Chapter 121
Dagon let out a deep sigh inwardly.
The special paint and brush didn’t cost much anyway.
But the opponent was the Dragon God, Sephiro.
A cosmic monster in human form.
A slayer of great lords, said to destroy worlds with a single breath!
“And one more thing.”
“Yes, please speak.”
He had obtained the paint and brush.
Was he planning to procure paper to paint on as well?
Sephiro’s eccentricities were impossible to predict, so Dagon gave up trying to understand.
Park Chan-woo nodded and spoke.
“Can you also get the ‘Jar of the Crimson Soul’?”
At the same time—
“Th-The Jar of the Crimson Soul, you say?”
Dagon’s eyes widened.
His gaze was full of surprise and excitement.
It wasn’t a common item.
In fact, it was so rare that its price was essentially whatever one was willing to pay.
Still, he couldn’t help but wonder why Sephiro would need such a thing.
“Can you get it?”
“…I’ll try. But the ‘Jar of the Crimson Soul’ is, as you surely know, a tool meant for demons…”
“You talk too much.”
“Gah…! M-My apologies. Please wait a moment!”
‘Poof!’
Dagon vanished swiftly.
A few seconds later, he reappeared in a puff of smoke.
By then, a jar the color of blood was in his hands.
“Fortunately, the manager helped expedite it as a top priority. This jar is valued at 16 million. Including my 15% contractual margin, the total value you’ll need to pay is 18.4 million.”
“I’ll pay.”
Value payments weren’t limited to objects.
One could pay with equipment, tools, even parts of their own body, or coins.
Park Chan-woo opened his [inventory] and pulled out items of equal value.
Upon seeing them, Dagon felt chills run down his spine.
“Y-You’re going to pay with [coins]?”
Demons loved [coins] more than anything.
Even if the value was equivalent, unless it was an exceptional item, coins were always rated higher.
How many coins one acquired was also a critical factor in merchant promotions.
“Five should suffice.”
“Y-Yes! That’s correct. One [coin] is currently worth 4 million. You’re actually overpaying. With the remaining value, I’ll procure any other items you want. Also, if you wish, I can share a piece of critical information about an upcoming ‘Abyss’… as a bonus, of course.”
Dagon spoke honestly.
Another demon merchant would’ve tried to squeeze out more, but only if they didn’t know their customer.
With someone like Sephiro who saw through everything, lies were useless.
It was far wiser to be honest and earn only the contracted margin.
Besides, the information he was offering was worth even more than the remaining value.
You could call it a kind of service.
“Speak.”
With Park Chan-woo’s curt response, Dagon took a deep breath and said:
“This is something only a very few within the Merchant Association know. A large-scale [Sniper Abyss] is about to open.”
Park Chan-woo lightly stroked his chin.
This was unprecedented.
Being “sniped” meant a Creator had taken personal offense.
It meant someone was valuable enough for a Creator to spend their own [coins] to eliminate them.
But a ‘large-scale’ sniper event? Even in the future, that rarely ever happened.
Not that it had never happened, of course.
“Is it targeting one individual rather than a group?”
“Yes.”
“Who’s the target?”
“A human named Han Min-oh.”
Han Min-oh?
The name sounded familiar for some reason.
‘Wasn’t that the name of Han Shin’s younger brother?’
Could it be the second son of the Han Yeon Group and Han Shin’s real brother?
Han Yeon Group, ranked sixth among Korea’s conglomerates.
But he had become a flashy failure in the shadow of Han Shin.
As far as Park Chan-woo knew, Han Shin’s brother died a long time ago.
He was believed to have died early on during the Abyss’s first appearance.
“T-The human you saved from me when we first met. In the Fire Dungeon, you even personally revived him with a high-grade [elixir], remember?”
Dagon spoke carefully.
Only then did Park Chan-woo nod in recollection.
“That man was Han Min-oh?”
When the large-scale dungeon Abyss appeared and [Fever Time] began, demon merchants also appeared.
During that time, Park Chan-woo had once saved a man who was about to die due to a forced contract with Dagon.
It was a strategic move to pressure Dagon.
Thanks to that, he had smoothly secured an exclusive contract.
Apparently, the man he had saved back then was Han Min-oh.
“Yes. He said the chairman of Han Yeon Group was his father. After some checking, it turns out it’s a rather well-known group in Korea. Are you familiar with it?”
“…How could I not be?”
As he feared, it was true.
It really was Han Yeon Group’s second son.
There wasn’t much known about Han Min-oh.
Because he died too early.
‘…Should I call this a twist of fate?’
A life that was supposed to end had been saved by him.
And now, that life was being targeted for a large-scale sniper event.
How could he not be curious?
“Why are the Creators organizing a large-scale sniper against him?”
“They say he broke a taboo during the ‘Second Night.’”
“What kind of taboo?”
“That part I don’t know for sure. But according to top-tier merchants, Han Min-oh supposedly made a contract with a [divine beast].”
“He made a contract with a [divine beast]? A human?”
“Yes. So the information’s not confirmed. But apparently, when an [Intruder] briefly tore open the veil of the ‘Second Night,’ real [divine beasts] showed up. Two of them, actually.”
His mind momentarily swirled in confusion.
Because it all made sense now.
The black dragon, Ataraxia, had ripped open the veil of the ‘Second Night’ and forcefully intruded.
That meant a breach had opened in the [Creator Abyss], creating a rift.
[Divine beasts] are monsters that dwell within such rifts.
They are disasters that destroy [Creator Abysses] wherever they appear.
They are beings the Creators utterly despise.
And two of them appeared through the rift.
“Wait. Are you saying he contracted both of those divine beasts?”
“That’s unclear, which is probably why the [large-scale sniper] is being organized.”
A human who contracted with [divine beasts].
And not just one, but two?
Unprecedented. Never happened before and likely never would again.
Park Chan-woo closed his eyes for a moment.
He thought it over, but there was only one conclusion.
‘He must be saved.’
If what Dagon said was true, Han Min-oh would rise as a great hero in the coming [Species War].
Divine beasts were the antithesis of Creators, and contracting with them meant he could never be a [Incarnation].
[Incarnations] were unpredictable in the Species War.
They could help—or they could sabotage everything.
Incarnations moved according to their Creator’s will.
And most of the time, they were not helpful.
Han Shin, at least, pretended to help in order to play savior…
‘Lee Hyuk-soo alone isn’t enough.’
Only 4 months remained until the Species War.
Including Park Chan-woo, they needed at least 3 wins to avoid last place.
If Han Min-oh was truly a [divine beast contractor], that alone could guarantee one win.
Just him and Lee Hyuk-soo wouldn’t cut it.
They were short one solid trump card.
It was one of the reasons he hadn’t killed Han Shin yet.
Right now, avoiding last place in the Species War was more important than killing Han Shin.
The first step had to be right for there to be a future.
If he failed here and ended up in last place again, then his return would’ve been meaningless.
“When is it scheduled to happen?”
“Judging by the Merchant Association’s stockpiles, I’d say within a week. They’re acquiring special traps—looks like they’re planning to capture the divine beasts directly.”
It wasn’t immediate.
That meant he still had time to save him.
Park Chan-woo regained his composure.
Rushing things only made them worse.
‘Tap.’
He walked forward with ease.
‘Valhalla.’
And he opened a [warp] to the land of Valhalla.
‘Ziiing!’
“Wait, that land…”
From beyond the warp, a faint outline of land came into view.
Recognizing it as the territory of the ‘Second Night’ where the Prestige Shop once stood, Dagon’s eyes widened in shock.
“C-Could it be… are you the owner of that territory now?”
“I am.”
“……!!!”
He had taken the territory from the Lord of the Moon, Ahheta.
It was a rumor whispered even in the Abyss.
Now he was seeing the truth with his own eyes.
“Come along. You still have work to do.”
With that, Park Chan-woo stepped through the warp without hesitation.
Dagon stood dazed for a long while before jumping in just as the warp began to vanish.
—
In the land of Valhalla, Park Chan-woo entered the [Creator Abyss], the ‘Colosseum.’
There were no challengers in the Colosseum.
Partly due to previous events, and partly because it had been closed off for a while.
Dagon glanced back and forth between Park Chan-woo and Adora at the center of the arena.
‘He’s become a Creator now… seriously, what a lunatic.’
His contractor had turned a witch into a Lord of the Abyss, and even further—into a Creator.
He had stolen Valhalla’s territory and created a [Creator Abyss] called the Colosseum.
There was no telling what he’d do next.
‘But seriously, what’s their relationship?’
There was a strange tension in the air.
Heavy and solemn.
Dagon shook his head quickly and asked,
“S-So what are we doing here?”
“A ritual.”
“…A ritual?”
“Dagon. Prepare the [soul ritual].”
“……Did a demon die here?”
The [Jar of the Crimson Soul].
It was used for rituals to honor the souls of demons.
Normally, it was an expensive offering reserved for the deaths of special Lords.
“A human died. One that was forced into a Lord’s form.”
“A half-demon…”
As soon as Park Chan-woo spoke, Dagon understood.
When demons die, their souls are swallowed by the waves of the Abyss, doomed to eternal torment.
Only a ritual could free them and send them to peace.
Especially for a human who had become demonized.
Neither human nor demon—such a soul would suffer even worse.
Even without demonization, humans who became [Incarnations] by contracting with demons suffered the same fate.
They wouldn’t truly die. They’d wander the Abyss eternally, screaming in undying agony.
That was the real cost not written in [Incarnation] contracts—the price on the back.
Still…
Why would Sephiro invest so much just for a half-demon?
And entrust the ritual to a demon like himself?
‘Does he trust me enough to assign me the ritual?’
A [soul ritual] was only entrusted to someone you trusted completely.
He couldn’t understand it at all.
Dagon asked,
“Do you know the name of the demon who died here?”
“Balzac.”
“Yes. Then I shall begin the [soul ritual] for Balzac.”
He set the [Jar of the Crimson Soul] down on the ground.
‘Thunk. Clink clink!’
Dagon removed all the gold jewelry he was wearing and placed it in the jar.
It was the offering to ensure the soul’s safe ascension.
Dagon grinned and said,
“Don’t worry about paying for this one. This time, it’s on the house.”