◈ Episode 534. You Will Fall into Hell (3)
China.
“They’ll do well enough, won’t they?”
A wavering afterimage.
Kinver looked at the rift that had appeared in the city center.
Appropriate level: 6
5
0.
The truth was, it did not look easy to clear with only that trash.
Elsidore snorted.
“Pfft. Do you think anything would change if you were there?”
“……
You really have a talent for talking like an asshole.”
“Freedom of speech. That is the privilege of the strong.”
Elsidore cackled and added,
“They’ve all gained experience.”
“Experience?”
“It means the trash rolled around in the garbage dump and grew venomous. Do you know what happens when trash grows venomous?”
“Who knows.”
“It gives off a stench.”
“What, that wasn’t a metaphor?”
“Pfft, even metaphors are wasted on trash.”
Elsidore closed his mouth at that point.
But his assessment that they had grown venomous was sincere.
An elf’s eyes pierced through the resolve of the players about to enter the rift.
Elsidore murmured,
“After all, those who give off a foul stench can be more troublesome to deal with than those who flail about violently.”
Depending on the situation, that is.
That was why, aside from the time he spent tending the Garden of Dignity,
Elsidore poured all his time into this land of the abandoned.
China.‘Because they will become the shadows that support you.’After the collapse of Unification Under Heaven.
China had continued to request aid from the international community, including the AAU. But there had been no response. That was also why he judged that the players’ venom was growing increasingly foul.
“If we fall, our homeland falls.”
“……
Think of your families and endure.”
“Help from the world? We never needed that crap from the start.”
“That’s right, we’re enough on our own!!”
Even so, it was a strange world.
Even into an isolated land, new information and news flowed in real time. Thanks to that, that trash was entering the rift with their lives on the line.
“More than anything, shouldn’t we repay what we received?”
“For the sake of the one who helped us when we’d been abandoned…….”
“Damn it, we don’t even have time to get sentimental. Let’s go in!!”
Kinver let out a faint laugh.
“So even trash knows gratitude? Seriously, that isn’t even funny.”
The reason China, isolated from the international community, could continue living as it did now was simple. It was because a “nation” and an “organization” that had no need to care about the international community’s opinion were supporting China.
That was right.
“That is hardly something you, who turned over a new leaf thanks to him, should say.”
The Yusra Kingdom and the Goddess Church.
And anyone could tell that Ho Yeol’s influence had been behind the movements of those two forces. From the direction of the rift, voices filled with even greater determination could be heard.
“We must grow with our lives on the line. When you feel like you’re going to die, remember the situation Commander-in-Chief Lee Hoyeol of the Holy War Allied Forces is in. We must grow into proper reinforcements for him!!”……
Honestly, he wasn’t wrong.
At Elsidore’s sarcasm,
Kinver scratched his head, having nothing to say.
Then he began rummaging through his inventory.
“Ahem. Enough useless chatter. Let’s start getting ready, pointy-eared elf. It’s almost the appointed time. You know, don’t you? He’s someone who won’t be late by even a single second.”
A week had passed, and it was the day they would enter Hell.
He must be busy because of the fallout from the incident that had broken out…….
Even so, he was not someone who would forget a promise.
Slide.
Elsidore accepted the [Red Spider Lily Grown from Blood] that Kinver handed him. Not a single breeze was blowing, and yet the petals swayed as if alive.
“The karma I have built up is tempting me.”
The vengeful spirits of those who had died harboring grudges against me must be waving their hands, telling me to hurry up and fall into Hell. Needless to say, Elsidore was not the least bit intimidated.
The reason was simple.
“In the end, what do bastards who fell into Hell have to feel wronged about?”
If they had fallen into Hell, then it meant they had fallen because they deserved to.
Kinver’s thoughts were not much different.
However, what Kinver worried about more than Elsidore
was his own weakness.‘I’m not as strong as Elsidore.’Far from being of help, he might become a hindrance.
So if, by any chance, my existence ends up holding you back in Hell……. Kinver gritted his teeth. When that time comes, I should abandon my life without hesitation…….
“Trash, I permit it.”
“……
What?”
“If Hell is too much for you, grab my ankle and beg.”
Elsidore continued speaking, still sneering.
“If you beg earnestly, I shall show you special mercy.”
If you are going to grab someone’s ankle, grab mine.
“……!”
Elsidore was speaking in the only way Elsidore knew how.
So Kinver, too, shot back with his own temper.
In a sarcastic voice.
“Bullshit. I’d rather just die than grab your ankle and beg.”
Their bickering lasted only a moment.
The two brought the red spider lilies to the tips of their noses.
When their noses twitched, crimson light soon flowed from the red spider lilies. It wrapped around both their bodies. The moment the fishy scent of blood dug into their minds,
“!”
Kinver’s player vision flickered.[You have discovered Hell, the First Gate.]
At the same time, the scenery changed.
“……
Hah.”
Instinctively, he covered his nose, mouth, and airways. Thick sulfur smoke, to the point that he longed for the fishy scent of blood instead. Beyond it spread a desolate landscape.
It was a truly lonesome sight.
“……
That’s all?”
On the barren earth, the only thing visible was a single gate.
Even that was far from gigantic or grand.
It was simply a pair of doors that could be opened with both hands.
Kinver muttered,
“This shabby thing is the First Gate?”
He looked around.
Elsidore, who had entered Hell with him, was nowhere to be seen. Even if he stayed here longer, there did not seem to be any chance of obtaining other information. As stated, there was nothing visible except the gate.‘Let’s go in.’And so Kinver placed his hand on the First Gate.
It was then.
A chilling sensation crawled up his spine, and breath brushed his ear.
“……?”
Living like trash, the only thing he had managed to develop was his nerve.
Rather than being startled, Kinver instinctively reached for his dagger.
Soon, he realized the source of that strange sensation.[Your sin whispers to you.]
“……
What, was that all?”
The First Gate.
Was this a warning that Hell would truly begin beyond here?
Kinver gave a faint laugh.
He had finished making that resolve long ago.
If he was going to be crushed to death beneath the price of the sins he had accumulated, he would welcome it as much as they wanted.
Creeeak.[You have entered Hell, the First Gate.]
“……!”
A scene completely opposite to the desolate landscape unfolded before Kinver.
Was there a festival going on?
It was a village decorated far too lavishly.
And at the village entrance, he saw ears that were far too long.
It was Elsidore.
“You’re late, trash.”
And.
“You were here too, Lorentsk.”
Because he had the appearance of a young boy.
“……
No, you arrived first.”
It was the moment Kinver offered an awkwardly polite greeting.
But Lorentsk’s expression was anything but ordinary.
The romantic explorer who had never lost his smile in any situation.
His complexion had gone deathly pale.
Elsidore noticed something was off.
“Old brat, is something bothering you?”*
Lorentsk recalled the past.
The past before he had been devoured by the monster called the Omen. Back then, he had truly been fearless. He had inhaled the scent of a flower whose effects he did not even know without a trace of fear.[Red Spider Lily Grown from Blood]
The first sight of Hell he had witnessed?
It had been truly terrifying.
The chilling sensation when he grasped the doorknob.
And the sight that had unfolded beyond the door.
Even so, it had not been like this moment.
“……
It’s different.”
“Different? What is?”
“No matter how I look at it, it’s different.”
He did not know the name of the village, nor the true identity of those faceless beings wandering through it. As stated, overwhelmed by fear, he had fled from Hell as if running for his life.
But there was one thing he remembered clearly.
“The Hell I remember did not have this kind of atmosphere.”
The cheerful sound of instruments.
The smell of food spreading through the village.
A scene as if they were preparing for a festival.
It was completely different from the desolate village he had witnessed in the past.
The intuition of a great explorer was telling him.
This sense of wrongness was far too dangerous.
“What is the problem with that, old brat? What does it matter whether it’s a festival or not? Perhaps we just happened to enter on such a day.”
To Elsidore’s question, Lorentsk replied,
“You’re right.”
“……?”
“If this were an ordinary village on the Arcana Continent.”
At those words, Elsidore belatedly realized.
That was right.
This place was Hell.
Demons, or those who had committed acts worthy of falling into Hell.
Despite that,
it was a place where those who could not cast off their malice even in death ended up.
A festival of such vengeful spirits meant…….
“Aha, so they’re welcoming us?”
I knew it.
“Thinking of us as prey?”
Shing.
At Elsidore’s words, the moment Kinver reached for his dagger,
Lorentsk shook his head.
Then he raised his voice.
“Do you truly think so? If their true objective were us, then the moment we grabbed the doorknob and entered the gate, they would already have rushed at us!”
“……?”
At those words, they turned their heads and looked at the village scenery.
Lorentsk was right.
The faceless vengeful spirits did not show any hostility toward them.
Lorentsk stammered,
“……
That is the first reason I was afraid.”
That was right.
The one those countless vengeful spirits were waiting for
was only one person.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Holy War Allied Forces.
Elsidore murmured,
“Then we have even more reason not to leave them be.”
But Lorentsk had not yet finished speaking.
“However, there is a second reason that frightens me even more.”
“What else is left, old brat?”
“It has passed.”
“Passed?”
“The time we promised has passed.”
“……!!”
Elsidore and Kinver.
Simply because Ho Yeol had not entered Hell on time. The pupils of the two, who had not been shaken even by the sinister atmosphere of the hellish village, trembled violently.
Lorentsk opened his mouth.
“No, I will correct myself. He must certainly have kept his promise. Then there is only one possibility. Yes, it is clear he has not yet been able to pass through.”
The First Gate, where original sin whispered.
“……
What?”
At the question, Lorentsk murmured in a hollow voice.
“Is the original sin passed down through his blood truly that deep?”*
There is a saying that life’s misfortunes can turn into blessings, and blessings into misfortunes.‘……
Somehow, things felt too good.’This morning.
At the dining table, where my parents and even my hangover-soaked nemesis had gathered with blinking eyes, I declared that I was going to Hell. Needless to say, at first, everyone was horrified.‘……
Somehow, that loose tongue had been quiet.’Even so, thanks to that loose tongue staying quiet,
I left no room for misunderstanding or misinterpretation,
and was able to enter Hell while being seen off warmly.
I even received encouragement from my nemesis.
—“Make sure you find that answer in Hell.”
Why was falling into Hell the answer? Because if I encountered the Akshan seniors in Hell, succeeded in my class quest, and received the reward, I could grow another step stronger.‘Then I’ll be able to endure the burden I carry better.’For now, thanks to Matisse’s proof, the media had gone quiet. But before long, they might start clamoring loudly about me again, and I did not want to make my family worry needlessly.
So I had conveyed all my plans without hiding anything, not in Grandfell-style speech, but according to Lee Hoyeol’s own will, and had entered Hell through the [Red Spider Lily Grown from Blood].
And yet, this damned……!
Thud.
The First Gate.
The moment I placed my hand on the doorknob,
a chill struck all five of my senses.
A chill that covered my entire body.
I checked my vision, which was flickering wildly.[Your sin whispers to you.][Your sin whispers to you.][Your sin whispers to you.]…….
I had expected him to be a sinful man ever since he had so many needless secrets……. But still, isn’t this far too much sin, Grandfell?
My grumbling lasted only a moment before the final message glittered.[How dare you set foot in this place.][A bloodline that is truly great beyond measure.][Claudi.]‘……!’At that message, I recalled it.
The child Grandfell of Claudi Territory I had witnessed in the space-time quest.
And the field of red spider lilies that had unfolded behind him.
As expected, my guess had not been wrong.
The original sin pouring out now was not the sin of 『Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo』. It was the original sin of the blood that the Claudi family had accumulated as they rose to become a great house no one could approach.
If so.
If it was the Grandfell I knew.
What words would he utter in a situation like this?
“Come.”
Damn it, I knew this would happen.
“As the head of House Claudi, I shall face you.”
Well, that would be the most you-like response possible, Grandfell……!!