#084.
Kukukukuku!
The atmosphere shook unstablely.
Chwaaaak!
Space split apart. The darkness embracing that space gradually formed a single shape, and soon completed a massive door.
Chuk.
From the portal, what revealed itself was.
「….」
Baphomet, the goat of the Sabbath with a goat’s head, a human body, and black wings. Forcefully moved through the portal by Yunchan’s scheme, he was currently in a state of extreme fury.
「I swear upon my True Name. I shall find you and tear your very existence to shreds until you die.」
The target of his rage was Yunchan.
Kwakwakwakwakwak!
That rage became a wave that swept in all directions.
It couldn’t be helped.
The cornerstone of the War of Gods and Demons, which had already begun, had been twisted because of that bastard.
Because of a mere human, that insignificant being.
A blunder that occurred not long after he joined the side of Light.
There would be punishment for this, and if so, his hard-earned position might be shaken.
‘How hard-won a chance this was!’
A sigh escaped involuntarily.
As a neutral divine nature, his faith had been gradually disappearing.
In this world, who would retain faith in Baphomet, a divine nature forgotten from memory?
Faith was the power of a divine nature, and just like one’s position.
It was not merely power.
A god who lost his faith could not help but eventually face the fate of annihilation, where his very existence disappeared.
To avoid this fate, he bowed his head.
He bowed his head to the ‘White Wing,’ a mere creation he had once looked down upon, and joined their forces.
Having joined the eternal war of Light and Darkness that began anew, he had been able to receive a meager share of faith allowing him to barely continue existing.
An opportunity obtained by even bending his pride.
To obtain that opportunity, Baphomet became the vanguard.
Under the pretext of ‘Balance,’ a certain degree of free manifestation was possible.
So he used that bit of freedom to try to destroy the Hell Gate installed in the Catacombs.
But what do you know?
Everything had come to naught due to the interference of a trivial and insignificant human.
Kwadeudeuk!
The marble crushed by the weight of his existence was smashed to pieces.
But Baphomet, there was one fact he had overlooked.
Cheolkang cheolkang.
Along with the interlocking sound of metal, existences revealed themselves around him.
Knights donning pure-white full plate armor covering their entire bodies, with cross emblems drawn on their chests, began to surround him.
「Huh?!」
Only then did Baphomet look around and let out a scream.
「Heretic!」
「Pass judgment!」
In the distant past, a great religious war started under the pretext of dominion over religion.
They were the Crusaders, the troops of the Crusade (十字軍) that had stood at its center.
The place Yunchan moved Baphomet was the Hall of the Crusaders, where their remains and traces were buried.
Although Baphomet had joined the Light, the purpose of the Crusaders was to execute heretics.
Unable to escape from the delusions of the past, they could not tolerate Baphomet, a being exuding heretic energy.
「You bastard—」
Baphomet’s rage echoed inside the hall as he saw the Crusaders densely surrounding him.
*
‘Suffer a bit.’
He probably couldn’t hear it, but Baphomet’s roar seemed to ring out.
The place he had moved Baphomet to a short while ago, through the coordinates written for Jinwoo, was the Hall of the Crusaders.
Having thrown a bastard exuding thick heretic energy into a place where the remains of knights who died in the religious wars of the past were buried, it must be utter chaos.
It would be nice if he were annihilated right there.
‘Even though he lost his faith, he’s still a being close to a divine nature.’
The probability of that bastard’s annihilation was extremely low.
No, it could be said to be nonexistent.
However, the secondary goal was to exhaust his strength so that he could not roam the present world.
Canceling the Hell Gate’s seal incantation and weakening his power to restrict his activities.
Moreover.
‘That’s not the end.’
Nothing was certain yet, but he would be able to confirm the result shortly.
“…But where are we going?”
While walking, the kid Jinwoo asked.
This daring little one seemed to have been quite frightened by what happened this time.
Just by looking at his expression now, it was obvious he wanted to get out of these Catacombs immediately.
“Where else. We’re going to get a reward for our hard work.”
“A reward?”
At that moment, a peculiar light flashed across his terrified pupils.
‘…Would you look at that?’
It was greed.
His attitude changed at the single word “reward.”
‘An orphan, and he starved since childhood, but to this degree it’s almost madness?’
I could quickly grasp the reason why he wandered searching for treasure and entered the Pyramid and the Catacombs through a brief conversation.
An orphan.
Having grown up with nothing since birth, he fundamentally showed excessive attachment to money.
Such a kid had awakened the trait called “Portal.”
‘A Treasure Hunter… is that what he is?’
Treasure Hunter.
Hunters who appeared with the second portent and specialized in targeting treasures and Treasures.
Of course, it was an organization that didn’t exist now.
But soon, hunters targeting places where Treasures were buried would appear.
And Jinwoo, this kid, was showing such tendencies strongly.
Of course, one could say he was downright a brat for wandering around alone with no fear.
“The monster from earlier was incredibly strong, right?”
A monster.
If Baphomet heard that, he’d be foaming at the mouth, wouldn’t he?
“That’s right.”
But regardless of his origins, he was no different from a monster in that he only caused harm to humanity.
“Then the treasure buried here must also be incredible?”
“It’s not buried.”
“Then…?”
“An old greedy man has it.”
“Then are we robbing that old man?”
“Robbing? The nuance isn’t great, but since that’s the truth.”
Actually, the Catacombs’ Trial as I knew it didn’t feature Baphomet or Dantalian.
Finding the sacred relic hidden somewhere in the labyrinth and purifying the “old greedy man” who had lived here since the past, that is, since the time of Louis XVI.
Through the deal with Dantalian, the Hell Gate had been maintained, so now the task remained to resolve the original trial.
Before that.
“Hold on.”
I stopped walking and rummaged through my backpack.
What I took out after rummaging for a moment was the Necronomicon.
It was a Dark Scripture from which an ominous, foul dark-green energy crept out.
‘What would change if I strengthened it?’
To satisfy that curiosity.
Flash!
I attempted to strengthen it.
Though it was a deduction based on the Sage’s information, if my prediction was right, something would definitely change upon strengthening.
Having completed Transcendence of Reason as well, I was able to check the distinctly changed Necronomicon.
『+99(★★) Necronomicon
Classification: Grimoire (Auxiliary)
Grade: Intermediate Treasure
Durability: ∞
Unique Effect: Random effect occurs every time the book is opened
Chapter 1 – Introduction to Necromancy
Chapter 2 – Understanding of Curses
Chapter 3 – Advanced Summoning
Chapter 4 - Seal
Chapter 5 - Seal
??? - Seal
Description: This is a forbidden tome that must never exist.』
The prediction was exactly right.
The Necronomicon, which had been a low-grade Treasure, had become an intermediate-grade Treasure through strengthening.
An increase in grade.
It was something not easily seen, a phenomenon that appeared in only one type of Treasure.
『Growth-type Treasure』
It referred to a Treasure displaying the special phenomenon of rising from low-grade to intermediate-grade, and from intermediate-grade to high-grade through strengthening.
Just as the Necronomicon had changed from low-grade to intermediate-grade.
But this was a bit ambiguous.
If it were an ordinary Growth-type Treasure, the moment you saw it, a “wow” would escape you involuntarily.
‘I still don’t really get it.’
Before the regression, Dantalian had used the Necronomicon to summon an “Unknown Existence.”
Due to the descent of that powerful being, the Necronomicon was torn apart, and it never appeared again until the apocalypse.
No matter how much of a Sage versed in the world’s information, understanding a forbidden book that must not exist was difficult.
Therefore, even now, there was no information about the forbidden book in my head.
Of course, I was looking at its information through the Appraiser’s Eye as well, but even so, I couldn’t tell.
But one thing was certain.
‘It’s not something for me to use.’
That much could be known just by looking at the contents of each chapter.
Necromancy, curses, and summoning.
All of them were related to the abilities he, as the Guide of Death, could exert.
“Take it.”
I held out the forbidden book to Jeong Dohwan, who was staring blankly at me.
“…To me?”
“Yes.”
“It seems like an incredibly important item.”
“Yes. It’s so important that it also possesses the greatest potential among existing Treasures.”
It was no empty talk.
Growth-type Treasures could boast performance rivaling supreme-grade beyond high-grade, and perhaps even Transcendent-grade, of which only a few had appeared until the very end.
Of course, not right now, but the Necronomicon possessed the potential to grow as such.
Since I was handing over such a great Treasure, I ought to act generous.
“If so, then rather than me, you….”
“Have you heard this saying?”
I cut him off mid-sentence.
“That a true treasure chooses its master directly.”
Treasures were treasures that granted humanity transcendent power they had never before enjoyed.
Therefore, most did not discriminate users, but a few special Treasures would only accept their master’s hand.
Exclusive Treasures, and some Growth-type Treasures, were like that.
And the Growth-type Treasure called the Necronomicon was a Treasure perfectly suited for Jeong Dohwan.
That could be known just by looking at the contents written in each chapter.
Necromancy, curses, and summoning.
All of them were related to the abilities he, as the Guide of Death, could exert.
“If you put it that way.”
Jeong Dohwan, who had been refusing, took hold of the Necronomicon.
And at that moment.
Saaaaah!
A dark-green energy erupted from the Necronomicon and engulfed the surroundings like fog.
“Hmm?!”
A suspicious fog where one couldn’t distinguish an inch ahead.
Someone might have thought it was ordinary fog.
But to me, with my sixth sense, it could not deceive me.
‘…It’s him!’
The final battle of the War of Gods and Demons.
Due to the existence Dantalian summoned, for the first time, I—and we—had to face despair.
‘Unknown Existence.’
It did not exist in this world.
One whose name could not be known, an existence that must not be mentioned.
From the fog before my eyes, the terror, despair, and sense of oppression I had felt then were erupting out.
‘What about Jeong Dohwan?’
I expanded my senses.
The fog that had spread was interfering with sight and hearing, but the domain of the senses was different.
Thinking of the impact the sudden change might have, I searched for Jeong Dohwan’s whereabouts, but.
‘…Gone?’
He had clearly existed but vanished from my senses in an instant. To the point where one would have thought it an illusion if not for keen senses.
My other comrades—the Hero, William, Yale, Liu Yan, and even Jinwoo—were caught by my senses, but my sense of Jeong Dohwan alone was the exception.
As if he had sunk into the ground, his trace had completely disappeared, if only for a moment.
‘What on earth…?’
That was something even I hadn’t expected.
The Necronomicon, which had shown no reaction whatsoever while in my hands, was reacting now of all times.
‘Did the Necronomicon show a reaction to Jeong Dohwan?’
There was only one situation I could think of.
Just as treasures choose their masters, perhaps this Dark Scripture had chosen Jeong Dohwan.
Of course, whether that would work out for the better for us or result in misfortune was something we would have to watch and see.