them with a sinister smile.

To a mage hovering in the sky, the lesser beings scurrying on the ground were nothing but targets.

But Park Chang-seok soon lost interest in them.

"I shall slay the loathsome lesser beings who oppressed us within the Gates—."

The Yeouido Management Bureau, close to his home.

He intended to pass judgment on the soldiers guarding the Gate entrance and the civil servants who'd dared evaluate him despite being lesser beings.

His reason was nothing elaborate.

—Kill those who ruled over you.

An incessant whisper echoed in his mind.

Was there a more humiliating moment than having unawakened trash evaluate and manage Awakened?

WHOOSH———.

Scattering the wind, Park Chang-seok headed toward Yeouido Station Exit 4.

His target was the Awakened Management Bureau located on the main road in front of the exit.

'The Patriot is currently inside a Gate.'

Park Chang-seok had planned this crime rather meticulously.

The Patriot, an SSS-rank natural Awakened and fellow superior being, was a grotesque sort who sheltered lowly lesser beings.

That's why he'd seized the window of the Patriot's absence to orchestrate this mayhem.

"Hindra Wintro......"

Park Chang-seok murmured an incantation while gazing at the Awakened Management Bureau.

He was preparing the most powerful spell a 6th-Circle mage could produce.

Casting time: roughly ten minutes.

A fairly long time.

"TARGET CONFIRMED!!!"

Naturally, soldiers stationed around Yeouido moved in to engage Park Chang-seok.

They were an elite unit permanently garrisoned in preparation for Gate Breaks.

Even so, against a Park Chang-seok who had gained the ability to wield power, they were nothing but insects.

'Lesser beings who think a single bullet can oppress an Awakened.'

That was Park Chang-seok's view of soldiers.

"All units, open fire!"

And the soldiers didn't hesitate.

An innocent civilian had been killed.

It was the obvious response.

BANG! RA-TA-TA-TANG———.

Special rounds—capable of killing even monsters from beyond the Gates—locked onto Park Chang-seok.

A torrent of gunfire blanketed the skies above Yeouido.

And then.......

PING! PI-DI-DI-DING———.

Every last round was deflected by the semi-transparent barrier surrounding Park Chang-seok.

The power of the protective spell [Mana Barrier].

"......Damn it, how did a lunatic like him—."

The soldiers stared blankly at the sky.

These were specialized rounds that could damage even Gate anomalies.

And they'd been blocked.

"The power of a B-rank Hunter......"

Inside a Gate, even a B-rank Hunter was a formidable force.

This was beyond what soldiers could handle.

"Wave——."

Park Chang-seok proved this in person.

SPLURCH!!!

Every last one of those soldiers was cleaved in two by the wind blade Park Chang-seok unleashed and died.

His incantation had been completed at some point.

WHOOSH——.

The 6th-Circle spell that had slaughtered the soldiers now aimed at the Awakened Management Bureau.

The instant the attack connected, a strange distortion rippled through the air above the Bureau.

HUMMM—.

It was the [Mystery]-based protective measure surrounding the Awakened Management Bureau.

However, the 6th-Circle spell, completed after ten minutes of casting, was powerful.

A barrier capable of blocking only weak monsters was nowhere near enough.

CRACK!!!

And so, the Yeouido Management Bureau's barrier was breached.

* * *

"S-Si-woo......"

Seol-a noona stared at me with a terrified face.

I was just as shocked.

'He really was insane.'

B-rank Hunter Park Chang-seok, who'd guided me through my first Gate.

He'd given me a [Tower Entry Pass] as an apology, so I'd figured he was just a bit unhinged at most.......

'He was scum.'

In a single day, the bastard had Fallen.

And in doing so, he'd become a monster capable of wielding power in the outside world.

This was a serious problem.

CRACKLE—CRACK.

The barrier surrounding the Bureau crumbled helplessly.

"W-w-what do we do!!!"

Seol-a noona panicked.

Yet even as she did, she drew the emergency pistol from her waist.

We were currently on the rooftop.

Which gave us a clear, unobstructed view of the carnage below.

'He killed them all.'

Soldier and civilian alike, all dead.

Park Chang-seok wasn't simply an unhinged natural Awakened.

He was a vicious, Fallen terrorist.

【Master of the Sword, what will you do?】

Even in the midst of all this, I was deathly calm.

My sword, Reinhardt, was the same.

In a way.......

'Is noona calm too?'

Kang Seol-a noona had her pistol aimed high at the sky.

Her hands were steady, but her face was visibly taut with tension.

"D-Dad will send the Special Task Force. Just a little more time......"

"Noona, you can't do anything with that toy."

I slipped my hand into the empty air.

Whoosh—.

The invisible [scabbard] that always followed by my side.

After visiting the Tower, I could perceive it clearly.

My fingertips caught the [Baby Sword] with a light tap—.

But it wouldn't draw all the way out.

'It's a matter of caliber.'

The Baby Sword couldn't be at my side right now.

Like [1st Sword, Reinhardt Euclid], it needed to transcend its caliber to manifest in the world.

'Then how did that B-rank Hunter start wielding power externally?'

For the first time in a long while, something outside [Raise a Sword] piqued my interest.

All of that took mere seconds.

CRASH!!!!

Park Chang-seok burst through a wall and rose above the ten-story Management Bureau building.

He looked at me and spoke.

"I'd rather not kill a fellow superior being."

He treated Kang Seol-a noona, who had her gun aimed right beside me, as though she didn't exist.

'His eyes have gone wrong.'

The whites and irises of his eyes had inverted.

The telltale end of the Fallen, a sight I'd seen often in [Raise a Sword].

I threw a blunt question at him.

"Where the hell did you encounter a demon worshipper?"

His white irises rolled.

Had he not expected a question like this from me?

"Ha...... I thought you were unusually strong for a natural, and it turns out you've received their revelation too."

After deliberating for a while, Park Chang-seok seemed to have concluded that I, too, was a member of the demon worshippers.

"Let's save the chat for later."

Park Chang-seok was a Fallen criminal who deserved to be cut down in a single stroke.

His gaze turned to Kang Seol-a noona for the first time.

"This isn't a conversation for a lowly lesser being to hear. It'd be a disaster if she were recording."

Park Chang-seok regarded Seol-a noona as something that needed to be removed.

His fingertip aimed toward Seol-a noona.

It seemed stalling for time and waiting for the Special Task Force was not an option.

'Guess I have to step in.'

Whoosh—.

I drew the sword.

Not all the way—I exposed only the hilt.

Then asked.

"She's a noona I'm pretty close with, so that's going to be a problem."

Park Chang-seok smirked.

"Haven't received the revelation yet? Once you go deeper with them, you'll understand. This world is full of the lesser beings' lies—."

WHOOOOOOSH———.

A fierce cutting wind surged.

"You've got talent, but you're still weak. You won't be able to do a thing with that pathetic little sword."

Park Chang-seok intensified the wind.

Wearing a sinister sneer, as if trying to make me feel helpless.

But to my eyes, the flow of that wind was crystal clear.

And for good reason.

[1st Sword, Reinhardt Euclid has been equipped.]

What was emerging from the empty air right now was not my small and precious [Baby Sword].

'I've never killed a person before, but—.'

My will, honed alongside the sword, told me.

I could kill anything.

The [Baby Sword] had no notable experience yet.

But the [Reinhardt] in my hand was a sword that had killed nearly everything the world had to offer.

RING————.

With a vivid resonance, the massive greatsword surged forth, tearing through the air.

Its blue blade glittered.

The elegant, restrained hilt felt heavy in my grip.

The jewel at its tip pulsed with light.

'Aah......'

I felt an even greater exhilaration than when I'd first grasped the sword.

As though I'd absorbed the sword's entire lifetime and attained mastery over all things.

I felt like I could accomplish anything with this sword.

Of course, it wasn't my turn to act.

'Because there's someone more precise.'

Now it was Reinhardt's turn.

If he wielded his power as he had in the Tower, everything would be over.

I waited calmly.

Then Reinhardt murmured.

【This humble servant's power cannot......】

The soul dwelling within the sword couldn't exert any power at all.

It seemed there were restrictions when using power outside.

That was fine, though.

'I think I can do it too.'

The techniques I'd witnessed from Reinhardt in the [Tower].

The ultimate truth of the sword, forged by my sword and his effort.

Right now, I was at a level comparable to Reinhardt at that time.

I could feel it instinctively.

'One second.'

Considering that this entire process had occurred in a single instant, it was a clear fact.

My perception had approached that of a Transcendent.

The raging cutting wind froze in place around me as though suspended.

The flow of mana pouring toward Kang Seol-a noona was vividly perceptible.

Whoosh——.

I raised the sword and aimed it at Park Chang-seok, who floated in the sky.

And recreated the beautiful meteor shower of swords I'd witnessed in the Tower.

'Sword Will.'

I imbue my intent into the sword.

That was the level I'd reached.

'Heart Sword.'

I cut what I wish to cut with mind alone.

That was the level I'd reached.

'Manifestation.'

I swing the sword of the heart, laden with my intent.

And bring it forth into this world.

All of these epiphanies became vivid the instant I held Reinhardt.

WHOOOOSH—————.

Blue swords erupted into the skies above Yeouido.

A countless, staggering number.

Every last one of them rained down upon Park Chang-seok and his surroundings.

It looked like a meteor shower.

【To execute Sword Will, Meteor Shower in a single attempt.......】

The jewel at the end of the sword's hilt gleamed.

Reinhardt appeared to be gasping in awe at the miracle I'd wrought.

I didn't know why this was possible either.

It just worked.

SPLURCH——!!!

The meteor shower of swords pierced through Park Chang-seok's entire body.

It severed the flow of mana he'd created.

It cleanly annihilated even the remains of his flesh.

WHOOSH——.

The world fell silent.

As though nothing had happened at all.

Three seconds had passed up to this point.

At the fourth second, the sword vanished from my hand.

And then—.

"W-what in the world just......"

Kang Seol-a noona was staring at me with wide eyes.

I was probably going to need to explain.

* * *

RUMBLE—.

Suddenly, the air split open in front of Yeouido Exit 4, and from within it, a massive gate appeared.

A nameplate that read [Hyeonmu].

That signified the arrival of the Republic of Korea's Special Task Force, [Hyeonmu].

"Target is Park Chang-seok, B-rank Hunter."

"Is it even possible for a B-rank Hunter to wield power like a Transcendent?"

"No idea. But it's happening, which is why we deployed with the 'Gate' and all, isn't it?"

CREEEAK—.

The massive gate opened, and from within emerged men and women in bizarre attire.

[Hyeonmu Team 7] of the Special Task Force that guarded the Republic of Korea.

Thanks to Senior Prosecutor Kang Mu-jin relaying information about the terror attack, they'd been able to deploy swiftly.

"Confirmed B-rank."

The mage, hovering in the sky as though surveying from above.

Judging by the flow and magnitude of his mana, he didn't look particularly powerful.

Should be a simple disposal and return.

But then.......

"W-what are those swords?"

An anomaly had occurred.

A bizarre phenomenon that a B-rank Mage could never produce.

A meteor shower of swords filling the sky.

Each and every sword was imbued with immense power.

"We need to bring the Patriot here immediately!!"

"The Patriot is in a Gate......"

The Special Task Force was struck speechless.

"......What in the world is happening—."

In a mere two seconds, the skies above Yeouido had been filled with swords.

And at the third second.

SPLURCH———!!!

B-rank Mage Park Chang-seok, who had been floating in the sky, was reduced to a handful of blood.

Even that blood was destroyed by the other swords and annihilated.

For the citizens, it was a fleeting moment where nothing could be discerned.

But Special Task Force Hyeonmu perceived the phenomenon clearly.

'In one second, ten thousand swords blanketed the sky, and in one more second, every one of them killed the target.'

No— annihilated him.

Park Chang-seok, along with every trace of the mana he'd conjured, had vanished without a trace.

Where had it all originated from?

'Unknown.'

The swords had appeared without any sign or precursor and killed Park Chang-seok.

"C-could it have been the Patriot......"

The Patriot?

He could probably pull off something similar.

But the complete absence of any presence made no sense.

What that meant was: a monster capable of intercepting a target with ten thousand swords in three seconds—without any sign or precursor—had wielded its power in this world.

"A new SSS-rank Transcendent may have appeared."

Whether they were friendly to us was anyone's guess.

That day, a state of emergency was declared in the Republic of Korea.