LGHTNOVELBOOK chapter 42
41 – Demon (5)
It was nothing more than a common assault.
Around that time, unique assaults simply didn’t exist.
It was war, after all.
Except this time, the location left much to be desired. And the Association President was held hostage.
The circumstances were unfavorable in many respects.
That alone was bad enough, but all those conditions pushed Jung Haein onto the battlefield.
Chun Yeoul asked him,
“You’ll go yourself, won’t you?”
“I have to.”
He always did.
‘I have to.’ Humanity was suffering a manpower crisis.
Now, every hero of renown was desperately needed.
In these circumstances, his presence was an indispensable force.
But, precisely because the demons knew him so well, they were trying every which way to drag him out and eliminate him.
Kang Ah-rin lowered her hand beneath the table.
Her fingernails dug in so hard they drew blood.
Around that time, they had all become weapons for the destruction of demons.
Carefully, meticulously, Jung Haein had dedicated years to it. One by one creating, his creations, his own.
‘Insufficient.’
Therefore, so long as those who had absorbed the shards existed, Jeong Hae-in didn’t need to stand at the very front lines.
It should have been so.
However, a void had been created, a single emptiness.
The man Jeong Hae-in had nurtured with the most care.
Seong Si-woo.
He had vanished.
One day, suddenly. Without warning, without knowing the reason.
Jeong Hae-in was heartbroken. Though she didn’t show it overtly.
However, they knew.
The study at dawn.
Within the space where darkness had settled, the only light was a single lamp placed upon the desk.
Beneath that light, Jeong Hae-in sat with her head bowed.
Her back, always straight and firm, was strangely and heavily bent.
Even as she turned the documents spread before her, page by page, her gaze lingered on each one for too long. Pressing her fingertips to her brow, lost in deep thought.
They had seen it.
That trembling aspect of her.
Cheon Yeo-ul watched that figure through the crack in the door, tears streaming down her face.
Yu Ha-na went as far as the study door, then turned away without a word.
Kang A-rin silently headed for the training grounds.
Ha Si-on gritted her teeth, seized her bow, and ran outside.
Ultimately, to fill Seong Si-woo’s absence, Jeong Hae-in drove herself even harder.
‘He’ll be back soon.’
Jeong Hae-in believed that Seong Si-woo would return, but…
No matter how much time passed, he did not come back.
And his place remained vacant.
Fortunately, however, the assault was quelled more easily than expected.
Mains were subjugated in various locations, and the Hero Association Chairman’s safety was secured without incident.
The tense air gradually loosened.
At that moment.
– Thunk.
A rough, blunt sound.
And then, an object sprawling on the floor.
A face, drained ghostly white. Eyes, vacant and lost.
The Chairman’s head.
In that instant, all sound ceased. No one screamed.
Before even shock could be swallowed, the next wave crashed in.
– KWA-GWA-GWA-GWANG!
Something hurtled toward Jung Hae-in.
An attack imbued with a terrifying force.
He instantly twisted his body, assuming a defensive stance. A violent impact reverberated through his spear.
The ground beneath his feet shattered.
Thick cracks spiderwebbed, the earth caved inward.
And everyone, in unison, turned their heads toward the attack’s origin.
A silhouette wreathed in dark energy.
Red, baleful glints. You could feel the demonic energy seething from his form.
“…Seong Shi-woo.”
He hadn’t fled in terror. Nor had he simply returned.
A body stained purple, a demonic aura so potent it defied humanity.
He had.
Turned traitor.
But their first act was to shift their gaze to Jung Hae-in.
Seong Shi-woo meant nothing to them.
They feared for his well-being. That he, might be in anguish.
His heart came before their own emotions.
But he said nothing.
Merely brushed off the dust, slowly rising to his feet. And, calmly, he lifted his head to regard Seong Shi-woo.
What thoughts churned within him. What emotions he harbored.
No one could discern.
*
Sung Si-woo, on his very first day of Weaponry Training, tasted humiliation, a blemish that would never quite wash away.
He burned with rage.
To be angry was simple.
But he was not one to simply vent.
He was one who could hone that rage, sharpen it to a razor’s edge.
To surpass Jung Hae-in. That was his sole objective.
Jung Hae-in’s plan, which sought only to provoke him, had, though misguided, achieved a rough sort of success.
“Sung Si-woo…”
“Get lost.”
“Alright, then.”
Sung Si-woo did not even deign to glance at him.
He ignored him as if he were a creature unworthy of a response.
Then, one fateful day.
He found himself a witness to Jung Hae-in’s mock dungeon practice.
In that instant, his mind went utterly blank.
Jung Hae-in, he saw, overwhelmed two students of a rank even higher than his own, doing so with a dominance that was utter.
Infernal fires began to ignite within him.
‘I must overcome him.’
He resolved himself. He had trained sufficiently.
And so, he would defeat him during the midterm exams.
On this stage, he would break him, proving his own superiority.
He singled him out as his opponent.
But he was refused.
“This b*stard…”
But the next instant, he gasped at the sight of the opponent within the arena.
‘Yohan…?’
Jung Hae-in’s opponent was not him, but Yohan, the one ranked second.
Sung Si-woo clenched his fist tightly, watching the match unfold.
Jung Hae-in, he saw, subdued Yohan in the blink of an eye.
In that moment, Crusader charged toward Jung Hae-in with eyes burning with madness.
Sung Si-woo clenched his fist on instinct, too.
Yet, a presence stood barring his way.
“Why…?”
Si-woo’s eyes wavered. Park Gwang-cheol was blocking him.
They exchanged words, and then, with a casual nudge, Gwang-cheol draped an arm around Jeong Hae-in’s shoulder. A posture of sudden camaraderie.
The place Si-woo had believed, without a shadow of a doubt, that he, the best, would enter.
Vanquisher, the strongest collective in the world.
Sung Si-woo had always, *always*, yearned to join Vanquisher.
But even that, it seemed, belonged to Jeong Hae-in now.
In that moment, a vast emptiness washed over him from deep within his chest.
That night.
Sung Si-woo couldn’t sleep. Hae-in’s image wouldn’t fade from his mind.
Finally, when the next day dawned, he walked, directionless.
He didn’t know where he should go.
He simply walked, and walked.
Not wanting to encounter anyone, he walked even deeper into the forest.
There, he met the being that awaited him.
Masked, he introduced himself as Moras.
“Do you wander?”
He whispered to Sung Si-woo.
“I will grant you…power.”
In that instant.
His heart leaped.
Elation surged. Finally, an opportunity had arrived.
From behind Moras, a black hand reached out.
And he was about to reach for that hand.
-*Thwack!*
“Hey, you son of a b*tch!!”
That voice. He heard it.
The most loathsome voice of all.
It was but a moment.
One step more, and the power would have been mine.
My head throbbed, splitting with pain.
‘It’s you again.’
Again, that b*stard, stealing my strength.
Stealing my chance.
My vision warped.
Above, a hallowed light bloomed.
The System intervened.
[Crisis Detected. Protecting User.]
A sacred aura enveloped Seong Si-woo.
His body twitched, spasming.
“Shit…!”
His pupils dilated.
A wave of agony crashed over him.
“Are you alright?”
He rushed over, checking Seong Si-woo’s condition with frantic concern, then sighed in visible relief.
-Still okay…
-The System is handling i…
His voice grew fainter, fading away.
And then, from far away, beyond the outstretched hand, a voice whispered.
-Accept it.
‘Accept? Accept what?’
-My child, accept this power.
Then, a sense of comfort, of ease, began to settle over his mind.
It was such a simple matter.
All he had to do was accept.
[Warning. Abnormal Magical Energy Detected.]
[Danger. System Error Detected.]
[Forced Purification….]
[…Failure.]
The light, shattered.
Jeong Hae-in’s eyes snapped wide.
His mind screamed.
The system.
Broken into a thousand pieces.
His face flooded with despair.
“……”
Jeong Hae-in watched him, wordless.
Seong Si-woo smiled. Slowly, agonizingly slowly.
A viscous, dark energy bloomed from his body.
He reaches out.
-Clutch!
He seized Jeong Hae-in’s throat.
“…!”
The sudden impact sent a tremor through Jeong Hae-in.
The color of Seong Si-woo’s arm deepened, shading towards purple. A sign of corruption by demonic energy.
Seong Si-woo’s grip tightened.
Jeong Hae-in found it difficult even to draw breath.
Even so, he looked straight at Seong Si-woo.
“Snap out of it… idiot…”
He knew, too. What the shattering of the system truly meant.
But he couldn’t accept it.
The end of this world’s protagonist. It couldn’t end like this.
He was denying his own understanding.
“Heh.”
Seong Si-woo scoffed. His red eyes glinted with manic light.
“Just die already.”
His crushing hand tightened further. Strength surged into Jeong Hae-in’s own hands.
Then, it happened.
-KWA-GWA-GWANG!!!
-CHAENG!
Light poured from the heavens, an intense pressure crushing the very air.
A colossal hammer wreathed in holy light, and a jet-black spear, descended like judgement itself.
-CRUNCH!
Seong Si-woo’s arm was torn clean off.
“Ugh… Uaaa!!!”
He screamed, a sound ripped from the depths of excruciating pain.
Crimson blood dripped, a morbid counterpoint to the holy light.
Then, a voice cleaved through the chaos.
“It’s Corruption.”
A composed voice, cool and steady.
It was the Paladin, the one Jung Hae-in had met before.
And behind her, a retinue of Saints manifested, led by Cheon Yeo-ul.
“… That was almost a close call.”
On the opposite side. Kang Yoon-hyeok, Guild Master of the Ascendancy, stood with an outstretched hand. Beside him was Kang Ah-rin.
Kang Ah-rin gazed down at Seong Si-woo with detached indifference.
Her gaze held a chilling contempt.
Seong Si-woo writhed on the ground, a broken marionette dancing to the tune of his agonizing missing arm.
With a gesture from the Paladin,
shackles of pure white formed around his body, one by one.
Kang Yoon-hyeok inquired,
“What would be the best course of action?”
The disposition of Mind-Flayers, and those brainwashed or Corrupted by them, was primarily dictated by the Order’s guidelines.
Killing them was easy enough, but the residue of demonic energy could linger, potentially causing further complications.
The Paladin deliberated.
If it were early stage Corruption, the prognosis might be favorable.
But seeing the purplish hue staining his arm, the transformation into a demon—the Demonification—had progressed too far, too quickly.
In such cases, execution and confinement… each carried its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
Finally, she spoke.
“It seems… imprisonment is the only…”
-CRACK!
But the words were never finished.
Jung Hae-in’s spear, pierced through Sung Shi-woo’s heart with deadly accuracy.
“He is a Mind.”
He said, curtly.
And then slumped, collapsing to the ground.
Jung Hae-in finally accepted the reality.
“There’s no turning back.”
If the system has broken down, that is the end.
The Order’s counsel was of no consequence.
Because who knew more about erosion than anyone else?
Jung Hae-in, himself.
Silence fell over everyone.
However, in that space, just the two of them.
Chun Yeo-wool and Kang Ah-rin alone – their eyes twisted.
Their expressions,
were painted with a silent, ecstatic joy.