Chapter 279

Chapter 279

Roan began preparing in earnest to engrave the Black Mark.

First, Roan pulled out a large hourglass from his spatial pouch.

It was a one-day clock he had bought at the Gilsburg market.

It was a precaution to roughly grasp the flow of time in case anything happened during the process of engraving the Black Mark.

Next were the high-quality writing utensils and paper Demona had obtained from the Sol-La-Si-Do Stationery Store.

To engrave the Black Mark, the task of drawing the blueprint of the Pandemonium of Ten Thousand Snakes on this was required.

‘Hmm, let’s see.’

Although it was an extremely complex tangle of snakes, enough to make a viewer’s head spin.

Since it was also an element related to black magic, Roan sketched it out without any hesitation.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Sketch— sketch—

Roan slightly modified the directions and lengths of the protruding snakes in his own way, according to his discretion.

Roan also knew.

That modifying the Dark Trace carelessly could lead to irreversible results.

But at the same time, there was something he knew even more surely.

‘Trusting in my talent, there has never been a time where it wasn’t the correct answer.’

A shape closer to the correct answer, indicated by his talent that touched instinct.

Since he was engraving it inside his body’s heart rather than an ordinary location, modifying it would be safer and more suitable.

Sweat began to bead up and trickle down Roan’s face before long.

The Fake Divinity, which had been watching for a long time, finally broke the silence and asked.

Wooong…

Why are you drawing it like that?

‘Because I am embedding it directly into the heart. It won’t be efficient this way. It would be better to make this part slightly shorter.’

My goodness!

The Fake Divinity was dumbfounded by the sixteen-year-old boy answering so naturally.

Listening to him, he sounded no different from a professional practitioner who had spent his entire life drawing Black Marks.

Originally, the Black Marks drawn in such books were merely general appearances, and although individual modification was of course possible.

It was by no means something a novice black mage engraving his very first Black Mark should do.

Slide— slide—

Thus, by the time Roan was completing his own Black Mark, the sun had already set over the wasteland’s horizon, and dark twilight was settling in.

“……It’s done.”

Roan finally lifted the paper depicting his completed personal Black Mark.

It had become quite different from what was drawn in the book before long.

Although it was basically similar in its tangled snake form, the thickness, length, and direction of each snake had changed.

The Fake Divinity marveled unconsciously while looking at the drawn picture.

Ho, this is…

Anyone looking at this image would think of it.

A heart.

A heart made of countless snakes.

It wasn’t just modified for design; each and every snake twisted and stretched while harboring its own reason and meaning.

Roan nodded.

‘It just turned out that way while drawing.’

The Fake Divinity didn’t know what to say to the young boy who was its master.

The completed heart was beautiful and dangerous.

It was dynamic, looking ready to leap at any moment, yet deep and dark, as if one would be sucked in immediately.

Was this truly a realm that could be resolved by talent alone?

No, perhaps transcending the dimension of talent…

Ultimately, having struggled to find the words for a long while, the Fake Divinity hid its newfound emotion behind grumbles.

Do not let your guard down just because you drew a good blueprint. The real start is from now.

Roan chuckled at the tone, whose meaning was easily guessed.

“Yes. Let us begin now.”

Roan sat upright in his place, straightened his back, and closed his eyes.

One hand on his heart, one hand on his dantian.

Between his hand resting on his heart and his chest, the blueprint of the Black Mark he had drawn himself was sandwiched.

Gooooo—

Inside Roan’s body as he began his meditation, dark mana began to wriggle.

Roan simply caught the dark mana that was trying to discharge outward as always and circulated it inside his body.

The dark mana moved along complex pathways resembling blood vessels.

However, the most primary pathway was separate.

It was the loop circulating between the heart and the dantian.

‘First, I must loosen up the heart.’

Until now, the heart was in a stiff state, barely ever touched by artificial dark mana.

At first, he had to circulate it through the loop connecting the dantian and the heart to somehow get the heart used to the dark mana.

Slowly and weakly at first, but gradually faster and stronger.

Wooong— Woong-woong— Woong-woong-woong-woong—!

Roan, entirely focused inward, did not notice the flow of time and couldn’t perceive any external stimuli, directing all his attention solely to the circulation.

Wh… what a… mons… concentration…?

The Fake Divinity seemed to be babbling something, but Roan did not even register that.

Then, at some point.

Woong-woong-woong— Thump—!

‘It’s done!’

Finally, Roan’s heart loosened up enough to receive any kind of mana, becoming soft like freshly kneaded clay, so to speak.

‘Now all that’s left is to engrave it…’

What remained was only the task of engraving the Black Mark on his heart according to the blueprint he had already drawn.

Fortunately, the high-quality items from the Sol-La-Si-Do Stationery Store were perfect for this kind of work, so there was no problem in viewing the blueprint even in that state.

Because its mana absorption capacity was so outstanding that it projected the blueprint onto his heart like light.

But even Roan, who had already steeled his resolve, couldn’t help but hesitate slightly right before actually engraving the Black Mark.

‘It’s going to hurt tremendously.’

Engraving a Black Mark delivers immense pain even if one draws it as safely and conservatively as possible.

Even the descriptions in [God & Devil], which was usually written in a calm tone, always included modifiers like ‘horrific’ or ‘like slicing off flesh’ as standard.

Painful voiceovers and illustrations of expressions as if plunged into hellfire were bonuses.

Since it was an act of forcing one’s own power up by a tier, the overload was immense.

However, to avoid getting caught.

To survive.

It was an unavoidable choice.

‘Right, come to think of it, the Shackle of Ash Life was also staggeringly painful. And since coming to this world, I’ve ended up stabbing my limbs with knives without a second thought…’

The second point wasn’t much of a consolation, but Roan steeled his resolve once more and gathered dark mana in his heart anyway.

Kugoogooo—

His heart, where blood fully saturated with Roan’s pure mana was already concentrating.

Even more, much more mana gathered there.

Thump— thump— thump—

Simply by the condensation of mana, the heart rate soared immensely.

‘……It’s my own heart, but it really absorbs a staggering amount.’

Yet, even so, Roan’s instinct was screaming ‘not yet.’

Saying that he needed even more mana than this for the rise of a stage.

Gooooo—

Roan drew up even more mana in accordance with that request.

His heart absorbed mana endlessly, like throwing something into a black hole.

Finally, Roan’s mana regeneration, which had seemed infinite, showed its limit.

And when consumption and recharge reached an equilibrium, including the amount absorbed by the Bell of Eternity.

Drrrr—

Th-this is too much!

When the Fake Divinity vibrated as if screaming at the overload it had never experienced before.

Flashhh—!!

Roan’s heart reached a state of complete mana saturation.

If he had loosened it just a tiny bit less a moment ago, his heart would have ruptured long ago.

‘Now… let’s refine it. Enough to engrave something.’

However, there was still a long way to go.

Roan began to compress the dark mana filling his heart little by little.

Unless it was the compression knack of the Abyss, which he could now use as familiarly as ordinary mana, even that would have been an attempt close to impossible.

Engraving the Pandemonium of Ten Thousand Snakes on the heart was something that could only be attempted when impossibilities overlapped several times over like that.

Kugoogoog—

The dark mana that was overflowing to the outside of his heart was gradually reined in.

This continued until it took a form like a sharp, long mineral fragment, or the most primitive type of pen.

Around the time he thought it had achieved a suitable form for the act of ‘engraving’ something.

Roan brought the compressed dark mana against his heart.

Stabbb—!!!!

“!!!!!!!!”

And a massive, sharp pain struck Roan’s entire body!

No, could this even be called a sharp pain?

An intense stimulation that seemed to transcend the scope of pain by far.

Like gouging out his very soul…

With just a single prick, it felt like it had already neared the pain he received during the Shackle of Ash Life.

‘This is… far worse than expected.’

He almost broke his concentration right then and rolled on the floor.

Had he done so, his heart would have ruptured and he would have died.

For it to be like this from engraving just a single point on the heart.

But he couldn’t give up after coming this far.

Since in Roan’s situation, taking a step back was synonymous with giving up everything.

Roan grit his teeth and brought the well-honed dark mana against his heart once more.

Stabbb—!!!

The second time, yet the pain did not become even slightly familiar.

However, this time he did not stop immediately.

Rather.

Sizzle— sizzle—

Even if bit by bit, he began to engrave the Black Mark along the lines of the blueprint.

Each time the dark mana advanced slightly in his red heart, it felt like there was a burning smell.

Naturally, Roan’s situation was worse than having his entire body seared with fire.

Skrrrk— skrk—

What a tenacious bastard…

It was to the extent that the Fake Divinity, watching all of this, clicked its tongue in awe.

It was a situation where even moderately tough black mages would have fainted and woken up a hundred times already.

Or perhaps it was more likely they wouldn’t wake up at all.

Yet, somehow, this boy, though in a precarious state, was steadily engraving the Dark Trace according to the blueprint.

Even with the authority’s support, it was unbelievable.

No, my support is really at a bare minimum…

In its heart, the Fake Divinity also wanted to give more concrete help.

However, for now, it was best to concentrate all its power in that direction so that the identity of the completed Dark Trace wouldn’t be discovered by any means.

Even that would have been a bit too demanding without the boy’s potential blooming under extreme circumstances.

To summarize, it was a situation where both Roan and the Fake Divinity had to pour in all their remaining power and capability just to barely cross a tightrope stretched between sheer cliffs.

Sizzle— sizzle—

No external situations could be seen, heard, or felt.

He couldn’t even tell what action he himself was performing right now, or what he looked like.

If he had the mind to spend on such trivialities, it was correct to focus only on moving the dark mana and enduring the pain.

Yet, as the pain layered level by level, each and every snake was steadily engraved onto his heart.

Only that minor progress shimmered like a straw holding Roan’s mind together…

Slice— slice—

The sound of the Black Mark repeatedly being engraved where the snakes overlapped was quite different from the beginning.

Perhaps because he had gotten somewhat used to it, the pain was bearable.

‘I hate a reality where I have to call this stuff bearable…’

Roan resented it with all his might, but on the other hand, being able to feel resentful like this was proof that he had gained some leeway.

If he were a priest, he felt he would have easily entered the ranks of penance authorities with just the pain he had experienced so far.

No, in my heart, at this point, shouldn’t I be acknowledged as a Blessed?

Skrrrk—

Still, it’s almost all over now…

The vibration of the Fake Divinity, which had assisted Roan diligently all this time, was somehow sharp and fatigued.

Just as the authority said, it was not long before the Black Mark was completely engraved.

A few snake heads protruding outwardly along the blood vessels.

Sizzle— sizzle—

Even so, only the chilling sound of slicing flesh thinly echoed faintly inside Roan for now.