1.
After getting the full explanation from the helpful player, and then hearing bits and pieces from other people as well, Seong finally left the noisy streets and moved to a quieter location.
Trailing behind him stealthily were three of his subordinates—
Helena, Fiora, and Silvanor.
He left out Leonic, the very conspicuous undead, and Valtar, the demon.
Once the four of them gathered in a secluded alley,
Helena frowned, pouting with a slightly sullen expression.
“What a waste of coming all the way here.”
—Y-Yeah, really.
“Hm... Still, I suppose we can be glad it wasn’t a total waste.”
Fiora agreed with Helena, and Silvanor added a small sigh of relief.
Seeing the three of them, Seong nodded slightly in agreent with Silvanor.
A new quest.
What it signified was simple.
The trail of the demon-imbued weapons, previously scattered and directionless, had now taken shape.
It had begun all the way back in Sisvald.
So it was essentially the unraveling of a long-standing mystery.
However, things didn’t unfold exactly as Seong had expected.
‘Not what I imagined.’
Originally, he had thought he’d be the one to take down the owner of the demon palace.
But an unexpected individual had appeared.
‘The Tower Master, huh.’
The practical ruler of the seventh city, Septem Arcana—and within the ga world, a formidable power in her own right.
According to sothing he’d read sowhere, just becoming a Tower Master required a base level in the 400s.
In player terms, that far surpassed the level of even single-rankers.
And now that such a Tower Master had personally stepped in...
Unless he joined the tournant, there was no way to obtain the demon palace.
Normally, just hearing that the Tower Master had gotten involved would’ve made Seong drop it then and there.
But now that a quest had spawned, there was no avoiding it.
‘Looks like I’ll have to enter the tournant.’
The actual quest was to investigate the demon palace.
So, after hearing from that kind player and asking several NPCs about it,
He had cleared the first quest.
And in the process, learned about the demon palace itself.
Apparently, the original owner of the demon palace had road around this area for quite a while, hunting both NPCs and players indiscriminately.
That was why the Tower Master of Septem Arcana’s Cerule Spire had stepped in personally.
But the interesting part was sothing else entirely.
‘And she purified the demon palace so anyone could use it, huh.’
The NPCs called it purification—
But from a player’s perspective, it ant sothing else entirely.
It was a chance to acquire the legendary-class job and beco the owner of the demon palace.
Naturally, the tournant had drawn massive participation.
Just hearing that much, it was easy to get the picture.
And then, the next quest was generated:
[Hidden Linked Quest, 『Cerule Spire Tournant』 has been created.]
→ Win the tournant hosted by the Tower Master of Cerule Spire and obtain the Demon Palace.
A direct quest ordering him to win the tournant.
For soone else, this might’ve been a headache—
But Seong smiled, like he found it all quite amusing.
‘This could be fun.’
The only catch was that the tournant was team-based.
Minimum team size: four mbers.
Recalling that detail, Seong glanced around.
Helena tilted her head like she was wondering why he was looking at her like that, Fiora t his gaze and shivered, and Silvanor—looking like a dependable high elf—bowed his head as if to say “just leave it to .”
These guys, as his team?
If he activated Fiora’s cognition interference, it wouldn’t be impossible...
“Hmm.”
Since the goal was to win the tournant,
He’d need to show a certain level of skill.
But he didn’t want to stand out too much from the beginning and draw unnecessary attention.
Then—
As he thought about it, he looked toward Helena.
Just as he considered swallowing his words, unsure whether Helena could hold back appropriately—
She glanced at him sideways and asked:
“What? Why’re you looking at like that, Seong?”
“...Mm, no reason.”
She wasn’t the type to go off the rails just because he said sothing.
In fact, all of them usually listened to Seong without question.
“Let’s not go too hard from the start. Better not to draw too much attention right away.”
“Hmph~ So that’s why you were giving that look? Co on, I’m not a kid. Fine, I’ll take it easy.”
—I-I’ll b-be careful too.
“I shall act in moderation as well.”
All three gave the sa answer.
Now that they’d promised,
Seong felt more reassured and gave a small nod.
Then... ti to go sign up for the tournant?
Didn’t they say it starts tomorrow?
Better get there before registration closes.
As Seong quickly set off to register for the tournant—
A sudden ssage appeared.
[『Demonic Sword – Nesis (Sealed)』 reacts to demonic energy.] ×3
Upon seeing the ssage, Seong turned his head while still walking—
And he saw a group of players already disappearing into the crowd.
It was only for a brief mont, so he didn’t get a clear look—
But when he looked in the direction they’d co from—
It was exactly where he was heading: the tournant registration area.
Three different weapons imbued with demonic energy?
This was going to be—
‘Looks like the tournant’s going to be interesting.’
With a slightly amused smile, Seong proceeded to register for the tournant.
2.
The group of four strolled casually through the main street of Septem Arcana.
Among them, a man with a greatsword so wide it might as well be a shield suddenly halted and turned around.
Soone had just passed by.
But the crowd had already swallowed them up, and it was hard to make out anything.
The man with the greatsword narrowed his eyes, trying to pierce through the sea of people.
From behind, his party mbers asked:
“What? Soone you know?”
“Our leader? Since when did he know anyone?”
“Co on, if the boss knew soone, we’d know too, wouldn’t we?”
Leaving their blunt chatter behind, the man kept glaring into the crowd.
Of course, it wasn’t going to be that easy.
It was no better than staring into empty space.
The man tilted his head, frowning as if sothing felt off, and muttered,
“Tyrabing just trembled.”
Everyone reacted to his words.
Naturally so.
“Hm? Tyrabing?”
“Does that an there’s a magic weapon nearby?”
“Tyrabing only reacts to other blades, after all.”
At their leader’s words, all their eyes sharpened as they began scanning the surroundings.
But if even he had missed the person, the rest of them weren’t going to spot them either.
It was a sha they'd lost sight of them—
But the man glanced in the direction the figure had gone and muttered,
“That way leads to the tournant registration booth.”
“Hm. So we’ll et them at the tournant either way?”
“Great.”
“The more magic weapons, the better. Though, I still prefer bows.”
Smiles spread across their faces.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
Their sharp grins were like those of predators who had just found new prey to hunt.
They had co here chasing the demon palace—
And now, so fool with a magic sword had shown up thinking the sa thing.
For hunters of magic energy like them, this was a prize too tempting to ignore.
But their leader, Jaya, thought more carefully and murmured,
“The reaction was faint. They’ve hidden it well. Might be hard to spot during the tournant.”
“Leave it to us.”
“Missing prey isn’t our style.”
“Boss, you really worry too much.”
They spoke with ease and confidence, smiling.
Then Jaya turned to them, voice firm and clear:
“We’ll take it. The magic sword—and the demon palace.”
As he said it, their emblem lit up faintly.
With excitent building for tomorrow’s tournant, the infamously notorious Forbiddens left the city—
Ready for the hunt.
3.
Wheeee—
Hot air blasted over Seong’s head, drying the remaining droplets from his hair.
He shook his head, feeling refreshed.
After a long gaming session, showering felt just like washing off the sweat after intense exercise.
Feeling clean, Seong sat in front of his computer before bed.
He was still a gar, after all. With the tournant happening tomorrow, he figured he should look it up.
He’d heard explanations from NPCs and players alike in Septem Arcana—
But it wouldn’t hurt to search the internet for more info.
And while he was at it...
‘Are there other magic weapon holders out there?’
Just in case, he searched that first.
He was half-worried nothing would co up.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the case.
Apparently, Septem Arcana had already been suffering from a fever over the demon palace and its wielder.
As he browsed, a surprising amount of content ca up. There were more holders of magic swords and spears than he’d expected.
‘Hmmm.’
You rarely saw them below level 200—
But above level 200, there were quite a few players with magic-infused weapons.
Most of them were Legendary-class job holders.
However—
‘Seems they’re weaker than other Legendary classes.’
According to what he read, the performance of those jobs heavily depended on the weapon itself. On average, they were only slightly stronger than Unique-class.
Still, because they were Legendary, many people wanted them.
Holy weapons were in a similar category, though those were apparently even harder to obtain.
Maybe that’s why—
The upcoming Septem Arcana tournant was attracting so much attention.
‘A lot of participants, huh.’
It made sense. If there was a public and straightforward way to earn a Legendary-class job, anyone would go for it.
Seong nodded in agreent, ready to close the window—
When sothing unusual caught his eye.
[Title – So Forbiddens are entering the tournant?]
[Author – OrcatLover]
“Man, if Forbiddens are in, I don’t wanna join...
They probably are, huh???”
‘Forbiddens?’
Seong tilted his head.
It was a na he’d never heard before.
But the comnts told a different story.
[1HPLeft]: Ugh... 100% they’re coming...
└ [OrcatLover (OP)]: Yeah, I think I’ll skip this one.
└ [NoHealQuitter]: Pfff, brutal.
[DungeonAddict]: Who even are the Forbiddens???
└ [OrcatLover (OP)]: They’re that cursed 4-man party with magic gear. Real scumbags.
└ [DungeonAddict]: So, villains???
└ [OrcatLover (OP)]: Yup. Not easy to deal with.
[CDSilentPrayer]: Aren’t they the ones who still haven’t been caught despite having a bounty on their heads? I’m out too.
└ [MaxedWeaponsOnly]: Lol, they’re like level 87. Why are you even entering?
└ [CDSilentPrayer]: I can dream, can’t I?!!!
From the looks of it, they were infamous players.
But the fact that they hadn’t been caught, despite having a bounty on them—
Definitely ant they were highly skilled.
And then—
[ZeroPhysical: One of them uses a bow, right? If that’s true, they’ll 1000% show up to try and get the last magic weapon. Guaranteed.]
Reading that final comnt,
Seong felt even more certain that the three alerts from Nesis, the magic sword, had been accurate.
Magic-imbued weapons—
And not just one. Three.
If he won the tournant too?
He could get four in total.
They were definitely coming.
‘So if I win, I get all four at once?’
Seong smirked at the satisfying thought.
Then, looking forward to tomorrow’s tournant more than ever, he shut off his computer and laid down on his bed.
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