Chapter 98

Burglary

I continued to follow the direction that the devil's sword led me to.

I also took care of the monsters that attempted to block my path.

"Kaaaaaaaaah!"

Piercing the Orc's throat, I asked the devil's sword.

"What, come to think of it, aren't you drinking their blood?"

In my previous life, Randy regularly fed the devil's sword with monster blood.

He also often held it in his hands.

Those two conditions kept the sealed cognition awake and maintained the special ability of the devil's sword.

'I don't need it yet. I had some mediocre taste of human blood last time, which caused me to lose my appetite.'

It was uncommon to be fed with human blood when Randy carried it around, or as I was carrying it around at that moment.

"If you say so. How about the directions?"

'Keep going in this direction.'

After passing through a ruined, ownerless city full of monsters, a thick forest came into view.

"Ah, there it is."

The devil's sword grumbled.

'... Damn it. The energy is getting stronger.'

"It means we came to the right place."

I crossed the boundary of the forest with the sword in my hand.

I penetrated the dense forests made of woods that didn't exist on Earth and proceeded as the sword guided.

Walking while using my clairvoyance as far as I could, I noticed that something had quickly changed.

"Those who were rushing in had completely disappeared."

It was completely different from the trend of them rushing one by one every time I took a step.

None showed themselves, and there was no 'living monster' within the range of clairvoyance that was yet to be seen.

"Do they not even dare enter this forest?"

'It seems like the area around here has already progressed into a sacred land. Most of them won't be able to step a foot in. They're overwhelmed by the aura.'

Was it that bad?

Unable to detect the thing called the sacred energy that the devil's sword was feeling, I could only nod.

The forest, which had no life energy, gave a different feeling from the ruins outside where the original inhabitants disappeared, and only monsters roamed.

It had a rustic feeling of a different level.

There wasn't even a trace of small creatures that made up the dungeon's ecosystem.

"I'm beginning to see them one by one."

What stood out was the monster carcass left on the ground.

It was a Flying Lizard, a monster with a special ability to disguise itself according to its surroundings.

The devil's sword spoke as if it found it strange.

'What, why is that thing dead in the woods? They don't live in places like this.'

The forest, which was complicatedly intertwined with trees, was an environment in which it was inconvenient to fly freely and hunt. Therefore, it preferred open fields over forests, and instead of nesting in trees, it lived by digging a hole in the ground.

A species that couldn't walk in on its own was found in such a dense forest.

If it didn't come in on its own will, there was only one answer.

"They hunted and killed them at the ruins outside, and the guys who hunted and occupied this place dragged their bodies here to dispose of them."

'Why do you have to...?'

But the devil's sword soon understood what I meant.

'Oh, for that reason. It must have to do with the thing that gives off bad energy from deep down there.'

"Exactly."

The more I made my way in, the more abundant the monster corpses became.

It was opposite to the lack of corpses among the traces of battle in ruins outside.

Although there were no traces of battle, there was a large number of corpses.

Parts of their bodies were cut, burned, divided, crushed... They but a certain pattern was noticeable in them.

'They are all half-buried in the ground.'

At first glance, as I passed by, it looked like they're half-buried in the soil full of moss.

Simply put, it might be considered a natural phenomenon caused by rain and wind, but...

"Look, a certain level of mummification had progressed. Like the monsters whose blood you drained."

Corpses abandoned in hot and humid forests were bound to decay, but such laws didn't apply there.

All their hair had fallen out and turned into a dry-bark-like form.

Also, the ones that had many parts remaining that helped identify its form were twisted into bizarre shapes.

It was unlikely that the Matap Guild would have done such mischievous deeds on their bodies because of their strange taste.

The forest itself had some sort of power.

'S-stop! I can no longer go on!'

After walking for a while, the devil's sword fired an urgent mind wave.

I nodded.

"Yeah, since we reached a place where we can already see it right in front of us..."

I stopped my steps for a moment and put the devil's sword in the air with my psychokinesis.

It was so I could bring it back into my hand, if ever.

After fixating it like that, I moved on alone with an ordinary sword in my hand.

After a short moment, I finally stopped in front of it.

'This must be it.'

It was a small pond that appeared out of context in the middle of the forest.

It didn't look naturally formed.

Wherever my gaze landed, the silver-gray stone shone with a strange glow. Even when the sun could barely shine a ray through the trees' dense shadows, the stone still reflected and spread the specks of light brilliantly.

The pond's depth was taller than my height, but the water that filled it was only a handful of shallow water collected.

However, there was one thing that caught my attention more intensely than those incidental elements.

'That's hideous.'

Decorating the grand finale of the artificial traces was a statue located at the pond's twelve o'clock.

The overall shape was like a giant furry spider, but only seven legs extend symmetrically from side to side.

At the end of its long neck, six tentacles bloomed like starfish, all of which seemed to serve as its head instead of actual eyes, nose, and mouth.

I recalled its name in my head.

'Igras-sho.'

A great being called in various names according to dimensions.

There were several names that they called it.

A reciter of forgotten spells.

The first wizard.

The forefather of all traitors.

On the other hand, according to how the devil's sword described great beings, it should be the following:

'The one that governs magic.'

The statue of a cow that the Botarch High Priest considered a treasure was just a fake without even a handful of sacred power.

However, what was in front of me was a true godly being.

'The Divine Spirit at the apex of all magic.'

Its seven legs were said to refer to the seven properties of magic.

On the right frontal side, where the eighth leg would've been, were only blunt marks as if it had been torn off.

If there were a leg on that space, there would be eight that symmetrically existed in left and right.

It must not be purposely ripped off since there were only seven magical properties, but it was strangely shaped.

'I should get going.'

I shook off my thoughts and took the card out of my arms.

Judging from the devil's sword's reaction, it was almost certain, but it needed verification.

[Fire Mastery (Rank: S)]

It was an S-Rank card that I received as a reward from a dungeon.

As soon as I approached the pond and stepped on the edge stone, I confirmed that no system message came up.

It was different from the instances when it gave explanations whenever I came into contact with an item.

'Showing this kind of reaction must definitely mean...'

I threw the card into the pond without hesitation.

The card submerged into the shallow water collected on the bottom.

As I did so...

Boosh!

The transparent water quickly turned black like ink.

But only for a moment.

All the black energy was sucked into the card.

After a while, as I first saw it, the water regained its transparency. A locked card was in it.

Shhhhhh!

When I clapped my finger, I pulled the card out with psychokinesis, then checked the card in my hand.

[Fire Mastery (Rank: SS)]

The skill card that was an S-Rank had been upgraded to SS-Rank.

SS-Class magic cards were rare items that even the Matap had only a few on hand.

'Without a doubt...'

I smiled satisfactorily.

As I turned my eyes, I noticed that the surface of the pond had faintly decreased.

In the future, when human knowledge was accumulated, that liquid would be called the Holy Water.

'This is the secret behind the Matap Guild's production of S-Class or higher magic skill cards.'

The pond responded only to magic-related skill cards.

It was more profitable since if they placed an S-Class, it would be upgraded to an SS-Class like what happened to mine. Still, without [The Successor's Eyes], the probability of receiving an S-Class magic card as a reward was close to 0. Therefore, what they mostly upgraded were A-Class cards.

Of course, if the already-upgraded card were placed back into it, the miracle wouldn't repeat itself.

Also, that pond didn't bring about the miracle without any reward.

Every time a card was upgraded, the water level decreased. An equal sacrifice was required to refill its contents back up.

'The more dead monsters one brings near the pond, the more the water level rises.'

And it had to be fresh, less than a day dead.

Igras-Sho was a god with an extremely intricate taste bud.

'Looking at the shallowness of the water, they were about to start another mass hunt again. It's a good thing that I made Arthur leave for Korea at this point in time.'

The reason why I came all the way to their dungeon was to, of course, thieve the whole pond.

Then, the next question was...

How was I supposed to move it from there?

'Those Matap bastards aren't stupid either. I'm sure they have tried everything.'

They might have hesitated at first because its effects could be altered as soon as they touched it, but ever since that, it had turned to 'very unstable. It could no longer be left alone, even from the perspective of Arthur Clifford.

By mobilizing the guild members, they tried to separate the entire land around the pond from the forest to transfer it out of the Gate, but the result must have been devastating.

The moment they tried to move the stones that comprised the pond, a black flame suddenly appeared. It wrapped around the guild member's body and started to combust it.

'They tried dispelling it, but of course, it didn't work. That wasn't magic but an act of sacred power.'

The horrifying thing about the black flame created by the pond was that it wasn't only unextinguishable, but it also gave the being wrapped in flame... an indefinite eternal life.

Being unable to bear the sight of the SS-Rank hunter screaming like his soul was being torn apart while his entire body was on fire, Arthur attempted to cut his head off.

But like a miracle, no attacks were effective. The SS-Rank hunter shrieked in pain, twisting his body up in flames, and lived on while in that state of agony and torment.

Over the next few years, he obviously could no longer eat or drink. Nevertheless, he didn't die.

He was a man whose life had become a curse.

His terrible life continued to that day. Even at that moment, he had become an incombustible material in the basement of the Matap headquarters. He suffered from endless incinerations.

'But then...'

I instilled Mana in the sword I had in hand instead of the devil's sword.

[Arta's Sword Dance!]

Wee-ing!

Purple sword energy enveloped the entirety of the blade.

I then swung it while maintaining a certain trajectory.

After a while, the trajectory of my sword energy in a circular shape wrapped around the statue and pond of Igras-Sho like a cage.

That was due to the skill's characteristic, which prevented it from disappearing even after scattering the sword energy.

After creating a form surrounding it...

Shhh!

I lifted the sword.

Swish!

I then stabbed it down in that manner.

And as if in line with that move-

Pat!

Papapat!

The blade of sword energy wrapped around the pond all at once and dug into the surrounding land.

I tried to connect the penetrated sword energy to the center of the pond and the basement to dig out the entire structure.

But the moment I tried to do so...

Boosh!

The pond reacted immediately.

The black flame began to envelop the entirety of my body.

I didn't panic amid the fiery black torrents and suffocating heat that blocked my view.

I was already prepared.

'Since it's not magic, of course, dispel wouldn't work.'

That didn't mean there's no way to survive it.

I strengthened the layer of blue Mana that clotted around my whole body.

Black flame summoned by the angered pond floated on top of the shield without penetrating it.

'It was said that this was how the Matap Guild man held out at first.'

However, he didn't last long in that state.

He ran out of Mana in the middle of his resistance.

On the other hand...

- Active Mana: 163,000 (+70,500) / 92,500

- Potential Mana: 171,100

I compared the speed at which the black flame consumed my active Mana and the speed at which the sword energy penetrated the ground.

If I thought I couldn't get the timing right, I would have to give up and take out another item to put out the flame.

The damage would be enormous if that were to happen.

But...

'All right, it's possible!'

There was no hesitation in the judgment I made.

Regardless of the flames burning on the shield, I continued to stab stacks upon stacks of sword energies deep into the ground.

That was when it started to react.

Rumble!

Suddenly, the earth vibrated intensely, and the ground fluttered like waves.

At the center of the shaking was the pond composed of stones.

After a little while...

Screech!

An eerie scream rang throughout the forest.

I instinctively felt the nerves all over my body rising.

'It's finally showing its true colors!'

The floor of the moss-filled forest fluttered.

Crush!

Rumble!

A large black tentacle rose from the earth surrounding the circular pond, throwing up a pile of dirt.

The black flesh that revealed itself twisted around as if it were in pain.

'I guessed right.'

It's hard to imagine by only looking externally, but that pond was not an item. It was a part of a living creature.

That was the reason why [The Successor's Eyes] didn't respond even though we were in contact.

That black tentacle extended from beneath the ground throughout the forest to absorb a monster's body and filled the pond with water in return.

The word used for such a creature that used God's power was...

'Sacred beast!'

The black tentacle, which was wriggling as if to struggle with the pond at the center of it, was cut and sliced off by my sword energy, causing it to spill a foul-odored body fluid.

Without blinking an eye, I poured down my sword energy woven in a net-like shape.

It didn't take long for me to finish it.

Screech!

The tentacles buried in the ground were completely revealed above the ground.

I quickly bound it with the net of sword energy.

The tentacles fluttered, the pond flipped over, and all the holy water poured out, but the water could be refilled later on.

"Okay, I caught it!"

The moment the sacred beast was completely under my control, all the black flames surrounding my body disappeared.

I stared at the thing wriggling in a net of purple glow.

I had ever only heard of it in my previous life. That was my first time putting it into action.

The act of a human capturing a sacred creature was the first of its kind. That was the case in both my past and present life's history.

"Now, shall we move this?"

According to the plan, the dungeon wouldn't be closed right away.

Instead, a new dungeon had been prepared to serve as the new place the sacred beast would be transferred into.

That was the gray plain where I planted the tree seedlings with Nate and Hibiki before.

I thought of the coordinates leading up to it and injected Mana into the [Door of Hope].