#232 A Clue
Before Harley received a new engraving.
After Baltheon died in Beorsen, while the South was still busy dealing with the aftermath—
the Hero’s party sorted out only the broad situation and immediately left the scene.
As the Immortal King Hans withdrew, the ceaseless waves of attacks also came to a halt, and thanks to that, the chaos across the continent subsided somewhat… but there was something they absolutely could not put off.
“Jios, you foolish boy. I told you so. Did you have to follow them so quickly…”
“…We had everything prepared so that you could come back and rest at any time. Yet you never came even once… This is truly too much, my lord.”
The Chehai couple and Oliver, the manor’s steward, wiped away their tears.
A simple funeral was being held in the family cemetery attached to one side of Jios Kalkin’s manor, in the Regas Barony of the Lesque Kingdom in the southwestern part of the Ion Continent.
Though the funeral had been arranged in haste, the faces of those attending were not simple at all.
The entire Hero’s party was present, of course, as were Baron Regas and the nearby nobles who had hurried over upon hearing the sad news, as well as members of the Lesque royal family and high-ranking priests who had struggled to come all the way here, to a place without even a gate.
In truth, since a high noble and a member of the death squad had fallen in battle against the Immortal King, it would have been only proper to hold a grand state funeral.
But with the entire continent swept up in wartime, it could not be helped.
Of course, I had heard that mourning flags had already been raised in the capital and other major regions, and that the kingdom planned to hold a proper state funeral for him later.
‘Jios.’
And throughout the funeral.
I, who had been pondering how to use karma, stopped everything and quietly watched the scene through Heinrich and Harley.
Heinrich wore a sorrowful yet benevolent expression.
Through that righteous avatar, I could feel pity for Jios and a prayer that, in the afterlife, he would be together with his family by God’s side.
Harley wore a regretful yet solemn expression.
Through that barbaric avatar, I could feel the sorrow of losing a comrade-in-arms who had been with him for so long, and his recognition of Jios’s warrior-like, magnificent end.
And…
Through Hans, a negative and twisted avatar, I felt only numbness, as if he had stepped on a bug in the street.
Through Heinz II, a cynical and cold avatar, I felt only indifference, as if it had been unavoidable.
And it did not stop there; the reactions of each avatar, according to their own dispositions, continued one after another.
Of course, thanks to “Mind Hub,” “Persona,” and mental strength that had been enhanced to an entirely different level from before, I felt no confusion at all throughout the process.
The central self known as Han Seonghyeon simply existed intact at the heart of all personalities, receiving filtered information and judging it objectively.
‘That’s the problem, though.’
A self-mocking, bitter smile once again lingered at the corners of my mouth.
‘Connections formed only through avatars. And ones that don’t even exist in the world I live in, at that.’
Since I was perceiving every situation so objectively, the things I experienced through my avatars could only feel like a game.
Even if it was the death of an acquaintance.
‘…I suppose I should go for a walk.’
I was still steadily going outside using “Entity Projection,” but it probably would not be bad to simply wander aimlessly for once, without any particular purpose.
And while I was briefly lost in other thoughts, time flowed swiftly on.
At last, the funeral came to an end, and the Hero’s party also busied themselves preparing to return to their duties.
“I heard the news. They say you defeated the Immortal King this time…”
“As expected of the Saint! Count Kalkin surely must be…”
The royals and nobles, as if they had been waiting for this very moment, clung to him in bothersome fashion.
So Heinrich, as he had planned in advance, made various excuses and entrusted the situation in the South to Harley.
“Then I will leave matters in Kalkos to you, Sir Harley.”
“Kahahah! Leave it to me! I still have something to receive, too!”
At the rough hand thumping against his chest tattoo, the enormous axe strapped to Harley’s back rattled back and forth.
It was Giant Killer, a weapon he had not even taken out recently, as his already powerful body had grown even stronger after completing “Ultimate Evolved Lifeform.”
This, too, was a masterpiece crafted by the dwarf Zaonic, but in truth, it had now become little more than an ornament.
If Harley swung it with all his strength, it was obvious it would not last long before breaking.
‘Howard is planning to make a new one soon by using rare metals without holding back, but at this rate, even that doesn’t seem like it’ll last very long. Maybe something will change if I have the Battle King’s Engraving?’
It was a problem born from the fact that, compared to his transcendent body, he lacked the ability to strengthen his weapons. If the power of the engraving, which amplified his inner energy, became stronger than it was now, perhaps a way forward might appear.
‘An axe is the romance of a barbarian warrior. I can’t give up on it!’
After the Hero’s party departed without him, Harley returned to the South alone.
There, as a member of the death squad, he helped settle the chaos, and finally received the “Battle King’s Engraving” procedure, carried out by two great shamans and over twenty shamans who had been prepared for it.
And naturally—
《The entity has fulfilled the conditions and gained enlightenment. The skill “Kalkos-Style Combat Engraving” evolves into the special skill “Battle King’s Engraving.”》
The result was a complete success.
***
Inside a wide tent large enough to accommodate dozens of people.
“Ughhhh—.”
“Urgh!”
“Mmm…”
Thud.
More than twenty shamans who had been standing in various places all groaned at once and collapsed to the ground.
Some even staggered and then simply toppled over, fainting on the spot.
“Khehehe— Now that was truly vicious. I thought it would succeed, but to think you really wouldn’t let out even a single groan.”
“…Ahh, magnificent. As expected of a true man among men. Haaah— muscles like steel, and a will of steel to match…”
“Look at you, out of your mind again. Get a hold of yourself, you fool!”
“Aah! G-Grandmother?”
And atop the large altar placed at the center of them.
Listening to the bickering conversation between grandmother and grandson beside him, Harley slowly opened his eyes.
-Entity Name: Harley
-Species: ???
-Common Traits: “Mind Hub,” “Persona,” “Clear Mirror, Still Water,” “Insight”
-Entity Traits: “Ultimate Evolved Lifeform,” “Tyrant of Madness,” “Bio Aura,” “Gluttony,” “Jewel Eye: Coercion,” “Battle King’s Engraving”
-Special Notes: Having pursued the ultimate as a living being, he has transcended. As long as energy remains, he regenerates endlessly even if his heart or head is destroyed. He controls madness and converts it into his own energy. All engravings across his body have connected and become one. As the number of engraved marks increases, their linked effects overlap, and their effects are maintained at all times.
Limbs, torso, and head.
He could feel the power of the engravings, which until now had been separate from one another, connect into one and circulate through his entire body.
‘This is incredible. The effect of each engraving seems to have increased by at least five times.’
It went without saying that “Bio Aura,” influenced by that, had also become even stronger.
And this was merely the basic effect that remained active at all times. It was also possible to pour even more energy into it and strengthen it beyond this.
He had wondered how much help this could be when he had already reached transcendence, but at this level, it would be more than enough.
“Mmm, I feel refreshed.”
Srrrk—
After roughly checking the condition of his body, Harley slowly raised himself from where he had been lying.
As he did, the strange flame patterns engraved on his body wriggled in accordance with the movement of his muscles, flaunting their presence.
“Ah…”
“…”
It was nothing more than a simple movement, yet not only the shamans who had collapsed weakly on the floor, but even the two great shamans who had directly performed the engraving procedure stared blankly at him.
“Huh? What’s with you?”
At their attention, which felt different from usual, Harley tilted his head slightly.
As a powerful being who had reached transcendence, he possessed a strong presence by default.
A violent pressure that seemed to force his existence upon the world just by standing still.
However, if his presence until now had given off the strong impression of a “lethally dangerous unknown monster,” then now, in addition to that, an unknowable charisma could be felt from him.
The energy that pulsed like a living thing as it circulated through the engravings all over his body, and the strange aura emitted in the process.
It was like—
the dignity of a king.
The presence of an overlord.
“…King.”
“O King…”
The shamans, who had been sitting collapsed and groaning, gathered themselves and quietly prostrated on the spot.
The great shaman grandmother and grandson standing beside him did the same.
‘…Ah, come to think of it, there was something like that.’
As Harley merely blinked at the sudden situation, a story he had heard from the old shaman woman who had first engraved him flashed through his mind.
The name Battle King’s Engraving had not been given without meaning.
It was a fact that had been forgotten for hundreds of years and was now little more than nominal, but the shamans gathered here were more sensitive to tradition than anyone.
In that harsh land, where only struggles staked with one’s life determined existence—
it was a legend and oath passed down from the very beginning, when the Kalkos Tribal Alliance was formed through the agreement of various tribes to end the endless war.
This was the proof of such a king.
***
A pitch-black, dimly lit great hall.
[Then, this girl shall take her leave now… Please rest in peace…]
The hazy figure of the noblewoman who had been giving her report until just now slowly disappeared, and at last, the space was engulfed in complete silence.
[Hmm.]
But that silence was soon broken by a low exclamation.
It came from the Immortal King Hans, seated upon the great bone throne placed at the highest point of the vast hall, looking down below.
He slowly raised one hand and stroked the chest that had been pierced by the Holy Sword.
The external wound had already vanished without leaving a single trace, but the energy of the Holy Sword still lingering there continued to gnaw away at his power.
‘If I’d known this would happen, I would have stabbed a bit more gently.’
It was not serious enough to cause a major problem, but he could not help feeling somewhat stifled.
Of course, it was precisely because of that desperate resolve that Heinrich had been able to reach transcendence.
Hans leisurely leaned back against the throne again.
This place, the central area of the Immortal Castle filled with the energy of death, was the most efficient location for his recovery.
It would likely take about a month to completely shake it off, but even that was only a little over three days in Earth time.
‘In any case, the Seed of Madness… I did think he’d hidden the medium somewhere, but to think that Revolutionary bastard snatched it away in the middle.’
The largest fragment of “madness” that had emerged last from the Gate of the Abyss—
and the being serving as the medium for all the madness currently spread across the continent.
That was the very means Baltheon had used to break through the mental barriers of warriors who had reached lofty realms and brainwash them.
Hans took out a small metal fragment from his subspace and quietly looked it over.
This was the one impurity left behind in the place where the abyss had opened, a place where everything around it had been cleaned up thoroughly.
He had taken it thinking it might become some sort of clue…
[Kekekeke— So this really was the clue, was it?]
Tracking, curses, summoning, and more.
He had tried all sorts of methods using it as a catalyst, but every attempt had failed, making him wonder if he had been barking up the wrong tree.
However, this time, through Baltheon, he had obtained information about the Gate of the Abyss and could now clearly determine what this was.
The one who, after thirty years of preparation, had finally opened the Gate of the Abyss.
A great mage who could have reached transcendence with just one more step forward, yet ultimately failed to reach it and fell because of the inner demons filling his heart.
And also, the host in whom the Seed of Madness that had emerged onto the surface had taken root.
This was part of an object he had possessed at the moment he offered up his own existence to open the abyss.
And that meant…
‘When using an art, the result differs like heaven and earth depending on how precisely you know the medium’s origin and history.’
It meant that, using this as a medium, he could now track him with certainty.
When Hans had only vaguely tried to track something related to it, even he, the Immortal King, had failed. But now that he could properly set the direction, the situation was different.
At last, he had obtained the key to grasping the tail of that Revolutionary bastard.
‘And I have the Orb of the Mind, too.’
A treasure that strengthened mental abilities.
It would surely be of great help when conducting a large-scale ritual to track him.
Just as Hans, thinking that, was handling the orb this way and that with satisfaction—
as various conditions meshed together in an instant, he suddenly and instinctively became aware of a certain possibility.
To be precise—
the synergy between this orb and the “Dimensional Barrier Alleviation” into which he had invested no less than five million points.
‘This? If I do it right…’
Hans had read the minds of many people and collected their thoughts.
The amount was as vast as the number of humans he had executed thus far, but to him, a transcendent being known as the Immortal King, that was not particularly a problem.
But among the thoughts sunken deep in his unconscious, there was one that was especially unique.
It was the memory he had taken from an Awakened One he had collected on Earth—more specifically, from an existence who had reached transcendence.
‘Salma.’
The thought-information he had wrung out by pouring the abyss into the spirit and flesh of the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Emperor, a master of the Profound Realm who had completed himself and broken free of his frame.
Viewed through the Orb of the Mind with the dimensional barrier that restricted Awakened Ones weakened, it possessed an overwhelming density incomparable to the other thoughts.
Even though it was no more than a certain passage damaged in many places, it felt vivid enough that it was as though he had experienced that place himself.
‘It’s still not complete, but… if I handle this well, it really might work.’
As a result of those three factors coming together—
he had grasped a clue that could lead him to another world.
To the dimension of Salma’s origin, the “Ganghwan Realm.”