Episode 28
#28
The basement of a high-rise building in Yangsan.
“*Cough!* Keugh….”
There, Gang Inhan was tied to a chair, vomiting blood through painful groans.
A man stood before the battered Gang Inhan.
A man with bulging muscles—Jang Sancheol, the King of Yangsan.
He ground his teeth with a *grit* and called out to Gang Inhan.
“Hey, Gang Inhan.”
With those words, he swung the iron pipe in his hand down with all his might at Gang Inhan’s leg, roaring ferociously.
*Whoosh! Clang!!*
“Kraaagh!!”
“So just obediently take out the Jewel of the King’s Command from your inventory! Huh! Why make this hard for both of us. Hm? Are you doing this because you really want to die?”
At those words, Gang Inhan slowly raised his head and scoffed—sneering at him as he spoke.
“If you want to kill me, go ahead and try. Remember the contract? If I die, you die too.”
At those words, Jang Sancheol clicked his tongue.
“*Tsk*—I shouldn’t have fallen for your sweet talk back then.”
He had never imagined that the contract would actually be one with binding restrictions.
Until he signed it, he had thought it was nothing more than a scrap of paper.
Had he known this would happen, he wouldn’t have rashly signed the contract just because a Constellation told him to.
“I should’ve realized something was up when you said it was proof of trust or whatever, right? Hm? But hey, are you really going to keep getting tortured? Just hand over the ‘Jewel of the King’s Command’ quietly and be done with it.”
“You stupid bastard.”
“What?”
Jang Sancheol’s face twisted in an instant at Gang Inhan’s cursing.
But Gang Inhan simply continued as if mocking him.
“Do I still look like the King of Ulsan to you?”
“……What kind of bullshit is that?”
For a moment, Jang Sancheol’s face went blank, as if stunned.
As if mocking Jang Sancheol, Gang Inhan curled the corner of his lips into a *sneer* and opened his mouth.
“You picked the wrong guy.”
The moment those words were spoken.
*Ding!*
*Ding!*
*Ding!*
Numerous Constellation notifications appeared before Jang Sancheol.
[The Ruler of the Sublime Tower tsk-tsks at you, clicking its tongue.]
[The Master of the Quiet Lake says the end is in sight.]
[The Light of the Fertile Earth points at you, calling you a fool.]
“Wh-what!?”
Jang Sancheol was bewildered by the sudden Constellation messages.
He was used to hearing Constellations’ condemnation, but something about their reactions was unusual.
As if they knew something.
Moreover.
[Four Wings of the Dark Abyss giggles, *kih-kih!* finding its contractor’s situation amusing.]
The reaction of the Constellation he was contracted with was strange as well.
What situation could possibly make it burst into laughter like that?
“Constellation-nim, why on earth are you doing this?”
[Four Wings of the Dark Abyss says he is not the real king.]
At those words, Jang Sancheol’s eyes went wide, and he whirled his head around to stare at Gang Inhan.
“No way!?”
But Gang Inhan’s reaction was strange as well.
He too made a surprised expression at something floating in the air.
The next moment, tears flowed down from Gang Inhan’s eyes, rolling along his cheeks.
He simply uttered a single sentence.
“Chief…… I’m truly sorry.”
The moment he uttered those words.
“Wh-what!?”
“Hey! Hey! Stop them! Stop them!”
Together with the clamorous noises coming from above.
*Boom! Whoosh!*
“!?”
In an instant, something broke through the basement ceiling, appeared, and took Gang Inhan away.
“What the hell…….”
What he glimpsed was not human.
What was happening?
What the hell was that just now?
When his face was beginning to be stained with fear at the incomprehensible situation—
*Bang—*
“Boss!”
The basement door burst open, and one of his subordinates shouted with a panicked voice.
“Boss! The hostages in the other room have been taken! Some winged monsters broke through the ceiling—.”
“…….”
But Jang Sancheol couldn’t hear his subordinate’s urgent voice.
He simply stood there blankly with a stiffened face.
“Boss! Boss!”
Only when the subordinate approached and shook him did Jang Sancheol come back to his senses.
But the expression on his face as he looked at the subordinate was twisted with rage.
“Hey! You bastard! How the hell did you handle the job! He’s not the king!”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
The subordinate, Kim Dongsu, was flustered by Jang Sancheol’s words.
The citizens of Ulsan had clearly said that if you wanted to meet the king, you should go to the guild, and the moment he saw that massive guild building, he couldn’t help but be convinced that the owner was the King of Ulsan.
But he wasn’t?
“How can this…… A-ah, no, Boss! Now’s not the time for this! Monsters have surrounded the sky above the building!”
“What!?”
At those words, Jang Sancheol hurriedly went up to the first floor and rushed outside.
The sight he witnessed the next moment was nothing short of shocking.
Something pure white was covering the sky.
It was something inhuman, simply looking down at the building silently from the sky.
“What the hell is that…….”
Jang Sancheol felt his liver turn cold and goosebumps rise all over his body.
The first thought that came to mind the moment he saw that overwhelming number was a sense of powerlessness—that this was an absolute opponent he could never face.
He was overcome with the desire to flee or hide somewhere immediately.
It was that overwhelming a force, and the sight of them simply looking down without doing anything was eerie beyond comprehension.
They looked as if they were waiting for something.
Yes, as if they were waiting for the right moment.
The next moment.
[Wings of the Leisurely Spring says he has come.]
Along with the Constellation message that appeared before his eyes, a man was walking toward the building with an indifferent face.
He was alone, yet it was precisely because he was alone that it was bizarre and anxiety-inducing.
At the appearance of the man whose identity was unknown, while he was staring blankly with a stiffened face—
A Constellation message appeared before Jang Sancheol.
[The Spirit of the Benevolent Breeze says the true King of Ulsan has arrived.]
The next moment.
*Whoosh!*
The lone man swung the sword he held in a large horizontal arc.
The moment his sword split the air, a white line skimmed over their heads.
The moment they realized that white line had brushed over their heads—
*Rumble-rumble-BOOM!!*
Immediately after, the building behind them shook violently and began to collapse.
* * *
Even though the building had collapsed and buried them under the rubble, they were superhumans.
An ordinary person would have surely been crushed to death, but they were not weak enough to die from merely that.
Jang Sancheol cleared away the debris crushing his body and emerged above ground.
But the sight that greeted him above ground was almost…… like hell.
“Boss!”
“Save me! Boss!”
“Uaaaargh!! Boss!!”
“Aaaaargh!! Stop!!! Please, stop!!”
“Boss!!!”
Countless monsters in the sky grabbed the barely surviving subordinates and disappeared into the heavens. The screams of the subordinates, filled with agony, echoed from above in all directions.
The desperate final screams begging for their lives before death pierced Jang Sancheol’s ears.
The sight was horrifying.
It was a sight as if looking upon hell.
*Thud.*
His face was stained with despair.
His strengthless legs made him fall to his knees. He could only watch this hellscape with blank eyes.
But then, someone’s footsteps were heard.
He knew who the footsteps belonged to without even turning his head.
He…… the King of Ulsan, was gradually approaching him and opened his mouth.
“Do you regret it?”
He opened his mouth.
His voice was chillingly calm, and that question made the situation clear.
“Boss!!!”
“Boooooss!! Kraaaagh!!!”
“Uaaaargh!!”
Along with the subordinates’ screams, something red poured down from the sky like rain.
The only action Jang Sancheol could take the next moment was to prostrate himself and beg for his life.
“P-please spare me. I-I was wrong. So please…….”
He pleaded toward Han Cheol, even as his body trembled.
Han Cheol looked down at him coldly and continued.
“You sent civilians when raiding the Gate, didn’t you? While leaving your own elites here.”
At those words, he slowly raised his head, his face twisted with fear, and looked up at Han Cheol.
“Even so, Mr. Inhan raided the Gate. For you people. And yet you stabbed him in the back? What do you think I should do about that?”
“Everything! I-I was wrong about everything. So please, just my life…….”
Han Cheol simply looked at him with a displeased expression as he trembled like an aspen leaf.
His strength drained.
‘So this was all he amounted to…….’
Thinking that Gang Inhan had been done in by a guy who immediately knelt and begged the moment the situation turned unfavorable, he felt not so much angry as disgusted.
Han Cheol didn’t say anything more.
He simply raised his sword high.
It was then.
[Four Wings of the Dark Abyss laughs heartily, saying the situation unfolding is amusing.]
[Four Wings of the Dark Abyss makes you a proposal.]
“A proposal?”
[Four Wings of the Dark Abyss cheerfully warns that you’d best keep him alive if you don’t wish to be hostile with it.]
Four Wings of the Dark Abyss.
I could see its intention.
It was not the kind of existence that would say such things for its contractor.
It was an existence that toyed with humans and enjoyed the moments when they twisted in rage.
It was trying to get on my nerves by making me unable to kill someone I wanted to kill.
Rather, I scoffed at it and swung my sword.
“It was you, wasn’t it? The one who ordered Jang Sancheol to pull his petty tricks.”
*Whoosh! Slice— thunk…….*
“Kraaagh!!”
A white line etched across Jang Sancheol’s left arm, cleanly severing it.
The next moment, Jang Sancheol was thrashing, his head pressed to the ground.
At that sight, Four Wings of the Dark Abyss simply watched with a relaxed laugh.
[Four Wings of the Dark Abyss laughs madly at your actions and says it will allow that much.]
At those words, I swung my sword once more.
What I swung at next was his remaining right arm.
*Whoosh! Slice—.*
“Kraaaaagh!! Stop! Please, stop!!”
[Four Wings of the Dark Abyss shows a cheerful smile, as if finding this amusing, and tells you to stop at that.]
“Is it fun?”
I said, wiping away my smile.
The next moment, where my sword swung was his head.
*Whoosh! Thunk—.*
Along with the sword I swung, Jang Sancheol’s head fell to the ground with a *thunk* in an instant.
The moment Jang Sancheol’s head fell, Four Wings of the Dark Abyss was not laughing.
[Four Wings of the Dark Abyss retracts its smile.]
“Why? Not fun anymore?”
[Four Wings of the Dark Abyss says you have crossed the line.]
At those words, I instead provoked it.
“If you’re a Constellation, stop pulling petty tricks from behind the scenes and come here yourself.”
Those words were the beginning.
I could tell it was enraged by what happened next.
*Rumble-rumble-BOOM! Crackle!!*
Dark clouds gathered in the sky.
Between the dark clouds, blue sparks that bore the Restriction erupted here and there.
Soon, someone’s voice echoed magnificently around the surroundings.
『Impudent…….』
Four Wings of the Dark Abyss.
Bearing the Restriction, it spat out a dignified edict.
『I shall not kill you. However, know your place. Primitive one.』
*Crackle!! Boom!!*
It happened in an instant.
From between the dark clouds, red lightning the color of blood fell toward me.
However.
In that brief moment when the lightning fell toward me.
I reacted.
*Slash— Whoooom!! Boom!!*
For the first time, I used mana and wrapped my sword in it before swinging.
Another supernatural ability that humans could possess besides skills—mana.
The brilliant sword wrapped in that force erupted with light and struck down the incoming lightning; in that moment, the lightning scattered in all directions with a massive roar.
『How!?』
Its flustered voice was heard.
It was a natural result.
A strength that couldn’t even reach half of its true body due to the Restriction was not at a level that the current me couldn’t handle.
Even so, it would be bewildered.
Only a few months had passed since the Holy War ended.
It must have thought there was no way a survivor with this level of power could exist in that span of time.
『Speak! How does a mere human possess such power!』
It erupted with dignified edicts in all directions as if enraged.
Even so, my body didn’t move an inch.
Because I now possessed the mental strength to be unaffected by such dignified edicts.
Instead of answering its words, I simply gave a warning.
“When the time comes, I will find where you are.”
『You……!!』
In that moment, its edict grew faint.
The dark clouds parted, and the sparks—a phenomenon that occurred when bearing the Restriction—subsided.
This was a phenomenon indicating that the Restriction would no longer permit the use of any more power.
Even so, I knew it was still listening, so I continued.
“Let’s see if you can still smile then.”
This was a warning.
A warning left for it by showing my strength.
I was no longer someone with such weak strength as to be toyed with by them.
I was confident.
In the near future.
I too would stand facing them as an equal.