Chapter 62: Black Knight (2)
The toxic fog grew increasingly dense.
Sssss…
As if a strong wind were blowing from somewhere, the fog was swept away in all directions.
Crackcrackcrack—
The ground split open, and the Creep was pushed aside to the left and right.
A man walked calmly along the newly cleared path.
Jin-young, now wearing protective gear, was carving a path with psychokinesis.
It had been a long time since he last entered the core—since chasing after Min Hae-joon.
This was his first time venturing this deep.
Scattered throughout were countless unaddressed hazards.
Burrrr— Pop!
An egg-like bulge protruding from the Creep convulsed before bursting open.
“Kiaaaaak!”
A human figure covered in pitch-black Creep emerged from within and let out a scream.
A Creeper—an ordinary person eroded by Creep.
Jin-young dulled his hearing with sensory manipulation, then seized the charging Creeper with psychokinesis.
If it got too close, it would self-destruct with tremendous explosive force.
But at this distance, it was nothing more than a shrieking mandrake.
Of course, that grotesque scream also served to attract surrounding monsters and Mines.
Rumble…
Soon, monsters poured in from every direction.
Pukwaak!
Jin-young crushed the Creeper with psychokinesis until it burst,
Then swept away all the surrounding fog with psychokinesis to visually confirm the monsters.
Hundreds of monsters lurking nearby had all revealed themselves at once.
“Kieeeek!”
The most numerous were goblins clutching weapons.
“Grrrrr…”
There were also baghests—dog-like monsters spewing red flames from their bodies.
Shuuuu—
In the air, massive eagle-like corpse-eater monsters swooped in at low altitude.
The monsters that entered a certain range halted in formation.
Of course, it wasn’t by choice—they were held in place by psychokinesis.
“When the hell is he coming?”
Jin-young muttered while looking around at the monsters encircling him.
He had called Yoon Soo-ho quite a while ago, yet the man still hadn’t shown up.
Considering Yoon Soo-ho’s abilities, he should have arrived in the contaminated zone long ago.
But on second thought, rushing here while burning through mana would be too taxing.
After all, they were about to face none other than a ‘disaster.’
If he was conserving power appropriately on the way, it would naturally take longer.
Sssss—
Jin-young gathered the monsters into the air, forming them into a single sphere.
“Kiaaaaak!”
As they tangled together, the monsters let out agonized shrieks.
Ignoring them, Jin-young compressed the mass even smaller.
Pukwak— Crackcrackcrack!
Black blood gushed out in torrents as the monsters turned into dark orbs.
Compared to the amount he had compressed back in the North Korean contaminated zone, this was pitifully small—but it would at least serve as a snack for the tentacles.
『Not even enough to make a dent.』
‘Stuffed already, huh.’
Even as the tentacles said that, they eagerly snatched and devoured the monster orbs Jin-young offered.
After clearing out one batch of monsters, Jin-young continued deeper inside.
As expected of a place that had been left neglected for years—except for the recent Hongcheon operation—the monster population was considerable.
When he spotted dozens of Creepers clustered together in one spot, Jin-young immediately crushed them with psychokinesis.
Pukwakwakwakwa— Kiaaaaa!
Even if the Creepers burst before hatching, their screams still echoed—though less intensely than when fully born.
But that sound drew something else: a massive eyeball floating through the air toward him.
A scout-type monster known as a ‘Watcher.’
These things had no real ability to threaten hunters.
They simply reported enemies to their master.
Puk!
Jin-young compressed and burst the Watcher in an instant.
From its ruptured corpse, a single red stone dropped with a thud.
He pulled it over with psychokinesis and examined it closely.
It gave off a reddish glow overall, with traces of Creep’s toxic energy slowly wafting from it.
‘So this is a bloodstone.’
『Though concealed by polluted mana, I can strongly sense the power of life within it.』
The tentacles’ explanation was spot on.
This substance called a bloodstone is fundamentally different from any mineral found naturally on Earth.
Dungeon bloodstones are gems formed from the congealed blood of something, and they were used as materials for high-grade elixirs or healing-type artifacts.
Because they were extremely rare, elixirs typically contained only trace amounts, yet the one Jin-young now held was easily ten times larger.
‘A Watcher made using a bloodstone. Must be the Black Knight’s doing.’
Jin-young stored the bloodstone in his subspace and continued moving forward.
Even as he advanced, monsters, Creepers, and Mines kept appearing one after another.
Among them were occasionally grotesque variants.
A monster with a grasshopper’s body and a scorpion’s tail; another with a human face framed by long black hair.
These were known as Locusts—monsters that had never appeared in any other dungeon.
They were unique species found only in the Hongcheon Contaminated Zone.
“Krhehehek!”
One of them let out a bizarre, human-like laugh, spread its wings, and flew straight toward Jin-young.
Crack— Pukwak!
Jin-young snapped its wings, then crushed its head.
Yet the head and wings regenerated almost instantly.
Pssshhh—
He compressed the Locust into powder.
The black dust scattered into the air for a moment.
Sssss…
Then the particles gathered back together and began reforming into its original shape.
As the rumors said, these things were truly immortal.
The method to kill them hadn’t been discovered yet, but Jin-young had a rough guess.
‘If I kill the disaster, they’ll disappear along with it.’
Sssss—
Using psychokinesis, he restrained the Locust and added it to his monster collection.
“Grrrrr…”
“Kieeeek!”
“Hu… man… kill…!”
As a result, around a thousand monsters now floated around Jin-young.
Excluding Watchers and Creepers, he had kept them all alive.
There was only one reason he wasn’t killing them.
‘It’s about time he showed up, isn’t it?’
He had deliberately left them for Yoon Soo-ho’s experience points.
The faster Yoon Soo-ho reached Zero-grade, the less work Jin-young would have to do himself.
Of course, Yoon Soo-ho couldn’t possibly take on the Black Knight alone, but with Jin-young present, there was no chance of him dying.
Moreover, the battle against a disaster itself would provide him with an enormous amount of experience—enough to serve as the catalyst for reaching Zero-grade.
‘Humans grow strongest in extreme situations, after all.’
Since he had already come this deep, Jin-young headed straight for the absolute core.
Everywhere he looked, buildings covered in Creep came into view.
Apartments, schools, houses.
Now half-collapsed and blackened, yet in Jin-young’s eyes, the past scenery overlapped with the present.
『This place must be special.』
‘It’s my hometown.’
『Hometown?』
‘The place where I was born and raised.’
『Then this space could be called my hometown as well.』
Jin-young crossed a bridge and arrived at the Multi-purpose Sports Complex.
The absolute core of the Hongcheon Contaminated Zone.
The place where the gate explosion had occurred.
A sudden memory surfaced—of tightly holding his younger sibling’s hand as they ran to escape Hongcheon.
Though the walls of the sports complex were collapsed in places, its overall form was surprisingly well preserved.
‘That must be it.’
In the center of the field, Jin-young spotted a single black horse lying on its side.
It was so massive that one might mistake it for an elephant rather than a horse.
Yet strangely, it didn’t emanate the overwhelming aura one would expect from a disaster.
With over a thousand monsters trailing behind him, Jin-young approached the black horse.
Sssss—
As he drew near, the black horse began to rise, releasing pitch-black demonic energy.
It was on an entirely different level from the black mana emitted by ordinary contaminated zone monsters.
Demonic energy possessed the power to corrode and decay its surroundings merely by existing.
It resembled the demonic energy released by the Demon King’s army that had invaded Renard—yet its concentration was even denser than that of a general-grade demon.
Ku ku ku ku ku…
The black horse turned toward Jin-young, radiating increasingly intense demonic energy.
Shuuut—
From the horse’s back, a gaunt man suddenly protruded like a tumor.
Clad in black armor and holding a scale in his hand.
Crackcrackcrack—
Finally revealing himself, the Black Knight shook the scale.
The surrounding air froze in an instant.
Kwaaaaaah!
Demonic energy raged outward like a storm in every direction.
In an instant, the air dried up completely, and the Creep hardened into rigid stone.
Jin-young swept the demonic storm away with psychokinesis.
“Grrrrrrraaaah!”
“Hun… gry…!”
Monsters and Mines enveloped in the demonic energy began shrieking.
It seemed the demonic storm carried a power that induced unbearable hunger.
Jin-young fixed his gaze on the scale held by the Black Knight.
The source of that hunger-inducing force was clearly emanating from there.
The moment he wrapped it with psionic energy to seize it with psychokinesis—
Zapapapat!
An unknown power repelled the psionic energy, scattering it.
“Hoo.”
Rather than being flustered, Jin-young’s lips curled upward in amusement.
Indeed, a being called a disaster was on a completely different level from a mere 1st-grade boss monster.
For the first time since returning to Earth, he felt like he had finally found an opponent worth fighting seriously.
If he cranked up the output of his psionic energy, he could tear it apart easily—but now wasn’t the time to kill it.
‘I have to leave it in a state where Yoon Soo-ho can at least take a swing…’
Jin-young drew a single sword from his subspace.
Sssss—
The demonic sword, radiating black mana, flew straight toward the Black Knight.
Kwa-tz-tz-tz!
Trailing black lightning, the demonic sword sliced across the black horse.
Crackcrackcrack!
For a fleeting moment, a crack appeared in the transparent barrier surrounding the black horse.
Shssss…
But it immediately restored itself.
Still, the impact must have been significant, because the black horse reared up in excitement, raising its front hooves.
“Kee-hee-hee-hing!”
As the Black Knight swung the scale once more—
Sssss—
Black demonic energy scattered, and pale afterimages began appearing in the air.
Gradually taking form, the afterimages solidified.
Hundreds of Locusts had answered the Black Knight’s call.
Just as Jin-young had predicted, killing the Black Knight would likely cause the Locusts to vanish along with it.
Kwa-tz-tz-tz—
The demonic sword returned, scattering black lightning once again.
The Locusts whose bodies had been torn apart instantly regenerated.
“Kee-hee-hee-hing!”
The black horse reared once more, roaring.
『To the world… famine…』
The Black Knight raised the scale high and lashed the horse with invisible reins.
Tzu-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—
A hideous surge of demonic energy erupted from its body once again, raging like a storm.
Jin-young released psionic energy to envelop his body.
His figure floated upward into the air.
Shwaaaak—
And then he shot off in the opposite direction.
Seeing this, the Black Knight charged at full speed, summoning wave after wave of Locusts.
The Locusts multiplied rapidly, and the monsters drawn in by their march followed.
A literal disaster was on the move.
***
Yoon Soo-ho dodged the black thorns erupting from the cracked earth.
The toxic fog obscured his vision, making it difficult to spot the enemy.
But—
Crackle—
The moment he detected the released black mana,
He activated Lightning Flash.
Shhh—
“······!”
He appeared right in front of a woman.
Crackcrackcrack! Pukwaak!
With his Destruction ability, he tore her body to shreds in an instant.
Flesh was brutally ripped away, and dark red blood sprayed in all directions.
GODS’s forces here consisted of one 1st-grade and two 2nd-grades.
The one he had just killed was a 2nd-grade villain.
Even for a 1st-grade, fighting alone would have been overwhelming—but Yoon Soo-ho had grown strong enough to handle it.
Shhh—
Activating Lightning Flash once more, he flew toward the remaining 2nd-grade.
Just as he was about to swing Destroyer—
Shssss—
Black figures burst out from the Creep, blocking Yoon Soo-ho’s path.
They had human shapes but carried no visible weapons.
Pukwak!
Instead of the 2nd-grade villain, the hammer smashed into the black figures, tearing them apart.
Yet the ones whose bodies had exploded instantly reformed to their original state.
Thanks to the brief delay, the 2nd-grade villain managed to escape safely.
In the meantime, the multiplying black figures completely surrounded Yoon Soo-ho.
“······.”
These figures weren’t a major threat in themselves, but they were incredibly annoying.
They were acting as shields in place of the villains.
Shwaaaak—
A pitch-black fireball flew straight toward Yoon Soo-ho.
Tzu-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
At maximum output, his Destruction ability ripped every nearby black figure to shreds.
Shhh—
Using Lightning Flash, he evaded the fireball and charged toward its caster like a bolt of lightning.
Shssss—
But every time, more black figures appeared to intercept him.
The ever-increasing numbers were starting to wear even Yoon Soo-ho down.
Moreover, this was the core of the contaminated zone.
Though he wore protective gear, as his stamina dropped, mana consumption began to rise sharply.
“Huu…”
Yoon Soo-ho caught his breath for a moment while facing off against the black figures.
He employed the breathing technique he had mastered during the monster wave in Korea to efficiently reduce mana expenditure.
Another fireball hurtled toward him.
This time, Yoon Soo-ho charged straight at it, swinging Destroyer.
Pukwa-kwa-kwak!
Engulfed in black flames, he activated Lightning Flash once more.
Shhh—
He appeared before the 2nd-grade villain like a demon cloaked in hellfire.
The moment the man saw him, his body froze instinctively.
Tzu-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
He was torn to pieces by the Destruction ability.
But in that instant, the last remaining 1st-grade villain seized the opening and lunged.
Black liquid coiled around both arms as he swung them toward Yoon Soo-ho.
Crack-crack-crack!
At the very last second, Yoon Soo-ho wrapped mana around Destroyer and countered.
The villain coated in black liquid was repelled, but at the same time, the black figures swarmed Yoon Soo-ho all at once.
Tzu-kwa-kwa-kwa!
He activated Destruction to obliterate them, yet new figures kept appearing to torment him.
Worse still, Creep began infiltrating his body.
Under the relentless assault, Yoon Soo-ho’s strength was draining rapidly.
Just as the 1st-grade villain prepared to deliver the finishing blow—
“Enough.”
A woman’s voice rang out.
Splash, splash.
An Arab woman approached barefoot across the Creep.
It was the Prophet Talida.
She gazed at Yoon Soo-ho, now immobilized by swarms of clinging black figures.
Then she smiled sweetly and spoke.
“Thanks to the Prophet, you must have already known, right? That we would appear here.”
“······.”
At the word “Prophet,” Yoon Soo-ho inwardly questioned it.
It had been over three years since he last saw Michelle.
She was officially retired from active duty in the United States anyway.
“You wouldn’t have come alone. Not if you knew about my existence. So where’s the tentacle human?”
“I have no idea what nonsense you’re spouting.”
“There’s always a way. If that’s how you want to play it.”
Talida stepped closer and lifted Yoon Soo-ho’s chin.
Then she channeled black mana through her fingertips.
“It’s already begun. The Creep infiltration.”
“······.”
Yoon Soo-ho was desperately pushing back the invading Creep with his mana.
Under normal circumstances, he could have expelled it easily, but with his strength so depleted, it was no simple task.
Every last drop of remaining mana was being poured into resisting the Creep.
“Choose. Become a loyal hound, or remain human. I…”
Talida trailed off mid-sentence as a sudden prickling sensation stabbed the back of her head.
Her senses had detected danger.
“Oh, finally here? The tentacle human.”
The moment Talida turned around and dispelled the toxic fog—
“······.”
Her expression twisted grotesquely in shock.
Shwaaaaa—
Thousands upon thousands of Locusts were flying straight toward them.
_____________________________________________
TL Note:
Want 34 extra chapters ahead + 9 chapters/week? Join My Patreon for early access:
Link: https://www.patreon.com/cw/Vritratls
For this novel specifically, check the collection under “Transcendent Psychic Regressor (TPR)”
Also all my other translated novels additional chapters are available on Premium Tier.
Appreciate all the support! ❤️
_____________________________________________