Possessing Nothing-Chapter 356: Mountain (4)
The Black Dragon Jehu looked at Teresa, who was rubbing his side, with a confused expression.
Teresa, who noticed his gaze, looked up slightly at Jehu. She tilted her head slightly to the side and giggled.
The pain in his side disappeared slowly. This pain, which had lasted for ten years, and which Jehu thought would last forever, disappeared under Teresa’s hand, which shone with a soft white light.
“It’s all done.”
Compared to Baek Sogo’s body, which had been riddled with poison, Jehu’s wound was easier to heal.
Teresa wiped her hands and stood. Jehu, who was staring at her face blankly, hurriedly came to his senses and quickly stood up after her.
“… Thank you.”
“It’s nothing. It wasn’t that difficult anyways.”
Teresa giggled and replied.
Meanwhile, the Spear King was staring at the fairies flying around him with a dazed expression.
However, the playful fairies did not hesitate even when the Spear King kept staring at them.
The fairies, talking amongst themselves, kept getting nearer and nearer to the Spear King, who swallowed his saliva, looking at them approaching.
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After leaving the Spear King and the Black Dragon Jehu in the Forest of the Fairies, Lee Sungmin got information about the Yuzukia mountain range from Neville.
As of now, he had taken care of Do Zun in Cron and recruited the Spear King and the Black Dragon.
Lee Sungmin wanted to finish everything that could be done before the Spirit Queen returned.
To be honest, he was not confident enough to wage an all-out war against the Predators that Geniella led: Geniella and the high-ranked Vampires, Juwon and the rest of the Lycanthropes, the Death Knights, the Liches, and the Monsters. Lee Sungmin wasn’t sure if other strong forces apart from the ones he knew existed among the 5.
There were too many unknown factors about the strength of the Predators.
‘Old man, do you know anything?’
[Most of my knowledge comes from 300 years in the past]
‘Still, it’s better than not knowing anything.’
[Hmm, I have close to no knowledge about Geniella’s bloodline. However, have you not met every high-ranked vampire other than the one called the Blood Demon?]
The first blood, Gemini, and below that, the Blood Demon of the Blood Alliance, Chen, Kun, and Lao Shen; these were the high-ranked vampires that Lee Sungmin had met before. Chen, Kun, and Lao Shen seemed to be around Guan Zun’s level.
[Geniella is incredibly strong as she is right now. However, you have not faced her during a full moon. This old man is unsure how strong she will get and what kind of powers she will use during a full moon.]
‘How strong does a normal vampire get under a full moon?’
[Each individual is different, but it should be at least 1.5 times their original strength. The full moon grants incredible strength to Vampires and Lycanthropes. Their constitution and magical power increase, and there is no need to talk about their physical strength.]
Heoju kept talking.
[If she wanted to, Geniella could reclaim the powers that she gave to her bloodline and use them for herself.]
‘What?’
Lee Sungmin, who was startled, asked. Heoju clicked his tongue and continued.
[All Vampires other than Gemini, who is a special case, originate from that bitch (the word used there is 계집, which can both mean bitch and woman. I decided to use bitch cuz why not. Gotta add diversity lol). This means that Geniella, the lord of all Vampires, can retake the powers of all the high-ranked Vampires you consider a threat. Do you understand what that means?]
Lee Sungmin gulped. If that is so, what would happen if the powers of all the Vampires were added to the already incredibly strong Geniella? And Lee Sungmin fought her on a full moon?
[You will be annihilated.]
Heoju thought while shuddering.
Lee Sungmin understood that fact; he didn’t want to fight Geniella in the first place, but if he had to, he would try to avoid the day of the full moon.
However, would he be able to win even if it wasn’t a full moon? After all, if Geniella started to lose, she could reabsorb her distributed powers.
[Isn’t this why you are trying to avoid fighting her?]
Heoju shuddered again.
[Moving past the Vampires, the Lycanthropes shouldn’t be ignored. There’s nothing else to say about Juwon but that Nero that you met before was quite famous during this old man’s time. He isn’t like a werewolf but has incredible strength like one.]
‘Is Nero the only one that I have to be careful of?’
[Considering your level, the only ones you should be careful of are Juwon and Nero… wait, there’s Brock… he was one of the followers of Howon, who was the leader of the Lycanthropes 300 years ago. Howon died to Juwon, though.] (The author uses plural words to talk about Brock, but I’ll leave it as 1 individual until we see them.)
‘How strong are these guys?’
[This old man has never met them in person. Hmm, Nero is a weretiger, while Brock is a werebear.]
A tiger and a bear… Lee Sungmin thought of the tale of DanGun but did not mention it to Heoju. (단군설화, also called 단군신화, is this story in Korea about how a god came down and gave a tiger and a bear a chance to turn into humans. The bear turned into a woman and married the god, giving birth to Dangun Wangkum (단군왕검), who founded Josun, which is Korea. It’s a pretty interesting story.)
[I have not heard about Brock, but I have heard about Nero. He was the successor of Howon, and since he was, he must have considerable strength. You, who have fought around a bit, should know.]
Lee Sungmin nodded. When he attacked Nero, he dodged Lee Sungmin’s attack, even if he was panicked. If Nero decided to fight with his life on the line, it wouldn’t be a quick and easy victory.
[You do not need to consider the Monsters since you have Yana. It’s the same with the Liches and the Death Knights.]
So, the ones that he had to be careful of were the Vampires and the Werebeasts. Putting this into his head, Lee Sungmin stood up.
It was time to go to the Yuzukia mountain range. He had asked Neville about the Moon Palace in the mountain range; it seemed to only exist as a legend in the villages surrounding the place.
|When the full moon descends into the lake in the middle of the highest peak, the mystical palace that wanders throughout the clouds will appear.|
It was difficult trying to figure out the location of the Moon Palace with just this vague legend.
The only way to determine if this legend was real was to visit the mountain range.
As Lee Sungmin stood up, Scarlett approached him.
“Let’s go together.”
“Are you fine with that?”
“Why else would I tell you to go together? Besides, you don’t have a plan. You were probably going to go to the mountain and just throw your body around here and there, weren’t you?”
“There’s no other method that I can try.”
“You… what the hell do you take me for?”
Scarlett sighed, making a weird face that seemed to say, ‘you are pathetic.’
“The person helping you right now isn’t this random nobody but a magician with one of the best talents and skills in the world. I’m not trying to brag; I’m just speaking the truth. Instead of you moving around, flipping the mountain upside down, I can go to the mountain’s peak and spread my powers to track whatever we are looking for.”
“Then… Please help me.”
Lee Sungmin spoke with a bitter smile, causing Scarlett to snort.
It was the fastest to travel from Prabakh, a city southwest of their current location, the Forest of the Fairies.
Teresa, who heard they were going to Prabakh, decided to stay in the forest. Her reason for staying was that since she ran away from home, she could get caught by the holy knights because she ran away from them.
The Black Dragon Jehu and the Spear King also stayed in the forest. The Spear King wanted to contemplate the martial arts he performed during the spar between him and Lee Sungmin, while Jehu wished to recover from the wounds he had suffered for 10 years.
There was no real danger in going to the Yuzukia mountain range. Wolhu, who ruled the Moon Palace, had been dead for 10 years.
They were not going to the Moon Palace to fight but to look for traces of the Divine Maiden.
However, Yana and Baek Sogo decided to go with Lee Sungmin because they weren’t sure what could happen.
So again, along with Yana, Scarlett, and Baek Sogo, Lee Sungmin rode on the Pegasus.
[Come to think of it, there are a lot of women around you. Look, even now, you are surrounded by women.]
‘It’s not because I want to have women around me.’
[It’s not a bad thing. It’s said to be heroic]
‘I’m not a hero.’
[Isn’t stopping the End not saving the world? Saving the world means that you are a hero.]
Heoju laughed while Lee Sungmin tried to ignore him and thought of Prabakh’s gates.
After arriving, the group quickly moved. Lee Sungmin thought of borrowing a carriage, but there was no need.
When they arrived, Yana turned into a Gumiho and let the party ride on her back.
[Where do you want to go?]
“Northwest, please.”
[Got it.]
Yana ran across the sky. Scarlett looked at the golden fur surrounding her with a dazed expression.
“Right… she was a Gumiho….”
Flying without the feeling of floating was weird, no matter how often he experienced it.
Baek Sogo looked at the scenery below, which zoomed past them.
Meanwhile, Scarlett brought out her grimoire from her spatial pouch. It seemed that she would finish what she was working on during the ride.
Looking at this sight, Lee Sungmin had the urge to ask something.
“Scarlett-nim, what is your field of research?”
“Me?”
She frowned, looking at the spells and recipes that filled the pages from top to bottom and side to side.
“Didn’t Scarlett-nim already fulfill her wish?”
“It isn’t my wish to create a school bearing my name.”
She replied in a sullen voice. In Lee Sungmin’s previous life, Scarlett had founded a school for wizards within the Wizard’s Guild and became the Red Tower Master.
Lee Sungmin didn’t know what Scarlett’s wish in his last life was, but it seemed that Scarlett from his current life had another desire.
“I want to create great magic.” (“나는 대마법을 만들고 싶어.” I’m not sure what 대마법 is. It translates directly to great magic, but 대 is also used in archmages I think (대마도사). I’ll take suggestions on what you guys want this to be.)
Scarlett answered.
“The spell engraving in Lesir Academy is a magic system that I made using a transformation spell. However, it cannot be said that it is great magic (대마법).”
“Strictly speaking, only the way it works was different; the fundamentals are the same.”
Scarlett added while talking out a pen.
“Magic as of now only transforms, divides, and combines magic that had already existed before. Also, the study of magic is ancient…. You know that this world brings people from all kinds of dimensions. Wizards that have read and studied never-seen-before types of magic are brought in, and then these new types are mixed in with the already existing ones, creating new magic. That’s why it’s so hard to develop original magic; the best thing that can be done is to create meaningless things.”
“Then is Scarlett-nim trying to make original magic?”
“I think that’s impossible.”
Maybe. Scarlett mumbled in a small voice.
“I consider myself a genius, but I’m not arrogant. All of the original types of magic probably already exist. That’s the reason why I created spell engraving in the first place. Creating original magic is nearly impossible, but changing how it works is relatively easy.”
It probably wasn’t an easy task, but watching Scarlett casually talk about it made Lee Sungmin laugh.
“I don’t want to create magic that doesn’t exist in this world; I want to create great magic that can only spread through the spell engraving in Lesir Academy. Since I already made a school and set up a Magic Tower, wouldn’t everything be complete if I created magic that can only unfold with it? After I’m done, I also want to write and publish my grimoire.”
Scarlett’s eyes were filled with ambition and motivation. She looked up from her grimoire, which was filled with spells, and stared at Lee Sungmin.
“This is why the world cannot end.”
“Wasn’t it because you wanted to date?”
“That is also part of the reason. I have never dated, so I cannot let the world end; it would be quite regrettable. Also… I’ve spent my entire life creating a school and on magic. If the world ends before I finish my grimoire… What was the point of my life until now?”
Lee Sungmin to remember something that the Spear King had said.
Since he had not seen the end of martial arts, he could not die.
In the end, the reason Scarlett and the Spear King did not want the Apocalypse to come was the same.
Lee Sungmin…
… had never been happy.
What Volander and Kim Jonghyun had said was right. Lee Sungmin wanted to stop the Apocalypse because his life was unfair.
Others had used him throughout his entire existence. He had returned to the past because the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion (마령) wanted to use him for its own benefits.
Even after that, the events that endlessly centered around Lee Sungmin were due to the flow of fate caused by the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion.
The life that he had lived thus far was the plaything of the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion and fate.
Before awakening to massacre and carnage, he had been a puppet.
During that time, Lee Sungmin had never felt happy. Most encounters ended in separation, and he had to fight endlessly to survive to bring the Apocalypse.
Finally, he had escaped from such a fate. However, he could not run from the Apocalypse.
That was why… was why he had to change the fate of the Apocalypse; it was because his life had been unfair. He had rarely been happy and wanted to be happy in the future.
He wanted to see the end of martial arts.
For a while, that was his goal in life. It was the same now. Since he had not yet seen the end, he had to stop the Apocalypse to see the end.
Also…
Sima Ryunju had died. Abel had died.
Lee Sungmin had to stop the Apocalypse so that their deaths were not in vain.
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