Ark (Published Novel)

ACT 1 Eternal Soul

Dukong, dukong, dukong!

The heavy sound echoed and vibrated through the air.It belonged to the black sphere hovered in front of the buildings in Oberium square.The black sphere contracted and expanded just like a heart. The dark energy surrounding the sphere seemed to become more intense.The energy the sphere emitted wasn’t just simple darkness.It was deeper than darkness! It was like the darkness was infused with wickedness and flames of madness!The inside twitched and unpleasant sounds could be heard from it.

“What is that?”

Ark stared at it with puzzled eyes.

Chwaaaaak!

A windstorm suddenly emerged from the black sphere and the dark aura went in every direction. The dark aura flew around the ruins like a snake looking for food and closed around one of the dead.

“Aaaaah, help me!”

“I don’t like this, ah, no!”

Screams rang out all over the place.Did the dead still have memories of the cursed magic that happened hundreds of years ago? The dead who lingered had shown no interest in anything now turned pale with fear at the dark aura. They rolled on the ground to escape but their resistance was meaningless.

“Kuaaak!”

The dead who screamed were eventually captured. The translucent grey gas emerged and scattered everywhere.It was the souls of the dead.The souls were drawn into the black sphere like they were pulled by magnets. The black sphere opened like a huge, hungry animal and devoured the souls.

“Souls…..it’s eating them?”

A groaned flowed from Ark’s mouth.It was unthinkable to even consider.Overwhelming fear!The dead were in a complete state of panic at the horrifying scene. They screamed and ran all over the place, but the dead had no chance of escaping the dark aura.It was the end once they were caught. The dark aura sucked out the souls and then the souls were swallowed by the black sphere.Whenever that happened, the black sphere fluctuated and the dark aura became even stronger.The same situation hundreds of years ago was being reproduced again in Oberium!

“Damn, what on earth? What am I going to do?”

Ark couldn’t grasp how to handle the sudden situation. At that time, something rose from the mouth that swallowed the soul.It was shaped like a huge human face!

“Karma!”

Ark screamed after seeing the face.To his surprise it was the face of Karma who he defeated in the crypt.Yes, Karma had formed after Hero Maban’s summons became corrupted by the curse magic and shed his form. In other words, Karma was using the magic which drove Oberium to extinction!It was the reason why the atmosphere was unusual……

“I’ve grasped the situation.”

Ark murmured in a gloomy voice.

“Is this the boss’ second transformation?”

That’s right. In RPG games, the heroes would go through obstacles to defeat the final boss only to have it go through a final, stronger transformation. However, the boss monster was only level 450 and didn’t have time magic anymore yet he went through a secondary transformation?

“Like this…..I can’t die….not like this!”

Ark looked at it with irritated eyes. While Karma chewed on the souls of the dead, he fixed his gaze on Ark.

-You are……!

Chwaaaaak!

Ark drew his sword.

“This is the end, Dark Blade!”

Ark reflexively swung his sword. But the sword just pierced through the darkness and it wound around Ark.

“Eh? What, what the? The attack didn’t hit?”

Ark looked somewhat perplexed.Then the dark spirit passed through Ark, just like it previously did the sword.

“What the hell?”

He used Skill Penetration a little too late.

Ark, Racard and Buksil’s eye was wrapped in the dark aura but they weren’t dead so they weren’t affected.In Karma’s current state, Ark’s sword was unable to damage him. But Karma was also unable to damage Ark.

‘I got scared for no reason.’

However, it was still too easy to breathe a sigh of relief.

‘There is something unusual.’

Although he couldn’t be attacked by Karma, he was still uncomfortable by something. In particular, the chaos energy present in the information window weighed in his mind.Ark had taken away the gem that Karma had targeted for hundreds of years. Wasn’t there a reason he was trying to obtain the chaos energy from the dead souls? If the chaos energy became full then there was no guarantee what would happen.

“We should withdraw first to check out the situation.”

“Huh? But there’s still the dead people.”

“It can’t be helped. My attacks don’t connect.”

Ark looked at Buksil’s eyeball and scratched his head with irritation. Of course Ark wanted to help the dead.They had been cursed and suffered forever while being forgotten by the world. Although they were NPCs in the game, he couldn’t help feeling pity for them after hearing Anguradon’s words.But the sphere was collecting energy for a questionable attack. The dangerous smell was more important than his compassion. In addition, would the dead even obey if Ark gave an evacuation order?

‘Although my mood is a little bad, I don’t have a choice.’

However Ark couldn’t flee.Ttadak, ttadadadak!

Before he even moved a step, he heard Razak’s voice from behind him. Based on the information about Soul Absorption, Ark and Racard weren’t affected by it. But there was something he hadn’t considered.Razak was an undead who was also tied to Oberium. Yes, Razak had been wrapped in the dark aura as soon as he exited the crypt.

“God dammit!”

Ark cursed as he realized the situation too late.Originally, the undead had no concept of ‘death.’The term ‘undead’ meant an existence that had already died.There were even undead users who could rejoice in killing but were unable to precisely express it.After getting out of combat, the undead was unable to enter that state again for a certain period of time.That meant…… If a user killed a monster then it would regenerate after a period of time. That is the reason why monsters continued breeding. However, the undead were created so they had no concept of reviving after a period of time.That’s why the undead regenerated quicker than other monsters. This is because the undead’s soul never leaves their body.But Soul Absorption went against that rule.The dead who had their souls caught wouldn’t be able to resurrect anymore. And that also applied to Razak. If Razak’s soul was shut in Karma’s body then Ark wouldn’t be able to summon him anymore.

‘Danger, it’s really dangerous!’

A red warning light flashed in Ark’s head.

“There’s no way! How can I leave now? Dark blade!”

However, Karma didn’t have a body at the moment and was just the pure embodiment of magic. Just like before, the physical attacks didn’t connect. Ark’s attack could do no damage to the dark aura.Meanwhile Razak rolled on the ground as he received damage from the dark aura wrapped around him.

Ttadak, ttadadadak!

“Ugh, unbelievable……!”

Ark’s face darkened.Just like the other dead, Razak couldn’t resist Soul Absorption.

‘It will stop if I cancel the summoning but…..’

When the summoning was cancelled, Razak would be recalled to the underground jail in Oberium. The dark aura was spread all over so he would still be caught while stranded.Then Ark wouldn’t be able to do anything…..no, he had to find a method but Razak’s health had decreased at an incredible pace and was already down to 30%.And 29%, 28%, 27%…..it fell all the way to 22%.

“N-no!”

Then Ark jumped as Razak abruptly screamed and slammed his shield on the ground. Then Ark lost 300 mana and an information window appeared.

“Isn’t this the skill Anguradon used in the crypt?”

Ark looked at Razak with amazement as Razak changed into a steel sculpture. Just like when Radun learnt Stalking in the past, Ark wasn’t present when he learnt it and never saw the information window.Anyway, Razak stopped having his health drained after using Steel Loyalty. Since his body changed into steel and defense increased, Soul Absorption didn’t have an effect anymore.

“The crisis has been stalled for the moment.”

However, he still couldn’t breathe a sigh of relief.Just like Anguradon, Razak couldn’t move after turning to steel. And the dark aura was still attached to Razak’s body. He only had 22% health left. As soon as Steel Loyalty ran out, his health would be drained and his soul absorbed completely.

‘In the end I have no choice but to defeat that guy if I want to rescue Razak. There must be a way to kill him. No, there should be. If I can’t handle him than Razak would be eaten. But all physical attacks are invalidated…… Huh? Wait? Physical attacks were 100% invalidated? Then isn’t it the same as when I use Slime’s Time? Then perhaps if I……?”

When he used Slime’s Time, the attacks he wanted to avoid the most was magic. Then Ark came up with an idea.

“Okay, then shall I try this? Elemental sword, Fire attribute!”

Pepepepeng!

“It works!”

As soon as the fire wrapped sword was brought down, the dark aura was cut like tofu.Karma negated physical attacks by 100%.In other words, the only damage came from the magical property that was on the sword. Elemental sword gave his sword an addition effect which corresponded to 10% of his basic attack. In other words, Ark could only exert 10% of his power.Therefore his damage was at most 30~50.

‘But small damage is still damage!’

Since Karma couldn’t attack Ark, he would eventually manage to defeat Karma. However, there was a big problem……

Karma restored 100 health every time he swallowed a soul. With all the dead spread out in Oberium, his health was recovered faster than Ark could damage him.There were enough dead for several days so wouldn’t Elemental Sword be ineffective?

‘But there is no way I can wait until the dead disappears.’

Of course Karma wouldn’t be able to recover his health anymore after he swallowed all the dead. But who knew what would happen once Karma swallowed the dead and the chaos energy was charged? He didn’t know but Ark was absolutely sure that it wouldn’t improve the situation.

‘There’s only one option. Yes, I have to separate the dark aura from Razak’s body and run away as fast as possible.’

Of course, the dark aura was stuck to Razak’s body so he would damage Razak as well. However, Razak was in a defensive state after using Steel Loyalty. He would hold survive until the dark aura was separated.So Ark changed his direction and attacked the dark aura that was stuck to Razak. Elemental Sword struck the dark aura and melted it. Although Razak received some damage, his defense had increased to 894 so he didn’t even receive 10% damage. Ark gave an order to Racard after clearing the dark aura.

“Racard, distract Karma and turn his eyes in another direction!”

“Okay! This way, you idiot!”

Racard immediately attracted Karma’s eyes to the other side of the street using Taunt.

“That’s it, now’s the time. Release steel loyalty! Run!”

Razak ran as soon as the skill was released.No, he was going to run.Ark judged that Karma had completed changed into the black sphere. If Racard drew his attention than they could stealthily escape.But that was Ark’s mistake.As soon as Razak turned off Steel Loyalty, the pupils that were pursuing Racard turned and stared at the two escaping. Then the dark aura hanging around flocked towards Razak and covered him.

-Kukukuku…..you stupid guy…..you thought I would forget?

‘Huk, what the? That guy was waiting for me to cancel the skill?’

-I won’t miss even one person…..I will absorb everything within Oberium…..every existence here will be destroyed……you’ll never be able to sneak out…..if I cannot have the gem then we’ll fall into darkness together!

The face once again emerged from the black sphere and made a noise. But the sounds did not enter Ark’s ears.Ttadak, ttadadadak!Razak was wrapped in darkness and his health fell to 10%. He was going to become Karma’s snack just like the other souls.

‘…..That guy still has some rationality remaining!’

It was the mistake of a lifetime!There was no ways to prevent Razak’s soul from being absorbed. He was vulnerable to magic attacks. If he was a magician then his damage would be able to exceed Karma’s recovery rate. However, the damage from his magic sword couldn’t exceed the recovery rate.

‘If only Lariette-nim was here……’

Ark murmured as he bit his lip.Karma’s attribute was ‘demonic.’ The Innocence Knight’s ‘Holy’ attribute was its natural enemy. Just like when she assisted him against Tamura, Lariette’s magic would be effective against Karma.However, Karma wasn’t going to wait politely while Ark left to fetch Lariette.

‘If Razak is eaten, I might be able to fetch Lariette and liberate him before he is completely digested. But it would be an issue if that fellow swallows Razak’s soul. Even if I hid, I don’t know what the chaos energy will do. What is an alternative method? Huh? Wait? Tamura?’

Then an epiphany came to Ark’s head.

‘That’s right, didn’t Tamura also use the dead as a recovery source? I managed to block his recovery……’

This was just like when he fought Tamura after Lariette changed to an Innocence Knight. When cornered. Tamura absorbed the dark fragments and transformed himself. Then he fed on the dead to restore his health.Monsters will the demonicattribute seemed to have the ability to recover through souls. However, it was Ark that stopped Tamura’s recovery not the Innocence Knight.

‘The method I used to block his recovery……!’

It felt like a lightning bolt had struck his skull.Ark raised his head and exclaimed.

“Please recover. Remember the memory of when you were honourable soldiers of Oberium which ruled Seutandal. You have been dropped into a hopeless pit thanks to the magic.

You are the only people who can save yourselves!”

Pepepepeng!

A strange sound suddenly resonated from Karma who had swallowed the souls.

-Kuaaaah…..what….what the….this….this is?

Black blood suddenly flowed from Karma’s body.Although Karma’s health after he changed to a black sphere was low, Ark was absolutely certain that the damage he received wasn’t low.The movement which Karma used to pick up and swallow the dead became dull. Ark’s eye lit up at the sight.

‘It’s just like with Tamura. He can’t recover health when the Nursing effect is applied to the dead. I’ve finally found it. It is this fellow’s weakness!Now I can defeat him alone!’

That’s right. This was the method he used to stop Tamura’s recovery.When he used Nursing, there was an additional effect of ‘Blessing.’ ‘Blessing’ has a holy attribute.Since Karma absorbed the dead blessed with the holy effect, he received damage instead of recovery.Every time Karma absorbed a soul which had received Nursing, he shook as he suffered a blow.Finally Karma stopped Soul Absorption and glared at Ark.

-Ohhh….you, you…..! After snatching my gem…..now you dare do such a thing…..never…..I’ll never forgive you!

“You won’t forgive me? What did you say?”

Until now there had been confusion on Ark’s face.He had been thinking about escaping but the situation had changed. Once Soul Absorption was released, Razak was also freed. Furthermore, Karma couldn’t attack Ark directly so he was now insignificant!

“Why are you behaving so impertinently? It’s my turn now!”

-You intend to attack me…..

“Attack you? Why would I do something as tiring as that? Your stomach is full of weapons.”

-What?

Karma flinched a little bit.Ark smiled and used Nursing again.

“Now, see what your willpower has accomplished! When your will opposes, the enormous evil won’t be able to control your soul! Your soul only belongs to you. Now it is your turn! Brave residents of Oberium, wake up and fight against the darkness!”

Pepepepeng!

At the same time, there was a tremendous sound from inside Karma.Yes, Karma couldn’t swallow any more souls but he already had some trapped inside him.The souls of the dead hadn’t disappeared yet. It was only trapped. And Ark used Nursing on the souls of the dead that were confined. In other words, all the souls within Karma had changed into a bomb.Thanks to the blessing effect of Nursing, it will like Karma had swallowed a handful of grenades as there were the sound of explosions and holes appeared in his body.Just like a pierced balloon, the sphere deflated as the souls of the dead exited through the hole. It wasn’t possible to keep trapping the exploding souls.It was the weaponization of Nursing!At that moment, an intense light appeared around Ark’s body.

‘Miracle Nursing! Stat bonuses!’

It was an excellent choice to see it through to the end.When Miracle Nursing was used, all the souls were vomited out. With all the souls vomited out, Karma was worthless now. The black sphere was unable to maintain its form and crumpled.

‘Although I can’t deal any more damage with Nursing now that the souls are gone, there are also no ways to attack me. I can just relax and use Elemental Sword until it’s over.’

“Come, shall I finish this? Elemental sword, Fire attribute!”

Ark smiled cruelly and used his magic sword.

-Kukuku…..you stupid fellow!

Then hundreds of tentacles suddenly extended from Karma and wrapped around Razak and the souls.However, Ark just snorted and laughed.

“Bah, do you want to commit suicide?”

The ‘Purification’ effect of Miracle Nursing also applied to Razak. Even if Karma swallowed the soul, it would just deal damage and he would have to vomit it out again.Swallowing the soul was like committing suicide.However, Karma didn’t swallow the souls again.After Karma captured the soul, he suddenly grew to an extravagant size.

“Huk, how come? Haven’t all the souls been vomited?”

Karma had a vague smile at Ark’s confusion.

-Huhuhu…you fool…..still don’t know…..these souls are all affected by my magic……despite them exiting, I had time to absorb the souls……but the magic fell off the souls once they were purified…..where do you think all that magic went?

“Don’t tell me…..?”

-That’s right…..because of you, all the magic separated from the souls was absorbed by me……it was exactly what I wanted…..I’ll show you what my grudge for hundreds of years can do!

Ark’s face stiffened at the messages that appeared continuously.

‘Chain Disappearance……!’

Ark then recalled the words that Karma shouted in the crypt. Karma had fallen into despair after Ark took away his precious gem. And this was the ruin that Karma wanted!Karma had gathered the chaos energy in order to completely ruin Oberium. His use of Miracle Nursing had actually helped Karma instead.He needed the chaos energy to be charged before he could use the curse magic. Karma had taken advantage of the energy from Miracle Nursing to charge the chaos energy.The price of his mistake was ruin…..!

“A-Ark-nim!”

The floating eyeball shouted in a desperate voice.In fact, Buksil had been watching the battle from the opposite side of the river. But Chain Disappearance was a skill which dealt x100 damage by the number of souls to all living things within Oberium.There were hundreds of souls within Oberium. It was a nuclear bomb which would deal thousands of damage with one blow. Ark and even Buksil who was on the outskirts would be blown apart.

“Damn, do we have to leave?”

Ark ran forward and swung his sword.

Sakak-!

Karma’s body was struck and a black piece struck off. But although there was a black piece on the ground, the main body just grew back again. It was the same with his tentacles.No matter how many times the tentacles around Razak were cut down, they just grew back again.

“We’re screwed. Should I have run away sooner?’

But it was already too late.Now that the skill was used, Ark and Buksil wouldn’t be able to escape from Oberium within 3 minutes.

“Racard, what are you staring blankly at? Stop him!”

“But none of my attacks hit.”

“Damn, who told you to stop cutting the tentacles? Continue cutting them until they can’t combine anymore!”

“U-understood.”

Racard picked up a stone and brought it down on the black chunks. However, the stone just passed through the blackness like Ark’s sword.Karma looked at Ark and Racard and shouted.

-Hahaha, it’s impossible……now the only thing left is death…..everything will die!

In the end the stone was just thrown away. Racard who was looking around suddenly noticed something strange in a corner and flew to Ark.

“Eh? Master, look at that!”

“Can’t you see I’m a bit busy? Hyaaaaa!”

“It’s not that. Look over there?”

“Damn, what is it? Eh? What the, that is?”

Ark frowned as he turned around but his expression soon changed to match Racard’s. Ark frantically swung his sword and sliced off chunks of blackness. But the black lumps soon re-joined with the main body once cut off. However, there were some chunks which couldn’t re-join.The place where Ark was hacking at Karma was in the centre of Oberium where the dead merchant engaged in business.When the black chunks that Ark cut off fell onto the merchant’s stall, the black chunks were absorbed by the japtem.

‘What on earth is going on? The black lumps are pure magic so why are they absorbed by the items?’

Ark stared at it with amazement for a while before he remembered something.

‘Wait…..the black lumps were originally a part of Karma. Karma had reassembled his body from the bones that Anguradon discarded in the underground crypt which had absorbed the magic for a long time. Ah, I see!’

He realized that he had forgotten a simple fact.It was Anguradon’s body in the underground crypt, but the discarded bones were just japtem. Karma had used the magic collected in the japtem to create himself. Karma sucked the surrounding magic from the underground crypt in order to become strong enough to threaten Anguradon.Anyway, the answer was simple when considering Karma’s background.The amount of magic that could be absorbed depended on certain conditions.

‘When it falls off Karma’s body, it is just lumps of magic. Then just like the magic poured into the bones in the crypt the first time, wouldn’t the magic be poured into the japtem? If all the magic was concentrated in one place then another monster similar to Karma might develop. But if I distribute the cut pieces…..ok, it is worth a try!’

He had to try something instead of doing nothing.

“Racard, satellite mode. Display all the japtem present in the area!”

“Ohhh, understood!”

Racard flew upwards at Ark’s command.At the same time, a small mini map appeared on the top right of Ark and marked the location of all the japtem.

“Okay, Riposte!”

Ark used Riposte in the direction all the japtem was gathered.Karma’s body flew like pudding in every direction. Some of the lumps fell on the ground and re-joined the body but other magic lumps fell on the japtem and disappeared after being absorbed.The japtem which absorbed the magic turned black.After the magic was absorbed, the nature of the item was changed. Anyway, it was still japtem. No matter how much the japtem changed, there was no reason to pay attention to it.

“It has an effect. The main body is shrinking!”

-Ugh….t-this bastard…..what are you…..stop it!

“You idiot, do you think I would stop? Riposte!”

Every time the skill was used, Karma’s body scattered all over the square. Every time the surrounding japtem turned black and the body became smaller.When the size became smaller, the tentacles broke one by one. The black chunk slowly decreased from 10 metres, 5 metres, 3 metres……when it reached 10 centimetres, all the tentacles broke. Eventually even the main body was split into two and absorbed by the japtem.Karma who had changed to the size of a finger cursed.

-Yes…..you….dare…..I…..can’t forgive you…..

When the time limit ended, Karma’s body split. And……bang! Karma exploded like a small pea.Chain Disappearance was a soul destruction skill which caused souls to self-destruct together. However, Karma’s body had changed to the size of a pea and there were no souls attached so the explosion was small.In the end his final move meant nothing.

Ark shouted with joy at the sight of the message window.He had rescued Razak and the dead and even gained 2 levels. The experience he got from the boss wasn’t that bad. He even succeeded in Miracle Nursing and raised his stats. That wasn’t the end of the bonus he received from killing Karma.Even though Ark wasn’t expecting a lot of loot, he still searched through the remnants of Karma.Finally he noticed a shiny black stone near where Karma exploded. As soon as he grabbed it, the stone melted down and was sucked into his palm.At the same time, both sides of his wrists started aching.

“Ouch, what the?”

Ark flinched and looked down at his wrist.The area which throbbed was where his tattoo was engraved.It was the trademark of ‘Eternal Soul.’ That part tingled like it was hit by a hammer and a light surrounded it. At that moment, the tattoo cracked and started expanding.Then an information window appeared in front of him.

“Eh? Eternal soul?”

Ark looked at the information window with confusion.In fact, he had been wondering how to acquire the special qualities of Eternal Soul.Then this is the enlightenment associated with a Dark Soul? The original information window was vague about how to acquire the special enlightenment. But now he had a sense of it……After a seal was released, he was able to understand most of the theory behind it. Eternal Soul was a skill created by Hero Maban to battle the forces of darkness. The key to releasing that skill was related to those dark forces.In other words, he had to study various demonic attribute to obtain a clue to reach the next stage.

“Now I have Demonic Response and Demonic Seal…..”

Thanks to DemonicResponse, he could detect monsters with the demonic attribute.While travelling, Ark had encountered monsters with the demonic attribute several times. Tamura who he met in the Abyss of Despair and the Ancient Evil Goat in Silvana’s dungeon was also of the demonic attribute. Judging from his experience, monsters with the demonic attribute was a lot stronger compared to the other attributes.When dealing with such a monster, additional damage would definitely be helpful. And he received 2 skills just from unsealing one seal.What would happen if he sealed the demonic attribute into an item? He understood the general principles after seeing Karma being absorbed by the japtem. But the nature of an item couldn’t be changed so easily.If he sealed the demonic attribute into an item then there was a possibility that it would be destroyed.

‘What would the demonic attribute do to an item? There is also the possibility that it will be destroyed…..then liberating the souls of a monster is a good thing. Eternal Soul. Then the stage 1 and 2 skills I received are tremendously useful. Can I get it easily?’

Ark clicked his tongue with a regrettable expression.

-Ohhh, I…..I…..

The dead souls scattered around and stood up.Ark thoughtlessly flinched and stepped backwards. The souls of the dead which Karma spat out were different from before. Although their form was still a vague grey, it became clearer after Karma disappeared…..but above all their eyes changed.Until now, their eyes had looked absent-minded like they had been taking drugs. Now the eyes were sparkling and looked around everywhere.

-T-this is…..?

-It’s like I had a nightmare…..

-Ah, yes I remember.

-Yes, we were defeated. The Dark Lord…..

-How long has it been since then?

The souls muttered as they seemed like they were waking up after many years of sleep.After Karma swallowed their souls and they were purified using Miracle Nursing, the souls had regained their past memory. Their expressions were confused as they wrestled with their memories after waking up.

-That huge lump of demonic magic…..we were one step away from falling into an eternal darkness. But we heard someone shouting and listened. Our minds was closed with despair and someone opened it…..!

The gazes of the souls fixed on Ark.Then he heard a voice from behind him.

-His Majesty the king has come. Everybody salute!

-Y-your Majesty!

The souls split to the left and right with surprise and gave deep bows.Ark was unsure of how to react.In the meantime, a procession walked between the dead people.It was the King and guards he saw in the throne room while searching for the pieces of the moon. Thanks to the Miracle Nursing, the previous vacant eyeball had cleared up.

‘It’s like I’m looking at ghosts when their eyes are cleared…..But is something wrong?’

Ark was filled with anxiety. The ghost king quickly approached Ark and grabbed his hand.

-You. It was you!

“Huh? What are you…..?”

-Ohhh, there is no doubt. The voice who led us out of the darkness was you!

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