Chapter 332
Chapter 332
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 332
Chapter Title: Demonic Presence
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Let's move on to the next door. Ye-ryeong was already waiting there.
Ye-ryeong stood in the middle of the small, narrow cave. Seeing her again filled Soo-hyuk with relief first and foremost.
He had believed in her, but apparently, a corner of his heart had still been uneasy.
"You're late."
"Something came up."
Soo-hyuk asked Ye-ryeong what had happened to her.
She had faced a trial similar to his, yet different.
"I went back to the old days."
"The old days?"
"When we were all together. Kyu-seong, Su-hun, Min-jae, Ji-young. All of us."
Unlike the black door he had to fight, there was no battle inside the white door.
"They made it so I didn't want to come back. Seriously, it pissed me off."
"Why'd it piss you off?"
"What do you think you have to do to get out of there?"
It was obvious.
Either cut down your comrades with your own hands, or live happily with them forever.
The magic circle must have presented those two extreme choices.
"You okay?"
"What's the point when it's all fake anyway."
Ye-ryeong snorted as if it were a given.
As expected, she wasn't defeated by such an illusion. Ye-ryeong possessed the wisdom to value the real over the happiness offered by past fantasies.
"What about you? Why'd it take you so long?"
"Similar for me. I met Kyu-seong."
"Kyu-seong?"
Soo-hyuk roughly explained what had happened to him.
Drinking together. Talking. Fighting. Killing.
He summarized the process very briefly. He even added this.
"It wasn't the real Kyu-seong."
It was meant to comfort her that hers wasn't real either, but Ye-ryeong was more composed than expected.
"Of course it wasn't."
He could sense she meant he shouldn't dwell on it either.
Soo-hyuk nodded. It lightened his heart considerably.
"Still, it was way weaker than the Kyu-seong I saw at the end. The limits of the magic circle, I guess."
He hadn't seen her fight it himself.
But Soo-hyuk knew what Kyu-seong's final battle had been like, and he had witnessed his end up close.
The Kyu-seong back then was strong enough to be mistaken for a demon king. He had parted ways with Si-woo and Ye-ryeong to gain that power, but it was truly overwhelming.
If the trial's Kyu-seong had been as strong as that one?
Impossible, but it would have been really dangerous then.
"It took so long because of my greed. It felt too real, so I wanted to spend a little time with him."
Soo-hyuk had shared Kyu-seong's final moments. A short conversation, but a farewell.
But unlike with Si-woo or Ye-ryeong, the reunion with Kyu-seong had been too brief and unsatisfying.
Maybe that's why he had dragged it out—to fill that unfulfilled longing.
"Once we get out, we gotta find whoever made this."
Ye-ryeong grumbled fiercely.
"That bastard—there's a limit to screwing with people!"
Clank—.
As if responding to her words, another padlock unlocked and dropped before their eyes.
In this magic circle where everything was fake, this was the one real thing.
That made three padlocks unlocked so far.
And at that moment.
Rumble—.
The cave where Soo-hyuk and Ye-ryeong stood began to shake.
"What's coming now?"
Exhausted from the previous trial, Ye-ryeong's tone was one of utter annoyance.
At least they had each other this time. Even in the same situation, having Soo-hyuk by her side would let her cope more steadily.
But the situation that followed would fluster anyone, no matter who was beside them.
Kieee—!
From deep within the cave.
A sound that seeped not into their ears, but their souls.
The hairs on their arms stood on end.
Soo-hyuk and Ye-ryeong looked at each other simultaneously.
Ye-ryeong asked.
"You felt it?"
"Yeah."
It wasn't heard—it was felt.
That wasn't an ordinary sound.
And no matter how powerful the black magic, it couldn't produce something like that.
No matter how great the spell, its root was mana. You couldn't change that foundation.
This chilling, ominous sensation on their senses and skin could only be explained one way.
"It's demonic qi."
Kieee—!
Hailz's steps toward the basement halted abruptly.
Mercion and Neila, following behind, felt it too. Almost simultaneously.
As the three leaders stopped, Quian, the Red Tower's chief mage, asked.
"What's wrong?"
Only the three had heard the demonic qi cry echoing in their souls.
The relatively weaker chief mage, and the other mages under him, hadn't sensed the demonic qi yet.
Hailz whipped around.
She glared at Mercion.
"What the hell do you have hidden underground?"
Then she glared at Neila.
"You knew too, lady?"
Neila, who would normally explode at being called "lady," didn't this time.
She wasn't even listening to Hailz.
Neila's red hair rose against gravity, bit by bit.
In a fleeting moment, ecstasy filled her face, a demonic smile blooming and vanishing.
That was answer enough.
Neila quickly regained her composure. Feigning seriousness, she said.
"Looks like something dangerous is down there."
As if she had no idea.
"Black Tower Master. What do you have hidden below?"
"What would I have?"
"I definitely felt it. That was demonic qi just now."
The Red Tower mages around them gasped at the words "demonic qi."
"Tower Master. Is that true?"
"Demonic kin in the Black Tower's basement?"
At Chief Mage Quian's question, Hailz's hat floated up.
"It's not just one sealed demon, is it?"
The great mage's hat, Ebonywing.
The hat moving meant Hailz was preparing magic. The startled mages tried to stop her.
But could you stop a great mage's spell so easily?
The moment Hailz's staff tapped the floor, the magic had already activated.
Swoosh—.
The scenery around everyone blurred past in an instant.
It felt like sinking through the ceiling and floor downward. The mages around Hailz plunged down, reaching the basement in a flash.
Space teleportation?
No, it wasn't. A true space jump wouldn't show the scenery like this.
Then what?
Chief Mage Kyle's mind reeled in confusion. This magic of Hailz's held a wonder different from destructive spells like Meteor.
A mysticism beyond conventional magic.
This is a great mage, he thought, admiring it for a moment.
Clank—.
Before Hailz and the mages who had descended, a massive black door appeared.
Bound in chains, sealed with multiple padlocks.
Three unlocked padlocks lay scattered before it.
Step—.
After briefly examining the door, Hailz spun and approached Mercion.
"Open it."
Ebonywing hovering above her head, she exuded a great mage's aura.
"Right now."
As if she already guessed what lay inside.
Si-woo broke through the magic circle.
It wasn't particularly difficult. Tedious and time-consuming, sure, but freezing and shattering it worked fine.
The real challenge had been at the end.
"Damn. What a shitty feeling."
In Si-woo's final trial, Ye-ryeong appeared. She betrayed him, allying with Kim Il-su.
She wanted back into the world. Tired of hiding with him.
It was the embodiment of thoughts Si-woo had once harbored.
Wondering if Ye-ryeong was hiding because of him. If he was being stubborn.
Of course, knowing it was fake didn't stop it from souring his mood. Before reuniting with Soo-hyuk, he might not have passed—it was that tough.
"Mercion, that bastard."
"Our teacher's not a bastard!"
As he ground his teeth, a tiny kid popped up below his waist.
Another fake? The thought flashed briefly.
Stretch—.
Si-woo pinched the kid's cheek.
"Real, you little punk."
"It huuurts—."
"Ah, yeah. Hurts? Sorry."
Si-woo didn't go soft or fawn just because it was a kid.
By now, kids his age had gathered around him.
No.
I came to where the kids are gathered.
He had successfully passed the magic circle and entered the orphanage.
Si-woo scanned the kids in the orphanage yard.
They looked a bit scared by his cold face—a stranger. Makes sense; no guardians were here to protect them.
The tallest one, probably the eldest, approached and asked.
"Who are you, mister?"
"Me?"
What to say?
He hadn't thought about it. Others might reveal themselves, but these kids wouldn't know him.
"...Where's the bathroom?"
Lame excuse.
But it worked on kids.
"This mister needs the bathroom bad!"
"Mister gotta poop?"
"Dummy, why ask that?"
"Poopy mister!"
Kids laugh at poop, huh. Si-woo awkwardly smiled amid their teasing, unable to deny it.
Kindly, the tall kid explained the bathroom's location in detail.
"Thanks."
"If you're thankful, bring snacks next time too, mister!"
The "too" suggested Soo-hyuk had brought food recently.
Thanks to Soo-hyuk breaking the ice, Si-woo entered the orphanage easily. Once inside the small building, as Soo-hyuk said, he checked the basement.
Placing a hand on the floor and spreading mana, he felt something unnaturally off.
No special power, but deep below was a large space.
Worried about traps or magic, he checked—thankfully, the basement itself seemed fine.
What are they hiding?
Si-woo searched for the basement entrance.
Prying a groove in the orphanage floor revealed dusty stairs leading down.
Si-woo descended. It seemed pitch black, no light, but surprisingly, the basement was bright.
Glowing stones embedded like bulbs in the ceiling along the stairs.
The basement looked long-sealed, but traces of recent passage were visible.
Swipe—.
Si-woo crouched to examine footprints on the stairs.
Dust was thinner in spots. Not old traces.
Someone's been coming and going recently.
Who? No need to guess.
Only Mercion frequented this place.
A managed space with recent visits and magic-lit stones.
As Si-woo descended further, the basement's secret revealed itself.
"This is insane..."