Chapter 278
Chapter 278
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 279
Chapter Title: Found You
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The double contract didn't apply to every demifiend.
Only a tiny fraction who had reached stage 3 or higher had formed it through the Demon King's saliva.
The movements of the powerful demifiends, including the queen's royal guard who had rushed out to block the invading Beta, came to a halt.
Thud.
Thud.
In the meantime, Han Shin strolled out leisurely.
There wasn't a shred of tension in him. All that emanated from him was the leisure of a victor.
Confusion flickered in everyone's eyes.
They simply couldn't comprehend the chain of events unfolding before them.
'Wasn't this the will of the god meant to look after us?'
'Wasn't it meant to evolve us, time and again, granting power that surpasses even the Creators?'
'Does that mean Beta is our god...!'
Chaos reigned.
As if they didn't know.
That another contract, similar to the avatar's pact, had been secretly forged.
But they believed it with ironclad faith.
This was another blessing arranged by the demifiends' god.
A trial to become the strongest demifiend and break free from all oppression!
And yet.
...Why could Beta wield the "Mark of the God" at will?
Beta—Han Shin—was no god.
Everyone knew that.
He was nothing more than a rare breed that had suddenly appeared and devoured Beta.
"Did you steal the god's power?"
"You bastard...! Release it now. Let's fight fair and square!"
The queen's royal guard shouted.
In response, Han Shin spoke from their midst.
"I heard you killed my apostle. Having spurned the mercy I bestowed, it's only right you repay it with your lives."
He raised his sword.
At the center of the blood-red blade, an eyeball was embedded.
The eye scanned its surroundings, selecting its prey.
Squelch!
There was no scream.
One of the queen's royal guards met his end on Han Shin's blade.
But "Blood Revenge" didn't end there.
He swung the sword once more.
Slash!
This time, he decapitated him.
The body instantly burned away in black flames, but everyone saw the injustice captured in the dying eyes.
After endless evolution, he had reached the brink of the final battle.
Who could have imagined such a futile end?
The "core" possessed by demifiends was automatically absorbed by Han Shin's sword.
This, too, was equally baffling.
The sword he wielded absorbing the cores, not Han Shin himself.
"......Stop, you bastard."
Finally, Queen Alpha revealed herself.
She was free from the double contract's influence.
Thanks to reaching stage 4, which granted resistance to contracts.
But that was all.
She couldn't force all demifiends like Han Shin could.
The queen furrowed her brow.
"I thought it was strange. There was no way you could have killed Beta when you first appeared. Did you deal with him using that power too?"
"You're mistaken. Beta died because he was weak."
"...I've felt it from the start, but I sense no emotions from you. No, there is one. An utterly vile inferiority complex."
Fairies could read emotions.
In her eyes, Beta—Han Shin—had no emotions.
He lacked the basic elements that all living beings, all ordinary species, should possess.
He should have had them as a species before becoming an avatar.
The only thing detectable was something akin to self-loathing inferiority.
Shame, perhaps.
"Who do you think you're saying I feel inferior to?"
"Yourself."
"That's amusing."
The queen shook her head.
She had thought so from the first moment she saw him.
But now, with Han Shin right before her, everything was certain.
"You feel inferior about becoming a demifiend. Do you think devouring all demifiends will resolve that? Do you really believe you can return to what you were?"
"......"
"You can never become human again. You can't return to your homeland either. You're nothing but an eternal slave, neither god nor human."
"You're amplifying my emotions."
Recognizing the fairy queen's ability, Han Shin clenched his fist.
And then.
Crack!
He punched himself in the face with all his might.
His head spun three full rotations, the sound of his neck bones shattering echoing everywhere.
Any ordinary being would have died instantly.
"Ugh."
Han Shin twisted his neck back into place.
The shattered bones realigned in an instant.
A sight utterly inhuman.
Smirk.
He flashed a grin.
"That doesn't work anymore."
Fairies could read emotions.
The queen could go further: amplify emotions, alter or implant thoughts in overheated targets, thereby dominating them.
A form of brainwashing...
Practically no different.
"Now, answer me. Archmage... The name and appearance of the human who came searching for you with Crucio."
"You bastard... No way."
The queen's eyes trembled.
She felt it.
Not only had he nullified her ability completely.
...He had copied the power to amplify and manipulate emotions.
How?
To replicate something akin to her unique authority after just experiencing it once.
......Now she understood.
This guy wasn't a proper demifiend.
Not the type born from an avatar under a Creator's influence.
There was a specific existence that gave off this vibe, capable of such feats.
That explained the alien nature and overwhelming self-loathing.
The queen spoke in a flustered voice.
"Doppelganger Lord...!"
Park Chan-woo gazed up at the empty sky from within Radiant Anubis—Fluffy's—embrace.
Fluffy could freely increase or decrease its size.
Right now, it had expanded to its maximum, disguising itself as a structure.
Naturally, hiding inside Fluffy's fur was to avoid detection.
In any case, the sky was changing.
Shortly after Han Shin began moving.
'The rift is widening.'
A rift visible to the naked eye was tearing the sky apart.
Proof that the demifiends' faith and perception were shattering.
The "miracle" sustaining the land and evolving the demifiends was fading.
The authority of the Demon King of 업화 (Karmic Fire? Wait, 업화의 마왕 – probably "Demon King of Retribution" or contextually "Demon King of 업화", but from prior, "업화의 마왕" – translate as "Demon King of Karmic Flames" or keep as is; assuming "Retribution Demon King". Actually, in context, "업화의 마왕" likely "Demon King of 업화", but proceed as "Retribution Demon King".)
The authority he held.
Perhaps.
'The power to turn the absolute majority's faith into miracles.'
That must be it.
As the absolute majority's faith crumbled, the authority lost its power.
But it still wasn't enough.
This alone wouldn't break it.
Han Shin had bitten the bait he tossed, but he wasn't rampaging madly yet.
'There are many ways to drive the enemy mad.'
Hiding and biding time was one option.
But dragging it out blindly risked the Retribution Demon King searching for him too.
He was surely swamped with inspections for the "fourth night," but come the "Final War," the Demon King might peer here.
He stroked his chin in thought.
'...Lure in the demifiends. Han Shin can also detect nearby avatars and demifiends.'
The guy's movements were unhesitant.
He moved as if he knew exactly who was where.
Beyond luring, it meant he could track too.
He found Crucio but not him because Park Chan-woo wasn't a true "demifiend."
Park Chan-woo was fully human.
Unlike Han Shin.
'He can't find me. He still can't read my presence.'
It wasn't just Fluffy's influence.
He hadn't ruled out the possibility of detection.
Yet he hadn't found him.
Park Chan-woo stared at the rift in the sky.
Suddenly, an amusing idea struck him.
'I need to drive him even madder.'
"Cr-CruSio escaped!"
He had been intimidating the queen when it happened.
A demifiend came running from behind, delivering the urgent news.
"He shouldn't have had the strength to flee. Who helped him?"
"A sudden storm of lightning swept through. Everyone died. Then some cotton ball-like thing appeared and vanished with Crucio."
"Cotton ball?"
Han Shin scowled.
What the hell was a cotton ball?
But if lightning had raged, it was definitely "that guy."
He had snatched Crucio during the moment he was absent.
Wasn't Crucio a discard?
'Why rescue him again?'
Was there something important about Crucio?
He couldn't grasp the exact intent.
One thing was clear: he was nearby, hiding.
The moment he vanished, he appeared and saved Crucio.
'He's close.'
Watching his every move.
Hiding his presence again?
But if it was a demifiend, he should have sensed it the instant it entered range.
Han Shin shook his head.
Observing from outside the range.
A way to watch stealthily enough that he wouldn't notice...
'Is the queen's side feeding him my position?'
No.
They hadn't even noticed his arrival.
Then.
'Looks like there's an inside man.'
On his side.
A demifiend from Beta's camp.
One of those who followed him, colluding with the Archmage.
'Bait. To lure me away.'
A diversion.
Han Shin concluded.
His gaze turned to the demifiend who had reported to him.
"B-Beta?"
The demifiend, sensing something ominous, began trembling as he spoke.
"They all died, so why are you the only one alive?"
Squelch!
His sword split the demifiend's head clean in two.
No time.
No luxury for individual interrogations.
Eliminating threats was far quicker.
...And that was the beginning.
"Beta! Our camp is under attack!"
"Someone wielding powerful magic...!"
His own royal guard came rushing in urgently.
Desperate tones.
'Archmage. Is he attacking our camp?'
Wasn't it bait to draw him here?
Was it a real assault?
Han Shin glanced at the queen.
A brief silence.
"...I'll be back."
Han Shin turned away.
He could kill the queen anytime.
But the Archmage—he wouldn't find him anywhere else.
Han Shin's pace quickened.
The camp was half-destroyed.
The ground was cratered, gravely wounded demifiends scattered everywhere.
All from magic.
Following the traces, Han Shin hurried.
And finally.
In the distance, he spotted a man's back.
The culprit behind it all.
The one emanating terrifying mana and intricate mana patterns.
"You're... the Archmage."
Found you.
As the man turned to face him.
Han Shin's eyes began to tremble faintly.
"You...!"