Chapter 239  

"Oh, well... Perhaps I've diminished his reasoning too much. It feels quite peculiar how he dashed off instantly at the mere mention of a feast," Eveheim smirked while scratching his cheek.

With his hands nonchalantly placed behind his back, he proceeded to advance at a leisurely pace. After three years, a period that felt neither short nor long, Eveheim could easily predict exactly where Red, whom he had diligently nurtured, would inevitably journey.

‘He will go to Seoul. It is highly likely that he will consume the one named Comet first.’

It was evident what the creature with nothing but his instincts remaining would despise the most.

"Fate can be quite wicked," Eveheim murmured with a seductive smile adorning his lips as he reminisced about the memories and information he had uncovered when he had first delved into Do-Jin's mind.

"The poor fool doesn't even know who his real enemy is. How amusing, haha..."

That was why Eveheim had initially wanted Yu-Seong to become the next Red. How electrifying it would have been to watch him being tamed like a beast under the one who had killed his mother? It would have surely sent chills of excitement beyond imagination. However, regretfully, Yu-Seong had been sealed with the Demon King.

'To be precise, he has entered the sanctuary of the transcendent beings.'?

Although, how did Yu-Seong come to know about the existence of the transcendent beings? It was a mystery, but Eveheim didn't consider it significant.

'Baek Yu-Ri must have left some sort of trace or something.'?

He chuckled inwardly, shrugging his shoulders. Regardless, since Yu-Seong had entered the sanctuary of the transcendent beings, there were only two possible outcomes.

'If he's unlucky, he would have died on the spot...'?

However, what if he survived?

"He would become my nemesis sent by the heavens."

In fact, this wouldn't be too bad either.

“If I can overcome my destiny and ascend to the heavens,” Eveheim mumbled, a grand ambition burning in his eyes as he wore a slight smile. “Then, I would truly become the ultimate ruler.'”

***

The long-awaited family gathering concluded quietly and was filled with warmth. The most significant gain was that Ji-Ho had taken the Elixir.

'Given his serious injuries, he mentioned not feeling any immediate changes...'?

However, he should be able to recover and restore all of his mana within a few days. This marked the return of Ji-Ho, who had once been hailed as South Korea's most promising talent.

'Meanwhile, Mi-Na noo-nim has become even stronger.'?

While Woo-Jae had been in the Tower of Heaven, Mi-Na also seemed to have made considerable progress regarding her own power.

'It's a relief that everyone is reliably strong without me needing to worry.'?

Having finished the first family meeting, the next people Yu-Seong sought out were naturally the Jin siblings, Ye-Ryeong, and Jin-Hyuk.

'I wonder how these four are doing?'?

Returning home via spatial movement, with a fluttering heart, Yu-Seong couldn't help but be surprised. He asked the housemaid, "No one's here?" "Yes... By the way, young master, are you really okay?"

The housemaid, who had been working at the house for a long time, asked with wide eyes. She couldn't help but be startled by Yu-Seong's sudden return home.

"Of course. Don't I look healthy?"

It felt like time had been strangely misaligned. Feeling disappointed with this discovery, Yu-Seong wore a regretful expression and said to the housemaid, "Now that my phone is working again, please let me know if anyone comes back."

"I will. But will you be going out again?" asked the housemaid.

"I have another friend to wait for."

Yu-Seong, smiling gently, waved his hand in the air. He stepped once more through a portal in space.

'I have many places to visit.'?

Today was likely going to be quite busy.

***

While Yu-Seong was busy searching for his acquaintances, all eyes and ears in the United States were focused on an event that had started the night before. The capital of Arizona, Phoenix, was surrounded by thick fog which cut off all communication and made it impossible to ascertain the situation within.

The first to respond had been the military and players stationed in the nearby cities. In anticipation of a possible threat, it was only natural to dispatch individuals capable of wielding actual power.

However, the real problem had arisen here. Of the military and the players who had left at dawn, only one returned by the time the morning sun rose. The man returned horrifically maimed, as if a zombie had torn the flesh from his body. Just before dropping dead on the spot, he spread a terrifying message that a devil had appeared. There were no other survivors.

Naturally, the entire United States was thrown into chaos. If the identity of the massive fog that had swallowed an entire capital was truly a demon, it meant there was a possibility that a demon of at least Marquis rank, possibly even Duke rank, had appeared.

A powerful demon had appeared on the mainland of the United States! The government could not ignore the fact that the form of the fog might change in unforeseen ways. As a result, substantial forces were assembled in less than a day. Five S-rank players, representing the United States, along with other powerful players, took their positions at the forefront. Special forces were also dispatched into the fog of Phoenix, prepared for possible combat and survivor rescues.

Given the considerable forces dispatched, capable of returning with adequate information even in an emergency, no one had thought of the possibility of failure for this mission. However, about three hours after entering the fog, one of the S-rank players representing the United States, Liam, couldn't help but despair as thoughts of mission failure filled his mind.

The bodies of his colleagues, who had only been reliable ever since setting off together, had been roughly torn apart. Their blood spilt all over the asphalt road. Among them were as many as four S-rank players, like Liam.

The ones who had slain them all were the mere three individuals standing before Liam. More precisely, it was the deed of one among the three.

'It's not a demon.'

Indeed, there was no demon concealed within the mist. Instead, there lurked only individuals more deranged than any demon.

"You accursed Demon King Worshipers...!" Liam, whose arms had been forcefully ripped from his body and was trembling all over, shouted at the three people.

The young man positioned in the center, his hair a striking shade of pale white, responded to Liam's words with a peculiar smile. He said calmly, "Accursed, you say? We are merely fulfilling our original objectives.”

"Truly... Are you carrying out such a widespread massacre just to summon a Demon King?!"

"Correct!" Noah, the white-haired man, cheerfully replied to Liam’s horrified response. Slightly kneeling down to meet Liam’s gaze, Noah added, "You're aware of the situation in Pyongyang three years ago, right?"

"What...?"

"A Demon King was summoned then. It consumed a great deal of blood and sacrifices," Noah said.

"You, surely you don't intend to engage in such madness to replicate that event, do you?"

"Of course, back then, there was also the power of the Philosopher's Stone. Hence, we have dedicated extensive research to discover ways of creating something akin to it."

As Noah flicked his finger lightly, a woman standing to his left handed him a black stone. Noah, accepting the stone, grinned at Liam and asked, "Do you see this?"

"What... What is that ominous object?" Liam said.

"It’s the subpar version of the Philosopher's Stone, or to be more precise, something akin to a Demon King summoning stone," Noah replied with a grin, nonchalantly throwing the black stone amongst the brutally torn bodies.

As the stone loftily floated among the corpses, tendrils that were as dark as midnight sprung forth to rapidly engulf the nearby bodies. They appeared to be devouring the bodies. The sight was so horrendously ghastly that Liam had to swallow hard, fear and fury simultaneously flashing in his eyes.

"What… What on earth is this...?" Liam cried.

Even before Liam finished his speech, the black stone began to tremble violently while emitting an eerie and spine-chilling sound.

Heeheehee-!?

Upon hearing that sinister and wicked laughter, Noah's gaze shifted. He remarked, "Oh, this reaction seems different somehow?"

Noah, with a smile that seemed almost joyful, grasped the neck of Liam, who was still barely alive.

Having lost his power, let alone the ability to move his body, the only resistance Liam could muster was his words. He asked desperately, "What are you trying to do?"

"I have conducted several experiments, and it appears that the living subjects were more effective than the deceased," Noah remarked.

"You, you don’t mean..."

With a smile on his face, Noah lifted Liam by the neck and approached the black stone.

Heeheehee-!?

As the stone, flickering its hideous black tendrils like a tongue, emitted a horrific sound, it came into contact with Liam's back.

"Wouldn't an S-rank player like you make a suitable sacrifice?"

"No, no… Urgh!"

Liam could not finish speaking. The tendrils that sprung from the black stone wrapped around his entire body in an instant, swallowing him whole. As his body was torn apart while he was still alive, Liam's eyes widened in unimaginable pain. With a tearing sound that sliced through the air, his pain abruptly ceased.

Liam, who had fallen to the ground with a thud, screamed in pain. "AAARGH!"

The pain he had momentarily forgotten then surged back in full force. However, his scream was short-lived. A kick from somewhere struck Liam's head with a strong force, knocking him unconscious.

"Ugh-!"

In front of the unconscious Liam, a woman with flamboyant red hair and captivating red eyes made her grand entrance. She furrowed her brow in disgust as she cast a disdainful gaze toward Noah, who held the Demon King summoning stone.

"Ahaha! What on earth is the Hexagram Master doing, cradling such a grotesque thing like a baby? Are you going to feed it milk? Hahaha!" she clicked her tongue and burst into mad laughter at Noah.

Her laughter, filled with ridicule, caused Noah's already thin eyes to narrow further. He muttered, "I thought I was mistaken... You're alive, Rachel,"

Rachel, the woman with fiery red hair, nodded and extended her hand. She said cheekily, "I've been waiting to split open the head of the bastard like you. That's why I'm still alive."

"Crazy bitch."

Noah spat out an insult and turned his head to the side. Just at that moment, a cold ax blade swished past right next to his neck.

"Wow, nice hunch. But can you dodge this too?"

Laughing loudly, Rachel drew out two hand axes from her waist and hurled them at Noah.

"You're kidding me..." Noah clicked his tongue lightly and his figure shifted to the left.

At that moment, a man appeared next to Noah like a lightning bolt. His red cloak fluttered as he threw a punch and spoke in a low voice, "Buffalo Dash."

BOOM-!?

With an exploding sound, Noah, struck by the gigantic horns of the charging bull, spat out blood and was thrown into the air.

"Nice, Bernard."

At the sound of Rachel's clapping, Bernard, who had his cloak pulled over his head, smiled awkwardly and shook his head. He said, "By the way, did you really have to knock that man out that hard?"

"I didn't kill him, did I?" Rachel responded.

"Isn't there a gentler way to knock someone out?"

"That's not my style, so..." Rachel shrugged her shoulders with a smile.

Bernard was about to click his tongue when Noah, who had been thrown high into the air and then fell to the ground, began to let out a hearty laugh.

"Hehe, hahaha... How funny that you look down on me!"

Then, a powerful blue energy, similar to a sword formed through the Shapeshift skill, began to take shape around Noah, who was now floating in mid-air.

Noah, the man with the moniker of 'Infinite Bombardment', lived up to his name as thousands of swords materialized around him.

"There's no escape. All will be killed and offered as sacrifices for the summoning of the Demon King."

Just as Noah’s cold voice rang out as he prepared to launch his attack toward Bernard and Rachel on the ground, Bernard pointed toward the sky with his index finger and said calmly, "It's no use making a fuss..."

Then, the strange sound that reached his ears was unexpectedly heavy for mere commotion. Naturally curious, Noah looked up and saw a colossal black missile, resembling a meteor, hurtling from above. He murmured under his breath, "...Fuck."