Ch.125Chapter 125 – Forbidden Library (2)

The pest extermination operation ended in less than thirty minutes. The demons occupying the abandoned Vatican were completely annihilated before the show of force by the Sword Master and Master Paladin, rushing in like moths to a flame without inflicting even a single scratch.

For Shin Jaehyuk, this was an expected outcome, and for Kwak Taewoo, whose senses had sharpened since reaching the realm of Sword Master, it was an effortless battle.

“Huff. Is that all?”

“I can sense some hiding inside. Smarter ones than those who rushed out recklessly after sensing our life force. Not that they’re much better.”

Shin Jaehyuk strode forward with purposeful steps. Without fail, demons leaped out whenever he moved between old buildings and shadowy alleys.

Shin Jaehyuk’s spear allowed none to approach. Each time his shoulder momentarily disappeared, a large hole was punctured through a demon’s chest. A lightning-fast thrust. So swift that not even a drop of blood stained the spear tip.

‘…There’s emotion behind it.’

Glancing at the overpowered spear thrusts, Kwak Taewoo could guess Shin Jaehyuk’s feelings. Returning to his hometown that had been massacred by demons must have left him with complicated emotions. Just like when he himself met Cha Eunkyung, who remembered nothing after his regression.

They were walking in silence. After passing ornate marble buildings, the massive statue in the central plaza, and reaching a remote corner far on the outskirts, the awkward silence was finally broken.

“Here it is. The entrance to the Forbidden Library.”

They opened the sealed door with an old key given by Prime Minister Behemdorf’s attendant. The magical seal released with a sharp metallic sound.

Beyond the door was a staircase leading underground. Magic lamps automatically lit up as they recognized visitors.

“They say it’s been abandoned for four hundred years, yet everything works well?”

“That’s magic for you. More importantly, stay alert. There are many evil spirits hiding here. One wrong move and you’ll be possessed.”

As befitting a place housing forbidden books containing malicious spells, the Forbidden Library was prone to evil spirit manifestations. Normally, priests would manage it and periodically eliminate the evil spirits, but that hadn’t happened for nearly four hundred years. The library, opened after so long, was truly a den of evil spirits.

“You know ordinary blades can’t cut ethereal beings, right?”

“Of course… I’ve dealt with ghost-type mobs even in my first playthrough.”

Kwak Taewoo acted according to his experience. He took out a glass bottle from his spatial storage and poured its contents onto his blade. It was an artifact that converted water into holy water. As aura covered the holy water-coated blade, the edge glowed softly.

After confirming that they had sufficient weapons for exorcism, Shin Jaehyuk nodded.

“Good. Then be careful of things jumping out from between books… and don’t forget our purpose here while getting distracted by leveling up.”

Shin Jaehyuk reminded himself of their objectives at the Forbidden Library. There were three things to discover: the location of the Sage, the Demon King’s weakness, and the conditions for using Divine Power.

‘I hope we can find at least one of them….’

***

Three hours later, Shin Jaehyuk sighed in frustration.

‘Damn it, there’s nothing here.’

The Sage, the Demon King, and Divine Power. All searches had come up empty.

‘I guess it was foolish to expect books about a Demon King who rose to power just a few years ago in a library whose collection stopped four hundred years ago. I was being stupid.’

But it was quite disappointing that there wasn’t a single book about the Sage, who was said to have been active hundreds of years ago, or about Divine Power.

It was when they were examining the last section.

As he picked up a titleless book lying on the floor, a grotesque arm shot out from between the pages. It was the hand of an evil spirit hiding between the pages. Simultaneously, translucent tongues, tentacles, octopus legs, and other bizarre forms emerged from the bookshelves on both sides. Ethereal beings that had gained form by absorbing the magical power of forbidden books.

They contained primitive malice. A desire typical of the dead—wanting to steal bodies to gain substance.

Though the grotesque forms looked like they belonged in a cruel fairy tale, Shin Jaehyuk wasn’t surprised. He had anticipated such an ambush. It was so familiar that his wrist moved before he could even think. A light spinning twice in a whirlwind cut down all the forms attacking from 360 degrees.

The evil spirits wailed as they tried to recover their bodies. Severed parts wriggled and tried to reconnect. But the purification spell was completed first.

“Be purified.”

When the light that sprayed like a fountain touched the ethereal beings, they contorted into terrible shapes like salt-sprinkled slugs before vanishing. Kwak Taewoo frowned at the disgusting sight and asked:

“Where do those evil spirits go when they die?”

“I suppose they go to purgatory like other souls. The place where their lives are judged before the afterlife divides into heaven and hell.”

“Can even such horrible things enter heaven?”

“A very small number might. Why, have you developed an interest in religion?”

“If heaven has gathered hundreds of billions of souls over thousands of years, I doubt it’s entirely pristine.”

Shin Jaehyuk fell silent. His answer had become awkward.

Religion typically doesn’t provide detailed information about concepts like heaven or angels. It’s easier to maximize happiness and faith by leaving it to each believer’s imagination. The religions of this fantasy world, where gods actually exist, were no different.

The same was true for clerics of the Order of Light, including Shin Jaehyuk. While they had read countless texts about heaven, no one had actually seen it. They could only subjectively interpret the descriptions of the afterlife found in ancient texts, which were full of metaphors.

‘…Come to think of it, when Longinus died, did my soul go to purgatory? Or did it head straight to Earth?’

It was a question that even he, the person involved, couldn’t answer. After all, reincarnation itself was an unprecedented event not written in the scriptures. Amid these complicated thoughts, Kwak Taewoo rummaged through some books and exclaimed:

“Shin Jaehyuk. Is this the book you were looking for?”

“You found something? What’s it about?”

“It’s about the Sage… but you should look at it yourself. I can’t understand it even if I read it.”

Shin Jaehyuk took the book.

-Emperor Hermes Leonhardt, also known as the Sage or Sage King, was well-versed in a wide range of disciplines including magic, geometry, astronomy, economics, and military science. He was a wise archmage who created an original magical system, and also a great inventor who designed various inventions with his rich imagination.

-However, in his later years, after abdicating the throne and living in seclusion away from people, he was consumed by the fear of death and engaged in eccentric behaviors such as searching for the secret of immortality or researching bodily transformation….

-His whereabouts after seclusion are not precisely known, but there are theories that he traveled throughout the continent teaching enlightenment or proclaiming ominous prophecies.

-One day, when an attendant went to bring the former emperor back to the imperial palace, he had mysteriously disappeared. And a month later, the first hell gate opened in the Eden Continent, and the Great War with Hell began.

The content was indeed about a Sage, but not what he wanted to know. Checking the cover, he saw it was a biography of the Leonhardt imperial family. Shin Jaehyuk muttered with disappointment:

“Ah… it is about a Sage, but not Leonardo, the Sage we’re looking for. This person died hundreds of years ago.”

“That was the last book… Unfortunately, it seems the information you’re seeking isn’t here.”

After coming all this way, to leave without finding anything? The regret was immense, especially knowing they wouldn’t be able to return easily.

“Let’s check one more place. Just one more…”

After leaving the Forbidden Library and securing the seal, Shin Jaehyuk went to a place he clearly remembered. Iscariot’s laboratory. The place where the God Hand Project was conducted.

The laboratory was gloomy inside like any black mage’s workspace, but lacked the traps typical of a black mage’s dwelling. This was natural. One couldn’t create a black mage’s dungeon in the middle of the Vatican.

The scene inside the workshop was as expected. Cobwebbed experimental equipment, decaying parchment here and there, various books on black magic and medicine. Not a single item for hobby or leisure, just tools necessary for experiments.

“Nothing special… I was hoping to find some divine blood remaining.”

While rummaging through items, feeling his expectations turn to disappointment:

“Oh, what’s this?”

There was an unexpected item. A notebook prominently displayed on the table. A familiar shape. The artifact that Iscariot cherished.

Iscariot would often take out this artifact, which served as both a journal and diary, to make notes. Longinus, who was close to Iscariot, had secretly peeked at it and memorized the magic patterns.

In the past, he had never used this knowledge out of respect for Iscariot’s privacy, but now he had no hesitation. Shin Jaehyuk channeled magical power onto the cover. Click. With the sound of a lock opening, the journal opened.

‘Since Iscariot researched divine blood, he might know something about Divine Power….’

Despite its thin appearance, the artifact contained countless pages. There wasn’t time to read everything. His fingers quickly flipped through the pages, his superhuman vision capturing words on each page in an instant.

Useless pages flew by rapidly, until finally a section containing the word “divine blood” began. It wasn’t hard to recognize this as an important part. Unlike other sections written in a hasty scrawl, this was written in a neat and elegant handwriting using red ink. It was as if it was advertising itself, demanding to be read.

-Divine blood is the blood that flowed from God’s sacred body, and its nature is infinite, allowing those who take its power to possess the potential for Divine Power.

-When one asserts their existence to the world through will, Divine Power overlays the laws of the world.

-Divine Power requires faith, faith requires prayer, and prayer comes from the longing of a gray soul.

“What kind of vague…”

Shin Jaehyuk furrowed his brow. He had found the content he wanted, but couldn’t understand what it meant. From what he could gather, interpreting his situation: he had absorbed divine blood and gained the potential for Divine Power, then awakened it with the help of his “Master.” However, using Divine Power requires a condition called faith.

Based on the circumstances, the condition he felt was lacking when fighting Hydra, the sensation he felt flowing from the castle walls, must be faith. He wasn’t sure what “gray soul” or “prayer” meant exactly, but he seemed to have grasped the essence.

‘…How did Iscariot know all this?’

There was one suspected entity. The demon with whom Iscariot had contracted and received divine blood. Shin Jaehyuk flipped forward through the diary pages.

-My son has died.

-No matter how many forbidden books I search through or how much I inquire, there is no resurrection spell. Why? Why did Eloah create humans as mortal beings? Why didn’t he allow them to overcome death? As if death itself were the purpose of humanity….

-I contracted with Belphegore, one of the Four Kings, to learn necromancy. I had no hesitation about falling. Rather, I felt like dancing with joy at my fortune. To be taught directly by a master of necromancy.

-For my son’s resurrection, I need a body where his soul can settle without rejection. But my son’s body has already turned to ashes… I need to create a special body that can accept any soul without problems.

-A demon came to me. Identifying himself as Baphomet. To infiltrate the Vatican through all its surveillance, he must be no ordinary demon… yet strangely, his name isn’t in the demon encyclopedia. He explained with an odd smile that it was an alias. A name he uses when going out for amusement or covert activities.

‘Baphomet?’

Shin Jaehyuk was startled. Why was this name appearing here? He knew it wasn’t an ordinary demon, but it had an acquaintance with Iscariot too? And it was an alias… He quickly read through the rest.

-The demon came to me in the form of a snake. It whispered with its serpent tongue. It offered to give me divine blood with infinite potential if I made a contract. The blood of God… surely with such a special material, I might be able to create a body for my son.

-As if knowing I had made my decision, the demon found me again. This time in the form of a clean-cut human male. His skin was pale like a reptile’s, his eyes burned red, and his features were as elegant as a snake’s.

-I raised one issue. I had already contracted with Belphegore, so what about the problem of dual contracts? The demon merely smiled. Deception was his specialty, he said. Using his abilities, such a thing was no problem at all.

-After I agreed to the contract, the demon signed and stamped the contract. When I confirmed the demon’s signature, a cry of shock escaped my lips. Anyone would have reacted the same. For my contractor’s true name was:

Shin Jaehyuk’s eyes widened. His tongue, stiff with shock, slowly pronounced two syllables.

***

When you call the name of God, God also looks down upon you.

***

“Did you receive my gift well?”

A voice that shouldn’t be heard came from behind.

A third voice, neither Kwak Taewoo’s nor his own. Someone who had been present in the laboratory they thought contained only the two of them spoke from a blind spot in their awareness.

A cold sweat ran down his spine. He couldn’t tell how long this presence had been there. Even now, his desperate attempt to sense around him caught nothing. Only his hearing, which he suspected might be malfunctioning, proved the existence of this being.

It felt like being bewitched by an apparition. Not even an assassin could conceal their presence so perfectly. This being had taken position behind him more quietly than a shadow, more gently than a butterfly.

“Why, you.”

Shin Jaehyuk felt his back growing damp. As that breath touched the nape of his neck, he still couldn’t believe it. Not just because someone had positioned themselves behind him, but because a voice that should not be heard at this moment, in this place, had reached his ears.

“You seemed to be struggling with using your newly awakened power, so I prepared a little something… Do you like it?”

A seductive voice reminiscent of a snake flicking its tongue. Too sweet, and too… familiar.

「 ===

《Name》 Bapho씪留섎굹met

=== 」

His insight, glowing with magical light, slowly turned to confirm the owner of the voice. It was a man in a neat suit. His skin was pale like a reptile’s, his eyes burned red, and his features were as elegant as a snake’s. Just as described in Iscariot’s diary, that being was there.

「 ===

《Name》 Sa■me¤§Á֤ɤ±¤¸´ٺ¢µt

=== 」

The system window viewed through his insight crackled as if malfunctioning. The ability trying to conceal and the ability trying to penetrate clashed, competing for dominance. The broken letters disappeared and reappeared repeatedly, until finally the changes stopped and the subject’s true name was displayed.

And that name was by no means insignificant.

「 ===

《Name》 Satan

=== 」