Chapter 221: Omen of the Ruin (3)

Translator: Nadu

Editor: Sephtair, Arya

The dwarves carried a huge box. A huge box that seemed ordinary on the outside. However, Muyoung was able to sense an overflowing amount of magical power. The dwarves then laid down the box in front of Muyoung.

“Due to the devils' recent movements, it seems like Bartas is unable to move. Instead, he created the equipment with the supplied materials."

Well, Bartas was the king of dwarves.

He had an obligation to be responsible for his own kingdom.

As Muyoung just wanted the equipment from the beginning and not Bartas, he didn't care.

‘The Immortal King's power.'

Muyoung's best equipment was Anguish, and the next best was the Immortal King's Breastplate. If he could wear the rest of the Immortal King's equipment, he would be able to fight face to face with Enroth.

The box in front of him felt as if some kind of power was oozing out of it.

However, it felt ominous. If Anguish was a force that denied everything, the power from the box felt like it could activate a certain special effect on a particular individual.

Even Muyoung was stirred up by such strange sensations.

As if Kalmooh had noticed, he spoke bitterly.

“The item is beyond amazing. Even Bartas couldn't believe it himself. I only saw it for a moment, but even I was totally awed by the finished equipment. But…"

“But?"

“The magical power of the equipment attracts monsters, and make them ferocious."

Indeed. Kalmooh appeared quite tired. It seemed like the path back wasn't as smooth as he had expected.

However, to those who had intelligence, it didn't have a great effect.

The influence was concentrated on the monsters that didn't have intelligence and were faithful to their instincts.

Muyoung touched the box.

Then, as he opened the huge box, he was able to see something that looked like scales. Scales that were very transparent. It was lacking to be called a piece of equipment. No, it wasn't even a piece of equipment.

"What is this?"

As Muyoung asked, Kalmooh replied.

"It's a skin."

"Skin?"

“Bartas said that by combining the leather of moonlight and the Immortal King's strength, that sort of form was created. As the moon represents eternity and immortality means endlessness… Bartas said that for a perishable ent.i.ty to fully contain that sort of strength, it needs this sort of skin."

“Even Bartas doesn't completely know?"

Bartas was definitely the one who created this. However, even Bartas didn't seem to know what he had really created.

"He also said, 'the true G.o.d of the great blacksmith had possessed me'."

Did it mean Bartas created this while he was being possessed?

Muyoung grinned. It was no different than drunken truth.

Then, he turned his head and looked at the scales once more.

Unless he concentrated on it, it was so transparent that he couldn't tell if the scales existed or not.

As Muyoung held it and focused on it, a message popped up.

Name: Eternity

Rank: ?

Cla.s.sification: ?

Endurance: ?

Effect: ?

However, there wasn't much information.

Besides the name, he couldn't confirm anything.

It meant that he needed to wear it for him to really know its capabilities.

‘Eternity.'

Eternity. A word that means endlessness.

‘A skin that draws monsters and makes them ferocious.'

The equipment wouldn't just cover your skin. It existed to 'transform' its accepted user. He was able to feel that kind of obsession.

Among the things that are considered as tools, people said that the ones that transform the user contain 'evil'. In that sense, this skin didn't bring a positive effect.

However, it was the skin that contained Immortal King's strength. If the breastplate he forcefully created was S+ rank, he was unsure how much power this skin would exhibit.

Additionally…

'Tools are just tools.'

Tools couldn't affect him adversely. Tools exist to be used. The moment someone places too much meaning in a tool, the tool no longer exists as just a tool and consumes the user.

Muyoung started to take off all his clothing.

The scale skin was bigger than Muyoung's body, but when he wore it, the skin shrank to fit him.

'New skin.'

Zzzap!

Every spot where it touched his skin, it felt sticky, like static cling.

Before long, the existing skin was dyed red and necrotized. And in that place, a new skin was formed.

It had killed what normally existed and it took its place.

The skin that was called 'Eternity' was transplanted to Muyoung. It didn't feel different at all. 

It felt like it was his natural skin.

However, such a natural sensation was only momentary.

"…!"

Muyoung frowned.

Rejection. The skin and body that had maintained their balance for a while became out of sync.

All his muscles felt twisted. It even influenced his bones and organs. He felt woozy. It has been a while since he felt this sort of pain. As he clenched his teeth, his eyeb.a.l.l.s felt like they were going to pop out. His body twisted as he supported himself on the chair.

"L-lord! Are you okay?"

“Get… out."

As Muyoung gestured, Kalmooh swallowed his saliva and nodded.

Muyoung realized that it was a problem he needed to deal with on his own.

"Unless I call… don't let anyone in."

After Muyoung spoke, the door closed with a thump.

In that state, Muyoung collapsed and sat next to the chair.

The whole body transformation was still continuing.

'The power of the Immortal King.'

This was all due to the strength of the Immortal King.

Muyoung was mortal. A human who was destined to die one day. However, immortals lived forever. Of course, the mortal and immortal couldn't exist simultaneously in the same being. It didn't make any sense to be able to use the skin with immortal power without any consequences.

'I could die.'

However, the price was too great.

If it wasn't Muyoung, 99/100 would have died from in the beginning stage.

Muyoung was able to endure it as he was familiar with pain. Eventually, Muyoung shook his head.

'I will live. I will survive. I will live until the end.'

If he acquired the Immortal King's skin, he would be able to use 'Acceleration' more freely.

Although Muyoung was able to accelerate himself up to 64 times, he wasn't able to use it for long. There was a problem with the limitations of time, but mostly, it was because of his physical limits.

With this, he could to overcome that limit.

So, this amount of pain was nothing.

'I… will overcome it.'

Winning, winning, and winning were the only merits of Muyoung's existence.

Muyoung vowed to win again this time.

“Gaudeamus."

As Sungmin chanted a spell, doors were instantly created in his vicinity.

As a door opened, hundreds of shackles would capture devils and blow them up.

Boooom!

Also, the hydra that was summoned from the third door had nine heads, which used nine different magics to mess with the devils.

'Devils are like bees.'

Sungmin compared devils to bees.

Without the queen bee, the bees couldn't help but be confused. The devils only exist for the demon kings and demon G.o.ds and so, Sungmin compared them with bees.

The moment Demon King Roosevelt disappeared, the devils experienced extreme confusion.

In the meantime, as Sungmin raided, they become greatly disorganized.

At least, on this battlefield, the ruler was Sungmin.

‘I need to quickly move after wrapping up the situation here.'

However, Sungmin was in a hurry.

This battle wasn't all of it.

The main army Enroth led hadn't even arrived yet.

In order to fight against a million demons, it was necessary to hasten things even by a little.

Especially, the two demon kings were the biggest obstacles.

Even if he had restricted Roosevelt, the demon king named Fraeda was still left.

So Sungmin was trying to quickly end this battle, and then a.s.sist Tacan and Ogar.

“Crush the enemies."

Sungmin swung his staff.

Then, the Earth gathered, and a few dozen golems appeared.

By now, the devils knew who led this battle.

“That lich, kill him!"

“If we kill the lich, it's our victory!"

They formed groups of hundreds of devils and started to approach Sungmin.

Sungmin raised his staff and quickly spoke.

“Amadeus."

Kyaaaaaaaaack!

From the surroundings, a creepy scream could be heard.

Even the devils couldn't help but cover their ears and shudder.

Then, Sungmin twirled his staff and cut 5 of the hydra's heads off.

The neck that was cut would instantly regenerate, but a magical barrier was created.

By making a sacrifice, he had completed the summoning.

At that moment, a giant with messy hair appeared.

A cyclops as big as the hydra, as he looked down, blood flowed from his eye, and a red ray of light shot out.

Grrraawwwwwwl!

All devils who were touched by the ray disintegrated.

“What the h.e.l.l?"

“A monster of void…?"

The devils were frantic. The void was a mysterious area, even for them. The monsters that emerged from that place were all strong and evil.

The witch, Beatrice.

The strongest monster Sungmin could summon wasn't a hydra, but the witch, Beatrice. 

Sungmin wasn't just a simple lich.

An elder lich.

He, who was a lich king, could control the void.

“Let's quickly end this."

Sungmin's mind had already left this battlefield.

He was certain of his victory, and he was planning to move to help the other battle.

Enroth was moving with his huge fortress.

The fortress was Enroth's Castle and a part of Enroth himself.

In his surrounding, hundreds of thousands of devils flew in the sky and protected the fortress.

“Enroth, the advance teams have been attacked."

Enroth sat on a huge throne in the middle of the fortress.

As a devil bowed down as far as he could to show his respect and reported this, Enroth just nodded his head.

“I already know."

“Roosevelt has disappeared, and Fraeda has escaped with a few soldiers."

“I also am aware of this."

Enroth had already seen everything.

He was figuring out the enemy's tactics through the demon king's fights.

“What should we do?"

The devils around him averted their gaze.

The two demon kings have failed. The impossible had happened.

The advance team. Although their numbers were small, as they were defeated even with the demon kings, Enroth wouldn't just quietly watch.

After watching his crowd, Enroth slowly spoke.

“Send out 'Balrog'."

Instantly, the devils' eyes widened.

“Balrog…!"

“Isn't it too dangerous?"

Balrog was one of the monsters Enroth couldn't fully control.

He was a strong ancient devil and a mad destroyer!

Everywhere Balrog went, everything was shattered.

Thus, the nickname given to Balrog was 'Omen of the Ruin'.

Simply by looking at the combat power, Balrog was stronger than the three demon kings.

But, to send out Balrog?

Just sending him out wasn't a problem. But in order to retrieve him, quite a lot of sacrifice would have to be made.

The fact that Enroth mentioned Balrog nevertheless….

"I have not seen all of their cards yet."

It was to fully grasp what his enemies were capable of.

By sending out Balrog, they wouldn't have room to hold back.

They would need to show all their cards, and in that process, they would show what they were hiding.

Enroth was going to completely destroy his enemies.

Chapter 222: Omen of the Ruin (4)

Translator: Nadu

Editor: Arya & Sephtair

Enroth thought highly of his enemy, who was able to kill Shar-Shazar, and had defeated the devils.

However…

Enroth was also known as the Demon King of Blood and Iron.

He was the strongest demon king who was said to have no enemies.

He wasn't so soft as to consider his 'enemy' lightly.

His enemies wouldn't be able to stand up against Balrog, but even if they did win against him, his enemies would never win.

‘Show me.'

Enroth held his staff tightly.

How long would they be able to resist?

Like a child looking at an ant farm, Enroth's eyes were filled with curiosity.

* * *

Fraeda bit his lips.

The Unpredictable Demon King. Like the t.i.tle, he was liable to make quite a few odd moves, but since he was a demon king, no one could bother him about it.

A demon king!

The  words that represented the highest rank among the normal devils.

Due to this, even if he was unpredictable, no one could treat him poorly.

It wasn't strange for 'everything', including power and honor, to be placed on that t.i.tle. While he possessed that t.i.tle, Fraeda needed to be the strongest.

It was because of this that he couldn't accept it.

‘For me to lose!' 

Clench!

He clenched his jaws together.

The first undead who appeared. Was his name Tacan?

There wasn't anything weird in fighting against him. He was a completely strong-headed warrior type undead. Although he was stronger than Fraeda had antic.i.p.ated, he wasn't strong enough to defeat him.

He pressured Tacan and caused great damage to the surroundings. The problem was when the lich appeared just as he was about to win.

‘Elder lich… wasn't there only one elder lich existing in this world?'

If the demon king was the king of the devils, the elder lich was the king of the undead.

Elder. Although the t.i.tle was different, they were just as strong, or perhaps slightly stronger than the demon kings.

However, there was only one elder lich in this world.

The Lord of Death!

He was one of the four transcendental beings that existed in different parts of the world and was the incarnation of death that even the devils avoided.

But, he never left the ice-filled place known as the 'Mountain of Death'.

Then, was what Fraeda saw an illusion?

‘Only the elder lich is able to control the void. But, he has much less magical power than the Lord of Death. Who is this lich?'

The void that no one else could control.

Even to the demon kings, the void was a somewhat unknown ent.i.ty. Among the demon G.o.ds, there were some who were said to be capable of controlling the void, but compared to the Lord of Death, it was little more than a child's play.

There couldn't be another lich who could control the monsters of the void.

However, he was definitely not the Lord of Death.

“Did he create an offspring?!"

Cras.h.!.+

As he strongly stomped his foot on the ground, the surrounding greatly swayed.

Liches couldn't have any offspring. It was the same for all the undead. This was common sense, but what he saw clashed with such common sense.

It made less sense for him to be his disciple. As there was no way another being who was similar to the elder lich would have appeared. It took at least a few thousand years for a magician to become a lich.

Clip! Clip! Clip!

Fraeda bit his nails.

However, the fact that he lost hadn't changed.

Because of this, he knew that he needed to retreat.

His pride was hurt.

He was trying to gain the favor of Enroth with his distinguished service, but he was now in a situation where it would lucky for him to not get killed.

“Roosevelt… where is Roosevelt and what is he doing?"

Only about 200 devils remained in the vicinity of Fraeda.

Although he brought 10,000 devils, only 200 had survived.

However, all the devils were silent.

There was no way Fraeda wouldn't know what they knew.

“As it turned out like this, we will attack Roosevelt. I can't let him take all the credit."

Fraeda had started to make unpredictable moves.

He had no intention of letting someone else have what he couldn't.

“You mean that Roosevelt?"

“This number of soldiers would be enough…"

The devils dissuaded him.

Although they shared the same affiliation, there was no affection or fidelity between the devils.

It was normal for them to backstab each other. It was their nature for them to prey upon those who were weaker than them.

However, they were very small in number.

As Roosevelt was a cold-hearted demon king, he would doubt Fraeda right away if he was to approach him.

Slit!

At that moment, Fraeda sliced the neck of the devil who was beside him.

Thud!

As one devil became a corpse, the crowd became silent.

The veins in Fraeda's neck rose as he spoke.

“Returning empty-handed would also mean death."

Roosevelt would kill him.

"Before I get attacked, I will attack first. Is this not obvious?"

They 10,000 troops who he brought to this place were Fraeda's own.

As he had lost most, it was the same as Fraeda's fighting power has been drastically cut.

And Roosevelt wouldn't just sit there and wait for Fraeda to attack him first and reverse the situation.

The devils didn't try to stop him any longer as it somewhat made sense.

“That's right, then where is Roosevelt…"

Thud!

It was at that moment.

A black creature suddenly landed in front of him.

He hadn't even seen it coming. It had fallen so fast that it escaped Fraeda's perception.

It was a huge black monster possessing four pairs of wings.

“Balrog…?"

Two goat-like horns, a bulky figure, and his whole face was wrapped with flames like h.e.l.lfire.

Balrogs were strong devils who had existed since ancient times.

Now, most of them had died off, and only a very few lived in the Underworld. Due to their strong powers, demon G.o.ds caught them for themselves and controlled them.

And Enroth had kept one Balrog.

Using a very strong spell, he prevented it from moving around.

Sometimes it was sent to a battlefield, but whenever it did, even the devils couldn't help but be terrified of the scene.

Indiscriminately attacking both its enemies and allies.

The Balrog was the top predator and the perfect destroyer.

But, why was Balrog at this place?

Grrrrrrrrrr.

The Balrog lowered its head and looked at Fraeda.

That gaze. There was no way Fraeda couldn't read its ill intentions.

An evil gaze that only desired destruction!

“Stop him!"

He ordered the devils.

The devils spread their wings, held their weapons and cast magic.

Rumble! Cras.h.!.+

Numerous magic descended on Balrog's body.

Thick smoke filled the area. It was an all-out attack; if they were to be directly hit by all the magic, none of them would be able to survive.

However.

Crunch!

Balrog moved within the smoke.

When someone moves at a quick speed, the smoke should be disturbed, but the smoke not seeming to move at all, the Balrog was suddenly in front of the devils.

Using its huge hands, the Balrog crushed the devils like they were toys.

Whenever he opened his mouth wide, whatever was in front of it disappeared entirely, and when he flapped his wings, flesh was stripped off and scattered.

Then, the Balrog stood in front of Fraeda.

“How dare you show your teeth!"

Fraeda frowned as he plucked one of his tails to create a spear.

It was a magical spear that instantly killed whoever it pierced. This spear was part of Fraeda's body, as well as his strongest weapon.

Thud!

However, the magical spear couldn't penetrate the Balrog's skin.

Was it because he used up so much strength on his previous fight?

“This can't be possible…!"

When the magical spear didn't work, Fraeda's eyes quickly widened.

However, Fraeda never thought that this would be the last thing that he would ever see.

Crunch!

The Balrog opened his mouth and swallowed the upper half of Fraeda's body.

Crrrrrrrrrrr.

Then, as if he was satisfied, he let out a cry.

However, as if he wasn't full, he smacked his lips and looked around.

In the eyes of a predator, the devils' bodies became rigid.

***

Graaaaaaaaaaww!

His skin had been necrotized and regenerated numerous times.

He felt like he was repeatedly dying and coming back to life.

Even when he was training rigorously as an a.s.sa.s.sin, he hadn't felt this much pain.

He felt like his soul would become dust if there was even balance was even slightly off.

The process of forcibly inserting an immortal being's power into a mortal.

Of course, it wouldn't go smoothly.

“Give up. You cannot endure this pain."

Someone spoke.

Muyoung then realized the person who was speaking to him was Luciferre.

“Pa.s.s the authority to me. As I am also immortal, that power would no longer disrupt you."

By giving Luciferre his authority, Muyoung could avoid the pain.

Luciferre was tempting him. That everything would be solved if he just pa.s.sed over the driver's seat.

It wasn't completely incorrect.

Luciferre didn't lie. He just cleverly coaxed him.

However, Muyoung didn't reply.

He just endured it. All Muyoung could do was clench his teeth and endure it.

“If you don't accept it, the pain will not end. The power of the immortal being will destroy you. If your soul and your body become damaged, I won't be safe as well. So, I will lend you my strength. If you pa.s.s your authority, I will free you from all this pain."

Currently, Muyoung's soul and Luciferre's soul were mixed together.

In this state, if something were to happen to Muyoung, Luciferre wouldn't be safe.

That was correct. This was the truth. So, Luciferre couldn't help but be anxious.

However, if Muyoung were to pa.s.s the authority over to him, would he pa.s.s it back to Muyoung?

That would never happen.

It was impossible to take back the authority once he gave it away.

In the past, Muyoung hid his soul to counterattack him, but that method wouldn't work again!

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

The body contracted, before expanding once again.

Although Muyoung had experienced his tendons being cut, and his bones removing, separating, and mixing themselves into other parts of his body, this was completely different from those types of pain.

“Doesn't it hurt? Even though you are strong, there is always a limit to how much a mortal can endure. Since you are a living being, you cannot withstand the powers of an immortal being. Or, will you become an undead after you die? Like the lich you created? That won't be a bad idea."

He spoke a lot.

Luciferre wasn't normally a guy who chatted a lot like this.

Luciferre probably realized that this was the best opportunity to take the authority away from Muyoung.

However, even so, Muyoung felt something was off.

Although his mind was weakened by the pain, Muyoung did not miss this discrepancy.

This was the first time Luciferre had been so desperate.

‘Ahh.'

That was when Muyoung realized.

Their souls were mixed together.

If Muyoung was weakened, Luciferre was also weakened.

Up until now, Luciferre was protecting himself.

He was protecting himself from Gabriel's strength, as well as all the other powers Muyoung possessed.

He shut the door so that he couldn't be purified and he wouldn't lose himself.

However, the door was now being forced open. As Muyoung's soul became weakened, he was at the point where he could no longer defend himself.

Gabrielle's power wasn't being activated strongly, but if Muyoung were to notice this, Luciferre knew that he could be swallowed up by him.

Luciferre was certain that Muyoung would never realize this truth.

And if Muyoung had been weakened slightly more, he truly might not have.

That was why he was trying to weaken Muyoung even further by tempting him.

“Pa.s.s over the driver's seat. I will try to neutralize the immortal being's strength. On my name, Luciferre…"

“That's right. You were also immortal."

Muyoung stretched out his hand.

And grabbed Luciferre's soul.