CH 313

Kim Jin-Woo had been thinking about the problem for a very long time. From the time Night had first begun to encroach upon his body, he had been constantly looking for a way out of this situation.

Eventually, he had finally managed to find a clue: The Mystic Parasite.

The little bug couldn’t survive without a host. Naturally, if a certain outcome meant the survival of its host, it would faithfully exert all of its abilities to ensure it.

So, what would happen if Night were transplanted into the Mystic Parasite? Wouldn’t Night be bound by the limits of its servitude, the same way Valicius, the King of the Dead, had been forcefully made loyal to him after being transplanted into the body of a Naga Sorcerer despite never taking up the Oath of Allegiance?

It had been a highly plausible assumption, and Kim Jin-Woo had thought it was something worth experimenting with. However, no matter how many times he pondered it, he couldn’t think of a way to transplant the mighty Night into the tiny little bug.

But then, the perfect opportunity had arrived.

[The Mysteries of the Underworld are a blessing that many living in the Underworld long to encounter, but they do not apply to all beings.]

[Night is one of those exceptions.]

[The Mysteries of the Underworld are particularly harsh on the exiles of the Abyss, and Night is the ruler of that very same Abyss.]

[Night understood that bias, and therefore hated the Mysteries of the Underworld. But the gap between the two existences was so great that Night hated and feared the Mysteries of the Underworld at the same time.]

[From Night’s point of view, it was the worst case scenario for those very Mysteries of the Underworld that it hated so much to show immense interest in you.]

It was when he had come into contact with the divinity of the Underworld Tree.

[The Underworld Tree is highly interested in your very existence. You, the long-devoted King of the Wardens and recipient of the One-Eyed Lord’s energy, are welcomed by the Underworld Tree.]

The unsolicited interest of the Underworld Tree wasn’t all good news, however.

[The Underworld Tree has noticed the unholy being that dwells within you.]

[Night has completely changed after devouring the energies of the various Highlords, and has become even more secretive.]

[But as long as the Underworld Tree is taking such keen interest in you, Night’s stealth will do nothing to hide its and your existence.]

[The Underworld Tree feels Night’s energy, and has begun to reject you.]

In the face of the overwhelming divinity, Kim Jin-Woo had begun to feel the pain of his existence collapsing. His ego had collapsed, as if he were being caught up in a greater power; and to make matters worse, after the Underworld Tree had rejected him, it felt as if even the air in the Underworld were rejecting him.

It was only when his existence was threatened to that extent that Kim Jin-Woo finally understood why Night and the Reapers had coveted the Highlords’ powers so deeply. That was the only way to avoid the gaze of the Underworld Tree.

[You are fortunate. The Underworld Tree recognizes that you are still in control of Night, and recognizes your mental fortitude in remaining unsullied by Night’s terrifying greed.]

Contrary to the favorable message, however, the Underworld Tree’s test hadn’t stopped. Exposed to its overwhelming divinity, Kim Jin-Woo had still been left unconscious and in danger. If there was any consolation, it was that the air around him that had thinned so greatly had returned to its original state, and he was finally able to breathe normally.

But the excruciating pain still remained, and that pain was more fatal to Night than himself. Realizing that fact belatedly, he had attempted to fuse the Mystic Parasite and Night once again…

And he had succeeded. Night must have assumed that its host’s body would be ruined by the divinity of the Underworld Tree, and migrated into its new host—the Mystic Parasite.

Perhaps Night had intended to find another host while hiding out in the small bug. But Kim Jin-Woo had no intention of giving it the opportunity to do so.

Although Night had migrated into the Mystic Parasite, Kim Jin-Woo’s powers remained intact, including the power of Greed. He used his remaining power to devour the fragment and vestige of the Wandering Lord—the Hypocrite’s Mask.

And with that, he had been able to obtain a fraction of the powers of the Wandering Lord.

The Wandering Lord possessed the unique power to control a being’s very existence, and could thus take over a being’s body and replace their existence. Kim Jin-Woo had used that power to anchor the Mystic Parasite’s existence to himself, so it could no longer detach itself from him and seek another host.

[Night has taken control of the Mystic Parasite as it attempts to look for another host nearby. At the same time, the Immoral Lord is before it.]

[Night has used the Mystic Parasite’s powers of possession to try and escape from you.]

[The possession ability of the Mystic Parasite cannot be activated.]

[Your ability to manipulate one’s existence has rendered the Mystic Parasite’s ability completely useless.]

[The Mystic Parasite has been subordinated to you. No matter how mighty Night may be, it cannot completely overcome the constraints on the origin of its host’s species.]

[The Mystic Parasite has come to its senses after being manipulated by Night. Night’s impulses will no longer work on it.]

[Night is attempting to leave the Mystic Parasite.]

As expected, Night attempted to escape from its new host. However, its attempts were unsuccessful.

[The Mysteries of the Underworld have intervened. The entrenchment of the Mystical Parasite’s existence within you, which was unstable due to the immature manifestation of the Wandering Lord’s abilities, has been completely stabilized due to the intervention of the Mysteries of the Underworld.]

[Night is unable to escape the Mystic Parasite.]

Immediately after those messages entered his mind, Kim Jin-Woo’s blurred consciousness became sharp and clear. He could no longer feel the pressure of the Underworld Tree’s divinity, which had been crushing his very soul.

At that moment, the Usurper cried sharply, “Why won’t you come over to me!?”

“Looks like the Mysteries of the Underworld are trying to give me one more chance,” Kim Jin-Woo remarked.

The Usurper’s face contorted into a demonic expression. Her once warm and innocent facade was nowhere to be seen.

“Was this what you were aiming for from the beginning?”

The Usurper finally managed to ask a question after a prolonged period of silence, and her whispers that once sounded sweet and gracious were now filled with the hatred of an insidious swindler. After she finally revealed her true colors, the look on her face couldn’t be any more spectacular.

Seeing the Usurper’s expression, Kim Jin-Woo couldn’t help but feel his lips curl with disgust. He couldn’t stand the cynical words flowing out of the Usurper’s mouth. He replied, “I was never aiming for this in the first place. This situation isn’t that simple.”

A lot had happened since the Restoration began. Ancient ghosts had been resurrected and their nightmares had turned into reality.

With so many incidents happening around him, it had been difficult for Kim Jin-Woo to even keep up with what was happening in the Underworld.

With so many things going on, it was pretty much impossible to guess the true intentions of the Usurper, who only spouted lies and deceit.

After all, she was a cunning trickster who knew how to maliciously blend in one truth with every ninth lie.

“But thanks to that, I managed to find out what it was you wanted,” Kim Jin-Woo continued.

Despite all the lies that had deceived his eyes and ears, there was one fact he had realized. Buried deep within what he had and what she didn’t was the truth.

The answer was surprisingly simple: Night.

Both a blessing and a curse, it was his greatest source of power, and what had made him stand out among the rest; it was a power that belonged only to him in this vast Underworld.

“The greediest ones are those who hate it when anyone goes after their possessions. That’s why they can’t help but constantly think about what their enemies are after. After all, one false move and they could lose everything they own in the blink of an eye.”

Kim Jin-Woo himself knew he was the greediest bastard in the Underworld. By thinking of what he would do if he were in the Usurper’s shoes, he had been able to quickly figure out what she was after.

“Well, anyway, thanks to the Mysteries of the Underworld that you dragged in, I’m now fully in control of Night. Although this little bug may seem small and insignificant, it’s quite the loyal one, you see.”

Kim Jin-Woo’s nonchalant attitude only seemed to piss the Usurper off even more.

“And until Night finds itself a new host, it’ll be forced to lend me its strength as and when I want it to. Because that’s the kind of being its new host - the Mystic—Parasite—is."

But now, Night would be unable to find a new host. As long as Kim Jin-Woo stayed in the Underworld, the Mysteries of the Underworld would never let Night escape.

“Ah, that’s right. I forgot something important.” Kim Jin-Woo’s eyes flashed as he spoke exaggeratedly, flamboyantly clapping his hands as blue streaks of light began to flow from his eyes.

He reached out with his blackened hand and continued, “I no longer have any restrictions on me.”

Unable to understand what Kim Jin-Woo was saying, the Immoral Lord reflexively took a step backwards, before belatedly realizing the meaning of his words and hurriedly spreading her wings.

“Should I be thanking you?” Kim Jin-Woo remarked.

It was already too late, as black energy shackled the Usurper’s ankle before she could fly away.

“Thanks to you, I was able to change my bad habit of being a picky eater,” Kim Jin-Woo continued, smiling brightly as he looked at the Usurper’s face that was full of despair, fear, and anger.

“I simply didn’t want you to suffer from that horrible monster!” the Usurper protested.

Despite already revealing her true nature, the Usurper put on the facade of a kind, innocent girl once again. She wretchedly started to shed tears, pleading that this was all for Kim Jin-Woo’s sake.

“It’s a terrible thing to live with a monster who could take control of your body at any moment. All I wanted was for you to live without such pain!”

The Usurper seemed so earnest and affectionate in her appeal that even someone with a heart of stone would have been shaken.

However, that didn’t apply to Kim Jin-Woo. His eyes continued to glow blue, and the twisted smile on his lips remained.

The Usurper continued to emphasize that while it was true she had been eyeing Night’s power all along, that wasn’t the complete story.

In addition, she started to bring up their past and even lamented how they, who had been as close as siblings, had unfortunately had to meet as enemies.

“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have survived in the first place!” she exclaimed.

It was a truly pathetic and degrading sight. Her appearance was so servile that it was hard to imagine that this being had once reigned as the Usurper.

But it wasn’t unimaginable. Kim Jin-Woo clearly understood the reason for her desperation. After all, she had witnessed the Beastfolk King being slain in horrific agony before her own eyes.

However, the more pitifully she appealed to him, the more disillusioned Kim Jin-Woo became with himself, as he had been continuously deceived and ridiculed by her his whole life.

“Stop. I don’t want to hear it anymore.” In the end, he could no longer bear it and cut her off. He continued, “Die proudly as a Lord.”

“You’re so cold,” the Usurper said, in response to what sounded like a death sentence. However, the look on her face was somehow different from before.

“Does a proud, dignified death even exist in this Underworld? How about you? Would you remain as dignified in the face of death?

Her desperate attitude was suddenly gone. Now, she was looking at him with a graceful expression.

“I’m not as capable as you are, so I’ll never know. I have no power to lead you to death’s door.”

The change in her attitude was subtly aggressive, prompting Kim Jin-Woo to end the matter once and for all, when the Usurper suddenly said something completely out of the blue.

“But maybe we can create a similar situation.”

Before he could even realize the meaning of her words, figures appeared from a corner of the forest.

“I truly wish we could spend our time together, just like before. But you’re not listening to me at all,” the Usurper said.

“Why are they here!?” Kim Jin-Woo exclaimed with unprecedented intensity, as beings who should never have been present appeared.

Seeing his reaction, the Usurper whispered softly, “It was you, Jin-Woo, who refused the opportunity to put things back the way they were.”