novelAlta Chapter 529
Chapter 529
This wasn’t a sneer, or the kind of smile that came from composure.
The Demon King was smiling with the same kind of rapture he’d had when special quest was mentioned from Su-ho’s mouth.
Su-ho pressed the blood sword tight to the Demon King’s throat and said,
“What’s so funny?”
“Heh. Of course I’d laugh. Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for this moment?”
“So why?”
“I can’t tell you that. So hurry and kill me. Then you’ll learn the whole truth.”
At the words urging his own death, Su-ho’s expression twisted.
What was this?
Was he trying to use mind games and stab him in the back?
No—if that were the case, the mana reaction coming off him wouldn’t be perfectly still.
If he was preparing some other skill to backstab him, the mana ripples would have to swell somehow.
But his mana ripples were endlessly calm, like a quiet surface of water.
“So you’ve got no intention of telling me nicely.”
“Obviously.”
“Then I’m not killing you.”
“......What?”
“I’m not killing you. You look like you need death no matter how you look at it, so why would I fall for a provocation like that?”
“Haha, interesting. But you’ll have no choice but to kill me.”
“Why?”
“So you can meet the Shadow Lord you want.”
“What are you talking about? Weren’t you the Shadow Lord?”
“As if.”
His face was full of leeway.
Like he was the one holding the initiative.
But his words shook Su-ho harder than he expected.
Su-ho narrowed his eyes.
'That’s true... he was called the Demon King, or the Demon King of Shadow Castle. He was never called the Shadow Lord.'
And if he really were the Shadow Lord, wouldn’t the special quest have triggered long ago?
Su-ho asked,
“Where’s the Shadow Lord?”
“You’ll find out if you kill me.”
“That’s weird. If you want death that badly, you could kill yourself. Why are you insisting on borrowing my hand?”
“That’s my choice. So—what will you do?”
“I told you. I’m not killing you.”
“You’re stubborn. Then you’ll never get what you want. There is no way to meet the Shadow Lord except by killing me.”
“For now, sure.”
Thud!
He drove the blade he’d had at the Demon King’s throat in about half a handspan.
A soft sound of flesh being pierced followed.
But the Demon King’s face was still full of leeway.
“You think you can kill me with something like that?”
“Are you stupid? I said I’m not killing you.”
[ Enthrallment is activated. ]
He met the Demon King’s eyes.
Then Su-ho’s mana began seeping into the Demon King.
But—
Pang!
An effect like ice cracking and fragments flying burst out, and the enthrallment failed.
Seeing that, the Demon King laughed.
“Ridiculous. Were you planning to put me under hypnosis?”
“You catch on fast. But I guess it doesn’t go down easy since you’re a boss monster.”
“We’re not on the same level.”
“Talking about levels when you’re lying on your back... then how about this? Poison Dragon.”
“Saaa!”
At Su-ho’s call, the Poison Dragon sprang out.
At the same time, obeying Su-ho’s will, the Poison Dragon rode along Su-ho’s blade and slipped straight into the Demon King’s body.
“......!”
“Wait. I’m not done yet.”
[ Corruption Sorcery is activated. ]
The moment the sorcery activated, starting from the tip of Su-ho’s blade, the Demon King’s skin began discoloring.
Su-ho didn’t stop there. He touched the Demon King’s body here and there with his finger.
[ Point-Pressure is activated. ]
[ Seal of Pain is activated. ]
He pressed paralysis points.
And he also placed Seal of Pain so his stamina couldn’t recover.
Su-ho bundled the best torture methods he could use into a full set and applied them to him.
Not long after, a response came immediately.
“Guhhh...!!”
Wow, look at that life coming back.
He’d thought he’d never see that kind of vitality in those hollow eyes, but I guess even a Demon King hurts when it hurts.
Su-ho smiled and said,
“I’m not going to kill you. But I never said I’d just let you go, either. FYI, my day job is a medic. Try enduring as long as you can. I’ve got time to spare.”
“Guhhh... you son of a...!”
“Oh, so you can even swear? You were acting so relaxed I thought you had something you were relying on.”
“You bastard...! Even if you do this, I...!”
“Yeah. Don’t answer me to the end—just try enduring. Even if you’re a Demon King, your stamina isn’t infinite. Stay sharp. If you slip for even a second, I’ll put you under hypnosis.”
After saying that, Su-ho made a chair with Blood Armor and sat down beside him.
He also used Blood Armor to haul him upright and hang him there.
“Guhhh...!”
Time passed.
About five minutes later, his entire body had turned a dark, grayish-black, like mold had bloomed over him.
Looking at the Demon King’s face that seemed like it could pass out at any moment, Su-ho used enthrallment again.
[ Enthrallment is activated. ]
The skill activated.
And this time, what hadn’t worked before worked properly.
Because a heart-shaped effect appeared in his eyes.
To confirm, Su-ho asked,
“Demon King?”
“......Yes.”
“Okay. It went down nice.”
As expected, there’s nothing like torture.
After removing only the Poison Dragon, Su-ho stayed seated and asked the Demon King,
“Where’s the Shadow Lord?”
“The Shadow Lord... is... inside me....”
The Demon King answered with difficulty.
But the Shadow Lord is inside you?
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Su-ho asked,
“Inside you? What do you mean?”
“The Shadow Lord... is hiding... inside me... Unless you kill me... he will never... come out....”
“What the....”
At that moment, a thought suddenly crossed Su-ho’s mind.
'This... feels kind of like a trap.'
A long time ago, there was a very famous ghost ship called the Flying Dutchman.
There are many stories tied to that ghost ship, but the most famous one is that if you kill the captain, the captain’s qualifications are automatically inherited, and you can never leave the Flying Dutchman for eternity.
Why did the Flying Dutchman come to mind from the Demon King’s answer?
Su-ho asked,
“Is there another way?”
“There... isn’t....”
“This is driving me insane... why is that guy hiding inside you?”
“That’s....”
That instant—
Bbogeurrrreureuk—
The guy who’d been enduring just fine suddenly rolled his eyes back and started foaming at the mouth.
“Uh—what’s wrong with him?”
[ Restore is activated. ]
[ Dispel is activated. ]
As his condition worsened, Su-ho hurriedly removed Seal of Pain and the point-pressures, and used recovery skills.
But no matter how much mana he poured in, his condition didn’t improve.
Then he suddenly snapped his eyes wide and grabbed Su-ho’s face.
“Th...thank... you... for... freeing... me...!”
What?
Freeing?
That moment—
[ You have defeated the Demon King of Shadow Castle. ]
The Demon King died.
And—
[ Your level has increased. ]
[ All stats have increased by 1. ]
[ You have obtained 1 bonus stat. ]
His level went up.
Which meant he’d been definitively defeated.
“......This can’t happen.”
He still hadn’t even gotten all the information out of him.
But the system notices guaranteed that he was truly dead.
At that moment, black energy began seeping up from the Demon King’s corpse.
[ The Shadow Lord’s Pledge is activated. ]
A system notice.
At the same time, the black smoke took on the shape of a screaming nightmare, then poured out from all over the Demon King’s body and clung to Su-ho’s body.
“What is this?!”
[ Restore is activated. ]
[ Dispel is activated. ]
[ Paladin is activated. ]
[ Divine Aura is activated. ]
[ Saint Dome is activated. ]
Startled, Su-ho activated every holy skill he could.
But this wasn’t something like evil or a darkness attribute.
The nightmares wrapped around Su-ho’s body, and then, from the Demon King’s corpse, a single massive black shape crawled out like a parasite and rose up, blazing like fire.
[ The Shadow Lord has appeared. ]
“......!”
Su-ho’s eyes widened.
The Shadow Lord, at this timing?
The Demon King had been right.
The Shadow Lord really had been inside the Demon King.
Within the pitch-black shape, two eyes filled with blue light lifted up.
There was no name card.
Maybe the Shadow Lord wasn’t classified as a boss monster.
Was that a good thing?
But I can’t move an inch right now.
Then the Shadow Lord looked at Su-ho and spoke.
- At last, a new outworlder has come.
“Are you the Shadow Lord?”
- Yes. I am the Shadow Lord, the owner of all shadows, and the original owner of Guiyeong that you are holding.
A voice like it echoed «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» in a cave.
Every time the Shadow Lord spoke a word, those blue eyes and that black body flickered like flames, and at the same time, it emitted an enormous amount of energy.
Su-ho’s body was still bound by the black nightmares, unable to budge.
Su-ho asked,
“You mention Guiyeong, so you know who I am too.”
- Of course. I’ve been watching you the whole time.
“You’ve been watching me?”
- Yes. You should know as well. My interest would have been conveyed to you steadily through system notices.
Through system notices?
Ah—at those words, he remembered.
[ ■■■ reacts to Guiyeong’s call. ]
[ ■■■ watches Guiyeong and you. ]
[ ■■■ verifies your qualifications. ]
[ ■■■ verifies your qualifications and makes a surprised expression. ]
[ ■■■ nods at your qualifications. ]
[ ■■■ smiles at you. ]
All those countless Transcendent notices tied to the Shadow Lord.
And he remembered one more.
The one that had annoyed him the most.
[ ■■■ has refused the use of the Rune of Life Evolution. ]
That was the one—him refusing the Rune of Life Evolution Su-ho had tried to use on Guiyeong.
As those infuriating memories surfaced, Su-ho frowned and said,
“Yeah. Thanks to you, I remember it all in one shot.”
- I’m glad you remember.
“So what now?”
- You’re impatient. I watched you for a long time, and I also waited for you for a long time.
“You waited for me? Why?”
- Because I believed you might be the last hope that could save me.
What is that supposed to mean now?
Why am I your last hope?
But the Shadow Lord was utterly serious.
The Shadow Lord looked up at the sky.
It looked like it was simply staring in silence, but Su-ho could feel it.
An enormous amount of energy was rippling from the Shadow Lord as it looked up at the sky.
That was when—
[ ??? accepts ■■■’s request. ]
A system notice appeared before his eyes.
All of a sudden, ??? had accepted ■■■’s request.
If he read the room, ■■■ would be the Shadow Lord in front of him.
'Then ??? is...'
He knew immediately.
Because he’d seen the same kind of situation before, back with Hera.
??? was the system.
But what had the Shadow Lord requested of the system?
At that moment, the turbulent energy ripples vanished.
At the same time, the Shadow Lord slowly lowered its head.
- Permission has been granted. I knew it would be you.
“What are you talking about? Don’t talk like you’re the only one who knows what’s going on—explain it so I can understand too.”
- Fine. Then from now on, I will explain it in a way you can understand.
The Shadow Lord’s voice changed.
At the same time, even the air changed.
- Just now, I requested the system for the formal disclosure of my true name. And just now, that acceptance came down.
“True name?”
- Yes. I will introduce myself properly. I am the last warden who protects this spirit world. The first and last archmage of the spirit world, the strongest archmage, and at the same time the only shadowmancer who wielded shadow magic—and now, the guardian deity of the spirit world who has received the High Grade and Non-Player grades: Umbrada.