Chapter 48

“Three over here.”

[Gravity Shift]

Crash!

“Five here. They’re all Acolyte-Class.”

The Demons hiding to the side, below, and above all poured out at once.

As if they were well-trained soldiers, each one aimed for a different target.

I had no intention of using my full Divinity on mere creatures like these.

I was taught that it’s better to hide about thirty percent of your true strength.

[Fireball]

Fwoosh!

Five fireballs materialized in the air, then curved gracefully to strike the fiends in their faces.

“Keoheok!”

The Demons, who feel no pain unless it’s from Divinity, struggled frantically to put out the flames on their faces.

“What the. What kind of magic is Squad Leader Choi’s to make it do that…”

I had mixed a dash of Divinity into ordinary magic, like a seasoning.

It was a level of control that became possible only after I reached A-Rank.

The effect was incredible.

“Kraaaargh! You son of a…”

“Kill that one first!”

Look at them. They’re absolutely losing their minds over it.

[Adrenaline Burst]

I stretched out both palms and struck the solar plexuses of the fiends rushing at me from either side.

Baaang—!

Vomiting dark red blood, the fiends collapsed.

This was the seventh house, and counting only the ones I’d taken down, that made thirty.

“P-please, save me!”

Behind the fallen fiends, a child who looked no older than ten was trembling in a corner.

“Misters. Noona! You’re from the Association, right? Please, save me…”

The child, sniffling and crying, approached us.

“Be caref—”

Before Im Han-na could finish her sentence, I swung my hand.

Wham!

The creature, slammed into the wall, was knocked out cold. At the same time, a dagger slid out from its clothes.

“Oh. You handle it well on your own.”

It was nothing to be surprised about.

Ian had also been fooled by children, women, and the elderly a few times before he learned his lesson.

Just then, I heard a bewildered voice from beside me.

“Should we just go home? There’s nothing for us to do.”

“Should we?”

“I’ll start packing my things.”

The three of them chattered nonsensically as they stared at me, their faces looking as if they were seeing a monster, contrary to their words.

Baek In-ho shook his head and said,

“I can pretty much guess what you did in the Training Arena. Your control over your power is insane.”

“It’d probably hit you harder if you experienced it firsthand,”

At Hong Gyeong-pyo’s suggestion, Baek In-ho shook his head, repulsed.

“A Healer like me would die from a single one of those punches.”

After that, they continued to chuckle and trade jokes among themselves for a good while.

At first, I wondered why they were acting like that, but now I sort of got it. On a mission where their lives were on the line, they were trying to loosen their tense bodies, even if just with jokes.

“May I rest for a moment?”

I still had plenty of Mana left, but a big battle was about to break out soon.

I needed to Charge up on Mana in advance.

“Oh, yeah, of course. You should rest. Don’t ask me, just get some good rest. Choi Pro.”

Baek In-ho, who just this afternoon had been rattling off all sorts of advice—combat tips, how to survive as an Association agent, life lessons, and so on—even laid out a spot for me.

Hong Gyeong-pyo was joking around, saying he’d go grab a cup of coffee.

Do all Squad Leaders become this brazen?

I was about to chuckle and mention what I’d been feeling for a while now.

“By the way, aren’t there too many of these things?”

Suddenly, Baek In-ho’s expression turned serious.

Hong Gyeong-pyo and Im Han-na’s faces hardened in turn.

“If there are this many when we’ve only searched 30% of the area, I think we have to assume the entire Black Market has been taken over.”

“Should we request additional support?”

Right. That’s what I’d been thinking all along.

No matter how determined they were, the number of Demons was excessive.

Just as Im Han-na said, it was enough to make one wonder if the whole place had been taken over.

“What do you think, Choi Pro?”

That damn ‘Choi Pro’.

He’d been calling me that ever since he handed over the Squad Leader position for this mission.

It was no use telling him to call me what he usually did.

Anyway, as for what I thought.

“There are almost no Black Market-affiliated Demons here.”

It sounded funny even as I said it. A Demon is a Demon, so what did being affiliated with the Black Market mean? But what could I do, it was the truth.

“How do you know that?”

That was a bit difficult to answer.

All I could say was,

“Let’s just say, it’s a hunch.”

“…A hunch?”

“Yes. A hunch.”

That was all.

To be precise, it was something happening in the realm of my subconscious.

A person’s innate Mana is as unique as a fingerprint.

Unless you die and become a Zombie or a ghoul, this doesn’t change even if you become a Demon.

That’s why I could feel it.

I couldn’t distinguish them one by one, but the Mana Patterns of the fiends I sensed here were extremely unfamiliar.

I used to frequent this place because of Wi Jeong-rak, but I’d never felt patterns like these before.

Hence, the realm of the subconscious.

“He says it’s a hunch.”

“If it’s a hunch, we have to trust it.”

“I’d believe him even if he said it was a ripe persimmon.”

Hmm?

“Where do you think the people who were originally here from the Black Market are?”

“Hiding somewhere, or being held captive.”

“The situation is a bit more complicated than we thought, then.”

They were taking my casually tossed words seriously.

Was it because of the performance I’d shown earlier?

At this rate, wouldn’t they believe me even if I called shit soybean paste?

Maybe it’s because I’ve been doubted so much since my department changed.

When people react like this, I sometimes don’t know how to respond.

…Tsk.

It’s not like these people are as close to me as Lee Won-sik, Choi Soo-jung, or Kim Soo-gyeom.

I guess I can just let it slide.

My Mana was about full, so I dusted off my pants and stood up.

I was just about to say, let’s go, it’s time to take care of the real Boss Monster.

“……!”

My danger-sensing instincts activated.

I poured all my power into casting a spell first.

[Ares’ Shield]

Kraaaaaaash—!

Immediately after, a powerful boom struck the Shield.

I didn’t panic at the sudden attack.

I had experienced situations like this hundreds of times in my past life.

First, the most important thing was to check which senses I had left.

Sight. Through the cloud of dust, I could see figures, their shapes hard to make out, pouring toward me.

“Ambu—”

Hearing.

Baek In-ho’s shout sounded faint, replaced by a ringing in my ears. My eardrums had clearly burst.

In other words, the only thing I could trust right now was my senses.

[Composure]

[Extreme Concentration]

[Area Detection]

It felt as if my suffocating vision had cleared up dramatically.

I regained my sense of distance, which I couldn’t feel until now.

They were very close.

The opponents’ level? A-Rank… damn it, five of them.

They were presumed to be Black Market executives.

These bastards. They realized I had the ability to detect Demons and changed their plan.

From lying in wait to assassinate, to an Ambush.

Finding hiding Demons is easy, but an Ambush from opponents of a similar level is impossible to block even if you know it’s coming.

In any case, what’s important in this situation is how I respond.

They were stabbing at me from all sides, as if they had coordinated beforehand. I couldn’t dodge.

Moving through space was also not an option.

Once I entered a defensive stance, I would keep giving them the initiative. That was a path to being worn down to death.

I had to trust the Ares’ Shield I had already deployed. That was the only way.

As soon as I made my decision, I engaged in close-quarters combat.

[Heart of the Raging Warrior]

[Indestructible Soul]

I stacked several high-level Enhancement Type spells.

This was no time to conserve Divinity either.

Fwoooosh—

As soon as I unleashed my Divinity in all directions, I threw a punch at one of them.

Kuuuuung—

In the slowed world, my fist landed squarely on the fiend’s face.

As it was an attack that disregarded defense, the fiend was also rendered completely unable to fight.

Four left.

C-crack—

The sound of Ares’ Shield breaking. Immediately after, a blade buried itself in my lower abdomen.

That’s when I realized. They weren’t in a relaxed situation either.

The blow that should have been fatal was bearable.

I thrust my palm upward. With a crunching sound, the fiend’s jaw was shattered.

That left three.

Around that time, another Ares’ Shield was completed.

Kagagagagak—

My hearing was slowly returning. A sword wreathed in Demonic Energy scraped against Ares’ Shield.

I could feel their bewilderment even through the cloud of dust.

Just in time, Baek In-ho’s healing Skill took effect on my body.

My lower abdomen, which had been gushing blood, was restored in an instant.

That was also the moment the Divinity I had been accumulating until now exploded once more from the crown of my head.

Fwaaaaaaaah—

The halo of light completely blew away the dust that had been cluttering my vision.

Like vampires before the sun, I could see the horrified fiends.

Thud-thud—

Im Han-na’s daggers, flying from the left, embedded themselves in the fiend’s vital points.

Two left.

This fight was over.

While I could still hold on, their wounds were horrific.

Not only that, but Im Han-na, Hong Gyeong-pyo, and Baek In-ho were also rushing in.

Their Ambush had been quite successful, but their decisive factor for defeat was not knowing about the existence of my Divinity.

I probably would have thought that under normal circumstances.

If I hadn’t heard what the remaining two were muttering!

“O Almighty Demon God. I offer my life as a Sacrifice, so with your fiery power, your sacred mission…”

Dark red blood streamed from their noses.

[Divine Punishment]

[Crimson Flame Spear]

[Grasp of the Great Mother]

I squeezed out every high-rank spell I could use. Not just Divinity, but all my mental-type ones as well.

I don’t know if I should call this fortunate, but one of them had his incantation cut off the instant he was struck down by the magic.

But the problem still remained.

One of them managed to complete the incantation.

The last one, having evolved to S-Rank, smiled leisurely.

“You seem like someone who has experienced prayer.”

The fiend opened its mouth.

“I heard it hasn’t spread to this land yet. Was I deceived?”

Step, step. The fiend walked toward me.

“Or are you special? That must be it. That strange and filthy power of yours, too.”

There was no need to hesitate.

I had to Summon the Association President first. That was the thought I had right after.

The fiend smiled and grabbed me by the throat.

“Time to die.”

The fiend tightened its grip.

In that moment.

Flash!

My consciousness shifted.

“Saintess Casilla has become a Demonkin. Sir Ian! Please, I beg you to heal her!”

Before my eyes.

Sanna was on her knees, speaking with desperation.

I was transported.

Not vaguely like with Jung Hye-in. But fully, like the Past Life Lucid Dream Skill.

I felt like I’d aged ten years. If I could have collapsed, I would have. I really almost died just now.

I wanted to calm my startled heart first, but my past life continued on, regardless of my feelings.

“I-is there no way? A way to turn a Demonkin… back into a human…”

Sanna stammered in a desperate voice.

“It’s not that there isn’t one.”

“Really?! Can you really turn her back into a human!”

Ian, no, I, who had been toying with Divinity until then, nodded.

“The conditions are quite strict, but it’s not impossible.”

“By conditions, you mean…”

“It’s better if the subject wants to become human. But if not.”

My mind was a mess, but I quickly pulled myself together.

Even if it was a fluke.

This was no time for that.

I had to learn even one more thing.

“First, you must be at a level where you can completely overpower the subject, and more importantly, you must be of a higher Rank than the subject.”

I was quickly following Ian’s train of thought.

An idea that made me pause caught in my mind.

“Shall I show you?”

“Pardon? Show me what?”

“How to turn a Demon back into a human.”

“R-right now? Here?”

Fwoosh!

A sacred light formed at the tip of my finger.

“This is Divinity.”

The next moment, the bright light was dyed black.

“This is Demonic Energy.”

“Wait a moment!”

“It’s so domineering, it seems perfect to use as a Buff.”

Regardless of Sanna’s panic, I continued my experiment.

Fwoosh!*

“And back to Divinity. Well, it’s something like this.”

I share all of Ian’s thoughts and senses.

That’s why.

The method to turn a Demon back into a human was imprinted in my mind.

And along with it, unintentionally, how to use Demonic Energy as well.