Shlen Canyon (1)

It was an impromptu sense of unease. An unstable mental state was easily swayed and broken, like a tender reed.

“Yujin.”

“Yes. What is it?”

Shuriel spoke blandly. His expression didn’t falter. A nonchalant face, like grandfathers telling their past to their grandsons.

“Do you remember the story you told me before?”

Shuriel said, gripping his sword tightly.

“That our actions are like those of heroes.”

“That’s, that’s right.”

Hero-nim. My hero-nim. A topic I was too shy to talk about, so I just threw out a few words and ended it.

Unlike me, who threw myself into masochistic desires, Shuriel was pure from the start. Of course, he has a twisted personality disorder and lacks faith, but his actions are honest. If someone innately evil continues to do good deeds for decades, or even a lifetime, can they be called evil? People call Shuriel an angel.

“That’s right. We’re heroes. You, me, and Pawin and Prukaise back at the base camp.”

“…It’s a little embarrassing to be called a hero.”

I scratch my cheek as I answer. My broken self-esteem scolds me, covering my eyes again. And my ears open. When a ‘story’ like this begins, I can ignore my rotten self and focus only on the story.

Shuriel knew that well. Whenever I fell into anxiety, he knew it was better to change the subject and make me ‘focus’ rather than offering empty comfort. Just like the Frontier Lord, who focused only on his future goals after Wisher Kyung died. I vowed not to become like the Frontier Lord, but I realize I’m the same after all. Maybe I’ve been like this for a long time.

Shuriel’s face was still impassive. It felt like he was carefully building a tower to say something. What answer will I hear at the final stop? I felt a slight anxiety about the answer that hadn’t come yet.

“Hero… hero……. I used to read fairy tales a lot when I was young, too. Hero-nim. The hero-nim who defeated the Demon King.”

I’ve read stories about heroes too, so I know. But that was it. Information related to heroes is extremely limited. Just like the Demon King.

“Hero.”

I close my mouth. Shuriel twitched his eyebrows. And after a few seconds. As if calming his mind, he spoke again in a nonchalant voice.

“But… it wasn’t such a romantic story.”

At that moment, a strange energy surrounds him.

“Things not written in fairy tales.”

Holy power.

“The story after the end.”

But it wasn’t friendly.

“The records of the hero.”

It gathers.

Into Shuriel’s heart.

A disgusting energy, so sacred it’s nauseating, gathers into his heart.

“Shuriel-“

I reach out my hand. I summon a black blade to my fingertips and reach out as if cutting through flames. It’s hot. It was a collision. The Demon King’s magic, imbued with Mana, was reacting with the holy power, generating heat.

Kaddeuk. It tears through the silk and skin surrounding his body, breaking his ribs as it advances. It pierces through the internal organs, wriggling and pulsating, and reaches his heart. A heart moving, spewing blood as red as blood.

“-Get lost!”

I ignore Shuriel spitting blood and shout with a ferocious face.

The heart was hot. So hot that it was about to explode. If I hadn’t surrounded it with magic to offset the holy power, it would have become a lump of meat stuck to his insides.

Paaaak! Holy power swirls. The magic surrounding the heart tried to erode his life, but the holy power beyond that blocked the erosion. I saw red droplets falling on my embedded forearm. It was blood flowing from his bloodshot eyes.

“Keuk, heuk… Jeon, ja, heok.”

“Lower your voice. You’ll be okay soon.”

“Ha, keu, hueuk….”

I reconstruct the strained heart. Shuriel was exhausted and slumped, but he clenched his teeth at the forced return of vitality.

I said to Shuriel, who was trying to explain the situation.

“This world is full of suspicious things… I don’t know why they hide the hero and the Demon King so well…”

Actually. I was going to ask about the hero. Prukaise knew the name of the Demon King. Because of the expectation that he would know the name of the hero, and even more records, as much as he knew the forbidden records that no one else could know, and shouldn’t know.

However, because I knew the danger, I decided to approach carefully. If I did this shit one more time, I might get something even more than the Demon King’s magic. So for now. I decided not to care.

“I don’t care-“

“The Holy See will antagonize you.”

Then. Shuriel said, wiping blood. A face as if he had committed it in a fit of anger. There was some regret left on his face.

‘They’ll antagonize me?’

I wasn’t as shaken as he was. I wasn’t scared either. In fact, it was funny.

‘Is it because of the Demon King’s magic?’

It was understandable. But it was sudden. I was on a mission. And I’ll go back and be praised as the victor of the holy war. And the relationship with the 4th Prince. The disadvantaged 3rd Prince. To ignore these complex reasons and kill me right away?

‘Are they trying to discard me after I’m no longer useful?’

Even this was just as funny.

Towards me, lost in thought, Shuriel explained at a slightly faster tempo.

“Sooner or later, even if not now. Since you’ve been imbued with the Demon King’s magic, it will surely happen. Of course, that’s not the only reason… yes. Magic is just a trivial reason. But, but. Yujin. Listen carefully.”

“Who kills who…”

“Yujin!”

He shouts at me, who is taking it lightly. But nothing remained behind the raised voice.

The silence that followed.

This time it was quite a long silence.

A gaze as if conscious of me.

My lips dry.

And.

He says.

“Don’t be afraid of my death.”

My heart.

Stops.

“-Do you think that’s possible?”

Me.

“And, and. Don’t talk about dying while I’m alive. Never.”

And you too.

I answer with a cold expression. My left eye flickers as if burning. I clearly felt the rising emotions, but I couldn’t suppress them. Why would you say such a thing. That such a thing wouldn’t happen. The emotion in my eyes was obsession.

“….”

Shuriel looked at me serenely. And he agreed inwardly. That it would be. That it would be as you wish. Even if the Holy See comes to kill you, you will be able to defeat them. He acknowledged it.

Until he moved leisurely and arrived at the cliff. There was nothing but agreement on his face. That he couldn’t beat me. Even if he brought the Demon King.

Although he couldn’t see the end of the story he started, there was no regret. Because there was obsession and anger that covered it even more.

* * *

“I’ll fall.”

I had to fall as the Frontier Lord said.

Downwards, not by each other’s side.

• Click.

I take off the veil and put on the gas mask. It was so big that it covered my small head entirely.

When I went down with the Frontier Lord, I protected my body with protective magic, but magic, like rusting iron, is bound to be corroded by magic. Also, since I have to stay for a long time, it was better to use holy power. To be honest, I was too lazy to maintain the barrier.

Shuriel also puts on a gas mask. His golden hair is all covered, and even the shape of his face has disappeared. Like the Frontier Lord, he lets out a hissing breath.

There was no hesitation in his step. At the same time as wrapping his body in Aura, he spreads his ether wings and takes a step forward. The angel wearing a gas mask threw himself into the mist that tore his body to shreds.

‘…Saint Iron Mist.’

As I’ve experienced firsthand, that mist more than grinds people’s bodies like a blender. And each and every one of those powders is an anti-demon killing weapon filled with holy power.

‘It’ll be okay.’

I fiddled with my left eye and stretched out my foot.

*

Kagagagak! The sound of the holy barrier surrounding my body being scratched wildly. The physical force of the Saint Iron powder relentlessly pounds the barrier.

‘What do you mean it’ll be okay!’

I clenched my teeth and endured the throbbing pain in my left eye. With fog all around, there was no way the Demon King’s magic would stay still.

“Keuk!”

It hurts like hell. Of course, saying it hurts like hell was like saying I was about to cum. With a flushed face, I grabbed my lower body and descended. It looked like the way girls in manga hold their skirts to keep their underwear from showing, but who cares about that.

• Thud.

“Haa, hoo, heuk.”

As my head got hotter, I felt like all my anxiety was decreasing. When my body hurt so much that it was melting, I had no time to think about such things. To put it badly, it’s probably escapism. But I have nowhere to escape, so I’m clinging to the pain.

• Tak.

I successfully land on the ground. This is the second time. The place where Wisher died and the base camp was annihilated. And. The place where an unidentified voice interfered with my mind.

“Do you know the location? -Hueuk.”

“Hoo… I know because I’ve been here once.”

It’s a relief that the gas mask covers my flushed face, but my trembling legs were still there. But Shuriel didn’t care much. He might be tired of me still being horny in this situation, but doing this with a gas mask on is just disgusting.

Knowing my appearance, I calm my pleasure. I take a deep breath and stretch out my finger.

“It’s over there.”

The path was messed up after the attack. The poison melted even the path. I don’t know how Pawin and Prukaise found their way… but I was able to find it thanks to their footprints.

Shuriel said, roughly stepping on the melted, sticky floor.

“Trouble from the very beginning. There might be an attack before we reach the lake.”

“The lake… is Pandemonium beyond the lake?”

“Strictly speaking, this place is also Pandemonium. Purgatory is just a name given by humans.”

Remembering the surrounding environment, which is hard to see, as much as possible, I move forward.

Through Purgatory to Shuren Canyon. Following that arduous path to the polluted lake. Passing even that, you can reach Pandemonium, which can be called the kingdom of demons.

“Hueu….”

After following the footprints for a few minutes. The base camp, which was a mess from the attack, began to appear.