The Foreigner on the Periphery

The old elf was confused. It was an embarrassing feeling he hadn’t felt in a long time. 

‘Asif?’ The uninvited guest had obviously called Minjun Asif-666. As far as the elves knew, it was the most heinous criminals in the universe. Not only was there no room for rehabilitation, but also those who were so dangerous that they could not manage themselves in one dimension. 

Such criminals were directly gagged by the committee and sentenced to hard labor. The reason why they didn’t kill them was because their abilities were too good to just ‘discard’ them… 

On Lakefield’s retinas, Minjun stood with his back turned. Did he know any other warlocks with such abilities? Have you ever seen a quarter elf stronger than his friend? 

However, one thing didn’t seem to fit. The most… heinous criminal? 

“Lakefield!” Minjun’s voice stuck in his thoughts. A sharp sound ensued. “Dong-cheol, take him into the barrier. right now!” 

“·······?!” 

“You can walk now! hurry!” 

During his active career, he suffered a powerful curse during an espionage operation and barely survived. It was to the extent that the clergymen whom Minjun had arranged shook their heads in unison, saying that recovery was impossible. He was already old and had insufficient vitality in his body, so there was a limit to the divine magic that amplified it. 

It was only recently that he faced a miracle. To be precise, it was after Minjun went on a business trip to Germany. 

When he woke up, his stiff legs began to move little by little. It was a very slow change, and it was a little too late for Lakefield to notice. It was something that even the pope-level clergy assured was impossible. 

Lakefield was still slow, but approached Dong-cheol with a steadier pace than before. The goblin who had supported him for over a year and helped him move was sitting there. This time, the elf supported the goblin. The goblin, who had been half-excited by something awakened from within his blood, disappeared behind the bookshelf, supported by the old elementalist. 

“Don’t do something useless.”

Even when the uninvited guests saw the movement, they did not stop it. They just looked at Minjun as if they were having fun. Because he thought it was useless resistance anyway. That barrier is also within the range of spatial condensation. You can’t run outside or call someone else. “Asif-666. I will be arrested on charges of conspiring with residents of this dimension to evade offshore tax.” 

Only then did Minjun realize the identity of the opponent. It was the Tax Collection Command. “There was no such thing as advance notice?” 

Even though he revealed his identity, Minjun’s tone was still sharp. The aliens didn’t like that. Gee, cheeky. 

“Considering the urgency of the situation, the notification was omitted.” 

“How can I believe that?” 

The collections corpsman snorted at him. “Aren’t you acting quite spoiled in front of committee officials? You seem to have forgotten something important after wandering around the outskirts for hundreds of years without being summoned to the headquarters.” 

At the same time, light began to gather in the air and drew a string. It was an order signed by Captain Kavite. “You are the private property of the Council. So… it’s kind of like livestock.” 

The uninvited guest really thought so. Considering the way they were treated, the word slave was a waste for them. Livestock was suitable. “I don’t care if you trust me or not. It means that the animals that were put in this barn will be moved to another barn. Would you ask your livestock for a doctor every time you do that?” 

Minjun didn’t listen to what he was talking about. Instead, he began to read the orders engraved by the light. 

Now he could be sure. These guys hadn’t caught any solid evidence right now. Nevertheless, he was trying to take himself to the center of the dimension… that was, to the committee’s headquarters. ‘Dell’s guess was only half right. I was wary of accumulating talents rapidly. So it seems she didn’t even give her prior notice… It means that my heart has become much more urgent than expected.’ 

Minjun thought of this vaguely until he became aware of the hint hidden within. If one were to collect 5 million Talents of severance pay, the committee would release them. This was an unchanging promise. 

‘You keep your promise? The traitors? There’s no way the committee will let you go. ‘The 800,000 talents I collected step by step became a trap that caught my ankle.’ 

That was not a method that could bring true freedom in the first place. ‘What would you do if you were dragged away like this? They will interrogate you with absurd excuses, and you will create evidence that didn’t exist. Instead of erasing my soul as punishment, I will raise tens of millions of talents in severance pay, or revive hints to strengthen them. Or maybe I can erase the memories one more time.’ 

Or, to put all of that into practice… 

“…” Minjun felt that the time had come. ‘I can’t keep up with it like this.’ 

The reason he deemed to wear a chain around his neck even after he regained his memories was to catch a better timing. It was to find a day to regain clearer memories and stronger power.

It was because if he made any move before that moment arrived, it was certain that the committee would mobilize all available forces and try to subdue him. But he no longer… he could no longer wait while doing this kind of slavery. No, according to what they perceived, were they not slaves but livestock? 

Laughter flowed out of him. If one were to belong to the Tax Collection Command, that heterogeneous race was most likely the Toads. This was because it was the military organization of the most active committee in the present age. It is the most preferred position for that tribe. 

The Toads’ impression of being called a livestock was very strange. 

– Phat! 

“Oh, hey. you?” 

For the first time, perplexity permeated the Toads’ voice. “What are you doing?!” 

In Minjun’s hand, a black sword was lifted. =This is how it ends up being?= The frying pan borrowed the shape of a sword muttered. 

‘Yes, the time has come.’ The creator responded with a mind wave.

“You crazy criminal!” 

Quarrrrr! Upon receiving the instruction, Kentius jumped up. A three-color dragon was covering the sky with flashes of light. He looked down with eyes burning with fighting spirit. And…

=At last, in your dreams, we dream of you.= 

A prayer was recited. The priest who was hiding in the basement of the mall gathered his strength. He prepared to support the two on the ground without coming out, all while sharply awakening all of their senses. 

“Arrest!” The Toads released the polymorph and revealed their true form. A metal orb began to rise above their shoulders. It was a weapon that could not be obtained until the first war. An anti-personnel sniper magic tool was chosen because it could not be burned down like other members of the operational area. 

Seeing this, Minjun made a very disapproving expression. They couldn’t even steal an item properly. 

-Papat! 

At the same time as white radiance poured from their spheres, a fight began. The air smelled of burning. With his back to the shopping mall, Minjun danced in the air. A laser slashed past him with heat. 

The Toads did not rely solely on Endelion’s weapons. He chanted a stretching spell and struggled to keep his movements in check. There was no AoE spell that would blow up all of this area, probably because of the capture order. Minjun decided to end the fight while they were relaxing like this. 

-Jiik! Quarrara! Read the most updated version of this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at Novel Multiverse – “NovelMultiverse dot com”

A laser began to slice through space. The three-color dragon’s scales were then cut like tofu. Blood began to pour out.

– Whoa! 

The energy pouring out immediately healed his wounds. The Toads were perplexed. “Divine power?!” 

Roaring! The bloody flames that Minjun spewed from his mouth blocked them. Blood oozed from the wounds he had inflicted on his wrists. It wriggled and wrapped around Minjun’s body. His running speed increased, and the tip of the sword he wielded flashed with anticipation. 

However, the blade of the sword could not easily break through the defense of the Toads. It was simply not enough. 

With that, Minjun became desperate to become a shadow monster. It was not originally a fixed existence in the material world. Just as elves couldn’t summon spirits because of space condensation, Minjun couldn’t summon the dark ghost either. 

‘Not enough.’ The scent of blood that was not his own stimulated Minjun’s nose. It was the smell from the pool of blood Kentius had made. 

His throat hurt again. However, he didn’t feel like drinking it. What Minjun wanted was a longer aged… much thicker kind. Alas, he was thirsty. “Catch it! A bright young dragon and a prisoner in one! What’s taking so long?!” The commander exclaimed anxiously. 

However, the resistance of the two was not easy. The moment when dozens of lasers crossed space once again… 

‘Now!’ Minjun took out a silver frying pan from the air. Then he spread it out like a shield and block the front of his body. Rays hit the surface directly. 

– Papa pat!

It was reflected. The frying pan deflected the attack as it was. Following the direction Minjun led, the laser only poured in one direction. There then came an ensuing roar. 

——! 

In a blinding flash, the three Toads were vaporized in an instant. It was a performance that fell short of Minjun’s expectations. 

“Sheesh!” Among the surviving Toads was the commander. He looked like he couldn’t believe what had just happened. The laser beam reflected from the frying pan melted the ground terribly. 

“Oh… crazy!” An attack then pierced Endelion’s armor. The tools that made this possible must be the creations of the same tentacle creatures. The eyes of the Toads staring at the magic tools became sharper. 

Minjun realized that there were more and more reasons why all of them couldn’t survive here. He clicked his tongue once again. ‘I should have killed them all at once. Now that I’ve seen it, I guess I’ll be wary.’

It was as expected. The enemies tried to catch Minjun with clever spells instead of lasers that fired straight trajectories like before. Instead, the laser was focused on Kentius. If Minjun hadn’t intervened in the middle and Yuntus hadn’t taken cover from behind, the dragon would have already been cut into several pieces. ‘It can’t go on like this. What kind of method…’ 

The fact was that the shadow monster was sealed was a big blow. The thirst that seemed to turn white in his head tormented him. his throat was dry ‘Damn it, even at a time like this?!’ 

Now was not the time to lose focus because of these sensations… ‘No, wait.’ 

A thought passed through his mind at that moment. ‘Is this really a mental thing?’ 

The primitive race had always drenched their necks with the dragon’s blood. And in their hearts, the inexhaustible fountain of life flowed.

‘However, since I woke up as a prisoner, I haven’t drunk a single drop of dragon’s blood for the past 800 years… until the moment I fought Changcheon a few months ago.’ 

It was believed that this was because the soul was contained in this body, the body given to the prisoner. It wasn’t even a real body anyway, so there was no problem even if you didn’t drink the dragon’s blood. However, it was only believed that the unique regenerative power was manifested after using this body for a long time. 

‘It’s a contradiction. Is that really possible?’

He began to question this belatedly. ‘Is regeneration maintained even if you don’t eat what you need to eat? That, too, is the ability manifested in a fake body?’ 

He asked himself once again. Was this thirst really, purely mental? ‘Why is the craving that I hadn’t felt before suddenly ruling my mind?’ 

Could it be because his body truly felt thirst and needed dragon blood?

‘If you use more power, and dragon blood, which you didn’t want before, is now needed.’ 

-Papat! 

At that moment, the spells collided in the air, and the Toads bounced back. The commander was even more flustered than Minjun. This member was having a hard time even though he had the power to defeat several old dragons. 

“You are so tenacious!” 

While he gritted his teeth and attacked, Minjun was calmly recalling past memories. The fate that awaited the prisoners was similar. They either died accidentally during the mission, or their mind collapsed after enduring for a long time. It was also known from the replies of his colleagues when he reported the recent death of Bradley. 

There were individual differences, and like Dell, some crazy teeth appeared in less than a hundred years, but usually, the longer they endured, the more they fell into madness. However, what about Minjun? 

‘No inmate has lasted longer than me.’ 

Inmates stained with madness considered the body that imprisoned their souls as a prison. The iron cage of meat. However, Minjun only regarded his life as a prisoner in a prison, and he never felt disgust, repulsion, or hatred toward his body.

Although he inflicted countless wounds and shed blood on this body with his own hands, it was an act faithful to the principle of black magic of offering something precious and valuable, and like the word ‘self-sacrificing.’ In short, this body was not worthless to Minjun. 

=···I see.= 

The ink-colored sword in her hand agreed with that thought. Minjun found that the thick psychological barrier that surrounded the creature had collapsed before he knew it. It was a similar phenomenon to when he absorbed the soul fragment called ‘Blade’. 

=Maybe.= 

Having read the mind, Asif-1 began to propose to the Creator. Would it be possible? 

“…” The Creator answered Asif-1. It seemed possible. And what followed was beyond everyone’s expectations.

“I-I’m crazy?!” 

With that, the air froze. Kentius looked at Minjun with an incomprehensible expression. Yuntus, who was hiding, also sent out a scream-like mental wave. 

=Wow, Hwasin, I’m the one…!= 

Minjun hurriedly dissuaded him. ‘No, don’t do it!’ 

From there, Yuntus withdrew as he used his divine power. Minjun’s hand gripped the dagger-shaped Asif-1, and the blade was stuck in the nape of his neck. It was the place where Ellahu-Praga believers were wounded with sacred objects for baptism. And it was the wound that caused Ha Eun-seong’s death, the place where the dagger was embedded in his spiritual body. It was also the very place where Minjun stabbed the blade of his sword when brainwashing the Orcs. 

“…” Even after piercing his neck with his own hand, Minjun’s expression remained calm.

“You idiot!” 

Was this a suicide attempt now? The Toads laughed as if it was nothing. The committee’s cattle were not even free to die themselves. One would have to be constantly fed until their mind turned to powder and collapses. 

Shooting strange light from his eyes, Minjun pulled the knife from his neck. Gulleong! 

Then, what flowed out was not a dark red liquid. It was also different from what was constantly shed by my fellow countrymen sleeping in the world of dreams. It was not the most beautiful light in the universe, the divine dawn. Instead, what came out of it was… 

Seruk! Gulleong, Gulleong! 

It was something pitch black. In Minjun’s memory, the dark Jin-Tang contrasted with the brilliantly shining talent. 

“···Uh?” Seeing it dyeing everywhere like an abyss, the Toads thought of a certain existence.

“Shadow monster?!” 

It was impossible. It was because this space was thoroughly blocked. Summoning was impossible. However, such a thing was unfolding. It did not take the clear form of the shadow monster that Minjun usually summoned. Neither were they condensed into a specific shape nor did they create huge pillars to replace the arms. 

It just flowed thickly. It enveloped and covered the surroundings like a leaked night. In an instant, the Toads and Dragons had already lost sight. It looked more like pure darkness than a shadow. It was not a relative area that the light had not reached, but an existence that was completed by itself. The darkness that swallowed Minjun’s body flooded everywhere and covered everything.