[Leores – Underground Bunker]
Rachel, Yun Seung-Ah, Chae Nayun, and other members from Earth returned to the underground bunker. When they arrived, they were met with cheers from the people staying in it. Airun and the Republic’s knights smiled wryly as they shook hands with evacuees. The group then headed to the office of the person in charge of the bunker – Yoo Yeonha.
Yoo Yeonha greeted them and said as she looked back and forth between the knights and the members of the Secret Service.
“There’s too many of you to be stuffed in this small place.”
Six Secret Service members and twenty-six knights had entered the room. There were also hundreds of knights waiting outside.
“….”
Airun sent her subordinates a shooing look. The Knights took the hint and left the room, leaving behind Rachel, Chae Nayun, Airun, Kim Youngjin, Yi Yeonghan, and Kim Horak.
“…Huu.”
Yoo Yeonha wasn’t happy that an outsider like Airun was still in the room, but she greeted her with a smile knowing she was an important character in this world.
“Well done, everyone. But we don’t have time to rest. Next, we—”
“Where’s Kim Suho?”
Chae Nayun interrupted Yoo Yeonha to ask.
“Did he go to the bathroom?”
She blinked her eyes with an innocent look. Yoo Yeonha coughed before replying immediately.
“He went to Baal’s castle with Lady Aileen.”
“What? Already?”
“Yeah, Fenrir was going to end the war with demonic beasts anyways.”
Yoo Yeonha made a faint smile. It was the objective truth that Kim Hajin performed the best in war. Although Kim Suho could cut down dozens of enemies with one swing of his sword, Kim Hajin could kill hundreds just by the click of a b.u.t.ton.
“Sorry, but where’s our Prince!?”
Airun shouted urgently as if she was tired of hearing about Fenrir, Baal, and whatnot. Yoo Yeonha stared at Airun before taking out seventeen small bottles from her desk drawer.
“There’s a large castle in the middle of the barrier. We call it Baal’s castle. The Prince is probably there. Here, take this.”
“…Miracle herbs?”
Rachel muttered silently when she saw the plants inside the bottles. She could feel the energy of elementals from the plants.
“That’s right. We looked all over the country and could only find seventeen of them. Taking it will recover your energy within 2~3 hours.”
In other words, she wanted them to get going as soon as possible. It wasn’t the most encouraging words to hear for people who just returned from hours upon hours of battle, but they knew the situation they were in. The seven of them took the bottles and consumed the herbs. Then, they put the remaining ten bottles in their pockets.
“Give some to Kim Suho and Aileen when you meet them. They left before I had the chance to give them out. The rest, you can use in times of emergency.”
As she said that, Yoo Yeonha took out a suitcase and put it on the desk. Then, she took out several more. Koong- koong- koong- koong- She took out a total of seven suitcases, and the seven members stared at Yoo Yeonha curiously.
“These are treasures used for exorcism. I kind of stole them from their original owners, but that’s not important now. Use them when you reach the castle.”
The seven members hesitated. Using stolen goods was one thing, but they were just too hungry.
“Hurry. There are other people I have to talk to. This bunker has over 200 people. I’m busy trying to take care of everything. Your hunger should disappear too when you consume the miracle herb.”
Yoo Yeonha urged the Heroes, practically forcing them out with suitcases in hand.
**
[Baal’s Castle – Banquet Hall]
“Shoot.”
Tk- The toes of two people clashed. Aileen furrowed her brows, but Kim Suho took the next step with tenacity.
“d.a.m.n it. Argh.”
But not long afterward, their feet tangled once more. High-cla.s.s music flowed in the air, but the two people’s minds were all over the place. Even so, they continued to dance.
Aileen grit her teeth and asked, “Why do I have to do this?”
“..Just wait until they’re done talking.”
Kim Suho glanced at the second floor of the banquet hall. There, Yi Yeonjun was staring at Jin Sahyuk and s.h.i.+n Jonghak.
“Agh, when is it ending….”
For the record, there was a reason Aileen and Kim Suho were dancing. Baal’s castle had ‘rules’ that had to be followed. Other than Jin Sahyuk who could manipulate reality and s.h.i.+n Jonghak who was unaffected for some reason, everyone who didn’t follow the rules was kicked out.
“Sh, be quiet, so we can eavesdrop.”
Kim Suho danced half-heartedly and focused his attention on the second floor. Jin Sahyuk and Yi Yeonjun met face to face just a moment ago.
Jin Sahyuk spoke, “We meet again.”
Jin Sahyuk’s eyes narrowed like those of a fox.
“….”
However, Yi Yeonjun remained silent and simply looked back and forth between Jin Sahyuk and s.h.i.+n Jonghak. From the look in his eyes, he seemed confused.
Soon, he spoke up.
“Looks like Baal’s rules don’t apply to you.”
“…I have my Authority, but I don’t know why it doesn’t work on him.”
Jin Sahyuk pointed at s.h.i.+n Jonghak, who was completely unaffected by Baal’s rules.
“Hm, you’re an interesting one.” Yi Yeonjun said to s.h.i.+n Jonghak.
Immediately, s.h.i.+n Jonghak swung his Conqueror Spear. The spear cut through the air and stopped right in front of Yi Yeonjun’s neck.
s.h.i.+n Jonghak asked, “Answer. Where’s Baal?”
“Baal is raging.”
A rather random reply came back. s.h.i.+n Jonghak frowned, and Jin Sahyuk immediately asked back.
“We asked where Baal is, not what he’s doing.”
“He’s raging.”
“Is your head okay…?”
Jin Sahyuk paused for a moment and stared at Yi Yeonjun fixedly.
“….”
Something seemed off about Yi Yeonjun. His eyes were murky, and his body didn’t move. Almost like someone who lost something important, he sat dazed in his chair.
“…Baal’s raging?”
Jin Sahyuk asked somewhat seriously. She wanted to grasp the situation accurately. Yi Yeonjun didn’t wait to answer Jin Sahyuk.
“That’s right. Baal saw the truth from Bell’s memories.”
“Truth? What truth?”
Yi Yeonjun tilted his head and looked at Jin Sahyuk. However, Jin Sahyuk couldn’t look at him straight. She preferred his old, greed-filled eyes rather than the current hollow eyes.
“Did you know?” Yi Yeonjun asked. Jin Sahyuk looked at s.h.i.+n Jonghak before answering, and when s.h.i.+n Jonghak shook his head, she looked back at Yi Yeonjun.
“Know what?”
“That this world we live in is nothing but a novel.”
“…?”
Jin Sahyuk furrowed her brows, but that was the only change in her expression. She couldn’t make sense of what Yi Yeonjun said, so she couldn’t react in a big way.
“So you didn’t know either.”
Yi Yeonjun was serious. With a twisted smile, he began to murmur incomprehensible things.
“But Bell knew. He knew that this world is a novel written by a single man…. That’s right, a novel. A d.a.m.n novel and a worthless one at that. The world I wanted to obtain so much wasn’t worth a penny to ‘that man’. Even the almighty devil is nothing but a creation of a magicless ‘complete world’….”
Yi Yeonjun continued to mumble as if he had lost his mind. Jin Sahyuk tried to pick up on any clues she could find, but in the end, she gave up and sighed.
“Fool, it looks like Baal ate your brain. This is what you get for being too greedy and trying to obtain what’s out of your league.”
“Out of my league… that’s right. A mere character like myself dared to take over a world….”
“Shut your mouth.”
Jin Sahyuk gathered magic power in her hands. She tried to kill Yi Yeonjun.
It was then. Bell’s face suddenly popped up in her mind. Before he died, he said he knew ‘two’ truths, but he died while keeping one of them to himself.
That truth most certainly would have flowed into Baal’s head. As a curious devil, there was no doubt Baal would absorb the memories of his host.
“…Oi.”
Jin Sahyuk retracted her magic power and looked into Yi Yeonjun’s eyes.
“Tell me slowly and in detail. What did you hear from Baal? No matter what he found out, he couldn’t possibly fear anything.”
“Baal is raging.”
“No, there is no human who is afraid of an ant. Rage is just another form of fear.”
Some people might detest ants, but no one was angry at them. Similarly, there was no reason for Baal to be angry at humans.
Hearing this, Yi Yeonjun closed his eyes and opened them back up. Jin Sahyuk’s stiffened face was right in front of him.
“Fine, if you want to hear it so much, I’ll tell you….”
With a straight face, Yi Yeonjun began to describe the memories he ‘received’ from Baal.
**
[Outside Baal’s Castle]
—Hajin? It’s really you, Hajin?
Evandel replied. I immediately wrote back.
—Of course, it’s me. Have you been doing well? d.u.c.h.ess Ah Hae-In is treating you well, right?
—Un! This is really cool. How did you get this to work?
Evandel’s handwriting was neat and clean. Seeing how much she grew up, I held back my tears.
—I made it, but a magician in this world helped me send it over.
At that moment, the magician in question spoke.
“How interesting. I didn’t think it would work so well.”
Her face didn’t show any sign of happiness or pride.
“Aren’t you happy?”
“It’s not like I did much. I only brought a scroll without a destination. You’re the one who completed it in an absurd fas.h.i.+on. I didn’t see you make any calculations. I didn’t even see what you did to modify the scroll.”
“…Mm.”
I scratched the back of my neck. I didn’t have much to say to that. That was just how Stigma was. The co-author said it was a special authority of the Creator… though I could barely call myself the Creator at this point.
“Anyways, you helped prove something I wasn’t sure of. That dimensional travel is possible. I can cross dimensions and go to another world….”
While s.h.i.+murin was murmuring, I felt a group of people approaching us. I turned my head in that direction.
“Huh?”
Rachel, Yun Seung-Ah, Chae Nayun, Yi Yeonghan… People I was familiar with were walking over with exorcist weapons. I quickly put on Black Lotus’s hood and mask and then took out the Black Lotus Bow.
“…Be careful Jain. Those guys are coming.”
“Hm, who should I turn into…?”
Jain pondered for a moment before turning into Cheok Jungyeong. She flexed her hulk-like muscles and looked at me.
“How is it~?”
Jain grinned sweetly with Cheok Jungyeong’s face. I held myself back from puking.
“Don’t talk and smile like that when you’re in that form…”
“Ah, sure~ sure~”
Chae Nayun and the others arrived a bit afterward. They stopped running when they saw us.
“…What are you guys doing here?”
Yun Seung-Ah was the first to speak. Behind her, Rachel and Chae Nayun looked at us suspiciously. Jain then gave the same arrogant smile Cheok Jungyeong often made.
“Nothing much. Are you trying to enter this castle too?”
“Oi, fat boar, who’s that next to you?”
Chae Nayun asked as she glared at me. Jain shrugged as if the answer was obvious.
“It’s Blackie. Can’t you see?”
I grabbed my bow to emphasize my ident.i.ty. But suddenly, everyone else picked up their weapons and stood on guard.
“W-Why are you raising your bow? Put it down!”
“Do you want to fight?”
Yun Seung-Ah"s hostile voice rang out, and Rachel’s elementals flickered in the air.
I felt a strong urge to reveal my true ident.i.ty, but I forced it down. Until everything ends, no, even after everything ends, I had to be Black Lotus.
I spoke, “You can go in. Your friends are inside. We have no desire to hinder you.”
My mask changed my voice. I made another [Messenger] with Setting Intervention and threw it to Yun Seung-Ah. The paper flew faster than a bullet, but Yun Seung-Ah easily caught it with her fingers.
“What’s this?”
“It will let you contact me. Take it with you. I’ll protect you and Kim Suho from here.”
“…Protect?”
Yun Seung-Ah frowned. I nodded my head.
“How do you expect us to believe you?”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. You will know once you go in.”
“….”
Yun Seung-Ah stared at the paper suspiciously. Meanwhile, I glanced at s.h.i.+murin.
s.h.i.+murin smirked and immediately cast a spell. As expected of a grand magician, a flash of light erupted, and we were teleported far away.
“Perfect timing.”
“Perfect timing? I delayed the spell as long as possible because the situation looked fun.”
“You did? Well, it’s fine since we pa.s.sed them the Messenger.”
As long as I could contact them, I should be able to protect them.
With a grin, I took out the [Mystic Key] and [Athena’s Arrow]. Now, it was time to do my job.
“Let’s see….”
A way to destroy Baal’s castle. I didn’t know whether Jin Sahyuk knew about it, but I did have one way of accomplis.h.i.+ng this.
[Would you like to fuse ‘Mystic Key’ with ‘Athena’s Arrow’?]
[Warning. The chance of success is astronomically low.]
By using my Lv.10 Synthesis Skill and Stigma’s magic power, I could fuse the Mystic Key and Athena’s Arrow. The resulting arrow should be capable of dismantling anything in the world.
[Synthesis failed.]
[‘Mystic Key’ and ‘Athena’s Arrow’ have been destroyed.]
“…Huh?”
Tk—
With a powerful snapping sound, Athena’s Arrow broke in half, and the Mystic Key turned into dust.
“….”
I blinked my eyes repeatedly and looked at the remnants of the items. Like a carp stuck in a frozen pond, I stared blankly at the remains.
“…The h.e.l.l?”
A panicked mutter escaped my mouth.
“Yo, what happened to my items!?”
The completely unexpected result caught me off guard. A mental breakdown was coming over me. Feeling like I was dreaming, I gathered the remnants of the broken items in a last-ditch effort to make things right.
Then, I used Synthesis again.
[Synthesis failed]
…Not even dust remained.
My legs gave out, and I fell to the ground.