Chapter 368
‘...System.’
I swallowed my dry saliva and finally forced my gaze up.
The Status Window that said someone had paid the price vanished, and beyond it, a space stained with darkness was revealed.
“Haah... ugh....”
I forced my aching body to move and barely managed to stand.
I could feel the dirt floor touch the sole of my shoe.
‘Looks like the location hasn’t changed.’
It was the same spot I’d been in right before I passed out. Inside the unidentified rift.
But the fact that I couldn’t see the other team members meant it was too early to relax. Cha Sahyeon’s shadow skill could move people through space, too.
I kept my breathing steady and calmly scanned my surroundings until the dizziness-smeared world settled down, then I looked down at my own body.
‘The skill....’
In the darkness, my body was glowing white.
It was the effect of Divine Power. Wings made of light had appeared behind my back, too.
‘The Status Window definitely said... someone paid the price.’
It was a Status Window I’d seen before.
The first time I remembered was back at Gwanghwamun, when I was searching for the flower that was the source of energy—when the System paid the price instead and told me the location.
Was this something similar?
‘Does the System think I can only resolve this situation if I use Divine Power?’
Why?
Divine Power has the “power of blessing” that heals injuries, and the “power of purification” that cleanses the poison of demon-type monsters. That was a fact I knew well, too.
But what did that have to do with what was happening right now?
I lifted my head.
I was standing alone in the darkness. Neither Cha Sahyeon nor any of the team members were visible, and I couldn’t sense them either.
The shadow that had swallowed everything existed in silence, like a beast with its maw open. As if it were waiting for my light to go out.
And in the middle of this, what the System had given me was the activation of Divine Power. Even paying a price to do it.
‘Is it saying I can push back Cha Sahyeon’s shadow skill... with my Divine Power?’
I couldn’t understand the System’s intent.
But in the end, the only thing I could trust was the System.
I’d agonized for a long time, and decided fast.
‘If trying it won’t kill me, then I should try it.’
After taking a deep breath, I clasped both hands together. The faint white glow that had been leaking from my body began to strengthen.
《Skill: Divine Power (S-rank) Activated!》
《Holy energy is overflowing!》
[Meditative Prayer: S-rank (Divine Power effect)]
When the white light that started from my body received even the effect of Meditative Prayer, it began to truly swell in size.
Like a rising tide, the light flowed along the ground and pushed the shadow back.
That was when it happened.
Ding!
With a familiar notification sound, a new Status Window floated up in front of my eyes.
《Hidden Quest lock has been released!》
It was a Hidden Quest Status Window I hadn’t seen in a very long time.
A Hidden Quest. A quest the System kept concealed—unless you cleared it by chance, you couldn’t even know it existed—and it had just been unlocked.
《Hidden Quest: The Only Lantern (S-rank)》
《Hidden Quest: The Only Lantern (S-rank) Cleared!》
《Hidden Quest clear rewards will be granted.》
《An existing skill rank is increasing!》
《Divine Power (S-rank) → Divine Power (SS-rank)》
《The Status Window will be updated due to the skill rank increase.》
《New effects will be added due to the skill rank increase.》
[Primary Skill: Divine Power (SS-rank)]
A special skill that allows you to use the power of blessing and the power of purification at the same time.
The power of blessing heals wounds, and the power of purification deals damage to monsters (limited to demon-type) and can cleanse contaminated places.
SS-rank effect: The power of blessing can be used as an area-of-effect.
SS-rank effect: The power of purification can be used as an area-of-effect.
SS-rank effect: Several stats are added.
SS-rank effect: A special effect appears due to strong Divine Power, inspiring awe in nearby people.
SS-rank effect: When you clasp both hands together, the skill effect is amplified and the range increases.
It wasn’t just one Hidden Quest that had been released.
Ding—notifications kept sounding as Status Windows appeared one after another.
《Hidden Quest: The First Dawn (S-rank)》
《Hidden Quest: The First Dawn (S-rank) Cleared!》
《Hidden Quest clear rewards will be granted.》
《A new Divine Power activation effect has been added!》
《Light That Brightens Your Sight: SS-rank (Divine Power effect) acquired!》
[Light That Brightens Your Sight: SS-rank (Divine Power effect)]
It doesn’t stop, even if you can’t see.
Its power is amplified when opposing darkness, and within the range the light reaches, “shadows” cannot maintain a physical form.
Divine Power spread widely.
Now upgraded to SS-rank and layered with new effects, Divine Power overcame even Cha Sahyeon’s shadow.
With the light pulsing outward in every direction, the shadows slowly retreated.
And then, finally, I could see.
“U-ugh....”
“Ah...?”
The team members who had been collapsed inside the shadow.
The team members who had been lying there with their eyes closed in silence, as if deeply asleep, recovered their consciousness the instant my light reached them.
As they clutched their foreheads and pushed their upper bodies up, every single one of their expressions looked confused.
“......!”
In particular, Ryu Sunghyun—who had witnessed me being swallowed by the shadow with his own eyes—searched for me first the moment he came to.
“Hunter Cha Seohu, are you all right?”
I nodded, then checked the others.
Even Kwon Taehyuk, who had woken up a little farther away, and Kwon Seoyul and Hyun Dowoon, who had been hanging back behind, were thankfully unhurt and fine.
One by one, the team members got to their feet inside the light I’d created.
Maybe because we’d escaped the shadow, the numb, muffled sensation I’d felt returned, too. And because of that, I realized belatedly just how strong the force that had swallowed us had been.
The shadow that had crawled back like a snake gathered into a single spot. Feeling Kwon Taehyuk and Ryu Sunghyun’s presence as they came up beside me, I raised my gaze.
“Fuck, what the hell is that....”
From behind, I heard Hyun Dowoon mutter softly in a trembling voice.
The space the darkness had retreated from was now dyed in sunset.
Instead of the East Asian-style buildings we’d seen as we came through, modern buildings stood there—collapsed and shattered.
A red sky like blood had been sprayed across it. Hot wind blowing in. Dead bodies and chunks of ruined buildings.
It was a place far too familiar to me.
And at the end of it stood Cha Sahyeon.
A derelict building with only its frame left, tilted as if it might fall over. A man was standing on top of it, his long black hair scattering in the wind.
A name rose to my lips, but I swallowed it before it could come out.
‘...Yeah.’
Now I understood.
That existence wasn’t Cha Sahyeon. It wasn’t the one I called a kid, the one I’d thought of as my little brother.
More precisely, he was hidden inside it. The existence standing in front of us right now was....
‘Status.’
With a certain level of conviction, I brought up a Status Window.
[User Info: None (Villain)]
Age: ??? years
Primary Skill: Living Shadow (Unmeasurable)
Title: The Incomplete Eternal Nightmare
Attack Power: Unmeasurable
Attack Speed: Unmeasurable
Movement Speed: Unmeasurable
Agility: Unmeasurable
Special Notes▼
└Seed of Catastrophe (Progress unknown) (Synchronization unknown)
“......!”
The Status Window floating in front of me cracked and shook unsteadily.
Like a broken program being forced to run, the window scratched and flickered all over, as if it might vanish at any moment.
I’d seen that title exactly once.
A virtual space Chronos had created.
It was a space that had been implemented by copying and recreating a specific moment from a previous timeline, and there, I’d faced the Catastrophe that had been copied along with the space.
It had been a shock big enough that I clearly remembered what I’d seen in the Status Window back then.
‘Back then, the title was definitely “The Eternal Nightmare.”’
But the title of the existence in front of us now had the word “Incomplete” added.
‘...An incomplete state.’
Was it because the Catastrophe had been forcibly dragged out by the space of this unidentified rift?
Or maybe because Cha Sahyeon was being suppressed inside it... it could mean even that bastard didn’t want to oppose us.
‘...Can we win?’
Even if it was incomplete, the Catastrophe was originally an existence that soared far beyond common sense.
Even Cha Sahyeon’s skill before awakening had been L-rank—so how much stronger would it be now?
Feeling my heart start to pound faster and faster with anxiety, I picked up the sword that had fallen to the ground and gripped it again.
It was the moment I lifted the sword tip and leveled it forward.
Kkiiieeek!
A crow’s cry rang out through the silent space.
Startled, I turned toward where the sound came from—and the instant I did, a soft touch brushed my cheek.
Kkiik.
The shadow bird that had landed on my shoulder rubbed its body against my cheek as if acting cute.
After letting out a short cry, the shadow bird turned into shadow before I could stop it and seeped into the ground.
For a moment I sucked in a breath, wondering if my Divine Power had collapsed the shadow bird’s form.
But no.
The shadow bird became a passage.
The shadow that surged up from the ground spat out the opponent who had just arrived through spatial movement.