Chapter 298

Whoosh.

Rumble rumble rumble.

“……”

I had finally passed the second trial of the Cheonghongyeong, yet strangely, the spatial transformation showed no sign of ending.

And for some reason, I felt the power of the Phantom Body Trait contained within my shadow growing stronger and stronger.

Swoosh.

Fwoosh!

The debris of the completely collapsed arena was swallowed by a black curtain rising from all directions, and soon the vast space was entirely covered by undulating shadows.

In a space where nothing else existed anymore, the only thing I could perceive was myself.

“This is……”

An unidentified phenomenon, yet I didn’t think it would lead to a bad outcome.

Rather, I even felt as if I had arrived at a place more familiar and comfortable than ever before.

Swoosh.

Swoooosh.

The shadow, which had endlessly expanded and swallowed the entire space, began to slowly return to where it should originally be, as if a spring was being rewound.

And so, in that white space where everything had vanished, I finally found the door signifying the end of the trial.

“……”

Now, it was truly time to advance towards the final decisive battle.

The second trial of the Cheonghongyeong, which had seemed impossible, but the true obstacle that made it impossible was none other than myself.

And now, having completed the trial, I could feel that several massive changes had occurred from within me.

【Han Kangyoon】

▶Level 78

▶Stats

【Stamina : A-】

【Spiritual Power : S-】

【Art Formula : A】

【Mental Strength : S-】

▶Traits (10/10)

【Phantom Body (EX)】

【Bloom (S)】

【Witch’s Resonance (A+)】

【Dragon Body (A+)】

【Desperate Struggle (A+)】

【Giant Slayer (A)】

【Soul Combustion (A)】

【Dragon’s Forest World (A)】

【Challenger (B+)】

【Intracranial Spell Repository (B)】

First, my Level and stats had increased, and I had acquired an S-Rank Trait named Bloom.

Furthermore, and most surprisingly, the Phantom Body Trait, which I thought had already reached its completed form, had evolved once more.

‘EX-Rank……?’

A unit indicating a grade outside the standard specifications, a rank that only Yoo Haon’s Demon-Suppressing Trait possessed in the first installment of the Exorcism Academy Series.

I knew the Phantom Body Trait had reached that level, but even I couldn’t predict what changes its evolution would bring.

Even Severed Shadow, who was originally the pioneer of this Trait, never reached such a state.

It was more accurate to say that the power of the Phantom Body Trait had already entered a realm even I, the player, could not gauge.

‘I’m not entirely sure……but I can feel that something has fundamentally changed.’

And simultaneously, for some reason, I felt convinced that the current Phantom Body Trait could create new possibilities for dealing with Polar Night.

Knock knock.

“Are you back?”

As I was checking my own changes, a familiar voice came from outside the room.

It was Yoo Haon.

“Where’s Cheong Joohwa?”

“She went out for a bit on some business. So I was watching the room in her place…… Did you perhaps pass the trial?”

“That’s right.”

“…You’ve worked hard. Joohwa will be happy too.”

Being the owner of an EX-Rank Trait himself, Yoo Haon kept tilting his head curiously, as if sensing some change in me.

And I too, not merely as knowledge but to some extent, could perceive the true nature of her Demon-Suppressing Trait.

‘I originally recognized it as a power that suppresses all demons…….’

But upon checking the reality, it felt somewhat different.

Even if the result is the same, should I say the explanation was slightly off?

What’s certain is that it differed from the power of Demon Slaying I had subconsciously imagined.

‘…So that’s how it was.’

Ironically, I could find the answer in the setting book of the Exorcism Academy Series, and its content was as follows:

‘Originally, Cursed Techniques stem from intense Strong Desires.’

Nowadays, complex systems involving Art Formulas and Spiritual Power manipulation have been established, but the essence of Cursed Techniques is that.

Simply a strong wish, a Strong Desire—those taking form and acting upon reality is the fundamental principle of Cursed Techniques.

And in my opinion, Yoo Haon’s Demon-Suppressing Trait was undoubtedly a type of power that acts upon those Strong Desires themselves.

A power that uses the user’s Strong Desire as fuel to suppress other kinds of Strong Desires. That is the secret of Yoo Haon’s Demon-Suppressing Trait.

“I have a small request. Could you use a Cursed Technique while imbuing it with the power of Demon Slaying?”

“Huh? Ah…… I’ll do that.”

Yoo Haon seemed to understand that I wanted to test the power gained from passing the trial and immediately drew upon the power of Demon Slaying to deploy a simple Intermediate-Rank Offensive Art.

And as I countered it, I could confirm once again that my conjecture was close to the truth.

‘It’s clear. The Demon-Suppressing Trait is a power that acts upon the Strong Desires that form the foundation of Cursed Techniques themselves. But why…….’

Actually, when I first thought of this hypothesis a moment ago, there was one part I couldn’t quite understand.

The power of the Demon-Suppressing Trait suppresses Strong Desires.

Therefore, it can gain an advantage against all sorts of Cursed Techniques and holds a significant compatibility advantage against Specters’ tricks.

But, come to think of it, there’s one more target against which this Demon-Suppressing Trait shows great effectiveness.

Specters themselves.

‘Clearly, when directly striking a Specter, the Demon-Suppressing Trait shows much greater effect compared to normal attacks.’

Recalling when I played the game, there were even numerical modifiers applied, and as I mentioned before, there were Specters for whom the Demon-Suppressing Trait itself was the key to defeating them.

So isn’t that a bit strange?

If the Demon-Suppressing Trait is a power that acts upon Strong Desires themselves, why can it deal such fatal blows to Specters?

Many things come to mind, but thinking simply, one clear conclusion can be drawn.

That Specters, too, are beings derived from Strong Desires.

“……”

Specters are born from human fear.

It wasn’t specifically related to the Exorcism Academy Series, but it was a phrase often used when explaining Specters in reality.

And fear can also be described as a fragment of intense emotion, a negative form of thought or desire.

Then what on earth is the origin of the Specters that have tormented humanity for such a long time?

Perhaps, the thing that first gave birth to Specters in this world’s history was someone’s intense negative thoughts themselves?

For some reason, I intuited that this was deeply related to the origin of Polar Night as well.

Polar Night is also a being akin to a phenomenon born by borrowing someone’s intense Strong Desire.

Rather than a Specter, it could be said to be a kind of Cursed Technique itself.

And such Polar Night can dominate all sorts of Specters, making their power its own, and even after dying multiple times, it returns again to achieve some purpose.

“Are you alright?”

“…It’s nothing. I just have something to think about for a moment.”

It might be a simple delusion, but it feels like the outline of the causality surrounding all of this is gradually becoming clearer.

What’s certain is that I can now understand more keenly what kind of being Polar Night is.

And the closer I get to Polar Night, which was close to being the unknown itself, I feel the terror and fear towards it gradually fading.

In my heart, Polar Night was no longer an unapproachable being.

It is clearly a phenomenon that can be resolved, a crisis that can be overcome.

The more I engraved that deep in my heart, the firmer and more solid my resolve became.

‘…It’s worth a try.’

I will retreat no further. This time, I will definitely stop it and fulfill the Strong Desires of everyone, including Hochoong.

And just as I steeled that resolve, hurried footsteps were heard, and soon Baek Eunseo, holding her spear, revealed herself.

“It’s an emergency! A powerful Specter has appeared near the outskirts of the barrier in Daejeon!”

“Got it. I’ll go right now.”

“What does it look like?”

Even in the urgent situation, I asked for confirmation, and Baek Eunseo, racking her memory, soon seemed to recall and conveyed its appearance to us.

“They said it’s a giant ball of fire with yellow hair and blue eyes…… that’s the only way to describe it.”

It’s definitely the Jade-Eyed Fire Specter.

And that also meant the gears of this final, halted Night Parade of One Hundred Specters had begun to turn again.

I quickly finished preparing alongside Yoo Haon and headed towards the announced meeting point to join the other comrades.

There, other members and several Exorcists were already gathered, and perhaps recalling the fierce battle with the Heavenly Specter Fox last time, everyone’s expressions were grim.

“Damn it. How much longer……”

“Hoo, I wonder how many will die this time.”

Well, in the battle with the Heavenly Specter Fox, two Elders from the Three Great Noble Families lost their lives.

No matter how much they are Exorcists, it’s only natural to feel fear seeing that.

“Don’t say such demoralizing things! That Cheong Soha is already holding it off, so all we need to do is hurry there and finish it.”

Cheong Kibeom, the Fourth Elder of the Cheong Family in charge of the nearby area, shouted loudly, boosting the Exorcists’ morale.

Having also trained repeatedly through the Cheonghongyeong, he was definitely performing a cut above the other Elders, so the Exorcists relaxed their expressions a little and advanced towards Daejeon.

‘Considering the barrier’s protection, sending 30% of our personnel is the most we can do……’

The situation in other regions probably isn’t much different, so it was possible to roughly estimate the number of Exorcists gathering in Daejeon.

‘It’s difficult with our existing forces alone.’

As previously anticipated, the majesty of the Jade-Eyed Fire Specter would be on a level they simply couldn’t handle.

Even with Cheong Soha, it’s the same.

Although she had grown stronger through experiencing the Night Parade of One Hundred Specters, it would be too much for her to subdue such a Great Specter alone.

But it was okay. Knowing that, we had desperately trained and built our strength in the World of Forbidden Techniques.

“Shall we depart?”

Cheong Joohwa, who had learned the Art Formula passed down by Kwimae after returning to the present, summoned clouds with a Cursed Technique.

This time, besides the six of the seven who went to the past (excluding Han Seoa), we were also accompanied by the comrades who had remained behind.

Although there might be a difference in level now, that alone made the rest of the party feel an unparalleled sense of fulfillment and relief.

Our condition is perfect, preparations are sufficient.

Our goal in this battle is to defeat the Jade-Eyed Fire Specter, and beyond that, to pass the spark of hope to others.

Steeling our resolve for that heavy responsibility, we boarded the clouds and headed towards Daejeon where it was.

Finally, the moment had arrived for the grand finale leading to the final decisive battle.