There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel Chapter 86

CRUUUUNCH!

It unleashed a destructive power that was hard to believe even after seeing it with my own eyes. Just how much physical strength did one need to possess to create a bursting sound, as if tearing a drum apart, just by striking with the back of a sword?

‘How can he be so strong?’

It was one exchange. Just a single exchange, I tell you. But the sword energy released in that one exchange had blown up a dozen or so foxes. This shouldn’t have been possible. It was an insane level of skill that only someone like Ryuseong, who had gone through thirteen volumes of a hardcore, protagonist-tormenting dark fantasy, should be capable of. Did it feel threatened by him?

Suddenly, the leader fox let out a long howl and transformed into a human-like figure. It felt ominous, something more than the typical transformation of a fox spirit. That was understandable; its form, which had neither a tail nor ears, was completely similar to a human. It was just like… the original novel’s descriptions of a ‘Named’ character.

‘Don’t tell me?’

The black fox colony, which had been moving with strange cohesiveness to hunt in groups until now… don’t tell me, was it because they were being commanded?

Meaning, there was a Named character…?

[I could have killed more! More humans. I could have taken more of them with me.]

The shriek, which rose sharply like scraping metal, and the mana that was forcefully drawn out as if exploding because of it, proved it. This ‘thing’ before my eyes was dangerous.

The nameless ‘Named’ character, who had not even appeared in the original novel, looked like an old man, withered like a shriveled-up prune, but from its human-like eyes, bloody tears close to the color of ink were flowing. It had a human-like form, but it was impossible to see it as a human. Because ‘it’ was shrouded in an ominous and terrifying black energy like a murderous aura.

It was the moment a Named character, which I had not wanted to face from the very first raid, had finally appeared.

[All because of you bastards!]

For a moment, I wondered if I was broken.

I had originally entered the black fox colony under the assumption that there was no Named character. But despite the unexpected appearance of one, I felt a strange lack of a sense of crisis.

‘Well, it is surprising.’

But it wasn’t as if I was getting goosebumps like I was about to die, or falling into a panic.

‘Why am I not so shaken?’

Of course, a good thing is a good thing, but…

Anyway, in the original novel, a Named character is an incredibly powerful being. But at the same time, the black fox colony had maintained its lofty position until now through tactical chaotic battles using mental resonance. There was a reason I went so far as to mangle one of my arms to squeeze out blood. Besides, if the ‘Named’ character’s physical power had been that great, it wouldn’t have gone out to hunt in a pack of spirits. In short, since I had burned the entire pack, all I had to do was fight a Named character whose own combat power was nothing special, and then the game would be over.

‘Go, regressor!’

Soon, a transcendent movement that no human could perform swept through the area. Of course, it was Ryuseong, not me. When several dozen exchanges had passed at a speed that flashed like lightning, I suddenly felt certain that my motion perception had caught up to their speed, and I smoothly pulled Ryuseong back by the nape of his neck, breaking his posture.

I saw the Named character’s mouth fall open, unable to hide its bewilderment at my blatant action, which was no different from team-killing. But since I wasn’t flustered, I immediately flicked my blood-soaked fingertips in the air. As soon as a drop of blood flew into its widely torn mouth, CRUNCH!

“…”

A long silence followed. It was only natural. The blood magic that had sprouted from within had blown the nine-tailed fox’s head to pieces.

‘Thrilling. Stealing the last hit is the best, after all.’

I feel sorry for Ryuseong, but there is no taste as sweet as the last hit. I was about to smile sweetly and infuriate him, but… huh?

‘Why is he making that face?’

Before I could even put a name to that emotion, Ryuseong grabbed my arm and started to apply first aid.

As he urgently pressed down on my upper arm and wrapped a cloth around it, his clean clothes, which hadn’t been splattered with a single drop of blood despite the battle with the Named character, were stained dark red.

While he was being practical, I strangely had the literary and useless thought that the sight symbolized Ryuseong being tainted by me. Maybe my mind kept wandering because Ryuseong was so handsome. It’s human nature to space out when you see something cool. Ryuseong’s reddened eyes still held a few unshed tears, which then fell drop by drop. What flowed down his hardened cheeks was not sweat, but all tears.

Ah, I don’t know what to say about you crying. It’s certain that I mostly want to be repulsed, but it also gives me a perverse pleasure.

The fact that you are crying because of this body, and that your emotions are aimed at this body.

‘Like a sugar cube melting on the tip of my tongue.’

It awakens a futile pleasure. No matter what, it’s still because of me, after all.

But in the end, it all comes down to the fact that the owner of this body is not me.

‘The more you apologize, the more I can’t remain as myself to you.’

The more you do that, the fewer chances Jeong Ian has.

To think that a person could make another person feel this miserable.

“…Is it over?”

“…”

“I’ll perform the purification ritual. You will transport me safely to the train.”

I was trying to wrap things up quickly and go back to rest, but Ryuseong grabbed me as if to obstruct me. I pushed him away with force when he tried not to let go.

Now that the Named character is gone, performing a purification ritual can get rid of the black mist.

Although the World Tree is a creator god, in this day and age when other religions have actual influence, one can perform a ritual from Buddhist, Taoist, or Catholic traditions.

However, since we are not experts in purification, we will have to proceed with an abbreviated version.

‘Let them handle the rest.’

I’m just pulling this stunt to gain fame anyway; I have no interest in proper purification work.

I got ready to perform the rite and knelt on the dirt floor. Maybe the bleeding hadn’t completely stopped, because the wound on my arm burst open again, staining the cloth I’d used as a bandage bright red. This was a little annoying. But my brain had a tendency to revolve around myself to a surprising degree, so I decided to blame Ryuseong for not properly stopping the bleeding. Of course, it wasn’t my fault for throwing a tantrum and not getting enough first aid.

Perhaps because I had used mana, I felt a hot heat rising near my dantian. I circulated the mana as it was, converting it into the pure Taoist energy of a Taoist tradition.

I gathered it at my fingertips and pointed at the earth.

“Light. White. Whiten. Tear.”

FWOOSH! Light and wind burst forth, puffing up my sleeve.

But was it because I was trying something I hadn’t done before for the first time?

‘Shit, my heart.’

I don’t know if this is pain or what. Suddenly, my chest felt tight and my breathing constricted. Damn, I think my breathing is suddenly getting faster?

‘Am I screwed?’

But I couldn’t stop what I had started. The rite had already been initiated.

Spells originally have a nasty side to them. If you don’t finish them properly, the spell’s power will devour the caster.

To overcome this crisis, I had to have the confidence that I could control something of this level with ease.

‘That’s right, just like that time when I got hit in the jaw by the remote control…’

Even when I forced myself to think I was fine, I couldn’t breathe, so it felt like my vision was turning completely white. It was as if strange, colorful lights were dancing like exploding fireworks, and when they all merged, it just turned white. But I had read in a textbook that if you lose your consciousness in a situation like this, you really die.

‘So I really need to get a grip…’

It was then. Suddenly, a scene flashed before my eyes. And from that moment on, all my senses returned to their proper places. The feeling of my knees crushing the blades of grass, the feeling of my fingertips touching the earth—all my senses called to me. Beckoned me. Shouted that this was the right way.

The scene I saw was just a moment from Cassis de Millang’s childhood, but that one thing changed everything. The way young Cassis de Millang handled the mana heart embedded in his dantian—just the fact that I had seen it made me feel like I would live.

Until now, I had a lot of mistrust in my ability to control mana, but that was wrong.

It wasn’t that the mana was prickly because I was a transmigrator. Using mana in a body suffering from a heart condition that was a combination of a bloodline curse and an illness was originally like that. My role was to put a dog collar on the prickly and sharp-tongued mana and pull it along. Even if it felt like all the blood vessels in my limbs would burst, I couldn’t let go. The moment I succumbed to the pain, I would die. Thinking that, it suddenly became funny. Its temperament is just like Jeong Ian’s.

I lived like that too. I endured my whole life with the mindset that if I lose, I die. So.

“I pray to the roots that encircle the world. I place my prayers in my pulse. Gather the spirits wandering in foreign lands.”

You think I can’t handle something like you?

“The consecration…!”

FWOOOOOOSH—!

Was it because I had endured the bursting pain in my heart? At the tip of my finger aimed at the dirt floor, a pure, snow-white light formed like a fruit. The mana, converted into Taoist energy, scattered fragrantly, and the light created a wave. No, it was a flow too noble and immense to be called a wave.

‘…Is a purification ritual originally like this?’

I looked back at Ryuseong and, seeing that he too was astonished, I realized that this was not how it was supposed to be.

‘Looks like I did it a little too well…?’