◈ Episode 414. Roses Are Not Enough (2)

Systems don’t lie.

‘Of course, I know that very well.’

Still, given the circumstances, I tried to manifest a portal to the Arcana continent, just in case. But all I got back was a flashing message.

[Last Adventurer: You cannot die in Arcana. If you do, you will be immediately returned to reality and will be unable to access Arcana for a period of time. – Cooldown: 24 hours]

Because of that, I had a day without a hitch.

For four days in Arcana time.

I’ve left the Arcana Continent in the hands of the Holy War Alliance.

I wasn’t too worried, really.

Ice Dragon, Frostnax.

An insignificant little chick, Frostnax is a force to be reckoned with. Call it a primordial evil, but it seemed impossible to crush the newly blooming World Tree.

But then came the news from Hiel.

“Antonium is covered with roses and thorny vines.”

So much for the ripple effect.

‘Pride, that bastard.’

[The Warlord’s Library] must have collapsed.

Of course, the emperor’s safety was a concern.

The situation itself was grave.

“There was no response.”

Survivor of the Dredsen Village.

Hiel had traveled with the Iron Castle and connected with Lansha and other survivors, thanks to their close relationship. Even though she was far away on the Iron Castle, she was able to recognize the abnormalities in Antonium.

How honestly did Grandfell react when he received the news?

I’ll tell you what.

I’m so frustrated……!

“My flower garden is full of flowers that I would not trade for a rose.”

I almost resented the way he talked about his flower garden so casually. As I said, I was unable to enter the Arcana continent at the moment due to the effects of the Last Adventurer.

Of course, Frostnax was near Antonium.

The newly sprouted World Tree.

He’ll have his hands full defending it from the primordial evil.

‘Although the Holy War Alliance has Matisse, Bellier, and Bensch…….’

The senior members of the Magic Tower were in no position to notice the collapse of the [Warlord’s Library]. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t even know it existed.

Why, even an aide like Nash didn’t know the truth about the Library.

‘First, let me see it with my own two eyes.’

First, I took inventory.

[Evil Eye Telescope]

I used the Demon King’s loot to see the whole of Antonium.

No, but…….

Who the hell is that……?

That blazing thing.

Is that the Bensch William I know?!

That wasn’t the only thing.

There was more.

The people of Antonium, enveloped in rose petals, were awakening.

At first, I wondered if reinforcements had arrived that I didn’t recognize.

‘No, there’s no one else around.’

As Commander-in-Chief of the Holy War Alliance.

I know the full extent of the Alliance’s power.

I didn’t have to turn to Evil Eye’s perspective to see it.

The Holy War Alliance can’t afford to support Antonium.

Then…….

‘You mean they overcame their status abnormalities on their own?’

The color returned to Hiel’s face.

“My Lord, the breath of the Dredsen survivors……!!!”

That’s right, Hiel.

I don’t know what happened, but……!

That’s too good to be true for me.

I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief.

Let’s just hope the cat doesn’t pass by the fishmonger.

“Do you know, Hiel?”

My snout is raised.

“In the midst of trials and tribulations, flowers bloom more brilliantly.”

[The Desire of Pure Knowledge].

As a result, I have mastered the knowledge of all minerals and plants on the Arcana continent. Naturally, I’m also well versed in the knowledge of flowers.

But.

Isn’t that a bit of a stretch?

My mouth twitches, undaunted by my ramblings.

“The trials and tribulations they have endured are by no means light.”

……Well, I’ll agree with that.

I don’t agree with all the other bullshit.

I can’t deny that.

I can’t help but wonder how the average Arcanians have overcome such status abnormalities.

If anyone asks.

I’ll turn the question back on them.

In their eyes.

Do they look like normal people to you?

The surviving people of Antonium?

They’ve seen their empire fall to the demons. And that’s not all, they’ve also fought fierce battles with rebels who took advantage of the chaos to rise up against them.

To put it in Grandfell style…….

They were no different from flowers blooming in the desert.

I continued.

“That’s why I said I wouldn’t trade them for a rose.”

Suddenly, my gaze fell beyond Evil Eye’s telescope.

The culprit.

I turn to the man wearing the crown of thorns.

I don’t know what he is.

Without seeing him, I don’t know.

I believe.

12 hours in real time.

Two days, Arcana Continent time.

‘Even if you can’t believe it, you have no choice but to believe.’

Until the penalty of [Last Adventurer] is removed.

Until I re-enter the Arcana Continent.

Holy War Alliance.

And that the people of Antonium will not fall to him.

I believe you.

I continued in a stern voice.

“So don’t underestimate it.”

……He’s a good talker, though.

“My flowers are not easily broken.”

*

deolkeong─!

The gates had opened.

There was no need to fear a flood of thorny vines.

Antonium’s soldiers shouted from all sides.

“Captain, the thorny vines are drying up!”

Poof.

The thorny vines are now crunchy to the touch. The thorny vine, which had been unyielding to the strength of a strong adult male, and unyielding to swords, was rapidly shrinking.

“……!”

The players were the first to notice the change. Hisagi’s eyes sparkled as he prepared to manifest his Magic Spear Technique towards Seric Rose.

[Seric Rose, Lord of the Eternal Rose: ???]

At the question mark.

[Seric Rose, Lord of the Eternal Rose: Lv.1,800]

The level appeared.

What it meant was simple.

Hisagi muttered.

“…… dropped in level?”

One thousand eight hundred levels.

It was an unbelievable drop.

But he’d been a ranked player since Arcana was just a game.

Isn’t Hisagi the one who knows Arcana’s system?

There was only one case where the monster’s level was a question mark. When the level gap between player and monster is extremely large. It was limited to cases where they were literally on different scales.

If Hisagi knows it, Nam Taemin knows it.

“He’s getting weaker, Senior Bensch!”

To recognize that he’s weakening right away.

Is this why Chief Lee opened the Magic Tower?

Bensch nods.

“I suppose the more perspectives you have, the more you see.”

Bensch’s flames stretched out toward Seric Rose.

“You certainly have a way with words, Chief.”

He snarled.

Seric Rose stared at his burning flesh.

His fears had become reality.

The Warlord’s Library.

One of the Seven Roses had been broken, and its life force had begun to plummet.

seuseuseu.

Soon, his body turned to ash and began to scatter in the wind.

But.

It was not the body that mattered to Seric Rose.

‘I am the one who can answer all questions…….’

More than his deteriorating body.

His existence.

He was doubting himself.

‘Why am I not able to understand this situation?’

Eventually, Seric Rose spoke again.

“Why are you struggling?”

Didn’t he say it?

It was just an omen.

Already, nothing is intact on the Arcana continent.

The Empire is in the battle for the Demon King for the Ten Thrones.

Arcana would be nothing more than a shrimp in a whale fight.

“What on earth is happening?”

Seric Rose shook his head once more.

Chaaaah.

And with that, Bensch’s Fear dispersed, and the thorny vines surrounding Antonium began to move in unison. The Monarch had taken the carrot of eternal happiness and raised the harsh whip.

Seric Rose whimpered.

“I will not harm my people.”

The Warlord’s Library.

The cause of existence.

Why the Emperors gave their lives.

It was all for the Empire and its people.

seuleuleug.

Still, Seric Rose was determined to wield the whip. It was the weight of his position as Monarch that if he couldn’t appease them with carrots, he would have to stop them with a whip.

However.

“Ooh, it’s moving!”

“Stop them at all costs!”

“We will never give up Antonium again!”

The people, unbowed by the whip.

It left Seric Rose in a state of endless doubt.

Makes him doubt his own wisdom.

Tsurreuk.

Seric Rose’s whip, the thorny vine, hesitated.

He heard a man’s voice.

A voice that seemed to find this situation amusing.

“What do you suspect, Seric Rose?”

It was Pride.

Seric Rose did not like pride. He didn’t like the fact that a demon had set foot in Antonium, the capital of the Empire. But Pride was too clever.

“Do you doubt yourself that you are wrong?”

He recognized the anguish in the hesitation.

Indeed, it was a mind-eating demon.

But Seric Rose was not swayed by Pride’s words.

“Shut up, demon.”

All for the good of the Empire and the people.

No matter what the demon whispered, Seric Rose would not be corrupted.

He had no intention of sacrificing his people.

But Pride shrugged.

“Doubt nothing, Warlord Library. You are not wrong in the slightest. Your judgment has never been wrong in the past, present, or future. So tell the brutal truth you know. Will you not tell your people every word of it, Seric Rose?”

Pride knew what they were trusting in, and it amused him, for why, the greatest despair comes when one is betrayed by the one they trusted most of all.

The corner of Pride’s mouth twitched.

“Do you not recognize a future that is more terrible than the Battle for the Ten Thrones, more terrible than the Warring States, more terrible than the rise of new monarchs?”

Finally, he bursts into laughter.

“Yes, the destruction that the infinitely deep darkness will bring!”

To paraphrase.

Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo.

The disastrous future brought about by his damned flesh and blood.

“Go ahead and proclaim that cruel truth to Antonium!”

Pride waited for Seric Rose’s jaw to drop.

But why?

His gaze began to turn toward him.

Then the unexpected words came out.

“Thank you. I remembered.”

“No way, you forgot? That’s good, come on…….”

“It has changed.”

“……Changed?”

The Lord of the Eternal Rose awoke and devoured the revelations that had been left in the former Warlord’s Library. He had awakened and consumed the revelations left in the libraries of his predecessors.

“Yes, the last revelation I ever made.”

Thus, the last Emperor had burned the last revelation to hide it from Pride. But now, thanks to Pride’s mention of the “infinitely deep darkness,” he realized.

Seric Rose’s gaze turns to the people.

“You are wiser than I, my narrow-minded people.”

And then, over Antonium, the Evil Eye rises.

Or more precisely, a brilliant silver glow from Evil Eye.

A ray of light.

“You knew it all along, that ray of light.”

Seric Rose realized.

He realized how much he had underestimated his people.

Pride, on the other hand, had no way of knowing.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden, Seric Rose? The revelation has changed. What kind of nonsense is that…….? No way, that kid changed the revelation……!!”

By the time he realized it, it was too late.

“As expected, they were too many people for me to embrace.”

To keep them among the roses.

They are under a ray of light.

Are they not already shining like brilliant flowers?

Soon, the thorn vine completely stopped moving.

Seric Rose took in the panoramic view of Antonium for the last time.

“The Empire.”

People.

Forgive your foolish emperor.

I was a poor monarch.

My love for you was never false.

He turned to Bensch.

“Flame Emperor, will you deliver my message?”

“To whom and what?”

“To a ray of light.”

Then he closed his eyes tightly.

“Please have pity on my empire.”

.

.

.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Although it is a really formal expression.

Because it was literally best to be suspicious.

[The Emperor of the Empire, ‘Seric Rose’, has died].

[You will be granted appropriate qualifications based on your accumulated achievements.].

[Your current succession ranking to the throne: 1st]