Chapter 254.

England, Buckingham Palace .

Rachel sighed as she watched the ocean from England’s coast .

Entry to beaches became prohibited recently due to the explosion of monsters entering England from the waters . Although the arrival of ‘Essence Barrier’ prevented civilian casualty, the situation wasn’t over yet .

In fact, it had only started .

[Dear My Precious Princess]

Rachel stared at the letter in her hands and clenched her teeth . It was from England’s greatest enemy, Lancaster .

“What’s up? You don’t look all that good . ”

Ah Hae-In walked over to her and asked . Rachel quickly hid the letter and turned back to Ah Hae-In nonchalantly .

“…Um, it’s nothing… Is Evandel doing okay?”

“You don’t have to worry about that . I’m not making her do anything that will burden her . ”

“Really? But Evandel’s summons are—”

“Don’t worry . ”

Evandel’s army, which now numbered close to 3000, spread out across Europe to help humanity . As a result, Evandel’s creations were all called ‘mystical animals’, referring to beasts that helped humans .

“I made Evandel create a chain of command in her army . For that, she needed an especially intelligent creation . ”

“…Ah, I heard she made a monkey last time . ”

“A monkey wasn’t enough . ”

Ah Hae-In continued with a smile .

“So she made a unicorn . ”

“…Pardon?”

Unicorn . Perhaps the most famous mystical animal in the world, a winged horse with a white horn .

“Evandel’s unicorn is the commander in charge of her army . So you don’t have to worry . Evandel is having fun by herself without participating in anything complicated . ”

Ah Hae-In showed Rachel a crystal ball showing Evandel running around and having fun . She seemed to be playing tag with Hayang .

Rachel smiled, just as she always did when she saw Evandel . Then, she suddenly remembered something important .

“Ah, Duchess Ah Hae-In, the Association sent us a message asking for the source of the mystical animals . I’d like to ask you for adv…”

“Don’t trust the Association . ”

Ah Hae-In immediately answered .

When Rachel tilted her head, Ah Hae-In looked back at her with a slightly serious expression .

“Orden’s spies might be among them . ”

“…Pardon?”

At Rachel’s bewilderment, Ah Hae-In continued seriously .

“Djinns are easy to spot, but humans persuaded by the Monster King aren’t . The Monster King should have convinced many from the Association to join his cause . ”

“…How can that be? The Association carries the will of Hero Shin Myungchul-nim . It’s hard to believe that… . ”

“A servant of the Monster King also came to me . ”

Ah Hae-In faced Rachel .

“He knew what I wanted, what I lacked . He said he’d give it to me . ”

“…What do you mean?”

“He said he would give me a body that can birth a child . I’m unable to have one because of a side-effect of magic . ”

Rachel didn’t know how to react, so she kept quiet . Ah Hae-In gave her a small smile .

“But they didn’t know me well enough . Even if I could have a child, what use would it be if the world belonged to monsters?”

“… . ”

Rachel nodded . Her admiration for Ah Hae-In grew another level . At the same time, she fixed her eyes on Evandel inside the crystal ball .

Ah Hae-In spoke once again, “Knowing the weakness of his target’s heart . That must be Orden’s Gift . ”

“…Gift?”

“Yes, who said only humans can have Gifts? …,Ah, it’s time for the news broadcast . ”

Ah Hae-In turned the TV on, and the 6 p . m . news came on .

—Orden’s kingdom has been found in Africa . While it stayed underground all this time, it was somehow able to move itself above ground in a single night . Experts… Tzzzzt

But before the reporter could finish the first piece of news, the screen flickered . The morphed screen became grey then black . While Rachel and Ah Hae-In were wondering what happened, a new image popped up on the screen .

—…Greetings, Humans . I am Orden, the Monster King .

Rachel and Ah Hae-In’s faces immediately stiffened .

On the screen, a huge giant was sitting on a throne . His outer appearance resembled a human’s, but he was much bigger, and his facial features were both human and non-human . His huge eyes flashed with a sharp blade-like light .

—Today, I intend to give humanity a warning and an offer .

Orden had easily hijacked the broadcast signal . All channels in England were showing the same screen .

—Now… Tzzzzt .

However, the video was cut off shortly afterwards .

Tzzzzt…

Static noises rang out, and Rachel and Ah Hae-In frowned . To figure out what the Monster King was planning, they focused their attention on the screen .

“…?”

However, Orden’s voice discontinued, and a strange symbol appeared on the grey screen . To Players of the Tower of Wish, this symbol was all too familiar .

Ah Hae-In jumped in surprise .

“…Rachel, this symbol . ”

“Yes, you’re right . ”

Rachel nodded . A beautifully embroidered black lotus .

“It’s Black Lotus . ”

The moment Rachel said so, subtitles appeared beneath the symbol .

[Humanity will not listen to the words of a mere monster . ]

[Monster, who dares to declare himself King, and his foolish underlings . ]

[And the dogs who bit the meat offered by this fool . ]

[I will come to kill you all . ]

After the four sentences popped up, the screen blacked out .

Rachel and Ah Hae-In stood blankly for a moment . Chills ran down their back . They clearly understood what just happened .

—Holy… the hell was that? Orden and Black Lotus just…

Soon, the original news broadcast came back on .

The reporter was in a daze, clearing engrossed by the broadcast battle between the Monster King and Black Lotus .

—Huh? We’re back?

Startled, the reporter fixed his posture and sat up straight .

—E-Ehem, our broadcast seemed to have been hijacked…

Seeing this, Ah Hae-In let out a small smile .

“Looks like Black Lotus and the Monster King don’t get along . ”

Rachel nodded right away . As someone of her generation would, she quickly went on the internet .

“Looks like England isn’t the only country that saw that . ”

**

[Pandemonium – Chameleon Troupe’s Hideout]

“Wow, how did you hack into the broadcast stream without even moving a finger~?”

I smiled at Jain’s question .

Orden’s broadcast hijacking was part of the original story, which I just stopped by using my hacking ability .

“He shouldn’t try to hijack broadcast streams again now that he knows it won’t work . ”

Orden tried to deliver a message to the whole world, but I shut him down completely . Of course, he might not give up . But I was in a much more advantageous position in this case, since I could counter-hack just by looking .

There was a good reason for me to stop him . Orden was one of the few characters that could infuse magic power into his words . Although his words weren’t as powerful as Aileen’s, it still would have been effective against defenseless civilians .

“You’re getting more and more popular, Hajin~ Look, your name is trending again~”

Jain clasped her hands together and showed me a social media trending chart .

[1 . Black Lotus]

[2 . Orden]

[3 . Black Lotus vs Orden]

Black Lotus and Orden’s names were topping the trending chart . I glanced at my smartwatch . My SP had gone up by 407 points .

“…Anyways, Jain . ”

I asked while I massaged my eyes . They were sore because I didn’t blink while hacking into the broadcast stream .

“Don’t we have better artifacts?”

“Hm? Ah~ The ones here are only presents, or offerings I should say~”

The floor I was in was filled with artifacts . They were all given to us by Pandemonium’s Djinns .

“None of them are particularly useful… Is it normally like this?”

“Yep~”

It was then .

Ding—!

The elevator stopped on our floor, and two members of the Chameleon Troupe showed up .

“Oh~ Hey, Arashi~”

Hirano Arashi, the Seat of Brown .

Arashi was a woman with long hair who liked to wear silk robes . She walked past Jain without saying anything . I let her be and turned my gaze to the giant who came with her .

“Cheok Jungyeong, I heard you lost to Aileen . ”

“W-Whaaaat!?”

Cheok Jungyeong immediately let out a roar . The building shook slightly, and Jain furrowed her brows .

“You crazy buffoon… . ”

“Lost!? What! Who lost!? Who told you that!?”

“…Okay . ”

Cheok Jungyeong began to make excuses .

“I was about to win . I only had to punch her one last time . I was this close to doing it, but she looked too much like a kid up front! Who’s going to believe she’s an adult? Not me, that’s for sure . I missed my timing to hit her because of it, and that wench used this opening to… . ”

I ignored his flurry of words and turned to Jain .

“So we don’t have better artifacts? We have to go meet Wicked soon . ”

The strongest member of the Nine Evils, ‘Wicked’, requested to meet the Chameleon Troupe .

The goal of the meeting was to discuss assassinating Orden . Now, even Djinns were planning on forming an assassination team .

For this specific task, Djinns were more trustworthy than Heroes . It was because Orden’s persuasion didn’t work against Djinns, who already sold their souls to devils .

“Mm… . Boss keeps all the good ones to herself~”

“Oh, I see . ”

“She doesn’t want to give any to me, so you should go ask her~”

“Okay, I’ll take it from her and give some to you too . ”

To effectively utilize my special skill, [Four-colored Enchant], I needed pinnacle-grade artifacts . Otherwise, I could just use items I crafted .

“Okay~ Good luck~ I’ll be cheering for you~”

I began to walk over to Boss’ room .

**

[Pandemonium – Fallen Ghost-rank Gladiator’s Waiting Room]

On the other hand, Jin Sahyuk returned to her home . It wasn’t her home, technically speaking, but Pandemonium’s fighting arena . Since she never purchased a house, she had no other choice .

“Lord Jin Sahyuk, Lord Jin Sahyuk, will you begin fighting in the arena again?”

An employee of the fighting arena followed after her . Jin Sahyuk unpacked without answering him . She didn’t carry much with her, only effective goods she brought from the Tower .

“Lord Jin Sahyuk, can we schedule a fight for you…?”

A leather armor giving off a cold, dark-blue light, and a coat made from a special fabric enchanted with magic .

The two pieces of equipment were [Lv . 8 Deep Dark Leather Armor (J – RedOrder)] and [Lv . 8 Battle Armor Coat (J – RedOrder)], respectively . She had no clue what the words in parenthesis meant, but Lv . 8 items were the highest-level items that Players could turn into effective goods, making them among the best items brought outside the Tower .

She had spent three-months worth of her salary to purchase them from the auction house .

“Um… Lord Sahyuk?”

“Geez . ”

Jin Sahyuk glared at the arena employee before changing her clothes .

“Stop bothering me . Do you wanna die?”

“No… not at all… . ”

“Tsk . ”

Jin Sahyuk furrowed her brows and shooed him away .

“Alright, do whatever you want, but the opponent better be interesting . ”

“Y-Yes, thank you!”

Only then did the employee run out with a smile on his face .

“Ehew, these worms . ”

From the looks of it, the fighting arena business wasn’t going so well . It wasn’t surprising considering that Pandemonium became split into two between Satan’s Servants and the Chameleon Troupe . Jin Sahyuk wasn’t too happy about her hobby being disturbed .

Jin Sahyuk took off her clothes and changed into her armor .

The combination of the leather armor and the coat was more than satisfactory . Jin Sahyuk smiled and nodded .

—Knock, knock .

At that moment, someone knocked on the door .

‘…Since when was the Fallen Ghost-rank waiting room so noisy?’ Jin Sahyuk felt her stomach boil from annoyance as she opened the door .

Thud—!

“…Who the hell are you?”

Beyond the door was a strange-looking creature .

It was a skeleton, wearing a robe to disguise its non-human appearance .

He seemed to be a lich .

Jin Sahyuk stared at his glowing eyes and smirked .

“You’re here for revenge?”

—Not at all .

The lich’s voice echoed as though they were in a cave .

“Then why are you here? You came to die too?”

—I am here to pass on my King’s message . He wishes to make a trade with you .

“Trade?”

—Yes .

This time, Jin Sahyuk laughed out loud .

“Ha! Interesting lot, aren’t you? Didn’t I say I didn’t want to talk to mere beasts?”

The lich didn’t show any sign of displeasure at Jin Sahyuk’s provocation . He seemed incapable of it in the first place . The lich continued .

—The King’s message is as follows, ‘I will let you return to your home world . ’

“…What?”

In that instant, the atmosphere changed . Sharp magic power surged out from Jin Sahyuk’s body .

Jin Sahyuk grabbed the lich by the collar of his robe and threw him into the room .

KWANG—!

The lich let out an odd scream as he flew through the air and struck the room’s wall .

Jin Sahyuk ran up to the lich and stepped on his neck .

“…How do you know about that?”

—Do not… underestimate… the memory of monsters . There are monsters… who remember your home world .

“…What?”

—Monsters… are not the enemy of humanity . The King wants to open people’s eyes… . Humans should join hands with us to defeat the devil…

Jin Sahyuk loosened the strength in her leg . It seemed worth it to hear him out .

—Africa contains a fragment of the continent you once lived in . Furthermore, some of the monsters that gained intelligence came over from that continent .

“… . ”

—The King wishes to be with you .

The lich took out a small crystal from his pocket . It was a blue crystal that looked like a Tower Crystal .

—This is his sign of good will .

“…Good will?”

Jin Sahyuk stared at the item presented to her . As someone who hated being scammed, she had learned the [Appraisal] skill from the Tower of Wish .

===

[Continental Fragment]

—You can use this fragment to return to the Recorded Past – Akatrina during the time of Continental Year 555 .

===

“…W-What? I can go back to Akatrina?”

Jin Sahyuk’s voice flickered with hope .

—Yes, but you cannot stay there forever . This is only a ‘recorded past’ . Changing the past does not change the future . You will only be experiencing the world of the past .

The lich explained, and Jin Sahyuk’s excitement subsided .

“Then what use is it? I don’t need it . ”

Jin Sahyuk clicked her tongue and threw the crystal . No, she tried to throw it . However, her hand refused to let go .

—…Do you really not need it?

The lich stared at Jin Sahyuk with a soft smile .

—You can take it . It is a gift from the King . There’s no need to pay anything, and you do not need to become our ally either . It is just a token of our good will .

“… . ”

The blue crystal glowed with a silvery light . Returning to Akatrina… Jin Sahyuk stared at the crystal for a long time before tightening her grip on it .

—Great decision .

The lich got up with a smile .

—Then I will be off . Feel free to visit us if you change your mind .

The lich slowly backed out of the room . However, Jin Sahyuk still had one question for him .

“Oi, wait . ”

—Yes?

“…Can this bring other people with me?”

The lich immediately nodded .

—If you’d like . The power of the crystal is boundless .

“Mm, is that so?”

Jin Sahyuk grinned .

“That’s good . ”

Then, in the next moment…

—…!

Magic power shot out from her hand towards the lich . It then spread out like a spider web, cutting the lich apart into five pieces .

**

A dark night .

I came back home for the first time in a long, long time . Now that Evandel had fallen asleep, I was sitting on the couch, contemplating about my next Gift .

“Hmm… . ”

===

[Buster Call]

—Using Stigma’s magic power, summon from the Tower of Wish vassals who swore loyalty to Kim Hajin or his possessions .

===

Buster Call .

Inspired by a manhwa I used to enjoy, I came up with this Gift to summon my aids and [Genkelope’s Vessel] from the Tower of Wish .

With this, I would be able to deploy the 16th floor’s NPCs as well as my almighty battleship… There was just one problem .

[You do not have enough SP . You need a total of 30,000 SP . ]

The SP I had was nowhere close to being enough .

It was the same no matter how many restrictions I put on it .

“It should go down once Suho clears the Tower . ”

I speculated that it was probably because the Tower of Wish hadn’t fallen . Once Kim Suho killed the Demon King, the Tower’s outer shell would fall and the Tower would meld together with the outside world . The required SP should drastically fall then .

Of course, I predicted I would need at least 5000 SP at the very least .

Even if the Tower’s outer shell fell, the world inside and outside the Tower were vastly different . To materialize something from the Tower, a huge amount of energy would be needed .

“Ah… what to do… what to do… . ”

Should I go with the other Gift I thought of before? Or should I wait a bit more and go with [Buster Call]?

As I was contemplating…

Sssk, sssk—

The sound of words being written rang out .

I turned my head to the side and saw words being written on the Communication Letter I gave to Jin Sahyuk .

“…Oh?”

I didn’t think she would write back so quickly .

I looked at what she wrote .

[I’m also participating in Pandemonium’s Orden Assassination Team . ]

[Let’s meet and settle this once and for all . ]

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