Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: The Archdemon Emerges
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At dawn, Choi Ji-un returned with Kim Do-ha to see Choi Ji-o once more.
"Have you made your decision?"
At Choi Ji-un's question, Choi Ji-o, who had his eyes closed, quietly nodded.
"Hah, that's unexpected."
Choi Ji-un said with a sly smile.
"I figured you'd go out with your head held high, brother, and even made plans accordingly..."
Tap, tap.
As Choi Ji-un's hand touched him, Choi Ji-o felt the paralysis lift from his body.
'Ah.'
Choi Ji-o sighed inwardly.
His younger brother had never possessed such a skill.
'It's already...'
Too late to turn back.
"A wise choice. Go Yohan absolutely won't make it out of here alive."
Kim Do-ha's voice followed.
"But... just one thing."
Choi Ji-o, now free, spoke up.
"What are you planning to do about the recording devices? Don't tell me... the Association. Is the Association in on it too?"
"Don't worry, we've got that covered."
Choi Ji-un leaned in close and said.
Ripple.
In his eyes, the deep darkness grew even clearer.
"You always knew which side to pick, brother. Thanks to having such a good little brother. Got it?"
"......"
But he was also certain.
'It's shallower than his.'
He recalled the blazing flames flickering in Go Yohan's eyes—mere glimpses of them had made his whole body feel like it was burning up.
*
*
*
As if the first day's camp had been just to persuade Choi Ji-o, the raid party didn't rest afterward.
"You can handle it, right?"
"Please do."
Perhaps because of that.
Choi Ji-un and Kim Do-ha were blatantly pushing Go Yohan to the front.
In the renewed battle with the centaurs, they hung back, claiming injuries, and shoved Go Yohan ahead.
If he had refused, there might have been no choice.
Whoosh.
But Go Yohan moved silently, just as they wanted.
"You monster!"
Choi Ji-un shouted once Go Yohan vanished from sight.
"What the hell..."
Even to Choi Ji-un, who was already corrupted by something, Go Yohan just looked like a monster.
The corpses of the magical beasts he felled alone piled up like mountains, and he wasn't even given proper time to rest.
Drip, drop.
Yet Go Yohan showed no sign of fatigue, cutting them down with effortless ease.
It was as if.
'That all you got?'
He wore an expression that seemed to mock them.
"...Even that monster will tire out eventually."
Kim Do-ha said in a voice thick with awe.
"He's human, after all."
"Human? Does that look human to you?"
"Doesn't matter what he is. We just need him to tire out. If he gets injured, even better."
Nearly a full day of nonstop combat—no living being could endure without tiring.
'Mana recovery is slow inside the Black Gate.'
Anyone using mana would eventually run dry.
Even if his body held up, his mental strength wouldn't.
They were confident that any small slip would lead to injury.
"Hah."
In the end, their predictions were completely off.
The boss area loomed before them sooner than expected.
"That blood... it can't be Go Yohan's, right?"
"You see any wounds on him?"
"...Shouldn't we... rethink this?"
Kim Do-ha's voice was laced with genuine fear.
A monster like that might foil their plan.
"No need for doubts."
Choi Ji-un said.
"Their plan is absolute. Nothing changes."
Go Yohan pressed ahead.
Watching his back, he muttered.
"Go Yohan dies here."
And at last, they reached the boss area.
[You have entered the first peak of Kantara's Mountains.]
[The Triangular Demon Tandra manifests.]
"Just... this?"
*
*
*
A voice bursting with disappointment.
Choi Ji-o and Bieren had faced Triangular Demons before.
They were worthy of being called monsters, but ultimately, they could be taken down by combining forces.
Even without Choi Ji-o or Bieren stepping up.
"This is bullshit!"
No one thought Go Yohan—who had shown monstrous prowess so far—would fail against a mere Triangular Demon.
"I told you not to doubt."
Then came Choi Ji-un's voice.
Swoosh!
Choi Ji-un raised a blessed item.
"If he knew this was a trap, would that sly fox have come?"
Choi Ji-un's tone had shifted entirely.
Twitch.
The veins bulging on his forehead writhed.
"Graaah!"
Choi Ji-un screamed.
Boom!
His arm exploded, sending the blessed item flying.
Yet Choi Ji-un's face, still wearing a smile, brimmed with certainty of victory.
Squirm, squirm.
It began to move, taking shape.
"......!"
The sight was so grotesque that Choi Ji-o had to swallow vomit.
Right before them.
Humm!
The Triangular Demon, Tandra, stared at Go Yohan.
"This shall be your grave."
As Tandra declared like a death sentence and extended both hands.
Boom!
Explosions rang out from all directions.
The rising earth formed prison walls, and Tandra's energy fused with the mountains, surging forth.
"Ugh, uuuugh!"
A scream from one corner of the Jio Guild.
"Kaaaah!"
It spread.
"Choi Ji-un! What have you done!"
Choi Ji-o shouted in panic.
The Jio Guild members looked no different from Choi Ji-un.
Ominous black veins connected to the so-called blessed items.
Pik, pik.
They were felling their owners.
"The spirits!"
Bieren was no exception.
The spirits, which had obeyed so well until now, suddenly turned on Bieren's spirit mages.
"Onew! Why... Graaah!"
Screams followed.
"Hup."
Choi Ji-o covered his mouth like a frightened girl at the horrific scene.
Blessed items devouring their owners, spirits that had felt warm, almost holy.
Crunch.
Now eating the spirit mages.
"......Hah!"
It was as if everything they'd faced before was mere prelude—this was true hell.
His body, which had moved against any foe, refused to budge.
[Triangular Demon....]
[Triangular Demon....]
[Triangular Demon....]
[......]
The system's endless voices.
"Cough!"
And now, curses too potent even for blessed items.
[The Triangular Demon Blazhei manifests.]
Nearly fifty of them—Triangular Demons.
"I told you..."
Choi Ji-un rose, sneering, victory etched on his face.
"No doubts, right?"
Nearly fifty Triangular Demons manifesting at once.
The grotesque forms advancing on the walls trapping Go Yohan.
"Cuh... cuh..."
It was so unreal, breathing and thinking felt impossible.
"...Choi Ji-un!"
Choi Ji-o shouted.
"What... what the hell have you..."
If Go Yohan died here?
And those things escaped to the world?
Even top guilds struggled to hunt one Triangular Demon.
But if that many were unleashed at once.
"Do you even realize what you've done!"
At the very least, Korea would be utterly obliterated.
The faces of the dying, their expressions, flashed vividly in his mind.
"Ah.... Aaaah...!"
This was irreversible.
No one could stop it.
And that wasn't even the end.
*
*
*
The manifested Triangular Demons raised their own hands without a word.
Then, with grotesque faces twisted in pain or pleasure.
Stab!
They pierced their own flesh, severing their necks.
"...Triangular Demon, Blazhei?"
An incomprehensible scene, but understanding came quickly.
Roooar!
The power from their self-slain bodies gathered toward the first, Tandra.
'A ritual.'
It was a ritual.
Sacrificing themselves to summon a greater being—a primal rite.
And its effect was more certain than anything.
'This... this... can't be stopped.'
Choi Ji-o was certain.
Even Go Yohan couldn't overcome this trap—no one could.
Go Yohan had been arrogant, and this was his failure.
"Brother."
Then, Choi Ji-un appeared before him.
"Easier to decide now, right?"
Smirk.
That smile belonged to a stranger, not the brother he knew.
"What...?"
"I never thought you'd cooperate quietly. You're too rigid for that. So..."
His face twisted into cold fury.
"You'll miss every chance and live like trash under me."
"You..."
He knew.
"Convinced now? That we can kill Go Yohan?"
That Choi Ji-o hadn't truly cooperated.
"...Why. Why go this far?"
Choi Ji-o asked.
If he knew, why let it happen? Why mock him now?
"Because you're my brother?"
Blood?
"I want to see that smug face of yours crumble. The lofty, superior brother crawling at my feet..."
Boom!
"Isn't that natural?"
Kicked, Choi Ji-o crawled on the ground.
"A new era dawns. You can lick my toes under me."
Smirk.
"And that'll make you Korea's number one, like you always dreamed."
It was futile.
And.
Fwoosh!
He resolved.
"Choi Ji-un!"
He'd thought there'd be a chance.
If Go Yohan won as planned, even his fallen brother could be redeemed.
But no.
Spiiit!
He had to kill him.
Irredeemable.
With that thought, he swung his sword.
"Seriously... are you an idiot?"
Choi Ji-un blocked Choi Ji-o's sword effortlessly.
"Trying to kill me with the sword I gave you. Tsk."
The blessed item, which had obeyed so well, now possessed Choi Ji-o's body.
"It's over. Watch closely."
Slumped, Choi Ji-o watched as the first demon, Tandra, warped.
Boom!
Tandra's body burst.
[The ritual is complete.]
[The Archdemon Garandril manifests.]
Roooaaar!
A pillar of darkness descended, devouring all light.
From within.
Crack!
Black arms and flesh began to emerge.
Tremble.
Its mere presence felt like it would rip his heart apart.
The shaking wouldn't stop.
All the Triangular Demons he'd seen before were nothing.
This.
"Ah, demon...!"
This was a true demon.
Garandril fully revealed itself, and the remaining Triangular Demons moved as one.
Weapons forged from the blood and flesh of the slain demons surged toward Go Yohan's prison.
Roooaaar!
Roars and explosions tore at the space itself.
Not enough—they retreated, and.
Boom!
Garandril's fist obliterated the prison entirely.
Shatter.
It was over.
Nothing could survive that.
Power to cleave seas and erase mountains.
If anything emerged from there.
Swoosh.
It would be the true monster.
Then.
"Is that all you've got?"
A chilling voice that froze his heart emanated from within.
"I can wait longer."
Silver-white hair fluttered.
"I didn't wait just to hunt trash like you."
It was Go Yohan.