Chapter 154: The Demon (3)


    [Conceptual Stat Energy of Defying Heaven has reached 100.]


    [Special ability will be unlocked.]


    [Talent, Apostolization is subordinated to Conceptual Stat Energy of Defying Heaven.]


    [Talent derived from Talent, Transmission (B) is detected. Talents will bebined. Apostolization (S) will be generated in Talent.]


    [Talent, Celestial is subordinated to Conceptual Stat Energy of Defying Heaven.]


    [You have acquired Talent, Celestial(?).]


    ‘…Celestial?’


    It was a talent I had never seen before. It bore the meaning of being above the sky, yet its ability remained unclear. Apostolization was more understandable, as it involved subjugating the Four Gods, simr to what the Demon King had previously aplished. I surmised that its concept would be of a higher order.


    However, the ability of Celestial was difficult to predict.<hr>Celestial(?)


    A distant existence.


    Its power has not yet fully blossomed.


    : World’s???? Will????


    : ????? <hr>


    Even Talent, Reading(-) couldn’t decipher its ability.


    But what could be inferred was that it received a grade even without its power fully blossomed.


    ‘Does this mean it has a high chance of being Ex grade?’


    This reminded me of what the apostles had mentioned before about the Demon of Heaven or a celestial being. Perhaps this was one of the prerequisites for bing the Heavenly Demon.


    ‘Or it might evolve into a talent equal to Kim Seo-hyun in the end…’<hr>


    Apostolization(S)


    You transfer your power to create an apostle.


    The apostle swears loyalty to the caster and is bound by the contract. The apostle cannot harm the caster.


    The power of the user is higher than the rank. Some abilities are restricted.


    : Can use Apostolization on others. The apostle gains special stat Energy of Defying Heaven and Alchemy.


    : Can transfer the special stat Shadow.


    : Part of the user’s talents can degrade to generate new talents.


    : Cooldown time 30 days. <hr>


    ‘…This is really good.’


    The long cooldown time was a drawback, but the creation of special stats in the apostle was a major benefit. The transition from Conceptual Stat to Special Stat must be because I possessed the Conceptual Stat. Still, that power should be fine.


    Shadow could be transferred, but not Struggle, probably because the God of Struggle existed.


    “The problem is whether the Energy of Defying Heaven will reject the existing magical power.”


    It seemed like I’d need to experiment.


    The Phoenix, one of the Four Spirits, had given up everything to ept the Energy of Defying Heaven. Maybe my apostle would have to rebuild their strength and status from scratch.


    However, if Alchemy could be granted together, there was a high probability that one would not need to rebuild strength again.


    “That’s a relief.”


    Handling the Conceptual Stat Alchemy was somewhat tricky.


    More precisely, it was the power that Conceptual Stat Alchemy could bestow upon those with talent based on their faith in me. That itself was also a special stat.


    Considering that the power I obtained as a reward from the God of Struggle was about struggle, it should be easier to understand.


    I wanted to test the power of Apostolization.


    However, there was no one nearby.


    No, that’s not true.


    I turned my gaze. ck Heaven and Eternal Heaven were wandering around.


    ‘ck Heaven is too much.’


    The identity of ck Heaven was that of the Heavenly Demon. Rated as a transcendent being or higher, it wouldn’t easily undergo Apostolization.


    But Eternal Heaven was different. She was said to be a beingparable to the Four Spirits. Taking the form of a fox, she was growing well, feeding asionally on the power I gave her.


    Three tails.


    Sammiho.


    Her identity was very likely something close to a nine-tailed fox.


    Or perhaps a nine-tailed fox.


    “Should I Apostolize Eternal Heaven?”


    If Eternal Heaven was gone, the disadvantage was that I could not use spells myself.


    I could use spells or magic through reading, but that’s tooplicated.


    The advantage of Apostolizing Eternal Heaven was that she could judge and use spells on her own.


    However, if I Apostolized her, it would be difficult to take her around, which could be considered a disadvantage.


    ‘I should buy a rted talent.’


    In the end, the unusable remained the same.


    I smiled wryly and ventured further inside.


    The Tower of Demons, true to its fearsome reputation, became increasingly unpleasant the deeper I ventured, a different kind of unpleasantness from the demonic energy possessed by the Mines.


    -This power is very unpleasant.


    -Despite that, it feels a little different from the demonic energy possessed by the Mines. Perhaps less unpleasant.


    Eternal Heaven responded to ck Heaven’sment.


    I agree. It was not as unpleasant as the demonic energy of the Mines. Unpleasant all the same, though.


    -But do demons exist in this ce?


    ‘They do.’


    Eternal Heaven didn’t know, as she had only encountered mobs up to the fifth floor.


    Demons didn’t exist here because they were exterminated by the advance party.


    ‘The faster you climb the Tower of Demons, the better.’


    The demons that were equivalent to bosses.


    The loot they dropped was tremendous, but there was a restriction that they could only be killed once.


    And the Tower of Demons had been conquered up to the 50th floor out of 72.


    That guild belonged to the transcendent beings of Changcheon, so I could roughly gauge the difficulty.


    The demons were strong. Each one was an immortal being.


    Even the lowest-ranked demon had lived for over ten thousand years. The power they had umted was formidable.


    Hearing this, Eternal Heaven looked deep in thought.


    -So, do the demons guard their habitat?


    -Bound to the tower, wandering eternity as a curse… Truly a pitiful existence.


    That’s not it.


    Under certain conditions, demons could descend to lower floors.


    However, they did not do so because it would permanently lower their own rank.


    “Shall we get moving?”


    I aimed to reach at least the seventh floor by today.<hr>


    Chaaeng!


    A sharp metallic sound rang out. Charruruuruk! A Chain Angel swung the chains wrapped around its wrist, emanating wavering demonic energy. ck Heaven condensed sword energy.


    Saaa──.


    Sword energy soared, strengthened by the spirit sword, drawing a line aimed at the neck of the Chain Angel. The sense of the Sword Demon alerted him.


    “Tsk.”


    I clicked my tongue and used ck sh Transportation to move. Two Hell Burns charged towards me, mouths agape. Extending my hand, ck mes surged. Utilizing my Talent, Infernal Demon (S-), dense ck mes flew towards one of the Hell Burns.


    Boom!


    A massive explosion ensued, reducing the Hell Burn to ashes without leaving a corpse behind.


    I shed with my sword, a ck sh lingering around ck Heaven, piercing through the neck of the Chain Angel.


    “Kuhack.”


    With its neck pierced, the Chain Angel swung its chains, intent on taking me down with it.


    “Annoying.”


    I stepped on a True Moment and leaned back, simultaneously stepping on the shadow of a shadow beast charging at me.


    Crunch.


    A shadow soldier sprang from the shadow, thrusting a spear at the beast’s waist, but it only managed a scratch due to its weakness.


    I enveloped myself in ck mes.


    Amplified by Spirit Fusion.


    I added me Demon and Eternal Existence to it.


    Whoosh!


    Enormous ck mes enveloped the surroundings, threatening to sweep everything away.


    I adjusted it with Alchemy. Golden light spread, enhancing the properties of the ck mes. I flung mes in all directions at the irritating entities clinging around.


    ck me Commanding Spirit.


    Heaven’s Cmity Fire.


    Boom!


    The ck mes spread in all directions. Enemies hit by Heaven’s Cmity Fire turned to ash in an instant, unable to withstand the intense heat.


    “The attack power is certain.”


    But it came at a significant cost.


    “Huff. Huff.”


    I regted my breathing. The vessel of the ck me Commanding Spirit was beginning to show its limit.


    I shook the blood off of ck Heaven. Five bodies of Chain Angels were scattering into ash. I adjusted my condition while taking deep breaths.


    -…The difficulty is rising too sharply, isn’t it?


    -The Tower of Demons doesn’t wee humans either. Master, the magical power here denies humans.


    The Tower of Demons was infamous.


    One reason was the monstrously strong monsterspared to those outside, but another was the tower’s magic, which was hostile to humans.


    I was less affected by that power due to my Heaven Defying Body, but it didn’t mean I waspletely unaffected.


    That’s because the power of the tower belonged to the realm of mysteries.


    Simply put, there’s no problem in ‘transmitting’ me like the Tower of Trials, which didn’t recognize me and allowed me to pass straight through.


    I reached out towards the body of the Chain Angel.


    Kuooooo─!


    The beings that were Chain Angels began to transform into soldiers, tied in shadows. There were as many as five.


    [Special stat Shadow increases by 5.]


    ‘Is this slowing down now?’


    I looked at the soldiers.


    Although the Chain Angels were formidable foes, the soldiers that rose from their corpses were too weak. It wasn’t ack of my power; rather, it was the nature of the shadow soldiers. They were at the level of hunters who couldn’t be heroes.


    I had the first shadow soldier I created absorb the others.


    Thanks to that, the soldier became considerably stronger. At this rate, it could hold its own against Park Woon-hyuk for about five minutes.


    I picked up some magical stones and rested a bit, then sensed movement.


    Arge group of people was approaching from afar.


    ‘Is it the Hwarang Guild?’


    It’s rated just below the top three guilds, but not by much.


    I tensed up without realizing it.


    Because that person was in that guild.


    “Someone was hunting here, and I was curious… if it’s you, that makes sense.”


    A handsome man with a robust appearance smiled as he spoke.


    The guild’s vanguard, a sword master known by the epithet Sohwarang, whose real name is Cheon Byeong-jae, approached me.


    “Let me introduce myself. I am Sohwarang, Cheon Byeong-jae, leading the Hwarang Guild’s expedition to the Tower of Demons this time. I’ve seen you in videos before. The way you handle Mines was memorable.”


    “…”


    I looked at Cheon Byeong-jae and scanned the guild members. Their aura was extraordinary. They seemed a dimension apart from the guild we encountered on the fifth floor earlier.


    With Divine Sight activated, I scanned the guild members and noticed.


    “…?”


    Sung Han-byul, who was looking at me with a puzzled expression.