SFRW-Chapter 44

Ch. 44 Sword God From The Ruined World 

Manaus.  

The largest city in northern Brazil and a port city along the Negro River, a tributary of the Amazon River.  

Even in the Age of rifts, it was a city the Brazilian government desperately tried to protect.  

However, even now, ten years later, it still didn’t score highly in terms of urban safety.  

Nevertheless, the official population residing in Manaus was a staggering 20 million.  

Unofficially, it was said that at least 2 million more lived there.  

This meant that among the cities in northern Brazil, none were safer than Manaus.  

The Brazilian Hero Association and the government had resorted to the extreme measure of closing rift zones after much deliberation, all to ensure Manaus’s safety.  

Given the situation, the rift zones near Manaus were being targeted for closure operations by so-called ‘ace’ Heroes and guilds.  

BA035 rift zone, east of Manaus.  

Since it was a rift zone where the Brazilian Hero Association had systematically managed the monster population, closing it shouldn’t have been too difficult.  

There was no Boss Monster, and like other rift zones around the Amazon, there was only one sub-boss monster at most.  

Nevertheless, the Brazilian Hero Association deployed their most reliable forces to ensure the rift zone was completely sealed.  

The S-rank Hero Arvado and his Rio Ninho Guild were the main players.  

Additionally, 30 A-rank Heroes were assembled, as no one even considered the possibility of their failure.  

“Guh…!”  

“Scatter! Spread out!”  

“The combat suits are melting! Take them off now!”  

“Ahhhh!”  

It was utter chaos.  

The Rio Ninho Guild was being mercilessly crushed by the attacks of monsters known as Giant Wasps.  

Aside from being flying monsters that used venomous stingers, they shouldn’t have been particularly fearsome.  

Even a C-rank Hero could defend against them without much difficulty if equipped with a high-performance combat suit and shield.  

Yet the Rio Ninho Guild, composed mostly of A-rank Heroes, was helplessly falling to the Giant Wasps’ attacks.  

The venomous stingers were especially powerful.  

Merely touching them melted even decent shields and combat suits, rendering defense meaningless.  

“Don’t try to block recklessly—just dodge! Focus on taking them down with ranged attacks!”  

As guild members suffered increasing casualties, Arvado gritted his teeth and unleashed his attacks.  

Arvado’s weapon was a pike.  

An extremely long spear measuring over 7 meters, its length could be adjusted with the press of a button, making it highly versatile in combat and easy to carry.  

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!  

Against the flying Giant Wasps, Arvado utilized the full 7-meter length of his pike.  

With each swing, nearly ten Giant Wasps exploded like fireworks.  

Yet the swarm of hundreds of Giant Wasps showed no signs of retreating.  

Instead, as if enraged, they buzzed loudly and charged at Arvado and the Rio Ninho Guild members.  

‘This isn’t normal! There’s no way these things should be this strong!‘  

Arvado clenched his teeth as he watched his guild members fall into crisis from the very entrance of the rift zone.  

The heavier bodies, the rapidly draining stamina, the monsters that had grown several times stronger, and the people he had to protect—none of this was normal.  

It was an enormous variable no one had anticipated.  

‘The closure operation is a failure! We have to survive and report that the rift zone has changed!‘  

Arvado realistically adjusted his plans.  

However, escaping would require defeating countless monsters.  

How many would make it out alive?  

Despair colored Arvado’s expression.  

The BA035 rift Zone, located 110 kilometers east of Manaus, was also 480 kilometers west of Santarém.  

***  

“Think of it as highly concentrated magic flooding into your body uncontrollably.”  

“Highly concentrated magic?”  

Hyun Joo-yeon stared blankly at Seo Do-jun as if he were speaking nonsense.  

“magic…”  

Seo Do-jun clicked his tongue, about to explain further.  

Earth’s Heroes still had a severe lack of understanding about magic.  

Though they had awakened through this mysterious power and were called Heroes, even after ten years, almost none could effectively control or utilize it.  

Only the S-rank Heroes had some ability to manipulate magic’s power.  

Of course, from Seo Do-jun’s perspective, even that was child’s play.  

‘If they knew how to properly wield magic, their martial techniques wouldn’t be so pathetic.’  

How could he explain it in a way she’d understand?  

After a moment of thought, he found the most fitting analogy.  

“What happens when adrenaline is secreted uncontrollably?”  

“Adrenaline? You’d die from heart and blood pressure issues, obviously.”  

Seo Do-jun frowned at her answer, which only mentioned the side effects.  

“That’s not what I meant. I’m talking about the excitement, the surge of unknown strength, that superhuman feeling like you can do anything.”  

Of course, excessive adrenaline secretion wouldn’t actually cause that.  

Unsurprisingly, Hyun Joo-yeon just wrinkled her nose in confusion.  

“Imagine pumping an athlete full of every doping drug possible. Does that make sense?”  

After circling around, Seo Do-jun finally settled on the simplest explanation.  

Fortunately, this time, Hyun Joo-yeon understood immediately.  

“So the monsters in this rift zone are in that state?”  

Any further explanation would only complicate things, and no matter how detailed he was, it wouldn’t be something Hyun Joo-yeon could fully grasp. So Seo Do-jun simply nodded.  

Hyun Joo-yeon, who had been staring at him intently, suddenly spoke up.  

“How do you know all this, Seo Do-jun?”  

“It’s weirder that you don’t.”  

If they had even a basic understanding of magic, the current state of the rift zone would be obvious.  

The dense, heavy magic saturating the environment wasn’t entirely bad from Seo Do-jun’s perspective.  

Though the energy was turbid, nowhere else on Earth had such an abundance of magic to absorb.  

Watching the Silk Flower Guild members complain about their bodies feeling heavy, sticky, and uncomfortable, Seo Do-jun couldn’t help but find them pitiable.  

‘Well, it’s not like they can learn magic cultivation overnight.’  

According to Ryuntna’s theory, dark magic was especially suited to monsters.  

As a result, monsters absorbed magic more efficiently and quickly than humans, giving them an overwhelming advantage in dark magic-rich environments.  

On the other hand, Earth’s humans had virtually no ability to control magic.  

Monsters, however, instinctively carried and used magic in their lives, so it wasn’t strange for them to become twice as strong in an instant.  

But since dark magic was still a form of magic, humans who properly refined it using cultivation techniques could thrive in such an environment.  

The problem was that no such humans existed on Earth.  

“Looking at you, Seo Do-jun, it’s like you’re a completely different person. Be honest—are you on your second life or something?”  

Hyun Joo-yeon laughed at her own words, shaking her head as if it were ridiculous.  

‘Second life… Well, it’s close enough.’  

Seo Do-jun smiled faintly at her remark.  

***  

After finishing their meal and resting, Seo Do-jun’s group resumed hunting in the rift zone.  

The Silk Flower Guild members had long since ceased to be of much help, and even Hyun Joo-yeon’s stamina was rapidly depleting, sharply reducing her combat ability.  

In the end, the task of hunting monsters fell entirely to Seo Do-jun.  

Even the small fry monsters had become twice as strong—how much stronger had the sub-bosses grown?  

Yet even these enhanced sub-boss monsters were instantly killed by Seo Do-jun before they could flaunt their newfound power.  

‘Twelve so far.’  

A specially made container now held the twelfth Blue Croco heart.  

“Most monsters wouldn’t stand a chance.”  

“Even Black Orcs became ridiculously stronger, but Blue Crocos are still one-shotted…”  

A Silk Flower Guild member trailed off, staring at Seo Do-jun in awe.  

After Seo Do-jun extracted the Blue Croco hearts, the guild members processed the remaining byproducts.  

Since they couldn’t contribute much to hunting, they at least handled the menial tasks diligently.  

“But… does this actually do anything?”  

One guild member, cutting Blue Croco meat into manageable pieces, asked seriously.  

Seo Do-jun had been sampling the meat each time he killed a Blue Croco, like a gourmet curious about its flavor.  

Even now, he was roasting a piece over a fire and eating it.  

“Should we try it too? Maybe it really has an effect.”  

“Uh… maybe?”  

“Yeah, let’s eat it!”  

Eventually, the Silk Flower Guild members also began roasting Blue Croco meat.  

Their expressions upon taking their first bites varied.  

There was no foul odor, and the texture wasn’t strange, but the idea of eating monster meat was unsettling.  

The only saving grace was that it tasted good.  

Watching them reluctantly chew the meat, Seo Do-jun let out a quiet laugh.  

Their serious treatment of Blue Croco meat—which had no special effects and was only valuable as food—was amusing.  

Then, as if struck by a thought, he approached those eating the meat.  

“You okay?”  

At his question, the guild members nodded with expressions like they were chewing dirt.  

Meanwhile, invisible strands of magic spread from Seo Do-jun like spiderwebs, targeting those who had eaten the meat.  

The magic seeped into their bodies.  

“…Huh? What was that?”  

One particularly sensitive guild member tilted his head in confusion.  

“What?”  

“Did you feel a chill?”  

“A chill? In this heat?”  

“…Must’ve imagined it.”  

Dismissing it as nothing, he went back to eating.  

“Enjoy your meal. Who knows? Something good might happen.”  

With those words, Seo Do-jun leisurely walked away.  

From now on, these individuals would absorb magic faster than others.  

In the ruined world, most mages and knights underwent this basic process before training in magic cultivation—opening pathways in their bodies to absorb magic more easily and quickly.  

Someone at Seo Do-jun’s level could use magic to carve and expand these pathways, with remarkably effective results.  

‘In a place with magic this dense, the effects will be even greater. Speaking of which…‘  

Seo Do-jun approached Hyun Joo-yeon, who had been the first to eat the Blue Croco meat.  

Since even the latecomers among the guild members had sensed the change, it would be strange if she hadn’t. So he used the same method on her.  

“What the…?”  

True to her status as an S-rank Hero, her sharp senses made her glance around suspiciously.  

But no one could tell what Seo Do-jun had done.  

Before long, the difference between those who had eaten the meat and those who hadn’t would become obvious.  

Eventually, everyone would eat it.  

And when that happened, Seo Do-jun would simply work his changes on them again.  

It wasn’t difficult or particularly grand.  

After all, no matter how much magic they absorbed, it wouldn’t mean anything if they couldn’t make it their own.  

Moreover, with dark magic, even if they couldn’t refine it properly, it would simply dissipate from their bodies without causing harm.  

‘I do know quite a few magic cultivation techniques…‘  

But for now, Seo Do-jun saw no obligation or reason to teach them.