◈ Episode 306. Even If the World Has Abandoned Them (2)
I answered Diend’s message.
“I knew it would come to this.”
Perhaps it was because time flowed faster on the Arcana Continent than in reality to begin with. The regular update had been reflected with incredible speed. Let’s see. The Demon King’s Castles that had been under surveillance all across the continent were obliterated without a trace…….
“A fitting end for an inferior race.”
Honestly, when it comes to demons, this damned mouth of his has no mercy.
But it isn’t sincere.
After all, I know it as common sense for a demon hunter, don’t I?
“Of course, it is a futile act.”
There’s a reason demon-type monsters are overflowing across the Arcana Continent. Unless they’re sent to hell by a demon hunter’s hand, those bastards will eventually revive. Those guys. ‘You must have thought it would be different if you deleted them.’ But don’t be mistaken, Raymon Sean.
“Truly, what a narrow-minded view.”
Even you, who call yourself the developer of Arcana Continent Biography.
You don’t know everything about Arcana, do you?
Shall I give an example?
My dark history. Needless to say, the Claudi family and Grandfell. And the same goes for our Akshan seniors, whom you surely believe were deleted.[Class Quest: Akshan-Style Diversion Operation]
Even if the Arcana Continent abandoned Akshan, Akshan did not break. Last demon hunter. Inherit Akshan’s tenacity and complete Akshan’s final operation.─Hunt the Omen. (In Progress)
Far from being deleted.
It meant that, burning with tenacity, they had begun their operation inside the Omen’s belly. So I didn’t hesitate. I may not look it, but I know better than anyone how persistent our seniors are. ‘I suffered through it myself, so I have no choice but to believe.’ Unique stat, [Tenacity].
If it was our seniors, who surely possessed even higher tenacity and greater ability to use it than I did, they would undoubtedly carry out the operation splendidly. Then all I had to do was believe in them and do my part.
I declared it in Grandfell’s manner of speech.
“Do not underestimate Akshan’s trust.”
And if you asked what my part was.
That, too, could be explained through experience.
The Omen detected all across the Arcana Continent.
Hadn’t I recently faced something similar to this pattern?
The Primordial Evil.
The one that fled from Sisley, the World Tree, to the Arcana Continent.
That bastard and its by-products.
Blocked by the by-products of the Primordial Evil, I had failed to track down the main body.
Could I ever forget the day of shame when the great Grandfell let a demon escape? (By Grandfell’s strict standards, it was a shameful day.)
It meant I had gained an enormous lesson from letting a demon escape.
I recited.
“I believe in you.”
The Omens detected all across the Arcana Continent were probably not the main body.
How could I be so certain?
Again, experience. It was thanks to the desperate struggling I had done.
-“The Omen is in the deep sea of the southern sea…….”As the general manager of AAU’s Yusra branch, that is.
“So you, too, must believe in me.”
Good. The target coordinates were the southern sea.
What I was aiming for was the Omen’s main body.
Truthfully, if I could have done as I wished……. ‘I’d like to turn the guests’ reins back around.’ After the banquet ended, I wanted to call back those who had left the Claudi territory. If it was them, then even before the Omen, they seemed like they would be of help somehow.
“It is time to shake off the tedium of the banquet.”
However, there was no way Claudi’s dignity would permit such a thing.
Besides, even without them, there were the Akshan seniors.
All right, let’s steel myself once more. ‘It’s a shame about the Natural Enemy Relationship, though.’ Since the Demon Kings had been swallowed into the Omen’s belly along with their castles.[Natural Enemy Relationship]
It was better not to expect it to activate.
But as much as I regretted that absence.
Wouldn’t our seniors fill that gap in their place?
So.
Gooooo─Without hesitation, I stepped into the manifested portal.
Well, if things truly didn’t work out.
I would have to call the Iron Castle and do my part that way.
However.
Soon, the southern sea revealed itself.
An unexpected scene was unfolding along the shore.
Who is that noble person, radiating enough magic power to make goosebumps rise over my body……? But was Grandfell ever the sort of person who read other people’s moods?
His gaze immediately turned to the main point.
“Is that the Omen.”……
Omen, what are you, now?
Why the dwarves had described the Omen as “something.”
Why they hadn’t even been able to describe it.
I understood the reason at once. ‘Because even the concept is different.’ It would be difficult for the people of the Arcana Continent to understand an existence like the Omen. Just as players had been unable to understand magic. Yes, the Omen was an existence that seemed like it would belong in reality.
At the same time, it was an exceedingly familiar form to me.
“It is no different from that crude creation.”
Prototype.
The mechanical monster I had witnessed in Raymon Sean’s [CODE] rift.
If there was a difference, it was the size. It was truly overwhelming. It was no exaggeration that it had swallowed and deleted Akshan and the Demon King’s Castles. Its body was large enough to more than fill my entire field of vision.
But what did any of that matter?
Omen, as long as you are a prototype.
As long as you are Raymon Sean’s creation.
You have gained one natural enemy you cannot defy.
Ziiing─A pulse felt at my waist.
That’s right.
Gwicheol was shouting that it was his turn.
However.
Wait a moment, hold yourself back, Gwicheol.
No, in front of a prototype, are you not Gwicheol?
“Wait for the proper procedure, Illusion Breaker.”……
Right, that bizarre name!
In any case, it wasn’t time to swing you yet.
As I said, the Omen wasn’t the only thing before my eyes. Someone was flying on a broom, confronting the Omen. And they were manifesting magic that even I, the Magic Tower’s co-chief, could not understand, weren’t they?
Swoooooosh─!
The enemy of my enemy is my ally.
I didn’t know who they were, but our intentions seemed to align.
If I could have done as I wished, I wanted to observe the situation.
Their skill?
As for magic, at the very least, you could tell just from the fact that Grandfell’s loose tongue, which spat venom from a cold perspective, remained silent. This was no ordinary mage. ‘Their amount of magic power, and of course the level of their manifestation, are extraordinary.’ I could guarantee it.
That person was, at minimum, a transcendent who had liberated their circle.
The moment I realized that. ‘Huh?’ For some reason, the back of their head began to look familiar.……
I see. At times like this, Grandfell’s grudges are useful.
You know, the moment I first entered the social hall of space-time. The only transcendent who had not focused on me. The back of the head that had been face-down at a corner table. Somehow, that back of the head seemed to be this back of the head. ‘A transcendent, huh.’ When I looked at the Sword Saint, Shegwin, and Urs the Iron Arm…….
I knew what kind of temper transcendents had without even having to meet them.
So there was no need to unnecessarily increase the number of enemies here. ‘Let’s get through this as amicably as possible.’ Seeing as they were facing the Omen, it should be fine as long as I didn’t go poking a hornet’s nest.
With that meaning in mind, I stepped forward.
Perhaps because she was absorbed in battle.
She hadn’t noticed me, yet I deliberately spoke to her.
“It has been a while.”
Honestly!
His way of thinking is so self-centered, isn’t it?
I know that back of the head.
But that doesn’t mean the back of the head knows me, does it?
However, would this shameless iron mask concern himself with such trivial circumstances?
Perhaps she found a moment of leeway while manifesting her magic.
The back of the head turned.
Our faces met.
As expected, it was our first meeting.
In any case, it would be best to start by exchanging names amicably.
That was the moment I thought so.
“……?!”
Sky-blue pupils.
The woman’s eyes shook violently.
So violently that even the flow of magic power she was emitting became unstable. ‘No, wait.’ Excuse me, I don’t know what surprised you.
But please manifest that magic properly first?!
Even when a gun barrel suddenly turns, it scares the life out of you.
A spell like that goes without saying……!
If its direction goes wrong and it flies at me like a stray spark, I’ll be in serious trouble, you know?
I don’t even know what kind of magic it is, so I can’t manifest reversal magic!
I conveyed that sentiment in Grandfell’s manner of speech.
“Was the target not the Omen?”
“……!”
“Do not forget. There is a procedure to everything.”
The procedure of magic.
Search, interference, manifestation—those are all well and good.
But shouldn’t you be looking at your opponent properly?
Did she belatedly come to her senses at my words?
The transcendent manifested magic toward the Omen.
Shooooooo─!
A violet beam shot out in a straight line and struck the Omen.
It was magic I didn’t know. ‘Judging by its force…….’ Isn’t that a stage above Meteor Strike?
In other words, super-high-ranking magic.
A fierce violet light.
Thanks to it, my vision flashed, then returned.
At any rate, it was just as expected. ‘Of course it wouldn’t budge.’ It was a [Prototype]
inside 『Arcana Continent』.
In any case, that thing was also an [『Oddity』].
Oddities can only be opposed by oddities. ‘I’ll have to try.’ I, too, had recently put in what one might call effort.
Swordsmanship, magic, tenacity.
In order to handle the combinations of countless oddities born from different concepts as though they flowed into one. Rifts, the Hundred Thousand Caves, even great evil. It meant I had literally struggled while losing sleep.
Thump, thump, thump─I stretched out my hand and gripped the hilt.
Gwicheol’s pulse was transmitted to me.
There was no need to stop the rampaging Gwicheol this time.
The release of the Sword Path of Pride, having risen to the ranks of the transcendent.
First Path.[Sword That Cuts Illusions: Illusion Breaker][Effect: When fighting a “Prototype,” destructive power greatly increases.]
Swooooo─Sword energy condensed into sword aura.
The sword aura transformed, and Gwicheol’s form changed in an instant. In appearance, it was a prototype no different from a machine. Illusion Breaker’s voice rang out.
-If it is sharp, there will be no problem cutting it, master.
The blade, gleaming with a cold blue light, added trust.……
Oops.
And I nearly forgot. ‘It’s about time I put them through. My sleeves.’ Before battle.
Rustle─I shamelessly put on the jacket I had draped over my shoulders. What the transcendent watching silently thought did not matter. What mattered was the set effect of the Dawn series.
Among them, the second effect.[One Who Awaits the Dawn 5/5][Set item effect is applied.][Currently applied set effect: 5/5][1. When you are the commander, allies’ morale becomes “maximum.”][2. Additional damage is applied to all attacks. The attribute of the additional damage is “light,” and it deals the same damage even if the target of the attack is of the “light” attribute.]…….
Additional damage applied to all attacks.
That was an effect rare both before and after the Cataclysm. However, I had confirmed to some extent, both directly and indirectly, just how great that effect was. It was thanks to the [Vampire Count’s Orb] that Count Askyura had dropped. ‘To the point that even the great Magic Tower requested to borrow it.’ The senior of enchantment.
Kiko Armin.
After finishing her research, she handed me the orb she had borrowed and said.
-“This may be presumptuous of me to say……! But I think this might be the magic tool effect most suited to you, Chief Lee, who are talented not only in magic but in so many other things! Its versatility is truly remarkable……!”
That’s right.
The key point was that it applied to all attacks.
Swordsmanship, magic, spirits, shooting, and so on…….
In other words, it boasted considerable compatibility with me, who had dug fifty thousand escape routes for myself.
An additional damage effect, no matter how much damage it dealt. ‘Is basically a bonus, isn’t it?’ Who in the world would refuse a bonus?
I was no different.
It didn’t even have the weakness of mutually countering attributes. ‘Ahem.’ There was a reason I brazenly straightened my clothes despite enduring the shame. But the mental victory of me, Lee Hoyeol, did not last long.
“……
As expected.”
Suddenly, the transcendent opened her mouth.
Her helplessly trembling pupils found their place.
Then she continued.
“You were Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo……?”
That damned full name comes out here?!
Damn it, while I’m wearing this glittering outfit.
Being called by my full name makes the mental shock twice as bad.
Even amid my confusion, I worked my brain. ‘……
The social hall?’ Back when Arcana was nothing more than a game.
The social hall of space-time had been the realization of a veteran player community. I had considered that my Arcana Continent Biography ID might be revealed. The problem was how she had become certain it was me.
Don’t tell me……? ‘Do I look like I suit that name?’……
Do I really look like I live up to that kind of name?
However, this time as well.
My inner fuss could not show on the outside.
Indeed, if one stays still, one will at least get halfway there.
She introduced herself first.
Bowing her head.
“Mary, the Witch of the Southern Sea, greets the head of Claudi.”
Mary, the Witch of the Southern Sea.
Well, I don’t know who you are.
But you know far too much about me. ‘……
To the point that I want to pretend not to know.’ So how do you think of me, of Grandfell?
Do you even have any intention of cooperating before the Omen?
It was the moment I was about to bring up the main point.
My vision flickered.[You have acquired command authority over Mary, the Witch of the Southern Sea.]
Both Mary and I reacted.
“……
Lord Grandfell? Why has my body begun to shine?”
Mary was bewildered by the contagion of pride. ‘Don’t tell me, it’s Claudi’s halo again this time?’ And I was horrified by the manifestation of my wide-ranging dark history!