Chapter 211: One Question, One Answer (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 211: One Question, One Answer (1)
Jinhyuk massaged his temples with his index fingers.
Was this why he had shown such knightly etiquette and poured out those solemn words?
As expected...
'Just as I thought.'
This outcome had been set in stone from the moment Penheimer first made contact.
In fact, he had been worried about what to do if Penheimer didn't bring this up. It was a relief that the man had broached the subject first.
'But I need to keep my expression as grim as possible to squeeze out more rewards.'
Looking troubled, looking conflicted. He had to play hard to get so that Penheimer would feel more pressured when making his request.
And that prediction hit the bullseye.
Perhaps realizing that his own request was a difficult one, Penheimer quickly added:
"Of course, I am not asking this of you for nothing. Naturally, such hardship must be met with a fitting reward. If you accept this task, I will gift you any single item you desire from the Imperial Treasury. His Majesty the Emperor has already given his consent, so you need not feel burdened."
"...!"
Jinhyuk's pupils trembled.
Oho.
He figured he'd get something decent, but he hadn't expected them to be this generous.
It seemed he had underestimated just how desperately Penheimer wanted to protect the Emperor.
The treasury of the wealthiest empire in the middle floors was an opportunity he absolutely could not afford to miss.
"Ahem! Cough! For the sake of the Empire and you, Lord Penheimer, I will make sure to succeed, no matter how difficult it may be. You do know I'm not doing this because I covet the treasure, right?"
"...Yes. Of course, I'm sure that's the case."
Penheimer replied, his voice dripping with skepticism.
"...!"
"Munch..."
Something registered in the senses of Jinhyuk and Alice, who was busy eating.
Multiple footsteps were approaching the shantytown.
They weren't ordinary people.
The mana radiating from them was at a level no normal human could ever possess.
Before they knew it, all the bustling noise of the shantytown had vanished.
"It seems someone has tailed us."
A beat late, Penheimer also realized something was amiss.
"Their numbers seem quite significant... Did the nobles send them?"
"I do not know. Only a select few within the Empire know of this place, so how on earth..."
Penheimer shook his head, utterly baffled.
Which meant it was highly likely to be someone other than the nobles.
As Jinhyuk focused his sensory perception, he began to count the enemies approaching from outside one by one.
Twenty-seven in total.
A repulsive mana began to seep in from beyond the door.
Now that they were right on their doorstep, he knew for sure.
The things outside were by no means ordinary enemies.
The sticky, brain-piercing aura carried a bizarre sense of incongruity.
'I guess we have no choice but to fight.'
Aside from the fact that there was only one door, there was no way to escape from such a cramped space.
"They're coming."
No sooner had Alice spoken—
Crash!
The door shattered into pieces.
* * *
What appeared was not human.
"Kieeee..."
"Greeeeck!"
No, to be precise, it would be more accurate to describe them as things that used to be human but were no longer.
Undead, drooling black saliva, poured inside.
Shatter!
Multiple undead squeezed their torsos through the windows.
Their desperate struggles to crawl inside were quite grotesque.
"I will take the left," Penheimer said, drawing his sword.
"The right is mine," Alice added, gathering droplets of blood to form sharp skewers.
The moment the undead entered their range, Penheimer and Alice moved simultaneously.
Slash!
Rumble!
The blue-burning Aura Blade and the crimson skewers hacked the bodies of the undead to pieces.
The undead were torn apart like sheets of paper.
Since every single attack was infused with indescribable mana, bodies made of fragile flesh and bone stood absolutely no chance of enduring them.
Yes.
That was how it should have been, but...
"Kieee...!"
"Keeeck!"
The undead, despite their bodies being torn to shreds, did not fall.
Their severed flesh and bones knitted back together in an instant, transforming them into even larger monstrosities than before.
To make matters worse, black thorns sprouted from their wounds.
Sssss!
A light green liquid sprayed from the thorns and splashed against the wall.
Instantly, the wall began to sizzle and dissolve with a loud, hissing sound.
"W-what bizarre monsters..."
"Tch. They're a bad matchup for us."
Having barely dodged the spray, Penheimer and Alice wore disgusted expressions.
Right then,
Thud!
A white flash of light erupted from the bow made of Pentagris's molar.
A gaping hole appeared in the forehead of the leading undead.
Jinhyuk drew his bowstring once more.
Thwack!
"Keeeeeck!"
A hole was punched through the head of the second creature in the exact same manner.
It was a clean, precise strike without a single wasted movement.
Even the simple act of drawing the string and releasing the arrow looked beautiful.
However,
Creak!
Kikik!
The undead whose head had been destroyed began to rise again, its body twisting grotesquely.
Even if they put aside the fact that the Aura Blade and Alice's abilities weren't particularly effective against the undead...
Could it be that even arrows enhanced by 'Blessing of the Stars' and 'Daylight' were useless?
This was a first even for Jinhyuk.
"Interesting."
The corners of Jinhyuk's mouth curled upward.
How long had it been?
Facing an unknown, mysterious enemy.
Rumble!
Jinhyuk rearranged his mana with practiced ease.
[Lv2 'Inescapable Net' has been activated!]
A transparent wave of energy connected to the surrounding enemies.
'Fifteen in front, and six spread out on each flank.'
After pinpointing the number and locations of the enemies through the Inescapable Net,
[Lv11 'Glacial Shaping' has been activated!]
He bound their feet using Glacial Shaping, which possessed a wide-area crowd control effect.
Frost rising from the floor clung to the soles of the undead's feet.
To finish them off, just as he had done with Bayorodum, he would manifest a new skill through multi-fusion.
[Unique Ability 'Mandala', Unique Ability 'Thousand Poisons', and Skill 'Giant's Grasp' are fusing!]
Hummmmm!
A blinding light burst forth.
A fusion of three skills, no less.
Although it placed a massive strain on his body, abnormal enemies required abnormal methods.
[Fusion successful!]
[You have acquired the Unique Ability 'Colossus Strike'!]
[The fused ability has been saved in the 'Memory of the World'!]
Status windows popped up in rapid succession.
In an instant, a white vortex swirled around Jinhyuk's fist.
The rapidly spinning mana began to condense into a single point in a clockwise motion.
And when that rotation reached its peak—
'...Now!'
A storm that transcended all limits blasted forward in a straight line.
KABOOM!
A blinding flash of light tore through the path of his fist.
If a fist was meant to destroy a target, then Colossus Strike was meant to punish it.
An indiscriminate retribution without a shred of mercy.
The undead, their entire upper bodies blown away, collapsed on the spot.
"Fuuu..."
Jinhyuk took a deep, stabilizing breath.
'Minimizing the surrounding damage with a barrier while dampening the noise is no easy task.'
Because he had poured out such a massive amount of mana in a single instant, the pressure exerted on his body was beyond imagination.
His muscles groaned, and it felt as if his blood vessels were burning up.
However,
"You've... got to be kidding me."
Even after taking that strike, the undead did not stop.
Watching them rise again, twisting their bodies at bizarre angles, Jinhyuk swallowed hard.
...This was definitely not the work of the nobles.
Given their extreme hatred for black magic and heresy, they would never resort to such methods.
Above all, it was impossible for the nobles to create monsters of this caliber with their current capabilities.
With the primary suspect eliminated, the second candidate rose to the very top of the list.
Those who possessed the power and capital to wield such black magic without hesitation...
And at the same time,
'A group with a strong hostility toward me.'
There was only one such group.
"The Demonic Human Association."
Jinhyuk slowly uttered the name.
Instantly, as if by magic, the undead froze in their tracks.
Step.
A Western man with a striking, smiling gaze stepped out from among the undead.
"Haha. Nice to meet you, Player Kang Jinhyuk. I originally planned to make my entrance after wearing you down a bit more, but you've thrown my timing off slightly."
"You seem to know me."
"How could I not? You're the very person who fed us false information about Unknown and led us straight to Cheon Yu-seong. Thanks to you, I had to go all the way to his officetel and fight him, wasting an entire day."
"Ah..."
Come to think of it, he did recall feeding that information to Hosenbelt, who held the title of Lancelot, back at the psychiatric ward.
He also remembered how Cheon Yu-seong's officetel had been half-destroyed while he was just trying to enjoy his day off, and how a furious Yu-seong had drawn his sword.
"Does that mean you're also a member of that Round Table or whatever?"
"Yes. You may comfortably call me Gawain."
Gawain...
It was a bit late to point it out, but their naming sense was as chuunibyou as they come.
But his name wasn't what mattered right now.
What mattered was his purpose for coming here.
"You seem to have brought some pretty interesting toys. Since you're not attacking right away, should I take that to mean you have something to say?"
Despite commanding these absurd undead who even resisted divine power, Gawain wasn't putting any real effort into attacking.
He was merely maintaining the encirclement and acting as a threat.
That was all.
"As expected, you're as sharp as they say. Actually, I have a proposal I'd like to make, Player Kang Jinhyuk."
"I hope it's not some bullshit about joining the Demonic Humans and cleaning up after you. As I've said before, my philosophy is that I'd rather die than share a boat with people I despise."
"No, nothing of the sort. Honestly, even if we did join hands, isn't it obvious we'd just end up stabbing each other in the back?"
A relationship like oil and water, destined never to mix.
No matter how much they smiled and shook hands on the surface, the ending of this story was already written.
Gawain knew this as well, which was why he skipped the clumsy lies and got straight to the point.
"Then what is your proposal?"
"An exchange of information. You ask me what you're curious about, and I will do the same."
This... was a rather intriguing offer.
It meant he could ask about the things he had been curious about regarding the Demonic Human Association.
In terms of filling his information gaps, Gawain's offer definitely had merit.
'I should play along for a bit to buy some time.'
While they spoke, he noticed Penheimer doing something on the floor.
It might be a run-down shack, but since it was designated as a safehouse, there had to be some kind of mechanism prepared.
"Assuming I accept, how do we guarantee that neither of us will lie?"
"You don't have to worry about that. My unique ability forces us to maintain trust."
[Gawain activates the Unique Ability 'Scales of Trust'!]
[Both parties will take turns asking questions, and the opponent must answer truthfully.]
[In the event of silence, information of equivalent value to the question must be provided.]
[Anyone who violates this will face the judgment of the scales.]
In an instant, a massive bronze scale materialized beneath the feet of Jinhyuk and Gawain.
Sharp, saw-toothed iron gears were visible.
Just as the status window described, telling a lie would undoubtedly trigger a disaster where those saw-toothed gears would grind together.
"Looks like we can rely on the trust aspect."
"I will ask the first question. Is that alright?"
"Go ahead."
He preferred going second over going first. By analyzing the minor details revealed during the conversation, he could formulate questions that pierced right to the core.
"Then..."
Gawain slowly opened his mouth.
And,
the first question he asked...
...was one that caught him completely off guard.