You Will Be Blessed If You Do Good Deeds¿

The mirrors that Yoo Han-ul had set up first reflected the sunlight, casting light into the emergency exit. However, as the sun began to set, the reflected light from the mirrors was diminishing, which became a problem.

The situation with the children was dire, and I had to break through here as quickly as possible.

‘It would be easy if I could just use magic.’

-System message: Overall level temporarily decreases. -Usage of mana is not recommended.

As per the system's message, the smoke I inhaled had prevented mana from circulating smoothly within my body. Just as the heart supplies blood to the body, mana should naturally flow through the body, but that circuit had been forcibly blocked.

‘This smoke... I don’t know who made it, but it’s well made.’

Hadn’t Estella, the president of the Hunter’s Association, made it?

If I recall, she’s a magician as well, and she somehow managed to create something that could choke her own neck.

Then again, the fact that she claimed to have made it for the greater good suggests she’s not exactly sane. Most magicians aren’t, anyway.

Anyway, whether they’re magicians or swordsmen, as long as they’re human, they need air to survive, so using smoke to block their mana circuits was an effective choice. This item in particular was especially effective against magicians.

Magic, in simple terms, is when a magician injects mana into a magic circle they’ve created, rewriting the laws of the world.

To do so, the magician needs to circulate mana through their own mana circuits in their body before they can use their power to inject mana into the magic circle.

So, using smoke to block the mana circuits was an efficient way to seal magic.

Without being able to circulate mana, a magician cannot use magic, no matter how much they try.

-Face your deepest fear.

To most humans, the monster’s eerie scream would sound bizarre and terrifying, but to me, it was just another language, no different from that of humans.

Thus, there was no fear.

The source of fear comes from an entity one cannot understand.

Before long, the Shadow Ghost, which had stealthily approached to avoid the mirror’s light, oozed out and spat forth a nightmare. Black vomit flowed towards my feet.

Yoo Han-ul had torn through the Shadow Ghost before it could approach like this, but that was beyond my capabilities now.

So, I let the nightmare spill across the floor like water.

In truth, I was half-curious.@@novelbin@@

What exactly is the form that I fear the most now?

After a brief moment, the image reflected in the black nightmare the Shadow Ghost had spat out was, unsurprisingly, what I had expected.

-Da-on...

A miserable voice pierced my ears. A finger, weakly trembling, crawled across the floor.

-Why are you... Why...

As expected, the Shadow Ghost showed me Jung Da-jeong, covered in blood.

The false face of family was stained with resentment.

-You promised me!

As soon as I saw Jung Da-jeong’s illusion, I immediately cursed my own curiosity.

Just because my prediction was correct didn’t mean I felt good about it.

No, honestly speaking, the moment I saw Jung Da-jeong’s face, rage surged within me.

‘How dare you.’

The image was more disturbing than I had imagined, and I felt a growing desire to tear those monsters apart with my bare hands.

The fact that they trampled on what I cherish most in this world, even if it was a lie, struck at my pride.

-System warning for user, ‘Jung Da-on.’

“...Hmph.”

It’s funny. The reason I’m angry and the reason I suppress that anger are the same.

I took a deep breath and calmed my anger.

I still wanted to gather those Shadow Ghosts and tear them apart all at once, but the smoke sticking to my mana circuits made it impossible.

At least for now.

For the time being, I had to wait and endure.

‘There’s only one opportunity.’

With my stamina and strength not even in double digits, I couldn’t pull off the acrobatics that Yoo Han-ul could do.

So, the only option I had to break through this place was one.

Therefore, I had to wait for the right moment.

To do that, a certain amount of sacrifice was required.

-New life! It’s prey!

The Shadow Ghost bit into my hand as I stood motionless in the middle of the stairwell.

Crack!

The pain of flesh being torn made me bite my lip.

Damn, I had to give away my flesh and blood to these damn things.

Of course, the dagger I had been holding fell to the ground with a clink, and I could almost hear Han Jae-young sighing at the sight.

Blood poured from the wound made by the Shadow Ghost’s teeth, flowing like a stream, as if the monster had gained new life from it. It was a disgusting sight.

But because of that, the smell of my blood began to thicken inside the emergency exit.

-Suck it up to the bones, and let’s increase our power.

-Cover this area with shadows.

-Weak creatures. We must conquer them.

And of course, monsters that had discovered new prey started to gather.

Thanks to the path of reflected light created by the mirrors Yoo Han-ul set up, many ghosts hidden in the shadows began to emerge, overlapping each other. The darkness had thickened so much that it no longer feared light.

The Shadow Ghost opened its mouth wide and stared into my eyes.

The monster was glimpsing the fear bound in the skin of my soul.

-Face your fear, and let the fear consume you.

-Hate others, and serve only yourself.

-Regret your worthless life.

Sometimes, the enemy’s words can pierce deep into your heart.

The words of the monster, who must have gazed into the darkest part of human beings, were like that.

Everyone says that human life is priceless, but is that really the case?

The life of a human, with its weak body and even weaker mind, fluctuates so much in value that it’s meaningless to assign a fixed value.

Even among humans, people frequently judge the worth of each other’s lives, where the crimes of the powerful are lighter than feathers, while the crimes of the poor and weak are heavier than lead. The noble’s virtue is praised, while the poor are scorned. My interests must come before the lives of others. Implicitly, noble lives and base lives are divided. This logic is dressed in the words “rational” and “efficient.”

And a world ruled by such humans, I couldn’t care less what happens to it.

I couldn’t care less about humans now.

Whether they ignore each other or die...

Crack!

The faint sound of breaking glass brought me back to my senses.

Looking over, I saw that the Shadow Ghost had bitten into my thigh and shattered the phone screen I had in my pocket.

“...Damn.”

Even if it was a free phone, it was one that Jung Da-jeong paid for with money she worked hard to earn!

That’s when I snapped back into focus.

‘...I almost got sucked into their illusion.’

Right now, I had almost forgotten that I was human.

I hadn’t even realized that I almost returned to being the Demon King because I was momentarily swayed by their voices, while the Shadow Ghosts happily squirmed, sucking my blood.

Well, that’s what it looked like.

-Why? Why?

The ghosts that had rushed to the blood on the floor fell into confusion.

-Why is there no life?

-I can’t indulge, I can’t control them!

But that confusion was short-lived.

The Shadow Ghosts realized that they couldn’t extract any life force from my blood, and they grew disoriented.

The Shadow Ghost is a monster that feeds on others' blood and flesh to create bodies for themselves, and their goal is to overcome their only weakness, light.

However, what they steal is essentially the soul, which is much closer to a monster than to a human.

There was no way they could use my blood to form their bodies.

-Not human.

-Doesn’t fear us.

Fear comes from an incomprehensible gap.

The fear that had overwhelmed the humans earlier now descended upon the monsters.

To me, who understood the monsters’ language, their existence was not fear as long as I kept my mind steady.

That’s why, in the first place, mental monsters weren’t such a bad match for me.

The nightmare that the ghosts had spat out was flowing like vomit at my feet, but if I were to be swayed by the voices of such nightmares, I would never have earned the title of "Destroyer of Worlds."

‘Is this enough?’

I wasn’t fooled by the nightmare, and the reason I waited while giving up my flesh was for one thing only.

I was waiting for as many monsters as possible to gather at once.

Right now, with my stamina and strength, I couldn’t fight the Shadow Ghosts one by one like Yoo Han-ul.

And now, I had waited long enough.

‘There’s only one chance.’

I inhaled deeply.

The air circulated through my lungs, but the mana circuits, clogged with impurities, refused to accept mana, unlike usual. It was like trying to send water through a drain clogged with garbage.

But even if the trash is blocking the path, a tsunami will not be stopped.

Trash will be swept away by the tide.

Just like how tap water can be blocked, but the ocean cannot be held back by a palm.

No matter how much humans dam the water, natural disasters must be accepted as they are.

I breathed again.

The air responded to the call of their master.

Boom!

The sound of a tsunami, which should have been impossible to hear, echoed in my ears.

A massive flow of mana that had no way to be stopped surged toward me.

“Ahh...!”

A groan escaped my throat.

The excruciating pain came instantly.

Indeed.

Forcing the mana circuits, which were blocked, to carry a massive amount of mana was something only insanity could achieve. If it were an actual drain, it might be possible, but mana circuits are like blood vessels in the body. If you force more mana than the body can handle into the circuits...

‘I'll be torn apart.’

If I relaxed for even a moment, I would die, no matter if I was the Demon King or the Demon King’s grandmother.

But I was confident.

‘Honestly, I’ve wanted to try this at least once.’

For a magician, mana circuits are essential for using magic, which also makes them a lethal weakness.

I had always wondered if such an item would appear one day, something that could damage a magician's mana circuits.

So, when the chance came to test how to deal with a damaged mana circuit, I found it rather intriguing.

I began to push the impurities stuck in my mana circuits out with mana, as carefully and violently as possible.

The fragile blood vessels seemed to scream, but once I started, the flow began to improve.

It was a far more crude and unrefined experiment than I had imagined, but the results were steadily showing.

The mana circuits, which had been clogged and unable to circulate, were slowly warming up.

It was a pleasant thing for a magician to prove that my theory was right.

‘So, this is the most efficient method.’

I dislike humans.

I dislike how their fragile lives are not prioritized, how weak lives are killed by monsters.

And right now, I have a way to break through this situation. I have a selfish goal. There is a reward.

So there’s no reason not to do it.

I stand here for that reason alone.

This is a life that can be saved for such a reason.

Mana, having circulated throughout my body, now swept through the air like a storm. The nightmares that had been consuming the air like filth scattered helplessly into the atmosphere.

Boom!

The storm of mana was so fierce it shook the building.

Now, there were no obstacles left.

-System message: No glory remains for the one who has paid the price.