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Chapter 12: Black Lightning
The trait “Calamity Affinity” allowed Kranol to copy powers from powerful calamities—but only after bonding with them.
‘Of course, the stronger the bond and level, the more I can copy—and even combine exclusive skills later.’
For now, the key was deepening his connection with the little girl.
Thankfully, after spending time together, their friendship grew naturally.
Kranol checked her status window:
[Name: None]
[Race: Angel-Demon Hybrid]
[Potential: SSS]
[Exclusive Skills: Starlight Healing (Lv2), Black Lightning (Lv2), Subspace Shelter (Lv1)]
[Traits: Snack Lover (Common), Demon’s Bloodline (Legendary), Angel’s Blood (Legendary)]
[Stats: Strength (Lv1), Agility (Lv3), Magic (Lv4), Luck (Lv3)]
[Feelings Toward You: “The guy who grills meat well!”]
‘…This kid is a monster, just like the baby dragon.’
Kranol was amazed.
He had expected maybe A+ or S-rank potential—but she was SSS, just like the baby dragon.
Both were freakishly powerful.
The baby dragon was the bloodline of a final boss,
and the girl was a pure-blood hybrid of angel and demon—
equal in potential.
It felt like Kranol had a legendary creature guarding each side of him.
He had practically won the lottery—twice.
But just because they had potential didn’t mean they were invincible now.
They were still young and fragile.
Kranol was determined to protect and raise them right.
‘You don’t throw away a winning ticket.’
Now, it was time to choose which of the girl’s skills to copy.
[You may copy one of the calamity’s exclusive skills.]
[Skill level will not be inherited.]
[Bond level is still low; only 1 skill available for copying.]
Previously, Kranol copied Invisibility from the baby dragon—a great tool for stealth and surprise attacks.
But this time, he chose something different:
[You have copied “Black Lightning (Lv1)”!]
Black Lightning—a powerful attack skill that only those who made contracts with demons could learn.
Even the Corrupted Dragon in the original story desperately wanted this skill to impress the demon realm.
‘Black Lightning can be trained in many ways: as a wide-area disaster, a buff that enhances strikes with sacrifice, or a sniper spell that causes heart attacks from a distance.’
Depending on how you train a skill, it can become versatile—or totally useless.
Kranol decided to develop his version of the skill differently from the girl’s.
That would make both of them stronger in their own ways.
‘Skill training is strongest when it fits the user’s style.’
He had no regrets.
Let’s test it.
He imagined black lightning and raised his hand.
Crackle! Zzzap!
Black sparks burst from his palm like a storm.
A living, twisting bolt of black lightning spiraled around his hand,
warping the air around it.
He pointed at a tree nearby and fired.
CRACK!
A large tree was blasted apart—charred black at the impact point.
Kranol looked at the smoke rising from his hand and nodded.
‘That was too easy.’
It felt unreal to gain such a powerful skill so quickly.
Dark magic wasn’t like regular magic.
Learning something like Invisibility normally would take 4 years of study.
And Black Lightning was even harder.
To learn it, you usually had to sacrifice a body part or a beloved item to a demon.
Worse, many who made contracts died or became demon slaves.
Getting such a spell instantly was an insane win.
But just as Kranol was planning how to train the skill further…
“Hey, Mister,”
The girl tugged on his coat and pointed.
“Look over there. Someone’s coming.”
Kranol moved without hesitation.
He pulled the girl close and covered her mouth.
“Mm-mm!”
They hid behind a tree and stayed silent.
Then, voices.
“What the…? Why is this tree like this?”
“Someone else must be here.”
Kranol peeked through the trees—
and saw a group in red robes standing near the tree he blasted.
“No way. This place is filled with magi. Mercenaries died here after the Corrupted Dragon incident. Who’d come here willingly?”
“Still, the magi feels weaker now. Some areas look cleansed. Something’s definitely happening.”
“Damn it. Let’s speed things up. Move!”
The red-robed group moved deeper into the forest.
Kranol thought hard.
They wore matching robes and moved with purpose—
even though this area was deadly due to magi.
‘Why aren’t they getting sick?’
Kranol was using his magic-absorbing gloves to survive.
They must’ve brought something similar.
They knew the danger and came prepared.
And they talked about carrying out some “ritual” soon.
He didn’t remember anything like this in the original story.
It could be a minor, unimportant event—or a completely new variable.
‘If it’s the latter, ignoring it might be a big mistake.’
So Kranol followed them.
If nothing serious happened, he could always come back.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
“Go back to the subspace shelter. I’ll call you if needed.”
He sent the girl away and took a deep breath.
Then activated:
[Invisibility (Lv1)]
[Note: Cancelled if you make loud noise or attack.]
His body vanished, and he began stalking the red-robed group,
carefully avoiding leaves and roots.
Eventually, they arrived at a strange clearing.
A black altar surrounded by candles.
Red-robed figures gathered around.
In the center—
a blood-drawn magic circle, eyeballs, organs, and bones scattered like ritual offerings.
It was disgusting, but Kranol understood instantly.
‘They’re from the Black Serpent Cult.’
A criminal cult known for illegal rituals.
Many members were criminals or dark mages.
Their motto was:
“Unjust laws must be broken. Morality is a lie.”
Classic cult logic.
But why were they doing this here, in a magi-infested land?
“We should hurry the ritual. The atmosphere’s getting risky.”
“But what if we mess up again and summon a failure like last time?”
“You mean that corpse-like dragon that ran away? Don’t worry. We brought a much better sacrifice this time.”
The cultists were nervous.
Apparently, they had failed once—summoning something that escaped.
A “corpse-like dragon”?
Kranol’s eyes widened.
‘Wait… Was that the baby dragon? The one dying from corpse disease?’
It all made sense.
That dragon wasn’t supposed to be here—it was mis-summoned by the cult.
That meant… they were trying to summon something even more powerful.
He watched as they pulled out their new offering:
Four severed heads—young men of different races, all missing eyes.
Blood dripped from the burlap bag.
This was a ritual to summon a low-ranking demon.
‘They’ve lost their minds… trying to summon a demon’s real body into this world?!’
Angels and demons weren’t meant to appear until volume 3.
Doing this now could cause disaster.
Summoning demons was one of the most forbidden acts in the world.
‘So this is why this place is overflowing with magi.’
Just preparing a summoning ritual polluted the entire land.
Even the lowest demon could taint an entire region.
Kranol turned to leave.
‘No way I’m getting involved in demon stuff in volume 1.’
Demons were way beyond him right now.
The ritual probably failed in the original story—
which is why it was never mentioned in detail.
Most demon summonings ended in disaster.
This was probably one of those doomed cases.
But then… Kranol stopped walking.
‘Wait…’
A new thought entered his mind.
What if he could use this chaos to his advantage?
‘Maybe I should stick around… and watch the summoning.’
Lately, Kranol had grown addicted to easy power gains.
If he could exploit this situation for profit—
even if it was a demon ritual—
he was ready to take the risk.
