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“Ugh, argh!”
The man helplessly rolling on the ground was panting as though he was on fire.
“Keuk! Aaaaaarghhhh!”
The man’s fingers—covered with callus from training—desperately scratched the ground. The man stubbornly endured the excruciating pain for the sake of one thing—he simply didn’t want to turn into one of those he absolutely despised.
“Wow…”
Isaac and Valencia stared at him in admiration.
“He is the Sword Saint indeed. Resisting demonic energy is easier said than done.”
“He’s our enemy, but I have to admit that I respect him. He deserves my respect.”
“Haha, yes, but he is dumb. He wouldn’t have to suffer if he simply accepted his fate.”
Unfortunately, the man finally reached his limits.
“Keugh! Ke—aaaaargh!” Kim Woo-Joong cried out sharply before fainting.
The Heavenly Demon finally turned his arrogant gaze away from Kim Woo-Joong and turned to look at someone else. “Fahm Vert, it’s time to keep your promise.”
“Sigh… all right. It’s about time we end our absurd cooperation,” said Fahm Vert. He looked at the Heavenly Demon with displeasure and asked, “What is it that you want?”
“What else would I want from the Demon of Prohibition?”
“Hm, I knew it.” The demon’s gaze turned toward Kim Woo-Joong. A condition had to be fulfilled before he could cast his ability, and it was finally fulfilled.
“I don’t think we’ll need to prepare anything based on his condition. However, I can only engrave two prohibitions on him,” said Fahm Vert.
“That’s good enough.” The Heavenly Demon crouched and looked into Kim Woo-Joong’s eyes. Kim Woo-Joong’s eyes were filled with tears, but the Heavenly Demon could still see the indelible resentment and fury in the latter’s eyes.
The Heavenly Demon glanced at a pair of red jewels and said, “He is prohibited from harming himself by any means.”
“And the other one?”
“He is not allowed to love and like the Players. I want him to absolutely hate and despite them,” emphasized the Heavenly Demon.
Fahm Vert nodded. It wouldn’t be too difficult for him to engrave those prohibitions.
With that, he dragged Kim Woo-Joong to the corner of the graveyard and started engraving the prohibitions on him.
“AAAARRRGH!”
“How pleasant his screams are…” The Heavenly Demon closed his eyes and smiled.
The screams were coming from the Sword Saint—a Hero of mankind. His screams sounded sweet to Heavenly Demon’s ears, and they were far better than any classical music out there.
“Hey, it’s done.”
The Heavenly Demon emerged from his thoughts and opened his eyes slowly.
“All right. Our business is done, so go ahead and piss off.”
“What did you just say?” Fahm Vert’s expression turned ugly at the Heavenly Demon’s arrogant remark. He was cooperating with the Heavenly Demon under the orders of the Archduke, Fahm Vert was still a Viscount of the Underworld.
The Archduke’s order ended the moment he had fulfilled the Heavenly Demon’s request. In other words, he could finally teach the arrogant human a lesson.
“I’ve told you many times before, but it seems that you are incapable of learning. Haven’t I told you to watch your mouth?” Fahm Vert’s eyes filled with killing intent bored down on the Heavenly Demon.
His terrifying eyes made Isaac and Valencia instinctively move in front of the Heavenly Demon.
“It's fine. You two can step back.”
The two bowed slightly and retreated.
However, the sight made Fahm Vert even more furious.
“I don’t understand. Are you under the impression that His Grace will protect you? Is that why you’re being reckless?” he asked.
“Do you want to know? Come here, then,” the Heavenly Demon said. He was still crouched, so it could be said that he was full of openings. Fahm Vert was convinced that he could kill the Heavenly Demon while the latter was crouched.
“...”
‘But why…’
However, Fahm Vert seemed reluctant to approach the Heavenly Demon for some reason.
‘Impossible. I’m reluctant to confront a mere human?’
The realization hurt his pride as a nobleman of the Underworld. He was ashamed of the cold beaded sweat running down his clenched fists.
‘Have I been complacent for too long?’
Fahm Vert was in dismay. It seemed that he had been too laid back for the past hundreds of years after becoming a Viscount of the Underworld. It was clear that his hesitation just now was born from his complacency.
“...I learned a good lesson.” Fahm Vert nodded slowly. The process was a bit humiliating, but he had learned something from the Heavenly Demon. The lesson was enough for him to be merciful to the Heavenly Demon.
“Rather than your head, I will only take one of your arms.”
“Hah, how generous of you,” said the Heavenly Demon with a smirk.
Fahm Vert reached out to rip one of the Heavenly Demon’s arms.
“Unfortunately, I am not as generous as you.”
And those were the last words that entered Fahm Vert’s ears…
The Heavenly Demon stared indifferently at Fahm Vert’s head in his hands. He threw the head away and stood up.
“People who keep their words short always have their own reasons for doing so, Issac.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“I’ve got a new toy, what do you think I should do to extract as much fun from it as possible?” asked the Heavenly Demon.
Issac Dvor’s gaze turned toward the Sword Saint—no, the Sword Demon.
Soon, Isaac’s lips curved into a wicked smile.
***
“Leroy team reporting! We have returned with Raul Del Toro, a Mexican Player.”
“Oh, you did great! Well done!”
There were Players with search and rescue skills, so the advance party wasn’t having a difficult time bringing the players to the ice castle, which they were now using as their headquarters.
“It’s all thanks to them that I have time to eat this delicious cake.” The Frost Queen was sitting in a room and was eating a slice of cake with a delighted look.
“Our queen is cute as always,” Skaya smiled at the Frost Queen before turning to look at Seo Jun-Ho and asking, “Jun-Ho. I think it’s only a matter of time before we find Mio, Gilberto, and Arthur. What do you think?”
“I hope so.” Seo Jun-Ho nodded and snapped his fingers.
The flowing air in the room rewound like tape.
“Arthur… what do you think?”
‘And one more time here.’
Snap!
Seo Jun-Ho was struck with a wave of nausea the moment he snapped his fingers. The magic that flowed out of him was greater than the amount of magic that he had to use to Rewind earlier.
However, it was clear that the result was better this time.
“Jun-Ho. I think it’s only a matter of time before we find Mio, Gilberto, and Arthur. What do you think?”
“Sigh…” Seo Jun-Ho sighed and wiped the sweat off of his forehead. He still needed more practice, but he could finally say that he had gotten a bit more efficient and proficient when it came to using Wheel of Time (S).
‘Back then, I could only rewind time for a second, but my limit is now three seconds…’
He could rewind time for a total of five seconds if he were to immediately use Rewind once more after using it once.
‘But I don’t know if it’s usable during combat…’
It wasn’t really a skill that was suitable for combat, so Seo Jun-Ho still felt that he wasn’t using the skill effectively. In addition, it seemed that he still wasn’t strong enough to use the skill as well because he felt extremely exhausted after using it consecutively.
Rahmadat was sitting on the couch doing dumbbell bicep curls.
He suddenly looked up and said, “Hm? Why does it feel like I’ve seen this scene before?”
Skaya chided Rahmadat. “It’s a phenomenon called deja vu, dumbass. Deja vu usually—”
Deja vu would usually happen whenever someone interfered with time.
Skaya glared at Seo Jun-Ho, looking like a furious cat. “Hey, Seo Jun-Ho. Have you been training while I was talking to you?”
“Don’t worry. I’ve heard enough of what you’ve been saying.”
“Hey!”
Swoosh!
“Wait!” The Frost Queen suddenly raised her head as if she were an adventurer that had discovered a new continent. “That’s beneficial to me, then!”
“What? What do you mean?”
“I must have eaten this cake a few times while you were rewinding time. I must have eaten the same amount as well!”
“...I mean, you’re not wrong, but…”
‘But what’s the point of that when you can’t even remember eating it?’
Seo Jun-Ho smiled as if the idea itself was absurd.
“Anyway, Skaya. I think you’re right. It’s only a matter of time before we meet Mio, Gilberto, and Arthur once more.”
It had already been a week since their victory celebration started, but there were still quite a few Players out there.”
‘Mr. Shoot, Christin Lewis, and Mercenary King Milphage are still out there…’
Those who would certainly be of great help were still missing. Seo Jun-Ho was also worried because Christin Lewis—the individual they were suspecting as the traitor—was still missing.
The saying—keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer—was popular for a reason.
‘’It’s a good thing that I already told Mio and Gilberto about what we think of Christin.’
Seo Jun-Ho was sure that they wouldn’t readily trust Christin even if they ran into him.
Seo Jun-Ho was in the middle of organizing his thoughts when he suddenly looked at the door. He could hear Son Chae-Won’s light footsteps from beyond the door.
Knock, knock, knock!
“Come in.”
Son Chae-Won’s grim expression came into view.
Seo Jun-Ho’s expression turned grim as well as he stood up and asked, “Is there something wrong?”
“...I think you need to come and see it yourself.”
Seo Jun-Ho’s throat turned dry as he felt a sense of foreboding.
“One of our search parties was wiped out.”
And his sense of foreboding came true…
***
Seo Jun-Ho soon arrived at the infirmary, and he was greeted by three corpses covered in white cloth on the beds.
Cha Si-Eun walked over to Seo Jun-Ho and told him the result of the autopsy.
“The shape and size of their wound are consistent with each other. They died instantly, and the murder weapon was a sword. Since they were killed in a single blow, the murderer is definitely an expert.”
“Is it an Overmind?” Seo Jun-Ho thought about the possibility that a swordsman comparable to Ceylonso Bestard had appeared to hunt them down.
“Um, well…” Cha Si-Eun hesitated.
Seo Jun-Ho stared at her with narrowed eyes. “What? The murder isn’t an Overmind?”
“...You should see it for yourself.” Cha Si-Eun sighed and showed him the bodies.
Seo Jun-Ho approached the corpses and examined them closely.
‘Miss Si-Eun’s autopsy is accurate. They died from a single slash.’
The cut was clean, and it made Seo Jun-Ho think that the murderer had to have killed a myriad of creatures throughout their lives.
‘The wounds are tight, so the sword probably doesn’t belong to an Overmind. So a human probably—’
Flinch.
Seo Jun-Ho froze while examining the wounds with his fingertips.
Tremble.
His hands started trembling.
“Jun-Ho. This is…”
“Ugh. This is bad.”
Skaya and Rahmadat groaned and gulped while examining the bodies next to Seo Jun-Ho. The disgusting energy floating about the wound like cigarette smoke was none other than demonic energy.
“A fiend?”
‘No way. That’s impossible…’
Seo Jun-Ho shook his head without realizing it. However, it wasn’t really strange because Seo Jun-Ho had eliminated all fiends aside from three.
‘The Heavenly Demon, Valencia Citrin, and Isaac Dvor.’
Seo Jun-Ho was sure that he had wiped every fiend off the face of the world.
‘There’s actually another fiend aside from those three?’
Seo Jun-Ho fell into deep contemplation. ‘Isaac is a mage, and Valencia only uses her own unique skill to fight. What about the Heavenly Demon?’
Seo Jun-Ho had never seen the Heavenly Demon use a weapon before, but it wouldn’t be strange if the Heavenly Demon turned out to be an expert swordsman.
‘...But no. That's not it.’
Seo Jun-Ho shook his head, denying his own thoughts. The Heavenly Demon was very familiar with Seo Jun-Ho, but Seo Jun-Ho was very familiar with the Heavenly Demon as well.
‘That arrogant bastard would neither use a weapon nor use his own hands to kill.’
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In addition, he still had two competent subordinates who seemed to have established themselves as his hands and feet.
Seo Jun-Ho closed his eyes and contemplated for a long time before opening his eyes.
“From now on…” Seo Jun-Ho swept his gaze across everyone in the infirmary before saying, “We will temporarily stop the search for the remaining Players out there.”
He had no choice but to admit it and be prepared—they had to be prepared to face an enemy that they had never seen before—an enemy that had suddenly appeared by the Heavenly Demon’s side.
They had to be prepared to face the Sword Demon.