Chapter 110
Chapter 110
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: The True Demon
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The scenery had completely changed.
It was as if everything had vanished like a mirage.
The crumbled throne. The empty shrine.
And in the center of it all that remained was a single flickering ember, far more pathetic than before.
Swoosh-.
Something emerged from within that ember.
A hand red as if dipped in blood. Crimson eyes symbolic of demons.
Viola asked as she gazed at the demon with long hair swirling with dark red energy.
"What... is that?"
"A demon."
"I can tell that much just by looking. But what the hell happened..."
There was only one.
All those countless demons had vanished without a trace, leaving just this single demon before them.
"It was one from the start."
The mistake had been assuming there were hundreds to begin with.
The only ones who had seen it with their own eyes were Viola and Elaine.
Just the two of them.
"It was far easier to fool the eyes of two Valkyries than to bring hundreds of demons here."
"No way..."
"An illusion-type demon, or phantasm-type."
Viola had seen hundreds of demons in this single one before her.
Elaine had been the same.
There was one exception.
"Belveim seems to have known."
Suhyuk's gaze slowly turned toward the demon rising to its feet.
"Since it went to such lengths to hide it."
"...When did you figure it out?"
Suhyuk pondered briefly before answering the demon's question.
"I suspected it from the beginning."
There was no real reason to answer the guy's question.
"Still, I needed confirmation."
"Confirmation?"
"From the start, whether it's Asgard or Muspelheim, major interventions on this side are impossible, right? That's how the system dictates it."
That was the first suspicion.
"And the city was too quiet. If there were really that many demons, the city would've been in chaos by now."
"That's all?"
"No. Of course not."
Up to that point, it was just a feeling of something off.
What turned suspicion into certainty was something else.
"You killed Belveim."
That was the biggest hint.
Suhyuk's gaze shifted to Vigo, who wore a bewildered expression.
"Using this guy."
"M-Me?"
"Yeah. You."
Perhaps her death wasn't even part of passing this trial.
If not for that situation, Suhyuk might not have been so certain.
"A demon with illusion abilities. If it's hiding something, it's obvious, right?"
The most basic way to break illusion abilities was realizing they were illusions.
The same went for phantasms under illusions.
The moment you realize it's not reality, the power halves.
That's why demons or players with illusion abilities went to great lengths to avoid detection.
And on top of that.
"Above all, there's no such thing as an impossible trial."
The last part was said with the mic turned off.
This was for the viewers. Talk of trials and such—demons and Valkyries couldn't comprehend it.
'So that's what it was?'
Viola recalled Suhyuk stepping into the flames as she listened to the explanation.
"I have something to confirm."
Even before that, Suhyuk had known the flames before him were fake.
Walking into them voluntarily was just to confirm it.
But.
'Does knowing that make it work?'
Viola was a swordswoman who handled blades, but she wasn't entirely ignorant of illusion abilities.
Training to become a Valkyrie had included lessons on demons' illusions and phantasms.
Even if she knew now that she was trapped in an illusion and the demon before her was a phantasm, that was just the first step.
'Knowing and overcoming are different matters.'
It was an illusion so well-crafted even a Valkyrie fell for it.
The moment she accepted it as real even slightly, her body would turn to ash.
Overcoming that required confidence in one's power and immense mental fortitude.
"I've answered everything, so let me ask one thing in return."
In truth, it was an answer for the viewers, but Suhyuk posed it as a trade.
"How did Belveim know? She couldn't have figured it out alone."
The one unresolved mystery.
She'd revealed her ability and killed Belveim, so she clearly knew something, but the process didn't add up.
Fortunately.
"That bitch came to me. Because of that thing in your hand."
The demon, who knew the reason, provided the answer.
"I even told her to just take it. She had quite the grudge against Asgard."
The demon's lips curled up.
Even caught, it didn't seem particularly shaken.
No.
Rather, it sneered at Viola behind Suhyuk.
"Your family got some serious drama too? Huh?"
The demon mocked Viola, using Belveim's betrayal as an appetizer. Having just been betrayed by a friend and stabbed in the back herself, Viola ground her teeth until they nearly shattered.
"Shut up. I don't want to hear it from scum worse than us."
"We've always been like that. But you weren't, right?"
Viola was at a loss for words at the demon's taunt.
It was true. Demons had never had concepts like comrades or friends.
To them, allies were beings to betray when needed or devour like meals for sustenance.
"You pretend to be noble on the outside, but inside, you're no different from us hypocrites."
That was what the demon was saying.
What makes you any different from us?
Glance-.
The demon's gaze flicked to the gem in Suhyuk's hand.
Thunder's Heart.
The object desired by Valkyries descended to earth and demons risen from hell.
"It's all because of that."
What the demon truly wanted was in Suhyuk's grasp.
"That's why you Valkyries corrupt and become no different from us demons."
Swoosh-.
The demon extended its hand.
"Hand it over. Then tragedies like this won't happen again."
At those words, Suhyuk glanced back at Viola.
He could feel her wavering. Already shaken by Belveim's betrayal and Elaine's death, she was vulnerable.
What had held her together so far were the two words: her mission.
But.
If that mission was the reason her comrades died...
"Don't listen."
Viola jolted and looked up at Suhyuk's voice.
"It's a snake. Its voice is laced with enchantment."
Hearing was a sense as sensitive as sight. Voices were often used as mediums for illusions, not just visuals.
"What, you figured that out too?"
"Belveim must've been enchanted by you."
"Well, well."
The demon smirked at Suhyuk's guess.
"You knew that too?"
Viola's eyes widened at the near-affirmation.
"No way..."
"Don't look at me like it's all my fault. Why would I pick her for no reason?"
The demon shrugged and continued provoking Viola.
"Doubts about her mission had already taken root in her heart long ago. I just added a little spice—very spicy, mind you."
"You..."
Crunch-.
She bared her fangs in murderous intent.
Crack-.
As Viola stepped forward, the shrine floor split open.
Her body tensed so much she didn't care about the ground. With force in her step, she charged at the demon.
"You dare—You dare!"
Kwa-duk-!
She swung her sword gripped fiercely with both hands. The shrine walls were sliced, the ceiling shook.
Groooowl-.
The demon's body split in half from her strike.
But unsatisfied, she kept swinging.
Whooosh-.
Screeech, squeal-.
In an instant, repeated slashes tore the demon into ten, then a hundred pieces.
Viola's sword wasn't meant to kill the demon.
The reason she swung now was to vent the rage boiling inside her.
A moment later.
As she raised her sword again toward the demon, now unrecognizable even in form...
"Stop."
Thud-.
A hand grabbed her wildly swinging arm.
Suhyuk halted Viola.
"No intention of stopping."
"If you'd actually been cutting it properly, I'd have let you continue."
"What?"
She turned to Suhyuk, who had stopped her, puzzled.
Whoosh-.
Suddenly, the world surrounding her changed.
With a strange sense of dissonance, she looked toward the demon—untouched, not shredded into hundreds of pieces, without a single scratch.
"Huh?"
"You were wildly swinging at empty air by yourself."
Crunch-.
Suhyuk crushed a long red thorn in his other hand with raw strength.
"Without even noticing it aimed for your throat."
"Ah..."
Having swung madly, Viola collapsed, drenched in sweat.
She looked half out of her mind. Her wounds had worsened from the exertion, but more than that, the mental damage was severe.
It was understandable.
Illusion abilities aimed to wound the mind more than the body.
Of course.
It didn't work on everyone.
"Doesn't work on you, huh."
The demon's expression changed, displeased, unlike before.
Unlike Viola, its power had no effect on Suhyuk. It thought it had overcome all of Asgard's Valkyries, but an unexpected variable appeared.
"Normally, even she wouldn't have fallen easily."
Viola had strong mental fortitude. Losing two comrades yet pressing on with her mission proved it.
Yet she fell repeatedly to illusions for one reason.
"Right now... she's just hurting."
The shock from it.
Suhyuk knew well the pain of losing comrades. If he were in her place now, he'd fall just as easily.
The demon before her was a perfect counter to Viola's current state.
Step-.
Suhyuk passed by Viola and approached the demon.
"So now, I'll help her out a bit."
"You seem to be misunderstanding something."
Kiririr-.
Myriad dark red thorns sprouted around the demon.
As if wielding thousands, tens of thousands of weapons.
Considering the system's penalties, this was a carefully selected demon from Muspelheim.
Probably possessing the combined power of three Valkyries, including Viola, on its own.
Illusions were just one of its many abilities; it was a fairly high-rank demon.
But.
"Doesn't matter."
If this was the trial's finale anyway.
Crackle, zzzap-.
Suhyuk could ignore all that and pull out his trump card.
Zzzzzap-!
A faint black light mingled with the lightning spreading over Suhyuk's body.
"No matter what you can do."
At that moment.
Kaboom-!
With a thunderclap through the gaping hole in the shrine's ceiling, black lightning struck Suhyuk's body.
Reincarnator's Streaming