“Urgh…!”
Seong jin tenaciously held out against the six members of Jaun.But even though he was a top-tier S-rank Demon, his opponents were an organization of elite mages who had once plunged the entire world into fear.
It was impossible for him to withstand them alone.
“Are you going to answer now? Why did you attack Lee Seo-jun?” Bert looked down at Seong jin, who was kneeling on the ground, and spoke.
Seong jin had reverted to his original form from his berserk state. Normally, once a Demon enters a berserk state, it doesn’t subside easily. However, Seong jin was an S-rank Demon, so he could control it.
“…Just shut up and kill me.”
“How ridiculous. Until you answer, you won’t die.”
At Bert’s words, Seong jin bit his lip.
Saying he wouldn’t be killed meant that torture was an option.
“And you’d better not even think about self-destruction. The moment you show any signs, I’ll cut off your limbs.”
“You bastard…”
As Seong jin and Bert exchanged words—
A massive surge of magical energy echoed through the space.
“What… What’s this?”
Swoooosh—
The pitch-black sky suddenly turned crimson. Sensing something was wrong, both Seong jin and the members of Jaun looked up.
A colossal, burning sphere floated in the sky. Its sheer presence, reminiscent of a blazing sun, left them all gaping in shock.
“S-Stop it!”
The massive sphere of flames hurtled toward them at high speed.
Jaun’s members hastily conjured magical barriers, but they were not enough to fully block the overwhelming energy concentrated in the fireball.
Booooom…!
KWA-AAAAANG—!
“Gaaah!”
A violent shockwave spread across the area, collapsing the surrounding terrain. Thick smoke surged from where the sphere had landed. The ground was instantly engulfed in flames.
As the smoke cleared, the sight of Seong jin’s burned, unrecognizable corpse was revealed. The members of Jaun, still within their magical barriers, wore tense expressions.
Despite the sudden attack, they instinctively knew who was responsible. After all, there was only one person in the world capable of wielding such highly concentrated fire magic.
And just as they expected, a woman with flowing black hair emerged.
Bert muttered under her breath as she recognized her.
“…The Fire Witch.”
One of the top five mages in the world, Yoo Ah-yeon, stood before them, her face filled with rage.
Whoooosh!
And above her head, the massive sphere of fire that had just attacked them floated once again.
The situation quickly came to an end. As in the original story, the ‘other faction,’ the Blade of Dawn, intervened, turning the battlefield into utter chaos.
Jaun had six members, while the Blade of Dawn had only two. However, Yoo Ah-yeon was among the top five strongest mages in the world. Even outnumbered, she had enough power to hold her own.
The rest unfolded just like the original plot.
Jaun, realizing that victory in this meaningless battle would bring no gains, ultimately fled. Failing to capture them, Yoo Ah-yeon was furious.
“Are you alright?”
Once everything was over, I helped Lee Seo-jun to his feet. He leaned against me for support and limped over to Lee Hyun-joo.
By then, she had regained consciousness.
“Are you okay?!”
From afar, Choi Seo-yoon arrived late to the scene. It seemed she had impressively taken down a Demon by herself.
“What the hell happened here?”
“…That’s what I’d like to know.”
“I sensed incredible magic surges from a distance. What exactly happened?”
“I have no idea. I don’t know what’s going on either.”
Lee Seo-jun murmured quietly.
“Oh, and on my way here, I saw two Demons already taken down. Did you do that, senior?”
Choi Seo-yoon turned to me, asking with curiosity.
“Oh, yeah, that was me.”
“Really?”
She looked at me, visibly surprised. Even Lee Seo-jun glanced at me with a strange expression.
“What? You took down one yourself, didn’t you?”
“Well, yeah, but one and two are completely different.”
Choi Seo-yoon had an doubtful look on her face.
“I just got lucky.”
At that moment, a handsome man approached us. I recognized him immediately.
Jung Jae-won. A member of the Blade of Dawn, always seen at Yoo Ah-yeon’s side.
“Are you all alright?”
“Yes, we’re fine.”
“Oh, by the way, I’m a mage affiliated with the Blade of Dawn guild.”
“…The Blade of Dawn?”
Jung Jae-won proceeded to explain the situation.
To everyone’s surprise, the truth was that Jaun had set a trap, and the client had actually been one of their members all along.
“Jaun? That terrorist group from thirteen years ago?”
“Why would Jaun target us?”
As the others voiced their confusion, Lee Seo-jun suddenly asked Jung Jae-won a sharp question.
“But how did the Blade of Dawn know to come here?”
“Huh? Oh, um…”
Naturally, Jung Jae-won looked flustered and hesitated to answer.
Of course—he couldn’t exactly say, ‘We were tailing you, Seo-jun, because Jaun sees you as an important figure.’
“Erm… There are ways to find out.”
Just then, Yoo Ah-yeon returned after searching the mansion. Her expression was dark, clearly irritated at having let Jaun escape.
“The Fire Witch?”
“Wow… That’s amazing.”
Choi Seo-yoon and Lee Hyun-joo stared at her in awe.
“She looks just like Yoo Ara.”
At the mention of Yoo Ara’s name, Yoo Ah-yeon flinched. But she ignored them and turned to Jung Jae-won.
“I searched the mansion, but there’s nothing of importance.”
“Really? Well, that’s unfortunate.”
Yoo Ah-yeon let out a deep sigh before looking at Lee Seo-jun. Then, her gaze shifted to me.
Her expression was… odd. I had no idea what she was thinking, so I simply dismissed the thought.
Now that I recalled, there had been a message about Yoo Ah-yeon having suspicions about me…
Then, she spoke.
“It’s late. Let’s head down.”
It was already 1 a.m. There was no way we could sleep here, so she was telling us to stop wasting time.
She had a point. I nodded.
“Let’s go.”
It wasn’t until 3 a.m. that we finally returned to the dormitory.
At first, we considered staying at a hotel near the Black Flame Mercenaries’ headquarters, but since our mission was completed, we decided to just return to the dorms.
“Ugh… I’m exhausted.”
After taking a shower, I sat on my bed.
I debated whether to sleep right away but then remembered something I needed to check.
[‘Successfully landed a hit on an S-rank Demon’ achievement unlocked.]
[You have earned 5,000 points.]
[‘Indirectly assisted in an S-rank Demon’s subjugation’ achievement unlocked.]
[You have earned 5,000 points.]
[S-rank villain ‘Seong jin’ has been partially eliminated with your contribution.]
[Significant changes in the storyline detected.]
[Causality rate has increased by 1.2.]
“Hmm…”
An S-rank Demon, huh? The points and causality rate boost were quite rewarding.
And to think that I wasn’t even the one who finished him off—just landing some effective hits was enough for this much.
If I were to single-handedly subjugate an S-rank Demon… I wonder how much more I could gain.
“…I’m curious.”
By the way, the story had suddenly changed drastically.
Even the message window had notified me of a major shift in the story.
‘A significant change in the story has been detected.’
It was reaching a level where I was starting to feel afraid, as if it were warning me, ‘So what are you going to do now?’
Up until now, the story had been steadily changing. However, those changes had never directly affected Lee Seo-jun.
Rather, the connection between villains and Lee Seo-jun had been disappearing, leading to troublesome situations where I had to take them down instead.
But this time was different.
The demons had mistaken Lee Seo-jun for the Child of Prophecy, and if I had been even a little later, he might have lost his life.
Luckily, with Jaun’s intervention, the worst-case scenario was avoided, but their goodwill toward Lee Seo-jun would only last for a moment.
Someday, they would become his formidable enemies, pushing him into a desperate crisis.
“Haa…”
I felt the urgent need to grow stronger as soon as possible.
I also needed to set up safeguards to ensure Lee Seo-jun wouldn’t die.
Whether it was a powerful ally or a special artifact that could enhance his strength…
Causing chaos to obtain fateful encounters, eliminating villains, and bringing the story closer to its ending was all well and good, but for now, making sure Lee Seo-jun wouldn’t die was my top priority.
“Oh, right.”
I had taken some items from Jaun this time.
I opened my subspace and placed the items I had obtained onto the desk.
Twelve items in total.
And a sword acquired from defeating a demon.
The ‘Beast Summoning Scroll’ that I had already used was put back into the subspace.
“…Hmm. Nothing seems particularly useful.”
Weapons like swords and spears weren’t necessary for me, so I decided to either sell or trade them later.
As I was considering what to check first, I picked up a transparent, glowing glass ring.
━━
[Legacy of the Formless Spirit (Relic)]
Description: Grants attributes to magic.
[Usage Effects]
▶ Attribute Storage
Stores attribute energy in the ring.
▶ Attribute Conversion
Infuses stored attribute energy into magic. Stored energy is consumed upon successful infusion.
Durability: B
━━
“What the…”
The item was actually a relic.
Relics were imbued with mysterious power but didn’t reach the level of ‘Holy Relics.’
“Attribute infusion, huh…”
For someone like me, who had no time for attribute adaptation training when first learning magic and had been using non-elemental spells, this was quite an intriguing item.
Of course, simply being able to use attributes wouldn’t necessarily make magic stronger. Each attribute had its own strengths and weaknesses.
I slipped the ring onto my finger.
[‘Equipped a Relic’ achievement unlocked.]
[Received 3,000 points as a reward.]
Ignoring the joy of earning points, I infused mana into the ring.
Immediately, the ring emitted a bright glow.
After about five seconds, the light faded.
“How do I store an attribute?”
As I pondered the question, an idea struck me.
I got up and turned on the faucet.
While maintaining mana infusion into the ring, I submerged it in the water.
The transparent glass ring changed to a bluish colour.
“This is it.”
Feeling intrigued, I conjured a small magic sphere in my palm.
Swooosh…
A pure white, non-elemental magic sphere floated above my hand, just like usual.
“That’s not it.”
This time, I infused mana into the ring while conjuring magic.
“Amazing.”
A magic sphere made entirely of liquid had formed above my hand.
To think I could infuse attributes into magic so easily.
If I used this well, I might be able to gain an advantage through elemental affinities.
“For a relic, its performance is a bit underwhelming, though.”
But I wasn’t going to complain.
After all, I got it for free.
I touched the ring and returned to my desk to check the remaining items.
“What’s this book?”
Two old tomes.
One had a blurred title, while the other was labeled 「Ilwol Pharmacology Book」.
“Ilwol Pharmacology Book…”
I felt like I had heard of it before.
A quick scan of its contents revealed it contained information on medicinal formulations.
Ilwol…
“This is that book.”
Fifty years ago, the Ilwol Clan was renowned as a prestigious family in the field of medicine.
I had learned about them in history class at school.
“How interesting.”
I had an idea about how to use this pharmacology book.
There was one person in my circle who immediately came to mind when I thought of medicine.
Han Se-yeon.
I had been receiving a lot of help from her lately, and I felt a little guilty about it.
This should be enough to repay her.
“What about this one?”
I picked up the book with the blurred title.
━━
[The Book of Cheonil]
Description: The secret manual of the Cheonil Clan.
━━
“…Wow. So they stole this too.”
The Cheonil Clan.
They were briefly mentioned in the original story.
It was said that their treasures vanished when they were wiped out.
I opened the book and examined its contents.
There was nothing particularly noteworthy.
It simply documented a unique mana utilization technique exclusive to those with the Cheonil bloodline.
That meant it was completely useless to me.
However, that didn’t mean the book was worthless.
I knew someone who was obsessed with collecting relics with rich histories.
“For now, I’ll keep it.”
I stored The Book of Cheonil in my subspace.
If I used it wisely, it could become a valuable bargaining chip.
I checked the remaining six items, but they were similar—historical artifacts with significant backstories.
A stone tablet from the Miyan Tribe, a jar from the Sayul Tribe, a golden statue of Shakan… and so on.
“Tsk.”
While the remaining items were a bit disappointing, I had still managed to obtain the ‘Beast Summoning Scroll’ and the ‘Formless Spirit’s Ring.’
That was enough to be satisfied.
“Haaah….”
I stored all the items, except for the ring, back into my subspace.
My body was reaching its limit.
I felt so exhausted that I might lose consciousness at any moment.
I threw myself onto the bed.
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