episode_0163

Watching the approaching carriages from afar together,

Kali grabs my sleeve and pulls me, whispering.

“Who are they again?”

“They are reinforcements here to help us.”

“What kind of help do we need exactly… We should hurry and enter the dungeon to meet Luna. What was that cold air about in the first place?”

“It’s complicated to explain. We can’t enter right away. But I’ll make sure you can meet Luna.”

I wasn’t lying.

Kali will be able to meet Luna.

Probably sooner rather than later.

“I see… You must have your own reasons. Knowing the detailed structure of Luna’s unique dungeon, there’s no doubt that you are the Four Kings.”

Soon, Kali closes her mouth.

Seems like she decided to stop questioning.

After all, with her frail body, there’s nothing she can do even if she has doubts.

She can only wait.

To receive judgment and pay for her sins, she can only wait.

She probably has no idea about this fact…

“They’re here.”

At that moment, the carriage stops quite close by.

The gatekeeper opens the door wide.

Walking out from inside is a white-haired fox spirit.

“You…”

“Long time no see.”

Although his appearance is quite unfamiliar, I recognize him immediately.

Taesoo, the spirit that Guiho took human form.

Overwhelmed by his alien appearance and aura, the crowd’s admiration bursts out.

And following behind him, a young boy in traditional clothing.

He glances at my face and quickly hides behind Guiho.

Sogong, that boy…

“Hurriedly came out of seclusion after finishing his meditation. Sogong was on the verge of awakening the ultimate form of his divination, but why did you interfere?”

“We need a skilled shaman. With the best talent in magic and the knowledge of Taesoo, it should be easy.”

“Hmm. You sure know how to flatter people… Alright. I’ll help you out.”

“But why is Sogong in disguise?”

“?!”

Sogong’s face turns pale in surprise.

Did he think he wouldn’t get caught?

He has been caught several times before.

“Ha. It’s really difficult to deceive you. His main body is still far away training. I brought his spirit here. But don’t worry too much. I infused 70% of his main body’s power into the spirit. Even in this state, the spirit surpasses all the shamans in the world! That’s how talented he is!”

“…”

That statement seems to be true.

Although Sogong’s spirit shows no weakness as a ‘weak point,’ the magical energy within him far surpasses the Sogong I remember.

It seems he has been training repeatedly and has become significantly stronger.

“Anyway, thank you for coming all the way here while both of you are busy.”

“Interesting. I see everything, including your gratitude.”

“Do I look like an ungrateful brat to you?”

“Exactly. That’s exactly how I saw you.”

“…”

Guiho’s gaze, saying those words, turns towards Kali behind me.

I tensed, thinking she might have realized that this girl is the Four Kings, but it seems not. He quickly loses interest and looks away.

With a sigh and a look that seems to say ‘that’s right,’ Guiho doesn’t ask me about Kali.

Why isn’t he asking me about Kali, even though it’s likely the first time he’s seen her, looking at me as if it’s natural for Kali to be by my side?

“Tastes haven’t changed… Consistency is a beautiful thing. People die if they change too quickly.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“You don’t need to.”

If a person changes too quickly, they die…

Maybe now is my time to die.

I feel it instinctively.

That my death is not far off.

It’s not about letting go of regrets in life.

It’s just a feeling.

An uneasy premonition that this place might be where I die.

“You seem different. Have you noticed?”

“Really? A while ago, something changed in my body. Suddenly, my body heated up and I passed out… When I opened my eyes, I felt an overflow of power in my body.”

A great change.

It seems that So-gong was also affected at that time.

Reclaiming powers weakened most monsters, but it seemed different for So-gong.

“It felt like something blocking my abilities disappeared.”

“Then tell your main body to focus on training to enhance your powers. That way, your clone will also become stronger.”

“I have no way to contact my main body right now…”

“Just give it a try, kid.”

After greeting the guests, we passed through the desolate square and headed towards the headquarters.

Even amidst this, Cali seemed unaware of the situation, just watching my reactions.

I blocked Cali from following and firmly said, “Wait outside for a bit.”

“Huh? Me? You mean me?”

“Yeah. The adults need to talk.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll wait outside…”

Cali is known as the orphan I picked up.

It’s natural not to bring a child along for important discussions.

Remembering this, Cali awkwardly smiled and stepped back.

But the reason I’m now sending Cali away is different.

Soon, a barrier will be erected at headquarters.

With only me, Mi-jeong, Mia, Gwi-ho, and So-gong left in the silent space.

In the midst of it all, I spoke first.

“Now that we’re all here, let’s talk. The guy outside is the Four Kings’ Grand Druid Cali, the spider monster who tried to control the World Tree and turned Kuren into a wasteland.”

“…”

“…”

Everyone’s eyes widened except for Mi-jeong.

I feel a bit sorry for Mia to say this now, but to avoid any disruptions, I had to remain silent.

Before the three could recover from the shock and speak.

I continued the conversation.

“I want to kill that guy again. It’s simple. His soul can now be transformed into a mana stone. So, if we turn him into a mana stone and break it, it’ll be over. But by doing that, we can’t exact his punishment.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“He wants to pay for his sins. But it’s ridiculous for a mere human like me to talk about judgment and justice. So, I want to leave the decision to another absolute being.”

“An absolute being? What are you talking about? The gods of this land died a long time ago.”

That’s right.

The gods of this land died in the ancient, mythological era.

The mana emanating from their corpses is what sustains life on this land, and all living beings feed on the remains of the gods, living, dying, and cycling through life.

“Yes. The gods are dead in this world.”

“You? No way?!”

“Yes, that’s right. From now on, we will connect our world to the afterlife. And we will meet the god of the afterlife, and send Cali to face judgment in the afterlife.”

“…”

The afterlife.

In other words, hell.

If we succeed in summoning the god of the afterlife, not only can we judge Cali’s soul, but we can also send Luna, who wanders the heavens in her ethereal form, to hell.

Perhaps we can even send Velfegor back to hell.

“You’ve come this far and now you’re asking what’s the point…? Should we stop…? This is bigger than I thought…”

“No, this won’t do. I entrusted Sogong to you just for today.”

Sogong, unaware of the seriousness of the situation, looked bewildered.

Gwiho’s face turned pale as he shivered.

There’s no other way.

With this, we will annihilate all four kings.

.

.

.

“Sigh…”

Outside the headquarters.

Trying to peek through the curtains covering the window, and leaning against the wall, Kali eventually gave up after finding no results.

“Something feels off…”

Something was indeed strange.

This situation was something Kali had never anticipated.

Until heading to Elvengard, she had imagined reuniting with Luna and Velfegor.

But upon entering, she found Eugene discussing dungeon conquests.

Of course, this was also a facade.

Pretending to help with dungeon conquests while deceiving the elves and mercenaries.

She even went as far as using cold magic to deceive them into thinking she couldn’t enter, so that was certain.

However, recently, Kali had been harboring strange suspicions about the four kings, the Unknown.

If asked what these suspicions were, she couldn’t give a clear answer.

Everything seemed suspicious.

His identity, his relationship with her, and so on…

The Unknown’s explanation was certainly not lacking.

He was undoubtedly the four kings, a disciple who ran barefoot for the advent of ‘that person.’

But for some reason, Kali felt that the Unknown’s attitude towards her was peculiar.

He occasionally looked at her with intense emotions.

Initially, she thought it was vague affection, but recently she had noticed it was a slightly different emotion.

One thing was certain.

It wasn’t pure affection.

It seemed more like intense resentment or anger.

“It seems like he’s planning something big, but I have no idea what it is…”

It was confusing.

What state could that dungeon possibly be in that they haven’t entered yet and are dragging their feet like this?

She had no idea who these newcomers were or what they were up to.

“I need to investigate today…”

It was time to make things clear.

Kali had made up her mind.