Chapter 282
Chapter 282
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 282
Chapter Title: The Fourth Night (1)
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The Karmic Fire Demon King was surveying the "Fourth Night."
It was the first night he was conducting since becoming the "Manager of the Night."
He could tolerate not a single blemish.
Everything had to be meticulously reinforced, with any potential mistakes nipped in the bud.
He was nothing like that trash Aheta.
Once he started something, he saw it through to the end.
The Karmic Fire Demon King, acting as the perfect black curtain.
For he was the Demon King who burned away all karma.
'The one who dragged me down from the Hall of Fame is in this Abyss, on Earth.'
That much was certain.
Aheta had run the "Third Night" and gone bankrupt.
But he'd been failing continuously since the previous nights.
There was only one cause.
'The Archmage.'
The bastard who had usurped his place in the Hall of Fame.
The cur who had dared leave the name "Archmage" there as an insult had forced Aheta into bankruptcy during the "Third Night" and taken his seat.
Surely, he would appear in the "Fourth Night" as well.
But it wouldn't be easy.
If he came in thinking of Aheta's night, he'd suffer greatly.
Aheta's "night" had been utterly pathetic, even in his eyes.
Aheta didn't have the qualifications to manage a "night" in the first place.
His martial prowess was weak, his creativity needed to craft the Creation Abyss was nonexistent, and even his subordinates were trash.
In contrast...
'My night is perfect.'
The Karmic Fire Demon King was confident.
No Earthling could possibly clear his "night."
Not even if the Archmage was an incarnation of the Demon God Gremory.
Because behind him stood one of the "Lords of Great Sins."
One of the nine great lords.
The being at the pinnacle of the Abyss.
The Lord of Great Sins rivaled the Lord of Giant Evils in destructiveness.
If the Lord of Giant Evils specialized in making others despise and hate someone, the Lord of Great Sins was madness incarnate.
The Karmic Fire Demon King was cut from the same cloth.
Less than a day remained.
As he conducted his final checks...
"...?"
The Karmic Fire Demon King suddenly grimaced at a surge of pain.
Pain flared up out of nowhere.
...His innards had been pierced.
It meant a hole had been punched in the "world" he had created.
But that was impossible.
There was no way any demifiend could detect the falsehood of the world.
Unless the one being who knew of this situation, Han Shin, had gone berserk.
......The checks on the Fourth Night weren't even fully complete yet.
'Wait.'
The Karmic Fire Demon King turned his "eye."
And saw it.
-Han Shin.
The bastard was rampaging like a madman.
He was slaughtering every demifiend on the surface.
He was even freely wielding the authority to handle "double contracts."
...Had he gone insane?
Han Shin had originally been an "incarnation" left behind by Aheta.
He'd taken him in despite his bizarre nature—similar yet different from a Doppelganger Lord, possessing the "Eyes of the Death Command"—
-Stop.
If all the demifiends died, the plan would go awry.
It would mean losing one of the most crucial elements needed to run the Fourth Night.
Part of the perfect scheme to plunge Earth's humans into a pit of despair and erase their future.
But Han Shin didn't listen.
He was out of control.
And because of that...
The creators.
The demon lords had caught on.
To the fact that their incarnations had been kidnapped by the Karmic Fire Demon King.
If it were just a few, he could ignore them. Crush them underfoot.
He was a Demon King. Ordinary demon lords could never touch him.
But if the number exceeded a thousand?
Mass incarnation kidnappings were unprecedented.
They were using this as an excuse to make excessive demands.
How many creators had properly raised their incarnations anyway?
It was just a pretext.
A justification to wrest coins from the Karmic Fire Demon King.
However.
He had spent a million coins to buy Aheta's existence at the Abyss auction.
And how many more had he poured in to properly craft the "Fourth Night"?
He had no coins left to compensate them all.
Thus.
The Karmic Fire Demon King addressed all the protesting creators.
No matter how solid his backing was, even they wouldn't intervene in disputes between "Demon Lords."
Besides, since he was the one at fault, he had to resolve it himself.
If he acted recklessly and gave them more ammunition, the creators might band together against him.
Of course, he wasn't afraid.
He was confident he could grind them all to dust if they came at him.
He wasn't some half-baked nobody like Aheta.
But afterward, he would surely be unable to fulfill his role as "Manager of the Night."
There was only one solution.
He silenced the protesting demon lords.
Successfully completing the Fourth Night.
That would speak for itself as the result.
He just needed to shut their mouths with devastating compensations.
Moreover.
'Aheta. To think you hid such a treasure in a hidden treasure vault.'
Upon becoming the Manager of the Night and inheriting most of Aheta's authority, he had discovered the hidden "Hidden Treasure Vault."
There, he had seen it.
'Baal's Shoes.'
No information could be read from them, but the Karmic Fire Demon King was certain they were "Baal's Shoes."
He didn't know how trash like Aheta had acquired such a divine relic.
'This might actually be a good thing.'
He planned to retrieve Baal's Shoes from the Hidden Treasure Vault.
However, even after inheriting the Manager of the Night authority, he couldn't extract "Baal's Shoes."
The place was guarded by ironclad rules.
Only challengers who earned the "points" to open the "Hidden Treasure Vault" during the night could claim it.
Neither Aheta nor the Karmic Fire Demon King were exceptions.
He could guess why it was designed that way.
'If word got out that he had Baal's equipment, he'd be attacked immediately.'
Aheta had known his place.
He had realized it wasn't a treasure he deserved to possess.
The weight of "Baal's" name in the Abyss was no light matter.
'Han Shin. If you acquire Baal's Shoes, I'll forgive your mistake.'
Though the plan had gone awry because of Han Shin, the bastard had grown that much stronger in turn.
If he achieved a transcendent score in the Fourth Night, entered the Hidden Treasure Vault, and successfully retrieved Baal's Shoes...
...He could overlook a mistake of this magnitude.
Of course, failure meant a gruesome end awaiting him.
In the end, it all circled back to the "Fourth Night."
The first night, and this "Fourth Night," had become an utterly crucial turning point for him.
Success would let him make his name resound gloriously.
Failure...
'No way I'll fail.'
The Karmic Fire Demon King smiled.
The night he had crafted was perfect.
He had checked it dozens, hundreds of times.
Just one day left.
Though the unexpected incident with Han Shin and the demifiends had occurred...
It wouldn't cause any major disruptions just because he couldn't check on the final day.
The purple smoke over Hallasan began to clear.
The demifiends who had regained their senses tried to flee as quietly as possible, but...
"Where do you think you're going?"
"...Filthy demifiend scum."
They were being thoroughly repelled by Chiwoo and Hanmir.
Lee Hyuk-soo and Han Min-oh were also helping with the "demifiend extermination."
"Han Min-oh. We can't let even a single demifiend reach civilian areas."
"Yes, Master!"
They blocked desperately.
Demifiends were ultimately evolutions from incarnations.
Incarnations were villains contracted with demon lords.
Most killed without a shred of guilt.
It was commonplace for them to sabotage other challengers on their creators' orders.
Incarnations were of no help to humanity.
Much less half-human, half-monster demifiends, who could wreak havoc on civilians.
'Kill them all.'
He hadn't won against Hanmir.
But thanks to that, he had gained enlightenment.
He had broken through the wall and surpassed his limits.
The time for enlightenment didn't matter.
What mattered most was the readiness to accept it.
Hallasan had returned to normal.
All demifiends were dead, and the "entrance" leading to the Demon King's belly had vanished.
Confirming that sight...
Park Chan-woo began his "preparations."
'The Fourth Night.'
He had succeeded in cornering the Karmic Fire Demon King to some extent.
Through Adora, he had learned from the creator community that the "Karmic Fire Demon King" had been exposed for mass-kidnapping incarnations.
'He'll go all out.'
He would fight with everything to win.
Using Han Shin.
The reason Park Chan-woo had confused and spared Han Shin was simple.
'Han Shin is the easiest to handle.'
The bastard moved according to his intentions.
He had mistaken Ataraxia for the Archmage, flown into a rage, and devoured the demifiends.
His desire was solely to grow stronger.
And to grow stronger...
'Han Shin is for hunting incarnations and demifiends.'
He must have realized that the fastest path was hunting incarnations and demifiends.
Since he had the knack for drawing in incarnations.
In other words...
Automatic incarnation hunting was now possible.
Park Chan-woo could distinguish incarnations with the "Radiant Dantalion Glasses," but hunting down every incarnation in the world one by one was a waste of time.
But if Han Shin stepped up, it was different.
From what he'd observed, the bastard had nothing but the desire to grow stronger.
'Even the Karmic Fire Demon King he contracted with doesn't seem to care much.'
Above all, he had no hesitation in sabotaging the Karmic Fire Demon King's scheme.
He'd really gone on a rampage.
Thanks to Han Shin, the mass incarnation kidnapping by the Karmic Fire Demon King had spread far and wide, and the compensation would be astronomical.
...Han Shin indeed.
Always putting himself first.
Thanks to that consistent nature, Park Chan-woo had decided to spare him.
The interspecies war wasn't far off either.
With all preparations complete, Park Chan-woo looked up at the sky.
It was already evening.
A full moon hung in the center of the sky.