Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: To Them, I Am the Demon
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Baratko Goeon's army had launched several raids.
Rather, Go Yohan and Lee Jae-kyung had even ambushed them.
They were facing the new constructs created by the Dvergs—fire-breathing centaurs and golems that moved endlessly using some power source.
Drip, drip.
Yet nothing could stop these two intruders.
No.
'One person.'
Lee Jae-kyung gave a wry smile as he looked at Go Yohan's back.
He had pushed himself to the brink with mad effort and thought he had shown some results.
Boom!
But that back seemed impossibly massive.
It felt like an insurmountable cliff.
"Let's go."
At first, he had wondered what that cliff was.
"Indeed."
Then, how tall it was.
Then, whether he could climb it.
'Now...'
It no longer looked like a cliff.
Crunch!
It was a rampart.
Not something to climb over or tear down.
Boom!
A rampart that protected him.
It was so tall and vast that it enveloped and shielded not just him, but countless others—an absolute rampart.
"What are you thinking about so deeply?"
Go Yohan approached after toppling dozens of golems.
Just moments ago, he had been rampaging like a demon, but now he was the Go Yohan he knew.
"......"
There had been times when he felt afraid.
"I've been thinking about humans."
It was something like an instinct that any human couldn't help.
When facing a massive tsunami crashing in, fear was inevitable.
What if it sweeps us away?
Can I escape?
Can I stop it?
But once realizing there was nothing to be done about it.
"Suddenly?"
It was simply beautiful.
The crashing waves, the countless droplets forming the tsunami, the fish darting alive within, and the immeasurable silence—they left one in awe, forced to accept it.
Go Yohan before his eyes was such an existence to him.
"Yes. Suddenly."
But he didn't want to be just something swept away.
He wanted to be a fish frolicking within it.
"...I never taught you to get distracted on the battlefield."
"......!"
"Your training has been lacking lately, huh?"
"Ah, no, that's not it!"
"When we get back, I'll drill you properly. What can you accomplish with that mindset?"
"Wait!"
Boom!
Before he knew it, Go Yohan was advancing again.
"......"
He knew others were having the same thoughts.
Especially those seeing the tsunami that was Go Yohan for the first time—they were mostly paralyzed with terror.
But they too would realize it someday.
"It's unavoidable."
Leap!
"Natural disasters are."
Yes, Go Yohan was like a natural disaster.
*
*
*
It was a pit carved beneath a massive mountain range, like a gateway to another world, and a natural fortress formed by a volcano.
Boiling lava filled the surroundings, and the path was so narrow that even four golems could block it completely.
"I wondered why it had gone quiet."
Recalling the raids that had suddenly stopped, Lee Jae-kyung smiled bitterly.
"They're all here."
That narrow pass was packed full with thousands of enemies, it seemed.
'The path is only here. Kill us all to advance.'
It was as if they were declaring that.
"......"
Tension made goosebumps rise all over his body.
In truth, this tension had persisted ever since entering this place.
Go Yohan tore demons apart without a care, but it was different for Lee Jae-kyung.
Gulp.
It was like the primal fear inherent to humans.
Just as grotesque creatures evoked disgust and fear, demons were such beings.
No matter how much experience he gained or how many times he faced them, the trembling never stopped.
"...I'm sorry."
Lee Jae-kyung apologized.
He had worked so hard to be of help to Go Yohan, yet it was unbearable that he still wasn't much use.
'I have no expectations.'
The words he had said toward divinity in the S-rank gate.
'I have no expectations.'
They sounded like they were directed at him.
They were different from the apostles too.
Those children, with their outstanding looks and talents coveted even by archdemons as vessels, were completely unlike him.
Seung-ah's magical talent felt like a miracle.
Gluttony's scientific and engineering prowess was exceptional enough to accelerate civilization's progress.
What about Iha-yeon?
At such a young age, she dominated the world economy and stood at the pinnacle of a capitalist world.
In-kyung was...
Se-hyun was...
'Compared to them, I am...'
Just an ordinary human.
There had once been a time when he shone as a ranker of divinity, but after meeting Go Yohan, he realized he was just another pebble.
"What about?"
"......"
As Lee Jae-kyung struggled to answer easily.
Boom!
A massive explosion echoed from below.
Rumble!
The surrounding volcano began to crumble.
"...They were still fighting?"
Go Yohan said in a low, sunken voice.
"Uncle."
Go Yohan called to Lee Jae-kyung.
"You'll have to break through here on your own."
"......?"
"I need to hurry a bit."
"......!"
Only then did Lee Jae-kyung understand what Go Yohan meant.
"Can you do it?"
To that question.
"Leave it to me."
Lee Jae-kyung replied.
Flicker.
Go Yohan's form vanished.
When he opened his eyes, Go Yohan was plummeting unhesitatingly toward the lava below.
Screech!
Arrows and bullets erupted toward him.
Boom!
Another explosion followed.
It was the explosion wrought by Lee Jae-kyung as he charged at the demons blocking the narrow path.
Clank.
Metallic sounds rang out as they turned to look at Lee Jae-kyung.
"You ask if I can do it?"
The gazes of the demons heading his way.
It was true that he was still trembling.
Grip.
He seized his spear, drew his sword.
Shing.
With a clear ring, a blue light burst forth.
"I have to."
The task entrusted by Go Yohan—no thought of retreat.
Above all, if Go Yohan had left it to him, it meant it was something he could handle.
If a massive rampart opened a gap to allow enemies in.
There would be a reason for opening that gap.
Whoooosh!
A storm began to rage around Lee Jae-kyung.
Gurgle, gurrgle.
He heard them chattering in their grotesque language.
It didn't matter.
-When you're scared, focus on one thing.
Go Yohan's words came to mind.
-For example.
Clang!
-The sword's cry.
The moment Lee Jae-kyung's sword rang out.
Spurt!
The heads of the front row centaurs were severed, blood gushing forth.
He had heard that the current world ranking 1 had a level in the low 400s.
With black gates appearing and high-rank gates sprouting like mushrooms, players' levels were rising steeply.
But did they know?
"Your opponent is—"
Lee Jae-kyung, his own level.
"Me."
In the low 500s.
*
*
*
Boom!
Go Yohan smiled at the explosions resounding from behind.
'It's time to let loose.'
He understood the deep worries Lee Jae-kyung harbored.
In this war, he wasn't very useful—that sense of powerlessness.
And it was true.
In the past, Travania's many powerhouses had been the same.
'Are we...'
'Of any help?'
He hadn't understood back then.
That was why.
'No need.'
Go Yohan had kept them at a distance.
Only he went to the battlefield alone, and only those who insisted on following could stand by his side.
But that was it.
After the explosive battles ended.
'We'll... head back.'
They turned away in defeat and powerlessness.
He thought it was unavoidable, for their sake.
Without him, they would just die, so making them retreat saved their lives, he believed.
Screech!
But no.
Later, they were steeped in defeat.
They fell for the demons' temptations and feared facing them.
They became those who only waited for someone else and meekly accepted death.
Boom!
That couldn't be.
"Above all..."
Finally, Go Yohan entered the furiously boiling lava.
Pushing back the lava with divinity and descending to the deep underground, an ancient castle-like structure revealed itself.
"He's definitely helpful too."
Lee Jae-kyung was strong.
In Travania, many knights sought his teachings, but fewer than the fingers on one hand could imitate his swordsmanship—not true swordsmanship, but something else.
Yet Lee Jae-kyung, through hellish training and effort, had managed to mimic even a part of it.
Boom!
Those pathetic demons above? He could trust and leave them to him.
"......!"
As Go Yohan cleared his thoughts, he felt the demons' gazes.
Their heads, terrified to the extreme, bore one or two horns.
"H-How..."
"How did you get here!"
Their voices toward him were clear, unlike with Lee Jae-kyung.
"G-Get out of the way!"
They cried out like pleas.
"The path! We'll clear the path!" "Do you know me?"
Go Yohan asked.
The demons he encountered upon entering seemed ignorant of him.
He hadn't fought every demon, so it was natural.
"Me..."
Step.
"Do you know me?"
As Go Yohan walked forward, the terrified Dvergs quickly retreated.
"H-How could we not know...!"
They could hardly be called demons now.
It was as if...
"...How could we not know... "
Humans terrified before a demon wore similar faces and forms.
And.
Crunch!
Space collapsed.
"You were Travania's dwarves."
Go Yohan said as he tore open their chests.
Eyes glazing over like souls fleeing.
"R-Run!"
"S-Spare us!"
They began fleeing for their lives.
Go Yohan smiled in satisfaction.
This moment.
'I am the demon.'
To them, he was the demon.