Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 399

Chapter 399

The shock of losing all his loved ones in a single morning, coupled with the knowledge that a dear friend bore a heavy burden because of him, slowly eroded Yucarte’s sanity. Kyle, who initially seemed resigned, began to pressure him in different ways, and Yucarte continued to lose precious things, one by one. His followers and supporters, his mother’s family, his close friends, and even their relatives—they were lost in various ways, but the result was always the same: Yucarte was isolated. And finally, even his beloved younger brother died, in the most miserable way imaginable.

Every night as he lay in bed, Sez’s bloody apparition would appear above the ceiling. Staring down with hollow eyes, he’d stretch out his arms and scream.

“Brother, save me! Please avenge me! I’m so *yuan wang* [wrongfully accused/unjustly treated]! I didn’t want this. I didn’t want to die. I wanted to live. Why did I have to die? I did nothing wrong. I could have been happy.”

“It’s all because of you, brother.”

Once the desperate screams subsided, resentment would take over. Blood dripped from the apparition, soaking Yucarte’s face. The outstretched hands would finally grab Yucarte’s neck and strangle him.

“You’re not even a real priest anyway. Why did you come to the temple? Why did you become a priest and come here? If you hadn’t come here, I could have lived well. You came here, and I died instead. It’s all your fault. You killed me! You killed me!”

“Die! Die! I wish you would die!”

He would have preferred death. But just as he was about to lose his breath completely, all the hallucinations would vanish as if washed away, and Yucarte would survive to face another day. He cursed himself for surviving each day.

Summoning the Demon King at Roanez’s persuasion wasn’t to disguise himself as a perfect priest. It was perhaps due to a strange feverishness born from the possibility that he might be able to stop this nightmare.

“I don’t make contracts with just anyone.”

He was a little disappointed when the summoned Demon King said that, but the Demon King’s words didn’t end there.

“But I like you. You have eyes that are black with death. It’s not easy to see such eyes in a living human—eyes that desire destruction.”

“……”

“I like desperate guys. I can do anything for you. Is there anything you want from me? What do you want me to do for you?”

What did he want him to do?

Yucarte smiled faintly. His head suddenly felt clear, yet it also felt like a dark fog was settling in. No one had ever said such a thing to him before. Instead, everyone wanted him to do something for them: become the Emperor, become the priest, survive, please die, avenge me, and so on. His life had been shamelessly caught up in everyone else’s desires.

His eyes grew hot, and his vision blurred rapidly. Yucarte didn’t bother to wipe away the tears that flowed down his cheeks. He felt like he had been waiting for someone to say these words all along. Yes, he wanted to hear these words.

“I want to kill him… in the most cruel way possible.”

As soon as he opened his mouth, the red eyes watching him gleamed. Seeing his face, which seemed genuinely pleased, the next words followed naturally. The feelings he had been swallowing came pouring out all at once, like a dam bursting. Translating them into words was easier than breathing.

“I want him to die in a way that causes him the most pain. I want to erase everything he cherishes and loves, everything that loves him, from the world. I want him to feel more miserable than I do.”

“Good. What can you pay for that?”

“……Everything. Even if I lose everything I have.”

Laughter erupted—a laugh of satisfaction at his answer. “It will be done as you wish.” Then, the Demon King, who had come closer, whispered in a languid voice. His vision spun, and a black fog filled his eyes. He couldn’t tell whether his vision was blurry or clear, but his mind was surprisingly calm. Now, nothing was confusing anymore. It felt like he could clearly see the milestones he had to reach.

“The contract is sealed.”

From that day on, Yucarte abandoned humanity. His previous way of thinking and ethics had no effect on him. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel any revulsion, but that period didn’t last long. Rather, as time went on, he was satisfied with his changed self. He couldn’t understand why he had been so caught up in such trivial things. His vision cleared, and he could perceive things he hadn’t known before. He was able to see the world from a broader perspective. At some point, he began to envision other ideals beyond revenge.

They say that becoming a priest is like being reborn. Yucarte also realized the truth of those words. From the day he received the seal from the Demon King, he was reborn in the truest sense. He was the priest of the Demon King Karyuan. It was no wonder that Roanez and Pylon didn’t understand him. They were ordinary humans, but he was different. He knew a bigger world, and now, he was about to initiate a turn that would become even bigger than that.

“Huh? What, is that a human?”

When he finally arrived at his destination, he heard a muttering voice. He saw a figure sitting in the fog rising to its feet. Following that one, the other figures reacted in a rush.

“What? Human?”

“A human?”

“Did we finally get out of here?”

Everyone who was murmuring smelled the same. Yucarte reached out a hand. As he waved it greatly in the air, the fog that had been filling his vision disappeared as if it were being swept away. The air, which had cleared in an instant, revealed the people standing there in awkward poses. They all had black hair and red eyes. Yucarte grinned as he looked at them, who were still blinking, not yet grasping the situation.

“Mors, you’ll have to become the fertilizer for this land.”

* * *

Deron blinked open his eyes, which had been closed, at the strange sensation of something brushing against his cheek. He quietly observed his surroundings. It wasn’t a delusion. The sound of the wind was different than usual. It was subtle, but the flow of air seemed to have changed as well. It was the first time this had happened since he had been trapped here. Deron reflexively checked his weapon while looking at the place where his lord was sleeping. The solid cocoon was still unchanged. Only after confirming that there was nothing particularly wrong with the red light repeatedly leaking from the inside did he turn to the side. There, someone was sleeping in a sitting position, similar to his own just a moment ago.

“Hey.”

“……”

“Hey, wake up.”

Even with repeated prodding, the other person only frowned and didn’t open his eyes. Deron pondered for a moment and looked around, happening to find a branch rolling around nearby. Deron picked it up and poked the shoulder of the person who wouldn’t wake up with the end of the branch.

“Hey. Hey, can’t you hear me?”

Fortunately, this time it seemed to have an effect, as the still body twitched. Feeling hope at that, Deron spurred on even more.

“Wake up, Rune. Are your ears blocked, Cheonma [Heavenly Demon]? Hey, open your eyes, Blood Demon. You’re not ignoring me because I called you Blood Demon, are you? Once called a unicorn, Saint Demon. Get a grip, blue elf?”

“……Damn it, cut it out!”

Eventually, the other person—Sibelius—succumbed to the harassment and opened his eyes irritably. Only after seeing the clearly glaring blue eyes did Deron wear a satisfied expression.

“You’re finally awake.”

“Yeah, I’m awake! I’m awake! You know my name, you bastard? You deliberately left out my name and called me everything else, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t want to call you by your name.”

“Ugh! Fine, I don’t want to call you by your name either, so let’s just leave it at that! If you’re going to wake me up, touch me with your hand or something! Where did you learn to poke me with a branch?”

“I didn’t want to touch you either.”

“Argh! I don’t want to touch you either! Just raise your killing intent or aura! I would have woken up immediately then! That would have been faster than picking up a branch!”

“I was just showing courtesy to a colleague.”

“What kind of colleague courtesy is that? I’m so grateful I could cry!”

“If you grant my request, I might become a little more polite.”

“No, I’d rather not receive such conditional politeness. I don’t even intend to listen to what you’re going to ask, but if you’re asking me to connect with a demon god, don’t even dream about it!”

“……Tsk.”

“What are you so great about that you’re clicking your tongue? I’m the one who wants to click my tongue right now?”

At the absurd retort, Deron stared at him with a dissatisfied expression before clicking his tongue again. For Sibelius, it was a moment when his blood pressure rose to the point of fainting.

Why did he have to go through this? He sincerely felt a deep sense of skepticism about his life. Being robbed of his body by a demon god and falling into an unfamiliar place was infuriating enough, but since that day, he had been trapped without being able to go anywhere. In the midst of all this, one of the two demons he was forced to take on (which, in his eyes, was no different from taking on) sang about wanting to meet the demon god again whenever their eyes met. If he could just punch him once, he would feel better, but the guy was strong and quick-witted, so he didn’t give him a chance, which only made him more angry. It was truly a time that was harmful to his mental health.

“You’ve done that much, so give up already. I told you I won’t connect with you.”

“You’re a really stingy unicorn. You’re probably the most petty Rune in history.”

“Hahahaha… I’m really going crazy. To think that I, of all people, would hear a unicorn being called stingy for refusing a demon’s request.”

“You were the one who said that the long-standing feud between demons and holy beings ended when you made a contract with As.”

He certainly said that. He just recited the facts that Kanos told him. In fact, that contract was also almost forced (and As felt the same way), and he wasn’t particularly moved because it wasn’t something he had been yearning for. And it was obvious that Deron felt the same way.

“Isn’t that something you shouldn’t say, you who doesn’t even want to call me by my name or touch me and wakes me up by poking me with a branch?”

“That’s because it’s still the adaptation stage, so it can’t be helped.”

“Oh, really?”

“Originally, superiors should be more considerate. You’re a Rune, and I’m just a duke. So be generous to me, unicorn. Connect with Lord Kanos.”

“I don’t want to! I won’t do it! You be generous! I’m in the process of accumulating the resolved grudges again!”

“Haa, if Runes are this sensitive, the holy beings must have had a hard time.”

“……Did you take some special class from that Lapis guy? You have a talent for grabbing people by the back of the neck with your mouth [being annoyingly persistent]?”

“I’m usually like this to people I find easy to deal with.”

“Do you really want to die?”

The longer the argument went on, the more Sibelius felt extremely tired. Still, it was better to bicker like this. If he had been asked by the face he saw when he opened his eyes, it would have been even more difficult to refuse than it was now.

“……Lord Kanos?”

When Sibelius regained consciousness, Deron was still looking for traces of the person who had briefly stayed inside him. His expression as he carefully examined him was unstable, and his eyes were about to burst into tears. Perhaps if he had answered just a little later, he might have actually shed tears. Sibelius had only seen a face that contained such desperate longing and loss once before—a face that made the person watching even more pitiful, and a face that made him resent himself for not being able to do anything. He never thought he would see that face on a demon, who was said to have no blood or tears.

Thinking about that appearance still made his heart weaken. Of course, that didn’t mean he would let it go. Channeling was something that even skilled Runes felt burdened by. Moreover, the energy of a demon god was more stimulating than that of other gods. He was not someone who could contain him at any time, now that he had just awakened his power as a vessel. He already suffered from the aftereffects for a while. He suffered from dizziness all day long and couldn’t even swallow food properly, so he vomited several times. Deron, who had clearly seen all of that from the side, was shameless and unscrupulous to ask him to summon the demon god again.

Most of all, what pissed him off the most was his change in attitude at that time. As soon as he realized that it wasn’t Kanos, Deron immediately pulled away the arm he had been supporting him with, and Sibelius, who was just regaining his senses and was slow to grasp the situation, had to fall to the floor miserably. Despite that, Deron even looked at Sibelius resentfully, as if he had stolen Kanos’s place.

‘This is my body!’

At this point, wouldn’t it be natural to give up even if you had the mind to be kind? As expected, demons were an extremely wicked race. Sibelius firmly resolved that he would never fall for his tricks in the future. Only then did the roundabout conversation reach the main point.

“Anyway, why did you wake me up?”

“I think I need to look around for a while. I’ll leave Lord As in your care while I’m gone.”

“Why are you suddenly looking around? It’s no use going out, is it?”

“I don’t think it’s useless.”

“What?”

“Minerva’s barrier seems to have disappeared.”

“……!”

Only then did Sibelius change his expression and scan his surroundings. He hadn’t noticed because he was responding to every provocation, but now that he looked, the air around him seemed a little different.

No, it was definitely different. All this time, or rather, since he came here, Sibelius had felt like all his senses were blocked. Everything around him felt like a phantom that he couldn’t grasp no matter how hard he tried to read it. The cave was okay because there was only one passage, but if he got out of here, he was likely to lose his way even if he set a goal and walked straight ahead. He felt like he had become the world’s worst navigator. But now, all his senses were clear. Even the subtle flow of wind coming in from the outside was clearly readable.

‘Did Minerva deliberately withdraw her power? Then what happened to Mors? Did she send him back to the Demon Realm?’

He didn’t know anything about the situation, but it was clear that the gods were directly taking action to clean up the situation. If they sent the demons who had sneaked into Akkadon back in the process of dealing with the evil god, then it was enough reason for Minerva to withdraw the barrier. But what if something else happened instead? What if the Wind Spirit King didn’t withdraw the barrier on her own accord, and Mors was just released without any countermeasures?

‘Then it’s a complete disaster.’