◈ Episode 431. Ten Thousand Demons Prostrate.
The message did not appear in reality or on the Arcana Continent.
Only inside the rift.
And even then, it was a message that appeared solely to the players within it.
[Ten Thousand Demons Prostrate begins.]
High-level players who could gauge danger from a single line of a message?
At this point in time, they had no reason to attack the rift.
Not when the Arcana Continent, overflowing with all kinds of buffs, was right there.
Not when the Zero Mountain Range, filled with high-quality monsters, was right there.
Meaning there was no reason to clear the rift.
“Ten Thousand Demons Prostrate?”
Perhaps that was why the news spread slowly.
“What is it? A new clear route?”
“Doesn’t it feel related to those eyeballs?”
“Right. It feels gloomy just looking at it; it fits perfectly.”
“But what does Ten Thousand Demons Prostrate mean?”
“Isn’t it a four-character idiom?”
“Are there four-character idioms on the Arcana Continent too…?”
萬魔仰伏.
All demons submit and bow down in reverence.
Even inferring such a simple meaning.
Meant that considerable time was needed.
However, not all players had failed to grasp the situation.
‘There’s no doubt.’
Fountains of blood spurting upward.
Because there were those thrust into situations where they couldn’t help but recognize the truth. Yoon Taeseop recalled the quest process for changing classes to a Paladin.
It included the basic attainments one must have as part of the Sacred War Coalition.
“That is possession. Everyone, don’t panic.”
Crunch.
Yoon Taeseop did not freeze even as he heard the sound of tendons snapping in the nape of a party member’s neck.
At that shout, the party leader also raised his equipment. He grasped the situation even as he stammered.
“S-so, you’re saying she was possessed by a demon? So that’s why she bit the party member…? I’m sorry, this is my first time seeing possession in person! More importantly, when on earth did the demon possess her…? There didn’t seem to be any signs like tha—.”
Yoon Taeseop shook his head firmly.
“She may not have been possessed inside the rift.”
“Wh-what?!”
Because demons are cunning beings.
Tarim Eber, Captain of the Goddess Church’s Holy Knight Order.
Yoon Taeseop recalled his words spoken in Myuon.
—“Knights of the Goddess. A cunning demon does not reveal its evil outwardly. It is to hide craftily behind humans and exploit their negative emotions. Therefore, beware of demons that flaunt their wickedness.”
That must be a demon nearly on par with a Demon King.
‘He wasn’t saying that to scare us.’
Tarim had been utterly serious.
He had honestly revealed even the anecdote of the Goddess Church’s failure, of how the Church was swayed by a demon masquerading as a Saintess, thereby imparting knowledge of demons’ nature.
Thus, Yoon Taeseop judged calmly.
“We must retreat if need be.”
“…!”
“The atmosphere is ominous.”
The act she had been putting on until just moments ago—pretending to be human and stoking the party members’ negative emotions—was rendered meaningless. The woman, the demon, had revealed black pupils and was thirsting for blood.
“Can we save her?”
It was the moment the party leader whispered.
“Uh, wait.”
There were signs of people approaching.
“Holy shit. What, what’s going on?”
“I-it seems to be possession!”
“Possession? Don’t tell me it’s related to that message just now?”
“That Ten Thousand Demons Prostrate thing, right?!”
“That’s right. S-so it didn’t appear only for us.”
It was thanks to having gotten off at the subway station.
Players who were likewise taking a break at the station.
They had encountered reinforcements.
Shing.
The players raised their equipment one after another.
“Anyway, if it’s a demon, we have to subdue it.”
“Um, will the person who fell be okay? There’s quite a lot of bleeding.”
“I do have an elixir I acquired from Yusra…!”
“Then okay. With a Yusra Elixir, as long as they’re breathing, it’ll be fine.”
Nod.
Yoon Taeseop also tightly raised the shield and sword of the Goddess Church. He didn’t know the exact meaning or effect of [Ten Thousand Demons Prostrate], but the demon had already lost its reason.
“Urrrgh.”
Hunt or be hunted. Was it thanks to that grim resolve? Or, if not, was it thanks to the players who recognized the gravity of the situation and converged on the scene one after another?
“Uaa.”
Sighs burst out.
The demon fell.
A message updated.
[Your level has increased.]
A player patted Yoon Taeseop’s shoulder as he caught his breath.
“Good work. By the way, you were a Holy Knight of the Goddess Church? No wonder your stance didn’t waver against a demon like that…. I heard the class-change quest is so tough that some players give up. You’re amazing.”
Yoon Taeseop nodded silently.
It bothered him that a party member who had just overcome hardship together was injured, making it difficult to share in the joy of leveling up. Fortunately, the party leader let out a sigh of relief.
“Haah, still, it seems we’ve overcome the crisis. Mr. Taeseop.”
“That’s a relief.”
“But everyone should return right away…?”
Although the distance from their current location to outside the rift wasn’t far, moving while supporting the injured carried great risk.
Several players nodded at the party leader’s words.
“I suppose so. No matter how much newbies like us wrack our brains, I don’t think we can figure out what Ten Thousand Demons Prostrate actually is? For now, it’s better to get outside and assess the situation.”
“That’s a relief. No, more than that, thank you for helping.”
“No. We have to help each other to survive.”
The atmosphere wasn’t bad.
It was natural. They had encountered a demon monster but survived. They had even succeeded in the hunt and leveled up. For ordinary players, that alone was surely something to be relieved about.
But Yoon Taeseop, left alone, was anything but ordinary.
“…Damn it.”
As mentioned, because Yoon Taeseop was affiliated with the Goddess Church, he inevitably possessed deep knowledge regarding demons, status abnormalities, and possession.
Tarim’s voice brushed past his mind.
—“Unfortunately, a method to save one possessed by a demon does not exist within our Goddess Church. The only salvation we can bestow upon the possessed is death. So that they may no longer be swayed by the demon's machinations.”
A certain ranker’s interview came to mind.
—“I killed a comrade possessed by a demon with my own hands. But damn it. That persistent demon bastard died before my comrade did. So I was able to hear my comrade’s last words. My comrade said this to me. That he was thankful I stopped him….”
The Great Cataclysm.
After the appearance of demonkin monsters.
An unwritten law arose among players.
If you slew a possessed player, think no more of it.
It was an unavoidable accident.
Considering the characteristics of growing demonkin monsters, someone had to step up.
Therefore, only those who would not resent others even if possessed by a demon and killed by another player’s hands should enter the rift.
“…I know.”
Yes, all players were those who had made that resolve before diving into the rift. However, Yoon Taeseop gazed at the corpse of the woman possessed by the demon and muttered.
“But you don’t have to struggle until the very end, do you?”
It differed from the ranker’s words.
The woman, until the very last moment.
Died in the form of a demon until the instant she drew her last breath.
Without retaining a single trace of her human form.
He stared at the symbol of the Goddess Church engraved on his shield.
Swish.
Of course, Yoon Taeseop did not believe in the Goddess. He had simply changed classes to a high-tier class, a knight of the Goddess Church, to survive as a player. Changing classes didn’t make faith appear where there was none.
‘Please.’
Yet Yoon Taeseop clasped his hands and closed his eyes.
Goddess, Buddha, or God.
He prayed for the departed player’s soul.
And then he raised his head.
Blink.
He looked upon the eight pupils.
Were those the primordial beings of the demon realm that had flashed by in the message?
Had those beings tainted the demon with malice, making it rampage?
What on earth was the exact meaning of Ten Thousand Demons Prostrate?
‘…Let’s get out.’
Yoon Taeseop pushed aside his complicated thoughts and moved his feet.
It was the moment he got on the escalator and caught his breath.
A shout came from the upper floor.
“You goddamn—!!”
…Tap-tak!
Yoon Taeseop reflexively dashed out.
He once again faced it.
The sight of a possessed player biting another player.
Blink.
“…Fuck.”
The eight pupils floating in the sky above the rift.
*The AAU was gathering information.
“So you’re saying the message appeared only to players who entered the rift? And because of that, eight eyeballs appeared, and demonkin monsters are convulsing?”
“Even demons possessing players?”
“Can we know the exact human casualties?”
The branch chief, Bak Minjae, was quick to grasp the situation.
“This is serious.”
High-level players were currently distributed on the Arcana Continent, in the Zero Mountain Range. Someone might ask. Isn’t it too selfish to leave the rift, a ticking time bomb, unattended?
Bak Minjae shook his head.
“It’s quite calculated.”
Humanity currently stood at a crossroads.
The entry of high-level players into the Arcana Continent?
Before the great storm known as the Demon King Contest. They were humanity’s fighting force. It was a strategic choice to build up enough weight so as not to be swept away by the fierce wind.
There was a certain faith there.
Raymond Shun.
His true intentions were still unknown.
But the faith that even such a man couldn’t defy certain rules.
Couldn’t you guess as much just by looking at the rift update?
After the reality update of the super-massive content, the Zero Mountain Range, the difficulty of clearing generated rifts had remained at a certain level.
Bak Minjae gritted his teeth.
“I’d love to pin this all on you, but….”
This isn’t Raymond Shun’s doing.
Rifts are spaces of the ‘bizarre’ that even Raymond Shun cannot perfectly control.
Because he had heard it from Hoyeol.
That was why it couldn’t help but be serious.
“Eight pupils.”
Primordial beings of the demon realm.
If those beings with grandiose names were the culprits behind this incident….
They were exerting this level of influence over the rift that even Raymond Shun couldn’t handle.
Moreover, it was not an ordinary level.
“Chief, the scale of damage is no joke. Seven players have died in the Korean rift alone. If we sum up the casualties from each country’s AAU branches, excluding China….”
The man wiped cold sweat.
“We’ve already surpassed three hundred!”
Three hundred players had died in just three or four hours.
A casualty count only seen in the early days of the Great Cataclysm.
Bak Minjae spoke to the bewildered subordinate.
“What do you think of players?”
“…Wh-why do you ask so suddenly?”
“You probably think they’re just enviable. Unlike us, who are constantly hounded by the government and media, if players are skilled, they’re beings who rake in popularity and money.”
“….”
“But don’t forget. They have always risked their lives. Ever since demonkin monsters appeared, players couldn’t even pretend to be weak.”
A branch chief’s duties were varied.
Among them was trying to change the minds of retired players.
Bak Minjae thought he was doing something utterly inhuman every time he faced retired players.
Heroes who never broke before monsters eventually had their minds completely shattered and became wastes—this was not uncommon.
“Do not forget their sacrifices.”
Bak Minjae offered a brief moment of silence.
The subordinate closed his eyes along with Bak Minjae.
But the real problem was only beginning.
Bak Minjae opened his eyes.
“The collapse rate?”
Rifts are ticking time bombs.
The occurrence of player casualties meant that the growth-type demonkin monsters had grown even more. The stronger the monsters inside the rift, the more steeply the rift’s collapse rate soared.
The subordinate opened his mouth.
“As you suspected, it has soared to 80 percent.”
It was a sudden surge that rendered the recommended level meaningless.
Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t have been a concern. The combat power of players, especially those who could be called rankers, had risen far more sharply than that. But the problem was that they were all on the Arcana Continent.
Reality and the Arcana Continent.
They were completely different, so the flow of time was different, and news could not be exchanged immediately. It meant they had to resolve the crisis that had struck reality on their own.
It really wouldn’t be easy.
“But we have to try.”
Yet it was different from the past.
Just as humanity’s players were on the Arcana Continent.
Humanity also had Arcana Continent forces on their side.
“Yes, we have to try, but….”
In that regard, the most worrisome region was China. While the AAU had know-how in dealing with rift collapses, unlike other nations, China had relied on everything on Heavenly Unification.
But Liu Junchun had gone missing.
Now that he had been completely erased from the rankings.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say China had zero tolerance for rift collapse.
Someone might ask.
Isn’t this reaping what you sow?
That’s knowing one and not knowing two.
“The moment China blows, the whole world blows with it.”
A word Liu Junchun always kept on his lips, ‘great power.’
Yes, China was too massive a nation to ignore.
If demons were to sacrifice China’s population of over a billion….
‘This isn’t something I can decide on my own.’
Bak Minjae made a decision.
‘I must discuss this with Tower Lord Marcello.’
…
But Bak Minjae did not know.
Not even on the Arcana Continent.
That it was a ‘single ray of light’ that had brightly illuminated even the Scavenger’s Gutter.
The collapsing rift.
Elsidore opened his mouth as he watched the surging monsters.
“Are you ready, trash?”
An immediate reply.
“Yes, sir!”
Formerly affiliated with Heavenly Unification.
Currently affiliated with the Sacred War Coalition under Elsidore.
Using the rotting, crumbling Heavenly Unification as nourishment.
The flowers that had bloomed were trembling their buds.
For your information, flowers that bloom in harsh, barren environments.
“Even if you die, do not let innocent humans die!”
“Yes, sir!!”
They do not easily break under any ordeal.
They slaughtered the surging monsters and advanced into the rift.
Soon, Elsidore looked upon the eight pupils and spat out.
“Lower your eyes, eyeballs.”
The lofty sky.
Heaven Beyond Heaven.
He sneered at the eight high-ranking demon kings.
“The only one who may look down on me like that is ‘Him.’”