Chapter 678 – The Same But Different (3)
The Space Time Duel was being broadcast through the official Arcana website.
That meant Hoyeol’s appearance…
could be watched in real-time, even by Lee Yerim while she was at work.
Click.
In the office, Lee Yerim made a firm decision.
‘…I can never let Mom or Dad see this.’
If she could notice the changes, then surely Mom and Dad would too.
She paused the video.
With the screen paused, she stared at her one and only younger brother, Hoyeol’s face.
He looked the same as usual, but he wasn’t.
He seemed expressionless, but… something was definitely different.
Words rose up in her throat.
“…Phew.”
Why are you hiding it like an idiot?
She wanted to call Hoyeol right then and yell that at him.
Honestly, she had no idea what was causing him such pain.
She had read the notebook Hoyeol wrote during his school days, but that was all in the past.
There had to be another reason for such a sudden shift in emotion.
‘…Is it Harkon, after all?’
Harkon, along with the Nam brothers of the Gaon Guild, had been one of Hoyeol’s closest comrades.
Could his death have been that much of a shock to Hoyeol?
‘If that were the case…’
She had also watched the broadcast.
Hoyeol mourning before Harkon’s statue.
Even when recalling that moment, his expression had been entirely different from now.
Back then, he looked like he was suppressing his emotions.
Now, it was as if…
everything had become numb.
‘Seriously. Why are you hiding so much, Lee Hoyeol?’
Even so, couldn’t he at least tell us?
‘He probably thinks we wouldn’t understand, even if he did.’
If she had known it would turn out like this…
‘I would’ve tried it myself.’
She resented her past self for not being interested in the Arcana Chronicles.
If they had a shared interest, maybe Hoyeol would’ve come to her on his own.
But she didn’t have time to dwell on her guilt.
“Yerim, is the project file almost ready?”
“Almost done, sir.”
“Okay, I’ll wait.”
“…Huh? Ah, yes!”
Yerim was an adult.
That meant she couldn’t ignore the pile of work in front of her.
In the end, she buried her unease in her heart.
And began typing on her keyboard again.
Perhaps because of that, she overlooked one thing:
‘I’ll have to seriously talk with my sisters after work.’
She had left Hoyeol’s notebook…
not in the drawer—
but right on top of the desk.
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Agares.
The Demon King of the Second Throne felt things were not going according to plan.
The greatest deviation came from the death of the Demon King of the First Throne—Bael.
“That was an outcome outside the range of prediction.”
Bael and Grandfell.
Agares had thought their battle would last forever.
And understandably so.
Neither of them seemed like they could ever be defeated.
But then—
The Great Collapse of the Demon World occurred.
Which meant Bael had been defeated.
From that point on, Agares completely lost interest in the rat who escaped his command—Valefor, the Sixth Demon King.
‘That rat could only hide in some rat hole of the Demon World.’
Surviving in the backflow of a collapsing world?
Especially under the ever-watchful gaze of Grandfell’s radiant Evil Eye?
Valefor’s end was inevitable—even if Agares didn’t intervene.
But then—
‘The maw of Behemoth was revived?’
A true mystery.
So he asked.
Agares posed the question in a sinister tone.
“What are your thoughts?”
The Third Demon King, Vasago.
The Fifth Demon King, Marbas.
They were still bound by Agares’ word-command.
“I will speak first, Lord Agares.”
Kneeling before Agares, the two Ten Thrones bowed their heads and voiced their thoughts.
Even under the influence of his word-command, they were still among the Ten Thrones.
“Behemoth, the one said to be one with the Demon World itself… To revive such a being is impossible. Behemoth is too massive to even move itself.”
The nature of Behemoth—
It does not move.
More accurately:
Its vessel is so immense, it cannot move.
It could contain countless Ten Thrones with ease, which proved their point.
Agares nodded.
“Indeed. It’s more likely a rumor than a miracle.”
Information traveled fast in the world of adventurers.
Agares and the two Thrones had already heard rumors that Hoyeol revived Behemoth’s maw.
But as seen, they dismissed it as common nonsense.
Agares shifted his gaze.
“King of Beasts, speak your mind?”
The King of Beasts.
The lion’s mane stood on end.
A low growl escaped his barely open jaws.
Agares admired the sight inwardly.
‘Worthy of the title, King of Beasts.’
He was unconsciously resisting the word-command.
‘Is it because your unconscious mind is similar to that of a beast?’
Of course, the defiance went no further.
Agares—
He tugged on the leash of word-command.
【Answer.】
And the mane fell silent as Marbas obediently replied.
“Just like the legends now drifting across the Arcana Continent… it must be the same. A sliver of truth exaggerated and spread…”
The Ten Thrones who had watched the continent through the Evil Eyes knew how legends of Hoyeol formed and spread.
But now, only Grandfell’s Evil Eye hovered above the Arcana Continent.
They could no longer discern truth from fiction.
Agares nodded.
“A mere rumor, then.”
Is it harder to tip over a cup of tea, or to collect the spilled liquid?
The latter, obviously.
If Grandfell had done the former, Hoyeol had done the latter.
Agares, who understood the difference in caliber between the two, had no trouble reaching a conclusion:
Hoyeol, without Grandfell—had no way to grow rapidly.
“Indeed. That must be it.”
Then the next step became clear:
“I must not even allow such rumors to spread.”
Legends—
Regardless of truth—gain power the more they’re spoken.
Who better to understand the danger of words than Agares, Lord of Language?
He smirked.
“Lee Hoyeol.”
Isn’t he just like me?
Just as I admired Bael, Hoyeol admires Grandfell.
He rose to his position with fancy words, just like I did.
But Agares saw no further kinship.
“However, you are but a human.”
Unlike Grandfell, Hoyeol—
could not control malice.
Agares turned to look at his kingdom in the real world—
built within the world of adventurers.
“Indeed… can one who is not a demon endure my malice?”
What was needed to complete the construction of his kingdom was a worthy sacrifice.
Agares planned to sacrifice Marbas.
Unlike rat-like Valefor, Marbas was strong.
He possessed the power to spread terror across the world.
“For you, it should be easy to plunge the world into chaos.”
“…?”
“Marbas.”
Not just the Arcana Continent—
“O King of Beasts.”
Of all the worlds he had devoured so far,
none raised beasts with as much love as this one.
Which made Agares curious:
“With your power, spread mistrust across this world.”
When a beloved beast bites its master—
what will the human feel?
Such negative emotions would make the perfect final offering.
“I shall obey, Lord Agares.”
Of course, the Marbas who caused such a catastrophe would not escape unscathed.
This would turn the world against him.
And in his weakened state, Marbas could not withstand their wrath.
‘Especially now that “they” have returned…’
Akshan.
The demons’ natural enemies—
If they crossed into reality from the Arcana Continent through the Magic Tower,
Marbas would meet a worse fate than Valefor, falling into hell itself.
Even for Agares, this was not an easy decision.
‘A pity, King of Beasts.’
If Marbas fell, only Vasago would remain as his loyal servant.
Yet Agares had no intention of changing course.
‘Vasago alone is enough.’
The Third Demon King was reliable enough.
And if sacrificing Marbas meant founding a nation—
the result would outweigh the loss.
【I shall await you, Marbas.】
It was the moment Agares pulled on the leash once more.
“…!!!”
All three Ten Thrones reacted.
A wave of unspeakable malice.
Even in a world already overflowing with negative emotion,
this presence was overwhelming.
At first, they mistook it—
‘…Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo.’
Could he have flooded into this world when the Demon World collapsed?
Agares instinctively looked to the sky—
but luckily, Grandfell’s Evil Eye was not there.
‘Not him, at least.’
But was that truly fortunate?
A beat later, he realized—
If not Grandfell, then who?
‘Who could be exuding such malice…?’
No—once he sharpened his senses, he realized:
This was not the malice of a living being.
It was an object.
An object exuding pure malice.
“A cursed relic…”
Its position hadn’t moved an inch—proof that it was stationary.
‘The Magic Tower.’
The cursed relic’s coordinates were in Seoul—the land of anomalies, where the Magic Tower stood.
To pinpoint the exact location—he’d need to set foot there.
But there was no need.
‘That level of malice… cannot be contained easily.’
Only a structure as anomalies as the Magic Tower could house it.
Even Lee Hoyeol could not be an exception.
Unless he had become fully possessed by Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo.
‘As I said, humans cannot control malice.’
Such intense malice could only be contained by one of the Ten Thrones.
Agares, weighing the matter, tilted his head.
‘…Could even I control such malice?’
It was that severe—even he doubted himself.
“Marbas, the plan has changed.”
Agares had decided to confirm it himself.
To verify if it really was a cursed relic from the Magic Tower—
and to find out why it was suddenly revealing its presence.
“Head to Seoul immediately.”
He would learn the truth… through the leashed lion.
.
.
.
Ultimately, Agares’s plan ended in failure.
“…It’s not the Magic Tower.”
He had taken on a human form.
“—A player?”
“With that presence, how could it be anyone else…?”
“Excuse me, are you a player? If you’re looking for a party…!”
Nearly two meters tall, bronze-toned skin, and golden hair that formed like a lion’s mane.
“Eek—s-sorry!”
Marbas suppressed the approaching players with a single glare, then continued tracking the malice.
‘Strange.’
Alley.
Another alley.
Yet another alley.
From the wide avenue lined with tall buildings, to apartments, then into a residential neighborhood. Unfamiliar with the geography of the Anomalous Land, Seoul, Marbas nevertheless sensed that he was moving farther from the city center.
Jeobeog, jeobeog.
At last, Marbas’s steps came to a halt before a standalone house steeped in the weight of years. Even without heightening his senses, he could feel it.
…A chill ran through him.
It was certain that inside this building lay a cursed relic harboring such foul malice that even hair stood on end. At that moment, the word-command bound within Marbas began to waver.
‘…What is this headache?’
As the nature of malice merged into something greater and began to manifest, two figures caught Marbas’s attention—emerging at the end of the alley.
“I like my second aunt the best!”
“Really? Arang, are you saying I secretly bought you snacks behind Mom’s back?”
“No~ truly, compared to the youngest aunt…”
Watching them enter the house, Marbas thought:
‘If even weak humans are unaffected…’
Could this cursed relic be less dangerous than he’d assumed? If it merely contained malice, then by removing a few human obstacles…
‘Could I not seize the malice that the relic holds…?!’
Marbas’s hair bristled like a lion’s mane as the thought surged within him.
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