Chapter 606 – Revealed (2)

Iron Castle Ship.

“This is ridiculous.”

Everyone’s faces went white.

Hiel.

Hoyeol’s alter ego.

Furthermore, even the spirit kings are the ones who bow their heads.

Even though they knew they shouldn’t say anything.

“Is that really true, Hiel……?“

He couldn’t help but ask again and again.

Nam Cheolmin looked into his brother’s shaky pupils.

His eyes were unfocused and wavering.

“Taemin, that’s enough. Let’s stop.”

“No, hyung, that’s not possible.”

“Taemin…”

Nam Cheolmin tried to calm down and whispered softly.

“It’s going to be harder than anyone else, even Hiel.”

“……!”

Taemin suddenly realized that Hiel was mentally connected to the Commander-in-chief. Taemin looked at the tears on the floor.

ppadeug.

He barely suppressed his emotions by clenching his teeth.

‘The commander-in-chief is being swayed by malice?’

It was natural to be incredulous.

He had stood firm in the face of all the demons and the Ten Thrones.

Because I have been watching from closer than anyone else.

I would definitely say it was a strange malice.

“How is it that I’m still alive?”

At first glance, you might think that it was a level of malice that you couldn’t even resist, but that wasn’t what I experienced firsthand. Nam Taemin recalled a message he had passed by.

[The Arcana Continent is stained with strange malice.]
[The stats of all demon monsters increase significantly.]
[All demon monsters bloom to their potential.]

Strange malice rather than having a negative effect on non-demon beings.

It has a monetary effect on demons.

Because that’s what the system message that never lies said.

“Uug.”

“Boss Baek, it’s not like you’ve never been on a plane before.”

“Shut up, I’m feeling very dizzy.”

That was the reason why Baek Yiseol and King Hakuna hadn’t returned in one piece yet.

Unlike Cheolmin, they had been possessed by demons that were not normal.

‘That’s why I can’t believe…….’

For a moment.

Suddenly, a word flashed through Nam Taemin’s mind.

‘Claudi.’

He’d been hearing it ever since he’d set foot on the Arcana continent.

Claudi, one of the many names for the Commander-in-Chief.

Even in Antonium, the capital of the Empire.

The great men of the Arcana continent, whose power I dare not fathom, have bowed before him and said.

-“Claudi.”

Nam Taemin muttered to himself.

“What if, Claudi…….”

Tug.

That was it.

Nam Cheolmin grabbed his brother’s shoulder.

The corners of his lips twitched upward.

“Taemin, let’s not think about useless thoughts. Okay?”

“What do you mean, useless thoughts? You’ve already guessed that it’s a possible story. No, there’s no way to explain what Ms. Hiel said if it’s not that in the first place……!”

“I know. I’ve been guessing.”

Even before you, actually, Taemin.

‘It was disrespectful to the commander-in-chief.’

Nam Cheolmin had been investigating Claudi for some time.

It was a matter of obsession and personal greed. He thought that if he could learn about Claudi, one of the commander’s nicknames, he could understand the commander’s thoughts more deeply.

In the process, he realized.

“There’s no point in investigating this further, is there?”

I realized that he was not someone I dared to understand.

“This was before the Arcana Continent Chronicle was even in service……?”

Still, it wasn’t a waste of time.

Just like Taemin.

I didn’t want to cause any unnecessary misunderstandings.

“According to my information, Claudi was not ‘that kind of being.’”

Such a being.

He didn’t say it specifically.

Nam Taemin could understand right away.

Claudi is not the demon.

If Cheolmin hyung is like that, then it must be like that.

Hyung was never wrong.

But.

Taemin remembered the unfamiliar scent lingering on the tip of his nose.

‘What if that was Claudi’s scent?’

Taemin clenched his fists.

‘I can’t rest easy.’

He had seen it, too.

What kind of behavior did the commander-in-chief, who gave off an unfamiliar scent, show? If I were to briefly explain the results of that action, I would just need to show the senior mages of the Magic Tower who are still recovering.

“You know, hyung.”

So we can’t let our guard down.

Nam Taemin was about to speak to his brother, Nam Cheolmin.

His voice trembled.

“You’ll be fine, I promise.”

Nam Taemin couldn’t stop himself from mumbling something like a prayer.

Yeah, call it concern.

Let’s just say he’s gotten the hint.

“Shit.”

There was nothing he could do at this moment.

In the end, it was the same as always.

He could only trust and wait.

May Hoyeol overcome his trials as always.

*

Ssshhhhh.

“A truly abhorrent power.”

Pride looked at his transformed body.

He could no longer feel the curse of Paimon that had driven him to his death.

No wonder.

“It’s so disgusting that it makes my teeth tremble.”

This was what the arrogant Claudi, who wielded the power of all the Seven Deadly Sins, was all about. Pride swallowed hard against the rising nausea.

‘I think I know why you’ve ignored me so much.’

Father always said.

The seat of the Claudi family is not light enough for a vessel like you to hold, and only your brother, Grandfell, is capable of it.

‘Indeed, he is right.’

At first glance, Pride’s disfigured body seemed to be lacking nothing.

Muscles had been added to his parched flesh, his skin had been revitalized, and his silver hair, once soaked in blood, had regained its shine.

But Pride, himself, was feeling it.

‘I’m just a fake after all.’

I may have bravely passed the legal process.

The inability to fully digest the power of the Seven Deadly Sins of Arrogance.

Pride.

He knew it himself.

Years of living as a demon since his fall had taught him that.

“I’m still no more than Arrogance impersonator.”

But Pride didn’t care.

My purpose is only one.

Grandfell, it’s you.

jeobeog.

Pride looked at Claudi territory.

The hatred he’d received from Grandfell was over.

The scene was the same as it had been the day before.

“Really.”

Even the mansion that took so much effort to be destroyed.

“How unpleasant.”

And the Blood Grown Lycoris Flower that had been trampled.

Pride, holding back his anger, spoke up.

“Pride, the true Lord of the House of Claudi commands.”

In the Claudi territory, Claudi’s orders are absolute.

No one can deny them.

It’s suicidal to trespass into Claudi’s territory.

As if proving someone’s adage.

“Leave Claudi’s territory, all of you.”

When the word is spoken, an irresistible force scatters all those present in Claudi’s territory across the Arcana continent. The vision of players in Claudi’s territory flickers.

[You have been banished from the Claudi territory.]

“What, what? Banishment?! ”

The spirits who were helping out in the mansion.

The birds that chirped peacefully.

The statues of the Four Families that guarded Claudi territory.

At Pride’s command, they are thrown out of Claudi territory.

“Silence is appropriate for this trashy land.”

I wonder if it’s the repercussions of using Lord’s ability so hastily.

“Cough”

Pride coughed.

He tasted blood in his mouth, but he was used to it.

As he had said, he had already defied death once.

Pride gently closed his eyes.

“Ten Thrones.”

Outside the Claudi territory, a strange malice stirred.

It wasn’t hard to guess who it was.

Anyway, there is only one thing that makes my body nervous as the head of the family.

“Yes, it is. Bael, Lord of the First Throne.”

It’s only him.

“Why have you appeared on the Arcana Continent at such a time as this? Is it because you covet the vast negative emotions that roam the Arcana Continent?”

It was a different kind of negative emotion than usual.

From the demon’s point of view, he understood the demon’s intentions.

Pride opened his mouth.

“I see you’re not devouring it right away.”

It wasn’t a hard guess.

“You’re planning to devour me.”

The total amount of negative emotion is limited.

Bael finds himself the patriarch of the Claudi family.

If only he could swallow it along with the wandering negative emotions.

“Indeed, nothing will stop you.”

If Bael could devour me, the Lord of the Claudi family, the Arrogance that carries the power of all the Seven Deadly Sins, he could plunge the Arcana continent and the world of adventurers into a pit of ruin.

Pride let out a small laugh.

“Good.”

It was a genuine smile.

“As long as you can kill me once and for all, I’m okay with that.”

Pride’s objective?

As mentioned, it was just Grandfell.

Or, more precisely, to take away Grandfell’s seat as head of the family.

Or, more precisely, not to give Grandfell the power of goddamned Arrogance.

“No.”

But being a demon, Pride knew that demons resurrected from malice.

If he were to somehow die, the power of the Seven Deadly Sins’ Arrogance would naturally be directed toward Grandfell.

The surest way to do so would be through the Absolute, Bael.

To be devoured by him as the Seven Deadly Sins Arrogance.

If he devours me, until he falls.

The power of the Seven Deadly Sins Arrogance would not be directed at Grandfell.

One might ask.

Who could stand against such Bael?

Pride didn’t even snort.

‘That’s none of my business.’

Pride wants only one thing.

For his brother, Grandfell, to be Claudi’s lord.

To not end up in Hell as a demon.

“So please devour me, Bael.”

That was why Pride was revising Claudi’s rules.

Soon, at Pride’s command.

Claudi territory began to appear on the Arcana continent.

“Behold. It’s too vast to look away.”

Reciting Pride’s eyes turned to the Arcana Continent.

“So this is what it looks like.”

The Lord’s vision in Pride’s pupils.

The Arcana continent seemed to be held in the palm of his hand.

It wasn’t just a metaphor.

I can understand why my father would say such things.

“When you’re looking at this scenery.”

I guess I have no choice but to go crazy like you.

That’s why I’m glad.

My younger brother, Grandfell.

I am miserable.

If I could be broken for you.

My life would be complete with meaning.

Sick of it.

Pride closed his eyes.

Feeling the strange malice swirling over the Arcana continent, he waited for Bael, the only being who could steal his breath, and at the same time give Grandfell eternal salvation.

But.

“……!”

Pride’s wait was short-lived.

He suddenly opened his eyes to a stream of negative energy.

The wandering negative energy was being absorbed.

Swoosh.

I don’t dare to express it.

As if the vast negative energy was returning to its original owner.

It was disappearing as if being sucked into ‘somewhere’.

Claudi’s lord overlooking the Arcana continent.

Pride’s vision revealed its identity.

Pride opened his mouth.

“Grandfell.”

That’s.

“Why……?”

It was the cry of one who had lost his goal.

“Then what becomes of the life I have endured……!”

“…?”

[The ‘Claudi Territory’ appears on the Arcana continent.]

[All things bow before the ‘Claudi Territory’].

[The power of the Seven Deadly Sins, ‘Arrogance’, explodes.]