Chapter 717 – At the Crossroads (1)
A sigh escaped him without thinking.
“Looks impossible for now, huh, hyung?”
Chengdu, China.
“Probably.”
The Demon King’s Castle—raised by consuming the majority of Agares’s authority—was overwhelming in scale.
Even the opulent golden palace of the Yusra Kingdom paled in comparison.
Nam Cheolmin nodded.
“First of all, the defense is absurdly high.”
“It doesn’t look like it’s just made of stone. Some kind of special mineral?”
“Apparently not. According to blacksmith players, it’s not the material—it’s the inherent buff of being a Castle of the Ten Thrones.”
“Annoying.”
A siege always began the same way: attacking the walls.
Knock and it opens applied even here.
Whooo—BOOM.
Nam Taemin watched a missile slam into the wall and explode harmlessly.
A fortress impervious to both Arcana’s magitech and modern weaponry.
“They say only top-tier magic from senior mages can deal damage. By real-world standards, that’s basically a tactical nuke.”
“So Agares built something completely insane.”
“Yeah.”
Cheolmin adjusted his glasses.
“But what bothers me more is Vassago’s attitude inside that castle. It’s been days, and he hasn’t made a single move.”
“You’re sure he’s in there?”
“Absolutely. You know how sieges work.”
The moment a siege begins, loyalty of defending forces in Arcana Continent Chronicle steadily drops.
It made sense—keeping your composure while arrows rain down and gates shake isn’t easy.
“That’s why lords fight to the bitter end even when they know they’ll lose. The moment they abandon the castle, loyalty plummets, rebellions break out, and escape becomes impossible.”
Taemin rubbed his chin.
“So Vassago’s basically stuck, eating bitter greens?”
“That’s my guess.”
“…Hearing that from you still feels off.”
No matter what, he was one of the Ten Thrones.
After experiencing Paimon’s overwhelming presence on Jeju Island, Taemin wasn’t about to let his guard down.
Still, they couldn’t keep smashing eggs against a rock forever.
“Well, whatever.”
Cheolmin shrugged.
“We’ve confirmed it with our own eyes. Heading out now?”
“Yeah. No time to waste.”
“Funny you say that—news just came in.”
“News? Did they already find something?!”
“No, not that.”
Interdimensional communication still required special artifacts, but with the Demon Realm, Arcana Continent, and even Seoul now linked by Magic Tower portals, some players had become self-appointed information couriers.
[Breaking News: Net-tuber Jellin’s Expedition Begins the Great Sage Quest!]
Cheolmin continued while looking at his tablet.
“Either way, it’s time to be certain.”
Slide.
He set down the tablet he practically lived with and looked at his only brother with unprecedented seriousness.
“Taemin, you’ve been a national hero since Arcana was still just a game. That’s why I’m saying this—you still don’t fully understand what it means to turn the entire world against you.”
Having heard the Great Sage’s prophecy through Sung Hyunjoon of the AAU, Taemin stood at a crossroads.
Cheolmin recalled his brother’s earlier words.
“Are you really prepared to make all players your enemy?”
Cheolmin knew well—
—“Big brother is quite different from his little brother, isn’t he~”
—“I don’t envy that kind of player life at all.”
—“How long is he going to live off his little brother…?”
He knew what it felt like to be viewed unfavorably.
That was why, as his brother, he couldn’t help but worry.
“You know what your actions mean.”
Naturally, there was no legitimate justification to block Jellin’s expedition.
Sung Hyunjoon hadn’t even informed the AAU.
He’d hidden the data deep enough that no one would discover it for a while.
“If you step in, you’ll probably be cast as the ultimate villain.”
Wouldn’t the world feel betrayed?
Taemin had walked a heroic path all this time.
If he turned against players over a Myth-grade quest…
Taemin broke the heavy mood with a laugh.
“I’m not scared of that at all.”
“…What?”
“What’s reputation worth anyway? If footage of me going berserk gets out, my popularity would drop by half instantly. Who likes a guy drooling everywhere?”
It sounded playful—but it was sincere.
‘What I’m worried about isn’t me, hyung.’
It was Lee Hoyeol.
How his name would be recorded in Arcana Continent Chronicle—in past history—made no sense, prophecy or not.
‘…Unless time itself is reversed.’
That’s why Taemin concluded this wasn’t about belief.
The Great Sage’s prophecy must never surface.
So—
“If I end up as the villain, you can pretend not to know me.”
“Idiot. How could I pretend not to—”
“No, hyung. You have to stay on my side.”
“…Huh?”
“You, not them.”
Them needed no explanation—Hisagi and Leonie.
“Even if I’m gone, those two can be trusted.”
We’re the Great Alliance.
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Second Sun – Guild Master
“No matter how Myth-grade it is, there’s a limit to arrogance.”
Schreig scratched the back of his head.
“Something’s off. Is this really all that manifested?”
Maybe watching the Demon Realm base construction to the end had been a mistake.
Arriving late to the Great Sage’s traces made him wary of trusting others.
“My instincts say there was more…”
The man frantically waving his hands was Jellin.
“No! If there was anything else, I’d have said so immediately!”
He was the one who reignited The Great Sage’s Final Prophecy—and the first to find the traces.
Schreig examined the Great Sage’s equipment Jellin handed over.
‘Nothing’s appearing.’
Was it because the system was broken?
No—this felt different.
Schreig touched the dagger sheath at his waist.
■ ■ ■ ■ ■
A message of broken blocks appeared.
‘See? Even broken messages should show.’
But the Great Sage’s relics displayed nothing at all—meaning they weren’t even recognized as items.
That made even less sense.
“There’s no way the quest left behind meaningless traces.”
Gulp.
Silence.
Ranker guild master of Second Sun—meaning he’d seen it all.
‘He’s sharp… damn it.’
Jellin tried desperately to hide his emotions, but while he was good at acting, the others weren’t.
Schreig noticed players avoiding his gaze.
“Hoo…”
He sighed deeply.
“I’ll be honest. At this point, clearing a Myth quest wouldn’t change much for me. I just don’t want to waste time.”
He meant it.
“As you know, the Holy War Alliance is preparing to conquer the Demon Realm. We’re holding back because of those Curse-Flesh things. I came here during downtime—thought it might be a warm-up.”
The reward for a mythic-tier quest?
The reward wasn’t the point.
The experience was—real experience, not EXP numbers.
The atmosphere shifted.
“…It’s not that big a deal, right?”
“Yeah, we might get help!”
“So what’ll you do, Jellin?”
Players nudged his side.
‘Stop making it obvious!’
Jellin felt cornered.
‘I did pick up a scarecrow, but still…’
The straw doll that fell from the Great Sage’s robe.
—“Let’s keep this clue between us.”
He’d suggested secrecy, but had no solution.
His lower lip was bitten unconsciously.
‘When is the system coming back already?’
He’d never cursed Raymon Sean more.
● ■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ (Select)
● ■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ (Select)
Seeing no one else react—
It’s definitely only showing to me.
A Myth quest choice.
This was it—something that would decide his entire future as a player.
Jellin looked at Schreig, desperate.
‘It’s not that I don’t trust you…’
With so many eyes watching, Schreig wouldn’t lie.
And hadn’t this quest already been loudly advertised?
An expedition named after a mere net-tuber—clearly, people were on his side.
And the other party was the Holy War Alliance.
Even if Hoyeol had stepped down, they weren’t liars.
Jellin shut his eyes tight.
‘I can’t do anything with this alone anyway.’
Let’s share it—with the Alliance.
Rankers would know more.
He reached for the straw doll in his inventory.
‘Wait… thinking positively, isn’t this a win?’
Considering the difficulty of a Myth quest—
Trying to swallow the reward alone would only make him choke.
Better to trade key info for connections.
‘Rankers like Schreig…’
And if—just if—he could get Hoyeol on his channel?
Or at least sell his collapsing Seoul building through Holy War Alliance connections?!
‘This is my destiny!’
Just as Jellin made a smug face, Schreig tilted his head.
Jellin finally spoke.
“Actually, I found this in the Great Sage’s robe—!”
But then—
Click.
The sound of metal snapped every gaze upward.
A knight in radiant armor—
With bat-like wings on his back.
“…Lox? Is that you?”
Lox landed and asked immediately—looking straight at Jellin.
“Where is the Great Sage?”
“W-What?! Suddenly?”
“Let me be precise.”
Shk.
Lox reached to his waist and held something out before Jellin.
“EEEEEK?!”
Jellin’s dreams shattered.
“One of the ‘Great Sages’—where is he?”
Lox was holding straw dolls.
* pindangscans
*
The Third Throne Demon King, Vassago
Why was he able to bother me and Grandfell until the very end in the previous loop?
Simple.
His authority lay in Infinite Incarnations.
Unlike the other Ten Thrones bound to the Demon Realm by sheer presence, Vassago had long influenced other worlds through his incarnations.
Arcana Continent was no exception, nor were worlds already swallowed by the Demon Realm. So reality wouldn’t be an exception either.
And they all pointed to one thing.
Me.
I stared at the monitor as subtitles scrolled.
[Today Arcana – Exclusive Interview]
[The Nostradamus of the Great Cataclysm Who Predicted Everything!]
[The True “Source of All Evil” Was Someone Else?!]