Light gradually overtook Chi-Woo’s vision until it was all he could see. It was so blindingly white that it made him think the whole world had been dyed the same color. He instinctively covered his eyes and narrowed them. Strange looking things—indescribable shining clumps of rocks—were approaching him. If he had to describe it, they appeared like clay that had been ripped off and sloppily smashed together again. They shone like luminous stones and flew toward Chi-Woo very, very slowly while filling up the hills in front of him.
Seeing these mysterious substances take over the area, Chi-Woo panicked. There were way too many of them. ‘What in the World? Are they the Sernitas’ army? But I am only supposed to fight their god. Should I run for it?’ All kinds of thoughts passed through his head. Then an enormous figure, far bigger than all the others, appeared over the horizon. The sight of this figure made Chi-Woo realize that all of his expectations had been wrong. It was simply colossal, bigger than most high-rise buildings.
As if someone had injected a large amount of air into an ancient mammoth with a bunch of syringes, its body was lumpy. To describe it nicely, it looked like an immensely overgrown, wild tumor and pus, painting an incredibly grotesque picture. It was so swollen that some parts were bursting and spewing liquid that shone like melted, red iron. When this liquid fell to the ground, shining lumps of rock sprouted out from the soil and moved forward with their maker.
Evelyn hadn’t lied. Although they grew their numbers like a mother giving birth to her children, this enemy should be considered as one. But how unexpected. Chi-Woo thought he would battle the god one-on-one, but now, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to even approach the god’s main body.
At that moment, one of the small clumps stopped moving abruptly. A small fire shot up from below it. The clump was above the area where Chi-Woo had planted a talisman. Chi-Woo looked on expectedly, but to his disappointment, the fire was quickly extinguished. Then the small clump shook its whole body—brrr. Sparkle! It exploded while scattering a fancy array of lights. Bam! Chi-Woo’s vision shook, and the ground quaked and rumbled from the impact. The explosion of one small clump of rock had left a small crater on the ground like someone had exploded a grenade on a sandy beach.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
More explosions and the ground shook again as the small clumps landed where the talismans were planted. One talisman for each clump, which was simply discharged of the main body—it was not a good exchange. Furthermore, Chi-Woo’s plan to guide the enemy to a specific location had already failed. Chi-Woo tried to calm himself, but then he noticed the clumps suddenly acting strangely. The incoming wave came to a sudden halt mid-charge.
Was it angry because some of its offspring had been destroyed? The main body swelled up like it was going to burst before contracting again. Like a beating heart, it increased in size and shriveled up a couple of times. Its brilliance intensified each time it did this. It shrunk to a size one wouldn’t have thought possible, and following the change, particles of light gathered to the center of its body.
Chi-Woo’s eyes widened. Like the string of a bow being pulled taut before releasing, the fully compressed body sprang into a size much greater than before. Simultaneously, the cluster of light particles burst out from the center like a spring that had been pushed down to its limit.
Kuaaaaaaah!
Flashes of light that could turn everything within hundreds of meters into nothing shot forward. Amid the immense shock, Chi-Woo felt intense pressure. Neither himself nor his surroundings were directly hit, but Chi-Woo lost his balance and staggered. The beam of light hadn’t been aimed at him. It went over him, climbed over the mountain at the back and blasted its peak off. As if an avalanche had been triggered, the intense vibration and noise struck Chi-Woo from his back. He took some time to collect himself and looked over his shoulder when he finally regained his balance. What he saw made his jaw drop low.
“Ha…” When a human saw something they couldn’t wrap their head around, their mind sometimes turn blank. And that was what happened to Chi-Woo. Nothing was left in the path where the beam of light had passed other than a long crevice, like the moat surrounding the fortress.
But its impact on the mountain was even more significant. It left a dent that cut off from the middle because nothing could be seen above it—it had all disappeared. Seeing such a surreal scene before him, Chi-Woo let out a burst of humorless laughter.
“Ha…ha…” It was just unbelievable. Half of a mountain had been blown away with just one strike. Goosebumps popped up all over his skin. What would have happened if Chi-Woo had been hit by the beam of light? Or been closer to it? Chi-Woo’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. This god was in a whole other ballpark than the broken beings he had fought before. Seriously, he hadn’t felt this much pressure even when he first saw Evelyn.
‘Is…this an opponent…I can beat?’ He needed to approach his opponent somehow and swing his club until it was extinguished. But what could he do about the beam of light, or the explosion which would leave him as clumps of meat if he got too close? No matter how much he thought about it, he could only picture himself dying a meaningless, quick death before he could reach the god’s main body.
‘This is imposs…’ No. He could never. Chi-Woo took several steps backward while shaking his head. Although he had sworn to himself that he would never despair hopelessly again, the display of power before had broken all the determination he had built. His head was in a mess.
Slap! Chi-Woo's head turned. His left cheek felt numb, and when he looked around, he saw the slap had come from the bun sitting on his left shoulder.
“You…”
“Pyu.” It was a serious voice, almost angry. It was as if the bun was pissed to see someone who had beaten him head-to-head act so pathetically.
“Haaa….” Chi-Woo let out a deep sigh and regained composure, nodding twice before looking forward. After letting out a beam of light, the main body had been advancing forward with their offspring again. With his eyes on them, Chi-Woo took out a talisman from his pocket. He had planned to use it as a last resort, but he had to change his plans 180 degrees now. This wasn’t the time to hold anything back. His enemy could squish him like a bug, and he needed to give it his all from the beginning.
The bun turned back and forth as if it was looking for a fire. Chi-Woo shook his head at it. He usually needed to attach the talisman somewhere or burn it with a blessing, but this time, he was going to do neither. Chi-Woo stared at the black patterns on the white paper. Then he took out a bottle filled with precious holy water from his bag and carefully poured it onto the talisman.
‘I beg you.’
The Talisman of Samshin Jae-suk (Indra)’s Divine Retribution—it was a talisman that borrowed power from the Vedic deity Indra to bring down heavenly punishment onto evil beings. In Sanskrit, Samshin Jae-suk’s name translated to Shakradeva Indra—the king of Svarga (Heaven) and the protector of law and order in Hinduism. As mentioned before, there existed a hierarchy even among gods, and in this hierarchy, those in the bodhisattvas class were among the highest-ranking deities. For example, the Jade Emperor (the supreme God of Taoism and a creator-level deity) was in this class. Like the Jade Emperor, Indra was also the god of heaven and could be seen as being in the same rank as Him.
‘Please…please…’ Thus, Chi-Woo prayed more ardently than ever before. Indra was an even higher-ranking deity than the White Horse General, who had responded to his call in the past. That was, of course, a human’s point of view; from the perspective of a god, the difference between each of the ranks could be unfathomable. Thus, Chi-Woo had little confidence. Gods didn’t care about human affairs as much as humans would like to think. Perhaps those in the 5th or 6th celestial rank were different, but from the 7th rank and upwards, the gods tended to be more indifferent. After all, they all did fine and dandy even without listening to people’s prayers.
Yet Indra was in the 9th celestial rank. Perhaps a master who had accumulated enough merits to reach the sky might get the chance of being heard, but it was irrational to expect such a god to give any human the time of day. It would be foolish to even expect Indra to spare Chi-Woo a single glance, much less descend to scold Chi-Woo for daring to call him. This meant Chi-Woo would not be able to appeal using his connection with his past master like he had done with the White Horse General, either, since Indra wouldn’t even give Chi-Woo the chance to persuade him. That left him with only one option: to make offerings. Like one could commonly see in ancestral rites, a person could offer rice cakes and fruits to a god, but right now, Chi-Woo needed to offer something a bit more aligned with Indra’s tastes. Thus, Chi-Woo had taken out his bottle of holy water and poured it onto the talisman.
It was a holy substance containing the power of a perfect neutral god. He wasn’t too sure how effective it would be, but Chi-Woo thought it was worth a try since La Bella was also a high-ranking god. As Chi-Woo continued his ritual and prayed, though, doubt crept into his heart. What if his prayer didn’t reach Indra? What if nothing happened? He couldn’t get rid of such thoughts, and every time these doubts seeped in, he did what he always did to relieve them.
“Long life is in her right hand.” Chi-Woo closed his eyes and spoke whatever Proverbs verses that came to his mind first. “Gain faith and understanding.” Chi-Woo was determined to believe in himself. “Do not forget these—" His heart had shaken once again in front of a strong enemy, falling in fear and losing faith; and his resolve had shaken simultaneously. “My son, do not turn your ear from my teachings.”
The Heavens only helped those who helped themselves and didn’t lend their hand to those who had lost faith in even themselves. Thus, he had to believe. “Don’t forsake your faith.” It really was amazing. Chi-Woo didn’t know whether it was a reflex of his, but whenever he chanted Buddhist scriptures or the Bible, his heart calmed, and he felt his stiff face muscles loosen.
Flicker!
“Then, this faith would—” Verses from the book of Proverbs flowed out of him like the river and abruptly stopped. There was a sound he hadn’t heard before. And it wasn’t just the noise; a warm air lingered in front of him, and Chi-Woo peeked one of his eyes open. Both eyes fluttered open and widened at the sight of the talisman in his hands. The bottle of holy water was completely empty now, and logically speaking, the talisman should’ve been soaked. Yet the Talisman of Indra’s Devine Retribution wasn’t wet in the slightest. And without a drop of liquid, it was burning up with white fire.
“….Protect you.” Chi-Woo muttered blankly as the talisman burned, and following his instincts, he gripped the talisman tighter.
Spark! There was a sharp electric current. This was a sign that Indra had responded to Chi-Woo’s prayers. Chi-Woo shuddered, and his breathing shook. He felt such joy that he couldn’t even breathe properly.
“Love faith.” There was another spark, and following it, the barren night sky without a speck of cloud began to fill up with a cluster of dark clouds. “Then faith will protect you.”
Rumble! Rummmble!
The night sky flashed as lightning came down, accompanied by thunderous rumbles. Chi-Woo’s opponent had stopped advancing at this point. Instead of facing the mountain peak, the main body had zeroed in on Chi-Woo. They were hesitating, seemingly caught completely off guard; and they weren’t the only ones reacting this way. Both Evelyn, who was hovering in the air for safety, and Huk Cheong-Ram were flabbergasted.
“What—” Evelyn looked up at the night sky and saw that it was already filled with dark clouds. She instinctively hunched her shoulders as she felt an immense giant—an existence she dared not even fathom—look down upon them. Then, after some time, Chi-Woo raised his burning talisman high in the sky.
“Let there be—" he shouted. “Light!”
Fwooosh!
The white fire burned the talisman cleanly to its corners.