Chapter 528
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 528
Chapter Title: Bankruptcy (2)
Bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy!
It meant losing all one's wealth and going under.
But that word didn't suit Lilith.
No, it couldn't suit her.
The owner of the night and the first demon.
The mother of all evil, who had walked alongside the history of the Abyss.
For such a being to go bankrupt over a few coins?
Above all, she ought to be a higher existence than the system itself.
A legendary figure said to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Creator, bound by the rules of the game she herself had made? That was a contradiction in itself.
One lord roared as if denying reality.
But his voice scattered into emptiness.
They all knew it.
The system didn't produce errors.
Especially not in matters this grave.
Even if Lilith transcended the system, since she had used the "Night System" to impose her will across the entire Abyss...
...she too was inevitably bound by its rules.
She had set the board, so it was only natural she pay the price.
[Even so... can the system dare collect from Lady Lilith?!]
That was it.
That was the heart of the problem.
What use was bankruptcy?
Could the system forcibly seize her very existence?
The Lords of Great Evils and Sins were mighty rulers, but ultimately bound by the laws of the Abyss.
Lilith was different.
There was no way such a tragedy—stripping her bare, defiling her, and erasing her—could occur.
But their faint hopes soon turned to thick unease.
Suppose Lilith did go bankrupt like this.
Suppose the system did forcibly collect her existence.
How horrific and humiliating would that be?
The progenitor of demons, the mother of all evil, brought down by a mere human's prank, stripped naked by the system.
It would be an indelible shame, dragging the entire history and pride of the demon race into the gutter.
If "forced collection" truly happened, demons would become laughingstocks.
It had to be stopped. By any means necessary.
[Open the vaults!]
It was the Lord of Black Glory.
The one responsible for this entire fiasco.
His will carried urgency laced with unbreakable arrogance.
[Strip every treasure from our vaults right now and prevent Lady Lilith's bankruptcy!]
The other lords hesitated at his proposal.
Defeat in the interspecies war and the successive annihilation of lords had already drained the demons' coffers.
Further bleeding here was a dangerous gamble that could shake the foundation of their entire race.
But there were no other options.
[Right. If we lose our mother here, it's truly over.]
[Lady Lilith's honor is the honor of all demons!]
To protect their cheap pride, they willingly decided to open their last remaining vaults.
In truth, it wasn't impossible.
The freshly revived Lilith couldn't have amassed proper wealth yet.
Her power embedded in the "Night" system was likely all she had.
No matter how astronomical the reward Park Chan-woo earned from his record-breaking clear, it couldn't surpass the combined fortunes of five lords built over eons.
'Just one clear.'
The Lord of Black Glory was confident.
If they emptied their vaults completely, they could cover it.
[All lords, immediately appraise and report the value of your coins and artifacts!]
[Fastest and most accurately! Not a single coin off!]
They sprang into frantic action.
For their prestige, they were willing to pay any amount.
But it didn't take long to realize what a horrific miscalculation that was.
'Just as I expected.'
Park Chan-woo silently confirmed his final victory in the night and awaited the reward details.
His calculations were already complete.
'Rewards proportional to the scale.'
Lilith making the entire Abyss her stage meant the reward matched that scale.
He just had to win.
In the fastest, most perfect way.
Ding!
Finally, the system window appeared before his eyes.
The first line alone surpassed imagination.
But it wasn't enough.
To bankrupt the great lords.
This was the moment proving that humanity's 100 million participants weren't just a simple event.
The system clearly acknowledged their sacrifices and contributions, adding them as bonuses to the reward.
Yet even this wasn't the end.
......
......
The bonuses continued endlessly.
And finally.
1.175 billion.
When that number floated like a massive brand across the skies of the Abyss, the world held its breath.
One, ten, hundred, thousand...
Ordinary demons couldn't even grasp the units.
An astronomical sum that could only appear in myths, one they'd never touch in a lifetime.
Even typical demon kings rarely exceeded 10,000 coins.
Only higher demon kings ruling their domains and commanding tens of thousands of troops could barely discuss millions.
What of the 72 Demon Gods?
Their wealth was unimaginable, but even scraping every last bit from all of them—could they reach even half that lofty figure?
Then, the true rulers of the Abyss, the six great lords?
[......]
The deepest part of the Abyss.
The space with their thrones was sunk in a silence deeper and colder than ever before.
It wasn't shock or rage.
It was like the temporary mental freeze humans experience facing a catastrophe beyond comprehension.
Of course, they did have that much wealth.
No, they "had."
Before preparing for war.
Before dipping into the foolish game called the interspecies war.
Back in the golden age when their empire was intact and the authority of the nine great lords pierced the heavens.
But not now.
Nine had become six.
War scars still lingered across their territories, and their vaults were empty.
They had already poured fortunes into their foolish attempt to save Lilith's bankruptcy for their honor.
[...Each of you, state the maximum you can muster.]
The first to break the silence was the Lord of Black Glory.
His voice strained for calm, but couldn't hide the faint tremor.
[...I can do up to 80 million coins. If I sell everything in my domain.]
[70 million for me.]
[...50 million. Recent localized provocations by the dragonkin cost me big.]
[I can manage 100 million somehow...]
The five lords' desperate confessions continued.
A pitiful list of numbers unworthy of the Abyss's rulers.
Even pooling their entire fortunes, they faced the despairing reality of barely 400 million coins.
Not even half.
[Even squeezing the 72 Demon Gods dry won't cut it.]
[No need to mention the demon kings under them. Their combined wealth might not even hit 10 million.]
There was no way.
[...Are we resorting to fundraising?]
One lord unwittingly uttered the humiliating word.
Begging every demon scattered across the Abyss to donate even one coin to save the great lord from bankruptcy?
Bowing their heads and extending hands to the lesser beings they'd trampled like insects their whole lives?
It was a humiliation worse than death.
But they had no choice.
The system coldly announced their time left.
Stand on pride and all walk the path of ruin together?
Or endure eternal humiliation and somehow survive?
[......Move.]
Finally, the decision came.
They had to survive.
Somehow.
That day, the most bizarre and humiliating spectacle in Abyss history unfolded.
In the name of the five great lords, an emergency edict went out to every demon in the Abyss.
'National Salvation Offering.'
Packaged in a grand name, but it was begging at its core.
All demons were to immediately surrender every coin they owned to the lords—an irrevocable forced collection order.
Gigantic collection boxes appeared in cities everywhere, and lord-direct tax collectors scoured domains, rifling through demons' pockets.
There was no resistance.
They couldn't resist.
It was "less" miserable to willingly give everything for the race on the brink of bankruptcy than to incur the lords' wrath.
The scraped-together sum was about 400 million coins.
Even adding what the five lords gave up entirely, it fell short of 800 million.
Woefully, hopelessly short.
The problem was time.
If they'd had more time, they could have borrowed from other races using their domains as collateral or sold hidden artifacts to scrape funds together.
But only a few minutes remained.
Where were they supposed to get over 300 million coins in that time?
[...Is this the end?]
Deep helplessness settled in the lords' wills.
They'd done their best, but the wall was too high.
In 10 minutes, they were fated to helplessly watch their empire crumble.
Of course, they hadn't truly given their "best."
Why else would they be demons?
-Heard? Lady Lilith's really on the verge of bankruptcy.
-So, how much did you bet? I put one of my domains on 'she bankrupts.' Heh.
-I bet on 'she doesn't.' No matter what, she's the first demon—surely not taken down by one human.
While the lords squeezed their subjects' blood, another game was running in the Abyss's back alleys.
Open gambling on whether their progenitor would bankrupt or not.
Countless demons secretly skimmed coins they were supposed to offer, betting on this once-in-a-lifetime gamble.
Race honor or lordly authority meant nothing to them.
Only the thrill of the game before their eyes and the greed to grab a share in the chaos sparkled.
This was the true face of the empire they'd built.
But did the system not know their rotten nature?
Or did it know and look the other way?
Did their desperate, hypocritical struggles somehow work?
A miracle-like system message appeared before the six lords' eyes.
[......!]
The lords' minds froze for a moment.
Like a prisoner awaiting execution suddenly granted a stay—an unbelievable relief.
The system had given them a chance.
[We're saved!]
One lord unwittingly burst with joyful will.
[24 hours! That's plenty!]
It was possible.
Pledge parts of their domains as collateral and promise hefty interest to neutral races that hadn't turned away yet.
They could borrow the missing 300 million coins easily.
Humiliating, yes—but better than bankruptcy.
[Activate all diplomatic channels immediately!]
They sprang into bustling action once more.
Like grasping a thin lifeline from the bottom of hell.
But then.
As if dousing their hopeful flames, another system message appeared.
[......What?]
The lords' minds froze again.
It made no sense.
Why had the debt increased again?
As they drowned in confusion, the system casually delivered new news.
[......!!!]
A shock like being struck on the head.
Only then did they grasp the full absurdity of the situation.
Park Chan-woo had moved.
In the short time they flailed to gather coins, he had jumped to another world and ended the "night" there.
And that reward was neatly added to their mountain of debt.
[......That, that mad bastard!]