Chapter 92: Chapter 92

Kim Dojun, who had been watching the gradually vanishing Azmo of Greed, took out the spirit liquor flask from inside his cloak with trembling hands and opened its lid.

Even though his hands holding the spirit liquor flask were shaking uncontrollably, Kim Dojun did not let go.

Then, the body of Azmo, which had begun crumbling into dust and fading away, started to flow into the inside of the spirit liquor flask.

After holding up the flask for some time, Kim Dojun finally confirmed that the remaining body of Azmo of Greed had been completely sucked inside.

Spirit Liquor Flask (鬼酒甁)

Number of uses: 0 times

Effect: You can bottle a defeated spirit in the flask and brew it into 'liquor'.

When all of the liquors brewed from the spirit are drunk, you gain spiritual power according to the spirit's grade.

Brewing "Fragment of Azmo of Greed" into 'liquor'.

Time required: 91 days 23 hours 59 minutes 45 seconds.

"As expected, it works."

Kim Dojun, confirming that the spirit liquor flask could be used even though in the game it wasn't possible on maglignant spirits, closed the lid with a faint smile.

Just as he was about to stand up—

Kim Dojun felt his body sway.

The feeling of doubt lasted only a moment.

He began spitting out dark red blood from his mouth.

Not just a handful, but a quantity enough to kill an ordinary person on the spot.

Kim Dojun muttered to himself, struggling to steady his quivering body.

[You've used too much spiritual power.]

It was Johwasu by his side who answered Dojun's confused muttering.

"What... did you say?"

[Just as I said, Kim Dojun. Your spiritual power is certainly abundant compared to others, but even so, it was nowhere near enough to continuously maintain my assimilation. Moreover—]

[... To keep up the spiritual flow in the spiritual tool you had me assimilate, you didn't have nearly enough spiritual power left.]

[Besides, you rushed at the maglignant spirit in the end and took all the sorcery attacks with your body. There was no way you could endure all the spiritual power consumed that way.]

Kim Dojun kept coughing up blood so much that he could barely catch the rest of Johwasu's words.

However, even while coughing up blood, Kim Dojun didn't think his decision had been wrong.

If the battle had dragged on, he would have inevitably lost anyway, so instead, he had bought himself time to prepare against Azmo.

Time to use enough sorcery for Azmo to feel confident and hold his ground, not even thinking to flee from Kim Dojun's attacks.

'Still, this is worse than I expected.'

Kim Dojun frowned as even a nosebleed started running.

[... At this point, I'm curious how your body is still intact. An ordinary person would long be dead, even an S-rank sorcerer would already be unconscious with this much loss....]

But Johwasu remarked as if observing something bizarre.

'So the last part was the problem?'

Upon hearing Johwasu's words, Kim Dojun frowned and thought about it, but soon shook his head.

Despite the spiritual flow, his external wounds were serious—truly a wrecked state.

His left leg was all but numb.

And if he hadn't had a spiritual flow at all?

'I'd probably have been the one to lose.'

At that thought, Kim Dojun let himself collapse to the floor.

[Well, sleeping a bit wouldn't hurt.]

"... In movies, don't people die if they pass out ? Shouldn't I stay awake?"

[For an ordinary human, dying here wouldn't be strange at all. But for me, who can strangely see "life,"

I still see the flow of life in you. You probably won't die even if you sleep now.]

"Really? Then, well...."

As though waiting for this, Kim Dojun slowly closed his exhausted eyes, letting his consciousness sink below the surface—

—But he couldn't fall asleep.

When Kim Dojun opened his eyes again, what he saw was Shin Se-yeon's face.

Shin Se-yeon, her face contorted and tears streaming from both eyes.

"Why are you crying."

Though he wanted to say, tears are falling on me, it's cold, he was too weak to speak. He tried to push off the hand grasping his shoulder, but found he lacked the strength, so he gave up.

"What do I do... what do I do...."

Even though Kim Dojun told her not to cry, Shin Se-yeon just kept shedding tears, desperately trying to stanch his bleeding wounds.

Seeing her like that, Kim Dojun tried to resign himself to simply closing his eyes, thinking it was impossible to explain anything to her.

Just as he was about to close his eyes, the pain shocked him back into awareness.

He couldn't help cursing inwardly, but when he saw her sobbing, his frustration melted into a sigh.

"I'm sleepy, so I'll take a nap."

"No... Please, don't die... If you disappear too, then I—"

Kim Dojun could hear her crying change into a wailing sob.

'I told you, damn it, I'm really not dying.'

Wondering why everyone was so desperate to kill him off, Kim Dojun let his final thought drift away as his consciousness sank beneath the surface.

The Sorcery Institute began to take control of the situation.

As the affairs of the Muryu clan were being wrapped up—

A wooded hill behind the Muryu estate.

There, Azmo of Greed—just moments ago thought completely obliterated by Kim Dojun—

[Shit... Shitshitshitshitshit────!!!]

—was cursing out loud.

Azmo of Greed's condition was dire.

His heart and belly were hollowed out, blue blood gushing out, his previously bright blue eyes and mist now dimming and fading away.

Yet, though the light of life was going out, Azmo of Greed's gaze was still full of the desire to survive.

'Whatever it takes, I will survive...!'

Never before had Azmo of Greed clung so pathetically to life.

A maglignant spirit like him, even if he perished now, would only disappear for a time and eventually descend again.

So he never coveted survival.

For him, death was just a process for rebirth, and even if he died, whatever he'd claimed from sorcerers through Greed would remain.

In other words, through the flow of history, a maglignant spirit only grew stronger. Thus, Azmo of Greed had always been nonchalant about death.

'I want that—I want it!'

'I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it—I want it, I want it, I want it—I want it────────'

The reason Azmo of Greed survived so desperately, even with most of his body sealed in the spirit liquor flask—

Was because of the power Kim Dojun had shown him earlier.

The power that had shocked him.

The power that had inspired awe.

And finally, the power that had left him in despair.

Azmo wanted that power.

But if he died this time—

'I can't get it... I'll never, ever be able to get it!!'

Azmo of Greed knew: the existence he just encountered was an abnormal irregularity.

There would not be such a being who could drive him to despair, inflame his Greed, in the next generation.

'No, no! ... Never, never!!!'

Blue drops fell from Azmo's gaze, twisted with madness.

Just the thought of being unable to obtain Kim Dojun's power was enough to make his organs writhe and his will to live falter. The power he had witnessed was alien, wondrous, miraculous.

[I will—survive! Whatever it takes, I will—survive...!]

—was desperately trying to restore his body.

Though the wounds he sustained were fatal, Azmo was a maglignant spirit, and, most importantly, the vessel that summoned him contained the life force of the Monarch of the Swarm.

Relying on that, Azmo greedily absorbed spiritual power from the air and consumed the lives of all surrounding plants as he forcibly regenerated his body bit by bit.

'That power—I'll have it, I will make it mine. It's mine. My power—! Mine... Without fail, it's mine... mine... mine...!'

Recalling over and over the power Kim Dojun had shown, Azmo of Greed forced his body to 80% recovery through sheer obsession and began to smile.

Just then, as the maglignant spirit finished healing, rose, and glared at the tumultuous aftermath of the Muryu clan with glowing blue eyes—

"What a pitiable existence."

Azmo of Greed heard a bizarre voice.

A voice empty beyond human, and too rational to be called that of a maglignant spirit—an odd voice.

When Azmo turned toward it, what he saw was a being even Azmo, with his long existence, had never encountered before.

There stood a being born from the Abyss itself.

No shadow one would expect from a living thing.

Even though the bright moonlight shone all around, its dark silhouette absorbed all light, a sign it truly was of the Abyss.

While the dark forest wasn't complete abyss, the figure stood, its face marked only by two hollows, watching Azmo.

"I am the Being of Possibility."

It introduced itself.

"I am the Being of Possibility. The one being with the greatest potential to become god by possessing every possibility of this world—that is me."

At those words, Azmo's expression twisted for a moment. But what followed was fast.

He formed a hand seal at blinding speed.

[Plunder!] ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ Nov3lFɪre.ɴet

He stole the being's sorcery.

And then, having seized countless sorceries and a vast amount of spiritual power from the being, Azmo of Greed grinned.

[Whoever you are, thanks—I've just saved some time thanks to you.]

He started scattering blue magic power in all directions.

"-Thinking that way is what makes you pitiable."

The Being of Possibility, whose sorcery and spiritual power had seemingly been stolen, answered serenely.

To Azmo's question, the being replied as if it were the most obvious thing, shifting its position slightly.

"O ignorant maglignant spirit, let me teach you something."

And then, adopting a stance Azmo had already seen several times recently—

"You can never defeat him."

Azmo of Greed, just as his carapace had begun to recover, felt it shatter once again, and he screamed involuntarily at the wave of excruciating pain.

"How could a mere maglignant spirit like you,"

The being who pierced Azmo's heart,

"Hope to defeat the one closest to 'God'?"

spoke as he gazed at Azmo from the dark Abyss.