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Chapter 392: Episode 74 – Great War of Saints and Demons (7)

The strength of <Underworld> was incredible.

The army of the Underworld that entered the 121st regional conflict completely swept away the combatants from both the ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’ camps and reverted all ‘Good/Evil’ within the battlefield to ‘neutral.’

[Advance!!]

Constellations participating in the 121st regional conflict saw the army of Hell encroaching their battlefield and either they ran away, or ended up being incapacitated.

[121st regional conflict has been forcibly concluded.]

[Applicable battle’s outcome can’t be decided.]

[Lack of will to fight by the participants of the applicable battle has been confirmed.]

[Applicable regional conflict has been excluded from the category of ‘Great War of Saints and Demons’.]

I glanced at the now-concluded battlefield and without taking a break, shifted my gaze over to the next Gate.

[117th Gate is currently in activation.]

[119th Gate is currently in activation.]

[123rd Gate is currently in activation.]

According to the plan, my companions should be in the middle of a dogfight inside the 117th and 119th Gates right now, having split up earlier. Jeong Hui-Won and Yi Hyeon-Seong were in the 117th Gate, while the 119th was manned by Han Su-Yeong and Yu Jung-Hyeok.

Which means, I should help with the situation in the 117th, rather than 119th....

[Constellation, ‘Mass Production-type Maker’, says that you must enter the 123rd Gate.]

....123rd?

But, there shouldn’t be anyone there?

I focused on the blurry images of the battlefield that could be seen from the Gate. And then....

“What the f.....?”

....I immediately issued a new order to advance.

“All personnel, we march through the 123rd Gate!”

My order prompted 30,000-plus combatants from the Underworld to march through the Gate. The great army of the netherworld riding on the pitch-black clouds crossed the portal and began arriving on the skies of the 123rd regional conflict zone.

“Yu Jung-Hyeok, you stupid bastard!”

There he was, bleeding profusely and dying. And then, Anna Croft carrying him on her back.

I kind of understood why that fool decided to not stick to the plan and participated in this particular battle.

“‘Demon King of Salvation’!!”

I heard her urgent calling and at the same time, I spotted the enemies hurriedly chasing after her and her human cargo.

They were Constellations from the very angry <Vedas> and <Papyrus>. Most of them were Historical-grade, but there were a few Fable-grade among them, as well.

[Your affiliated camp is ‘Evil’.]

Meanwhile, Yu Jung-Hyeok and Anna Croft were on the camp of ‘Good’.

In other words, the enemies pursuing them were ‘Evil’. If this was the ‘Great War of Saints and Demons’ of the original storyline, then they would’ve been my comrades, instead.

“....Kill them all.”

Unfortunately, my allies in this battlefield were neither ‘Good’ nor ‘Evil’.

[For the glory of <Underworld>!]

The Three Judges riding on the Hellsteeds burning in hell’s flames roared out in unison and dashed towards the enemy ranks.

Aeacus of Mercy and Righteousness.

Minos of Wisdom and Law.

Rhadamanthys of Impartiality and Incorruptibility.

When alive, they walked the path of the king, and now, they tread on the paths of the netherworld’s judges. They unleashed the auras befitting the Fable-grade Constellations that they were and began cutting down the approaching enemies’ numbers.

[How come the <Underworld> has....!!]

[Kuwaaahck!!]

I landed next to Yu Jung-Hyeok and Anna Croft while watching the enemies bleed out Fables and die.

His entire body was covered in grievous wounds. Even his coat featuring strong resistance against heat couldn’t withstand the high temperature and had melted half-way down; I couldn’t really hear his breathing, either.

I observed his left leg, now gone. There were traces of it ‘disappearing’ due to the internal expansion force.

....This idiot, he must’ve used ‘Shooting Star Slash’.

He might be able to fool the others, but there was no fooling my eyes. This was a truly stunning rate of growth.

Originally, the ‘Shooting Star Slash’ was Yu Jung-Hyeok’s hidden trump card that he barely managed to learn after going past the one-thousandth regression turn. But here he was, managing to reach that realm on only his third turn.

“He’s still breathing.”

“How did he end up like this?”

“He was trying to save me.....”

“Yu Jung-Hyeok was saving you??”

She quietly stared back at me, but her gaze eventually dropped lower. Her ensuing voice sounded bitter.

“He said that my death isn’t a part of your plan.”

For a moment there, I felt at a complete loss.

Why would Yu Jung-Hyeok.....

I took over his care from Anna Croft. I pressed his pressure points to stem the bleeding, and after laying him down, I took a better look at his current condition.

The ‘Shooting Star Slash’ was a technique the current him couldn’t handle yet. The left leg that somehow managed to withstand the explosive forward thrust was beyond saving. Limb dismemberments couldn’t be healed even with [Elaine Forest Essence].

I sighed for a brief moment there, before pulling out a certain item from my inner pocket. And it was something that reminded one of a tentacle belonging to a dark, sooty-coloured squid.

[Fragments of Squid Kim Dok-Ja’s seventh tentacle]

Anna Croft glared at the item with suspicious eyes. “What is that?”

“I got it as a gift not too long ago.”

“A gift? .....That?”

I was at a loss again as to how I should explain this.

Actually, this item was a ‘not-for-sale’ bonus article available only during the “Kim Dok-Ja Company Collaboration” event held by ‘Mass Production-type Maker’ just before the ‘Great War of Saints and Demons’ went underway.

I remembered that those who purchased a brand-new [Ferrarghini] received this on a first-come-first-served basis. I can still vividly recall the conversation I had with the ‘Mass Production-type Maker’ back then.

– Thank you. All thanks to you, this season has been a huge success. The tentacles of Squid Kim Dok-Ja were all gone in less than one minute, you know.

No matter how hard I thought about it, this just didn’t make any sense. There were Constellations who bought Ferrarghini just to get their hands on my ‘legs’?

The ‘Mass Production-type Maker’ grinned slyly and asked me.

– What’s wrong? Do you wish to know who they were?

– .....No, not really. Besides all that, how did you acquire the fragments of my tentacles?

– Eh? Of course, they are not your real tentacles. No, those were simply [Kraken legs]. Here, why don’t you take one yourself as a souvenir?

I was too lazy to explain all this to Anna Croft, so I simply handed the item over to her and ignored her question altogether. Once she got a hold of it, though, more suspicion clouded up her expression.

“Why is your name attached to this [Kraken leg]?”

“You don’t need to know. Just activate the [Elixir Maker] attribute, instead. Mix your blood with this item and have him eat them.”

A [Kraken leg] possessed the effect of healing grievous wounds such as dismemberment, as well as to maximise the user’s base self-healing ability, as well. And then, Anna Croft’s blood carried the effects of elixirs, so when the two were mixed together, it’d be possible to heal any serious injuries pretty quickly.

For some reason, though, she seemed to be hesitating, however.

“But, if I feed him my blood....”

“He won’t become your subordinate.”

It had been said before; Anna Croft’s blood possessed a power to make anyone who drinks it come under her influence.

“Because, the current Yu Jung-Hyeok has higher Status than you.”

She flinched slightly when she heard my words.

Meanwhile, I observed the unconscious Yu Jung-Hyeok sleeping quietly on the ground. He wouldn’t become her subordinate or some such.

I didn’t see any trace of him activating [Recovery], though. It seemed that he was planning to keep that power to the last possible second. He made a wise decision; if he wasted Recovery in this place, then I’d not be able to borrow his powers when it was really needed later.

“....Gotta hand it to this sunfish bastard.”

I grumbled a little and turned around to see the sight of the Underworld’s soldiers sweeping the enemies away like an incoming tidal wave. But then, upon taking a closer look, I could see that wave falter unstably.

As if the ends of the wave were being blocked by a massive dam and were crumbling away. And in the middle of the waves, a stupendous amount of sparks were dancing and exploding.

[Constellation, ‘God-King of Thunderbolts’, is roaring out in pure rage!]

.....The God-King of Thunderbolts?

Anna Croft spoke with a stiff expression. “But, that can’t be.... I witnessed his Half-God Body getting destroyed, so how??”

With that, I could figure out more or less on what had transpired here. It seemed that the ‘star’ Yu Jung-Hyeok had cut down was that dude over there.

“Indra possesses many Incarnation Bodies. He must’ve called one over here after paying for the Probability.”

Out of all the Constellations of <Vedas>, Indra had so many Incarnation Bodies that one couldn’t count them using one’s fingers.

It was a pretty famous anecdote of the three main gods of <Vedas> asking Indra “Which number Indra are you?” all the time.

[Constellation, ‘God-King of Thunderbolts’ has summoned Star Relic ‘Vajra’!]

Along with the loud boom akin to the skies splintering, the front of the <Underworld> army began splitting apart.

The ‘Vajra’, Indra’s main weapon capable of shooting thunderbolts containing an incredible amount of magical energy.

But, I simply snatched up the incoming thunderbolt with my bare hand.

Tsu-chu-chu-chut!

And then, I threw it back where it came from.

I could see Indra making a stunned face. But, it’s still too early for that.

[So, you’re the ‘Demon King of Salvation’.]

“And you’re Indra.”

[Why is the <Underworld> helping you?]

“Do I have a reason to explain that to you?”

Indra stared at me with a look of a person discovering a mysterious lifeform. [You are ‘Evil’. Behave according to the scenario’s rules. I shall overlook your disrespectful manners this time in consideration towards other Demon Kings, so....]

“It was you who caused my comrade to end up looking like that. Right?”

[So? What about it? That is the price to pay for an arrogant human when he opposed a Constellation. Do you wish to avenge him, then?]

Avenge, was it?

“That guy hates it when someone else pays the debt for him. Right, he’s the kind of a guy who must settle the score himself even if it kills him. So, the reason why I’m going to kill you now isn’t because of Yu Jung-Hyeok.”

[A Demon King with a uselessly chatty mouth, aren’t you.]

Kwaaa-boooom!!

Beams of blinding thunderbolts blanketed the sky and rained down on my position. I managed to deflect a few and defended against others. Some did land on me, but the pain was rather tolerable.

Indra did possess many Incarnations, but accordingly, the dispersion of his powers was just as great.

On top of this, he suffered irreversible damage from Yu Jung-Hyeok’s attack during his Half-God Body state, so he’d be unable to even summon up half of his usual power right now.

However, Indra was still smiling away. [Oh, you foolish Demon King. You shall regret this!]

[Nebula, <Vedas>, has blessed ‘God-King of Thunderbolts’ with its grace!]

The Nebula had spent Probability for him.

The power enveloping the God-King was growing even greater. Rapid changes took place on Indra’s Incarnation Body, and soon, golden rays of light began shooting out from his entire figure. He grew humongous, and the one thousand eyes he possessed began opening up one by one.

“We can’t let him continue!”

Anna Croft must’ve seen something through [Precognition] because she began crying out next.

....Hell, it looked like to me that Indra and <Vedas> had made up their minds for good this time.

[Constellation, ‘God-King of Thunderbolts’, has activated the Stigma, ‘Eyes that Observe Everything’!]

When all those eyes fully open up, Indra would be able to display the power of his true self through an Incarnation Body. Currently, about half of those eyes had opened.

Ku-gugugugu!

At this rate, every Incarnation participating in the 123rd conflict would be swept away by the overflowing electrical shock.

However, I was getting progressively happier watching that electrical energy filled to the brim with < Vedas’> Probability, instead.

“Actually, I have a score to settle with your Nebula. Make that a very big score.”

I remembered everything the Nebula <Vedas> did to me. Well, anyone who had suffered that badly would be the same as me.

I unsheathed [Unbreakable Faith] and continued on. “Because of you lot, I had to become a Demon King.”

During the Dark Castle’s last scenario, I became the 73rd Demon King.

“I had to order my comrades to kill me, and in the process, ended up inflicting them with terrible memories back then.”

[You have activated ‘Demon King Transformation’.]

The Status I earned after becoming the Demon King flooded out with my heart as the centre. Black wings tore out from the back of my shoulders, and horns broke out from my head.

[Fable, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, has begun its storytelling.]

Back when I lost my life to the swords of my allies and was cast out to the scenario’s horizon, I looked up at the heavens and swore to myself over and over again.

⸢Wait for a little while longer. Because I will bring all of you down from the damn sky.⸥

The stars in the distant sky, seemingly out of reach no matter what Fables I managed to acquire.

The distance so far away that it induced despair.

Now, I could clearly see the locations of the stars that previously seemed so high up.

I spoke in my true voice. [Back then, all of you seemed so high up....]

I grinned and stared at Indra.

[But, it seems that you lot were actually located lower then I thought.]

<Episode 74: Great War of Saints and Demons (7)> Fin.