episode_0068

Just in case, I took a closer look.

“Yep, it’s one of the Four Heavenly Kings.”

“It’s that bastard I know.”

“Bastard?”

“By my standards, he’s more dangerous than the Demon King.”

“More dangerous than the Demon King?!”

“Yeah.”

The Sonic Jet.

If you only consider combat power, he’s the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings.

But.

By the standards of Prophecy RPG, he’s the most annoying one.

Why?

Because while his other stats are mediocre at best,

his speed alone is absurdly fast—enough to surpass even the Demon King.

On top of that, he’s mastered a ton of assassination skills like stealth, covert movement, presence concealment, weak point detection, and ambush.

So?

What does he do with all that?

Assassinations, obviously.

…Or so I thought,

but in the Journey (Easy) difficulty, he’s not much of a threat.

He can barely manage to assassinate up to B-rank,

but he’s not strong enough to take down an A-rank.

He’s so weak that none of the hero party members would die to him—they could just take one hit and counterattack.

The real problem is that he’s so fast he’ll flee 80–90% of the time.

But if you fight him about 5–10 times, you can eventually take him down.

Of course.

Even that makes him annoying.

The other Heavenly Kings only fight when you enter their territory,

and the battle ends after just one encounter.

But the Sonic Jet could ambush you anytime, anywhere,

and you’d have to fight him 5–10 times.

If you’re unlucky, it could even be 20–30 times.

Now that’s truly irritating.

Fighting him 20–30 times means

you’ve been ambushed 20–30 times.

While eating.

While bathing.

While sleeping.

He’s a crazy bastard who barges in and harasses the hero party at random.

If you’ve chosen Journey (Easy), you’re unlikely to die,

but he’s still a real piece of work who stresses you out by interrupting your rest.

In other difficulties, he’s even worse.

In Adventure (Normal), he can assassinate up to A-rank,

and in Trial (Hard), he can even take down an S-rank hero.

You could lose a party member,

or even have the protagonist killed.

…But right now,

we’re in the Blessing (Waaah) difficulty—Journey (Easy) with cheats enabled.

So the hero party has no real risk of being assassinated.

However.

There was another, bigger problem.

In Prophecy RPG, he relentlessly targeted the weakest party member.

So?

Who’s the target now?

Obviously, me.

In Waaah difficulty, he’s too weak to assassinate an A-rank,

but he can still barely manage a B-rank.

He can definitely assassinate a C-rank,

and he can outright kidnap a D-rank.

Which means,

from the perspective of D-rank Cain, he’s a disgustingly dangerous bastard.

Assassination is bad enough,

but if I get kidnapped, it’ll be a truly hopeless situation.

Assassination?

It’d hurt, sure,

but I could just revive using Ria’s power and pretend it never happened.

Kidnapping, though, is a whole different problem.

To revive with Ria’s power,

I need to be within reach of Ria’s sword.

But if I’m kidnapped, I’d be taken far beyond its reach.

If I die there, it’s game over.

No revival,

just death.

…Thinking about it,

by my standards, this guy is the most dangerous.

In a way, he’s worse than the Demon King.

I’d even say half the reason I tried to run from the hero party was because of him.

…The moment I said that,

the expressions of my party members changed.

“Aha!”

“So this is why Master tried to run away!”

“If we just kill this guy, Cain won’t have any reason to leave, right?”

“An assassin targeting my husband… I can’t let this slide.”

They stared at Jet, who had frozen solid.

Uh…

Guys?…

Isn’t he already dead?

“He’s not dead yet.”

“Not dead?”

“I can feel it.”

“Like a candle flickering on the verge of going out, but I can still sense life in him.”

“Wow…”

“He just won’t die.”

Is this what it means to be a Heavenly King, even a weak one?

Even after being frozen solid by the ultra-fine Snowflakes Alice scattered in the air, he’s still alive.

Impressive.

But.

His death is only a matter of time.

Alice’s Snowflakes are like a deadly poison that takes root in the enemy’s body and grows rapidly.

The longer it takes, the more HP/MP it drains,

and the stronger the flower becomes.

So.

If you don’t deal with it immediately after being hit, you’re as good as dead.

…Or so I thought.

Creeeak!

Suddenly, all the ice melted away.

Huh?

You melted it?

“I did.”

“?”

“We can’t just kill the assassin who targeted our precious husband once and call it a day, right?”

“Anyone who dares target Master deserves more suffering!”

“A demon of the Four Heavenly Kings must have slaughtered and tortured countless humans—a truly heinous criminal.”

“Letting him die cleanly would be a waste.”

“Hmm…”

“Serena, you agree, right?”

“Obviously?”

“We can’t just let someone who massacred, tortured, and toyed with my children die peacefully.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Punish him thoroughly until he regrets his sins.”

“Understood.”

“By the will of the Goddess of Light, Serena, I shall commence judgment.”

“Ghk!…”

Jet, the poor bastard, conveniently regained consciousness right then.

Pitiful guy.

Sure, he deserves to die,

but imagining him being caught by the hero party and subjected to an endless cycle of death and revival torture almost brought tears to my eyes.

“Ugh…”

“I was just confirming my assassination target before heading back… What the hell is this?…”

“Assassination target?”

“I wonder who that could be?”

“Who else?”

“Targeting the weakest one first—Cain, the man—is standard procedure, isn’t it?”

“Aha!”

“So that’s it!”

Ria smiled brightly,

and I smiled too.

Ah.

I see.

So you were trying to kill me.

In that case, no mercy needed.

“Step on him.”

“Okay!”

“……?”

Jet, now fully conscious, looked around.

“The hero party?… Gah!… W-wait!… My bones are breaking!”

“Trash who dared target Master!”

“How dare you try to kill my husband?!”

“The Goddess of Light, Serena, has granted us permission! We shall judge you!”

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Jet, unable to resist, was just pummeled by the sudden group assault from the hero party.

“How dare you try to kill me?!”

I joined in too.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

“Stop! Stoooop!!!”

“Why should we?!”

“Exactly!”

“Anyone who targets Master deserves to be beaten until death!”

“After you die, we’ll revive you and beat you again.”

“Sounds good.”

“The Goddess of Light, Serena, also said demons shouldn’t die painlessly.”

“Hmm…”

While stepping on Jet, I turned to look at Serena.

“What?”

“Wanna join?”

“In this puppy body?”

“No.”

“Just pull out the Hyper Cannon and shoot him with tiny beams.”

“You’re a genius?!”

“Gonna do it?”

“Yeah!”

Serena aimed at the demon, the Hyper Cannon mounted on her back.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Short, split-second laser bursts.

“Gah! Agh! Aaaaah!!!”

Jet screamed in agony with each hit.

“You vile creature!”

“Die while feeling the pain of my children you murdered and tortured!”

“Kyaaaaak!!!”

“What did I even do to deserve this?!!”

“You don’t even know?”

“You’re one of the Four Heavenly Kings!”

“A bastard who slaughtered countless humans!”

“So what if I killed some toys?!… Aaaah!!!”

“That’s exactly why you die.”

“If you’ve killed that many humans, you should be prepared to die by their hands, no?”

“Aaaaah!!!”

Jet kept getting beaten.

At one point, he tried to spread his wings and escape, but—

Slash!

Ria’s sword was faster.

As expected of the Hero.

When she’s crying, she’s useless,

but when she’s not, her swordsmanship is unmatched.

“P-please spare me!…”

“No.”

“Aaaaah!!!”

And so, the Sonic Jet was beaten over and over until death,

then revived to be beaten again.

“Huh?…”

“Die again.”

“You damn bastards!!!”

“Just let me stay dead!!!”

“No.”

“Aaaaah!!!”

At the same time.

Geum Taeyang leisurely enjoyed his meal.

He placed well-cooked orc pork belly, roasted garlic, scallion salad, and rice on a lettuce wrap,

then finished it with a dab of ssamjang.

He ate.

“Wow…”

“This is insane…”

A year had passed since he was transported to this world.

He had no complaints.

After all, he was just a guy who died in a traffic accident on his way to the convenience store.

He was grateful just to be revived.

On top of that, he was transported into the world of Prophecy RPG, which he knew well,

and he got to build the mecha equipment he loved as much as mother-daughter donburi.

Soon, I’ll get to enjoy mother-daughter donburi too.

There were people he was targeting.

If things played out like in Prophecy RPG,

he could rescue the mother and daughter suffering under their abusive husband/father and make them his heroines.

He’d stay quiet until the hero party defeated the Demon King,

then rush to them immediately after.

…That was the original plan.

Even just that would’ve been satisfying.

A second life,

building the mecha equipment he loved,

and extending a helping hand to a suffering mother and daughter while securing heroines—

Good.

A damn good life.

But.

There was one thing he missed.

Korean food.

He craved kimchi, doenjang jjigae, bibimbap, bulgogi,

but he couldn’t have any of it.

He also missed cola,

and the lack of sugar meant barely any sweet desserts.

Monster meat tasted amazing,

and thanks to the Goddess of Abundance, fruits and vegetables were delicious too.

And thanks to the God of Alcohol, the booze was incredible!

But what he missed, he missed.

Then.

The God of Light, Lee Junseong, appeared and gifted him the miracle of ssamjang.

Ah…

Junseong-nim… You are my light…

Gulp gulp gulp gulp

He was then blessed with cola.

Slurp!

And even the nostalgic taste of grandmother’s doenjang jjigae.

Ah…

This humble brother is satisfied…

So he was happy, but.

Bro?…

How long are you gonna keep that up?…

The hero party, the goddess, and Junseong were still beating up that one demon.

“Uh…”

“The meat’s all cooked…”

“Die!!!”

“Aaaaah!!!”

“…Guess I’ll eat alone.”

Geum Taeyang sadly grilled and ate his meat alone.

But.

It was delicious, so he was satisfied.