Valley of Despair
Valley of Despair.
It was a place of sheer cliffs rising high on either side and jagged stone formations lined up like the teeth of a demon.
Maybe it was because of the name, but the whole place seemed even more sinister. The low-lying fog was unsettling as well.
Kiiiaaah-
A piercing scream echoed from deep within the gorge, winding around the rock walls.
"A banshee."
That was unmistakably a banshee’s shriek.
But the scream they had just heard did not belong to the Banshee Queen, Isophia. It was the cry of an ordinary, common banshee. Even so, it seemed enough to weigh on the group.
Especially the Arian clan members, most of whom had their abilities sealed by Satan’s curse, were trembling the moment they heard the banshee’s wail.
Arin was the only one who seemed relatively calm compared to the others. The Prophet’s Star did not appear to be limited to simply stealing glimpses of the future.
Arin looked at the trembling clan members with sympathy.
"It’ll be okay."
Yoon Sang-hyuk placed a hand on Arin’s head and gently patted her. The worry in Arin’s eyes quickly settled.
He would have liked to hand out accessories imbued with divine power from his subspace if he could, but that was impossible. All of them belonged to the Demon Realm, and as such they naturally carried demonic attributes. If they wore items with divine power in order to resist the banshees’ screams and cries, it would have the opposite effect. With their strength sealed, the Arian clan members might even be erased just from wearing them.
Kiiiaaah-
Kiiiaah-
The banshees kept screaming.
That meant they had realized intruders had entered their territory.
"Zeronia."
"Yes, Lord Sang-hyuk."
"Take the others and fall back."
"You mean...?"
"I’ll go alone and meet the Banshee Queen."
"That is dange..."
Zeronia, about to say it was dangerous, remembered how Yoon Sang-hyuk had treated a Hell Worm like a toy and shut her mouth.
"Whether I have to bribe her with a gift or beat her into listening, I’ll handle it myself. Just wait quietly until I get back. You can protect the Arian clan, can’t you?"
"No one will be able to touch even a single hair on them."
"I’m counting on you."
Yoon Sang-hyuk waved and started walking.
Zeronia and the rest of the group watched his back as he went.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Wow, this place really has an atmosphere."
The cluster of rocks, all jutting up in no particular pattern, gave the place a distinctly chilling feel. Because of the gorge, the light barely reached this far, leaving everything dim and gloomy. The occasional banshee shrieks made the mood even more eerie.
Kiiiaaah-!
Right beside him, a translucent woman glowing with blue light suddenly rose up and let out a scream.
"Yeah. Good work. You can go back now."
He slapped at her face as if striking a cheek. There was no reason for an astral body like a banshee to react to a palm strike. Yet the instant Yoon Sang-hyuk’s hand passed through her face, the banshee let out a horrifying scream. Not long after, she dissolved into light and vanished.
It was because of the additional holy attack power options attached to the weapons and accessories he was wearing.
Starting with the first banshee he erased, screams erupted from all directions as the banshees revealed themselves. Some emerged by bursting through the rocks; others surged up from the ground. But every time they appeared, Yoon Sang-hyuk’s backhand cut through the air. The banshees were erased one by one in the order they showed up.
As he moved while dealing with the appearing banshees, the scenery around him gradually changed. Instead of sharp rocks, there were now piles of stones stacked at random. It looked almost like a battlefield graveyard, as if someone had built stone tombs to keep the corpses of fallen comrades from becoming carrion.
"What is this, a cemetery?"
Yoon Sang-hyuk, still walking, looked around. A strange, unnameable sensation brushed across his entire body.
Not far away, he spotted an unusual structure.
It was a house-shaped structure built from stone. It wasn’t very large. But the energy coming from inside was anything but ordinary.
"So this is the queen’s palace?"
Even knowing the Banshee Queen was inside the stone house, Yoon Sang-hyuk did not stop.
"I would have knocked, but there isn’t a door."
Inside the house, a beautiful woman sat on a stone chair and looked at Yoon Sang-hyuk.
"A human."
"Yeah. First time seeing one?"
"You must already know what kind of place this is and who I am, so there is no need for introductions."
"Of course, Your Majesty."
The Banshee Queen Isophia gave a cold smile.
"You’re strong."
Yoon Sang-hyuk shrugged.
"You’re not planning to just hand over something and pass through like the previous lords who came through here, are you?"
"Who knows? That depends on how Your Majesty chooses to act."
Yoon Sang-hyuk took a chair from his subspace, set it down in front of Isophia, and sat.
"So what’ll it be? Should I just leave? Or should I give you a present before I go?"
And that present might not be the one Isophia wanted at all.
"Come to think of it, that is unusual. Why does the Queen of the banshees have a physical body instead of an astral one?"
"A body is merely a vessel for the soul."
Yoon Sang-hyuk snorted softly and nodded.
"I see. So this current body belongs to one of the people who came here and died."
He pulled an item from his subspace and handed it to Isophia. It was a black-glinting gem about half the size of a fist.
"A soul stone. And an exceptionally pure one at that. It has been a long time since I’ve seen a soul stone shining this black. Is it from a Demon Lord?"
"You’ve got a good eye. It’s the soul stone of the 15th-ranked Demon Lord, Eligos."
Greed bloomed in Isophia’s previously cold eyes.
"I’ll give you this soul stone if you answer one question. Of course, this isn’t payment for me and my group passing through the Valley of Despair."
"And what question is that?"
"Why are you here? Is that a strange question? Why are you obstructing those heading to the Gray Wasteland?"
Isophia did not answer right away. But Yoon Sang-hyuk noted that her gaze remained fixed on the soul stone, and decided he would soon hear the answer.
He was correct.
"It was Satan’s request."
"I thought as much."
"You were expecting that?"
"I was just guessing."
"Do you know the background of the Gray Wasteland?"
"The Shinma War?"
Isophia nodded.
"During the Shinma War, Satan captured the lower gods and celestial beings and locked them away in the Gray Wasteland. The reason was simple: the despair they felt there made Satan stronger. The Demon Realm is a place where divinity is not permitted. No matter how desperately the exiles inside it cry out, they will receive no answer from Idea. And they cannot choose death on their own, either. It is a place where they cannot even die without Satan’s permission. Even now, they remain trapped in the Gray Wasteland, suffering from a disease called despair."
Ping-
Yoon Sang-hyuk flicked the soul stone in his hand with a finger. The moment Isophia caught the stone flying through the air, she swallowed it. Powerful energy gathered around her. Black force wrapped around her entire body and was then absorbed completely into her flesh.
It had only been a matter of minutes, but her presence was entirely different from before she had taken the soul stone. Isophia opened her closed eyes, and her red pupils flashed with light.
"Hmm. That was sweet in a way taste alone hasn’t been in a very long time. Thanks to that, I’ve become even stronger. I feel like I could chew up even some of the higher-ranked lords."
As she spoke, Isophia looked at Yoon Sang-hyuk with a sly, lingering gaze.
"Why? Now that you’ve gained power, do you want to try using it?"
After a brief hesitation, Isophia shook her head.
"Now that I’m a little stronger, I can see a little more of your true form. You are an absolute existence I cannot oppose."
"Good. Better late than never. So that means... I can take it that I’m allowed to pass through here?"
"Of course. I received such a grand gift, so I should return the favor."
Yoon Sang-hyuk snorted.
"Don’t misunderstand. The soul stone was payment for the question. I wasn’t bribing my way through your front yard. How about it? Should I just step on you and walk over if I have to?"
Isophia stared at him in shock.
"I made a mistake."
"You admit it?"
"I do."
"If you made a mistake, shouldn’t you pay for it?"
Yoon Sang-hyuk glanced once toward the outside of the house.
"I’d like the others who came here with me to pass through without any trouble from now on."
The Zephyr brothers were guides. There was no telling when they might have to pass through here again on another Demon Lord’s request.
"I’ll make that promise."
"Can you tell them apart?"
"We banshees are sensitive to the scent of souls. Once we smell a soul’s scent, we never forget it. I will never forget the scent of your soul, or of those who came here with you."
"Good. That was an excellent answer."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
From inside the carriage, Yoon Sang-hyuk was looking out the window when Zeronia asked cautiously, "How did you do it?"
"If you ask that out of nowhere, what am I supposed to say? If you want to ask a question, do it properly. Don’t chop off the beginning and end."
"I mean the Banshee Queen, Isophia. How did you persuade her? What in the world did you give her that she even smiled and saw you off herself?"
"Do you think I gave her a present and passed through the Valley of Despair?"
Zeronia shook her head.
"I asked because it didn’t seem like that. Looking at Isophia, it didn’t seem like you’d had some huge fight, either."
"Hmm, how should I explain this? Right. That’ll do. There’s a saying humans use. They know their place."
"They know their place...?"
"Simple. They acknowledged that they were weaker than me and got on their knees properly. Do you understand now?"
"Ah. Yes. I see."
Just how strong did someone have to be to make even the Banshee Queen Isophia, whom even Demon Lords avoided, act like that? Perhaps Yoon Sang-hyuk was far greater than even she and her brothers imagined.
Suddenly, she remembered something Yoon Sang-hyuk had said not long after their long journey to the Gray Wasteland had begun.
- I’ll be your backing.
Zeronia smiled brightly.
"So they knew their place."
"That’s right."
"Then anyone who stands in Lord Sang-hyuk’s way will know theirs as well."
"Who knows."
Yoon Sang-hyuk gave a faint smile.
"There’s one assumption behind knowing your place."
Zeronia looked at him, not understanding.
"You have to know first."
Yoon Sang-hyuk shrugged.
"It’s exactly what it sounds like. You need to know before you can lower your head. Most people die because they don’t know that."