[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 398

The children were afraid of Lucas—

but Aru and Hugo were different.

The two trusted him deeply, because unlike with the other children, Lucas had always shown them special care.

Teacher!

We had fun playing with the others today! When Sena and Zell tried to fight, I stopped them!

See? I knew Aru and Hugo were the kindest of all.

At Lucas’s praise, Aru and Hugo beamed with wide smiles.

Hehe.

They too knew that Teacher Lucas was… a little strange.

At night he would scream, or mutter incomprehensible sounds that filled the children with terror.

He even punished harshly for small mistakes that normally would have been overlooked.

Because of this, the children who once followed him began to avoid him altogether.

And yet Aru and Hugo still chose to follow Lucas, because when they slipped up, he would treat them differently—

hugging them warmly or stroking their heads with kindness, letting things pass gently.

That favoritism made them feel special, separate from the others, and they basked in it with pride.

Aru, Hugo—will you help me fulfill my wish when I struggle?

Yes!

Of course!

Believing they could truly support him, the two followed Lucas down into the basement.

There, two doors stood open. Lucas placed Aru and Hugo each into a separate room.

Clang!

The heavy double doors shut firmly behind them.

At that moment, their vision blurred and nausea welled up inside them.

“Ugh… Teacher… it hurts so much…”

They called weakly for Lucas, but no voice answered from outside.

“Children, please… grant your teacher’s deepest wish.”

Leaving those words behind, Lucas began the ritual.

As the ritual progressed, Aru and Hugo lost consciousness, and above their small bodies, a black entity descended.

* * *

And now, in the present—

That black figure burst forth, standing before Jeong-hoon.

“Hey. Lucas.”

Jeong-hoon showed not a trace of panic.

At his call, the trembling Lucas cautiously lifted his head.

“Y-yes, did you call…?”

“Do you seriously think that thing is Tenebris?”

Jeong-hoon pointed at the shadowy figure.

“Ah… the ritual isn’t finished yet, so…”

“Tsk.”

What Lucas referred to as a ritual was in truth the process of a demon using children as vessels to descend into the world.

Right now, it hadn’t fully taken hold of them, and so it had yet to assume a proper form.

An Apostle-class.

Even with the Divine Realm having seized authority, Jeong-hoon hadn’t expected demons to still remain.

“The Unknown Being asks: Who are you?”

A moment slower, and it would have fully descended.

Jeong-hoon drew Titan.

Certainly, if he had the Holy Sword, the purification process would have been easier.

But Jeong-hoon was not so weak that he needed to borrow its power.

“So talkative for something that’s just an Apostle, aren’t you?”

“The Unknown Being asks if you know about us.”

“I know you very well. I know the Demon Kings who command you, and even the Lords above them.”

And not only that.

Demon Kings, Lords, even the Gods (Jecheon) themselves—

he already had the record of severing their lives multiple times.

To someone like Jeong-hoon, an Apostle-class was nothing.

“The Unknown Being proposes a deal.”

“A deal?”

“The Unknown Being says it is interested in you. If you help it escape from this place, it promises to lend you great power.”

He didn’t need it.

Perhaps because of the Seven Heavenly Virtues?

Even an Apostle-class couldn’t properly gauge his strength.

“And if I refuse?”

“The Unknown Being regrets that it will have to kill you. But if you refuse, it says it will have no choice.”

“You’re an amusing one. An Apostle, claiming it can kill me.”

“The Unknown Being says you are arrogant.”

“Arrogant? We’ll see about that.”

Among the Seven Heavenly Virtues he had obtained was Humility.

Arrogance was its opposing concept.

Yet ironically, Jeong-hoon felt not a trace of arrogance.

With such an overwhelming difference in rank, what reason did he have to boast?

If anything, his attitude was closer to contempt.

“The Unknown Being laments that it is a pity. But even now, if you accept its deal, it promises to overlook your last words.”

“Then let me ask you one thing.”

“The Unknown Being asks what it is you want to know.”

“You Apostles are Transcendents, aren’t you? When Reality Assimilation occurred, you must have approached the players, trying to use contracts as a pretext to destroy Earth.”

“The Unknown Being is shocked. At the same time, it begins to wonder about your true identity.”

Jeong-hoon gave a faint smile and added,

“In any case, once the Divine Realm seized authority, you were trapped here, unable to escape. Your contact with the Demon Realm was severed as well… You must be burning up inside.”

“The Unknown Being is left speechless.”

“Then why did the Divine Realm leave you behind?”

Even after seizing authority from the Demon Realm, the Divine Realm left the Apostles in place.

Moreover, through this quest, Jeong-hoon had been led to confront an Apostle directly.

And the reward was two Fragments of the Primordial.

That could only mean there was some gain in Jeong-hoon facing an Apostle.

‘What exactly could that be?’

Did these beings perhaps know something?

“The Unknown Being asks if you are a creature allied with the Divine Realm.”

“An alliance, huh… You can think whatever you want. Just know this—if you don’t answer my question, you die.”

Jeong-hoon swung Titan downward.

The sheer force of the blade split the black figure clean in two.

The form flickered, looking as though it might vanish at any moment.

“The Unknown Being is aghast. It frantically asks how someone at level 320 could possibly cut it down.”

“Then answer. Or do you want to be erased completely?”

“The Unknown Being says it doesn’t know either. It only wishes to return to the Demon Realm.”

“I see.”

He had expected something more, but in the end, it was just small fry.

Without hesitation, Jeong-hoon swung his sword again and again, cleaving through the form until it was obliterated.

Only once the black figure had completely vanished did his whirlwind of slashes subside.

‘…I thought there’d be some kind of reward, but I guess not.’

No system message appeared despite the entity’s erasure.

There was no restoration of level or stats either.

“My god…”

Lucas, who had been hiding in the corner, couldn’t contain his shock.

That black figure had been overwhelming just to look at, yet this stranger had erased it in an instant.

Just who was this outsider?

“Now, it’s your turn.”

The outsider approached with sword in hand.

“I—I did everything you asked me to!”

“What are you babbling about? You were the vessel that anchored the ritual, weren’t you?”

Lucas’s corruption had begun because he himself had served as the medium.

In other words, he had taken on the role of an intermediary host in the process of reviving a demon through Aru and Hugo.

If he wasn’t dealt with properly, more victims were bound to follow.

“I’ll stop! I must have lost my mind! To think I believed that thing was Tenebris—kuh!”

Lucas’s plea was cut short.

Titan had already pierced through his chest.

[You have slain an NPC.]

[NPC Lucas’s role has been removed.]

“How could I ever trust someone who already offered up his life to that ritual?”

Jeong-hoon flicked the blood from Titan and moved to free the children inside the rooms.

But the stench hit him first.

“…”

Silently, he stepped toward the collapsed child.

‘Master… this…’

‘It looks like it’s been quite a while since the breath left them.’

Just as Mukho and Anima had said, the body was already in decay.

Most likely, the child’s life had been cut off at the very start of the ritual.

“…So that’s why they put up two Fragments of the Primordial for this quest.”

Next to the child, one of the fragments gleamed faintly.

Aru and Hugo— rescuing the two of them had been the true core of this quest.

Jeong-hoon rose from his seat and called down Roel.

“This is…”

Roel’s expression hardened as he confirmed the corpse.

“The child’s life was cut off during the ritual.”

“…Ha…”

A child barely six or seven years old.

With a sorrowful expression, Roel offered a prayer.

“I want to pray for this child’s repose as well. I’ll go and bring some holy water.”

“Understood.”

“Oh, and—do you know where the Apostle-class demons imprisoned here are being kept?”

“I’m sorry, but we angels don’t know such things.”

“Then the Archangels know, don’t they?”

“Yes, they would.”

“Got it.”

With that, Jeong-hoon left the orphanage.

‘Master, they’ll still be grateful.’

‘Yeah. If it weren’t for you, they would’ve been exploited in that state forever.’

Even with Mukho and Anima’s words of comfort, Jeong-hoon’s face remained grim.

NPCs or not, lives had been lost—beginning with Ros, and now even children.

If this were the original New World, wouldn’t they all still be alive?

What made him even angrier was the fact that even if he returned to the very start after regression, he would still have chosen to open the Divine Realm.

Whatever the case, for Jeong-hoon, his mother’s safety would always be the highest priority.

“I’ll wipe them out, root and stem.”

‘Root and stem?’

“Yeah. If they’re sealed away, their numbers must be beyond imagination.”

It was clear that Lucas wasn’t the only one who had been contacted.

So he would find them, and cut them off completely.

But to do that, he needed to obtain the next Virtue Box quickly.

With his plan set, Jeong-hoon grasped the Fragment of the Primordial.

[Part of your level is restored.]

[Part of your stats are restored.]

[You have gained 0.07% of Divine Energy.]

[You have gained 0.08% of Divine Energy.]

[You have gained 0.1% of Divine Energy.]

As his strength recovered, Divine Energy steadily accumulated as well.

* * *

[You have completed the quest.]

[You may now move on to the Mythical City of Arandis.]

By swiftly completing the Atlas questline and reaching 80%, Jeong-hoon immediately unlocked the path to Arandis.

The process was surprisingly simple.

Once the 80% threshold was crossed, the path opened automatically.

“So now it changes—you just need to reach 80% for the transfer to happen automatically.”

Since the quests had grown more complicated overall, the path-opening step had been streamlined.

Before crossing into Arandis, Jeong-hoon stopped by the Ho-yeong branch in Atlas.

Since he had contacted them in advance, Hajin and Bong-Goo were already sitting in the lounge, waiting for Jeong-hoon.

He had also reached out to his mother, Yeo Sunwoo, and Yeo Min-Ji, but they seemed to be delayed by other matters.

“Hoony, you’re here?”

“Hyung!”

The two had been steadily growing under Jeong-hoon’s guidance.

“The reason I called you today is because I have something to give you before I cross over to Arandis.”

“Arandis?”

“You’re leaving Atlas already?”

The two tilted their heads in puzzlement.

They acknowledged that Jeong-hoon was extraordinary, but his level was currently only 400.

At level 400, Atlas was usually still the prime place to grow.

“There’s nothing left for me to do in Atlas.”

“…Huh, really?”

“Anyway, the reason I called you is because of a quest.”

“Quest?”

“Here, take it.”

Jeong-hoon handed them a notebook.

Inside were details about the resurrection of Tenebris, along with a list of NPC names.

It was the roster of cultists Roel had discovered while searching Lucas’s room.

“What’s all this?”

“In each village, certain NPCs are trying to awaken demons by using people as vessels, under the pretense of resurrecting Tenebris.”

“…What the…”

“So I want you two to personally move out and stop them.”

“Us?”

“Yeah. You’ve both gotten a lot stronger thanks to the additional fortunes you’ve gained, haven’t you?”

“That’s all because of you.”

Hajin and Bong-Goo were now in the mid-to-high 400s.

Because of that, the two had become incredibly popular in New World.

With each passing day, their growth was explosive—it was only natural.

In fact, it had gotten to the point where they were constantly swarmed by other players, making it hard to even play properly.

“Completing that quest should net you a Fragment of the Primordial.”

“Really?”

At the mention of a Fragment of the Primordial, their eyes widened.

They had already experienced firsthand the incredible results of possessing one.

The thought of obtaining another was enough to leave them in awe.

“The difficulty will be pretty high, so be careful.”

Even if incomplete, it was still the task of eliminating beings tied to Transcendents.

It wouldn’t be easy, but since it was still a game, saving was possible—and each success would mean explosive growth.

It was more than worth attempting.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]