REAPER SCANS
Legendary Returner’s Survival Guide
[Translator – TinTin ]
[Proofreader – Harley ]
Chapter 44
The Gate clear rewards were secondary. Eliminating Raga, the clear condition, took precedence.
She could feel that she was different.
It wasn’t just in her mind as her Status Window confirmed it.
[Status Window
Name: Jin Song-yi
Job: Guild Master of the Salvation Guild
*Title: Luminescent Mage
Level: 597
Rank: *Undetermined
Potential Rank: *Undetermined
Achievements: 149
Stats
Strength: SS+
Dexterity: SSS+
Intelligence: SS
Vitality: SS+
Mana (Ki): SSS+
Stat Points: 10]
Power surged through her.
She understood. She needed to understand her position in order to change the world. And to do so, she had to experience the level of the enemies she was up against firsthand.
She soared skyward… then froze. She realized she had made a mistake.
Song-yi quickly channeled her Natural Ki, thrusting out a hand.
A light beam shot from afar grazed her fingertips, the force pushing her back.
The beam shattered, scattering into a beautiful, yet unsettling, display of light.
She shook off the impact, gaze fixed ahead.
Song-yi wasn't easily deterred. Especially not now. Her resolve hardened, focused solely on the task at hand.
Though her determination held firm, a flicker of unease crept in.
But anyone witnessing what she saw up in the sky would react the same.
It was horrifying.
A completely dark void with what looked like blood drifting through it.
Savage Mana saturated the fetid air, the wind a chilling melody like a flute playing on a frozen mountain peak. There was an overpowering stench, far worse than any sewer.
It was a sight that would have made a normal person faint or lose their mind.
A chill crawled down her spine.
Good and Evil.
Some people ask, “What is good and what is evil?”
Song-yi had believed that it was subjective. Depending on one’s perspective, a good person could be viewed as bad, and a bad person could be viewed as good.
She didn’t think there was an objective truth.
However, she didn't deny their existence. Good undeniably existed, and so did evil.
A hopeless, life-extinguishing evil.
That was what stood right before her eyes. This was evil incarnate.
And at the front of it, a massive, swirling smoke floated around. This formless entity seemed to hold dominion over this space.
Her instincts screamed. This was Raga, the gate's clear condition.
Light flooded her body.
Raga reacted to the brilliant radiance blooming in the oppressive darkness. Then, a truly terrifying thing happened.
The smoky mass opened its ‘eyes’.
Not just one pair. Hundreds—no, thousands of distinctly human eyes stared out from its form.
Even Song-yi, who had become transcendent, was momentarily stunned. Your average Awakener would have likely pissed themselves.
This was truly unlike any Gate she had encountered before.
She started gathering the Energy of Great Nature.
Flames erupted around her, a colossal inferno threatening to consume all the evil before her.
Song-yi snapped her fingers.
Ten «Spheres of Light», burning brightly, appeared.
She extended her hand, and the ten spheres fired out fiery light beams.
First, she shredded Raga’s eyes apart.
Then, the beams pulsed again, this time penetrating its body.
"@$@$@@@!!" a grotesque sound echoed.
It was a language she had never heard before, but Raga’s agony was unmistakable.
She sprang forward.
Advancing towards the dissipating Raga, she tilted her head, avoiding what looked like a thread.
Upon closer inspection, it was a thin line of smoke hanging in the air. It looked like a wire, but she had a feeling that it would do more than just cut her if she touched it.
Then Song-yi came to an abrupt stop.
There were lines of smoke all over the place.
‘…Since when have these been here?’
She had no choice but to stop. Lines crisscrossed the space before her, some almost directly in front of her nose.
She turned her head back, but only halfway because there were lines behind her head as well.
She was trapped.
"$@@$@@~~" what sounded like Raga’s mockery echoed through the skies.
The space contracted, the air growing heavy. An immense pressure weighed down on her body.
If she had not yet attained Natural Ki, she would have died there on the spot.
Ten «Spheres of Light» materialized around her once again.
‘It’s a bit of a gamble, but it’s worth a try.’
During her time in the 《Room of Time》, she earned a clear understanding of the power of Natural Ki and Transcendent Ki.
Natural Ki was undoubtedly powerful. Not only could she nullify Raga’s attacks, but she could even retaliate.
Now what if she had managed to fully awaken her Transcendent Ki in the 《Room of Time》?
If she had, this gate wouldn’t have taken her more than five minutes to clear.
The thought made her yearn for more, which was how she came up with this highly risky gamble.
She drew the «Spheres of Light» into her body, absorbing their power whole.
Her radiance intensified.
Her heart hammered, veins throbbed, vision cleared, and senses sharpened.
* * *
Reaper Scans
[Translator – TinTin ]
[Proofreader – Harley ]
Join our discord for updates on releases! https://dsc.gg/reapercomics
* * *
Ding!
[You have temporarily transcended beyond your species.
All your stats have doubled.]
She swept her left hand.
The lines that had been so heavily crisscrossed that they were obscuring her vision all snapped at once.
She then shifted sideways at such incredible speed that she left an afterimage.
Raga’s attack slammed into the afterimage.
Song-yi looked up.
Fsss—
White smoke escaped her lips.
It was overload, the price of using power not intended for her through an unintended method.
In the 《Room of Time》, Song-yi had awakened to the Energy of Great Nature by absorbing the attacks into her body. It made her wonder what would happen if she absorbed the «Spheres of Light» in the same manner.
She theorized that though she might not be able to fully awaken Transcendent Ki, perhaps she’d be able to at least hold that power within her body—maybe even use it in a manner akin to ‘Physical Enhancement’.
The gamble had paid off.
This fight finally seemed doable.
Song-yi lunged forward, leaving another afterimage. With Raga’s main body before her, she thrust out her right arm.
《Divine Starfire Arts
5th Technique - Thousand Army Sweeping Wave》
A wave of fire, dozens of meters long, cleaved Raga’s body in two. Flames adhered to the severed sections.
"!@%@@@!!!!!" Raga shrieked in pain.
She was certain of it now. She could kill Raga with just two more strikes.
But as she prepared another attack…
Her body froze. Something clawed at her throat.
She tried to swallow it down, but blood trickled from her mouth.
She couldn’t move. No, she wanted to collapse.
Excruciating pain enveloped her body. Her heart hammered with pain, and her blood vessels pulsated out of control.
Another wave of nausea hit her as something clawed at her throat again.
Kegh—
She vomited a copious amount of blood.
Song-yi saw Raga hovering in the distance. It looked as if it stopped while fleeing to reassess the situation.
As the flames enveloping Raga died down, its thousands of eyes curved. It was clearly smiling.
She grit her teeth. She couldn't stop now. She had to attack.
As she tried to force her body to move again, a hand landed on her shoulder.
“I thought about spectating a bit longer, but this is enough.”
It was Shi-hu.
“You’re not ready for Transcendent Ki yet. You call them «Spheres of Light», right? Using them is fine, but I personally don’t recommend absorbing them. After all, that’s not how you do it.”
“…How long has it been?”
“Thirty minutes.”
Suddenly, the space constricted again.
But before Song-yi could even lift a finger, Shi-hu reacted first.
He snapped his fingers.
Snap—!
With a clear sound, the space shattered and fragments rained down.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you’re incapable of killing this thing, sis. It’s just that…”
“It would take time.”
“Exactly. If you don’t get impatient, you could defeat it alone in ten hours or so. With another Awakener present, maybe even six,” Shi-hu explained.
He then turned to the smoke and said, “There’s no guarantee we won’t see other things like this again, so let’s call it here. Seven Unique Awakeners, remember?”
They had to be pragmatic. Quite a bit of time had already passed.
Song-yi checked her watch.
There were 71 hours and 15 minutes remaining.
Ultimately, Song-yi put her hands down.
“Good thinking,” Shi-hu told her while channeling energy into her, stabilizing her body in an instant.
He then said, “Watch closely and try to feel it.”
Shi-hu knelt to one knee and placed his hands on the ‘ground’.
Though they were up in the air, he was able to push against the air as if it were the ground.
Slowly, white flames erupted from his palms.
The flames had a strong intensity to them.
Feeling the immense heat, Song-yi wondered how this was possible.
Judging by the heat, the temperature of the flames felt like it should be at least a few thousand degrees.
Scientifically, white flames occurred at around 1,300-1,500 degrees Celsius.
Beyond that temperature, fire was supposed to be blue.
However, these flames were simply white, exuding a weird smoke.
It felt like all logic and reason had been thrown out the window.
While Song-yi was lost in shock, Shi-hu brought his hands together.
The two flames merged into a singular massive fire.
《White Lotus Sect - Seven Seals of the Holy Flame.
6th Technique - Blazing Corrosion》
The flames spread, incinerating the dark, insidious space.
It all happened in an instant.
Staring at the collapsing space, frustration welled within Song-yi. She had tried so hard to break this thing.
But her thoughts were quickly interrupted.
"@$%@@@@!!" an awful shriek rang loudly.
She looked forward, and what she originally thought was a small space started expanding rapidly.
Now she finally could see it. The true form of the thing called Raga.
It was a true monstrosity.
It was entirely black, the kind of black that looked like a void about to swallow everything around it—as if the color white could not exist within its proximity.
The creature had a single head, four arms, and four legs, looking ominous and ferocious.
It suddenly lunged forward, and the space it passed through became tainted black.
Song-yi watched as Shi-hu flicked his finger at Raga.
《White Lotus Sect - Seven Seals of the Holy Flame.
1st Technique - Heaven-Shattering Flick》
The burning white flames condensed into a single point as it shot forward.
Psshk—
With the penetrating sound, everything stopped. It felt as if even time had frozen.
Or so Song-yi genuinely felt.
And like that…
Ding!
[Star #2403 will now enter Phase 2.]
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