[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 413

Jeong-hoon’s expression twisted as he inspected the storeroom.

‘Nothing?’

The storeroom that should have been overflowing with obsidian was completely empty.

Jeong-hoon turned his head toward Maint.

“What’s going on here?”

“W-Why isn’t it here? I’m certain I saw a priest take obsidian out of this very storeroom!”

Maint protested desperately, his voice full of grievance.

When they had come underground, the very first thing he had checked was the priest.

And he had clearly seen that priest carrying obsidian out of this storeroom.

“Hm…”

With a flicker of doubt, Jeong-hoon stepped into the Heavenly Demon Lord’s Dominion and in an instant moved to the altar.

And there, piled high, was obsidian.

\[Obsidian for Disguise]

* Used to deceive the eyes of outsiders.

‘So it was like that after all.’

Jeong-hoon turned his head.

“Puhuhu! Damn human! You’ve been completely fooled!”

Maint had, at some point, drawn his sword and was now pointing it straight at Jeong-hoon.

“Since when?” Jeong-hoon tilted his head.

“Lord Beelzebub foretold it. That one outsider would try to interfere.”

‘So… even this was part of the plan?’

“This is amusing.”

Jeong-hoon gave a crooked grin.

At that chilling smile, Maint faltered.

“Wh-What’s so amusing about this?!”

“A faith you won’t betray even at the cost of your life… I can respect that.”

At those words, Mukho, Anima, and Harnion all shivered.

‘That sounded way too much like a villain just now.’

‘I agree. We’re starting to feel like the evil ones here.’

‘Why would the holy sword choose someone like him as its master?’

‘Hmph. Fools. He serves Beelzebub. The only proper end for him is to be torn limb from limb.’

In contrast, Tenebris snorted, siding with Jeong-hoon.

“If you’re going to kill me, then do it!”

Maint raised his sword high and brought it down toward Jeong-hoon.

Clang!

Jeong-hoon brushed the strike aside with ease and immediately cast Domination.

\[Domination activated.]

If Maint had gone so far as to deceive them, then he surely knew where the real obsidian was hidden.

Jeong-hoon intended to extract it by force.

“Now, where is the real obsidian?”

Jeong-hoon’s voice pressed down on Maint.

“T-That would be…”

Bang!

Just as Maint was about to open his mouth, his head exploded with a deafening blast that rang in Jeong-hoon’s ears.

‘Master!’

Mukho cried out urgently.

“I’m fine.”

It wasn’t something that could damage Jeong-hoon, but his face hardened.

He hadn’t expected them to go as far as planting a failsafe like this. Content originally comes from novel✦fire.net

It wasn’t something installed after New World was stolen and dragged into the Divine Realm.

No, this had likely been embedded long ago during the game’s development process.

‘Tch, just as I thought. Beelzebub isn’t the type to leave loose ends so easily.’

Tenebris didn’t even look surprised.

Having spent so long with him, he knew Beelzebub would never expose a weakness so carelessly.

He had only been humoring the situation because it was unfolding too smoothly.

“Tenebris, what do you think he’ll do next?”

‘Isn’t it obvious? Most of what this bastard Maint said was probably a lie.’

“…Meaning it’s highly likely the obsidian was already sacrificed somewhere beneath Atlas.”

‘Exactly. An empty storeroom of that scale means it must have been moved long ago.’

“So even Haji running into him might have been part of the plan.”

It wasn’t an impossible thought.

Jeong-hoon quickly logged out and left the capsule.

In the master bedroom, his mother was still inside her capsule, fully immersed in play.

Leaving her be, he rushed to the computer and logged into Wolcom.

\[What the hell is this?]

– For real, how the hell do you deal with this bug? I got killed by an NPC. Dude just shoved a knife in my gut out of nowhere while I was walking.

└ You got killed by an NPC too? I came on Wolcom just to check if anyone else had this happen.

└ Yeah, the game’s acting weird. Tried to contact Earth, but it’s shut down…

└ The whole thing feels unstable right now.

└ Ever since Earth went under, the NPCs have been acting off. Almost like they’re treating us like actual people.

As expected, the atmosphere on Wolcom was grim.

Ever since NPCs were granted free will, incidents had begun piling up.

And cases of NPCs killing players specifically stemmed from obsidian spreading dark energy, twisting NPCs’ alignment toward evil.

“…Haa, thank goodness this isn’t real life.”

First and foremost, New World needed to be stabilized.

Jeong-hoon reconnected, opening the gate to the Divine Realm.

“…You’ve come.”

Uriel’s face was grim.

“What happened?”

“Beelzebub has vanished without a trace.”

“So it really was like that.”

“What do you mean, ‘like that’?”

“Look at New World’s condition right now.”

At Jeong-hoon’s words, Uriel finally realized the full weight of the crisis.

“What is this…?”

“It seems he had prepared a failsafe in advance. Otherwise, why would the NPCs of New World be willing to risk their lives for Beelzebub?”

“They risked their lives?”

“Yes. He had accounted for everything, even up to the point where the Divine Realm seized control of New World.”

If the Divine Realm took over, he must have predicted they would grant free will to the NPCs as well.

In the end, it was a complete blindsiding.

“…I understand. We’ll stabilize New World as quickly as possible.”

The demon realm purge.

Because of that, the Divine Realm hadn’t been watching New World too closely.

Of course, none of this would have happened if Beelzebub hadn’t vanished and thrown everything into chaos.

Uriel sent a signal to the Divine Realm, and they immediately began working to stabilize New World.

“But do you know where Beelzebub went?”

“I don’t. I never imagined he would not only break free from his restraints but also escape while eluding the Divine Realm’s gaze.”

“Tch. Truly useless.”

“What?”

Uriel’s eyebrow shot up at the blatant contempt in Jeong-hoon’s voice.

“We went through all the trouble of capturing him and handing him over, and you couldn’t even keep him locked down. What right do you have to act so proud?”

“……”

The truth was, Jeong-hoon had done nearly everything when it came to capturing Beelzebub.

The Divine Realm had simply received him, doing practically nothing on their own.

And even then, they let him slip away under their very noses.

How could that not be infuriating?

Uriel’s raised brow slowly returned to its place. It seemed he had nothing to say in defense.

“Anyway, from now on, I’ll handle this myself.”

“Handle it yourself? Do you have a plan?”

“I’m going to annihilate him.”

“Annihilate…?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve found a method?”

“I heard it from Psyche. With dark energy, annihilation is possible.”

“That’s an incredibly dangerous method!”

Uriel recoiled.

‘Psyche, why in the world would you tell him that?’

As an archangel, he knew well enough what that meant.

If opposing energies were to fuse, it could create a force capable of erasing not only the Divine Realm but even the beings of the Demon Realm.

But that was only a hypothesis.

Now that Jeong-hoon had ascended to a demigod and begun wielding dark energy, those forces would inevitably clash within him.

If that happened, his body wouldn’t withstand it—he would die instantly, right on the spot.

“Then do you have another way?”

“What?”

“They’ve already grown into immense beings. After letting Beelzebub escape, don’t tell me you’ll claim ignorance as well?”

There was nothing Uriel could say to refute that.

Still, choosing to wield dark energy was far too reckless.

If Jeong-hoon were to die here, the Divine Realm would no longer be able to intervene, and the demons would undoubtedly run rampant again for a long time.

“I’ll look for another way.”

Jeong-hoon shook his head.

“No. Whatever happens, I’m going with this method.”

“Ha…”

“You’ve waited ages for a way to suppress the demon realm, haven’t you? If you couldn’t find a solution in all that time, how will you find one now?”

“……”

“And while you’re at it, find the location of the obsidian.”

“Tch.”

Obsidian.

Condensed dark energy. Uriel had only learned of its existence once New World fell into chaos.

So Jeong-hoon’s meaning was clear—once he found the obsidian, he intended to absorb every bit of that dark energy.

“If you strip the NPCs of their free will and stop anyone from tampering with the obsidian, I’ll be able to absorb a greater amount.”

“……”

Taking back their free will.

That ran against the will of the Lord God.

Granting freedom, and holding them responsible for it—that was His way. The Lord God cherished freedom above all.

The NPCs hadn’t been created merely as set pieces for a game.

They were real beings, made from souls salvaged from destroyed dimensions.

To take their freedom away—not by demons, but by the Divine Realm itself?

“…I know it won’t be easy, but we don’t have time. Are you really going to let this slip away?”

“…Very well.”

Uriel reluctantly nodded.

* * *

Not long after, Uriel revealed the locations.

There were seven sites holding obsidian in total.

The Hall of Magic in the Beginner’s Village.

A sealed underground laboratory beneath it.

Jeong-hoon headed for the Hall of Magic first.

“Looks like things have stabilized.”

The NPCs had once again lost their free will and returned to faithfully fulfilling their roles.

The Beginner’s Village, once thrown into chaos, had regained its peaceful atmosphere, and players who had died were able to reconnect quickly after their death penalties were lifted.

Additional experience and reward items had been issued as compensation, and players’ resentment dissipated almost instantly.

Jeong-hoon moved quickly, arriving at the Hall of Magic.

It was a place every aspiring mage had to visit at least once.

“You cannot enter unless you’re a mage.”

The instructor NPC guarding the hall stepped in his way.

Jeong-hoon spread his hand and conjured a small flame.

It was Fireball—the most basic spell.

“Is this good enough?”

“Uh… no, wait! What kind of trickery is this?!”

The instructor NPC was flustered.

From his perspective, Jeong-hoon didn’t look like a mage at all.

So the first thought that came to him was that this Fireball must be some kind of trick.

“Does this look like trickery to you?”

“Th-that’s…”

The Fireball gave off a faint flow of mana—something only a mage could sense.

That alone was undeniable proof that Jeong-hoon was indeed a mage.

“I’m in a hurry. Would you mind stepping aside?”

Jeong-hoon canceled the Fireball, then lightly pulled the instructor NPC by the shoulder.

“W-wha—?!”

The instructor tried to resist, but against Jeong-hoon’s overwhelming strength, he was helplessly dragged aside.

“Thank you.”

Jeong-hoon flashed him a smile and stepped into the hall.

\[Normal Quest: Instructor Deras]

* Requirement: Unadvanced Mage

* Reward: \[Skill] Basic Sensitivity (Rare)

* Description: Sensitivity is essential for any mage. Complete all training under his guidance.

Standing before the door leading to the underground was Instructor Deras.

\[You cannot descend to the basement unless you accept the quest.]

It was a system requirement—only by accepting his quest could one go down.

“Hm? You’re a mage, aren’t you?”

When Jeong-hoon accepted the quest, Deras narrowed his eyes.

But there was no room for doubt—Jeong-hoon had just accepted a quest that only an unadvanced mage could take.

It was possible only because the Divine Realm had lifted most restrictions placed on him.

“Yes. I’m a mage.”

“Good… then follow me.”

Deras opened the underground door and began to descend the stairs.

‘Now.’

The door, once firmly shut, was open. There was no need to complete the quest anymore.

Jeong-hoon stepped onto Heavenly Demon Lord’s Dominion, bypassing Deras in an instant, and rushed toward the sealed laboratory.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]