◈ Episode 500. Contradiction (1)
The field of vision of the [Bow Master]
who had led Shining.
Because she had overcome countless crises with her own eyes.
Unlike Rox, Camilla was not confused. ‘This isn’t a dream.’ At this moment, Rox had fallen.
The wings sprouting from his shoulder blades were unmistakably those of a demon.
A scream.
“Rox……!!”
Status abnormality, [Fall].
The head of the Western U.S. branch, Joshua, had warned her early on about its danger.
Joshua’s voice, earnestly cautioning her, surfaced in Camilla’s mind.
-“It’s on a completely different level from possession, Camilla! If possession is simply having your body taken over by a demon……. Fall means the body itself turns demonic!”
Where in the world is there a status abnormality like that?
-“That’s why he’s a high-ranking Demon King, a Demon King of the Ten Thrones, of which there are only ten, isn’t it? Of course, I haven’t heard of a player turning demonic through [Fall]
so far, but…….”
You really worry too much.
“But if I’d known this would happen…….”
If she had known something, anything, even just a little more about Fall.
Rox, she might have been able to save you.
She resented herself for having brushed off Joshua’s words as nothing important.
No, before that. ‘I shouldn’t have left you alone, no matter the reason.’ Because negative emotions became a demon’s power.
Sorrow welled up on Camilla’s face.
She could not even begin to guess.
“Just how deep a sadness did you sink into, for you to…….”
Be swept up in negative emotions to the point of becoming a demon?
Trembling, she clenched her fist.
Even so, Camilla did not collapse.
Because she saw hope in Rox.
“Camilla, I’m fine.”
“?!”
Was he confused?
Even while clutching his head.
Rox answered her call.
“Yes, it’s me!”
Camilla forced herself to wave at Rox.
It was to keep hold of the human side of Rox.
And at the same time, because she trusted him.
“W-what’s that thing with wings in the sky?”
“Wait, that blond hair and that armor— isn’t that Rox?!”
“What, is it a new item?”
The citizens murmured.
Yes.
This was the capital of the Republic of Korea, right in the heart of downtown Seoul. ‘……If it’s you, then surely.’ Lee Hoyeol, the one who had called Akshan, whose very existence had been erased, back to the Arcana Continent, and at the same time someone regarded by some as a demon hunter.
It was then.
“!”
Camilla’s vision flickered. [※Warning: Your guild house is under attack.] ……
Flash! ‘Intruders.’ Camilla swiftly drew her bow and pulled back the bowstring.
This was the top floor.
Common sense said there was no way the guild house intruders could have arrived this quickly.
“Found you.”
But the opponents were players, just like her, to whom common sense did not apply.
Swooo.
A voice rang out first, and mana rippled in midair.
Short-range teleportation.
Camilla aimed her bow at the mana reaction.
“You’re really going to pull that?”
“……Who are you?”
She had thought, without a doubt, that it would be Bohemian, Guyver.
Since they had been struck in the back by Rox, she thought they would have responded thoroughly. She judged that their main force would be holding Rox back, while the rest of their forces targeted Shining’s guild house.
But.
“That hurts. We may not look it, but we’re a mid-tier guild in the top hundred.”
“Tch, even saying that is embarrassing. Let’s just shut up.”
“Well, not that I expected anything.”
From the conversation, she could tell instinctively. ‘They’re targeting Shining itself.’ To be precise.
Shining’s guild house.
A flippant exclamation burst out.
“Wow, this place is magnificent~”
“It’s on a level we’d never even get to see if we rolled around in rifts our whole lives.”
“So this building becomes ours, right? Let’s see, if we just deal with Rox and Camilla, then the Arcana system will handle it without any annoying procedures!”
If it had been Bohemian, there might at least have been room for negotiation. ‘Because we were the ones who started it first.’ But with bastards like these, there was no need to hesitate.
Whoosh.
The arrow Camilla fired surged like a whirlwind.
Shweeeeeek.
It split in multiple directions.
Thud thud thud.
An executive of Shining.
Players from a mere top-hundred guild were no match for her.
The man who had been turned into a porcupine by Camilla’s preemptive strike dropped to one knee.
“Urgh. I thought I was gonna die from the sting.”
“……!”
“Why so surprised? Did you think we came unprepared?”
This was different from facing a newly updated monster with no information available.
The characteristics of named players like Camilla were widely known.
Gurgle.
The body of the man who had become an arrow pincushion softened like liquid.
Soon, the arrows that had struck him clattered to the floor.
The man sneered.
“Surprised? I came coated head to toe in slime.”
“That’s some ignorant firepower. I told you, it stung like hell.”
“You people are completely insane.”
Liquid-type monsters, the counter to archer-class classes.
But to think there were idiots who would actually try such a method.
As Camilla stared in shock, the men closed the distance one step at a time.
“You really think so?”
“……What?”
“Well, with a body like this, our defense has turned to shit, but…….”
At the words that followed, Camilla suddenly realized.
“So what can you do, Camilla? How do you think we were able to reach the top floor without shedding a drop of blood? Shining— for all its name, its discipline has completely gone slack.”
Rox’s weakened control over the guild.
And the lack of justification.
Camilla made a cool judgment. ‘I can’t hope for support.’ Yes, she understood that well enough.
Yet they continued speaking even more mercilessly.
Scraping at Camilla’s nerves.
“And that hulking Dmitri isn’t here either!”
“Hey, don’t even bring that bastard up.”
“Just imagining it is horrifying. If we’d been caught in those tough hands with bodies like these, we’d have burst on the spot, right? That bastard was a monster with strength on par with Nam Taemin, wasn’t he?”
An arrowhead filled with quiet fury. [Skill, ‘Melody of Barrage,’ has been activated.]
They were right.
Right now, Camilla was in a situation where she could not count on anyone’s help.
Which meant this was no time to save her trump card. [Melody of Barrage: Consumes a large amount of mana to fire arrows in a barrage. The skill remains active until all mana is exhausted. It is not affected by the number of arrows.]
Pshshshshk. ‘It’s slight, but damage is accumulating.’ Even if it meant using up all her mana now, she had to eliminate the advance party quickly. The more their numbers increased, the lower her chances of victory would become.
Besides.
Camilla glanced behind her. ‘Someone has blocked Rox.’ An Asian player whose identity she could not determine by his face.
Just the fact that he had approached Rox in that state.
It was impossible not to be concerned about that man.
A swift decisive battle.
The moment Camilla pulled the bowstring even harder, the opposing side also began pouring out counterattacks. Camilla fully felt Dmitri’s absence.
“An opening!”
A ranged damage dealer without a tanker could not focus solely on attacking. Because they lacked vitality and defense. There was a reason people called them glass cannons— one graze and they died.
A hurried emergency dodge.
“Josephine!” [Skill, ‘Call of the Sky,’ has been activated.]
Camilla summoned her beloved bird, Josephine.
She was not a summon specialized for combat.
But even Josephine’s help was desperately needed.
“You scared me.”
“I thought some grand reinforcements were coming.”
“Camilla, looks like your judgment’s gone dull? Did you run out of mana or something?”
No, she had plenty of mana.
The system message had appeared too.
Yet Josephine was nowhere to be seen.
But Camilla’s bewilderment did not last long.
Before long, she was caught by her clairvoyance.
“……Josephine, you.”
Josephine was perched on someone’s shoulder, rubbing her head affectionately against them. Josephine, who had a prickly temperament befitting a noble’s name, showed that kind of attitude to only one person.
Camilla’s voice trembled, unable to be honest.
“I told you you’re not allowed to act like you know Jesse anymore.”
“……What?”
Jesse?
No way, Jesse Heinness?!
The moment the men’s faces filled with shock.
“What the hell are these half-assed bastards?”
Gooooo.
A rough voice came from amid violet mana.
With a teleportation link through Jesse, the berserker had instantly taken their rear.
It was Leonie.
“Hey, Camilla. Let’s get rid of the pests first and talk after.” ……
Nod.
The moment Camilla nodded, the situation came to an end. A difference even more overwhelming than the vast gap in rankings. The gap between those who had entered the realm of the extraordinary and those who had not.
Slice.
“……Kugh!”
“My leg, my leg!!”
“What about your leg, you bastard? I only cut the muscle, so shut up.”
Thud.
There was no need to draw both swords. With just a few light swings of a single sword, Leonie sent the players who had attacked Shining’s branch collapsing miserably.
Lightly.
And Jesse landed in front of Camilla.
Jesse’s face appeared beneath her pointed hat.
In the end, Camilla could not hide her true feelings.
“Jesse……. Help Rox.”
Jesse answered.
“I was going to do that anyway.”
“You should have said so. Camilla, you idiot.”
“Leonie…….”
The three of them looked at Rox, who was flapping his wings in the air.
And at the mysterious man facing Rox.
The man kept speaking to Rox, who looked confused no matter who saw him.
Jesse recited the man’s words.
“Fall, half-demon……. He’s trying to tempt Rox with words.”
“What the hell is that bastard doing? Should I fly up and beat him down?”
“No, Rox is still all right.”
The fluttering wings looked unmistakably like a demon’s wings, but Rox was maintaining his reason. Because he was showing hostility toward the man spouting nonsense at him.
“What a relief…….”
The moment they felt even the slightest relief.
Click.
“!!!”
A sound rang out, heightening the tension to the extreme.
Camilla, Jesse, Leonie.
The three of them could instinctively tell. ‘……This is dangerous.’ The owner of the sound of dress shoes.
It did not mean Hoyeol was in danger.
It meant Rox might be in danger.
Yes, because in all his actions until now, Hoyeol had shown demons.
Not even the slightest shred of mercy.
If he judged Rox to be a demon…….
Camilla shook her head as though denying it.
“He’s not a demon. Rox recognized me……!”
But as if rendering that wish meaningless.
A voice close to a scream.
Rox’s voice echoed through downtown Seoul.
“Get the hell away, Lee Hoyeoooool!!!”
It seemed as though the ominous premonition had come true. * It was unmistakable hostility.
“This one is mine!”
By this one, he must mean Yong Seong-rak, right? ‘Still, it’s not as if things between us were bad, Rox.’ I swallowed my disappointment and looked at Yong Seong-rak.
No, to be precise, I looked at Paimon disguised as Yong Seong-rak.
How did I recognize him right away? ‘It’d be stranger not to recognize something like that.’ Those eyes, not merely delighted by my appearance but seemingly overwhelmed with emotion.
When he was alive, Yong Seong-rak may have respected me.
But he had never once looked at me with such a sticky gaze.
Needless to say, I opened my mouth.
“I will hold you responsible for those words and actions later, Rox.”
“……What?”
“Because right now, you are not in a sound state.”
A message was flickering. [Skill, ‘Natural Enemy,’ has been activated.]
It was not only because of Paimon.
Black bat wings had sprouted behind Rox’s shoulders.
Because I was a demon hunter.
The moment I saw them, I could tell.
A status abnormality.
It was Fall.
Rox had fallen into a half-demon. ‘As expected, it wasn’t only effective on monsters.’ Just like possession.
Its effect was valid on players too.
If so, from now on, I had no choice but to listen even more closely.
To the voice within me. ‘Grandfell.’ What kind of judgment do you intend to pass on Rox, who has fallen and become a demon……? Of course, I, Lee Hoyeol, could not make a hasty decision. ‘Because…….’ I could guess the reason why Fall had occurred in Rox. So at this moment, I turned my gaze away from Rox. Instead, I looked at the easy target, Paimon. ‘Paimon, if it’s you.’ I could hunt you without any anguish, unlike Rox.
But I, Lee Hoyeol’s shallow choice, did not last long.
Because Paimon opened his mouth politely in Yong Seong-rak’s body.
“You. I, noble Paimon, would beg your forgiveness.”
Because he even bowed at the waist.
“Please, if only for that one moment.” ……
Seriously.
“Forgive me for having doubted you.”
Paimon, are you really a demon?
I’m already troubled because of Rox.
Why do you have to be so full of formality too?! * Hell.
“Do you hear his call, my brothers?”
Beneath the green flames.
Men in black garb had gathered.
A solemn voice rang out.
“Yes, Akshan is calling us.”