Chapter 221: Nephilim Shrine (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 221: Nephilim Shrine (4)
What was the most talked-about mystery among players of Miracle Blessing M? I can say with absolute certainty: it was the story's final boss, the Demon King.
He was a figure shrouded in endless rumors across the gaming forums.
Despite being a typical shovelware mobile game—where throwing money at it easily raised your characters and upgrading gear was a breeze—not a single player had ever reached the final boss.
Ah, actually, there were a few claiming they did. But almost all of them were unverified clickbait. Even when screenshots surfaced, every single one turned out to be fake.
At that point, players started asking: Is the final boss of this game even really the Demon King? Why does a damn auto-play mobile game get so fucking hard in the late game? Or is the game itself just unfinished? Urban legends and wild rumors continued to spread through the community.
Some of the more proactive players inquired directly with the game developer. The reply:
『The final boss exists, and he is the Demon King.』
The players were furious. Who asked that? Obviously, games like this end with a Demon King.
The problem was that even deep into the late story, there wasn't even a whisper about a hair on the final boss's head. The only clue was that they referred to the final boss as "he." People vaguely guessed he was male, but even that couldn't be proven.
Well, as someone who wasn't much of a hardcore gamer, I just took it as it was. I'd only started playing the mobile game to kill time, so I hadn't poured my heart and soul into it.
Still, a part of me was curious. For a cash-grab mobile game, Miracle Blessing M was absurdly difficult.
The enemies appearing in the late game—demons and Corps Commanders—were so insanely overpowered that you couldn't help but yell, "Did they actually design these bastards for people to beat?!"
So, how strong would the leader of those monsters be? It was a purely fundamental curiosity. That was why I used to browse Namuwiki and forums so much. I was curious, but reaching that point on my own required far too much effort.
'Of course, I gave up without learning a single thing.'
If a casual user like me felt this way, what about the hardcore players? They practically dissected the game, analyzing every detail to uncover the Demon King's identity. Heated debates erupted across the forums. It wasn't uncommon to see players pulling all-nighters for weeks just to "show the world what a determined Korean can do."
Even games dubbed "diabolically hard" were merely half a day's entertainment for a K-Gamer. While people from other countries were munching on popcorn watching trailers, Koreans had already yanked out the final boss's hair—in just six hours.
Koreans were a gaming nation!
The players poured that indomitable tenacity into the game without holding back. For a whole year, no less. That was more than enough time for any normal game to be torn apart down to its prime factors by Koreans.
But the result was... as mentioned above, a crushing defeat for the players. Forget the Demon King; they couldn't even unravel the lore surrounding 2nd Corps Commander Kuarne or 1st Corps Commander Lycan. No matter how much they pushed, there was no progress. The deeper they dug, the more lost they became, as if trapped in a labyrinth. In the end, everything returned to square one. Such was the quagmire of the Demon King.
The gamers grew exhausted. The once-bustling community turned quiet, and high-profile users dwindled noticeably.
At this point, shouldn't they throw us a bone and reveal some final boss lore just out of consideration for the players? The remaining players voiced in unison.
The game company ignored their pleas, endlessly repeating the same dry response: The Demon King exists.
And so, the grandest mystery of Miracle Blessing M faded into the shadows along with the dying interest in the game.
An old, unresolved mystery.
Yet, perhaps I was the only player out of everyone to finally uncover that truth. No, "uncover" was putting it lightly.
'I, who was appointed as the representative of humanity just a little while ago...'
turned out to be humanity's ultimate evil. Regardless of truth or falsehood, that fact alone was astonishing.
What an absurd, unfunny joke.
* * *
The darkness that swept over the shrine robbed us of sight, and the silence choked us.
Was it a hallucination, or reality?
Was it real, or an illusion?
Midst the surrounding pitch-black, snap. A flick of fingers echoed through the air. Simultaneously, the extinguished flames began to crackle back to life one by one.
Regaining the composure I had briefly lost, I stared straight ahead. Snap, snap, snap. The friction of thumb and index finger colliding. With every movement of Kuarne's fingers, the interior grew brighter.
With visibility restored, Kuarne wiped away his previous madness and spoke with a calm, composed face.
"It seems a sudden gust of wind blew out all the lights. My apologies. I shall rekindle them at once."
Kuarne gave a warm smile and relit the remaining embers in the shrine.
Had he gotten completely swallowed by his priest persona? Watching him blankly, he really looked like a priest.
"My story ends here. From now on, feel free to ask whatever you are curious about, and I shall answer accordingly. After all, that is what a priest ought to do."
A faint smile touched Kuarne's lips. His smile and his eyes remained pure white. I locked eyes with him and asked:
"Are you aware that the one who slaughtered all the false gods is called by a different name among humanity?"
"Yes, I am aware. In the Rune Language, he is called 'Herev,' the God-Slaying God, among other names. The closest answer would be the title 'God of Sword.'"
"Why do you call him the Demon King?"
Kuarne chuckled softly and sweetly. For a moment, his voice was so alluring that it was hard to tell whether he was a man or a woman.
"The derogatory title of 'Demon King' was given by the false gods whom He felled. They did not doubt for a moment that they were 'absolute good.' Thus, the one who severed and cut down all 'good' must naturally be 'absolute evil.' Therefore, He became the Demon King."
"That's awfully black-and-white."
"As I mentioned earlier, false gods love dividing things. Whatever it may be, they desire to split into sides and fight. That is their true nature."
"...Why?"
"Because only then will people seek them out. In a peaceful world devoid of strife, mortals do not seek gods. So, to force mortals to turn to them, there is nothing better than dividing them into factions."
"Those bastard gods are damn petty."
I clicked my tongue. Kuarne shrugged and added:
"That is because they are half-baked divine beings. Unfortunately, we are creatures birthed by those very petty gods. That is why we, too, are unstable. Had the Demon King created us, we would have been flawless beings."
"I see..."
As we spoke, reality suddenly hit me.
What the hell? This bastard is the 2nd Corps Commander. Having a harmonious Q&A session with a guy like this—and as a Seven Star Hero, no less. It was a mercy nobody was watching.
How would people react? I'll leave that to the imagination.
More than that, getting along so well with a top figure of the Demon King's Army... Ah, right. As luck would have it, the entity residing within me was the God of Sword—in other words, the Demon King. And this demon in front of me, whose gender was impossible to tell, was my follower. No wonder we hit it off so well.
I didn't know if Kuarne was aware of this bizarre dynamic. Deep down, I hoped he wouldn't find out until the very end.
'Everything this bastard has spilled so smoothly until now could just be one-sided claims or complete lies.'
I couldn't rule out that possibility. As a human, doubting demons first was second nature. They were treacherous. Demons were a race that seduced humans with sweet words before trampling over them.
'The words of a demon, huh...'
That thought stuck in my throat. I shifted my gaze to the Dark Elf Elder. I almost forgot about this.
Even if it felt unsettling, opportunities like this didn't come often. I switched topics and asked Kuarne:
"The Dark Elf Elder here called me a 'collaboration between Lycan and the Hero of the Origin.' Do you know anything about that?"
Kuarne's pupils trembled subtly. He reacted not to 'Lycan,' but to 'Hero of the Origin.'
"Well now, even I am unaware of that."
Kuarne awkwardly scratched his white eyebrow. Then he looked at Hon. The corners of Kuarne's eyes curved upward.
"However, I believe you will come to know the answer before long if you remain with this dragon lady."
"...?"
"To give you one hint: among mortal beings, dragons are the only ones whose souls do not die. In other words, a dragon's spiritual body can undergo repeated reincarnations."
With those words, Kuarne brought his hands together near his solar plexus. Hour and minute hands formed in midair. He checked the clock made of air, as if signaling that time was up.
"I would love to converse with you further, but it is time for the shrine to close."
Saying so, Kuarne walked past us toward the entrance. I called out to stop him.
"One more thing. Kuarne, you and I are clearly enemies. So why are you answering everything so thoroughly?"
Kuarne paused, deep in thought. It took a moment before his lips parted.
"It is precisely because you are my enemy that I am being kind. As you are now, you fall short of the Hero of the Origin; with your current skill, you could never strike me down. That is why I answer everything—waiting for the day you come to slay me..."
For some reason, I felt a faint wistfulness in his voice. A brief silence settled over us, replacing the air itself.
"When you and I meet again, we shall fight with our lives on the line."
Kuarne broke the stillness, a dark amusement bleeding into his tone.
"Or perhaps that desperate battle will never come to pass. For you might die before then—at the hands of my sibling who will soon visit the Human Realm, 4th Corps Commander Permush."
"..."
"Permush revels in slaughter. A cute little sibling who loves soaking in crimson blood and has a hobby of collecting human bone dice."
I let out a scoffing sigh. The priest who had been showing me courtesy evaporated into nothing, replaced entirely by the face of a demon.
Was he bipolar? A Corps Commander couldn't possibly be suffering from a mental illness like that. This psycho streak was simply Kuarne's true nature.
Indeed, the purpose and morality of demons were wildly alienated from those of humans.
I was never someone with grand convictions. I had simply bled into a game world by chance, and an absurd power just happened to be housed in this body.
Good and evil, black and white—I didn't care for such philosophical Zen riddles. Whether the power inside me belonged to the God of Sword or the Demon King was none of my concern either.
What mattered was that I used this power to face my enemies. Whatever it was, if it posed a threat to me, I would cut it down and slice it apart. That selfish, singular mindset was the engine that drove me forward.
Kuarne billowed his White Robe as he stepped forward. Only then did the demons bow down to him. Praises and worship erupted from all around.
"Kuarne."
Kuarne and the demons turned to look back at me in unison, their eyes flashing like wild beasts in the dead of night.
"I'll sever Permush's head and toss it at your feet."
Shadows deepened within the Nephilim Shrine. In a shrine where good and evil ought to coexist, only demons remained. I was the lone human.
Kuarne pulled his lips into a wide, lingering smile.
"I shall look forward to it."