Chapter 169: Belial (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 169: Belial (1)
While Yu Hana and I were taking a short break after dealing with a pack of gnolls.
A familiar voice came from the terminal.
– Unit 3, any problems?
It was Yoon Chae-ha's voice.
“No, no problems here.”
I answered calmly.
And it was true; we had no problems at all.
“Encountered a pack of gnolls. Threat neutralized. We will wait at our current position for five minutes before proceeding to the next target location.”
– Yeah… got it. Be careful.
The short transmission ended, and silence fell over the clearing once more.
Most of the units must have reached the halfway point by now.
So far, there didn't seem to be any major issues.
And to be honest, unless an Apostle showed up in person… it wouldn't be easy to defeat this team.
After all, we had Phantom's elite agents and the ones I'd brought with me.
But what if.
What if an Apostle really did appear?
A horrifying thought.
I shook my head. For now, it wasn't something I wanted to imagine.
The Apostles surely weren't in perfect condition yet. The Evil God's resurrection wasn't complete.
Of course, even so, an Apostle was still an Apostle.
– Crackle.
Just as I was lost in thought.
The terminal crackled to life again.
– This is Unit 6~ No issues here.
It was a report from Casper of Unit 6.
– Okay.
Yu Serin was the one who replied.
Before I knew it, a full round of reports had been completed.
– By the way, has everyone passed the halfway point? We think we're almost there.
A question came from Unit 6.
– We just passed it,
Cheon Yeo-wool answered without much thought.
– Got it~ See you all later, then~
The transmission cut off.
“It’s about time… Let’s get up.”
I said to Yu Hana, who was sitting down.
“Okay.”
Together, Yu Hana and I ventured deeper into the fog.
Once again, we squeezed our way between the rock cliffs.
The space between the rocks was quite wide.
As we walked cautiously through it, something suddenly occurred to me.
“Hana.”
At my call, she, who had been scouting the path ahead, turned her head and stared intently at me.
“You know, about the Dongbaek Sword?”
The sword I had given her at the beginning of the first semester.
Though its significance had faded now, it was technically a loan.
I had always intended to give it to her, but Yu Hana was proud.
She wasn't the type to just snatch something up like that.
I thought this was the perfect opportunity.
“If we finish this mission successfully, you can just keep it.”
At my words, Yu Hana stopped dead in her tracks.
She didn't say anything.
Puzzled, I turned my head toward her.
“What… you don't like it?”
Yu Hana was staring right through me.
Did she not like the Dongbaek Sword?
If so, I could get her something else…
Before I could even finish the thought, at that very moment.
– Mwah.
Yu Hana stood on her tiptoes and pressed a soft, warm kiss to my cheek.
– Mwah, smooch.
This time, it was my lips.
As my lips parted slightly in surprise, her hot tongue darted between them, both cute and daring.
– Mwah.
Finally, the nape of my neck.
With her lips still buried in my neck, she whispered in a low, hot voice.
“We're on a mission… so I'll hold back.”
Then, as if nothing had happened, Yu Hana turned her head and started walking ahead again.
“This was… supposed to be a trip for just the two of us. Right?”
Yu Hana said, looking past the fog.
“I'm disappointed about that, too.”
I let out a dry laugh and followed her.
My lips and neck, where her touch lingered, still felt hot.
“So… when this is over, give it to me.”
“Yeah, it's yours.”
The Dongbaek Sword was Yu Hana's. There was no reason to take it back.
At my answer, Yu Hana, who was walking ahead, turned her head.
“No.”
Her blue eyes were piercing straight through me.
“Not the sword.”
“……”
“You.”
Yu Hana's lips curled into an alluring smile.
“Hae-in, give me you.”
Her words made me hold my breath.
The fog wrapped around us in silence.
It was a long moment before I could finally speak.
“As for the spoils…”
I swallowed hard and managed to continue.
“Let's… talk about it after the battle is over.”
Yu Hana smiled brightly, as if satisfied with my answer.
As she turned forward again, her steps were much lighter than before.
I watched her back for a moment before pressing onward.
*
In a clearing with a giant, ancient tree.
Blood-soaked corpses were scattered haphazardly all around it.
And atop that tree, a man was sitting.
He had friendly eyes and was dressed in a trendy combat suit.
It was Casper, a member of Phantom.
The disguise, at least, was perfect.
Casper—no, Belial—closed his eyes. He could feel it.
The five groups of little insects had nearly reached the spider web he'd laid throughout this massive forest.
“It’s about time…”
Belial took out the terminal Casper had been using just moments before.
Then, he opened the communication line.
“GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
He acted out the most desperate and agonizing scream.
– CRUNCH!
Before a reply could even come through.
Belial crushed the terminal in his hand to dust.
“Shall we begin?”
he whispered, his voice soft and gentle.
Then, he stretched one hand high toward the sky.
From his fingertip, a single drop of deep purple mana bloomed.
And, in that instant.
From the base of the giant ancient tree where he stood, spiderweb-like purple cracks began to spread across the ground.
– ZHWAAAAAAK!
The cracks covered the entire forest, and soon, from the ends of those cracks, a translucent purple barrier shot up toward the sky.
In an instant, the barrier covered the sky, forming a massive dome.
That wasn't the end of it.
After the dome was complete, the purple cracks that had covered the ground now surged upward within it.
Following the terrain of the mountain range, dozens, hundreds of new barriers rose up, creating smaller prisons within the massive one.
From this moment on, the entire mountain range had become a giant prison… and a labyrinth.
No one could get out without Belial's permission.
"The King... where are you?"
Belial looked up at the world dyed in purple and smiled in satisfaction.
*
The eastern route we were assigned was the shortest of the six search points.
That meant there was a high chance we would finish our mission first.
I don't know how long we walked.
The fog slowly began to clear.
And before our eyes, a massive rock cliff revealed its magnificent form.
Unlike the other pillars of rock nearby, this cliff was as smooth as if it had been carved from a single piece of stone.
Geometric patterns that looked artificially engraved writhed on its surface.
“We're here.”
This was, at least, one of the six candidate sites.
Now, we had to check.
Was this the location that held the Fragment, or not?
The way to confirm the Fragment's presence was simple. We had to do something that would awaken the golem. If it woke up, we'd found our spot. If not, we hadn't.
I gestured for Yu Hana to come to my side.
She nodded silently and approached, gripping her Dongbaek Sword.
Waking it was simple. There was an invisible boundary in front of that cliff.
A kind of line.
Yu Hana and I readjusted our grips on our weapons and slowly approached the cliff.
– Step, step.
And then.
Finally, we crossed the boundary.
“……”
But nothing happened.
Not only was there no giant stone statue, but not even a single pebble fell.
In that case…
“This isn't it.”
“Looks like it.”
I muttered, a little disappointed.
That's one of the six locations checked off. Now we had to move to the next point.
I raised my terminal.
The closest unit from here would be Unit 2, with Yu Serin and Kang A-rin. We could join them right away and…
Just as I brought the terminal to my lips to open a channel.
– GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
A horrifying scream blared through the terminal.
I quickly checked the frequency the scream had come from.
Unit 6.
It was Casper and Raven's team.
– SHWAAAAAAK!!
Along with the scream, the very ground I stood on began to be stained a grotesque purple.
Spiderweb-like purple cracks shot out from under my feet, spreading across the entire forest.
“Hae-in!”
Yu Hana rushed to my side, pressing her back against mine.
I could feel a faint tremor from her tension.
I yelled into the terminal.
“Kang A-rin! Cheon Yeo-wool! Anyone, respond!”
– Ksshhhhhhk….
But all that came back was ear-splitting static.
The terminal's screen flickered before all signals were lost.
[NO SIGNAL]
A purple barrier had trapped us.
And not just us. The entire mountain was slowly being sucked into the barrier.
The overwhelming scale of this barrier brought to mind only one being from my memories.
As far as I knew, the only one capable of something like this was…
Belial…
The Apostle of the Evil God, the 3rd Seat.
It meant he himself had descended upon this place.