Chapter 209
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 209
Chapter Title: Decisive Battle - 1
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After this world transformed into a game, strange places began to appear across the globe.
For instance, abnormal ecosystems that defied Earth's nature, or ruins of other races not left by human civilization… Their true identity was the result of an event called "Erosion," where parts of dungeons from within the Gates flooded into reality.
And the Players called such places "Labyrinths."
Rumble—rumble—rumble…
The place where we are now, a lava cave situated four kilometers below the surface, was one of them.
BOOM—!
The scenery there was both mystical and menacing.
Should I say it resembled the ruins of an ancient civilization devoured by nature?
Lava cascaded like waterfalls along black stone walls carved with all sorts of patterns, pooling at the bottom to form a crimson lake.
BOOM—!
Gas vents occasionally erupted from holes in the walls, the sound rumbling low and shaking the entire cavern like thunder on the surface. Each time, sulfurous gas billowed out, creating a acrid haze.
However…
“…My apologies.”
In this hellish space, a man's voice was echoing.
“…The enemy has located the 'Heart of the Land' and is drilling straight toward us.”
It was none other than the voice of Gordon Price.
And as his words suggested, the name of this place was the "Heart of the Land."
It was a temple of the Ancient Red Drake race, a sacred and secret place originally accessible only to a few elders, including Agaidika, the Guardian of the Red Volcano. But now…
- ‘Demon King’s Castle’ is being generated in this area. (99%)
It had been reduced to the invader's main chamber.
“At his current speed, he will be down here within minutes. I must admit… I never imagined he would create a drill using Yeouibong and the Moglei.”
Gordon Price stood in the very center of the cavern, on a pyramid-shaped altar rising from the lava lake.
There, the Necromancer's flying fortress, the "Flower of Death," had landed and was puffing out black smoke.
One thing, however, was different from before. The roots at the base of the flower were wrapped around something, protecting it.
Gurgle—gurgle—
It was a giant membranous sac.
Like an animal's placenta, it constantly squirmed as if something was about to tear its way out, drawing the eye.
Gordon Price glanced at it once before speaking again.
“…And I have no clear way to hold out any longer. No matter how many magic barriers I erect, they melt like cheese before that drill.”
He was reporting his failure to the Demon King, yet his expression remained as confident as ever.
He had held this world in his grasp for a long time, always living as a predator. Thus, he never bent his will, no matter the situation. That attitude persisted even now.
But the sweat slicking his palms… was not merely due to the heat of this place.
*The Demon King…*
It was because he knew his fate was in the Demon King's hands, that he could be killed with ease.
*…My head could explode at any moment.*
The latent spell… the very method he had used to control the Villains was now binding him.
Just then, a voice was heard.
「So you are… asking me for the answer yet again?」
A voice that resonated throughout the cavern… It held a certain gravitas that made beings of a lower stature instinctively shrink back.
Gordon Price was no different. He felt his mind go blank for a moment, then chose his words carefully before finally speaking.
“…Yes, I would be grateful if you would lend me your wisdom one more time.”
For a while, no answer came. Gordon Price slowly swallowed a dry lump in his throat.
BOOM—!
The sound of a gas eruption from somewhere made Gordon Price flinch involuntarily.
If the Demon King so wished, he wouldn't die a comfortable death from the latent spell; he would be plunged alive into that lava lake and slowly boiled.
「I…」
At last, the Demon King spoke again.
「…Of all the Villains in your dimension, I trusted you and entrusted you with many things, yet you continue to show me a performance below my expectations.」
“……”
「As I have emphasized time and again, I cannot divert my attention elsewhere to complete the Demon King's Castle. The penalty is that severe. And yet, I had to force myself to make time to go up and perform the menial task of sealing the sky, all because you lot failed to do your part. But what was the result?」
As the voice finished—
Whoosh—!
Black smoke shot out like a whip, ensnaring Gordon Price's body.
“Kuh!”
And lifted him into the air.
Crack—
He could do nothing. The more he struggled, the tighter the pressure became. It felt as if a futile resistance would shatter every bone in his body.
Thus, he could only submit.
「Gordon… why are you so disappointing? The you I see now is not the man I wanted. Nor the man I remember.」
The Demon King's voice grew somewhat emotional. The usual, somewhat exaggerated tone of solemnity was gone, replaced by a voice that sounded like a lament. In other words, it felt distinctly human.
Never before had the Demon King shown such emotion.
And for that reason, Gordon Price couldn't help but feel even more anxious.
*At this rate, I'm finished.*
He strained to open his mouth.
“Kuh… I—I’ll find a way—somehow…”
「Only now you speak of a way…」
At that moment, one of the petals of the Flower of Death drooped down, and a figure descended, stepping on the leaf as if it were a staircase.
Thud—thud—
A being wearing a robe, carrying a black scythe, and cloaked in a dark green aura… It was the Necromancer.
「…That is not wisdom, but a pathetic survival instinct. Is it not?」
The voice spoke again, but the Necromancer's mouth did not open.
The voice was emanating from behind the Necromancer… and soon, a tentacle rose over the Necromancer's shoulder.
That was the Demon King.
Ssssss—
But then, the tentacle began to swell… and inexplicably started to transform into the shape of a human.
「Look at me, Gordon.」
“Kuh—”
「There is one last thing I want to show you.」
The transformed tentacle, the Demon King, had become a man.
Gordon Price asked, his voice laced with disbelief.
“…Is that your true form?”
Because it looked so much like himself.
Ssssss—
An upper body that was a spitting image of his own, dangling from the tentacle, slowly approached. It stopped right in front of his face, allowing him to see it more clearly.
It wasn't merely a mimicry of his own form. The wrinkles were deeper, the hair flecked with gray—it was clearly an older version.
In other words, it looked like himself a few years in the future.
“……”
「You are not surprised. Nor do you doubt. I expected as much. Right? My other-dimensional self.」
At those words, Gordon Price managed a faint smile despite the agonizing pain wracking his body.
“…Ha—yes, I suspected as much when you said you came from another dimension with the Necromancer.”
He gestured with his head toward the Necromancer.
“I was the one who raised that one, after all. Does that mean… I was destined to win this game in the end?”
He realized that the great Demon King was himself.
But he was not happy.
Because he knew one inconvenient truth.
*William Bernard…*
That first dimension-hopper had appeared and, out of nowhere, killed his past self.
He still didn't know why, or what it meant, but it was unsettling in many ways.
He exhaled slowly and looked at the Demon King.
“Th-Then give me another chance.”
「……」
“I-I will use every method at my disposal to buy time until the Demon King's Castle is complete! If you are me… then trust yourself one last time!”
He then quickly racked his brain and proposed a plausible plan.
“You know that the Guardians who think of me as a comrade are up there, don't you? Lee Sung-yoon! He still believes I—we—are trustworthy allies! I’ll talk to him, use various excuses to stall for time, use ‘Mind Control’ on a few Players to cause chaos, and in that moment, I'll blow up the tunnel Steel Rain drilled…”
「Ah—ah—Gordon.」
The Demon King cut him off.
A bad sign.
“Yes?”
「You are making a grave mistake.」
“……”
「I am no longer the same being as you.」
“What?”
In an instant, the Demon King reverted to its tentacle form.
「You see this form before you, and yet you say such things? Do you truly believe I will show you mercy, identifying you with myself? Hmm?」
“Ah…”
「I am a being who has shed the weak form of a mere human named Gordon Price… and evolved one step further… a Quasi-Transcendent.」
Gordon Price's mind went blank for a moment. At a time when he desperately needed to persuade him… the incomprehensible term, Quasi-Transcendent, had come up.
“Wh-What does that mean… I don't think I know. It seems to be information unknown in my era…”
「I'm sorry, but I can't give you a chance to buy time. I… cannot show any more of this pathetic side of myself if I am to earn points.」
“What? Kuh! Who are you showing a pathetic side to?”
Then, the eye on the tentacle—the Demon King's eye—looked up toward the sky.
「They… are watching this situation, constantly evaluating who is suitable to be the next Transcendent. Perhaps they are already reconsidering their choice. Choosing another test subject instead of me…」
The Demon King continued to speak in riddles.
Gordon Price couldn't understand a single word.
“What? T-Test subject… and who are ‘they’?”
「Simple. The rulers of this game. The ones who created it.」
At those words, Gordon Price's eyes widened.
「Yes, I know better than anyone that this is what you wanted to hear. The truth of this game. And the reward you can obtain at the ending.」
“A reward… If that reward is to become a Transcendent, does that mean becoming a god?”
But in that instant—
Stab—
“—Gack!”
A thorn extended from the Demon King, from the tentacle, and pierced Gordon Price's heart. He could feel countless smaller thorns sprouting from it, turning his heart into a honeycomb.
“Kuhhhh…”
It was an unhealable wound.
「A god… I, too, believe so, and I am carrying out the new quest they have given me. And one of those quests… is to kill my other-dimensional selves like this.」
“……”
「The only reason I kept you alive until now was because I thought you might be useful in various ways until the very end… but at this point, it's better to just reap you, isn't it?」
With a wet squelch, Gordon Price's body was torn to pieces. Several parts fell into the lava lake below and burst into flames.
At that moment, the Demon King's body—the tentacle—shuddered. It was the symptom of completing a quest and receiving a reward.
And…
「Ugh—y-yes… a suitable increase in power has come in. With this much…」
In that instant—
Thump—thump—thump—thump—
A violent heartbeat began to reverberate through the ground. The vibrations made the lava lake ripple…
「…I can complete the Demon King's Castle just in time.」
Gurgle—gurgle—
The mysterious membranous sac held by the Flower of Death began to convulse violently.
***
KRA-KA-KA-KA—!
Lee Hyun-wook closed his eyes, focusing almost all his senses on the tip of the massive drill—on the four Moglei.
He was currently pouring an enormous amount of mana into operating the giant drill, as he had to continuously run the Sudarshana, which acted as the motor, and extend the drill's body, the Yeouibong, to a length of four kilometers.
For this reason, a number of mages had come up behind him, using the high-level skill ‘Mana Infusion’ to transfer their own mana to him.
Vwoom—
But the mage Players all wore expressions of shock.
“Whoa—this is insane…”
“Just how big is this guy's mana pool…?”
That was because even after pouring all their mana into him, they had only managed to fill a tiny fraction of this man, Steel Rain's, mana pool.
Dozens of high-ranking mages, from B to A-Class, had already been depleted.
“A single Player has a mana pool this large?”
“…And he’s not even a mage class?”
Theoretically, it made no sense, and a few mage Players were even debating it, but it was clear no answer would be found.
“In the first place, has anything Steel Rain does ever made sense?”
“True, and does this game even make sense to begin with?”
“…Ah, that’s also true. This is an age where common sense has vanished.”
Rumble—rumble—rumble—!
Thus, the so-called "Yeouibong Drill" controlled by Lee Hyun-wook spun at high speed, rapidly boring through the ground.
*Four kilometers… I'm almost there.*
And soon, he could feel it.
Whirrr—
After digging through solid bedrock for several dozen minutes, the Moglei began to spin freely.
It meant they had reached an empty space.
“…We’re through.”
At Lee Hyun-wook's low murmur, the Players waiting nearby turned their heads one by one, their faces slowly filling with a mix of tension and grim determination. Lee Hyun-wook's single phrase was the signal that the time to face the Demon King had finally come.
Their gazes, one by one, focused on the giant with red hair.
Agaidika.
As the ‘Guardian of the Red Volcano,’ he was said to be able to commune with this land to some extent.
He closed his eyes, knelt, and placed a hand on the ground.
“……”
A moment later, he opened his eyes again, slowly stood up, and looked at Lee Hyun-wook. He nodded.
“…That's the place. We've reached the Heart of the Land.”
Lee Hyun-wook immediately began to shrink the Yeouibong.
Rumble—rumble—rumble—!
As the Yeouibong rapidly contracted, a loud noise echoed, like a subway train passing through a tunnel. About a minute later, the Moglei attached to the end of the Yeouibong emerged.
From the long vertical tunnel that had been created… a place that could be called an abyss, hot wind rushed out, and white steam began to billow up like a geyser.
WHOOSH—!
Everyone glanced at the black hole, then turned one by one to look at Lee Hyun-wook.
And Lee Hyun-wook, in turn, looked back at the Players.
On the cusp of what might be their final battle… he eschewed a grand speech for a few short words.
“Alright, now… let's prepare to demolish the Demon King's Castle.”