The Siege War has ended.
A lot happened, but in the end, it wrapped up nicely, and I ended up in a decent third place.
If I really set my mind to it, or rather, if I just pushed through from the beginning, I could have easily claimed first place, but I didn’t.
“Why bother?”
I’ve already achieved first place in the Siege War long ago, and the rewards aren’t that great.
At most, I’d get experience points, currency, and a mythical accessory as the grand total.
Now, while the experience would be significant for a user around level 120, it doesn’t mean much to me, being over level 145.
Maybe I’d gain like 1%?
The currency isn’t that much either, and the mythical accessory has no real value to me.
If it had been transcendental grade, I might have considered it, but since it’s not, it’s better to just hand it over casually.
“Oh?”
For reference, second place went to Neris from the Magic Tower, who had been pushed back mid-way.
When I checked how she managed to take second, it seemed some battle troops were left waiting in the wings.
They went around the small and medium alliance’s castles, which had turned into ice fortresses, taking them over in droves, allowing her to snag that second spot.
Of course, perhaps not wanting to end up like the small and medium alliance, as soon as the Siege War ended, they returned the castles to their original owners.
“Surprisingly, they returned everything.”
Whether they were paying close attention to my broadcast or not, it wasn’t just the Magic Tower; the Jeokwol Guild from the south, the Large Guilds of the West, and even the smaller guilds returned the castles they had occupied.
I wasn’t there at the time, but it felt like a repeat of the Siege Wars from seasons 1 and 2, right?
They genuinely seemed to think of the Siege War as a sort of “event” or “game.”
This direction is much better than fighting to the death.
And the coveted first place was claimed by Black Moon’s Black.
Even if the great alliance crumbled, it seems their influence and skill remain intact?
Especially Black, who, perhaps due to getting used to wielding the greatsword imbued with the Pharaoh’s power, showed quite the prowess against rookies armed with hidden professions and races.
Joining forces with the western guilds to combat the small and medium alliance in the middle was a big factor too.
“Everything ended on a good note.”
With Black stepping onto the official broadcast to share his winning thoughts, Season 4 of the Siege War came to a complete close.
“Of course…”
Swish…
“What’s important is just beginning now.”
“That’s true.”
The ‘real’ incident was just starting to unfold.
Lasty nodded while moving a glass bottle filled with blood, bits of flesh, tangible and intangible energy, and a bizarre soul.
I nodded while moving the glass bottles filled with flesh and intangible energy, containing strange souls.
One day after the broadcast ended, I had arrived at Lasty’s office.
It was essentially a place similar to a laboratory, with Sre and the three rookie disciples caught alongside Lasty behind her.
All of them were completely out of their minds, influenced by magic.
Normally, I would have caused a ruckus, but thanks to Lasty’s ability, everyone was asleep.
“Meat… so delicious…”
Kuuuu…
By the way, next to me, Sre was fast asleep, exhausted from the prolonged battle and using Breath.
Sre had devoured meat five times bigger than her own body and just collapsed.
It was probably quite noisy with the snoring, but Lasty was completely unfazed, concentrating on her own tasks.
“I cast soundproofing magic. You don’t have to worry, you can’t hear the white pig’s noises.”
“That’s a relief. I was thinking about sending them back to space. Oh, have you found anything from the investigation?”
“Take a look.”
As Lasty extended her hand, little worn-out papers floated up and landed in my hand.
Inside was the investigation about the three rookies.
“First, the jackal. His magic and power are quite ordinary. At most, he’s at the intermediate demon level.”
“It doesn’t seem like he was tampered with.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Since he was the most normal among the three, it can be said he was less affected by magic.
From the contents, it seemed his power was merely a degree of resistance to magic along with how to use it.
Of course, it is nearly impossible for a human soul to endure magic, but we have the ‘system’ as a solid backup.
Even though he lost his mind, it wasn’t to the extent of collapsing his soul through the system.
Lasty twirled a wine glass filled with blood and nodded her head.
“The problem is the next one. The swordman. His magic is similar, but his power is concerning.”
“…Could it be? Was it really true?”
“If my judgment isn’t wrong.”
I looked at the first line about the swordman, Jackal, with a bit of seriousness.
Power is presumed to be influenced by the top-class demon ‘Silence of the Dead’.
“If the abilities that my sister and I saw from Silence are the same, then it must be right. I felt the power from the extracted part of the soul strongly.”
“Is it a precursor…?”
“The system is truly something special. Some have been suffering the pain of their souls being torn away for thousands of years and ended up like this.”
A user, merely because they possessed the system, obtained the power of a top-class demon in just a few months.
Compared to Lasty, who had been experimented on by the same top-class demons for thousands of years, it was an absurd difference.
It’s a ridiculous level of difference.
Of course, it’s not an accurate expression.
The absolute time may be several months, but the time Jackal felt could be relative.
In reality, it’s unknown how long it took to gain this power, and more importantly, he couldn’t control it.
It was closer to ‘the power’ using Jackal rather than Jackal using the power.
Compared to Lasty, who handles blood as if it were her own, it was a laughable level of application.
“There’s no comparison to Lasty.”
“…Hmph. Not impressed.”
“More than that, it’s surprising that he granted the power. Silence didn’t particularly prefer the living…”
Most of the Demon Race tends to use anything for experiments, but Silence possesses the power of the dead.
What he experiments on is mostly that of the ‘Dead One.’
Granting his powers to a perfectly living being is certainly not a common occurrence.
‘It was uncertain if they were even living to begin with.’
The events of ‘That Day’ left not just the Upper beings but also the highest tier Celestials and Demon Races unsure of their lives.
It would not be strange for anyone to survive or die in that situation.
‘…I should have seen it to the end.’
The war between the Celestials and the Demon Race ended in an inexplicable reconciliation, ultimately becoming an unknown matter.
The truth is probably known only by the few of the six Demon Kings and eight Seats presumed to be alive.
And the head of Nutri Company that created Deoen.
“…Anyway, the emergence of Silence of the Dead is a given, so he must have made a move. Whether he wanted to or not.”
“Like with the Octopus? What should we do? He won’t go berserk because of sister’s spear.”
Lasty glanced at Jackal, who frowned as if he were having a nightmare even at this moment.
Since the spear of Rest precisely pierced his soul, he wouldn’t go on a rampage.
Unless next year doesn’t come like with the Kraken, he should be fine for the next few months.
“The System won’t leave him alone, so his mind will be appropriately fixed. We’ll just give him a light touch before sending him back.”
“Yeah.”
“Next is Lady Rest.”
Rest, who colonized the castle most actively using countless wandering souls.
The countless souls that made up him were specialized in capturing the castle and were users who weren’t caught by Sre until the very end.
In the end, he was caught when Lasty intervened.
Rest was kind of half and half.
Not at a plain level like Shark, but also not in a vague state of receiving immense power like Jackal.
If you had to be specific, he was closer to Jackal, so appropriate restrictions were placed.
I imposed a restriction.
Anyway, looking at situations like this…
‘Users with magic or divinity are on the rise. Just like the Sword Saint and Aisha before, the Angel Guild went on a World Quest recently.’
I won’t reveal exactly what they went for, but the top guild Deoen has been missing for months for a reason.
Magic and divinity are incredibly powerful, but they aren’t blessings that can be easily controlled.
‘Poison. And extremely potent poison, at that.’
If I recklessly use something that has good lethality, one day it might take my own life.
“……”
But still, there was no justification to stop them.
After all, I’m using divinity without a care; who can I blame?
Right next to me is Lasty, the progenitor of all bloodsuckers reborn through demonic experiments.
“Gotta…”
On the other side, there was a dragon containing a fragment of a fragment of one of the six Demon Kings.
“I don’t think this is the end.”
“Right.”
“The emergence of Silence was mentioned during the Siege War, and already three users with that power have appeared.”
The ‘Disaster of Three’ that manifested this year showed various signs before the year changed.
Sealing tools to subdue the Kraken, the dungeon of Scorpio, the scorpion boss, remnants of demons trapped under the Empire, and so on.
There are plenty of clues to infer from, and this time it seems likely that something will actually appear.
“With about three months left, we should start preparing. More will probably show up.”
“Demons…”
“Lasty, take a closer look around the continent. You’ll probably notice something.”
“Yeah.”
Lasty nodded with a colder gaze than usual.
If I strongly despise the Celestial Race, Lasty is the opposite.
‘…I really need to deal with Black Lily soon.’
She hasn’t shown up lately since the Iron Devourer incident.
It’s a pity that if I could just encounter her once, I might be able to do something, but she doesn’t allow even that one chance.
The only good news is that Black Lily is my ‘opposite.’
“We’ll probably meet soon.”
“?”
She will soon appear.
To catch the disgusting Top-Class Demon that will manifest on this land.
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