Chapter 367: Dope

Pain took over the Constellation of Agony's body and mind, and all thought was shredded.

"A-Aaaahh."

The Constellation of Agony raised his head with his mouth agape. It hurt; that was the only form of thought allowed to him. It hurt so much that he despised himself for being able to breathe in such a situation.

"I haven't even gotten started, man."

The Constellation of Agony heard someone's voice, but he couldn't remember who it was; his thought process no longer functioned well enough for him to be able to search through his memories, but he could at least understand the horrifying truth contained in those words.

"Haven't... gotten started?" the Constellation of Agony muttered.

It did not make sense. He couldn't comprehend the nonsense. Haven't gotten started? He had long since passed his limit of pain tolerance.

'What the hell is this?'

What could this possibly be for it to hurt this much? The Constellation of Agony could affirm that he had never felt this level of pain before despite having lived since the era of myths. It hurt so much that all the pain he had felt thus far only felt like a tickle.

'How can a human endure such pain?'

No, forget being human, even beings of godhood would succumb to such immense pain. They would be convulsing uncontrollably while crawling all over the ground.

"Gaaah, argh, urghh."

The Constellation of Agony bent like a bow as he flopped around on the ground while foaming at the mouth. He was at least not peeing and pooping all over the place because bowel functions did not exist for a being of godhood.

"Stop... Stop..." the Constellation of Agony begged.

He could do nothing but beg before such overwhelming pain. The pain tolerance he was so proud of as well as his Upper Intermediate-rank Deific Essence were completely useless.

"Kurgh! Cough! A-Aaaahh."

"What are you going all insane for? It's only been a minute."

"A minute? One minute?"

That was impossible. The Constellation of Agony felt like he had spent an eternity in pain, but it had only been one minute? He despaired with his eyes wide open. He had come back to his senses after hearing that it had only been one minute. The fact that this pain might go on endlessly terrified him more than the pain itself.

'I-I have to sever it.'

The Constellation of Agony needed to sever the link between him and that crazy human. He needed to stop sharing their senses. If not...

'Th-The pain will never end.'

"A-Argghhh."

The Constellation of Agony got up. He calmed down his insanely trembling hand and extended his arm forward.

'Stop... the Authority.'

The Constellation of Agony severed the link of demonic energy between him and the human... No, he tried to.

"Where the fuck do you think you're running off to?"

Oh Kang-Woo smirked. Despite being under the immense pain of molting, he sensed that the Constellation of Agony was trying to sever their link.

'I won't let you just run away after setting the stage.'

Kang-Woo snickered. He let his demonic energy permeate into the Constellation of Agony's demonic energy that was trying to leave his body. The two energies resisted each other fiercely, but only for a moment. The Constellation of Agony's demonic energy within Kang-Woo gradually started to mix with Kang-Woo's. Kang-Woo began to control the Constellation of Agony's demonic energy within him.

"Kurgh! Gaaaaaaaahhh!" the Constellation of Agony screamed, sensing that the demonic energy he had been trying to retrieve was going against him. He stared at Kang-Woo in complete incomprehension. "Wh-What? What the hell did you do?"

The human had forcibly stopped the Constellation of Agony from stopping his Authority and was controlling his demonic energy. Such a thing should not be possible. The Constellation of Agony fell into panic.

"H-How?"

He could barely talk; he was unable to form proper sentences.

Kang-Woo answered leisurely, "How else? I took control of your demonic energy and seized it."

"You took control of my demonic energy... and seized it? B-Bullshit!! How could you possibly meddle with someone else's energy?!" the Constellation of Agony screamed madly.

Not all demonic energy was the same; the same went for mana and sacred power. All power had its own unique properties and characteristics. Even if they brought about the exact same phenomenon through the same principles and were fundamentally the same, they were different. Just like how each human was different despite being of the same species, demonic energy also possessed its own pattern and properties based on the one who wielded it.

"I mean, it wasn't that hard." Kang-Woo shrugged.

Controlling demonic energy of unique patterns and properties was not even that difficult for him, since he had always done so for the last ten millennia without rest.

Kang-Woo continued, "It's doable as long as you control it in very small units."

"What?"

"You can control other people's energies if you control them in units so small that their unique patterns and properties don't show."

"What in the world... are you talking about?"

Controlling energy in units so small that its pattern and property didn't show was absurd; it was like saying there were no differences between different materials once they were broken down into subatomic particles. In the first place, demonic energy was not used in such a way; just like how one did not move their muscles by consciously firing off every single muscle fiber, one did not use demonic energy in such a minutely detailed manner.

"Such a thing..."

It was impossible. Such an insane act must not be possible.

"What... are you? What the hell are you?"

The Constellation of Agony had neither heard nor imagined such a thing. How could such a human exist? There was no way that this human was Gaia's retainer. No one would be able to tame that monster, even if they were a god managing an entire star.

"What the hell are you?!"

The Constellation of Agony trembled in fear and his teeth clacked noisily. This was the second time he had felt this much fear for someone. He could barely breathe. His vision was blurring, and he was feeling extremely nauseous.

"Didn't you already know? I'm Lady Gaia's loyal retainer, the Protector of Light," Kang-Woo declared.

"Bullshit!!"

"The fuck, man? Why did you even ask if you weren't gonna believe me? So much for being nice."

Kang-Woo frowned in displeasure and glared at the Constellation of Agony.

"U-Urgh."

The Constellation of Agony did his best to take back control of his demonic energy within Kang-Woo while biting his lip. Kang-Woo smirked.

'I should get ready for it as well.'

He leisurely stretched and laid down on the ground with his arms and legs stretched out. It had been about five minutes since beginning molting; it was about time the worst arrived.

"Reveal your identity this inst—"

"Hey, vomit-looking-ass old man."

"Wh-What did you say?"

"You were alive since the era of myths. You're obviously older than me, so what's wrong with calling you an old man? Anyway, you should get ready," Kang-Woo remarked.

"Ready?"

"Well, it's not like getting ready will do anything for you."

Kang-Woo sighed and closed his eyes.

Crack! Crunch—!!

"Gaaaaaaahhh!!"

"Shit, that fucking hurts!!!"

The sound of bones breaking and shrieks echoed from the peak of the mountain.

***

"Can you hear me, old man?"

"A-Arghhh, urgh."

"Get up, old man. Hello?"

'You'll catch a cold if you sleep in a place like this.'

Kang-Woo carefully poked the collapsed Constellation of Agony with the end of his foot.

Squish.

"Ah, fuck."

Rotten pus got on the end of his shoe. Kang-Woo felt like he stepped on poop that happened to spill out from an overflowing toilet. He couldn't feel any more disgusted.

"Get the fuck up, man!"

Kang-Woo turned the Key of the Demonic Sea into a hammer and swung it at the convulsing Constellation of Agony.

Boosh!

Pus splattered everywhere.

"Fuck! That's disgusting!"

Kang-Woo grimaced from the putrid smell exuding from the Constellation of Agony, who was completely unresponsive even after being bashed with a hammer.

"Ahhh... Uhhh..."

Kang-Woo could no longer see a sense of intelligence in the Constellation of Agony's eyes.

"Aww, man... I had so much information I needed to get out of him."

Kang-Woo scratched his head due to the complications. He had not expected someone known as the Constellation of Agony to be so shocked from one molting session that his sense of reason completely flew away.

'Maybe I should've killed him with Chaos skills, even if it took some time.'

Kang-Woo was belatedly swept over with regret. One always regretted their decisions when it was too late.

"Fuuu," Kang-Woo sighed. There was another problem.

Conflict reflected in Kang-Woo's eyes as he looked down at the Constellation of Agony.

"Ahhh..." He grabbed his head. "Should I eat this thing or not?"

The Constellation of Agony was so goddamn filthy that Kang-Woo honestly did not want to use the Authority of Predation. Leaving the filth aside, the smell he was exuding was unbearable.

'Are you sure he isn't the Constellation of Filth?'

Kang-Woo unconsciously sighed. It felt like he had accidentally dropped his meal into the toilet; he would not mind if it was any other meal, but this meal was made with the finest and most expensive ingredients.

'I should eat it for sure, but...'

He did not want to. He absolutely despised the idea. Kang-Woo looked down at the Constellation of Agony with hesitation, but not for long.

"Haaa, fuck me."

It was absurd to give up on devouring a Constellation of Evil just because they were filthy.

'Authority of Blaze.'

Fwoosh!

Kang-Woo burned the Constellation of Agony with yellow flames.

"A-Aaaahh."

The Constellation of Agony did not show any response in particular despite being burned alive. He was alive, but he was no different from a corpse. Kang-Woo took a deep breath and used the Authority of Predation.

Crunch! Crunch!

"Urpp!!"

An inexplicably putrid smell assaulted his nose and churned his insides. All sorts of swear words stormed within his head.

"Motherf... Urgh!"

Kang-Woo rolled on the ground while grimacing as if it was more agonizing than the molting. Just then, he suddenly heard a voice.

"Are you okay?"

Kang-Woo turned his head in surprise. Although he had been using the Authority of Predation, he couldn't believe that he hadn't been able to notice someone approaching this close to him. It was a complete blunder on his part.

'Hm?'

Kang-Woo turned around to see an angel with ten wings.

'If he has ten wings, that means...'

From what Kang-Woo had heard, there was only one other angel aside from Rakiel who had ten wings. Kang-Woo's eyes shone. His thought process accelerated beyond what was humanly possible.

Kang-Woo looked down at himself; he was covered in blood and exposed flesh because he had just gone through molting. Since he had changed the color of his blood with the Authority of Coloring just in case, his blood was red.

'I can use this situation.'

"You are..." The angel with ten wings and short blond hair slowly walked toward Kang-Woo, and his eyes widened for a short moment. "A retainer of Lady Gaia."

The man spoke calmly, but Kang-Woo felt an inexplicable sense of scrutiny and callousness under his courteous attitude.

"Cough! Kurgh... Y-Yes, I am." Kang-Woo nodded while clenching his chest.

The blond angel approached closer. "You're hurt rather badly."

"I'm alr— Cough!"

"You should lie down for a bit."

The blond man slightly lowered his guard after realizing that Kang-Woo was hurt. Kang-Woo nodded and laid down on the ground.

Kang-Woo asked carefully, "And you are..."

"My name is Michael. I have heard about you from Uriel, Mr. Oh Kang-Woo."

"I... see. Cough!"

Michael looked around in silence. There were traces of a fierce battle all around them, but there were no signs of the enemy's corpse.

"Cough! Cough!" Kang-Woo twisted around while coughing up blood.

Something that had been under Kang-Woo slid toward Michael.

"This is..."

Michael's eyes widened. It was a fragment of the mask worn by those who had attacked Sant'Angelo. If a fragment of the mask was here, it only meant one thing.

"Did you perhaps see who had attacked Sant'Angelo?"

"Yes... I di— Cough!"

Kang-Woo coughed up even more blood. Michael hesitated for a moment, and then frowned as if he was conflicted. However, it did not last long.

"Drink this. Your injuries will heal."

Michael took something out from his clothes and handed it to Kang-Woo. It was a vial containing a liquid of various colors like an aurora. Kang-Woo took the vial with shaking hands and drank the liquid.

Riiing.

[You have ingested the 'Repayment of the Dragon God.']

[Healing all injuries and fatigue.]

[All stats have permanently risen by 5, and your quality and control of mana has dramatically increased.]

[You have learned dragon tongue magic.]

'Dope.'

Kang-Woo suppressed the corners of his mouth from rising with all his might.

'I just did it to see what he would do, but what a fucking score.'

"Haaa, haaa."

"How are your injuries?" Michael asked.

"Th-They all healed in an instant."

Kang-Woo raised his shirt to show Michael as if he couldn't believe it. Although he was covered in blood, not a single wound was visible.

'It's a given, since I wasn't injured in the first place.'

Kang-Woo looked down at himself as if he couldn't believe it while keeping himself from smiling.

'Now then...'

It was time for Michael to tell Kang-Woo why he had used such a treasure to save him.

"Who attacked Sant'Angelo?" Michael asked.

'I knew it.'

Kang-Woo answered without hesitation, "It was Evil God Lucifer."