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Transcendent (3)
It felt like this was the first time he’d slept well. Kim Bongpal thought so as he opened his eyes. The pain he felt moments before he lost consciousness remained vivid. Kim Bongpal once had a monster rip through his guts and had a handful of flesh eaten from his thigh, but this was a pain that could not even be compared.
However, it had been washed away. Rather, he felt more refreshed than he ever had in recent years.
At the same time, Kim Bongpal felt a heaviness against his chest.
“Uhm.”
“
?”
He moved his neck slightly to look down; what he saw was Maya’s head. Maya’s pointed ears were tickling him with every breath she took. She was back to the original form he’d first met her in. Well, actually, the mature Maya was her original look, but anyway.
He also felt something damp.
“Whew.”
She was also drooling on him.
“
”
Kim Bongpal took out a pillow made on Earth from his subspace bag to support Maya’s head. Then he shimmed out from under her and looked around. There was a barrier wrapped around them that blended a spell’s energy and supernatural force. Kim Bongpal couldn’t proudly say that he knew much about magic, but it didn’t seem like a barrier set up by current Maya.
Secure for now, Kim Bongpal calmly organized his thoughts. First, on the Monstrous Immortal, he met yesterday, his own attack that he fired, and his damaged body. Then Maya

He pushed himself up with these thoughts. Maya flinched and muttered something.
“No
.”
“
?”
“It’s mine
give it back
.”
Maya talked in her sleep.
“Haah.”
Kim Bongpal let out a small sigh. Actually, it still felt awkward.
Maya, having regained her power, was strong. It was hard to think that she was the same person as this one drooling in her sleep right now

When Maya had said that there was no Arch Sorcerer like her, it was true. However, the two images of her were too disparate. It wasn’t hard to guess, but he speculated that Maya must’ve made considerable sacrifices to regain her original power in their fight. Maybe she hadn’t, but Kim Bongpal was almost certain of it.
If she could use that kind of power without any burden, it wouldn’t make sense.
“
Fuck.”
Kim Bongpal cursed. In his former hunter days, he was known as a bastard who only knew money. However, his actions were always based on favors and grudges. It was a bit of a problem, though, that their standards were determined thoroughly by Kim Bongpal and not by some universal law.
Anyway. Even by Kim Bongpal’s standards, Maya’s help was enough to be counted as a favor.
‘My body
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.’
Kim Bongpal began to check his own body. He didn’t just feel refreshed; his body was in great condition. Actually, it felt better than before. And, glancing around, he quickly found his sword lying in the grass near where he’d been.
He reached for it, thinking of that attack that injured the Monstrous Immortal, and it was to try it again.
Thud-
The sense of the sword in his hand felt so clear, and the tickling sensation that Kim Bongpal had previously felt disappeared. Instead, something close to certainty arose.
Kim Bongpal drew his sword. Then. He swung it. With a feeling as if a handful of mana was draining away-
Bang-!
A shock sounded from afar.
“Oh!”
Kim Bongpal was satisfied. The power was also huge, capable of crossing space. There wasn’t a scratch on the barrier around them.
What should he call this? Space Cut? Space Sword? Kim Bongpal decided to set aside that matter. It felt tacky to give a name to a technique.
Crack-
“What the heck?”
His sword broke. The blade part was falling to the ground in pieces. Kim Bongpal grimaced at it.
It was a pretty good sword. That was why he took it from Damn-chul, but above all, he’d been able to use it for a solid month in the Shire. Normally, he’d be lucky if one of his swords lasted a week.
Was it because of the battle with the Monstrous Immortal? Or was it because of what he just tried? Whatever it might be, he thought of it as one more reason to kill the Monstrous Immortal if they met again later. Then, Kim Bongpal concentrated his mana in his hand and dismantled the barrier. It wasn’t that difficult because the power injected into it had slowly weakened.
Kim Bongpal intended to return to Purple Clouds to find the missing Shadowless Squad members. There was also some information he hadn’t confirmed yet.
Kim Bongpal looked around him. He was sure there were still a few Shadowless Squad members who hadn’t yet died to the Monstrous Immortal, but they weren’t around now. Yet they shouldn’t have been able to move due to their injuries, and most of them had lost consciousness during his fight
so someone must’ve taken them. But given the dead remained, it couldn’t have been the Celestial Demon Cult. Perhaps someone from Purple Clouds?
The fight between Kim Bongpal and the Monstrous Immortal was quite far from the city, but it was so intense that it would be easy to notice if people had excellent senses nearby.
Shake.
Kim Bongpal shook the sleeping Maya, but she didn’t budge.
“Hey.”
“No. I want to sleep more
.”
Kim Bongpal watched her as she tossed and turned, then sighed. Usually, he would have just woken her up. But he owed her in the end.
“Ugh. Fuck.”
Kim Bongpal carried Maya on his back.
* * *
There were several advantages of the Phantom Horse besides its speed. Among them, the thing that Kim Bongpal felt most useful was that it hid the presence of itself and its passengers from most monsters. Because of that, he could avoid collisions with monsters if he didn’t want to fight. Of course, this aura wasn’t omnipotent.
It could not hide its presence from high-level monsters.
“Roaaar!”
Kim Bongpal looked to the side at the sudden sound to find a giant wolf.
“Hmm. Why am I finding so many dogs these days?”
Saying so, Kim Bongpal clenched his fist. He tossed his sword away, and although he carried several cheap replacements, he didn’t take them out. All because he wondered if he could hit through space with his fists.
Whoosh-!
But was it because he wasn’t used to using his fists? It didn’t come out as strong.
“Y-yelp!”
The wolf monster let out a whine, but it still moved normally.
‘
But why did it feel familiar?’
Just when Kim Bongpal was pondering that, a stream of mana arose around the wolf monster. Its form was beginning to morph.
“Ooh. Does it transform too?”
There were no transforming monsters on Earth. Kim Bongpal stopped the Phantom Horse, thinking he’d seen something strange. He was thinking of beating it up properly and going ahead.
“B-Brother! It’s me!”
Warg appeared, holding his red and bloody nose.
* * *
“So you can turn into a wolf?”
“Well, my father is a mixed race, so I can turn into an animal and human-beast forms.”
“Really? Anyway, did you say that you were about to pick me up?”
“Yes! You’re right!”
This is what Warg said: yesterday — when Kim Bongpal had fainted — he was looking for him. To be precise, Warg was looking for Maya. At that moment, Kim Bongpal thought about hitting Warg again, but he endured it and listened to him for the time being.
Anyway, Warg, looking for Kim Bongpal and Maya, followed their scent and arrived outside Purple Clouds, where they fought against the Monstrous Immortal. What Warg found were traces of the battle and some dying warriors. He said he took the living Shadowless Squad members to Purple Clouds just in case.
“Good, good. Are they all alive?”
“Yes! They haven’t come to their senses, but their wounds aren’t life-threatening!”
Kim Bongpal shook his head with a satisfied look.
He was also right a few days ago. People must be beaten up, so they listen well. But in this case, Warg wasn’t a person and didn’t do what Kim Bongpal asked him to do.
“And just in case, Tearing Mind Sword? I called that guy over.”
“Oh, Tearing Mind? Did he say anything?”
“Yes. He was muttering something but got quiet again after I growled at him.”
“What? Growl? Did you threaten Tearing Mind?”
Kim Bongpal clenched his fist and asked Warg. The werewolf gave a startling reply.
“N-no. It’s definitely courtesy to follow the words of older people when you’re younger, just like you said
.”
Pang-!
A sound familiar to both Kim Bongpal and Warg rang out.
“How old are you?”
“I am forty-nine, and that guy is forty-eight
.”
“He’s fifty.”
“
?”
Warg made a bewildered face at Kim Bongpal’s statement. Obviously, Tearing Mind Sword said it himself that he was forty-eight, but

Of course, Kim Bongpal ignored Warg. Although Warg was a useful dog, Tearing Mind Sword, his martial arts teacher, was superior by his standards. Besides, while Kim Bongpal was riding back to Purple Clouds, he realized that he hadn’t paid for the drinks at the pub.
Kim Bongpal handed over Maya, who was still sleeping and said.
“First, you carry her.”
“Yes.”
Warg grunted. He seemed to be pissed off from the way he was pouting. Kim Bongpal decided to let it slide this time.
“B-but
who is this?”
It was because he knew how Warg would take the answer he would give. He answered with a strange smile.
“Maya.”
“
Yes?”
“She’s Maya. The one you said was mature and beautiful, Maya.”
“No. What the hell are you talking about
?”
Thinking that Kim Bongpal was making fun of him, Warg asked with a frown
and then he stopped talking.
Sniff-sniff.
His sense of smell was telling him that Kim Bongpal was right. This was a familiar scent, one he knew well decades ago.
“
”