Chapter 64: The First Holy Knight
<Purification power>
That was the third ability Yoon Soo-ho had awakened.
For a brief moment, pure white mana—something he had never seen before—completely dominated his body.
When he activated his Destruction ability, white lightning filled the surroundings and engulfed Javier.
Javier’s body was torn to shreds as he crashed to the ground.
Normally, this level of damage wouldn’t have killed him, but the life had completely vanished from his wide-open eyes.
The moment his polluted mana was purified, his soul had been extinguished along with it.
“······.”
Even Yoon Soo-ho himself was stunned by the power he had just unleashed.
When Purification was activated, his mana temporarily transformed into pure white mana.
Yoon Soo-ho realized that every ability and skill he used would now carry the power of purification, allowing him to cleanse polluted mana.
And beyond that—it had even burned away a soul.
Thud.
Javier’s empty shell fell limply onto the Creep.
Yoon Soo-ho confirmed that the white orb that had touched his chest had already reverted to ashen gray.
With that, the overflowing white mana inside him quickly faded away.
‘Was it thanks to the orb?’
Yoon Soo-ho thought the reason he had become strong enough to extinguish Javier’s soul was because of the orb.
No matter how excellent Purification was as an ability, it was absurd for him to incinerate a 1st-grade hunter’s soul the moment he awakened it.
‘The trance-like state during awakening must have played a part too.’
Not every hunter experienced it, but when awakening occurred in a life-or-death crisis, one could briefly unleash power close to the ability’s maximum potential.
Yoon Soo-ho had already experienced this once before—when he awakened his second ability, Lightning Flash—so he was familiar with the sensation.
In that state of complete detachment from everything else, focusing solely on the newly awakened ability, it was called the “trance of enlightenment.”
With the orb now gray again and the trance over, Yoon Soo-ho felt a momentary drain of strength.
Of course, he had expended a tremendous amount of mana, so it was only natural.
But thanks to the complete disappearance of the Creep that had been devouring his body, he felt remarkably light.
Pop—
He took out a mana potion from his pocket and drank it.
The depleted mana began recovering once more.
Since there was only one bottle, the amount restored wasn’t much, but combining it with his breathing technique amplified the effect.
Sssss…
While staying vigilant in all directions, Yoon Soo-ho rapidly recovered his mana.
All the villains were dead, and Talida was nowhere to be seen.
Strange monsters kept flying in, only to be disintegrated by the invisible barrier.
‘The one who handed me the orb must have been Psycho. Is he beyond this?’
Yoon Soo-ho tucked the ashen orb into his chest pocket and picked up Destroyer from the ground.
Paht—
He lightly channeled white mana through Purification, and the Creep clinging to it fell away.
Shwaaaak—
At that moment, black figures appeared around Yoon Soo-ho once more.
It seemed Talida had resumed her actions.
The moment the black figures rushed to overwhelm him—
Boooong—
Yoon Soo-ho reactivated Purification, swung Destroyer in a half-circle, raised it high overhead,
And
BOOOOM!
Slammed it straight down toward the ground.
Tzu-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—
The entire area shook violently as white thunderbolts erupted from around the hammer.
The Destruction ability infused with Purification power pulverized the black figures.
Pssss…
Even the shattered fragments evaporated and vanished completely.
He had completely eradicated the figures that had regenerated no matter how many times they were destroyed.
Since they were beings made purely of black mana, they were vulnerable to white mana.
In that case, the figures forming the barrier would be equally helpless against Purification.
Tadat—
Yoon Soo-ho dashed toward the barrier and swung Destroyer.
Pukwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—
White mana crashed into the black wall.
***
“······!”
Talida regained consciousness in one of the parasitized black figures.
She had clearly been flying toward the tentacle human in fly form, stealthily approaching—yet her body had burst apart before she even realized it.
By an unknown power her hyper-developed senses hadn’t detected at all.
‘What the hell was that? Just who is that human?’
Moreover, the tentacle human wasn’t even being attacked by the contaminated zone monsters.
Unless he had become a Mine, there was no way to avoid monster attacks in this place.
He hadn’t morphed into a ‘different species’ like a Prophet, so the tentacle human’s identity remained a complete mystery.
But Talida wasn’t one to give up easily.
She still had thousands of fly fragments remaining.
Moreover, the black wall was still intact.
Losing a few wouldn’t cause the barrier to collapse.
Sssss—
A single fly slipped out from one of the black figures.
This time, Talida approached the tentacle human while activating ‘Death’s Barrier’ right in front of him.
Ziiiiing—
An invisible transparent membrane appeared before the tentacle human.
Just as Talida summoned more black figures and flew forward—
Pukwaak!
Her body burst apart once again.
Since she had already experienced it once, she wasn’t startled by the sudden attack.
‘He… ignored the barrier…?’
The tentacle human’s ability had bypassed the barrier and reached her directly.
Even though he used some unknown power instead of mana, she had never imagined something like this was possible.
But it was too early to be shocked.
Crack-crack-crack!
Soon after, the unknown power shattered the barrier into fragments.
Aside from Godfather, no one had ever broken her barrier in this manner before.
That meant—if he wanted to—he could shatter the massive barrier formed by the black wall as well.
Yet the tentacle human hadn’t done so.
‘What is he thinking?’
While Talida tried to infer his intentions—
Crackcrackcrack—
Yoon Soo-ho, freed from the black figures, released pure white mana and killed Javier.
She had seen blue, red, and black mana before, but white mana was entirely new to her.
Chwaaaak—
Talida hurriedly summoned more black figures to stop Yoon Soo-ho.
Boooong— Tzu-kwa-kwa-kwa!
But as the white mana surged forward, the figures were instantly pulverized.
They didn’t even get the chance to regenerate—they were cleanly eradicated.
‘Impossible.’
As incomprehensible events continued one after another, Godfather’s warning echoed in her mind like a hallucination.
She had never ignored a warning before, but she hadn’t expected to be rendered this helpless.
Pukwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—
With each successive hammer strike, portions of the black wall crumbled helplessly.
Even the flies parasitizing the black figures vanished along with them.
Talida changed her strategy.
Shuuut—
The thousands of flies that had been parasitizing the black figures withdrew and gathered in one place.
Wiiiiing—
Soon, Talida returned to her original human form.
She picked up the skull-shaped incense burner.
Fortunately, Javier had finished assembling it.
As she channeled dark crimson mana into it—
Shaaaa…
Black smoke slowly rose from the burner.
Shwaat—
At that moment, Yoon Soo-ho arrived in a flash with Lightning Flash.
Boooong—
Talida easily dodged the hammer swing and morphed once more—this time not into thousands of flies, but into a single massive fly.
Tzu-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—
White mana extended like lightning, but despite her large size, Talida evaded with astonishing speed.
Ziiiing—
She instantly created a Death’s Barrier around him.
Now completely trapped, Yoon Soo-ho didn’t move recklessly and simply glared at Talida.
He knew full well what happened to monsters that touched the barrier.
Moreover, by morphing, Talida had elevated herself to Zero-grade level.
The gap between them had widened considerably.
Tukwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—
At that moment, part of the remaining black wall shattered, and a swarm of Locusts poured in.
With the flies having withdrawn, the barrier had weakened.
As the black wall collapsed, the hemispherical barrier began crumbling rapidly as well.
Talida, now in her morphed form, ignored the Locusts charging toward Yoon Soo-ho.
They couldn’t attack him because of the Death’s Barrier.
“Should be about time for him to show up. That guy.”
The moment Talida muttered those words—
Sssssss—
The Black Knight emerged, drawn by the smoke from the skull incense burner.
“Kee-hee-hee-hing!”
The black horse reared up, roaring as it raised its front hooves.
Malevolent demonic energy poured from the scale in the Black Knight’s hand.
And Locusts continued to spawn endlessly.
“Korea will fall. Once we deal with you lot—!”
Talida flapped her massive wings as she spoke.
Crackcrackcrack— Pa-chang!
The protective barrier shattered.
The Black Knight’s body suddenly soared into the air—
Shuuuu— Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-boom!
—and crashed straight down toward the ground.
***
At first he thought some annoying fly was buzzing around, but it turned out to be a Prophet who had transformed like Satoru.
At first he mistook it for a contaminated zone monster because the mana felt too weak for a Prophet.
But he soon realized it had split into thousands of separate bodies.
‘Does she think having multiple lives means she can win?’
Jin-young probed the barrier in front of him with psionic energy.
Szzzzz… Pa-chang!
He applied pressure from all directions with psychokinesis, and it shattered almost immediately.
Of course, this was only a hastily created barrier from a single weak fragment.
The massive barrier generated by thousands of fragments would require far more energy to break.
Jin-young began gathering psionic energy.
『Yoon Soo-ho has awakened.』
The news came shortly after he had sent the ashen orb to Yoon Soo-ho to suppress the Mine transformation.
He had only intended to halt the Minefication, not expecting him to awaken a third ability.
At this rate, reaching Zero-grade was only a matter of time.
Just then, he sensed a suspicious aura rising from inside the barrier.
Jin-young looked up at the black smoke billowing high into the sky.
Ku ku ku ku ku…
Soon after, the Black Knight—which had been wandering nearby—began approaching once more.
It seemed GODS had prepared this as bait to lure the Black Knight.
While the Locust swarm demolished the now defenseless wall and shattered the barrier—
Kwa-tz-tz-tz-tz…
The Black Knight scattered evil demonic energy from its scale and advanced toward the broken wall.
‘What is that smoke, exactly?’
An artifact capable of summoning a disaster-grade monster like the Black Knight had to be extraordinary.
Crossing the breached wall, Jin-young spotted Yoon Soo-ho surrounded by the Locust swarm.
Though he had grown stronger after awakening, he was clearly exhausted physically.
If they pushed him any harder here, instead of overcoming the trial, he might simply collapse from fatigue.
Of course, Yoon Soo-ho wasn’t the type to give up easily—but that was precisely why Jin-young had to control the pace.
With his new power, Yoon Soo-ho would have far more to shoulder from now on.
Sssssss—
Blue and red energy began radiating from Jin-young’s body.
They formed rings that rotated around him, releasing an ever-increasing volume of power.
‘Once the Black Knight is out of the picture, Yoon Soo-ho should be able to rampage freely.’
Jin-young enveloped the Black Knight with psionic energy.
The unknown force protecting it tried to repel the energy.
Kwaaaassss…
But Jin-young began pressing down with overwhelming force.
The power shielding the Black Knight was none other than Legacy energy.
It was the same power he had first discovered in the ruins of an ancient temple belonging to a long-forgotten religion that had once flourished in Renard.
Back then, no one in Jin-young’s era knew how to wield it, and it had never been passed down.
That was why it had been called a “legacy.”
He never expected to encounter that power again in the Black Knight.
It was likely tied to some ancient, forgotten deity—but even Jin-young didn’t know the exact details.
Jin-young wasn’t even curious.
‘If it’s in the way, just break it.’
Crack— Pa-chang!
The protective barrier couldn’t withstand the crushing pressure of psychokinesis and shattered.
The Black Knight had no time to panic before its body was lifted into the air.
Kwaaaaaang!
It slammed straight down into the ground, the black horse’s four legs snapping with a sickening crack.
Yet even then, it emitted demonic energy, filling the surroundings with an aura of decay.
Kwa-tz-tz-tz-tz!
“Grrrrr…”
The nearby monsters rotted and festered in an instant, the air turning pitch black and lifeless.
But Jin-young casually brushed it aside with psychokinesis.
He gathered an enormous amount of black mana and activated a skill.
“Uwooooooh!”
A Battle Cry exploded outward in all directions.
Carrying an unimaginable volume of black mana, its power and range were beyond comprehension.
Eeeeeeeee—
For a split second, the Locust swarm’s minds went blank, overwhelmed by sheer terror.
“······!”
They froze mid-air, no longer emitting their grotesque laughter, faces locked in frozen dread.
Even the giant fly—the Prophet in morphed form—faltered.
The Black Knight resisted the fear and tried to move.
“Stay still.”
Crack!
But psychokinesis crushed down on it, pinning it in place.
『I am… a disaster…』
A flat, emotionless voice leaked from the Black Knight’s mouth, but Jin-young could sense the faint tremor of unease hidden within.
He decided to deal with the Black Knight slowly.
Pa-chang!
With effortless psychokinesis, he shattered the Death’s Barrier surrounding Yoon Soo-ho.
“Go, Holy Knight.”
Infused with the lingering echo of the Battle Cry, Yoon Soo-ho radiated pure white mana from his entire body as he raised Destroyer high.
The moment he swung it toward the giant fly—
Wiiiiing—
The giant fly, which had flinched for only an instant, barely managed to dodge.
Boooong— Crackcrackcrack!
The hammer sliced through empty air, scattering white lightning in every direction.
Psssh—
The trailing edge of the lightning grazed part of the fly’s body, and smoke rose as though it had been scorched.
A 1st-grade facing a Zero-grade was normally hopeless, but in terms of compatibility, the advantage was overwhelmingly in Yoon Soo-ho’s favor.
This was just the right level of difficulty for him.
While the two of them clashed fiercely—
Jin-young approached the Black Knight.
『I… am disaster…』
Even while immobilized, the Black Knight began concentrating an immense amount of demonic energy into the scale in its hand.
It seemed to be preparing something massive.
Of course, Jin-young had no intention of letting it finish.
He tried to wrench the scale away with psychokinesis.
Pzzzzzt—
But an incredible attractive force erupted from the scale, refusing to let go no matter what.
“Let go. Before I rip your wrist off with it.”
Kuuuu…
An ominous demonic energy began pouring from the scale.
It was on a completely different level from when it summoned Locusts.
『The abyss… is coming…』
But at that moment—
Pukwa-kwa-kwak!
The Black Knight’s wrist was torn clean off, and the scale flew straight into Jin-young’s grasp.
_____________________________________________
TL Note:
Want 35 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! ❤️
_____________________________________________