Chapter 368

The once peaceful sky was torn apart in an instant, as if someone had taken a giant brush and painted over the clear blue canvas in black. Following Beru’s arrival, pitch-black storm clouds surged over the half-destroyed buildings, swiftly blanketing the sky.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear these were no ordinary clouds. They were the army of the Itarim—ashen giants with holy blue wings, too eerie to be called angels, yet far too divine to be demons. They were armed with the divine power of the Itarim, and they filled the sky, countless in number.

“I told you again and again, the outer universes are crawling with small fry like these,” Beru said.

They were much like the followers Suho had defeated, one by one, back on Earth. They packed the sky completely, blotting out the sun with their overwhelming numbers. Yet despite the terrifying number of foes, there was one zealot whose fighting spirit only flared hotter.

With a shriek, a dark streak shot into the sky.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Beru, the commander, flew alone into the army, a black trail streaming behind him, spewing pure fury that went beyond madness. “You dared to abduct the Young Monarch! For that sin, I’ll sever each of your heads myself!”

He was gripped by both guilt and rage, furious that he had left Suho in danger. He had fought desperately to break inside, and now, with Suho safe, all of that desperation had exploded into wrath.

“I’ll devour every last one of you! Not a single one will be left!”

His body plunged into the heart of the dark cloud. The formation of ashen angels split apart at once, like a black blade tearing through pure white silk. The sound of combat erupted.

Beru was utterly consumed by the frenzy. There was no set pattern to his attacks, only the pure, chaotic dance of slaughter driven by instinct. Wherever his claws passed, angelic wings were shredded. With a single kick, their sacred armor crumpled like paper. Putrid gray blood poured like rain. The sky rang with the screams of the Itarim army. It was a massacre of overwhelming scale. No matter how many opponents they sent, Beru was a warrior who had served at Jinwoo’s side, a killer in the war against the Outer Gods. To him, the angels flooding the sky were nothing but prey.

While this brutal battle raged above, a different kind of fight began on the ground.

“Look, Suho,” said Kandiaru with a dark smile.

Reborn as Nidhogg, he coiled around Suho’s body like a shroud. Dozens of magic circles spun around him like the gears of some great machine, hacking into the laws of the world crafted by the Itarim.

At that moment, the world itself flashed again. It lasted no more than a tenth of a second, but in that blink, the peaceful lecture hall transformed once more into a foul cave, coated in slime. The stench of blood and rot flooded the air. The air grew sticky, warped by some ghastly pulsation that seemed to prod at Suho’s brain. Smiling students shifted into hideous monsters, and then changed back again. The next instant, everything was back to normal.

This phenomenon repeated itself again and again, like a stage lit by a flickering spotlight. It was the result of a battle—an invisible war between the Itarim’s laws and Kandiaru’s spellwork.

“The Itarim are fighting two wars at once.” Kandiaru’s voice echoed in Suho’s mind. “One in the sky, against the mad insect that is the Monarch of Shadows’ pet. The other is down here, desperately trying to repair the laws of this world that I keep breaking.”

In short, the Itarim were pulling all their forces into the sky to eliminate Beru, the “bug” that had infiltrated the system, while at the same time trying to patch Kandiaru’s continuous hacks.

“In other words, their power is split and scattered.”

As Kandiaru let out another cackling laugh and conjured yet another magic circle, he discovered the name of the law that upheld this world.

“Did you know? This world is called the Lonely Stage of the Divine. And you are that lonely god.”

In the end, all of this existed solely to isolate Suho and weaken him. It was meant to seal away Suho’s power and gradually melt him into the Itarim’s laws.

“But Beru isn’t someone who belongs to you. He is the strongest of your companions, and at the same time, the only one not bound by the laws of this world. Fascinating, isn’t it?”

Kandiaru laughed, basking in his own brilliance. He had exploited a loophole in the laws to drag Beru into this world, and Beru was now a literal bug in the system.

“But now you are the problem, Suho.” His gaze moved to Suho. “They’re growing tired of this game. They’ve decided to just kill you.”

As soon as those words left Kandiaru’s mouth, every student in the classroom began slowly closing in on Suho. Still smiling brightly, they spoke with kind voices.

“Suho, you don’t look happy. Is something wrong?”

They drew close, asking after his condition.

“Are you feeling all right?”

“Are you sick?”

“Are you not sick?”

“Why aren’t you sick?”

However, in their hands they held box cutters, carving knives, and shards of broken glass.

“Can’t you be sick?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Can’t you die?”

“What’s wrong with dying?”

Dozens of voices began to overlap, forming a strange and eerie harmony.

“Kill Suho!”

They screamed and rushed at him all at once. The sheer pressure of their killing intent burned, and their maddened blades all sought to end Suho’s life.

“The Itarim have given up on collecting you alive. Now, they aim to kill you and take your power instead,” Kandiaru said, watching the scene with calm disinterest. Then he turned to Suho again. “So, what will you do now? Suho, you are still powerless in this world. This is still a world governed by the Itarim’s laws. In this situation, what can you do, an ordinary human with not a shred of mana?”

Suho listened in silence, then shifted his weight, dodging the blades lunging toward him. He slipped past the zealots’ attacks with ease, grabbed one by the back of the head, and slammed them to the floor. The smiling zealot’s face scraped against hard concrete.

“Dieee!”

The others screamed as they rushed in, eager not to miss their chance. Suho grabbed a wooden easel beside him and hurled it. It crashed into the group, sending them reeling. Still, they showed no signs of pain. Without hesitation, they picked up the broken pieces and charged again.

Suho calmly observed their approach and murmured to Kandiaru. “You’re right... I don’t have power right now. I’ve got no mana, and no skills. But...” Suho straightened his posture and picked up a pencil from the floor. “Right now, this is all I need.”

It was just a pencil, meant for sketching. Suho spun it between his fingers, then shifted it into a reverse grip. Then the look in his eyes changed. The hand that, in this world, had known only the feel of pencils and brushes now remembered the weight of a dagger. He no longer wore the look of a languid art student. These were the eyes of a seasoned hunter who had survived countless battles.

“Ah?”

A spark lit within the white serpent Kandiaru’s gaze.

Suho’s eyes now tracked every incoming strike, reading each trajectory and pinpointing the weaknesses of his approaching foes.

“Let me prove it to you,” Suho said.

His body moved, smooth as flowing water. He slipped past the first student to rush at him and drove the pencil into their neck. Then he pulled it back out. The student collapsed, black blood gushing from a severed artery. It splattered everywhere. They had never been human to begin with—merely monsters disguised as people beneath the Itarim’s laws.

“O Itarim...”

Even in death, their expression remained enraptured. That one death marked the beginning of a true massacre.

Suho moved swiftly through the crowd of students, repeating the same technique over and over. His motion was restrained but precise, mechanical yet refined. Wherever he passed, the zealots fell like autumn leaves.

Kandiaru watched the scene and said, “Not bad for a kid like you. So this is the result of pure physical ability and battle experience, no touch of mana or skill use at all.”

He felt genuine admiration. Kandiaru raised his voice, as though he wanted every Itarim lurking in the shadows to hear.

“Did you know? Mana is meaningless. Your father, Sung Jinwoo, began with only ten mana at first. Might as well have been zero.”

A slow, dark smile spread across his lips.

“And I, Kandiaru, was the one who transformed that E-rank hunter into the Monarch of Shadows. Hahaha!”

As his arrogant laughter rang out, the serpent’s slit-pupiled eyes flared with bright light. While watching the battle, a spell he had been preparing for some time had finally reached completion.

“Now, Suho! This is where it truly begins! This is a brand-new leveling system. Not your father’s, but one crafted just for you!”

Ding!

[An emergency quest has been sent.]

“Oh?” Suho said. A familiar and deeply welcome system window popped up in front of him.

[Emergency Quest: Defeat the Enemy!]

[There are hostile entities nearby with murderous intent toward the player. Eliminate them to secure your safety. If you do not follow the instructions, you will be given an appropriate penalty.

Enemies to Eliminate: 30,000

Enemies Eliminated: 48]

“Thirty thousand?”

Suho immediately understood the meaning of that number. It was the total number of students enrolled at the university. The moment the emergency quest activated, bursts of colorful mana exploded from the bodies of all the students who had been standing by and had not yet attacked Suho. This included those in the hallway beyond the lecture room, and others scattered all across campus.

“Haha! Do you see now? See how the mighty Itarim panic in the face of my system!” Kandiaru burst into laughter and boasted to Suho, “If the Itarim begin to twist the very laws they wrote, that only works in my favor!”

Kandiaru generated even more magic circles, as if this was precisely what he had been waiting for. They gave off a shrill sound, almost like an electric guitar, and spun furiously in place.

“Now, fight without restraint! Let every death you cause become a stepping stone for growth! Infinite progress!”

The pencil in Suho’s hand snapped. Without hesitation, he tossed it aside and picked up two box cutters nearby. They were simple tools meant for sharpening pencils, but the moment he gripped them, Suho sensed the memory of every battle he had fought, his father’s twin daggers, and Beru’s claws all overlapping in the flashing chaos.

“You expect me to start over from the beginning? Becoming an adult is a real pain.” Suho grumbled under his breath. Then, holding the box cutters in a reverse grip, he dashed forward.

“Still, it’s at the beginning that you level up the fastest!”

Kandiaru felt an unexpected emotion. He was reminded of Jinwoo. Back then, Jinwoo had been nothing more than a puppet. That was all. But now...

“Well... I suppose not much has changed. It is the same deal as with Ashborn, only with someone else.”

Snakes, especially clever ones, were good at justifying their actions.

Suho’s movements as he wielded the box cutters were even sharper and faster than before. However, the enemies he now faced were all awakened. Suho, meanwhile, was still just an ordinary human. Still, that didn’t stop him from aiming at their vital spots with practiced precision. They might have awakened, but their weak spots remained the same.

He avoided the tanker types and went for the damage dealers and healers first—those who were easier to kill. With no mana to rely on, this was the most efficient way for him to hunt. As long as they insisted on remaining human under the laws of this world, he could continue fighting this way.

“Plenty of vital points.”

Their ankles were one example. If they guarded their necks, he would strike from below. Then, once their lower bodies failed, he could go for the neck again. Rinse and repeat.

A black spray of blood traced the path of Suho’s movements. He cut down his enemies in a frenzy, and soon, a mechanical voice spoke in his ear.

[Level up!]

At last, a sliver of mana sprouted within Suho, who had been completely unawakened. All his stats increased, ever so slightly. This marked the beginning. More notifications followed.

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

The chime refused to stop.

[Skill: “Critical Attack - Level 1” has been acquired.]

[Skill: “High-Level Dagger Mastery - Level 1” has been acquired.]

It was an explosion of rapid leveling, almost insane in speed. Suho was growing stronger at an unbelievable rate, and Kandiaru let out a delighted laugh at the sight.

“Well done! Kill them. Kill them all! Every bit of experience you earn here will serve as nourishment for the dead World Tree!”

“Oh, so that’s how it works? That’s actually pretty satisfying,” Suho said, a faint grin tugging at his lips. “So, where to next?”

Suho launched himself fully into the hunt.

[Skill: “Dash - Level 1” has been acquired.]

With the system built by the Architect Kandiaru, Suho, with no mana and no abilities, became the perfect Irregular, the only one of his kind in this world. He was a hunter who leveled up completely solo and grew with infinite potential—a being that should never have existed in the flawless prison of the Itarim.