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Chapter 199

“Shall we change the atmosphere a bit?”

Behi, as it turns out, was just a nickname, and after finishing a squabble with his servant who had the fancy name Behemoth, Leviathan muttered with a snap of his fingers.

Suddenly, the scenery surrounding Yeon-woo melted away. Yeon-woo, startled, looked around, but there was no trace of mana, nor did he feel its movement.

‘Is this the power of a Demon King?’

It was Yeon-woo’s first time witnessing this, so he couldn’t help but wonder. Who would have thought that even with his mana sensitivity, he wouldn’t be able to detect it?

If the Demon King before him were an enemy, just assuming that made him break out in a cold sweat.

Only then did Yeon-woo begin to grasp what a Demon King truly was. A being that could effortlessly squash renowned hunters like bugs—could he actually kill something like that?

As a fleeting thought crossed his mind, Yeon-woo shook his head to dispel it. After all, wasn’t this something that Dawn could have done even in a state of lost powers?

It was only natural for fights in a domain with its own flavor to be unreasonable, and they surely had weaknesses.

‘I came this far to discover that weakness.’

The swaying scenery abruptly came to a halt. Yeon-woo remained in place. The only things that changed were those outside of him. Leviathan, who had been seated aloft, descended before him, and a wide table appeared between them.

“Behi, bring some dessert. I think it’s better to chat while munching on something sweet.”

“Understood.”

At Leviathan’s request, Behemoth left the scene. An awkward silence lingered between the two. Clearing his throat to break the silence, Leviathan began to speak.

“Let’s see, there are things I should clarify first.”

“What… are you talking about? Insurance policies?”

“Not so different, really. First, it’s that I don’t know everything. Second, even if I do know, there are things I cannot disclose. Just remember these two points.”

“Okay, I’ll accept the first. But what about the second?”

“I may not know everything, but even if I do, there are restrictions. You know how it is with gods? The same goes for Demon Kings. It’s a bit more relaxed, though.”

Hearing such a casual mention of the constraints imposed by gods felt unsettling. However, Yeon-woo nodded, as he could somewhat understand.

“So, where shall we begin? Ah, do you know about this?”

Leviathan said as he rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a large stone slab that had patterns engraved on it.

Did he connect a warehouse to his clothes’ pocket? Yeon-woo admired the absurdly impressive ability and turned his gaze to the stone.

What’s it matter whether I know about a rock? Yeon-woo squinted, suddenly realizing it resembled something he had seen before.

“…Is that the Black Mirror?”

“Oh, you know it. Right. This stone is from the same dimension as the Black Mirror.”

“Oh-ho. But doesn’t that have nothing to do with the Demon King? What does it have to do with the Sea of Creation and the Demon King?”

“The Sea of Creation isn’t related, but the Black Mirror is. Both the Black Mirror and this stone come from the world that Moryo destroyed.”

“…Huh? Now that you mention it…”

Something flashed across Yeon-woo’s mind at Leviathan’s words. It was a memory from over half a year ago. A previous encounter with Kai.

Yeon-woo, who had been kidnapped through a gate created by Moryo’s Demon King, met the Named Shadow Warrior, Kai, there.

The fact that he’d met Kai was no big deal. He wondered what that guy had been up to lately. Ever since, there hadn’t been any attacks.

‘But, the scenery inside that gate.’

A desert-style palace boasting restrained grandeur. The pillars and walls, covered in scrapes and dust, were adorned with indistinguishable patterns and designs.

“…Ah, so that’s why the Black Mirror’s style felt familiar.”

“Have you seen it before? That’s quite a rare experience. Gates leading to the Demon King’s world aren’t that common.”

“Indeed.”

To be frank, it wasn’t just a gate leading to the Demon King’s world, but a gate created by the Demon King herself.

Leaving Yeon-woo to contemplate that as he nodded along, Leviathan’s expression suggested he was becoming quite animated. Without Yeon-woo prompting him for the next question, he began to speak again.

“Becoming a Demon King isn’t as simple as self-proclamation. It requires achievements and qualifications. Those lacking qualifications cannot become Demon Kings even if they have achievements, and those lacking achievements cannot become Demon Kings even if they have the qualifications.”

“Achievements and qualifications….”

“Right, you might have predicted the achievements part, but they should have destroyed a world at least once. So, the ones you name Demon Kings are experienced individuals who have destroyed a world at least once.”

Including myself, Leviathan bitterly smiled. Yeon-woo couldn’t help but question that.

“So, the world Leviathan destroyed is….”

“Right, it’s this one. To put it in my context, it would be more accurate to say I came here to destroy it, but for a Demon King, it probably just sounds like an excuse.”

Yeon-woo had no rebuttal. He couldn’t deny it without having seen things for himself. Seeing Yeon-woo’s hesitant expression, Leviathan smirked.

“Well, regardless, the fact remains that I destroyed a world. The skull that built this building is the skull of a sun god. I was just living my life when the sun god went crazy, so I killed him, and lo and behold, the sun disappeared.”

She began to casually explain how she brought about the world’s destruction. It felt eerily familiar. Wasn’t this quite similar to Dawn’s tale?

In this scenario, the sun god was defeated, and for reasons unknown, Leviathan had managed to slay the sun god.

‘Though I’m not sure if Dawn had the qualifications, had he been inclined, he could’ve become the eighth Demon King.’

That’s truly chilling. The moment the cult of the Demon King serving Dawn was formed, a demon king would arise that couldn’t be killed unless the cult was eradicated.

Well, it wouldn’t be that easy to kill a Demon King who could disregard the cult completely.

“With both the sun and the moon missing, the world was engulfed in darkness. There was no way for humans to survive in such a world. The only source of light was the remains of the sun god, but the light emitting from the remains couldn’t sustain plants or animals.”

Ultimately, that was how the world perished. Even if left alone, the world would have ended. That mad sun god indiscriminately killed both gods and humans.

Though the outcomes were similar, the distinction would be that Leviathan had been reborn as a Demon King.

“How about other Demon Kings? Well, it seems they mostly wanted to destroy things just for the fun of it.”

“Just a bunch of spiteful jerks.”

At that moment, Behemoth opened the door and replied with sarcasm. His voice certainly didn’t carry any pleasant feelings.

“I’ve brought dessert, Leviathan. What were you talking about until just now?”

“Yeah, thanks. I was just saying how I destroyed a world. Why?”

“I need to know how far we’ve gone into the story.”

Behemoth, saying this, plunged his finger into the ground, lifting the floor and lying sideways to start munching on dessert. It was a position that seemed to express his intent to comfortably listen while lounging around.

“Munch munch, that’s how the Demon King comes into being…. Now, killing methods. I don’t know about others, but I kill by killing. What else do I need to explain? You just charge in and kill them, right?”

Yeon-woo frowned at Leviathan’s lackadaisical assertion. Seeing that expression, Leviathan was startled, then shoved a macaron he had picked up straight into Yeon-woo’s mouth, feigning deep contemplation.

“…I didn’t expect that kind of answer, right? Shouldn’t it be best to start by finding weaknesses? Admittedly, I don’t know the weaknesses of other Demon Kings, but… we might find some clues in the gates of the worlds they’ve destroyed. Since you’re qualified to be a hero, it should work out fine for you.”

“That’s supposed to be rather rare, isn’t it?”

“…Behi, do you have any good ideas?”

“You’re making me talk when I promised to share information. Hmm… First, I’d recommend identifying the race. Are they gods, monsters, or something else? If they’re gods, they’ll handle things themselves, but anything else should definitely have weaknesses.”

“For instance, Behi loves to sleep. If you time it right, you can kill him while he’s asleep.”

“? What are you saying, right now?”

Intervening in Leviathan’s treachery of revealing Behemoth’s weakness, Behemoth muttered furiously. A vein threatened to pop from his forehead as he glared.

Yeon-woo, pretending not to have heard, turned his gaze elsewhere. It’s best to act oblivious in such situations.

To claim that he couldn’t speak due to constraints and then casually break those constraints was truly a classic Demon King move, a rogue style.

After a brief negotiation where they settled on Leviathan taking one hit for every headbutt, Yeon-woo was finally able to look straight again.

Seated arrogantly on a cushy chair, as before, was Leviathan. The biggest difference was the large bump on her head.

“I’d love to spill Moryo’s name if I could. It feels terribly strange to have it stuck at the tip of my tongue.”

“Oh-ho, I see you have more restrictions than I thought.”

Yeon-woo responded calmly while savoring the dessert. Leviathan began to observe Yeon-woo with sidelong glances.

“But it’s quite troublesome. Honestly, I didn’t expect a gift like that to be requested… To be frank, this conversation hasn’t been all that satisfying?”

“It’s only established what I had suspected.”

Choi Yeon-woo offered the most favorable response he could give, smiling slightly. It wasn’t that bad, really. Now that he knew the Black Mirror and the patterns on the stone were connected to Moryo, it might help with the search.

But first, he felt he needed to focus on killing Toyo.

‘Has the priest of Sebek finished discussing things yet?’

He had entrusted Riley with making contact with Sebek’s priest to gather information about Toyo’s Demon King. As Yeon-woo collected his thoughts and raised a teacup to his lips, Leviathan plopped something onto the table.

“I didn’t give you as much information as you’d hoped, did I? But I’ll give you this in compensation—a recently found gate pass. Originally for sale, but I’m gifting it to you.”

“Thank you…?”

Receiving the pass with gratitude, Yeon-woo noticed it bore the symbol for “moon” in Chinese characters. What’s this? When he looked up, he saw Leviathan smiling broadly.

“Nothing much, nothing much. I hope it helps.”

“…That’s quite the thing.”

While she may not be able to speak, it seems providing assistance isn’t an issue? Yeon-woo thought as he tucked the pass featuring the deformed golden skull mark symbolizing Golden Desire into his pocket.

(To be continued in the next episode)

 

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