I Became the Only Non-mage in the Academy

Chapter 259: The Black God (4)

Swish.

The sword cut through everything.

Kim Seo-hyun stared blankly at the sword’s trajectory.

What was that? What was that, really?

Even with everything at her disposal, she couldn’t grasp even a fragment of it.

The sword swung. And it cut.

That alone was all she could perceive.

The Apostle, the true form of the Black Sun. Beyond that, the heavens themselves.

With a single slash, everything was split cleanly in two.

The body of the Black Sun collapsed.

In the process, Kim Seo-hyun noticed something faint and pale around Lee Seo-ha’s neck.

‘A woman?’

It was a woman’s form.

Similar to the Heavenly Demon, but with a more mystical aura.

No, there’s something more important than that.

The entity called the Apostle of the Black Sun was dangerous.

‘Its power is still overwhelming.’

The slash cut deep.

At a glance, the wound was extraordinary, making it almost impossible for it to heal, even for that thing.

In other words, it meant it could somehow recover.

“Sigurd!”

“Tch!”

Everyone present realized the urgency of the situation.

Lee Seo-ha couldn’t move. The earlier strike had nearly exhausted him.

This meant that everyone here had to focus their strength to kill that entity.

The problem was that most of them had used up their power drawing attacks from their domains to block the Black Sun’s onslaught.

In other words, they were near exhaustion as well.

“Hoo.”

Kim Seo-hyun focused on the Black Sun.

Her condition was the best among them. If it was to end, she had to do it.

Crackle.

Lightning sparked.

From near her heart, the lightning surged, pushing the dragon’s power to its extremes.

Her stamina was nearly depleted.

But her magical energy was infinite.

Thanks to the two hearts she had consumed, each capable of producing power close to infinity.

It was a move she wouldn’t have dared in ordinary times.

Crack-crackle-crackle!

Electricity flowed from her heart, sharpening her senses to a fine edge. Kim Seo-hyun leapt.

So much.

So very much martial knowledge had been absorbed. By combining the martial arts of the Divine Maiden with her own and adding the techniques of the Heavenly Demon, Kim Seo-hyun sought to find the style that best suited her.

She refined it, trimmed away the unnecessary, and added where needed.

The memories of mastering nearly every martial art created one perfectly suited to her.

‘Nine Heavens Nine Dragons Art, Celestial Martial Veins, Flame Core Divine Art, Ice White Divine Art, Poison Flame Secret Art…’

Countless techniques.

Martial arts that embodied dragons through elemental extremes, martial arts created with the single will to reach the heavens, flame-based arts from the heavens, ice-based techniques from the northern seas, and poison arts from lands teeming with toxic creatures.

She combined them all.

What had been a slow process accelerated upon meeting the priestess and the Heavenly Demon.

She gripped the sword.

A white blade. The Sword of Wrath, Gram. The Dragon Slayer Sword. It glowed brilliantly, as if answering her will. With Nyeom, she shaped her intent, manifesting a martial art capable of distorting the laws of the world.

The world of the mind.

Compared to Seo-ha’s mental realm, her own felt insignificant—a vast, endless horizon. A sky covering everything.

From there, she drew forth the azure sky.

Azure Sky.

Crack-crackle-crackle-crackle!

Lightning scattered in all directions. She imbued it with her intent, coating it with sword energy. She soared skyward, sending energy to her legs mid-air, propelling herself again for an additional leap.

-I am the one who maintains.

The Black Sun’s body began to regenerate.

Apostles were not easily killed. She already knew that fact.

-Impossible.

Angel-like shapes with tentacles. Grotesque beings blocked his way.

The Legion.

They stood in her path.

“You aren’t strong enough to ignore these things, are you?”

A strange smirk appeared as the Legion advanced.

“Hoo.”

With a deep breath, the Heavenly Demon moved. She unleashed a single punch toward the hundreds of beings.

Rumble!

The sound of tearing spread in all directions. Hundreds of the Legion were swept away in an instant.

But Kim Seo-hyun knew the Heavenly Demon had overexerted herself. Sharing the same power as Lee Seo-ha, the Heavenly Demon’s strength wasn’t designed for brute force.

The Heavenly Demon had merely cleared the way.

Whoosh!

Kim Seo-hyun moved instantly. Only a few realized the Heavenly Demon’s intention. Among them was the dull-headed one who called Lee Seo-ha “elder,” standing in the cleared path.

Seolhwa Ryeon glanced briefly at Kim Seo-hyun before focusing ahead.

Her body trembled every time she faced that thing. But this was an opportunity created by the elder. To save everyone here, she had to open the path.

Slide.

Shadows coalesced as Seo Ga-yeon chanted a spell below. Seolhwa Ryeon didn’t know her well, but one thing was clear—Seo Ga-yeon’s power was lethal to their enemies.

‘The path…’

Hundreds were killed in an instant, yet even more Legion members appeared. The Black Goat began merging with the Black Sun. Ground forces and demon soldiers charged toward the Black Sun.

Any force that wasn’t significant turned their focus to recovery.

Boom!

Simultaneously, a divine thunderbolt struck from the sky.

Blue lightning began to dismantle the Legion.

“Finally moving those heavy feet of yours, huh?”

Clicking her tongue, the Holy Light Dragon moved.

Kim Seo-hyun glanced at Seolhwa Ryeon.

Seolhwa Ryeon looked back at her. Their goals aligned: to open the path.

“How will you deliver the finishing blow?”

“I’ll switch positions with Seo Ga-yeon using shadow techniques.”

“…Perfect.”

Pleased with the plan, Kim Seo-hyun swung her sword.

Swish.

Dozens of the Legion were sliced apart.

Crackle-crackle-crackle!

They were scorched by lightning.

“I’ll open the path.”

“Okay.”

Seolhwa Ryeon didn’t say more.

To be honest, she wanted to prove her worth and impress the Elder, but she dismissed that thought with an assassin’s mindset. The most important task was to escort Seo Ga-yeon to that entity.

“Let’s go.”

Just before the dragons moved.

The Priest of the Black Sun was sobbing.

He was witnessing the greatness of the god he served. The holiness of the deity was part of why he was crying, but it was a very small part.

Before collapsing, the deity had embedded some sort of mechanism within him.

‘The Apostle…’

For some reason, the Black Sun originally had an Apostle.

The priest had tried to summon that Apostle.

However, what descended forcibly, tearing through the “door,” was a magnificent, holy being.

That great and sacred entity discarded the Apostle and chose the priest instead.

Therefore, it was up to him, the savior of ignorant humanity, to transform them all into Mines and bring salvation.

He reached out.

An overwhelming force of life enveloped him. Tentacles coiled around his body.

-Aahhh.

The Priest of the Black Sun—no, the Apostle of the Black Sun—exalted in ecstasy.

Overflowing vitality surged through his body.

-They probably thought I was truly dead this time.

The forces brought in by the masked man had been beyond expectations.

Dragons.

Not just one, but three dragons had answered the masked man’s call. It could have ended in utter futility if not for that power.

But that no longer mattered.

The Apostle smiled brightly.

The first to sense something wrong was the Illusion Dragon.

Something felt strange.

When the entity—whether the true form of the Black Sun or the Apostle—appeared, the atmosphere had been ominous.

He had considered defeat and thought about saving the youngest.

Perhaps his own life would end here as well.

But then, the youngest had shifted the tide with a single sword strike.

And now, even the gods had started moving, aiming to kill the entity that appeared to be the true form of the Black Sun.

The situation was clearly favorable.

Yet, the Illusion Dragon couldn’t shake an uneasy sense of déjà vu.

‘I don’t know what the issue is.’

But that thing had to die.

He distorted his body and the surroundings, creating minimal protection for the youngest.

“I-I’ll do it.”

“…Alright.”

The Spirit Dragon might look dazed, but in terms of defense, no dragon could surpass her.

For a dragon to focus on defense was unusual, and the Spirit Dragon was a rare case.

‘I have a bad feeling.’

That commonly spoken phrase—intuition.

Some blindly trust their intuition, and it often proved accurate.

The intuition of dragons, who existed half a step above transcendents, was especially sharp.

Surely, something was being prepared.

Something capable of killing both himself and his deputy.

That was dangerous.

Creak.

He distorted space and concealed himself.

An illusion.

To deliver the most critical blow at the most dangerous moment, the Illusion Dragon hid himself.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I became aware of a world that was entirely black.

I was simply standing. Up or down, left or right—there was no way to discern direction. Even with my senses heightened, nothing changed.

-Congratulations, contractor.

A figure I had never seen before was there.