Chapter 96: Dungeon Eater (4)
“Oh, you’re holding up better than I expected.”
Jin-young spoke while watching the Cult Leader desperately resisting going down on his knees.
As the struggling figure thrashed, his black hood fell back, revealing the face it had concealed.
Like most Red-Horn Tribe devils, he had red skin and black horns protruding from his head—but his horns were easily twice as large.
The agonized distortion of his face only made him look more grotesque.
『The black mana is passing through his barrier, but the amount is far too small. It’s not enough to collapse his mind.』
Jin-young couldn’t quite accept the tentacle’s explanation.
“Just because of that?”
『No. There’s a more important problem.』
“I figured. What is it?”
『He has strong resistance to the black mana I emit.』
“Hm.”
Jin-young felt like he understood the reason.
The god worshipped by the devils of hell and the tentacle were, in a way, the same kind of existence.
If the Cult Leader possessed even a portion of the Demon King’s power, it wouldn’t be strange for him to resist the tentacle.
『Still, if you deal direct physical shock to his body, it should create enough confusion in his mind for me to break through.』
“Just hit him with your tentacles.”
『Direct contact with his barrier doesn’t seem like a good idea.』
It was the first time Jin-young had seen the tentacle regard someone else’s power with such unease.
“Even though he has super-regeneration?”
『I don’t mind if my body gets destroyed. That power feels like it would contaminate me instead.』
“Contaminate, huh…”
『Right now, all I can do is prevent him from pulling any tricks. Of course, the longer this drags on, the more advantageous it becomes for him.』
Jin-young looked at the Cult Leader, wrapped in his dark-crimson barrier.
The devil was clutching his head and taking deep breaths.
“Haa… How dare a mere fake try to humiliate me… Kugh…!”
He was enduring the tentacle’s mental assault, but he clearly hadn’t regained full composure yet.
Jin-young was curious what kind of power was embedded in the Cult Leader’s barrier, but now wasn’t the time to investigate.
First, he had to break the barrier and inflict direct physical damage to the body—that would make the tentacle’s mental domination much easier.
“I should keep him alive for now so I can extract information…”
An energy explosion would shatter the barrier easily, but it might annihilate the Cult Leader along with it.
Considering the value of the information this devil held, that would be too wasteful.
Jin-young pushed the output of his psionic energy even higher than usual.
Tsukwakwakwakwakwa—
Red and blue energy swirled violently around his body.
He raised his hands, controlling the psychokinesis with even greater precision and force.
Kwakwakwakwakwak—
Even an output strong enough to erase the massive devil Balrog from existence couldn’t easily break the barrier.
He recalled how the Red Knight’s unidentified red energy had shown strong resistance to psionic energy.
“It’s like an enhanced version of that red energy.”
A brief assessment of the Cult Leader’s barrier.
The quantity was dozens of times greater than what the Red Knight had wielded, and the quality was far higher.
An incredible amount of energy was condensed into that small barrier, making it unbelievably solid.
As Jin-young’s psychokinesis was blocked by the barrier, the Cult Leader spoke with a confident expression.
“Kuh… kuhahaha… This is a defensive magic I perfected over hundreds of years specifically to block psionic energy. You will never break through it…”
He had grown somewhat accustomed to the tentacle’s mental domination attack and was starting to regain a bit of composure.
“Hundreds of years of research? That’s dozens of times longer than my entire training period.”
Jin-young genuinely admired the fact that someone had invested hundreds of years solely to counter psionic energy.
At this level, he had to give credit where it was due.
The barrier probably wouldn’t break easily against any attack using psychokinesis either.
That was when—
“Kuh…!”
The Cult Leader suddenly groaned in pain.
『Still, a tiny crack appeared in the barrier. A bit more of my mana slipped through.』
“So it’s not perfect after all.”
Jin-young realized the barrier wasn’t completely invincible against psionic energy.
If he pushed the output beyond its limits, he could probably shatter it completely.
But doing so would place a severe burden on his body and could even damage his mind.
“Haa… This much I can repair quickly… No matter how much power you pour in, my regeneration will be faster…”
The Cult Leader, now somewhat recovered, spoke again.
Jin-young thought the devil’s words were at least partially correct.
At ordinary output levels, the barrier would likely regenerate faster than it could be broken.
“Then how about this?”
Soon, pure white energy began flowing from Jin-young’s body.
Cyclic energy started blending little by little into the swirling psionic energy.
Thanks to absorbing a large amount from Branch Manager Vritra, he had plenty to spare.
The moment the Cult Leader saw the white energy flowing from Jin-young’s body, his eyes widened in shock.
“Wh-what… How can a mere human wield both energies at the same time?”
He stammered, disbelief written all over his face.
It was as if he had received an even greater mental shock than from the tentacle’s domination attack.
“Is this really that big a deal?”
“Impossible… Even something that took me hundreds of years…”
Whatever the Cult Leader muttered, Jin-young paid it no more mind and continued what he was doing.
Kwazuzuzuz—
The psionic energy enveloping Jin-young’s body began spinning rapidly under the influence of Cyclic energy, its volume surging in an instant.
Shukwakwakwakwa—
If the two energies were rotated in opposite directions here, it would lead to an explosion, but maintaining this flow would result in energy amplification.
Of course, he couldn’t just let it run wild; delicate control was required.
By now, Jin-young’s body was completely obscured by the psionic storm.
Shukwakwakwakwakwa!
Soon after, he condensed the massively enlarged energy, reducing its size while dramatically increasing its density.
The psionic storm subsided, but its weight had doubled—no, multiplied.
He continued compressing the ever-growing energy.
What had once been light and swift now moved sluggishly.
If it used to feel like floating feathers, now it was like swinging lumps of iron.
Yet Jin-young didn’t stop.
“No… This can’t be allowed…”
Watching Jin-young relentlessly condense power, the Cult Leader instinctively realized:
If this continued, defeat was inevitable.
Dark-crimson energy began rising from the Cult Leader’s body.
Wooooong—
『There’s no time.』
The moment the Cult Leader released the hidden dark-crimson energy he had kept in reserve, the tentacle had no choice but to retreat.
Jin-young had already drawn so deeply from the Cyclic energy stockpiled in his mental world that it was nearly depleted.
Kugugugugu…
The ground beneath where he stood had already caved in deeply, and his body floated gently in midair.
“I’ll have to consume even a fake like you… Balrog!”
“Speak, Cult Leader.”
Balrog, who had been waiting behind the Cult Leader for orders, stepped forward.
“Grab that fake…!”
“Understood, Cult Leader.”
Balrog charged forward to seize the tentacle.
No matter how powerful a devil he was, he couldn’t possibly restrain the tentacle alone.
But he carried an overwhelming force on his back.
Kwaaaaa—
The dark-crimson barrier enveloping the Cult Leader extended forward like a long spear, thrusting toward the tentacle.
『It’s disgustingly similar to me.』
To avoid direct contact with the Cult Leader’s dark-crimson energy, the tentacle had no choice but to fall back step by step.
If it grabbed Balrog as bait, it would be struck by the Cult Leader’s power.
But if it didn’t respond, Balrog might actually catch it.
If it retreated into sub-space, Jin-young would be left in danger.
Right now, Jin-young was in the middle of preparing something and couldn’t receive instructions.
The tentacle’s own combat ability was far below Jin-young’s, so it couldn’t make a decisive move.
“I’ve got—”
Just before the Cult Leader’s dark-crimson energy and Balrog could reach the tentacle simultaneously—
Pssssss—
Balrog’s entire body was shredded at the molecular level and vaporized in an instant.
The next moment—
Tskakakakakak—
The dark-crimson energy spear sparked violently as its speed dropped sharply.
Then, something unbelievable happened.
Skwaak—
The empty air suddenly tore open, revealing a pitch-black void of nothingness.
It wasn’t a portal.
Jin-young had severed space itself using psychokinesis.
The Cult Leader’s dark-crimson energy became completely isolated from this dimension, belonging to no reality at all.
“……!”
Confronted with psychokinesis of truly monstrous destructive power, the Cult Leader’s eyes widened in shock.
He was so stunned he couldn’t even speak, mouth opening and closing wordlessly.
Crack— crack crack crack—
Jin-young fine-tuned his psychokinesis even further, surgically separating only the dark-crimson barrier surrounding the Cult Leader from space.
Crash crash crash crash!
The isolated space was compressed, shattering the barrier completely.
Thud.
The Cult Leader’s legs gave out, and he dropped to his knees.
“Uh… uhuh…”
He seemed to have lost the ability to speak properly, as if struck with aphasia.
『Submit.』
A single low word from the tentacle.
Pzzzzzt—
Black sparks flew from the Cult Leader’s head. His eyes rolled back, the red pupils vanishing, leaving only black sclera.
“Grrrk… I submit… I submit…”
Sssss…
Jin-young withdrew his psionic energy.
Although Cyclic energy had drastically reduced the burden on his body, he still looked exhausted.
It was likely because he had released far more psionic energy than usual.
Still, a half-day of rest would be enough for full recovery.
The tentacle spoke while watching Jin-young wipe his sweat.
『If this is really a 1st-grade dungeon, it makes no sense. Even ten Yoon Soo-hos wouldn’t be able to clear it.』
The dungeon’s main objective was to kill the Cult Leader.
But considering the power the devil had shown, even a hundred Yoon Soo-hos might struggle.
“Well, our compatibility with him was pretty bad anyway.”
The opponent had strong resistance not only to Jin-young’s psionic energy but also to the tentacle’s black mana.
“Above all, we skipped a ton of steps. If we’d followed the standard route, we probably would’ve found ways to weaken the Cult Leader first.”
『So that’s how it is.』
Only after hearing Jin-young’s explanation of the dungeon system did the tentacle finally understand.
While they spoke, Jin-young walked up to the kneeling Cult Leader.
“Hey.”
“Speak… O messenger of God.”
The Cult Leader had become a perfectly obedient sheep.
Jin-young had many questions for him, but one stood out above all.
“Tell me everything you know about psionic energy.”
“I don’t know its exact origin either. It’s a mysterious power that began in some unknown dimension… Its inheritors cross into different dimensions, bearing the duty of preparing against an unknown destruction.”
“Duty to prepare against destruction?”
Jin-young suddenly recalled something his master had said back in Renard.
But no matter how much he searched his memory, he couldn’t recall hearing anything like that.
“I heard it from a psionic successor who failed to prevent destruction and fell into hell.”
“If you fail to stop the destruction, you end up here?”
“Yes. The stronger the being, the closer they fall to the center of hell, where devils remodel them into the Demon King’s Army.”
So in the end, this hell functioned like a military base for the Demon King.
“Do you know anything about dungeons?”
“…? I don’t understand what you mean.”
“Dungeons.”
“……?”
Jin-young stared into the Cult Leader’s eyes, but the innocent, wide-eyed look didn’t seem like an act.
『He doesn’t even seem to recognize the word “dungeon” itself.』
Jin-young asked the Cult Leader various other things.
About hell, hellfire, the great volcano, and so on.
He also learned the true nature of the dark-crimson barrier the Cult Leader had used.
“It is a fusion of Void energy and Wrath energy. It took me over three hundred years just to master handling both energies simultaneously.”
The black energy he had thought of as Legacy energy was actually Void energy.
And the unidentified red energy was called Wrath energy.
“Three hundred years? I managed it on the first day I discovered Cyclic energy.”
Jin-young had been able to wield both energies simultaneously from the very day he discovered Cyclic energy.
He wasn’t sure if it was simply because psionic and Cyclic energy had such excellent compatibility.
In any case, it was clear he had a natural talent for handling energy.
Jin-young reached out toward the Cult Leader to extract the Void and Wrath energies.
Kwazuzuzuzuz!
“Grrrrrrk!”
The Cult Leader clutched his head in agony.
Kwakwakwakwa—
Void energy and Wrath energy were drawn out from the devil’s head, only to vaporize in midair.
While the pitch-black Void energy came slightly closer to Jin-young, the red Wrath energy dissipated almost instantly.
『It absolutely refuses to mix with psionic energy.』
“Looks like it.”
Jin-young realized that simultaneously handling multiple energies was far more difficult than expected.
Especially Void and Wrath energies—they had the worst compatibility with him.
Void energy at least showed some potential, but it would require a considerable amount of research.
But now wasn’t the time.
Clearing the dungeon was the top priority.
And relocating Nine City into sub-space was the next goal.
『Activate the magic circle for summoning a deity.』
“A powerful otherworldly sacrifice is required.”
At the Cult Leader’s words, Jin-young pointed toward the massive iron doors.
“They’re arriving just in time.”
Yoon Soo-ho and Choi Hee-yeon appeared, accompanied by the Watchmen.
The two of them looked shocked when they saw Jin-young standing with the Cult Leader.
“Already finished?”
Jin-young shook his head at Yoon Soo-ho’s question.
“Cult Leader, attack them.”
At his command, the Cult Leader rose from his seat.
Yoon Soo-ho and Choi Hee-yeon flinched.
Jin-young sat down on the throne the Cult Leader had occupied and added,
“Oh, and only enough to hurt them—don’t kill them.”
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