Trait Hoarder-Chapter 285: Frozen Palace Ruins (2)

Frozen Palace Ruins — Part 2

The moment we entered, I sensed something wrong.

A place without light, sound, or even air.

The only things present were two types of alien magic.

That magic surged in violently, gnawing at my mana circuits.

“Urgh!”

[Kkueeek!]

I instantly swapped traits to endure it.

But Winter Queen and Administrator 718 couldn’t.

Winter Queen cloaked herself in her ice spirit and circulated her mana to defend herself, but Administrator 718 couldn’t even manage that.

[S-Save me!]

Administrator 718 cried out desperately.

I reached out and applied a trait to him.

[Damage Absorption]==[[Atonement]]==[Damage Absorption]

Originally, it was a trait that only absorbed part of the damage.

Once evolved, it could absorb almost everything.

[T-Thank you!]

Administrator 718’s face brightened.

But in exchange, cracks began forming in my mana circuits.

Gwoooong.

Moreover, all the surrounding magic was converging onto me.

It had no intelligence, but it had spirituality.

The two alien magics that divided this unknown space completely recognized me as a foreign entity.

I narrowed my eyes and scanned the surroundings.

‘Where are we?’

Would being thrown into space feel like this?

Endless vastness, overwhelming emptiness, a creeping dread seeped into my heart.

Even with every sense deployed, there was nothing to feel.

Only mana.

Two types of mana I had definitely encountered before, but now grotesquely distorted.

‘Stigmata?’

One of them was that.

The thing left behind by the gods of the Great Labyrinth.

A grotesquely mutated divine power, a disease born of magic.

Or perhaps the brand of transcending humanity.

‘And this is… the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique.’

The other was none other than the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique.

But different from any form I’d seen before.

It was wretchedly degraded and monstrously corrupted.

They say if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back.

It was exactly that.

The curse, resentment, and stigmata left behind by the Dark Demon King.

Affected by them, the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique had mutated.

With Administrator 718’s weakening power failing to control it, everything exploded out and led to the ruin of the Frozen Palace.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

I gently extended my hand.

Retracting the Atonement trait, I deployed Domain Shield, Celestial Wall, and Fortress to protect all three of us.

At the same time, I equipped World Traits.

I reached out my mana circuits towards the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique that surged like a maw.

The Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique settled into my hand.

No matter how degraded and corrupted, it was still the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique.

I softly closed my eyes.

Recalling the moment I first faced the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique.

The black dome over Gwangju in Gyeonggi-do.

Wooooong.

The space vibrated.

It didn’t matter if there was no air or any medium.

This power directly exerted force on time and space.

It was truly humanity’s constructed—

The martial art of gods.

A black light grew.

It looked as if I had transplanted the black dome from Gyeonggi-do directly here.

It rose up, engulfing me, Winter Queen, and Administrator 718.

A miniature black dome, the Protective Heavenly Demon Wall.

[Oh…]

Administrator 718’s entire body trembled.

[I-It’s the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique! You really are the Creator’s close friend, aren’t you?!]

“Your creator already said no.”

[B-But, but… then how can you use the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique?!]

“Maybe it’s a martial art meant for Omnipotents.”

Using the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique firsthand made me think.

Maybe the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique was the culmination of countless martial arts, magic, and technologies, fused together.

Both the First Heavenly Demon and the current Heavenly Demon were Omnipotents, after all, and the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique exuded that aura.

Just like—

The traits I evolved with the World Trait.

Maybe, just maybe.

If the World Trait grows further.

If I succeed in cross-species fusion.

If I move on to multi-species fusion.

The final result might be something resembling the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique.

“Phew.”

Winter Queen exhaled.

“We’re alive. If it had been just me and my brother coming here, we would’ve died for sure. Administrator, how do we get out of here?”

[We can’t. It’s a one-way trip. The only way out is to restore this space.]

“What about using Grand Escape?”

[W-Well, that would work, but… you’re not planning to abandon me here, right? If you do, I’m dead! Done for!]

There’s no way I’d leave without the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword after coming all this way.

Keeping the Protective Heavenly Demon Wall up, I looked around.

Not that there was any point to looking.

Swapping traits, I mapped out the space in my mind.

[Dragon’s Roar][Wish][Magic Brain]

[Mystic Eye][Sixth Sense][Treasure Hunting]

Then I let out a low dragon’s roar.

“[Show me the location of the Frozen Crystal fragments.]”

Even though the meaning was long, the utterance was only a single syllable.

Light flared across my retina.

In this world where no visual information had entered.

Within the churning mass of raging magic, tiny dots of light appeared.

Frozen Crystal fragments.

There seemed to be at least thousands.

“If we just gather the Frozen Crystal fragments, will it restore right away? Like before?”

[W-Well, I’m not sure about that…]

We’ll have to see.

I grabbed both of them and floated into the air.

A space where even physical laws were distorted.

Normally, you’d be stuck, swaying like waterweed in a current.

But the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique—and the existence of the Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Steps—allowed me to swim freely like a fish.

We reached the first Frozen Crystal fragment.

It was tiny.

No bigger than a grain of sand.

Its color and presence were so faint, it was hard to find.

If it weren’t for the Mystic Eye, Sixth Sense, and Treasure Hunting traits I’d equipped in advance, even with Wish, I would’ve wandered for ages.

“Found it.”

“Found what? I don’t see anything.”

“Just wait.”

[W-What are you going to do?]

I looked down at the Frozen Crystal grain in my hand.

It wasn’t visible to the naked eye.

Only with the Eye of Fate could I see it.

Inside this dust-like grain, the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique and the corrupted divine power were clashing violently.

I needed to purify it…

‘Should I use the Sacred Knight? Or the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique?’

No.

I strongly felt neither was the right answer.

Think about the stigmata from the Great Labyrinth.

Did using divine power ever cure the patients with stigmata?

It didn’t.

Only after I passed on the method of overcoming it were the patients cured.

It would be the same even if I used the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique.

What I’m using now is, after all, a corrupted version of the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique.

Even if I subjugated the Frozen Crystal with it, it wouldn’t restore it to its original state.

In the end, the only thing I could trust was the World Trait.

[Purification]==[[Initialization]]==[Purification]

I hammered it in.

Into the Frozen Crystal.

Over ten, twenty, dozens of times.

Nearly a hundred times.

I was bombarding it with mana, too.

Both my own mana and the surrounding external mana.

Even activating the Black Hole Ring.

Was it dangerous because of the corrupted Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique and the Dark Demon King’s demonic energy?

That only applied to the weak.

[Vajra Body][Indomitable][Magic Resistance][Sacred Knight]

I filled all my available trait slots with resistance traits.

On top of that, my equipment like the World Tree’s Protection was working hard.

Whenever I felt my mana circuits shake even slightly, I used [Rapture] to blow it away, and kept using Initialization over and over.

Flash!

It didn’t take long.

Just a few seconds.

The alien magic inside the Frozen Crystal was completely eradicated.

And the Frozen Crystal regained its original form.

It emitted a light and transformed into pure white ice.

“Huh?”

[I knew it! I knew you could do it!]

“This is just the beginning.”

I had only purified one out of thousands.

But now, we had light.

Faint like a candle, weaker than a firefly’s tail.

Yet in this pitch-black sea, it was the only source of light.

Gwoooong.

The mana surged.

All the mana in this space, this universe, was rushing toward the Frozen Crystal.

They had forgotten their own war.

Like tens of thousands of tadpoles, they gnawed at the black dome.

But they couldn’t penetrate it.

Of course not.

It was the Protective Heavenly Demon Wall.

Even if it was deployed with a corrupted Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique, it didn’t matter.

From the standpoint of mana operation, it was perfect.

“Wow…”

Winter Queen peeked outside the Heavenly Demon Wall with a pale face.

“If we went out there, we wouldn’t even leave behind our bones.”

[Not just your bones. Your soul and body would both melt and mix into that chaos.]

Administrator 718 shuddered.

Meanwhile, we reached the next Frozen Crystal fragment.

Flash!

The second time was even easier.

I completed the Initialization almost instantly.

And then something strange happened.

Maybe because they were originally one mass?

The two grains naturally merged into a larger lump.

Administrator 718 clapped like a seal.

[Wow! At this rate, we’ll be done in no time! Having the Creator’s close friend here is the greatest luck of my life!]

“Probably not.”

[Huh? Why not?]

I stared far beyond the surging mana masses.

Something was there.

As the Frozen Crystals were restored, a presence was forming.

Mana was condensing.

Both the corrupted Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique and the Dark Demon King’s demonic energy.

Originally, these two types of mana should never have mixed, like oil and water.

But after thousands of years?

Or perhaps from repeatedly devouring and being devoured in this space?

They had started to resemble each other, and from that, a will was being born.

When about half the Frozen Crystals were restored,

That will finally took shape.

[This is… unexpected.]

A pitch-black wraith.

A shapeless, colorless, writhing existence.

I could feel endless hatred.

Dark emotions twisted space like an abyss.

Looking at it, a name popped into my mind.

“Dark Demon King?”

The Demon King of the North, defeated by the First Heavenly Demon.

The demon who fought alongside the Queen of the North Sea and Red.

Now that I saw it, he wasn’t merely a Demon King.

He was a fallen god.

[Hoohoohoo.]

The shadow—Dark Demon King—let out a low, sinister laugh.

[To think there’s still a human who remembers me. How surprising.]

The Dark Demon King opened his eyes.

From one side of his shadowy form, red light gleamed, staring at me.

Winter Queen gasped.

“That’s the Dark Demon King? But he’s dead!”

[Don’t be fooled!]

Administrator 718 flapped his wings frantically.

[The real Dark Demon King is long dead! That thing is just a phantom! A mere remnant, hiding in the Frozen Crystals, mimicking its former self!]

[Hoohoohoo.]

The Dark Demon King laughed darkly.

[You really believe that?]

He shook his tentacle-like hand.

Mana surged up.

Both the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique and the demonic energy responded, rising like a tidal wave.

The amount of mana was indeed massive.

Enough to wipe out an entire city in the outside world and still have power left over.

The Dark Demon King leisurely brushed over his mana.

He stroked his mana-formed body.

Then, exuding a terrifying pressure, he spoke.

[Even after seeing this, you would still call me a mere phantom?]

[Ugh!]

It was just a simple gesture.

Nothing more than a show of force.

But even that blurred Administrator 718’s body for a moment.

Beside me, Winter Queen coughed up blood.

Even the Protective Heavenly Demon Wall couldn’t completely block the Dark Demon King’s presence.

But that didn’t concern me.

Using the Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Steps, I flew to the next Frozen Crystal.

I swapped traits and performed Initialization again, merging another Frozen Crystal.

The Dark Demon King glared at me.

[What are you doing?]

“What?”

[How dare you ignore me while I speak!]

“Bark all you want. I’m busy.”

A simple phantom?

He was too powerful to be called that.

I didn’t know exactly how he had hidden inside the Frozen Crystals.

But in the end, he had succeeded, and was steadily absorbing the magic of the Frozen Crystals.

If more time had passed like this, he might have matured enough to complete his resurrection.

Maybe he would have even appeared as one of the final bosses in Episode 10, The Great Apocalypse.

The problem was now.

The Dark Demon King absolutely needed more time.

Mana absorption.

Mana body reconstruction.

Everything was reaching its final stages.

But now, I was here years earlier than the game’s starting point?

Restoring the Frozen Crystals?

It was over for the Dark Demon King.

[Stop! Stop it!]

His voice became desperate.

[You have not yet mastered the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique!]

[Hero! Heir of the Heavenly Demon! Do you not desire the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique?]

[If you want it, I will give it to you!]

[Become the Reincarnated Heavenly Demon and rule the world!]

[If you don’t want the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique, I will give you the southern half of the world! Rule over ten million people and command ten thousand gods!]

[What are you waiting for? I would even give you half the world!]

[Look at me!]

[Look at me!]

[I will give you the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique, half the world—everything! Just look at me!]

No thanks.

What the hell is ten million people and ten thousand gods?

He’s still stuck in the old ways.

Wasn’t the First Heavenly Demon from ancient times?

Almost two thousand years ago.

When gods, dragons, and demons still roamed the earth.

Judging today’s world by those standards would be a fatal mistake.

Since the War of Godfall, it’s been the era of humanity.

[Die! Kill them!]

[Kkyeeeaaak!]

Monsters were born.

Mana twisted and entangled, birthing monsters of the void.

Black bodies, white teeth, blood-red eyes.

Creatures that looked like they had crawled out of hell.

I gave them a quick glance and pulled a rifle from my Armory.

[Invincible Rifle][Mystic Eye][Sixth Sense]

[Killing Strike][One Against Thousands][World]

Tatata-tang!

Bullets fired.

The rifle in semi-auto mode.

Holding it with my left hand, firing as I used my right hand to continue restoring the Frozen Crystals.

It looked like indiscriminate fire, but every bullet hit the monsters’ vital points.

A 100% critical hit rate.

And they weren’t just ordinary bullets.

They were imbued with special traits.

The divine martial art created by humanity.

The Heavenly Demon Heaven-Sundering Rifle.

Puck! Puff-puff!

[Kkeuek!]

[Kkyeeeee!]

[Kkeeaaa!]

No mercy at all.

I slaughtered the monsters coldly.

Each kill refilled my mana and stamina.

The One Against Thousands trait was doing its job perfectly.

[Eeeek!]

The Dark Demon King shrieked.

[My 2,000 years of cultivation! How, how did it come to this! Do you know what sacrifices I made! Just ten more years! Just ten more years and it would have been complete!]

Yeah, not interested.

An immature Dark Demon King is nothing more than a ghost.

I ignored everything and completed the restoration of the Frozen Crystals.

At last, the Frozen Crystal was complete.

A crystal the size of my head floated in the air, radiating light like a diamond.

[No!]

The Dark Demon King rushed in.

Transforming into thousands of strands of darkness, he tried to pierce the Frozen Crystal.

“Hmph.”

As if I’d allow it.

The Frozen Crystal was mine.

My prize.

I aimed the rifle.

[Invincible Rifle]==[Great Annihilation]]==[Invincible Rifle]

Tatata-tang!

A barrage of bullets fired.

It wasn’t just rapid fire.

It was the evolved version of the Invincible Rifle.

Concentrating several seconds’ worth of firepower into a single instant.

A barrage not of individual points, but a wall of attacks.

And every bullet carried the Heavenly Demon Heaven-Sundering Strike.

More precisely, it should be called the Heavenly Demon Heaven-Sundering Wall.

The attack swept over the Dark Demon King.

[Ha…]

99% of his body was obliterated.

Only 1% remained.

From that fragment, a red eye emerged, staring at me.

He weakly gazed at the Frozen Crystal I held.

[For what… for what did I spend all that time…]

And finally, even that last 1% crumbled.

He had exhausted too much mana, unable to even maintain his existence.

Gugugung.

The space, the very universe, collapsed.

And then, something was reconstructed.

Solid stone walls.

A ceiling embedded with glowing stones.

A floor paved with smooth marble.

It was the Frozen Palace’s treasure vault.