By Zephyria 
I glanced at Benjamin, who was stuck headfirst a short distance away.
Mage Boulder, thoroughly terrified, also charged at me against his will. As a mere Mage, swinging a staff like a sword was hardly threatening. I immediately grabbed the fellow by the scruff of his neck, gently set him on the ground, and picked up a nearby rock to place on top of him.
I had my own calculations.
Benjamin was the epitome of a strong bone. He wouldn’t break a bone or lose his breath from something like this. If he blocked the Thousand-Faced Devil with his body, attacking it would be far from easy, so the longer I kept him stuck in a corner, the better.
Mage Boulder, on the other hand, was flexible but generally frail. Given his age, his bones would break easily, and he was such a whiner that if he got seriously injured, he’d complain for a long time even after being healed with an Artifact. A rock of this weight would be enough to keep him from moving an inch.
“…Ha…”
“…Mm.”
Still, I thought he would at least be knocked unconscious from being thrown with this much force.
Seeing Benjamin get up and brush himself off perfectly fine, I was dumbfounded. There was no trace of the dejected look that had been etched onto his face. For some reason, the fact that not a single scratch marred Benjamin’s skin was vividly clear before my eyes.
“Are you alright?”
“…Yes.”
I asked out of courtesy, and Benjamin replied in a sullen tone. I let out a sigh.
“…It appears so.”
“What?”
Clang. Swords clashed once more.
Benjamin, controlled by the Thousand-Faced Devil, wielded his sword with more ferocity and sharpness than usual. I parried the blows intermittently and glanced at Soho Cheon-nyeo, who was readjusting her grip on her pipa. Seeing her smile gracefully and shift her stance, my heart grew increasingly urgent.
Cheonnyeo’s attacks were area-of-effect. It would be troublesome if Benjamin and Boulder, unable to protect themselves, suffered internal injuries. As I pondered how to deal with that, two men suddenly dropped from above with a string of vulgar curses.
It was Leon and Elvin.
Upon recognizing them, Soho Cheon-nyeo let out a feigned shriek.
“Switch opponents with me!”
“What? Why?”
“My music flows better when I fight the better-looking one!”
“You’re saying that now? Shall I swap bodies with you?”
“Ugh, don’t say disgusting things!”
It was clearly a joke meant to mock us.
I tripped Benjamin, who charged at me again, by his foot. I gripped the hand holding his sword, rendering him immobile, and with my other hand, I shaped my sword energy into a crescent and fired it. Beyond the long, vertical blue streak of sword energy, my eyes met those of the Thousand-Faced Devil.
KWAANG!
A large cloud of dust erupted. Did I get him?
“Cough. What is this.”
…Not even close. The man, waving his hand dismissively and scattering the dust, had a glint in his eyes. His gaze, fixed on me, shone a fierce blue. His thin lips, stretched across a face resembling a shrew’s, parted into a chilling, dry chuckle.
“Are you from the Central Plains?”
“…”
How did he know?
I had deliberately been using the sword forms I learned from Sierren, setting aside Namgung’s swordplay. Was there any need to reveal my past life’s name to the enemy? Especially now, when I didn’t know how much animosity they held towards me, I wanted to conceal it even more.
Benjamin struggled, twisting his arm at an unnatural angle. Fearing he would get more hurt, I kicked him far away and readjusted my stance.
The Thousand-Faced Devil continued to probe my intentions with nonsensical chatter.
“Do you know? The Master of Ten Thousand Demons has unified the Central Plains!”
“…”
“There’s a foul energy emanating from your martial arts! Are you a shaman? A Taoist shaman, perhaps! Jongnam? The ones who wield such straightforward swords are obvious. They simply don’t know how to be clever.”
“…”
“Have you heard the tale of how I gave new lives to all thirty-two disciples of Jongnam’s second generation? I wonder, if you attach arms and legs upside down, whether a person walks on arms or legs. Hmm?”
I didn’t bother responding to the filthy talk.
As my sword grew faster, Benjamin met its speed with his own.
But was he someone who originally used fast swordplay? Driven by the Thousand-Faced Devil’s machinations, Benjamin’s arms began to swell. If this continued, his blood vessels would burst from within, and his arms would become bruised.
I wanted to stop this as soon as possible.
But how?
I ducked and slipped past Benjamin’s left flank, striking his back with my elbow. In the process, Boulder, who had barely managed to push off the rock on top of him, charged at me again. With a sigh, I swung my left arm in a circle and tapped him. He fell to the ground.
Benjamin glared at me with a deeply wronged expression and charged again.
Chae-chaeng, chaeng. The sound of clashing swords was deafening.
“Why only me…”
“No, who are you comparing now? Snap out of it, snap out of it.”
“Still, you hit me too, without any mercy.”
“You have no right to say that when you’re being controlled by a scoundrel like that…”
Since I was being mistaken for a shaman, it was perfect. I drew a Taiji with both arms and lifted Benjamin high. Before he could struggle, I flung him over my back. My thought was that if I threw him as hard and as far as possible, I might gain a sliver of an opening to attack the Thousand-Faced Devil’s true body.
However, the Thousand-Faced Devil and Soho Cheon-nyeo both possessed immense, heavy energy within their bodies. It wasn’t easy to grasp them with sheer force. It seemed they too had received the Mana channeled by the Ninth God, just like me.
Having consumed a fragment of a god, I possessed power comparable to theirs, but that was all. I couldn’t show an overwhelming difference that would allow me to face both of them alone.
I could vaguely guess what they had done on this land, how they had done it, and how much energy from people and monsters they had absorbed.
If only I had to face one of them…
At that moment,
The Thousand-Faced Devil’s gaze suddenly shifted upwards.
In the battle of experts, an instant is eternity. The Thousand-Faced Devil’s astonished gaze was visible up close. I slashed its left arm upwards from below, then immediately swept around its shoulder to slice its neck horizontally. Without missing the opening, a crisp seogeuk sound came from the tip of my sword. Before its head could roll far, I struck twice more. I cut it into four pieces.
This one doesn’t die even when killed. I decided to finish it off this time.
“What, what are you doing…! You, you…! Could it be…!”
As Soho Cheon-nyeo’s gaze, filled with great surprise, turned towards me.
KWA-RRRUNG. A strange sound began to emanate from above.
It was then that a thought occurred to me.
Where was Hugh Benson?
Benjamin, who had rolled over from that direction, scooped up Mage Boulder and immediately bolted towards the outside. Leon and Elvin were still struggling to deal with Soho Cheon-nyeo. I immediately ran towards her back and drew my sword. I felt a faint graze at the tip of my blade.
At that moment,
[Get out immediately!]
The voice of the God of Records boomed through my entire body.
What would happen if I let this woman escape now?
However, I wasn’t so foolish as to ignore such a resounding divine command and run off. A black hole opened and swallowed Soho Cheon-nyeo. After seeing Leon and Elvin dash out first, I immediately followed.
And then,
The massive building collapsed in an instant.
The zombies, which the Thousand-Faced Devil had originally controlled, lay scattered like melted taffy, decorating the black floor. The goblins, who had somehow escaped, huddled together, their fur color similar, and shivered as they looked at Ikyun.
After confirming Benjamin and Boulder, Leon and Elvin, all looking disheveled, I noticed two elongated shadows. Hugh Benson stood right beside the God of Records, holding various scrolls.
Stunned, I asked,
“…What, what happened?”
Hugh Benson scoffed and shrugged his shoulders.
“With Mana and aura clashing so wildly, do you think the building would stay intact? It seemed like it would collapse if the defensive magic was even touched, so I went up stealthily, guided by the goblins. I also took all the records worth calling records and destroyed anything that looked like a magic circle.”
“…You know magic too?”
“Do I look like I do?”
“Then how?”
“Before, at Biban, something went wrong because the previous Queen stole the magic circle core. So I just stabbed anything that looked like a jewel. I didn’t know what anything was, so I smashed it all.”
“…Ah.”
As I stood there blankly, Hugh Benson taunted me again.
“What. Was it awesome?”
“…Yes.”
It was a good decision. Thanks to it, one was dealt with.
I looked around again. Was it true that the Thousand-Faced Devil I killed wouldn’t revive? Seeing the zombies that didn’t get back up, it seemed I had done something right, but I was frustrated because I couldn’t be sure of the extent of my accomplishment.
Ah. Something else occurred to me for a moment.
“Ranunculus.”
“What?”
“Wasn’t Ranunculus on the upper floor?”
“No. They must have already sent them all away. I don’t know where they went.”
“…”
“Summon the Sylphs and check.”
Knowing it would be useless, I still summoned the Sylphs. In response to the request to find Ranunculus, the Sylphs fluttered and squeezed into the gaps of the collapsed building. However, Hugh Benson’s attitude was so indifferent that I didn’t have much hope.
My excitement, which had been high at the thought of hearing Ruben and his family’s voices again after a long time, subsided. As I quieted down, the God of Records rolled up a scroll in his hand and tapped his other hand with it.
“It seems these people haven’t seen the Ninth God in a long time either. Let’s take a look for now.”
“…Can’t you heal us first?”
Benjamin, sulking and sitting down, slowly rolled up his sleeve.
I glanced at Boulder, who was writhing on the floor as if dying, and took out a Healing Artifact. Although Benjamin’s swollen arm wasn’t entirely my fault, I felt a little, just a tiny bit, responsible, and showed a contrite expression.
But Benjamin Claudian was inherently pure-hearted, wasn’t he? He forgave me before the day was even over. Touched by his good nature, I patted him on the back a few times and washed my mouth.