◈ Episode 125. The Infinite Darkness (1)

A nervous battle between the Unification of Heaven and the Shining.

Ho Yeol’s unexpected appearance broke the tension.

Shining’s Guild Master, Rox, wasn’t in a bad mood.

‘In many ways, it makes me realize the point.’

Another realization.

He’d always felt more comfortable when he was the underdog.

Once you bite, you don’t let go.

It was in the underdog position that his true nature was best revealed.

Dmitri, on the other hand, was full of complaints.

“Ho-yeol, why are you doing this to me?”

This is not fair!

He continued in an angry voice.

“The demons must have disappeared. There’s nothing to worry about. I’m just trying to raise the stock price for a change. What I’m saying is, why would a monster like that follow us into the rift where we play? I mean, come on!”

Whirr.

Twisting her fingers in her hair, Camilla snorted.

“Raising the stock price? Maybe he was trying to get a girl~”

“……what?”

“Why, did you make a deal with him, that he’d call you by name in the interview~?”

“You, you, how did you know that……?”

“It’s because you’re envious of Ho-yeol, right?”

“Boo, envy? Who? Me? Lee Ho-yeol? No, not at all?”

“Pfft-”

Jesse’s withdrawal hasn’t made things better between them.

I know there’s no point in trying to talk them out of it.

Instead of intervening, Rox pointed to Ho-yeol.

“I’m guessing he’s here to keep his feet on the ground.”

“Practicing? Him, in a rift like this?”

“He’s trying to use as many different skills as he can, isn’t he?”

“…… Really?”

“Look with your eyes wide open, Dmitri. Don’t just stare at girls~”

“Hey you.”

[Teffern fence].

Compared to Ho Yeol’s estimated level, the appropriate level was absurdly low. However, it was the highest level of the currently created rift.

“I shouldn’t blame Lee Ho-yeol, I should blame the small bowl.”

Now that the threat of the Demon Race was gone.

Just like the [Demon Castle] and the [Broken Dimensional Rift].

There’s no such thing as a rift that can hold Lee Ho-Yeol.

Or so Rox thought.

On the contrary.

“This is annoying.”

I feel uncomfortable.

Liu Zunqun’s eyebrows twitched.

Ho Yeol’s appearance had shifted the conversation to him.

“This isn’t the first time.”

The Monarch of the Heavenly Unification had done it.

No, the achievements of the Monarch of the Heavenly Unification himself.

Hadn’t he even surpassed Shining to reach the top of the guild rankings?

The attention of the world beyond his homeland was not enough.

His own attention didn’t last long.

“…… Lee Ho-yeol.”

It was.

Every time he accomplished something, there was an admirer.

Even at the [Mantra Mine] Rift, when he was sure he was the first to clear it, Ho Yeol was there. He didn’t even have anything to say about the [Demon Castle] rift.

A mere ten minutes.

Liu Zunqun had barely left the Guild Headquarters.

The [Demon Castle] Rift had been cleared and disappeared.

Thud.

Liu Zhunqun looked at Ho Yeol.

Not a player’s gaze.

It was the gaze of a class, a monarch.

‘How the hell did he move the magic tower?’

If Ho Yeol’s class was a [Monarch] like his own, he could understand.

Ho Yeol’s estimated level is at least 900.

If you’re a level 900 Monarch…….

it wouldn’t be a dream for him to be able to wield a magic tower.

However, Liu Zunqun knew.

‘However, a monarch can’t do that.’

A monarch’s weapon was divinity.

No magic, no sword.

But look at that line.

“…… What the hell?”

“You broke through that encirclement?”

“How many offensive skills does he have, are you keeping track?”

“What? Yes, I am, but it’s hard to keep up with that speed…….”

Isn’t he dealing with a large army with a short body?

Liu Zunqun’s mind raced.

In the past, he had taken Lee Ho Yeol as nothing more than an insignificant figure.

After all, an individual is just an individual.

Liu Zunqun knew the limitations of an individual.

But now, he had a whole Magic Tower behind him.

Not to mention the Kingdom of Yusra, which had close ties to the King of Hakuna. The Goddess Church, the Knights of the Lionheart, and even the Shadow Mercenaries.

I had to admit it now.

‘Above the Shining, there was Lee Ho-Yeol.

The sky above the sky.

What was that, a heavenly being?

Now I understood Rox’s attitude.

How a man of his stature could think so highly of him.

Liu Zunqun’s eyes burned.

‘You can’t even guess the class of such an opponent.’

Ugh!

Liu Zunqun clenched his fists in frustration.

He shouted to his guild members.

“There is no time to stand still. Let’s begin our attack.”

Crunch!

“Pfft.”

It was bad luck, and now it was going to rain.

The sky above the rift was darkening.

Soon, all the scarecrows were defeated and Ho Yeol collected his weapons.

It looks like he’s calling it a day.

Liu Zunqun was inadvertently relieved.

“……!”

……It was only for a moment, but he was relieved.

And then he felt uncomfortable with himself.

And so it was.

Rox and Liu Zunqun.

Same situation, first in line.

Their thoughts were completely different.

Soon, their thoughts were exactly the same.

“!”

The two of them.

No, in front of every player in the [Teffern Fence].

A message appeared.

[Dark Spirit appears].

……A dark spirit?

At the same time, everyone’s gazes turned to one place.

To Ho Yeol.

“……Surely, to the Teffern Fence for this?”

.

.

.

Why are they all looking so serious?

I was concerned.

……Maybe I looked too ugly?

After all, I’m a chief mage to them, like Marcelo. I was fighting a bunch of scarecrows that I could have wiped out in one fell swoop.

But.

[A dark spirit appears].

I swallowed hard at the message.

I shouldn’t have freaked out.

I’d rather be relieved.

‘By the way.’

It was a loud bang.

Feiyan’s eyes are wide as she looks at me.

Feiyan speaks to me in a wary voice.

“……is a dark spirit.”

A dark spirit.

Unfortunately, my knowledge of spirits is still very limited.

Naturally, I don’t know what a dark spirit is.

But I blurted out.

“I know.”

“……?”

What a dick.

But he’s not wrong again.

I did know that the dark spirit had “appeared” through the message.

I’m not even rationalizing it.

I knew it too.

No, instinctively.

My body was reacting first.

Or more precisely, the magic coursing through my body.

The right kind.

Yes, I knew this sensation.

‘My first encounter with Matisse.’

It was a similar feeling.

With one difference.

Back then, Matisse’s magic item, the ring, had sensed my right kind of magic.

Now it was the environment of the rift, the dark spirit, sensitized to my proper magic.

“I can’t believe you knew that…….’

Feiyan bit her lip before speaking.

“As a senior in the school of Spirits, I’m solely responsible for not thinking of this possibility. I’ll take the blame for that after the situation is under control.”

Responsibility is important.

But whose responsibility?

Proper procedure is needed to determine exactly that.

I followed procedure and asked Feiyan.

“Report the situation, Feiyan.”

“I’ll be as brief as possible.”

Listening to Feiyan’s story, I realized that…….

It wasn’t anyone’s fault, just bad luck.

The tricky Dark Spirit appearance conditions were just right.

I said calmly.

“You are not to blame. Senior Feiyan.”

“……?”

Feiyan was silent for a moment.

Then she seemed to get the message.

She turned back to me.

“What do you mean, I’m not?”

I said.

Simply.

I’m saying that you shouldn’t be responsible for anything.

Go-oh-oh.

The ‘proper magic’ I sense in my body.

Just like when I manifested black magic.

I controlled the proper amount of magic.

‘It’s not difficult.’

It’s magic in name only.

Proper magic is a completely different concept from magic power.

First meeting with Matisse.

-‘Black magic can be manifested even in a state of magical exhaustion.’

And after that first meeting.

I realized the potential of black magic.

Yes, “black magic” is one of the wells I dug.

Of course, black magic was still in its early stages of conceptualization.

But that’s why I read every book I could find on the field.

So I didn’t move a muscle.

“What is that?!”

The sky darkened even more.

And a black shape rising from thin air beneath it.

That must be the Dark Spirit.

“The message clearly said it was a dark spirit!”

“What?! You want me to get up close and take a picture? No, I don’t know about you, but I’m freaking out, and it’s getting bigger and bigger!”

“Everybody check your status abnormality resistance first!”

Situation.

Players start to make a lot of noise.

Quick-headed players are ready for battle.

For example, Heavenly Unification or The Shining.

I hope I’m not overreacting.

[A dark spirit appears].

Since the days when the Arcana was just a game.

There have been [emergent messages] since the days when Arcana was just a game.

There was a condition for the message to appear.

“If you look at the appearance message, it means it’s a named mob! brothers and sisters. Heavenly Unification, Shining, Ho Yeol, Spirits, and Named Mob. I feel like I’m having too much luck today……. Surely today isn’t the day of the ancestral rites?!”

In the words of a NetTuber player.

This is the message that pops up when a monster appears in your area that is beyond the appropriate level.

It wasn’t for nothing that Feiyan, the senior member of the Magic Tower, wore a fierce expression.

But I still didn’t move.

Was I overconfident after hunting the Teffern Scarecrow?

I may not know Grandfell, but I don’t know that much about fountains.

So I stretched my legs straight out to the ground.

There was a reason I was stiff from the waist to the neck.

-“Thus, communion with the dark spirits is impossible unless one possesses the proper amount of magic, and the only person I know of who possesses that level of magic is Senior Black Mage Matisse…….”

I knew.

Feiyan may not know, but I do.

A gemstone of black magic recognized by Matisse Dean Karl, senior mage of black magic.

Of course, where that proper magic comes from…….

I don’t know, and I don’t want to know.

‘Whatever it is, let’s be grateful for now.

After all, it seemed like I’d been able to avoid a battle with the Dark Spirit.

I stayed where I was and stared at the dark spirit.

“Chief Lee Ho-yeol, isn’t that the reason why you’re closing the distance……!”

I hear Feiyan’s voice filled with concern.

He’s right to be worried.

As Feiyan said.

‘Very little is known about dark spirits.’

Besides, dark spirits are strange beings that only appear when the conditions are right.

This is evident from the circumstances alone.

In their natural state, spirits cannot even be seen by normal humans.

The dark spirits were revealing themselves in plain sight.

‘You mean we don’t know what kind of danger it is.’

But I was confident.

That I could communicate with it.

The proof was in the power of the proper magic.

And I knew the ‘nature’ of the proper magic.

-“Black magic is simple.”

Tutoring under the guise of a conversation with Matisse.

I learned a lot about black magic from Matisse.

Matisse had a simple explanation for black magic.

-“Just as darkness plunges into deeper darkness. So does black magic chase after more proper magic. Like what you see now.”

To illustrate his point, Matisse pulled out a tool.

A compass sensitive to the proper magic.

Boom.

The needle that had been spinning between me and Matisse ended up pointed at me.

…… What a feeling that was.

It was a bittersweet feeling of being recognized by a black mage.

I’m glad I didn’t show my true colors.

-“As far as attribute magics go, Fire Magic is the closest in nature to Fire, and I’ve spoken with Karimzeva about it, which is why I can’t condone his atrocities anymore.”

Karimzeva only made me feel sorry for Bensch William, the senior Firemage…….

Anyway, I’m confident for a reason.

Black history, perhaps.

“He was the heir to a great family, but the family was destroyed by a demon.

The sole survivor of the family, Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo, hereafter known as Grandfell, became a demon hunter to avenge his family’s destruction.』

Maybe it’s the exhausting setting of Grandfell.

I was the possessor of the proper magic that surpassed Matisse.

I opened my mouth to speak to the Dark Spirit.

“Are you a dark spirit?”

If communication is impossible.

Like a dense darkness swallowing another darkness.

It is a matter of subduing the dark spirit.

The proper magic summoned to do so.

You-?

Did my words reach it?

I felt a gaze from the dark figure.

It wasn’t looking at me.

It was looking at the proper magic power I had drawn.

The distance between us grew closer.

“……Wait, are we supposed to just watch?”

” Lee Ho-yeol, what are you thinking?”

“Even for you, Ho-yeol, the distance is too close……?!”

Of all the people watching, only Hyo-yeol remains unmoved.

But the tense situation didn’t last long.

He hears the voice of the creature in his ear.

“I submit to you.”

……Wait, what?

I can understand submission.

Like I said, I knew the nature of black magic.

But what?

“Infinite Darkness.”

Ha, infinite darkness?!

Makes me shudder with embarrassment,

What a strange name to call it.

But I could not be silent.

There were more than a few eyes watching.

“Infinite Darkness… … !”

“Dark Spirit submits to Ho Yeol!”

“I see, you didn’t come to this little rift for nothing.”

It was.

It was a foreign spirit.

Even without a contract, its form and voice were recognizable.

Even players without a connection could recognize it.

So.

“Lee, Chief Lee Ho-yeol……?”

“Soo, did Chief Lee establish a connection with the Dark Spirit……?”

“Nonsense!”

Not to mention the reactions of the mages, including Feiyan.

I wonder if I’m really going to die in disgrace …… for this.

I could barely compose myself.

The dark spirit taunted once more.

“ Infinite Darkness.”

No, I mean, how the hell do you call him ……!!!

“Only you can unlock the Labyrinth of Teffern.”

……What? The Labyrinth of Teffern?

After living and living, do I have to listen to the spirits all the way now?

I’m stunned by the unexpected afterword.

A message flashed before my eyes.

[10 Wonders Quest: The Labyrinth of Teffern].

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note: 한없이 깊은 어둠 (Infinitely Deep Darkness)