Chapter 668 – Great Sin
Antonium.
“Hey, has everyone checked the update?!”
“Update? It’s not even Thursday yet.”
“It’s not a regular update, it’s an emergency update, emergency!!”
Players quicker than others spread the update details throughout the Arcana Continent. Both the players and the Arcanians, accustomed to the Anomaly while staying in reality, responded swiftly.
“Jessica Bright, I’m ready for deployment.”
The new Lion Heart Knight Commander, Jessica Bright.
She pledged loyalty before the young emperor and prepared to head to the battlefield. She fastened her armor and strapped the sword left as a relic by Harkon to her waist.
‘…Please watch over me, Commander.’
Soon, two figures approached her strolling through the royal palace. Known as the big shots of Arcana Continent, the owner of the Red Eye Dune clan and the Diamond Merchant Syndicate leader.
Jessica formally expressed her gratitude to the two men.
“Thank you for standing with the Lion Heart Knights.”
“No need to thank us.”
“Then thank me! The Empire owes a lot to the Diamond Merchant Syndicate. If I hadn’t counted it, the gold spent on reconstruction would have fallen from the sky…”
Zzzt.
As Diamond Merchant Syndicate leader Gamond rambled, Shahin, the Red Eye Dune clan head, shot him a murderous glare—a warning to watch his tone.
But the merchant was ruthless.
“What? You think I’d stay quiet if you glare at me like that? Sorry, but I can’t just watch you earn merits. You think I nurtured all those mercenaries and spent all that money just to keep my life? You’re trying to score points now…!”
…This pig is seriously mistaken.
“Is that so? Fine then.”
But the direction of his misunderstanding wasn’t entirely wrong. The Diamond Merchant Syndicate’s guards were so skilled they could be called “pearls on a pig’s neck.”
Shahin relaxed his glare slightly.
Though their fierce showdown was intense, Jessica didn’t notice it. Having stayed in reality, she understood the meaning behind the emergency update.
“The continent will now flow in unexpected directions.”
“That’s true. The Demon World has completely collapsed.”
“If it’s completely ruined, isn’t that good news? If we survive the coming crisis, Arcana Continent will again enter a golden age. If we buy land deeds now…?”
A very materialistic thought, but not necessarily wrong.
Jessica nodded.
“I believe so, too.”
If this crisis is overcome, the Empire could maintain peace for some time.
The Ten Thrones had also disappeared.
But one thing still weighed on her mind.
‘…The Evil Eye.’
Jessica looked up at the sky.
It was daytime, so the silvery Evil Eye wasn’t visible.
But knowledge she couldn’t get in Arcana Continent came to mind.
‘In the adventurers’ world, it was like that, right?’
Stars actually shine during the day.
They’re just invisible, hidden by the bright sunlight.
Just my intuition, but…
Even if the current crisis ends, the Evil Eye will not disappear.
In that sense, Jessica thought:
We need a bright light to conceal the Evil Eye.
She asked the two men.
“Have you heard anything about the Supreme Commander?”
.
.
.
“Nothing, absolutely nothing.”
Seoul, headquarters of the Great Alliance.
Back in reality, Nam Cheolmin scrolled through delayed messages, hoping one from Hoyeol might have arrived. Taemin in the Arcana Continent sighed.
“Sighing won’t make the ground open up, Taemin. You have to leave soon anyway. By the way… the signal reception is pretty good, huh? Must be thanks to Lord Marcelo, the tower master.”
Thanks to endlessly tapping the Anomaly gate.
Marcelo had learned to manipulate high-level anomalies like Hoyeol. Of course, there was a difference: Hoyeol naturally telepathically crossed between the Arcana Continent and reality, but Marcelo required magical tools.
“It’s just too expensive to supply, but the performance is…”
Just as Nam Cheolmin admired this, he suddenly said,
“…Wait, Taemin.”
The emergency update came to mind.
Though Taemin, beyond his magical tool, sounded impatient asking questions, Nam Cheolmin silently read the update carefully.
Then he finally spoke.
“Nam Taemin, depart immediately for the southern Arcana Continent.”
Why suddenly the south of the continent?
-“Why the south all of a sudden?”
Understandably confused, Nam Taemin was currently on a solo quest with about ten guild members from Gaon. A “solo quest” sounds grand, but…
-“Hyung, no matter how much I asked, you kept quiet and were just messing with me? You know I have to prepare the pre-job quest, so I have to scout ahead…”
Nam Taemin voiced his frustration.
-“You said no when I asked to join the expedition, but now it’s ‘go south’ when it’s time to scout? Did Raymon Sean betray us or something?”
Nam Cheolmin nodded.
“Maybe so.”
Immediately, Nam Taemin changed.
His playful voice was gone.
He ordered his guild members.
-“Turn back. Return to Antonium immediately.”
Nam Cheolmin calmly relayed the update to his younger brother.
The Demon World had completely collapsed, and the worlds swallowed by it might all flood out. With his understanding of Anomaly, Nam Taemin quickly comprehended.
-“So reality isn’t safe either?”
Opening a passage and a collapse were completely different.
If the Demon World were a dam,
perhaps this update’s danger exceeded the cataclysm itself…
Nam Cheolmin spoke.
“The one thing I can understand is that it’s an emergency update. The emergency update proved even Raymon Sean can’t do anything about it.”
-“You still trust that bastard?”
Nam Taemin’s tone began rising sharply, like a gradient.
-“Still, since Hoyeol is around, he must be cautious. That guy wants to survive for now. But I keep telling you, that guy’s a psychopath! Doing things a normal person can’t, as easily as flipping his hand…!”
Nam Cheolmin nodded.
“I agree with everything you say. But at least, it’s different now.”
-“…What?”
“The update isn’t over yet.”
──────
The World Tree clan, the Elves, join the Holy War Alliance.
──────
Just hearing that elves would officially join the Holy War Alliance was unbelievable. Hadn’t they already witnessed through Elsidor what kind of powers an elf possessed?
-“Monsters like Elsidor are on our side…?”
No, beyond that, considering the nature of elves,
them joining the Holy War Alliance was a miracle.
But the miracle didn’t end there.
──────
Reclusive dragons join the Holy War Alliance.
──────
-“Dragons? They couldn’t move because of evil, right?!”
Nam Cheolmin fell silent at Nam Taemin’s fuss.
‘I can’t say this to you, but my guess is…’
The dragons’ return was likely due to the Evil Eye rising over the Arcana Continent.
The silvery Evil Eye bearing all negative emotions.
Perhaps the ticking time bomb called evil had lost its power, and the dragons’ corruption had halted.
Nam Cheolmin let out a bitter smile.
‘Even in that state, you are yourself.’
Through conversations with Baek Yiseol, Nam Cheolmin had learned about a different kind of “demon” than Hoyeol.
Maybe that’s why he had been shaken lately.
“…Who really is the demon?”
Even if he is a demon,
the fact that he has endured countless trials to protect the Arcana Continent and reality remains true.
But the world always consumed him as gossip.
Not knowing he was essential was one problem;
knowing and still treating him worse than a demon was an even greater deception.
-“Is the reception a bit off near the portal? What did you just say?”
At his brother’s question, Nam Cheolmin’s gaze returned to normal.
“Hmm? Nothing, it’s nothing.”
Still, he thought it wasn’t yet time to worry. Even if Hoyeol declared on Today Arcana that he would hunt down the Radiant Evil Eye.
‘To take that literally would be foolish.’
Nam Cheolmin was used to that peculiar way of speaking.
But his smile didn’t last long.
He checked the developer comment at the end of the update.
──────
Adventurers.
The Demon Hunter Akshan of Hell is descending upon Arcana Continent.
From now on, their final hunt begins.
──────
The Demon Hunter.
“The final hunt…? No way…!!”
Nam Cheolmin’s face went pale.
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So, how was the scene at the third gate?
‘Absolutely bleak.’
Now that I was compensating for the whispers of the vengeful souls and the lamentations toward Lee Yerim, the only thing bothering me was a growing massive presence drawing nearer.
Swoooosh.
A presence hidden in the sandstorm rising over the desolate land. I thought like a player. Since the first and second gates had roughly hinted at the concept of hell,
‘Is the real battle finally starting?’
Naturally, I didn’t just dismiss whatever was beyond as a simple monster. That was probably something manifesting the original sin I still didn’t know I had committed.
I, Lee Hoyeol, was not scared early on.
‘Even if just out of frustration.’
I felt compelled to confirm this karmic debt I supposedly carried. Of course, I preferred Elsidor and Kinver not get caught up in my deeply personal feelings.
“Stand back.”
“W-What? But…”
“I’ll call if needed.”
Kinver answered while watching the intensifying sandstorm.
“It’s dangerous. Going in there alone…!”
Elsidor immediately questioned Kinver.
“Going in?”
“That sandstorm is a rift!”
Of course.
Though my message was garbled, I had guessed.
That sandstorm was treated like a rift.
‘The moment I enter, I’ll be cut off from the outside.’
I was relieved, wishing no one else would get caught up in this. Kinver’s explanation darkened Elsidor’s expression sharply, but I said firmly again.
“I won’t be late.”
Ttoogak.
Ultimately, going alone into the sandstorm was the right choice. Because waiting for me inside the sandstorm was truly a terrifying ‘something.’
The sandstorm prevented seeing any shape.
That abstract something, too hard to describe, whispered something to me. But even in that hazy vision, there was a sparkle that caught my eye.
[Hexagram Brooch]
…Huh?
I instinctively looked at the Hexagram Brooch I wore. I thought such an absurd item could not exist more than once even in the Arcana Continent.
Had I dropped it without noticing and that thing picked it up? But the Hexagram Brooch adorned the dawn jacket perfectly, not a single wrinkle.
‘…No way.’
Was that thing’s Hexagram Brooch a fake?
That idea might actually be more credible than my own doubts.
Just as I was half-believing, something whispered to me.
No, it laughed at me.
“Still don’t understand?”
Understand what?
“The 30% you don’t know.”
Is the 30% referring to Grandfell’s past?
As if denying my guess,
the thing immediately continued.
“Do you really think that is the true 30% of Grandfell?”
“…!”
At the same time, the broken message came back to me.
.
.
.
[Curse, ‘Understanding of Darkness’ changes to ‘Understanding of Light.’]
[※Warning: Understanding level is too low.]
[The great sinner, ‘Lee Hoyeol,’ cannot use his abilities.]
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