Chapter 138 – Net of Heaven and Earth (6)

Two men were visible at the low mountain peak.

One was a tall man with a sharp impression, and the other was a person hiding their face with a black robe.

The tall man was the grand master of the 8th Outer Hall specializing in tracking and annihilation.

And he was also the person who planned the Net of Heaven and Earth at this place.

The person hiding their face with a robe beside him was a contaminated summoner, one of the dark mages.

Behind where the two stood, a small magic circle was scattering light.

In the center of the magic circle lay an animal with cat-like appearance and snow-white fur, breathing shallow breaths.

The small animal was already contaminated and turned turbid. And with its four ankles half-cut, it was collapsed on the floor bleeding.

“I-I wonder if that Dharma Protector called Scorpion Emperor will bring the goods safely.”

The mage wrapped in a robe stared intently at the direction where the righteous faction people and Scorpion Emperor Dharma Protector disappeared, seemingly worried.

“That’s what you say not knowing what kind of people super absolute masters are. Even if there are several absolute level ones, it’s completely meaningless talk against super absolute.”

“We-well. If he can bring it safely, that’s good for me too.”

“Rather than that, you need words to make excuses about yourself when Scorpion Emperor Dharma Protector returns.”

“Wh-what does that mean? An-anyway we have different affiliations and the Dha-Dharma Protector doesn’t have command authority.”

“You just heard, that person isn’t someone who cares about such things.”

At the grand master’s words, the mage lost his words.

“Think about it a bit. I’ll also ponder on it.”

The mage glanced at the grand master’s face.

He was definitely someone who finished brainwashing, yet his manner of speech greatly grated on nerves.

Before knowing personality and speech were originally that way, he even misunderstood the brainwashing came undone.

In the Demon Cult, whether this person or the Dharma Protector who just ran out.

There seemed to be no decent people at all.

The mage decided to devour the person before his eyes grating on his nerves after work ended.

“But what is that person using strange sorcery? Are they from the same world as you?”

“No, probably seems to be that summoner grating on several people’s nerves lately…”

The mage who felt accumulated anger subsiding after deciding to devour him answered his words faithfully in his own way.

“To think the Net of Heaven and Earth you so boasted about crumbled in one blow, isn’t the person called Dharma Protector also having a hard time?”

However, perhaps anger still remained, the mage shot at the grand master.

“The Net of Heaven and Earth was prepared to face people. Not prepared to face monsters or illusions where pain is felt. And that’s just minor sorcery anyway. It only works on people with martial arts lower than oneself, it can’t work on same level or higher people.”

The grand master seemed confident even he as top absolute level could sufficiently handle it.

“Anyway, the Net of Heaven and Earth’s goal was keeping them tied up until the Dharma Protector came. In the end, the goal was all achieved…”

The grand master who was grumbling in retort suddenly stopped speaking.

He felt the Net of Heaven and Earth constructed centered on him shaking again.

The Net of Heaven and Earth constructed by spiritually connecting people with same internal energy in a kind of formation-making method.

It was a completely different method from the Net of Heaven and Earth other sects made.

Thanks to being connected through each other’s spirits, they could share emotions and movements regardless of distance.

Thanks to that, they could move the giant encirclement like one body, or create the best coordinated attack.

Moreover, they immediately detected an enemy appearing inside the encirclement like now.

“Surely, did Scorpion Emperor Dharma Protector get defeated?”

Feeling the Net of Heaven and Earth crumbling at tremendous speed, the grand master made a serious expression.

***

At that moment.

Nanseol and Sun-woo were running toward the mountain peak while cutting down the Demon Cult members rushing at them.

Nanseol handled the Demon Cult members rushing from ahead, and Sun-woo informed her of enemies’ locations with sorcery.

“Two on the left, one on the right diagonal, front no, one enemy hiding in the ground ahead.”

Perhaps from the formation’s influence, visibility became extremely narrow making surroundings hard to grasp well.

Nevertheless, trusting Sun-woo’s words, Nanseol shot sword energy left and right, and soon screams of enemies hit by sword energy were heard.

“Agh.”

“Uwagh!”

Nanseol only took screams to heart then ran forward stabbing and pulling out her sword into the ground.

Blood dripped from the pulled-out sword.

From screams and the sword tip’s feeling, there were times she thought she didn’t completely handle enemies.

Still, now was urgent time.

Nanseol kept running forward paying no mind.

Sun-woo wasn’t just playing either.

Sun-woo finished off survivors with Earth Spirit.

The ground writhed sucking in wounded Demon Cult members, and to those hiding in the ground bleeding, surrounding dirt pressed in.

Thus the two people who cleared away those blocking in an instant and climbed the mountain realized at some moment there were no more enemies rushing.

And they saw one man standing waiting for them.

A tall man with sharp impression.

Though the two didn’t know, he was the Demon Cult’s grand master in charge of this matter.

He who was at the mountain peak personally came down waiting for the two.

“Stop! You cannot go further ahead!”

The energy bursting from his body and sword aura hovering on his sword showed he was a proper absolute master.

However, Sun-woo stared at behind where he stood.

Sun-woo’s senses felt another person at the mountain peak hurriedly moving.

“Buying time?”

At Sun-woo’s mutter, Nanseol stepped forward without delay.

“Go ahead first. I’ll handle this one.”

By outward appearance, the enemy looked stronger. However, Sun-woo nodded toward Nanseol.

“I’m counting on you.”

Sun-woo immediately passed grazing the grand master’s side.

“Where are you trying to slip away!”

The grand master rushed at Sun-woo.

However, he had to stop.

Because Nanseol predicted and moved first.

“I’m your opponent.”

Sword aura bloomed from Nanseol’s sword.

***

“What? Su-super absolute master so absolutely won’t lose? Sufficient skill to handle himself too?”

The mage remaining alone on the mountain peak grumbled while hurriedly drawing a magic circle on the floor.

“Da-damn. If I fail after the last Empire matter too, our mages’ position in the organization will greatly shrink.”

He drew a magic circle with frail hands looking like only bones remained, then chanted a spell.

The magic circle embraced brilliant light.

“Phew, i-it’s done now. Escape preparation finished. Whe-where to see, hmm, seems he’s blocking fairly well still.”

Even checking with detection magic.

And even checking the summoner’s scent.

Yet he felt no signs of the summoner or other people in surroundings.

“Tsk, I-I tried to devour him alive to repay grating on my nerves, but it became regrettable. Bu-but since he’s repaying by dying for me, I should let it pass.”

He was about to put his foot on the spatial movement magic circle made for escape then turned his head.

There was another magic circle still scattering light.

“Phew, sti-still, can’t leave traces. Pe-people taste better but still since it’s a spirit beast it should be fairly edible.”

The mage licked his lips looking at the animal lying dying in the magic circle’s center.

It was a contamination formation that kept improving through various experiments until now.

From contaminating the world to blocking Summoner’s interference.

This mission was simultaneously stealing the tribute that came from Tianzhu and testing this simple contamination formation.

“Sti-still, did I get half success? Tho-though called a spirit beast, I worried it was too small. The-the effect is fairly good.”

Instead of making a giant contamination formation using monster-grade spirit beast’s inner dan or core, it was a method of directly contaminating a small spirit beast that couldn’t make inner dan yet to use as the contamination formation’s core.

Though size was small compared to large contamination formations, it was easy to make and convenient to manage.

Just that since it was a method requiring spirit beast’s blood, maintaining the spirit beast from dying midway was tricky.

“An-anyway you’ll die soon so don’t be disappointed dying one step earlier. You’ll enter my stomach soon and become one, so rather you should thank me.”

He raised his finger toward the white-furred small spirit beast staring at him with reddened eyes.

And he came to hear another person’s voice from behind.

“Done saying roughly everything? With this movement magic circle, I can’t know the target point. Is my skill still insufficient?”

The mage hurriedly turned his body.

Behind the mage, Sun-woo was kneeling on one knee with his hand on the movement magic circle.

“Ho-how? Not felt at all? No, even now I can’t feel!”

Even if not magic detection, the summoner’s scent that contaminated ones would naturally feel couldn’t be felt at all from the man before his eyes.

Not knowing Sun-woo hid presence with illusion technique, he couldn’t understand the current situation.

Though that said, there was no way the man before his eyes wasn’t a summoner.

The clothes worn were also from another world and mana was flowing out from his body now.

Moreover, the mage knew who the man before his eyes was.

“In-indeed, be-being able to use abilities from all worlds was true.”

Sun-woo also wasn’t surprised the man recognized him.

Since he missed the Blood Demon, the story of destroying the contamination formation in the Empire inevitably spread among enemies.

Moreover, the opponent was a fellow dark mage.

“Did you hear my story from the Blood Demon? Then you might know where the Blood Demon is.”

Sun-woo crushed the movement magic circle by moving dirt, then walked toward the mage.

‘What to do? How?’

The mage desperately began finding ways to live.

However, the opponent was someone who killed even a super absolute master and killed numerous fellow dark mages.

He couldn’t possibly match him.

When thinking whether to use self-destruction magic, Sun-woo’s footsteps stopped.

Sun-woo looked at the magic circle behind the mage then tilted his head.

“Saw this guy somewhere.”

Sun-woo was looking at the spirit beast lying in the magic circle’s center.

A small animal with snow-white fur, resembling a cat.

One scene came to Sun-woo’s mind.

“Ah! The Snow Cat I saw back then!”

It was the cat the Blood Cult members had when he first met Yeonhwa.

“Definitely Yeonhwa had it? Why is it here?”

When Sun-woo made a puzzled expression, the mage grabbed the cat and held it up before himself.

“Back off! Otherwise I’ll kill this one here!”

The mage held a strand of hope seeing Sun-woo recognize the spirit beast.

And Sun-woo became an absurd expression seeing the mage’s action.

“Does it go that far when contaminated?”

He was just curious seeing something after a long time.

Sun-woo had no particular thoughts about Snow Cat. Rather, it became a bothersome situation thanks to seeing it alive.

“Hmm. It seems better for me if you kill it now.”

At Sun-woo’s words, the mage became a dejected expression. He held one strand of hope, but it was a rotten rope.

“Though that said, leaving it to die is also awkward.”

Puk!

Before Sun-woo’s words ended, a hole pierced the mage’s forehead and blood gushed out.

It was a Water Ball shot from Sun-woo’s finger without the mage knowing.

The Water Ball trained until now had become the best assassination secret technique, fast at speed almost comparable to bullets and small enough to be invisible.

The mage fell backward with an extremely aggrieved expression.

“Oh. Miss Nanseol seems finished too.”

Sun-woo confirmed with sorcery the survivor was Nanseol, then looked at the dying Snow Cat.

“Sigh. If I leave it to die like this, it’ll be awkward seeing Miss Yeonhwa.”

Sun-woo sighed while taking out Contamination Treatment and Body Regeneration Potion from inventory.

“This is expensive. Be prepared to be scolded if you pretend not to know after eating.”

He mixed contamination treatment in body regeneration potion then poured it into Snow Cat’s mouth.

Fortunately, Snow Cat seemed contaminated not long ago. Snow Cat’s eyes changed back to blue color and the turbid-colored fur began returning to dazzling white again.

Simultaneously, blood flowing from Snow Cat’s four ankles stopped and wounds gradually healed.

As time passed and the contamination formation’s core disappeared, all surrounding contaminated areas returned to original.

Sun-woo waited for Nanseol while tickling the neck of Snow Cat who regained consciousness, and Snow Cat licked Sun-woo’s finger pretending to be friendly.

Then, Snow Cat’s tongue licking Sun-woo’s finger touched the summoning ring fitted on Sun-woo’s finger.

The ring scattered light.

[You have been chosen.]

[Skill added through item’s effect. Learned Domination skill.]

[Spirit beast Snow Cat submitted to Summoner Min Sun-woo. Snow Cat is registered as a summon.]

[Item skill, Summoning skill is registered as official skill.]

Summoner’s voices reached Sun-woo’s ears in order.

Sun-woo looked between the ring and Snow Cat with an absurd expression.

Snow Cat just licked its fur with a satisfied expression.