Chapter 239.

Inside the Colosseum filled with excitement and madness, Jin Seyeon stared at the man in front of her . His face was completely veiled, but Jin Seyeon thought to see through his disguise with her eyes .

However, even her eyes were incapable of seeing through him . Black Lotus’ mask easily deflected the Divine Archer’s eyes .

—The victor shall survive, and the defeated shall die! Enjoy the humans’ fight to the death!

A demon’s voice rang out loudly .

Jin Seyeon raised [Lv . 7 Munjong’s Bow], the artifact she obtained while climbing the Tower . She aimed the bow at the man standing in front of her .

Black Lotus .

He was a member of the Chameleon Troupe, which was deeply involved in her parents’ death .

The resentment pent up inside her couldn’t be forgotten, and the ember of hatred sparked inside her once again .

—Fight!

However, in front of the lives of her comrades, her resentment became a trifling matter .

—Fight, human gladiators!

Jin Seyeon regained her composure . Her opponent also raised his bow . They didn’t have the leisure to talk things out . Shining magic power condensed around the Divine Archer’s bowstring, and Black Lotus nocked an arrow to his bow .

Facing the upcoming confrontation of two sharpshooters, Jin Seyeon was worried that she and Black Lotus wouldn’t be able to satisfy the demons’ expectation .

Although the audience was cheering and filled with excitement, a battle between two sharpshooters was nothing exciting .

It was because the fight was always determined by one arrow .

Sharpshooters couldn’t attack if they only dodged and couldn’t dodge if they only attacked .

As such, sharpshooters determined the outcome of their battle with a single arrow, carrying all of their magic power .

There were no fancy maneuvers, or entangling magic power vying for supremacy like in manhwas .

In a split second, two arrows would make contact, one would crumble, and the surviving arrow would crush its enemy with its owner’s killing intent .

Kiiik—

Jin Seyeon pulled the bowstring . Her magic power gnawed on the bowstring and compressed down into a more destructive form . The materialized magic arrow caused a fierce wind pressure to erupt, sucking in the excitement and cheers of the audience in the Colosseum .

Then, as she was getting ready to fire her arrow inside the raging storm of magic power…

—Don’t think about winning .

A clear voice rang out in her head .

“…?”

Jin Seyeon’s eyes widened .

A technique to deliver one’s thoughts to someone else’s mind, Mental Transmission .

Of the numerous techniques Heroes used with magic power, Mental Transmission was among the most difficult . As most didn’t want to put in the effort, or rather spend the effort doing other forms of training, there weren’t many who could perform this feat .

However, Black Lotus’ Mental Transmission was flawless . There wasn’t even the slightest noise that hindered his message, and it rang out inside her smoothly and calmingly . Even as a Master-rank Hero, this was the first time Jin Seyeon had experienced such a clean Mental Transmission .

—If you want to save your comrades, let go of that bowstring .

Black Lotus’ message continued .

He already knew the situation her comrades were in .

Jin Seyeon’s hands shook for a moment . However, she quickly focused again .

To believe or not to believe . This wasn’t the question Jin Seyeon was asking . She simply didn’t want to use her comrades’ lives as bargaining chips to Black Lotus’ gamble .

—Don’t you want to save them?

Jin Seyeon tried to use her magic power to cut off Black Lotus’ Mental Transmission .

However, she couldn’t .

‘What kind of a monster is he?’ Jin Seyeon laughed inwardly, feeling the overwhelming difference in their magic power’s state of existence .

—I will say this one last time . If you want to save your comrades, let go of that bowstring .

Black Lotus’ words rang out inside her clear mind . Even so, Jin Seyeon continued to perfect her magic arrow . A brilliant light shone from her bow .

—Is that a luminous-attribute arrow?

A dry, emotionless voice rang out .

—A foolish choice .

With a sneer, Black Lotus also unleashed his magic power, coming together like water and forming what looked like a harpoon .

—It would have been better to use null-attribute .

“Stop talking—!”

I will not let myself be shaken up by you! Jin Seyeon shouted powerfully and let go of her bowstring .

Pzzzzt… .

White sparks crackled as her arrow flew forward .

The current of light set the earth ablaze and melted the atmosphere .

As the white light radiating from the arrow captivated the audience’ heart…

“Eh…?”

Jin Seyeon understood what Black Lotus meant .

Light did not lose to darkness .

No fire could incinerate it, and no frost could freeze it .

It could only be devoured by greater ‘light’ .

Jin Seyeon saw the brilliant torrent of light clashing against her arrow . She couldn’t help but laugh . Was this what it felt like to be a firefly in front of the sun?

A light-attribute magic power was coming out of Black Lotus’ arrow . The white-colored harpoon he shot out extinguished her arrow .

“…Ha . ”

Her luminous-attribute arrow crumbled, and Black Lotus’ arrow continued to fly towards her . Jin Seyeon witnessed her defeat clearly .

Soon— a huge explosion erupted .

Black Lotus’ light exploded in front of Jin Seyeon .

Swept away, Jin Seyeon tumbled multiple times on the ground . However, she didn’t feel much pain . It was as though her body was under anesthesia .

Was this because of his light-attribute attack?

—Don’t worry . You won’t die…

As her consciousness started to fade, Black Lotus’ voice rang out once again .

—You’ll only fall asleep for a moment .

Tak, tak . The sound of his footsteps reverberated in her groggy mind .

“It’s far from true death . ”

This time, he spoke personally, not using Mental Transmission .

“Sleep tight . ”

With those final words, Jin Seyeon’s consciousness was cut off .

**

“…Whew . ”

After confirming that Jin Seyeon’s eyes had closed completely, I sighed . Because I used four streaks of Stigma at once and even applied a complex property like ‘suspended animation’, my body was sore all over .

“I won at least . ”

With this, I proved my theory . That not even Jin Seyeon’s magic arrow could defeat Athena’s Lv . 11 Moonlight Arrow . Since she picked a fight with luminous-attribute, the result was obvious .

“Great fight, human dog . ”

The demon prison guard walked up to me . The three-eyed guard patted my back as he praised me .

“Congrats on your first victory . Is there anything you want?”

I glanced at the demons’ eyes . His black, white, and red eyes were all curved into a smile . Wondering which one to face, I pointed at Jin Seyeon’s body .

“…This corpse . ”

“Hm?”

“Give me this corpse . ”

“…The corpse?”

I nodded . A hint of suspicion surfaced on the prison guard’s face . He looked back and forth between me and Jin Seyeon while radiating demonic energy .

Crack—

A black blade of demonic energy pierced Jin Seyeon’s stomach .

“… . ”

However, she didn’t react whatsoever . It wasn’t surprising since I put her into a state of suspended animation through Stigma’s magic power .

The prison guard said, “I can’t give you the corpse . All corpse will be carried to the morgue . ”

“Then let me carry her there . ”

“Hm… fine . ”

The prison guard didn’t say no . I picked up Jin Seyeon and put her on my shoulder .

—Kueeek!

—Kuhahaha, amazing! That was great!

Although the fight ended rather quick, demons seemed to have enjoyed it quite a lot .

I could understand why they were so thrilled . Two sources of light, which were fatal to them, had clashed . In human standards, it would have seemed like a bloody brawl .

–I remembered your name! I’ll come see you again next time!

—Uhahaha! Fun, that was fun!

I left the Colosseum following the prison guard and arrived at the underground morgue .

“Huhu…”

The prison guard looked at me and gave a lustful smile .

“I’ll let you borrow the corpse for one day only . ”

“…What?”

I felt like I understood what this prison guard was thinking about . What was an unacceptable act to humans seemed like a normal fetish to demons .

“You can leave now . ”

“Alright, alright, I’ll leave . Take your time . ”

I held myself back from frowning in disgust as I let the guard go . He seemed to think he was being considerate as he even locked the door on his way out . Well, I had to thank him for that .

“… . ”

After glancing through the door and checking that he was gone, I quickly took out a potion . Jin Seyeon was still bleeding from her stomach . I poured the potion on her injury . Tzzzt— White water vapor rose up as her wound closed .

It was then .

“…HOT!”

An unbearable heat spread from my wrist . I quickly glanced down and saw that my smartwatch was on fire .

“W-W-What!?”

I tried to put the fire out . But immediately afterwards, a sharp pain struck my upper arm . It was the kind of uncomfortable pain like swirling an iron nail inside your body .

“Shit, this… . ”

I was familiar with this pain . Soon, a series of messages popped up in my retina .

[A streak of Stigma will be added . ]

[It becomes easier to use Stigma diversely . ]

[You can now use ‘Setting Intervention’ and ‘Information Reading’ without a medium . ]

[You can now…]

They were good news . The problem was with the time and place .

“Uhuuuak!”

The pain that started in my upper arm traveled through my brain .

An unexpected cry came out of my mouth, and I couldn’t bear the pain any longer .

I collapsed, holding onto my arm .

**

On the other hand, in a building Chameleon Troupe took as their main base .

“Our wittle Boss~ Was it that hard~? Your skin’s gotten all dry~”

Jain acted cute while holding onto Boss’ cheeks . Boss glared at her with narrowed eyes .

“I have many ways of killing you, Jain . ”

It was a direct warning . The coldness in her voice caused a jolt of electricity to run down Jain’s back . Jain quickly let go and let out a dry cough .

“…Plus, it wasn’t that hard . ”

Boss added bashfully .

Of course, she worried a lot unlike what she was saying . Kim Hajin, who was lying in bed, had suddenly disappeared, only to be replaced by a strange woman .

“Right~? I was the one who had it hard . I almost died trying to stop you~”

It was Jain who stopped Boss from shooting blasts of magic power at the woman . It was because she knew who the woman was .

While Jain was stopping Boss, the woman got up and quickly ran away . Until Kim Hajin’s ‘letter’ was discovered, Boss was ready to destroy the entire world to find out what happened .

“Hajin always knows what he’s doing, so don’t worry about him too much . Rather than that, we should focus on getting revenge~ We can’t let the insect who killed Hajin live, right~?”

Boss nodded at Jain’s words .

“Of course . ”

“…Oh right, is Hajin okay? I heard from the Tower that dying had a pretty huge aftereffect . ”

“… . ”

Boss didn’t answer Jain’s question .

Kim Hajin had not mentioned anything about his death . He didn’t seem to want to think about the moment he died . As someone who has stayed with Kim Hajin for a long time, that was what Boss concluded .

That was the kind of person Kim Hajin was . He didn’t like to think about things he regretted or things that made him sad . He didn’t like to be pained by remembering them .

As such, he hated talking about his feelings .

No, it wasn’t that he hated it . He acted like it wasn’t allowed .

Boss guessed that it was because of what she had done in the past . Because he would have no choice but to hate her if he dug up the past… .

“Who’s worried about who~”

Jain’s cold words cut off Boss’ thoughts .

“Snap out of it, Boss . You’ve gotten strange lately . ”

“Kuhum . ”

Boss let out a dry cough .

“Anyways, what information do we have on that insect? It was incredibly strong . ”

“Droon is collecting information right now, but there isn’t much for now~ …Oh right! Didn’t you say you had their arm!?”

“Yeah . ”

“Perfect~ If we have a part of its body, we can use it to curse them . ”

Boss’ eyes widened . Cursing . Although she hadn’t thought about it, it was indeed a good method .

“That sounds good . ”

“Right~?”

Boss clapped her hands together, then remembered the suspicious woman who she met two days ago .

“By the way, what happened to that girl?”

“…Mm~ Girl~?”

“The woman who barged into the building last time . ”

“Ah~ her~?”

Jain did her best to hide the information about Jin Sahyuk . It was because Bell said she was someone who would kill him one day .

Bell never lied . As Jain didn’t want Boss to get hurt, she wanted Jin Sahyuk to kill Bell, if possible .

“I just chased her off . I found out that she and Hajin have a bad relationship . ”

“Bad relationship?”

“Yep~ Hajin already killed her twice . ”

“…Kim Hajin did?”

‘If such a kind kid killed her twice, how evil must she be?’ Boss thought to herself . Then, she suddenly stiffened . Seeing this, Jain also stared at her with stiff eyes .

Gulp . Jain swallowed hard .

“… . ”

“W-What? What is it~?”

Seeing that Boss was silent for a long time, Jain asked . However, Boss only shook her head .

“No, it’s nothing . That can’t be it . ”

“No, tell me~”

Boss glanced at Jain .

“…S-She can’t be his ex, right?”

Ex… Ex-girlfriend . When she heard this, Jain laughed in vain . Boss quickly retorted .

“I, I told you it’s nothing . I think I’ve been reading too many novels recently . ”

“…Eh? Ah, no~ I wouldn’t be surprised if he had one . That girl really might have been his ex . ”

Jain liked where this was headed . As someone who liked to tease Boss, she began to support her ‘romantic story theory’ .

**

[27F, Colosseum’s Morgue]

“…Huup!”

Jin Seyeon opened her eyes, gasping for breath . A sharp pain struck her body . She trembled immediately after waking up . Her stomach felt especially painful .

“Auuu… . ”

“…You’re up?”

A feeble voice rang out . Jin Seyeon turned to the side with a pale face . However, she couldn’t see the owner of the voice . The surrounding scenery entered her eyes .

The smell of alcohol entered her nose, rows of wooden coffins were lined up, and a faint smell of death filled the air .

“This is…?”

“A morgue . ”

A deep voice rang out .

Jin Seyeon’s body trembled . She quickly got up, then collapsed once again . She then focused her strength and got up while leaning against the wall .

“…Are you acting?”

Seeing her move like a stringless puppet, the man sneered . Jin Seyeon glared at the man, as cold sweat flowed down her forehead .

“You… . ”

“Don’t you want to save your comrades?”

Black Lotus said so as he approached Jin Seyeon .

“Why didn’t you listen to me? I told you to put your bow down . ”

“… . ”

Black Lotus stood in front of her . Jin Seyeon didn’t answer and continued to glare at him intently . She was trying to see through his mask, but just like in the Colosseum, it didn’t work .

The man grinned .

===

[Lv . 10 Hassan-i Sabbah’s Assassin Mask]

○Lv . 9 Dark Travel

○Lv . 9 Stealth

○Lv . 9 Disguise

===

This artifact had historic ties with the renowned assassin, Hassan-i Sabbah . Not even the Divine Archer’s eyes could see through it . Simply put, I was overgeared .

Phiunel had gifted it to Boss, but, as always, Kim Hajin had taken it from her, saying it suited him more .

“You won’t be able to see anything no matter how hard you try . ”

“… . ”

Jin Seyeon’s pride was hurt, but she knew Black Lotus was her savior . At the very least, she had to thank him for not taking her life . She wanted to ask him about the ‘Kwang-Oh Incident’, but she couldn’t worsen the situation .

She asked, “Will you really save my comrades?”

Black Lotus answered, “If you cooperate . ”

Jin Seyeon asked back carefully, “Can I ask why you’re willing to help us?”

Black Lotus then glared at Jin Seyeon, but she didn’t flinch at his flicking red eyes .

…A lot of talk for someone who lost . Black Lotus murmured so and sighed .

“The Demon King is searching for a challenger,” Black Lotus explained .

Jin Seyeon’s eyes widened .

“A challenger? What do you mean?”

Jin Seyeon was surprised .

“The Demon King is someone who is seeking to die . But he wants an honorable death . ”

Kim Hajin reiterated the setting he wrote . How Kim Suho would defeat the Demon King and conquer the Tower of Wish . The plotline of the story was all in his head .

“…How do you know all this?”

His vague explanation invoked Jin Seyeon’s curiosity . Jin Seyeon asked for more details, but Black Lotus looked at her as though she was asking a stupid question .

It was only then that she understood what he meant .

“Don’t tell me… You’ve already been to the 29th floor…?”

Black Lotus nodded .

“Ha… . ”

Jin Seyeon’s jaw dropped . All her thoughts paused at that moment: the pain burning up her body, her complicated feelings about the Chameleon Troupe, and her worries about her comrades .

‘Just how strong must he be to have climbed the Tower so quickly…?’

Jin Seyeon stared at Black Lotus with nothing but suspicion and admiration .

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