Chapter 216
Chapter 216
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 216
Chapter Title: ACT.42 The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend? (1)
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Sshaaa...
It felt as if time itself had stopped.
The lasers that had been pouring down like rain just moments ago were gone, as if they had never existed, and the core that had radiated such a powerful presence was slowly crumbling to dust.
The Disaster of Inversion, Angra Mainyu, had been annihilated.
[Quite impressive, human. Though it was merely an incarnation, for a mortal body to overcome an immortal...]
A cluster of black light hummed as it delivered the voice.
The true body of Angra Mainyu, watching everything from somewhere.
[I didn't expect much from a mere incarnation anyway. It was a short but amusing diversion. Hehehe.]
With Angra Mainyu's cheerful laughter as a final farewell, the motes of light lingering unnaturally in the air scattered and vanished.
He was right.
This strategy was only possible because it was just an 'incarnation'—a fraction of his power.
If it had been the main body, neither the Red Ogre Herb, the elixir, nor the Sa-in-cham-sa-geom would have had any effect.
[You have achieved the accomplishment, 'One Who Reversed Providence'.]
Seeing the achievement message, the first thing to appear after defeating a Disaster, made it finally sink in.
Following that, a flood of sponsorship messages poured in for the first time in a long while.
[The 'Angel of Benevolence' waves both arms, delighted by your performance.]
[The 'Wise Follower of Light' praises you for your efforts!]
[You have been sponsored 2000 Coins.]
[The 'Devil Who Mocks the Heavens' is pleased with your strength.]
They must have been scrambling to come up with countermeasures in case I failed to stop Angra Mainyu and all hell broke loose.
I'd essentially reduced their workload and worries, so of course they'd be happy.
Ignoring the steadily climbing coin count, I pushed the sponsorship window to the side.
[Calculating the remaining distance between the 'Disaster of Inversion' and the surface.]
[Additional rewards will be granted in proportion to the remaining distance.]
After that, system messages began to flood my vision, as if a backlog of text was being unleashed.
The reason we had to stop the Disaster from reaching the surface at all costs.
Part of it was that the Disaster would grow stronger, making it tougher to deal with, but...
the main reason was actually the rewards.
The additional rewards were too significant to ignore.
[You have achieved 1st place in contribution, and some rewards will be added.]
[18000 Coins have been awarded as a reward.]
[4 random elixirs will be awarded.]
My eyes sparkled as I read the very last message.
Elixirs.
The most important of the basic rewards for defeating the Disaster of Inversion.
Normally, you'd get two, but thanks to two reward boosts, I received four.
“Stopping it from making landfall and getting first in contribution... you must have received nearly the maximum rewards. How many elixirs did you get?”
Hwang Chan-jin approached, his hands full of items.
Besides the clear rewards, these were the items the Disaster had dropped.
I glanced over the items and answered.
“Four. Oh, and I'll take this first.”
“Do as you please. It was yours to begin with.”
[You have acquired the item, 'Remnant of Pure Darkness'.]
The reward boosts weren't limited to just the awarded items.
They also affected dropped items, and some, like this one, would only appear with increased rewards.
That was the Remnant of Pure Darkness.
I rummaged through my inventory and took out the Remnant of Corrupted Flame I'd gotten from defeating Ignis.
‘If I combine these two...’
Fwoosh!
Darkness and flame merged, blazed as one, and then slowly seeped into my body.
[The attack power of 'Black Flame' increases by 20%.]
[The performance of 'Black Flame' is enhanced.]
[The 'Encroachment' effect is strengthened, evolving into 'Eternal Eclipse (蝕)'.]
‘Huh.’
Both items were originally materials for strengthening the 'Black Flame' trait.
So it was natural for Black Flame to be enhanced, but the strengthening of Encroachment was quite unexpected.
‘Wait, this is the first time I've ever seen Encroachment get strengthened.’
There was only one possible explanation I could deduce.
It was because of the anomaly where Black Flame had been added as a sub-effect within 'Lord of Darkness'.
Since Encroachment had always been linked to Black Flame and used together, it made sense that strengthening Black Flame would naturally strengthen Encroachment as well.
“...Come to think of it, you must have gotten the Remnant of Flame from Ignis. Are you that happy about strengthening your Black Flame?”
“Anything getting stronger is good. You got a real weapon too, so you must be happy, right?”
Hwang Chan-jin nodded silently at my words.
A single gray sword hung from his left hip.
It was a weapon named 'Baekhon', which had a chance to drop from Angra Mainyu.
After all, the Manpasikjeok was a weapon that didn't show its true potential except in special situations like this.
Hwang Chan-jin would probably be using that sword for a while.
‘That aside.’
There was one truly important thing left.
[The trait, 'Disaster Eater', absorbs the remnants of the Disaster.]
As expected.
I quickly opened my status window to check, and all my stats had increased by 2.
I already knew that absorbing a Disaster increased all stats by 2.
The truly important part wasn't just the stats, but the additional something.
[Access Denied.]
[Unable to view information on the trait, 'Disaster Eater'.]
I still couldn't check the information for Disaster Eater.
I was considerably stronger than when I first obtained it.
But still being denied access meant it had nothing to do with strength.
‘Is this similar to how unique abilities worked?’
I had to satisfy some kind of unstated condition.
Figuring out what that is would be the first step.
[The 'Cautious Herald of Light' is observing you.]
[The 'Vessel of Negation' rests its chin on its hand and smirks.]
Two unexpected beings had appeared.
Cautious Herald of Light was an alias for Gabriel, and Vessel of Negation referred to Belial.
I could have expected Belial, but Gabriel was honestly quite a surprise.
‘He might be thinking he made a mistake giving me that elixir last time.’
But that was all in the past.
He couldn't take back what he'd already given, and above all, it was a fair trade and a just reward.
‘But the real surprise starts now.’
I am the Strategy King, after all.
After overcoming the Disaster of Inversion, clues about breaking stat limits and elixirs would start to become available.
And I knew every method for obtaining elixirs, including the hidden rewards.
This meant I could jumpstart my growth, which had stagnated for a while.
‘I'll have to get some for the twins, too.’
They hadn't grown enough to fight alongside me yet, but the twins were an investment in the future.
A future I knew all about.
[Main Quest has been cleared.]
[5000 Coins have been awarded as a reward.]
“Huh?”
After clearing all the system messages, I saw something fluttering slowly downward.
It gave me a strange feeling.
As I casually snatched it out of the air, I felt a jolt, like static electricity.
[You have achieved the accomplishment, 'Someone's Memo (2)'.]
“Kim Se-hyeon. What are you going to do about her?”
As I stared at the paper, stunned by its unexpected appearance, Hwang Chan-jin spoke to me.
I quickly stuffed the memo into my pocket.
“Who?”
“Who do you think? Obviously, that electric girl over there. She seems a bit off.”
A bit off?
Wondering what he meant, I turned my head.
And I immediately understood what Hwang Chan-jin was talking about.
Cia was staring at me, completely dazed.
...That is strange.
It's been a while since we defeated the Disaster, yet she's still in that state.
Was she that shocked about being pushed back by the Disaster's power even while using Thunder Emperor mode?
“Snap out of it. What's wrong?”
***
“Huh? Uhh?”
When Se-hyeon spoke to her, Cia flustered, her face turning red as she looked away.
Not even understanding her own reaction, Cia placed a hand over her chest and tried to calm her breathing.
The heat on her face wouldn't subside easily.
This reaction.
She'd never experienced it herself, but it was the same symptom described in romance novels.
‘What, don't tell me I...?’
Cia mumbled to herself.
It couldn't be.
All that talk about being a groom candidate was just an act to get closer to Kim Se-hyeon and extract information.
A falsehood she had practiced dozens, hundreds of times to make it look real.
It couldn't possibly be genuine.
And yet, why.
“...Hh.”
The barrage of lasers that had filled her vision.
The reliable back of the man who had countered it all, protecting her.
Recalling that moment, she felt the heat rise in her face once again.
Cia bit her lip slightly and quickly darted away.
“I-I'll definitely become strong enough to be worthy of you!”
I hope he didn't see my blushing face.
As Cia ran off, her mind was filled with that single thought.
“...What's with her?”
Behind her, Se-hyeon wore a look of complete confusion.
***
“The Disaster's energy...?”
Emiliana's expression changed completely as she rose from her seat.
‘Don't tell me they actually defeated the Disaster?’
That was impossible.
They had reinforced the Tarwi, performed a more powerful ritual, and even artificially added a shamaness to deliberately raise the Disaster's difficulty.
On top of that, information from a spy planted in the Order confirmed that 'the Disaster had been further strengthened'.
No matter how skilled the Korean players were, there was no way they could have defeated the Disaster without borrowing the Saintess's power.
And yet, how on earth...
“I told you earlier.”
Emiliana snapped her head around.
When she saw Lee Min-hwa smiling smugly, Emiliana's eyebrow twitched involuntarily.
“That Se-hyeon-ssi would win.”
Emiliana's gaze shifted to Seong Woo-hyeon, who was beside her.
Seong Woo-hyeon, the one who had said it, remained silent, simply smiling.
Emiliana knew instinctively.
This was her defeat.
“...So it seems. Since my business here is concluded, I shall take my leave for today.”
“I won't see you out.”
“Look at her, smiling to the very end. How annoying.”
Lee Min-hwa stuck her tongue out at Emiliana's back as she left the room.
When the door slid shut smoothly, hiding them from each other's sight.
Only then did Emiliana's expression do a complete 180.
“I was told the Order knew a way to significantly strengthen the Disaster. What happened?”
And then, words that one would never expect from a Saintess who had come to help people in need began to spill from her lips.
“Can't you do your job right? With the Disaster defeated, the plan is ruined.”
Emiliana wore an expression of undisguised displeasure.
An expression she never showed to outsiders.
If anyone had seen that face, they would have denied what they saw, insisting that the Saintess would never make such an expression.
‘This was a crucial part of the plan for Korea; it couldn't be allowed to fail.’
If they had accepted the deal, the plan was to let the Disaster run rampant for a while, using the excuse that it would take time to prepare a major technique, before finally dealing with it.
Letting it wipe out all of Korea would make the Disaster too powerful to handle, but defeating it too early wouldn't allow for enough meaningful damage to accumulate.
The financial ruin and weakened forces of the Korean players. And the various restrictions that would arise from that.
That was the true purpose of this 'Disaster of Inversion Plan'.
‘But now that it's failed...’
Emiliana's sharp gaze fell upon one of her attendants.
Someone temporarily dispatched from the Order for this task.
The attendant answered calmly, as if it were no big deal.
“It was definitely strengthened.”
“Then why...!”
“The Korean players were simply skilled enough to defeat the strengthened Disaster. That's all there is to it.”
Thinking about it rationally, he was right.
Even Emiliana herself, who had come all this way, could feel that the Disasters were stronger than in the original game.
“...I'll have to see this Kim Se-hyeon for myself.”
Kim Se-hyeon.
As she spoke the name, Emiliana felt a strange sense of unease.
‘I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before...?’