Chapter 708
“Hey, hey, you’re not going to die. I said I won’t kill you, okay? If you keep pissing me off, I really might kill you!”
“Screeeech!”
“I’m going to live. I will absolutely survive!”
The chain of tag chasing after tag continued.
Catching the spirit beasts running all over the place was harder than expected.
It was because they had all gone through countless hardships and grown stronger.
More than anything, they had spent so long traveling with Jinhyuk and had seen his attack patterns so many times that unless it was a surprise attack, creating an opening at all was difficult.
In the end.
Jinhyuk recruited an additional ally to make the capture operation a little easier.
“Alice.”
“…?”
“Don’t you want to taste a variety of blood? I’ll let you have some of what’s left after the blood draw. Cooperate.”
“…!”
For the first time, interest appeared in the eyes of Alice, who had been leaning against the wall with a bored expression.
Well, of course.
For a vampire, blood was both the source of power and the food they craved most.
The rarer and harder to obtain the blood of a lifeform was, the richer and deeper its taste and aroma became.
But.
“What a hassle.”
To Alice, the taste of other people’s blood was not all that tempting an offer.
Because she was already captivated by the taste of blood that ranked among the very best.
“Screee…”
“Grrr.”
Even now, the insects kept swarming in.
No matter how much [Sanctuary of the Sun] was active, it would not be able to block them forever.
“The longer we drag this out, the worse the mana efficiency gets.”
The burden on Frey, who was blocking the insects with ‘Puppet Play,’ continued to grow. No matter how much the enemies lagged behind in strength, now that the battle was already over, there was no reason to keep dragging out a war of attrition.
…It couldn’t be helped.
Jinhyuk pulled out the hidden card he had saved until the very end.
“I’ll… give you my blood too.”
“That’s a promise?”
As if she had been waiting for those exact words, a crimson ring and a pair of wings appeared behind Alice.
The first time she had shown her full power since coming here.
In such a confined space, escaping from Alice’s domain was nearly impossible.
“N-not the blood of this noble body. Absolutely not!”
“Be quiet.”
Thrust!
Alice’s straw stabbed deep into Malang the Azure Dragon’s neck.
“Mogiii!”
Only after even Goguma’s blood had been drawn, despite resisting until the very end, did the blood in the glass bottle finally fill completely.
Rumble!
The altar shook violently before collapsing.
[You have obtained the ‘Book of Darkness’!]
Acquisition Difficulty: S
Description: One of the conditions needed to reach the deepest part of the Great Ramses Temple. Depending on how the contents written in the book are interpreted, completely different results can be created. At least 7-star, or an S-rank or higher [Interpretation] ability, is required.
[A gate connected to the desired location has been activated.]
The destination had already been decided.
Right then.
“…You must make a choice.”
A meaningful voice flowed out from the mouth of one of the statues.
Jinhyuk’s steps stopped cold.
“What are you talking about?”
“You cannot have everything. The person precious to you, the goal you desire, and even the wish beyond that. At the final moment, you will be forced into an unavoidable choice.”
“…”
“Contractor. There’s no time.”
Alice tugged on Jinhyuk’s sleeve.
The size of the opened gate was gradually shrinking.
If they did not leave now, they would have no choice but to retrace the path they came from.
“I’ve taken care of most of the injured. There are many serious cases, but if I treat them, they can still live.”
Teresa stacked the unconscious people one after another on top of a golden cart. Of course, she did not forget to faithfully carry out Jinhyuk’s request to keep them unconscious for as long as possible.
Clang! Clang!
More and more sacrifices sank into an even deeper sleep after being struck by the shield.
“…”
Jinhyuk stood there silently, staring at the statue for a moment longer.
Then he moved toward the gate.
Vwoooom!
As he passed through the rippling surface, his vision was instantly dyed white.
When he opened his eyes again, the scenery before him had changed completely.
The sound of voices buzzing all around, and a crowd to match.
They were the players of the large guilds he had met and then parted ways with a few hours earlier.
“Judging by this, it seems you’ve obtained the Book of Light as well.”
Teresa was the first to sense the sacred energy.
Jinhyuk nodded.
“Looks like their skills improved quite a bit too. There seem to be a lot of survivors.”
“Well, that’s only natural. There wasn’t a demon like Contractor over there— Ow! Why are you pinching me?”
“It’s better not to say things that could be misunderstood if someone overhears.”
“I merely spoke the truth!”
“Exactly. I hate people who speak the truth.”
Now he finally understood why tyrants of old cut down loyal subjects. Even leaving only flattering sycophants around would still leave countless sources of stress, so there was no reason to keep people close who insisted on telling the truth.
Right then.
A vicious killing intent pressed against Jinhyuk’s back.
Claaang!
Sword met sword.
There was clear intent to cut him down in one stroke.
Aura and sword force collided at a single point.
Crackle…! Snap!
Sparks flew in all directions.
And through them, a cold voice pierced the eardrum.
It was Gray, the master leading Dreadroar Guild.
“If you don’t want to die, get out of the way. Disgrace of Laurentia.”
“I cannot do that.”
Teresa blocked Gray’s sword head-on.
The deadlock continued, but no superiority was decided.
No, rather, Teresa’s Divinity was emitting a slightly deeper radiance.
Kwaaang!
Gray widened the distance just like that.
“…”
Gray stared for a moment at his faintly trembling hand, then glared at Jinhyuk as if he wanted to kill him.
“Where is… Mayer?”
“Ah! The friend who used that sword?”
Jinhyuk clapped his palms together.
Then he pointed at the cart behind him.
“Don’t worry. He isn’t dead.”
He had just read a 1900-restricted novel and gone a little strange in the head. Still, thanks to Teresa taking good care of him, he had at least managed to keep his life, even if he was now at the level of drooling constantly.
“Blaaah….”
With his pupils unfocused, Mayer tried to catch a fly drifting through the air.
He was completely gone.
There was no point trying to hear the full story from him.
The rest of the guild members also looked like they had suffered severe mental damage. Though to be fair, Teresa’s shield probably had a bit more to do with that part.
“I understand you’re upset because your precious subordinates got hurt, but we went through a lot of trouble to bring even these injured people out. We could have just ignored them, taken the book, and left. More than anything, I’d like you to recognize that we’re comrades who need to escape this hell together.”
Though in a hostile relationship, he had not abandoned his humanity.
And on top of that, he had the restraint to separate business from personal feelings.
It was obvious without even looking which side the sympathies of the other large guilds would lean toward.
But.
Boom!
Things like cause and justification meant nothing to Gray.
Crushing and killing the insect that had dared resist him. Everything else was trivial beside that.
“Shut up! Just impersonating our guild and playing tricks is more than enough reason for you to die.”
“Hoo. This really won’t work.”
Jinhyuk let out a long sigh and opened his mouth heavily, as if this was the last thing he had wanted to say.
“The truth is, I was going to stay quiet for the sake of your honor, but in there, we saved Mayer-ssi’s life several times. We even became pretty close with your raid members. At the end, he even apologized for trying to kill us after misunderstanding the situation.”
“Lies… won’t stop until you’re dead. As long as you’re alive, you’ll keep spewing nonsense.”
Gray’s sword blazed fiercely once more.
Just as Teresa and Frey were about to respond, a familiar aura rose from Jinhyuk’s body.
“Well. I’m telling you, it’s not a lie.”
[Unique Ability ‘Spatial Draw’ is activated!]
The flow of mana was far too familiar.
Crack!
So was the trajectory that split the ground.
Screeeech!
And so was the unique trait of accelerating three times as the distance narrowed.
It was all the very same technique Mayer loved to use.
“This can’t be….”
Gray stared at the sword scar carved into the ground right beside him.
Its power and speed were only a fraction of the original, but there was no doubting it for even an inch.
It was a perfect Mayer-style draw.
“I wouldn’t call it repaying a favor, but I did learn the draw-sword technique in return. I’m still a beginner, so I’ve got a long way to go before I can follow him.”
“…”
The killing intent around Gray thinned considerably.
Mayer was a subordinate who never shared his draw-sword technique with anyone and treated it as his personal pride. If someone like him had taught his swordsmanship, then something far beyond imagination must have happened between them.
And so.
For now, Gray could no longer continue attacking Jinhyuk.
===
At the same time.
Berial and Egypt’s alliance had fought through countless fierce battles and pushed deep into the Demon Realm. They had advanced by winning three full-scale wars and dozens of localized battles.
“Just how delayed has the whole plan gotten?”
Osiris pressed an ice pack to his throbbing head, trying to calm it.
“That damn bastard poached all our elites and made them run around for him.”
“Thanks to that, all we did was give the enemies more time to prepare while we reorganized.”
“Kuhahaha! But isn’t that boldness exactly why everyone likes that human?”
“That’s only because you’re not normal, Anubis. I’d appreciate it if you’d stop mistaking your attraction to your own kind for something normal.”
The Egyptian divinities each threw in a word of complaint.
No matter how friendly they were or how much they helped one another, no matter how they looked at it, Jinhyuk seemed to think of them less as higher divinities and more like neighborhood friends.
“Well, I’ll gladly give you all as many chances as you want to criticize my Apostle later, so for now, please focus all your attention on this side.”
Berial soothed the Egyptian divinities, who were all visibly worked up.
They had already subdued more than half of the entire Demon Realm.
All that remained was to capture the central fortress where Lucifer, ranked second in the Demon Realm, resided.
It would not be easy.
Lucifer had long since built the greatest power base of all, commanding ancient demons and high-ranking demonfolk.
In practical terms, the only reason the Demon Realm had been able to stand against Eden as a massive force at all was because the absolute being called Lucifer had existed.
But.
If they removed that bastard, they would be able to seize the entire Demon Realm.
Naturally, Egypt, which had formed an alliance with Berial, would also be able to wield tremendous influence across the entire upper hierarchy.
Not only would they be able to surpass the already declining divinities of the Celestial Order, they might even reach the dragons and the monster monkeys near the topmost floors of the Tower.
‘This is effectively the last chance to settle internal matters before going into a full-scale war with Eden.’
Soon, Jinhyuk and the companions following him would join the upper floors.
Once the all-out war that poured in everything came to an end, no matter who won, it would be impossible for either side to start another war for quite some time.
If they wanted to conquer the Demon Realm, it had to be now.
“What about the enemy?”
Berial asked Remia, who stood beside him. The maid who had been employed at Alice’s family home had received approval for outside work and was able to participate in this war.
Dressed once more in her original sensual and seductive outfit, Remia smiled brightly.
“They’ve holed themselves up inside the fortress and are preparing for a siege. Since it’s an iron fortress that has never once fallen, they must be planning to hold out.”
A natural stronghold that had once withstood the attacks of archangels for a hundred years.
In an ordinary siege, the attackers needed three times the number of troops as the defenders, but this fortress could withstand even ten times that number.
And especially now, when the two forces were roughly equal in strength, there was no need to say which side was more anxious.
But.
“What about securing the sacred relic?”
Berial still had one trump card left that could overturn the situation.
“We managed to obtain it a few hours ago.”
Remia carefully took the sacred relic out of the box.
Berial nodded.
If it was this, it would be enough to create a variable capable of completely turning the situation around.
But right then.
Bam bam bam!
“Kuaaagh!”
“Urk!?”
An unfamiliar mana intruded into the stronghold of the allied chief deities.
In an instant, a storm of blood swept through as the Demon Realm warriors standing guard collapsed to either side.
“What kind of guest treatment is this?”
The owner of the voice brushed the blood off their body.
…It was not a being of the Demon Realm.
Because the type of mana was completely different.