Chapter 267

1.

After hearing the full explanation from the kind user, Seonghyun then gathered more information from others before leaving the bustling street and moving to a quiet location.

And from behind him, three of his retainers, Helena, Fiora, and Silvanor, stealthily followed.

Leonik, an obviously conspicuous undead, and Balthar, a demon, were excluded.

In any case, as the four of them gathered in a quiet alley.

Helena grimaced with a rather sullen expression and grumbled.

"There's no point in having come all this way."

-Th-that's right.

"Hmm, still, it wasn't a complete waste, so I suppose we should be glad."

Fiora agreed with Helena's words, while Silvanor was relieved that it was still fortunate.

Seonghyun looked at the three and nodded his head as if agreeing with Silvanor's words.

A new quest.

What this meant was very simple.

The scattered clues about the weapon imbued with demonic energy had found a direction.

It was a clue that had started in Sysbalt.

It was as if a rather old clue was beginning to be unraveled.

However, it was a little different from what Seonghyun had thought.

'It's different from what I expected.'

Originally, Seonghyun had thought of catching the owner of the demonic bow himself.

An unexpected person appeared.

'The Master of the Magic Tower.'

He could be called the de facto ruler of the seventh city, Septem Arcana, and a considerable powerhouse in the game's lore.

From some information he had seen somewhere, wasn't the minimum level requirement for a tower master in the 400s?

In user terms, it was a level that overwhelmed single rankers.

To think that such a Master of the Magic Tower had stepped in personally.

It seemed there was no way to obtain the demonic bow unless he participated in the tournament.

Normally, he would have given up as soon as he saw that the Master of the Magic Tower had intervened.

But now that a quest has appeared, there's no choice.

'I'll have to participate in the tournament, right?'

The actual quest was to find out about the demonic bow.

That's why after hearing the explanation from the kind user earlier, he asked other NPCs as well.

The first quest he received was resolved.

He was also able to learn about the demonic bow in the process.

The original owner of the demonic bow was apparently a guy who had been wandering around this area for a long time, hunting everyone, NPCs and users alike.

That's why the master of Septem Arcana, the Master of the Serul Spire Magic Tower, had personally stepped in.

But there was another interesting point.

'On top of that, he purified the demonic bow and made it usable by anyone.'

In the NPCs' terms, it was purification.

But from the users' perspective, it had a different meaning.

It was a chance to obtain a Legendary-rank class, the Master of the Demonic Bow.

As a result, a considerable number of people were said to have flocked to the tournament.

If you've heard this much, you probably get the picture.

The next quest that appeared.

[Hidden Linked Quest, 『Serul Spire Tournament』, has been generated.]

→Win the tournament created by the Master of the Serul Spire Magic Tower and obtain the demonic bow.

A direct quest to win a tournament, no less.

It might have been a difficult quest for others.

But Seonghyun smiled as if he found it rather amusing.

'This will be fun.'

The only catch was that it was a team-based tournament.

A team with a minimum of 4 members.

As Seonghyun recalled that and glanced around.

His eyes met Helena's, who was tilting her head as if asking 'what's wrong?', Fiora, who was trembling, and Silvanor, with the appearance of a high elf, who bowed his head reassuringly as if to say 'just leave it to me'.

'A team with these guys?'

Well, if he cast cognitive interference on Fiora, it wouldn't be impossible.

"Huuuum."

He was in a position where he had to enter and win the tournament.

He would have to show some of his skills.

But he wanted to avoid standing out from the beginning and being targeted.

However…

Seonghyun thought that and looked at Helena.

Then he swallowed his saliva, wondering if Helena knew the meaning of 'moderation'.

She glared at him and asked.

"Why? Why is our Seonghyun looking at me like that?"

"...Uhm, it's nothing."

Helena wasn't an unruly child who wouldn't listen if he told her something.

Still, they all listened well when Seonghyun spoke.

"Let's take it easy at first rather than standing out and getting targeted."

"Hmph~ So that's why you were looking at me like that? Hey, I'm not a kid, I get it. I'll take it easy."

-I-I'll be c-careful too.

"I shall also act in moderation."

All three gave the same answer.

Now that he had said this much.

Seonghyun nodded, feeling somewhat relieved.

'Then shall we go sign up for the tournament?'

'The tournament starts tomorrow, right?'

'I should go quickly before the deadline.'

As Seonghyun hurriedly made his way to sign up for the tournament.

A message suddenly appeared.

[『Magic Sword - Nemesis (Sealed)』 is reacting to demonic energy.] x3

At that message, Seonghyun walked a little further and then turned his head.

He could see a group of users already disappearing into the crowd.

It was a brief moment, so he couldn't see them clearly.

As he turned his head in the direction they had come from.

It was none other than the place to sign up for the tournament, where Seonghyun was heading.

To think there were three weapons imbued with demonic energy, not just one.

This, somehow.

'The tournament itself seems like it will be fun.'

Seonghyun smiled with some anticipation and signed up for the tournament.

2.

A group of four walking through the main street of Septem Arcana as if passing by.

Among them, a man wearing a greatsword so large it could be a shield suddenly stopped and turned around.

Someone else who had passed by.

But they had disappeared, buried in the crowd, making them hard to see.

And the man's companions asked him.

"Why? Do you know them?"

"The leader? Does he have an acquaintance?"

"In the first place, if the boss knows someone, shouldn't we know them too?"

Leaving his grumbling companions behind, the man's eyes sharpened as he tried to pierce through the crowd.

But of course, how could that be easy?

It was no different from staring into empty space.

Feeling that something was strange, the man tilted his head and muttered.

"Tiraving trembled."

At the man's words, everyone reacted.

They had no choice.

"Hmm? Tiraving?"

"Does that mean there's a magic sword around here?"

"Tiraving only reacts to swords."

At the words of the man who seemed to be the leader, everyone's eyes sharpened as they scanned the surroundings.

But there was no way the companions could find someone the man had already missed.

It was a shame to have missed them.

The man looked in the direction he had missed and muttered with a scowl.

"That direction is the tournament registration booth."

"Hmm, so we'll meet them at the tournament anyway?"

"Good."

"The more weapons imbued with demonic energy, the better. Well, I like bows the best, though."

A smile spread across the faces of his companions as they said that.

And they, who were smiling sharply as if they had found new prey, were licking their lips.

They had come all this way to find the demonic bow.

To think a fool with a magic sword who had the same idea as them would appear.

To them, who hunted demonic energy, it was a very tempting prey.

However, their leader, Zaya, thought carefully and muttered.

"Seeing as the reaction was faint, they must be hiding it well. It might be hard to find them during the tournament."

"Leave it to us."

"It's not our style to miss our prey."

"The boss worries too much."

As they spoke with such nonchalance, they smiled.

And their leader, Zaya, spoke to them as if to make them remember.

"We will definitely take them. Both the magic sword and the demonic bow."

As he said that, he turned his body, his emblem shining.

With great anticipation for the tournament tomorrow, the notoriously infamous 'Forbiddens' left the city.

Looking forward to the tournament.

3.

Whirrrr—.

As the hot air dried all the remaining moisture in his hair, Seonghyun shook his head with a refreshed feeling.

Showering after a long gaming session felt like showering after intense exercise.

In a refreshed mood, Seonghyun turned on his computer before bed.

He was a gamer, after all, shouldn't he search for information about the tournament tomorrow?

He had heard explanations from users and NPCs in Septem Arcana.

But it was still good to look for information on the internet.

While he was at it.

'Are there other owners of weapons with demonic energy?'

He searched for that first, just in case.

He was worried that nothing would come up, even if he searched.

But fortunately, that was not the case.

After all, hadn't Septem Arcana also suffered from the NPC with the demonic bow?

As Seonghyun looked, a surprising amount of data came out, and there were more owners of magic swords and magic spears than he thought.

'Hmm.'

It was hard to see them below level 200.

But from level 200 onwards, there were quite a few people with weapons imbued with demonic energy.

Most of the owners of weapons with demonic energy had Legendary-rank classes.

However…

'It seems they're inferior to other Legendary-rank classes.'

From what he heard, the performance itself depended on the performance of the weapon imbued with demonic energy, so on average, they performed slightly better than Unique-rank.

Still, since it was a Legendary-rank, many people wanted to obtain it.

The same was true for holy weapons, but they were said to be even harder to obtain.

Was it because of that?

The reaction to the Septem Arcana tournament that Seonghyun was participating in was extremely heated.

'A lot of people are participating.'

Well, if you could obtain a Legendary-rank class in such a public and simple way, it was natural for anyone to do it.

Just as Seonghyun was about to move on, nodding his head in understanding.

He saw a strange post.

[Title - Then will the Forbiddens be at the tournament?]

[Author - OrcMeatLover]

『I don't wanna go if the Forbiddens are there;;;

They'll be there, right???』

'Forbiddens?'

Seonghyun tilted his head as he read the post.

A name he had never heard before.

But the reactions in the comments were heated.

[HP1Left: Ah;;; They'll be there for sure;;;]

└[OrcMeatLover(Author): I haven't signed up, but I guess I shouldn't.]

└[NoHealThenLeave: Sseup, that's over the top;]

[DungeonObsessor: What are the Forbiddens???]

└[OrcMeatLover(Author): They're a vicious 4-person party with demonic weapons;;]

└[DungeonObsessor: Are they villains???]

└[OrcMeatLover(Author): Yup, they're not easy.]

[CooldownMourner: Aren't they the ones who haven't been caught even though the lord put a bounty on them? Oof, I shouldn't sign up either.]

└[MaxWeaponEnthusiast: lolol I looked up your level and it's 87, what do you mean sign up lolol.]

└[CooldownMourner: I can dream too!!!]

Looking at the comments, they seemed to be notorious users.

But the fact that they hadn't been caught yet meant they were quite skilled.

Also, the fact that they hadn't been caught even with a bounty from the lord seemed to confirm their skill.

On top of that.

[ZeroPhysical: One of them is said to use a bow, so they'll definitely come looking for their last member's weapon, right??? 1000%. This is it.]

Looking at that last comment.

The three alarms that the magic sword Nemesis had given him seemed certain.

A weapon imbued with demonic energy.

And three of them at that.

What if he won the tournament?

He could get a total of four.

It was certain that they would come.

'If I just win, I get four at once?'

Seonghyun chuckled, imagining the pleasant thought.

Then, as if greatly anticipating the tournament tomorrow, Seonghyun turned off his computer and lay down in bed.