Chapter 529
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 529
Chapter Title: Bankruptcy (3)
Lilith herself, and even the six lords, had overlooked one crucial aspect.
The Abyss of Night.
It was the foundation of all "crafted Abysses," the most ancient archetype.
Just as all life had evolved from a single common ancestor.
The countless hundreds of millions, even billions, of crafted Abysses in the Abyss had all branched out and developed from this primordial concept of "Night."
As time passed, just as species evolved, the Abyss evolved too.
Administrators of the Night like Aheta, along with innumerable nameless creators, imitated, twisted, and reinterpreted "Night," adding their own unique rules and trials.
Unpredictable variables, more cunning traps, clearance conditions that shattered common sense!
Their endless creative fervor and playful spirit paradoxically tempered the very concept of "Night" itself.
The crafted Abysses formed a vast ecosystem, testing and honing challengers.
Amid those myriad trials, the challengers evolved as well.
Raw strength alone was no longer enough to survive.
They had to wring out every ounce of wisdom, cooperate with allies, and sometimes even deceive enemies.
All species in the Abyss had been relentlessly forged in this grand arena crafted by the demons.
And Park Chan-woo stood at the pinnacle of that evolution.
He was the being who had reached the end by thoroughly ravaging the Night shaped by the demons.
Through countless regressions, he had experienced innumerable Nights, piercing every pattern and trap down to his bones.
Even in the "Abyss of Pitch Black," he had overturned the board in the most cunning way and claimed victory.
To him, the "Primordial Night" that Lilith had now unleashed was...
...utterly simplistic.
Park Chan-woo even felt a twinge of disappointment.
Of course, its power itself was overwhelming, as it stemmed from the primordial source.
But the method was far too outdated.
A primitive approach of simply pouring out an overwhelming curse and demanding the target be destroyed.
A blunt display of power, devoid of any trickery or variables.
It was like a modern special forces operative returning to an ancient battlefield, facing soldiers armed only with spears and shields.
It wasn't even a game.
The world of the "Golden Lion Clan," atop lofty mountain peaks where thirteen moons hung in the sky.
Its Night tested "courage."
It showed the deepest illusions of fear, granting qualification to destroy the Holy Grail only to those who did not yield to terror.
But for Park Chan-woo, fear was a worn-out emotion he had overcome long ago.
He had witnessed countless apocalypses and his own deaths innumerable times.
Trivial illusions held no terror for him.
He strolled leisurely through the heart of the illusion and extinguished the Holy Grail as simply as snuffing out a candle on an altar.
The Night of the Girin Clan tested "endurance."
It imprisoned them in an endless cage of time, waiting for them to give up and fade away.
But for Park Chan-woo, who had endured eons of regressions, the flow of time was meaningless.
The moment the prison formed, he pierced its weakest link with Insight and shattered it in one blow.
The Night of the Seonggye Clan tested "wisdom."
A grand labyrinth containing all the truths of the universe.
But to Park Chan-woo, who had absorbed the Lord of Intelligence and awakened even the primordial tongue, that labyrinth was no different from a garden path where every route was visible at a glance.
The messages didn't stop.
Park Chan-woo zipped between worlds at the speed of light, sweeping away the curse of Night that Lilith had sown—like harvesting ripe fruit.
With each Night he cleared, the demons' debt ballooned exponentially.
It wasn't a snowball.
It was an avalanche.
The six demon lords' screams echoed through the depths.
But their will no longer reached any corner of the Abyss.
No one could stop him.
There was no way to block him, who had seized all paths through the World Tree, anywhere in this Abyss.
The demons could only watch helplessly as their own downfall was broadcast live in real time.
The debt had already surged into realms they couldn't even fathom—tens of billions of coins.
It was no longer a "debt" they could repay.
It was an irrevocable "verdict of fate."
Their arrogance was leading them to the most perfect ruin.
And so, when Park Chan-woo had cleared the Night from every allied race's world except their own territory...
5.62 billion.
The moment they confirmed that number...
Laughter erupted in the demons' world.
[...It's over.]
The Master of Black Glory slumped powerlessly onto his throne.
The last flicker of arrogance in his eyes died out.
[We... lost.]
They had no choice but to admit it.
There could be no more perfect defeat than this.
While the demons had scraped together mere billions of coins by wringing their entire empire dry...
Park Chan-woo had piled up dozens of times that amount in real time.
The debt was accumulating far faster than their desperate fundraising efforts.
They had never been a match from the start.
Reviving Lilith.
That act was now bringing about the demons' end.
The trump card they had played had returned as the sharpest dagger piercing their own hearts.
To demons, coins were absolute.
They were the measure of power itself.
The primal authority that could do anything and buy anything.
Though demon power was said to stem from the faith of their dominated territories and subjects, all other privileges and abilities were manifested and maintained through coins.
Catalysts for powerful magic, equipment to arm legions, funds to bribe other races, even offerings to sustain and strengthen their own divinity.
Everything ran on coins.
A demon without coins was no different from a fangless beast.
In other words, at this very moment, the six great lords had lost all privileges and powers.
The "great" prefix adorning their names was now an empty shell.
[......]
The silence on their thrones weighed heavier than death.
Just as they lost themselves, trying to accept their fate...
The foretold final judgment descended.
[......!]
All the lords' consciousnesses flared.
The system's blade was aimed at Lilith.
The lords could only watch.
It was far too late for them to sacrifice their remnants for her sake.
Empty. It was barren.
They had already pledged everything as debt collateral.
It had come.
The final mercy and most horrific punishment for one who had lost everything.
But then.
[......Failed?]
No way?
Could the system not directly intervene in a primordial being like Lilith?
A glimmer of hope.
No, more than that—madness began to flicker back in his eyes.
[Kuh... Kuhuhu... Kuhahahahaha!]
The Master of Black Glory burst into mad laughter.
[As expected! A primordial demon is a being even the system can't handle!]
[Park Chan-woo, no matter how you struggle, you can't kill Lilith! I will exist eternally with Lilith!]
He firmly believed Lilith's name would be his final shield.
It was at that instant.
[......!!!]
[Joint liability?]
[What kind of nonsense is this......]
Lilith's bankruptcy—why was responsibility being shifted to them too!
It made no sense.
They wanted to protest, but they couldn't.
This "joint liability" was only natural.
From Lilith's revival to her declaration of "Thirteen Nights" across the entire Abyss...
They had watched it all unfold.
No, they had tacitly consented and even encouraged it.
Hadn't they hoped Lilith would crush Park Chan-woo and restore the demons' fallen prestige?
They were cowardly conspirators who had hidden behind the massive storm of Lilith, hoping to reap the benefits safely.
The system had pierced their guilt precisely.
930 million coins.
They had already emptied their coffers, pouring everything into fundraising.
They had converted every disposable asset into coins.
There was no way to muster that astronomical sum right now.
[......We never should have started this war.]
[This is all your fault, Master of Black Glory!]
They had thought they escaped Park Chan-woo's judgment.
They had sighed in relief, hiding behind the greater disaster of Lilith.
But in the end, they hadn't escaped the massive trap he had laid by even a single step.
The blade he swung, pretending to strike Lilith, was ultimately aimed at their own necks.
The final verdict fell.
Over the thrones of the six lords, the horrific brand of bankruptcy—that which had devoured the serpent's master—simultaneously appeared.
Like six suns losing their light at once.
The skies of the Abyss began to crumble.
The demons' empire.
Its heart finally stopped.
* Ding!
* Ding!
* Ding!
* Ding!
* Ding!
* Ding!
Park Chan-woo smiled as he gazed at the madly popping-up messages.
Endless rewards pouring in.
It was the sound heralding the war's end.