Chapter 88
Chapter: 88
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 88
>Chapter Title: Otherworldly Apocalypse (3)
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Enchantment.
It was a basic ability that high-ranking demons possessed, and the Demon King explained that it was typically manifested through demonic energy as a medium.
[That's why ordinary humans who aren't priests have no real way to resist it. So this guy won't even realize what's happening—he'll just go 'hellelager' without knowing someone's planted an egg inside him.]
"Who are you calling hellelager, Red?!"
[So who's Red, you dimwit?!]
Leaving the squabbling pair alone, Seongjin organized his thoughts.
The assumption that the creature planting Lofelum's eggs around was using a skill like [Enchantment] seemed quite plausible. Otherwise, what lunatic would just sit there and let a parasite burrow into their chest?
But for that to happen, wouldn't it first require a demonkin to have entered the Imperial Capital? He'd heard that Delcross was completely under the Holy Emperor's influence, making it impossible for demonkin to even set foot here.
[The usual medium is demonic energy, but it's not impossible for something else to serve as the conduit. In some ways, it might even be more dangerous because people don't think to resist it like they would demonic energy. For example, holy power...]
What?
Seongjin blinked, and the Demon King sighed.
[No need to look far. Think back. How did people react when they faced your father's overwhelming holy power?]
At those words, Seongjin recalled the day his wooden sword had shattered.
How did they react? Weren't they just a little moved?
The cardinals had all burst out of the conference room, unable to contain their emotions, crying out to the Lord God and collapsing to the floor in tears... Huh?
'...This feels insanely dangerous somehow?'
As Seongjin broke out in cold sweat, the Demon King nodded vigorously.
[Right? In the narrow sense, enchantment is just a skill to seduce someone, but in the broader sense, it's a technique that intensely stimulates a person's innate emotions, driving them out of their right mind. If you think of it that way, it could use holy power, aura, or anything as a medium.]
In other words, the Demon King was saying that as long as something could properly stimulate a part of human senses, it was entirely possible to produce effects similar to [Enchantment].
[Ordinary humans often can't even distinguish where the enchantment begins. That's why it's so hard to resist even when they know. For instance, I've used [Enchantment] on countless humans over the years, but there's only been one who didn't fall for it. You, Lee Seongjin.]
'...Huh?'
Wait, he felt like he'd just heard something he couldn't let slide.
'...What did you say?'
[Uh, enchantment. I tried it on you...]
Seongjin was aghast.
When the hell did that happen?
[You know, right when I was desperate, promising you the world and all that. Didn't I look like an absolutely stunning beauty back then?]
'......?'
Sure, the Demon King had made various offers at the time.
-I'll save your life, and you'll get both Earth and the demon world. Think about the potential of the fused worlds! You could gain power rivaling a demon king!
Let's think about the situation back then in more detail.
What did the Demon King look like? A peerless beauty with only her head left, her face completely smashed from punches?
Wait, was that a situation where [Enchantment] could work?
[...Kuh-huhk!]
The Demon King suddenly let out a sound that was half sob, half scream, and burrowed into a corner of Seongjin's mind.
Hmm, it seemed he'd poked at the guy's trauma.
* * *
The next morning, after finishing his early training, Seongjin headed to the monster task force office with Masain to punch in.
For the first two days, Captain Bruno had accompanied them. Fulfilling Arenza's request to stay by Seongjin's side.
But at some point, he started avoiding the monster task force office.
"That woman keeps talking noisily."
When asked why, he scowled in response.
"That woman?"
The captain silently pointed to his own head.
Ah, the woman with the abnormal crimson crystals in her hair.
Saint Terbakia's exorcist, Lady Sharon.
He'd thought she was someone who usually kept quiet and just did her job, but apparently, it felt different to someone with channeling abilities.
He said that nonstop voices of all kinds emanated from her uncontrolled crimson crystals. He'd tried to endure it, but it was just too noisy to handle.
"She apologized, saying it's a phenomenon beyond her control, but... well..."
As he said that, the captain furrowed his brow deeply and irritably tugged at his mustache.
"She slyly tosses all sorts of embarrassing remarks at me and laughs at my reactions. She's enjoying it. She's a truly unpleasant woman."
"......"
Lady Sharon. What on earth was that about?
She must have gotten overly excited upon meeting another channeling ability user after so long.
And so, the regular attendees at the Pearl Palace returned to just Seongjin and Masain.
The monster task force was still using the temporary office on the second floor of the annex in the administrative building. Since the annex itself was quiet, the two arrived at the office without running into anyone. But the moment they opened the door, a piercing rose scent assaulted their noses, making them grimace involuntarily.
"Gibril..."
"Your Highness!"
A girl with large eyes and her dark brown hair neatly tied up in a bun lifted the hem of her skirt slightly and curtsied.
Gibril Seymour.
A young talent from the Lyora Plague Society, invited to the task force as a plague doctor.
She always carried a large sprayer full of rose perfume, and being unnecessarily diligent, she arrived first every morning to disinfect the office. In other words, no matter how much they cleaned, the rose scent never fully faded from the office.
To Seongjin, she seemed like a total quack, but he couldn't openly dismiss the teachings of the Lyora School, which had been recognized at the Holy Assembly by the crown prince of the Holy Empire. Nor could he arbitrarily kick out talent invited by the task force leader, Sir Leandroth.
Besides, she was basically a bubbly girl with a cheerful personality. With her smiling sweetly while spraying perfume everywhere, there was no room to get angry—one could only deftly dodge the spray range.
Seongjin sighed.
"Where are the others?"
"Lady Sharon is out with Captain Leandroth for the day, assisting him. Lady Valerie said she'd be back from the theology academy shortly."
"Ah! Your Highness, you're already here!"
No sooner had Gibril finished speaking than the red-haired inquisitor burst through the office door. She beamed brightly, carrying a large book under her arm.
"I meant to be back before you arrived, but I was a bit late."
"No, I just got here. What's that?"
Lady Valerie grinned and plopped the book onto the table with a thud. Being an ancient tome, a cloud of dust puffed up.
"Get ready! It's probably been decades since anyone opened this book—we might be the first in ages."
As he said, the worn book was covered in thick layers of dust. After brushing off the blackened leather cover, the barely legible title came into view.
[Otherworldly Apocalypse]
Masain flinched in surprise and glared at Lady Valerie.
"...Isn't this a banned book designated by the Holy Assembly? What do you think you're doing?"
Masain was particularly sensitive to heresy controversies. As he subtly inserted himself as if to protect Seongjin from the book, the red-haired inquisitor blinked in momentary confusion.
"Uh, no worries. I got official permission and borrowed it from the theology academy."
"Permission was granted?"
Masain eyed her suspiciously, and Lady Valerie scratched her head.
"Well, it's understandable. The Holy Assembly's been in an uproar over discussions about otherworldly creatures lately, right? So there's talk that some materials might be removed from the banned list."
"......"
Gibril peeked over with curious eyes, and Lady Valerie smiled at her and continued.
"At least for otherworldly creatures close to those [monsters], this is the only book that describes them. Even if it stays banned, we've got limited viewing permission for our department going forward. We are the monster task force, after all."
A book containing monsters.
Only then did Seongjin feel curiosity stir as he peeked at the book over Masain's shoulder.
Who in Delcross would write a book about monsters? How did they know about creatures that didn't exist in this world?
[Oh ho. A book with Gehenna's monsters in it?]
Even the Demon King sent a rare spark of interest.
[Who wrote it? That's fascinating.]
Pushing past the still-hesitant Masain, Seongjin stepped closer to examine the cover closely.
The thick leather cover had intricate embossed patterns here and there, making the worn letters hard to distinguish. After studying it for a while, Seongjin finally spotted the author's name in the corner.
-Sigurd Sigurson
Sigurd? No way?
[Lee Seongjin! It's this guy!]
The excited Demon King's voice noisily clamored in his head.
[The one I told you about before! That storyteller wandering from dream to dream!]
* * *
The day he died and came back to life in the Digory mansion.
Despite being advised complete bed rest, Lee Seongjin had lain in bed and chatted at length with the Demon King about recent events.
The high demon kings the Demon King had seen at the Void's boundary, and tales of the outer lords.
The story of how Seongjin had flown to Sigurd 34 Earth and returned with the Holy Emperor's help. Stories of wandering around with the twins.
Among them, what the two discussed the longest was the puppet show Seongjin had witnessed. The dream demon king, the fire demon king, and the cruel hero.
[So that guy was the one who attacked me back then!]
The Demon King grumbled resentfully.
[Launching such a ticklish attack—I'll never forgive him!]
Ticklish?
[Hey! Try standing at the edge of a cliff and getting poked by a finger. What do you think happens? I was dying at the dimensional boundary then!]
Uh, sorry.
After venting his frustration for a while, the Demon King finally calmed down.
[The puppeteer you saw is probably a storyteller who wanders through dreams.]
'Storyteller?'
[He travels from dream to dream, spreading tales. They say he walks a thousand dreams and speaks a thousand voices.]
Seongjin recalled the man's voice, infused with a strange charm.
So was that guy the demon king of dreams? Did he have to fight heroes to become the demon king of stories?
[Who knows. From what I know, he's not someone worthy of being called a demon king. Stories aren't a higher concept of dreams either. He probably just lightly manipulated some concepts as materials to create a small crimson crystal.]
The Demon King's explanation went like this.
The concepts the puppeteer likely needed were [Dream], [Fire Demon King], and the human [Hero].
Naturally, the dream demon king wasn't friends with the fire demon king. It was simply that the fire demon king entered someone's dream, fought a human, and died. Crystallizing that fact into a crimson crystal would have sufficed.
'Then that gloomy tale full of betrayals...'
[The storyteller's a gloomy guy, so out comes a gloomy story, right? Only...]
'Only?'
[The part about the cruel hero seems pretty well-researched.]
What, you bastard?
The two bickered for a bit.
In hindsight, he'd thought back then, what kind of psycho is this guy?! Just thinking about it still made his heart race...
What? You invaded first and now you're acting all high and mighty? And with only your soul left, where do you even have a heart to race, you whiner?
Anyway, what caught Seongjin's attention was the Demon King's true name and that [Dream] part.
The Demon King's name wasn't [Al Pahas] after all. It made sense, since it was meant to mock and attack in the first place.
But when he asked for the real name, the Demon King hesitated.
[Hmm, maybe you shouldn't know. It's troublesome to speak this name aloud.]
'Why?'
[There's stuff attached to it. A lot.]
'......?'
So how would he call the guy if he suddenly got flung somewhere again?
[I'll call you to me. Then won't your dad swoop in and fetch you again?]
'What the hell, man?'
He was casually spilling tales that would give the Holy Emperor a migraine if he knew. If it happened again, that guy would probably flick him right over!
Seongjin shook his head and tossed another question.
'Then what's up with that [Dream]?'
He could understand the demon king of Gehenna representing the fire demon king. Gehenna was another name for hellfire.
But how do you interpret the fire demon king fighting a human hero in a dream?
The Demon King answered nonchalantly.
[What else? It's just calling lower crimson crystal dimensions like Sigurd 34 Earth 'dreams.']
Huh?
The Demon King elaborated to the dumbfounded Seongjin.
[The name Sigurd 34 Earth isn't anything special. It means the 34th Earth dimension discovered by the storyteller Sigurd.]
34th Earth dimension discovered?
'There are that many Earth dimensions?'
[They're simple crimson crystal dimensions. The true Earth of the main world is separate, Lee Seongjin.]
To the too-shocked-to-speak Seongjin, the Demon King drove the nail in.
[Your world is a crimson crystal world made by someone based on the main world's Earth concept. In other words, it's merely someone's dream.]