[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 417

Demon Realm.

As the gate opened, the Archangels turned to Jeong-hoon with resolute faces and bowed their heads.

“Please—we entrust our backs to you.”

“And take this.”

What they handed over were Spirit Orbs, the same kind Jeong-hoon had once received along with the Supreme Offering Box.

Five of them.

“Spirit Orbs.”

When Jeong-hoon accepted them, Michael nodded and added,

“We’ve brought all the Spirit Orbs left behind by the High God. Please, fulfill our wish.”

“No, you’re coming with me.”

“…What?”

“I can’t handle that many enemies alone.”

“But… unless you first establish a domain, we won’t be able to exert any influence.”

Because the Demon Realm was shrouded in darkness, just like the 96th Demon Realm, they would have to pierce through and seize control of it before the Celestial Realm could intervene.

“Janus has agreed to help.”

“Janus?”

Janus widened his eyes and pointed to himself with a finger.

Jeong-hoon nodded, the corners of his lips curving upward.

“Now, give me your hand.”

“…Your hand? For what purpose?”

Michael tilted his head in puzzlement but held out his hand.

Jeong-hoon took it, and a portion of the raging dark energy flowed into Michael’s palm.

“…!”

Startled by the alien force surging into him, Michael quickly pulled his hand back.

But the dark energy had already entered his body.

‘So easily rattled.’

Janus snickered at the sight.

“It’s fine. It’s the power Janus has been controlling. As long as he’s here, you’ll be fine.”

“What nonsense is this!”

Michael flared at Jeong-hoon’s words.

Like a drop of ink staining clear water, Michael had always been the very image of purity—untainted perfection as an angel.

And now he had been sullied by darkness. How could he possibly accept that?

“Don’t worry. It’s just a safeguard.”

“A safeguard?”

“When you hesitated earlier, Janus made a proposal. Since we’re striking the Demon Realm anyway, he said this power was necessary for you to exert influence. He’s willing to lend it to everyone.”

“And?”

“When the Demon Realm is safely seized, he’ll reclaim the power.”

“And you expect me to believe that?”

“What’s done is done. You’d best put your faith in it.”

“…Hah…”

Michael pressed his fingers against his throbbing temple, forcing down his anger.

“We’ll do it as well.”

Gabriel, unlike Michael, agreed without hesitation.

When they had first entrusted Janus’s bracelet to Jeong-hoon, they had already prepared themselves for this outcome.

“Yes.”

Jeong-hoon clasped Michael’s hand and transferred a portion of the power.

After that, he did the same for Uriel and the rest of the Archangels, passing the power to each of them.

Now, with this force spread across the Celestial Realm, they could rally their army and strike the Demon Realm in full force.

“I trust you will keep your promise.”

Michael directed the words not at Jeong-hoon, but at Janus within him.

‘Tch. Do you take me for one of you? Once I claim the Demon Realm, I’ll release myself without issue.’

Janus shot back, clearly irritated.

“…I’ll believe you.”

“But before we set out—there’s the matter of New World.”

Just as Jeong-hoon was about to step into the Demon Realm, Uriel stopped him by bringing it up.

“New World? What about it?”

“A problem has arisen.”

“A problem?”

“The dark energy scattered through the atmosphere has begun to rampage.”

Dark energy—born from burning the Obsidian, its smoke rising into the air.

They had assumed it would soon dissipate, especially after severing the intermediate pathways and with dark-type users absorbing it to strengthen themselves.

But the reality was the opposite.

The dark energy flared violently as if it possessed a will of its own, strangling the lives of NPCs as they breathed it in.

One by one, NPCs lost their lives, and with them, quests were thrown into disarray—paralyzing the whole of New World.

“Can it not be controlled now?”

Normally, the Celestial Realm could not interfere with dark power. But with Janus’s involvement, the situation had changed.

“It could be, but it will take considerable time.”

The problem was the sheer amount that had spread into the atmosphere.

The NPCs had already inhaled and accumulated it in their bodies, and once the rampages began and lives were lost, reallocation became impossible.

Though their souls remained intact, creating new vessels and reassigning them as NPCs would take time.

“…Understood. Then we’ll leave New World as it is and march straight into the Demon Realm.”

Now was not the time to worry about New World.

The final battle with the Demon Realm had to be fought swiftly, to end this long struggle once and for all.

* * *

At that very moment.

Hajin, together with Bong-Goo, had successfully conquered the eastern reaches of Arandis.

Yet neither could celebrate.

“Bong-Goo, what in the world is going on here?”

“I… I don’t know either…”

At the far east of Arandis lay the Lv. 1,015 Forgotten Constellation’s Tomb.

When they cleared the tomb and emerged, Arandis was already in chaos.

The dark energy that had spread into the skies was surging wildly, engulfing New World—and countless NPCs were losing their lives as a result.

As a result, players were having a hard time playing.

[Jesus, that quest—]

-After grinding to complete a quest, the NPC disappeared because it died…

└Seriously, what’s wrong with New World… I gathered all the materials to trade for an item, and now the NPC for the exchange is gone.

└Is it time to quit this game…

└The devs are probably like, “You won’t quit, will you?” and laughing about it.

└Ugh, do something about this

└We should’ve known when the company started cutting everything off, lol

└Is New World shutting down?

└It’s not like it’s a shutdown; the level of service is just indefensible

└Also, you can only call it a shutdown if the game actually dies. Why is this happening when it was doing fine?

A flood of complaints on the Welcome board. Players were all asking whether New World was dead. Because so many people play it, the backlash was massive. Every time New World has problems, news outlets and YouTubers spread it fast—this system failure would blow up just as quickly.

“Dude, at this rate the game’s gonna die, right?”

Bong-goo felt the same as everyone else.

“Yeah.”

They were waiting for Jeong-hoon and the game was about to collapse. What on earth was going on…

“Still no contact from Jeong-hoon?”

“No.”

Did Jeong-hoon even know about this?

* * *

At that moment, Jeong-hoon had crossed into the Demon Realm that masqueraded as the Celestial Realm.

“Michael, this feels familiar, right?”

He’d called Michael and Fenrir along.

“Yes.”

“Hmm. Time to end this long fight.”

It was the final battle—an all-out effort. Michael and Fenrir looked visibly tense. The Archangels and their angelic legions followed behind.

“This is their territory. Don’t get careless.”

Michael signaled, and the angels formed up in perfect order.

“Wow. That’s a lot of them.”

As if waiting, Belzebub slowly manifested in midair.

“Belzebub.”

Jeong-hoon said the name low; Belzebub snorted.

“What? You surprised I’d show up alive when I was supposed to be trapped by the Celestials?”

“Not particularly.”

“Pfft—bravado. By now the game must be an utter mess. You okay with leaving it like that?”

“It’s fine. If you’re gone, I don’t care if one little game disappears.”

Jeong-hoon answered with a calm smile, brimming with confidence. Belzebub’s lips twisted upward in irritation.

“Human, let’s see how long you can keep that composure.”

At his words, the pitch-black sky split as thunderbolts rained down, striking at Jeong-hoon and the Archangels.

KWA-BOOM!

Lightning crashed again and again without pause. The angels quickly erected a barrier, but the deafening roar shook the entire Demon Realm.

Uriel raised his radiant bow and loosed an arrow of shimmering light at Belzebub.

“Hmph.”

Belzebub scoffed and gave his wings a single mighty flap. A storm surged forth, swallowing the arrow. The arrow detonated, and light wrapped around the raging winds.

Darkness and light collided, forming a massive hurricane. The angels reinforced their barriers, layering them to withstand the devastation.

“M-Master, I don’t think this is a fight we should even be near.”

Faced with a battle on a completely different scale, Michael was terrified. Even with the growth he’d gained under Jeong-hoon, standing against beings like this was impossible.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t bring you here to fight him.”

Even with their growth, Michael and Fenrir could only barely handle a single Demon Lord.

“Then… what?”

“From here, you’re going to find Psyche.”

“Psyche…?”

Michael remembered their previous encounter with her.

‘There’s no need for her to keep wearing the mask anymore.’

If Psyche joined them, it would give them tremendous strength to sweep through the remaining Named demons.

“Hey, you lot. Your chatter’s loud enough to reach me.”

Belzebub, wings still beating, pulled out a familiar-looking orb.

“That’s…”

Jeong-hoon’s eyes narrowed.

“An Eternal Orb? Why does he have that…”

Michael’s voice trembled.

What Belzebub held was an Orb—though in truth, it was a counterfeit Psyche had forged.

“Looking for Psyche?”

Belzebub looked down at Jeong-hoon with a twisted grin.

“……”

Jeong-hoon kept silent, and Belzebub leisurely continued.

“You Celestials… you really did something amusing. I never imagined you’d plant Psyche as a spy inside the Demon Realm.”

“……”

“Thanks to that, I was able to eliminate her early. I really ought to thank you for delivering her to me.”

“Who told you that?”

If Psyche had infiltrated the Demon Realm, her information should’ve been erased. How had Belzebub obtained it?

“That’s enough. Quit this farce and join us instead.”

Belzebub’s voice thundered as he called out to the Archangels.

“Ugh!”

One of the archangels, Samael, let out a pained groan and collapsed to his knees.

“Zadkiel!”

Haniel’s voice next to him trembled with rage.

“This is… I didn’t want to make this public here.”

Zadkiel vanished from where he stood and reappeared instantly at Belzebub’s side.

Pure white wings and demonic wings together—seeing that, the angels’ faces froze.

“You didn’t really think you were the only ones who planted spies, did you?”

Belzebub laughed loudly, clearly enjoying the sight of the angels’ expressions.

“Didn’t you know?”

Jeong-hoon glared at Zadkiel and asked the nearby Michael.

“…I have no words.”

“And the seven-orb box?”

“That was given to you… could it be—?”

“I can’t be certain, but I can’t rule it out.”

Jeong-hoon touched the area below his navel as he muttered. All seven orbs were now engraved on his body. The problem was one of those orbs—Temperance—was in Zadkiel’s possession.

If Zadkiel had betrayed them and acted as a spy, there’s no telling what tampering he might have done with the orb box.

“So it wasn’t the real orb box after all?”

Michael’s eyes trembled.

“No. It was the real box, most likely. It’s just been tampered with.”

He hadn’t stolen the orb box outright. Jeong-hoon had received confirmation that he’d obtained all seven orbs and thus qualified to ascend to demi-god status. That meant someone had interfered with it.

“Lucky for you, you were slow to catch on.”

Zadkiel smirked and shrugged.

“Zadkiel! How dare you, an archangel, betray our Lord?!”

Michael snapped at him, furious.

“Michael, think about it,” Zadkiel said. “With power like mine, how long do you plan to keep playing a servant?”

“What are you talking about?”

“We’re more than qualified to be masters ourselves. Why don’t you join us? Come reign over the heavens with me!”

“Shut up.”

At last unable to contain himself, Michael drew his blade of pure white light.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]