Chapter 38: Clue to the Apocalypse
Roro, who had confird Arsen's departure, let out a light, hollow laugh.
“You’re pretty good, aren’t you? Good friend.”
A babysitter in combat.
She hadn't even expected it in the first place. But he had that level of skill?
He didn't have any remarkable physical strength, but his movents seed as if he could 'see' them. Dodging was his main tactic, but at the sa ti, he was also dealing a considerable amount of damage to the enemy.
‘Arsen Neroro……. There’s sothing about him.’
Roro, who was watching Arsen deal with the undead, suddenly turned her body. She no longer paid any attention to the clinging corpses.
This distance was enough.
“Reinforcent, First Isle.”
Roro muttered under her breath and straightened her upper body at the sa ti. A black shadow began to flicker at her feet.
Kieeeeee!
The undead that were biting her shoulders and clinging to her legs scread and let go of Roro.
The purest physical force in this land.
The mont a power akin to black smoke billowed out, Roro shot forward as if a bullet had been fired. The terrified Marvas imdiately ford a defensive line with the undead he had summoned. But,
Kaaang-!
A sound like tal shattering rang out clearly in the forest. At the sa ti, a shockwave like a bomb exploding vibrated the area, and a huge wind whipped up like a small tornado.
“Phew. I'm using too much strength today.”
Roro’s hand slowly withdrew.
Marvas’s remaining half-face, which had been miserably crushed without even being able to make a sound.
She looked over Marvas, who was pinned to the ground. Then she looked at her own fist with a slightly disappointed expression.
“He's not dead.”
Well, since he’s alive, I might as well ask him so questions.
Roro muttered and crushed the eagle carcass at her feet.
***
“If you had woken up a forr Ranker, I might understand, but you tried to do sothing to with just these civilian corpses? You even took out a little rat?”
Roro picked up a palm-sized mouse carcass from the ground and tossed it away. It flew at the speed of light and disappeared from sight with a flash.
After Marvas was subdued, all the undead seed to have lost their strength and were staggering.
My ability's activation ti seed to have run out, as I could no longer use 'premonition', so I took the opportunity to return to Roro, and I couldn't help but be a little surprised at the sight before .
After subduing Marvas, Roro was trampling all the undead that had crawled out onto the ground.
The way she grinned and kicked a rabbit undead like a ball, smashing ten human undead in one go, was enough to give the chills.
And on top of that, a crazed laugh that was more devilish than a devil's. Even though she was an ally, Roro was twice as scary as Marvas lying over there.
[You are of the sa kind! We are practically of the sa roots, how can you be so cruel!]
Marvas, sprawled on the ground, let out a desperate cry.
His face, which had been about half-intact, was now a pulp thanks to Roro, and it was so grueso that it was an ordeal just to look at.
“Sa kind?”
Roro, who was poking at the head of a deer with its ribs completely exposed, turned her head. I saw Marvas's body flinch.
“How dare a devil like you treat as one of your own?”
Roro, genuinely annoyed, trudged towards the devil.
Marvas, whose magical power was completely depleted and whose limbs were all broken, couldn't even run away and just trembled, shouting as if vomiting everything out.
[Traitor! Traitor! Traitor! The Demon King will never let this betrayal stand!]
“Why am I a traitor.”
[The Demon King will soon avenge ! O ----! Your subordinate and servant earnestly desires, that when you one day descend upon this land, you will punish that traitor! That traitor……!]
Marvas's desperate cry, as if sothing had been muted.
The devil rambled on like a madman in his final struggle. And the mont his prayer to be punished reached its climax.
“Sorry. It's too noisy, I can't listen anymore.”
Puk!
“……jushi, keoheok!”
Marvas let out a final death rattle as if his windpipe had burst.
“Tough.”
“-, ---- nim! ---- nim! Please, please……”
The devil's final struggle, which had been shaking the mountain, ended like that. Roro's right hand had instantly pierced through his chest, and judging by the crunching sound that followed, it seed she had crushed sothing.
“This is the first ti I've seen such a talkative devil. The Demon King, does sothing like that really exi…… Ah! Found it.”
Roro, who had been rummaging through the chest of the collapsed Marvas like a chopped log, smiled brightly and pulled out her hand. Thick, black, gooey blood splattered on the ground.
‘A demon stone!’
Sothing sparkling in Roro's hand.
It looked like a red gem the length of a finger, and at a glance, it was emitting a sinister light.
Roro imdiately put it in her pocket and then circled the area as if to check if he was completely dead. Then she stood still near the back of Marvas's head.
Even for the strongest who saw everything in the world as not even a small threat, the words Marvas had been spouting all this ti seed to have left a bad taste in her mouth, as Roro scowled and kicked the devil's head.
“Spouting creepy, strange words. And, where would a Demon King be?”
I stared blankly as Marvas's head shattered without a trace.
“Hey, Arsen! It's okay. It's all over.”
Shall I help you up?
I couldn't readily extend my hand to Roro, who was suddenly standing in front of with a bright smile.
It wasn't because of Roro's chillingly cruel actions, nor was it because of her disposition, where she could kill an opponent so indifferently and then bloom into a smile.
A notification window that had appeared in front of for the first ti in a while.
[You have acquired a na fragnt of ****!]
[Circumstances: The protagonist killed a high-ranking devil who worships ****!]
[However, due to the penalty for invalid contact, the acquisition amount of the na fragnt is reduced by 50%.]
[A certain amount of fragnts must be collected for the na to be revealed!]
Current fragnt acquisition amount 1/99
[Additional information!]
[Other notifications have reached 100.]
[Please note that past notifications will be deleted if not checked.]
[It is recomnded to adjust the ON/OFF at the bottom left of the notification window!]
So this was the muted part of what the devil had shouted.
****.
The blank space in the main quest.
**** was the Demon King.
I stood up without taking Roro's hand.
***
“She’s really tearing up the mountain.”
“Our Vice-Captain seems to be having a flashy catch. Poor devil.”
The shockwave that spread from the rumbling mountain made even the clothes of Phillip and Delphi in the village flutter.
“Kkeuaaaaaak!”
“Hey, hey, stay still. You might not be able to use it at all. Do you want to be one-ard?”
The bald man, one of the people who had thrown the Knights and Arsen into the pit, let out a breathless scream.
“Well, if you're going to die anyway, what does being one-ard matter?”
Phillip's arm, which was finally breaking from his cheerful smile. Oh, well, it wasn't so much breaking as it was already broken, forcibly bent in half.
“Kkeuaaaaaak! Let go! Let, goooo!”
The man, who had seen his own white bone sticking out of his skin, foad at the mouth and thrashed around, but that was after he was already tied up by Phillip.
The other villagers were no different.
Most of them had already lost their minds and fainted, and the few who were still awake were just blankly peeing themselves in pain and disbelief.
A few trembled and shouted that they had nothing to do with the devil, but they were lightly ignored by Phillip, who waved his hand as if it were nonsense.
“Sunbae! What's the total count?”
Phillip, who had let out a satisfied breath, turned to look at Delphi, and she, who was tidying her blood-stained pink hair, lifted her head.
“Let’s see……. Forty-one. Unfortunately, two of them died, so I guess it’s thirty-nine?”
Delphi, who had counted the people tied up in a half-bloody pulp, shrugged her shoulders.
As she said, next to a large tree stump, two people were sprawled out, dead with sothing stuck in their backs. They were the ones who had struggled with all their might despite the sincere advice to be caught quietly.
What could she do? Devil worshippers, of all things, were running amok with long knives, saying they would kill her.
Delphi simply cut off their breath without any further advice.
“Just stay still! You're so heavy.”
Phillip dragged the struggling bald man to the place where the people were gathered. Soone was hit by the man's flailing leg and ca to their senses.
“W-who are you people!”
It was that old man from before, so scared that he had wet his pants. He had been happily gathering the people and was just about to perform the sacrificial ritual when he was knocked out by a rock that had flown from sowhere.
And when he opened his eyes, this was the situation.
“You're awake, old man?”
“Who on earth are you to do sothing like this!”
A ridiculous shout, mixed with fear and resentnt. At that, Phillip's head turned completely towards the old man.
“Us?”
Phillip, who had suddenly thrust his face in front of the old man's nose, smiled brightly.
“We're hunters.”
“Wh-what did you say?”
The one who asked back instead of the old man was Emma, whose hair was a ss from being hit by Delphi next to him. Phillip, still smiling, repeated himself.
“I said we're devil hunters. And we're also kind volunteers who clean up trash like you on the side.”
“Th-then……”
Not just Emma and the old man, but all the people who were awake turned pale.
“That's right. You're all going to die.”
Phillip, who had said that, added kindly.
“Very miserably.”
***
After completely killing Marvas, we headed to the village where Phillip and Delphi were.
On the way, Roro was engrossed in examining the demon stone, and I felt like my head was going to explode from the flood of information.
The word Marvas desperately chanted before he died.
Demon King.
The king of all devils, the lord of hell who stands at the pinnacle above even the archdevils.
The Demon King was commonly known as the religion that devils believed in.
In other words, the aning of the Demon King was about the sa as humans believing in God. Although he was called the lord of hell, at the sa ti, it was a question of whether he really existed.
However, Marvas spoke of the Demon King as if he really existed. No, didn't he say he would appear soon?
And I had no choice but to believe this.
The na fragnt of ****.
The thing I obtained when Marvas died.
Contextually, this was definitely a fragnt of the Demon King's na.
My mission was to lift the curse that **** had cast on Astava. If I failed to accomplish this goal with the help of the protagonist, the world would be destroyed.
Then, seeing that I obtained a na fragnt here, does that an the Demon King's na is needed to lift the curse?
‘Otherwise, there would be no reason for a high-ranking devil to drop a na fragnt upon death.’
I have to collect the na fragnts of **** to complete the Demon King's na. Good. A plausible deduction. Then the next point to consider is…….
As I brought up the system window again, the part that had been bothering so much ca into clear view on the blue background.
[However, due to the penalty for invalid contact, the acquisition amount of the na fragnt is reduced by 50%.]
Invalid contact. The notification that appeared when I t Roro after collecting only 3 of the 5 clues about her.
I was wondering what it ant that a non-standard encounter would be nullified, but it seed to affect the amount of na fragnts I could acquire.
‘In that case, I need to find the protagonist's clues quickly too.’
This thing had popped up at unexpected tis so far, so there wasn't really a thod……. Ah. Should I look for people related to the protagonist?
Just like I have been doing so far.
“Hyung-ah-a, I peed.”
“Okay, okay, let's go quickly. I'll change you into sothing fresh and clean…….”
As I waved my hand to dismiss the system window, I heard Lottie's whining. But looking at Lottie's face, I realized one thing.
‘There’s no backlash this ti?’
Even though I used premonition, there was no particular damage to my body.
No dizziness or throbbing. Just as I was thinking that this amount of ability use was no longer a problem, a booming call was heard.
“Arsen, what are you doing! Hurry up!”
I had been walking with the system window up, and in no ti, I was quite a distance away from Roro.
“Yes! I'm coming now!”
I imdiately picked up my pace.
I felt like I was finally getting a clear grasp of what I had to do from now on.
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