Chapter 176
Chapter 176
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 176
Chapter Title: The Demon King's Avatar
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The power that creates worlds: 「Creation」.
The force that erases the laws of dimensions: 「Law Extinction」.
The ruler of Babel's 88 dimensions sits here.
I barely swallow and toss out a line at this unexpected appearance.
"well now~ what brings the Demon King all the way out here?"
If I flinch here, my thirteen regressions will weep.
You have to stay composed, no matter the time or place.
"What brings me? I should be the one asking you that. If you're human, you should be heading up, not down. More importantly..."
The Demon King stroked his chin with a sly grin.
"You're sharp—figuring out I'm the Demon King on first sight. Quite the intriguing human."
"You're no slouch yourself, knowing a nobody like me by name."
"Well, you're the one who killed Cluesti, one of my minions. It'd be weirder if I didn't know."
The Demon King wagged the glass in his hand, answering leisurely.
A perfectly reasonable response.
*But that's not all there is to it.*
Right now, the Demon King exudes a confidence that mere logic can't explain.
The only reason Ju Gonghyeok could keep his cool was that the Demon King before him was a 'fake.'
*No throne here, no wine glass, no floor.*
The figure of Bel Marduk from the 88th floor was nothing more than a projection, like from a film projector.
Regaining his composure, Ju Gonghyeok circled back to the Demon King's opening words.
"You saw me? Saw what?"
"You're asking the obvious. Isn't what you've been drooling over right in front of you?"
The Demon King's glass pointed to the brilliantly blazing flames.
"What does that look like to you?"
"...An avatar."
"Correct. That is an avatar. Babel's avatar."
The Demon King took a sip from his glass.
"Babel itself, my origin. Even the powers of Creation and Law Extinction are contained in those flames."
"That's impressive..."
"Ju Gonghyeok, if you claimed that for yourself."
The devil looked down at the human with a pitying smile.
"You could bring about the ending you desire."
Silence fell.
No room for banter.
Even underwater, it felt like sweat was soaking deep into my nape.
A mad gaze turned toward the Demon King.
"...You caught on, huh?"
"Caught on to what?"
The Demon King played dumb.
But that sly smile tugged at Ju Gonghyeok's instincts like a punching bag.
A near-certain hunch buzzed sharply.
"You caught on."
This Demon King had figured out the 'regressions.'
The Demon King's reply came with a bright smile flashing his molars.
"Come up here."
[The Final Quest 『Demon King's Avatar』 has been generated.]
[Absorb the Demon King's avatar using the Avatar System.]
A unfamiliar quest window appeared.
The message was simple.
Kill the Demon King and take his avatar.
Bel Marduk chuckled softly.
"Let's meet again. You, the hero who will kill me after I kill you. It's been quite the long fight for you, hasn't it?"
The Demon King snapped his fingers.
Ju Gonghyeok's body was enveloped in bubbles and shot upward.
"Marduk..."
No use flailing to stop the ascent.
Ju Gonghyeok's body surged through the raging currents toward the surface.
"Beeeel Marduuuuuk!"
The Demon King shook his glass in farewell.
Having ejected Ju Gonghyeok, the Demon King gazed at the radiant light in the water.
He poured fresh wine and smiled in satisfaction.
"I can't have interruptions just yet. Right?"
Iron doors materialized around the light.
Thirteen octagonal iron doors gleaming in brass.
Nine were bound tight with rusted chains, unopenable, while the remaining four shone with a polished bronze luster.
Grulk—
The tenth door creaked open.
Behind it lay a single red heart.
Thump—
The heart pulsed.
A single strand of blood trailed through the air like it was alive.
Veins, muscles, organs formed along the blood, sketching a human form on blank canvas.
The man born from the door opened his eyes.
He was a warrior.
Iron fists bound tight with nameless cloth.
A jet-black longsword reeking of blood.
The weathered face of a battle-hardened veteran belonged to...
"Ju Gonghyeok."
The Demon King called the newly appeared man's name.
"You're the Ju Gonghyeok who couldn't kill me, aren't you?"
* * *
Splash!
Water sprayed as Ju Gonghyeok surfaced.
= Whoa, bro! You okay?
= Ooh, everyone! Our body's getting sucked back in!
The avatars outside returned to Ju Gonghyeok's body.
Ju Gonghyeok floated motionless for a while.
"What happened down there?"
Hild of the Four Heavenly Kings approached him, drifting like a corpse.
"Did you find another human like you?"
"Nah, didn't see shit like that. But I saw something way bigger."
He checked the quest again.
[Final Quest 『Demon King's Avatar』.]
[Absorb the Demon King's avatar using the Avatar System.]
- Condition 1: Clear up to Babel Floor 88.
- Condition 2: Kill the Demon King and dismantle the avatar's ownership.
[You have uncovered Babel's final secret.]
[1 White Coin and 1 Black Coin granted.]
*'Absorb the Demon King's avatar.'*
Good news.
A new path forward for the regressions.
The direction was clearer than ever.
Having touched Babel's system, hacking it from here on would be easier.
The Demon King had caught on to the regressions.
But now that Ju Gonghyeok knew that too, he could guard against surprise attacks.
Far better than getting blindsided.
"Nice, real nice."
Good news.
The Demon King's power was 「Law Extinction」.
The authority to erase avatars.
Claiming his avatar meant gaining the power to erase avatars.
With time, he might even strip away the hunters' 'stats.'
If he erased the hunters' avatars, erased their stats...
The hunters couldn't destroy Earth.
Couldn't annihilate humanity.
He could send them back home.
Achieve the true salvation his past self had dreamed of.
"Isn't this great?"
Good news.
Really.
Fucking hell.
Good news.
"Pfft, heh heh."
The absurdity drew laughter.
Ju Gonghyeok smacked his forehead in admiration.
"Ah, so there was a way to save the world."
Clap— clap— clap—
Applauding himself.
"Congrats, Ju Gonghyeok."
Now he could save the world without killing every last hunter.
"Congratulations, Ju Gonghyeok."
Clap— clap— clap—
"Hahaha! Hahahahaha!"
Laughing and clapping alone.
Clang—
Ju Gonghyeok stopped mid-clap.
A metallic ring echoed from his palm.
Clink—
Fingers clashed, sounding like striking iron.
His hands weren't 'human' hands.
Just cold metal mimicking them.
"Heh heh."
He cupped his faceless hands over his face.
The hands on his eyes dug into the sockets.
Clear fluid flowed instead of blood.
Even these eyes weren't 'human.'
He'd fought until he was a total wreck.
Until both arms were severed.
Until both legs were cut off and his right eye gone.
Until his face was shredded.
Such desperate struggles were daily life in his existence.
"Heh heh heh..."
The prosthetic eye squished out.
Nails tore viciously at his forehead and skin.
Tears and blood mingled and streamed.
At this ominous sight, Nathaniell appeared.
- Ju Gonghyeok?
He'd fought until wrecked.
Abandoned his humanity, replaced his body with machines.
Handed his mind to an avatar, swapped lost organs with monster parts, and fought on.
Such desperate struggles were daily life in his existence.
"I didn't have to kill you."
He turned toward the voice.
Golden-brown hair—Yulia Froebel.
The idol of his first regression.
The lover of his fifth.
The downfall of his twelfth.
She lifted her shoulder-length hair.
A gruesome wound, a sharp hidden blade he'd stabbed into her carotid.
"I didn't have to die?"
Tears streamed like she was on death's door.
"Lying murderer."
Her pure accusation dried Ju Gonghyeok's mouth.
He barely moved his stiff tongue.
"You deceived me."
Grinding his teeth, chewing rage, he spat word by word at her.
"You and Ben-Hur, you deceived me, your grandson destroyed Earth..."
"I didn't have to die."
She turned away sobbing.
Then faded into nothing.
*'I didn't have to kill you?'*
No.
He did.
Because she brought world's end.
Everyone who'd ever triggered apocalypse, he'd handled with his own hands.
To stop the world's end, he had to kill them, no matter how much he hated it.
Right up until 'just now.'
"Ha ha, hahaha..."
Not just her.
People killed for no reason.
For rewards, or sometimes just for kicks.
"What the hell have you done?"
"Shut up."
The mutterings continued.
At his unnatural demeanor, Nathaniell appeared on his shoulder.
- Ju Gonghyeok, stop it. Did something happen down there...
"Shut up."
His sole remaining eye gleamed through the torn red flesh.
"Please, just shut the fuck up."
A faint wind stirred around him.
Mana leaking with his emotions.
"What the fuck have I done?"
A fierce storm raged around him.
"What the fuck have I dooooone—!"
Mana surged from the well mouth to 1km overhead.
Kwaaa—!
The well entrance sparkled with mana.
Sometimes flames, lightning, wind, mist.
The mana shifted forms aimlessly.
"You fucking bastard! You goddamn fuck!"
Screams mixed into the ever-changing storm.
"Why! If this shit existed, why didn't it come out sooner!"
Plasma mana melted the well's bricks.
Flames shot beyond the well mouth.
"Why! Why! Why—! Why the fuck only now!"
On the water's surface, one man knelt.
"So what the hell... have I been doing all this time."
He looked down at his hands.
No one saved by these hands so far.
The world crumbled every time.
These hands achieved nothing.
Saved nothing, just...
"Killed people."
He cupped his bloodied face with both hands.
Now the world could be saved.
No need to kill every hunter.
So what was Ju Gonghyeok...
"Why did I go around killing people?"
Why did I kill without reason?
How many humans had I killed, pointlessly?
His vision went white.
Numbness filled from throat to head.
Couldn't think.
Yet thoughts crammed his mind.
*'How many humans did I kill, pointlessly?'*
To save the world, because you'd die anyway—I thought that as I killed.
But not anymore.
With the Demon King's power, I could erase hunters' avatars—no need to kill them all.
Now that I'd found the Demon King's avatar...
Their deaths were meaningless.
Just caught in a mad killer's rampage.
"I did everything to kill all the hunters this time too. Already killed so many just to kill all the hunters."
Wrong.
Everything was wrong.
"Where did it go wrong?"
Long ago.
Ju Gonghyeok just wanted to do the right thing.
Grieved losing loved ones.
Hated himself for not helping those in danger.
Felt self-loathing when heroes he admired died in his place.
*'So...'*
Save loved ones, help the endangered, stand in for admired heroes, clear Babel, hear thanks, be called a hero...
"I wanted to be a good person."
How did I end up here?
Kept failing, kept doing what I thought was right.
"Why is this me so different from the me I first imagined, from the world I pictured."
He snapped to—too far gone.