Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Baal's Gaze
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“That's strange. He doesn't look like the guy I saw......”
Shuhan's puzzled expression suddenly lit up with excitement.
Ching.
Just like our first encounter, he activated the [Appraisal] skill.
Then, he curled his lips in a displeased smirk.
“So it is you.”
His tone was light, as if he were addressing prey rather than a person.
Shuhan's eyes filled once more with greed.
The guy who had sliced through dozens of demons with a single burst of aura was right there, making my flesh crawl, but I kept my composure.
“You know full well that my heart isn't the priority right now......”
He glanced around, then nodded.
“Yeah, it does look that way...... but who knows. Couldn't the demons just kill you first and deal with the rest later?”
“The Aldeon Tower Lord is chanting a spell targeting Baal.”
“......What?”
The silver-haired man's eyes, which had been relaxed until now, widened in shock.
Fortunately, unlike the Aldeon elders, this one seemed to know exactly who Baal was.
I added a concise explanation.
“If we don't close that rift, he might cross into the human realm.”
“Why the hell would the Tower Lord do something so insane......!”
“No time for chit-chat. Every second counts.”
Shuhan pondered for a moment, then asked me with a resolute face.
“What do you need from me?”
Persuasion successful.
“Just kill every demon coming through the rift. I'll find a way to dismantle the ritual in the meantime.”
“......Got it.”
Shuhan nodded and leaped into action without further questions. He clearly grasped how dire the situation was.
I heard the sickening sounds of throats being slit in one ear as I turned to Barundel.
“Barundel, I know you have questions, but as you can see, no time for explanations.”
“......I get it. I just need to smash those demons, right?”
“Yes, exactly...... but can you manage?”
Fighting demons isn't just about superior combat skills.
You need solid knowledge and experience against them for it to be safe.
But Barundel spun his hammer as if none of that mattered.
Whoosh-.
The pressure from just a wrist flick was intimidating.
Barundel spoke with full confidence.
“Remember when you asked if I'd ever done mercenary work?”
“Yes, you said a long time ago you did something similar......”
“Truth is, I was a hunter.”
“Hunter? You mean......?”
“A demon hunter.”
Only then did I notice the gear Barundel was wearing.
A hammer with sharp spikes like a tonkatsu cutlet, black dwarf armor that wouldn't scratch from ordinary claws or teeth, antidotes at his waist, and more......
All standard gear for demon hunting.
“Huh.”
Barundel, a former demon hunter.
I'd talked with him quite a bit, but this was beyond imagination.
‘......Now that I think about it, it kinda suits him.’
Either way, welcome good news.
Demon hunters could take on a hundred foes thanks to their prowess against demons.
Not called hunters for nothing.
Even without that, Barundel was strong enough to beat my old self ten times over.
“Alright then...... I leave it to you.”
“Of course.”
Whoosh, whoosh...... flash!
Barundel's figure vanished as he spun his hammer.
Still an insane speed.
Even with Awakening active, I'd miss his movements without focus.
Soon, horrific demon shrieks filled the air.
Kieeeek-ek!
“......Good.”
With Shuhan and Barundel joining the fray unexpectedly, we'd bought some time.
Now, all that remained was for me to dismantle the hexagram ritual and seal the rift.
‘......Victory or defeat hinges on me.’
I retreated to a shadowed corner, knelt on one knee, and reached out toward the hexagram in silence.
Even up to that moment, anxiety churned inside me.
‘Can I do this?’
Dismantling a ritual? Honestly, I had no clue how.
In the game, once conditions were met, it skipped to “Ritual dismantled successfully!” with no fanfare.
But the game was now reality, and I had to do it all manually.
Plus, this wasn't some amateur ritual anyone could crack.
It was a hexagram crafted by the Tower Lord to summon Baal himself.
No wonder I lacked confidence.
But.
The moment my hand touched the hexagram, all stray thoughts and anxiety vanished perfectly.
Fwaaah-!
A sensation of being pulled somewhere.
-Magic learning capacity increases by 300%.
-Magic computation ability is maximized.
My mind sharpened.
Perception expanded, drawing the hexagram's ritual into it.
My fierce will to dismantle it transformed into meticulous analytical vision.
‘Good.’
I can do this.
I scanned the hexagram filled with countless runes and intricate shapes.
1 minute, 2 minutes, 3...... 10 minutes.
Just 10 minutes.
From grasping the ritual's principles to tracing them backward for a dismantling method.
No, even further—infusing mana to finely adjust and shatter the ritual's formula.
Kagang!
The hexagram's formula broke.
Now I could exert “physical force” on the rift proper.
A sudden thought crossed my mind.
‘......Maybe.’
This talent, called merely a “trait” in the game, wasn't just handing out data-driven effects.
Perhaps it simply revealed a person's latent potential in an easy-to-see format.
Maybe everyone in this world held infinite possibilities beyond trait-woven data...... something like that.
But like all my prior doubts, this was beyond my ability to answer.
I refocused my wandering thoughts.
The dismantling preparations were now etched into my mind.
First up......
‘Mana, for starters.’
My current mana wasn't insignificant, but it fell short for what I had planned.
Judgment made in an instant; I scanned the surroundings.
There it was. The tool to supplement my lacking mana.
Thud!
I snatched an artifact rolling on the floor and returned to position.
A cube-shaped artifact resembling cracked earth: [Withered Springwater].
It hadn't seen use in battle due to its lackluster effects.
Duration a mere 5 minutes, rarity grade.
But its performance varied wildly by user.
Like this.
Crack!
Smashing [Withered Springwater] against the ground turned it to sand-like crumbs.
Mana particles mixed in seeped into my palm.
Swooooosh!
Pumping mana surged through me.
Usable only by characters under level 10, this one-use artifact had a simple effect.
Increases max mana based on the user's highest trait grade.
Each grade up multiplies the boost exponentially; at mythic......
‘Three times.’
My max mana tripled.
At this moment, I held more mana than the elders could ever match.
‘Though it'll vanish after 5 minutes......’
No time to hesitate.
I moved to the next step without pause.
Now, 10 pieces of demon body parts.
No issue—demons corpses littered everywhere.
Plop.
I tossed nearby severed hands, feet, heads onto the hexagram.
Purple-black blood oozed from the cuts, soaking the floor.
I gripped [Holy Staff] and infused my mana into the blood.
Bubble bubble.
It boiled in response.
The mana-magic mix seeped into the hexagram.
Fwaaah!
The hexagram emitted the same crimson light as when it opened the rift.
“What the hell are you......!”
Dershion finally realized what I was up to.
He fired light magic at me in panic, but my lips had already moved.
All my tripled mana drained in a rush.
[O Gatekeeper of Space, answer my call—]
Pbeok!
“Guh!”
As I chanted, Dershion's light beam slammed into me, sending me tumbling back in agony.
Yet, in that instant, I couldn't help but smile.
“......Pointless effort. Too late to realize.”
“......You bastard.”
I threw his words back at him and turned away.
Crunch, cruuunch!
On the hexagram, the demon parts I'd gathered writhed, fusing chaotically.
This was the rift-closing method I'd devised in 10 minutes.
Summoning the wraith, ‘Gate Keeper,’ using demon flesh.
Twisted and merged into a grotesque creature, the Gate Keeper took form.
Grooooar!
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
It rose with a roar and charged the rift in fury.
Bulkier than even the biggest Thompson I'd seen—naturally, the ground quaked.
“What the......?”
“B-block it! Stop that thing!”
The elders unleashed spells at Dershion's order, but to no avail.
A wraith neither dead nor alive: Gate Keeper.
No attack would work until it fulfilled its duty.
Boom! Kwang! Boom!
Groooar-!
Like an NPC with “invincible” status, it shrugged off all magic and demons, reaching the rift in seconds.
A [Sword of the Departed] formed in its right hand.
A blade unique to it, warping space itself.
Whoosh-!
It raised the [Sword of the Departed] high.
Its glowing red eyes burned with desperate zeal to destroy the rift.
That zeal became a heavy sword path.
Fwoooosh-!
“Nooo-!!”
Just as the sword swung amid Dershion's scream.
Drip.
The Gate Keeper froze mid-motion.
My mind filled with questions as I watched.
‘......What? Botched summon?’
No.
Mana was ample, and mid-tier demon parts meant no flesh issues.
This rift was unscheduled in demon or heavenly realms—an anomaly that shouldn't exist.
The Gate Keeper had every reason to act.
‘Dershion?’
I checked him, wondering if he'd interfered, but his shocked face matched mine.
No tricks from him.
Then what?
Why had the Gate Keeper stopped?
The answer came without needing thought.
Not just me—everyone.
Goooooh-!
“......!”
A torrent of chilling magic poured out, drawing all eyes to the rift.
The rift, once showing the demon realm, was now pitch black.
A scream followed immediately.
“Kuaaaah-!”
No one here reacted in time.
Not me, Roan, Shuhan, Barundel, or the Aldeon elders.
Not even the victim himself, Dershion Figm.
Wreathed in ominous magic, he was dragged into the abyss without resistance.
“-Aaa......”
His fading screams soon vanished.
No one grasped the situation; all froze like broken dolls.
That was the moment.
Grooo......
The Gate Keeper scattered to dust as if overwhelmed.
Blink.
From the abyss-filled rift, an eye larger than a man's torso emerged.
It blinked once more.
“Guh.”
Breath caught, heart sank.
For reasons unknown, its gaze fixed precisely on me.
‘......Fuck.’
What the hell had I done?
The system window that once made me rage in the game overlapped before my eyes.
[You have been marked by Demon Legion Commander ‘Baal.’]
[Anomaly detected!]
[All Demon Legion Commanders imprint ‘your existence.’]
[Warning! Character's sanity may collapse!]
That's when I realized.
Unwittingly, I had been swept into an inescapable colossal fate—.
[Evacuate the area immediately!]