Chapter 117
Chapter 117
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 117
Chapter Title: ACT.20 Ruined World (9)
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Harrington's return here wasn't a coincidence.
It's because I'd already fixed the travel coordinates to this location.
I used the Coordinate Recording Ring to read the coordinates here and applied them to the magic circle.
Meaning, he didn't return because the coordinates weren't set, but because they were set *here*.
Yurgan, unaware of this, was marveling at the sight.
"Wh-what in the...?"
"Is that all you have to say?"
As I approached with a smirk, Harrington staggered back, the air hissing from his lungs.
"H-hey, old man! Did you even cast the spell correctly!?"
"The magic circle was flawless, was it not?"
"Then why did it fail!!"
"It failed because it wasn't a success. Heh heh."
"You damn...!"
Enraged, Harrington drew his sword and charged.
Not at me, but at Yurgan.
*CRASH!*
"Keuk!"
But before Harrington could even reach Yurgan, he collided with something and was thrown backward.
Yurgan stroked his beard calmly, as if nothing had happened.
What a complete idiot.
Charging head-on against a grand mage.
Did he think he'd have a chance in close combat?
"A sturdy barrier."
"Heh heh. With his power, a scratch is the most he could manage. In my day, they called me the 'Knight Killer'."
Knight Killer.
It was a name I'd heard back when I played the game, during the times I came here for experiments.
A mage stronger in close combat.
One who knows how to defeat knights.
Yurgan shook his head.
"One truly cannot trust people so easily. To betray a benefactor who essentially saved your life, no matter the circumstances."
"Grh...!"
Harrington barely managed to right himself and get up.
Harrington had already lost his will to fight.
Not only were Yurgan and I standing firm, but soldiers were also surrounding the area.
"If you commit betrayal, you must pay the price."
My eyes turned cold as I drew my sword.
He knew full well he was no match for my power. Thus, intimidated, Harrington's face twisted as he backed away.
"Damn it...! If I just had a little more time, I'd know the rest of the story!"
I stopped my slow advance.
So he's finally confessed on his own.
"Just as I thought. You've played 'End of Apocalypse'."
"How did you...?"
When Harrington left, I had Alpha follow him.
I'd ordered him to report immediately if he did anything suspicious.
If Harrington knew nothing, he wouldn't have tried to do anything with the Black Steel Ore.
The Black Steel Dragon's corpse was in a completely different direction, so there was no reason to risk taking a detour.
Despite that, Harrington went straight there without hesitation and mined the remaining ore.
It meant he recognized the value of the ore at a glance.
The answer was one of two things.
Either he had played a fair bit of the original game, or he simply had a keen eye.
But I never thought Harrington was the latter.
"Kh, kh-kh. So that's it. You're a veteran too! No wonder you knew so much and were so strangely strong!"
"So what are you going to do about it?"
"I have to go back right now and report this...!"
Harrington, who had been speaking triumphantly, suddenly fell silent.
He couldn't return without my permission.
He had realized that fact.
"I'm going to ask you questions one by one. If you don't answer, or if you lie, you'll lose a limb."
*Fwoosh.*
Black flames coiled around my sword.
Harrington glanced at my sword, his brow furrowed deeply.
The more he knew about the properties of Black Flame, the less likely he was to defy me.
Even if he didn't, the power emanating from the Black Flame would stir his instincts.
When I glanced at Yurgan, he tactfully excused himself.
I'd secured more than enough justification, so there was no way Yurgan would dislike me for this.
"First question. Was the person you planned to report to Graham Dicloy, the master of Pentagon Eagle?"
"Y-you, how do you know my brother's name!?"
So it was true.
I know it all too well.
I could never forget it.
Graham. The master of Pentagon Eagle, one of the major American guilds that would later relentlessly interfere with the Korean side, scraping up every possible profit.
Fortunately, this also matched the game's information.
I was worried that a second-generation player might have caused some changes.
'Like brother, like brother, I suppose.'
There were a few others with the Dicloy surname.
And without exception, I'd never seen any of them come to a good end.
'But...'
It's strange.
He asked how I knew his brother's name.
The strongest guild in America. Its guild master.
Wouldn't it be harder *not* to know?
'Does he not know his own brother is in the game?'
If he knew, he wouldn't have reacted with such shock just because I knew the name.
That's the reaction of someone who genuinely doesn't know.
There is a possibility.
Graham supposedly cut off all contact with his family the moment he awakened as a player.
So the 'real-world Harrington,' who had no connection to players, might not have known about his brother.
It's just a possibility, of course.
Or perhaps he just never progressed to the point in the game where you go to America.
"Then, the second question. What were you planning to do with the Black Steel Ore?"
"...Obviously, I was going to use some for myself and sell the rest."
I nodded.
There's a big difference in rarity between two people having Black Steel Ore and only one having it.
Even if Harrington had earned my trust, I wouldn't have let him take the ore.
This was something I had to monopolize completely.
"Then take out all the Black Steel Ore you have."
"Why should I..."
*Stab.*
The moment Harrington flared up in defiance, my sword plunged into his thigh.
"Gyaaaahk!!"
"Take it out."
"Grh, ghk... You crazy bastard..."
Harrington cursed as he fumbled to take out the Black Steel Ore.
It was a small amount, perhaps because he lacked the strength to mine much, but even that much was worth tens of thousands of coins.
"I stabbed you without the Black Flame this time, but there won't be a next time."
"..."
"Third. What is your position in Pentagon Eagle?"
"...Vice Guild Master."
One of America's representative guilds, and an A-rank, not even an S-rank, is the Vice Guild Master?
It reeks of nepotism no matter how you look at it.
But that's precisely why this was a good thing for me.
"Fourth. This is an order. Write down what I tell you."
"Even before, you called them questions, but they were all just threats..."
"I believe I told you not to give unnecessary answers."
I moved the hand holding my sword, and Harrington flinched before quickly getting ready to write.
"Write this down. The content is... I, Harrington Dicloy, grant my life's savior, Kim Se-hyeon, the authority to freely use all of Pentagon Eagle's facilities."
"Wh-what!?"
Harrington, who had been writing, looked up in alarm.
"What are you doing? Keep writing."
"There's a limit to this bullshit! Life's savior!? You think I'm going to write such a blatant lie! Who knows what you'll do if I give you authority to freely use all of Pentagon Eagle's facilities!"
"...Do you have a learning disability?"
With a flick of my fingers, Black Flame erupted from the spot where I had stabbed him.
The heat tore through the wound, and Harrington's eyes flew wide as he let out a silent scream.
"I'll say it again. This is an order. Not a request."
"Guuuh..."
After trembling in agony for a long while, Harrington gritted his teeth and finished writing.
It was written in English, but a quick read confirmed it was correct, so I nodded.
Studying English to play games that weren't translated into Korean is proving useful.
"Stamp it with your seal, too."
"The seal..."
Watching my expression, Harrington cautiously took out a stamp and was about to use it.
Oh? Look at this.
"Not that one."
I stopped his hand and took the stamp.
It was intricately carved and looked official at a glance, but it was a fake.
"You have to use the back of your hand."
"Th-this crazy... How do you know that?!"
"If you don't know how much I know, you shouldn't be trying to trick me."
In the end, Harrington reluctantly stamped it with the real seal.
The seals used by the executives of Pentagon Eagle are all engraved on the backs of their hands. By infusing mana into it and pressing it to paper, a special seal is imprinted.
Within the guild, they use a special device to authenticate it.
Without knowing that, even if you copied the seal's design with 100% accuracy, you could never fool Pentagon Eagle.
"...There, it's done. You'll let me live now, right?"
"What makes you think that?"
"Wh-what are you talking about!? I thought you'd let me live if I did everything you said!?"
"When did I ever say I'd let you live?"
Harrington was speechless.
How amusing.
I tilted my head and posed a question.
"Do you people let traitors live?"
"...We execute them on the spot."
"So do I."
Gritting his teeth, Harrington glared at me with venomous eyes.
"I'll bury your corpse nicely. It'd be a problem if monsters were drawn by the smell of blood."
"You think I'll go down without a fight, you idiot!"
Harrington, a dagger suddenly in his hand, lunged for my chest.
But before he could even get within arm's reach, let alone to my chest, his arm suddenly fell to the ground.
Alpha had moved far faster than Harrington, severing his arm.
*Swish!*
"Kraaahk!!"
He collapsed, clutching his severed right arm.
As if the arm itself hadn't realized it was cut, blood didn't spurt out immediately, only starting to gush out a moment later.
Then, his left arm followed suit.
Having lost both arms in an instant, Harrington spoke through his pain.
"Y-you crazy... You know who my brother is, and yet you do this to me..."
"That's your brother's accomplishment, not yours, right?"
*Stab.*
Alpha's sword pierced Harrington's left chest.
A truly foolish decision.
To try something like this even after experiencing Alpha's power.
If it were me, I would have offered a slave contract just to survive.
The Vice Guild Master of Pentagon Eagle.
A position like that has many uses.
"My brother... will not... let you... get away with... this..."
"That won't happen."
*Slash!*
Alpha twisted the sword, slashing horizontally.
A fountain of blood should have erupted, but it was instantly vaporized by the Black Flame I'd already set around them.
The floor was stained with a little blood... but that's easy enough to clean up.
"Because no one will ever know what happened here."
They won't even know if his brother, who went to this world, was killed by a monster or a person, so there's no way they could pinpoint me.
In the first place, they have no way of knowing if he's even dead or alive.
This world will be destroyed in a few days.
The only ones in the lab were me, Yurgan, and Harrington.
Unless Yurgan crossed over to Earth and sided with Pentagon Eagle, there was no risk of the secret getting out.
"You didn't have to move."
[There is no need for the Lord to dirty his hands with filthy blood.]
"I can count on you."
Before I knew it, Harrington's body had been completely consumed by darkness and vanished.
I glanced at the spot for a moment, thinking about Pentagon Eagle.
'They were guys I would have had to wipe out later anyway. This worked out well.'
On the surface, Pentagon Eagle poses as a representative major guild, but behind the scenes, they're involved in all sorts of criminal activities, like gambling, kidnapping, organ trafficking, prostitution, and drug distribution.
Would Harrington have been any different?
A smirk escaped me.
Of course not. As an executive, he would have been even more involved.
In fact, he probably participated more actively.
They're scum who deserve to die.
'I got something good out of this.'
It's handwritten by Harrington and clearly stamped with an executive's seal.
There was no room for doubt.
As for what happened with Harrington and where, I could just make something up.
I put the document into my inventory and signaled to Yurgan.
It was finally time to go back.