Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Episode 27. Apocalypse, The Masquerade Where Death Dances (4)
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To him, 'not knowing' was a denial of life itself.
So when, for the first time, something malicious flew in from beyond the horizon of providence. When 'the unknown' appeared in his world because of it. Yoo Ji-tae had to suppress the rage surging uncontrollably within him.
Back when he captured the Morning Star. His thoughts had changed after facing malice head-on, but he still couldn't help becoming hypersensitive in the face of 'the unknown'.
In the 5th round, Wei Lian had once obtained a level 3 artifact, "Peace Bringer". That must have been the weapon he acquired.
In the 3rd round, Wei Lian had become a mid-level executive in the Invisible. Noah wouldn't participate in an event hosted by mere demons, so that must have been the connection he gained.
However, the 'luck' was uncertain.
Yoo Ji-tae didn't know what Wei Lian had done or what kind of person he was in the 1st round.
And now, it was finally catching up to him in the 7th round.
If it was the 'luck' granted to him as a demon, it had to be a contract with one of the '31 Archdukes of the Abyss'.
When humans gain "Blessings" through awakening and enlightenment, they become superhumans.
Likewise, demons form contracts with the Archdukes of the Abyss and receive "Stigmas".
Among them were Archdukes like Noah, the calamity-level ones. They rarely appeared in the real world, and as rare as they were, they imprinted absurd stigmas.
Even if by some chance Wei Lian had contracted with one of those monsters, the plan to kill him would need to be completely revised.
Demons were inherently petty, and calamity-level ones were even pettier. There were cases where the stigma's power activated only after death.
So Yoo Ji-tae watched.
The moment Wei Lian first harbored killing intent toward someone.
The demonic energy that was ultimately revealed wasn't anything special.
So according to plan, Yoo Ji-tae recorded Wei Lian's behavior on video. In preparation for after leaving the masquerade hall.
In the meantime, someone died, but it left no impact on the regressor.
In this era, death was commonplace. Especially for someone who could rewind the world anytime he wanted.
So it was merely the cessation of some organism's function.
Something that had been moving. Simply stopped.
However, Bom's words came to mind: Save whoever can be saved.
The regressor took in the final moments of what had now stopped. A strangely shaped curved sword caught his eye.
Wei Lian opened his mouth. He, who had been roaring like a enraged beast until moments ago, was now much calmer.
"You're right. In this already harsh world, we might as well laugh."
As the atmosphere shifted, the commanders turned and began fleeing. But Wei Lian just stood in place, staring only at Yoo Ji-tae.
"Not chasing them?"
"No real reason to. By now, only my students should be left outside."
"You've brainwashed them thoroughly, I see."
"Of course. Their intellectual level is practically canine now."
"Canine? Why ruin perfectly fine humans like that?"
"Because they're better than humans. Humans are all stupid. Dull. Full of ulterior motives. Betraying trust left and right."
"What's different about demons?"
"Exactly. That's why I use immature demons as bait. It works pretty well in various places, but this bait didn't catch anything, which is a shame."
Wei Lian was talking about his chief assistant, Deputy Kwak Pan-wi.
There was a black serpent in that guy's stomach. If an ordinary superhuman had blindly accepted Kwak Pan-wi's betrayal, he'd have been swallowed by Wei Lian by now.
In the meantime, enormous demonic power was felt from outside the tent.
Izelle Halifa, probably heading straight for the boss room, must have clashed with Ri-hwa and Bom on the opposite side of this distant dungeon. Noah, receiving a distress signal from Izelle, would have moved to assist her.
The path there would be slowed by Heavenly Principle (S) made of the Green Dragon's mana acting like a trap. BM, waiting in ambush, would block his way.
"Do you know what this is?"
At that moment, Wei Lian approached Yoo Ji-tae with an excited expression and sat down next to him.
"During the time I was the head professor at Lair, you were the most thorn-in-my-side human. There were a few times... dozens of times, really, when I wanted to kill you."
Wei Lian stuck out his thumb and pointed at Yoo Ji-tae with his index finger. Then he mimed shooting him in the head. Bang.
"One shot would do it. But the opportunity never came. You have no idea how irritating that was."
"......"
"Because Yoo Yeoreum treated the media like a joke, Sophia Borcova refused admission to Azure Dragon House. Because Yoo Gaeul deceived everyone pretending to be innocent, the Gong family completely withdrew their sponsorship from Azure Dragon House, and Cadet Gong Ju-hee dropped out. Just thinking about that time... Ah, mind if I smoke?"
Breathing raggedly, Wei Lian put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it.
"And I hear Yoo Bom is a genius at magic. Isn't that just infuriating? Suddenly, these cadets all drop around me. As if they're tormenting a poor guy just trying to live diligently. I should've just torn them apart and killed them... that's what I thought."
Whoosh. Smoke billowed out.
Wei Lian's eyes began to turn red. At the same time, demonic energy overflowed as if about to burst.
Between the demonic energy, there was also an aura defying providence. The moment it was clearly felt by Yoo Ji-tae's senses, the Apocalyptic Clock displayed a message.
Perfect.
Just like the cigarette butt fragments obtained from the 30-man special forces, fragments began to emerge here as well.
Far more traces of malice began to collect than from the Morning Star, who had been undergoing demonization.
The peculiar thing was that with the Morning Star, he could actively extract them, but with Wei Lian, he could only passively gather them.
However, thanks to that, an enormous amount of fragments were accumulating in a short time.
So Yoo Ji-tae decided to listen a bit more to the pointless story.
"Well, it seems the Japanese royal family is grinding their teeth in determination. Gathering such remarkable kids in one place and all."
"So. What now?"
"What do you mean, what now?"
Wei Lian aimed "Peace Bringer" at Yoo Ji-tae's head.
"The doors to the masquerade hall are closed."
"......"
"No more interlopers can interfere now. After killing you. Once the masquerade ends. I'll send those irritating kids to join you."
A faint smile tugged at Yoo Ji-tae's lips.
"What's so funny?"
"For a demon, you're a bit slow on the uptake."
"Guardian Yoo Ji-tae. If anything, you seem obtusely slow. It was we who closed the rift door."
"I know."
Yoo Ji-tae's words were so nonchalant that Wei Lian sneered and tilted his head.
"Ants don't understand human affairs. What would a mere superhuman like you know? But I'd like to enlighten you personally."
"I have a grand plan."
"Reopening a closed rift takes at least half a month. Plenty of time to conquer Melishia. Fulfill my wishes. Kill you. Kill everyone. And clean up afterward."
"History will remember it as a tragic incident. The surviving Azure Dragon House cadets—my cadets—will be victims. Heroes even. I'll receive recognition from my master and be granted great power. Isn't it splendid? A perfect grand plan!"
Eyes filled with madness. Voice growing louder.
"And you will herald the beginning of this grand plan. Isn't it an honor?"
Wei Lian's eyes widened to the tearing point. The demon's madness began bursting forth, overriding his instincts.
In response, an unprecedented amount of malice trace fragments flooded into the Apocalyptic Clock.
"You have no idea how long I've waited for this day? How long I've suppressed myself. Suppressed. Suppressed. Suppressed. Suppressed. Suppressed! How I've endured it! There's no way a lowly human like you could possibly understand!"
Perhaps because so many fragments gathered in such a short time.
"Yoo Ji-tae—!!"
Wei Lian aimed "Peace Bringer" at Yoo Ji-tae.
The next moment, something struck his face.
―――!
Wei Lian flew backward from an incomprehensible impact. His body tore through the tent, smashed the shoulder of the operating mecha, and didn't stop—even breaking the dungeon wall, slamming his head into the end of the room, into the subspace dividing the world, before finally crashing to the floor.
The impact was so intense that even with a body now rivaling collapse-level, Wei Lian's facial bones caved in, and one eye burst outright.
Smashed to the floor, Wei Lian only regained consciousness after a long while.
He couldn't sense the flow of time, and his bodily sensations were incomplete. Black blood oozed from the seven orifices of his face.
In the dark corner of the lightless dungeon, the first thing Wei Lian felt was the stench wafting from the monsters' lair.
Wei Lian blinked his bloodied eye and gazed at the world with blurred vision.
In the dark sewer, an even darker shadow loomed over him.
Holding a curved sword in hand.
"Ha... damn it."
With his mouth smashed, Wei Lian muttered through leaking sounds.
"You... what are you......"
"Coming to?"
The shadow drew a little closer.
"Get up, clown."
"Kuh, cough......" Wei Lian spat out a black blood clot and shook his head side to side. But that only made more blood pour from his ears, nose, and eyes.
Yoo Ji-tae approached and squatted down in front of him.
"Should've crushed you like this ages ago."
A dry voice. A tone like scraping dirt with a broomstick. An impassive gaze looking down.
And incomprehensible strength.
Just who the hell are you.
"Who... the hell... are yooou......!!"
Wei Lian squeezed out nonexistent strength and screamed viciously. His cracking voice echoed desperately through the sewer.
"No need to close the dungeon door."
"Wha...?"
"I was planning to smash it anyway."
Incomprehensible words.
The dungeon rift—more precisely, the dimensional rift—could only be temporarily sealed at great cost. 'Smashing' it wasn't an apt expression.
"Once the rat's in the trap, you seal it shut."
He tossed something into Wei Lian's lap.
"......"
Wei Lian, gradually regaining his senses, looked down at what lay on his stomach. A radio.
Wei Lian tried to grab it, but couldn't—his fingers were all broken. Irritated, he knocked it away with his arm.
―Tsssh.
Right on cue.
The radio on the floor picked up a signal.
―Emergency! Emergency!
A transmission from the command post at the dungeon entrance.
―The major rift—the dungeon entrance is collapsing!
A voice twice as panicked as before.
There were the demons' puppets there.
―The dimensional rift is disintegrating!!
And Yoo Ji-tae's puppets as well.
Only then did Wei Lian widen his shattered eye and look up at him. No human could destroy a dimensional rift. That was the known fact.
But if there was an exception...
"Ha, haha... hahaha......"
Realizing something, Wei Lian laughed weakly.
The Invisible had 'one single enemy'.
Unfathomable purpose. Inexplicable abilities. Unrevealed methods.
The slayer of Prototype X. The slayer of Hasegawa.
The being that left not a single trace amid the incidents shaking demon society.
"It was... you......"