CHAPTER 165 - That Soul, Too, Is Likely...

Neldym's body was literally split in two. As the massive whale that flew through the sky fell in half, the ground shook violently, causing an earthquake. The Devotees of Rain, having lost their master, were either crushed to death or cowered on the spot, trembling.
That said, Neldym wasn't completely dead yet. Though his body was split, his soul remained.
He had the appearance of an old man, fitting for his voice. White hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He wore an outfit similar to the Devotees of Rain, but with various added ornaments and patterns. He had the look of a religious leader.
"You bastard..."
Neldym, now just a soul, glared at Jinwoo, unsure of what to do. Should he charge in for revenge, or should he flee and wait for the next opportunity?
‘Is there even a 'next time'?’
This was the thought that dominated his mind. The power of a divine spirit depended not just on the soul, but greatly on the stature of the body and mind as well. Only when these three pillars were in equal balance could one truly wield formidable power.
But now, his body was completely dead. No body could continue living after being split vertically in two. Having lost the pillar of the body, his power had plummeted to less than half, not just two-thirds.
‘I can't wander the Spirit Realm in this state.’
The Spirit Realm was a world of strict survival of the fittest. On the surface, it was full of beings who acted like enlightened sages, but if you looked behind the facade, they were all committing all sorts of filthy and disgusting acts. They were beings who thought nothing of trampling others to cultivate their own power.
The Spirit Realm he sought to purify included them as well. If the Erosion was an immediate, visible threat, the greed of the divine spirits, mixed with their hypocrisy, was a tumor that was slowly destroying the Spirit Realm.
He had no confidence he could survive in such a world. Therefore, he had to make his move right here, right now.
‘The Seed!’
The one thing he could grab right now was that. The Seed of Erosion, remaining in his dead body.
Neldym, watching for an opening, flew swiftly towards the Seed. His gaze was fixed on Jinwoo, ready to react the moment he moved.
However, it was Larna who blocked his path. Larna, having emptied her stomach, dropped down with a fuming face and targeted Neldym. Her thin, almost transparent blade shot towards Neldym's neck.
"Damn it! Don't interfere, you insect!"
Neldym's arm slapped Larna's blade away. He aimed precisely for the flat of the blade and struck it with his fist. Even as just a soul with less than half his power, the skills he had accumulated remained.

Her blade knocked aside, Larna momentarily flared up. She swung her sword, acting on instinct to tear Neldym apart, and Neldym had to do his best to fend off the charging Larna.
Naturally, in the process, he took his eyes off Jinwoo.
‘Crap!’
He realized his mistake in a fleeting moment. Less than half a second had passed since he started scuffling with Larna. The price for looking away for that brief time was that Jinwoo was already in Neldym's blind spot.
Shunk!
"Keoheok!"
Jinwoo stabbed Neldym in the chest and pushed forward. Unable to resist, Neldym was sent flying back and was skewered onto his own bisected corpse. Jinwoo put his strength into the sword and pushed deeper, ensuring he couldn't escape.
"Kuk, keuk... to an assassin of all things, not even Jerakson himself..."
He struggled with all his might, but he couldn't break free. With him pinned like that, Jinwoo spoke.
"There's a misunderstanding. I'm no assassin of Jerakson's."
"What? Then what is that stench of his that reeks from you?"
Jinwoo opened his hand and showed him the Seed. Jerakson's Seed, which had been on the verge of rampaging just moments ago, was now quiet. It was because the whale in the sky had fallen and the storm clouds had all cleared.
The Seed emanated Jerakson's aura perfectly, causing Neldym's eyes to widen. He could definitely feel the bastard's power from the Seed. But the master of that power was not him.
"Don't tell me..."
"This is the Seed in which Jerakson is sealed."
"You did that? The sealing?"
Jinwoo nodded. He had no knowledge of magic or sealing formulas. But when it came to handling Erosion or the power of the Seeds, he was more knowledgeable than anyone.
He created a model world within the Seed of Erosion and trapped Jerakson inside. Accomplishing that hadn't been very difficult.

"A model... a created... world..."
Neldym's legs gave out, a look of despair on his face. He might have collapsed, but his chest was pierced by the sword, so he couldn't even fall.
Until now, he had strived to purify the world. Although his method was to spread a potent remedy no different from poison, his goal had been consistent.
But even purifying the world was no easy task. Especially in this Spirit Realm, where all sorts of schemes were afoot.
The divine spirits...
Yet the man before him had created a new world. Although he had borrowed the Seed's power, it was a feat that could not be imitated.
Not just any world, but a world so convincing that even Jerakson had been completely fooled—it couldn't be called a mere model. It would be no different from the real world.
"Kuk, keuk..."
Neldym began tearing his own soul, trying to break free from Jinwoo's sword. For a final struggle, he was mutilating himself excessively.
"Hey, wait."
"Don't touch me!"
Jinwoo tried to stop him, but he didn't listen. In the end, Neldym tore his own soul to shreds and broke free from Jinwoo's sword.
Stabbing him again would have been a simple matter, but Jinwoo didn't. He couldn't escape properly in that state anyway.
Neldym, now in tatters, climbed a hill. Below him were his devotees, in a state of chaos after losing their master. Their souls belonged to Neldym, and their bodies were also made from Neldym's rainwater. With their minds also subordinate to him, Neldym was them, and they were Neldym.
"Listen."
At their master's words, the devotees stopped panicking and raised their heads. Their eyes held a desperate plea. A plea to be led, to not be abandoned like this.
"I, we, have purified many things in this world. Though there were some side effects, it is true that we achieved our purpose."
Jinwoo let out a small laugh at his shameless tone. Neldym ignored him and continued with his final words.
"However, my method has its limits. Before a 'truly' omnipotent being, I too was but a mortal."
He had acted like a god, but when a being with truly god-like authority appeared, he was reduced to a common man. But even so, the will he had upheld until now could not have been wrong.
"Follow this man. He is the true god who will grant your—and my—wishes."
Neldym sharpened his fingertip and stabbed his own heart. The last of his soul unraveled like a thread and seeped into Jinwoo's sword. Witnessing this, the devotees stopped all their panic and bowed their heads before Jinwoo.

He could have absorbed all those flames right now. Brilliantly shining black flames. Until now, he would have harvested them all and used them as his own power, but...
‘Absorbing this many flames doesn't make me much stronger anymore.’
He was past the stage where his skill increased simply through a quantitative increase in energy. What Jinwoo needed now was to pursue a higher quality. For that, he either had to absorb a soul on Neldym's level, like just now, or achieve endless enlightenment on his own.
"Go inside. I'll call when you're needed."
In that case, it would be better to keep them as minions rather than harvesting them. The battle with Neldym alone would have taken quite some time if not for Larna. Having followers would be more helpful than he thought.
Jinwoo's wide-spread shadow settled beneath the feet of all the devotees. Among them were the souls of the devotees who had been crushed to death by Neldym's fallen corpse. Such beings needed to be given new bodies. The shadow of the Seed, which he had in abundance, would serve as the material. This should work.
All the Devotees of Rain were sucked into Jinwoo's shadow. The Seed that remained in Neldym's corpse was absorbed along with them.
Before long, only the bisected corpse of the whale remained.

Larna, still feeling sick, moved away from Jinwoo. It seemed she was still emptying her stomach somewhere out of sight. Was Neldym's poison that potent?
‘Poisons and medicines.’
The Seed Neldym possessed held knowledge of all poisons and medicinal herbs. Making it rain was his own ability, but creating a potent poison that even the Erosion couldn't approach was, ironically, achieved by utilizing the knowledge gained from the Seed of Erosion.
‘Well, you have to understand the Erosion to understand both its cures and its poisons.’
That was why he had been unwilling to hand over the Seed. To study the knowledge within it and the Erosion itself, he couldn't have given it up.

"Just like that, another Monarch..."
Terham muttered in belated shock. How many Monarchs had died now? He hadn't gotten a clear answer from Jinwoo, but it was more than one or two.
With every step Jinwoo took, another Monarch was being buried.
‘This is a good thing... right?’
The disappearance of the Monarchs was a good thing. What did the existence of a Monarch mean in this Spirit Realm? They were tyrants who brandished the Erosion and committed atrocities. Dictators that most divine spirits couldn't even make eye contact with. Or plagues that brought disaster wherever they went.
For such Monarchs to be disappearing one by one meant that the Spirit Realm was becoming that much cleaner. So it had to be a good thing.
‘Then why do I feel so uneasy?’
But his anxiety wouldn't go away. It wasn't for some unknown reason. Terham could state the reason clearly.
‘The Monarchs are disappearing, but the Seeds are not. Instead, they are gathering in one place.’
Jinwoo was dispatching all the Monarchs and collecting their Seeds. It would be great if he could destroy the Seeds too, but that was impossible even for Jinwoo.
But he couldn't just leave the Seeds scattered about, so in the end, Jinwoo himself had to take responsibility and collect them. The gathered Seeds were all melting into Jinwoo, each asserting its own will.
Each Seed was powerful on its own, and now there were several. He couldn't help but feel respect for the being known as Jinwoo, who held them all, but the problem was how long it would be possible.
"Are you... alright?"
"Hm? With what?"
"Ah, no. It's nothing."
He asked cautiously, but there were no strange signs. He wasn't losing his sanity like Terham himself had when consumed by the Seed, nor were there any symptoms of his mind being eroded. His soul, too, was likely still pure.
That, in itself, was what made him uneasy. For someone harboring that many Seeds, Jinwoo's state was far too calm.
‘No, it can't be...’
Terham shook his head, brushing off the useless anxiety. What was the problem with there being no problem? If he was still this calm, it just meant Jinwoo's abilities were that incredible.
He shook off his worries and flew alongside Jinwoo as he followed him back to the tower.