The Foreigner on the Periphery

The old elf was thrown into confusion.

It was a bewildering sensation he hadn't felt in a long time.

'Asif?'

The uninvited guests had definitely called Minjun Asif-666.

As far as the elf knew, that was a designation for the most heinous criminals in the universe. These were individuals beyond rehabilitation, so dangerous that a single dimension couldn't manage them independently. The Committee personally muzzled such sinners and sentenced them to penal labor.

The reason they were utilized instead of simply executed was that their abilities—their performance—were too good to just discard.

In other words, they were incredibly competent.

Lakefield's eyes fixed on Minjun's back. He recalled the skills the man had displayed thus far. Did he know any other practitioner of Dark Magic with such abilities? Had he ever seen a quarter elf stronger than this fellow?

But one thing didn't add up.

"Lakefield!"

Minjun's voice pierced his swirling thoughts.

A sharp ring.

"Take Dong-cheol and get inside the barrier. Right now!"

"...?!"

"You can walk now! Hurry!"

During his active years, he had barely survived a powerful curse while on an espionage operation. He avoided losing his legs, but his mobility had become severely impaired. Even the priests Minjun arranged for him shook their heads in unison, declaring recovery impossible. Because he was already quite old and lacked sufficient life force, there was a limit to how much Divine Magic could amplify it.

Yet he had encountered a miracle only very recently. To be precise, it started after Minjun returned from a business trip to Germany. Whenever he woke up, his stiff legs could move a little more. The change progressed so slowly that even Lakefield himself took a while to notice.

It was something even a pope-level priest had guaranteed was impossible.

Lakefield approached Dong-cheol with steps that, while still slow, were far steadier than before. The goblin who had supported his weight and helped him get around for over a year was sitting slumped on the ground.

This time, the elf supported the goblin. Half out of his mind from something awakening in his blood, the goblin was held up by the old spirit summoner as they disappeared behind the bookshelf. With a limping gait.

"What a pointless act."

The uninvited guests watched them move but made no effort to stop them. They simply looked at Minjun as if amused.

They believed resistance was futile anyway. That barrier was also within the range of the Spatial Condensation. They couldn't run outside or call anyone else for help.

"Asif-666. We are taking you into custody on charges of conspiring with a resident of this dimension to commit offshore tax evasion."

Only then did Minjun realize the identity of his opponents.

Tax Collection Command.

"There was no prior notice of this."

Even after they revealed their identity, Minjun's tone remained sharp. The aliens did not like that.

Such arrogance.

"Considering the urgency of the situation, we bypassed the notification process."

"And how am I supposed to believe that?"

The collection squad member snorted as if the question were absurd.

"You are quite ill-mannered in front of Committee officials, aren't you? It seems you've forgotten something important after wandering the frontiers for hundreds of years without being summoned to headquarters."

At the same time, light gathered in the air and drew out a string of text.

A warrant bearing the signature of the Kavite Grand Commissioner.

"You are the private property of the Committee. That is... you're essentially livestock."

The intruder truly believed that. Considering how prisoners were treated, even the word "slave" was too good for them.

"Livestock" was far more fitting.

"It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. We're just moving a beast from one pen to another. Would you ask for a farm animal's opinion every time you did that?"

Minjun paid no attention to his blathering. Instead, he read down the warrant etched in light.

And he was certain.

These bastards hadn't secured any solid evidence.

Even so, they were trying to drag him to the Dimensional Center... in other words, the Committee Headquarters.

'Dell's guess was only half right. They felt threatened because I was accumulating Talents at such a rapid pace. That's likely why they didn't even notify her beforehand. ...It means they grew anxious much faster than expected.'

Before realizing the hypnotic suggestion hidden within him, Minjun had vaguely believed it.

That the Committee would release him once he saved up five million Talents in severance pay.

Because that was an unchanging promise.

'Keep their promise? Those traitors?'

The very thought had been a delusion brought on by the suggestion.

There was no way the Committee would ever let him go.

'The 800,000 Talents I steadily saved up have actually become the trap binding my ankles.'

From the very beginning, it was never a path that could bring him true freedom.

'What will they do if I'm dragged away like this? They'll interrogate me using ridiculous excuses and fabricate evidence. Instead of erasing my soul as punishment, they'll raise the severance cost by tens of millions of Talents, or revive and strengthen the mental suggestion. Or they might wipe my memories one more time.'

Or, they might put all of that into practice.

"..."

Minjun felt the time had come.

'I can't just go with them.'

Even after regaining his memories, he had lived with a chain around his neck solely to seize a better opportunity.

The day when he would recover clearer memories and greater power.

Because if he made a move before that moment arrived, the Committee would obviously gather all available combat forces to suppress him.

But he could no longer... afford to wait around playing the slave.

No, according to their perception, he wasn't even a slave, but livestock.

A scoff escaped his lips at the sheer absurdity.

If they belonged to the Tax Collection Command, these non-humans were highly likely to be Todds. They were the most active military organization under the Committee in the current era. It was the position that species preferred above all others.

Being called livestock by a Todd was a very bizarre feeling.

-Paht!

"H-hey. You?"

For the first time, a hint of panic seeped into the Todd's voice.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

The Dark Sword appeared in Minjun's hand.

=It ultimately comes to this?=

The Frying Pan, borrowing the shape of a sword, muttered.

'Yeah. It's time.'

Its creator responded via a mental wave.

"This crazy criminal!"

RUMBLE!

Receiving the command, Kentius launched into the air. He roared fiercely. Accompanied by a blinding flash, the tricolor dragon blotted out the sky. He glared down with eyes burning with fighting spirit.

And.

=At last, within your dream, we dream of you.=

A chanted prayer.

The priest hiding in the basement of the commercial building gathered his power. He prepared to support the two above ground without stepping outside. He sharply awakened all his senses.

"Arrest him!"

The Todds undid their Polymorph and revealed their true forms. Metal spheres floated above their shoulders. It was a weapon they hadn't managed to acquire until the first war. Because they couldn't just burn this entire place to the ground like operatives in other zones, they had chosen anti-personnel sniping Magic Tools. Seeing them, Minjun wore a look of deep displeasure.

Stealing was disgraceful enough, but they couldn't even steal it properly.

-Papahat!

Brilliant white light erupted from their spheres in unison, and the battle began.

The air smelled of burning. With his back to the building, Minjun danced through the air. The lasers grazed past him, radiating heat.

The Todds didn't rely solely on Endelion's weapons. They continuously chanted spells, trying to ensnare his movements. Perhaps due to orders to capture him alive, there were no wide-area spells that would blow up the surroundings. Minjun decided he needed to end the fight while they were still holding back.

-Zzzzt!

RRRUMBLE!

Lasers carved through the space. The tricolor dragon's scales were sliced off like tofu. Splat, blood poured down, but...

-Hwaaat!

Energy pouring from somewhere instantly healed his wounds. The Todds were bewildered.

"Divine Power?!"

Just as they tried to locate the source and attack it...

Fwoosh!

The blood-red flames Minjun spewed from his mouth blocked their path. Blood flowed from the wound he had inflicted on his own wrist. It writhed and wrapped around his body. His sprinting speed accelerated, and a sharp edge flashed on the tip of the blade he swung. However, the sword could not easily pierce the Todds' defensive barrier.

This wasn't enough.

Minjun desperately needed the shadow monster. Originally, it was not an entity anchored to the material world. Just as the elf could not summon spirits due to the Spatial Condensation, Minjun was unable to summon the dark demon.

'It's not enough.'

The scent of blood—not his own—stimulated Minjun's nose. It was the smell rising from the pool of blood Kentius had created.

His throat ached again. It was burning. Yet he felt no desire to drink that. What Minjun wanted was something aged longer... a much thicker kind.

Ah, he was so thirsty.

"Grab him! It's just a greenhorn dragon and a single prisoner! Why is it taking so long?!"

The commander shouted impatiently. But the pair's resistance was formidable. The moment dozens of lasers crisscrossed through the space once more...

'Now!'

Minjun pulled a silver Frying Pan out of thin air. He spread it like a shield to block the front of his body. The light beams struck directly against its surface.

-Papapat!

Deflected.

The Frying Pan repelled the attacks perfectly. Guided by Minjun, the lasers poured out in a single direction.

A thunderous explosion followed.

------!

In the blinding flash of light, three Todds evaporated in an instant.

It was a result that fell short of Minjun's expectations.

"Tch!"

Among the surviving Todds was their commander. He wore an expression of total disbelief at what had just transpired. The ground swept by the lasers reflected by the Frying Pan had melted gruesomely.

"You... lunatics!"

An attack that pierced Endelion's armor.

The only tool capable of making this possible had to be a creation of the same tentacled creature.

The Todds' gazes grew sharper as they glared at the Magic Tool. Minjun realized that the reasons none of them could leave this place alive had just multiplied.

And he clicked his tongue once again.

'I should have killed them all at once. Having seen it once, they'll be on guard now.'

It went exactly as expected. Instead of firing lasers in predictable trajectories like before, the enemies tried to ensnare Minjun with cunning spells. Meanwhile, the lasers were concentrated on Kentius. If Minjun hadn't intervened and Yumtus hadn't provided cover from behind, the dragon would have already been chopped into several pieces.

'This won't do. I need a method...'

The shadow monster being sealed away was a heavy blow.

The moment he muttered that, a thirst that felt like it would bleach his mind white tormented him once more.

He was thirsty.

'Damn it, even at a time like this?!'

It was only a mental thirst anyway.

This was not the time to lose focus over such a sensation...

'No, wait.'

A sudden thought flashed through his mind. Dodging the Todds' attacks, he thought rapidly.

'Is this truly just mental?'

The primordial race quenched their thirst with dragon blood.

And an inexhaustible spring of life flowed within their chests.

'But since I awoke as a prisoner over the past eight hundred years... up until I fought Changcheon a few months ago, I haven't drunk a single drop of dragon blood.'

He had assumed it was because his soul was placed in a prosthetic body provided to prisoners.

Since it wasn't his real body anyway, there was no issue if he didn't drink dragon blood.

He had simply thought that his unique regenerative powers had manifested naturally because he had used this body for so long.

But...

'It's a contradiction. Is that actually possible?'

He belatedly began to harbor doubts.

'Regenerative power is maintained even without consuming what needs to be eaten? And abilities manifest in a fake body?'

He asked himself once again.

Was this thirst truly, purely mental?

'What is the reason a craving I've never felt before suddenly dominates my mind?'

Wasn't it because his body was genuinely thirsty and required dragon blood?

'If expending more power means I now need the dragon blood I previously had no desire for...'

If so.

What was this body?

-Papat!

At that moment, spells collided in the air, and the Todds were knocked backward. The commander was even more flustered than Minjun. With this lineup, they had the combat power to slay several Ancient Dragons, yet they were struggling immensely.

"You are incredibly stubborn!"

While the commander gritted his teeth and attacked, Minjun calmly sifted through his past memories.

The fate awaiting prisoners was largely the same. They either died abruptly during a mission, or their minds collapsed after enduring for many years. He had seen this through his comrades' replies when he recently delivered the news of Bradley's death. Individuals varied, and some, like Dell, went insane in less than a century, but generally, the longer one lasted, the deeper they were tainted by madness.

But what about Minjun?

'No prisoner has lasted longer than I have.'

Prisoners tainted by madness considered the bodies trapping their souls to be prisons. Iron bars of flesh.

However, Minjun had only ever viewed his life as a prisoner as a prison; he had never felt disgust, repulsion, or hatred toward this body.

Although he had inflicted countless wounds upon this physical form with his own hands and shed his own blood, it was an act faithful to the principle of Dark Magic—offering something precious and valuable. Just as the word "self-sacrificial" implied... it was a literal sacrifice.

An object of sacrifice cannot be worthless.

This body was not worthless to Minjun.

=...I see.=

The Dark Sword in his grip agreed with that thought.

Minjun suddenly realized that the thick psychological barrier he had erected against his creation had crumbled away. It was a phenomenon similar to when he absorbed the soul fragment called Blade.

=Perhaps.=

Having read his thoughts, Asiph-1 made a suggestion to its creator.

Wouldn't it be possible?

"..."

The creator answered Asiph-1.

I think it is possible.

He didn't hesitate.

STAB!

And the action that followed defied everyone's expectations.

"That... crazy bastard?!"

The air froze.

Kentius stared at Minjun with a baffled expression.

Yumtus, who had been hiding, also let out a mental wave that sounded like a scream.

=A-avatar, I will immediately...!=

Minjun hastily stopped him.

'No, don't do it!'

Yumtus withdrew his Divine Power.

Minjun's hand gripped Asiph-1 firmly in its Dagger form. And that blade was buried deep into the nape of his own neck.

It was the exact spot where followers of Elahu-Praga would inflict wounds with a sacred artifact for their Baptism.

It was also the wound that caused Ha Eun-seong's death, the very spot where the dagger had pierced his spiritual body.

Furthermore, it was the exact spot where Minjun had thrust his blade when brainwashing the orc.

"..."

Even after stabbing his own neck with his own hand, Minjun's expression remained entirely serene.

"You idiot!"

An attempted suicide at this point?

The Todds laughed as if it were absurd. The livestock of the Committee lacked even the freedom to kill themselves. They had to be worked relentlessly until their minds crumbled into dust.

Just as their attacks poured out once again.

Shooting a bizarre light from his eyes, Minjun pulled the blade from his neck.

Squelch!

But what flowed from the wound was not dark red liquid.

Nor was it the substance his sleeping kin ceaselessly bled in the dream world. It wasn't the most beautiful light in the universe, the holy dawn.

Instead, what emerged from there was...

Srrk!

Squelch, squelch!

It was something as dark as pitch.

A murky mire, contrasting sharply with the brilliantly shining Talents in Minjun's memories.

"...Huh?"

Seeing it dye the surroundings like a bottomless abyss, the Todds were reminded of a certain entity.

"The shadow monster?!"

It was impossible. This space was completely sealed off. Summoning was an impossibility.

Yet, exactly that was unfolding before them.

It didn't take a distinct shape like the shadow monster Minjun usually summoned. It neither condensed into a specific form nor created massive pillars to serve as its arms.

It merely poured out thickly. Like spilled night, it enveloped and covered the surroundings. Endlessly surging out.

"Ahhh!"

It spread at an astonishing speed. In the blink of an eye, the Todds and the dragon had already lost their vision. Rather than a shadow, it looked like pure darkness. Not a relative space where light failed to reach, but an entity complete unto itself.

The darkness that swallowed Minjun's body overflowed in every direction, devouring everything.

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