◈ Episode 60. O Self-Proclaimed Demon King (1)
It was when I began to get a feel for it.
From the moment the demon legion commanders appeared.
“……
Demon legion commanders? Why them?”
“They have an obvious common trait in their appearance.”
“A common trait?”
Seong Hyeonjun thought it over, then smack! He struck the desk.
“Ah! They look filthy unpleasant, like pigeons!”
“Hoo— forget it. My mistake for asking.”
“Oh, come on, what is it, then?”
“They’re all birdbrains.”
“……
Birdbrains? Huh? You’re right.”
Frost, where rankers from every nation had gathered.
And among them, Hoyeol, who was showing overwhelmingly outstanding performance.
Was it because they were drunk on national pride?
They had dismissed the creatures’ appearance as nothing important.
Only belatedly realizing it, Seong Hyeonjun earned a click of the tongue from Yun Sugyeom.
“The Demon Kings took their concepts from legends and myths…….”
“Yes, they certainly did.”
“Among them, there is a Demon King related to birds.”
Speaking seriously, Yun Sugyeom turned the monitor.
Seong Hyeonjun cautiously opened his mouth.
“……
Decarabia?”
“Yes, Decarabia.”
“One of the 72 demons who commands birds as familiars……?!”
Seong Hyeonjun’s eyes widened.
“Sunbae……. This birdbrain……!!”
“No, not yet.”
If that had been all, I wouldn’t have been 99.9 percent certain.
Click—Yun Sugyeom immediately switched the screen with the mouse.
What appeared on the monitor was a satellite image of Frost.
Seong Hyeonjun tilted his head.
“Why the satellite photo all of a sudden, sunbae?”
“Just look.”
“We checked this together at the beginning. The smoke was rising like some kind of cumulus cloud, so we couldn’t see anything. Why bring it up now……. Huh?!”
The panorama of Frost was clearly visible.
As if asking what there was to be surprised about, Yun Sugyeom continued.
“The moment the demon legion commanders blew the smoke away with their wingbeats.”
“Whoa, damn. You captured it then, sunbae?”
“Yeah. I have to earn my keep. I’m sick of being a salary thief now.”
“……
Wait a second. Sunbae.”
Looking closely, Seong Hyeonjun muttered in confusion.
A red pattern was clearly visible.
It was a star drawn in blood and corpses.
A pentagram.
‘……
This is definitely?!’
Click—Seong Hyeonjun moved the mouse in Yun Sugyeom’s stead.
When he switched windows, Decarabia’s form appeared once more.
Yun Sugyeom nodded.
“That’s right. A demon that takes the form of a pentagram.”
★ and ★.
After looking back and forth between the pentagrams displayed on the two screens, he opened his mouth.
“We can confirm this one hundred percent, sunbae.”
“That star pattern drawn in blood and corpses gives you the same feeling, right?”
“Yes. It must be part of the Demon King summoning ritual.”
“In that sense, it’s fortunate.”
“……?”
Here.
The place Yun Sugyeom pointed at with the mouse cursor.
When they zoomed in, strangely enough.
Only that area had no corpses lying around.
Had the demons made a mistake?
No, that wasn’t it.
Seong Hyeonjun opened his mouth as if thinking, no way.
“Wait. If it’s around here…….”
“That’s right. It matches Lee Hoyeol’s entry route.”
“H-He advanced while collecting the corpses in that situation?!”
“We can’t know his intention. But that must be what happened.”
Once they guessed that much, they understood why so many monsters had flocked toward Hoyeol.
Because Hoyeol was the very existence directly interfering with the Demon King summoning ritual.
Yun Sugyeom nodded.
“This time, we might be able to help Lee Hoyeol.”
If they knew the Demon King’s identity.
They could prepare for it.
In that sense, information on Decarabia was important.
“I’ll look it up right away!”
The data he had saved must still be somewhere.
Opening the search window and digging through the files, Seong Hyeonjun spoke.
“Sunbae. I found it.”
But…….
The situation wasn’t good.
No, to be precise, the compatibility wasn’t good.
“……
What? Possesses knowledge of all plants and ‘minerals’?”
Of all things, minerals!
In the past, and even at this very moment.
Wasn’t Hoyeol someone who used alchemy skills involving stone?
Damn it.
They had vowed to relay useful information to him.
“And what we found is…….”
Of all things, such pessimistic information.
Seong Hyeonjun spoke in a low voice.
“He’ll probably have considerable resistance to earth-attribute magic.”
“If we consider the birdbrain concept, that would be valid.”
“……
Still, it’s Lee Hoyeol, right? Well, he has plenty of other skills too!”
“That’s true. Even so, one of his main skills has effectively become useless.”
Yun Sugyeom muttered softly.
“And on top of that, the opponent is a Demon King.”
They couldn’t help but worry.
No matter how much it was Hoyeol.
Having one of his main skills rendered useless.
That was an enormous penalty.
But concern and what had to be done were separate matters.
Soon, Seong Hyeonjun opened the messenger with a deep breath.
“Hoo. We should relay it to Gaon, right, sunbae?”
“That would be best. They’ve just joined up with Lee Hoyeol.”
“……
Please. I hope he has some hidden trump card or something.”
If it was Lee Hoyeol, who knew……!
Even as he hoped, Seong Hyeonjun thought it was too much of an expectation.
After all, Hoyeol was, in the end, a mage.
‘It’s not like he’ll suddenly go ta-da! and start fighting with a sword or something…….’
Shake, shake—Seong Hyeonjun immediately shook his head.
Even he found his own thought so absurd that a hollow laugh escaped him.
“I must be desperate, having all sorts of useless fantasies.”
He should say something that actually made sense.
*
Nam Cheolmin’s briefing flowed through the speaker.
I opened my mouth.
“I see.”
So the Demon King’s identity was Decarabia.
Of course, it was a name I hadn’t heard even from the Akshan demon hunters.
The Demon Kings they usually mentioned were high-ranking even among Demon Kings…….
To put it simply, they were the highest-ranking Demon Kings.
‘It’s actually a relief I haven’t heard of him.’
Granfell’s pride would not break before any demon.
But I, the one who had to bear that pride, was different.
I was in a position where I had to struggle desperately no matter what……!
While inwardly feeling relieved without the slightest change in expression.
For some reason, the atmosphere around me wasn’t good.
—This is troubling, Hoyeol-ssi.
Starting with Nam Cheolmin, everyone added a word.
“So, according to AAU, skills that utilize minerals won’t work, hyung? Naturally, that means the skills Hoyeol-ssi mainly uses, like summoning stone pillars or stone walls, will be neutralized too?”
Nam Taemin, whose injuries had been treated.
He likely hadn’t fully recovered his stamina.
Yet worry filled his face.
Leoni spoke bluntly.
“What kind of bullshit is that? Damn it.”
Of course, I, the person concerned, felt nothing in particular.
I had coasted by through alchemy.
But alchemy wasn’t all I had.
‘It was worth struggling in my own way.’
As expected, digging several wells had paid off.
Fortunately, there was someone who knew of my efforts.
My swordsmanship master, Harkon.
“You have good companions, but they worry needlessly, Sir.”
Harkon seemed subtly expectant.
Well, Harkon was under the misconception that my true aptitude lay in swordsmanship.
So that reaction was understandable.
However…….
‘I can’t quite guess her reaction.’
I looked at Kichi.
Had she gotten goosebumps?
Shudder—Kichi trembled.
Of course, I didn’t think too deeply about it.
Other people’s thoughts or evaluations.
To Granfell, they weren’t even worth paying attention to.
“There is no need to worry.”
I said that.
Yes, because there was something else to pay attention to.
I checked the blinking quest window.
[Class Quest: Demon King Subjugation]
The king of demons.
Their evil influence has begun to reach out.
O last demon hunter.
Topple the throne of evil.
—Train your weakened body. (Repeat)
—Investigate the northern city of Frost. (Success)
—Rescue the survivors. (In Progress)
—Stop the Demon King summoning ritual. (In Progress)
●Defeat the demon legion commanders. (10/10)
The last demon legion commander had fallen.
With this, the quest objective had been achieved.
However, the quest progress did not change to success.
What that meant was simple.
‘There’s still something left.’
Now that all the demon legion commanders had fallen.
The Demon King’s army was effectively annihilated.
Clank—!
Harkon sheathed his sword and said.
“There is no time to waste on those whose will has been broken.”
Their morale had been shattered.
Even if we didn’t deliberately seek them out, the other players would take care of them, doing their best to defeat them.
If only for the experience and contribution points.
So what I had to do was simple.
“Let us go to the plaza.”
Frost’s central plaza.
The center of the pentagram.
In other words, reaching the heart of the Demon King summoning ritual.
The obstacles were gone.
Before long, I was able to reach Frost’s plaza.
“……
How can this be.”
The center of the star.
At the point where its strokes intersected.
The corpses sprawled there formed a mountain.
The blood scattered about was like a sea.
At the horrific sight, Harkon and the Lionheart Knights bowed their heads.
“O God. Grant them rest.”
Grind—Nam Taemin gnashed his teeth.
Jesse pulled her cone hat low.
Leoni continued to spit curses.
Players wouldn’t be feeling any different emotion.
Because this was reality.
It meant people, not NPCs, had died.
It was only natural to feel devastated.
It was then.
One of the corpses twitched.
“……
Aaah.”
Everyone reacted to that groan.
“……
A survivor!”
“Wait, that face is……?”
“Isn’t that the Lord of Frost?”
Yes, the one alive was the Lord of Frost.
Harkon opened his mouth.
“Count Sirion……? Is that you!”
“Could it be, Sir Harkon……! How can this be!”
“O God.”
Count Sirion.
If thought about calmly, it was only natural to question it.
Among all those corpses.
How had he alone survived?
However, Count Sirion was shedding tears.
“His Majesty, the Empire had not abandoned us……!”
That was enough for those watching to discard their suspicions.
His face and voice as well.
Were exactly the same as the Count Sirion they knew so well.
However, I knew.
[Demon King Subjugation].
The fact that the class quest had not yet ended.
───────
Natural Enemy Relationship: When fighting against the demon race, combat power increases dramatically.
───────
And [Natural Enemy Relationship].
The fact that its effect, too.
From the moment I stepped into Frost until now.
Had not disappeared for even a single moment.
Above all, decisively.
I had experience.
A succubus who had perfectly acted as Baek Iseol.
Enough to deceive not only those around her, but the world itself.
That experience of facing a demon.
Yes, it was a question that had occurred to me from the moment I realized that fact.
Demons had only appeared in reality.
For a handful of years at most.
Yet demons had already blended naturally into reality.
Then.
In Arcana, the homeland of demons.
How many demons were hiding among humans?
Naturally, I could not answer that.
How old was that information about Arcana’s circumstances?
It would have been different if I had continued playing Arcana.
But I had a blank period of well over ten years.
However, one thing was certain.
That was not the Lord of Frost, Count Sirion.
At the same time, the quest window flashed.
—Defeat the Demon King Decarabia. (In Progress)
I declared in a cold voice.
“You are so hideous that it is difficult to look at you.”
“……!!!”
“Your acting ends here. Demon King.”
It was contempt.
“O you who call yourself the king of an inferior race. While driving your subordinates to their deaths, you yourself hid among humans. Are you not ashamed of that fact?”
As a noble aristocrat.
It was the Demon King’s vile conduct that I could never overlook.
At my declaration, the group was visibly flustered.
“……
King of an inferior race? Sir, what do you mean?”
Even Harkon, who had been approaching Sirion, took a step back.
However, the confusion did not last long.
Because Decarabia began to reveal his true nature.
“It seems you have foolishly misunderstood, human.”
Crack, crunch—In an instant, Sirion’s body began to change.
It was no longer Sirion.
Sirion’s body had begun to crumple mercilessly.
The creature spoke to me.
“I did not drive them to their deaths. It was a noble sacrifice for their king.”
I soon understood what that meant.
The crumpled mass.
That mass began to suck in blood and corpses.
“I shall praise you. Your interference was highly meaningful. However.”
By interference, he must mean collecting the corpses.
The moment I thought that, the Demon King’s army flew in from every direction.
To be exact, they mingled with the offerings and were sucked into the mass.
“There is no rule that says the sacrifices must be human.”
Decarabia absorbed the Demon King’s army as living sacrifices to make up for the insufficient offerings. At the same time, the mass that had been growing larger gradually began to take shape.
A pentagram stitched together from blood and flesh.
As the star rose, the sky was covered in darkness.
Demon King Decarabia.
He had fully resurrected.
[Demon King Decarabia reveals himself.]
[You have entered the living hell, “Frost.”]
But so what?
Even so, there was not the slightest agitation within me.
As always, I opened my mouth.
“Do not defile true sacrifice.”
Sacrifice.
It was a word that could only be attached.
To those who gave their lives for pride.
To protect Frost.
“You do not have the right.”
Was it because I was gradually immersing myself in Granfell?
Or was it because I, too, truly thought so?
At least in this moment, my mouth did not feel dry.
The flesh of the pentagram trembled noisily.
“I look forward to the moment that arrogance is slammed into the ground. I have already seen through your magic. Deeply regrettable though it may be, as long as rock is nothing more than a mineral, your greatest talent is as good as sealed.”
……
What?
Greatest talent?
He seemed to be gravely mistaken about something.
‘Granfell’s talents are something even I can’t measure.’
I calmly checked my condition.
My remaining mana was sufficient.
The “suitable mana” required by black magic was also abundant.
Nor had I needlessly wasted the stamina for emitting sword energy.
So there was no hesitation.
[The “Possessed Master Sword” has been selected as the sacrifice.]
[Skill, “Exorcism Ritual,” activates.]
[Inviting Demon King Decarabia to the “Ritual.”]
“Close that hideous mouth of yours first.”
“?!!”
“O self-proclaimed Demon King.”
Whoosh—!