Chapter 323
Chapter 323
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 323
Chapter Title: Sepiro (9)
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The world shook.
The impacts pounding the walls of the Dragon God Temple grew fiercer with each passing moment, their intensity rippling across the barrier's surface as vibrations that scattered outward.
Delicately woven golden magic circles flashed brilliantly, spewing forth warning lights.
“Hmm...!”
“Who dares!”
The dragons bristled with rage.
What was happening was literally impossible.
The Dragon God Temple's protective barrier wasn't some mere construct of magic power or technique.
It was a ward erected by the primordial gods themselves in ancient times—a absolute boundary line that all existence revered.
No one, not even a god, could cross into this place without an invitation.
They couldn't even attempt it.
They would turn to dust in that instant.
Anyone capable of thought would know that tampering with the Dragon God Temple's barrier was an act of monumental recklessness.
‘War.’
‘No matter who it is.’
‘No matter the race.’
‘Extermination.’
A second great war would erupt immediately.
The dragons would annihilate everything connected to the offender, leaving not even a speck of dust behind.
They would learn why dragons were called the strongest race in the Abyss.
It wouldn't take much time to wipe out a single race.
This was a place where all dragons gathered.
Once they mobilized, it wouldn't even take half a day to erase an ordinary race, and even against one of the other twelve races, they could annihilate them within seven days and nights.
All dragons would throw themselves into the task of destroying those who dared touch their god.
That was why even Sepiro, who rampaged freely throughout the Abyss, was untouchable here.
Behind Sepiro stood ‘all dragons.’
Even without his direct command, one could predict the reaction of dragons who existed and moved solely for Sepiro.
Usually, as the ‘power of the race’ grew stronger, ‘absolute loyalty’ tended to fade.
The stronger an individual's might became, the less they fully submitted to the race lord's commands.
As their souls swelled, their egos expanded, and they grasped the truths of the Abyss, they shed the limitations of their ‘race’ and forged their own paths.
But dragons were different.
Dragons alone were exempt from that concept.
“Wait. This magic power...?”
“...!!”
The overwhelming presence now shaking the barrier.
It continued to swell, seizing control of the dragons' magic power.
Perfect dominance.
The pinnacle of the race, looking down upon all.
If the entity before them was resonating with the dragons, this magic power was commanding them.
“...No way.”
“Has Lord Sepiro brought forth his true body...?”
The only one capable of this was Sepiro.
Yet a new clone had only just appeared.
Was he fully acknowledging the clone as part of himself?
To eliminate any lingering doubts?
But Sepiro hadn't unleashed his true body in ages.
Just bringing it out would put the entire Abyss on war footing.
And inevitably, an ‘error’ would occur.
Another great rift would open.
That was what the dragons were certain of.
Roooooooar!
Something appeared above the Dragon God Temple.
Park Chan-woo stood still, lifting his head.
And quietly said,
“...Sepiro.”
Ataraxia.
He was tending to the ‘errors’ transferred from the ‘Night's Domain.’
After being separated from the Despair Clan by Shuraphim, he had taken it upon himself to manage them.
Enormous magic power cages floated in the air.
Inside them were Adora and the others.
“...What will become of us?”
The demon merchant Dagon let out a deep sigh as he spoke.
The fourth night on Earth had unfolded in ways no one had anticipated.
Of course, having followed the exclusive contractor Park Chan-woo, nothing had ever gone ‘as expected,’ but this situation was on another level.
“...”
No one could answer.
They were exhausted, and no one had imagined they'd end up captured by dragons.
If Park Chan-woo was truly ‘Sepiro,’ there was no hope left.
“...We dodged the Black Witch, only for something worse to show up.”
Han Shin muttered.
He was the one who hadn't emerged from prison to avoid the Black Witch and her curses.
Then suddenly the war ended, and the dragons took all the ‘errors.’
When he heard it was on ‘Sepiro's’ orders, he just shook his head.
“Is Sepiro worse than the Black Witch?”
When Lee Hyuk-soo asked, Han Shin let out a scoff.
“He's a god from a realm humanity hasn't touched—and never will. A monster among monsters that even demons fear.”
“And that's... Park Chan-woo?”
The prophet Park Chan-woo.
Lee Hyuk-soo still couldn't believe he was the Dragon God Sepiro.
But Han Shin just clicked his tongue at Lee Hyuk-soo's attitude.
“Sepiro's whims have wiped out entire races, enslaved them like livestock, and dissected them out of mere curiosity. Compared to his antics, witches and demons are adorable.”
“...”
“Sepiro's infamous tales are countless. Curious about what happens if he erases a race's language, he did it for real, and their thoughts regressed until they self-destructed. Rewiring a race's emotional framework or dropping meteors every three days for survival experiments? Routine for him.”
“...How do you even know these stories, Han Shin?”
“I wish I didn't.”
Han Shin closed his eyes.
He had pored over every book in Aheta's library.
After becoming a half-demon, he devoured other half-demons and sifted through their memories.
Sepiro's name appeared with alarming frequency.
Lee Hyuk-soo shook his head.
“I can't believe it. That he... that man is a monster worse than demons.”
“Ask that demon merchant. He knows better than I do.”
He pointed to Dagon in another magic cage.
As Lee Hyuk-soo looked over, Dagon nodded.
“...It's somewhat understated, but the stories check out.”
...And this was the understated version?
Han Shin added,
“If that human you speak of is truly ‘Sepiro,’ everything you've been through was either his whim or an act. He got the experiment results he wanted through you.”
He said it with conviction.
Sepiro hadn't treated you sincerely.
It was just playing along for his own purposes.
“No way...”
“You fool. Still don't get it? If he meant it, he wouldn't have locked us in these ‘cages’ to begin with. We're just lab rats. We'll be dissected together soon enough.”
That was right.
If Park Chan-woo was Sepiro and held final authority.
He could simply release them.
Yet he had them caged.
Declaring he'd use them as test subjects for errors.
“...Prophet.”
“Now do you see, Lee Hyuk-soo? Humanity has no hope. That's why I crave power—for true liberation.”
“Doesn't change that you sold your soul to demons.”
“Acting noble to the end, huh.”
With that, Han Shin crossed his arms and fell silent.
His demeanor screamed there was no way out.
He seemed half-resigned already.
“Lord Ataraxia. No word from the Demon Merchant Guild?”
Dagon called out to Ataraxia.
Ataraxia shook his head.
“...None.”
“What about... Lord Ber?”
Ber.
The legendary demon merchant and Dagon's father.
Ber, who had helped procure the ‘Water of Life from Arkham,’ might—just might—reach out upon hearing of Dagon's plight.
Demon merchants and dragons got along reasonably well, after all.
“Nothing.”
“...”
The last shred of hope vanished.
Ataraxia's expression was utterly rigid.
None of his former warmth remained.
He saw them solely as ‘test subjects’ now.
Because that's what Sepiro wanted.
He had declared he'd take them as error experiments.
‘...Lady Adora.’
Dagon glanced sideways.
There lay Adora, collapsed.
Unconscious, but under the ‘Blessing of the Goddess of Life,’ she was healing.
Surely seeing her like this stirred some pity.
Or was he healing her just for the experiments? Doubt crept in.
Was it all an act?
Did he need something from them?
Was he toying with them?
That final cold gaze and demeanor... it was pure Sepiro.
Rumble rumble rumble!
That was when it happened.
The world began shaking violently, as if in cataclysm.
“W-What's that!”
“What is it!?”
Even the magic cages rattled unstably.
As everyone cried out in shock,
“...Something's coming.”
Ataraxia said gravely.
His gaze was fixed on the Dragon God Temple.
The place where they were imprinting the new Sepiro clone, Park Chan-woo.
Something was happening there.
Ataraxia lacked permission to enter the Dragon God Temple, but
“...Lord Sepiro.”
He couldn't bear it.
There was every chance something had befallen him.
Not every dragon would accept the new clone.
Especially not Bahamut and the Seven Great Dragons—they might be plotting something.
Ataraxia didn't trust them.
He thought they weren't dragons who truly existed for Sepiro.
“L-Lord Ataraxia?!”
“I'll be back. Stay put.”
Ataraxia headed for the Dragon God Temple.
He simply couldn't hold back.
And upon swiftly arriving at the Dragon God Temple, Ataraxia
could only doubt his own eyes at the sight of what had appeared.
There...
What had manifested above the Dragon God Temple was
“...A great rift.”
A great rift.
The same great rift that had swallowed the first clone had appeared at the Dragon God Temple.
The great rift that appeared out of nowhere remained closed.
But it wasn't ‘completely’ sealed.
Something had changed.
The door was cracked open, just a sliver.
From that gap,
‘Still alive in there, huh.’
Sepiro's magic power was leaking out.
Proof that the first clone was still inside.
“Why... why a great rift here?”
“Why has the great rift from the Night's Domain appeared at the Dragon God Temple?”
“What's going on?”
Everyone was baffled.
But Park Chan-woo understood it all.
‘You wanna give it a shot, Mad Dragon?’