Chapter 272
“Hmm...”
Sitting on the floor with his arms crossed, Se-Hoon stared at the black box in front of him.
[Nimbus Casket]
[Tier: Legendary] [Quality: Poor]
[A special chest made from mixing Nimbus Steel.
It preserves the contents placed inside in a static state, preventing all external damage. By infusing more mana, the conditions within can be optimized for the stored items, and the storage area can even be divided according to the user's preferences.
*Consumes mana to preserve items semi-permanently
*Interior can be divided and adjusted accordingly with a potential decrease in the chest’s durability while undergoing said adjustments
*Enables the use of the skill ‘Spatial Discharge’]
It’s significantly more advanced than I thought.
The black box in Se-Hoon’s hands turned out to be a Legendary tool specialized for storage. It lacked flashy features like hiding objects within or theft prevention mechanisms, but it was enough to store almost anything without problems.
The option to adjust the internal conditions is a nice feature. I can probably use this for material processing, too.
It truly was an item good enough to be considered an heirloom. Even on its own, the box was so outstanding that it would easily attract attention anywhere—besides today, where it was just a background character.
Click!
Slowly opening, the Nimbus Casket once again revealed the black swamp stored inside.
Gurgle-
The black swamp squirmed restlessly, looking like it wanted to slosh out and escape.
Intrigued by it, Se-Hoon observed it closely in all directions before checking its information message.
[Fragment of the Heaven’s Well]
[Tier: Legendary] [Quality: Awful]
[A fragment separated from the Heaven’s Well.
It will synchronize with any object it touches and imitate its properties. If the object is fully digested, the fragment will absorb its properties.
*Synchronizes with an object upon contact and mimics its properties
*Sustained contact will result in the object being digested and its properties absorbed, never to be released again]
So it’s literally called a fragment.
The black swamp inside the Nimbus Casket—confirmed to be a part of the Heaven’s Well that had been sealed underground for a long time—was just a fragment, but it was still of the Legendary tier, likely due to the original being of Mythical. Furthermore, even its effects seemed nearly identical to the original.
Compared to the original, only its output and storage capacity differed. And while that made it subpar as a piece of equipment, as material, it wasn’t bad at all. It still had its original properties, and the small fragment could even be studied to understand the Heaven’s Well itself.
That's most likely why they handed this over to me—for research purposes.
Regardless of whether they were genuinely interested in the Heaven’s Well or merely trying to help Erika, the Inoues would benefit if Se-Hoon researched it and produced results.
In other words, they had sent him what was essentially a recruitment offer or a request for a reforging, disguised as a gift.
It’s a bit unsettling... but it’s not a bad deal.
Though Se-Hoon didn’t know much about the Heaven’s Well yet, he was certain its potential was immense.
Thinking about the countless possibilities, Se-Hoon watched the fragment of the Heaven’s Well wriggle inside the Nimbus Casket. Then, a moment later, Erika, who had hidden herself behind him, cautiously poked her head out.
“How does it look?”
“It’s just as it seems. But what are you doing over there?” Se-Hoon was confused, he didn’t understand why she was hiding.
At the question, Erika, still hidden behind him, looked up at him.
“It’s my first time seeing the Heaven's Well outside its seal.”
“You know that the garment you’re wearing, the Bound Celestial Garment, is technically made from the Heaven’s Well too, right?”
“This one is fine because it’s already been refined into a new piece of equipment. I don’t know what might happen with that fragment.”
Peeking at it, Erika clung tightly to Se-Hoon. It was almost as if she thought there was a chance she would be sucked into the fragment.
Feeling her grip, Se-Hoon glanced between her and the fragment.
True, this thing isn’t exactly harmless.
Considering the havoc the original Heaven's Well had caused when it escaped its seal, there was no telling what the fragment would do if left unobserved.
“When I observed it yesterday, it seemed to follow certain principles. Do you happen to know what drives its actions?”
Looking at him again, Erika answered, “Its primary goal is to find a vessel to contain itself. Its second most important goal is mimicking properties that help it find a suitable vessel.”
“So, it doesn’t usually digest things entirely?”
“It tries to preserve its original form. But once it finds a suitable vessel, it’ll do what it can to fully absorb it.”
Se-Hoon stroked his chin, contemplating Erika’s explanation. Originally, the Heaven's Well had been a stable tool of the Seeker, but due to the modifications made by the Inoue family for research, it had turned into its current form.
Now, it was just a beast that would indiscriminately devour anything on its path to find a suitable vessel to hold its full power.
In other words, it’s an incredibly troublesome object.
The sealed main body was of the Mythical tier, making it especially difficult to find a proper vessel. On the other hand, the fragment would be relatively easy to find one for, considering that it was only of the Legendary tier.
If it only consumes materials, that’s manageable. But if it latches onto a person... that could be disastrous in more ways than one.
In fact, it was likely that the reason the Inoue family handed over the Nimbus Casket was that they wanted a solution to prevent such a catastrophe.
“If you think you can’t handle it, I can hold onto it for you,” Erika offered, seeing him staring at the box.
“No thanks; I’ve got a way to handle it.”
Drawing on the power of Boundaries, Se-Hoon called forth the Eternal Nocturne’s Phalanx, which was connected to his body, and runes started inscribing themselves along his left index finger.
With the Eternal Nocturne’s Phalanx now activated, he gently touched the Nimbus Casket.
Swish-
A black line sliced across the Nimbus Casket—the beginning of the method Wurgen had used to seal the Dream Demon’s eye in the past. Se-Hoon was trying to use that same method.
Checking it, Se-Hoon held it out to Erika. “Try opening it now.”
Nodding, Erika approached the Nimbus Casket and cautiously tugged at the lid with her cloak.
Crrrk!
But no matter how hard she pulled, the box wouldn’t budge, even after she cast spells onto it.
“Okay, I think that’s enough.”
Taking it back, Se-Hoon lightly tapped the lid with his left index finger once again.
Swish-
Se-Hoon smiled, satisfied. The black line had split open, allowing the Nimbus Casket to open effortlessly.
This should be enough to prevent any theft.
Resealing the Nimbus Casket, Se-Hoon was about to stand up when Erika, still clinging to him, tugged on his shoulder and stared up at him.
“Are you leaving?”
“Yep. I mean, my work here is over.”
“What about breakfast?”
Se-Hoon blinked. He had forgotten that he had promised to eat with her before he met Ryuuma.
She would have just let me leave before.... Is this because of the change in our Relationship?
Before, it felt like she was observing him from afar, but now it seemed like she wanted to spend as much time as possible together.
In some ways, she’s still like a kid.
Knowing that Erika's future depended on his decision, Se-Hoon struggled to determine what he should and shouldn't do to avoid regrets, but there was one thing he was certain about.
At the very least, I’ll make sure she doesn’t become a Harbinger of Destruction no matter what.
He would prevent her from turning into a demon once again, preventing her name—as one of the revered heroes who once attempted to save humanity—from being tarnished.
Resolved, Se-Hoon looked down at Erika, who was still staring up at him.
“Alright, let’s go grab breakfast.”
And to that, Erika gave him a small nod, wearing a small but pleased smile on her face.
“Okay.”
***
“See you next time.”
“Yeah, see you at the academy.”
Waving casually at Erika, who had come to see him off at the door, Se-Hoon descended the stairs and climbed into the waiting limousine among the escort vehicles.
Vroom-
Pulling away from the estate, the convoy of vehicles smoothly made their way down the mountain out of the Sea of Trees, heading straight for central Tokyo. Like before, the traffic signals synchronized effortlessly for them, allowing the convoy to speed through the streets without interruption.
And moving just as swiftly was a squad of dark shadows in pursuit, speeding toward them.
“Are you sure it’s really in there?” anxiously asked one of the shadows darting through the forest—the head of the Amane family.
Scowling, the shadow running beside her—the head of the Himura family—irritably spat out, “You think I can’t recognize my own family’s heirloom? It’s definitely in there.”
“Hmm...”
Amane frowned at the head of the Himura family’s words.
It was understandable that the missing heirloom of the Himura family had ended up in the hands of the Inoue family, but what was not was the idea that they had handed it over to Se-Hoon.
Why would they give him the Nimbus Casket of all things...?
The Nimbus Casket was a treasure that the previous head of the Himura family had received as a reward after collaborating with the Seeker. Its performance aside, it was a valuable legacy of the deceased Seeker, making it something that shouldn’t have been so easily handed to an outsider.
It could have been because they established an alliance due to this incident, but it’s still far too hasty.
Even if Se-Hoon married into the Inoue family, it was still too early to entrust him with such an item. Normally, the Inoues would have observed him for a few more years before even considering such a transfer.
And yet....
Usually, the head of the Amane family wouldn’t have cared much about Inoue’s matters, but unfortunately, she had no choice.
Ba-dump.
“Ugh...”
Just thinking about escaping made her chest tighten painfully. For now, it was only a warning, but if she actually tried to run, her heart would explode violently.
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If I’d known it would come to this, I never would have taken his hand...
After the failed ambush on the Inoue family, they had all been abandoned by both Doppelganger and Succession, losing every form of support. Then, not only were they made scapegoats for the failed attack, but it was also publicly announced that they had been in contact with the Demon Force.
As a result, the two families had their assets seized by the Heroes Association and were put under intense investigation. With nowhere to turn, neither in the shadows nor in the light, their only choice was to flee.
And that was when someone appeared before them.
“I think I’ve found some useful materials for my next project. If you bring them to me, I’ll take you in.”
Tuner, wearing a black fedora and robe, with his characteristic bird-shaped mask, made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. In the first place, the two heads of the family had no other options, and refusing would have just turned them into materials for his experiments instead.
Although agreeing to his terms didn’t change our fate as materials...
The head of the Amane family bit her lip, feeling the presence of the monster known as the Snake of Eden coiling around her heart.
When she had agreed, she had been given a bracelet by Tuner under the pretense that it would enhance her mana output. However, it had suddenly burrowed into her wrist, climbing up to her heart and coiling tightly around it.
“I lied? No, the effect is exactly as I described, just with the catch that it’ll kill you if you disobey my orders. But you weren’t planning to betray me anyway, right? So, there’s no problem at all!”
She could still vividly hear Tuner’s wicked laughter, full of pure amusement, as they stood there, pale with dread. At that moment, the head of the Amane family had realized two things. Firstly, they had never been anything more than experimental subjects to Tuner. And secondly... their future was doomed.
And that had been proven to be true on their very first mission.
“Okay. There’s no need to be so tense. All we have to do is activate the return device hidden inside the heirloom.”
Once they retrieved the Nimbus Casket and activated its hidden feature that only the head of the Himura family could trigger, they could just use the item Tuner had given them to teleport away. There was no need to fight, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.
“...I suppose so.”
“Exactly. You still remember that he promised to enhance us further once this is over, right? Let’s give it our all.”
The head of the Himura family’s eyes gleamed as he stared at the limousine. Ever since he’d felt the power enhanced by the Snake of Eden, his motivation had been burning brightly, starkly contrasting his earlier despair.
I should probably adopt that mindset too...
Resolving her inner turmoil, her eyes grew cold. There was no point in dwelling on things that couldn't change.
Continuing their pursuit, the squad of shadows soon entered the city with the convoy.
“When they turn that corner, we strike.”
“Understood.”
They both well understood that it would be too late if they reached the terminal and returned to Babel. So, making a swift decision, they landed in a nearby alley to wait for the convoy to pass by on the main road. But at that moment—
“Hm, not bad.”
A calm voice echoed through the alley. It hadn’t come from above or behind them... but right in the middle of their group.
Rigid, everyone slowly turned their gaze to the source of the voice and found Ren standing there, casually surveying the scene.
“The perimeter is lax, making it simple to escape after the ambush. I didn’t expect you two to be so skilled in sneak attacks.”
Ren had a gentle smile, but everyone there knew. From the previous night’s ambush, they knew that smile held more than just mere politeness. And because of that, they should have attacked the moment he appeared.
But not one of them moved.
“...!”
They couldn’t muster even the strength to blink, let alone speak. After all, their mana and even the moisture in their eyes had been frozen. Completely immobilized, the entire squad could only move their eyes to look at him.
“It seems you have a lot you’d like to say... but there’s no need to push yourselves.”
Swish!
Ren unfurled his black fan, covering his mouth with it.
“Because I’m not interested in hearing it.”
Gush!
Their eyes trembled. It happened in an instant. Every single one of them suddenly had a hole punched through their solar plexus.
Everything went completely still. Just like that, the heads and elite forces of two of the Three Great Families, all of whom could rival S-rank heroes, had been wiped out.
Swish-
Returning from the corpses, a black shadow slithered along the ground toward Ren, lifting itself up to him to reveal itself as a snake with black scales—Ren’s newly crafted shikigami, Black Serpent, based on Jormungandr.
Observing it, Ren glanced at the contents it had swallowed.
Twitch.
Inside the Black Serpent’s stomach, dozens of wriggling Eden’s Snakes were squirming. Disgusted, Ren’s expression turned disdainful as he looked toward the corpses on the ground.
“You guys really thought keeping something like this in your body was a good idea... pathetic.”
Had they prepared for the possibility of being controlled through shikigami techniques, they might have been able to put up some resistance.
Shaking his head, Ren lightly waved his fan.
Step, step.
And the corpses began to move, gathering in one spot. Then, once they had clustered, Ren snapped his fan shit.
Clack!
With that soft sound, the bodies vanished without a trace, leaving the alley empty once again.
Now alone, Ren stood at the alley’s end, gazing out at the main road.
Vroom.
The convoy of escort vehicles and limousines were finally on the main road. Observing them passing by, Ren suddenly sensed a brief glance from within the limousine as it passed by.
“...Impressive.”
Even though he was sure he had perfectly masked his presence, someone inside had detected him with just a glance. And if that person’s observation skills were at that level, they must have known they were being followed the entire time.
Father must have already tried to leave some kind of mark on him, but... it seems I can’t back down either.
With the upcoming conference, it was anyone’s guess who would be the first to claim Se-Hoon.
Smiling, Ren watched the vehicle disappear into the distance, and then vanished as smoothly as he had appeared.
Whoosh-