“What?!”

“Dark magic!”

Some of the trainees backed away in fear as devil mana, which was distinct to dark magic and the very thing that had turned Illyna like that, flowed out of Davey. They looked at him in confusion and surprise. Dark magic was almost buried in this world, but it still had its bad image.

Davey only said a single thing to the trainees. “Don’t be afraid of the power itself, but of the person who uses it. If you don’t, you will regret it someday.”

‘Remember. Just because a person uses holy power doesn’t mean that they are innocent. Remember that there was a Death Lord who sacrificed herself and saved millions of people with dark magic, which people thought was horrendous, but wasn’t even acknowledged for her deed.’

In actual fact, the trainees were mostly surprised that Davey, who had a stigmata, had devil mana and was able to use it without a problem.

‘How can I explain and make them understand the uniqueness of my body? All I can do is just tell them to believe.’

Whoosh… Crack! With a loud rip, Illyna began to shake.

“You still have a debt that you owe. How dare you try to run away? Do you know how much your life is worth?” Davey said.

The dark energy within Illyna began flowing out like they were being forcibly ripped out. She experienced a prolonged seizure, shaking while the dark energy left her body.

Davey continued to use his devil mana to ruthlessly rip away the dark energy. He didn’t bother mentioning that it was actually better that Illyna was unconscious for this. If she was conscious…

-She would’ve screamed in extreme pain.

If Illyna was conscious, she would have felt the pain of her skin being ripped apart.

Davey had studied dark magic and devil mana to the extreme, but he specialized in dealing with the magic in such situations rather than actually casting it.

As Illyna’s appearance gradually returned to normal, the trainees were surprised and relieved.

Of course, the process couldn’t be assumed to be easy just because Davey had done it so easily. People who knew nothing about this had tried to reverse such a situation by giving a whole bunch of holy power, and they all…

‘Nice to meet you. Is this your first time seeing a biological bomb?’[1]

Holy power and devil mana were powers from extreme opposite ends, so the victim would end up becoming a bomb and exploding to death. After all, no one power was stronger than the other.

“Okay, take her back,” Davey told the trainees.

“Pardon?”

“What do you…?”

Illyna still looked horrible, but Davey turned away without hesitation. Looking at his reaction, the trainees were confused. They murmured, “The treatment…”

“She should return to normal with a little rest. It shouldn’t take long, since I’ve boosted her natural recovery speed.”

“D—Davey, what about you…?”

“I have something I still need to take care of.”

Even though Shandra was a clone, it had come from the real thing. It was the mythical beast of someone who used to be Davey’s teacher, so it was Davey’s duty and responsibility to take care of it himself.

-Roar!!

Shandra slowly got back up after Longinus, the large golden spear, had disappeared after losing its effectiveness. Its arm, after being ripped apart by the spear, had disintegrated into black powder, but soon began regenerating.

-That’s not regeneration; it’s basically reconstruction.

Perserque mumbled like she found its regenerative abilities absurd.

“Well, Shandra Minea’s regenerative ability is the strongest among all the mythical beasts.”

There was a reason Shandra was called a ‘Zombie Dragon’. Davey lightly cracked his fingers while he stared at Shandra, who was angrily staring at him with its golden eyes. As energy began circulating and crackling throughout Davey’s body, he reached out into the air.

Whip!! Boom!! At the same time, Divine Spear Longinus, that had exhausted all its power and had fallen to the ground, quickly came back to his hand.

‘Just wait a little bit, Shandra number one. I’ll end you as quickly as possible.’

Davey wanted to ask why Shandra was here, what happened to the actual being, and how the clone had turned into this. He also wondered if the actual being was okay. The kings of mythical beasts were spiritually wise beings that were capable of communication. As such, he felt a little complicated about his reunion with Shandra, to be honest.

-You’re saying that the real Shandra Minea doesn’t know you.

The kings of mythical beasts that Shane Scrift had summoned at the Hall had just been a copy of the powers of the mythical beasts that had been engraved in his soul. As a result, the real Shandra Minea did not know Davey. However, there was still something familiar to him.

[Third Form]

[Blue Dragon Scimitar]

Davey slightly lowered Longinus, which was slowly transforming into the form of a large scimitar. He planted it in the ground. Then, he powerfully stomped on the ground with his left foot to ground himself.

As a mysterious feeling filled the air, Fendyr, who was staring with wide eyes among the trainees, was the first to judge the situation. She ran away with Illyna on her back and cried out, “What the heck! I don’t know what it is but run if you don’t want to be caught up in it!!”

The trainees didn’t know what Davey was going to do, but one’s natural sense of danger could sometimes save them from demise. As Fendyr had already failed the test once, it was expected that she would make such a decision.

“W… What?!” Everyone else watched Fendyr run away with wide eyes, then began running away with her.

“Get as far away as you can. I don’t know how big the aftermath might be because I can’t control the strength of my powers yet.”

As Davey created an extremely powerful repulsive force by mixing his devil mana and most of his remaining mana, he released it into Longinus, which began to shine with an eerie, dark navy sheen.

Shandra, after giving a loud roar and breathing through its open jaw, released an extremely cold breath toward Davey. It was acting insane.

Davey dug his left foot into the ground as he faced the destructive ray of power that was heading toward him. The incoming attack froze everything in its way. ‘I think one blast of that actually disintegrated my body into powder before metamorphing.’

Since he had no reason to die now, Davey had no reason to be hit by the attack either.

With a loud sound, the scimitar that was planted in the ground broke through the ground and emerged with a shine. A large weapon could reach far and had a large range of attack, and the attack skill that had the longest range that Davey could use without explosives was in spearmanship.

[Union of Energy and Power]

[Astrea’s Cosmic Spear]

[Mantle Cut]

Crack!! The crisp sound was accompanied by significant damage.

‘Damn, this large and beautiful spear.’

56. Organization After Death.

[Listen carefully! The brave men who learn the spearmanship of Paladia shout this when they charge: “My soul is with Paladia!!!”]

‘I do not want to do that at all.’

Davey was very energetic and extremely talented; the destructive power of his spearmanship was similar to that of Sword Lord Ares. Soon, invisible and sharp claws spread all over the snowy forest and swept over Shandra Minea while turning part of the forest upside down. The aftermath wasn’t small, with the forest sustaining great damage on the ground.

Although the real Shandra was as powerful as a Grandmaster, the clone was much weaker since it only had some of the real being’s characteristics. Of course, that didn’t mean that the clone was weak. It possessed an unbelievably powerful regenerative ability, but that meant nothing once the core was destroyed.

The core of Shandra Minea’s regeneration was its heart; if that heart was safe, it could regenerate forever. Still, it wasn’t a being that could just endure attacks and sustain damage forever.

A destructive power ripped apart the scales near Shandra’s heart and pulled apart the tough skin. Davey knew best that he wouldn’t get another opportunity to kill it. Pahh!! Without missing the window of opportunity, Davey bent his fingers into the shape of a claw and penetrated it into Shandra’s heart.

Then, with holiness and sincerity, Davey said a prayer, “Little lamb, very urgent. Values an unbelievable amount of grace.”

Whoosh!!

[8th Level: Holy Magic of Blessing]

[Rod of God]

Normally, Davey would have struck Shandra with an 8th circle flame spell, which was the most effective spell to hinder its regenerative ability. However, the most effective method to deal with the clone was to severely corrupt it with holy power.

‘Your body is corrupt? Treat it with the rod given by God; this is a one-time chance! How do you like the taste of extreme purification?!’

Whoosh!!! With a blinding flash of light, a huge pillar of light shot out from Davey’s hand into the sky. The clouds were pierced through by the extreme amount of power.

­Roar!!!

Even though this Shandra was just a clone, considering the real Shandra Minea’s power, it was a relief that Davey could put a stop to it here before the situation became worse. It was actually a relief that this Shandra wasn’t the real being.

“Sigh…”

With a huge flash of light, Davey’s short hair that initially flew in the air from the impact gradually flattened again. At the same time, the ground that shook from an earthquake-like impact returned to stillness. Then, after its heart had been purified, Shandra disintegrated into powder and was blown away by the wind like dust.

Davey let go of Longinus and kneeled on the ground to vomit everything that was in his stomach. Stomach acid, blood, and pieces of flesh flowed out along with a viscous liquid. He groaned, “Aw… My stomach…”

-…

Using too much power was worse than using none at all. It hadn’t been long since Davey regained his powers, and yet he was already scraping together anything he had despite knowing that he shouldn’t overdo it. He should only be using his full powers after everything returned to its original place.

-Stay still.

Perserque sighed. She released demonic force into Davey with a worried expression.

-You didn’t regain as much power as you expected?

‘It was half-successful. It was definitely worth a try, though.’

It was only part of the power that Davey had expected, but this was still a huge benefit to him. Whatever it was, Davey should be thankful for the fact that he was alive after trying something extremely stupid and dangerous.

Bleep!

The status window Davey reflexively activated didn’t show any major changes, but he could see some additions. First of all, he received a new title.

[Reckless Experimentation Lunatic]

Davey chose to ignore the title, which didn’t suggest anything positive. Then, he glanced at the ‘Notes’ section and saw a lot more information.

[Imbalance due to forced rearrangement of body.]

[Successfully evolved body though unstable.]

[Circulation of a large amount of mana.]

[Continuous exhaustion of life (semi-permanent neutralization from the Elixir)]

[One who accepted and used the power of a mythical beast.]

[Promised good deeds (2/10)]

“…”

‘Yes, I know full well how crazy this was. This is a dilemma that all experimenters face.’

Once again, Davey felt the discrepancy between theory and reality. He almost destroyed his body right after reviving himself with the Remaining Spark.

Except for one thing, Davey believed that he could explain away the situation to everyone else. Whether it was physical or anti-physical, like Odin who was Davey’s magic teacher, he knew that his explanation depended on how it was interpreted and understood. And the thing he just used was a theory that Odin had created with that very mindset.

1. A reference to a meme from the audition program, ‘Superstar K’ where Lee Seung-Chul welcomes a contestant into the room. ☜