Chapter 340: Black Sky (4)

In a city shrouded in thick, black clouds, no towering walls or tightly shut gates could be seen in Niflheim.

Are they trying to say, ‘Come in if you dare.’

Kwon Oh-Jin dryly laughed at the ashen buildings faintly visible beyond the black clouds.

Well, I guess it makes sense.

What demonkin would ever think Niflheim would get attacked?

That arrogant assumption will end today.

“Let’s go.” Kwon Oh-Jin stepped toward the city veiled in dark clouds.

Using the Black Curtain to conceal his presence, he quietly infiltrated Niflheim.

So this is Niflheim.

The dull, dark city reminded him of European streets during the Industrial Revolution.

Breathing quietly, he slowly walked through the streets. If he came across a demonkin nearby, he planned to interrogate them about the location of the ritual.

No one’s here.

The streets had been completely deserted. Not a single demonkin or even a demonic beast remained in sight.

“

Tsk

.”

At this rate, he would have to find the place himself.

Kwon Oh-Jin jumped on top of a building and activated the Stigma of Canes Venatici. Along with a stinging stench, the view of the city, previously hidden by the clouds, came into view. At the center of Niflheim, a massive black cloud had gathered into the shape of a dome.

“What the hell is that?”

Actually, it wasn’t quite a dome.

A heart.

The swirling black clouds pulsed like a giant’s freshly ripped out heart.

Is that where all these clouds are coming from?

The massive cluster of black clouds, easily several kilometers in size, spread out like blood vessels from the heart, pumping darkness across the entire city.

“That must be it.”

He hadn’t concluded this out of instinct or sharp insight. Even if one grabbed a passing three-year-old and asked, they would point and say the ritual was happening there.

They weren’t even trying to hide it from the beginning.

Perhaps this was a good thing since it saved him the trouble of looking for it.

Questioning if this was appropriate for a ritual to break the Heavenly Demon’s seal, he approached the pulsing black clouds. As he grew closer to the black clouds, a crushing wave of energy slammed into him, leaving him almost breathless.

“It’s not that they weren’t trying to hide it.”

This type of energy couldn’t be hidden. Even if someone tried to cast a barrier around it, the entire barrier would get blown away by the sheer force of this mana storm.

Kwon Oh-Jin slowly stepped toward the clouds.

Rumble! Rumble!

He placed his hand on the throbbing clouds. The fierce mana raged like it would tear apart anything that came near, but settled down like a tame lamb the moment his hand touched it.

The black clouds coiling gently around his hand felt oddly familiar like reuniting with an old friend.

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Well, it makes sense.

Because what wrapped around him was none other than the Black Heaven’s energy.

It’s similar... but different.

His own Black Heaven and what the Heavenly Demon possessed seemed alike at first glance, but a difference clearly existed when he closed his eyes and focused.

“It feels... fragile."

Was that the right word? It felt unstable like a sand castle.

She said the Heavenly Demon’s Black Heaven is incomplete, right?

When he first heard that from Cassia, he hadn’t really understood what it meant. Now he could tell after directly touching it.

How did he manage to hold it together when it was this unstable?

Handling such an unstable Black Heaven was like sprinting across ground made out of sponges. One misstep and he would plummet off a cliff.

“What the hell are you trying to accomplish with this?” With wavering eyes, Kwon Oh-Jin stared at the clouds.

Then, he bit his lip and stepped inside. This wasn’t the time to contemplate the Heavenly Demon’s intentions.

“This place is...” Contrary to what he expected, the inside of the black clouds was surprisingly bright.

When he looked up, he saw countless stars twinkling above.

Are these all the Stigmas the Black Heaven has absorbed so far?

There were an immense number of stars, far beyond his own. For some reason, the stars embedded in the clouds didn’t feel beautiful. Rather, they felt ominous and horrifying.

“θυμηθείτε την ημέρα που υποσχεθήκαμε.”

“θυμηθείτε την ημέρα που υποσχεθήκαμε.”

As he went deeper inside, thousands of demonkin gathered in a circle and murmured an incantation in an unknown language. It felt like witnessing a satanic cult gathering. Thousands of muttering demonkin lay on the ground, making for a grotesque and disturbing sight.

Is this the ritual they were talking about?

Kwon Oh-Jin narrowed his eyes and scanned the demonkin on the ground. Intricate magic circles carved beneath them pulsed with a dark crimson light as the incomprehensible chants continued.

Would destroying these magic circles stop the ritual?

Kwon Oh-Jin sighed in relief as he observed this. Thankfully, stopping the ritual seemed straightforward.

In that case, I guess it’s time to get ready.

Just as he reached into his pocket for something, one of the demonkin stared right at him with wide eyes in disbelief.

“A human?”

“

Tsk

.”

It seemed that not all of them had been absorbed in the ritual. Kwon Oh-Jin missed a lookout nearby as he focused on the magic circle.

“H-How did a human get in here?!” The demonkin reached for the sword at his waist in confusion and shock.

Before the blade could be fully unsheathed, Kwon Oh-Jin kicked off the ground and charged.

Crackle!

Using the Stigma of Capricornus, he silenced his footsteps and slammed his palm into the hilt of the sword, knocking it back into its sheath.

Quickly and quietly.

He couldn’t use anything loud like Explosive Lightning or Azure Lightning.

Grabbing the demonkin by the nape, he sent a bolt of electricity directly into the demonkin’s head.

“

Guhk, gah! Khh—!

” The demonkin's eyes rolled back as he passed out.

Just as Kwon Oh-Jin exhaled in relief, thinking he had taken down the demonkin before causing a scene, the black horns protruding from the demonkin’s forehead began to tremble. Black clouds seeped out and drifted into the air before getting pulled into the ritual’s magic circle.

Rumble!

“An intruder! We’ve got an intruder!”

“H-How did a human pierce through the Black Heaven’s clouds?!”

“How dare you interfere with the ritual!”

Several demonkin turned toward Kwon Oh-Jin after seeing the black clouds sink into the magic circle.

The Black Curtain only concealed his presence. Once someone saw him directly, it no longer mattered after being exposed.

“

Tsk

.” Clicking his tongue, Kwon Oh-Jin drew Dantalian from his waist.

The palm-sized folding knife instantly transformed into a spear.

I wanted to observe the ritual a little longer.

He wanted to figure out where and how to strike most effectively. Now that they had discovered him, he couldn’t analyze the magic circle in peace anymore.

“Don’t mind me. Why not go back to what you were doing? It’s an important ritual, isn’t it?”

“H-How does this human know about the ritual...?”

The demonkins frowned, not understanding the situation. A human who knew about this secret ritual was more than enough to shake them.

“How did you even get in here?” One demonkin scowled and stepped forward.

The Black Heaven’s clouds surrounded the ritual site. Even an archduke demonkin wouldn’t be able to penetrate it, yet this human had passed through the barrier and entered on his own. This didn’t make any sense.

“Maybe he was hiding nearby before the ritual started and overheard something about it?”

“Ah, that would make sense.”

Unable to even imagine that Kwon Oh-Jin had controlled the black clouds to get in, the demonkin began forming theories among themselves.

“Human, why were you sneaking around like a rat?” the approaching demonkin asked threateningly.

Kwon Oh-Jin calmly shrugged. “I came to stop the ritual, obviously.”

“What?”

His casual tone sparked disbelief among the demonkin.

“Has this human gone insane...?” One of them scowled and lunged at him.

A dark light spread out from the horns on the demonkin’s forehead, and black flames erupted.

Fwoosh!

The raging black flames targeted Kwon Oh-Jin.

“Dang, so much for answering your question.”

With a smirk, he swung his spear and split the flames in half.

The two halves of the flame struck the ground and exploded.

Boom!

“This bastard!”

“Kill that arrogant human!”

Perhaps realizing that Kwon Oh-Jin was no ordinary human after he effortlessly handled the black flames, the demonkin surrounding him exchanged glances and all rushed him simultaneously.

Blue lightning roared to life.

Crackle!

Every time Kwon Oh-Jin swung his spear, waves of explosive lightning burst forth, incinerating the demonkin charging at him.

“This suits me better than dealing with things quietly.”

With the Black Heaven’s tenth enlightenment, his Stigma’s mana had grown much stronger. The demonkin were helpless against the concentrated lightning.

“

Urgh...

Where the hell did this monster come from?!”

The demonkin looked bewildered at Kwon Oh-Jin’s overwhelming strength, which far exceeded their expectations.

“Maybe you do have the skills to back up your arrogant talk about interfering with the ritual, but—” The demonkin flew back from Kwon Oh-Jin’s fierce assault and wiped the blood from his lips. “You’re not the brightest for someone that strong.”

They felt surprised that a human suddenly showed up to disrupt the ritual, but that was all there was to it.

The demonkins encircled Kwon Oh-Jin and smirked.

“No matter how strong you are, what do you think you can do alone?”

Thousands of demonkin looked at Kwon Oh-Jin.

Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled and nodded. “Alone,

huh

.”

Like they said, no matter how strong he was, he couldn’t handle thousands of the demonkin by himself.

“In that case, it’s fine as long as I’m not alone, right?”

“What?”

The demonkin anxiously looked around, scanning for any sign of reinforcements. No matter where they looked, they didn’t see anyone but Kwon Oh-Jin.

“What are you—”

“Before I came here, I had a little fight with a guy named Deimos.” Kwon Oh-Jin grinned and reached into his pocket.

His absurdly simple plan didn’t require any training. It allowed access to the heart of the Niflheim kingdom with minimal casualties. It sounded ridiculous like creating hot ice, but the answer turned out to be surprisingly straightforward.

“Lord Deimos... Don’t tell me—”

“He had a really nice toy on him.” With a wicked grin, Kwon Oh-Jin pulled out a golden tablet with a demon engraving on it.

As he infused it with mana, a radiant golden light spread out.

Woong!

From within the golden glow, beastkin and dragonkin warriors in full armor emerged. Isabella and Song Ha-Eun, standing at the head of the beastkin and dragonkin army, approached Kwon Oh-Jin.

“Good work, Mr. Oh-Jin.”

“What took you so long to call us? Oh

,

right, I meant to say this earlier but forgot.” Song Ha-Eun hooked her arm around his shoulder, gave a thumbs-up, and winked brightly. “On your left.”

What the hell is she even saying?