Chapter 148
When I opened my eyes, all I could see was pitch-black darkness.
This place is……?
I glared at the being before me.
The Demon of the End was staring at me with a smile.
What was so amusing to him?
“Did you drag me into this place?”
[Did you not enter this place of your own accord?]
“……Right. I did.”
During my final battle against Lord Biden, I drew up the abyssal Demonic Energy that existed deep within 【Lamb】.
And then……
I cut Lord Biden down.
The sensation of slicing through him still lingered in my hand.
Wait.
But even after cutting down Lord Biden, I was still conscious, wasn’t I?
[You are still a fool.]
A fool?
What exactly was he talking about?
The bastard kept speaking in riddles I couldn’t understand.
[While denying your fate, are you not hastening that very fate yourself?]
“What nonsense. Everything I did was to stop your resurrection and destroy Pandemonium.”
[Kikik…….]
The bastard started laughing again.
It was unmistakably mocking laughter.
“What the hell is so funny to you?!”
[How could I not laugh, my foolish vessel.]
“I will never become your vessel.”
[And yet you released my seal.]
“What do you mean by tha—?”
At that moment, dizziness struck my head, and the Demon of the End’s appearance came into view.
Something about him was different.
Why hadn’t I noticed it sooner?
One, two…… five…… eight?
Eight?
There were eight seals piercing through his body.
My mind descended into chaos.
Why?
Not once had a message window ever appeared saying my Corrosion Rate increased.
I intentionally restrained my use of Demonic Authorities unless absolutely necessary, and I regularly checked my Corrosion Rate.
Even when fighting Lord Biden, I hadn’t created any new Authorities.
Could there have been some hidden condition that increased Corrosion Rate without my knowledge?
No.
That couldn’t be it either.
If my Corrosion Rate had increased, then a message window should’ve appeared.
Wait.
Message window?
Right.
If it was the message window, then there might actually be something there.
It always appeared whenever my condition changed.
My gaze shifted toward one corner of my vision.
Unread notifications had piled up there.
The moment I opened them, blue message windows flooded down.
【The death of Pandemonium’s High-ranking Executive, Lord Biden, has been confirmed.】
【Fate Power activates.】
【SS-rank Skill, Lamb absorbs Lord Biden’s power.】
【The Key of the Seal has been obtained.】
【The seal binding the Demon of the End has been released.】
【Corrosion Rate increases.】
【Corrosion Rate: 20%】
“What the hell is this…….”
I swallowed the curse words rising up my throat.
What the hell was Fate Power?
And what was this Key of the Seal supposed to be?
If it involved Fate Power, then was it connected to that damned prophecy?
Frustration surged through me.
Just where had things gone wrong?
Or had there always been something I simply didn’t know?
Then suddenly, a question I had held for a long time surfaced in my mind.
Sometimes I wondered about it.
How did the Devil Knight in the game raise his Corrosion Rate?
Even though I deliberately refrained from using Demonic Authorities, increasing Corrosion Rate was far from easy.
Obtaining new Demonic Authorities was already incredibly difficult, and combining Authorities was even harder.
Yet the Devil Knight in the game had never once displayed a new Authority or used combined Authorities.
Of course, there was a massive difference between the game’s pace and reality now.
Everything was progressing far faster than in the original story.
Originally, <Become a Hero> unfolded over the course of three years through countless incidents.
And within that story existed the real Yoo Sung-woo.
Unless the player interfered significantly, he attended the Academy for all three years.
You could even recruit him as a companion during Fragment exploration.
Meaning there were no obvious events that should’ve raised his Corrosion Rate.
Then suddenly, a scene from the past surfaced in my mind.
Back when I was still a player.
The Devil Knight used to reveal himself intermittently throughout the story.
And at certain points, his power would suddenly spike.
And those moments were……
Whenever a High-ranking Executive died.
Come to think of it, the Devil Knight only began actively moving around after Lord Biden’s death during the beginning of the second year.
Then did the seals of the End actually break every time a High-ranking Executive died, even in the game?
The moment that thought crossed my mind, my head went blank.
That meant every time a High-ranking Executive was killed, another seal of the End was released.
There were six High-ranking Executives in Pandemonium.
And since the Heavenly Demon didn’t die until the resurrection of the End, that left five.
In other words, each Executive’s death effectively raised the Corrosion Rate by twenty percent.
[You realized it far too late.]
The abyssal Demonic Energy surged forward, trying to swallow me whole.
Just like before, it was trying to take over my body.
The jaws of a gigantic beast suddenly lunged toward me.
Crunch!
“If you think I’m stupid enough to fall for the exact same trick twice, you’re out of your damn mind.”
My hand grabbed the beast’s jaws.
The last time he stole my body, it wasn’t just because everything happened too suddenly for me to react.
The decisive factor had been my death.
At the time, I had lost control over my body, leaving only my soul temporarily trapped within 【Lamb】.
But now the situation was completely different.
I hadn’t lost control over my body.
Rather, I had such complete control that I could even manipulate the abyssal Demonic Energy within this place to a certain extent.
I seized the giant jaws and tore them apart.
“I will never let you manipulate me.”
After staring at me for a moment, the bastard twisted his lips into a sneer.
[Then struggle all you like. I shall enjoy the spectacle from the best seats.]
You damned bastard.
Cursing him inwardly, I withdrew my consciousness from 【Lamb】 and immediately resolved to hurry back to the Academy.
Please let Baek Hyun-joong have some kind of solution.
---
Park Siwoo let out a ragged breath.
The spear imbued with starlight pierced through Laszlo’s chest.
Black blood dripped from Laszlo’s mouth.
“Kgh…… M-My lord…….”
With those final words, his body slowly began to stiffen.
His petrifying body gradually crumbled into dust.
At the same time, Park Siwoo collapsed onto the ground.
If Laszlo’s power hadn’t suddenly weakened at the very last moment, both he and Dan Chun-woo would’ve died.
Park Siwoo turned his head toward Dan Chun-woo.
Dan Chun-woo was barely standing while using his sword as a cane.
But his legs were trembling violently.
‘Seriously, what a stubborn bastard.’
The laboratory was still in chaos.
Chun Ga-eun was mowing down the Undead and the laboratory’s security forces.
Yoo Iseo and Seo Da-hee had separated in order to destroy the Avatar Project.
The swarming Undead had begun losing their power.
More accurately, they were returning to corpses.
Which meant the Necromancer who raised them from death had died.
Park Siwoo knew exactly who that Necromancer was.
Lord Biden.
‘A High-ranking Executive of Pandemonium was really defeated?’
Honestly, he couldn’t believe it.
Even if only briefly, Park Siwoo had witnessed that overwhelming being with his own eyes.
That existence had looked like the incarnation of death itself.
And it died?
Then just what kind of monster had killed it?
And how strong was that person?
Compared to that, he himself was still far too weak.
He thought he had become stronger through desperate effort, yet he still couldn’t even handle one of Lord Biden’s subordinates alone.
At that moment, someone was walking toward them from afar.
Park Siwoo recognized who it was immediately.
“Helena.”
Someone was slung over her shoulder.
Park Siwoo quickly recognized the person hanging there like luggage.
“You brought her properly. But what happened to you?”
Even generously speaking, Helena didn’t look fine.
Her hair was a mess, and her body was covered in dirt.
One of her eyes was even swollen with a dark bruise.
There were no traces of blood, but she looked like she’d gotten into a brutal fistfight with someone.
At Park Siwoo’s question, Helena frowned.
“She resisted more fiercely than I expected. And her strength was absurd too. I had a hard time subduing her without injuring her.”
Honestly, considering No. 66’s combat power, this was still fortunate.
During the earlier experiment, No. 66 hadn’t been able to fully utilize her strength.
Helena set No. 66 down.
Park Siwoo stared at the unconscious-looking No. 66.
A face identical to Yoo Sung-woo’s.
He questioned her identity.
“Who exactly is she? I’ve never heard Sung-woo mention having family.”
“How could he say anything? Admitting he had family would basically be admitting he was Pandemonium’s servant.”
Pity filled Helena’s face as she looked at No. 66.
‘What a pitiful person.’
Both the woman before her and Yoo Sung-woo were pitiful.
Both siblings had been toyed with by Pandemonium.
Surely Yoo Sung-woo had no choice but to obey Pandemonium in order to protect his younger sister.
And the sister he fought to protect had ended up enduring horrific experiments in this place.
At this point, all of Helena’s hatred and resentment toward Yoo Sung-woo had completely vanished.
“Then this person is Sung-woo’s family?”
“Probably. I don’t know if she’s his older sister or younger sister though.”
“Hmm.”
Park Siwoo let out a low groan.
He still hadn’t fully sorted out his feelings regarding Yoo Sung-woo.
No—
Rather, he still believed in him.
‘Then was Sung-woo acting as the Devil Knight all this time to protect his sister?’
Soon, Helena and Park Siwoo’s eyes met.
Without anyone saying anything first, the two nodded.
For Yoo Sung-woo’s sake, they had to properly protect the woman before them.
And so—
Another misunderstanding slowly began spreading.
If Yoo Sung-woo had known, he would’ve shaken his head in disbelief.
But he wasn’t here.
Perhaps because the troublesome Undead had disappeared, the suppression and destruction of the laboratory progressed rapidly.
Massive explosions erupted throughout the facility as parts of the laboratory exploded apart.
It seemed Chun Ga-eun and Yoo Iseo were rampaging at full power.
Looking at Dan Chun-woo and Helena, Park Siwoo spoke.
“Let’s get out before we get caught up in anything else.”
“Yeah. But what about that guy?”
Helena pointed at Dan Chun-woo.
At her question, Park Siwoo tilted his head.
“What about Dan Chun-woo?”
“No, I think that person fainted while standing.”
“…….”
Park Siwoo closed his mouth in disbelief.
Then again, it made sense.
While he had accumulated damage on Laszlo from the rear, Dan Chun-woo had endured Laszlo’s attacks head-on.
And despite that, he still insisted on standing.
Honestly, it almost looked idiotic.
Using his spear as a cane, Park Siwoo stood up and spoke.
“I’ll support Dan Chun-woo. You keep taking care of her.”
“Got it.”
Park Siwoo and Helena supported Dan Chun-woo and No. 66 as they slowly exited the laboratory.
The moment they emerged through the entrance they came from, they squinted beneath the warm sunlight.
When they first arrived, the sun had only just begun rising.
But now it stood high in the sky.
At that moment, the ground trembled with a massive explosion.
Proof that the laboratory had completely detonated.
And thus—
The operation to subjugate Lord Biden came to its end.