Chapter 40
There was always an order of priorities.
He would have liked to interrogate the mage immediately, but there was something more urgent to deal with first.
It wouldn’t take long.
‘It’s not damaged, right?’
Woojin examined his spear. The lightning inferno earlier had indirectly scorched it, and the bandages wrapped around it in several layers had burned black.
He carefully peeled away the charred outer layers one by one.
Fortunately, the great spear inside still emitted a radiant glow. A weapon infused with such powerful divine energy would not be easily ruined.
Woojin lightly gripped the shaft with both hands. Warmth seeped into his palms—no, it felt as though the energy itself was flowing into his body.
‘This is nice.’
It wasn’t just his imagination. The divine power imbued in the spear was actually flowing into him. Thanks to that, his battered condition from using the lightning storm gradually recovered.
The sensation felt oddly familiar.
Like drinking a bowl of hot hangover soup on a morning after heavy drinking. A ridiculous comparison, perhaps—but it was exactly that feeling.
‘…Wait. I absorbed too much.’
Woojin snapped back to his senses.
At this rate, he might drain the divine power from the very weapon he had brought with him. He had already consumed nearly half of it—the light within the spear had dimmed slightly.
No need to hesitate. Finish the job.
He aimed the spear tip at the target—
And hurled it with all his strength.
The air split as the spear flew straight and true.
Bam!!
A red streak smashed into the rift core. The blade drove deep. The black heart throbbed violently as if in agony, but its outer shell gradually turned ashen and began cracking apart.
Only then did Woojin relax.
‘Purification successful.’
He had worried that absorbing too much divine energy might cause the attempt to fail… but that concern proved unfounded.
He kicked the rift core. Like white ash from burnt coal, it crumbled apart easily.
After confirming its destruction, he retrieved the now-drained spear and strapped it back onto his back.
‘Smoother than expected.’
The rift core was destroyed, and he had siphoned off some divine energy to restore himself.
Still, there was one problem.
‘Feels like this place is about to collapse.’
With the rift core purified, the webbing he stood upon was rapidly weakening. On top of that, the earlier lightning storm had half-melted much of the structure.
He needed to get down quickly.
The issue was the burdensome piece of luggage—
the bound mage with severed hands. Since he had to carry him, he couldn’t descend the way he had climbed up.
‘What’s the best way down…’
Woojin studied the webs and nests below, gauging distances.
‘…Yeah. This’ll work.’
He had his calculation.
Hooking the bound mage under his left arm, Woojin suddenly leapt downward.
Fierce wind tore at them as their bodies plunged into the dark depths below.
“Mmgh—! Mmmph!”
The mage tried to shout something, but with his mouth gagged, it came out muffled. His terror, however, was obvious. If they fell straight down, the frail mage’s body would shatter like brittle candy.
Of course, Woojin had no intention of letting that happen. He had gone through too much trouble to capture him alive.
Thwack!
During the descent, Woojin grabbed or stepped on preselected strands of webbing, using them to brake and control the fall.
Their speed slowed appropriately.
Before long, the two men landed safely on the ground.
A sharp stench assaulted his nose.
The mage’s pants were soaked.
“…You filthy bastard.”
Woojin cursed and tossed him aside. The mage rolled roughly across the dirt floor.
Since things had come to this, it was time for the interrogation.
Rip!
He tore the bandage from the mage’s mouth.
At that exact moment, the mage bit down hard on his own tongue.
“Urrgh!!”
He screamed in agony after biting himself.
Apparently, he had attempted suicide—but it was foolish. There were no major arteries in the tongue; biting it wouldn’t kill him easily.
So Woojin simply watched without intervening.
After gnawing at his tongue a few times, the mage eventually gave up and lowered his eyes.
Self-inflicted torture over.
Time for the real thing.
“What are you?”
Woojin repeated his first question.
As before, the mage remained silent.
“…Wow. Really committed to the secret society act, huh? Fine. Keep it up.”
Smiling faintly, Woojin raised his index finger.
Crackle!
Crimson lightning danced violently at the fingertip. The output was near maximum—not enough to kill, but certainly enough to hurt.
The mage hurriedly opened his mouth.
“Wait— gghaaak!!”
Zzzzt—!
The lightning-charged finger pressed against the mage’s wrist.
His body convulsed violently. Foam burst from his mouth.
Woojin withdrew his finger. The mage’s head lolled to the side.
“You alive?”
“….”
“Look at that. Still no answer.”
Woojin extended his hand again.
The mage jerked his head up and shouted,
“Stop!!”
“What, bastard? I haven’t even started.”
Crackle—
Lightning erupted again.
Woojin made sure to cut the current off at intervals so the mage wouldn’t die from it.
He let out a quiet sigh.
‘…What am I even doing?’
This kind of thing wasn’t in his nature. Maybe he should just stop here and hand the man over to a paladin.
He considered it briefly—then decided otherwise.
‘If I’ve started, I’ll finish it.’
Experience like this might prove necessary.
For some reason, he was certain—
That he would face situations like this again.
He couldn’t run to a holy knight for help every single time.
For now, he intended to keep shocking the mage until he begged properly for his life.
“Haah… hhk… p-please… spare me!”
The mage gasped and pleaded.
Woojin tilted his head slightly.
Hearing those words made things strangely ambiguous.
‘Maybe a few more shocks.’
Thanks to absorbing divine energy from the spear earlier, his condition had improved significantly. He could afford to use lightning without collapsing.
And so, about ten minutes passed…
“…Please…”
The mage muttered blankly, his face completely drained.
Woojin extinguished the lightning in his hand.
Truthfully, he was nearing his limit as well. Even controlling the output of the lightning wasn’t easy—it felt like gripping the tail of a wild stallion desperate to bolt.
He had suffered enough. Time to reap something.
“What are you?”
“M-My name is Enoch. I’m a mage.”
“I can see that. Who are you affiliated with? And how did you gain the ability to control spiders? If you lie, this gets fun again.”
At the threat, Mage Enoch glanced nervously around before beginning to explain.
“He called us Gatekeepers. Gatekeepers of the Night. But… there’s a more common derogatory term people use…”
“Dark-Side Priests?”
“…Yes. That’s correct.”
Enoch’s eyes widened in surprise as he nodded. Woojin had only guessed—but it hit the mark.
He asked the question that mattered most.
“What are the Dark-Side Priests planning?”
“…I hardly know anything. Truly. Please believe me… I only became one fairly recently.”
A mere underling, knowing nothing.
Woojin scratched his chin and glanced around. Charred spider beasts littered the ground—hundreds of them, at least.
“For an underling, that’s a lot of manpower.”
“I was… fortunate. They said my ability was rare. Because of that, I received considerable support and was able to grow my forces.”
His talent to subjugate spider beasts.
Because of that uncommon gift, Enoch had received backing—spider egg clusters from superiors, which he personally hatched and used to build power around the rift core.
Listening to this stirred another question.
“How did you gain that ability? I’ve fought plenty of beasts, but I’ve rarely seen anyone who could dominate spiders.”
Deep within the demonic realm, he had faced such creatures before—the Spider Queen and her generals possessed that trait.
How had someone this mediocre inherited such power?
Enoch answered readily.
“If you receive the baptism—ugh!”
More precisely, he tried to.
Suddenly, Enoch gagged violently.
As Woojin was about to speak, the mage’s face began to twist grotesquely.
“Agh—AAARGH!!”
Enoch clawed at his face, screaming.
His facial skin tore apart. Through the splitting flesh, black bead-like eyes peeked out. Something was forcing its way from inside him.
Soon his back split open as well, and a large spider crawled out—like something shedding its skin.
What stood before Woojin now was…
A grotesque fusion of man and spider. The creature that had once been Enoch bared vicious fangs.
“Kieee—!”
The roar didn’t last.
Woojin’s machete split its brow in two.
Thud.
The spider’s body toppled backward like a rotting log.
Dead.
Woojin stared down at the corpse.
“…Damn. That startled me.”
He had killed it on reflex.
He stood there for a moment in a daze—then let out a deep sigh.
He hadn’t anticipated a silencing mechanism like this.
A curse.
A safeguard to prevent information from leaking. The moment confidential knowledge was about to be revealed, the curse activated.
‘All that effort… and I didn’t get a single useful answer.’
There had been no way to foresee that a man who was fine minutes ago would suddenly transform into a monster.
As he thought that—
“…Wait.”
A strange sense of déjà vu crept over him.
He had experienced something similar before.
‘Inner core.’
The two sons of the Golden Maggot who had suddenly transformed into monsters.
Remembering that incident, Woojin quickly drew the dagger at his belt.
Slash!
He sliced open the spider creature’s chest. Reaching inside, he felt around—and found what he had expected.
A grotesque lump of flesh, shaped like a red walnut.
‘Inner core.’
Humans did not form inner cores.
But Mage Enoch’s corpse had one—just like that previous abomination.
Woojin tucked it deep into his clothing, then hoisted the spider corpse over his shoulder and began walking toward the exit with heavy steps.
***
He gave Albert a rough report.
When Woojin said he was too exhausted from today’s events and wished to rest, the expedition commander readily provided a guest chamber.
Lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling, Woojin eventually reached into his clothes and pulled something out—
The inner core of the spider monster that had once been human.
“…Shall we?”
He bit into it and swallowed, then closed his eyes.
His body and mind were exhausted from everything he had endured. Sleep came over him like a tide.
Before long, he sank into deep slumber—
And found himself in a black space.
A place filled with absolute darkness, without a single trace of light.
But Woojin did not panic.
He had anticipated this.
Gradually, as if paint were being splashed across a canvas, color began to seep into the darkness.
Before him unfolded the memories of Dark-Side Priest Enoch.