Chapter 327
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 327
Chapter Title: Siron's True Face
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Already the sixth one we've subjugated.
'It feels like it's about time to complete the quest.'
Jeong Hoon glanced up at Siron's head.
The quest still showed no reaction.
Secret Episode Quest: Union Headquarters (2)
-Restriction: Union Headquarters (1) Quest Completed
-Reward: ??
-Description: Move under Siron's command. The quest will complete once the criteria are met.
They'd been clearing the dungeons he guided them to, yet it still hadn't met the criteria?
"Good work, everyone. Shall we move on to the next one?"
Siron smiled brightly as he prepared to guide them to the next dungeon.
"Hold on a second."
Jeong Hoon grabbed him.
Siron tilted his head, his face beaming with a smile.
"Yes? What's the matter?"
"How many more do we have to subjugate?"
"Hmm, well. Given your outstanding skills, I'd appreciate it if you could handle about twenty in total..."
"Twenty?"
Jeong Hoon's face twisted in disbelief.
It wasn't a matter of staminait was that time was too tight to keep running abnormal dungeons indefinitely.
Siron fidgeted anxiously and hurriedly apologized.
"Ah, I'm sorry if you're tired. You cleared them so quickly that I didn't realize..."
What the hell is with this guy?
Jeong Hoon got a seriously fishy vibe from Siron.
On the surface, he wore the kindest smile imaginable, but underneath lurked an indescribable stench.
"No, I was just curious how many are left. Let's keep going."
Better to observe a bit longer for now.
"Then I'll leave it to you."
"Yes."
'Wow... he's really just standing there watching?'
'This is too much.'
Mukho and Anima were still brimming with dissatisfaction.
Throughout Jeong Hoon subjugating over ten dungeons, neither had once offered to help.
It seemed like they were staying out of it to avoid getting in the way of his lightning-fast clears, but to the two of them, their attitude felt utterly infuriating.
Anima especially glared at the dragonkin leader Kanteon with utter disgust.
'That damn bastard is a disgrace to dragonkin.'
Thanks to that, Jeong Hoon had to calm them down while handling the subjugations.
Now they entered the fourteenth dungeon.
This fourteenth dungeon was different from all the ones they'd subjugated so far.
Lv.??? ???
Neither its level nor name was displayed.
'What is this? Higher rank than me?'
Jeong Hoon narrowed his eyes.
It possessed a presence on par with a lord-class, yet he couldn't read it.
Just what was lurking in this place?
"Gah!"
That was when it happened.
A scream erupted from the leader group that had followed Jeong Hoon in.
Jeong Hoon's head snapped toward it, and a horrifying scene unfolded before his eyes.
"Si-Siron... why! Ack!"
"Aaagh!"
Siron had begun indiscriminately attacking his Union comrades.
The first victim of his sword dance was the fairykin Niaive.
She was caught in his sword dance before she could use her abilities, her arms, legs, and neck severed as she met her end.
Next was the beastkin Yurina.
Her waist was sliced through, her upper and lower body separated as she collapsed.
She'd avoided instant death by activating her abilities, but the real problem came after.
She tried to regenerate and recover quickly, but her body wouldn't respondconfusion spread across Yurina's face.
In that state, Siron brought his sword down on her head, cutting off her breath.
Jeong Hoon watched the scene with a rigidly hardened expression.
You cannot interfere with Siron.
Interference will cause the quest to fail.
Because the quest had imposed restrictions.
"S-Spare me!"
"Outsider! Help us!"
The survivors defended against Siron's attacks while desperately calling for Jeong Hoon.
If Jeong Hoon, who could subjugate a demon lord-class transcendent in an instant, stepped in, he could stop Siron.
'Screw 'em.'
'Calling only when they need youpathetic.'
Mukho and Anima smirked from the corners of their mouths, sneering with evident satisfaction.
'That bastard...'
The kind smile he'd maintained until entering was gone without a trace. Now wearing a chilling smile, he swung his sword.
There was no hesitation whatsoever in his strikes.
Even after the screams stopped, he kept bringing his sword down, ensuring their breaths were fully cut.
"Whew, I wanted to keep a few more alive a bit longer."
Siron turned his head as he said that.
His eyes, glaring coldly at Jeong Hoon, flickered with malice.
His body was splattered head to toe in blood as he slowly walked toward Jeong Hoon. Only then did the quest restriction lift, allowing movement.
"You... really a hero?"
"Yes, as you can see."
Siron spread his arms wide with a grin.
"I'm the only being who can save this world."
"Save?"
Jeong Hoon glanced at the sprawled corpses.
He was calling this 'saving'?
Catching the glance, Siron burst into mad laughter.
"I thought you'd understand, but you're just another piece of trash like them."
"...You don't mean... an avatar?"
At the question, Siron stopped laughing and pretended to sob.
"You're too much. Comparing me to those nobodies."
The sudden change in expression made Mukho and Anima duck behind Jeong Hoon.
'Whoa... this guy's seriously off.'
'He's mentally unstable. Master, be careful.'
Jeong Hoon rubbed his forehead with an irritated sigh.
"Then what are you? Spit it out straight before I kill you."
"A god."
"...A god?"
"Yes. Still human for now, but soon to become a god."
"Absurd. What does that have to do with slaughtering your comrades?"
"This world needs to disappear."
"Disappear?"
Was this really coming from a hero's mouth?
"Yes. It's rotten to the core."
"So you killed them?"
"A bit regrettable. I planned to exterminate everyone once the damage reached 80."
"......"
"But you kept clearing abnormal dungeons so fast, speeding up the schedule... Can't be helped."
Siron shook the blood from his sword, unable to hide his regret.
"Since when? Planning this."
"Hmm, no planning involved. I never had the slightest intent to protect this world from the start."
"Impressive. How'd you hide that ugliness while playing hero?"
"Easy. Kept smiling brightly and pretending to save the world a few timesthey hailed me as hero on their own."
"......"
"Isn't it vile? No power, no will to fight, yet they whine for salvation while fawning over a so-called hero."
So he'd never intended to save the world even a little.
"Disgusting."
"Heh heh, exactly. Utterly filthy. Everything except me, of course."
An exclamation mark blinked above Siron's grinning head.
You have completed the quest.
You have gained 100,000,000 EXP.
You can now undertake the next quest.
With the quest complete, a question mark blinked above Siron's head again.
Secret Episode Quest: Mastermind
-Restriction: Union Headquarters (2) Quest Completed
-Reward: ??
-Description: Uncover Siron's mastermind.
The next quest was to uncover Siron's backer.
In other words, identifying the transcendent he'd contracted with would complete it.
Jeong Hoon pondered briefly.
He'd called avatars 'nobodies' and referred to himself as one who would become a god.
"You... contracted with the Designer?"
If so, there was only one answer.
The Designer.
Hitting the mark, Siron let out a short whistle of admiration.
"Oh, so you're not completely clueless."
"...So that's it."
The Designer would be on the level of Eskanon, a heaven-grade.
Whatever contract he'd made was unknown, but mentioning gods meant he'd secured a transcendent seat.
Yet nothing appeared above Siron's head.
'Not the right answer?'
Did he need the Designer's true name?
"Of course not the answer."
"It's not?"
"Yes. I told youI'm the one who will become a god."
"...Don't tell me... a Named?"
Named.
The five Named called gods.
Contracted with one of them?
"Bingo."
A exclamation mark blinked above Siron's nodding head.
You have completed the quest.
You have gained 100,000,000 EXP.
You can now undertake the next quest.
Jeong Hoon was so dumbfounded he couldn't speak.
Secret Episode Quest: Confrontation
-Restriction: Mastermind Quest Completed
-Reward: ??
-Description: You have uncovered Siron's mastermind. Confront him and reduce his health to 90 or below.
The next quest was to confront Siron.
'Reduce health to 90 or below for success, huh.'
Simpler than expected, but facing an avatar contracted with a Named changed everything.
Avatars gain power by completing quests from transcendents.
His hero antics were likely from those quests too.
Otherwise, no reason to hide that ugliness for so long.
Accepting the quest, Jeong Hoon stepped Supremacy of the Heavenly Demon, arriving before Siron in an instant.
The Shadow King's Spear was gripped in his hand, swung from above down in a massive arc.
Shadow Full Moon activates.
Shadow Full Moon.
Clang!
Siron casually parried the spear thrust with his sword.
"Tsk, aren't you a bit too drunk on your own power? This many openings is troublesome."
He muttered as if disappointed.
'Dangerous.'
Sensing the threat, Jeong Hoon stepped Supremacy of the Heavenly Demon and hurriedly retreated.
NPC Information
-Nickname: Siron
-Level: ???
-Job: ???
When they first met, Siron was a Lv. 1,500 Hero (Grand Master).
But now, revealing his true colors, both level and job were hidden.
'Have to go all out.'
Trying to gauge his strength while holding back would get him killed 100.
Black Field activates.
All stats corrected by 1.8x.
All stats of monsters invading the Black Field territory reduced by 15.
Starting with Black Field, he rapidly deployed buff items and Ultimate Aura.
Jeong Hoon quickly switched from Shadow King's Spear to Anima, drew the bowstring, and aimed at Siron.
"Trying to use the same method that crushed Gregar?"
Siron smirked.
He'd watched Jeong Hoon's fights and grasped his abilities to some extent.
"Got a problem?"
Jeong Hoon released the drawn string.
Ultimate Arrow.
The arrow shot toward Siron.
Fwhoosh
But Siron swung his sword again, lightly batting it away.
Heavenly Strike activates.
At that moment, Heavenly Strike triggered, unleashing a barrage of arrows.
"No good."
But the arrow rain inflicted no damage on Siron.
Hero's Blessing.
The blessing enveloped his body, shielding him from the barrage.
"You'll only know if you see it through."
Jeong Hoon switched to Leviathan to prepare the next attack.
But Siron was already right in front of him.
"Guess I'll have to show you."
Jeong Hoon's eyes wavered.
'Danger.'
Light Barrier used.
He hurriedly activated Light Barrier.
Crack!
The barrier shattered instantly.
Jeong Hoon urgently stepped Supremacy of the Heavenly Demon to retreat.
'Master! You okay?!'
Mukho shouted urgently.
"Yeah. I'm fine."
He'd survived by reflexively using Light Barrier.
If even a moment later... the thought was horrifying.
"Wow, what was that? You even handle holy power?"
Siron walked slowly toward Jeong Hoon with a surprised look.
'Bastard, acting all leisurely.'
Strength surged into his right hand gripping Leviathan.
'Master, you sure you're okay?'
Anima asked with a face full of worry.
'Yeah.'
Jeong Hoon nodded.
He was certain from that attack.
Siron was strong, no doubt, but not unbeatablenot to the point of failing the quest.
Just 10.
He was confident he could reduce it by that much.