The Transcendent Baal

“Didn’t they say Baal of the Four Calamities recently awakened?”

“Mm. The seals on the Four Calamities were always going to break eventually. They’re said to be sealed at the four extremes—east, west, south, and north. And recently, it seems the Black King stirred something awake in the south.”

“You’re saying that something is one of the Four Calamities?”

“Who knows. Whatever it is, it’s clear a ‘new game’ began after ‘he’ died.”

The revival of the Four Calamities. The Black King’s movements. The reappearance of the long-sunken Abyss Labyrinth. The board had changed—into a completely different story from anything that had come before.

A new game.

Upheavals were erupting across the world. And every last one of them had begun after his death.

“‘He’… who?”

“The Knight King.”

“Ah, I’ve heard of him. But you mean his death is changing the world?”

They hated to admit it, yet everything truly had started after he died. A knight blessed by the Goddess, the strongest who had launched the Great Expedition. The legends he forged were beyond counting.

They had been watching Wilhelm for a long time. Watching only—never making contact. They had no choice.

The imperial family’s shame…

Wilhelm. No—that bastard—had originally belonged to the imperial family. A shame the empire had buried. One day he suddenly contracted the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Divine Illness and vanished, only to reappear as Wilhelm. Then he carved out countless legends and even sparked the Great Expedition.

Of course the Great Expedition failed. Wilhelm died there, and the imperial shame vanished forever.

No. That wasn’t right.

The Golden Mask shook his head inwardly.

The sinner. The one who moved Wilhelm’s body is still alive.

The man who had risen anew under the name Randolph. Everyone saw him as Wilhelm’s previous incarnation. As long as that creature existed, the shame had not been completely erased.

…Baal invades Earth, the homeland of the sinners. For us, that’s something to welcome.

Earth, the place where the sinners gathered. They already knew that if Cartel fell, the Calamity Baal would invade Earth. Yet they had left it alone. The lord of Darkan had arbitrarily raised a subjugation force, but that would only make Baal stronger in the end.

Burn it all. And let them experience the reality we endured.

I completed the Baal Set—commonly called the “Ba Set.”

One of the mythic-grade ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sets that only a tiny handful of people even knew about, and that no one had ever finished. Originally it consisted of three pieces—the Baal Armor, Helmet, and Talisman—but one more had been added: the Sword Saint’s Diary.

And from the final chapter of that diary, I learned how to control Baal.

The method of control: sacrifice my own life.

But I didn’t need to “control” it. I already had a way to face Baal.

Transcendent Baal.

The hidden option that appeared when every piece of equipment rose to Transcendent Myth grade.

My weakest point had always been physical resistance. Magical attacks I could block with the Giant’s Anti-Magic, mental attacks with the Eternal Lord’s Heart—but I had no hidden trait that stopped pure physical force.

Thirty percent physical resistance plus regeneration… insane.

No single armor piece ever granted 30% physical resistance. Even Unique-grade armor topped out at 25%. The other options were a touch weaker than Unique, but 100% regeneration and +10 Magic Power more than made up for it—ordinary Myth gear couldn’t even show its face. Especially regeneration: once it passed 1,000%, severed limbs could grow back.

And the Helmet and Talisman options had been strengthened as well. At this level, it was doable.

I immediately used Transcendence to open a warp and headed straight for Baal.

CRACK!

I instinctively smashed a demonkin’s skull.

In that instant—

Lines of text rose in rapid succession. I gave a small nod. The already-transcended options, doubled again. As expected of the Ba Set—its performance was completely broken.

Above all—

Full Penetration…!

When a stat surpassed 120 it granted related effects. Magic Power gave Magic Penetration, Attribute Force gave Attribute Penetration, and so on. But Holy Power—changed after I became the Star’s Successor—added Full Penetration outright. Physical attacks and curse attacks both received an extra 12% penetration.

No wonder every strike felt so satisfyingly solid.

“Successor!”

A familiar voice nearby. Serengeti… no, that was Hudson.

“What are you doing here? Where’s Valte?”

“Well… we were together at the lord’s castle when the Darkan lord forcibly dragged us along. Valte sensed something abnormal and vanished somewhere.”

“Abnormal?”

“Yes. The moment we sank into the Abyss, people started going mad—as if possessed by evil spirits. Are you all right, Successor?”

All right? I nodded. Completely fine.

“I’m fine. What about you?”

“Yes. For some reason I’m perfectly fine.”

Only Hudson was enduring Baal’s curse in this space. Had he received a blessing from the Saintess? I couldn’t think of any other reason he alone would be unscathed.

I cast my gaze downward.

“And what I’m looking at right now isn’t Gracia, is it?”

“……It is.”

At the end of my sight—

“Angel! Where do you think you’re going without me!”

“……Please ignore him. It’s nonsense.”

Gracia lay there, covered head to toe in blood, half out of his mind. White hair. Deepening wrinkles. He was aging and weakening in real time. A powerhouse of his caliber failing to withstand Baal’s curse could only mean his youth had been stolen. With his life force dying, he could never defeat Baal, who ruled life and consciousness.

I stroked my chin, then took out the Sinner’s Flame.

“Ah… aah… that—that is my youth!”

The image of Gracia floating inside the Sinner’s Flame. The moment he saw it, Gracia stretched out a desperate hand.

“Want it back?”

“I want it back! Golden Goat! That is mine!”

“Then stand up. Stand up, take your sword, and fight.”

“Fight Baal? That monster can’t be beaten! It absorbed the Poison of Ouroboros and grew even stronger!”

He was trembling. Completely unlike the Gracia I knew. Looking at how terrified he was, he still wasn’t fully sane.

“Gracia. Your job is to protect the people you must protect. If you wear the title of ‘Hero,’ you already know what you have to do.”

“I… I’m no hero. I’m… a sinner.”

“So the greatest coward in the world has finally arrived.”

“What good would it do if I stepped forward? Why keep fighting a battle I can’t win?”

Hah. Even if his mind was broken, I was honestly disappointed. Hard to believe this was the same man who used to strut around claiming he alone was number one. This pathetic display killed any desire to fight him.

But the moment I arrived in the Abyss I had noticed: when the five cities fell, not everyone died. A great many were still alive here. Yet I didn’t have nearly enough time to save them one by one. I had to settle things with Baal before it evolved further.

This job suited Gracia perfectly. So go save the people. Like a real hero.

“Don’t worry. I’ll kill Baal myself.”

……I will annihilate Baal.

Jeju Island

After the man in the golden goat mask and the Pure White Knight Serengeti left, Gracia remained alone.

—Die like a worm, or do what you must.

The voice still rang in his ears. But what kept replaying in his mind even more were those eyes. He was certain he had never met the man before. Yet the instant their gazes locked, Gracia had shuddered. He couldn’t put the feeling into words, but if forced to define it—he had been overwhelmed by that man’s gaze.

Even standing before Laily he had never wavered.

Somewhere… I’m sure of it…

Unfamiliar, yet familiar. As if he had glimpsed it in passing. There weren’t many people with eyes that overwhelming; if he had seen them he couldn’t have forgotten… yet he couldn’t remember. If they met again he felt he would know for certain.

A worm, huh.

A gaze that looked down on him as if he weren’t even worth killing. It was the first time. He had never been scorned like this—not once. He had always been the strongest, the object of admiration.

But what about now? His current state was the textbook end of a loser. Being looked down on was only natural.

…A string of failures has broken me.

Where had it gone wrong? Defeat against Baal? Having his youth stolen by the Death Gods? Fleeing the Abyss Labyrinth? Cornered by circumstances again and again, Gracia had finally shattered. He had lost his mind and shown humiliation.

I am not a worm.

But he was no insect. Gracia rose to his feet, gripping the Blue Dawn that lay on the ground.

—KYAAAAAAAK!

SLASH!

He beheaded the charging demonkin in a single stroke. Then Gracia began walking through the Abyss.

I am Gracia. The strongest warrior called the Sword Saint, and a hero.

To do what he had to do.

A black cocoon.

The path to Baal was a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Countless soldiers of Darkan Territory and Bells of Curses lay mixed together in death. The road of bodies stretched all the way to the cocoon.

“……Useless.”

When I stepped inside, it was even worse. First, the lord of Darkan lay dead with his neck twisted around. For someone who had started so boldly, it was a pitifully empty death. His expression wasn’t pleasant to look at either—full of shock and terror, as if he had seen something he should never have seen. The surrounding corpses were the same.

Strange.

One thing was odd. Quite a few of them hadn’t fled from the inside outward; they had been running from the outside inward when they died.

…Strange. Normally people fled from the inside out, didn’t they? What had they seen outside that made them run into the more dangerous cocoon?

But the curiosity didn’t last long. I soon learned the reason.

Thud. Thud.

Heavy footsteps approaching. Letters floated above the being’s head.

……It was none other than Pamel, Guardian Knight of Darkan Territory. The strongest among them had become a Bell of Curses.

If Pamel suddenly attacked, of course the surrounding soldiers would flee inward. He had probably been too heavily influenced by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Baal inside the cocoon and transformed.

But even so—could a powerhouse of that level suddenly change while perfectly fine?

That bastard was never human to begin with.

Pamel hadn’t transcended by devouring a star; he had abandoned his humanity and raised his level to grow stronger. In other words, he had been a “monster” from the start. Naturally he would be far more affected inside Baal’s cocoon.

Looking at that form, I could tell exactly how he had abandoned humanity.

“…Demon.”

Eyes pitch-black like ink, no whites. Entire body dyed black, two black wings larger than his torso, massive horns on both sides, a lizard’s tail, bestial lower body and razor claws. That form was a Demon itself—the existence worshipped by the demon-followers who rejected the Goddess.

Maxim had merely grown stronger using a Demon Heart, but Guardian Knight Pamel had been a Demon from the beginning. Or had become one by some other means.

Did the Empire know and turn a blind eye? Or…?

Why was a Demon—the very embodiment of the demon-followers—inside an imperial territory? And how had he been allowed to serve as Guardian Knight? No matter how much the Empire hated players, it didn’t seem likely they would openly join hands with demon-followers who denied the Goddess to her face. Perhaps, like me failing to recognize him, he had simply hidden his identity.

That isn’t important right now.

What mattered more was how to deal with the monster in front of me. Pamel had become Baal’s servant and been further strengthened by the curse. Meeting him head-on would be suicide. He wasn’t some half-breed like Maxim. Naturally he would carry miracles of an entirely different order.

But—