◈ Episode 175. Who Do You Think We Are? (3)
The sight of the rift shattering in dazzling fragments.
The chief mage of the Magic Tower.
For Marcelo, it was a sight he had longed for.
The rift was, in itself, a space of the bizarre.
It was an object of research, and also the only clue that might lead them back to the Arcana Continent.
“……”
And yet, there was no research in Marcelo’s mind.
All that surfaced was Hoyeol’s plan.
Marcelo murmured softly.
“Are you saying it is truly possible?”
The manifestation of a high-ranking Demon King.
Marcelo did not know precisely how powerful they were.
But he could estimate it through comparison.
The point of comparison was the demigod, Karimjeva, an elder mage and devil worshiper.
Mages as a race?
He knew them well, for he too was a mage.
Mages were, by nature, generally arrogant.
There was no need for a lengthy explanation.
One only had to look at the Magic Tower’s conduct until now.
Had they not looked down on truth, and on every unexpected thing?
In that sense, Karimjeva was infamous.
Before entering the Magic Tower, he had been known as the Fire Dragon (火龍)
and had been implicated in all manner of crimes.
There were even rumors that his reason for entering the Magic Tower was to avoid the Empire’s and the world’s pursuit under the Tower’s shadow.
What that arrogant Karimjeva had pushed forward with, even while suppressing his own nature, was the summoning of a high-ranking Demon King.‘But we had Sir.’Karimjeva and the two devil worshipers’ plan had gone awry from the very first step thanks to Hoyeol. Even so, Karimjeva had forced the revival of a high-ranking Demon King forward.‘He must have known better than anyone.’Once he made an enemy of the Magic Tower.
Even if it were him, it would be difficult to preserve his life.
And yet Karimjeva acted.
He had staked his own life on summoning a high-ranking Demon King.‘A mage staked his own life…….’Was it because I, too, am a mage like him?
Marcelo could understand.
No, at the very least, any mage of the Magic Tower
would be able to guess.
Yes.
Karimjeva must have believed that the high-ranking Demon King could realize the truth he pursued.
Marcelo continued.
Foolishly.
“You were wrong.”
He, and the Magic Tower, had realized it.
That there was no meaning in a truth reached by looking down on everything around them.
That was why.
Had they not thrown themselves into the Holy War to atone for their actions until now?
But his concern was a separate matter.‘What did you see in them?’Marcelo had accompanied Hoyeol and witnessed devils, Demon Kings.
Even now, had they not fought against devils who rushed in to claim the throne of the Demon King anew?
Yet from them, far from truth, he had not felt even the value of exchanging words.
Fire Dragon—given his personality, he would have been even more so than Marcelo, not less.
He must certainly have witnessed it.
In a high-ranking Demon King.
Something special, different from other devils.
That was why Marcelo could feel relieved.
“……
So it was literally a plan.”
If he had entered the rift together with Hoyeol.
And had witnessed the high-ranking Demon King.
He would surely have failed to fulfill his role while racking his brain.‘I tried so hard not to reveal my shortcomings.’Perhaps Sir Hoyeol saw through my inadequacy?
Marcelo forced a smile.
As his field of vision shifted, he continued.
“I will be waiting in reality.”
Please, be safe....
The Demon King of the Fourth Throne, Gamigin.
The moment I saw him, I honestly felt sorrowful.
As if my dark history and the world weren’t enough, now even the rift was being far too cruel to me.‘Nothing is easy, seriously.’This was the power of the high-ranking Demon King that had made the elder mage Karimjeva betray the Magic Tower. And among those high-ranking Demon Kings, Gamigin was ranked fourth, and he was right before my eyes.‘And yet the time given to me is only an instant.’A cleared rift divides respectively into reality and the Arcana Continent.
Regardless of Gamigin’s appearance, I, who had been in reality,
had no choice but to be ejected into the reality outside the rift.
That was why I had been waiting for the timing since earlier.[You invite the Demon King, Gamigin, into the “consciousness.”]
The timing to activate the Exorcism Rite……!
The Exorcism Rite was no incredible skill that could slow down or reverse time.
But it could deceive one’s sense of time.
Inside the consciousness was a space where mental strength ruled everything.
Shrrng—I raised my sword.
Being in a hurry was no excuse to lose composure; that would not be proper form.
The angle of my arm bent with discipline.
My wrist moved with elegance.
And yet every scene remained in that fleeting instant, unchanged.
What was the point of having truly reliable allies!
The Exorcism Rite.
Within the consciousness, only the devil hunter and the invited devil could exist.
If someone had been beside me, they could only have mistaken that everything ended in the blink of an eye.
Naturally, they would have felt there was no room to cooperate.
However.
Clack!
Right now, I was not alone.
As I said, the only beings that could exist inside the consciousness were devils or devil hunters. By my side were my seniors, the devil hunters of Akshan.
I looked at Gamigin.
So he was not a high-ranking Demon King for nothing.
Even after being invited into the consciousness, he showed no agitation.
No, I could not sense any change in emotion from him to begin with.
He was beyond large—he was enormous.
Would it be enough to say that each of his four legs was the size of the Quirnberg Machine Tower? His horse’s head overlapped with the collapsing rift, making it impossible to see properly.
But above all.
“□□□.”
For some reason, communication did not work.
It was a resonance so immense it felt as though my eardrums would burst.
Yet I could not understand even the slightest bit.‘What is this?’Players could communicate not only among themselves, but also with the people of Arcana without much difficulty.
They could even read magic books written in the language of the Arcana Continent.‘All of a sudden?’To think I would be unable to understand his words.
Naturally, I could not know the reason.
Of course, the reason would not matter.
Shushushuk—!
After all, one does not engage in unnecessary conversation with a devil.
As expected, they were my seniors.
No questions asked.
The devil hunters poured crossbow bolts toward Gamigin. Though they looked insignificant, it was an attack that had felled a named monster nearing level 900 in a single blow.‘……!’A gigantic target.
They had struck him cleanly without missing.
Yet there was no change in Gamigin.
Damn it, this was a sight difficult to keep up with using my Arcana common sense.
Just what level was he?How could he remain unharmed after dozens of attacks that had sent a level 900 named monster away in an instant?
I could not get a sense of it at all.‘……
Karimjeva.’At that moment, I recalled what he had said.
-“If you release me, I will tell you everything. About the Holy War, and about the true truth! If you are a devil hunter, you will surely be able to understand my will. I swear it on the name of the Fire Dragon, Karimjeva!!”
Karimjeva had sought to revive a high-ranking Demon King in order to reach the true truth…….
I see. I was beginning to understand.
To summarize it in one line, they were on a different dimension.
The “true truth” pursued by Karimjeva, the elder mage called a demigod (半神). The only means to reach that truth was a “high-ranking Demon King.”
Put another way…….‘Does that mean a high-ranking Demon King is a being close to a god (神)?’Once again, an enormous sound rang against my eardrums.
“□□□ □, □□□ □□□□.”
Thinking of it that way,
I could roughly understand why words did not get through.
Their rank must be so different that even communication was impossible.
Damn it, my heart was seriously about to break.
I thought I had crossed the mountain called a great evil, but that great evil was only a newborn young devil.
I thought I had crossed the mountain called a Demon King, but they were Demon Kings who were, in truth, no different from the weakest.
Even so, I had struggled to cross the mountain.
And now, beyond a mountain, I had to reach a god.
I was seriously questioning it.
Could I, truly nothing more than a player,
reach such divinity (神格)?
Clop—Each time the horse’s hooves moved, the rift trembled.
So this was what it meant for the heavens to be startled and the earth to shake.
I understood it with my body.
Truly, for my head, for Lee Hoyeol’s mind,
this was a sight too overwhelming to endure with mental strength.
However.『No temptation, deceit, or trial of any devil can leave even a scratch on Grandfel’s noble pride.』Grandfel did not yield.
Always.
As usual.
No matter how much I struggled, it meant the initiative within the consciousness belonged to me.
At that moment, a sound rang out.
Shrrng—Of course, I had not forgotten.
Just as I, just as Grandfel, had hidden the past.
I, too, could not know all of their stories, but
the devil hunters of Akshan had something in common.
“It is a pride that even death could not break.”
Tap—On the shaking ground, I straightened my body.
“A mere devil.”
I raised my sword.
“Has no right to seize and sway it.”
My declaration became the signal flare.
The devil hunters engulfed in hellfire rushed toward Gamigin.‘Fast.’So fast it felt as though they had surpassed the limits of humanity.
In order to keep up,
I, too, had no choice but to imitate an elf’s movements.
Feeling it anew, they were simple after all.
Far from a hidden trump card, they were so straightforward as to be honest.
But they were not laughable.
Sometimes, because something is so simple, upright, and steadfast, there are things that do not break.
Yes, the devil hunters of Akshan did not break.
Beyond not breaking, they used any means necessary.
Did they intend to use even the hellfire wrapped around their own bodies as a means of attack? One devil hunter pressed close to Gamigin.
“□□□.”
Clop—Even if you are a high-ranking Demon King close to divinity, a devil is still a devil, is that it?
You cannot endure hellfire.
As much as I.
No, these were the senior devil hunters of Akshan, who knew devils better than I did.
Even without words, they seemed to have noticed the sign.
Shrrng—They gripped blades in both hands instead of crossbows.
Some held daggers in both hands.
Some held crossbow bolts instead of swords.‘Truly, they do not care about means or methods.’Likewise, they intended to transfer the hellfire to Gamigin.
Then I could not simply stand and watch either.
Do not even think about cutting off a leg and running away, Gamigin.
Kwadududuk!
Rocks rose into the air.
By searching, interfering, and manifesting upon the collapsed ground, I embroidered a staircase.
A staircase that seemed to reach the sky.
Perhaps even tens of thousands would not be enough.
An ordinary mage might have complained of mana exhaustion, but not me.‘Because this sort of thing is my specialty.’Knowledge of minerals so vast that I could omit the search process.
As if that were not enough, elixir herb doping.[Natural Enemy Relationship]
and [Blessing of the First World Tree]
were active as well.
Kwadududuk!
It meant that even if I manifested tens of thousands of steps, my mana would not so much as flinch.
Tap!
Among the devil hunters united to hunt a devil,
there was no need for conversation, nor even an exchange of glances.
Tadadak!
Soon, the devil hunters of hell rushed up the stairs.
At that moment, a massive energy rippled from Gamigin’s body.
The earth’s crust began to quake.
“□□□ □□ □□□.”
The split ground began to tangle back together.
I could sense it instinctively.
Gamigin, having achieved his objective,
was trying to close the [Gate of Hell]
he had opened.‘……
If the Gate of Hell closes.’The flames of hell would surely die down as well.──────Akshan’s Legacy: Summon Akshan devil hunters from the fires of hell.──────That meant the devil hunters would have no choice but to return to hell.
If I could, I wanted to manifest magic on the [Gate of Hell]. But I had not even witnessed the true form of the [Gate of Hell]. Even searching was impossible.
“How truly devil-like.”
Since you have achieved your objective of resurrection,
is there no reason to face your natural enemies?
Are you trying to flee cowardly to the Arcana Continent?
I lifted my head and looked at Gamigin.
“Foolish devil who calls himself king.”
Before I knew it, I was sympathizing with Grandfel’s feelings.
“Do you value your life?”
After trampling so many lives on the Arcana Continent.
So you do know that your own life is precious.
And on top of that, here stands Akshan, who lost their lives, fell into hell as the devils they hated, and yet never lost their pride as they continued hunting devils.
“Are you running away from us?”
Do not turn away from their desperate pride.
“If you call yourself king, then face us fully.”
The moment I recited those words.
Clop!
Gamigin’s hooves retreated.
So you really are trying to run.
Whether you are avoiding Akshan because you fear them,
or because they are disgustingly persistent,
I do not know.
But one thing is certain.
“I will not allow that.”
If Gamigin escapes like this,
he will run wild on the Arcana Continent.
The Arcana Continent is already in tatters.
Besides, had I not said it aloud?
That what they had done was enough, simply by passing their pride on to us.
So, if only to keep the words I had spoken,
I could not let you go.
What I drew up was mana.
An immense amount of mana. Of course, with my mana, no matter what magic I manifested, I probably could not so much as scratch him. But that did not matter. Because I was not the one who would burn you.
Literally.
At this very moment, when the Gate of Hell was about to close,
I simply intended to throw Gamigin into “hell.”‘You made a mistake.’No matter how hot the hellfire was, you should have endured it.
You should have desperately held out, as if it were not your weakness.
Why is a natural enemy a natural enemy?
Because they never let go of your weakness until the end.
Search.
I pressed down on Gamigin’s enormous body.
A massive amount of mana drained away in an instant.
But I did not stop searching.If 『Magic』 alone was insufficient,
then I would add [Gravity] to the process of interference.
This was precisely [『Anomaly』].
Thud—!
In that instant, Gamigin’s body sank as though struck down by something.
“□□……!!”
Crunch.
Gamigin’s legs began to collapse.
One, two, three.
And.
“A prostrated posture is precisely the look that suits you.”
Four.
Kugugugung—