Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: The Unkillable Watcher's Eye
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The retreat halted, and the Demoncries turned toward Barum in unison.
It was perfectly synchronized timing, as if someone had issued a command over a radio linking them all.
In the world turned entirely gray-white, Park Myung-su, who had been trailing behind them, stepped into the midst of the Demoncries.
'35 seconds remaining.'
He could feel the Night Slaughter Society's concealment and the freshly acquired demonic energy rapidly fading from his dantian.
He strolled nonchalantly through the Demoncries, who were struggling to suppress their terror and rally their resolve.
Puk!
Suddenly, he drove his dagger into the thigh of a Demoncry standing right beside him and yanked it free.
"Kuh!"
The creature swung its hand swiftly, but it sliced through empty air.
With a simple confirmation that they couldn't see him, Park Myung-su darted through the pack of Demoncries.
'As Muhee-nim said, there should be a Demoncry there with the ability to monitor our movements from afar.'
Park Myung-su launched into a massive leap toward Baper, who stood at the rear of the Demoncries' main force, glaring at Barum.
'I have to kill him.'
He crossed the two daggers gripped in reverse.
Then, at full accelerated speed, he swung them with all his might toward the target.
Chok!
'Eliminated.'
The dagger grazed Baper's neck, where a red gem was embedded in his forehead like a mark from a blade.
Puhuk!
"Gek!"
Baper clutched his throat with both hands and dropped to his knees as it was severed.
Blood gushed like a fountain, drenching everything around.
He was doomed to die anyway, but the fact that he'd contracted with a demon noble nagged at him.
Myung-su moved to finish him off with another dagger strike, but he bit his lip and held back.
'About 10 seconds left now... Damn it. If I'd had just five more seconds.'
He couldn't throw away his life just to confirm the kill.
Park Myung-su still had a crucial mission ahead.
In the life of an assassin, a split-second greed wasn't worth abandoning everything.
"Ba... Baper!"
"Wh-where...?"
A sudden death from nothing visible, nothing felt.
It stunned not just the surroundings, but even the throat-slashed Baper himself.
'Hiding for the next phase.'
Demon or Demoncry, survival in this situation was impossible.
'Right, you believe that.'
With no other options, Park Myung-su bolted from the spot.
For the final mission Jin-cheol had outlined: reconnaissance to prepare for any contingencies.
'Conceal.'
With the sight of Baper collapsing and spewing blood from his neck as his last glimpse, Park Myung-su leaped away.
Perfectly masking his form, he sliced through the gray-white world toward a vantage point to observe their battle.
"Gek... gek."
Once Myung-su vanished, only Baper remained, writhing on the ground and spilling blood.
"Krurrr..."
A guttural growl, more befitting a beast, leaked from Baper's mouth.
Hwaruruk.
Flames erupted in a desolate mountainside devoid of people.
Scattered around were over ten corpses bubbling blood, remnants of skills unleashed by the Demoncries.
"U... uuuu."
At the center, an armless Demoncry crawled backward, tears streaming down.
"Kill..."
"Uwaaaaaah!"
With the Demoncry's agonized scream, Barum's blue claws gouged four long scars into the earth, shredding the survivor into five chunks.
Barum's head swiveled, scanning the area.
His deep navy eyes sharpened, hunting for another foe.
Chaos reigned—no allies, no enemies.
Yet amid it all, a few words echoed ceaselessly in Barum's mind.
'Freira... save.'
'Jackal... kill.'
'Revenge... take!'
No memories remained.
No emotions lingered.
Only those words and fury spurred Barum on.
Die quickly.
Save Freira, it demanded.
Hwik.
"Barum!"
At that instant, the presence of another lifeform—the one he'd been seeking—registered.
Three energies, plus one oddly familiar.
Just as Barum tensed to launch, they unleashed their pre-charged power straight at him.
"Kill!!"
Whoosh!
True to form, Barum's blue claws obliterated every incoming surge.
From the energies' midst emerged three Demoncries, positioning themselves in a triangular formation around Barum.
"Kill!!"
Barum bellowed.
His roar dripped with such dense killing intent that any creature would quail, yet these three Demoncries stood apart from the rest.
Terror gripped them, but faith wove them into a unit.
"Krurarara!!"
Barum coiled to spring.
Right then.
"Fire!"
The trio immediately bombarded Barum with everything they had.
Barum at the center abandoned evasion, cleaving through the onslaught.
Unlike the prior Demoncries, these three were exceptional.
Their potent demonic energy and masterful skill control dazed Barum's senses.
"Damn..."
But even superior Demoncries had finite demonic energy.
As time dragged, their attacks grew feeble.
In contrast, a grin crept across Barum's face.
"Baper!"
"...?!"
The instant victory seemed assured for Barum.
One of the three cried out a name in anguish.
'Baper?'
All memories erased, yet that single word froze Barum's mind.
Then.
Thud!
"Kruuuugh..."
As someone materialized before Baper, he seized his head and crumpled to his knees.
"Kwaaaaaagh!"
Barum—the supreme demon noble whom even the Demon Dragon Corps and Soul-Exterminating Ghost Kill couldn't fell—let out a wretched scream.
The torment he'd only heard before now poured from his own lips.
"St-stop!!!"
Writhing on the ground, Barum thrust out his blue claws.
Toward Baper, who had abruptly appeared before him.
A black field with a red circle.
The eye-sign Baper always formed—one of his five magic eyes.
"Oblivion."
Oblivion's magic eye blazed from Baper's gaze.
Barum, locked on Baper, bowed backward like a drawn bow, then collapsed with a heavy thud, consciousness fleeing.
'He... didn't die?'
Park Myung-su, peering from behind a massive nearby tree, bulged his eyes.
The brutally powerful Barum had yielded to Baper's magic eye.
And the perpetrator was none other than Baper, throat slit by Myung-su's own dagger.
'What the hell just happened?'
Myung-su's blade had undeniably severed Baper's neck.
He'd felt the give, witnessed the arterial spray.
Baper's body, soaked head to toe in his own blood, attested to it.
So why?
Why wasn't Baper dead?
Thump. Thump.
An impossible scene.
And the shock rippling through him.
For a concealed assassin, it was a fatal blunder.
Hwik!
Baper's eyes locked onto Park Myung-su, who had stilled his breath and aura.
Meeting that gaze, Myung-su clamped both hands over his mouth.
'My heartbeat!'
His eyes dropped to his chest.
A pounding so violent it echoed in his ears.
"Damn it."
"That's the bastard—grab him!"
"On it, Baper."
Aware of his error, Park Myung-su sprang away.
Chasing him were Baper and the three surviving Demoncries.
At velocities dwarfing any Demoncries seen before.
The entire world was pitch black.
In that void, a single phrase repeated relentlessly, as if brainwashing Barum.
'Jackal... kill.'
Floating in the absolute dark, Barum shut his eyes.
Open or closed made no difference; he gnashed his lip.
Bitter blood flooded his mouth, igniting an inexplicable fury deep in his chest like roaring flames.
Hwaruruk. Tadak. Tadak.
'Eh...?'
Overwhelmed by rage, perhaps.
In this realm of pure sword intent, other sounds intruded—not "Jackal, kill."
A crackling like flames rising from his chest.
And the pitiful snaps of embers writhing in charred logs.
Hwaruruk. Tadak. Tadak.
'What is this sound?'
He opened his eyes.
In the corner of the once-uniform darkness, a mountain blazed fiercely.
'What is that?'
A sight utterly unfamiliar.
Yet somehow...
It felt familiar to Barum.
'Why does it seem like I know it?'
Like a dream where alien spaces felt intimately known.
Disconnect prickled across his skin.
'Huh? Why am I reaching out?'
Beneath his gaze on the distant inferno, his blue claws came into view.
Extended longingly, they quivered.
'Why... am I trembling?'
His actions grew ever more baffling, dissonance crashing without cause.
Drip.
'Why... am I crying?'
Tears trailed unbidden.
Finally.
'Oppa...'
A woman amid the engulfed mountain's heart, gazing at him with eyes brimming sorrow.
'Who are you... Why cry, why reach for you!'
Barum, detached observer of it all, howled.
He knew this—unquestionably.
His eyes remembered. His body. These very eyes.
This heart, ripping itself apart.
'But... but!!'
Why claim ignorance of it all?
'Why!!!!!'
Why no recollection whatsoever!
'The hell why!!!!'
As his scream rent the void.
Puk!
A long sword punched through his back, erupting from his gut.
Tears streaking his face, Barum turned slowly.
There stood Baper, black field with red-ringed eyes, smiling at him.
"Enough. Get out here and do your job."
Hwaaaak.
Baper's voice resounded.
Against his will, Baper's eyes sealed shut.
Clutching only that enigmatic word and rage.
'Jackal... kill.'
"Krurrr..."
Barum's eyes snapped open.
Dark blue radiance flared as blue claws extended long from both hands.
"Lucky. Your mind held together."
Baper, before him, caressed his scarred throat.
Then laid a hand on Barum's shoulder.
"Jackal's at the far end."
The forgotten memory's core surged rage anew in Barum's depths.
"Kill..."
That power reclaimed him.
Baper's true quarry, beyond mere Demoncries.
Laden with murderous aura, Barum launched toward Jinhap Valley.
As Barum vanished in a blur, Baper exhaled pent-up breath.
"That was close... Krhuhu, this time I end it. I'll handle it personally—shatter your worthless schemes."
Flash.
"With this Oblivion Magic Eye, krhahaha."
The white-glowing Regeneration Magic Eye faded.
The red Oblivion Magic Eye took its place.
"No more slip-ups."
Oblivion active, Baper trailed Barum.
Aiming to seize Jinhap Valley, his paramount foe.
"Well then, shall we?"
Hands in pockets, Baper sauntered casually.
Acting the victor already.
But unbeknownst to him.
In the Barum he'd reshaped via routine Oblivion, something anomalous stirred.
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