Chapter 181
Chapter 181
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 181
Chapter Title: The Price of Hesitation
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Humans are selfish.
Demons who seek to exterminate humanity and claim this land as their own.
To sell their souls to those demons, who can be called humanity's enemies.
It's a foolish act to throw away one's soul for a fleeting moment of power.
But.
Yong-un understood their choice.
Yong-un himself...
Had knocked on the door of the Heavenly Demon Cult—called demons—for revenge.
Though their goals and sense of dignity differed greatly, Yong-un could understand their choice.
However, there was something Yong-un couldn't comprehend from living in the real world up to now.
Since returning to reality, he'd encountered many wondrous things and countless others that remained incomprehensible.
And if asked to name one, he'd pick this without hesitation.
Demon King Rune Letters.
Letters like drawings.
Infusing internal energy into script to imbue it with power.
Even forcibly severing contracts with demons—born of human selfishness.
Even as he completed the Demon King Rune Letters now, he couldn't grasp their underlying principle.
And those Demon King Rune Letters were now...
Aimed at a precious being he now considered family.
Barum, one of the five ghost souls of Ghost Slaughter Soul Annihilation.
Barum was a Demon Cry.
Precisely, a demon descended through the body of a human contracted with a demon.
So if struck directly by the Demon King Rune Letters now...
'I'd lose Barum.'
With only the final period of the pattern left, Yong-un hesitated.
Even though Barum wanted this.
Was this the right moment?
She was Cheon-il's older sister, but was it right to lose Barum just to save her?
He layered thought upon thought.
Could he protect Cheon-il's older sister—called Zero One—without losing Barum?
If it was another ghost soul of Ghost Slaughter Soul Annihilation, vulnerable not to the Demon King Rune Letters like Barum, could it subdue Zero One?
Would a regular ghost soul, not a Demon Cry, be fine even if struck directly by the Demon King Rune Letters?
"......."
He agonized, piling doubt on doubt.
But the more he did, the stranger the situation grew, ultimately igniting Yong-un's hesitation into full flame.
"Supreme One!!!"
Barum's cry, laced with despair.
Opportunities vanish when hesitated over.
Remembering that missing this chance could mean losing both Barum and Cheon-il's sister, Yong-un bit his lip and slowly raised his hand to place the final period on the pattern.
Pzzzt! Fwoosh!
The final period of the Demon King Rune Letters activated it.
The pattern, saturated with Yong-un's Crimson Heavenly Demonic Energy, unleashed the amassed power in a explosive burst.
Grip.
Staring at the pitch-black rune energy surging toward Barum and Zero One, he gripped the Demon-Slaying Sword tight.
And...
Flash!
A brilliant light erupted from Barum and Zero One.
All great endeavors fail due to one person's hesitation.
The recklessness of chasing two hares at once.
The hesitation disguised as deliberation it spawns ends up catching neither, losing everything.
Just like now.
Flash!
As the pitch-black light burst forth, an overwhelming aura unlike any felt from demons before began dominating the surroundings.
When the light faded, Zero One and Barum came into view.
Their positions had changed drastically from before.
Kyaaaah!
A woman's scream, it seemed, echoed relentlessly from the vast dark-gray demonic energy.
Kyaaaaah!
As the final, agonized shriek faded, Zero One and Barum's forms fully entered everyone's sight.
Barum, supporting the limply collapsing Zero One, was now dangling in midair, throat gripped by her hand.
And Zero One's eyes, glaring murderously at Barum, were dyed crimson-black like Crimson Heavenly Demonic Energy, her entire body engulfed.
Creak. Creak.
Zero One twisted her neck this way and that, staring at Barum.
"Kuhahaha!"
At the sight, Polant, leader of Death Demon Cry, burst into laughter.
"Funny, huh?"
Myung-su glared down at Polant with fury, irked by the laugh.
Yet Polant kept laughing, as if delighted.
"I told you. Do it quick. Your leader's hesitation caused this. Your leader! Heh heh. Woke that demon up."
Polant's words twisted everyone's faces.
Yet he didn't stop.
Snapping his head around, Polant's gaze now fixed on Cheon-il.
"If that demon awoke, another will too. One more ruthless than her, utterly devoted to that demon despite being stronger."
"Sick bastard."
Thwack.
Myung-su finally snapped, smashing his fist into the back of Polant's head.
The impact bulged Polant's eyes, wiping his smirk momentarily.
Even grimacing in pain, Polant stared at Cheon-il.
Cheering inwardly for the already ruined situation to shatter completely, he prayed Cheon-il would turn demon soon.
"Don't worry. What you described won't happen."
Polant sneered dismissively, chuckling.
But as time passed with no change in Cheon-il, Polant began wondering if Myung-su was right.
Shaking his head, eyes refocusing as they spun, Polant looked at Myung-su.
"What're you on about?"
"Think it's impossible? You'll see soon enough. Shut up and watch. Witness the Supreme One's majesty turning impossible into possible!"
Myung-su's gaze locked on Yong-un.
Polant's followed.
By then, Yong-un had quietly readjusted his grip on the Demon-Slaying Sword and begun taking heavy steps forward.
"Urk..."
What had happened?
Barum had watched from the side as Yong-un used the Demon King Rune Letters to sever the contract tormenting Cheon-il due to demon descent.
Demon King Rune Letters.
Barum knew them well and had confirmed their power up close.
They were a force no demon under the Demon King could block.
'But how...'
Kyaaaaah!
The woman's scream cut off as Zero One twisted her neck full circle, smiling.
"Haa~"
Then came a sound unlike any from Zero One before.
A sigh mixed with a nasal hum, as her eyes curved into happy crescents facing him.
Like Zero One smiling through tears of joy.
But the emotion within was utterly different.
The exact same eye smile, yet why did it look so alien?
As if she'd become a completely different person.
"You're the reason I'm late."
Even Zero One's voice felt slightly altered.
Using unknown demonic energy, she manipulated it to slowly release her grip on Barum's throat.
Barum, floating midair with throat clutched, was pushed back.
"...?!"
Something caught Barum's eyes.
In Zero One's blackened pupils, multicolored lights flickered.
One, two, three.
No, countless colors and patterns rose and vanished like demons prepping weapons before war.
With eyes of regeneration, Barum recognized it instantly.
"Demon Eyes..."
Demon Eyes.
Countless numbers of them.
"No way!"
In that instant, a certain being flashed through Barum's mind.
"That can't be."
It mustn't be.
She...
Wasn't a being who could contract with humans.
"Haa~ You recognize me, huh?"
Zero One stretched lightly, eyes gleaming seductively as they swept over Barum.
Her radiant eyes shifted to different hues on each side.
A golden circle in her round left eye, a boxy crimson-black square in her right.
The moment Barum saw them, chills should have erupted across his body.
His suspicions confirmed.
The golden circle and square crimson eye—symbols of that being.
"Demikrasha..."
Owner of the 108 Demon Eyes.
One of the three dukes of the demon realm.
Duke Demikrasha.
"Correct."
The monster overseeing the entire demon realm from the Demon King's side, able to reach anywhere within it.
Her descent was now certain.
Gripping the Demon-Slaying Sword, Yong-un immediately circulated his Crimson Heavenly Demonic Energy, merging with the blade.
Crimson-black mist rose as blood clouds enveloped him, and he surged toward Barum and Zero One.
Speed leaving afterimages.
Slash.
In an instant, transformed into blood clouds, Yong-un wedged between Barum and Zero One before anyone could blink.
"...?!"
Barum, staring at Zero One, eyes widening at Yong-un's ghostly arrival without a sound.
And moments later.
Thud.
Zero One's arm, extended toward Barum, fell limply to the ground.
"Huh?"
Thump.
Barum, floating midair, collapsed to the floor.
Demikrasha, inhabiting Zero One's body, eyes widening slightly at the sheer speed.
Squirt.
Blood spurted from the severed arm.
Staring at it, Demikrasha looked at Yong-un with a dumbfounded expression.
"Ouch."
She uttered a pained whimper, but her face remained unchanged.
Slash. Thud.
Yong-un blinked.
The other arm fell.
"What is this?"
As Demikrasha tried to look at her fallen arms.
"Huh?"
Her gaze, tilted up at Yong-un, went askew.
In that split second, one leg was sliced off.
"What? How did you swing the sword..."
Thump.
Before she finished, her last leg detached from her body.
Falling backward, Demikrasha looked up at Yong-un and chuckled.
"At this level, even that guy couldn't beat you in swordsmanship, human."
Silent, Yong-un unleashed One Kill again.
Intending to eliminate the root of all this with his own power.
But this time was different.
Thud.
"Told you, human."
Yong-un's body halted mid-swing without budging her.
Precisely, during the swing and recovery, Demikrasha's hand had gripped the Demon-Slaying Sword.
'She caught it?'
First time in martial world or reality...
No one had ever matched Yong-un's peerless One Kill speed.
"Surprised, human? Sorry, but I was surprised too, so we're even. Oh, you can brag. You're the first in all human realms to startle me, Demikrasha."
Demikrasha shrugged leisurely.
Yong-un, head bowed gripping the Demon-Slaying Sword, began drawing up demonic energy again.
And when he raised his head.
"Wha...?"
"Sorry."
A crack formed on Demikrasha's confident, relaxed face.
"I don't think I can save you."
Fwoosh!
From the crimson-black Demon-Slaying Sword rose a different energy.
Purple energy.
The Ultimate devoured the crimson blood clouds, surging straight into Demikrasha's gripping fingers.