◈ Episode 361. Welcome (1)
Claudi.
Regarding that name, nothing but speculation was rampant.
The Arcana Continent and reality.
Depending on the individual, there was bound to be a gap in the information they knew.
Even so, there was something everyone vaguely guessed.
"……It’s one of I Hoyeol’s aliases, right?"
It was certain.
Claudi.
That it was clearly one of the countless aliases referring to I Hoyeol.
If there was a difference, it was that the meaning was ambiguous.
It wasn’t an alias so intuitive that it brought Hoyeol to mind the moment one heard it, like a ray of light in endlessly deep darkness or the Abyssal Black Dragon.
Because of that, several players and self-proclaimed experts had racked their brains.
The most plausible opinion among them was…….
—"Why, I Hoyeol is the leader of Akshan, right? Couldn’t it have been a nickname used internally in Akshan? Like a rule where you have to hide your real name in front of demons!"
—"Damn…… that sounds plausible?"
—"Then when the demons shouted 'Claudi!' too……?"
It was the speculation that Claudi was a nickname for Hoyeol circulating within Akshan. But reality, or rather, the reality related to Hoyeol, always effortlessly surpassed imagination.
[Hidden Piece, you have entered the 'Claudi Territory'.]
"A Hidden Piece? Hidden Pieces actually existed?!"
"……Is it fine like this because it’s a Hidden Piece?"
"Claudi Territory, so what kind of place is this? Does anyone know?"
A few quick-witted ones, including Bak Hwigan, realized.
"……First of all, Claudi Territory means Claudi's territory, right?"
Entry onto the Arcana Continent.
The very first land they had stepped on was.
"I-It's I Hoyeol’s territory……!!"
Claudi.
That is, the fact that it was Hoyeol’s territory.
Common knowledge from before the fleeting Great Upheaval.
The days when the history of the Arcana Continent was merely a game.
The value of a territory came to mind.
"How many players possessed a territory?"
"To my knowledge, only one individual: Skal."
"Right, Skal! Because from then on, he wielded guild-level influence."
In those days, Skal had maintained an immovable first-place ranking. Excluding Skal, only guilds—moreover, those that could be called top-ranker guilds—were able to own land worthy of being called a territory.
However.
"But that was the early days no matter how you look at it, right? A time when rankers' levels were stuck at best in the 200s! Even if you called it a territory obtained at that level……"
They were backwaters even in the empire.
No, they were merely small villages not even belonging to the empire. Though they did possess [Rangeli], which could at best be called a proper city thanks to unification under heaven…….
"They were virtually figurehead lords."
Knowing past information in detail?
For players possessing the skill and confidence to enter the Arcana Continent in the vanguard, it wasn’t a strange thing either. The truly strange thing lay elsewhere.
Bak Hwigan cautiously continued.
"S-since when has he owned land like this?"
Claudi Territory.
The afterimage seen upon entering the portal was exactly as it had been.
Bak Hwigan let out a pure exclamation.
"Anyhow…… it's a sight to behold!"
Swoosh—A field of grass, like sheep’s wool, stretched to the end of the horizon, and trees grew thickly as if to protect such a territory. The sky was clear, and even the blowing wind was refreshingly pleasant.
To the point that one wondered if this wasn’t a space completely removed from the Arcana Continent they had heard so much about. But what astonished the players more than anything was.
"……Wait. Wh-what is that?!"
A mansion emitting an enormous presence even from afar.
"Gasp."
"Th-that's basically a castle, isn't it?"
Claudi’s mansion had completely stopped in their tracks those entering the Arcana Continent, the Claudi Territory, through the portal. Bak Hwigan muttered, spellbound.
"So that's the mansion of Lord Hoyeol? Then I understand. Why you emphasized aesthetics so much. Of course, if you live in a place like that……!"
Eye-opening.
It was a beauty that seemed capable of forcibly awakening an 'Aesthetic Eye.' So the players had no choice but to advance toward Claudi's mansion as if bewitched.
Among that crowd.
"……Damn, the gazes looking our way are intense?"
The three guild masters of the great alliance whispering covertly.
And Skal was there.
Nam Taemin, who had been whispering to Hisagi, could intuit it.
"This must be that thing Mr. Hoyeol…… no, the commander-in-chief said he regretted not being able to show us, right? That thing he mentioned on the Iron Castle!"
They were the ones who had first entered the Arcana Continent as the advance party.
Hisagi nodded his head.
To be precise, Hoyeol had…….
—"Please understand that I could not welcome you grandly."
Because he had said that.
At that time, they could not know what he meant.
Now, they felt they understood.
At the same time, a laugh escaped.
"Simply beholding it is incomparably grand."
"……What's with the sudden soliloquy? Can't you hear me?"
"Shut up, both of you. They're staring more because of you."
Leoni kept her mouth shut and chided them through ventriloquism.
The burdensome gazes of the pouring-in players.
The looks that believed that, as those who could be called Hoyeol’s close associates even within the Holy War Allied Forces, they must surely know something about this situation.
However. 'As if we know a damn thing.'
One need only look at Skal glancing around here and there to guess.
"It is a mansion that reeks of history and tradition."
"Skal, how can you feel that?"
"Did I not speak of my clan?"
"Clan? What are you on about all of a sudden? I'm not interested in your clan. You don't care if I'm from the Uiryeong Nam clan or the Yeongyang Nam clan, which generation, or what branch, right?"
"Both of you, stop. Just admire the sight."
Leoni shook her head. '……Can the three of you please just walk separately?' By then, the players seemed to have realized that these people knew nothing, and had lost interest.
Thanks to that, the unnecessary attention disappeared, but Leoni's mind was still complicated. '……Isn't he trusting us too much?'
Inviting them to the territory.
It meant almost the same as inviting them into his own inner chamber.
And on top of that, so many players whose pride he didn't even know they possessed! 'Frankly speaking.' If it was to attract attention.
Players who wouldn't hesitate to troll were overflowing.
For them, Hoyeol's territory would be an incomparable topic of gossip.
Of course, Hoyeol, who values decorum, wouldn't stand idly by…… but the problem was his benevolence in generously embracing them once they begged for forgiveness.
Leoni clicked her tongue inwardly. 'To think he stands at the peak, praised as a true sage.'
Geez, a person shouldn't be too nice.
Of course, Hoyeol's benevolence likely stemmed from confidence. But the problem was that the owner of the house was not currently present in his territory, Claudi Territory.
—"Unfortunately, I have a prior engagement."
Considering the time difference between the Arcana Continent and reality.
It might be that the players would spend at least a day or two in Claudi Territory.
Leoni’s disapproving gaze turned toward the portal behind them. 'Until then, those without pride will keep trickling in.'
A day or two was sufficient time for incidents to occur.
However, Leoni's worries did not last long.
How far had they gone?
By the time they reached the garden in front of the mansion.
Four statues blocked the players' path.
Someone uttered an impression.
"……Isn't the positioning of the statues ambiguous?"
The answer came from the statues' mouths.
"We are not statues."
"U-ugh?!"
"We are the avatars of the four families serving Claudi."
Rumble……!
"By the Lord's command, we shall watch over your pride."
At the same time.
The four statues moved, emitting a majestic sound.
At that sight, a smile formed on Leoni's lips.
Well, of course.
There are arrangements no matter where you go.
How could there be no arrangement in a territory that is like his own inner chamber?
Swish, when Leoni turned around.
"Gasp."
She saw a few who looked like thieves caught red-handed.
They're frozen stiff, aren't they?
Leoni, who had been watching, eventually shook her head.
"I truly am unrivaled when it comes to pointless worrying."
*"Hmm."
This buoyant spring breeze is supremely unpleasant.
"A glimmer of hope within despair?"
But it's not bad.
No, I hope they remain that buoyant. That way, they will feel an even greater sense of guilt for their rash actions. And the more they do, the more this flesh will gain power.
The great evil, Lust of the Seven Deadly Sins.
Rust (Lust)
gazed at the sacrifices.
If asked what the sacrifices were for, he would answer with his actions thus far. Rust looked at the wounds he had still not fully regenerated.
The exposed rib bones that had failed to heal. 'It wasn't for nothing that I shared my blood and flesh with her.'
The Demon King of the Demon World, Gremory.
Rust had forcibly injected his own blood and flesh into Gremory.
As a result, the Arcana Continent and the Demon World.
The evil
of the two worlds combined, and he was able to witness the birth of a new evil.
A newly reborn half-breed demon.
Gremory's power was beyond expectations.
Especially. 'In beguilement alone, she surpassed even me.'
Rust had watched the entirety of Gremory's rampage in the Zero Mountain Range from beginning to end. To think she had not only bewitched adventurers but even made the beasts of the range her subordinates.
Rust swallowed a smile as he looked at his wound.
"It was a pain I could sufficiently endure."
Thanks to that, a plan had been formed.
If he could mix the blood of a high-ranking Demon King with himself, one of the Seven Deadly Sins……. The last survivor of Akshan. At the same time, he would be able to grasp power that would not lose even to that one-of-a-kind Claudi.
Rust muttered in a sing-song voice.
"Ah, perhaps he isn't one-of-a-kind after all."
Well, such trivialities didn't matter.
He said he had watched Gremory's beginning and end.
Even though he had witnessed the overwhelming ability of Hoyeol, who had slain Gremory.
Even so, the reason Rust could be arrogant was simple. He knew the power of the high-ranking Demon Kings, who were on a different level from the mongrels of the Demon World calling themselves kings.
Demon worshippers.
Among them, the Third of the Magic Tower.
Karim Jeba had evaluated the high-ranking Demon Kings thus.
—"They are the true realizers of truth."
A gate leading to the Demon World.
Karim Jeba's eyes, which had glimpsed the power of the high-ranking Demon Kings through that gap, were filled with rapture.
As if he had truly glimpsed the 'true truth.' It was something Rust, who couldn't understand mages' obsession with truth then or now, could not comprehend.
However.
"That, too, is not important."
What was important was that thanks to the demon worshippers, Rust had been able to master the process of the sacrificial ritual for the manifestation of a high-ranking Demon King.
'An dimensional rift that need not be stable is necessary.'
It was fine if one couldn't travel back and forth through it.
It simply needed to connect the Arcana Continent and this world.
He had to build it into an altar befitting the tastes of the high-ranking Demon King who wished to manifest through such a dimensional rift.
In that sense, their failure had been helpful.
The Demon King of the Fourth Throne, Gamigin.
To think they tried to summon the king of the Fourth Throne in their very first attempt.
It was an arrogant attempt.
Rust had no intention of repeating such a mistake.
'Malseok, the Tenth Demon King, is sufficient.'
Rust clenched his fist.
'No, it must be Malseok.'
The half-breed ritual.
That is, in the process of mixing blood, one had to accept the high-ranking Demon King into one's own body. Of course, Rust knew. How the high-ranking Demon Kings were treated by the mongrels.
Foolish fathers, or tools.
Among the mongrels, the high-ranking Demon Kings possessed immense power but were beings without will. Because he possessed such knowledge, Rust had made the resolve to mix blood with a high-ranking Demon King.
'I cannot trust only the words of mongrels.'
What helped was the demonic nature that made them unable to trust one another.
Thus Rust prepared the ritual.
He had to finish both the high-ranking Demon King manifestation ritual and the half-breed ritual.
Truly, a tremendous amount of sacrifices would be necessary.
Securing such sacrifices was no easy task even on the Arcana Continent.
But Rust had witnessed an opportunity.
None other than in China, fallen into chaos.
A satisfied smile spread.
"Hahahaha."
Moreover, the number of sacrifices was among the highest in this world, was it not? Although the elves, beings he would rather not face, were alive and well on this land.
'It doesn't matter. The only one who can sense me is.'
The Demon Hunter.
Only him.
It was because he knew this fact that Rust had chosen this moment.
Thanks to having once possessed a human's body.
He had naturally acquired knowledge of the adventurers' world.
News repeated to the point of nausea on TV and smartphones.
—Breaking news: Entry into the Arcana Continent is now possible!
That's right.
At this moment, that bastard would be leading the adventurers toward the Arcana Continent.
They were two completely different worlds.
Even if he possessed an extremely keen hunter's sense. Detecting Rust's presence on the Arcana Continent was impossible.
Rust did not delay.
"No, arrogance is forbidden."
Likewise, information he had learned.
"The time of the Arcana Continent flows four times faster."
The ritual began immediately.
Drip—A drop of blood falling at his feet.
Simultaneously, the altar opened the curtain on the ritual.
Rust imagined his future.
There would be no existence capable of stopping him, who grasped not only the power of a high-ranking Demon King but also the power of adventurers, of players. Not a Dragon, not Pride, not Baal, and finally.
'Even you, Claudi.'
The moment Rust's lips were about to curl.
"You weren't late for the appointment."
A voice was heard.
At that moment.
His limbs stiffened rigidly.
"……!"
However, Rust could not turn his head.
It wasn't because he was in the middle of the ritual and couldn't afford to break his concentration. It was because Rust would have fled if he could.
He simply couldn't.
A cold voice continued to such a Rust.
For some reason.
In a turn of phrase that Rust could not immediately comprehend.
"Did I not say."
"……?"
"That I would not permit even a single breath on this land."
The denunciation continued.
"A being no better than a worm in my garden."