Chapter 25 : Reality (7)

“This is so annoying.” I grumbled, storing the last mana stone in my Inventory using telekinesis.

“I need to find a better way to do this.” I frowned at the 200 mana stones piled up inside. It had taken me only a minute to kill the goblins, but a whole hour to extract the mana stones.

“This is too inefficient.” One hour was 60 minutes. In that time, I could have killed 60 times more goblins and collected 12,000 mana stones.

I contemplated finding a skill or item that automated mana stone extraction as I headed towards the center of the Hobgoblin settlement, where one of the Hobgoblin Commanders resided.

“What are they doing here?” I paused, instinctively taking cover, my gaze fixed on a group of black-robed figures gathered near the settlement’s center. I prepared for combat.

“I sense… miasma.” The same nauseating aura I had felt emanating from the Corrupted Wolf King was radiating from these cloaked figures.

“Why do I always stumble into trouble inside Gates?” I muttered, shaking my head. Every Gate I entered seemed to present some new problem.

I stealthily followed the group, keeping a safe distance.

“Tsk. A knight, reduced to doing grunt work.” The black-robed knight leading the group clicked his tongue in annoyance. He had endured hardship and finally earned the Baron’s favor, receiving a portion of his miasma and becoming a knight. And now, this. Spreading diluted miasma, infecting the mana beasts within the Gate. It was beneath him.

But he had no choice. He had to obey the Baron, a nobleman who granted him power.

“I can’t give up this pure miasma.” He looked at the black aura swirling around his hand, the corrupted energy born from the negative emotions of powerful, transcendent beings, and smiled. This pure miasma, unlike the diluted version wielded by his followers, had significantly increased his power, pushing him from a lowly D-rank to high C-rank.

“Once I complete this mission and receive more miasma…” He imagined himself reaching pseudo-B-rank, a level of power he had only dreamed of before.

“Yes!”

“As you command!” His followers, eager to receive the Baron’s pure miasma and increase their own power, quickened their pace. They reached the center of the goblin settlement, where the Hobgoblin Commander resided.

“Prepare yourselves.”

“Yes!”

“We’re ready!” The followers began chanting dark magic spells, channeling their miasma.

The knight approached the Hobgoblin Commander, his fist clenched. He didn’t need a weapon. The commander was, at best, a mid-to-high D-rank mana beast. A high C-rank like himself could easily handle it.

“Krr!” The Hobgoblin Commander charged at him.

“Shut up.” The knight jabbed, his casual movement belying the devastating force behind it.

BOOM!

A shockwave rippled through the air.

“Kieeeek!” The commander crumpled to the ground, clutching its stomach.

“Disgusting.” The knight, his true form partially revealed due to the exertion, touched the single horn protruding from his forehead, an incomplete symbol of his demonic heritage.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes! We’re ready!” One of his followers handed him a small, seed-like object. A parasitic seed that spread miasma by infecting mana-rich beings.

“Good.” The knight forced the seed into the Hobgoblin Commander’s head.

“Kyaaaaaa!” The commander shrieked, enveloped in a black aura. Not a scream of pain, but of ecstasy. The miasma coursing through its body, transforming it from a mere mana beast into a demonic monster, filled it with an overwhelming sense of power and madness.

“Excellent. Now then…” The knight turned away from the corrupted commander, addressing his followers. “To the next target.” They had more Hobgoblin Commanders to infect.

“So, you’re the ones responsible for the Corrupted Wolf King.”

A voice echoed from above.

“Who’s there?!” The knight, his senses heightened by the demonic miasma, instantly drew his sword, scanning the sky. This operation was top secret. If news of these activities reached the wrong ears, especially before the nobles fully consolidated their power, it would be disastrous. He had to eliminate whoever had overheard them.

He looked up—and froze.

“Those wings…” Radiant light shimmered around the figure descending from the sky. “…and that halo.” Two pairs of wings. A radiant halo. A perfect, complete angel.

“Are you… a devil?” he stammered, his voice filled with a mixture of awe and fear. Unlike himself, a half-demon with an incomplete transformation, this angel was the embodiment of pure, divine power. His instincts screamed at him.

‘I have to run!’ This was a monster, a being far beyond his capabilities.

And he wasn’t the only one who felt it.

“Ah…”

“A… a true devil…”

“Why… why…” His followers, wielding the diluted miasma of lesser demons, felt an even deeper sense of dread, a primal fear in the presence of a superior being.

“Uwaaa!” Panic seized the knight. He dropped his sword and fled, channeling all his power into his escape. His followers, however, were paralyzed, their weaker, corrupted mana unable to function in the presence of such overwhelming holy energy. They could only tremble in fear, consumed by despair.

And the angel—

“I will win,” I declared.

[Activating Divine Proclamation (C)!]

[Creating a Divine Domain within a 50-meter radius!]

[Temporarily increasing stats of all holy beings within the domain by 50%!]

[Temporarily increasing holy power of all holy beings within the domain by 100%!]

[Temporarily increasing holy efficiency of all holy beings within the domain by 100%!]

[Divine Domain detects miasma!]

[Divine Domain does not tolerate miasma!]

[Temporarily decreasing all stats of miasma-wielding beings within the domain by 50%!]

[Temporarily decreasing miasma power of miasma-wielding beings within the domain by 100%!]

[Temporarily decreasing miasma efficiency of miasma-wielding beings within the domain by 100%!]

“Gah!” The fleeing knight felt a sudden weight crush him, his miasma flickering and fading. He realized, with dawning horror, that he was trapped within a domain of holy energy, his escape route cut off.

“I have questions. Many questions.” I looked down at the knight and his followers, their miasma dissipating.

“So, cooperate.”

They watched as I, an angel wreathed in radiant light, descended with a chilling smile.

“If you don’t want to die a painful death…” I said, my voice soft, yet laced with a menacing undertone. They knew, with chilling certainty, that they were doomed.