“There are three ways to get to the next stage. The first is Siberia.”
Dok Go-yun pointed at the map, saying that they could use a railway to cross.
Pale marvelled.
“Wow. That’s a long railway.”
Lukas’ gaze also turned to the map.
“I’m surprised there are still railways.”
“It’s said that it was rebuilt. Of course, it hasn’t been completely restored so it’s impossible to arrive in one go. It would take a long time, but it has the advantage of being cheap and relatively safe.”
But Lukas didn’t accept it so easily.
“Was there a reason to rebuild it? There should be countless high ranked Wizards in this world. It would be more efficient to use a warp system designed by them.”
At that, Dok Go-yun tilted his head to the side.
“I know that Wizards have the ability to leap across space in one breath, but they say that the current world is twisted which makes it impossible to travel across large distances. Moreover, it seems that even short distance travel requires a fairly complicated process…”
That’s right. He could accept that.
Even Lukas had never encountered a world where the spatial values were so complicated. Even Wizards who were fairly confident in their skills would not be able to muster up the courage to use Warp in this world.
‘Lightning God.’
[What is it?]
‘By chance, is it not just here, but the entire multiverse that experienced a similar situation to the Great Fusion?’
[That’s right.]
The Lightning God answered with surprising obedience. Lukas clicked his tongue. It seemed the entirety of the Three Thousand Worlds was experiencing this situation.
Was this situation caused by the death of God, or was the death of God caused by this situation?
And if that was the case, was this situation caused by those from the World of Void? Or was it the Rulers who still seemed relaxed.
Or.
Was it not the Rulers, nor the beings of the World of Void.
Someone else entirely…
‘That’s an excessive thought.’
Lukas dismissed his suspicions as a delusion.
The possibility that there was a being stronger than the Rulers, Four Knights, and Twelve Void Lords, who had been hiding themself without revealing any hints until now…
…He couldn’t say there was none. This was because Lukas had already experienced many things that surpassed his understanding.
‘In any case, the boundary between universes is very unstable right now.’
To a certain extent, the possibility that a high ranking Wizard might get sucked into another universe if they recklessly interfered with space existed.
—In other words, even a being that wasn’t an Absolute could move between universes. This was likely due to the absence of God. It was likely for a similar reason that the boundary between the Three Thousand Worlds and the World of Void, which had been on completely different courses before, had collapsed.
“The second way I was about to tell you was to use Warp. Luanoble also has a warp system, so it would be possible to travel bit by bit… But this way isn’t too good. So what I’d recommend we use is the third way.”
“The third?”
“Yes. Using personal skills.”
“Personal skills?”
Pale muttered in a doubtful voice.
If it was personal skills…
“You mean using a plane?”
“Not an ordinary plane. Those are loud and high profile, and they don’t have a means for combat, there would be no way to respond if we encountered an enemy in the sky. The sky outside the safe zones are filled with all kinds of dangers.”
Dok Go-yun continued.
“The Demonic Cult is in possession of a fighter jet. It is a friendly gift the Heavenly Demon received from the Admiral of the Great Galactic Alliance, and it has several functions that I think are quite useful. We can ride in that.”
“I don’t know how to fly.”
Of course, Yang In-hyun and Pale, who accompanied him, would be the same.
“Basically, it is equipped with an autopilot function, but I will operate it in case of an emergency.”
“You can fly a fighter jet?”
At that, Dok Go-yun let out a bitter laugh.
“No. Not even the basics. Literally, all I can do is grab the control stick in the event of an emergency.”
“…”
“When do you intend to leave?”
“Right away. The sooner the better.”
“Understood. I’ll check the equipment and carry out a simple handover. Please give me 30 minutes.”
“Go ahead.”
“Thank you. Please wait on the roof.”
Just before leaving, Dok Go-yun said.
“I’m not particularly fond of slaughter.”
It came out of nowhere. Dok Go-yun had already turned around so he couldn’t see his face.
Although Lukas didn’t understand why he chose to bring it up all of a sudden…
“I know.”
He gave an answer first.
“Huh?”
“Didn’t the Heavenly Demon capture you when you were very young because you were exceptionally talented? Then he forced you to act as his double. While teaching you his martial arts.”
“…how did you know?”
“In the first place, if you were a guy with a rotten mind, I wouldn’t have stopped Yang In-hyun when he tried to kill you.”
“…”
“From now on, just live as you please. As long as you don’t harm others.”
“It’s too late for that. I have already lived for half a century…”
“So? You’re still young.”
Lukas smiled as he continued.
“If you go astray, I will give you some advice. As long as you’re by my side.”
Dok Go-yun found it hard to open his mouth.
He’d thought that his life would never be understood by anyone. After all, it was an unfortunate life. Even if he managed to escape from the Heavenly Demon’s influence, as the person who impersonated the Heavenly Demon, whether it was forced or not, Dok Go-yun was someone who had a lot of blood on his hands.
Dok Go-yun looked at Lukas and caught his side profile as he had a conversation with the blue haired woman. For him, his top priority had always been his own self preservation. Dok Go-yun’s sole purpose in life was to live a long life.
That was why he had been overwhelmed by the Heavenly Demon’s overwhelming dignity* and felt fear, but that was no longer the case.(*: Yes…)
For reference, he hadn’t felt even the slightest hint of sorrow at the death of the Heavenly Demon.
It was the same now. Dok Go-yun was still grovelling at the feet of a strong person. He was in a situation where he had to follow Lukas’ orders without a word.
But he felt something different compared to when he’d obeyed the Heavenly Demon.
***
When Lukas went up to the rooftop, he saw a familiar face.
It was Yang In-hyun. Looking around, he said.
“Who were you talking to?”
Only then did Yang In-hyun turn his gaze over to Lukas. Then, he threw something in his hand towards him.
“…this.”
A black card. That looked exactly like the one he’d just seen, which had been taken from the Corpse Demon’s corpse.
In other words, it was a card that proved someone was a member of VIP.
“Where did you get this?”
“Someone called Gentleman gave it to me.”
“What did he tell you?”
“An offer to join VIP.”
Lukas was silent for a moment. Then, looking at Yang In-hyun’s face, he asked.
“What was your answer.”
It was at that moment that Yang In-hyun’s expression changed. A strange scent seemed to spread out in every direction as if the flow of the atmosphere had been reversed.
“They don’t know me.”
A cool voice.
“No one knows me. Not even you.”
And a cool gaze.
“Even if you know about my past, you know nothing about the man named Yang In-hyun.”
Lukas didn’t deny Yang In-hyun’s words.
“However, those guys talked as if they knew me. Isn’t that funny? I’ve only been in this world for a day. All they saw was me cleaning up the dregs of the Demonic Cult. And yet, based on that alone, they assumed that they were the same as me. From my perspective, that’s more disgusting than being covered in worms.”
Drawing his sword, Yang In-hyun looked up at the sky.
“Did you know, Lukas? A device was installed in the vacuum of space that exists beyond the sky. They seem to have peeped at our battle using it.”
Observing from the vacuum of space, he seemed to be talking about a satellite.
Then, Yang In-hyun swung his sword towards the sky. He didn’t even get into a proper stance. Rather than swordsmanship, it was a rough movement as if he was swinging a stick instead of a sword.
Papat-
It was miniscule.
A sound that was barely audible.
Then, Yang In-hyun sheathed his sword again.
“—I’m so displeased it’s giving me a headache.”
Lukas looked up at the sky. The sun had already risen up high so it was a bit hard to see, but he witnessed a brief flicker of light in the pitch black space beyond the sky.
“I roughly heard your conversation. You said you were going to the place where the VIPs are, I will go with you.”
“…”
It seemed that VIP might have accomplished a feat that even Lukas couldn’t easily achieve.
The feat of making the Everlasting Plum Sword Yang In-hyun a complete enemy.
(TL: These two guys are flexing so hard without even trying. ‘Oh I heard your conversation on the roof’, ‘Oh I heard your conversation in the building’, ‘Oh look, there’s a satellite in space, watch me cut it’)
* * *
A giant carved from gold.
That was Jiudad’s impression when he saw Neil Prand for the first time.
He felt unbelievably strong.
If the Heavenly Demon felt like a bottomless abyss, Neil was like a golden brilliance. It felt like he couldn’t take his eyes off of him, but if he kept staring at him, he would go blind.
“So what the Archduke is saying…”
The grave voice woke Jiudad from his thoughts.
“Is that someone broke into New Luanoble, and single-handedly drove the Demonic Cult to the brink of destruction…?”
“That’s right.”
“What about the Heavenly Demon?”
“He is missing.”
“…”
This was what Lukas had requested him to say.
And, as Jiudad himself had said, he was willing to do whatever Lukas wished.
For a moment, Neil looked at Jiudad with blank eyes. Cold sweat began to form on Jiudad’s palms, but he didn’t show it and instead pretended to hold his chin naturally.
“In other words, there is no reason for us Trowman Rings to come to Luanoble.”
“I’m sorry you had to make this trip in vain.”
“I welcome this kind of vain trip.”
Neil grinned and said.
“That’s not something you need to apologise for, in fact, it is a good thing. We were prepared to suffer heavy damages if we were to fight the Demonic Cult.”
“Thank you for understanding. Then, how about this, since you came all the way to Luanoble, why don’t you take a look around the country? There isn’t any place that can be called a tourist attraction yet, but it will nonetheless be a feast for the eyes.”
“Thank you for the offer, but our schedule is a bit tight. I can only accept your heartfelt thanks.”
With that, Neil left the castle without hesitation.
A subordinate, who was following behind him, opened their mouth.
“Are the Archduke’s words true?”
“True?”
“The fact that the Demonic Cult was destroyed. According to our information, it is safe to call Luanoble the Heavenly Demon’s territory. In other words, it’s possible that the Archduke succumbed to Heavenly Demon’s threats and faked the destruction of the Demonic Cult…”
“To avoid conflict with us?”
“Yes.”
“It’s plausible. But no. That is too passive to be one of the Heavenly Demon’s tactics.”
Faking the destruction of the Demonic Cult out of fear of colliding with the Trowman Rings. That was a plan that the Heavenly Demon’s pride would never allow him to carry out.
“Of course, it seems the Archduke is hiding something besides that.”
But he didn’t intend to forcibly dig into that. The Trowman Rings didn’t come here for war. It didn’t seem like he was being threatened, so there was no need for them to bother.
“However, the Heavenly Demon being missing is not a good thing.”
“Mm.”
“What will we do now?”
“…that’s right.”
After thinking for a moment, Neil spoke.
“I had wanted to get the [card] in order to infiltrate [VIP], but things didn’t seem to work out easily. I have no choice but to move on like this.”
“Should we report to the Master?”
“Right. And…”
For a moment, Neil’s gaze shifted to the roof of a huge building, the Infernal Heaven.
“Should we report anything else?”
“No. That’s all for the report. You guys should head back first.”
“Huh? Then Honour Prand…”
For a moment, a lightning bolt seemed to flash across Neil’s blue eyes.
“I will go to the next stage.”
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