I Became a Disaster-Class Newbie by Stealing Abilities - Chapter 57

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 57. Sacred Relic of the Evil God (1)
A woman with crimson hair.
Her name was Hong Su-ah, if memory served.
A Ranker belonging to an organization called Invader, skilled enough with a whip that I remembered it clearly.
Though, that wasn’t what mattered right now.
‘After all this time, and the first thing she asks is for my help.’
Here stood someone with considerable skill—seasoned, by any measure—wearing an expression of palpable urgency.
Something felt distinctly off about the whole situation.
“I’ll hear you out. What’s this about?”
“There’s a problem with the elven Coming-of-Age Ceremony. There’s a forest they enter every year, but something’s changed there—gone wrong. I tried to stop it, but they said a sacred ritual can’t be postponed, so they’re pushing ahead anyway.”
So that’s why she showed up here.
She needed to build favor with the elves.
To get an invitation to the Coming-of-Age Ceremony, you had to spend considerable time cultivating trust with Shanes.
It was an investment that demanded a lot of effort.
‘That’s why I gave up on it myself. The returns were too poor.’
But thanks to Hong Su-ah, things had started taking an interesting turn.
“You’re not asking me to stop the ceremony, are you?”
“I’m not hoping for that much. I’ve spent half a year trying and failed myself—you wouldn’t fare much better.”
“Then what?”
“Join as backup. If something goes wrong, I need someone capable enough to handle it from behind.”
Capable, she says.
When I was at Namhansanseong, I’d seen the Gate of Avici and what lay beyond it.
The man with me hadn’t noticed a thing. Hong Su-ah had to be at least two tiers above him.
The story held together with no loose ends so far.
I had an inkling of why the forest had gone wrong, too.
But there remained one crucial problem.
“What’s the compensation for this job?”
“Would… five hundred million won be acceptable?”
Was she joking right now?
Trying to settle a deal this big with mere money?
As my expression darkened, Hong Su-ah’s words tumbled out with increasing desperation.
“Or—or as public merit! One thousand merit points—isn’t that enough? You could rank up your Believer Rank, purchase an Exclusive Dungeon, use it however you like!”
What’s this?
She still hadn’t come to her senses.
“After the ceremony ends, you’ll receive a trait and a Sacred Relic from the elven treasure vault—hand over one of them. And as compensation for trying to undercut me, you’ll give me five hundred million won and one thousand merit points as well.”
That’s what a proper deal looks like. Amateur.
“Ugh. This is ridiculous. You knew about that too?”
“I happen to know a lot of miscellaneous things.”
“Fine. Fine. I’ll give it. Just… tell me what nickname you used in The Emperor.”
This was it.
She was asking about the left-handed spoon killer.
Her desperation to salvage something was almost touching.
But I had no intention of falling for such clumsy questioning.
“It’s been over a million years since I quit that garbage game. How am I supposed to remember every single account ID? Obviously I forgot.”
“Seriously?”
“If you don’t believe me, bring a lie detector.”
“Forget it. I shouldn’t have asked. Just don’t take too long getting there—the ceremony already started a few hours ago.”
Right, I’d better hurry then.
“Got it. I’ll pack light and catch up right away.”
After parting ways with Hong Su-ah, my pace quickened.
I’d bought snacks for Baek Seol-gi and Heuk-bi at the Plaza, then headed straight back to the Hut.
Heuk-bi was a secondary concern, but Baek Seol-gi suffered from separation anxiety—I couldn’t leave her alone for long.
With the Obsessive Attachment trait stamped on her, there was no telling what kind of disaster might unfold.
And when I arrived at the Hut…
My fears had become reality.
“Kyaow.”
Baek Seol-gi was half-transformed into her bestial form, thrashing about in frenzy.
White hair stood on end, bristling.
From eyes the color of sapphire, an eerie chill poured ceaselessly, and the onslaught of frigid air had turned the Swampland into the depths of winter.
I should have brought her along when I met with Rodbrok.
I shouldn’t have sent her to the hut first—that was a mistake.
In the snow field where not even a trace of warmth remained.
“Your Highness! You must take evasive action!”
Heuk-bi, transformed into something like a snowman, was mounting a desperate stand, hurling talismans of every conceivable type.
The lesser spirits had long since become frozen solid.
“Mm.”
I didn’t know where to start.
* * *
“Hah. Hah.”
Ragged breathing.
“They’re swarming again from the flank!”
Desperate shouting.
“P-please, save us! Please, save us!”
Despair and terror flooding through.
Every situation was spiraling toward catastrophe.
“We have to pull the Rangers back immediately! At this rate we’ll all perish!”
“How can you speak of abandoning our comrades? Children who were only just about to undergo their Coming-of-Age Ceremony!”
Shanes’s voice erupted with fury.
She fired arrows frantically, trying to carve a path through, but it was futile.
No matter how many hundreds of arrows she loosed, they were all blocked by the trees turned black.
“Growl.”
“Gurgle.”
Tribune—the guardian who had watched over the forest and cherished animals and nature.
Now those trees had transformed into something ghastly and abhorrent that fed on the blood of elves.
And that wasn’t even the whole problem.
The Middle Territory had eight kings, each ruling their own domain.
Now they were moving together.
Such a thing had never happened before.
These were apex creatures with such overwhelming pride and territorial instinct that
just then.
Boom! Boom!
A colossal monster approached with tremors that shook the earth itself.
Estimated Rank 8 or higher.
An Ogre—known as the strongest living creature on the continent.
These beings, who had only ever inhabited the Arid Plateau, had now left their territory and come to this place.
“T-the Dark Power is growing stronger and stronger.”
“Nature Magic and Spirit Magic won’t activate! Even our ordinary soldiers can’t hold the line!”
The spread of Corruption.
It wasn’t confined to this region alone.
The speed at which Dark Power was spreading was beyond imagination. At this rate, the entire Fairy Territory would become dead land.
In merely dozens of hours.
“What in the world is happening here?”
Despair beyond words spilled from Shanes’s lips.
* * *
The manifestation of the Great Calamity, the Hundred Ghosts, ended once Baek Seol-gi had snacks put in her mouth.
It turned out that protein-rich cotton candy and a high-calorie cheese cake suited Baek Seol-gi’s palate quite well.
Dash.
Moving at maximum speed.
Heuk-bi kept tearing wind-natured talismans to add acceleration.
“Your Highness, the signs are not favorable. This level of ominous aura—I have not seen it before… or rather, this is the second time I see it.”
Heuk-bi, who had glanced toward Baek Seol-gi, quickly corrected herself.
That was indeed accurate.
‘Faster than I expected.’
The peaceful forest once filled with green was gone. Only a hellscape reeking of death lay spread before us.
This had to be the phenomenon that appeared when using the Distorted Desire.
If I were to rank the Immortal Cult’s most troublesome artifacts, this one always held a top-ten spot.
‘Could it be that a Cardinal has made a move?’
If that assumption held, this abnormal pace made a certain amount of sense.
It might be far more dangerous than I imagined.
Typically, when someone of Cardinal rank made a move, the guard detail assigned to them would be top-tier Rankers as well.
It happened in an instant.
“Roooaaarrr!”
“Your Majesty!”
Two different cries cut across each other.
Crash!
A tremendous impact slammed into the ground.
The earth split and cracked like a tortoise’s shell.
It was the moment when an ogre—a calamity incarnate to this region—appeared.
Compared to the young ogre she’d caught during the Coming-of-Age Ceremony, this one defied comparison entirely.
“Ha. Where does this impudent ape get the nerve to bare its fangs? I’d like nothing more than to sever its limbs and freeze them piece by piece.”
Baek Seol-gi’s atmosphere froze over like a sheet of ice.
An ordinary creature couldn’t even withstand such killing intent, yet…
“Kraaaahhh! Grooooh!”
The ogre didn’t flinch.
It wasn’t simply because it was a higher species.
The thick Dark Power had corroded its rationality entirely.
[The Corrupted Ogre activates Ravenous Bestial Nature!]
An ability that consumes half its health to double all other stats.
Already troublesome, it had become doubly difficult.
And in an instant that was nearly simultaneous…
Step.
Baek Seol-gi moved with elegant grace.
A snow-white blade traced an equally pristine arc.
First clash.
Boom!
Second clash.
Crash!
The final third.
Shhk!
Three breaths. That’s all it took for the ogre’s head to vanish from where it had been.
Thud-thud-thud.
“Such a noisy creature.”
Baek Seol-gi shook the blood from her blade.
‘Why does she seem stronger since coming here?’
He’d thought she was already pushing the limits of her current power, but perhaps he’d vastly underestimated what the Great Calamity called Baek Seol-gi truly was.
“Stop!”
It was then that Heuk-bi swept his hand.
A handful of earth gathered and transformed into the shape of a hand in an instant.
“Ugh!”
Someone hiding about a hundred meters away was caught.
Their distinctive garb and magical aura.
A member of the Immortal Cult.
The man tried to escape using Black Magic immediately, but the Emperor moved a step faster.
Squelch!
“Aaaahhhhh!”
The man’s scream tore from his throat.
He’d struck the collarbone area, densely packed with nerves—unbearable agony.
“Talk. Tell me what you’re scheming here. Otherwise, this will be a very long and painful time for you.”
The Distorted Desire was a Sacred Relic that corrupted a specific area and slowly transformed those within it into followers of the Demon God.
Even if an ogre was a powerful monster, using a Sacred Relic of this magnitude would be insufficient.
They were definitely aiming at something bigger.
“Heh… just as the jester said. You’ve truly lost all sense of fear.”
“Boradoli is here?”
“Yes. He told me to deliver a message if you ever saw him. That this time, he’d smash you to pieces. No matter what you suspect now, you’re too late.”
……
He felt it anew.
The game had truly grown beyond all measure.
But that wouldn’t be reason enough to surrender.
‘Torture won’t work.’
Watching him laugh freely despite his collarbone throbbing meant he was trained to endure pain.
There was no carrot to dangle before a fanatic; coercion and persuasion were off the table.
So then….
Ju-sang reached into the man’s chest, sliding a hand into his coat.
“What—what are you doing?”
“Don’t worry. I’m not interested in men.”
Anyone belonging to the Immortal Cult carried an interrogation tool—one standard issue among their ranks.
Let’s see.
It should be here somewhere.
Ah.
Found it.
Ju-sang pulled a small skull-shaped pendant from his inner pocket.
“Thought you were looking for something. That’s just jewelry.”
“Don’t lie to me. I know what the Whisper of the Demon is.”
“H-how…?”
“How do I know?”
I’ve played with this thing countless times; I know it well enough.
Three questions, each answered yes or no.
But should you lie or refuse to answer, the demon claims your soul.
Remarkably useful for interrogating enemies.
[Whisper of the Demon activates!]
A small black demon materialized beside Ju-sang.
A ruddy, mischievous demon appeared at the man’s side.
The pair giggled as they waited for the questioning to begin.
“First question: are you three connected to why the Empire and the Martial World stopped their war?”
The recent conflict between these two factions had abruptly ceased.
For a situation where speed was everything, such a development meant a major variable had intervened.
It wasn’t the Martial World’s doing.
If they’d held the decisive hand, the Empire would have withdrawn its entire force long ago.
Which meant…
‘A third force has interfered.’
The Immortal Cult was most likely.
According to Heuk-bi, contact between the Tang Sect and the Immortal Cult had increased recently.
“Th…yes.”
The man’s lips clamped shut—he’d been struck where it hurt.
So that was it, then.
The moment suspicion turned to certainty.
“The Martial World must be grateful. The Empire’s knights and elite troops swarmed in like hornets, and you stopped them. Incredible—it must have felt like heroes had arrived.”
“Stop your vague musing. Ask your questions. What do you really want to know?”
“Whatever payment the Martial World gave you for stopping the Empire’s advance, you’ve brought it here. To use it immediately.”
“……!?”
The man’s breathing stalled.
“Yes or no. Answer.”
The demons cackled, boring holes through the man’s lips with their stares.
Silently urging him to respond without delay.
“Y…yes. We brought it.”
By now, nearly every piece of the puzzle had fallen into place.
He could see what kind of deal the Martial World and the Immortal Cult had struck for mutual gain.
“Using Distorted Desire, you mean to transform one of the Four Inauspicious Beasts the Martial World possesses into a Chimera. The materials—let’s see…. Seven masters living in the Middle Territory of this labyrinth; eight in total, but I killed the crocodile, so the remaining seven should do nicely.”
It wasn’t phrased as a question, but it served as the third.
There was no need to hear his answer.
The man’s expression had already said everything.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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