You Will Be Blessed If You Do Good Deeds¿-Chapter 95

The wolf, which quickly grew in size, leaped off the ground, as if carrying me, and slammed into the earth.

In the blink of an eye, we left the village where the villagers had lived and reached the outer city walls.

The wolf, with only three leaps, climbed up the wall, glanced around intelligently, and then howled briefly.

Aooooooo!

This was the signal that it had found the prey it had been searching for.

I patted the wolf's neck.

"Sorry, but hurry up."

Grrrr!

The wolf's sense of smell was extremely sensitive.

At least, it was good enough to never miss an enemy trying to escape.

Bang!

The wolf jumped down from the wall and landed lightly on the ground.

What lay before us were the countless bodies of soldiers.

The ones who had died standing, with their eyes wide open and staring ahead, seemed as though they could not accept their deaths.

The wolf swiftly dashed through the corpses, navigating between them.

And soon...

Crack!

The wolf stomped on a pale figure crawling on the ground.

It was something that looked like an oddly shaped insect or perhaps a mass of cells yet to become human.

The insect, realizing the wolf was near, tried to wriggle and escape, but the wolf was one step ahead.

"This beast!"

The insect, crushed under the wolf's massive paw, squirmed and cursed.

Its appearance was even more grotesque than expected, causing a smirk to escape my lips.

"My, such a lack of manners."

"This voice...?!"

Only then did the insect’s eyes widen, realizing I was riding on the wolf’s back.

"You're here again?!"

"Of course, it's me again."

"How... How?! Wasn't I supposed to be sent back to my world?!"

"Wherever you go, there are always loopholes to exploit."

I had long mastered the art of causing system errors to delay return times.

And surprisingly, the system had remained quiet this time.

I had expected it to be furious about the intentional error I created.

I didn’t know why, but as long as it didn’t cause me any trouble, it worked out in my favor.

I looked down at the insect that the wolf had crushed.

"How did you find me?"

"I never thought you'd willingly bind yourself to a soul contract."

No matter how powerful an item was, it always had weaknesses.

Yoo Han-ul probably knew that there were some risks involved.

He had simply chosen to reassure the villagers who would have been anxious due to the short time left, rather than focus on the risks.

And I knew he would do that.

Good intentions are rooted in the belief that others will improve, but evil is predicated on betrayal.

"Of course, I thought you'd have learned the way to separate souls."

Even a soul contract has its limits—there are always those who can escape it.

I didn't want to admit it, but this opponent was a fairly skilled magician. I thought she’d know a loophole to get out.

Besides, the method of soul separation was one I had taught Orbis.

Once, in my pursuit of immortality, I had shared this magic with my kin.

If Orbis had created this ‘foolish honor’ barrier, he would have also passed on the method of soul separation to this magician.

"I didn’t expect you to turn into an insect, though."

That wasn't the magic I had intended to create.

After all that talk of honor, seeing her crawl on the floor like that was truly laughable.

She must have separated her soul to escape the contract, but had no proper body to hold it.

In desperation, she probably possessed a nearby monster's corpse and fled.

She must have been in a hurry because any delay would have meant being completely bound by the contract, with no chance to separate her soul.

"Even in a hurry, what’s this pathetic form? Weren’t you talking about being a count, having noble bloodline?"

"Y-you, you really talk too recklessly!"

The magician, now in the body of an insect, cried out in frustration.

"Why did you bind me to the contract if you were going to do this? It would’ve been easier just to kill me immediately!"

"Isn’t it obvious?"

I smiled.

"I gave you hope that you might survive, only to take it away."

In the end, it was the loss of hope, however small, that broke a person.

I just wanted to make this one suffer the worst feeling.

A person so obsessed with life that they would take others' lives to extend their own.

For such a person to run straight toward death felt unfair.

That’s why I made that suggestion to Yoo Han-ul.

Killing this one right away would destroy the barrier, and the villagers would vanish, but that was a lesser concern.

The insect froze for a moment, then, with a voice full of resignation, it said.

"This... this demon... Where did such a thing come from...?!"

"I hear that a lot."

I felt strangely detached.

"I really hate people like you."

I truly didn't belong in this world... with its humans.

"If you separate your soul and leave the barrier, it will disappear the moment you do. And the villagers will die."

"Yeah, so what?"

The insect twisted its body, struggling to escape, shouting.

"My life is their only use! Why should I be blamed? If it weren’t for me, they would have perished long ago, they should be thanking me... Argh!"

Grrrr!

Thanks to the wolf, who pressed down on the insect's head with a paw, I didn’t have to listen to any more nonsense.

I sighed deeply.

"Yes, these kinds of creatures should just be killed."

If Yoo Han-ul had been here, maybe he would have found another way.

Perhaps he would follow the laws created by humans, which were at least based on minimal morality for coexistence.

Maybe he would listen to noble values like compassion, conscience, and pity.

But not me.

"I will judge you."

In the end, I was the one who was evil.

"Don't make me laugh. What right do you have?! Who do you think you are?!"

"I don’t have any rights or qualifications, of course."

"What?!"

"As you said, a demon like me wouldn’t care about such things."

Perhaps realizing there was no escape, the insect lashed out with curses, its last attempt to fight.

Instead of responding to the curses, I summoned magic.

A great surge of power flooded through my still fragile magic circuits.

Having absorbed all the available magic, I was now fully charged with energy.

At last, I was able to cast another incantation spell.

Crackling!

The air around me vibrated violently.

"What, what are you doing?!"

A pain akin to having every vein in my body torn apart gripped me, but I endured.

To perform a miracle, one needs a body strong enough to withstand the magic that defies the natural order, and a mind capable of speaking the words precisely.

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Only then can a miracle be wrought.

And what I wanted now was...

The evil seed sprouted because of my complacency.

Flame!

A massive blue flame, dense with magical power, flared up from my fingertips.

As I watched the flames, I continued the incantation.

I failed to cut off that sprout sooner because of my negligence.

The insect’s eyes trembled uncontrollably when it saw the flames rising from my fingertips.

"That spell... Purification Flame? Could it be... you're... no, this is impossible!"

The insect let out an agonized scream like never before.

I bitterly reflect on my lazy arrogance.

"Why are you here?!"

I did not respond to its screams.

It wasn't seeking an answer, after all.

Now, I will fulfill the last of my duties.

Finally, the flames from my hand engulfed the insect's hideous body, which had briefly been a vessel for the soul.

Aaahhh!

The body was quickly incinerated, and all that remained was the soul.

A red soul wailed in torment, flying above the flames.

It was the Soul Core.

What is a human soul made of?

I still haven't found an answer to that question, but at least a soul on the brink of death is honest.

Just like the soul of a woman who threw away her life for hatred, only to meet her end full of pity.

And this soul...

I want to live, I want to live, I want to liiiiive!

"You had nothing, did you?"

There was no reflection on the sins it had committed, no regret over what should have been avoided.

Only the primal desire that any living being might have.

If such primal desires were the essence of a soul, then could anyone truly call themselves human, much less noble, with such a soul? I still don’t know.

Crack!

The Purification ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) Flame consumed even the last scream of the soul.

And then, nothing remained.

The Purification Flame.

This is the magic that completely erases the souls of the guilty.

It was the hollow end of a magician who had devoured hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives.

"After all, nothing remains once you're dead. Isn't it ridiculous?"

Grr?

The wolf, watching the entire scene, tilted its head.

It seemed confused by the situation.

Well, it must have been strange to see its master, who had always been so different, now acting in such a way, doing something she would never have done before.

"Just a little venting."

The magician had separated her soul and fled, but her body, still bound by Yoo Han-ul’s contract, remained in the castle.

So, just as Yoo Han-ul wanted, the barrier would stay up for now.

The villagers would escape the cycle they had been trapped in and reclaim their true lives.

Maybe, just maybe, Yoo Han-ul would find a way to revive the souls and bring salvation.

However, the soul of this magician I had just purified would remain as nourishment for the barrier.

Even if Yoo Han-ul did find a way to revive these souls, this magician would never be saved.

"Now, you don’t deserve salvation from the hero, do you?"

The wolf, not understanding what I meant, tilted its head again.

The same servitude, the overflowing magic, and the land in ruins.

Perhaps it was because this was the world of my past life, or maybe it was because I had used an incantation I thought I would never use again.

But old memories resurfaced.

There was a time when I believed in giving, trusting, and waiting, thinking that things would slowly improve.

I learned too late that it was all in vain.

Even in this ruined world, there were still those willing to sacrifice others to survive.

Yes, there is evil in the world that can never be eradicated.

Can good defeat evil?

I could say with certainty that it cannot.

Evil can only be punished by greater evil.

I learned that lesson too late.

"If only I had uprooted it sooner, it wouldn’t have come to this... but it's all too late."

Grrr!

The wolf nudged me as if to comfort me, lifting its large head.

I petted its thick, coarse fur.

At that moment, the system finally displayed a message.

The system has corrected the intentional error.

The system notifies that it is ready to return the user, 'Jeong Da-on', to Earth.

The system sends a warning to the 'Destroyer of Worlds'.

It seemed the system was worried, perhaps thinking I had regained my strength to escape its grasp after using another incantation.

After all, it had probably believed it had control over me through the 'Do Good Deeds, Be Blessed?' quest, and never expected me to break free like this.

Honestly, I could have enjoyed toying with the arrogant system a bit more, but...

"Don’t get too worked up. Regaining my strength isn’t a bad thing for Earth’s humans either."

As long as Jeong Da-jeong is on Earth, keeping the system placated remains unchanged.

"I had other purposes beyond just venting."

Now, my former kin, Orbis’ goal was clear.

To absorb Earth’s magic into this world and breathe life back into a world already dead.

Just as this magician had done, Earth would be used as a sacrificial offering.

And the fool would be the tool to drain magic from Earth's humans.

"Orbis... 'Destroyer of Humanity' will soon realize that one fool is no longer functioning."

With a device of this scale losing its purpose, Orbis would definitely return to assess the situation.

And he would discover that his plans had been completely shattered.

I couldn’t help but smile.

"I wonder what face he’ll make when he finds out."