◈ Episode 171. It’s Only Possible Because of Me (2)
The class quest was a breeze.
Once again, I realize that the Demon Battle is a big event.
I glanced at the quest window again.
[Class Quest: Hell’s Gate]
The continent of Arcana.
A new evil wants to claim the throne of Hell.
But they have overlooked your presence.
The Last Demon Hunter.
Burn the arrogant demon with the flames of hell.
─Train your weakened body. (Repeat)
─Witness the throne fallen to hell. (Ongoing)
The moment I saw it, I understood.
Why did the demons open the useless gates of hell for themselves?
It was like that.
The demons, the demon king, fell into hell at the hands of the demon hunters.
That is, they were after the throne that had fallen to hell with them.
So what’s a throne?
If it were me in the past, I would have been angry, blaming the 10-year gap. But as I said, in order not to sink in pride. It was me who never stopped struggling.
This item is proof of that.
[Telescope of Evil Eye].
Evil Eye’s vision slowly shifts.
The rising flames of hell.
A throne rising from the flames.
Nam Taemin, who had been watching in silence, spoke up.
“……Is that a chair?”
Yes, it is.
“More precisely, a throne of demons.”
“Throne……!”
“So the Demon War is a fight for that throne!”
Harkon’s assessment of the situation was accurate.
Hakuna looked concerned.
“To even risk the flames of hell to claim the throne, the power contained within it must be immense. After all, it’s a great evil that gave even me monstrous power…….”
Hakuna was possessed by the Seven Deadly Sins, Greed.
In the ancient kingdom of Yusra, there were no battles or quarrels.
As the king of Yusra, Hakuna had no combat skills. However, even in his physical form, Hakuna’s power was unleashed by the Seven Deadly Sins of Greed.
‘In arcana system terms.’
It means that the demon who occupies that throne will be elevated to a boss monster. Indeed, the players were quick to recognize this. Hisagi muttered in a low voice.
“That’s not good.”
“What do you mean, Hisagi?”
“A demon who will endure the flames of hell and take the throne must be strong in his own right. If a guy like that takes the throne… … .”
“……!!!”
That’s right.
Let’s bring in Laxioros, the loser of the Western Demon World, last.
If he’s alive and well enough to take the throne.
That’s a level 1,000 named monster turned boss monster.
“The demons are also worth the risk.”
Marcelo made an objective judgment.
“Ah, so that’s why, now I understand.”
Kichi, who had questioned it, circled it with his finger.
Well, the question was answered, but the mood was somber.
No wonder.
“The key, I suppose, is to stop the demon from taking the throne.”
“It won’t be smooth sailing. The moment we enter the conflict, we’ll be public enemies of all demons, which is to be expected given their traitorous nature…….”
Harkon and Talim were no strangers to war.
The two knights quickly got the point. The possibility of gaining a strategic advantage among the demons who would contest the throne.
Of course, I struck a chord.
“Pride cannot tolerate this.”
Come on, Grandfell.
What do you expect from the demon?
It was Grandfell’s pride that would sink him.
But as I said, it’s not just words.
I’m alive.
And because I’m alive, there’s a way out.
Why did the Demon War begin in earnest in the first place?
‘Because Akshan was destroyed.’
Yes, the Demon War was a double-edged sword for the demons.
To open the gates of hell with their own hands.
That was why the Demon War hadn’t been resolved for so long.
‘The natural enemy, the Demon Hunter, is opening his bright blue eyes.’
It’s not like the liver came out of the stomach.
How could he be capable of such a thing?
But in the holy war, Akshan was exterminated.
Add to that the fact that I, the last survivor of Akshan, have sent the Seven Deadly Sins, Greed, and several demons to hell, and I’ve slain millions of demons.
You have concluded that nothing can stand in the way of the Demon War.
They don’t know anything about the effects of [Last Adventurer]!
“Foolish races are overlooked.”
That was why I blurted it out so brazenly.
“The existence of me.”
……No, wait.
Don’t get me wrong, but you don’t have to be so bold!
I screamed.
“!!!”
All eyes turned to me at that.
I might as well have dug a rat hole in eight hours.
…… This is how I really live.
*.
Another AAU announcement.
A new AAU branch.
A letter of support from the AAU Yusra branch.
“Demon War?! What is that?!”
Ta-da-da-da-da!
The sound of typing everywhere.
Sung Hyun-joon and Yoon Soo-gyeom hurriedly searched through the database.
Sung Hyun-joon shouted urgently.
“No, senior. There’s information about the Demon World, but there’s no information about Hell. Don’t you think you’re mistaken? Why, Demon World and Hell. The tone is similar!”
“Stop talking like hell and go find it.”
“…… Senior, did you just pronounce that? You didn’t swear, did you?”
[Hell].
When I searched for the word in the database, all that popped up was a bunch of obscure information and settings. To name a few examples……. Sung opened his mouth.
“Epic item setting, Torch of Hell. An item set to commemorate the discovery of the entrance to Hell by the romantic explorer, Lorenzik. Specific storyline under development.”
Strange that there’s a specific setting.
Since the Romantic Explorer, Lorenzik, was an unreleased NPC with a few simple settings.
“Oh, and one more thing: Demons hunted by Demon Hunters fall to Hell and never resurrect again, no matter what kind of demon they are.”
The rest of the information wasn’t much better.
Unlike the Demon World, which had at least a basic setup, Hell was only mentioned in passing.
Sung bit his lip.
“Do you think this useless information will help?”
Tadak!
Yoon Soo-gyeom removed his hand from the keyboard and spun his chair around.
“It’s not us who are judging, it’s player Lee Hoyeol…….”
No, now I have to get the title right.
“You must be the general manager of the AAU Yusra branch.”
AAU Yusra Branch.
Since this is a special branch, there is no branch leader.
There is only a general manager who is in charge.
The world’s expectations of Hoyeol are heavy enough.
Hoyeol had another burden to carry.
“Wow, that’s a lot of responsibility.”
Now, even AAU was leaning on him.
There’s only so much an employee can do.
Still, Sung Hyun-joon and Yoon Soo-gyeom wanted to be of some help.
“I suppose we’ll just have to scrape by and hand it over.”
Of course.
“Hoo-hoo-”
The leader of the AAU Korea Branch.
Park Minjae’s feelings were no different.
He pulled a stack of papers out of a drawer.
Dusty papers.
“I never thought I’d have to take these out again.”
Sigh.
After wiping the dust off, the document’s identity was revealed.
[Raymond, transcript].
“It’s been a while.”
Back when Arcana was just a game and he was a Cosmo employee. Park had formally complained to the sky-high CEO, Raymond Sean.
His coworker’s response?
“‘What the fuck are you talking about?” he says.
Big paychecks.
Low labor intensity.
Going home on time after work
Cosmo was a developer’s dream job.
At the time, he didn’t want anything to do with it, didn’t want to make a scene, but his half-bone temperament wouldn’t let him.
“At that time, I was the type of person who couldn’t stand being curious.”
The biggest question was the same then and now.
Why didn’t Rayman reveal the roadmap for the entire Arcana continent to his employees and executives, or more precisely, why didn’t he give them a game objective and story outline?
Now that I think about it, did I lose my mind?
“I thought about saying no to a master who only dangles carrots.”
Well, that’s a half-bone.
Park Minjae emailed Raymond Sean directly.
He carefully packaged his questions.
As a result, Park had a private meeting with Raymond Sean.
The conversation was recorded on paper.
“Tsk. I put it in a folder and it’s dusty.”
Park’s lips twitched and he opened the document.
As he looked through it, the memories came flooding back.
Suddenly, a passage caught his eye.
──────
Sean: I think that’s the point.
──────
“It’s amazing how much you can see, that.”
Why don’t we share the purpose and framework of the arcana?
I thought I was being subtle.
He was clearly looking into my inner thoughts, that bastard.
──────
Sean: Because you don’t have to.
──────
Seriously, even on second viewing, that’s an asshole comment.
──────
Sean: It’s just that you don’t need to interfere with something that’s already done.
──────
At the time, I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.
I just thought, Raymond Sean, you’ve been talked out of your ass by a slug, and you haven’t even found the main map.
I was furious as I replayed the recorder and secretly transcribed the conversation.
But as the years went by, it made sense.
Is it because I’m older and my head is bigger?
No, because something big happened.
“……No need to interfere with what’s finished.”
Ever since the cataclysm.
A few more years later, I saw those words again.
and it’s starting to make sense. Why, there are monsters and NPCs with one-line descriptions in the Cosmo database that are doing great things.
“So it didn’t matter whether we developed it or not.”
Park Minjae shrugged.
“Well, there’s no point in getting upset now.”
Raymond Sean has long since disappeared.
It’s impossible to interview him now.
But, hey, maybe we can give them a little something.
“Why, you’re only as good as your knowledge, right?”
It’s like looking back at the transcript and seeing something new.
Sometimes, Lee Hoyeol could even give the illusion that he was looking at the Arcana continent in real time. Don’t you think we can figure out Raymond Sean’s true intentions from these transcripts?
Park Minjae raised the corner of his mouth.
“Isn’t that right, Mr. Raymond Sean?”
*
The executive office of the Yusra Kingdom.
The Demon War has broken out on the Arcana Continent.
I was on standby to respond quickly at any time.
Dakkak─
Of course, it would be unthinkable for such a high-minded man to skip tea time for the sake of a mere demon, but I agreed with Grandfell’s taste.
He takes a break from the tea bagged green tea he’s grown accustomed to, and sips an herbal brew.
“Indeed, numbers are just numbers.”
……Don’t turn around and tell me that 300 won green tea bags are better than hundreds of thousands of won herbal medicines, Grandfell. After a brief rant, I checked the paperwork that had arrived from AAU.
The amount of paperwork on my desk is quite a bit, this.
‘Mr. Cheolmin must have had a hard time.’
Nam Taemin’s brother, Nam Cheolmin.
I’ve entrusted him with the responsibility of the AAU Yusra branch.
I’m the boss of the organization.
Why did you call yourself the boss of the organization?
If you focus on AAU, there won’t be any real body left.
My current routine alone is a hell of a schedule that would have sent me to the goal if it weren’t for the blessing of the first world tree.
If that wasn’t bad enough, I’m also the AAU Yusra Branch Manager and have to attend AAU meetings every day.
Seriously, it’s horrible……!
So I asked for a new title, General Manager.
‘At least you have someone to take care of it.’
Nam Cheolmin had come, and he was now the brains of the great alliance.
I don’t doubt his abilities.
Whatever it is, he’s better than me in a lot of ways.
Imagine Grandpel ranting and raving at a chapter meeting.
I’m getting tired already…….
For the record.
I looked over the materials AAU had forwarded to me.
I honestly didn’t have high hopes.
It’s the foundation of AAU, because I’ve seen it for a long time and know it well.
“AAU, those who explore the edges of creation.”
So please don’t package it too grandly, Grandfell.
Technically, he’s not wrong.
The AAU used to be the developers of Arcana.
But there’s not much information left to begin with, is there……?
‘…… Wait.’
From what I’ve heard, it should be.
What the hell, I could see it.
『The Arcana Continent』.
[Biography of the Arcana Continent].
Having experienced both worlds.
I know how to utilize information that seems useless.
“Your exploration has led you to the [『Anomaly』].”
.
.
.
──────
A new world event, ‘Battle for the Demon King’ begins.
──────
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note: Demon War -> Battle for the Demon King