Looking far away, we’re together watching the approaching carriages.
Kali grabs my sleeve and pulls me, whispering.
“Who are they?”
“They’re the reinforcements coming to help us.”
“What kind of help do we need… Isn’t it urgent to get into the dungeon and meet Luna as soon as possible? What was that chill in the first place?”
“Complicated to explain. We can’t go in just yet. Still, I’ll make sure you get to meet Luna.”
I’m not lying.
Kali will get to meet Luna.
Probably sooner than expected.
“Is that so… You must have a separate intention. Knowing the structure of Luna’s unique dungeon in detail, you surely must be a Heavenly King…”
Kali soon closes her mouth.
Looks like she decided to stop pondering.
After all, there’s nothing that fragile body can do even if she questioned.
Just wait.
Waiting for the judgment to pay for our sins, just waiting.
She probably doesn’t know that fact at all…
“They’ve arrived.”
At that moment, the carriage comes to a stop nearby.
The coachman opens the door wide.
What steps out from inside is a white-haired fox beastman.
[You…!]
“It’s been a while.”
Though quite unfamiliar, I recognized her immediately.
Taesu, it’s Gui Ho in human form.
Overwhelmed by the strange appearance and atmosphere, the gathered onlookers gasp.
And then follows a kid in a robe.
He glances at my face and scurries behind Gui Ho.
Seo Gong…
[I urgently needed help, so I came out after finishing my meditation training. I was on the verge of awakening the ultimate technique of formation magic… Why the interference?]
“I need an outstanding curse caster. If we have the top talented sorcerer and knowledgeable Taesu, it’d be easy.”
[Hmm. You sure know how to lift a person’s spirits… But fine. I’ll help you out specially.]
“But why is Seo Gong an avatar?”
“?!”
Seo Gong looks shocked, his face turning pale.
Did he think he wouldn’t get caught?
He must have already been exposed several times before.
[Hah. Deceiving you is tougher than picking stars from the sky. His true body is still far away, in training. I brought an avatar. But don’t worry too much. I’ve infused the avatar with 70% of my true power. Even in this form, it surpasses all sorcerers in the world! That’s my exceptional talent!]
“…”
It doesn’t seem like that’s a lie.
Seo Gong’s body is indeed a ‘weak point’ avatar with no noticeable weaknesses.
But the demonic energy I feel from within far surpasses what I remember of Seo Gong.
Seems like he has definitely gotten stronger through training.
“Anyway, thanks for coming all this way while both of you are busy.”
[What a curious thing. I see you expressing gratitude for once.]
“Do I look like an ungrateful degenerate to you?”
[Exactly. That’s how I see you.]
“…”
Gui Ho’s gaze shifts to Kali behind me.
I tensed up, wondering if he had noticed that this girl is Heavenly King Kali.
But apparently not; he soon loses interest and looks away.
With a sigh that seems to say, ‘Of course,’ Gui Ho doesn’t ask about Kali.
Why doesn’t he question me about Kali?
Surely it’s their first time seeing her; he looks at me as if having Kali by my side is completely natural.
[Your tastes remain unchanged… It’s nice to see something consistent. If a person changes too quickly, they end up dying.]
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
[Doesn’t matter.]
If a person changes too quickly, they’ll die…
Then maybe my time to die is drawing near.
I can sense it instinctively.
That my death isn’t far off.
It’s not that I’ve given up on life or anything.
I just feel it.
A strange premonition that this might be the place where I die.
“You seem different somehow?”
“Is that so? Something changed in my body a while ago. Suddenly, I felt a heat rush through me and lost consciousness… When I opened my eyes, I felt overflowing power.”
A great upheaval.
Looks like Seo Gong was similarly affected this time.
The recovery of abilities weakened most monsters’ power.
But it seems Seo Gong’s case was different.
“It feels like whatever was blocking my talent just disappeared.”
“Then tell your true body to hurry up and train. That way the avatar will also get stronger.”
“I can’t contact my true body right now…”
“Just saying it casually, buddy.”
Welcoming the guests.
Without realizing, we’ve passed through the now-desolate plaza and headed toward the headquarters.
Meanwhile, Kali, unable to comprehend the situation, merely looks to me for cues.
I block Kali from following me and state firmly.
“Can you step outside for a moment?”
“Uh, me? Are you talking about me?”
“Yeah. Adults have things to discuss.”
“Ah, I see. Uh… Okay. I’ll wait outside…”
Kali is currently known as the orphan I picked up.
It’s only natural not to bring a child into important discussions.
Remembering that setup, Kali awkwardly laughs and steps back.
But the reason I’m pushing Kali away is for a different reason.
Soon, barriers will unfold in the headquarters.
The only ones left in this space will be me, Mi Jeong, Mia, Gui Ho, and Seo Gong, wrapped in silence.
Among them, I take the initiative to speak.
“Now that everyone’s here, let’s talk. The one outside is Heavenly King Great Druid Kali, the spider monster that attempted to seize the World Tree and turned Cologne into ruins.”
“…!”
“…!”
Everyone but Mi Jeong’s eyes widen in shock.
Though I feel a bit bad for Mia that I’m only telling her now.
To prevent confusion in the task, I had to keep silence until now.
Before the three recover from the shock and speak, I continue.
“And I aim to kill that monster again. The method is simple. Its soul is currently in a state where it can be transformed into a Mana Stone. So, if I turn it into a Mana Stone and smash it, that’s it. But that wouldn’t let it face its due punishment.”
[What do you mean by that?]
“I want it to pay its proper price for its crimes. But it’s ridiculous for a mere human like me to speak of judgement or justice. So I intend to leave the judgement to another absolute existence.”
[Another absolute existence? What do you mean? The gods of this land died long ago.]
That’s true.
The gods of this land died long ago in an ancient mythological time.
The corpse still emitting mana is from that time.
And all living beings survive, live, die, and cycle by consuming the gods’ corpse.
“Right. The gods are dead. In this world.”
[You? Could it be?!]
“Yes, that’s the theory. From now on, we’re going to connect our world with the Underworld. Then, we’ll meet the God of the Underworld and send Kali there to receive her punishment.”
“…!”
The Underworld.
In other words, hell.
If we successfully summon the God of the Underworld, we could not only put Kali’s soul on the judgment table but also possibly send Luna, who wanders in spiritual form, and maybe even Belphegor back to hell.
[Uh, this might be awkward to say after coming this far, but… Can we stop? I… I have the feeling this is a bit bigger than I expected…]
“It can’t be helped. I entrusted Seo Gong specifically for today.”
The seriousness of the situation is lost on Seo Gong, who looks confused.
Gui Ho pales, trembling in fear.
This is the only way.
This time, we’ll wipe out all the Heavenly Kings.
…
…
…
“Ugh…”
Outside the headquarters.
Kali tries peeking through the curtain-covered window and listening at the door but gives up with no results and slouches against the wall.
“Something feels off…”
Something was definitely strange.
This situation was entirely outside Kali’s expectations.
Up until heading to Elvenguard, she had imagined reuniting with Luna and Belphegor.
But now, stepping inside, Yoo Jin was discussing dungeon conquest.
Of course, this too was a facade.
Pretending to help with the dungeon conquest, deceiving the elves and mercenaries.
Using the chill magic to fool everyone into believing they couldn’t enter was a sure thing.
But lately, Kali had been harboring unusual suspicions about the Heavenly Kings and Mi Jeong.
If asked what suspicions she had, she couldn’t clearly answer.
Everything felt suspicious.
His identity and the relationship with me, etc…
Mi Jeong’s explanations certainly left no room for doubt.
He was undeniably a Heavenly King and a disciple working hard for ‘that person’s’ descent.
Yet somehow, Kali felt something strange in Mi Jeong’s gaze directed at her.
He sometimes looked at her with intense emotions.
Initially, she thought it was vague affection, but recently, she sensed it was a bit different.
One thing was for sure.
It wasn’t pure affection.
It seemed more akin to love-hate or intense anger.
‘I get the feeling they’re planning something big, but I don’t know what it is…’
She felt confused.
What state was that dungeon in that she was dragging her feet without even storming in?
She had no idea who these newcomers were.
‘I have to ask about this today…’
Now she definitely needed to clarify.
Kali made up her mind.
