Chapter 23

Chapter 23 – Around... 70 Points?

Even though it wasn’t a heart demon, the qi moved as it pleased and even flowed into someone else’s meridians without any conflict.

Moreover, just by mere contact, it allowed for flow, and it even read unconscious thoughts this clearly?

In the divine arts of the Godly Recursion, there were techniques like soul manipulation or dreamwalking that involved a person’s dreams.

However, such techniques that interfere with a person’s mind risk sweeping away their thoughts, causing confusion in their memories, and, in the worst-case scenario, the collapse of their ego, turning both the practitioner and the subject into mere breathing dolls.

In the first place, there was no divine art versatile enough to clearly see through the entire sequence of a dream.

Of course, it was also absurd that it completed a full circulation through Atalanta’s body so stably; these memories entering my mind were something I couldn’t understand even with all the knowledge of three lifetimes.

“Ughhh...”

“I’ll have to worry about it later.”

Regardless of this and that, the entire body of this fledgling young hero was occupied by the qi extending from me.

The fact that thoughts were flowing from her meant that her unconscious mind was completely open to me, just like USB administrator mode.

In other words, if I made even the slightest wrong move now, I could turn this perfectly fine young hero into a wreck.

“Ugh... I guess I have to.”

Even though I didn’t like this potentially crazy kid she was turning into, after looking into her background and fate, there was some room for consideration.

Moreover, if the Goddess of the Crescent Moon, who already didn’t have a good first impression of me, used this as an excuse to summon her brother or father, I’d be roasted into a crispy celestial horse steak before I could even try anything.

‘Even that guy in the next room was threatened by that tyrant and got hit by Lightning Strike while saving a dead person.’

According to the myth I remember, Artemis encouraged our Whitey, saying that he could save the corpse.

The myth said that the notorious goddess would have shot an arrow into his head if he hadn’t complied.

I could say I was in a similar bind.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

I brushed away the lingering illusion of the Heavenly Demon’s rare steak and pulled up a chair to sit.

Through our hands that stuck to each other as if we were one, the energy that had completed a circuit through Atalanta’s body came back into my body following the principles of Martial Spirit Cultivation Arts, passing through the hundred meridian points and reaching my upper qi field.

Blood soaked my hands.

The roar of thunder and the scream of moonlight shook my ears.

The stench of blood and the smell of burning corpses pricked my nose.

Even the creepy gazes clung to my spine.

The dreams, which combined with the events Atalanta personally experienced, became even more horrific, to the point where I could feel them with all my senses. Atalanta’s dreams had deeply penetrated me.

[“Shut up!!”]

Was this my voice?

Or was it Atalanta’s scream?

Whose hand is it now, sitting in the pristine treatment room, holding the hand of the beautiful young hero?

Whose hand was it that was slaughtering the glances and flicking tongues from all directions?

Scenes from all directions swiftly brushed past my body like a torrent.

‘Compared to when I went berserk in the past, this is pretty tame.’

Back then, it wasn’t just a horror game but a full-on hell.

As I steadied my breathing and focused on my qi, my consciousness began to delve into Atalanta’s dream.

It felt like my body and mind were being separated, as if I were experiencing sleep paralysis, and suddenly I found myself standing in the middle of a vast plain.

‘Now I understand the cause of the nightmare.’

Atalanta ended the punishment she had started on her own by borrowing the hands of the gods, not her own.

She couldn’t cut off the evil herself, and she couldn’t reach the conclusion with her own hands.

For Atalanta, nothing had ended, but in reality, everything had ended and was buried in time.

As a result, the sinister gazes that clung to her back still hadn’t disappeared, and the insults that teased her ears clung like leeches, whispering in her dreams.

And her defense mechanism, in search of the cause of non-existent phantom pain, would have turned its arrows toward men around her who were similar to the soldiers back then.

Every time she saw them, like a trauma, she would sharpen her edge more and more at the sight of large-built men, recalling insults and gazes.

‘It’s just like when the Justice Faction caused internal strife among themselves and then blamed everything on the Heavenly Demon!!’

Somehow, this train of thought felt familiar.

It was similar to the thought processes of the Justice Faction members during the countermeasure meeting against the Heavenly Demon.

The only difference was that the target was men, not the Heavenly Demon.

However, in such cases, there was rarely genuine hatred towards the adversary created by the defense mechanism.

These guys...

When these unnecessarily prideful individuals bore such trauma, the ones they truly hated were always the same.

“Your weak self, the self that was at the center of the incident but couldn’t do anything, the self that seems to have done something wrong.”

Look at that.

In the middle of a nightmare filled with eyes and tongues, the would-be psychopath, Atalanta, was trying to cut her own neck with her own hands.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I lightly blocked Atalanta’s swinging knife with the top of my foot.

“Hey, stop being so pitiful and get up already.”

“You are...?”

Hey, look at this girl.

“Even if it’s in a dream, have you already forgotten me?”

As I said that, I realized something strange too.

Since coming to this world, have I ever worn such luxurious leather shoes?

The shoes that blocked the blade perfectly were not the Greek-style sandals I used to wear, but ornate leather shoes decorated with gold and divine iron.

Even though it was leather, thanks to countless times of tanning and the meticulously carved ornaments made of new iron by artisans, my feet were intact without any wounds, despite Atalanta’s blade.

“Wait a minute, this...?”

Only then did I lower my gaze and look at my hands.

The delicate hands of the pale boy I had lamented for so long were nowhere to be seen; instead, the rough, scarred, and rugged hands of a warrior were twitching.

And below, I could clearly feel the robust body hidden under the black robe with the Asura pattern woven with gold and silver threads.

“This can’t be...”

It was certain.

It was the body of the Heavenly Demon Emperor, who I had longed for so much, who unified the martial world and reached the pinnacle of the heavens.