Chapter 163 (1/2)

Luring Operation

It had been a while since Iponia began to understand human language.

However, just because it heard and understood my order didn’t necessarily mean that it would obey me.

Even though I was the one that saved, brought, and fed it when it was about to starve to death, ‘Cat’ started pretending not to hear my words at some point.

At first glance, it would look as if he was acting disrespectfully, but I noticed the instinctive fear released faintly in between the patterns of its behavior.

‘It was sensing the curse inside me and was afraid!’

For Iponia, which was yet to fully become an adult, it feared becoming overwhelmed by the curse.

But that had been turned into a thing of the past.

In one of the most recent attempts, there was a scene where it tried to fight back to a certain extent instead of only running away.

It had already gotten a lot closer to the target maturity.

And with the help of ‘Rom,’ it reached that goal momentarily.

Its posture was majestic.

I tried to release the curse in front of Iponia.

The blue Mana in the core moved in a complicated fashion.

The purpose was to provoke [Mercadius’ Seed] and bring it out.

Not long after that, the red Mana, which wasn’t originally mine, reacted and wriggled.

… Screech!

The wriggling red force radiated out.

The curse in my heart that failed to take over my mind because of [The Successor’s Eyes]…

It’s time to end its long-term parasitization.

“Meeeeeow!”

Blue waves spread out from the wide-open eyes of Iponia, sending out an attack aimed at my heart.

That was the step needed to separate the nucleated skill and weaken it before consumption.

Screeeeech!

An eerie scream reverberated through the mind.

-[The Successor’s Eyes (Rank: EX)] has resisted against [Mercadius’ Seed (Rank: SSS)]!

“…!”

I watched the fight between the two.

The seed inflated its body while it was still attached to my heart. Struggling, it wrapped and stretched out its red figure all over the place.

When I saw it, I recalled the end of the seed in the hearts of Park Chang-Hee, Han-Seol, and Seo Gyu-Cheol.

My curse ate up all the other seeds as Mercadius intended.

However, as time went by, it ended up in the same situation as well.

The wild-running vigor began to decline noticeably.

‘Yes, finally!’

The awaited moment had arrived.

The curse couldn’t hold out, forcing it to jump out of the body!

The fully visible punk looked similar to the other hosts, but the size was significantly incomparable.

I realized it once again.

Just because it’s the seed didn’t mean that they were all the same.

And those that it ate up until that point were the fake seeds to play the role of ‘feed’…

‘What was inside me was the real seed for the reproduction of the species!’

It was chilling and disgusting.

Would I have turned to another Mercadius the moment it fully dominated my mind and bloomed?

“Meeeeeow!”

Cat jumped up toward the red sphere moving limply in the air.

It exhibited quick and sharp movements that I had never seen before.

On the spot where the white and black flash struck down…

Screeeech!

The curse struggled in agony.

However, Iponia didn’t get pushed back and bit down on it without hesitation.

It wasn’t a static and peaceful scene like when absorbing skill cards.

Dissimilar to skill cards, which gently turned into a Mana pattern, curses… were like creatures made of Mana, if I had to describe them.

The seed, whose primal instinct was to resist the opponent, became sluggish as claws and fangs tore it apart.

Screeech!

Screech!

Crush!

Crack!

At long last…

Cat ate up all the red Mana without leaving a single fragment.

There wasn’t even a trace of the seed in front of it.

A genuine cheer broke out from the bottom of my heart.

“Good job!”

After a wild hunt, Cat looked extremely satisfied with a full stomach.

But would he be as satisfied as I was?

The curse that I bore within my heart for nearly a year had finally disappeared.

I had the same feeling as a sore tooth finally falling out.

‘I can’t afford to take time!’

I didn’t have time to remain sentimental like that.

“I don’t know how you’re going to throw it up after you’ve digested it. It’s the first time I’ve ever fed you a unique skill.”

Honestly, I couldn’t imagine it properly.

“Anyway, that’s something we’ll find out later. Go back home for now.”

I ripped the scroll and sent Cat back to Seoul.

“…”

A very brief silence lingered around.

The scene was required to be watched by the United Nations headquarters and governments around the world.

I waited for its arrival without letting my guard down.

Bachurka had confidence.

That Mercadius would’ve had the ability to notice when the most important ‘reproduction-use seed’ was damaged.

And until the conjecture turned out to be true…

“!”

It took only five seconds.

Five seconds after sending Cat back home.

In the sky, where there used to be nothing but clouds, a man was hovering. His eyes were focused on me.

A force was applied to the hand holding the sword.

The first thing that caught my eye was the Mana in his heart.

‘… about 5 million!’

It’s approximately ten times my Mana I had when I was being measured at Union headquarters.

When I raised my glance a little, our eyes met.

I had never seen him face to face like that before, apart from seeing him from Seo Gyu-Cheol’s memories.

His face was unfamiliar because he disguised himself as a different race and appearance from back then.

Dark skin and exotic features.

There was another distinctly different factor.

The relaxed face that I saw a few times in Seo Gyu-Cheol’s memory was nowhere to be found.

His eyes were blazing with flames that would burn down everything in his sight.

Mercadius.

The source that made Seo Jin-Wook the ‘Devil King’ in the future that Han-Seol saw.

A mysterious species that would have leisurely waited for the seed in me to bloom in my current life for the same purpose.

The moment he revealed his teeth…

The communicator connected to my ear sent out a message that the Union and the humans could hear simultaneously.

-Mercadius in sight! Initiate attack!

Pshhhhh!

Doo-doo-doo-doom!

Bullet of light poured down like rain from the sky.

“!”

My primary role in that operation was to lure Mercadius.

Even Bachurka didn’t expect me to win against him alone.

From far away, rays of light that broke the sky into pieces rained down and struck.

They were fired from the Tactical Fortress, which hid in the sky a dozen kilometers away.