Chapter 679 – Even If I am Not There (1) #PART2
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Marbas.
“Whimper…”
The Fifth Throne Demon King no longer had the strength to maintain a human form. Far from being the majestic Lion King, he now resembled something closer to a scrawny house cat.
Marbas moved his barely-standing body.
He turned his head to look back at the house he had just escaped.
‘To think the whole thing was a trap…!’
What happened, you ask?
Well, of course, Marbas hadn’t entered that shabby house in such a pitiful state. After all, the ones who had entered before him were nothing but ordinary humans, weren’t they?
Just a woman and a child.
There were a few other people inside, but they were all frail humans—not adventurers—weak enough to be shredded to pieces by a mere wave of malicious energy.
And yet—
‘The moment I stepped inside…’
Marbas’s body was overwhelmed by a jolt of pain, as if struck by lightning. The agony was so intense, he couldn’t even concentrate enough to maintain his humanoid form.
A monstrous object brimming with immense malice.
‘Damn it…’
He hadn’t expected it to be easy to obtain, but what threw Marbas into confusion was the sheer level of the trap. Even in his weakened state, he was still the Fifth Throne Demon King.
No primitive trap, nor any complex magical mechanism, no matter how intricately woven, should have been able to deceive him.
Marbas shuddered as he turned his gaze away from the building.
‘Why didn’t I sense anything?’
A trap beyond his comprehension. As he ruminated, a being he couldn’t understand came to mind—a being on a different level: Bael.
‘If the one who set the trap is equal to Bael… then maybe it’s possible.’
Well, no matter. Despite his body being wrecked, he’d managed to retrieve it. There was no point pondering now.
Chomp.
Marbas gripped the black notebook tightly in his beastly jaws. It was hardly even worthy of being called a “book”—just a bundle of paper. Yet how could something like that radiate such overwhelming malice?
Even as he felt it, he couldn’t believe it.
‘I’ve seen cursed artifact in the Demon World before…’
Cursed artifacts. For demons, they were equivalent to miraculous treasures. For example, the Morellonomicon once owned by the Demon World’s lich, Discus.
‘I never got my hands on it, but…’
He had glimpsed it through his Evil Eye. The cover made from flayed human skin alone radiated terrible energy. In comparison, this notebook looked far too ordinary.
But Marbas had discernment. And right now, he could feel the seething evil within it.
He clenched harder.
‘So you put a leash on me, Agares?’
The nature of malice was to submit to greater malice. From the moment he came into contact with the cursed artifact, Marbas had broken free from Agares’s influence. The implication was simple.
Hop.
He leaped over a wall, glancing around.
‘I just need to fully digest this thing.’
If he succeeded, he would possess a malice far surpassing Agares’. And if that happened, the kingdom Agares had built in this world would become his.
‘I need a place to hide.’
A safe place no one could find. As Marbas panted heavily, he suddenly sensed a presence.
“Meow~”
It was a stray cat, mistaking him for a fellow feline. Marbas felt insulted. A mere cat daring to claw at the King of Beasts?
He raised his tail in warning.
“MEEOOW!!”
The stray cat only screeched more aggressively.
‘Damn it…’
As mentioned, Marbas—barely escaping that trap—didn’t even have the strength to chase away a cat. He was nothing more than a toothless lion.
And so—
He failed to notice.
In the twilight of sunset, beneath the moonlight overhead, a shadow stretched out beneath him.
“Gotcha.”
“?!”
Without a sound, Marbas was lifted by the scruff of his neck.
He instinctively released a blast of malice.
‘How dare you…!!’
Toothless or not, a Ten Throne Demon was still a Ten Throne Demon. Any living human would’ve been instantly possessed.
Marbas acted on instinct—if he could just steal this human’s body, he might survive.
But he overlooked something.
The one lifting him by the scruff wasn’t human at all.
“See? Told you it was a stray cat.”
“What? I know I saw it…”
“You weren’t just drunk and hallucinating again, were you, Captain?”
Indeed, it was a shadow.
The Shadow Mercenaries.
Their captain, Kichi, looked down at Marbas and said,
“Whatever, it’s not our job to judge.”
…The Shadow Mercenaries?
Marbas knew of them. Powerhouses of the Arcana continent. He’d even considered them potential vessels for possession.
‘But I thought they’d all died…!’
Marbas wasn’t wrong. The Shadow Mercenaries had, through their contracts, become beings who couldn’t die—even in death. Their nature mirrored that of shadows—only meaningful when they stood behind their contractor.
Thus, the Shadow Mercenaries guarded the shadows—the domain of the one who led them, Hoyeol.
“By the way, what’s that in its mouth?”
Kichi retrieved the notebook Marbas had clutched.
Of course, as reckless as she might be, even the Shadow Mercenaries’ leader wouldn’t dare open something that belonged to Hoyeol. She wasn’t foolish or unwise enough to do so.
Then, Kichi whispered to Marbas:
“Alright, let’s go.”
It was no different from a death sentence.
“Oh, and in case you’re wondering…”
“?”
“That guy really, really hates cats.”
*
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*
A few days passed.
At least, by Earth’s time. In Arcana time, likely several weeks had gone by.
I had my eyes closed. Still ringing in my head and ears were echoes of past lives—the past and background of the former Hoyeol.
That terrible noise… I was slowly growing used to it. Since my encounter with the Weapon Master, I had recovered three more setups.
They weren’t flashy events like the duel with the Weapon Master, but each one seemed to be significant enough to shake the Arcana continent. Still, it wasn’t enough.
The former Hoyeol… seemed to have moved tirelessly.
Each time I recovered one setup, dozens more connected threads emerged.
‘Next is…’
This one should be suitable.
I selected a memory from my past and background and opened my eyes.
If someone were watching me right now, they might think I had a comfortable life.
But only I knew the truth.
I knew what was happening.
Yes—the world was in chaos right now.
I recalled the headline of the last article I had seen:
[Shocking! Holy War Alliance Splits into Two Factions…?]
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