Chapter 162

Crack.

Ki-blood magic was a discipline that revealed more charm the more I knew about it.

The Wizard of Extraction Ak-hu’s joining had given wings to my understanding of Ki-blood magic.

‘I was wrong to have recklessly created Ki-blood before.’

Ki-blood magic, with humanity’s history melted into it completely, was in a balanced state after countless trials and errors. Just as the needle-hole-like visual organs of microorganisms evolved into the concave eyes of squids and then into the convex eyes of mammals, though the actual users might not know what it meant, Ki-blood magic had reached a surprisingly refined state.

What I did was add theory to this masterpiece and evolve it one step further.

‘Strictly speaking, true Ki-blood was only from 1-star to 3-star.’

Creating Ki-blood in the two arms and two legs—the blood vessels and tendons leading to the four limbs. That was exactly what 3-star entailed.

After that, the 4-star secret technique passed down in Ak-hu’s sect involved creating something like a pouch where Ki-blood gathered together.

‘That was precisely organs.’

The moment I realized that, many things changed.

I gathered unnecessarily large amounts of Ki-blood to create a magical heart and magical lungs.

‘And 5-star could be called skin.’

Of course, the existing Ki-blood magic practitioners created it without knowing it was skin. They seemed to think of it as just a mass of Ki-blood covering the body’s surface. But I worked with the clear goal of creating skin. Smooth, elastic, and tough magical skin was created.

And the 6-star realm I hadn’t yet reached.

‘That would become bones.’

If bones were created, the power of Ki-blood magic would inevitably increase beyond recognition.

‘Originally, you need to be hit in the bones for it to really hurt.’

But since I didn’t have bones yet, I had no choice but to make do with ingenuity.

<Bolt>

Crunch!

A magical structure modeled after a crossbow’s mechanism added strength to my arm. While it wasn’t quite at the level I could call ‘divine bones,’ the <Bolt> I’d steadily refined from long ago showed strength and elasticity unbelievable for a 5-star Ki-blood magic practitioner.

‘Magical joints.’

I put strength into the magical joints I’d implanted in my thumb and index finger. By now, magical joints had become consumables that would tear after one use, but since I had plenty of spares, there was no need to feel sorry about it.

Crack!

Gathering all my strength, what I gripped tightly in my right hand was the divine hammer.

The giant hammer of the mythological age, a matching set with ‘The Anvil Itself.’ It possessed the authority to disassemble and reassemble all matter.

<Snap!>

A Ki-blood application technique created by Yuria. The entire body gains elasticity like a bow. Rather than the feeling of striking down with the hammer, I loaded all my strength into the hammer’s tip with the feeling of throwing it.

‘It would be great if I had Iron Blood too…’

Though bitter emotions settled in my chest, I quickly shook my head. Let’s think only of now, just now.

“Huuuup!”

[Sssssup!]

I inhaled. Not just through my mouth, but through my Circle as well. My magical lungs swelled up completely. The mana that entered through my Circle became all kinds of beneficial magic and settled throughout my Ki-blood.

[Thump! Thump!]

My magical heart beat. The circulation of ki flowing through my Ki-blood accelerated several times over.

In that state, I added my final strength.

<Collapse Strike!>

Bang! Crash!

Explosions erupting inside my body. The ki that had become fierce after passing through my magical heart met the internal combustion engines I’d created at various points and was amplified once more.

Unprecedented tremendous force. Though it felt like my body would be torn apart at any moment, the magical skin that wrapped around me without a single gap supported me until the very last moment.

-Haah… Administrator. You’ve overcome so many injuries. Ah… tears are trickling…

My current appearance resembled a god of the mythological age. Enough for Nadia to shed tears of emotion.

Of course, now wasn’t the time to be immersed in sentiment.

‘Hey. Stop crying and support my cognitive abilities.’

-Yes!

‘Gyeolli, Inggolli, Ari, get ready too.’

-Understood.

-Got it-hururu.

-Just say it. Whatever you tell me to do!

Preparations were almost complete.

Now only chanting the incantation remained.

To leave a new record in the Akashic Records, I had to kindly inform them what I was doing right now!

I opened my mouth and declared the incantation.

“The administrators have perished and reason drifts. Upon the ash of destruction, the sin of world-ending piles up, making the world this turbid. But I remember the covenant with you all. I gather the rotted pillars and erect clear and pure bedrock once more. I gather mud to craft vessels and again contain the bright clear sky within them.”

The incantation I’d been reciting calmly, I finished passionately at the final moment.

“Listen! Behold! The beginning of the final creation! The Divine Wizard opens the sky once more!”

I struck the hammer down to the very bottom of the deep sea.

The divine hammer.

A divine artifact capable of disassembling and reassembling all matter.

The power contained within was all the strength I could muster.

Fssssss-

The entire world melted away before my eyes.

[Kiiiiiii-!!]

Deep Sea Calamity-Solaris, which had been crouching, howled.

But this wouldn’t be enough. Even if I disassembled all the seas, the essence of calamity was ultimately magical power.

I needed overwhelming violence that would disassemble even magical power completely!

I resonated the mana I’d inhaled deep into my magical lungs through my Circle. I spoke the name of this miracle through my Circle.

It was a meaning borrowed from the national founding day of the country called South Korea.

[Opeeeeening Heaveeeeeen!!]^[1]

Fire spirit Inggolli and water spirit Gyeolli devoured the melting world. I followed the principle of <Milky Way Eruption> which had disassembled me into light and water.

The world being disassembled piece by piece became fire and water, swirling together. A supreme ultimate (taeguk) was formed.

Wind spirit Ari devoured the rest to create the eight trigrams.

Transcending space and time to devour even magical power, an explosion occurred.

An S-rank, and among them especially strong so that even 7th Circle couldn’t handle it—Deep Sea Calamity and the like left not a trace behind.

The order that had existed until now crumbled and the new order I was establishing was born.

[……]

[……]

Unless I permitted it, even magical power couldn’t maintain its own form. The magical powers that had always chattered as they pleased became speechless like fools. When I say come, they come, and when I say go, they go.

I couldn’t yet call it creation. I hadn’t created anything new.

But drawing begins with preparing the canvas. At least I could cleanly erase what existed before. I swept away even the resentful memories of the troubled magical powers cleanly.

The swirling taegeuk and spreading eight trigrams erased and reset everything I didn’t permit. The underwater city’s defense systems that had been ready to intercept us were also cleanly reset.

Truly, the sky opened once more.

Now,

How does the taste of the supreme ultimate flag suit you, you bastards!

* * *

“Wh-what is that?”

The twelve wizards of Ragnarok who had been preparing an ambush.

Another S-rank Night Calamity-Kraken said to be equivalent to 7th Circle.

Thousands of different races and calamities.

They stopped their advance and stared blankly ahead.

Roooar!

They couldn’t see ahead due to the blinding light. Though not visible, they could feel the ferocious waves in a spine-chilling way.

What had exploded and how… a tsunami was rushing toward them in these deep waters.

Even the kraken, over 100 meters in size, was pushed by the tsunami and sent tumbling. The weaker different races were swept away by the tsunami and drowned.

<Sanctuary Declaration!>

As if adding insult to injury, an unknown force pressed down on them.

“Graaah! It’s an attack! Form ranks! According to plan!”

One elder wearing a skull mask shouted, but the water had already been spilled.

Scattered and caught by <Sanctuary Declaration>, the defensive system of Floating Island Sion, their strength weakened… Soon after, they were struck by the Pathfinder’s attacks coming like a storm and became sea dust one by one.

It was an anomaly not mentioned in their revelation.

* * *

At that very moment,

Mimir’s Well that the Prophet had been gazing into became murky and clouded.

The characters that had been beautifully drawn on the clear spring water cracked and split in all directions before soon becoming muddy water.

“Wh-what?”

The Prophet jumped up from her seat in shock. In the dozens of years she’d been managing Mimir’s Well, this was the first time something like this had happened.

The Prophet trembled as she grabbed the hair of a maid standing by the door and dragged her to the front of the well.

“Kyaaah! Pr-Prophet! I’m sorry! P-please spare me!!”

Though the maid struggled and pleaded without understanding why, the Prophet dragged her mercilessly to the front of the spring water and pressed a sharp dagger to her throat.

“Pr… Prophet! Please…!”

The maid could only tremble at this unimaginable situation.

To outsiders, Ragnarok was no different from demons, but internally they had peacefully respected each other. As long as you didn’t commit serious crimes that harmed the organization’s discipline, cruel treatment never occurred. Ragnarok was a kind of religion, and its members were like brothers and sisters.

So the maid couldn’t understand the current situation. Had she committed a mortal sin? That couldn’t be.

But the Prophet paid no attention. She was in even greater confusion than the maid.

“Well of Wisdom! I offer this pure blood, so please show me the future I wish to see…!”

Slice-

“Keh… heh…”

The maid’s body went limp. Bright red blood poured from her throat and mixed with the spring water.

Was it thanks to that?

The spring water that had been murky like muddy water brightened slightly and characters faintly appeared above it. But it wasn’t the content the Prophet had hoped for.

<Cannot read. New records added to Akashic Records. Answers about the future impossible until all new records are read. Estimated 24 hours required to read all new records.>

“Cr-crazy!!”

Splash!

The Prophet threw the maid’s corpse into Mimir’s Well.

“Kyaaah! Prophet!”

“The Well of Wisdom!”

Fanaticism overcomes fear. The other maids who had been trembling at the sight of the murdered maid now raised their heads high and screamed. How… how could she commit the sacrilege of throwing a corpse into Mimir’s Well, one of the sacred three divine artifacts? How dare she!

“Shut up!”

But the Prophet saw nothing. With her slender hands, she lightly snapped the necks of three maids and stuffed them into Mimir’s Well.

Glub-

Mimir’s Well, cloudy like muddy water, swallowed the maids’ corpses into unfathomable depths like it was an endless swamp.

Even through all this, the Prophet couldn’t regain her composure.

The Prophet, who had been pacing back and forth while trembling, suddenly shuddered as if struck by lightning. She straightened her body and responded to someone in a rigid posture.

“Y-yes! The humble first priestess listens to the voice of the sixth apostle!”

“No! It appears to be a disturbance caused by those Pathfinder vermin. I’ll handle it immediately.”

“No! I have never forgotten for a moment how important maintaining the server is!”

“Please kill me! I will stake my worthless life to fulfill my mission. So please don’t cast this humble soul out of the world the Lord will create.”

“I will ensure this never happens again! Thank you! Thank you!”

The robe the Prophet had always worn was stripped off. The mask-like thing connected to the robe was also whisked away, revealing her transparent face.

Not transparent in the sense of having clean skin, but literally a transparent face. Blood vessels, teeth, skeleton, and tongue were visible right through. Between the nasal cartilage and behind the prominently floating eyeballs, even gray-white brain matter showed through clearly.

With such a horrific appearance, the Prophet wept bitterly. She cried from regret, from relief, from rage.

After crying for a long while, she stood up with bloodshot eyes. Her exposed teeth ground together with a grinding sound.

“These vermin dare to finally cross the line!”

The Prophet regretted that she should have stepped forward from the beginning.

“That day is approaching. Now it’s time to end even this child’s play war!”

She put on her robe and strode out of the room.