CHAPTER 164 - Two Horns

There was a considerable distance to where Neldym was flying. To close that gap, Jinwoo ran. The downpour struck his face and seeped into his skin, but Jinwoo's aura blocked it before it could reach his heart.
[That filthy lizard is finally coming for my neck! Kill them! They are interfering with our ritual!]
Neldym's cry sounded like a command to someone. At his order, countless black dot-like figures fell from the whale's back.
‘The Black Flame… they’re his minions.’
Each one of them was a minion of Neldym's, harboring a Black Flame. Their numbers were so great they were reminiscent of Larna's insect swarm he had seen not long ago.
They were figures cloaked in black priestly robes. Some looked like ordinary humans, some were long-eared elves, and others were short-legged dwarves. Some had green skin, while others were covered in fur.
The one thing these diverse beings had in common was that they wore priestly robes and were armed with zealous faith. The prayers they offered reached Neldym in the sky, unleashing their power along with his grace.
"Slay our enemy!"
"He is a wicked foe who obstructs the world's purification!"
The Devotees of Rain. The group of wild fanatics unleashed a black aura. A waterfall of power poured from Neldym's Seed, using the devotees as terminals to seize control of the world.
It was different from magic. Jinwoo had no knowledge of magic, but he knew how beautiful and rational its formulas were. They were logical formulas that pursued clear causes and definite results.
But the energy they were spreading was different. It was more chaotic and confusing. You could call it haphazard. It was chaos itself, far from any clarity.
‘…Difficult to cut through.’
That made it harder to slice. A clear formula based on rationality would have a clear weakness. By cutting off its source, one could break the formula with a minimum of slashes.
But the energy scattered by the Devotees of Rain had too many useless decoys. It was hard to tell where the core of the energy was or what the pillar of the formula was. In the end, to break it, he had no choice but to cut and slice through everything.
"Kuaaaack!"
"Don't stop! Do not stop!"
Nevertheless, Jinwoo's sword was cutting down the devotees without issue. No matter how much they tried to deceive his eyes with their chaotic formulas, it was useless. Jinwoo's senses detected every Black Flame around him, so all he had to do was ignore the formulas and cut the flames.
"If I'm going to die like this...!"
Just then, one of the devotees made a strange move—a movement that defied common sense, disregarding its own life.
Jinwoo's sword naturally pierced him, and the impaled devotee smiled even as he died. A sense of foreboding washed over Jinwoo, and he kicked the devotee's corpse off his blade.
Kwwaaaaaaaang!
The moment the body came off the sword, it exploded. Muscles and bone fragments, swollen like a balloon, and toxic blood burst right in front of Jinwoo.
"Tch."
A poison several times, tens of times more concentrated than the falling rain, poured down on Jinwoo. For a moment, he tried to block it with his mana, but with a hiss, even the mana melted away.
The blood that pierced his mana left a burn-like mark on Jinwoo's skin. It wasn't a major wound, but it had clearly inflicted damage.
The Black Flame that had completed its suicide attack returned to the rainwater to reconstruct a new body. The rain gathered in the air, forming a new vessel that the Black Flame then covered. It was a minion that had gained life once more, but...
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Keok…"

Jinwoo's sword pierced its body—no, its soul. This time, right in the center of the Black Flame, so it couldn't escape.
The flame struggled several times to break free from the sword and return to the rain, but Jinwoo's blade never let go. The reconstructed body melted back into rainwater, and the ego etched into the soul was extinguished.
Only the flame remained, seeping into Jinwoo's sword.
"...!"
"Resurrection! A new life!"
Jinwoo wasn't particularly fazed. Recovering only the Black Flame and sending it back out with a new body was a tactic other Monarchs had used several times.
A strategy of continuous suicide attacks via resurrection was no longer surprising.
BOOM! KABOOM!
Knowing they couldn't be revived if they stood before Jinwoo, the Devotees of Rain relentlessly blew themselves up. It was the only way they could inflict even the slightest damage on him.

A few beings with stronger flames boldly challenged Jinwoo, but...
"Kuaaaaaaaack!"
They were cut down even more pathetically than the self-destructing grunts. With the cadres they considered their spiritual pillars dying so feebly, they were left with no other options. They didn't know any way to fight Jinwoo other than to blow themselves up.
‘This is getting pretty annoying.’
Fortunately for them, it was working on Jinwoo, in a way. It was preventing him from getting any closer to Neldym.
To cut the beast down, he had to get close, but Neldym was getting farther away. His movements seemed slow, but that was only because of his massive size. In reality, he was flying at a considerable speed, increasing the distance between them.
To catch up, Jinwoo had to run at full speed, but the Devotees of Rain, throwing their bodies at him, were stopping his advance.
The fortunate thing was that Jinwoo wasn't alone either. Beside him was Terham, who had come to help him.
"I'll take care of this...! Go!"
Terham shouted as he raised his palm. At his gesture, the earth rose up, blocking and throwing off the charging devotees.
The secret art of the giants who serve Mother Earth. Though he had lost the powerful body of a giant, their memories and the secret arts passed down through generations were still with him.
The ground split open, creating a path. Jinwoo dashed through the momentarily created passage. However, devotees were still leaping from Neldym's back. As they blocked the new path, Jinwoo's feet were once again halted.
[Khuhuhu, as expected of an assassin sent by him, you have some skill, but it seems this is your limit.]
Neldym laughed, sensing victory. Although a significant number of his minions had their souls taken by Jinwoo, he still had plenty more.
He hadn't gathered these minions in a day or two. Through hundreds, thousands of years of rituals, he had gathered devotees who worshipped him.
In this sky, there is a whale that brings the rain, and its existence alone is the salvation that will save a world hurtling towards its end.
The devotees believed those words. In fact, Neldym's purpose was similar.
Seeing the power of the Seed of Erosion, he knew it would one day cover the Spirit Realm. This was a predetermined future, one that could not be avoided.
Yet, if one wished to twist that future, a superior being would have to purify the world.
The medicine he administered was still too poisonous to be accepted by the world, but he continued to spread his potent remedy. One day, an environment would be born that could accept this medicine and still survive. When that time came, the world would be free from the threat of Erosion and would regain its true freedom.
Therefore, he could not die before then. He could not lose.
[Give up.]
Neldym whispered to Jinwoo.
[Do you intend to continue this war of attrition? With that vaunted swordsmanship of yours alone, you think you can defeat the tens of thousands of devotees who serve me and point your sword at me? What a preposterous notion.]
He believed he couldn't lose if he dragged this into a battle of attrition. And indeed, the fight seemed to be heading in that direction.
But just then, from beneath a devotee's feet, something that looked like two horns shot out.
"Ack!"
It bit down hard on the devotee's body. So hard that flesh tore and bone was exposed. Then, still clamped down, it dragged him back underground.
"What is that..."
As Jinwoo's eyes widened, similar things happened beneath the feet of other devotees. All of them were caught by the two horns and dragged down. Soon, with sounds of crunch, munch, crackle, it fell silent. Of course, the screams that had filled the air also faded away.
‘Larna!’
It was Larna, who hadn't wanted to come, saying she hated getting wet in the rain—or more accurately, that anything soaked in this rain was inedible. She had gathered nearby insects to devour the devotees. The bodies and souls of the devotees swallowed by the insects were delivered to her in their entirety.
"Ugh."
In the distance, Larna could be seen, hands on the ground, emptying her stomach. It seemed she had food poisoning from eating something toxic. He wanted to pat her on the back and tell her "well done," but there was no time. Jinwoo ran through the battlefield, which had been thrown into utter chaos by Larna's intervention.
[Lord of Insects! Why do you side with Jerakson? Weren't you two on bad terms?!]
Neldym was confused, unable to understand the situation. As far as he knew, Jerakson and Larna considered each other enemies.
Jerakson, who wanted to cover everything with his sky, hated the free-spirited Larna. Likewise, Larna saw Jerakson, who took away her food source, as a thorn in her side.

Yet now, the two of them were cooperating. And they were baring their fangs at him.
[How insolent...]
Enraged, Neldym thrashed about, whipping his tail. With his single movement, a massive typhoon rose up and swept across the land. Not only Larna's insects but also his own devotees were mercilessly caught in it and annihilated.
He didn't stop there; he thrashed even more violently. The atmospheric currents covering the world swirled around him, making it impossible to see an inch ahead. This place was already his domain. The sky was covered in thick storm clouds, and a poisonous rain poured down. Soon, a thundercloud formed with a krrrrumble, creating a territory that was impossible to approach.
[Insolent fool! Do you still believe this entire sky belongs to you?! Listen here! Neither the sky nor the earth belongs to anyone. They simply submit to the strong! They cannot belong to you, who are weaker than I!]
It was a taunt meant to provoke, but of course, it had no effect on Jinwoo. Jinwoo had no ambition like Jerakson's.
Instead, the Seed within him reacted fiercely. It was the Seed of Domination. Possessing a desire similar to Jerakson's, it could not simply ignore Neldym's provocation.
Jinwoo unleashed the Seed's power. Do as you wish, as you desire. It was Jinwoo's sword that led it, but the power behind it was the Seed's own.
[I! To you...!]
Jinwoo approached Neldym, who was shouting from the center of the downpour. By the time Neldym was surprised by Jinwoo's presence, Jinwoo's sword was already swinging.
Krrrr-rumble!
The thundercloud produced a bolt of lightning, letting out a roar of thunder. Within that sound, someone's scream was buried.
A sound whose owner could not be identified...
The sky cleared, and the storm clouds parted. The cloud that had been spewing thunder was gone, and in its place, sunlight streamed through. The warm, golden light embraced the one who stood alone, soothing his wounds.
The whale's corpse, split vertically in half, fell, and in its center stood a man draped in golden light.