Chapter 69: The Star’s Eye

I was nothing more than prey to them.

Those treasures existed solely to devour other lives into their being.

That was their purpose for existence.

But within this place, they hadn’t consumed anything for a very long time.

Judging by the traces I had observed so far, it could be inferred that the last life disappeared at least hundreds of years ago.

That’s why they must be wandering in search of me.

I was prey that could finally satiate their long hunger.

I gripped the key in my hand tightly.

The energy flowing from it reassured me.

This was the reason I could venture out so boldly.

As long as I had this, I wouldn’t die.

At that moment, something pierced into my body.

It was a hook-like magic.

Before I could even notice, it had already wrapped itself around me.

Having experienced this once before, I instantly recognized whose magic it was.

It was the eye’s magic.

Of course, it was the first to appear—it had likely been circling around us all along.

The magic began to pull me in.

The source of that magic was a giant eyeball.

Resting in a fissure in the ground, it emitted a peculiar glow as it stared at me.

The key emitted a light that repelled the magic.

Slowly, the magic from the eye began to recede.

Yet I suppressed it for a moment.

The time wasn’t right yet.

The eye’s magic grew stronger, pulling me toward it.

I didn’t resist but let myself be drawn closer.

The eye steadily came into view.

Up close, the eye was immense, large enough to hold even my entire body.

Its surface shimmered with an eerie light.

When I observed it closely, I was slightly startled.

The inside of the eye was completely transparent.

It looked as clear as pure water.

Within it, strange forms drifted, gazing at me.

They appeared in the shapes of human faces, monstrous figures, and forms of things I couldn’t identify.

These translucent figures moved in a certain flow, forming a single pupil.

When I met their gazes, dizziness washed over me.

The magic dragged me into the eye’s interior.

Once immersed, I realized the truth.

This was shaped like an eye but couldn’t be considered part of a living being.

It was more like a natural phenomenon.

A lake made of colossal magic, sensing me and violently stirring.

Within that magic, my mind began to dissolve.

My body, too, started succumbing.

This peculiar magic was trying to digest me swiftly.

***

When the digestion was complete, I would become like those figures forming the pupil—merely a part of the great flow within this lake.

As I melted away, I started to feel the presence of many things within the lake.

It became clear why the professor had called it the eye of a star.

Stars, whether small or large, could be considered worlds of their own.

Being inside this, I felt the will of such a star—a faint desire for perfection contained within it.

I also understood why it devoured lives.

The professor had captured it and reconstituted it as a treasure, causing it to lose its perfection and fall into imperfection.

To fill that imperfection, it consumed lives, hoping to fill all its voids and one day be reborn as a perfect star again.

The sensation of my soul cracking and my mind dissolving was peculiar but somewhat familiar.

I had experienced the agony of having my soul ripped out several times before.

‘Yes, this is enough.’

I clenched the key tightly, pouring my will and magic into it.

The key radiated a golden light, pushing back against the eye’s magic.

But this time, it wasn’t as easy as before.

The magic had already infiltrated a part of my body.

The key worked to bind it tightly, preventing it from advancing further.

The eye’s magic struggled against the key’s power, firmly lodged within me.

While the key held it at bay, I knew it was already too late.

At this rate, I would surely be consumed.

And that was precisely what I wanted.

A faint smile formed at the corner of my lips.

‘I can’t escape from it. But, thinking the other way around, it also means it can’t escape from me.’

The key had already locked onto the eye’s magic.

As long as it didn’t abandon its power, it couldn’t break free from the key.

The situation was dire, of course.

I couldn’t escape from it on my own anymore.

But I hadn’t called just the eye.

Soon, a terrible magic descended upon the eye.

The powerful flow that formed the lake was shattered, and I regained a bit of freedom.

The magic was grotesque, like a patchwork stitched together from countless forces.

I opened my eyes slightly, and through the blurry vision, I saw a massive hand.

It tore into the eye, forcing itself inside.

The fingers naturally reached for me.

The fingers lifted me, pulling the magic the eye had embedded in me along with it.

The hand attempted to sever that connection, but the eye refused to let go easily.

In the grip of the hand, I could feel its many fingers moving, brushing against me as they explored.

Then, they clamped down on my hand.

A strong pressure began to build.

The hand was trying to rip my fingers away.

As an ominous pain surged through me, my expression hardened.

‘It’s not just trying to take my body.’

The hand sought to steal my knowledge, soul, and mind.

It was the same as when I dissolved into the eye.

If my hand were taken, I, too, would join this monstrous collective.

I quickly focused my will on the key.

Its light flared, forcing the fingers to recoil.

‘Is this all that exists here?’

I looked at the mass of fingers writhing beyond the golden barrier, a bitter smile forming.

They were far more grotesque than I had imagined.

At that moment, strange magic began to flow.

It originated from the eye’s pupil.

The countless phantoms within it started drifting toward the hand.

The phantoms slipped between the fingers, trying to claim me.

The fingers crumbled under the fierce assault of the phantoms.

The sound of breaking bones and tearing flesh echoed everywhere.

The hand, unable to withstand the force, released me.

Once again, the eye’s magic enveloped me.

The air was thick with the scent of blood and magic.

The eye lashed out furiously, its magic striking the massive hand like a whip.

The hand struggled to fend it off.

The disparity in their strength was evident.

At this rate, the eye would claim me again.

But suddenly, something cold and sticky wrapped around my neck.

“Well, well, you’re in quite the state, aren’t you?”

The doll laughed as it looked at me.

I returned its gaze with a faint smile.

The doll had slight cracks on its body, likely from exerting some power.

However, those marks quickly disappeared, fully restored.

With that level of resilience, it could still comfortably scatter the mist for some time.

I checked my own condition.

The key’s protection had proven to be far more reliable than I had anticipated.

As the professor had assured, it completely prevented my death.

Of course, that was all it did.

The aftermath of the battle had left my soul, mind, and body all half-ruined.

Still, the results were very satisfying.

As much as I was injured, the eye had been drained as well.

I began using magic to recover.

The energy flowing through the tree spread throughout my body, gradually restoring the torn and broken parts to their original form.

While healing, I surveyed the situation.

By the time we had escaped, the battlefield had already quieted.

The treasures had stopped fighting upon realizing I was gone and were now groping around with their magic in search of me.

But I was already far from that place.

I could sense the eye scanning the area where we were.

For now, avoiding its gaze was a priority.

“Should we move a little further away?”

I asked as I stood up.

The doll nodded leisurely.

As we moved farther away, the treasures also began to cautiously put distance between themselves.

The doll chuckled as it observed their behavior.

“I used to be like that too,” it said. “Wandering aimlessly, driven solely by instincts with no sense of reason. Soon, they’ll forget what they were chasing and resume roaming this place again.”

The doll’s words proved true.

The treasures soon dispersed, scattering in all directions.

Among them, the eye sank back into the ground, slowly trailing behind us.

I moved my body slightly.

My limbs worked well enough, but the mental fatigue was immense.

It was the price of enduring that overwhelming magic.

Exhaling weakly, I said, “Then we’ll need to leave a stronger impression on them. Let’s start again immediately. This method has proven painfully effective.”

“Are you really going to move again in your current condition?”

The doll tilted its head, looking puzzled.

I gave it a bitter smile.

Of course, I wanted to rest.

But that wasn’t an option.

I began walking, explaining my reasoning.

“If I rest, so will they. That would allow them to recover their magic. That’s why I need to keep wearing them down.”

“Hmm, true. Looks like you’ll be suffering for a while longer,” the doll said with a bright smile, clearly entertained by the situation.

Dragging my heavy body, I headed toward the place the doll pointed out, not far from the eye.

The same scenario unfolded again.

I let my magic flow, the eye grabbed hold of me, and the other treasures, drawn by my magic, attacked the eye.

Eventually, the eye withdrew.

This process repeated several times.

***

In time, the eye seemed to sense something unusual and stopped pursuing me.

But its retreat didn’t mean I would stop.

On the contrary, I dove straight into its core.

The eye tried to eject me, but the key blocked its attempts.

Forcing my way inside its pupil, I settled myself there.

Having grown familiar with its magic, it was easy to ride its currents.

Clinging tightly to it, I waited as the other treasures converged.

Eventually, the eye was forced to fight them.

Because I was holding tightly onto its core, it couldn’t escape easily.

The endless battle wore on.

As my body was ground down, so was the eye’s strength.

The other treasures suffered similarly.

Strangely, their aggression seemed to intensify.

Watching them rage wildly, I thought, ‘I didn’t expect the other treasures to go this far.’

Beside me, the doll smiled as it watched the chaos.

“These guys are really worked up,” it said.

“Indeed,” I replied.

“Perhaps it’s because of this scent,” the doll added, stroking my arm gently.

‘Scent?’ I thought, sniffing my body.

All I could detect was the metallic tang of blood.

“It’s not a physical scent,” the doll clarified. “It’s a sweet fragrance emanating from the cracks in your soul. Honestly, it’s enough to make me want a taste.”

The doll licked its lips subtly with its tongue.

‘A scent from my soul?’ I pondered.

It made some sense.

I was a reincarnator.

Although most of my past memories were fragmented and unclear, there was one thing I knew for certain.

Ojo had said that the souls of reincarnators were special, so much so that they could be entirely dissolved and turned into an elixir.

The intensity of that flavor within me was likely what drove the treasures into such a frenzy.

I wasn’t just ordinary prey.

To them, I was an extraordinary delicacy.

That was actually a good thing.

The more they rampaged, the faster the eye would tire.

Rising again, I prepared myself for another battle.

The cycle continued: I was ground down, and so was the eye.

“Congratulations,” the doll said, clapping its hands.

I looked at it through half-blurred vision, my body too weak to hold itself up properly after exhausting nearly all my magic.

“Thank you,” I murmured, glancing down at my hand.

In my palm was the now-diminished eye, glaring at me.

It struggled to unleash its magic and break free, but countless seals surrounded it, suppressing its power.

These were seals I had painstakingly crafted.

Looking around, I saw the other treasures wandering aimlessly in the mist, unable to locate me.

They, too, appeared exhausted.

Capturing the eye had been a collective effort.

I felt immense gratitude toward the others.

Without them, this would’ve been impossible.

“Does this mean we can leave now?”

The doll leaned against me as it asked.

I nodded and, with trembling hands, raised the key into the air.

Leaving had always been an option.

I had only refrained because capturing the eye was crucial.

Escaping without it would have made achieving such an opportunity again impossible.

But now, everything was finished.

Despite some lingering concerns, I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at the scene of exhausted treasures.

‘I wonder what the professor will say about this mess.’