Chapter 9: The Runaway Volcano

Kwooooom!

The angel Abriel waved her hand.

Then, the enormous chains protecting the center of the sanctuary were cut as if they were tofu.

Clang!

A light and clean sound of rupture.

There was not a single trace of hesitation.

As if she had been waiting for this moment for a very long time.

Her movements were decisive.

There was even a strange sense of liberation in her expression.

‘It seems she was already fed up.’

Well, it made sense.

She had spent countless years trapped in this place, acting as jailer all alone.

But there was no time for contemplation.

Rumbleeeee! Rumbleeeee!

The released black sphere began to twist violently.

The entire sanctuary distorted.

Space shrieked, and a wave of bloodlust swept through the place like a storm.

【Kraaaaaaah!】

A roar that devoured the soul.

‘He’s strong.’

My instincts set off every alarm.

In my current state, I wouldn’t come out of this alive.

It was then.

[Receive it.]

Abriel spread her wings.

A dazzling light burst from the tips of her fingers.

At the same time, the mists covering the entire sanctuary, that is, the spirits, began rushing toward me.

Whoooooosh!

“……!”

My body heated up.

The magic running through my veins went out of control like a stampede.

But it didn’t hurt.

Rather, it was a pleasant sensation, as if every cell in my body were awakening.

Ding!

[The angel ‘Abriel’ has chosen you as her representative.]

[All the spirits of the sanctuary follow you.]

[You have been granted the ‘Blessing of the Great Spirit.’]

[All stats are temporarily maxed out!]

My entire body felt light as a feather.

When I clenched my fist, I felt such brutal power that it seemed capable of bursting the air.

Ding!

The system continued displaying messages.

[A hidden mission has appeared!]

[Mission name: Execution of the Mad God]

[Objective: Cooperate with the angel Abriel to eliminate the mad god ‘Tulkacha’.]

[Reward: ???]

‘Tulkacha.’

What a crude name.

I raised my head to observe him.

The black sphere broke, and a red figure emerged, crawling from within.

Enormous horns.

Dark red veins covering his entire body.

And the scorching heat boiling beneath his feet.

Crack!

The marble floor began melting instantly.

It was not ordinary heat.

That was.

“Lava.”

The authority of a volcano.

And a terribly deformed and violent calamity.

【I’ll kill you… I’ll burn you all…!】

Tulkacha muttered in a boiling voice.

When he swung his arm, a stream of red lava shot out like a whip.

Kwooooom!

Abriel blocked the attack by raising a spear of light.

The sacred light repelled the lava.

But it was not enough.

Ssssss! Ssssss!

[Ugh……!]

Abriel frowned.

The poisonous heat emanating from the lava was burning her white wings and turning them black.

The compatibility was awful.

It was too dangerous to fight up close with the heat that monster emitted.

‘I’ll have to help.’

I immediately placed my left hand on the ground.

The method was simple.

If water overflows, you just have to dig a drainage channel.

“Disappear.”

Wooooong!

The golden rune on my right hand shone intensely.

The calamity I had devoured.

The authority of the lesser god of earthquakes, Kartal, activated.

Rumble!

The ground beneath Tulkacha, as well as around Abriel, split violently.

It was not a simple crack.

I limited the range of the authority and opened a deep, narrow hole.

A sinkhole.

Kwaaarrrr!

“……?!”

Tulkacha flinched.

The lava he was releasing began to gush into the crack in the ground.

The heat that was trying to cover the surface rushed into the underground depths as if swallowed by a drain.

Abriel looked at me in surprise.

I simply shrugged.

She gripped her spear again.

Taking advantage of the reduced heat, Abriel’s spear pierced Tulkacha’s shoulder.

Stab!

【Kraaaaaaah!】

The mad god let out a deafening scream.

But he did not die.

On the contrary, his eyes bulged.

【You damned insects!】

Kwooooooosh!

Black smoke shot out from his mouth.

A poison that contaminated the mind.

[The mad god Tulkacha is out of control!]

[Mental contamination has begun.]

[The higher the percentage, the more you will lose your sanity.]

[Current contamination: 15%…… 20%……]

My head hurt.

My stomach felt unsettled, and my entire field of vision spun.

Even Abriel staggered.

A mental attack impossible to physically block.

If this continued, we might go insane and kill each other before even fighting properly.

Then.

— Kyaaaang!

Angragon, who was on my shoulder, opened his mouth wide.

Far from being frightened, he seemed to be drooling as if he had smelled something delicious.

Fwoooosh!

His small mouth began absorbing the surrounding air like a vacuum cleaner.

The black poison was dragged into Angragon’s mouth.

Gulp.

The creature swallowed the poison.

And then.

Fwooooosh!

When he opened his mouth as if burping, a black flame shot toward Tulkacha.

He had devoured the enemy’s poison, transformed it into a “Dragon Breath,” and returned it.

【Kuaaaaagh!】

The black flames struck Tulkacha directly in the face.

The monster covered his face and began rolling across the ground.

It seemed the impact of receiving his own reflected mental attack had been quite strong.

“Good work.”

I stroked Angragon’s head.

The creature wagged his tail from side to side, satisfied.

The situation had improved.

The lava was falling into the sinkhole, and Angragon was blocking the poison.

Abriel continued launching a fierce assault.

But.

‘It’s not enough.’

I analyzed the situation coldly.

Tulkacha’s regenerative ability was monstrous.

The holes pierced by the spear were instantly filled with lava.

At this rate, it would end up becoming a battle of attrition.

And the more time passed, the worse it would be for us.

The duration of the blessing was limited.

And Abriel’s stamina would also eventually run out.

We needed a finishing blow.

An attack capable of killing a god.

I looked at the spirits floating in the air.

Tens of thousands of spirits.

Thanks to the Blessing of the Great Spirit, they moved as if they were my own limbs.

A normal warrior would have used this power simply to strengthen their body.

But.

‘I am a mage.’

Crushing things with brute force is not my style.

A mage is someone who seeks truth, who creates formulas and obtains results.

My job is to take the available materials and turn them into the best possible masterpiece.

I am Kim Jeongseok.

The mad mage who even refined a Philosopher’s Stone using the entire Earth as material.

Couldn’t I control a few miserable thousand spirits?

‘I have the materials.’

Tens of thousands of spirits filled the air.

Those creatures were masses of natural magic in its purest form.

In other words, the best possible “fuel.”

The enemy was the mad god Tulkacha.

His attribute was lava and fire.

A calamity capable of melting and burning everything.

However.

There was something that even in his maddened state he had failed to melt.

The enormous chain fragments scattered across the floor of the sanctuary.

‘Sealing objects.’

The chains that had kept the monster imprisoned for hundreds of years.

Even though they had been broken in half, they retained their form.

A metal that did not melt even within lava.

‘I already have the answer.’

I opened my eyes.

And without hesitation, I kicked the ground.

Kwoooom!

My body shot forward like a projectile.

My target was the broken chain lying beside Tulkacha’s feet.

Tap.

I landed on the chain.

The instant I touched it, I felt an intense coldness.

Just as expected.

‘Ten Thousand Year Black Iron.’

A rare metal with the property of rejecting and solidifying corrupted magic.

That was why it had endured the corrupted heat of the mad god.

But that metal had a fatal weakness.

Against pure magic, it melted without resistance.

“Gather.”

I extended my hand.

The spirits blessed by the Great Spirit responded to my will.

Thousands of spirits wrapped around the chains.

Ssssss!

The moment the extremely pure magic touched the metal, the Black Iron that had seemed impossible to melt began melting like hot syrup.

I manipulated the magic.

Like a blacksmith hammering steel.

I shaped the material using magical formulas.

Harder.

Sharper.

And capable of piercing that monster’s heart.

It did not even take ten seconds.

The black metal transformed into liquid gathered in the air and solidified into the shape of an enormous spear.

A black spear over three meters long.

I gripped the shaft tightly.

It was incredibly heavy.

I pulled my body backward.

I compressed every muscle like a spring.

There was only one target.

The burning red heart beating inside the monster’s chest.

Fwoooosh!

The spear left my hand and tore through space.

Before Tulkacha could even react.

A black flash pierced his chest.

Kwoooooom!

【Kraaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!】

The mad god’s scream shook the sanctuary.

The coldness of the Ten Thousand Year Black Iron penetrated his heart.

The boiling lava instantly cooled and began hardening into black.

‘Now.’

I saw it.

The golden thread extending from Tulkacha’s chest.

The thread of fate connected to the golden rune on my right hand.

‘I can devour him.’

The conditions had been fulfilled.

The monster had weakened, and my power could now reach him.

The problem was the distance.

Even if his heart was sealed, the surrounding area was still a hell of extreme heat.

If I got close, I would end up becoming roasted meat.

But I had a companion.

“Abriel!”

I shouted.

“Open a path for me!”

No explanations were needed.

She spread her remaining wings.

【Light!】

Fwaaaaaaash!

A flash exploded from her body.

The authority of the “Sanctuary,” capable of physically interfering with the environment.

The light advanced in a straight line, pushing aside the flames and lava blocking the path.

As if the Red Sea were splitting apart.

In the middle of the ocean of fire, a path appeared only for me.

【Hurry!】

Abriel shouted while coughing up blood.

She too was at her limit.

That path would not last long.

I ran.

I cut through the wind and crossed the tunnel of light.

The heat of the flames raging on both sides burned my skin, but I did not stop.

10 meters.

5 meters.

1 meter.

At last, I arrived in front of Tulkacha.

The monster, writhing in pain, lowered his gaze toward me.

【Cough… how dare you……!】

I smiled.

And drove my fist into his solar plexus.

Boom!

A heavy and brutal blow.

Woooooong!

The golden rune on my right hand began spinning frantically.

The predatory power that devoured the very essence of existence had activated.

Craaack! Crack!

From the point where my fist struck, Tulkacha’s body began to crack apart.

Black fissures spread throughout his entire body.

【N-no…… my power……!】

The monster’s desperate scream did not last long.

Everything began to be absorbed.

The lava, the flames, the madness.

Even his divinity.

Rumbleeeee!

A massive vortex formed.

My right hand became a black hole that began swallowing the entire mad god.

【Kraaaaaaaaagh!】

His final scream.

Tulkacha’s enormous body disintegrated into particles of light.

Within the thick smoke,

every particle was absorbed into the palm of my hand, leaving nothing behind.

But then.

Booom!

A gigantic explosion erupted.

My body was sent flying.

And at that instant.

Ding!

[You have devoured the calamity ‘Tulkacha, the mad god’.]

[You have absorbed his divinity.]

[The authority ‘Runaway Volcano’ can now be used permanently.]

[You have completed the hidden mission!]

[Contribution: Overwhelming (99%).]

[Your level has increased!]

[Rolling dice (1~66).]

[66! A catastrophic reward has been granted!]