◈ Episode 522. We Had Much in Common (3)
[Chain of Lucifer's Atonement]
[Grade: Legend]
[Restrictions: Lv.1000, Demon Hunter]
[Effect: 'Suppresses' the demon race.]
[Description: An Akshan relic said to have been used to oppress fallen angels. Its authenticity cannot be verified, but its appearance is so extraordinary that no one would doubt its authenticity.]
The more I looked at it, the more it was an item befitting Akshan.
'A slipshod job, utterly so?'
At first glance, the exterior was quite plausible, but…….
If you looked into the actual substance, there were holes everywhere.
Just look at the description.
A fallen angel Lucifer on the Arcana continent?
'They must have misinterpreted the Akshan way of speaking, right?'
I mean, even a system that doesn't lie can't verify its authenticity.
But I wasn't in a position to be picky.
From Akshan relics I had acquired myself to those wrested from... no, handed over by the Shadow Mercenaries. Even looking through all the Akshan relics I had received.
'Isn't this the first equipment item like this?'
Moreover, befitting a relic used by Gabriel, Akshan's only named NPC, its class was considerable.
Not only was it [Legendary] grade, but it had a whopping level 1000 restriction. It was even an item with a class restriction.
'The stricter the restrictions, the better the performance.......'
However, I'd have to check the performance myself. Due to the nature of Akshan weapons made of silver, against ordinary mobs I wouldn't be able to properly test its performance or trigger the 'Suppression' effect.
'Well, still, this is above expectations.'
I hadn't even opened the diary that might contain Gabriel's secrets. The Chain of Lucifer alone was a sufficiently satisfying reward. Moreover.
"A new connection on a new continent—how refreshing."
Grandfell expressed it grandiloquently.
Put simply, it meant forgetting the past and establishing a mutual cooperative relationship with the Warrior of Sunrise. Of course, the green tea of this eastern continent played a significant role in that.
'What was it, some salmosa?'
Anyway, that yokai with the long name would only have time to be tracked after returning from hell. Then now it was truly time to make final preparations. Alright, let's go to the Magic Tower.
'I need to scrape together whatever's left at Garnet Hall.'
Final battle magic artifacts that could be used in actual combat.
See, when I looked during the last time the use of final battle magic artifacts was fully authorized.
There seemed to be a lot of useful things?
'Especially the ones Senior Benshi had used.......'
Soon, I raised mana of a different class.
Ogratium.
Since I had restored the ruined city to some extent with reversal magic.
I should be able to find my way back without difficulty next time.
If so.
Swish.
I looked at Gabriel's grave one last time.
"Next time, I shall bring flowers for thee."
For I have nothing but the [Red Spider Lily Bloomed from Blood] as a flower right now, Senior Gabriel. Please do not be too sorrowful that I leave early. Why, for it is our Lord Grandfell, who always keeps his word once spoken.
I would likely stop by Ogratium again before long.
Imprinting the scenery in my mind, I stepped beyond the portal.
It started from about the midpoint of such a portal.
Zzzing—that my smartphone began to vibrate loudly.
*Seoul.
"Should I call this a relief?"
"Of course it's a relief, unni! Are you calling it a horse?"
"No, I feel sorry for feeling relieved, that's all."
The eldest, Lee Eunhye, looked at the calendar.
Today was her wedding anniversary.
If things had gone as planned, she should have been in Jeju Island with her husband and Arang.
But.
"...Mnya."
Her only daughter, Arang, had caught the flu, forcing them to cancel the trip. Normally, it was a daughter who would say she didn't need her mom, ask when Uncle Hoyeol was coming, and only do things to annoy her.
"She whined so much, who knew something like this would happen."
Lee Jieun gently stroked the cheek of the sleeping Arang.
"So she wasn't just fussing for no reason."
"Unnies, please be quiet."
"Why are you making such a fuss again? Did someone you know appear?"
"Yeah, someone appeared."
"...What?"
The only face she knew.
Could it be our youngest, Hoyeol, making an appearance?!
Thud-thud.
Lee Eunhye and Lee Jieun rushed to the front of the TV.
However, they were soon scolded by Lee Yerim.
"Damn it. What, it's not Hoyeol?"
"When did I say Lee Hoyeol? I said someone I knew."
"Aren't those the same thing? This is wordplay...!"
"Ah, Jieun, you must not have heard?"
"...What is it, unni. Is there something only I don't know?"
Lee Eunhye continued nonchalantly.
"Last time, that Mr. Nam Tae-min who appears on TV visited Mom and Dad's store. Was his brother's name Nam Cheol-min? The brothers came together with our Hoyeol~"
"Wh-what?!"
No, who brought whom?!
Lee Jieun was more surprised that Hoyeol had invited someone than by the Nam brothers.
Swish, she grabbed the collar of Yerim, who was engrossed in the TV.
"Hey. Do you think this heaven-like unni is easy? Mom and Dad are busy with the store. Big sister was too busy with Arang to contact me, but you should have told me...!"
"Shh! Unni, you'll wake Arang."
"Damn it, if I can't even speak...!"
Jieun swallowed her anger and watched Today Arcana together with Yerim, who was focused on it. The scenery on the screen was unbelievable no matter how many times she rubbed her eyes.
"My goodness, Jeju Island is completely burning."
"Now I understand why big sister said that."
"...Right?"
To feel relieved that they avoided disaster because the honeymoon was canceled.......
The visible damage was too great.
Perhaps the only fortune was that the human casualties were fewer than the scale of damage?
"The death toll is under ten. Tragic, but it's a miracle."
"They say it's thanks to the Magic Tower moving quickly."
"Hoyeol's colleagues must have worked hard."
Before they knew it, the three sisters were sitting together on the sofa in front of the TV.
Though they showed no outward sign, they had been focusing on the barrage of breaking news.
In fact, the three of them had been thinking the same thing since earlier.
No.
"...Mnya, Hoyeoli uncle."
Even the sleep-talking Arang.
Lee Eunhye opened her mouth, befitting the eldest.
Her expression was full of worry.
"Hoyeol, nothing serious happened, right......?"
"Something serious definitely happened, they say there's so much to do."
"No. Worry about what needs worrying about, unnis."
"?"
Unlike her worried sisters, Lee Yerim was calm.
"If you knew what Hoyeol said in front of Mom, Dad, and the Nam brothers, you unnies would flip out from not knowing. Really?"
Swish, Lee Jieun grabbed Yerim's stretched-out turtleneck again.
"Why? What did he say? Hoyeol?"
Lee Yerim hesitated.
'......Should I tell them, or not?'
Namely, the 'Lord of Seoul' Project!
Mom and Dad had told her not to tell her sisters because Hoyeol might feel burdened. If he had been ashamed of it, he wouldn't have blurted it out in the first place.
"It's that thing. The one with the grandiose name from the start......."
It was the moment Yerim was about to begin.
"Wait."
Lee Eunhye's face turned pale.
They wondered if something serious had happened.
Anyway, our big sister.
"I think I left my phone at the convenience store!"
"...Unni, all of a sudden?"
"I mean, my forgetfulness has been no joke lately."
"Are you sure you left it at the convenience store?"
Out of nowhere, the sisters started looking for the smartphone.
Lee Yerim clicked her tongue.
She quietly lifted the blanket Arang was covered with.
Then, Lee Eunhye's smartphone was revealed.
"Tada."
"What, it was there?"
"Thank goodness. I thought I'd completely lost it."
"Well, as long as it's found. So, Yerim, what were you going to say?"
"So......."
At the moment Yerim was finally about to speak.
Lee Eunhye, who had checked her phone.
Her face turned even paler than before.
"......!!"
However, there was no leisure to pay attention to Eunhye's expression.
Because in the TV, a more and more familiar face.
Still awkward but nevertheless quite befitting lustrous silver hair.
Our youngest, Hoyeol, had appeared.
But worry preceded joy.
Because she had watched Hoyeol longer than anyone.
She could tell at a mere glance.
"...Lee Hoyeol, why is he like that?"
That Hoyeol was different from usual.
And the reason was not far away.
Lee Eunhye opened her mouth quietly.
"...What should I do? I didn't answer a single call from Hoyeol."
[Missed Calls: 17]
*Forgetting even my own birthday, let alone my noona's anniversary.
'I absolutely wouldn't have remembered.'
Grandfell, who cares so frighteningly much for his blood relatives. If it weren't for you.
I looked at the burning Jeju Island.
The curse that arose from the emergency update, 'Paimon's Domain'.
I suppose when you reach the level of a high-ranking Demon Lord, the scale of the curse changes too.
Using the curse as a space of consciousness.
They hid the Ten Thrones' presence well.
'Just what did they offer as a sacrifice?'
What sacrifice was made to manifest such a curse in reality?
For what purpose was it manifested?
Though the question arose.
I felt this curiosity could never be solved even if I had a lifetime.
'Because I have no intention of listening.'
Today is big sister's wedding anniversary.
The memory of that day was still vivid in my mind.
On that joyous day, our CEO Lee Jun-wook, Madam Choi Gang-hee.
The two of them had wailed bitterly.
'I didn't know then.......'
Perhaps they were tears of relief that the family fortune, which had rapidly collapsed, had returned to normal thanks to their desperate struggles. Now I could vaguely guess how they felt.
Big sister had said this:
-"A trip to the Yusra Kingdom? Come on, wouldn't it be a burden if I went?"
She said she wanted to keep this anniversary light, just with Arang.
To my invitation to Yusra, she had replied that we should go as a family trip sometime.
And such a big sister's travel destination was Jeju Island.
Looking at the burning Jeju Island, I realized my contradiction.
Even while thinking that no one could be free from the threat of the rift.
I had unconsciously believed that only our family would escape it.
Even if they were caught up in it, I had thought it would be a natural disaster.
I had thought I would have to accept it even if it was hard.
But it was a delusion.
'This is something I can never accept.'
They said the Magic Tower moved quickly. Thanks to that, although Jeju Island suffered damage close to total destruction, the casualties identified so far numbered only around a dozen.
Probability.
At times like this, I wanted to believe the numbers.
But at the same time, I didn't want to believe them.
[Missed Calls: 17]
I realized.
Just how soft a stance I had taken in responding to Arcana's erosion. Ever since that bastard Raymon Sean mentioned balance adjustment. Ever since the Ten Thrones began running rampant. Something like this could have happened at any time.
Creak—I clenched my teeth so hard I realized it painfully.
Paimon.
Even if it is a demon.
I was a fool to think there was room for dialogue.
After all, demons—especially the greater ones—are beings that deceive humans with ever-increasing malice. That's what our Akshan seniors taught me.
I muttered inwardly.
'You were right, Grandfell.'
Just as you said.
A demon was nothing more than a demon.
Before long, my vision flickers.
[※Caution: The concentration of suitable mana is excessively high.]
Paimon, the Demon Lord of the Ninth Throne, the noble Paimon.
An enemy that the current me may not be able to face.
But if it is I—not Lee Hoyeol, but Grandfell—then it is possible.
[※Caution: The concentration of suitable mana is excessively high.]
The precursor to the status abnormality, [Blackening].
I grabbed onto my blurring vision.
And then I looked at the blood-red scribble in the skies above Jeju Island.
I gazed at the curse drawn in blood.
My lips opened.
What leaked out was no longer my voice.
It was Grandfell's voice, incomparably cold....
"Paimon."
Now that Hoyeol's consciousness had completely fallen asleep.
Grandfell spoke.
Because the light had fallen asleep, he hid nothing.
"Regrettably."
Yet no one could hear Grandfell's voice.
"What is this? My head feels like it's going to explode!"
"I can't understand it at all......!"
"Could it be, like that mosaic-covered message......?"
Because the class was different.
Likewise, a being of different class.
Only Paimon could understand it.
Grandfell continued speaking to Paimon.
"We had much in common, it seems."
Having much in common.
At those words, the array of the curse Paimon had unfolded blazed clearly.
I believed you would understand my heart after all...! Now that the 'single ray of light' that bewitched you has disappeared, you finally understand my heart......!!
As if from beyond the array of the curse.
It seemed to be shouting, filled with ecstasy.
But it was a delusion.
"Just as you hid your true intentions, so did I."
"Just as you sought to harm, so did I."
"Not for a single moment."
Uncontrollable compatible mana swirls violently.
"Did I forget the thought of tearing you apart."