Chapter 75 (2/2)

Seo Gyu-Cheol said with a flash glaring from his eyes, “You mean the seed? Of course! I’m a gardener. A faithful gardener who observes and cultivates the seeds he planted himself… Pledged to harvest a selected crop someday when it blooms to make an offering to him!”

The words contained one truth that could not be ignored. I clenched my teeth, feeling a surge of anger. The way I spoke changed drastically, unbeknownst to me, “Him? And a gardener?”

Seo Gyu-Cheol’s unique skill was not related to brainwashing. It meant he was not the primary source of the curse, but he was connected to an alien.

“Not only did you let the curse be planted, but you also observed that it was eroding properly? Even if you knew I was going crazy because of a curse?”

“What curses! This is baptism!” His eyes had already been tainted with deep madness, “A holy baptism to prepare the offering to be made perfect!”

For what?

“Is that a humane thing to do? To sacrifice your child for whatever the purpose is?”

“The decision to sacrifice one’s children is the noblest sacrifice and the pinnacle of the holy offering! Don’t you know it’s a sacred act that appears in almost all religious scriptures and myths!”

This wouldn’t be solved by talking. I raised my sword.

“You cut in the middle, and everything went wrong. The day your consciousness came back after fainting, I felt a sense of change. That you have finally stopped resisting, given up, and you have begun to accept the will of the seed as your own. Just like Han-Seol and Park Chang-Hee did! But it wasn’t like that. The content has changed!”

Who was he talking about? What was he was trying to get in return for sacrificing his guild members, including his son, and what was the way to offer them?

All these questions… It could be answered by reading his memory.

“You… Are out of the seed’s control! If the seed had manipulated you, you wouldn’t have run away from the gardener on purpose! From now on, I’ll fix everything again!”

Seo Gyu-Cheol took out his sword, and I rushed towards him with several layers of energy wrapped around the sword.

Cling! Clang!

A high-speed battle ensued. Seo Gyu-Cheol’s sword hadn’t lost its sharpness, and he moved instinctively.

But then….

[Artha’s Sword Dance!]

The purple sword energy I poured out clashed with his sword, and instead of scattering directly into the air, it seeped into the blade. The sword energy agglomerated and began to resonate in a particular form.

Clang!

“Keup!”

Seo Gyu-Cheol’s sword broke into pieces before my eyes. His face, as he lost his weapon, turned dark, realizing the disaster. But soon, it was replaced with a look of determination.

Weing!

There was a storm of red Mana around him. His unique skill had been activated.

[Etherification 3333 (Rank: SS)!]

Seo Gyu-Cheol’s whole body, his clothes, and artifacts all seeped into the air, leaving only an instant light shade. This was not just transparency. It was a unique skill that temporarily deviated a limited area around one’s body from the material world.

‘If he runs away like that, it will be the end!’

I deliberately rolled my eyes, missing his image.

‘Even if he deviates from the dimension, it is because of the Mana connected to the material world ···.’

I kept acting. In the ether state, it was possible to pass through objects without being resisted by material, depending on his will. If he seeped into the ground and ran away, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with his speed, and even if I use [Penetration], he’d eventually be out of my sight.

But then….

‘He’s rushing towards me!’

Seo Gyu-Cheol flew to me in the ether state. He didn’t give up on capturing me.

‘He can run away in that condition, but he can’t fight. Since he now lost his weapon, he’ll find a replacement!’

I leave him to come to me. Closing in the ether state, he…

Paht! In an instant, part of his hand was returned to this reality, and he aimed for my wrist with his Mana-wrapped hands.

I responded late to the attack. But the angle of the sword narrowly missed the target, and his attack hit my bone.

Swish!

The sword that fell out of my hand flew into the sky. Seo Gyu-Cheol etherized his body again as if he could not miss it and then kicked and flew in the air. Only the hand returned to reality and held the handle of the devil’s sword. It was a plan of hitting two birds with one stone to disarm me and rearm himself. But this was also what I was aiming for.

I shouted, “Now!”

At that moment…

“Arghhhhh!” Seo Gyu-Cheol fell to the floor. His veins were protruding on his forehead as his body returned to this realm.

“K…. gaaaaaaaaah!”

He rolled on the ground in agony, yet he still held the sword firmly, refusing to let it go. I knew the meaning of that phenomenon.

[Whisper of the Sword!]

As soon as he reached the devil’s sword’s handle, the cognition in it triggered the skill of A-Rank brainwashing. Instead of urging them to agree to the contract as before, it would be smashing his mind with violent telepathy and injecting suggestions repeatedly.

‘It’s similar to Han-Seol’s reaction when exposed to the [Dominating Touch]!’

It seemed that if exposed to another brainwashing as one is in a brainwashed state, an extreme rejection took place. Even if it didn’t last long, it was enough to create this window of opportunity.

“Snake 3!”

I got my hands on the artifact that the snake vomited. One of the SS-Class items that I requested from Ministry Spirit today!

[Dain-Snu Family Slavemaster’s Whip (Rank: SS)]

Item description: The whip of the slave master managed the gladiator slave units owned by the Dain-Snu family. To prevent slaves from striking back with sword energy, an additional function absorbs and consumes the opponent’s Mana. Unfortunately, the absorbed Mana disappears and cannot be stored separately.

As soon as the glossy whip swung, it stretched out and wrapped around Seo Gyu-Cheol’s body.

“Keupp!” The effect of the whip activated as soon as I squeezed him. Weeeing!

The whip began to suck up Seo Gyu-Cheol’s Mana, preventing him from escaping by etherizing himself.

‘Things got easier as the deal with the spirit turned out as I expected!’

I could see the Mana from Seo Gyu-Cheol’s core permeating to the whip. As from the item description, the absorbed blue light soon faded and scattered since the artifact could only evaporate the Mana and neutralize the opponent.

At that moment, I completely removed Mana from Seo Gyu-Cheol’s core.

‘… It’s my first time to see this happening while someone is alive.’

“Gaaah!”

Seo Gyu-Cheol, whose body was tightly bound, and floored, revealed his teeth. I saw his core. Inside the heart, there was not a single Mana left, but there was familiar red energy.

‘It’s the seed!’

I couldn’t guarantee how the results would turn out from then on.

‘Han-Seol and Park Chang-Hee had their seeds destroyed after the host had died.’

But Seo Gyu-Cheol was still alive. What would happen to the host if my seed attacked and killed it? Would it live or die? I decided to experiment with it.