Chapter 97

He’s stronger than me.

That was my first impression. So I couldn’t help but ask back.

“Master?”

Oried seems even more flustered by my words. It had already been a long time since I had reverse-summoned Undine, who had been shivering and screaming, back to the Spirit Realm.

-…Did you not summon me?

I did summon him. But don’t spirits usually not recognize someone weaker than them as their master?

It would be different if it were a partnership, like with Durandal.

But master?

The question was answered soon enough.

-It is because your Soul’s Tier is incomparably greater than mine.

“…I see.”

-Please give me a command.

Oried said, his face full of anticipation.

“……”

A command.

I hadn’t thought of this. I asked, just in case.

“There’s a Demon I’m looking for. Can you find out if he’s around here?”

-I will find him without fail.

Honestly, I didn’t have high hopes.

I thought an Elemental King would be no different.

But I was wrong.

As if a large corporation was outsourcing work to a small business, the lower-class spirits, the gnomes, began to work upon receiving the mission from the Elemental King.

It was a strange thing. The sensations felt by the gnomes wandering throughout the city were being transmitted to me as well.

Person, person, cat, person…

“Huh.”

I had to admit it. The gnomes were far superior at finding things than the draconic magic, [Trace Tracking].

So, I left the task of finding Seong Yo-han entirely to Oried.

However, I was still struggling with another matter.

“I’d like to meet with a representative of the federal association. Please tell them it’s Vice Minister Jo Hyeon-woo.”

“Don’t bother us and go away.”

“It’s an urgent diplomatic matter…”

“Mister Choi. Bring him here. There will be no conversation until then.”

Their stance was firm.

Vice Minister Jo Hyeon-woo looked at me and shook his head.

Jung Hye-in and I, especially Jung Hye-in, were completely ostracized here.

It couldn’t be helped.

The people here were sacrifices for Seong Yo-han.

To be precise, they were nothing more than sacrifices to draw me out.

If Jung Hye-in stepped in and killed Seong Yo-han, their plan would be ruined.

But what I’m curious about is this.

The people chosen as sacrifices can’t be fools, so why are they still here?

Shouldn’t they leave this place immediately?

The answer wasn’t hard to find.

“The people gathered here? They’re mostly mercenaries. Ah, of course, they’re called mercenaries, but most of them are people whose Hunter licenses have been revoked.”

The man was a B-Rank Awakener who had been at this base camp for a month.

Meaning, he was one of the initial members who came here as soon as Seong Yo-han was discovered in Portland.

The man spilled everything he knew for the wad of 100-dollar bills I gave him.

“We get 10,000 dollars for one reconnaissance mission. An Awakener who committed a crime and has no one to take them in can earn 10,000 dollars just by wandering around this dead city once every three days while lazing about. After federal taxes, of course.”

“It’s been a month since the base camp was set up. What Seong Yo-han? I haven’t seen a single Monster. This place is literally a dead city.”

Just as the man said, there wasn’t a shred of tension among the 300-odd Awakeners here.

Do they believe Seong Yo-han isn’t here?

Perhaps. A considerable amount of time had passed since the satellite photos were taken.

“Seong Yo-han? He might be here. But it doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t matter?”

The man shrugged.

“The S-Ranks are on standby in the back.”

The man pointed behind the base camp.

I also turned my head back.

All I could see were the same desolate buildings and the cold city.

Just as the man said, I couldn’t see anything resembling an Orc, let alone Seong Yo-han.

“You said you’re an interpreter, right? You must be a Non-Awakener?”

“I’m C-Rank.”

“I’m B-Rank.”

The man said proudly and shrugged.

“You might not be able to feel it. Twenty S-Rank Awakeners sent by the federal Awakener Association are on standby 24/7. Around here.”

He whispered as if telling me a great secret.

“I heard that one of the Three Sovereigns, Rachel Carson, is among them.”

The Three Sovereigns.

My senses now could even detect Yeo Ju-kyung.

But even with such senses, I couldn’t see a single one of the twenty S-Ranks, not even one. It was the same in the information that the earth spirits were sending me one by one.

This man is gravely mistaken about something.

“There are no S-Ranks.”

“There are.”

“Have you ever actually seen an S-Rank?”

“Of course.”

The man said proudly.

“On the first day.”

“Have you seen an S-Rank fight?”

Did it sound like I was belittling him?

The man frowned.

“It was the S-Rank Gate that appeared in New York six months ago. It was a fierce battlefield. I saw Rachel Carson fight then.”

I think he’s lying.

If he had been caught up in an S-Rank’s battle, there’s no way he would have survived.

In other words, even if there were S-Ranks here now, the man’s fate would be the same.

Misinformation is this dangerous.

I sent the man away and called Oried.

Oried, in his statue form, spoke in a stone-hard voice.

-Reporting progress. We have currently identified 50% of the area near the city, and no one who could be specified as a Demon has been found.

“I see.”

As I nodded, Oried disappeared again.

At most, the results would be out in four days.

And in my opinion, it was highly likely that Seong Yo-han had already left this city.

Whether Seong Yo-han was found or not, I still had things to do in the United States.

Rachel Carson, the President of the American Awakener Association, and one of the Three Sovereigns along with Yeo Ju-kyung and Ingrid Bergman.

I plan to meet her.

It was when a week had passed since I came here.

“I’m thinking of leaving soon.”

I told Jung Hye-in. Seong Yo-han was nowhere to be seen. I concluded that whatever happened from now on had nothing to do with me.

“I’ll go too.”

“Please stay here.”

“…Why?”

She’s talking a lot, which is unlike Jung Hye-in.

Wasn’t she someone who didn’t care what anyone else did?

As if embarrassed, I explained to the clearing-her-throat Jung Hye-in.

“If I go around with you, Jung Hye-in-ssi, I don’t think the other side will approach me first.”

The ‘other side’ I mentioned was the federal government and the federal Awakener Association. I had disguised myself as Ian to access their accurate database.

Soon, Jung Hye-in nodded as if she had no choice.

“I understand.”

It was just as I was about to leave the city of death called Portland.

-I found him.

“What?”

Unexpected news came.

-I have found Seong Yo-han.

Oried, whom I hadn’t sent back to the Spirit Realm yet, had found Seong Yo-han.

I hadn’t expected it, but Seong Yo-han was in this city.

Oried gave me the exact coordinate values.

A place well over 50 kilometers away from the base camp.

I pondered what to do for a moment, but there was no need to hesitate.

I immediately opened a Teleport.

Swaaak-

It was true.

There, Seong Yo-han was.

In the middle of a desolate, empty city.

Seong Yo-han stood with his back to me.

At that point, I released my Polymorph and raised my Mana.

There are no people in this vicinity.

Not even any similar life forms.

Thanks to all the radiation bombing to kill the S-Rank boss monster, Civilians could no longer live here.

In other words, I could fight to my heart’s content.

“What are you doing there?”

Seong Yo-han turned his back. Through his disheveled hair, I could see his heartless eyes.

He stared at me.

Seong Yo-han looked composed.

I couldn’t even see the sense of defeat he had shown since I became an S-Rank.

I became curious.

What is Seong Yo-han’s power like? Having become a Demon, he must be stronger than before.

Durandal, in its ring form, reacts strongly.

-That bastard, he’s strong. Stronger than the High Priest we fought on Jeju Island.

My Mana Heart also pounds fiercely.

It’s warning me that he’s at least my equal.

It was a good thing I didn’t bring Jung Hye-in.

There are tiers even among S-Ranks.

Right now, Jung Hye-in wouldn’t be of much help in a battle between us.

“……”

“……”

We stared at each other intently for a moment.

Soon after, I asked the question I was most curious about first.

“Why did you become a Demon?”

“I heard the news. They say you became a king in Korea.”

“Is that why you became a Demon?”

Seong Yo-han closed his mouth for a moment. He stares at me quietly.

Then he muttered.

“The next Association President was supposed to be mine. If it weren’t for you, it would have been.”

So he became a Demon because of that.

As if reading my thoughts, Seong Yo-han smirked.

“I became a Demon because I lost to you? That’s just being too self-absorbed. Nothing changes even if a punk like you became stronger than the Association President. Me becoming a Demon has nothing to do with the likes of you.”

“?”

“I almost envy you for knowing nothing.”

His tone was not envious at all.

Rather, he’s acting as if the something he knows is some great thing.

What could it be?

I wanted to ask, but this time it was Seong Yo-han’s turn.

“Did you come alone?”

“Yes. No one will come here until one of us is dead.”

Seong Yo-han nods in satisfaction.

As if by agreement, we each asked one question we were curious about.

This time, it was my turn.

“Why did you come all the way here?”

Seong Yo-han took a key out from his clothes.

I expanded my senses.

A powerful Mana was flowing from the key.

Spatial Transfer.

It’s the secret art of Spatial Transfer.

And a very high-dimensional magic is intertwined with it.

A Mana far greater than even the highest-level spatial magic I can use, [Teleport].

“Thirty years ago, there was a Monster that fell here. The boss monster that the Three Sovereigns joined forces to catch. This is the loot it dropped.”

He continued to ask.

“Are you perhaps thinking of turning me back into a human?”

“No.”

I shook my head. I had no desire to do so.

Moreover, Han Seung-hoon hadn’t said a single word about Seong Yo-han.

It meant that whether I killed him or let him live, it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

“That’s a relief.”

“It’s my turn. What is it that I don’t know?”

“Heh.”

Seong Yo-han let out a short laugh.

He swept back his disheveled hair.

“This world is going to end.”

He says it as if it’s some great secret.

“You don’t believe me. I suppose you can’t. I wouldn’t have believed it either until I saw it.”

“…What did you see?”

“The Demon Realm.”

“?”

“I’ve been beyond the Gate on Jeju Island. Just before you created that Hunting Ground or whatever.”

Seong Yo-han shook his head as if reminiscing about the past.

“If you had seen the legions there… you probably would have become a Demon too.”

My curiosity was resolved.

Why he became a Demon.

“Well, if you can’t believe it, it can’t be helped.”

Suddenly, I remembered the man from a few days ago.

The man who strongly believed that an S-Rank Awakener was behind him, protecting him.

Similarly, Seong Yo-han firmly believed that the world was ending.

That was the difference between him and me. I think this is enough conversation.

I smirked and summoned Durandal.

“Let’s get started. You Demon.”

Seong Yo-han, whose eyes had widened for a moment, smiled, showing his white teeth.

KWANG-!

It was time to end this tiresome connection.