Our Pride Aligns (1)
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────── Stop the Demon King Summoning Ritual ──────
● Slay the Demon Legion Commanders.(0/10)
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Was it because I'd finished investigating? A new quest objective popped up.
As I stared at it, things started to make sense bit by bit.
'So that's why they were blocking the way so desperately.'
To successfully complete the demon king summoning ritual.
The demon king's army must have been desperately trying to hold us back. Now that I knew that, I could guess why the demon king's forces had come swarming in like that.
They probably hadn't expected the defensive line to crumble this quickly.
"Is there a way to swiftly evacuate the survivors?" Harcon asked the Shadow Mercenaries.
"Well..."
Well? Does that mean there is a way, or there isn't?
Kichi pretended not to know until her eyes met mine. She flinched, then urgently called out to someone.
"...Alkari. Portal, we need a portal. Hic."
Alkari was the old man who'd recommended potions to me before. If he could manifest a portal, he must be a mage-class.
'He seemed pretty knowledgeable about potion brewing too.'
The more useful people around, the better. It wouldn't hurt to chat with him sometime.
"I held back since Your Excellency was here, but if you need my help..."
Alkari glanced at me cautiously as he gathered his mana.
By the way, holding back because I was here? He's got a huge misunderstanding.
'Of course, he could probably manifest one.'
Not on the level of the Mage Tower's portals, but I could manifest one too.
No matter how advanced the high-level magic.
The moment I saw it, Grandfell's talent let me grasp the processes of analysis, interference, and manifestation.
As long as the mana backed it up, manifesting a portal wasn't hard at all.
But.
'I need to conserve mana.'
In the battle against the demon king's army just now.
I'd used up a considerable amount of mana.
Who could've known? That there would be survivors like this—and not just a few.
"...Thank you. Knights."
"No need. We're not in a position to receive thanks."
"Thank you too, adventurer...?"
I looked at the girl bowing to me.
...Please, just be humble for once.
Don't treat thanks like it's the most obvious thing in the world.
I barely managed to nod my stiff neck.
'The rest must have all fought against the demons.'
The hidden survivors were all the elderly and infirm.
People who couldn't properly fight.
We needed to get them to safety fast.
'But no need to add to the confusion.'
They hadn't realized yet that they'd been dropped into another world.
For them, a safe and familiar place.
There was only one option, even without saying it.
"I'll set the coordinates to the Yusra Kingdom."
Alkari astutely summoned the portal.
The distance between coordinates and the number of users was quite high.
It seemed to be consuming a massive amount of mana. Alkari chugged a potion like water.
Harcon gave orders to Jessica Bright and a few other knights.
"You lot, join us after the survivors are settled."
The survivors' evacuation proceeded swiftly.
Does this count toward contribution too? I checked the sparkling quest window.
...An enormous surge.
Harcon spoke to me.
"Your Excellency. I don't know what you think, but I believe we should settle this quickly and rescue the other survivors too. There's no guarantee they're only in this district."
"I think the same."
"Ah, then I spoke out of turn, Your Excellency."
Now that I knew doing good deeds racked up contribution points.
There was zero reason to object.
Of course, first we had to settle it quickly... meaning, finish off the demon king.
'Demon king summoning ritual.'
I rummaged through my memories.
Snippets from Akkshan demon hunters.
But no clear, helpful memories surfaced.
'Demons are one thing, but demon kings...'
It had been over twelve years ago.
Different era entirely.
But one thing was certain.
All rituals required sacrifices.
Just like the Exorcism Ritual needed demon items as offerings.
The demon king summoning ritual surely needed sacrifices too.
'...Hold on.'
That thought made the streetscape look different all of a sudden.
The street where blood and corpses never ended.
I turned back and looked once more at the carnage.
It was like a line drawn in blood and bodies.
"...!"
A straight line connecting to Frost's central district.
'No way—these corpses and blood are the sacrifices?'
I organized my thoughts there.
It was still just premature speculation.
But even if the speculation proved true.
It wouldn't change my actions.
I knelt and closed the eyes of a corpse I hadn't noticed before.
Ignoring them to stop the demon king summoning ritual would be meaningless.
Yes, the pride in my heart told me so.
'Plus, if my guess is right...'
They were the ones in a hurry, not me.
Because this prideful act of collecting the bodies.
Not only disrupted the demon king summoning ritual but wrecked it entirely.
I opened my mouth.
"Regrettably, I have no intention of playing along."
If they're scared, let them drop dead.
*
AAU.
The branch was buzzing.
The demon king's army's appearance.
It was a different situation from the Great Evil.
Korea branch employee Seong Hyunjun rummaged through his USB.
"Please. Please. There has to be something...!"
It was a USB used back when Arcana was just a game.
From Cosmo. Maybe there was a backed-up work file.
Seong Hyunjun desperately searched the folders.
"The Great Evil was unheard of, but demon kings are different."
Senior Yoon Sugyeom was doing the same.
He too started digging through his work notes.
Then, suddenly, he found it.
"...F-found it, senior!"
"What? Let me see."
"Not specific info, but the concept here."
"Yes. Matches. My memory wasn't wrong!"
Demon kings.
Boss monsters that would appear in Arcana far in the future.
So far in the future that.
The backup file only had basic concepts.
But wasn't this better than nothing?
Compared to the Great Evil days when they could only twiddle their thumbs.
"Right. The concept was based on real-world demon kings."
If the concept hadn't changed.
The demon king in Frost would be from reality.
Meaning, legends or myths.
They sighed in relief.
"Good."
"Good what? The problem is which demon king it is."
"Ah, we have to figure that out...!"
Thwack—!
Seong Hyunjun smacked his forehead.
Then Yoon Sugyeom found something in his notes.
"...I found something too."
"What, senior?!"
"Demon king raid stage composition concept."
Stage composition.
This could actually be useful.
Yoon Sugyeom clicked his tongue.
"But it's just a concept."
"Still, you never know!"
"Yeah. This one's likely to have stuck around."
"Let me see. Demon king summoning ritual?"
Yoon Sugyeom was confident for a reason.
A familiar term at the end.
Seong Hyunjun's eyes widened.
"...Contribution system! Senior, you don't mean...?"
"Right. The ongoing quest has a contribution system too."
"But that quest's goal is recapturing Frost."
"Yeah, but on a big scale."
Yoon Sugyeom pulled up a map of Frost on the monitor.
The metropolis surrounded by walls, Frost.
Yoon Sugyeom traced a circle along Frost's walls with his finger.
"Recapturing Frost might be treated the same as stopping the demon king summoning ritual. If you think of the entire Frost city as the ritual site."
"...What? What do you mean?"
Seong Hyunjun checked Yoon Sugyeom's notes again.
Then he realized it wasn't nonsense.
Seong Hyunjun spoke cautiously.
"So players' progress on the Frost recapture quest could determine if the demon king summoning succeeds or fails? That's what you mean, senior?"
"High probability."
"If the summoning succeeds...?"
"Like with the Great Evil. We'd have to pray for a miracle."
But miracles weren't common, that's why they're called miracles.
Plus, unlike the Great Evil, these two knew demon kings' strength better than anyone.
Seong Hyunjun let out a sigh-mixed mutter.
"Someone rack up a ton of contribution points."
"Who's leading contribution now?"
"Among public players, Tianxia Tongyi."
Click—
Seong Hyunjun continued.
"Tianxia Tongyi master, Ryu Ojuncheon. Contribution 1,800."
"...One thousand eight hundred?"
"Feels lacking somehow. Not sure why."
Seeing that number made his anxiety worse.
Shake shake.
Yoon Sugyeom's leg bounced, then he asked again.
"Including non-public players?"
"...Then it'd have to be Lee Hoyeol, right?"
"Yeah. If not Lee Hoyeol, that's a major bug."
Lee Hoyeol's exploits!
Even from a developer's view, inexplicable.
Didn't he shatter Frost's ridiculously durable walls in one go?
Command Lion Heart Knights and Shadow Mercenaries—groups most players couldn't even talk to...
"How far has he advanced by now?"
Smoke rising from Frost.
Hard to film Hoyeol entering because of it.
Even VBC footage tracking his every move showed only smoke.
Yoon Sugyeom shrugged.
"Who knows. Not me."
At least do what little they could.
They had their jobs.
Yoon Sugyeom continued.
"Keep watching. AAU has a reputation. At least uncover the demon king's identity? Can't keep hearing 'salary Lupin' forever."
"Still, if it's Hoyeol, maybe 5,000 points? Nah, 5k too much? Then 3,000 at least...?"
"Hey. Time to think about that?"
*
If my guess was right.
The steeply rising contribution meant.
The demon king summoning ritual was facing disruptions.
Of course, it soon turned from guess to certainty.
"...Something big's flying this way? Ugh, what a pain."
That guy's got "annoying" tattooed on his mouth.
Anyway, Shadow Mercenaries.
Real skill aside from personality.
He wouldn't be wrong.
By the way.
'...Flying?'
I chuckled inwardly.
'Yeah, scared shitless, huh?'
Not running, but flying?
Meant the summoning ritual was getting desperate from interference.
Worth the brainpower.
So I thought...
What the— that thing.
Not a metaphor—it's actually flying?!
Flap—!
Wingbeats.
Frost's acrid smoke cleared at once.
What emerged was a massive bird.
If hell had birds, it'd look like that.
Enough to give anyone ornithophobia.
Its red pupils fixed on us.
I sensed it instinctively.
That massive bird was a demon legion commander.
────── Stop the Demon King Summoning Ritual ──────
● Slay the Demon Legion Commanders.(0/10)
The blinking quest window confirmed it.
Yeah, gotta slay ten of those?
I wasn't the only one who realized.
Harcon, who'd been waiting more than anyone.
"Your Majesty. I shall complete the mission."
Rrrumble— His sword began emanating sword aura.
Harcon's sword gleamed with a light I'd never seen before.
Sword aura.
Gets denser with growth, takes on unique shine, right?
'He's reached that realm.'
Grandfell's talent.
Let me gauge Harcon's growth.
Naturally, one corner of my heart felt secure.
My comrade was that strong.
Of course, the hell demon legion commander was flying.
Waiting for an opening without descending.
But I had no intention of letting it wait.
Couldn't give Harcon wings.
But I could lay stairs.
First, though, restrict its movements.
I gathered mana.
Suitable magic to clip those wings.
While saving mana as much as possible...
As I selected the spell.
Rumble—!
An eerie sound.
Sky darkened instantly.
Air currents shifted.
Storm clouds gathered.
'...This.'
Lightning crackling in the dark clouds.
A magic I'd seen before.
No—precisely, a skill.
I spoke.
"Jessie Haynes."
As if in response.
Heaven's Punishment crashed down on the demon legion commander.
Zzzzzap—!
Power on another level from Viscount Ascura.
Like it held a grudge against the demon legion commander.
Utterly emotional and wild manifestation, ignoring mana cost.
I shamelessly evaluated the skill.
"Much room for improvement."
...Improvement my ass.
What lacked was my level.
So I didn't hesitate.
I had to do something too...!
Or no scraps for me.
I manifested the stairs right away.
"Your Excellency. I shall complete His Majesty's mission and return."
Soon, Harcon stepped on the stairs and soared into the sky.