I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-373

Ch-373 **Alkar, Tainted Black**

—

The Holy City, **Adrium**.

At the news that the **Order of Radiance** and the **Knights of the Round Table** would clash, the entire city was set ablaze with excitement.

Those who had written countless legends were about to face those who were now writing new ones—no one could remain indifferent to such a spectacle.

But there was exactly one exception.

Hudson.

‘What should we do…?’

As the duel drew near, Hudson’s anxiety only grew.

Park Hyun-myung had entrusted him with full authority—

to consult with Vice Commander Abelof and oversee everything.

However, from what Hudson had learned, Kasim and the Order of Radiance were unparalleled powerhouses who had laid the very foundation of the Goddess Church.

Kasim himself had already been the strongest human on the continent three hundred years ago.

They said he had defeated an evil god alone.

…It was impossible to even imagine how strong he must be now.

‘If we lose here, everything we’ve done will be for nothing.’

They had painstakingly corrected a false god and even staged the destruction of the Tower of Ruin.

All that remained was to put the final period—

and yet Park Hyun-myung had vanished.

The Round Table had to win this duel without him.

Could they?

It wasn’t that Hudson didn’t trust the Round Table, but… if they lost, every ounce of fame and honor would belong to Kasim.

Even the title of *Knight of the Goddess*.

There were too many witnesses to simply refuse the duel.

And yet, Hudson couldn’t say he failed to understand Park Hyun-myung’s disappearance.

‘We can’t just leave the Black Dome phenomenon alone.’

Park Hyun-myung had said that if it were left unchecked, Earth itself might be destroyed.

If that was true, then it was far more important than a duel with Kasim.

“Are you feeling uneasy?”

“…Lady Isabella.”

Hudson took a deep breath and turned his head.

There stood Isabella, her expression gentler than usual.

She wore radiant silver armor.

She, too, was participating in the duel as a member of the Round Table.

Uneasy?

What was he uneasy about?

The outcome of the duel?

No—no, that wasn’t it.

“I’ve heard that the *Abyss Kings* are inside the Black Dome. Druid Albino also said they’ve begun to move…”

What worried Hudson most wasn’t the duel’s outcome—it was Park Hyun-myung.

His strength had always exceeded Hudson’s imagination.

But when it came to the *Abyss*, there was no certainty.

No one knew what lurked within it.

Albino had been monitoring the Abyssal regions that had recently surfaced in Pangaenia.

Guarding the World Tree of Honor, he tracked their movements in real time.

If even Albino said they had begun to move, then it had to be true.

…The Abyss Kings were now inside the *Black Dome*.

Whatever they were plotting, Park Hyun-myung had to face them alone.

Without the Round Table’s help, without even the aid of Blade Dragon God—

without so much as Hudson’s own assistance.

“The Abyss Kings… they won’t be able to touch him.”

“…Pardon?”

Isabella’s words were strange.

*Won’t be able to touch him*?

Did that mean the Abyss Kings recognized Park Hyun-myung?

Even if they did, there should be no connection between them.

Yet Isabella’s lips curved with ease.

‘They were already slaughtered once by Lord Randolph.’

She alone remembered everything that had happened on *God’s Island*.

The one who slaughtered them had been *another Randolph*—

but still, it wasn’t true that there was no connection at all.

Isabella recalled those memories.

To protect Park Hyun-myung—Randolph—she had sacrificed herself.

On God’s Island, she revealed herself as an evil spirit and chose annihilation.

Yet she had not vanished.

Instead, she entered the *Gate of Truth*.

And there, she witnessed everything.

The moment Randolph realized he himself was Park Hyun-myung.

The moment he awakened and ascended as the **Eternal God**.

The moment he used the authority of the Eternal God to rewind everything that had happened on God’s Island and pull Isabella out from the Gate of Truth.

She knew better than anyone what had happened to the resurrected Abyss Kings.

‘They must have forgotten everything from God’s Island.’

Their memories had been erased.

However—

‘Even if the mind forgets, the body remembers.’

Not everything had returned to zero.

The authority manifested as the Eternal God was far from a perfect rollback of the past.

It merely forced things to become “as though they never happened.”

Their memories had simply been swallowed by the Gate of Truth.

Another Randolph.

When he had massacred the Abyss Kings—

the memory had been so brutal that even Isabella wished she could erase it.

She had experienced countless horrors, yet that memory alone…

…she could not bear to recall.

Just remembering it made her shudder in revulsion.

*

*

The **Unborn One** vanished completely.

At the same time—

“Hah… hah…!”

“B-Breathe, everyone!”

“A-Are you insane… what the hell just passed by?”

Those who had forgotten even to breathe finally let out shaky sighs of relief.

It was their first time.

They had faced countless kinds of monsters, but never one that evoked such a sensation.

“…That must have been an Abyss King.”

Gracia said, clenching and unclenching his fist.

He had crossed blades even with Baal of the Four Calamities, and with Raiga, known as the continent’s strongest—

yet that monster was on an entirely different level.

A completely different species.

Unpleasant. Ominous. Something utterly impossible to resist.

“T-That was an Abyss King?”

“A-Are all Abyss Kings like that?”

The people were horrified.

How many more such monsters could there be?

Only now did they truly grasp the gravity of the situation.

Suppressing the Spirit King wasn’t the real problem.

To win here, they would have to face monsters like *that*—again and again.

This time, they had passed unharmed, but if a battle had broken out…

Gulp.

Everyone swallowed hard.

Everyone, except Arin.

‘Why did it retreat?’

Arin stared in the direction where the Unborn One had disappeared.

…It had clearly backed away.

It had seen something—and fled.

But there was nothing around them.

No spirits. No corpses. Nothing else at all.

The Unborn One had devoured everything.

If this was its domain, then *they* were the intruders.

And yet it fled, leaving intruders behind?

Why?

Who did it see?

‘Could it have been me?’

Basara, one of the Seven Lords.

Had it instinctively sensed her presence?

No—she shook her head.

There was no point of contact between the Demon Realm and the Abyss.

Though she planned to conquer the Abyss someday, she deemed it too early.

Thus, the probability that the Unborn One recognized her was near zero.

Besides…

Who else here could possibly have encountered the Unborn One before?

‘…I truly don’t know.’

That she couldn’t grasp it at all—

she, who could see through all things with a single glance.

She found no answer to the *phenomenon* that had just occurred.

“…Let’s continue upward. There should be nothing left to block us now.”

Shaking her head, she took the lead.

In any case, they had passed the most dangerous hurdle.

All that remained was to subdue the Fire Spirit King, **Agnis**.

*

*

…That was close.

Even I hadn’t expected the Unborn One to be here.

To face it, I would have had no choice but to transform into **Randolph**.

And if I did that, every Abyss King would notice.

If they formed an alliance, things would become troublesome.

My heart had nearly dropped—but fortunately, there was no bloodshed.

‘Did it recognize me?’

I had erased all memories from God’s Island.

Except for Isabella, none of the Abyss Kings who had been there should remember me.

And yet… the moment the Unborn One saw me, it backed away.

With unmistakable fear.

That was proof it recognized me.

…How did it know?

‘Perhaps because it’s the Unborn One—memory itself is meaningless to it…’

That was possible.

The Unborn One acted purely on instinct.

Erasing memories might have been meaningless to it.

It sensed the presence of *Randolph* within me—and fled.

After all, that unprecedentedly brutal death must have been etched into both its body and soul.

‘Lucky.’

Still, luck only needs to work once.

There was no guarantee other Abyss Kings would react the same way.

I quickly climbed Fire Mountain and finally reached the summit.

At that moment—

Fwoooooosh!

Within a massive, transparent barrier, Agnis raged, spewing flames.

《‘Rampaging Fire Spirit King Agnis’ is sealed.》

《To Release the ‘Sealing Stone,’ ‘Primordial Fire’ is required.》

《To obtain ‘Primordial Fire,’ gather 100 contractors of ‘Rampaging Fire Spirits’ and offer them as sacrifices to the Sealing Stone.》

“…What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You have to sacrifice *one hundred* contractors?”

“What kind of twisted condition is this?!”

The requirement was horrifying.

Only by offering a hundred sacrifices could the seal be undone.

Such a vile condition was unheard of.

“It doesn’t have to be us.”

“If we go back down… and capture a hundred of those red-robed bastards…”

“Go back down and climb again?”

“What if we run into that *monster* again?”

…It wasn’t an easy decision.

Neither descending nor bringing back a hundred yaksha alive.

“Then are we supposed to choose from among ourselves?”

“No way!”

“It was bad enough contracting with a rampaging fire spirit…!”

Especially the contractors—Choi Kang-nam among them—had eyes that shook nonstop.

To be a sacrifice meant death.

They had suffered horribly just to climb up here.

And now they were supposed to die?

But the gazes directed at them were cold.

Tremble.

Choi Kang-nam’s body began to shake.

Then—

《‘Primordial Fire’ has been detected.》

《A member of the party possesses ‘Primordial Fire’.》

《The Sealing Stone is Released.》

Shhhk—

The barrier vanished.

“Huh…?”

“Someone has Primordial Fire?”

“Who is it?”

Everyone looked around in confusion.

But no one stepped forward.

Who was it?

Who possessed *Primordial Fire*?

‘Primordial elemental attributes are a druid’s specialty.’

…It was me.

I possessed all four primordial attributes.

Fire, water, earth, and wind.

They seemed to resonate with the Spirit King here.

Then—

《‘Rampaging Fire Spirit King Agnis’ awakens!》

“M-Ma…mon…!!!”

Uttering the name of **Mammon**, one of the Demon Lords—

Fwoooosh!

Krrrrrrrrrr—!!!

Agnis, now even larger, swung a spear of flame.

“Full Bloom!”

“Absolute Shield!”

“O Shield of Justice!”

The party reacted instantly.

But—

“Aaah!”

“It’s too hot!”

“My skin’s melting…!”

They blocked the spear, but the heat Agnis radiated was unavoidable.

The flames Agnis wielded were *Primordial Fire*.

Strong enough to melt Gracia’s ten thousand swords.

“At this rate…”

“How are we supposed to suppress it?”

They couldn’t even approach.

If they got close, they would melt without exception.

Ranged attacks fared no better.

《All resistances: 20%》

《All natural-element stats: 514%》

《Possesses ‘Primordial Fire’》

《99.8% resistance to ‘Spirit King Agnis’s Fire’》

Everyone—

Except me.

Even 0.2% was scorching, but it was bearable.

Combined with my natural regeneration, approaching it would be easy enough.

The problem was that suppressing it would require revealing a certain degree of power.

—*Allow me to step forward, my god.*

**Alkar, Tainted Black**, spoke, having sensed my hesitation.

…Even if he ranked third, could he defeat a Spirit King?

Still, there had to be a reason for his confidence.

I nodded.

《‘Alkar, Tainted Black’ borrows divine power.》

《‘Alkar, Tainted Black’ gains 99.8% resistance to ‘Spirit King Agnis’s Fire’.》

So that was it.

Now I understood his confidence.

This was part of Alkar’s ability—

to borrow the power of his god. One of *my* abilities.

“W-Who is that?”

“There was someone like that in our party?”

“A-Amazing…”

Alkar emerged from the shadows and began confronting Agnis.

Tuk—

A burly man in a suit clenched his fist and stepped forward.

Thud—

With heavy footsteps, he calmly walked through the path engulfed in flames.

Spirit King Agnis’s fire—

powerful enough to burn away heavenly corruption—

couldn’t touch Alkar, who possessed near immunity.

—*I’ll burn everything to ash!*

Rrrrrrrrr—

Agnis hurled a spear of flame.

The spear caused a chain of explosions as it crashed toward Alkar.

KRAAAAAANG—!

Alkar exhaled, and a black beam burst forth, colliding head-on with the spear.

Rrrrr—!

The entire mountain shook.

The black beam and flame spear canceled each other out—vanishing completely.

—*Infinite fire!*

But Agnis’s assault was only beginning.

The red flames turned blue—

then white.

“Why is it so hot?!”

“I-I can’t get closer…!”

Even at a great distance, their skin burned.

Alkar was no exception.

Even 0.2% of Agnis’s fire was enough to incinerate everything.

Sssssss!

His suit burned away.

But unlike me, Alkar lacked overwhelming regeneration.

And yet—

…he did not stop.

Even as his suit turned to ash, even as his skin blistered and necrotized, Alkar continued forward.

The closer he drew, the denser the flames became—

and yet he did not care.

Then—something strange happened.

There was no fire on the path Alkar walked.

No—

to be precise, the flames had turned *pitch-black*.

—*You’re tainting infinite fire?!*

Why he was called **Alkar, Tainted Black**.

True to his name, Alkar could taint everything.

Make it his own.

Everything he tainted.

“Huu.”

Alkar opened his mouth wide once more.

Suuuuuuu—

All the *black flames* he had tainted began flowing into his mouth.

Gulp.

Alkar devoured the Spirit King’s fire.

In that instant—

Creak, crack—

Alkar’s body swelled after absorbing the black flames.

That wasn’t the only change.

“A tail…?”

“H-Half human, half dragon?”

“A-A dragon knight!”

Fueled by the absorbed fire, Alkar became half human, half dragon.

By the will of the Blade Dragon God Queen, the demon-blooded are born in varying forms.

Human form. Suicide soldier form.

All according to her will.

But Alkar was different.

Among the demon-blooded, he alone could change his form by his own will—depending on the power he absorbed.

Demon-blooded, rank three.

That was how he was labeled, but—

in truth, ranks one and two—**Issera** and **Lucaria**—were Overlords, and thus ranked higher by default.

The rankings were not based on raw combat power.

They merely measured *importance* among the demon-blooded.

Even so, he was third.

Meaning Alkar was the third most important among them.

Though he wasn’t an Overlord born with a Dragon God’s heart, his importance was obvious.

He was an extraordinary anomaly among anomalies.

The only demon-blooded who defied the Queen’s will—

the one with a heart of steel that feared nothing.

Alkar, who tainted and devoured everything, was unmistakably *greedy*.

More than anyone—

he was closest to their god.

If rank were determined by pure combat strength—

then Alkar’s power…

“All glory, to our great god.”

Alkar, Tainted Black.

In his half-dragon form, a massive greatsword was now gripped in his hand.

Facing the enormous flaming meteors falling from the sky—

Swiish—

Alkar swung his blade.

In an instant—

a black crescent-shaped sword aura shot forth, cleaving every meteor apart.

It didn’t stop there.

With each meteor it split, the black crescent grew larger.

Soon, a blade of incomparable size surged forward—

and struck Agnis in a single heartbeat.

【Cleave — World Severance】

Shaaak!

—*No…!*

Thud.

Agnis’s head was severed.