Chapter 222
Chapter 222
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 222
Chapter Title: Traces of the True Leyzon
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Leyzon gathered Number Two and Number Three afterward and had a long, serious talk with them.
They had long harbored doubts about the direction of the Night Ravens.
A life spent being used until the very end.
At the very least, if they were to be used, they wanted it to be in service of the Emperor's will.
"I want to know the detailed power structure of the imperial nobles. Could I ask you to handle that?"
"Got it. I'll compile the information and send it over."
Number Two was determined to make the Night Ravens independent, standing on the foundation of Number One's death.
No more being used by the nobles.
Their resolve felt rock-solid.
"Number One will continue supporting you as he has been."
Leyzon assigned Number One to the Night Ravens.
With his own forces already more than sufficient, it was better for the Night Ravens to move as smoothly as possible.
"Call him anytime if things get urgent. He'll be hoping for it too."
Leyzon glanced at Number One, who bowed his head.
He would remain a knight faithfully carrying out orders from here on out.
"Number Five—no, Crow."
At that moment, Number Two turned to Crow, who had been silently listening to the conversation.
"You've found a good lord."
A person worth trusting and following.
To Number Two, Leyzon felt like someone worth following as well.
Crow wore a faint smile at their words.
"Yes, every day feels fulfilling."
A sense of fulfillment he had never known back in their Number Five days.
Now, it overflowed in abundance.
"Of course it should! Following Lord Leyzon is the most rewarding thing!"
Syria shouted from the side in her bat form, and Number Two gave a wry smile.
"See you next time."
Number Two soon led the Night Ravens away.
From now on, they would comb through the nobles like this to set the imperial family straight.
The reason the nobles had always viewed them with suspicion.
They intended to make that reason all the more certain.
And in that process, Leyzon would gradually evolve into the true black curtain.
The nobles would reach out one after another, desperate for the power of the Abyss.
Unaware that it would be the spiderweb tightening around their necks.
"That took a while."
As he saw the Night Ravens off, Leyzon decided to return to the main topic.
The one who had been waiting patiently for the conversation to end.
The Gray Mage Tower Master, Dexter.
"I never imagined you'd get this involved with the imperial family, Abyss."
"Does 'never imagined' mean it's the kind of choice the old me wouldn't have made?"
"Well, yeah."
Dexter's face took on a complicated expression.
"You said it yourself—you wouldn't get involved with the imperial family anymore."
Leyzon's eyes slowly widened at those words.
They were words he had never heard before.
'No more involvement with the imperial family?'
Ryu Han-hyuk, now inside Leyzon's body.
The original owner of this body, Leyzon, had vanished when Ryu Han-hyuk took over.
He didn't know where the real Leyzon had gone.
But the various traces left by the real Leyzon.
Those traces kept confusing the current Leyzon.
"Gray Mage Tower Master."
So Leyzon decided to take this chance to talk with him.
As long as Tessa treated him as a fake Leyzon, he needed to know about the real one.
"I have no memories of the past hundred years."
Dexter slowly raised his head at those words.
His head was bald, but his chin was covered in a thick beard. He slowly opened his mouth.
"So that's why your soul bond was severed."
"Yeah, probably something the old me intended."
He didn't know where the real Leyzon had gone.
But the real Leyzon must have known Ryu Han-hyuk would enter.
'The fact that I'm here now is definitely the real Leyzon's intention.'
He didn't know what the real Leyzon had wanted.
But if his current actions were heavily influenced by the real Leyzon's intentions, it made sense.
"So tell me what you talked about with the old me."
He needed clues to uncover the past.
Dexter clutched his face with his hand, looking as if his mind was in turmoil.
"Ugh... My relationship with you, Abyss, wasn't that deep. It was pretty one-sided, actually."
Dexter owed Leyzon his life.
So he had helped him in his own way all this time to repay that debt.
"In my memories, you were... well, quite the enigmatic figure.
One thing was certain—your undead creation was on another level entirely."
The undead around Leyzon were all extraordinary beings.
Even the Gray Mage Tower Master, a leading necromancer, had to tip his hat to them.
"The day you said you wouldn't get involved with the imperial family anymore was the day the Gray Mage Tower fell."
The point when the empire began rounding up necromancers.
That's when Dexter had run into Leyzon.
"When I asked if you'd been involved with the imperial family up to then, you didn't answer. Instead, you said this."
Dexter dredged up the memory and relayed it to Leyzon.
"The final measure to avoid repeating the next life."
And at that moment.
Leyzon's face was frozen, unmoving.
Next life. Repeat.
The words echoed in Leyzon's mind.
Before he knew it, Leyzon slowly raised a hand to his mouth.
'Dungeon Replay is a full-loop game.'
Players create characters and level them up in various classes.
And each time, the game's difficulty ramps up higher.
As the difficulty increases, so do the tighter schedules and experience requirements.
That's why many players hit a wall at some point and quit.
That's Dungeon Replay.
Leyzon had played through 63 loops.
This was his 64th.
And here, Leyzon had a realization.
Really, what if.
What if, just maybe.
What if the soul repeating through every loop was the same one?
'Even if the race and body changed.'
If the soul inside was always the same entity?
The game's difficulty rises with each loop.
Accordingly, the player's skill level rises too.
And perhaps that proficiency wasn't just the player's.
A single soul repeating through every loop.
That soul was growing alongside the player.
The moment he assumed that, everything Dexter had said clicked into place.
And it explained why the real Leyzon had drawn Ryu Han-hyuk here.
'Bringing me here wasn't arbitrary.'
He had thought it was the creator.
That's why he had ground his teeth, vowing revenge someday.
But the truth was different.
The one who had brought Ryu Han-hyuk here was Leyzon himself.
The culprit who had trapped him in 64 lives of hellish torment.
And the being who had ultimately abandoned him in the 64th.
Yet also the only one who could pull him out of this endless hell.
Ryu Han-hyuk, now Leyzon.
A hollow laugh brushed across Leyzon's lips.
'Leyzon.'
He wanted to ask the real Leyzon.
'Were you trying to get revenge on me?'
Leyzon fell silent for a moment.
But he soon shook his head at the question.
'No, you were the character I created.'
Leyzon's life motto was to live positively.
No point in taking life negatively—it only hurt him.
No matter how unfair the situation, he always smiled brightly and pushed forward positively.
Leyzon was the character Ryu Han-hyuk had created with that spirit.
Would he really have lived harboring only negative thoughts?
No way.
'I was your final move.'
The last resort to end the repeating loops.
That's why the real Leyzon had summoned Ryu Han-hyuk here.
The moment everything made sense, Leyzon clenched his fists tight.
He didn't know how the real Leyzon had called him here.
But if he was the final preparation, he could respond in kind.
'I still don't know what the end of this world is or what you truly wanted.'
But if he kept moving forward, it would surely become clear.
Leyzon bared his teeth in a grin.
This mindset was his specialty, after all.
"Looks like you've had some epiphany."
Dexter smiled faintly at Leyzon's reaction.
"Even without your memories, you're still you. No matter what, you never backed down and always smiled like that."
As expected from the first creation—truly like his child.
"I don't know any more details than that. Sorry."
"It's fine. This is more than enough."
Just glimpsing the real Leyzon's intentions was valuable enough.
"More importantly, Gray Mage Tower Master, the real reason I came to you is something else."
"The mask?"
"Yeah, I'd like to ask a favor about this too."
Leyzon pulled off the mask he had been wearing.
"It probably doesn't mean much now, but still."
His face was already as exposed as it could be.
Even so, wearing the mask had become habit.
Leyzon tossed the mask to Dexter, who caught it.
"I see. Thanks for using it so well for so long."
Dexter used magic to lightly modify the mask before handing it back.
"But what I really want to ask about is the former Gray Mage Tower Master, Garjun."
The former Gray Mage Tower Master, Garjun.
Leyzon was convinced he had become an undead.
"He's still alive, isn't he?"
"...So you knew."
Sure enough, he was alive.
"He turned himself into an undead and lives on even now."
As expected.
Leyzon inwardly cheered.
'Undead transformation can still evolve further.'
He had no intention of stopping at a single transformation.
Undead Abyss had clear potential for more growth.
So Leyzon planned to meet Garjun and seek his advice.
"Can you introduce me?"
"Guessing you want to ask about undead transformation?"
"Yeah. As you can see, I've turned myself into an undead too."
Dexter slowly stroked his chin, showing signs of hesitation.
He was the type to answer anything Leyzon asked.
Yet there was clear worry in his reaction.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"It's just that the former Gray Mage Tower Master, Garjun, is such an eccentric fellow."
Dexter pondered whether to say it.
Then he nodded.
"You'll see for yourself when you meet him. He resides where the stars shine brightest."
Where the stars shine brightest.
And the place where astronomy had flourished most.
Leyzon knew exactly where that was.
Stellar Cathedral
Stica
Leyzon's next destination.