81 episodes
“Are you okay, buddy?”
Blake approached Ethan, who had staggered for a while due to an injury in his body.
Blake’s face was full of concern.
But Ethan didn’t answer.
‘What the hell happened?’
The divine power that ran wild inside the body was radiated by the white fox.
So far I could understand.
But Ethan couldn’t understand what happened next.
Ethan looked down at his hand in disbelief.
‘The divine power has become more pure.’
It was amazing.
Ethan tried to keep his thoughts going.
“Ugh.”
But he frowned at the sudden headache.
Ethan raised his hand and touched his temple.
Then Blake muttered in surprise.
“Hey, there’s something on the back of your hand… … .”
“What?”
Ethan frowned and looked at the back of his hand.
The back of his hand was engraved with an unusual pattern.
“This… stigma?”
Ethan muttered involuntarily.
It was.
A stigma appeared on the back of Ethan’s hand, which had nothing.
* * *
the next morning.
The fortress was bustling with what happened last night.
“Did you see that last night?”
“Every time I saw it. I thought there was even a war!”
“right. Well, this guy packed up all his luggage and ran out of the house.”
“Suddenly, the forest lit up, and of course I thought there was a fire!”
“But for that kind of thing, the light wasn’t scary. I mean, that’s very unfortunate.”
“What the hell was that light?”
“Well. The priest who came a while ago also emitted light during treatment, isn’t it related to that?”
“It is clear that Pars-sama came down to the Black Mountains to rescue us!”
No one knew the identity of the pillar of light.
However, the people who suffered from monsters due to the black mountain range hoped that it would be auspicious.
Meanwhile, Ethan and Blake were outside the fortress.
Blake, who returned after examining the fortress’s dynamics, explained the turmoil to Ethan.
“Everyone in the village had gathered. You better not go inside.”
“Then you take care of this guy.”
Ethan tapped something at his feet.
He was a healer who passed out when he met a troll while trying to catch a white fox.
-Even if the healer is terrified, he’s not evil enough to let him die in a place like this.
On the way back from the Black Mountains, Blake had to bring it.
“Okay. I’ll have to see if I have any acquaintances of the therapist in there. Ah, but… … .”
“What?”
“Are the monsters really no longer flocking to the Black Mountains?”
“Originally, the reason monsters flocked to the Black Mountains was because of the Sealing Stone. The sacred power of the Sealing Stone stimulated the land of the Black Mountains, and the magical power has grown.”
“Hmm, now that the Sealing Stone has lost its power, it’s okay, right?”
Ethan nodded his head.
But it didn’t say everything.
The reason why the sealing stone’s sacred power stimulated the earth of the Black Mountains in the first place was because of the broken seal of the witch Scarlet.
When Scarlett’s seal was broken, the sacred power of the Sealing Stone stimulated the magical power of the Black Mountains, and the monsters were gathered by the thickened magic.
If Scarlett had not awakened, the Sealing Stone would not have stimulated the magic of the Black Mountains until the moment when she lost all of her divine power.
There were other variables.
It was a white fox, a spiritual creature that was born under the influence of divine power.
‘The fox must have intensified the stimulation by leaving a divine power here and there.’
Ethan clicked his tongue.
An ordinary fox cub who lived in the Black Mountains was exposed to divine power and was born as a spiritual creature.
Looking at what he was doing, it seemed that he had just become a spirit creature.
Compared to Fenrir, who has been living as a god for a long time, he was so young that he could not even compete.
‘But I’m sure he’s smarter than that motherf*cker.’
Ethan gave a generous evaluation of the white fox.
It was natural.
After saving Ethan, the White Fox suddenly went on her way.
On the other hand, Fenrir later blatantly clings to the subject of sabotaging Ethan’s actions.
Whoever looked at it, the white fox looked more like a spiritual creature.
Blake raised the stunned healer to lean against the wall.
“I can’t leave the therapist like this, so I’ll be back soon.”
Indeed, he was a disciple of Kaden Hanson, who sought justice.
Blake hurriedly left.
But then, a colorful pouch flowed out of the therapist’s arms.
Steel!
“Is that?”
It was a thick money bag.
Ethan looked around.
Of course, no one was there.
Ethan smiled and picked up his pocket.
“Think of it as a not-so-bad deal for the price of your life.”
In the first place, he had brought a man who had been left unattended in the forest alive and brought it back to life.
Besides, he even closed his eyes for holding a grudge against me.
‘This is a fairly generous treatment.’
It was Blake who came back carrying the therapist on his shoulders and asked him to forgive the therapist’s rudeness.
But that fact was completely gone from Ethan’s mind.
“It must have been pretty cool being a therapist in the backcountry.”
Ethan checked his pockets and whistled.
Besides, it was better to be able to return to Velium without encountering Scarlet the witch.
It felt like I was cruising unlike before when I was only twisted.
‘How lucky are you? I’ll never see that witch again.’
Ethan smiled contentedly.
* * *
‘Lucky horns.’
Ethan muttered to himself.
“It’s really amazing.”
Nyx murmured behind Ethan’s back.
After returning from the Black Mountains, Ethan’s stigma overturned the Velium branch of the Pars Church.
“Until now, all stigmata have been congenital. Such an acquired stigma is unprecedented! How did it come about?”
The Knicks followed Ethan around and gave him all kinds of creepy tributes.
Ethan rubbed his ears as if annoyed.
“I don’t know. I don’t even know why aren’t you busy Stop it.”
“You seem to care about my schedule. Thank you, but there is no schedule after that. Anyway, it’s just my opinion, but maybe Pars-sama was trying to give Ethan some kind of revelation?”
“under. no way.”
Ethan burst out laughing as if he was excited.
But the Knicks responded with a determined face.
“Maybe not. I didn’t say it because it was disrespectful, but it was strange that a priest like Ethan had no stigmata. After all, it is clear that Pars-sama highly valued Ethan’s devotion.”
Ethan narrowed his brow.
After returning to Velium, the nagging of the Nyx continued.
It looked like he had misunderstood something.
‘No, actually, this guy is not the only problem.’
Ethan rubbed his temple.
The other humans in the church also started making fuss.
– This is the red robe of the denomination!
-Pars-sama gave a revelation!
– I must inform the Holy Spirit of this fact immediately!
My head throbbed at the thought of what they were talking about.
Did Goddess Pars inflict stigma on me, who was the devil’s henchman in my previous life?
‘If Pars heard it, he would fall by the back of his neck.’
Ethan thought hard about what was causing the stigma on me.
‘It may be the cause of receiving and releasing enormous divine power in the body until now.’
So far, Ethan has gone through a number of hurdles to death.
As a child, in the blessing ceremony of the key, the divine power aimed at Ethan’s life.
After that, Seong Baek Soo, and after that, Fenrir and Nyx interfered with him.
In Pache, the shadow of the saint threatened Ethan’s life once.
In the process, Ethan’s body was overexposed to divine power.
No, the expression of being exposed was extremely pure.
Ethan clenched his fists.
‘It would have been an assassination!’
Those related to the Pars Church, which advocated goodness, all aimed and listened to Edan, the demon king’s henchman!
And Ethan won the assassination attempt proudly.
Does exposure to divine power cause stigma in both dogs and cattle?
Such a reaction could arise.
But Ethan shook his head.
‘Because it was not an ordinary divine power.’
All that Ethan experienced was excessive divine power that threatened his life.
It was the same logic as if a strong stream of water poured into a cup with a limit to what it could hold, it would break.
The amplified divine power is so destructive that it is better to call it violence.
It was different from the divine power of the level of divine magic.
Such divine power was repeatedly absorbed and released into Ethan’s body over and over again.
In the world, the stigma was called the mark of those who received the blessing and love of the goddess Pars.
Because he can wield enormous divine power with his innate understanding.
So, in a sense, Ethan could be said to have received the fierce love of God.
How many people in the world will be exposed to the divine power to the point of death over and over again?
‘Magic power in jet-black eyes, divine power in stigmata. If this is known outside, it will definitely be dissected.’
Ethan smirked.
It could be seen that the balance of divine power and magical power in the body was coming to an end.
‘It will be easier to control the two energy, so it will be of great help to develop new magic.’
Ethan manages to be satisfied with the outcome of his Black Mountains journey.
Even if the number of paddles that bothered me because of the stigma increased, it was enough to ignore it.
As if ignoring Nyx, who is talking next to you right now.
‘But you mean something’s missing?’
Ethan traced his memory.
And as a result of thinking of the beginning of the journey of the Black Mountains, he realized.
‘Flower healer, Olivia Allen!’
It was.
The decisive reason Ethan went to the Black Mountains was because of her.
But somehow, Alan had not yet rewarded Ethan for having resolved the catastrophe in the Black Mountains.
‘Obviously, they would have said that they would hit it separately from the donations given by the church, but I don’t think it’s meant to be eaten and fried.’
Ethan’s eyes narrowed, cautious about money and contracts.
‘I’ll see you soon.’
* * *
The atmosphere in Bellium was chaotic.
The Prince Regent was directing the investigation of the Dark Followers, as declared at the banquet.
Meanwhile, Baron Sheerland was found dead in the fountain.
Even while being beheaded.
This caused a major uproar in the aristocratic society as well as the new empire in general.
Therefore, while Ethan was in the Black Mountains, the intensity of the investigation increased even more.
When people gathered, everyone raised their enthusiasm with the story.
“I heard that the knights did an investigation and the privates were injured or killed when they broke into the house, wouldn’t it be sparking fire for us as well?”
“no way. What do we have to do with commoners like us?”
“I heard that there are cases where people are framed for fighting for power.”
“It’s the first time I think I’m lucky that I wasn’t born as a noble.”
“Shh! Who is being dragged over there?”
Those who were chatting held their breath.
A noble man was being taken captive by the knights.
“Was that noble also a dark follower Knaful?”
“Hey, it’s not like a country.”