Published at 10th of April 2026 7:44 am

Chapter 79: Smother the Light

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Chapter 79: Smother the Light

Seo-jin stepped onto the fourth floor like he owned it. The fight froze. Every pair of eyes locked on him...shirtless, skin slick with blood, his face calm as if none of this mattered. Bloodlight seeped off him, his aura rising like blood falling in reverse.

The Children of Light edged back, pressed to the walls, too feeble to stand near what was coming. Now standing alone, their leader sneered at the sight, pupils burning out into raw white flame.

You must be the source. How disgusting.

'Source? Isnt he the source?'

[Unknown.]

Seo-jin tilted his head.

Youve been looking for me?

A low, humorless laugh spilled from the angel. The sound alone forced the broodlings to clap hands to their ears, their snarls muffled to whimpers.

Your ignorance is bottomless. Did you think you could act unseen? This much miasma screams demonic presence. None escape the light. You will not be the exception.

Seo-jins smile narrowed. He understood now, the Wire Dogs slaughter hadnt just fed his Brood. It had lit the city like a beacon, dragging these zealots straight to him.

He triggered Inspect, forcing his face blank while his eyes seared from the attempt. He turned his head as if checking Gregor, masking the truth: he couldnt yet stare into a source this concentrated in Light.

I've learned a lot today. But tell me, birdwhy hide in a sack of meat? That bodys rotting. A day, maybe less, before you burn it hollow. Not very holy for the good guys, is it?

One of the cultists lost it, stepping forward with fire in his eyes.

How dare you question our lord! Kneel and beg forgiveness, and you might

He didnt finish. From mid-shin down his legs vanished, hacked clean in a spray that painted the wall. He collapsed with a wet thud, screams tearing from his throat. Seo-jin ended them with one stomp, bone and brain folding under his heel.

Quiet. The adults are talking.

Gregor caught it, the split-second shift of Seo-jins hands into hooked claws before carving the mans legs off like butchers meat. He told himself to remember that, tipping a health pot back as the burn sealed his wounds. His gaze snapped to the angel, every instinct screaming.

Dont hold back. Cherubs are at least C rank.

Cherubs?

Seo-jins lip curled. The word rang in his skull. Lowest rung of the light-born, messengers dressed in divinity. Weakest of their kin, yet each one a master of its element.

Only the damned would kneel to a beast.

The cherubs voice dripped with disgust.

Its hand raised toward Gregor, three lances of light burst into being and hurled forward. Still wounded, they were too fast for him to dodge. But not too fast for her.

Winged rat!

Big Min blurred into the path, shields slamming together with a crack that shook the room. Metal groaned, her skill blazing to life as her shields swelled.

The blast drowned the floor in white.

Shielding his eyes, pain needling through Seo-jins skull. Light didnt just burn him...it fought him, crawled through his veins, clawing to tear him apart from inside. He stood motionless, face carved in calm, but inside he knew: this wasnt prey. This was war.

The glow faded, peeling off the cherubs hand. Its borrowed flesh blackened, fingers curling into smoldering strips like burning paper. The angel only sighed, tilting its head with tired disdain.

This host decays too easily. Unfortunatefor you. I meant to end this quickly. Now Ill have to stoop to something cruder.

Seo-jin summoned Butchers Wrath. He had no room to hold back. Black Pit burned at the edge of his will when the cherub blurred, then vanished

Mins shields hissed, molten-hot from the last strike. Just as she opened her arms, the cherub materialized, and drove a fist into her chest.

Her body turned into a shell, blasting into Gregor and pinning them both into the far wall with a sound like snapping steel.

Seo-jins teeth clenched. No more waiting.

Snare!

[-12SM]

[Black Pit // Activated]

[-30% Speed / Radius 4m / Duration 30sec]

Snares staff slammed down. As the area blackened, a circle of demonic script carved itself into the floor beneath the cherub.

[Mark of Dread // Applied]

[-5% Agility / -10% Defense]

The angels steps faltered, its speed noticeably clipped.

Snares staff spun againshadows stretched and tethered the brood together.

[Shadow Relay // Activated]

[All Allies +10% Agility / +10% Hit Chance]

Seo-jin surged in, cleavers raised.

The cherubs face never changed. It let them try, let them bleed their tricks, arrogance etched into its glowing eyes. It slipped aside from the demon's first strike with easeuntil

[-2SM]

[Rend // Activated]

[+15% Slicing Damage]

[Damage Dealt // 230]

The blade extended, cutting where it shouldnt have reached. White flesh split across the chest. Light began to bleed.

Tricks wont

It didnt finish. Heat rolled across its back. Pain charged, his skin cracking open with fire as he rocketed forward. At the same breath, Panic dropped from aboveSnares strings guiding their steps like a puppeteer.

Steel ripped the cherubs shoulder wide. Panics Organ Spill split muscle and bone; Echo Strike layered three cuts across the same wound. Light poured like liquid metal, the Massive Bleed effect gnawing deeper.

Impure!

The word detonated. Light exploded from its core, a shockwave blasting bodies across the floor.

Snare hit the ground hard, sliding behind a heap of corpses. His jaws split wide as he tore into meat, gulping fast, feeding before the others failed.

The rest crashed down broken. Smoke coiled from Seo-jins chest, but his flesh was already crawling back together. Pain had been caught mid-charge, his fire snuffed, his body sprawled and mangled...but alive. Panic rolled to his side, barely upright, one leg dragging useless. His skin hung in sheets of char, but his eyes stayed open.

Light gathered back to its source, the angel still smoldered at the center, its host splitting apart, light leaking through raw seams. Broken, but still lethal.

You dare

The cherub spasmed, body twitching as radiance bled out like pus.

Seo-jin checked his UI. The last hit had carved deep into his health.

[HP // 695/840]

[SM // 22/42]

'That wasnt even a clean hit. Lights a bigger problem than I thought.'

You demons are filth. A mistake of existence. That youve lasted this long is the real blasphemy. At least Ill purge some resentment by ending you here.

The host shell was breaking down. Light poured from its shoulder and chest in heavy streams, burning through meat, turning the body brittle. Then suddenly, it began to blur again, vanishing into the glare

Snare tapped his staff.

[Dusk Sight // Activated]

[Reveals hidden or cloaked enemies within 30m // First strike against revealed enemies ignores 5% DEF // Broodlings gain tracking bonus: +10% pursuit speed toward revealed targets]

The cherubs eyes went wide as its veil ripped away

"There you are!"

Min closed in like a shark through bloodied surf, shield aimed, eyes wild. Her fist and steel slammed home. Bone split, teeth shot from its mouth in a spray.

The cherubs body shot back, ragdolling through rubble and men alike, plowing into a cluster of Children of Light. Screams cut short as bones shattered, one cultist pancaked into paste beneath the impact.

Staggering upright from the carnage, the angel dragged itself steady, its host shell sloughing meat while its radiant form clawed to break free.

Seo-jin had caught it earlier. He'd noticed there was a strange deay from disapearing to the angels attack. The vanish wasnt speed, it was bending light. A cheap trick. Luckily he'd shared that info with Snare.

Min staggered, breath sharp. He could see his corruption still clung to her, madness chewing at the edges of her control.

System light glowed in his palm.

Drink it.

He tossed her one of the potions from the dungeon chest. Clear All. It could purge every status effect.

Her face twisted, then she threw it back in one gulp. The frenzy broke. Her breathing leveled.

Impossible! Blasphemous!

The cherub's attention was locked onto Seo-jins system light, its body no longer flesh but a cage of light barely stitched to bone. Its eyes stretched wide, jaw contorted in rage.

How can you?! A demon cannot be a User! You cannot existthis cannot exist! I will cleanse you no matter the cost!

Light detonated. Its human host ripped apart in a flash that turned flesh to ash. The nearest Children of Light didnt even scream. Skin peeled, bone powdered, their forms erased where they stood.

The chamber shook as every fragment of light reversed, tearing back toward the angel, pulling glow from flames, reflections, even the air itself, until the room began to dim against it.

Heat crawled up Seo-jins spine, the slow sting of burning skin. His broodlings shrieked and scattered back, forced away by the raw element.

He could feel it...death pressed its teeth into him. Every second peeled flesh, his health bleeding down with the burn.

I cant get close! You two have to stop it!

The air split with heat, the strike building. If it landed, none of them would crawl away.

Min shielded her eyes, spit blood through her grin, and laughed.

Sorry, asshole! Once theyre like this, theyre immune to physical damage! Cant do shit!

Your beast is a fucking shark! You cant use water magic or something?!

Gregor staggered forward, arm dangling at his side, eyes locked on the angel. The floor shook under its power. Above, Split-jaw and the twins huddled on the fifth floor, but even there the weight of the energy bled through the structure, rattling their bones.

Our only chance was stopping it when it still had a host!

The demon hunters voice cracked. He had nothing for angelsno weapon, no trickespecially once they tore out of human flesh. Even though it's time was now limited, it had enough to finish them off.

[Recommendation: escape immediately. User has no defe]

Ten percent Soulmass is a lot, isnt it?

[Affirmative. If User plans]

We cant risk this bird flying back. If the Realm of Light gets wind of me, Im fucked.

Broodlings! Feed!

[-2SM]

[Hive Pulse // Activated]

[All Broodlings // +15% Attack Speed]

They answered, frenzy igniting. Flesh tore wet, bone snapped, marrow hissed as they ripped corpses faster, chewing essence into fuel. Their feast hammered against the angels glow.

'This is probably gonna kill me. Why didn't I set a spawn point before leavingwouldve lost plenty, but better than this. Fuck! This better work...at least Demonic Will dulls the p'

From inside the storm, laughter rang outshrill, jagged, almost musical.

Whatever you hope to accomplish is pointless! Even bound by the limitations of this world, I will manifest! Even a witless demon must feel ityour skin peels, your essence burns! Foolish

Its voice choked out.

Every gaze locked as Seo-jin stepped forward. His skin blistered, sloughing under the glow, burning, splitting, only to harden black, red fissures crawling across his body. Fingers split and lengthened into hooked claws. Horns tore higher from his skull, jagged, crowned in bloodlight. The human shell dissolved in the blaze. What rose from it was only Azakh-Tur.

The cherub recoiled, its voice cracking with disbelief.

What are you? I feel it now but it makes no sense. Youre just a beast?!

Ignoring the question, Azakh-Tur kept advancing.

[HP // 645/840]

[-50HP]

Each step eating away his health.

[-45HP]

[+25HP // Broodlink]

[+63HP // Demonic Will]

[-52HP]

[-48HP]

The burn clawed deeper than his broodlings feast and Demonic Will could replenish. Still, it was enough.

You want to know what I am?

He stopped before the cherub, its true form breaking through: a vast lidless eye, encircled with wings.

I am the Broodfather. Even the Light will bow.

[Savage Feed // Activated]

Darkness. Too sudden, too complete.

Azakh-Turs maw tore wide, swallowing the angels radiance whole.

For a breath, the surroundings froze.

Then agony detonated inside him.

[!! WARNING !!]

[!! WARNING !!]

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