Chapter: 12
Rat Bastard.
One corner of the inventory, an icon radiating a brilliant light.
It was far from being a weapon or armor.
It was also ambiguous to call it a general tool.
I widened my eyes and read through the related information.
[Cataclysmic Reward (1): Authority Combiner]
[Description: Mix two different authorities to create a completely new authority.]
“……!”
A thrill ran through me.
It was electrifying enough to make my hair stand on end.
I had a lot on my mind anyway.
‘Devourer of Disasters.’
This ability was overpowered, but it had a fatal weakness.
That was the ‘risk of exposure.’
Let’s assume I used Kartal’s ‘Earthquake’ or Tulkach’s ‘Volcano.’
What would the other gods think if they saw that?
‘Huh? Isn’t that Kartal’s power?’
‘The wave pattern is exactly the same as Tulkach’s volcano, though?’
Suspicion becomes certainty, and certainty leads to public condemnation.
If it became known that I killed gods and stole their powers, every god in Asgard would try to kill me.
No matter how strong I am, becoming the public enemy of the gods is something I want to avoid.
But.
‘What if I combine them and make something completely different?’
That changes things.
Erase the scent of the original.
Launder the pedigree.
This is a kind of ‘authority washing machine.’
‘Perfect.’
Without hesitation, I activated the combiner.
Woooooong!
A massive cauldron-shaped hologram appeared before my eyes.
I grinned and inserted the materials.
First material.
[Lesser Earthquake], stolen from Kartal, the lesser god of earthquakes.
Second material.
[Rampaging Volcano], devoured from the fanatic Tulkach.
Both are powerful, but they either have inherent limitations or are too conspicuous.
[Combine ‘Lesser Earthquake’ and ‘Rampaging Volcano’?]
I nodded without hesitation.
The cauldron vibrated.
Kugugugugu!
The dull vibration of the earthquake clashed with the intense heat of the volcano.
Golden sparks flew.
System messages popped up rapidly.
[Disassembling authority ‘Lesser Earthquake.’]
[Melting authority ‘Rampaging Volcano.’]
[Analyzing the compatibility of the two disasters.]
[Power that shakes the earth + Power that makes the earth rampage.]
[Synergy explodes!]
The authorities are combined.
Messages continued to appear.
[A new authority has been born!]
[Authority rank is being reset.]
[Reaching Mythic rank.]
[Authority Name: Land Teeming with Hellfire]
The cauldron disappeared.
Red letters blazed in the air.
Land Teeming with Hellfire.
It was an intuitive name.
At the same time, a new sensation awakened within my body.
My heart area felt hot.
A heat like I had swallowed lava.
But it wasn’t unpleasant.
Rather, the power flowing through my veins all over my body was exhilarating.
I raised my right hand.
Woooung.
A dark red flame rose above my palm.
It wasn’t an ordinary red flame.
A murky, sticky flame, grotesquely mixed with black and red.
The surrounding air dried up in an instant.
Moisture evaporated, and space distorted.
This was a disaster that possessed the properties of both ‘pollution’ and ‘destruction.’
‘Success.’
The corner of my mouth curled up.
It was a perfect laundering.
The dull vibration of the lesser earthquake was gone.
The simple-minded eruption of the rampaging volcano was also gone.
The weaknesses of the two disasters vanished, and only their strengths were maximized and fused.
The earthquake became the key that split the earth and opened the entrance to hell.
The volcano became the flame of doom that filled the gaps.
Now, no one would see this power and think of Kartal or Tulkach.
This is entirely my power, Rag’s.
‘I like it.’
I clenched my fist.
The flame shattered in my hand.
My opponents are gods.
They have bodies close to immortal.
Ordinary flames can barely singe a single strand of their hair.
Physical attacks or ordinary magic have clear limitations.
But this is different.
Hellfire.
A flame that burns even the soul.
Even gods will scream in the face of this flame.
The caliber of the disaster has advanced a step further.
“Master?”
Sería called out cautiously.
Her eyes were wary of my right hand.
Like a beast instinctively sensing danger, she bristled and stepped back.
Even Angra-gon on my shoulder curled its tail.
A power threatening even to allies.
That reaction wasn’t bad.
“Let’s go.”
I shook my hand to extinguish the flame.
I moved my steps.
The target was the center of the 1st floor.
I walked across the empty white earth.
A world with nothing.
A boringly white landscape continued.
As Gugu said, the previous owner had indeed scraped it clean meticulously.
A silent space where not even the wind blew.
Thud. Thud.
Only the sound of footsteps was the sole noise.
How long had I walked?
A faint light was visible beyond the horizon.
“There it is.”
I quickened my pace.
The distance closed rapidly.
As I got closer, the light became clearer.
Soon, a massive shape was revealed.
A giant crystal, easily ten meters high.
A transparent, bluish crystal was floating in the air, slowly rotating.
The core of the 1st floor.
I stood before the crystal.
Woooooong.
The crystal reacted.
A gentle wave enveloped my entire body.
[Entered safe zone.]
[Mana is recovering rapidly.]
[Physical fatigue is decreasing.]
[Contaminated status ailments are being purified.]
It was warm.
The battles in the sanctuary.
And the combination of authorities.
The fatigue accumulated from the consecutive forced marches melted away like snow.
As tension eased, languor washed over me.
I plopped down at the base of the crystal.
As I leaned back, warmth was conveyed instead of a cold sensation.
“……Ha.”
I let out a deep breath.
Now I felt like I could breathe a little.
Sería stood beside me.
She was still on guard.
Even though it was an empty, open field, she didn’t lower her bow.
A terrible occupational hazard.
“Sería.”
“Speak.”
“Lower your guard. There’s no one here.”
“……That is uncertain. There may be enemies specialized in stealth.”
A pedantic answer.
I chuckled and shook my head.
Well, it’s not bad.
If your subordinate is sharp, it makes things easier for the superior.
I closed my eyes.
I was curious about the time on Earth.
As much time as I spent here, time in reality would have passed too.
I killed one avatar.
Kim Yu-hwan, the lesser god Kartal.
I needed to check what repercussions his death had caused on Earth.
And the remaining ones.
I had to find the avatars of gods still hiding in various places on Earth.
The hunt is just beginning.
“I’ll rest for a bit.”
I said to Sería.
“Don’t let anyone approach.”
“Understood.”
She answered briefly and lowered her stance.
Angra-gon crawled onto my knee.
I stroked its head once.
The holy sword Abriel floated by my head, assuming a guarding posture.
Reassuring forces.
This place is safe.
I opened the system window without worry.
The button at the very bottom.
[Logout]
I pressed it without hesitation.
My vision flickered.
The white world was dyed in darkness.
A floating sensation as if my consciousness was being sucked in.
At the same time, the scenery of Asgard faded away.
—
* * *
—
Ding!
[Logged out.]
[Returning to reality.]
I opened my eyes.
Outside the window was noisy.
Sirens blared without end.
I turned on my smartphone.
The internet was literally a pandemonium.
-The monsters have disappeared! Did the military catch them all?
-What’s that in the sky? A mirage?
The world was in utter chaos.
After the Great Cataclysm, countless people awakened.
But they couldn’t control their powers.
Because the system’s guide was still not very friendly.
Above all, what caught people’s attention was the sky.
I also opened the window and stuck my head out.
In the distance, the shape of a massive tower flickered through the clouds.
‘The Tower of the Gods.’
For now, it only appears as a mirage.
The place where Rag is currently the master of the 1st floor.
You can’t touch it, nor can you enter it.
The doors of that tower will open exactly one year from now.
That’s when the real hell begins.
For now, it’s a kind of ‘beginner protection period.’
A grace period given for humanity to adapt to the system and for awakeners to cultivate their powers.
Of course, there will be those who fill that time with ‘hunting’ rather than grace.
I raised my right hand.
It was calm.
No reaction at all.
‘So it reacts only when there’s someone nearby using a disaster.’
The detection range doesn’t seem that wide.
Or perhaps they haven’t started their full-scale activities yet.
I opened and closed my fist, reacquainting myself with the sensation of power.
I needed to organize things.
The authority of ‘Devourer of Disasters.’
Its classification broadly divides into two types.
First, consumable.
Heimdall’s ‘Annihilation Typhoon’ that he fired off.
If you simply devour an incoming magic or phenomenon, it’s like a bullet—fired once and gone.
You can store it, but once used, it’s over.
Second, permanent.
Like Kartal or Tulkach, when you swallow the source of a disaster—the ‘god’ or ‘avatar’—whole.
Because you absorb the divinity, the authority becomes entirely yours.
Like an inexhaustible spring, you can use it permanently.
‘The latter is obviously more efficient.’
Consumables are emergency rations for urgent situations.
To grow my power, I need to devour them whole.
The problem is the difficulty.
Fighting a main body like Tulkach is insane.
If I hadn’t had an ally like Abriel, it might have been me who died in the sanctuary.
So the answer is fixed.
‘Avatar hunting.’
The avatars of those bastards that have descended to Earth.
They are weaker than the main bodies, but they are prey that share the divinity.
Like Kim Yu-hwan.
‘Finding them isn’t hard.’
Those bastards are attention seekers.
Drunk on the sense of superiority that comes with being a god, they enjoy playing hero.
They want to slaughter monsters with overwhelmingly superior power, act like saviors, and be adored.
Bastards who are unreasonably strong right from the start.
Ones who stand out during the tutorial period.
Those are the targets.
A few names come to mind.
‘Choi Tae-min, the Lord of Fire.’
‘Seo Ji-su, the Ice Witch.’
‘Lee Do-hyung, the Berserker.’
Including the Top 10 of Korea, the world’s prominent strongmen.
Among them, there will be some.
The avatars of gods who deceived me, and all of humanity.
Also, though I hope not.
……Perhaps even within the Final Strike Squad.
‘I’ll check them one by one.’
As I was about to set priorities.
Ding-dong!
A doorbell rang, breaking the silence.
‘Who is it at this hour?’
I assumed a guarded stance and checked the intercom screen.
A shiny forehead.
Greedy-looking eyes.
A middle-aged man with a flushed face, pounding on the front door.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
“Jeong-seok! I know you’re in there!”
A familiar voice.
At the same time, an unpleasant memory flashed through my mind.
“It’s your uncle! Open the door! Are you alive?”
A somewhat familiar face.
‘Ah.’
My uncle, Park Kwang-cheol.
The human who showed up after my parents died in an accident, claiming to be my only blood relative.
But his purpose wasn’t me.
‘The inheritance.’
The life insurance money my parents left behind.
The bastard who used all kinds of sweet talk to deceive me to steal it, and eventually drove me out onto the streets.
Memories from my past life came back vividly.
Right after the Great Cataclysm, he took advantage of the chaos to fabricate documents and steal my seal.
Thanks to that, I lost my house.
I had to struggle desperately, not even having money to eat.
“Jeong-seok! I came because I was worried! Did you see the news? The world is going crazy!”
Worried, my ass.
He probably came to check if I was dead or alive.
If I was dead, he would have started looking for the house deed immediately.
Thump thump thump!
“Open the door! It’s your uncle!”
Urgent knocking.
I chuckled.
Before going to hunt gods.
……A rat bastard came crawling on its own, so I might as well catch it.
