Chapter 163
Luring Operation
It had been a while since Iponia began to understand human language.
However, just because it heard and understood my order didn't necessarily mean that it would obey me.
Even though I was the one that saved, brought, and fed it when it was about to starve to death, 'Cat' started pretending not to hear my words at some point.
At first glance, it would look as if he was acting disrespectfully, but I noticed the instinctive fear released faintly in between the patterns of its behavior.
'It was sensing the curse inside me and was afraid!'
For Iponia, which was yet to fully become an adult, it feared becoming overwhelmed by the curse.
But that had been turned into a thing of the past.
In one of the most recent attempts, there was a scene where it tried to fight back to a certain extent instead of only running away.
It had already gotten a lot closer to the target maturity.
And with the help of 'Rom,' it reached that goal momentarily.
Its posture was majestic.
I tried to release the curse in front of Iponia.
The blue Mana in the core moved in a complicated fashion.
The purpose was to provoke [Mercadius' Seed] and bring it out.
Not long after that, the red Mana, which wasn't originally mine, reacted and wriggled.
... Screech!
The wriggling red force radiated out.
The curse in my heart that failed to take over my mind because of [The Successor's Eyes]...
It's time to end its long-term parasitization.
"Meeeeeow!"
Blue waves spread out from the wide-open eyes of Iponia, sending out an attack aimed at my heart.
That was the step needed to separate the nucleated skill and weaken it before consumption.
Screeeeech!
An eerie scream reverberated through the mind.
-[The Successor's Eyes (Rank: EX)] has resisted against [Mercadius' Seed (Rank: SSS)]!
"...!"
I watched the fight between the two.
The seed inflated its body while it was still attached to my heart. Struggling, it wrapped and stretched out its red figure all over the place.
When I saw it, I recalled the end of the seed in the hearts of Park Chang-Hee, Han-Seol, and Seo Gyu-Cheol.
My curse ate up all the other seeds as Mercadius intended.
However, as time went by, it ended up in the same situation as well.
The wild-running vigor began to decline noticeably.
'Yes, finally!'
The awaited moment had arrived.
The curse couldn't hold out, forcing it to jump out of the body!
The fully visible punk looked similar to the other hosts, but the size was significantly incomparable.
I realized it once again.
Just because it's the seed didn't mean that they were all the same.
And those that it ate up until that point were the fake seeds to play the role of 'feed'...
'What was inside me was the real seed for the reproduction of the species!'
It was chilling and disgusting.
Would I have turned to another Mercadius the moment it fully dominated my mind and bloomed?
"Meeeeeow!"
Cat jumped up toward the red sphere moving limply in the air.
It exhibited quick and sharp movements that I had never seen before.
On the spot where the white and black flash struck down...
Screeeech!
The curse struggled in agony.
However, Iponia didn't get pushed back and bit down on it without hesitation.
It wasn't a static and peaceful scene like when absorbing skill cards.
Dissimilar to skill cards, which gently turned into a Mana pattern, curses... were like creatures made of Mana, if I had to describe them.
The seed, whose primal instinct was to resist the opponent, became sluggish as claws and fangs tore it apart.
Screeech!
Screech!
Crush!
Crack!
At long last...
Cat ate up all the red Mana without leaving a single fragment.
There wasn't even a trace of the seed in front of it.
A genuine cheer broke out from the bottom of my heart.
"Good job!"
After a wild hunt, Cat looked extremely satisfied with a full stomach.
But would he be as satisfied as I was?
The curse that I bore within my heart for nearly a year had finally disappeared.
I had the same feeling as a sore tooth finally falling out.
'I can't afford to take time!'
I didn't have time to remain sentimental like that.
"I don't know how you're going to throw it up after you've digested it. It's the first time I've ever fed you a unique skill."
Honestly, I couldn't imagine it properly.
"Anyway, that's something we'll find out later. Go back home for now."
I ripped the scroll and sent Cat back to Seoul.
"..."
A very brief silence lingered around.
The scene was required to be watched by the United Nations headquarters and governments around the world.
I waited for its arrival without letting my guard down.
Bachurka had confidence.
That Mercadius would've had the ability to notice when the most important 'reproduction-use seed' was damaged.
And until the conjecture turned out to be true...
"!"
It took only five seconds.
Five seconds after sending Cat back home.
In the sky, where there used to be nothing but clouds, a man was hovering. His eyes were focused on me.
A force was applied to the hand holding the sword.
The first thing that caught my eye was the Mana in his heart.
'... about 5 million!'
It's approximately ten times my Mana I had when I was being measured at Union headquarters.
When I raised my glance a little, our eyes met.
I had never seen him face to face like that before, apart from seeing him from Seo Gyu-Cheol's memories.
His face was unfamiliar because he disguised himself as a different race and appearance from back then.
Dark skin and exotic features.
There was another distinctly different factor.
The relaxed face that I saw a few times in Seo Gyu-Cheol's memory was nowhere to be found.
His eyes were blazing with flames that would burn down everything in his sight.
Mercadius.
The source that made Seo Jin-Wook the 'Devil King' in the future that Han-Seol saw.
A mysterious species that would have leisurely waited for the seed in me to bloom in my current life for the same purpose.
The moment he revealed his teeth...
The communicator connected to my ear sent out a message that the Union and the humans could hear simultaneously.
-Mercadius in sight! Initiate attack!
Pshhhhh!
Doo-doo-doo-doom!
Bullet of light poured down like rain from the sky.
"!"
My primary role in that operation was to lure Mercadius.
Even Bachurka didn't expect me to win against him alone.
From far away, rays of light that broke the sky into pieces rained down and struck.
They were fired from the Tactical Fortress, which hid in the sky a dozen kilometers away.
At the same time, Earth's governments also poured out the bombs that had been prepared.
Countless explosions continued in every direction I was looking at.
As if to batter with an invisible hammer, the air exploded in succession and violently shook.
And the most powerful damage dealer was prepared by the Union.
They couldn't bring their most powerful weapon to Earth because it was capable of planetary destruction, but they thoroughly prepared weapons to capture a human-sized individual.
Things that looked like satellites at a glance appeared in the air and fired their laser cannons. At the same were triggered through the equipped artifacts.
While being careful not to be caught up in the carpet bombing, I observed Mercadius's state covered by the light, debris, flames, and dust.
And I clicked my tongue.
'Damn it!'
Mercadius charged at me through the storm of flames and light.
It was a dash without hesitation. It was similar to a tank.
But I had already prepared a counterattack.
I extended the sword outwardly just before I collided with him.
Boo-boom!
Rather than describing it as sword and fist clashing, a sound like a powerful bomb exploding rang out.
- To the rear! Retreat to the rear!
If we kept being intertwined like that, they would have a hard time attacking.
Well, knowing that fact, I tried to widen the distance somehow.
It wasn't an option to disappear completely using teleportation in that manner.
If that happened, Mercadius, who had lost the target, might also flee in that way, or on the contrary, he might be able to track me down, making the situation even more dangerous. I would be in a place where reinforcements hadn't been prepared or even in a place where it would become troublesome if the gathered Awakened were mentally controlled.
'But will we be able to capture him alive in this way?'
Bachurka said Mercadius had to be captured alive.
That was because it didn't matter what we did, whether it was torture or something else entirely, for as long as the information in his head would be dug out to find out the secrets of each dimension's collapse in the past.
Furthermore, Mercadius wasn't the individual's name but a species' name.
The intention was to get as much information as possible because we didn't know how many more beings like him were in other dimensions.
Weing!
While the earth was torn and everything around him was scattered and turned ragged, Mercadius remained fine.
Amid the energy storm, an item was caught with a light flashing from his hand.
As soon as it was revealed, my eyes naturally recognized it.
[Similar Dimension Generator (Rank: EX)]
-Item Description: Creates a separate temporal and spatially separated temporary dimension within the normal dimension. Consumes Mana Core in proportion to maintenance time and area.
It was the same item that the Albanos audit team used to suppress me.
I didn't wait for the artifact to be activated.
I could do things there that the reinforcements who were shooting from a distance couldn't do.
I activated an item as fast as I could.
[Sealing Flame (Rank: System)]
- Item description: Seals all items within the range of contact and applies absolute power to prevent their function from being performed. (One-time use item)
Gold flame cut through the sky and hit Mercadius directly!
He then threw the sealed item right away without any change in facial expression.
The moment he charged at me once again-
Bang!
Around me, small metal spheres appeared.
[Resistance Field (Rank: EX)]
- Item description: Decelerates all types of energy externally approaching the subject of protection, distorting the force to another reality and changing its phase.
It was one of the items provided by the Union.
The small sphere revolved around me, creating an invisible membrane, and outstandingly prevented Mercadius's attack.
His face distorted.
"... Okay, I'll have to admit."
He spoke for the first time.
However, unlike the rage he had been showing so far, his tone calmed down a bit.
He seemed to have put his anger under control and regained his reason.
It was an undesirable change for us.
- Retreat! Retreat! You're too close!
The moment he collided with the protective barrier wrapped around my body, I stopped for a moment, and because the two of us were so close, the attack was abruptly put to a halt as well.
- Create more distance!
Amid the transmissions pouring in, he mumbled with a strange smile.
"Yeah, I underestimated you too much."
The next moment.
His body shone brightly.
Boosh!
The atmosphere blazed and burned.
He leaked his words as if to murmur.
"Let's resume after changing the environment first."
At that moment, there was a huge explosion around his body, and a flash that consumed everything radiated.
A violent light that would tear up the cornea.
Violent vibrations and shocks followed it.
'K-argh!'
The [Resistance Field] around my body was barely able to sustain the attack.
That could also block the Union's remote weapons and the Tactical Fortress as well.
What would probably be completely destroyed would be the unmanned bases and artillery units set up by humans.
'This wouldn't be enough, though?'
Soon after I thought so, I finally realized his purpose.
He didn't mean to hurt the hecklers around me first.
Despite the heated air and plasma, his eyes were fixed only on me.
The attack was meant to draw out a gap from me.
From the beginning until that moment, he was only after me.
In Mercadius's heart, Mana shook in a strange form.
That's...
'Space transfer!'
Paht!
At the next moment, the scenery around me changed.
"Now, shall we start all over again?"
'This place is...!'
It was an unknown space.
A dry wilderness where only the horizon was visible.
But the color of the sky was a little strange.
"Don't panic."
An inorganic gaze was staring at me from a short distance.
"Things were a bit messed up. I just moved you to a quiet place to get the thing back to where it belongs."
His lips curved into a gentle smile.
At that moment...
"K-eup!"
Blood rose from the deity's seal carved on the back of my hand and the holy scar that Igras-Sho had engraved before.
'How come? The four gods... have already agreed not to repel each other.'
The question turned into an unpleasant conviction.
'!'
Clearly, magic, life, and sword had reached such an agreement explicitly.
Luck, who intervened late, implicitly agreed, and although time did not join because it did not have enough strength left, it would have made a similar choice.
Then, what about the case of a god that didn't belong there?
Drip!
Blood flowed from the back of my hand like a waterfall.
And-
Driiiiip!
As he stared at me, Mercadius's forehead also revealed a clear seal.
The divine mark, which was pouring blood, was familiar to me as I had already seen and kept in mind.
I groaned through my clenched teeth.
It was the identity of a god.
"... Mind!"