Main Character Hides His Strength

with his own eyes.

He witnessed the fallen state of the ‘proud and noble’ people of Nahak who were now being raised as livestock by what he considered an insignificant and enslaved race.

Something holding him together inside had crumbled.
A horrible shriek filled with a mixture of shock and anger reverberated within the tent for quite a while before the sound of everything within the tent being torn to shreds could be heard.
Soon, a different Marakia came out of the tent.

Bertelgia let out a groan.

“The spots… grew darker.”

Was it due to the shock? Marakia’s spots grew much darker.
Sungchul could smell the stench of death from his body.

“How did this happen?”, asked Marakia with a shaky voice.

“Your race fell after performing the ritual held for you, and those that remained were captured by the Cave Elves and raised as animals.”

“Domesticated animals… I can’t believe it.”

At that moment, a single young Nahak crawled out of the tent.
He was one of the rare blue Nahaks among the countless white feathered ones.
Marakia believed it to be a sort of divine revelation.
He spoke as he held the young Nahak.

“As long as I live, the Nahak will rise again and reclaim the skies.”

Marakia created an Orb of Knowledge.
It was the physical manifestation of the language and the secret of the Nahaks.
The orb was soon absorbed into the blue feathered chick.

The blue Nahak that had been making cries of an unintelligent animal shivered once and then looked at his surroundings with a different set of eyes.
Different than before as though he had regained a bit of his intellect, but when the chick recovered its intelligence, black spots like those of poisonous mushrooms quickly spread across its body.

Sungchul muttered in a low voice.

“The moment he was freed from being a livestock and regained its intellect, the Calamity of Extinction returned without fail.”

The young Nahak whose entire body was covered in spots let out a shrill scream before it became limp in its king’s grasp.
Marakia stood dumbly as he looked at the young Nahak’s corpse with eyes filled with disbelief.

“This is too cruel.
Simply too…”

He couldn’t manage to finish his words.
He fell to his knees with the young Nahak’s corpse in his grip.

In this moment of silence, Bertelgia spoke in a soft voice.

“They can only preserve their race as cattle…”

“…”

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Sungchul moved toward the kneeling Marakia.
Marakia who felt his presence looked up.
His violet eyes held a single tear.

“Is this what a Calamity is?”

Marakia asked.

“This is also a Calamity.”

“Also?”

“That’s right.
This is the true nature of a Calamity which exists to crush all hopes and leave behind only a cruel reality.”

Sungchul responded.

“This is why I wish to destroy the Calamity.”

Fal Garaz appeared in Sungchul’s hand.
When he swung Fal Garaz, the cloth covering the poultry farm blew away and tens of thousands of Nahaks within were revealed.
When the cloth that was obstructing their vision disappeared, the young and curious beasts began to flee from the poultry farm and spread out everywhere.
The white feathered Nahaks looked towards Marakia with curiosity.
These Nahaks flapped their underdeveloped wings and drew closer towards him.

Marakia did not reject their touch.
Instead, he rose from where he sat and extended his hand towards Sungchul.

“I will put my faith in you, human.”

“…”

Sungchul wordlessly extended his own hand and met Marakia’s.
There was warmth no different than one between two humans in this grip.

“What is your name?”

Marakia finally asked.

“Sungchul Kim.”

“Sungchul Kim, eh? What a strange name.
However, I don’t think I’ll be able to forget it.”

Marakia looked back toward the Nahak chicks once again before looking at Sungchul.

“I leave my people to you.”

Sungchul nodded.

Marakia closed his eyes.
His one remaining wing covered his upper body, and soon he began to glow in a bright light.
He was burning the last bit of life energy that remained in him to transform the vast power contained in his body into a single object.
Marakia, who was covered in blinding light, disappeared and all that remained in his place was a large egg and a marble about the size of a fist emitting black and white energies.

“…”

Sungchul first lifted the large egg.
It was a black egg.
When he held it, a faint smile formed on his lips.

[Marakia’s Egg]

“I have heard a legend that some Nahaks can return to the form of an egg at the time of their death… like a phoenix.”

Bertelgia spoke beside him.
Sungchul carefully placed the egg inside his Soul Storage, and lifted the orb that had been beside it.

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[Soul Inheritance]

It was an object that held Marakia’s will.
Sungchul showed his respects towards Marakia by lowering his head then gripped the hand that held the Soul Inheritance tighter.
When he did, the marble shattered and the power within it was absorbed into Sungchul.
Messages flooded his sight in a bright light.

[Your strength is higher than the inheritance; therefore your strength did not increase.]
[Your dexterity is higher than the inheritance, therefore your dexterity did not increase.]
[Your vitality is higher than the inheritance; therefore your vitality did not increase.]
…

After all the messages that he had expected had flowed past, the words Sungchul was waiting for appeared.

[You will inherit the magic power within the inheritance.]
[You will inherit the intuition within the inheritance.]
…

When the inheritance ceremony was complete, Sungchul opened his status window.
It was a status window which excluded bonus stats originating from external sources; a status screen showing only his base stats.

[Status]

Strength 999+ Dexterity      853
Vitality     801  Magic Power 323
Intuition  334  Magic Resist 621
Resolve    502   Charisma      18
Luck        18

Magic Power and Intuition now exceeded 300.
He had broken through what was commonly called the threshold of Superhuman in a single blow.
Immediately a long list of things that had suddenly become possible came to mind, but Sungchul had something he had to do first.

–

“Look after these Nahaks.
If I can’t hear the cry of Nahaks when I return to here, it will be the day that your entire race will meet extinction.”

Sungchul made his ultimatum in front of the Cave Elf elders.
The Cave Elves had already experienced his godlike strength and were simply bowing their heads in agreement.
Sungchul visited the poultry farm once again before he left the Underground Kingdom.
In front of the poultry farm lay the remains of Marakia left behind after his death.
An unwelcome guest waited for him there.

It was the Desolate Abyss, but its actions were strange.
The oozy creature stood before Marakia’s remains and simply stared at it.
Sungchul observed it for a while and saw no change.
The creature simply stared at the ground where Marakia had disappeared like a statue.
Sungchul and Bertelgia left the scene.

“Just what was that?”

When they were at the lift heading towards the surface, Bertelgia asked the obvious question in their minds.

The salty winds of the surface were blowing with force.
Hair and clothes were fluttering wildly, and Bertelgia let out a short scream before hiding her body behind Sungchul.

A ray of light pierced through the darkness and fell across Sungchul’s eyes.

“Well.”

Sungchul brushed aside his fallen hair and spoke in a calm voice.

“It might be someone like me.”

He could hear the familiar cries of demons off in the distance.