Chapter 119 Turning Point (1)

「Completed The Devil achievement.」

Yoon-seok smiled bitterly at the notification. He didn’t know what the exact achievement conditions were, which was why he couldn’t refute what the angel said a while ago.

“Don’t run away!”

“I-it’s now! We have to kill him when he’s exhausted!”

The angels shouted as they saw Yoon-seok returning to its original form. It was a plausible suspicion. Well, he couldn’t say he wasn’t exhausted. He had to wait 60 minutes to use b Demonify} again. Unfortunately, only his general skills could be initialized by {Non-Verbal Magic}.

“Kill him! We must kill him now!”

The momentary lull ended, and both parties rushed toward Yoon-seok. The heathens no longer hesitated. By looking at the devil from earlier, they were worried about Elle’s safety and refrained from using wide-range skills.

Slashhhhh-! Boom!

Slashing, stabbing, and slicing enemies incoming from all sides. Yoon-seok waited endlessly for the moment the cooldown time of b Demonify} approached. It felt like a long time, but nothing was particularly threatening. Not the heathens nor the devil, especially not after destroying their secret weapons.

“What the heck! That monster isn’t backing down!”

Someone shouted while looking at Yoon-seok. If he were to answer, it was very simple. Until his magic hit rock bottom, Yoon-seok couldn’t die. To be honest, he thought that he could win this if this continued, but if so, he would have to wield his sword all day long.

It just so happened that time was up.

‘Demonify.’

Yoon-seok quietly chanted the command to himself. At the same time…

Crackkkkkkk!

With the sound of something breaking, a crack formed in the world. The angels, who were rushing in more enthusiastically than anyone else, froze.

“The devil is back…”

“Oh, no…”

Yoon-seok slowly raised both hands. Fear was engraved in the eyes of those who saw what Yoon-seok, who transformed before, had done.

Clench.

Regardless, Yoon-seok clenched his fist.

Crackkk! Crackkkkkk!

Everything was warped and rearranged. Avoiding or blocking? No one even dared to think it possible. The appearance of Yoon-seok before their eyes was an unrivaled natural disaster. No, it was something more than that.

“R-run!”

Without a word, everyone turned and ran. But it was too late.

‘Judgment of the Ruined Monarch.’

It was a skill he didn’t use until now because he was afraid they would get caught up in it, but there was no need to refuse now. In the state of {Demonify}, magic was not consumed. So no matter what happened outside, the Force Shield would keep Elle and Rick safe within.

Grumble! Grumbleeeee!

Before the sky turned black and the judgment descended, Yoon-seok even invoked Lady’s Commandment as assistance.

「 To Lady’s Commandment, the range of Judgment of the Ruined Monarch within the realm increases by 25 times.」

An unimaginably large area. Thanks to {Demonify}, there was no magic consumed. But it was impossible to bet on more than one condition. He had huge expectations when the description said that no magic would be consumed, but in reality, it was closer to getting magic back after it was consumed. In short, it meant that he couldn’t overdo it beyond his abilities.

For reference, the commandment must be maintained for at least one second for it to be activated.

Booooooooooom-!

A ray of light was shot from the night sky. Was it because of the Flame of Destruction characteristic attached to {Demonify}? The Light of Destruction, which had been gray since he discovered his color, had turned crimson. Of course, the color was just the smallest change.

Fwhooooosh!!

The flame flared vividly. They spread around and even melted the rocks.

“…”

When the flash of light touched the ground, a radius of 500m around him was utterly destroyed. Within it, the only things that were unharmed were Elle and Rick, who were protected by Yoon-seok’s Force Shield. But it was still not enough.

Flap!

Yoon-seok spread out his black wings; then, he flew up into the air. A wide plain that stretched beyond the horizon greeted him. Enemies covered the ground as far as he could see. Was it because the battlefield was so wide? Enemies in the rear row were still rushing toward him.

Creakkk. Creakkkkkk…

He’d devoted most of the first {Demonify} against the devil. However, he could check it properly this time. For the minute given, he would test what he was capable of.

「Unique Skill {Demonify} will be lifted.」

A minute later, Yoon-seok, who returned to his original body, looked around and stayed still for a while. There was no noise around him. That was a given because there was no one alive, at least from where he could see.

“…”

Yoon-seok lifted the Force Shield and led Elle and Rick out. After returning to the surface, Rick remained silent for a long time. Like a person whose soul left his body, he just stared at the traces of destruction over the plain. It was a little later that he gathered himself enough to respond.

“Are you Trejan?”

Trejan, the name of the god worshiped by the heathens. He didn’t know why he asked, but he did so with a face full of fear while rambling.

“Did you come here to judge the corrupted who dare to ask for forgiveness for using the Lady to steal divine powers?”

“…?”

“She was the one who was exploited and sacrificed. The child did nothing wrong. So please…”

“Wait, what are you talking about? Why do you think I’m Trejan?”

Rick replied carefully.

“The bracelet… I once saw it in a book while investigating about them.”

Purity, the Treasure of Heaven called the Holy Trinity of the Trejan Church. It appeared that he misunderstood this bracelet after belatedly realizing its existence, but still. Yoon-seok shook his head.

“It’s just a coincidence.”

“But how did you gain that kind of power…?”

“It just so happened. Anyway, I’m human, so let’s stop with the strange misunderstandings.”

It wasn’t a proper explanation, but maybe it was because he felt the sincerity in Yoon-seok’s tone. Rick quickly accepted the fact that he misunderstood.

“…Is that so? I guess so. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize. What about Elle?”

“…It’s getting worse than I thought. It would be safer to start the ritual as soon as possible.”

“I’m aware. Do you need anything else?”

“My life is enough.”

“…Alright, I’ll be in your care.”

“I should be the one saying that.”

Rick didn’t know Yoon-seok. Why did he rescue Elle, or why did he continue to protect them? He didn’t know anything. Nevertheless, he asked Yoon-seok to take care of Elle. Was it because he thought he was reliable? Probably not. Whatever the motive was, he may have thought that no one in this cold world other than Yoon-seok could protect this child alone.

“If she wakes up, please don’t tell her about me.”

“I won’t.”

“Okay, then let’s start.”

Rick laid Elle down and started the ceremony. Even in the process of abandoning his life, his eyes were very calm. Even if it wasn’t just to find out who he was, he suddenly thought it would have been nice to talk to him more. Well, he didn’t have time for that now.

“…”

During the ceremony, Yoon-seok quietly watched by the side. When the night fell and the sun, hidden beyond the horizon, slowly appeared, he heard a voice from behind.

“This is… unfair.”

Kanna Blitz. She was looking at Yoon-seok from a few steps away.

“No one saved me when I was begging for help, but why…?”

She didn’t talk about Yoon-seok’s identity or the army of the Holy Trinity Cult that was annihilated overnight. She just clenched her teeth and said this.

“There are so many people who want to protect that child, right?”

Her shoulders were shaking. Her expression was desperate as if she would collapse at any moment. However, perhaps it was her last pride. She persistently held back her tears and asked again.

“What did I do wrong?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Then why was that kid the only one…?”

“…”

Yoon-seok couldn’t say anything. Even in the original history, Rick Gerssey gave everything he could to save Elle. Of course, it wasn’t that no one tried to protect Kanna. Wellington, the holy warrior, fought to protect her and died. But how should he put it?

Nevertheless, she wasn’t saved because she had no power.

“If I met you earlier, would you have saved me?”

Yoon-seok nodded. Even if it wasn’t a mission, even if it wasn’t a trial, or even if something like rewards weren’t given. Suppose he had seen it, Yoon-seok wouldn’t put up with it.

“I see. Yes… that’s right.”

Kanna sobbed and lowered her head. When she looked up again after a little while, she smiled and said with a tearful face.

“This life… I was unlucky.”

Plewsh!

Kanna stabbed her heart with a silver knife. Yoon-seok was unable to stop it. She was currently just an illusion; the reality was that she was somewhere far away.

Dig!

The silver knife pierced through the soft fabric. And that moment, Kanna’s illusion disappeared. Like snow piled up in the middle of winter when spring arrived.

After Kanna disappeared, something huge, unidentified, was embedded into Elle’s body. And at the same time…

Flop.

Rick’s body collapsed on the ground. His previous healthy appearance was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a terrible mummy-like corpse where all the moisture had been sucked away. He slowly approached and felt his pulse, but as expected, his heart wasn’t beating. Yoon-seok carefully hugged his dead body.

“…”

Rick asked for a favor: please don’t let Elle know about him. Maybe he knew about it. Even the fact that after the ritual was over, he would die in such a terrible way.

Dig. Dig!

Yoon-seok buried him deep in the ground. Perhaps the ritual was successful as Elle struggled to come to her senses. But did Rick’s sacrifice create something to replace both her eyes?

“Oh, no.”

This was…”

Elle, who was looking around with an eye patch on, grabbed her head with both hands.

“Mister, mister… how is he? Did my dream become a reality? No, right? Hm? Right?”

“There was no such person here.”

“However, this place is definitely…”

“Kanna Blitz told me about the man named Rick Gerssey. When she met him by chance, he was still working as a mercenary and living well so he couldn’t be here.”

Elle believed Yoon-seok’s lie without a doubt. She was genuinely relieved and sincerely happy to hear that Rick was living his life well.

“Then what I saw was just a dream. I’m glad…”

Afterward, Yoon-seok went to the mountain with Elle, and he spent the rest of his time there. Every day that followed was peaceful, now that both the heathens and Holy Trinity Cult were wiped out. He hunted to fill up his stomach, bathed, slept, sometimes had a long chat with Elle, and trained with the remaining time.

While spending his days like this, the morning of the 45th day came. Yoon-seok climbed on the mountain top and looked out at the plains.

“…”

It was so ironic. The plain, which was so full of destruction, could look so peaceful.

Swaaaaaaaaaa.

The wind blew past him.

「Victory.」

「2,500,000 MP will be paid as a reward for clearing the Only difficulty level.」

「The hidden challenge is cleared.」

「The Tower has begun to notice you.」

「Special rewards will be given.」

It was time to return.