Chapter 342.

[Leores – Underground Bunker]

Rachel, Yun Seung-Ah, Chae Nayun, and other members from Earth returned to the underground bunker . When they arrived, they were met with cheers from the people staying in it . Airun and the Republic’s knights smiled wryly as they shook hands with evacuees . The group then headed to the office of the person in charge of the bunker – Yoo Yeonha .

Yoo Yeonha greeted them and said as she looked back and forth between the knights and the members of the Secret Service .

“There’s too many of you to be stuffed in this small place . ”

Six Secret Service members and twenty-six knights had entered the room . There were also hundreds of knights waiting outside .

“… . ”

Airun sent her subordinates a shooing look . The Knights took the hint and left the room, leaving behind Rachel, Chae Nayun, Airun, Kim Youngjin, Yi Yeonghan, and Kim Horak .

“…Huu . ”

Yoo Yeonha wasn’t happy that an outsider like Airun was still in the room, but she greeted her with a smile knowing she was an important character in this world .

“Well done, everyone . But we don’t have time to rest . Next, we—”

“Where’s Kim Suho?”

Chae Nayun interrupted Yoo Yeonha to ask .

“Did he go to the bathroom?”

She blinked her eyes with an innocent look . Yoo Yeonha coughed before replying immediately .

“He went to Baal’s castle with Lady Aileen . ”

“What? Already?”

“Yeah, Fenrir was going to end the war with demonic beasts anyways . ”

Yoo Yeonha made a faint smile . It was the objective truth that Kim Hajin performed the best in war . Although Kim Suho could cut down dozens of enemies with one swing of his sword, Kim Hajin could kill hundreds just by the click of a button .

“Sorry, but where’s our Prince!?”

Airun shouted urgently as if she was tired of hearing about Fenrir, Baal, and whatnot . Yoo Yeonha stared at Airun before taking out seventeen small bottles from her desk drawer .

“There’s a large castle in the middle of the barrier . We call it Baal’s castle . The Prince is probably there . Here, take this . ”

“…Miracle herbs?”

Rachel muttered silently when she saw the plants inside the bottles . She could feel the energy of elementals from the plants .

“That’s right . We looked all over the country and could only find seventeen of them . Taking it will recover your energy within 2~3 hours . ”

In other words, she wanted them to get going as soon as possible . It wasn’t the most encouraging words to hear for people who just returned from hours upon hours of battle, but they knew the situation they were in . The seven of them took the bottles and consumed the herbs . Then, they put the remaining ten bottles in their pockets .

“Give some to Kim Suho and Aileen when you meet them . They left before I had the chance to give them out . The rest, you can use in times of emergency . ”

As she said that, Yoo Yeonha took out a suitcase and put it on the desk . Then, she took out several more . Koong- koong- koong- koong- She took out a total of seven suitcases, and the seven members stared at Yoo Yeonha curiously .

“These are treasures used for exorcism . I kind of stole them from their original owners, but that’s not important now . Use them when you reach the castle . ”

The seven members hesitated . Using stolen goods was one thing, but they were just too hungry .

“Hurry . There are other people I have to talk to . This bunker has over 200 people . I’m busy trying to take care of everything . Your hunger should disappear too when you consume the miracle herb . ”

Yoo Yeonha urged the Heroes, practically forcing them out with suitcases in hand .

**

[Baal’s Castle – Banquet Hall]

“Shoot . ”

Tk- The toes of two people clashed . Aileen furrowed her brows, but Kim Suho took the next step with tenacity .

“Damn it . Argh . ”

But not long afterward, their feet tangled once more . High-class music flowed in the air, but the two people’s minds were all over the place . Even so, they continued to dance .

Aileen grit her teeth and asked, “Why do I have to do this?”

“ . . Just wait until they’re done talking . ”

Kim Suho glanced at the second floor of the banquet hall . There, Yi Yeonjun was staring at Jin Sahyuk and Shin Jonghak .

“Agh, when is it ending… . ”

For the record, there was a reason Aileen and Kim Suho were dancing . Baal’s castle had ‘rules’ that had to be followed . Other than Jin Sahyuk who could manipulate reality and Shin Jonghak who was unaffected for some reason, everyone who didn’t follow the rules was kicked out .

“Sh, be quiet, so we can eavesdrop . ”

Kim Suho danced half-heartedly and focused his attention on the second floor . Jin Sahyuk and Yi Yeonjun met face to face just a moment ago .

Jin Sahyuk spoke, “We meet again . ”

Jin Sahyuk’s eyes narrowed like those of a fox .

“… . ”

However, Yi Yeonjun remained silent and simply looked back and forth between Jin Sahyuk and Shin Jonghak . From the look in his eyes, he seemed confused .

Soon, he spoke up .

“Looks like Baal’s rules don’t apply to you . ”

“…I have my Authority, but I don’t know why it doesn’t work on him . ”

Jin Sahyuk pointed at Shin Jonghak, who was completely unaffected by Baal’s rules .

“Hm, you’re an interesting one . ” Yi Yeonjun said to Shin Jonghak .

Immediately, Shin Jonghak swung his Conqueror Spear . The spear cut through the air and stopped right in front of Yi Yeonjun’s neck .

Shin Jonghak asked, “Answer . Where’s Baal?”

“Baal is raging . ”

A rather random reply came back . Shin Jonghak frowned, and Jin Sahyuk immediately asked back .

“We asked where Baal is, not what he’s doing . ”

“He’s raging . ”

“Is your head okay…?”

Jin Sahyuk paused for a moment and stared at Yi Yeonjun fixedly .

“… . ”

Something seemed off about Yi Yeonjun . His eyes were murky, and his body didn’t move . Almost like someone who lost something important, he sat dazed in his chair .

“…Baal’s raging?”

Jin Sahyuk asked somewhat seriously . She wanted to grasp the situation accurately . Yi Yeonjun didn’t wait to answer Jin Sahyuk .

“That’s right . Baal saw the truth from Bell’s memories . ”

“Truth? What truth?”

Yi Yeonjun tilted his head and looked at Jin Sahyuk . However, Jin Sahyuk couldn’t look at him straight . She preferred his old, greed-filled eyes rather than the current hollow eyes .

“Did you know?” Yi Yeonjun asked . Jin Sahyuk looked at Shin Jonghak before answering, and when Shin Jonghak shook his head, she looked back at Yi Yeonjun .

“Know what?”

“That this world we live in is nothing but a novel . ”

“…?”

Jin Sahyuk furrowed her brows, but that was the only change in her expression . She couldn’t make sense of what Yi Yeonjun said, so she couldn’t react in a big way .

“So you didn’t know either . ”

Yi Yeonjun was serious . With a twisted smile, he began to murmur incomprehensible things .

“But Bell knew . He knew that this world is a novel written by a single man… . That’s right, a novel . A damn novel and a worthless one at that . The world I wanted to obtain so much wasn’t worth a penny to ‘that man’ . Even the almighty devil is nothing but a creation of a magicless ‘complete world’… . ”

Yi Yeonjun continued to mumble as if he had lost his mind . Jin Sahyuk tried to pick up on any clues she could find, but in the end, she gave up and sighed .

“Fool, it looks like Baal ate your brain . This is what you get for being too greedy and trying to obtain what’s out of your league . ”

“Out of my league… that’s right . A mere character like myself dared to take over a world… . ”

“Shut your mouth . ”

Jin Sahyuk gathered magic power in her hands . She tried to kill Yi Yeonjun .

It was then . Bell’s face suddenly popped up in her mind . Before he died, he said he knew ‘two’ truths, but he died while keeping one of them to himself .

That truth most certainly would have flowed into Baal’s head . As a curious devil, there was no doubt Baal would absorb the memories of his host .

“…Oi . ”

Jin Sahyuk retracted her magic power and looked into Yi Yeonjun’s eyes .

“Tell me slowly and in detail . What did you hear from Baal? No matter what he found out, he couldn’t possibly fear anything . ”

“Baal is raging . ”

“No, there is no human who is afraid of an ant . Rage is just another form of fear . ”

Some people might detest ants, but no one was angry at them . Similarly, there was no reason for Baal to be angry at humans .

Hearing this, Yi Yeonjun closed his eyes and opened them back up . Jin Sahyuk’s stiffened face was right in front of him .

“Fine, if you want to hear it so much, I’ll tell you… . ”

With a straight face, Yi Yeonjun began to describe the memories he ‘received’ from Baal .

**

[Outside Baal’s Castle]

—Hajin? It’s really you, Hajin?

Evandel replied . I immediately wrote back .

—Of course, it’s me . Have you been doing well? Duchess Ah Hae-In is treating you well, right?

—Un! This is really cool . How did you get this to work?

Evandel’s handwriting was neat and clean . Seeing how much she grew up, I held back my tears .

—I made it, but a magician in this world helped me send it over .

At that moment, the magician in question spoke .

“How interesting . I didn’t think it would work so well . ”

Her face didn’t show any sign of happiness or pride .

“Aren’t you happy?”

“It’s not like I did much . I only brought a scroll without a destination . You’re the one who completed it in an absurd fashion . I didn’t see you make any calculations . I didn’t even see what you did to modify the scroll . ”

“…Mm . ”

I scratched the back of my neck . I didn’t have much to say to that . That was just how Stigma was . The co-author said it was a special authority of the Creator… though I could barely call myself the Creator at this point .

“Anyways, you helped prove something I wasn’t sure of . That dimensional travel is possible . I can cross dimensions and go to another world… . ”

While Shimurin was murmuring, I felt a group of people approaching us . I turned my head in that direction .

“Huh?”

Rachel, Yun Seung-Ah, Chae Nayun, Yi Yeonghan… People I was familiar with were walking over with exorcist weapons . I quickly put on Black Lotus’s hood and mask and then took out the Black Lotus Bow .

“…Be careful Jain . Those guys are coming . ”

“Hm, who should I turn into…?”

Jain pondered for a moment before turning into Cheok Jungyeong . She flexed her hulk-like muscles and looked at me .

“How is it~?”

Jain grinned sweetly with Cheok Jungyeong’s face . I held myself back from puking .

“Don’t talk and smile like that when you’re in that form…”

“Ah, sure~ sure~”

Chae Nayun and the others arrived a bit afterward . They stopped running when they saw us .

“…What are you guys doing here?”

Yun Seung-Ah was the first to speak . Behind her, Rachel and Chae Nayun looked at us suspiciously . Jain then gave the same arrogant smile Cheok Jungyeong often made .

“Nothing much . Are you trying to enter this castle too?”

“Oi, fat boar, who’s that next to you?”

Chae Nayun asked as she glared at me . Jain shrugged as if the answer was obvious .

“It’s Blackie . Can’t you see?”

I grabbed my bow to emphasize my identity . But suddenly, everyone else picked up their weapons and stood on guard .

“W-Why are you raising your bow? Put it down!”

“Do you want to fight?”

Yun Seung-Ah’s hostile voice rang out, and Rachel’s elementals flickered in the air .

I felt a strong urge to reveal my true identity, but I forced it down . Until everything ends, no, even after everything ends, I had to be Black Lotus .

I spoke, “You can go in . Your friends are inside . We have no desire to hinder you . ”

My mask changed my voice . I made another [Messenger] with Setting Intervention and threw it to Yun Seung-Ah . The paper flew faster than a bullet, but Yun Seung-Ah easily caught it with her fingers .

“What’s this?”

“It will let you contact me . Take it with you . I’ll protect you and Kim Suho from here . ”

“…Protect?”

Yun Seung-Ah frowned . I nodded my head .

“How do you expect us to believe you?”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to . You will know once you go in . ”

“… . ”

Yun Seung-Ah stared at the paper suspiciously . Meanwhile, I glanced at Shimurin .

Shimurin smirked and immediately cast a spell . As expected of a grand magician, a flash of light erupted, and we were teleported far away .

“Perfect timing . ”

“Perfect timing? I delayed the spell as long as possible because the situation looked fun . ”

“You did? Well, it’s fine since we passed them the Messenger . ”

As long as I could contact them, I should be able to protect them .

With a grin, I took out the [Mystic Key] and [Athena’s Arrow] . Now, it was time to do my job .

“Let’s see… . ”

A way to destroy Baal’s castle . I didn’t know whether Jin Sahyuk knew about it, but I did have one way of accomplishing this .

[Would you like to fuse ‘Mystic Key’ with ‘Athena’s Arrow’?]

[Warning . The chance of success is astronomically low . ]

By using my Lv . 10 Synthesis Skill and Stigma’s magic power, I could fuse the Mystic Key and Athena’s Arrow . The resulting arrow should be capable of dismantling anything in the world .

[Synthesis failed . ]

[‘Mystic Key’ and ‘Athena’s Arrow’ have been destroyed . ]

“…Huh?”

Tk—

With a powerful snapping sound, Athena’s Arrow broke in half, and the Mystic Key turned into dust .

“… . ”

I blinked my eyes repeatedly and looked at the remnants of the items . Like a carp stuck in a frozen pond, I stared blankly at the remains .

“…The hell?”

A panicked mutter escaped my mouth .

“Yo, what happened to my items!?”

The completely unexpected result caught me off guard . A mental breakdown was coming over me . Feeling like I was dreaming, I gathered the remnants of the broken items in a last-ditch effort to make things right .

Then, I used Synthesis again .

[Synthesis failed]

…Not even dust remained .

My legs gave out, and I fell to the ground .

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