◈ Chapter 310. I Will Put an End to It (1)
The Demon King deleted.
A shocking regular update.
The aftermath was difficult to put into words.
The changes among the players were too serious to dismiss it as an ordinary regular update.
Seoul Station.
The entire area was packed with waiting players.
A massive hunting ground called the Zero Mountains had opened, but…
Only high-level players could enter the Zero Mountains, which boasted a recommended level that could not be recommended to anyone. Although the overall standard of players had risen recently, low-level players still made up the overwhelming majority.
Lee Hoyeol, Skal, Jesse, Nam Taemin, Hisagi, and so on…
They were people who should have been looking upward, burning with ambition.
“Ah, fuck.”
Not a single one of them had even a hint of a smile.
Their faces could hardly be called the faces of those dreaming of a brilliant future as players.
How could it be otherwise?
“……
Should I just quit now? Being a player?”
Something about it felt unpleasant.
Whoo—he spat out a cigarette that had burned all the way down to the filter.
“Phew—so balance patches were possible even after the Cataclysm. Raymond Sean, that bastard just stood by and watched people, watched players die because of demon mobs.”
“He’s a real piece of trash.”
“Even if we level like our lives depend on it, doesn’t it all end up being useless? What’s the point of busting our asses and surviving a rift? If Raymond Sean, that bastard, decides to hit us with a balance patch whenever he wants, it could all become pointless.”
Once trust collapsed, the players’ spirits broke.
Just as feared.
That was an even more frightening change than the disappearance of the Demon King’s threat.
Because even if the Demon King had been deleted, the threat of demons had not disappeared.
The demons hiding in reality.
To them, the news of the Demon King’s deletion was instead good news.
The demons hidden in the shadows laughed.
‘As if dying wasn’t enough, to think he would scatter such negative emotions before leaving! If I’d known this would happen, perhaps I should have played along a little while he was alive and acting like a king?’
The sense of loss spreading among the players.
Its aftermath was already beginning to show.
Nam Cheolmin flinched after receiving information from AAU.
“……
What is this number?”
In just one day, the rift collapse rate had skyrocketed.
The players who had been voluntarily clearing rifts had neglected their raids for only twenty-four hours.
To think the numbers would surge this much.
Unable to believe it, he rubbed his eyes.
“Did they miscalculate something?”
Nam Cheolmin clutched at his hair as he gathered and calculated the information.
But nothing changed.
There were no errors in AAU’s data.
A sigh slipped out.
“We simply hadn’t been feeling it……?”
As stated before, the players’ level had advanced greatly.
Not only the rankers in the Zero Mountains, but even the low-level players.
In other words.
“The frequency of rift occurrences had increased far more than before in the first place.”
As much as the players had grown.
It meant that the number of rifts they had cleared while risking their lives had increased proportionally.
Gulp—Nam Cheolmin swallowed dryly.
AAU must have sent him this data in search of a solution.
“Damn it.”
But Nam Cheolmin lowered his head.
“We’re busy just trying to take care of ourselves right now……”
The Giant Alliance.
Before they were the Holy War Allied Forces, they too were players. Because of that damned regular update, their hearts felt as if they might break, and they were trying to hold themselves together with pride and not show it.
But the truth was, even that alone was difficult.
‘If Mr. Hoyeol really weren’t here…….’
The only comfort was…
The forces of the Arcana Continent that Hoyeol had gathered. In the first place, they were the people of Arcana who had once been called NPCs. Would they now be swayed by something like Raymond Sean’s balance patch?
Marcelo’s words echoed in Nam Cheolmin’s mind.
—“They have experienced far too much, after all.”
Because of that, the minds of the people of Arcana had been forged solid through trials.
“They’re dependable. Truly.”
The Magic Tower, Yusra, Frost, Muon.
Now that the players had fallen into chaos.
The forces of Arcana had begun full-scale activity.
It meant they had finished preparations to attack the rifts in the players’ stead.
Nam Cheolmin muttered.
“……
But I have to look at the forest, not the trees.”
Even if they put out the urgent fire, it would only be a temporary solution.
‘Of course. At this point in time, the people of Arcana are strong.’
So strong that, excluding Hoyeol, there was no player who could confidently say they could approach their level. However, players grew quickly.
This time, his younger brother Nam Taemin’s words came to mind.
—“I’m telling you, Master Harkon acknowledged my talent!”
Through the system.
It was true that they could grow faster than the people of Arcana.
Nam Cheolmin kept that in mind.
‘If this is a world designed by that bastard Raymond Sean.’
He could not say when it would happen, but in the future, enemies that even the current people of Arcana could not handle were certain to appear. And when that time came, the only ones capable of responding to such enemies would be the players who had grown.
But……
“To think he would plant a seed of doubt like this.”
With this, it was certain.
Raymond Sean was an enemy of humanity.
And not just any enemy.
He was without doubt a vicious enemy who deceived humanity and drove it toward ruin.
Nam Cheolmin shook his head.
“Get it together, Nam Cheolmin.”
He had to shake off his idle thoughts and come up with a countermeasure.
Disperse the forces of the Giant Alliance standing by in the Zero Mountains.
Deploy them into rifts showing signs of collapse, and rotate them……
Just as he was racking his brains to come up with the best possible solution.
Bzzzz—he felt a violent vibration at his wrist.
“……!”
The smartwatch on his wrist.
He had set it to vibrate in only one case.
The official Arcana website.
Only when a new post was uploaded.
Nam Cheolmin swallowed dryly without realizing it.
Bzzzz—
“…….”
Thursday had already passed.
That meant it was not a regular update, but an emergency update.
If it had been any other time, wondering what update was waiting…
Even because of occupational habit, he would have accessed the website in excitement.
“Phew.”
But now, he felt as though he had no choice but to access it. No matter what update appeared, he could not shake the feeling that he was dancing in Raymond Sean’s palm, so it was only natural that he was reluctant.
“Keep your head straight, Cheolmin.”
Even so, he had to fulfill his responsibility.
Because that was the pride an analyst had to possess.
With a stiff expression, Nam Cheolmin accessed the website.
──────Emergency Update──────
As expected.
He checked the emergency update details that had been uploaded.
Soon, a single sound slipped from Nam Cheolmin’s mouth.
“Huh?”
Because it was far too different from what he had expected.
No.
It was something he had never imagined.
A completely out-of-nowhere update detail.
──────The pure-blooded magic race, the Descendants of Twilight, will appear.──────
“……
What the hell is this all of a sudden?”
*
AAU.
An emergency convocation of branch managers.
For once, a heated discussion was taking place.
“So how exactly are we supposed to take this?”
Park Minjae slowly nodded.
Maybe because something they actually knew had come up.
At last, it feels like we’re doing some work.
“What do you think? For the Descendants of Twilight to pop up out of nowhere at a time like this! A pure-blooded magic race that was scrapped during development!”
Baker, the London branch manager, added his words.
“As far as I know, there was no setting that connected the Descendants of Twilight to the Demon World…… Why would they reveal themselves immediately after the Demon King was deleted?”
Park Minjae nodded.
“That’s right. The Descendants of Twilight have not the slightest connection to demons, including the Demon King. The only setting given to them was that they handled ‘Twilight Mana’ and ‘Twilight Magic,’ which ordinary mages cannot use.”
The Descendants of Twilight.
From the name alone, it was bound to sound plausible.
Because they were a race connected to a hidden class.
Memories from his time at Cosmo surfaced one after another.
—“That’s right. Mages were far too popular from the very beginning of the service. With the mage classes already overflowing, even the news that a hidden class existed caused a class imbalance. The Descendants of Twilight? And they throw around mysterious violet magic on top of that? Isn’t the future obvious?”
……
That was what Raymond Sean had said.
Raymond Sean had put forward that reason and scrapped the Descendants of Twilight project. At the time, there had been quite a number of developers, including Park Minjae, who swallowed their regret.
Someone said,
“Because that setting was thrown out, the mage class ended up floating in midair.”
Among them, especially.
The hidden class, [Archmage].
The Archmage, Jesse Heinness.
She was a valuable special combat force for humanity. Although the Cataclysm had erupted during the setting stage, so AAU had not been able to provide Jesse with much information or assistance……
“If the Descendants of Twilight have been realized, wouldn’t the setting where the Descendants of Twilight appear in the very final stages of the Archmage’s class quest remain to some extent? What do you think?”
“I sincerely hope so. We can’t depend on the General Manager for everything forever, can we? Jesse Heinness. It would be good if she gained something through this update and grew……”
“But if we’re being coldheaded, we don’t even know whether they’re allies, do we?”
It was a sharp point.
AAU’s settings were only the rough sketch.
Through all their experiences so far, they had learned painfully that no one could guarantee how that sketch had been realized. So once again, silence had no choice but to settle.
Baker suddenly asked,
“By the way, you’re unusually quiet today, Mr. Park?”
“Haha, am I?”
Under normal circumstances, Park Minjae would have thrown himself into a frustrating situation more passionately than anyone. As if a regular update had not been enough, now an emergency update. He would have been radiating killing intent toward Raymond Sean.
But Park Minjae calmly looked at his wristwatch.
Someone asked subtly,
“Well, do you have some nice appointment afterward?”
Only then did Park Minjae wave his hand.
“No. I was just checking the time.”
“Come on, is it a date?”
“……
For that to be the case, the state of his outfit is a bit……”
To anyone watching, it looked like an excuse, but it was the truth.
Park Minjae had been looking only at his watch even before attending the branch managers’ meeting.
The reason was simple.
‘It’s about time…….’
AAU’s General Manager.
The written explanation Hoyeol had submitted.
The deadline specified in that written explanation was approaching.
‘No, in fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say they’re the same time.’
The deadline Hoyeol had specified.
And the time the emergency update appeared.
That was the reason Park Minjae could remain calm.
On top of that, had Hoyeol ever betrayed their trust even once?
“Hm? What’s going on?”
Soon, breaking news reached the branch managers.
It was news from the Magic Tower.
Among the branch managers who flinched.
Only Park Minjae nodded.
“I’ve been waiting, General Manager……!”
*
The top floor of the Magic Tower.
I descended the stairs of the Magic Tower.
Click—exclamations were occasionally added to the sound of my shoes.
“So this is how it developed.”
The pure-blooded magic race, the Descendants of Twilight.
‘All gilded up.’
Both the modifier and the name somehow hit “someone’s” tastes exactly.
But let’s set that aside.
Because there were already more than enough other things to think about.
First, let’s start with the basic premise.
‘So Claudi was involved even there, is that it?’
The meddling of a great family truly was something else.
To think its influence would extend even to places I didn’t know about.
Of course.
‘The past has been settled, so what matters is the present.’
A debt even I know nothing about.
Not only would I feel reluctant to receive something like that, but I said I would settle it together with the Omen.
So I won’t say it twice.
Because even without that, there were enough debts. Thanks to the pincer operation between me and the Akkshan seniors, Mary’s clan, the Descendants of Twilight, had been restored to the Arcana Continent and had reappeared.
“I’m not sure I’ll be of any help like this.”
Mary said as she looked around the Magic Tower.
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
That isn’t modesty, Mary. It’s deception.
‘That was an unbelievable power of manifestation.’
Manifesting a portal that traveled between reality and the Arcana Continent consumed a considerable amount of mana even for me. On top of that, this time, I was in a state where I had repeatedly suffered mana exhaustion and rejection. And yet, I still hadn’t forgotten that damned time appointment.
‘It would have been impossible alone.’
Even so, I was able to return to the Magic Tower on time.
Because Mary had added her “power” to me as I manifested the portal.
The reason I expressed it as power rather than simple mana was simple.
Because Mary’s violet mana had provided tremendous help not only with mana, but through every process leading from search, to interference, to manifestation. Magic that harmonized perfectly with another person’s magic.
‘There’s nothing like that in the magical knowledge I know.’
You think I don’t know because I’m a parachute appointment?
How many research papers have I presented?
I’m now the dignified Chief of the Magic Tower, you know?
In any case.
“There is no need to set limits on yourself, Mary.”
Having witnessed possibility in that “Twilight Mana and Magic”…
I brought Mary to reality.
[Quest: Marcelo’s Research]
The Magic Tower’s Chief Mage, Marcelo.
In order to reach magic that has advanced to another dimension.
He wishes to be with you.
─The Weight of the Chief (Repeat) ▲
─An Approach to the Strange (Success)
─Progress Toward the Strange (In Progress)
●Identify the source of the Magic Tower. (Success)
●Track the unknown source, the Omen. (Failure)
●Pioneer a new solution. (In Progress)
Now that I know what sort of being the Omen is.
There’s no way Grandfell’s noble pride could even imagine borrowing the Omen’s power, is there? I had glimpsed a power that could replace that Omen in Mary, a Descendant of Twilight.
That was not all.
‘It must be chaos.’
Reality, while I was gone.
Most players knew nothing about the Omen. In that situation, they experienced the regular update saying the Demon King had been deleted. I could guess what everyone was feeling.
Yes, Mary was the card that could reverse this atmosphere.
Balance adjustment.
Deletion.
Raymond Sean’s interference.
A card to announce that all of it was meaningless.
In truth, I had expected Mary alone to be enough.
After all, even if I laid it out in front of the reporters in Grandfell’s manner of speaking…
AAU would follow up with supplementary materials about the Descendants of Twilight.
But as always, our Lord Grandfell is truly beyond imagination……!
At last, we arrived at the lobby of the Magic Tower.
Click—flashes burst in time with the sound.
Before the gathered reporters, I declared,
“I am aware of your concerns. However, all of it is nothing more than needless worry.”
It meant I was giving Raymond Sean a proper earful.
“Even so, if proof is needed, I shall show you.”
Flutter—the Dawn Jacket draped over my shoulders before I knew it billowed.
Undeterred even by that, I spread both arms and finished speaking.
“If it is for the sake of balance, then try denying my existence first.”
To translate Grandfell’s manner of speaking…
It meant: try deleting me, the player Lee Hoyeol.
Now that the Omen was being held back by the Akkshan seniors…
There was no way that would be possible!