Chapter 212: #Abraxas’ Eggs

A few hours ago, during the 16th round of the Hunter War, high above the colosseum...

Kieeeek!

The white-backed vulture, ruler of the African skies, was in a good mood. Clutched in its talons was a chicken snatched from a farmer’s field.

“

Nooo!

My chicken!”

Panicking, the farmer attempted to chase the vulture. As if an earth crawler could ever hope to catch it!

The vulture drooled at the thought of having chicken for breakfast. Eagert to return to its nest for a fresh, tasty treat, the vulture didn’t notice it until it was close.

Kieeeeek!

The vulture’s eyes widened in shock. There was a human in the sky!

Roooooar!

Moreover, the monstrous human was radiating a creepy, sinister aura! Were they chasing after it?!

Instinctively realizing that it had to escape as soon as possible, it screeched and fled in a hurry!

***

“

Hmm?

”

I reflexively caught something that was falling toward my head—a dead chicken with a limp neck.

Kieeeeek!

I glanced around and saw a vulture flying away at breakneck speed.

“Well done.”

Even such a trivial creature knew to offer me tribute. I was truly a great malevolent god.

“Nice timing. I was feeling peckish.”

I roughly cleaned the chicken with Demon Lord, then roasted it with my Convicting Middle Finger of God.

Nyam, nyam.

It couldn't compare to takeout and delivery, but it was enough to fill my stomach. Suddenly, the hilt of my sword trembled.

-Bastard! How dare you use your teacher for something like this!

“Old Man, do you want some? Oh, wait. You don’t have a mouth.

Keke!”

Demon Lord was riled up, but I ignored him and looked back on the ground. I was here in the air to find that damned mad clown. I scoured my surroundings and even the entire continent of Africa but found nothing.

I was starting to suspect he’d leave the continent after ambushing me.

Meanwhile, back in the colosseum, my follower, Sung Mi-Na, was still fighting against her opponent.

“Still not going to surrender?”

“

Aaargh!”

Sung Mi-Na approached the Argentinian Hunter, who was frozen like a statue. Despite being bound by her skill—the Power of Words—the determination in his eyes didn’t die.

“Okay,

don’t breathe

,” she whispered into his ears.

He stopped breathing. Even the most transcendent of Hunters couldn’t live without air. Before the five-minute mark hit, the Argentinian Hunter’s face turned blue, and he finally surrendered.

“

Hmph.

Is that supposed to be a challenge?” Sung Mi-Na swept her hair back gracefully.

Brimming with excitement, the MC made an announcement.

—Team Argentina’s Gabriel Veron has fallen to Team Korea’s Sung Mi-Na! Team Korea will advance to the quarterfinals! After the amazing comeback by Hunter Yu ll-Shin, Hunter Sung Mi-Na won ten consecutive matches against both Brazil and Argentina! This year's Team Korea is really amazing!

The crowd began to cheer for Sung Mi-Na.

“

Waaaaah!

Sung Mi-Na! Sung Mi-Na!”

“Loli Goddess Sung Mi-Na!”

“

Wow!

Korea’s legit Lolita!”

“What? Who said that?! I’ll kill you!”

“

Eek!

Unni! Calm down!”

Sung Mi-Na was about to jump into the stands like an angry hamster, but Sung Mi-Ri hastily stopped her.

Frankly, this development didn’t surprise me. After all, Sung Mi-Na was actually an SS-rank Hunter. Her psychic abilities excelled against weaker opponents, making her victory nearly certain unless facing SS-rank foes.

However, there was one person who was unhappy with Sung Mi-Na’s victory.

“Des...troy!”

Sam-Shin sprang from the bench and glared up at me. His glowing red eyes behind the helmet seemed to ask when his turn would come.

“Be patient. A trump card isn’t meant to be revealed so early in the game. It’s even cooler when you show up during a crisis. Don’t you want to show your niece how cool you are?”

“Des...troy!” Sam-Shin nodded approvingly and sat back down.

Phew. At least he’s a simpleton.

-That kiddo’s skills already match yours at such a young age. I’d like to mentor him myself.

“Who are you calling my equal?!” I screamed at Demon Lord, dropping the chicken leg I was enjoying. “I’m clearly way stronger!”

-

Kehehe.

I wouldn’t be so sure. If not for the limits of his divine power, there’s no telling who would win between you two.

Demon Lord laughed tauntingly, seemingly exacting revenge for what I had done earlier.

In a fit of anger, I was

this

close to throwing the old man away. However, I felt that doing so would imply that I agreed with him, so I held myself back.

Just to be clear, I didn’t lose to Sam-Shin last night. I was just a bit careless, took a hit from his destruction beam, and coughed up some blood.

Nevertheless, at the end of the day, that little rat was still an alter ego, so he had a fatal weakness.

Sss...

After unleashing his beams thrice, he began to vanish.

“Did you use up your divine power?”

I recalled him firing the beam at a Despair Dragon cultist before vanishing right after. His powers had grown significantly, but the beam seemed limited to three uses. Unlike me, restricted by the proliferating skill's time limit, he only needed to return to the main body after depleting his divine power.

I placed my hand on his head, giving him a portion of my divine power.

Tzzz!

Like recharging a battery, he returned to normal. Sam-Shin then looked at me in a daze.

“Des...troy?”

“

Keke,

you’ve shown your worth. You’re indeed my alter ego. Alright, I’ll let you take my place. I’ll hunt the clown down, so you should aim to win the matches! This is how we distribute our roles!”

Sam-Shin raised both arms in agreement. “Des...troy!”

Since he was joining the Hunter War, I reassigned my followers—Sword Demon and Shin Yoo—to escort my family and Kang Woo. I gave them their instructions at dawn, and the rest was history.

“

Ugh!

That fucking clown! Where is he hiding?!”

In fact, I hadn’t made any progress at all. I had even scoured Mount Kilimanjaro, where I first encountered the mad clown.

Now that the quarterfinals were underway, I wondered if I should’ve just participated myself. Some of the Hunters were quite powerful and even used divine artifacts, like French Hunter Zan Le Mang and Japanese Hunter Sasaki.

Hm? What’s that?

My heart started racing like a sprinter in a hundred-meter dash or a shy boy in love. Something was happening below.

[The innate power Blind Eyes of God has been activated.]

I focused my divine power on the aura and soon found its source. There, I saw something glimmering.

Ding!

[You have discovered the Sacred Hatching Grounds of Abraxas' Eggs.]

About 200 meters beneath the colosseum lay a hidden space, sealed under dozens of mana barriers.

“Something’s up.” I smirked, happy to have caught on the mad clown’s tail.

“Skill Sharing. Choi Bong-Shik, Ruler of Space!”

When I teleported, I found dozens of layers of barriers stretched out like a tidal wave, as if anticipating my arrival.

Kwaaaaah!

“

Hmph

.” However, this wasn’t enough to stop me, the great malevolent god. “Crushing Forefinger of God!”

Riiip!

I slammed my index finger down, crushing the barriers. I then flew through the gap I had made.

Swoosh!

I landed in a huge underground cavity the size of the colosseum.

“

Hmm...”

Why would they hide such a place under the colosseum? At the center stood a twenty-meter statue of a goddess holding a set of scales.

Hey, looks familiar.

I recognized it from the murals in God of Harmony’s Ruins. Wasn’t she the ill-fated goddess devoured by God of Destroyer?

“What’s that?”

Tzzz!

A magic circle lay beneath her statue, emitting a strange, greenish glow. On top of it rested what seemed like a transparent bird egg. Through the glassy shell, a figure lay curled up like a fetus, fast asleep.

Upon taking a closer look, I realized it was a girl seemingly in her late teens. She had pearly white skin and green hair, but she wasn’t an ordinary human. Pointed ears peeked out from her hair, marking her as an elf—an alien race that migrated to Earth through the gates.

Ssss—

Her eyes fluttered open. Did she sense me? Her green eyes, as mysterious as her hair, shifted toward me. Then, her rose-red lips curved into a gentle smile.

Wait, where had I seen her before?

I tried using my appraisal skill on her.

[The innate power Blind Eyes of God has been activated.]

-----

[Allohym]

A female elf of divine blood descent. Around for 216 years.

Special note: Abraxas’ Eggs...

-----

Allohym? Abraxas’ Eggs? Pretty sure I’ve heard them before...

Just then, one of my stalkers chimed in.

[Silently Crawling Nightmare says those eggs work well for soothing bruises, and eating them boosts strength. She suggests taking the opportunity to eat them.]

She sounded quite persuasive, but I wasn’t a cannibal.

[The target has declined appraisal!]

What?

The appraisal window disappeared. When I looked at the egg, I saw the girl frowning slightly, making an X with two index fingers. Her rejection felt like

déjà vu

.

“Aren’t you the Penguin Mask?”

I’d rescued a penguin-masked woman from the Despair Dragon cult in Korea. Before the elves suddenly took her away, she had made the same gesture.

Seemingly pleased that I could recognize her, she nodded.

“

Hmm.”

I’m not sure what’s going on, but I should probably break her out of the egg.

I raised my fist.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

The space around me distorted, and a large group of people appeared at once.

“How did you find this place?”

Although they all had masks on, their pointed ears were dead giveaways. There were hundreds of them. Weird. Weren’t there only about twenty elves who had officially migrated to Earth?

Some of the elves recognized me, their eyes widening.

“Aren’t you the one from back then?”

“You may be our benefactor, but you’ve seen something you shouldn’t have! You won’t leave this place alive!”

They wanted to silence me? How absurd.

“

Kekeke. Kehahaha!

”

Ruuuumble!

My sinister laugh shook the cavity like an earthquake. These lowly insects! They'd dare challenge the great malevolent god who would one day ascend to the pinnacle of all gods?

“Try me.”

Come to think of it, I had never gone up against an elf before. I should take this as a warm-up before facing the mad clown.