Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Teraco's Guild Master
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Teraco's Guild Master, Gong Cheolwoo.
He had clawed his way up from the very bottom to swallow an entire district in Gangnam whole. In the shadows, he was a figure of some renown.
But that was all.
"Fuck!"
There were limits to how far someone from the shadows could climb, and those limits were lower than he had imagined.
- Guild Ranking 67th.
That was his ceiling.
Having dabbled in illegal dealings, he was always under the association's watchful eye. The moment he drew too much attention, he would be swept away.
'Just like those guys a few years back.'
The first-generation players who had risen even higher than Teraco.
One day, they had vanished as if erased by an eraser.
No one had stepped forward to claim responsibility.
'It was the association. Has to be.'
Gong Cheolwoo was convinced it was the association's doing.
Teraco wouldn't be far behind.
"Fuck..."
Yet a faint smile crept onto Gong Cheolwoo's lips.
"That bullshit ends now."
He had found a way to break through his limits.
"Why the hell hasn't that bastard gotten back to me? We're running low on stock."
One day, an item he had rescued by chance from a gate had spoken to him from within.
-Swallow me! Swallow me whole!
When he opened his eyes, he had already done it.
At first, he retched, trying to vomit it back up.
-No need for that.
It had spoken to him.
-You will get everything you desire.
And it was true.
"Sky. Soon Sky will be mine. Heh heh heh."
The tiny gem-like thing could transform those who swallowed it from humans into something else entirely.
If that was all it did, it might not have been worth much.
-Soon, you will be able to do as you please.
His master had said that those who swallowed the seeds would obey him once they sprouted.
The seeds were already sown.
The process of creating them had been so arduous that he couldn't produce many, but he had scattered them far and wide. One of them was in Sky.
'Choi Sinwoo.'
That idiot was already hooked, beyond saving.
"Heh heh, heh heh heh."
Experiments on the seeds were already underway.
Deep underground, through the people he had kidnapped, he was unraveling the full power and secrets of the seeds.
"Heh heh heh heh!"
Gong Cheolwoo's eyes sank into deep shadows as he let out an eerie laugh.
"Everything... everything will be mine."
Wriggle.
His body swelled and deflated in places, over and over.
-Tsk, another failure in the end.
A voice he couldn't hear echoed inside him.
-What a shame, what a shame.
The demon spoke.
-What the hell is in this place to make it so damn hard?
Something he had done countless times across innumerable worlds.
But this time, on Earth, nothing was going smoothly.
-They are greatly angered.
The vessels for archdemons vanished, and the demons entrusted with them disappeared alongside.
It was clear that whatever had coveted those vessels had committed the unforgivable.
There had only been two other times this difficult.
-Still, it's a relief.
Earth, and...
-That monster won't be here.
Trabania.
That was when it happened.
BOOM!
A massive explosion rocked the building's entrance.
*
*
*
Yun Seunga, Go Yohan, and Kim Sion strode into Teraco's building like they owned the place.
"About five minutes left."
Yun Seunga said.
That was how long the barrier would hold.
Breaking through countless wards to deploy a perfect barrier for five whole minutes was impressive in itself.
That calculation accounted for...
"......?"
"What the hell are those?"
...their ability to erase even the destructive auras they emitted.
"Captain, can I go ahead?"
Kim Sion said, eyeing the approaching Teraco guild members.
Dozens of them.
For a guild entrance, an unusually large number stood guard, as if gripped by unease.
"I'll head underground."
Yun Seunga said.
"Feels like kidnapped people are down there."
Their paths were set.
"They're just kids?"
"The hell are you punks doing barging in here?"
"How'd you even get in?"
Teraco's entrance should have been crawling with guards and layered barriers.
It must have baffled them that uninvited guests had slipped in so easily.
And then...
"...Huh?"
By the time Enbi had drawn daggers in both hands...
"Leave the soul-sold wretch to the demon spawn."
They sensed something was wrong.
But it was too late.
"It's been a while, huh?"
A voice that had clearly come from afar now sounded right behind them.
They tried to turn, sensing the oddity, but their necks wouldn't move.
Instead, the floor rushed up to meet them.
"......"
All they could do was glimpse that face at the very end.
Splatter!
A torrent of purple blood.
"Assault!"
"Enemies!"
"Kill them!"
Even as the guild members finally grasped the situation and sprang into action, it was too late.
BOOM!
A fireball erupted from behind Yun Seunga, blasting a massive hole in the floor.
It was made of viscanium, the material used for top-rankers' vaults.
Even level 200 players couldn't shatter it easily.
Thud!
But Yun Seunga's fireball had already exposed the basement.
"Block them!"
"Not a chance."
Enbi spun toward the charging Teraco guild members.
They collapsed in pieces, just as they had lunged.
In that gap, Go Yohan moved.
"......"
Slaughter, but he felt no thrill.
-How can a holy knight commit such a massacre!
In Trabania, they had cried out like that.
-We were deceived too!
He had sheathed his sword at the sight of them begging for mercy, pleading to be saved.
And when he turned back...
"Halt!"
"How dare you target the captain?"
They had raised those same swords to strike at Go Yohan, at Mikael.
By the time his endless deliberations ended, half of Trabania was already in flames.
The work of humans said to be blessed by the goddess, infused with her breath.
He had regretted it.
And...
Crunch!
He would not regret this.
A chunk of the building in front of Go Yohan was torn clean off.
Tap!
Go Yohan kicked off the floor, with Enbi leaping after him to keep pace.
The first floor was already cleared.
"Wh-what the hell!"
"What's going on!"
Those shouting in panic as they charged at Go Yohan and Enbi...
Smirk.
...saw only Enbi's impish grin.
Thud.
And death.
Not even a full minute had passed.
Tap.
Go Yohan reached the top floor.
"Ha, hiding here, were you?"
"Wh-what are you!"
Gong Cheolwoo shouted.
*
*
*
Gong Cheolwoo grinned wickedly before scowling and bellowed at Go Yohan.
"Wh-what are you!"
At the same time...
BOOM!
He unleashed his full aura.
Gong Cheolwoo's level was known to be in the low 200s.
With time, top rankers had reached level 300, so it wasn't unusual.
But...
"What are you... I asked!"
The power he felt now was closer to the mid-to-late 200s.
Not some mere beast seed.
"Did you swallow demon spawn?"
It was power that could overwhelm something even greater.
BOOM!
Gong Cheolwoo's aura surged even stronger.
His level now neared 300.
No mere beast.
"...It's you!"
Swallowing a demon seed.
The power emanating from Gong Cheolwoo now rivaled a lesser demon.
Crunch!
His appearance transformed too.
His body swelled as if abandoning humanity, bones spiking from his arms like thorns.
And...
Crack!
A small horn sprouted from his forehead.
Such a Gong Cheolwoo...
BOOM!
...kicked off the floor without hesitation and charged at Go Yohan.
"Krahahaha!"
With this power, it felt like he could do anything.
With this power, he could rip apart Cheon Ho-seong, Korea's number one ranker.
With this power...
"......?"
Gong Cheolwoo stared blankly at the ceiling.
"Who's the filthy thing screaming?"
A voice rang out.
"Wha...t..."
He couldn't comprehend what was happening.
What Gong Cheolwoo's eyes beheld...
"Words... won't... come..."
...was his own body.
"A failure, then."
Go Yohan's voice reached him.
"Can't even handle the demon's power or its regeneration properly."
"......!"
"All that's left..."
Squeeze.
Go Yohan lifted Gong Cheolwoo's head by the skull.
"...is that tenacious refusal to die properly."
His sky-blue eyes shimmered.
They were breathtakingly beautiful, profoundly mysterious eyes.
But...
"Kuh... heh... heuk!"
The moment he met them fully, Gong Cheolwoo felt his consciousness sink into an abyss.
It was a depth beyond even what he had felt upon encountering the thing he was certain would change his life.
"Sp... spare..."
"I'll spare you."
Go Yohan said, gripping Gong Cheolwoo's head.
"Until I learn how you swallowed the demon spawn."
Crunch.
Gong Cheolwoo's skull crumpled.
He cursed his body madly for not dying even then.
"Until the thing inside you recognizes me."
-Impossible!
Just as he said.
The master's voice, unheard for so long, now echoed wildly in Gong Cheolwoo's mind.
-Impossible!
The almighty master, who feared nothing...
-How! How!
...was screaming in terror.
-How is that one here!
That was when it happened.
"So that's where you were hiding."
The moment the demon seed inside Gong Cheolwoo faced Go Yohan.
-Nooooo!
"You won't return to report my presence either."
In the past, he couldn't annihilate demons.
Crunch! Crack! Crunch!
Now was different.
Inside Gong Cheolwoo's head, a tiny demon was crushed as it shrieked.
But no one could hear it.
[You have defeated the lesser demon, Contravi.]
[You acquire a small amount of karma points.]
"The goddess praises me."
Bang!