Chapter 350: Chapter 350

He had been examining the Heavenly Demon’s corpse for a while.

Even though he was busy, Hans couldn't just ignore such a high-quality material.

‘It’s not easy to find a corpse of this caliber, even among Mysterious Realm experts.’

The Master Realm, the peak achievable by mortals, a realm where one transcended human limitations and became a near-immortal being.

The Heavenly Demon had been a top-tier Master Realm expert, someone with the potential to reach the Divine Transformation Realm, a half-divine state.

Though he had met an untimely end at the hands of Hans, a force of nature.

‘That must have been the Master of Heaven’s Turn Society’s goal. If the Heavenly Demon had reached the Divine Transformation Realm, his own power would have increased dramatically.’

The Heavenly Demon hadn't relied solely on his own strength.

He had been receiving power from the Master through sacrificial rituals, offering the ‘Dragon’s Children’, chosen by Ganghwange’s Main God, as burnt offerings!

They left a permanent mark on the soul, the accumulated power, the very karma of the recipient.

The Master must have also gained a significant boost in power from those rituals.

“And this… Ha! I have to admit, he’s quite resourceful. To think he could even do this…”

Hans muttered in admiration, his voice filled with a strange mixture of awe and disgust.

His 「Abyssal Eye」, gleaming with an eerie black light, stared intently at the Heavenly Demon’s corpse on the lab table.

‘It wasn’t just a simple transfer of holy power. This is… a unique skill? He reactivated the Heavenly Demon’s dormant unique skill? But he had already lost his status as an Awakened and become a settler…’

Having acquired 「Forbidden Truths」 and obtained Scribe’s corpse as a control group, he could now see things he hadn't been able to perceive before.

Only faint traces remained, as the Heavenly Demon was already dead… but he could see that until recently, a power beyond the laws of this world, a supernatural force, had been active within his spirit veins, along with his internal energy and holy power.

‘…I thought it was strange. He had sacrificed so many Dragon’s Children, and yet, his power wasn’t that overwhelming. So, the holy power was just a byproduct?’

The Master of Heaven’s Turn Society hadn’t granted him a new unique skill or restored his status as an Awakened.

He had simply… temporarily reactivated his dormant unique skill in exchange for the sacrifices.

But even that was an incredible feat.

It was a clear intervention in the system, a power beyond human comprehension.

‘And that unique skill… I see. No wonder he was so obsessed with the Dragon’s Children.’

The foundation of the Heavenly Demon’s rapid growth in Ganghwange.

A skill that not only granted him an incredible aptitude for martial arts and combat techniques, but also allowed him to quickly adapt to any training regimen, providing a massive growth bonus.

「Heavenly Slaughter Star」.

It had its drawbacks, like negatively affecting the user’s personality… but that probably wasn't a concern for the Heavenly Demon.

It must have been an irresistible temptation, a promise of unlimited power.

“…A way to reactivate dormant unique skills…”

Hans’s eyes narrowed.

It was a problem he had also been struggling with.

He had countless undead soldiers under his command, awakened individuals who had lost their unique skills upon death.

If he could restore their abilities…

“If he can do it, so can I.”

A spark of ambition, fueled by his arrogance, ignited within him, and he grinned, his lips curling into a sinister smile.

It didn’t matter if the Master’s method was just a temporary measure, a power granted in exchange for sacrifices.

The fact remained that he had achieved something Hans hadn't been able to.

And so, he began his research, his obsession with the two corpses growing with each passing day.

A meticulous and thorough investigation, examining every cell and every strand of energy, leaving no stone unturned.

He had to be careful not to damage the bodies too much, as he intended to reuse them later… but for him, an expert in this field, it wasn't a problem.

“I see. So this is the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.”

And in the process, he made an unexpected discovery.

He had managed to reconstruct the Heavenly Demon’s martial arts technique by analyzing the traces of magic remaining in his body, reverse-engineering the energy pathways etched into his meridians and spirit veins.

‘This will be useful for Hugo.’

The Heavenly Demon Divine Art, one of Ganghwange’s most powerful martial arts.

It was clearly an S+ rank technique, and it would be incredibly beneficial for Hugo, who possessed 「Nameless Art」 and 「Convergence of Ten Thousand Techniques」, in his pursuit of martial arts mastery.

“Kuhut— I couldn’t find it even after raiding the Heavenly Demon’s secret vault. To think I’d acquire it this way.”

The Heavenly Demon’s secret vault was a treasure trove accessible only to the Cult Leader.

Hans, having taken over the Cult, had naturally raided it.

The manuals had been sent to Hubert, who possessed 「Analysis」 and 「Cryptography」, for appraisal… but the most important one, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, hadn’t been among them.

‘The Heavenly Demon’s memories were also incomplete… This saves me some trouble.’

And his research didn’t end there.

Shortly after beginning his analysis of Scribe’s corpse, he found a clue to the divine power connected to the Master of Heaven’s Turn Society.

‘I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the divine fragment I acquired from him in Auterica. I’m lucky.’

The connection between a god and his apostle was strong and undeniable.

If ordinary followers were fans cheering for their idol, then an apostle was like a manager, working closely with their deity, handling their affairs and carrying out their will.

‘…Or rather, it’s a much more… one-sided and absolute relationship.’

Regardless of the details, the important thing was that an apostle’s betrayal was a significant blow to their god.

Of course, a dead apostle couldn’t betray anyone…

“Khahaha! But I can make it happen!”

A reversal of faith through forced corruption.

Reborn as a ‘God Slayer’, a being with an absolute advantage against their former deity.

The will of a dead apostle was meaningless to him, the ruler of death.

Domination, coercion, defilement, control.

That was Hans’s specialty, the Immortal King, the Demon King.

And so, he began the process of turning the two corpses into undead, carefully manipulating the remnants of divine power within them.

Of course, he incorporated the knowledge he had acquired through 「Forbidden Truths」.

《A faint divine spark begins to sprout from the holy power. The individual’s accumulated karma transcends its limits and is imprinted upon the Akasha.》

A cryptic message appeared before him, perhaps triggered by his direct intervention in their divine power.

‘…Wait, the Heavenly Demon devoured several Dragon’s Children and stole their karma. If I can reverse that process…’

He had also found a clue to resolving Ganghwange’s current predicament.

A way to bypass the Dragon God’s plan, which required the sacrifice of the Dragon’s Children.

Even though they had been summoned to Earth to deal with some urgent matters, the avatars were all busy with their own tasks.

Heinrich, the Saint of Auterica, who couldn't leave his post for too long, Horus, the dragon who was busy absorbing Ganghwange’s magic system, Heinz the Second, who was managing his organizations in two different worlds…

Even Harris, who had been relatively free, was now busy with his duties as an executive of the Elven Kingdom. He had been the first to be deployed to hunt down Scribe, but he couldn't just abandon his responsibilities.

There was one avatar who was particularly busy…

A massive figure, a barbarian warrior, moved through the dark forest like a phantom, his movements swift and silent.

“Tsk, I should be close.”

He stopped, his massive body moving with surprising grace, and scratched the back of his head.

His nose and ears twitched, gathering information from the surroundings.

He took a deep breath, and a different world, a world beyond his physical senses, unfolded within his mind.

A virtual reality, constructed from sound, vibrations, scent, and magnetic fields.

Its range was vast, encompassing the entire area.

Having detected a faint trace, a subtle clue he had been tracking, he shot forward again, his massive body a blur.

It had been a while, and the ones who had erased the trail weren't amateurs… but Harley’s tracking abilities, enhanced by his monstrous senses, were beyond the comprehension of ordinary humans.

‘It still took longer than I expected. It would have been difficult without prior information. Should I have brought Harris as well?’

The thought briefly crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it.

He had already learned that Ganghwange’s environment had a negative effect on Harris, who was sensitive to nature.

There was no need to risk it unless absolutely necessary.

‘The Zhuge Clan is impressive. They’re still operating their intelligence network despite the attack on their headquarters. As expected of a great clan.’

He didn't need Harris’s help. He had plenty of other resources.

The Zhuge Clan’s main residence on Yungjung Mountain, which had been devastated by the Demonic Cult’s attack.

They had managed to repel the invaders by activating their last remaining formation, despite suffering heavy losses.

Considering that the attackers had even deployed a jiangshi comparable to a Mysterious Realm expert, it was a remarkable feat.

It was all thanks to the recent reinforcement of their formations after Harley’s… rampage.

‘Tsk, if only it had ended there.’

But their trials weren’t over.

Amidst the chaos, a small, elite unit had infiltrated their stronghold and kidnapped Zhuge Hyemi.

An attack on the Zhuge Clan’s main residence, and the kidnapping of their Clan Leader’s daughter…

It was an incident they couldn’t ignore, not with their reputation at stake.

They mobilized their external contacts, desperately searching for the kidnappers…

And as soon as they had a lead, Hugo, who had hurriedly departed from the Shaolin Temple, arrived at Yungjung Mountain.

He learned about the incident and the attackers’ estimated route.

‘If I cross-reference that information with the intel from the Demonic Cult, I should be able to pinpoint their location. And then I’ll track them down.’

The Demonic Cult’s unit, though small, wasn’t insignificant.

It was an operation to attack the Zhuge Clan, a powerful faction, after all.

And no matter how skilled the trackers were, there were limits to how effectively they could erase their trail, especially with a large group—.

It was only a matter of time before they were discovered.

“Kuhut, khahaha! Ah, I was starting to get impatient!”

A group of people, their auras faint but distinct, were some distance away.

Harley grinned, his lips stretching unnaturally wide, a chilling laughter echoing through the forest.

His eyes gleamed with a predatory hunger, and saliva dripped from his sharp, jagged teeth.

“Now then, let’s go.”