◈ Episode 377. A Familiar Role for Me (1)
I look at the message that appeared.
[??? : Demon King Contest
- Proof of the Ten Thrones]
It is clearly in quest format, but……
Why does it begin with question marks?
I was puzzled, but I checked the contents first.
Thanks to that, I could make a guess.
O king of the Ten Thrones.
Countless challengers covet your seat. Kneel before the hand of a challenger, or bring down another king who looks down from above. Challenge, proof, and choice belong wholly to you, the king.
-Defend the tenth throne. (In Progress)
-Challenge the ninth throne. (In Progress)
Apparently, this was……
Not a quest from Arcana, but one from the Demon Realm. As if that weren’t enough, this quest was clearly treating me as a king—more precisely, as the new Demon King who had taken Buer’s place.
‘As if I’d be happy about being called a king?’
From the Ten Thrones onward, they were true kings.
Did that mean one could take a throne regardless of race?
Unexpectedly open-minded, aren’t you, Demon Realm?
Well, even that undead lich, Discus or whatever his name was,
had apparently been after Buer’s throne.
‘Still, a human as a Demon King?’
I still couldn’t believe it.
But it was written in a system message that never lied.
Challenge, proof, and choice belonged wholly to me, the king.
For now, I murmured.
“Checkmate.”
I wasn’t in front of a chessboard.
I didn’t even know how to play chess properly.
And yet I was suddenly declaring checkmate.
“……
Ch-checkmate, you say?”
I could feel the eyes around me focusing on me.
Whether they knew chess or not, they could probably guess what it meant.
It meant the king was in danger.
‘It sounds grandiose, but it isn’t wrong.’
If anything, it was doubly true.
I could tell just by the fact that there were two quest objectives.
Yes, as the Demon King of the tenth throne, I could challenge the thrones of the higher Demon Kings. At the same time, as one of the Demon Kings of the Ten Thrones, I had to prove my ability against the challenges of countless challengers.
I muttered inwardly.
‘If this isn’t a dilemma, I don’t know what is.’
It was an extremely honest impression.
The reason was simple.
I did not yet have the ability to defeat a higher Demon King.
It was Grandfell who had slain Buer, not me.
‘The lich Discus is the same.’
If all the challengers were demons, that would be one thing.
But if challengers unrelated to demons appeared,
I wouldn’t even be able to rely on [Natural Enemy Relationship],
the one thing I could count on.
It could be called trouble piling up from every direction.
However, my mouth was not honest.
“Killing two birds with one stone.”
In the end, perhaps puzzled by my consecutive murmurs,
Chainwalker carefully asked.
“Commander-in-Chief, has something happened?”
It wasn’t only Chainwalker.
Nam Taemin and the other members of the Great Alliance were also looking at me with serious expressions. My alter egos, Hiel and Diend, bowed their heads and spoke as well.
“My lord, we do not wish to regret things ever again.”
So I, too, had no choice but to look at them seriously.
Proof of the Ten Thrones, my foot.
It was the tenth throne that had practically been shoved onto me by Buer.
I had no experience sitting on a throne, but I could sense it.
There had to be a reason this was a quest from the Demon Realm.
It meant threats on a completely different level from anything so far might come flooding in.
Perhaps the true war had finally begun.
‘Everyone will be put in danger.’
That was why there could not be the slightest concealment.
My stubbornness would not allow me to remain silent.
I spoke bluntly.
“Are you prepared to go to war with me?”
The weight of war struck home.
Depending on victory or defeat, the lives of countless people would be decided.
I myself might die on the battlefield.
Even Chainwalker, armed in dwarven equipment, might die a gruesome death.
Nam Taemin, Hisagi, Leonie, and Skal, of course.
Even the players in reality might not be exceptions to the threat.
So I wanted to receive a clear answer.
So that I myself would not waver.
But the answer came far sooner than I had expected.
“What are you saying, Commander-in-Chief?”
And it came with hearty laughter.
Chainwalker was smiling with satisfaction.
“You have not forgotten why your title is Commander-in-Chief, have you? If you had forgotten…… I might, for the first time, feel disappointed in you!”
Title, Commander-in-Chief of the Holy War Alliance.
At those words, I realized.
‘It means everyone has been prepared for this since long ago.’
Was that how it had been……? Perhaps I was the only one who had failed to look at the situation properly. Everyone had offered up their lives from the moment they joined the Holy War Alliance.
From that moment on,
‘……
Yes, Commander-in-Chief.’
The title “Commander-in-Chief,” which had been unbearably embarrassing until now, no longer sounded cringe-inducing. Had I been dyed by my dark history, had I matured, or was it because of pride?
I did not know the reason.
But one thing was certain.
From now on, the Holy War would begin in earnest.
Therefore, I did not hesitate.
“I, Lee Hoyeol, pay respect to your decision.”
I immediately declared.
“As the Commander-in-Chief of the Holy War Alliance.”
……
Still, no matter what, saying it aloud isn’t easy yet.
*
Langerie, a small city on the outskirts of the Empire.
Liu Wujunchun stared at the message that had appeared in the lord’s castle.
At the same time, he checked the complexions of the Five Stars.
There was not the slightest change in their expressions.
‘This is a message that appeared only to me.’
Liu Wujunchun’s gaze turned back to the message.
[??? : Demon King Contest
- Proof of the Ten Thrones]
O usurper possessed of the qualities of a king. The time has come to seize the seat of a true king. Now that the new Demon King of the tenth throne has proven his qualification, it means an opportunity has come to you as well. Will you settle, or will you challenge? Choose, challenger.
-Challenge the Demon King of the Ten Thrones. (In Progress)
Before the Cataclysm and after it as well,
Liu Wujunchun had been active as a top-ranking player.
In addition, as the guild master of Unification of All Under Heaven, he had encountered vast amounts of information.
The gaze of such a knowledgeable player was fixed on the first character of the message.
The question marks.
‘Does it mean even the system does not dare to evaluate it?’
The value of this quest.
Liu Wujunchun read the quest contents over and over again.
To summarize, it was simple.
An opportunity had come to kill a Demon King of the Ten Thrones and take his throne.
‘Just like that new Demon King of the tenth throne apparently did.’
The Demon King of the tenth throne.
Liu Wujunchun had no way of knowing who that was.
However, what he could guess was……
The protagonist of the message that had appeared before him as well.
‘Grandfell.’
The one who was said to have begun a Mythic-grade quest.
He could not overlook the possibility that it was him.
Either way, it was an unknown being all the same.
Liu Wujunchun neither looked up to nor feared that unknown being. What mattered was only that he had obtained the qualification of a challenger.
‘The qualities of a king.’
Surely, it referred to the [Monarch] class.
Liu Wujunchun was the only [Monarch] among players.
In the past, there had been players who possessed the [Monarch] class.
But the majority had deleted their characters before the Cataclysm due to the high difficulty of raising them and had raised new characters. If one asked what happened to the [Monarch]s who awakened as players after the Cataclysm—
Slide.
Liu Wujunchun’s gaze turned toward the sword hilts of the Five Stars.
He killed them.
Every last one.
The reason was simple.
Class Quest.
Unique among the same class.
It was so that Liu Wujunchun himself could carry out the Class Quest that only the chosen one could perform.
Was there no backlash?
As if there could be.
No one noticed.
-Monarch, player Sheodin, found dead under suspicious circumstances in a rift!
-High possibility it was the work of a player……
-Was a dispute with Supernova the cause? Suspicions intensify
Except for the Five Stars,
Liu Wujunchun trusted no one in Unification of All Under Heaven.
So there was no way anyone could catch him from behind.
The corners of Liu Wujunchun’s mouth rose.
As expected, my judgment was not mistaken.
As the only player Monarch,
he had unmistakably seized the opportunity to challenge a Demon King of the Ten Thrones.
‘However.’
This was the Arcana Continent. That meant he could not guarantee how many others possessed the qualities of a monarch like himself. Therefore, Liu Wujunchun had no intention of moving first.
‘The opportunity will come.’
Moreover, the opponent was a Demon King.
‘Perhaps I may even be able to profit without lifting a finger.’
That was right.
The one who regarded demons as insects and hunted them down mercilessly.
Had Lee Hoyeol not begun entering the Arcana Continent in earnest?
Liu Wujunchun muttered.
“For the first time, I might end up benefiting from you.”
Without even realizing that he was harboring a tremendous misconception……
*
The Magic Tower.
Crystal Hall.
Marcelo looked at the murmuring audience.
‘As expected, it is not easy, sir.’
The new Tower Master still called the Chief Mage “sir.” He had no choice. Marcelo did not believe that he had proven himself worthy of the vessel of Tower Master.
‘Even so, I will try.’
It was simply
the only way he could share the burden Hoyeol was carrying.
That was why Marcelo had taken on the role of Tower Master.
‘A Demon King Contest, is it.’
He had experienced it once in the past.
The seventy-two thrones.
A Demon King Contest that had taken place to fill the vacant seat of the Demon King who had fallen into hell.
However, a statement continued from the AAU side.
“Excluding the top ten in the hierarchy, the higher Demon Kings, the other Demon Kings were deleted for balance adjustment reasons. The update history has never once deviated until now, so the throne mentioned in this Demon King Contest must be the throne of a higher Demon King.”
Bensch William, senior of fire magic, twitched his mouth.
“Hmph, even I can say something like that. Beware the higher Demon Kings—wasn’t that what none other than Chief Lee said? The problem is how we are to deal with such higher Demon Kings, isn’t it, Senior Bangrit?”
“Well, that is true……?”
“Exactly! The problem is how we are going to respond to the higher Demon Kings who are certain to run wild from now on. We can’t guarantee where they’ll burst out from at any moment. The stage has been set for them!”
At a glance, it seemed like an argument.
But the Magic Tower and the AAU.
The Arcana Continent and reality.
It was one part of the process by which groups from two entirely different worlds put their heads together to come up with a [『strange』] answer. Therefore, Park Minjae, the head of the AAU Korea branch, also spoke.
“Senior Bensch William’s words are not wrong. Even from the perspective of the Arcana Continent Chronicle era, the probability that the higher Demon Kings will run wild has increased even more. Looking back at the previous case, it is the same.”
Clack, clack, clack.
At Park Minjae’s glance, Yoon Su-gyeom tapped on his laptop keyboard.
At the same time, a hologram appeared in Crystal Hall.
It contained scenes from the previous Demon King Contest.
Frost.
A star pattern drawn with corpses.
Photographs of Decarabia flowed past one after another.
“Originally, to summon a Demon King, a corresponding sacrifice is required. However, when the stage of the Demon King Contest was set, it was different. Demons strong enough to challenge thrones poured out without any particular sacrifice.”
That was the reason Park Minjae had ground his teeth at Raymon Sean.
“It will probably be the same as then. The higher Demon Kings, who should require enormous sacrifices, may flood into reality without any particular restrictions. As for the challengers aiming for the seats of those higher Demon Kings, I suppose I don’t need to add any further explanation.”
“…….”
As if to make their first meeting of minds meaningless,
Raymon Sean had thrown down a problem that could not be solved for now, just as he always had. Because that was Raymon Sean’s way of communicating. At Park Minjae’s statement, the senior mages conversed.
“Can our Magic Tower handle this?”
“If you would just hand this Bensch William a decisive battle magic tool, I would burn away higher Demon Kings or whatever else……!! Senior Bangrit, you witnessed my Vision Magic, did you not?”
“Yes, it was undoubtedly impressive. But higher Demon Kings are beings beyond even dragons, are they not? If we think of them as foes even more troublesome than Eunaxus, who had fallen into an evil dragon……”
Enemies a step beyond Eunaxus.
“Ahem.”
Upon imagining it, even Bensch had no choice but to close his mouth.
Silence flowed through Crystal Hall for a while.
In the uncomfortable quiet, Seong Hyeonjun muttered.
“……
I’d rather we were wrong.”
Higher Demon Kings could burst out without sacrifices.
Wasn’t that situation far too unfair?
However, Seong Hyeonjun’s small wish did not come true.
Click—
“……!”
They could tell from the sound of footsteps alone.
It was Hoyeol.
Hoyeol had returned from the Arcana Continent to reality.
In order not to miss the Magic Tower’s regular meeting
and the AAU’s general meeting.
Had he even been listening to their conversation?
As he walked through Crystal Hall, he spoke.
“I commend your pursuit of the strange. You are correct. No particular sacrifice is required for the Demon Kings of the Ten Thrones to appear on the Arcana Continent and in reality.”
Then, standing upright at the podium, he dropped it.
“Because I am a Demon King of the Ten Thrones.”
“……?!!”
A nuclear bomb.