◈ Episode 371. Not a Bad Picture

The players returned to Claudi’s mansion.

Experience, drop rate, and skill mastery buffs…….

The results of their hunts with these buffs were staggering.

“How long has it been since I’ve gained a full level in a day?”

“Hey guys, I got a unique item!”

“I’m now at master proficiency too!”

But there was something more important than all that loot.

A message popped up along the way.

That’s right, Grandfell Claudi…….

“……What happened next, anyway?!!”

They were tempted to ask Lee Hoyeol, who was obviously the person involved, what the Myth Quest was all about! But common sense dictated that they should refrain from asking sensitive questions among players.

Similarly.

The Shining at the mansion.

Camilla turned to Dmitri, who was leading the way.

“You know better than anyone, Dmitri, the importance of privacy. You’ve been robbed by the player’s paparazzi before…….”

“Well, that and this are obviously different!”

Hweg─!

He seemed to have answered casually.

Dmitri had already turned away.

Judging by the moisture in his eyes, he still hadn’t gotten over his heartbreak.

The players onlookers clicked their tongues in pity.

Dmitri pleaded.

“Of course, from a player’s perspective, quest progress is much more personal than heartbreak. But it’s Lee Hoyeol, isn’t it, our leader?”

No other player would have asked.

Not before the Cataclysm, not after.

In Arcana, information is more valuable when it doesn’t spread.

It was human nature to want to keep it hidden.

Dmitri added the real reason.

“He’s not an ordinary person, is he?”

But he was right.

Not just any player, of course.

Sometimes, Lee Hoyeol seemed to transcend humanity.

Of course, it wasn’t for that reason alone.

As mentioned earlier, Hoyeol was the commander-in-chief of the Holy War Alliance.

Dmitri clenched his fist as if he were truly determined.

“I’m going to ask, and as a member of the Holy War Alliance, I’m allowed to ask that much. It’s up to the commander-in-chief to answer or not. If our allies need information about the Myth Quest.”

There was logic in Dmitri’s words. Enough for the onlookers to recognize that Dmitri had a serious sense of belonging to the Holy War Alliance.

Lox muttered softly.

“That’d be a little bit difficult.”

“Huh? What did you say, Lox?”

“Nothing.”

A glance.

“…….”

Camilla watched Lox’s face for the small smile.

But she couldn’t look for long.

Maybe it was due to Dmitri’s husky voice, a group of people had gathered.

“What are you guys doing here?”

“I have something to tell you, Dmitri.”

“What, a scouting offer? Well, I can understand the sentiment.”

Arcana Continent.

On their first hunt, most players will have realized something. The need for a reliable tank. Not like the Rift, where updates provided enemy levels.

His muscular shoulders slumped.

“The only way to know the level of a monster is to get in there and fight, and only a tank can do that. I think it’s natural that you want Dmitri’s help, but I die for loyalty, live for loyalty…….”

“What the hell are you talking about, Dmitri?”

“Huh? Wasn’t that a scouting offer?”

The current great alliance.

Kang Euntaek, a former member of Gaon, swallowed a sigh.

This American drinks kimchi better than I do.

“Do we, with Nam Taemin, need you?”

“What, what, what?!”

Barbarians are damage tanks, not like traditional tanks!

He wanted to retort passionately, but he couldn’t.

Except for Lee Hoyeol, who was an anomaly, he had reached the top of the player rankings.

As if that wasn’t enough, Kang Euntaek spoke up with a serious face.

“The reason we stopped you is simple, Dmitri. You’d better refrain from asking the commander about the name in the message and the Myth Quest.”

Dmitri snapped this time.

“What, you’ve been his closest confidant and now you’re his spokesman, but I don’t know, maybe that’s not for you to judge, but for him to judge?”

Dmitri ignored him.

He was about to walk past Kang Euntaek.

Kang Euntaek sighed, and finally told him why.

“Huu. You should know that, Dmitri.”

“What should I know from earlier?”

“That you shouldn’t pry into his personal life.”

……Personal?

The words caught the attention of the players watching the confrontation, including The Shining. Kang Euntaek remembered Nam Taemin’s words. He wanted to tell all the players as much as possible.

Kang Euntaek cleared his throat and continued.

“That’s right, Grandfell Claudi…….”

Please note that the name was too long so he glossed over it.

“……Romeo. Anyway, hereafter Grandfell. Currently, after witnessing a message from the Commander in Chief about Grandfell’s Myth Quest. He summoned an Akshan wolf from the mansion. He has been away since then.”

“……!!!”

Kang Euntaek spoke calmly, but his words were anything but calming.

Those few words contained unexpected information. The players who had just arrived at the mansion and were unaware of the situation were agitated. He caught the players staying in the mansion and asked them.

“Are you sure about that?”

“I saw it, too. The Akshan Wolf and Commander Lee Hoyeol!”

“Really?”

Hereafter referred to as Grandfell and Lee Hoyeol.

He means they weren’t the same person?

Dmitri looked quite shocked.

He turned to Lox, who was beside him.

“……I think you’re probably right, Lox.”

“Really?”

“What kind of family is this, anyway?”

He looked up at the Claudi family mansion.

From a manor that’s considered a hidden piece of land to a mansion that could surpass any royal palace.

He had thought it wasn’t ordinary, but he didn’t expect it to be like this.

But what shocked him more than anything was…….

“You mean there’s another Lee Hoyeol?”

Another one who could fulfill a Myth Quest.

In both the Arcane and the real world, he thought Lee Hoyeol was the only one. Even the talkative Dmitri found himself at a loss for words.

He could only hear the whispers of the players.

“It’s definitely personal history.”

“Isn’t that kind of like family history?”

“Judging by the Akshan wolf, it’s possible that demons are involved…….”

But the shock didn’t last long.

If you ask how such a shock didn’t last long.

Because something even worse hit the players.

Someone said,

“Time flies faster than that. The sun was high in the sky just a few minutes ago. It’s already dark, isn’t it? There’s no light…….”

At that point, everyone realized something was wrong.

It’s dark, but it’s too dark.

This is not the kind of darkness that comes with the setting of the sun.

Each of them looked out the nearest window.

And then they freaked out.

Camilla, who had unusually wide vision, stuttered.

“……I can’t see anything.”

Darkness seemed to cover the sky, the ground, and even the floating air. As a Hidden Piece, it was treated differently than the Arcana continent. Perhaps it was a phenomenon unique to the Claudi Territory.

Just as the players were thinking about it.

A message popped up.

[The Arcana Continent is engulfed in an infinitely deep darkness].

“!!!”

It wasn’t the same as it was in the days of Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo.

Infinitely deep darkness……!

As for that tinnitus, at least here, the players in Claudi’s territory knew.

Dmitri, who had been silent, spoke up.

“……What the hell is going on, Lee Hoyeol?”

*

Wrath asked himself.

What’s going on……?

He considered his powers. Greed, Envy, and Lust have fallen to hell. The malice they presided over has no place to go. Malice, bereft of its master, turned to Wrath and became his power.

It was not enough.

Unable to see what was happening, but at the same time. Gluttony and Sloth also seemed to have come to a crisis: their malice had been transmuted into a Wrath that made his teeth tremble, and it had taken up residence in his flesh.

What power does Wrath have?

He dared to hope. Even if they were dragons, the kings of the world, even if there were dozens of them, he could stand up to them.

That’s why he didn’t understand.

An infinitely deep darkness.

Silver hair blowing in the wind.

A mere mortal.

Why is this body so terrified?

Even the moon, the stars, Evil Eyes, and the sky were plunged into darkness.

The ground is the same.

It’s so dark that he couldn’t tell what was in front of him.

The only thing that could be seen.

The last Claudi, the last Akshan, the last survivor.

‘Something is wrong…….’

The scene had changed drastically.

Wrath raced through his mind, searching for a reason. An irresistible pressure crushed his anger. It wasn’t magic or swordsmanship; it was just a voice.

“Kneel.”

“……!”

Even if he couldn’t understand it, he could feel it.

It was a command.

A high-pressure one.

A mere mortal commanding me, a Great Evil?

Not even when he was clad in human skin. Now that he’s absorbed the power of other Seven Sins, it’s even more unthinkable. He’d tear the arrogant words out of his mouth.

His blood curdled with rage.

……tear him to shreds!

But it had nothing to do with his raging emotions. His knees buckled before the man. Wrath was the most intense of original sins, unrelenting in the face of fear.

Thud!

Wrath’s hands went to his lower body.

Blood spurted from his grasp.

With a grisly sound, the two weak legs were ripped off.

Utilizing the regenerative power that came from overwhelming power, he stood up again with new legs, not weak ones.

But before he could stabilize his mind, the voice continued.

“If you have no legs, bow your head to the ground.”

“……!”

It was so distant that it was hard to believe it was just a human voice. As expected, he couldn’t understand it, but his body moved on its own. Wrath’s head that was looking at the man fell to the floor.

Thud!

……Cut off his head?

Considering the regenerative power of his body, it was okay. His head would grow back just like his legs. But Wrath knew. It wasn’t the body that mattered. It was the inside that counted.

Rattling─…….

Wrath thought.

If I cut off my head, what commands will fall on me next?

It made him realize.

He realized he was overwhelmed, even though he thought he was stronger than anyone else.

At this moment, Wrath saw his hands covered in blood.

Not his own blood.

They were the same hands that had torn through the man’s flesh a moment ago.

The sensation was vivid.

Wrath didn’t understand, so he asked.

“……Who are you?”

It wasn’t a question of strength.

It wasn’t the hair that grew long in an instant.

The momentum itself was different.

There was a separate person on the inside of that person.

It was about a completely different personality.

But of course.

Silence.

No answer came back.

Ttogak.

His horror was compounded by his hanging head.

The sound creeping closer made Wrath impatient.

Wrath spoke, his voice rising in urgency.

“Are you not going to tell me, then I will tell you. You are nothing less than a demon. Two minds in one body. You are no better than being possessed!”

No better than a demon.

The last survivor of Claudi and Akshan.

He came from a family that abhors demons.

What an insult.

But Wrath heard no answer.

Ttogak.

Wrath was self-aware. He couldn’t escape this crisis through his own efforts. His life was not in his hands, but in that man’s.

So he sincerely doubted.

“……Why?”

Nevertheless, the sensation of tearing through bones and flesh that was felt at his fingertips wasn’t an illusion.

Wrath was clearly driven to the brink of desperation.

“Why are you, who have the power to despise all things, trapped in such a body? A little deeper and your heart would have burst and you would have died……!”

The words finally hit home.

Had he been considerate of himself?

This time, Wrath understood.

But it wasn’t an answer.

It was a one-sided declaration.

“With anger comes loss.”

“……what?”

“Anger is heightened when you’ve lost something important.”

It was simultaneously insulting.

“But there is nothing precious to an inferior race. So what you are feeling is not anger. It’s just a basic instinct to break something.”

……A basic instinct?

Anger?

Does that mean this body is just instinctual?

Ppadeudeug─!

Wrath gritted his teeth.

The voice continued.

“In that sense, you made me angry.”

Seogeog─

Wrath could see the man’s face now, as his head was severed and pointed toward the sky. Demons who were choked to death by their natural enemy, the demon hunter, fall to hell. Even the Great Evil are no exception.

Wrath felt the burning, the heat of the hellfire, but he did not cry out in pain. For at the last moment, the face of the man before him was indescribable.

Wrath had the final word.

“For the first time in my eons of existence, I am curious about a human being. It’s a pity I’m going to hell without knowing anything about you…….”

The man, Grandfell, spoke up, his anger fully burning.

“Nothing can be taken away from me anymore.”

The words were cold.

“My, no, our history is the same.”