The Saint's Path and the Flame Demon
I already knew that no amount of sitting around and worrying would give me an answer, so I left what was commonly called the Devil's Room. Once I returned to the center, I slowly organized the thoughts I hadn't been able to sort through while absorbing all that knowledge.
'Five of the Seven Evils have been annihilated…'
It probably meant complete annihilation. The work of that mysterious transcendent, no doubt. It explained why demonic human transformations hadn't been happening as frequently lately.
'It's definitely a good thing. It is, but…'
Why was this creeping sense of unease rising inside me? Strangely, I couldn't bring myself to think of the situation as purely positive. If I had to sum up what was going through my head right now, one word fit perfectly.
'…What a fucking mess.'
A mess. No matter how slowly I tried to organize it, my mind remained a jumbled chaos. It was almost miraculous that all this knowledge remained so vividly in my memory.
'…I'll just sort it out later.'
Anyway, once I entered and exited the remaining rooms, more information would be added. It seemed better to do it all at once rather than repeat the process.
'Let's see… What's next?'
I lowered my head and searched for the word on the floor.
'The last one?'
The Room of Ranks. With the mindset of finishing this quickly, I stepped inside right away.
Time passed, and when I came back to my senses, I was leaving the room.
'…Now I understand why Vincent was satisfied with that simple explanation.'
Ranks were simply divided into Low Rank, Mid Rank, High Rank, and Transcendent. That was literally the easy version. Having just come out of the Room of Ranks, I couldn't understand the difficult explanation at all. Even though it was all in my head. The sentences made sense, but the meaning didn't. It felt like I knew the words but not what they truly signified.
For example, something like this: Mid Rank is the level capable of bringing disaster upon the world. The sentence was understandable, but it didn't feel like I truly grasped it. I probably wouldn't fully understand until I actually reached Mid Rank myself. If Vincent had told me this, I might have snapped back asking what kind of nonsense that was.
“Sigh…”
I trudged back to the center, once again waiting for the telepathic message. Soon, a now somewhat familiar vibration of mana reached me.
It seems you've entered and exited every room.
There was a hint of satisfaction in those words.
Even so, you must still have many questions. How I created a space like this, what I knew to create it, what I have seen. And so on.
The Sage spoke in a tone that seemed regretful he could not tell me more.
It pains me that even if I wanted to tell you, I cannot. There is only one thing I can say.
He continued speaking in a mechanical voice, hiding his emotions.
Become a Saint. The moment you become a Saint, you will be able to resolve all your doubts. I look forward to the day we meet.
With those final words, the Sage disappeared. But my questions only multiplied.
'Become a Saint?'
Saint. I'd heard of it. More precisely, the knowledge I'd gained in the Room of the Holy Kingdom had put it into my head.
'It's not something I can become just because I want to.'
A Saint is chosen by the Sun God's relic. My own will has almost no part in it. To tell me to become something I couldn't become even if I wanted to… It was ridiculous.
'…Somehow, it'll work out.'
I set the Sage's words aside and fell into thought.
'What should I do now?'
There weren't many things I could do at the moment. At best, getting stronger and building connections with powerful people. Among all that knowledge, there were no shortcuts to becoming stronger. Though there were locations of a few precious elixirs.
As time passed, I'd find many ways to use this knowledge. With my thoughts somewhat organized, I looked at the door with the strange pattern I'd seen before entering this space.
'…Starting with Abalyn.'
In the third room, the Room of Heroes, I'd absorbed the names, appearances, and abilities of the continent's heroes, knights, and mages. That meant I also had knowledge in my head about who Abalyn was.
'This is cheating. Straight-up cheating.'
Since time didn't flow here, it was essentially like gaining years of knowledge in a single second. I took a step toward the door.
Under a black sky that even covered the sun, there stood a golden-haired man who had not lost his brilliant light even in the darkness.
'…Should I go back?'
This place with its ominous atmosphere was the heart of the Demon Realm. It was where the power of demons reached its peak and formed the black sky. Among the strong, it was also called the Black Sea.
'I still haven't killed a Demon King yet.'
The reason the man had come alone to the center rather than the middle area was to kill at least one Demon King. If he weren't called the strongest on the continent, he wouldn't have even considered coming to the center by himself.
Gooooooo!
He could feel high-ranking demons slowly approaching. They were clearly coming for him. That meant his position had been discovered. He could handle it with mist, but he wasn't confident he could avoid any damage against the massive number of demons he sensed now.
'Maybe I should have come with the Sword Immortal.'
If he had been here, it would have been much easier. With the two of them, they probably could have killed one Demon King and returned with room to spare.
Saaaaaah.
When the man raised his mist, it gradually swelled and shot up toward the sky.
Hwaaaaak!
Upon contact with the black energy, the mist slowly absorbed the power, piercing through the black sky and letting in slivers of sunlight. As he stood up, his golden hair shone even more brilliantly.
“…Wife, Tina, Siris.”
The Helen family head, Arad, muttered quietly.
'I'm sorry.'
He was sorry to all three of them. From failing to lift the Curse of the Ice Snow Dragon to keeping his daughters locked inside the mansion for twenty years because he cherished them too much. There were countless other things he could apologize for. But all three of them were so pure and kind that they never once showed any sign of dislike toward him and always treated him the same.
'And thank you.'
It seemed it was finally time to return to his family. After two years without even seeing his family's faces, buried in the middle and center of the Demon Realm, he figured he could take a few days of rest. It was both amazing and fortunate that his emotions hadn't worn down.
“I'll be back soon.”
From Arad's lips flowed words filled with resolve, certainty, and determination.
Step.
The strongest family head in history, known as the Knight of Mist, began walking while accepting the sunlight. His brilliant golden hair and pure white silver armor reminded one of someone.
In a forest thick with lush trees. A man in a red martial arts uniform walked between trees so large they blocked even the light from the sky.
Saaaaah.
A bleak wind blew, shaking the branches. Through the swaying branches, the moon peeked out and illuminated the man. His white hair, changed by the passage of time, fully captured the moonlight.
On the opposite side of the slowly setting moon, two other moons were rising. This bizarre scene was inside a gap that demons from the Demon World used to travel.
Thud.
He suddenly stopped walking.
“…”
As the man stared intently between the trees, a bizarre figure entirely covered in what looked like ink emerged from the dense foliage. Even upon seeing it, the man showed no reaction. The figure that slowly approached knelt on one knee.
Swish.
When the man waved his hand, flames bloomed from it and erased all the ink covering the body. It looked as if the flames had swallowed it whole.
“Sad.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“The information I asked for?”
The man called Sad rummaged through his clothes and handed over a single orb.
“It's all stored in here.”
“I see. Understood. Continue gathering information.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Swoooosh.
Black currents rose from Sad's body and swallowed him whole. Soon, his form returned to being covered in ink-like darkness.
Nod.
When the man nodded, Sad headed toward the continent as usual to gather information.
“…”
Left alone, the man stared intently at the orb.
'I wonder what information is in here.'
The information the man had requested was about a certain boy. Since it had been quite a while since he'd asked for anything, he was looking forward to it.
Uuuuung.
When he infused it with mana, the information began flowing in. The boy's activities, daily life, relationships, and even more detailed abilities than expected.
“…”
Even while absorbing a massive amount of information at once, he showed no signs of strain. There wasn't the slightest headache, pain, or even faint throbbing. The years the man had lived were long enough to treat something like this as trivial.
“I see.”
The corners of the man's mouth, which had seemed devoid of emotion, lifted ever so slightly.
“As I thought. It was correct.”
His hypothesis had been right.
'Adel Ifrit. He is…'
Kieeeeeeek!
Before the man could organize his thoughts, Low Rank insect-like demons appeared.
“Tsk.”
The man clicked his tongue briefly.
'I should have met him in the center.'
Or even in the Demon World. He'd come to a gap near the outer area to make it easier for Sad to deliver the information, but because he'd come secretly and hadn't raised his aura, only strange bugs were swarming him. From now on, even if it was a bit troublesome, he'd just tell Sad to come to the center gap.
'To think a transcendent like me has to play around with Low Ranks here.'
Haa.
Fwoooosh.
With a short sigh, the man lightly raised his energy to a level no one could sense and threw a punch.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
The demons died without even being able to resist the flame-infused fists. One demon who saw the sight muttered,
“F-Flame Demon?! Why are you here!”
Hearing those words, the man looked at the demon with cold eyes.
“…I don't really like being called Flame Demon.”
The Flame Demon reached the muttering demon in an instant, grabbed its face, and squeezed.
Crack!
“Ugh…”
The Flame Demon crushed the demon's head using only pure strength.
“W-We have to run.”
“S-Stop him!”
The demons with some intelligence fled from the Flame Demon. The stupid ones or those without intellect continued charging, but—
“…”
The Flame Demon didn't bother chasing them. He figured other heroes would deal with them eventually.
“This is annoying…”
The Flame Demon muttered after killing all the charging demons. Unlike what the world called him, the Flame Demon was human. Both demons and humans called him the Flame Demon and rejected him, so really.
'I need something to relieve stress.'
There were a few things that came to mind.
Fwoooosh.
Seven-colored flames that seemed to illuminate and devour everything rose around the Flame Demon.
“Which of the Seven Evils should I annihilate this time…”
The Seven Evils hiding in the Demon World rather than the Demon Realm. Since he'd already gone to the Demon World himself and annihilated five of them, to the Flame Demon, the Seven Evils were nothing more than toys for stress relief.
'They're not even strong to begin with.'
The annihilation of the Seven Evils was a relatively recent event.
Swish!
The Flame Demon moved toward the gap leading to the area around the Seven Evils, calming the anger inside him. Even the information he'd just obtained was pushed to the back of his mind.