Chapter 237 236. Black Hole.

*

A few minutes later.

Seol So-Young eventually stopped sobbing, but because she felt embarrassed crying out like that, she simply said it was nothing and that she wouldn't bother them in the middle of their fight against the monsters, before standing back with Eshwar, who was still staring at her with a strange expression on his face.

"Don't look at me like that; I'm already embarrassed as it is." Seol So-Young said as she averted her gaze from Eshwar's.

Eshwar turned his attention back to Katline and Katharine, who had begun fighting again, and, "Is that right?" He mumbled.

After a few hours, night fell upon them. Eshwar said it wasn't a good idea to fight at night because beasts and monsters have a bit more advantage at night, and it was more dangerous because it was their territory that they invaded, which meant that the wolves were more aware of their surroundings than them.

And because his reasoning and worries were acceptable, they agreed to it and decided to get out of the gate.

*

'Of course they have to agree to it because what I said was logical and reasonable .' I thought.

And when we neared the gate, I pushed them into it first, saying it was dangerous if the monsters ambushed us when we had our guards down. Since I was a lot stronger than them, they quickly found it reasonable and jumped into the gate without a second thought.

WHOOOMMM

"It's good that you guys have your trust in me." I mumbled under my breath with a small smirk.

I employed aether, which was being "attracted" towards me even without me even doing anything; well, it is kinda understandable (?) because I am the only one who can use it when it is almost, no, it is basically limitless.

I concentrated on collecting it on my right palm, and soon a dull, greyish aura-like something surrounded my right hand, but it didn't come into contact with my hand as if it was scared of me, but since I was "unexpected," it didn't bother me much. When I looked closely at the greyish aura-like something around my right palm, I noticed that "aether" was a mix of whites and blacks, what were those? Even I had yet to find out.

"What is this? Divinity and demonic energy?" I mumbled under my breath and observed Aether more curiously.

CRA-CRACK

"?" I lazily glanced back and noticed that the gate was cracking.

"Why?" I brought my right palm, with aether surrounding it, towards the gate because I was curious to know if my thoughts about aether and space magic being connected were true or not. By the looks of it, it definitely seemed to be true, then shouldn't I know exactly what reaction it would have, if I brought close two different types of space manipulation?

WHOOOOMMM

CRA-CRACK

"....." I stared at the mesmerising phenomenon taking place; the space was being distorted yet regenerating at the same time. The space was being distorted because the density of the aether around my right palm was higher, but at the same time, because of the aether's spatial nature, the gate was being regenerated as soon as it broke.

The gate in front of me right now was sucking in everything and throwing up everything it sucked in at the same time; it seemed like a magical tornado ring, but different from that by a vast margin.

WHHHOOOIIIINNNNGGGHHHHH

"?" I tilted my head in confusion because the blueish purple gate was turning grey, increasingly morphing black as milliseconds passed by, and soon time stopped.

'Authority of the black ink!' I muttered in my mind right before the time completely halted and because I felt that something dangerous was about to happen.

The entirety of my reality turned white, while all the "matter" turned into black-coloured sketches. The phenomenon was still continuing, morphing even my authority, the gate in front of me was completely black, but with the coloured reality in its surroundings, that was being sucked into it.

'What's going on? Did I create something unbelievable?' I thought inwardly, and though it was extremely dangerous, I was slightly proud of it.

"Eunomia." I called out, because I wanted to know what was happening.

WHHHOOOIIIINNNNGGGHHHHH

"...."

'Is the system not working? No, no, it shouldn't be possible for the system to not be working; that just doesn't make sense.... Just like me.' I thought with a self-mocking smirk.

"This, is a new space? Should I try calling out my domain?' I pondered leisurely. Because being under a life-threatening situation wasn't anything new, but it definitely had been a while since I have actually been in one.

"Well, isn't this exhilarating." I mumbled with a wide grin, and suddenly my face muscles twitched. I raised my hand, brought it towards my face, and touched it as a strange feeling welled up from the depths of my very being. It was familiar yet unfamiliar.

"Why....." I mumbled with a deep frown and then realisation struck me.

"Ah. I haven't done this for at least a few thousands of years, no wonder it felt unfamiliar....." I muttered.

WHHHOOOIIIINNNNGGGHHHHH

'Ah, now's not the time for this....'

I observed the gate a bit closely and noticed that it was sucking in everything even while time had stopped and seemingly nothing was being devoured by that black hole...

"A black hole?" I muttered under my breath, and then something strange happened, maybe it was because my authority over the order was still active.

WHHHOOOIIIINNNNGGGHHHHH!!!!

The sound coming from the gate abruptly soared, and it was painful just to hear it.

"!" An ear-deafening sound resounded from the gate, and since I was so close to it, it felt like my mind was numbing from the insane amount of pain. My ears began to bleed, together with other holes on the face, the bleeding from the ears alerted me, and I subconsciously called out karma and controlled the aether more efficiently.

'...' I cursed continuously; I think? Because nothing sounded in my mind even though I was thinking of everything, I didn't even know if I really was thinking. Though confusing, that was exactly how the situation I was in seemed to me.

Since nothing seemed to be working, I simply gave in to my instincts and instantly zoomed in. Hahaha, I loved it, because everything seemed like a sketch. I even had those lines that I left behind as I zoomed forward; I ignored the gate and continued to move forward until the sketches of the ten-eyed wolves were in my sight.

I immediately slaughtered a pack of 23 wolves, jumped mid-air while swinging karma fiercely, and karma trembled in my hands as if it were excited. Of course it would be exciting; doing nothing for tons of thousands and thousands of years is too goddamn boring. Goddammit, though it wasn't as long as Karma's, it was like that for me too, so I understand karma better than everybody else.

While mid-air, I released Karma from my grip, raised my head and closed my eyes, stretched both of my hands wide to my sides, tensed all the muscles in my upper body, glanced down, and noticed Karma paused right in front of me. Maybe because I was still under the authority of the black ink, I looked so goddamn cool.

I grinned widely, tensed my palms, employed aether, covered the entirety of my sketched body, and...

Clapped.

I brought my hands together and clapped with karma in the middle, while greyish aether surrounded my body with an inch away.

A strange, horizontal ripple shot out from the impact and halted as soon as I and Karma were in it; the ripple flattened, forming a small, pitch-black thin ring around us, and...

BOOOMMM

The loudest 'boom' I have ever heard resounded, and the ring expanded, covering everything—and when I say everything, I mean absolutely everything—that was covered by the ring.

MOOOOIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!!!!

A strange sound, a sound as if the loud boom sounded in reverse, resounded, and the ring instantly shrank. A ring that could accurately fit my ring finger materialised in front of me, and even though I didn't do anything, the ring shot out and fixed itself on my left ring finger. And while I was curiously staring at it,...

CRA-CRACK

"!" The gate's cracking sound sounded again. Ahem, it seemed like while feeling so cool about myself, I forgot about the important thing.

"?" The crack instantly fixed itself, and the black-coloured gate really began to suck in everything as if it really were a black hole; it was even sucking in my authority!

"..." I cursed out loud because I thought that black hole was my skill, but looking at how it was sucking up my authority, it didn't seem like it.

"!!!" And of course, now I too was feeling a strong pull, the same one I had felt a long time ago, though it was much weaker at that time.

"...." I glanced at Karma and said that I'd believe in it, and after saying that, I didn't resist the pull but instead pushed myself towards it while stepping on a footing made of aether.

I instantly appeared in front of the black hole, and I felt my skin stretching for the split second I resisted the pull. I knew that it would be more gruesome if I didn't resist, so I ignored the excruciating pain and slashed the mini black hole with karma.

"...aaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!" As soon as the black hole was cut in half, my own scream sounded loudly, and I was out, standing right in front of Katline, Katharine, and Seol So-Young, who had strange expressions on their faces.

"Eshwar!!!" I heard Katline's loud scream, and I winced in anguish because I was still having a hard time hearing normally, and then the dripping sounds of my blood sounded in my ear; everything was so painful that it was irritating.

DING

[User is the first to clear a spawning ground.]

[Levelled up by 1]

[Skill: "Black hole" has been rewarded according to the user's achievements.]

[Title: Inheritor has been rewarded.]

[Inheritor: The "Aether" recognises the user as it's master.] [Active even while unequipped]

THUD