―You have acquired the trait ‘[EX Rank] Master of Divine Beasts’.

As the system notification rang out, a mystical energy seemed to permeate through his entire body. It felt as though the power of the newly acquired trait had settled into Seongshik’s body.

‘I really got it.’

Even while reading the system message, Seongshik couldn't quite believe it. He never thought he’d acquire another [EX Rank] trait like this.

‘If I were to gain another [EX Rank] trait... I thought I’d get it by evolving the [S-Rank] Sword Sovereign trait.’

Seongshik currently possessed a growth-type trait: [S-Rank] Sword Sovereign. He had believed that it would need to evolve into ‘[EX Rank] Sword God’ to obtain a second [EX Rank] trait. But unexpectedly, he had just gained another [EX Rank] trait, and it left him stunned.

Just from the name, it appeared to be a trait specialized in handling Divine Beasts, and he was curious what exactly it entailed. So, he checked the trait immediately.

[EX Rank] Master of Divine Beasts
―A unique trait of Jinmun the Sage, who ruled over the Yellow Dragon and the Four Guardian Beasts.
―Can become the master of all Divine Beasts and Phantom Beasts.
―Owned Divine Beasts and Phantom Beasts: 0

―Hah, can you even handle Divine Beasts now? A trait that allows you to control those monstrously strong beings…

As he read the trait, Heaven-Splitter spoke in astonishment. Heaven-Splitter, who knew better than anyone the overwhelming power of Divine Beasts.

‘Are Divine Beasts really that powerful?’

―Don’t even ask. Just imagine going up against something like the Phoenix from the ‘Heart of the Phoenix’ you got a while ago.

That statement made everything click into place.

An immortal divine bird that never dies. A Phoenix. At the very least, you'd need to be at 8-star rank to even consider facing something like that.

―But I doubt you’ll easily be able to obtain a top-tier Divine Beast.

Heaven-Splitter’s words were only natural.

There’s a reason why they’re called Divine Beasts. To control them, one had to possess sufficient stature. It went without saying that the Four Guardian Beasts—Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, Azure Dragon, and Black Tortoise—as well as the highest-tier Yellow Dragon, were beyond ordinary. Even the Divine Beasts of lower rank were questionable as to whether Seongshik could control them at this point.

‘True. I’ll have to come up with a method to acquire a Divine Beast.’

He had been given the power to control Divine Beasts, but that didn’t mean he could immediately use one. The method of obtaining one was still his responsibility to figure out.

Seongshik focused on the phrase: ‘Can become the master of all Divine Beasts and Phantom Beasts.’

‘This means I should start with lower-grade Divine or Phantom Beasts.’

―That’s probably it. Honestly, if you could even control just one of the Four Guardian Beasts without having to go all the way up to the Yellow Dragon… you’d be able to take on the early Nights of Trial lords solo.

Heaven-Splitter’s words were shocking.

Though the later-stage lords of the Nights of Trial were stronger, even those appearing early were no weaklings. No one could confidently claim they could take them on one-on-one.

And yet, he was being told he could go toe-to-toe with one of them. Seongshik hadn’t seen the power of a Divine Beast firsthand, but hearing this from Heaven-Splitter filled him with anticipation.

‘Divine Beasts… what an unexpected trump card.’

Of course, there was no guarantee that Seongshik could actually obtain a Divine Beast. He didn’t even know where they were or how to get one.

But for now, he had something he could add to the empty Divine Beast list.

‘Didn’t you say Divine Beasts are hard to come by?’

―Right. Even Phantom Beasts, let alone high-grade Divine Beasts, are difficult to obtain under normal circumstances…

Before Heaven-Splitter could finish his sentence, Seongshik pulled an item from his inventory.

[Seal of Tenril]
Grade: Legendary
Description: A seal containing the power of Tenril. A remnant of Tenril, the Ice Spirit King Fenrir’s fragment, left behind in the human world.

What Seongshik pulled out was the ‘Seal of Tenril’.

―That’s……!

Heaven-Splitter was startled.

An item obtained after defeating the hidden boss ‘Tenril’ in the past.

‘Looks like this one can be registered.’

As Heaven-Splitter exclaimed in surprise, the corners of Seongshik’s mouth lifted faintly.

“I truly have no excuse. I’m sorry.”

The Governor of Alaska repeatedly bowed his head toward Seongshik’s group.

After they had subdued all the members of Red Cross, they immediately contacted the governor. Hearing the whole situation, the governor stormed into the Red Cross mansion with several government-affiliated Superhumans. After being briefed on everything, he became furious at the Red Cross Superhumans.

“You scum! You were given privileges for being Superhumans, and this is how you repay us?!”

He raged, offering sincere apologies to Seongshik’s group over and over again.

“Please handle this quietly, so as not to tarnish Jenny’s reputation.”

“Yes, yes, of course. We’ll take utmost care not to let Miss Jenny’s name be stained in any way.”

In fact, the fact that Jenny had been harmed by the ‘Twin-Headed Komodo’s’ poison had even taken Seongshik by surprise. He had never imagined there could be a poison that could so easily invade the body of a 7-star-ranked person.

Before regression, he had never heard of such poison—perhaps because high-level Superhumans had deliberately kept that information suppressed.

―Even at 7-star, you’ve only reached the level of immunity to a hundred poisons. There are still countless poisons that can invade a 7-star body.

Just as Heaven-Splitter said, reaching 7-star did not make one entirely immune to poison. Only by attaining 8-star and reaching the level of complete poison immunity could one truly be safe from most poisons.

―But even so, the successor of Heaven-Splitter Arts has nothing to fear when it comes to poison.

Indeed. Others might struggle, but Seongshik had no reason to fear poison.

Because of the nature of the Heaven-Splitter Divine Art, which handled the mysteries of ‘Destruction’ and ‘Resolution’, it was possible to isolate and destroy the energy of the poison even if it invaded the body. Furthermore, the ‘Purifying Flame’ derived from his trait ‘Heart of the Phoenix’ was one of the most effective energies for burning away poison.

‘But Jenny isn’t the same.’

Looking at Jenny, who was still leaning on him, Seongshik showed a pained expression.

Even though he had expelled all of the Twin-Headed Komodo’s poison from her body using the power of the Purifying Flame and the energy of the Heaven-Splitter Divine Art, her condition didn’t look great. The aftermath of being invaded by the poison still lingered. Not to mention the toll it had taken on her mental and physical energy.

As he looked at Jenny, Seongshik felt a new wave of anger toward the Red Cross Clan.

“Please deal with these bastards with the harshest punishment possible.”

“Yes! Absolutely. They’ll be sentenced to the maximum punishment allowable.”

Even if they hadn’t harmed Jenny today, there were already more than enough reasons to bring those bastards to justice.

While investigating the mansion, several women who had gone missing were found imprisoned. Kidnapping and imprisonment—no matter how lenient the application of law may be, this had clearly crossed the line.

“And I have destroyed all their dantians. Because I used a special power to destroy them, even if they receive treatment, they will no longer be able to live as Superhumans.”

That was true. Sungshik had destroyed all their dantians and absorbed their power. As a result, they had all lost their Superhuman powers. They were now nothing more than ordinary people.

During that time, the trait [EX Rank] Consumption had activated about six more times. Of course, there was nothing particularly useful. The highest grade trait was a [B Rank] one. Although there were no traits immediately worth using, they might be useful later for combination.

“That’s possible? That’s great. Even if they had power, people like that would only bring harm to humanity.”

The governor was somewhat surprised by Sungshik’s words but ultimately nodded in agreement. That was how grave their crimes were.

And just like that, the Red Cross Clan was dismantled overnight.

[I heard the Red Cross bastards were completely destroyed by the Heavenly Sovereign?] [They kidnapped and imprisoned women? Then the women who had gone missing until now—those bastards were responsible?] [What utter trash.] [Wow, but the Red Cross Clan was supposed to be pretty strong. To crush them alone like that… they said he was comparable to the Martial Emperor, and it looks like he’s really powerful.]

As it was revealed that it was Sungshik who dismantled the Red Cross, his martial prowess came into the spotlight once more. More and more voices argued that he should be placed on the same level as the Martial Emperor and the Sword Emperor.

“On the same level as the Martial Emperor and Sword Emperor…”

—Have you not truly become a match for them now?

Heaven-Splitter sent a mental message while looking at Sungshik.

“I suppose so.”

It wasn’t an empty response. This time, he had acquired the [EX Rank] Master of the Divine Beast trait. And thanks to that, he had obtained the Divine Beast, Tenril.

[Master of the Divine Beast]
Summonable Divine Beasts: 1

Having obtained Tenril, Sungshik now thought that he could at least fight evenly against the Martial Emperor or the Sword Emperor. Perhaps, he might even be able to defeat them. All of that was thanks to gaining Tenril.

A few hours earlier—

Sungshik had returned to his lodging and checked the Seal of Tenril once more.

―You may now use the “Seal of Tenril.” Do you wish to summon “Tenril”?

After reading that system message, Sungshik booked a private training chamber and entered. This was following Heaven-Splitter’s advice that a massive surge of energy might erupt.

As soon as he accepted the summoning of Tenril in the training chamber, a tremendous storm of aura burst forth.

Gooooo—

The temperature suddenly plummeted. A faint breath escaped from Sungshik’s mouth. That was because mana of the ice attribute had filled the training room.

―Impressive.

Heaven-Splitter was amazed upon seeing the mana saturating the chamber.

The density of that mana grew ever thicker. And then—

Flaaash!

With a dazzling light, a massive white wolf radiating a pure white aura appeared—Tenril had been summoned.

“Hello? It’s been a while.”

―It has been a while, human.

Tenril gazed at Sungshik with calm eyes.

―I thought that our fates would intertwine someday due to my seal, but I did not expect to see you again so soon.

“Well, things just ended up that way.”

―Did you summon me to form a contract?

“Yeah. That’s right. I want to make a contract with you, Tenril.”

Sungshik, now possessing the [EX Rank] Master of the Divine Beast trait, believed that with this power, he could forge a contract with the Tenril before him.

―How peculiar. Peculiar indeed. Your rank has yet to reach mine. Normally, you wouldn’t be able to summon me like this. But the power you possess… is that the reason you could summon me?

Tenril instinctively sensed the power of the [EX Rank] Master of the Divine Beast trait within Sungshik.

It was true. In the first place, the “Seal of Tenril” could not be used unless Sungshik had reached Tenril’s level.

Tenril was a fragment of Fenrir.

Fenrir was a Divine Beast born from the fire god Loki and the female troll Angrboda. In Ragnarok, Fenrir fought Odin, possessing divine power on par with most gods. Its stature alone was nearly equivalent to 10 stars. Tenril was a fragment of that Divine Beast.

By Sungshik’s current rank, he should not have been able to summon Tenril. But the power of the [EX Rank] Master of the Divine Beast trait had made it possible.

―Very well. Human, I accept your contract. What is your name?

“Heo Sungshik.”

―I, Tenril, shall enter an eternal and unbreakable contract with Heo Sungshik. This contract shall persist until the day one of our souls fades into nothingness.

With those words, a brilliant light erupted from Tenril’s body. Soon, the light condensed into a fist-sized orb and flew into Sungshik’s chest.

Flaaash—

Sungshik’s body radiated pure white light for an instant.

―The contract has been established.

With that, Tenril’s form grew faint and disappeared.

―Congratulations! You have successfully formed a contract with the Divine Beast “Tenril.”

The belated system message confirmed the successful contract.

“So the contract was a success?”

Sungshik checked the trait window.

[EX Rank] Master of the Divine Beast
—Unique trait of True Gate Sage who ruled over the Yellow Dragon and the Four Guardian Beasts
—Can become the master of all Divine and Illusory Beasts
—Owned Beasts: 1

[Tenril]
Rank: 7-Star+ (★★★★★★★☆) / (Potential) 9-Star
Description: A fragment of the Ice Spirit King, “Fenrir.”
Power can be used proportionally to the contractor’s rank.

“Oh.”

Sungshik marveled. Tenril’s rank was higher than he had expected.

‘I thought it’d be around 8-Star+, but a fragment ranked 9-Star?’

That meant it retained a considerable portion of the main body’s power. Though right now it could only exert power equivalent to Sungshik’s 7-Star+ rank, it would continue to grow alongside him.

Sungshik knew this was a great stroke of luck. Even with the [EX Rank] Master of the Divine Beast trait, forming a contract with a higher-ranked Divine Beast wasn’t easy.

But he had fortunately earned Tenril’s recognition and held the item “Seal of Tenril.” That recognition too had only been possible because Tenril had been interrupted during its awakening and was weakened from resisting a piece of darkness. Without that, he would never have had the chance.

“Wait, could it be that Tenril might surpass Fenrir one day?”

―It’s possible. There are times when a fragment that holds a portion of the original’s power surpasses the main body in the end.

Upon hearing that, Sungshik decided to summon Tenril again and ask directly.

“Summon Tenril.”