Chapter 108
Chapter 108
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 108
Chapter Title: Arpeus (1)
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“Your face looks familiar. Could you be…”
Before he could finish, the air around us shifted.
A heavy, cloying killing intent.
“…Were you the one who killed Uriel?”
“Uriel?”
“The Emperor of the 65th floor.”
So Ju Won-hong’s real name was Uriel. And he’s dead?
“Not at all. I never fought the Emperor. And when I last saw him, he was definitely…”
“It seems you were stabbed in the back by that Laiel fellow.”
He looked me up and down, and as his suspicion faded, the atmosphere changed again.
“I’ll believe you. I don’t see the mark of a kinslayer on you.”
Wait a minute. If he said ‘our clan,’ does that mean he’s also…
“My original name is Luciel. I am Uriel’s older brother.”
The Emperor on the previous floor was an angel, and here… the Demon King is an angel?
“Were you also sealed away for committing some kind of crime?”
“It seems you’ve met him. Our situations are slightly different, but you could say they’re similar.”
Do angels practice guilt by association?
“I have a few questions for you. In return, I’ll answer what you’re curious about. How about we ask and answer one question at a time?”
He sounds just like his brother, the Emperor.
I didn’t get any groundbreaking information from my Q&A with the Emperor before, so I wasn’t expecting much.
I nodded in agreement and asked my question first.
“Why did you think the Emperor was dead? It’s been a while, but he was alive when I last met him.”
Ju Won-hong was strong.
Even Bio said a fight would be a certain loss, and when I asked again after mastering the Flowing Sword, he said the odds were still the same.
“When one of our clan dies by means other than their allotted lifespan, the power they possessed is passed on to the nearest kin. Uriel’s power was passed to me about two weeks ago…”
A sense of loneliness washed over the face of Arpeus—no, Luciel—as he spoke.
What I still didn’t understand was that, as far as I knew, no other summoned individual had even reached the 60th floor, let alone the 65th, besides me.
Besides, who on the 65th floor could kill the Emperor?
The Martial Alliance Lord or the Heavenly Demon came to mind, but the Martial Alliance Lord was killed by me.
The Heavenly Demon seemed wary of confronting the Imperial Palace, knowing how fearsome the Emperor was.
And that was just a possibility; the Emperor was far stronger, and he himself had said he couldn’t touch the Martial Alliance Lord or the Heavenly Demon.
That left only one possibility.
He might have been killed by one of his own kin.
When I met the Emperor, he told me that a fellow clan member had visited him after several hundred years and asked him to kill me.
“You seem to be deep in thought. Is it my turn to ask a question?”
I nodded.
“It seems you met Uriel. I’d like to know what you talked about.”
That wasn’t the question I expected.
“Aren’t you curious about who killed Uriel?”
As soon as I asked, the atmosphere began to shift again.
“Do you know?”
“I’m not certain, but I believe he was killed by one of his own clan.”
“His own clan?”
I explained what I had pieced together after hearing Arpeus’s story.
“A plausible deduction. But on the 65th floor, most people couldn’t… Do you happen to know the name of the clan member who visited him?”
It was my turn to ask, but he looked so desperate that I decided to be generous.
“I didn’t hear that much.”
“Then did you notice anything strange…?”
“It seems like you’re the only one asking questions.”
“Ah… If you answer this question, I will answer anything of yours, as many times as you wish. Did you not sense anything strange on the 65th floor?”
I couldn’t think of anything particularly strange…
The only thing that came to mind was suddenly being branded a public enemy of the martial world.
Come to think of it, it was a bit odd that the Martial Alliance Lord, whom I had never even met, had declared me an enemy.
And the technique he used to summon swords was also a bit…
The setting of the 65th floor was a martial world, but that ability didn't fit at all.
As I explained, Arpeus fell into thought, muttering to himself before nodding.
“…I see. So that’s how it was. When Uriel didn’t cooperate, he must have gone to the Martial Alliance Lord. You said he summoned swords, so it must have been Laiel.”
“Laiel? Is he the one who killed the Emperor?”
“That Laiel fellow couldn’t kill Uriel.”
“Then who…”
“You know very little about the Labyrinth.”
Arpeus seemed to read my expression and began to explain calmly.
He said that if anyone carelessly interfered with the system on any floor of the Labyrinth, the law of causality would unleash a massive repercussion upon that floor.
“Uriel likely met his end while bearing the brunt of that repercussion.”
“The Emperor didn’t make the Martial Alliance Lord act, so why would he face the repercussion…?”
“When a repercussion occurs, it annihilates all life on that floor and resets it. The angels could simply move away, but Uriel cared for the residents of the 65th floor…”
I understood immediately.
Emperor Ju Won-hong had been a pretty decent guy who shattered my stereotypes about angels…
It didn’t mean much, but he did give me a gift…
“My curiosity is satisfied. Now, feel free to ask whatever you wish.”
“Why were you acting as the Demon King here?”
“My lifespan was running short, so I came here voluntarily. I thought that when I died, my power would be passed on to Uriel. Instead, I’m the one who inherited his.”
“You intended to give your power to Uriel? Why?”
“He was treated as an aberration by our clan, and honestly, I don’t fully understand his way of thinking, but he’s my brother, after all.”
Brother…
So angels have brotherly love, too.
Still, for someone whose lifespan was supposedly running short, he looked incredibly healthy…
“So, do you have any more questions?”
“Ah… no. What is your purpose for bringing us here? Is it related to the Orb of Wishes?”
His eyebrow twitched.
“Who… who did you hear that from? Don’t tell me Uriel told you?”
He looked extremely flustered. It seemed the lord’s prediction was correct.
“I figured it out myself.”
He didn’t seem like the type to tattle, but you never know.
“So there was a reason the clan tried to kill you.”
“What are you trying to do with the Orb of Wishes?”
“Make a wish, I suppose.”
How absurd.
“That’s not what I meant…”
“Those at the very top of the clan might know, but a low-ranking member like me wouldn’t. Do you have any more questions?”
Just in case, I asked about information on the higher floors, above the 81st, but disappointingly, it wasn’t properly translated, just like last time.
“Is that all?”
“You haven’t given a single proper answer. Is there any point in asking more?”
“It’s truly because I don’t know, so please don’t resent me too much. Now, let’s get to the main point. You came to find me because of the Demon King’s trial, correct?”
So he knew.
I nodded in affirmation and asked.
“How much time do you have left?”
If his lifespan was short, there would be no need to fight.
“I’d say about two thousand years.”
Two… two thousand years?
“Your sense of time must be very different from ours.”
“No. Originally, I had less than two months left, but inheriting Uriel’s power extended it quite a bit.”
I had heard he was injured, but he seemed perfectly fine. This was a problem.
From his continued explanation, it seemed Arpeus had willingly given up the Demon King’s throne because his own life was nearing its end.
But now that Arpeus’s lifespan and power had increased, the current Demon King must have felt threatened and set Arpeus’s death as the trial’s objective.
“So, can we just clear up this misunderstanding? I’m not after the Demon King’s throne.”
“Perhaps. I originally had no intention of it, but I’m a bit peeved, so I’m thinking of becoming the Demon King again. What do you say?”
Sigh. It seemed a fight was inevitable after all.
I guess I was trying to take the easy way out.
“If you help me reclaim the throne, I’ll consider the trial passed.”
[You have received a proposal from Arpeus, the former Demon King of the 66th floor.
Refuse the given Demon King’s trial and help the deposed former Demon King Arpeus reclaim his throne.
Quest Objective: Help Arpeus reclaim the Demon King’s throne.
Quest Rewards: Random Stats +30, Demon King’s Blessing, 67th Floor Pass, ???]
A quest window similar to the one I saw on the 60th floor appeared.
Back then, I accepted without much thought, but now, I couldn’t help but hesitate.
Honestly, I might have trusted the Emperor, but Arpeus didn’t seem very trustworthy.
“If I help you, does that mean I have to kill the Demon King too?”
“The Demon King is too much for you to handle. I’ll take care of him. You just need to deal with his subordinates.”
If I didn’t have to fight the Demon King myself, it sounded manageable.
The fact that he said he’d handle it himself meant he was confident.
“Can you give me a moment?”
“By all means.”
I was worried he might refuse, so I was relieved when he readily agreed.
When I stepped outside, Tirex, the Guardian of the Seal, scowled.
“It doesn’t look like you fought. Arpeus’s life force is still intact.”
“Ah, I wanted to talk with my companions. The trial doesn’t have a time limit, does it?”
Tirex looked displeased but didn’t press further and opened the way.
Once outside the barrier, I gathered Ha-young and the others and moved a short distance from the temple.
“Is the former Demon King very strong?”
“It doesn’t seem like you fought at all.”
I explained Arpeus’s proposal to my puzzled companions.
“Oh. This complicates things.”
“Can’t you just kill him and be done with it, mister?”
Opinions were divided.
It seemed Hanna and Rina were against the idea.
“Hyeon-ung, if the former Demon King is from the same clan as the Emperor, wouldn’t it be better not to fight him?”
“I agree with Milli. We don’t know how much power is transferred through succession, but if he’s confident enough to try and reclaim the throne, it’s probably best not to fight.”
“I don’t know much, but I think it’s best to side with the stronger one.”
Milli, Timi, and Elaine seemed to be in favor of the proposal.
“Alpen, Bio, what do you two think?”
“Uh… I’m not sure.”
Right, Alpen wasn’t a combatant.
“Shouldn’t you just do what you want to do?”
Bio, the one I was most worried about, said it so simply, without a moment’s hesitation.
“Aren’t you acquainted with the Demon King?”
Bio was the reason I couldn’t decide right away.
When we first arrived on the 66th floor, Bio seemed to know the Grand Marshal who explained the trial procedures quite well.
He even offered to arrange a meeting with the Demon King.
“We’re acquainted, sure. But we’re not that close. What’s important is your will, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. Just do what you want to do, mister.”
My will, huh…
“The choice is yours, Hyeon-ung. Whatever you decide, we’ll do our best to help you.”
“Right. I think it’s best if you do what you want to do, Hyeon-ung.”
I felt like I had come outside for nothing.
I went back inside the temple and met Arpeus again.
“You’re back sooner than I expected. Well? Have you made a decision?”
“What do you plan to do after you reclaim the throne?”
He couldn’t be trying to get his throne back just because he was ‘peeved.’
“I plan to avenge my younger brother.”
“Avenge him?”
“Once I become a floor master, I can summon members of my clan. Even if I was treated as an aberration and confined, he was still my brother. I should be able to take care of one or two of them.”
Once again, a thick, cloying killing intent filled the air.
Considering he came here to pass on his power to his brother, he must have cared for him immensely.
From my perspective, his reason was convincing enough.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
“I accept.”
“Excellent. Then we’ll need to break the seal first. Could you fetch me some materials?”
“Materials?”
Don’t I just have to deal with the gatekeeper?
“The succession restored much of my power, but seals are notoriously difficult to break from the inside. About twenty high-ranking demon hearts should do it.”
Twenty high-ranking demon hearts?