Chapter 158
Chapter 158
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 158
Chapter Title: The Heart in the Cliff
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A man in golden armor sat in front of a hole in the cliff.
“Hey—Necromancer buddy.”
I flashed him a warm smile.
“Barbarian Warrior buddy.”
“Did you wrap up all your business?”
“Yep. You?”
“Same here. Just finished up.”
“Where’s the trace?”
“That cave over there.”
I’d thought the salamander had lied and dragged me here, but it really was a place with Lucifer’s trace.
I placed a cigarette butt on the salamander’s corpse.
“It was real, huh.”
Ma Jeongwoo climbed down from the cliff and sidled up next to me.
“What’re you doing? Why’re you putting a cigarette butt on the fire?”
“...It’s a thing.”
Kim Yeonhee, who’d met up with Yoo Sora, was hopping around joyfully. Anyone would think they hadn’t seen each other in ages, but it’d only been a few hours since they parted.
Must’ve been tough hanging out with Jeongwoo, their natural opposite.
“...Huh?! Michael!”
I rushed over to Michael. He was badly hurt, his clothes soaked in blood.
His mithril army uniform was torn horizontally, a clear sign he’d been attacked by the dullahan.
“You okay?”
“I’m fineee. Just a little tear in my clothes.”
“A little tear? You’re drenched in blood.”
“A man can handle this much. Spit on it and it’ll heal.”
“...Who taught you that? Spit on it and it heals.”
Michael glanced at Jeongwoo. I cleared my throat and asked again.
“You fought the dullahan?”
“Yesss. I wonnn.”
“Oh... So that’s why its head was smashed.”
Jeongwoo, who’d been listening, asked me.
“You ran into the dullahan? How’d you know its head was smashed?”
“...I went to its lair.”
“To catch it?”
I shrugged.
“Nah, not exactly. Things just happened, we fought, and I took care of it.”
“Whew... It’s a natural enemy for us, so I didn’t want to fight, but it found our hiding spot, so we had no choice but to exchange a few blows.”
“Good thing. If you’d gotten hit by Instant Kill, you’d be lying on the ground right now.”
“Well—I fought using that trick you used to pull a lot.”
“My trick?”
“Yeah, pretend to be hurt, then whoosh—ambush. Landed one hit and ran.”
From the sound of it, he sounded like a total villain, but it was a solid strategy exploiting a tough enemy’s carelessness.
“...Well done.”
“So, shall we go erase Lucifer’s trace now?”
“Sounds good. Sora, you got the Book of the Lion ready?”
Yoo Sora beamed and held up the Book of the Lion.
“Of course!”
* * * * *
Inside the cave, a circular magic circle drawn in red blood came into view. Inside it were star shapes and spells written in an unknown language.
Yoo Sora stood before it and opened the Book of the Lion. Two new pages of content appeared, along with the incantation we needed to memorize.
I stepped into the magic circle and recited after her.
-Father who exists in chaos...
“Father who exists in chaos...”
The first line was an incantation borrowing Tiamat’s power to come to this world.
The second line extracted the ‘heart,’ the source of power, without issue.
The third line sealed the extracted heart here.
And the incantation Yoo Sora was now chanting nullified all three.
“Reveal thyself.”
Black smoke seeped out from the magic circle. Then the star shape in the center flashed, and Lucifer’s heart appeared in midair.
“...Creepy.”
The heart throbbed like a live fish on a cutting board. Michael pulled a bag from his backpack and quickly sealed it inside.
“This good?”
“Well done.”
Yoo Sora, who’d been reading from the Book of the Lion, suddenly collapsed. She clutched her head, dizzy.
“Sora, you okay?”
“Ah... My head suddenly...”
Even in pain, she kept reading from the Book of the Lion.
It continued with the newly written story.
“Thou who art closer to chaos than any other, stop the coming clash of good and evil.”
“...”
“If the weight of power does not balance the scales, it will tip to one side. A world without center will hasten toward ruin.”
“...”
Cryptic words.
It basically meant stay neutral between good and evil, don’t tip the scales.
‘...Screw that.’
For humanity to avoid ruin, we had to wipe out the archetypes of good and evil created by some god.
Only then could a new world begin.
Yoo Sora clutched her head and kept reading until she fainted. The last part she uttered didn’t seem that important.
It was just a tale about the angel-demon rivalry.
Jeongwoo scratched his head and asked me.
“Should we wait a bit before going?”
“...Yeah. We found the trace, and we’ve got time—no need to rush.”
“Right. Then... I’ll step out for a smoke.”
“Sure, let’s go. Kim Yeonhee, Michael—you two guard Sora inside.”
* * * * *
Somewhere in the forest, Lucifer clutched his chest.
“Gaaahhh!”
His scream sent nearby wild animals fleeing in terror.
“Damn it... That guy again...”
A swarm of flies gathered at his shout, buzzing as they converged into Beelzebub.
“Haha... Lucifer, what now?”
“...Kim Cheonjae found my heart.”
“What? How’d he know it was there?”
“No idea. Sigh...”
Unlike Lucifer’s worried face, Beelzebub laughed.
“Just give up the heart at this point. You can’t go back to hell like this...”
“What about the plan?”
Clap clap clap!
“Perfect! At this rate, the whole area will be hell in a week.”
“...Good.”
Lucifer walked out of the forest. Beelzebub followed. Soon, the dense trees parted, revealing a vast wasteland.
Countless demon soldiers waited there.
The Dark Witch Lich bowed her head in greeting.
“I’ve brought the ones you requested.”
Lucifer looked down at her.
“...Well done. Attack the humans with them and increase our forces.”
“Understood. How far should we expand the territory?”
“How far...”
Lucifer took to the air.
He pointed at a distant ‘ruined village.’
“There. Right up to there.”
The lich turned to check the location.
“That place has a lot of humans—it’ll take time. Is that alright?”
“Yes. If it’s tough, I’ll step in myself.”
“Ah, no need. I’ll get it done as fast as possible.”
“...Good. That’s what I expect from a great demon’s adjutant.”
Lucifer waved both hands, releasing dark energy that enlarged the demon soldiers.
The green fields turned black,
The sky’s clouds darkened,
Nearby forest trees withered and tilted.
He swung his arms wide down and up again,
Rumble rumble boom!
The ground split, and jagged spires rose from within.
Irregular shapes like unpolished crystal shards.
The demons cried out in eerie wails, like primitives worshiping random rocks as nature gods.
-Roaaar!
Lucifer looked down at his demon soldiers with satisfaction.
Beelzebub flew up beside him and whispered.
“What about the brothers?”
“...We bring them all. To toast the new hell.”
* * * * *
After Yoo Sora came to, Kim Cheonjae’s group headed for the Dark Vent.
It would’ve taken at least a full day on foot, but the bone dragon saved them a ton of time.
They’d secured the heart and reached the volcano in under two days.
At the Dark Vent, we hunted nearby to kill time.
Unlike me, who’d hit master level, the others were still in the low 90s.
“Jeongwoo, still?”
“Yeah, probably another thirty minutes.”
My overwhelming EXP share left the others with scraps.
Not that it mattered now...
Even piles of EXP were useless to me anymore.
Michael paused his hunt to ask.
“Cheonjae Kim.”
“Yeah?”
“What happens when we melt Lucifer’s heart in the volcano?”
“...If it follows the ‘Land of Ruin’ story I know, Lucifer will start attacking the human world again.”
“Human world?”
“Yeah, where we used to live.”
“Oh no! Isn’t that bad?”
“...Depends on the view. But it’s necessary to advance to the next round.”
No choice.
To end this game fast, we had to force the rounds.
I wanted out ASAP.
Swoosh—thwack!
A charging demon was sliced by Gawain.
“My lord.”
“What?”
“...Someone’s coming here.”
“Hm? Who?”
“Not sure. But... definitely not a demon.”
Not a demon coming here? I stood, tilting my head.
No one but demons around.
“No one here?”
“...You can’t see now, but from far beyond sight...”
“Yeah?”
“Yes, and this one’s been watching us since the ‘Forgotten Valley’ earlier...”
Watching us from Forgotten Valley? I hadn’t sensed a thing.
I eyed Gawain curiously—then it clicked.
With a tiger’s body, his senses far outstripped a human’s.
A male tiger’s territory was twice Seoul’s size—naturally superior!
“...Ma Jeongwoo!”
Jeongwoo yelled mid-hunt.
“What! Can’t you see I’m busy?”
“Looks like we gotta melt the heart now.”
“...Why?”
“Someone’s coming here.”
“Who?”
“Dunno. Not human, apparently.”
“...Huh.”
Hunting for levels ended. Yoo Sora, Michael, Kim Yeonhee stopped fighting and gathered at the volcano vent.
While we prepared to melt the heart, the bone dragon held off the demons alone.
Whoosh—whoosh—
Wingbeats alone sent them flying everywhere.
I took Lucifer’s heart from Michael and tossed it into the volcano.
It spun as it fell into the boiling red liquid,
Sizzle sizzle!
The surface burned away, sinking inside.
[‘Fallen Heart’ melts in the Dark Vent.]
[‘Demon King Lucifer’’s stats halve.]
[Health gauge reduces from 10 to 5 bars.]
[All skills’ power decreases.]
“...Success.”
[‘Watchers of the Game’ cheer for Kim Cheonjae!]
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