◈ Episode 457. Dawn, the Darkest Hour (1)
Past midnight.
Now that rifts had collapsed all across the country and throughout the world, ordinary daily life had fallen apart.
One fortunate thing amid the misfortune was that there was no need to go to work on Monday. Thanks to that, I Yerim was rolling around on her bed.
She looked over her only younger brother on her smartphone screen.
“What a pain, making himself so hard to reach.”
He must have been moving around incredibly busily, because there were only three or four photos in which his face had been captured at most. So she had no choice but to stare at the same picture and brood over it for quite some time.
“……
No matter how I look at it, something’s subtly different, isn’t it?”
Was it because the length of his hair looked awkward?
That definitely wasn’t it.
The long hair that fell down his back suited him surprisingly well. Honestly, she hadn’t even felt like teasing him. How else could their little sister have said such a thing?
-“Instead of worrying about Hoyul’s hair, do something about your own. It’s always so frizzy. More importantly, did you even wash your hair today?”
Their only niece.
They couldn’t leave out Arang’s passionate reaction, either.
That little one, who was stricter with her aunt than anyone else.
She had refused to leave the TV after seeing Hoyul appear on it.
Thanks to that, all they had heard was the announcer’s voice.
Fortunately, the news being reported didn’t sound strange.
It was the same as usual.
-Lee Hoyul Player has appeared in the Mapo District and defeated the half-breed demon. Dozens of citizens held hostage inside the demon have reportedly been rescued safely!
-The AAU suspects that Lee Hoyul Player is the reason the Evil Eyes surrounding Earth disappeared. It is believed that he destroyed more than six hundred Evil Eyes the moment he appeared.
-For more detailed information, we now go to the scene where……
As always, Hoyul had appeared, and the desperate situation had been brought to an end.
Swish.
I Yerim’s gaze shifted to the comment section.
-Told you, didn’t I? Lee Hoyul would take care of it anyway.
-But what’s with the long hair? Never imagined that for real.
-Didn’t you get a glimpse of it last time, too?
-No, it couldn’t have been that long???
“……
Ugh.”
Her sisters said they were nothing but proud of Hoyul, but I Yerim was still aware that she hadn’t fully grown up.
The fact that her cheeks grew hot just from seeing people’s reactions to her brother……
“‘Homen,’ my ass. He’s the Heavenly Demon, remember.”
She muttered irritably for no particular reason, but only for a moment.
“!”
One comment caught I Yerim’s eye.
-One of my acquaintances was one of the people inside the demon in the article. Apparently Lee Hoyul was seriously no joke this time. They said he was definitely different from usual, yeah. Different……?
I Yerim had had the exact same reaction.
Fortunately, the comments continued.
-They say he didn’t say a single word, just hunted the demon and disappeared……. Apparently the situation looked incredibly serious? What’s going on? The reactions of the Arcanains who were there with him were like that, too.
Hoyul had especially many colleagues who were Arcanains.
If those colleagues had noticed something unusual as well.
Then he really was different from usual.
“Damn it. I don’t know.”
It wasn’t as if she were a Player.
I Yerim thought deeply, then scratched her head.
Not because it was itchy.
She couldn’t sleep, and her throat was parched, so she thought she might as well get some water.
When she went into the living room……
What was this?
“……
What, you too?”
“You too, Sis?”
“Why are you both awake?”
The three sisters encountered one another in the living room at the same time. They understood without speaking, without showing anything on their faces. From their gazes alone, they could guess why the others hadn’t been able to fall asleep.
Clack.
The three of them set their glasses down at the same time. Number Two, I Jiyun, spoke first.
“Hey, you’ve seen it before, right?”
“Seen what?”
“Hoyul. A face like that.”
“What? You’ve seen him like that? Where?!”
When I Yerim cut in, I Eunhye answered.
“If you mean a face like that……. A face that looks like he’s taken on all the worries of the world by himself? If that’s what you mean, then yes, I have. Wait a minute, how many years ago was that……? My memory’s hazy.”
As expected, there was something different about their eldest sister.
She had seen through the fact that Hoyul had taken on all the worries and concerns of the world from just those few photographs.
Just as I Yerim was admiring her, I Jiyun replied.
“When Hoyul and Yerim were in middle school.”
“That’s right! That was it.”
“……
Middle school? Why don’t I remember?”
“Why do you think? You were always causing trouble……”
“Sis, why are you suddenly bringing up something useless?!”
Thus began a tale of the past, and it continued without their realizing how quickly the time was passing.
Before they knew it, dawn had arrived.
The darkest hour, just before daybreak.
Looking out the window, I Yerim spoke.
“So if Hoyul is making an expression similar to the one he wore ‘back then’……”
There was no playfulness in her voice.
Though they were separated by only a year.
Her attitude was unmistakably that of an elder.
“……
That means Hoyul is suffering as much now as he did back then, right?”
Back then and now.
Why hadn’t I realized it?
I Yerim gazed at the city submerged in darkness.
Then she murmured softly.
“How have you not changed at all? Even when you’re suffering, you never let it show.”
*The Crystal Hall of the Magic Tower.
The regular conference was still some time away.
Yet the number of people in the audience had already reached a respectable level.
“Thank you for attending.”
Tower Master Marcelo gave a slight bow and surveyed the assembled faces.
Except for the senior mages currently out of the tower.
All of the Magic Tower’s senior mages, along with the AAU branch directors.
High-ranking officials of the Kingdom of Yusra, and even the saintess of the Goddess Church.
Status abnormalities. Corruption.
To respond to the unknown threat alone.
People who could not easily gather had all assembled in one place.
Perhaps because so many different factions had gathered.
Opinions were exchanged actively.
Yet everyone, including Marcelo, was waiting.
The Magic Tower’s chief mage.
The savior of Yusra and Muon.
The person in overall command of the Yusra Branch.
Hoyul.
It was a kind of faith.
They had no doubt that if Hoyul was the man they had known all this time, he would surely return to the Magic Tower and tell them something—anything—about the corruption.
The director of the South Korean branch, Park Minjae.
He checked the time on his wristwatch.
But even after midnight had passed and dawn had come.
Hoyul did not appear at the Magic Tower.
Then, suddenly, a question was raised.
“Have you heard the news?”
“……
What news are you referring to?”
“A report has come in that the Evil Eyes that had appeared over Earth from the Another Space rift have completely disappeared. Considering the rate at which the currently formed rifts are collapsing, we should be safe from the threat of the Evil Eyes and corruption for the time being……”
The director of the Tokyo, Japan branch.
Okazaki continued speaking, but Park Minjae could no longer hear what came afterward.
Because there was only one thought in his mind.
‘The threat has been brought to an end. But……’
Why had the Director-General’s whereabouts become unclear again?
His thoughts were tangled.
But at that moment, Park Minjae found himself hoping.
‘Please……’
He hoped that some huge incident had been foreseen—something so enormous that even the Director-General of All Under Heaven had been unable to spare the time.
Of course, he could never voice such a thought aloud.
‘Perhaps I’m not qualified.’
For the director of an AAU branch, who was supposed to place the safety of humanity above all else, to wish for a threat was unthinkable.
Even so, Park Minjae’s thoughts did not change.
‘……
But I fear the change in the Commander-in-Chief more than any threat.’
The change in someone other than anyone else.
It wasn’t merely a matter of hair length.
Park Minjae had not overlooked the reason humanity had been able to survive until now.
It was all because Hoyul had been Hoyul.
A superhuman on a white horse, in the truest sense.
He had performed that role perfectly.
Park Minjae thought without realizing it.
‘What if that transcendent power were used differently from before?’
If its direction shifted even slightly……
What kind of situation would humanity find itself in? Wouldn’t they become like shrimp caught in the crossfire of a Holy War between the Commander-in-Chief and the upper demon kings?
“Are you all right, Mr. Park?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“You look terribly pale.”
His concerns were showing on Park Minjae’s face, which rarely wavered.
That was when news concerning Hoyul arrived from the Arcana Continent.
Ssssk.
Words were inscribed upon parchment.
News delivered by the Great Alliance.
Affiliated with the Holy War Allied Forces.
Marcelo, the first to read it, twitched his eyebrows.
“They say Commander-in-Chief Lee Hoyul has hunted two Evil Dragons. Yes, it was definitely a hunt. Apparently, it was not purification, but overwhelming slaughter.”
Evil Dragons.
Two dragons, no less.
Overwhelmingly slaughtered.
“……
A grim prediction is never wrong.”
Park Minjae clutched his head.
“Today has been one hell of a long day.”
*Dwarf fighter.
Gunner examined the magic stone adorning the control yoke.
The light of the magic stone was growing dimmer by the moment.
His lips had gone bone-dry.
“Damn it all.”
The magic stone’s output had been increased to the extreme with the help of Kiko Armin, a senior mage of Enchantment Studies.
Even so, it seemed incapable of enduring the flight that had continued for dozens of days.
Gunner calculated the remaining flight time from the magic stone’s glow.
“About one or two hours, I suppose.”
He had made contact with the Iron Castle a short while ago.
A problem had arisen because an Evil Dragon appeared, but it had been resolved for the time being. They had informed him that they would repair the Iron Castle and then head here.
He did not know the details of what had happened, but merely hearing that the Iron Castle needed repairs conveyed the seriousness of the situation.
Though, no matter how bad it was, it couldn’t be worse than his own.
……
Gulp.
Gunner swallowed dryly.
It really did seem imminent.
The reversal of the Behemoth’s Maw.
His hands tensed of their own accord.
Gunner gripped the control yoke and finished preparing himself mentally.
Then he sent a message to the Iron Castle.
“……
I shall continue delivering news to you until the very end.”
Because the information he was about to witness might help his fellow dwarves.
And, by extension.
The Holy War Allied Forces.
It was at the moment Gunner finished speaking solemnly.
Crack—!
The Behemoth’s Maw, which had been barely held shut, slowly began to open. As the jaws parted little by little, demons began to emerge between those monstrous teeth.
“……!”
Gunner had seen all kinds of demons while flying throughout the Arcana Continent.
But those creatures were different.
He was not especially dexterous even for a dwarf, but instinct engraved in his blood did not simply disappear.
Gunner’s gaze turned toward the demons’ equipment.
“What the hell? What are those high-grade pieces of equipment?”
They were of such an advanced level that they seemed to belong beyond forging, in the realm of craftsmanship and fine workmanship.
Every demon in the entire army was wearing equipment of an exceedingly high caliber. At a glance, it looked no less impressive than dwarf equipment……!
“That’s impossible.”
A good weapon allowed even an ordinary person to stand against a highly trained knight.
But if a demon wielded weapons like those……?
And there were thousands, tens of thousands.
No, the number of soldiers was too great to count at a glance.
If every one of them was armed with equipment like that……?
“This can’t be happening……!!”
It was at that moment, when Gunner was unable to conceal his shock.
The Iron Castle.
The Players, who possessed an adventurer’s field of vision.
They sent Gunner news instead.
The meaning of their words was simple.
-“Mr. Gunner, that one’s name is Paimon.”
Paimon, ninth in the hierarchy of the Demon Realm.
A grand announcement of Paimon’s appearance had been displayed throughout the Arcana Continent. Then, information about Paimon reached Gunner’s ears.
-“According to the knowledge of our world, Paimon is said to appear leading a vast army. However, to lead an army of that size, Paimon must surely be accompanied by……”
“W-what did you just say?”
-“……
Pardon?”
“You said he must surely be accompanied by them?”
-“Yes, that’s right. According to the information we have!”
“How can that be?”
The reason Gunner muttered those words blankly was simple.
Tens of thousands, and beyond that, well over a hundred thousand.
Elite demons were pouring out of the Behemoth’s Maw.
Yet the one who could be called their leader had not even shown so much as a shadow.
Then just how far did the procession of that demon army extend?
Fear filled Gunner’s pupils.
“That monster is merely the king of the ninth throne?”
...[The Demon King of the Ninth Throne, ‘The Venerable Paimon,’ has appeared on the Arcana Continent.]*[??? : Demon King Contest
- Proof of the Ten Thrones]
You who are king of the Ten Thrones.
Countless challengers yearn for your seat. Either kneel before the hands of a challenger, or bring down another king who gazes down from above. Challenge and proof—the choice belongs entirely to you, as king.
-Defend the Tenth Throne. (In progress)
-Challenge the Ninth Throne. (In progress)
[The Demon King Contest, Proof of the Ten Thrones, has begun.]
[The Demon King of the Ninth Throne, ‘The Venerable Paimon,’ has entered the contest.]
[The Demon King of the Tenth Throne, ‘Granfell Claudi Arpeus Romeo,’ has entered the contest.]