Chapter 162
Chapter 162
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 162
Chapter Title: The Gray King's Prophecy
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“Mm? Did something happen?”
Seeing Ailin’s hardened expression, Ban Slaine’s face grew serious as well.
“That is…”
“I will explain.”
Unable to speak easily, Ailin was approached from behind by Ronaine.
“We do not know Seo Woo-jin’s whereabouts precisely either.”
With that, he began explaining everything that had happened so far.
The encounter with Runebali.
Being surrounded by a herd of demonic beasts and locked in a desperate struggle.
In the midst of it, Seo Woo-jin breaking through to save them.
And finally…
“But Runebali is dead over there.”
Everyone’s gazes turned to Runebali, whose head had been crushed, lying there as a corpse.
“Who killed him?”
This time, Ronaine asked.
They had arrived to find him already dead, so they had no way of knowing.
“The black existence.”
It was the very one that had just been fighting them.
“That thing crushed Runebali’s head.”
“Did you not see Seo Woo-jin at that time, by any chance?”
“If I had, would I be asking you?”
Ailin squeezed her eyes shut tightly.
Seo Woo-jin had been fighting Runebali.
Yet Runebali had appeared here alone, only to have his head crushed by the ‘black existence’ and die.
What that implied was clear.
“No way?”
Ban Slaine’s expression stiffened rigidly.
“There’s no way.”
His tone was firm.
“But Seo Woo-jin…”
“I said there’s no way.”
Ban Slaine seemed unwilling to even entertain the assumption that something had gone wrong with Seo Woo-jin.
Silencing Ronaine, he gripped his trembling legs and began to rise from his seat.
“You need to recover more.”
Ailin was startled and tried to stop him, but Ban Slaine shook his head.
“No. It seems we must confirm right now.”
He did not think something had gone wrong with Seo Woo-jin.
But he couldn’t help worrying.
With Ailin’s support, Ban Slaine began to walk.
“Let’s go first to where that child last fought Runebali.”
He looked at Ronaine as if directing him to lead the way.
Ronaine let out a small sigh.
“Understood. But there is something we must do first.”
Ban Slaine tilted his head at Ronaine’s words.
What could be more urgent than that right now…?
“I see.”
As if realizing something, Ban Slaine’s gaze shifted to one side.
There lay a man who had lost consciousness, bound by iron chains engraved with magic circles.
“Brutal.”
Ban Slaine’s old friend, Sion’s betrayer, and the Empire’s red-level threat.
His sunken chest and wretched state as he lay unconscious were pitiful to behold.
“What should we do with him?”
Ronaine asked.
Considering the atrocities Brutal had committed, he needed to be transported to the Empire’s capital immediately.
The Empire’s subjects who had died in his terrorist acts numbered around ten thousand.
A fitting end would be a public trial followed by beheading.
But Ronaine did not insist on his own way.
Brutal was an unforgivable criminal not just to the Empire, but to Sion as well.
Ban Slaine looked down at Brutal with a complicated expression.
Once, they had been the best of friends, growing stronger by crossing swords.
For such a man to become a follower of the Demon King and stain his hands with blood…
“Do as you wish.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Ban Slaine shook his head weakly.
It seemed better to leave it to the Empire rather than kill him with his own hands.
“His Highness will understand.”
No.
Sion’s king was sure to fly into a rage.
Even so, Ban Slaine entrusted Brutal to the Empire.
They lacked the capacity to take him all the way to Sion right now, and they desperately needed the Empire’s help to find Seo Woo-jin.
“Thank you.”
As if guessing Ban Slaine’s feelings, Ronaine bowed his head in courtesy.
“Then let us go.”
The restraints on Brutal were binding tools made directly by Crusiel.
Even a red-level threat would not escape them easily.
Especially not now, with him barely clinging to life.
Ban Slaine shook off thoughts of Brutal and resumed walking.
Toward where Seo Woo-jin had been.
* * *
“…King.”
The lion looked at the ‘Demon King’ Seo Woo-jin with shaking pupils.
“I said answer me.”
Chaos energy began to press down on him.
Crack- crunch-
His bones shifted out of place, and blood spurted from the stump of his severed arm.
“Kuugh!”
Unable to endure it, the lion finally dropped to one knee.
But the hostility in his eyes did not fade.
No, it seemed even thicker.
Seeing this, Seo Woo-jin tilted his head.
Clearly, he was the ‘Demon King’ right now.
And the lion was a follower and fanatic of the Demon King.
Yet he showed such hostility?
‘Because of that gray something he mentioned earlier?’
No matter how he thought about it, he did not seem to be the Demon King they fanatically worshipped.
“The gray king born from chaos.”
Then, the lion’s mouth opened, and a eerie voice flowed out.
“A being that is neither god nor demon, yet can become either.”
Was this some kind of riddle?
Seo Woo-jin’s brow furrowed.
But heedless, the lion continued spouting what he wanted to say.
“Neither the ruler of Pandemonium nor the hypocrites of the Pantheon desire the manifestation of gray chaos.”
Tears of blood flowed from the lion’s eyes.
Whether from sorrow or from failing to endure the chaos energy, it was unclear.
“In the end, the world shall meet its end at the hands of that existence.”
“…So you’re saying that gray king or whatever chaos thing is me?”
From the atmosphere, it seemed so.
‘I thought he was just a simple Demon King fanatic…’
Was there some hidden secret?
When Seo Woo-jin asked, the lion nodded.
“That is precisely you, cursed existence.”
“What curse bullshit. You dragged me here on your own whims.”
Irritated, Seo Woo-jin raised his hand and smacked the lion’s head.
Crunch-!
He had meant it as just a light flick, but one side of the lion’s head caved in.
“Kughh…”
His brain must have been damaged, as the lion’s body trembled violently.
But fortunately, he did not die.
Though maintaining sanity seemed difficult, his hostility-filled eyes remained focused.
‘Almost messed up.’
A little more, and his head would have burst like Runebali’s.
Reflecting that he needed to control his strength better, he asked again.
“What is this gray king?”
“…The one who will end all things.”
“So what is that?”
“The one who will usurp the Demon King’s throne, twist the hypocrites’ necks, and ultimately destroy the world.”
Me?
Usurping the Demon King’s throne made sense.
When the Descent War began and the Demon King appeared, he planned to stop it.
He had to, to return to Earth.
But twisting the hypocrites’ necks and destroying the world?
“Me?”
It was so absurd he couldn’t even laugh properly.
If it were before, maybe, but now that he could maintain his reason, there was no reason for that.
But the lion did not think so.
“It is prophecy. A prophecy that will surely come to pass, that will inevitably be fulfilled. You will become the world’s great enemy.”
So there was no basis for those words.
It was just ‘because it’s prophecy, you will be that.’
“Typical fanatic nonsense.”
He didn’t need to probe further.
There was no reason to keep listening to unbelievable, unreasoned drivel.
Instead, he asked something more practical and useful.
“Where’s Baek Siwoo?”
Flinch-
The lion’s body trembled.
“You took him. But he’s not here. Where did you send him?”
Though he had received ‘Karaniel’ as payment for the mission, Seo Woo-jin had no intention of letting Baek Siwoo live.
‘No telling when he’ll stab me in the back again.’
Baek Siwoo had already bared his fangs once.
Even if it was under demonic energy’s influence, he couldn’t be sure it wouldn’t happen again.
Normally, no matter how much he stabbed from behind, there was no worry.
But in a fatal moment, with a fatal method?
What if it was during a battle with the Demon King in the Descent War?
It might seem like an overthought, but Seo Woo-jin had no desire to leave such an unstable element.
Kill when you can.
And that time was now.
“You’d better talk. If you want even a slightly painless death, that is.”
The chaos energy flowing from Seo Woo-jin’s hand turned into sharp needles.
Seeing it, the lion slowly opened his mouth.
“I ‘teleported’ him to a place you can never find.”
“So where is that…?”
Seo Woo-jin’s brow furrowed as he spoke irritably.
“You bastard!”
A magic activation word must have been mixed in the lion’s words.
Suddenly, ashen wind writhed from beneath his feet, enveloping him.
Caught off guard, Seo Woo-jin hurriedly reached out.
Since slicing with ‘Karaniel’ would kill him instantly, and there were still questions left, he extended his hand first.
But that was a mistake.
Surprisingly, the ashen wind repelled Seo Woo-jin’s hand.
Even the hand of Seo Woo-jin in Demon King Transformation.
Startled, he belatedly swung ‘Karaniel’ in a diagonal slash.
Slash-!
The ashen wind scattered futilely, and the lion within was bisected.
But blocking the magic had failed.
“You and I shall meet again in the future.”
With blood flowing from his mouth, the lion—now separated into upper and lower body—vanished just like that.
“…Fuck.”
Seo Woo-jin muttered a low curse at the foe’s form that had slipped away so futilely before his eyes.
“Should I have just killed him?”
He regretted dragging it out to find Baek Siwoo’s whereabouts.
If he had ignored that and just swung his sword, he could have at least weakened their forces.
Seo Woo-jin looked down at his hand.
Even with chaos energy gathered, the lion’s ashen wind had repelled it.
“He had one more hidden card.”
He had told himself not to get complacent, but after Demon King Transformation, he had let his guard down too much.
Because he had been confident he could block anything the lion tried.
“Tch.”
Clicking his tongue briefly, he released the Demon King Transformation.
With a slight sense of loss, Seo Woo-jin returned to his original form.
“…Let’s head back.”
It was regrettable, but regretting now wouldn’t change anything.
Vowing just not to repeat the same mistake, he returned to the magic circle that led out of the cave.
“They must all be worried.”
Not knowing the ‘black existence’ was him, they were surely combing the entire forest searching for Seo Woo-jin by now.
Vmmm-
Just like when entering, he exited through the magic circle.
Then, he spread out his senses and located Ailin and Ban Slaine.
Fortunately, they weren’t far.
As Seo Woo-jin had predicted, they seemed to be searching the Forest of Death.
“What excuse should I make?”
Slowly making his way toward them, he began pondering how to explain the situation.
Avoiding suspicion from Crusiel and the Empire was now difficult.
But he couldn’t just let things fall as they may, so he needed to come up with the most plausible excuse possible.
Seo Woo-jin’s pace gradually slowed.