A single word carries unconditional coercive power.
“Will you die for me?”
If it was anything that held mana, it obeyed his request as if it had been perfectly dominated from the very start.
Bang-!
After Roibal, the special operations captain of the Imperial Security Bureau’s Special Task Force, shot himself in the head and died.
Bang, bangbang!!
Everyone who had been with him took their own lives.
“.......”
At that moment, the man bound underground felt some kind of mana slowly seeping up from within Roibal’s embrace.
And he could also feel it trying to fly off somewhere far away.
“Will you stop.”
In a hurry, he invoked a ‘Word of Command’ and made a request of the mana.
Then the mana that had been about to fly away stopped dead in its tracks.
Stopping the Security Bureau’s emergency alarm was a huge deal.
The man didn’t know that much yet. Because it was still ‘just before being made.’
He lacked knowledge and common sense.
Still, there were things he understood by instinct.
“.......”
For example, that the mana he’d stopped was ominous.
“......Agion is dead.”
That his ‘older brother,’ who came periodically and passed along mana and knowledge, had died.
“......I...”
Lastly, that he, who had been meant to serve the world as his brother’s ‘sword,’ had now become completely useless, and so on.
“.......”
But instinct presented him with another sensation, offering him a new purpose.
It was a truly strange sensation.
A purpose he had never once heard about from Agion.
At the same time, a purpose he himself had never once etched into his heart.
Following the sensation rising in his head, the man put a word he didn’t even know onto his lips.
“......I want to become a Demon King.”
That was it.
I, Legion.
From now on, I should become a Demon King.
He didn’t know why. Just a feeling like a carnivorous beast that had only just weaned off its mother’s milk, instinctively needing to sink its teeth into the neck of an herbivore moving on instinct.
This was the ‘Curse of the 100s’ that had been moving like a ghost, still unable to disappear, continuing on and coming to him.
But he didn’t know that far.
He just moved.
He came outside, grabbed and put on whatever clothes of Agion’s he could.
Then he came back out onto the street.
It was while he was walking aimlessly somewhere.
Before he even recited a Word of Command, a passing car stopped. It was a taxi.
“Where you headed?”
“Where are the ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) strong people?”
The driver glanced at him in the rearview mirror, saw those hollow eyes, and thought the young guy had lost it.
“You got money?”
“I do.”
But in a recession like this, as long as you had money, even a lunatic was a customer.
The driver obediently took Legion to one of the Empire’s famous assassin sects.
Watching the rapidly changing scenery, Legion noticed a flock of birds.
“Stop flying.”
Then only one bird stopped and dropped.
“Everyone, stop flying.”
Then all the birds stopped, and fell straight down.
“.......”
The driver, who didn’t know any of that, felt pity.
How did a young guy end up like that...?
He probably got high on something like those illegal Kroits Mountain hallucinogenic drugs that were popular these days.
“We’re here. 300 hika.”
Legion, who only vaguely understood money, handed over one 1,000-hika bill, but didn’t get any change. The driver naturally drove off.
Either way, he’d arrived at a place with lots of strong people.
“Stop. What business do you have here?”
The next thing to do was extremely simple.
Legion realized that everyone in the whole world listened to what he said.
Like he’d become the top dog in the hierarchy.
As long as he approached, every dog would lower its head and get ready to obey.
“Will you open the door.”
“......Yes.”
The assassin, eyes gone unfocused, opened the sect’s front gate.
After entering, Legion walked farther in, and farther in again, receiving the assassin’s gazes full of suspicion.
“Stop. Who are you?”
“Who’s the boss of this sect?”
“...What? You came here without even knowing that?”
“Will you take me to him?”
“......Ah.”
The assassin froze on the spot.
Then, in movements even he couldn’t understand, he lowered his head to Legion.
“......I will escort you.”
And so that evening, the Imperial assassin sect “Amcheon” fell under the control of an unidentified man.
That was the beginning.
“...What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that?”
“It’s as I told you. An unidentified individual has begun controlling twelve assassin sects and units belonging to the Security Bureau. Also, the 5th Captain we sent from the Reaper Assassins has not returned.”
Two weeks passed, and it wasn’t strange that the story reached the ears of the Constellations.
“......I’ll confirm it myself.”
It also wasn’t strange that the Reaper Constellation Ω, ranked 2nd on the continent, moved personally.
***
“Ibamon! Where is Ibamon?!”
End Ocean.
Balthazar’s floating island.
Balthazar, the lord, shouted in front of the blood pact’s executives.
The men before him bowed their heads low.
“Ibamon... ran out.”
“You insane bastard! Damn X! I told her over and over not to move rashly!!”
“.......”
Balthazar shouted with his face twisted into a snarl.
Not yet.
His judgment still wasn’t fully set.
Until now, Lord Balthazar had been trying to find a way to figure out “Dante.”
Sub-king Garlok was probably doing the same.
From their standpoint, it was only natural.
If Dante was weak, they needed to coax him well and bring him into their faction.
If Dante was moderately strong, they could talk and trade.
He wanted information, and they knew some of that information, so they could trade information for power.
But the worst-case scenario.
If Dante was too strong, they couldn’t do anything, so they had to reach out a hand to Garlok to create power that could stand on equal footing with Dante.
After that, whether they traded or fought, they’d have to choose something.
Like this, the appearance of a Hell-difficulty challenger was, by its very existence, a moment that demanded caution for End Ocean’s entire balance of power, but—
“Ibamon, that crazy bitch...”
Balthazar ground his teeth.
Balthazar.
Real name: Go Gangsik.
He had originally been a soldier from a special forces unit in the real world.
A soldier from so-called UDU, performing black ops intelligence missions for the Defense Intelligence Command.
In modern times he was raised as a killing weapon, but even as he underwent that kind of training, he came to harbor countless doubts about being used as nothing more than a tool for others.
In the middle of that, he encountered [Hiaca Academy: Assassination Department], and possessed a character inside the game.
It was Hard difficulty, but he quickly became strong, became the head of the Assassination Department even online, and in the end became a king.
Then, while dissatisfied that it was “just a game,” he came to [End Ocean] and realized a new place had opened where he could be the ruler.
And, as if to show it off, he became a lord here too.
Maybe because he’d lived as an elite soldier even in reality, Balthazar liked to size people up after grasping another player’s real-life background.
For example, the now-missing Ibamon was like that.
“From the start, I shouldn’t have taken in some game-addict bitch like that....”
Ibamon wasn’t like him.
She was a wreck of a person who didn’t even work part-time, sucked her parents dry, and threw around ten million won at a time on dressing up her character.
And yet, since she’d played Hiaca Academy for so long, it seemed she’d managed to clear Hard difficulty somehow.
That bitch who kept uselessly testing the waters, going on about whether she’d go over to Sub-king Garlok or not.
That trash, in the end, finally did it.
‘God damn it!!’
There was no choice.
No matter what happened, he had to use the situation.
First, he had to see it with his own eyes.
“You—right now, bring me every single Normal-born spying Constellation│spy) immediately! Right now!!”
“Yes!!”
Just how strong that [Hell difficulty] bastard was.
***
Do stars choose people like that?
Or do people change as they follow the stars?
Egg and chicken.
Which came first, no one could say...
But from what I’ve been looking into all along,
there was a commonality among the Light Constellations⁺₊⋆.
‘They all think they’re special.’
Like they’re under a spotlight, like they’re different from everyone else. Special...
That’s what they believe.
When really, they’re probably just one among countless Constellations.
For example, Abraxas, who thought only he could save the world.
Agion, who inherited the Light Star⁺₊⋆ from Abraxas without anything special, but whose ego had swollen.
And even if you looked at Abraxas’s previous Light Constellations⁺₊⋆, every last one of them liked showing off.
On the other hand, I’m modest and humble by nature, so I’m an exception.
I’m different from the other Light Constellations⁺₊⋆.
You could call me an irregular.
...Huh?
Well, anyway.
This fact didn’t seem much different even for Light Constellations⁺₊⋆ from other difficulties.
“ If the Hell-difficulty Dante Hiacapo is here, will you show yourself in front of me? ”
A player in a translucent dress that looked like a goddess, wrapped in light, spoke, making the entire space resonate.
“U-urk! It’s Ibamon...!”
“Why is that crazy woman suddenly...”
“This is dangerous, damn it...!”
For sure.
The pressure of mana was different.
Air being pushed away from the atmosphere shook the waves, and even on the island, a vibration that stung the skin spread outward.
“What’s she like?”
I asked Robin.
“It’s Ibamon. A female player who sided with the lord, someone like a rugby ball who runs around wherever she wants and does whatever she wants.”
See?
She’s definitely a Light Constellation⁺₊⋆.
“So the lord and the sub-king both don’t even treat her like a person, but...”
Kim Yoonchan spoke, his jaw trembling as he was crushed by the pressure.
“ If you don’t come out, I’ll go looking for you one by one, okay? ”
Light stretched out in all directions and began firing into the sea and the islands.
A sensation like a cat licking a strange object with its tongue.
As if islands within several kilometers were being grasped in an instant by that tongue...
Finally, those lights started coming to our island too.
“W-what kind of skill is that...!?”
“Boss Dante, what do we do. If this keeps up...!”
What kind of skill is that?
If you look closely, you can tell.
It’s not some special skill—since it’s night and it’s dark, she’s just shooting out light to see.
‘Hmm.’
If that’s all it is, the countermeasure is surprisingly simple.
“......Boss.”
“What.”
“What are you doing.”
Just crouching behind Kim Yoonchan’s back would keep me out of sight.
“Stay still. Spread your shoulders wide.”
“Yes, sir. Uh. But they’re looking for you over there....”
The other guys’ eyes also start sliding over this way.
Useless bastards.
“Hey. Move your eyeballs somewhere else. If you look at me, there’s no point in me hiding here.”
“Ah, yes....”
“We’re sorry....”
They looked openly disappointed.
The rumored Hell difficulty had arrived, and they were curious when and how a fight would break out.
But what’s my job?
An assassin.
I don’t avoid fighting head-on, but if there’s no reason to fight head-on, ambushing is my specialty—and my fun.
I like the cowardly me.
I’m different from other Constellations who only enjoy flaunting power.
Even if I’m strong, I don’t forget my essence—this specialness......
Like a tiger that starts by crawling even when catching a single rabbit.
Me, “Kim Dante Hiacapo.”
“.......”
“.......”
Hey, are you not going to move your eyes?
Of course, that wasn’t all.
Even now, I could see faces slowly poking out from various patches of cloud in the sky.
│ㅅㅇ) (│spy))
│ㅅㅇ)
│ㅅㅇ)
They were other-difficulty spying Constellations│ㅅㅇ) watching me.
Those eyes existed in two directions.
Not only that guy called Lord Balthazar.
It meant Sub-king Garlok was watching me too.
‘Looks like they want to see how I fight.’
Against an opponent trying to figure me out, the best move is not to show how strong I am.
‘It’s to not be figured out.’
Meanwhile, after sweeping her spotlight around and failing to find anything, Ibamon let out a sighing voice.
“ You’re really doing this? It’s obvious you’re hiding here. Dante of Hell difficulty. I’m curious about you. ”
“ I came down here even though they were cursing at me up there, so you should come out and have a round with me. ”
“ If you keep doing this, I’ll just set all the islands here on fire, okay? ”
Ibamon spoke in goddess-like motions and a coquettish voice, but in essence, she was probably some thirty-something Korean office worker named Kim-whatever.
That alone told you how arrogant her sense of self had become over the past ten years.
“ Summon Spectroscope. ”
Pointing at the sky with an elegant gesture.
The very moment she needlessly even shouted the skill name and created 『Spectroscope』.
That was the moment I’d been waiting for.
『 Flash Secret Art: Heavenward Ascent』
A point of light burst from my toes, and my body slid upward into the sky like I was riding a board.