The Most Radiant Light
Blurred vision.
Blood ran down, covering his eyes.
Through the faint gap, ‘letters’ appeared.
《You have hunted ‘Demon Pamel’.》
《An unbelievable result! You have overcome an ‘Irresistible’ difference!》
《You acquire the achievement ‘Victor of an Unwinnable Battle’.》
《You acquire the achievement ‘Demon Slayer’.》
《Honor increases by 300.》
《You acquire 1,500 contribution points.》
《‘Demon Heart’ has been left behind.》
《51 Constellations of the Pantheon are watching you.》
“Huff, huuuuff……”
My whole body felt heavy like soaked cotton. My ragged breathing refused to stop.
Guardian Knight Pamel.
A level-13 monster was by no means an easy opponent.
Without the buff from holy water and the effect of piercing, the one dead right now wouldn’t be Pamel but me.
It was a miracle I won at all.
If I hadn’t killed Lord Darkan earlier and exhausted the other knights……
It would have been impossible.
Should I call myself lucky?
‘Did I take too long?’
I bit my lip.
Fighting Pamel took longer than expected.
During that time, Baal had completed his evolution.
Because the number of survivors dropped?
No, more likely Lord Darkan had fed him too much.
‘All the soldiers Lord Darkan brought became Baal’s nourishment.’
Ridiculous.
Though he must have been confident.
I’d heard that such a force might have been enough to win.
But Lord Darkan overlooked Guardian Knight Pamel’s identity.
Or perhaps he didn’t know at all.
‘…… If he had known, he wouldn’t have come.’
Unless his head was missing, he would never have entered a cursed cocoon if he’d known Pamel was a demon.
Thanks to that, he crumbled without even fighting Baal properly.
‘Now Baal will soon invade Earth.’
There was no time.
Just as I forced my weary body to move, I looked toward where Pamel had died.
The demon, dismembered and slain, crumbled into dust the moment it died.
Only the ‘Demon Heart’ remained.
【Demon Heart(???)】
– A top-quality Demon Heart.
– Can raise your level up to 13.
– Also allows you to make a contract with a demon to gain great power.
– Upon contracting, your body will be perfectly healed and regenerated, and your race will be classified as ‘Demon’.
– A ‘Demon’ gains more power depending on its ‘followers’.
– ‘Transcendence’ using ‘stars’ becomes impossible.
…… A contract using the Demon Heart.
And it was on an entirely different level than the one Maxim had possessed.
Just by forming a contract, I could skip several levels at once.
With full recovery, perhaps I could even handle Baal more easily.
The demon inscribed on the heart extended its hand toward me.
—Will you form a contract?
It was pure ‘evil’.
A temptation testing only human greed.
Facing Baal in my current condition was foolish.
I tried not to look—but my eyes drifted almost instinctively.
—Don’t you have to kill Baal? Do you really think you can face evolved Baal when you struggled against mere Pamel? And even Pamel wasn’t in a normal state?
Whispers of the demon.
It was like the thing was reading my mind.
No—those whispers were my own thoughts.
—Take my hand. Gain power. I shall grant you the authority to kill Baal. You can surpass Pamel.
Power gained upon contracting.
The Demon’s Authority!
With power surpassing Pamel—
Kill Baal.
If it was impossible otherwise, then make it possible this way.
—Shameless creature. Isn’t all of this your doing? Had you not awakened Baal, none of this disaster would have happened. Pangaenia and Earth are walking the path of ruin because of you.
‘Evil’ emphasized my responsibility.
If not for me, none of this would have happened.
If Pangaenia and Earth fall, it will be all my fault.
—Contract……
Crack!
I raised my foot, stomped, and crushed it.
“Shut up.”
It really was too noisy.
Everything it said was merely what I already knew.
And as one who inherited the Knight King, accepting heretical demon power instead of the Goddess was absurd.
It was abandoning the future for strength in the moment.
At that moment—
《You have destroyed the Demon Heart.》
《You have achieved the achievement ‘One Who Overcame the Devil’s Temptation’.》
《Honor increases by 1,000.》
《You have acquired 10,000 contribution points.》
《Oh honorable one! All Constellations of the Pantheon applaud your choice and focus upon you.》
In the end, every Constellation began watching me.
The devil’s temptation.
They too must have been eager to know what choice I would make.
The rise in honor and contribution far exceeded that of killing Pamel.
That Demon Heart itself had been the true body.
Most importantly—
‘Right now I can’t face Baal?’
The words it whispered.
Half right, half wrong.
In my current body, of course I couldn’t face Baal.
But there was something I hadn’t used—something even against Pamel.
Ziiiiiiing—!
The warp trembled violently.
As I stepped into the abyss, I saw Baal.
Baal, who had become the One Who Is the Abyss Itself, trying to cross the warp.
‘I will never let you cross.’
I could not allow it.
For this one creature, I had saved and saved my power.
It was time to use it.
Time to pour out everything.
《‘Throne of the Most Radiant Light’ manifests.》
《The prefix skill ‘The Most Radiant Light’ engraved upon the ‘Throne of the Most Radiant Light’ has been activated.》
《The prefix is consumed, and the base-sustaining function of the ‘Throne of the Most Radiant Light’ will disappear in 60 seconds.》
《You consume ‘Perfect Golden Rule’.》
***
Ziiiiiiiiiiiing—!
After Baal completed its transformation into ‘the One Who Is the Abyss Itself’, Jeju’s situation shifted drastically.
“Th-That is……”
“What in the world…… is happening right now?”
Reporters panicked.
Not only reporters—everyone witnessing the scene was panicking.
The warp widened in all directions, encircling Jeju Island like a wall.
And then the place where Jeju once existed—
Turned into what looked like ‘Dark Space’.
“Jeju Island……”
“It-It disappeared!”
The entire space had been devoured by darkness.
It looked truly gone.
Could it be that Jeju Island had already been eaten? Even though Baal hadn’t appeared yet?
“A-Alliance Leader!”
“Mr. Park Tae-woo!”
“Please explain!”
Of course chaos erupted.
Everyone demanded answers, staring at Park Tae-woo.
“…….”
But he could not say a word.
He couldn’t.
He truly had no idea what was happening.
He didn’t know what was going on inside, whether people inside were dead or alive……
He knew nothing.
Only one thing was certain.
“Something beyond my comprehension, something that transcends imagination, is happening over there right now.”
My lips go dry.
An event far beyond imagination.
Perhaps a terror incomparable to any disaster humanity has ever faced is lurking inside that place…
***
Gracia frowned.
Countless warps opened throughout the abyss, and an enormous number of people began appearing.
“What, what is that?”
“Where are we?”
Just what he could see with the naked eye numbered in the tens of thousands.
Across the entire abyss, it must be hundreds of thousands.
And they were all Earthlings.
Why had Earthlings suddenly appeared here in the abyss?
Earthlings, in numbers like that.
“Wait. Isn’t that Gracia?”
“Huh? Lord Gracia!”
“I don’t know what’s happening, but we’re saved!”
They recognized Gracia and rushed toward him.
After all, the Gracia said to have died was still alive.
However, Gracia felt something odd.
‘Why is no one losing their mind?’
Most of them were East Asians.
From their clothes and the writing on them, they were Koreans.
Yet none of them were affected by the abyss.
The powerful curse that had driven even him to the brink of insanity was having no noticeable effect on these newly arrived people.
“Lord Gracia, we knew you were alive!”
“Where are we right now?”
“W-we can get out of here, right?”
People surrounded Gracia like a fortress.
–Kaaaaak?
–Kyaaaaaaak!
At the same time, the ‘Servants of the Curse’ smelled them and rushed in.
“Huh!”
“M-monster!”
The people panicked.
Earthlings were still not used to monsters.
There was no time to answer questions or explain anything.
“Heavenly Sword.”
Gracia drew out a thousand swords.
His stamina was running low, but he still lived.
He still had enough to do what he must.
–Kyaaaaaaak!
–Kieeeek!
As he slaughtered all the charging Servants of the Curse…
“As expected of Lord Gracia!”
“He really deserves to be called a hero!”
“Thank you, thank you!”
People cheered him on all the louder.
To them, Gracia was a savior, a true hero.
But the excitement didn’t last long.
Craaaack!
The black cocoon split open.
Gooooooohhhhhhhhhh!
…From within it, Baal burst out.
And in a far more evolved form than before.
Flap! Flap!
Its body, its wings—everything was incomparably larger.
Every flap of its wings sent a violent wind tearing through the entire abyss.
“Th-there was a monster that big?”
“Crazy! That's bigger than a skyscraper!”
“It’s fine! We have Lord Gracia!”
As if my presence changes anything.
Are they expecting me to fight that monster again?
Gracia bit his lip.
Perhaps the Golden Goat he had entered with was dead.
As expected—there was no way to win against something like that.
Gracia took a deep breath.
Then slowly exhaled as he steeled himself.
Though he had lost once, this was the moment to show the dignity of a hero.
Even if he died, he would die like a hero.
At the very least, he could no longer show an unsightly appearance.
Gooooooooooooh!
But Baal’s behavior was strange.
Gracia thought it was preparing to kill the Earthlings next.
Yet Baal kept staring toward the inside of the cocoon, as if wary.
‘What is inside there?’
The lord Darkan and many soldiers had entered the cocoon.
Could they have driven Baal out?
If it was them—and the guardian knight Pamel—there might be a chance.
But soon, Gracia realized he was wrong.
The thing that pushed Baal out of the cocoon.
The thing that forced Baal to flee as if chased.
The thing that burst from within the cocoon, pursuing Baal—
“…….”
For a moment, he lost the ability to speak.
…Gracia had seen so many things lately that he believed nothing could surprise him anymore.
The ancient dragon Riley, the strange reapers, the Star Bearer, Baal…
He had encountered beings one would be lucky—or unlucky—to meet even once in a lifetime.
Yet what emerged now was different even from those.
“…….”
“……?”
The spectators froze as well.
Their reaction was clearly different from when Baal appeared.
They were rendered speechless.
Finally, upon seeing what emerged, Gracia frowned deeply and murmured without meaning to:
“……What is that?”
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