◈ Chapter 549. Unapproachable (3) AAU.
The views of each branch around the world did not differ greatly.
The same went for the self-proclaimed Arcana experts.
-“This time, there will be a fierce battle for sure!”
-“Are you saying the Goddess Church, the Bohemians, and a small number of priest-type class players alone will fight the Holy War Alliance to a standstill? That alliance includes not only the Magic Tower, but even the Yusra Kingdom.”
-“We must not overlook them, after all—the gods of the Arcana Continent!”
Even amid the boiling reactions from viewers, the self-proclaimed expert did not back down.
-“Of course, viewers who favor our Player Lee Hoyeol may find this uncomfortable, but… we have to look at it objectively. A god of the Arcana Continent has appeared in person, hasn’t one?”
“…
Have they seriously lost their mind?”
Seong Hyeonjun muttered as he stared at the monitor.
His eyes were fixed on the screen, but his ears were open.
Yun Sugyeom asked,
“Why, are those self-proclaimed experts spouting nonsense again?”
“Yes, sunbae. But there’s something that annoys me even more.”
“What is it?”
“Me.”
“…
You?”
When Yun Sugyeom turned his head, Seong Hyeonjun averted his eyes.
“I got pissed off because, without realizing it, I was tempted by what they said.”
Tempted by the words of a self-proclaimed expert.
That must have meant several things.
Yun Sugyeom lifted the corners of his mouth and shrugged.
“Actually, when we can’t be certain what abilities the gods of the Arcana Continent possess, predicting a close battle isn’t exactly a wrong guess. And taking that one step further…”
He recalled the most important meaning.
“Infinitely Deep Darkness.”
“…
Sunbae Yun?”
“That’s right. We can’t overlook our General Manager Lee Hoyeol, the Infinitely Deep Darkness. Perhaps the gods of the Arcana Continent have ‘good reason’ to be wary of the General Manager.”
Was this blasphemy, or was it not?
Seong Hyeonjun’s gaze rapidly grew cold.
Afraid there might be a misunderstanding, Yun Sugyeom quickly waved his hand.
“Ah, of course I’m saying this from the perspective of Arcana Continent Chronicle, okay? You know, the General Manager’s class still hasn’t been revealed, has it? So I mean we have to consider the possibility that he possesses a class that is the exact opposite of a priest-type class, one in an antagonistic relationship with the gods.”
…
Aha, hearing it like that, it made sense.
“Sunbae, I hadn’t even imagined it from that angle.”
“Well, I only thought of it while talking with Katrina.”
“Th-then, couldn’t this serious situation actually not be that different from the old days? Back when Arcana was nothing more than a game, quests like this were incredibly common.”
Quests where players became tangled up with one another, that is.
“Right. If you think of it that way, it makes sense.”
“Huh? What does?”
“Raymon Sean’s intentions.”
Arcana Continent Chronicle, back when it had been nothing more than a game.
A slogan of Arcana Continent Chronicle he was recalling after a long time.
“Overwhelming power was the new order… right?”
“It was a game that encouraged the winner to take all from the start.”
“True, even the Empire itself was the result of winner-takes-all.”
Yun Sugyeom nodded.
“I thought it from the moment the color of Arcana Continent Chronicle was overlaid onto Seoul. To think it would incite guild siege wars out of nowhere. Raymon Sean, that bastard still hasn’t given up on the infinite competition system.”
“Then, is this an extension of that too?”
“Probably. I think so.”
Yun Sugyeom looked at the monitors in the control room.
The two forces being observed in real time.
The Holy War Alliance and the Goddess Church Alliance.
“The difference is that players no longer have a resurrection system.”
That was probably why Raymon Sean was cruel.
He thought he understood why the branch manager gnashed his teeth
whenever Raymon’s name came up.
Seong Hyeonjun fumed as he spoke.
“It feels like he’s treating people like complete idiots.”
“Does it?”
“Isn’t he? After the Cataclysm began, Arcana stopped being a game! You can’t die and resurrect anymore, and you can’t be happy that it won’t be boring just because incidents keep happening one after another…!”
Raymon Sean really isn’t even human.
Seong Hyeonjun trailed off.
Yun Sugyeom nodded.
“Yeah, that’s true.”
That nod held two meanings.
A developer of Cosmo.
That experience was speaking coldly.
‘But the Arcana Continent was originally that kind of place.’
This was the orthodox truth of the Arcana Continent.
Ironically enough,
when the victor monopolized everything,
the continent was at its most peaceful.
‘As I said, the Empire is proof of that.’
Then naturally, his thoughts could not help but arrive there.
‘…
Will Seoul, overlaid with that color, become like that too?’
If “someone” seized everything in Seoul with overwhelming power.
Wouldn’t peace come to Seoul as well?
No, going even further.
‘If the victor pacifies both reality and the Arcana Continent.’
Wouldn’t there be no more suffering in that world?
Only then did Yun Sugyeom reach a conclusion.
Yes, if someone had to fulfill that role…
“I suppose I can’t help but be subjective here.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Yun Sugyeom gave a faint laugh.
“I mean I hope the General Manager wins this war.”
And the result seemed to be the same as always.
Lee Hoyeol.
The Yusra General Manager had not betrayed their faith this time either.
Everyone had predicted a close battle.
Yet the moment the war began, the outcome seemed plainly visible.
“Holy shit, I never imagined they’d self-destruct.”
“My god, the saintess has been branded a witch…!”
“Did something go wrong with the Pantheon?”
The AAU Korea branch buzzed with noise.
The victory of the General Manager they had hoped for was right before their eyes.
Yet Yun Sugyeom could not rejoice.
This was…
far too overwhelming.
So much so that he felt ashamed of himself for having predicted a close battle.
Could one really say they had won by sheer luck because the Goddess Church had self-destructed?
Could one truly think so carelessly?
‘If even that was something the General Manager brought about…’
Then he could guess what the General Manager had been doing during the period of his absence. Was that too much of a stretch? No, wasn’t it a more plausible guess than falling into hell and returning alive?
Yun Sugyeom spoke in a low voice.
“An era of peace that truly no one can approach may come.”
But to put it a little differently.
“At the same time, does that mean it will be an era no one can defy…?”
*
For the record, I’m in perfectly good shape.
‘Of course, since I didn’t do anything!’
All I did after falling into hell was heal my wounds with reversal magic. I did consume quite a bit of mana dealing with the imps, but even that was because the Akshan seniors hunted in my place, wasn’t it?
So.
Flick.
With just a light snap of my finger.
It would not be strange even if the castle wall turned to powder.
But it was definitely an unfamiliar sensation.
‘Something is different.’
It did not feel as if I had changed, but as if the [System] had changed.
To be precise.
Should I say that, among its parts, the siege system had changed?
‘Originally, castle walls don’t fall easily.’
The moment a siege begins,
the castle gate and castle walls are granted their own durability. That was the system, the rule, of Arcana Continent Chronicle. Of course I was no exception, and neither was anyone else.
‘Just like during the recapture of Frost.’
Shall I use the highest-level magic, 『Meteor Strike』, as an example?
If Meteor Strike is manifested on flat ground, that entire area becomes a wasteland. But if Meteor Strike is manifested against a castle wall while a siege is underway? It will suffer no small amount of damage, but it means the amount of impact that would turn flat ground into a wasteland will not occur.
As I was thinking, a voice came from behind me.
“Does this mean the scripture of prophecy was wrong…?”
The paladins following Talim.
As could be heard from their lamentations,
the people of Arcana called that system things like protection, blessing, or grace.
‘Even the players’ resurrection was called a miracle.’
So to sum it up in one sentence.
‘I ignored it.’
The system of Arcana Continent Chronicle.
The system even the great Raymon Sean
could do nothing about—I had ignored it.
I thought of the reason I had been able to do that.
As I said, in hell, I had no chance to grow.
Then there was only one option.
[Hexagram Brooch 5/6]
So you didn’t keep your mouth shut for no reason, did you, Grandfell?
‘I really don’t know what it is.’
In any case, for now, I had to make use of it, didn’t I?
‘Actually, if I didn’t use it.’
I wasn’t confident I could quickly settle the situation.
The castle wall had collapsed.
Did they think the goddess’s protection had collapsed?
The paladins of Muon charged forward, even more enraged.
“Strike! We shall burn away the darkness with the goddess’s radiance!”
I did not react greatly and only flicked my finger.
Rumble.
Construction magic, which could be called reversal magic’s eternal partner.
It was an advanced manifestation of that construction magic.
From deep within the earth, a giant gate surged upward.
“?”
Both this side and that side wore expressions of incomprehension.
‘I feel the same way.’
Grandfell, you even learned something during that brief trip to hell?
That’s right.
What I manifested was a gate modeled after the gates of hell.
A gate of similar height to the walls of Muon.
After it, a gate twice as large was erected.
Looking at the paladins blocked by the gate, I recited,
“Those who open the gate.”
“…?”
“Trials shall await you.”
…
You’re just copying it, yet you’re still striking the pose properly.
“Trials harsher than anything else.”
It goes without saying, but I did not even expect my warning to work on those fanatics. Far from shrinking back, Muon’s forces charged in with even greater momentum.
“Do you think a gate like this can stop judgment?”
“You cannot stop us!”
“It is over, Infinitely Deep Darkness!”
But soon, their voices trailed off.
It was probably because the gate opened and they faced it.
The hallucination magic circle I had engraved into the gate, that is.
‘Now that I think about it, the difficulty is really damn ridiculous.’
To have to suppress the people trying to kill me while going easy on them.
But has this only happened once or twice?
Thanks to that, it was fortunate that I had picked up the knack for it.
“U-uuuh…”
The moment the gate opened.
Muon’s forces turned pale white.
Looking at them, I recalled it.
-“What matters in hallucination magic is adjusting the intensity, everyone. Because it is magic that directly attacks the opponent’s mind. So you must always keep this in mind. Depending on the circumstances, the hallucination magic you manifest can be even more threatening than destruction magic that shatters a target to pieces.”
The regular symposium.
The senior mage of hallucination magic.
That was what Nasrow had said.
I, Lee Hoyeol, did not possess magical knowledge, but I could agree with those words.
After all, I had experience.
Within the exorcism ritual.
Demons faced with a demon hunter.
I meant that I had watched what happened to their minds.
Therefore, I was confident in adjusting the intensity of hallucination magic. That was why I engraved a hallucination magic circle. I modeled the structure after an exorcism ritual and manifested it by inserting it into the interference process.
And yet.
“U-uwaaaaaah…”
For some reason.
The effect exceeded my expectations by an enormous degree.
At most, I had thought they would tremble in fear and lose their will to fight.
But beyond that level, tears.
No, to the point where they wet themselves.
The paladins were looking up at me with terror-stricken eyes.
Seeing that scene, there was no way that loose tongue would just let it pass.
…
No matter how much you like being neat and tidy.
“You truly look hideous.”
I’m telling you, I don’t have the leeway to glare at people who’ve pissed their pants…!!
...
Guyver ran.
“I will save you.”
At the very moment his prayer was cut off,
Guyver heard the voice of the god of war.
He could not fully understand the meaning of those words.
-“□□□, □□.”
However.
“I will, without fail, cut down the Infinitely Deep Darkness.”
Guyver had already long since been seized by madness.
Guyver’s vision
was ignoring the blinking system messages.
[※Warning: Faith is excessively high.]
[※Warning: Status abnormality, ‘Fanatic,’ is activated.]
[※Warning: You cannot control your body.]
…
Except for a single message.
[Class Quest: Paladin, Illuminate the Darkness]
Amid uncontrollable chaos.
At last, the Pantheon opened.
Your god is calling you.
Chosen knight of god, follow the oracle.
-Establish the army of the true god. (Success)
-Execute the Infinitely Deep Darkness. (In Progress)
Following the flickering light, he drove his sacred horse onward.
Then, at last, he saw it.
The Infinitely Deep Darkness, standing alone against Muon.
“I found you.”
The moment Guyver murmured,
a new quest objective appeared.
The system message, which did not lie, was speaking.
●The calamity that will lead all worlds to ruin.
Infinitely Deep Darkness.
Execute Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo. (In Progress)
Noble paladin, you were not wrong.
[You have acquired the sacred relic, ‘Heavenly Sword Excalibur.’]