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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Prøks]
[Proofreader - Prøks]
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Chapter 175: The Frenzy of Orcus
It's the author.
I felt it instinctively.
The culprit who created this messed up situation was right there.
The smoke was too thick.
I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman.
A figure, gazing out the window while inhaling from a long pipe, exhaled ash-gray smoke.
"You're late."
Just one sentence, but I've never heard such a bizarre voice in my entire life.
It sounded like a man's voice, but also like a woman's.
If I had to pinpoint it, it was like a man's voice that hadn't gone through puberty. However, there was a turbidity mixed in, making it difficult to guess their age.
A raspy voice, like scraping metal.
Somehow, it also had a playful tone to it.
"I'm not blaming you. It's understandable, considering you managed to lure in the Black Star. It must be on the lowest floor, right?"
"..."
The more I listened, the more I wanted to scratch my ears; it was that irritating.
By the way, does this bastard think I'm scared shitless and that's why I'm not answering?
The figure took another deep drag from the pipe and exhaled the smoke.
"...The item?"
As if it were the most natural thing to do, I took out the Core from my pocket and placed it on the table beside the man.
The figure, who had been looking out the window, slowly turned around and looked down at the core on the table.
Only then did I get my first proper look at the figure's face.
They were wearing a white half-mask that covered everything above their jawline.
I realized instinctively.
'It's not a clown.'
If the code name 'Clown' referred to the type of mask...
That mask wasn't a clown mask.
While the figure was preoccupied with the demonic energy emanating from the core, I quickly surveyed the room.
It was dark outside the window.
A mana sphere placed on one side of the table, a mirror hanging on the wall, other masks scattered on the floor.
The figure nodded with a satisfied look.
"Good. If we draw in the Black Star, the Divine Clan will be in turmoil too. Huhu. The Gathering will become more interesting. All that painstaking preparation was worth it."
Still chuckling to themselves and muttering cryptic words, the figure suddenly looked at me.
"I need to give you a push too. A low-ranking seat wouldn't be fitting, would it?"
Looking at them head-on, the figure's lower face seemed strangely unnatural.
"Don't you think so?"
I couldn't avoid answering anymore.
I had to respond to this question.
But what should I say? I haven't been in this kind of situation before.
How did that Bellusia bastard's voice sound? I answered in the lowest voice I could manage.
"Yes. Thank you."
"..."
Was that wrong?
Bizarre. Why was the figure's mouth so unnaturally twisted? I felt like I needed to say something else, so I tried this:
"I apologize."
The figure turned their head back to the window.
Without a word, they inhaled from the long pipe and exhaled the smoke.
Their back looked strangely lonely, and I suddenly started to feel irritated.
Sigh—
I apologized, but they completely ignored me...
"This disrespectful bastard."
"Hmm?"
"Eh?"
Something felt off, so I tilted my head in confusion, then realized my mistake.
Lost in thought, I had unknowingly spoken my mind out loud.
"..."
The figure looked at me through the mirror on the wall.
Our eyes met in the mirror.
The figure unnaturally twitched their lower face and asked,
"Who are you?"
"I'm 5001."
"What?"
"Who are you?"
Drip— Drip—
Suddenly, water droplets started falling from the ceiling.
There was no turning back now. I seized the opportunity and asked what I was curious about.
"So the leak was coming from here. What's the Black Star? And is the Gathering referring to the Information Gathering?"
The figure, still looking in the mirror, asked back,
"How did you find this place?"
"Number 7 told me."
"That's impossible."
To confuse them, I added another line.
"I heard the 'Summoning' will begin soon."
At my casual remark, the figure faltered.
Tilting their head, the figure grotesquely lifted the corners of their mouth and said,
"...The Clown has betrayed me."
They seemed to be misunderstanding something, so I feigned surprise and replied,
"...How did you know?"
"Ha."
While the figure sighed, I gathered wind pressure at the tips of my toes. With the Silent Steps technique muffling my footsteps, I slid towards the mirror.
Finally noticing my intention, the figure raised their voice for the first time.
"You?"
Simultaneously, the Dark Lightning I manifested struck the mirror.
Surprisingly, the mirror rippled with a soft impact and then instantly melted.
The transparent liquid soaked the floor and disappeared without a trace.
Just as I expected.
Rojekko, the Divine Relic of the 'Black Clan'.
The Divine Relic of the Black Clan, annihilated by Samael in the past, had reappeared here.
I immediately lunged at the figure and grabbed their neck.
Crack—
Their neck snapped with no resistance, like grabbing at straws.
"As expected, a fake."
Damn it, no wonder their movements were unnatural.
As soon as I tore off the half-mask covering the upper part of their face, a doll-like human face carved out of wood was revealed.
In an instant, the corners of the mouth of the puppet with the ripped-out neck rose unnaturally, and a grotesque laugh erupted.
"Kheheheheehehe."
Slap—
I slapped it.
The life drained from its eyes, as if its soul had escaped.
"Fucking laughing at me."
This bastard's main body is somewhere else.
Rojekko.
A Divine Relic consisting of five mirrors.
A Divine Relic similar to, yet different from, the Luminous of the Shadow Clan.
The main body must be watching me through Rojekko from a completely different space.
Drip— Drip, drip—
Suddenly, the water droplets falling from the ceiling started falling faster.
Shwaaaaa—!
As soon as I looked up, raindrops started to fall like a drizzle.
I picked up the Demon Realm's Core left on the table, and suddenly, I felt my body shake. The ground shook as if there was an earthquake, and at the same time, the ceiling of the tower collapsed, and rain poured down like a waterfall.
Creeeak—!
The moment I felt cracks appearing in the ground.
A large fissure appeared even faster, and my body sank downwards.
Crack—!
The tower was collapsing.
KwaKwaKwaKwaKwaKwaKwaKwa—!
The passage I had come through, the spiral staircase, all collapsed at once, and I fell into the dark abyss, mixed with debris.
'Overload, Point Gravity.'
I immediately used gravity magic on my body, and at the same time, I stepped on the falling debris and deliberately jumped harder downwards.
"...That Half-masked bastard."
It was designed to collapse from the beginning.
The intention was to kill everyone who entered this place after taking the Black Star.
There was no time to continue thinking.
Crack—
All the structures of the tower, which had been divided into disconnected spaces, were destroyed at once.
The surrounding scenery changed rapidly.
I saw the passage where I had killed the former king.
I saw the broken ax of the former king spinning and falling.
KwaKwaKwaKwaKwaKwaKwa—!
Then, the moment the entrance cavity came into view.
"What the?"
Taylor and the rest of the people I had left at the entrance were nowhere to be seen.
Even the ground at the entrance was shattered and open.
Only severed limbs and blood splattered on the walls remained.
It was ominous.
Faaaat—
The moment I quickly crossed the ground of the entrance and went underground.
With a feeling of the field of vision widening, the scenery completely changed.
"..."
Thud—
A vast wasteland.
As soon as I landed on the ground, I looked up at the sky.
There was no trace of the collapsing tower.
Instead, what was revealed were ash-gray storm clouds completely covering the open sky.
"..."
I hadn't moved to a different space.
A magic circle.
It was the same location from the beginning. Only the environment had changed.
Shwaaaaaaa—
As soon as I felt the raindrops pouring from the sky soaking my skin, screams came from all directions.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaak!"
"S-Save me!"
The people who were left at the entrance were here.
Suddenly, I pulled out the Red Dagger from my waist and swung it to the left.
With a Boo-waaaak— sound, an Orc warrior's head was separated from its body.
I looked ahead.
The Crazy Mage Squad was confronting the warriors who were constantly pushing in from one side.
Behind them, Taylor, with a pale face, was casting a barrier around the injured, and the mages and knights who were still able to fight joined forces.
But there were too many monsters.
The disgusting smell and stench of blood permeated the air, and the limbs of the wounded flew through the air, severed by axes.
Shwaaaaa—!
The pouring raindrops soaked the bloodstains, and pools of blood began to form.
"Crazy Mage Squad!"
I shouted as I ran towards the idiots, but none of them looked back.
Among the warriors, I saw one particularly small individual.
The Orc King.
There was another disaster-rank monster.
Kwaaaaaaaaaang—!
The blade of Makan's spear was completely chipped.
From time to time, the idiots were casting magic on the Orc King, but it wasn't working. Their bodies were already covered in blood.
Wheeeeeng—
As soon as I rotated the circle in the reverse direction and gathered my fist, the Orc King, who had been pushing Makan, turned its head and looked at me.
Thud—!
The Orc King collapsed in an instant.
I removed my hand from the Orc King's body, and looked at the squad members.
No words were needed.
As soon as the Orc King, which had been restricting their movements, disappeared, the squad members mercilessly crushed the heads of the warriors, turning the tide of the battle.
Shwaaaaaaaaa—!
I looked up at the rainy sky.
Aguro had definitely said it.
Strange phenomena were appearing in the Demon Realm.
Monsters that shouldn't appear were appearing. The frequency of mutated species was increasing. I've already seen it several times myself.
This couldn't be a coincidence.
It was artificial intervention from the beginning.
A magic circle installed in this Demon Realm, for annihilation.
There's only one way to break it by force.
Whoosh—!
I also wrapped flames and wind around both hands and started crushing the monsters' heads.
As the number of monsters gradually decreased and the screams of people subsided,
I suddenly kicked off the ground and charged towards Zion.
"Crouch!"
I blocked Zion's front and unleashed Dark Lightning forward.
Paaaaaaaaaang—!
A tremendous pressure from the front disrupted the Dark Lightning and lifted me up.
Booong—!
I flew through the air for a long time and then crashed to the ground.
"Kugh!"
I felt like all the blood in my body was flowing backward, and my insides were churning.
The earthen-colored spear blade, embedded upside down in the ground in front of me, was vibrating with a burr— sound.
"Ruin!"
Taylor, who had been maintaining the barrier, rushed over, and almost simultaneously, Palge arrived, roaring and starting to chant a light attribute spell.
I raised my hand to stop them both.
"Don't come!"
I stared intently at one spot.
An Orc King emerged from among the warriors.
And right behind it, a massive presence emerged.
An Orc twice the size of the Orc Warriors, comparable to a giant.
That's the one.
Holding a jet-black spear of the same size as the one embedded in front of me in its right hand, it surveyed the crowd.
"Orcus of Frenzy."
Someone muttered in a trembling voice.
"A Unique Monster..."
A monster with a unique name, only three of which have been discovered across all the Demon Realms.
The moment of hope that had briefly bloomed turned back into the fear of despair for everyone.
I opened all the circles in my heart in reverse.
I met its eyes.
Wheeeeeng—!
I leaped the moment the raindrops grazing my eyes touched the ground.
A twisting, squeezing pain.
Was it because I pushed myself too hard in a short period?
A bloody smell rose.
Suppressing the suffocating pressure, I unleashed the concentrated darkness that bloomed from my fingertips.
4th Circle, Reverse Incantation (易呪).
Dark Explosion.
The moment the front was completely dyed in darkness,
The monster's spear strike cut across the center of the Dark Explosion.
Paaaaaaaaaang—!
The shockwave shook my chest, and I was pushed back.
An overwhelmingly powerful shock. Just as I was about to crash into the ground, Taylor activated his shield and caught me.
"Kugh."
"Ruin!"
Orcus, frowning for a moment, looked at me with a curious expression.
Following that, in Orcus's eyes, fixed on his spear with its front completely blackened, there was only a slight admiration.
"Ruin! Don't move!"
Meanwhile, the idiots, covered in blood, continued their attacks, desperately trying to crush the heads of the Orc Warriors and the Orc King.
Taylor, who had caught me with his shield, also joined the Crazy Mage Squad, drawing a hand sign.
"We have to kill that bastard!"
Blair and Cliff also ran out, shouting.
Watching them, the Red Magic Tower, the Yellow Magic Tower, and other injured knights also ran out.
Chano, who had been holding someone's corpse and crying, also got up.
And Orcus, the Unique Monster, watching all this, raised his jet-black spear high in the sky.
A massive amount of energy began to gather at the tip of the spear.
"Don't do it."
My voice didn't come out well.
"Ah, fuck. Don't do it."
Shwaaa— Beeeee—
The sound of the rain started to sound like tinnitus.
The smell of blood rose.
Rainwater kept getting in my eyes, and every time I blinked, my vision flashed red.
An energy of the same type as the knights’ Qi surged from the monster's spear blade.
Thump—.
Once again, I rotated the circle in my heart in reverse.
One, two, three, four....
Wheeeeeng—.
Five.
I no longer felt any pain.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Prøks]
[Proofreader - Prøks]
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