Chapter 734 — ……Remain (2)
As expected, it was unbelievable.
“What do you think, Skal?”
Dragon Eye.
Frostnax’s eyes watched Vassago walking alone.
There was certainly something suspicious about him accompanying one of the Ten Thrones, wasn’t there?
Skal stroked his chin.
“As you can see, I’m extremely suspicious.”
He wasn’t just an ordinary demon. He was the third-ranked member of the Ten Thrones. Even his Authority was strange and unfamiliar. How should he put it? It was simply beyond the scope of his judgment.
“I’ve heard rumors that Vassago is different from ordinary demons. He doesn’t just play house using an incarnation body—he even walked out of the Demon King’s Castle on his own and surrendered. But who would’ve thought he’d come looking for us?”
A demon’s enemy was another demon. Vassago’s argument had some merit. They had witnessed it while protecting the Arcana Continent, whether they realized it or not.
“Now that all negative emotions are being directed toward the Silver Evil Eye, the demons must be suffering from hunger. In the past, they would have attacked humans, but even that is no longer possible.”
The reconstruction of the Empire.
Its scale couldn’t compare to that before the Great Cataclysm, but its ability to deal with demons had developed tremendously. Not to mention the existence of the Quernberg Machine Tower, which still wandered throughout the continent, tearing demons apart.
Skal nodded.
“Yep. That’s how the era of demons devouring demons began.”
Skal and Frostnax deliberately refrained from hunting demons.
They had knowledge, after all. Everyone knew that demons couldn’t revive if they were killed by demon hunters. And what would happen if demons started devouring other demons?
-“Remember this. Malice will always side with greater malice.”
Those were his words, which they had never forgotten.
And they had been true.
Demons that, driven by hunger for negative emotions, devoured their own kind were reborn as completely new demons. In the terminology of the Arcana Continent Chronicles—
“The monster’s rank went up.”
“Do adventurers call it a rank?”
“Yep. Intermediate to Advanced. Advanced to Named.”
That was why they had watched the demons slaughter their own kind.
“It was to keep things from becoming troublesome for him.”
If the cannibalism continued, their numbers would naturally decrease.
Then, in the future, you would only have to hunt down a single demon.
“You were so busy that even having two bodies wouldn’t have been enough.”
Of course, they hadn’t simply stood by and watched.
Whenever there was even the slightest possibility that the demons’ ugly battles might harm humans, Skal and Frostnax immediately tore through dimensions, flew over, and crushed them.
That was why—
“Do you still believe in him?”
“Hmph. What a pointless question.”
“Then you’re confident too, right?”
Skal seriously pressed Frostnax.
“Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
The Primordial Evil.
Its movements were shrouded in mystery. There had to be a reason it had been hiding inside the World Tree without being discovered by the dragons or elves.
But it was surely hungry as well.
That was why they had agreed to Vassago’s proposal.
-“I will become the bait.”
Vassago had said it with a smile.
-“Even if I flaunt my pride, I don’t delude myself into believing that I can earn your trust. A demon is a demon. Even now, malice is welling up inside me.”
Even weakened, the Ten Thrones were still the Ten Thrones.
Skal recalled the malice Vassago had displayed moments ago.
It had been malice released in order to confess.
Yet merely remembering it caused goosebumps to rise over his skin again.
But Frostnax’s voice did not waver.
“Considering the instinct of demons to endlessly deceive, speaking with him should be impossible. But if we look at it differently, Vassago revealed his true nature to us.”
That was right.
It wasn’t that they had discovered Vassago’s true capabilities.
Vassago had revealed them himself.
The difference was significant.
Furthermore—
“He wanted to become the bait himself.”
“Do you think that will attract the Primordial Evil’s interest?”
“While it is hungry, what feast could possibly be greater than one of the Ten Thrones?”
“I’m not a demon, so I wouldn’t know…… but probably nothing?”
Vassago was currently weakened due to the aftermath of his Authority.
But his rank remained unchanged.
Frostnax snorted.
“What would happen if a member of the Ten Thrones and the Primordial Evil merged and advanced into the realm of ‘Anomaly’? Even with my knowledge, I cannot imagine it.”
“Shouldn’t we stop this while we still can……?”
“No. For now, let’s watch, Skal.”
Frostnax’s pupils twitched.
“It seems the bait has caught its appetite after all.”
Crack.
“!”
They had been following Vassago from a great distance in case they attracted attention.
But there was nothing wrong with being prepared.
Frostnax quickly hid himself within a dimensional rift.
“This way, we can watch from a little closer.”
Without having to unnecessarily suspect anything, they could directly observe the conversation between Vassago and the Primordial Evil.
Skal and Frostnax swallowed nervously.
“!!”
Soon, malice could be felt coming through the dimension.
It was the kind of malice that could not easily be sensed unless one was a demon hunter.
Just how dense was this malice?
It was enough to make Skal’s arms and legs stiffen.
“Is that guy really hungry?”
Not wanting to be outdone, Frostnax ground his teeth.
“He seems to have finally taken the bait.”
“……Taken the bait?”
“Skal, check the adventurer’s field of vision.”
Check the field of vision?
Only then did Skal notice the message that was blinking.
He couldn’t decipher the broken message, but he could understand what it meant.
[■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■.]
Could it be… a class quest failure?
Then he realized where that overwhelming presence that had frozen his limbs had come from.
This was Dragon Fear, an aura capable of forcing all things into submission.
Frostnax’s anger spread to Skal.
“What the hell did that bastard do……?”
Vassago expressed his admiration.
“The Primordial Evil. So, the evil that has existed since the beginning of the Arcana Continent truly is on another level. It seems you evolved in a completely different direction from us.”
He thought of the Great Evil, the Seven Deadly Sins.
‘I thought you were merely a weak existence dependent upon possession.’
The Ten Thrones had existed as the Ten Thrones.
However, the demons of the Arcana Continent, led by the Great Evil, were different.
They had been forced to endlessly transfer their souls from body to body through possession, parasitizing their hosts.
He had never understood why.
“It seems you’ve completely digested the dragon’s abilities based on the understanding you accumulated through countless experiences of possession. And judging from your appearance……”
The Primordial Evil emerged from the darkness.
Contrary to its name, it was neither hideous nor grotesque.
Only its enormous ears hinted at its identity.
“You even devoured an elf.”
The corners of the Primordial Evil’s mouth rose.
“Ten Thrones, there must be a reason you came looking for me.”
“I thought you would be hungry, but apparently not. Since you desire to eat this old man, it seems you’ve already devoured quite a lot.”
“Haha. There’s no need to be humble.”
It was laughing!
What an unbearably arrogant attitude.
Frostnax, watching from afar, ground his teeth.
Skal whispered to him.
“You said we’d watch, right? Are you really going to jump out now?”
“I’m going mad wanting to tear that detestable creature’s throat out, Skal……! It devoured my brothers. Please, hold me back.”
Skal grabbed Frostnax’s scales tightly.
“If you let go of me, I might tear through the dimension at any moment and bite that bastard’s neck off. I’m not joking, Skal. No—my knight!”
‘My knight?’
Aside from being recognized by Frostnax as a Dragon Knight, this was a title Skal had never heard before.
Soon, he understood the true meaning of those words.
“……!”
The scales in Skal’s hand instantly transformed into reins.
Now that he had truly become a [Dragon Knight] capable of controlling a dragon, this was the moment he had dreamed of ever since beginning the Arcana Continent Chronicles.
Yet Skal wasn’t happy.
‘Just how angry is he that he handed control over to me?’
The Primordial Evil that had enraged Frostnax this much—
Perhaps it was the final boss of the Arcana Continent.
That demon was waiting beyond the dimension.
‘Vassago, are you really going to be okay?’
Vassago replied indifferently.
“Humility. That is an emotion far removed from me.”
The Primordial Evil maintained its arrogant attitude.
“If it isn’t humility, then have you simply frozen before me? Well, that would be understandable. You couldn’t have expected that I would devour dragons and elves. Great Sage. No—wasn’t there nothing about this in the prophecies of your incarnations either?”
“……!”
Vassago fell silent.
The Primordial Evil was right.
The prophecy Vassago had remembered only indicated the place where the Primordial Evil would reveal itself.
There was no prophecy stating that it would devour dragons and elves.
As if mocking him, the Primordial Evil tilted its head.
“Wait. There wasn’t even a prophecy about the Evil Dragon, was there? Of course there wasn’t. Throughout the endlessly repeating cycle of reincarnation, I had never once revealed my true nature.”
At those words, Vassago flinched.
‘It knew.’
Skal and Frostnax, hiding beyond the dimension, realized the same thing.
“How does it know that the world repeats?”
“That must also be obvious. Just like Lorenzik, it must have discovered it in Mother’s growth rings—the fact that this world repeats once it reaches a certain point in time.”
The rings of the World Tree—
They were strangely interrupted in places.
Then they began again.
“……Then isn’t that guy even more dangerous than we thought?”
The Primordial Evil had existed since the World Tree first sprouted from the concepts of good and evil.
It must have known about this fact long ago.
That made it different from them, who had only discovered the truth after the World Tree was broken and its base was exposed.
Frostnax finally understood and let out a low groan.
“I see. It was growing stronger throughout the repeating cycles of time. It was only in this timeline, where it had become certain of its plan, that it finally revealed its true nature and malice!”
That must have been why it devoured the dragons and elves.
‘Damn.’
This was an unforeseen situation.
Vassago stared into empty space.
‘You two, there was a variable even we didn’t know about.’
‘The Arcana Continent was not a world we could simply underestimate.’
The Demon Realm and the Ten Thrones had devoured countless continents and worlds.
The other members of the Ten Thrones had judged that the Arcana Continent was an inferior world—perhaps even inferior to Seorn and ordinary continents—since it had been heading toward destruction without Bael even needing to intervene.
Vassago spoke the truth.
“Was all of this intentional, Primordial Evil?”
The Primordial Evil answered cheerfully.
“‘Primordial Evil’ is rather troublesome, isn’t it? From now on, you may call me Beyond.”
“Beyond……?”
“My Arcana Continent will now be reborn anew.”
Madness gleamed in Beyond’s eyes.
“Are you listening, young dragon?”
“?!”
“You poor thing. You’ve put the reins on yourself.”
It had seen through the dimension itself.
Skal and Frostnax were stunned.
But they soon understood.
‘Of course. It devoured my brothers.’
And then they began to realize the situation.
Beyond had remained silent despite knowing that the world repeated.
Now, it had begun to act.
It had devoured its own kind.
Blood vessels appeared in Frostnax’s eyes.
“Don’t tell me… without leaving even a single one of my brothers behind……!”
Beyond, beyond the dimension, sneered.
“That’s right.”
Power.
Having devoured every dragon corrupted by the Evil Fruit and transformed into a transcendent existence, Beyond revealed his power.
He merely released his magic power—
Yet the entire Arcana Continent began to tremble.
RUMBLE!
“I have already reached the pinnacle.”
There was only one thing he lacked.
Knowledge of Anomaly.
But the food capable of filling that gap was standing right before him.
“Vassago, whatever your intentions may be, they are meaningless to me.”
“!”
“So despair in helplessness within my stomach.”
Beyond glared at the Silver Evil Eye, which had been watching everything.
Then the corners of his mouth rose.
“Cry out until your voice reaches him.”
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. read only on pindangscans
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The Highest-Level Spacetime Quest.
If you change the past through a quest, the future changes as well.
But there is not just a single timeline.
That means it is possible for a complicated past to intervene in the past.
Therefore—
A room as dark as an infinitely deep darkness.
A faint breathing sound trembled precariously.
A single ray of light that had been illuminating him through a crack—
“Please……”
It was gradually fading.
The small hand reached toward that ray of light, even though it could never possibly grasp it.
The young boy spoke words that were strangely mature for someone his age.
“……Please don’t leave me alone.”
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pindang: sorry for the late update, I forgot my password 😡