—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Have you seen a madman?”
The Great Demon, Belial, who had just left Seraphi Hall, felt like he wanted to snap his fingers and blow up that entire dormitory.
The reason was that good-for-nothing with the ash-grey hair, a ‘survivor’ from Mystic Island, had put him in a very foul mood. Of course, he couldn’t let that one thing ruin all he had built.
He didn’t want to create unnecessary complications in his grand plan to make at least Clarice his own domain.
‘I’ve memorized your face… I’ll make sure you die a most painful death. Let’s see if you can still smile then.’
Above all, they were the ones who had helped kill Marchosias. From Belial’s perspective, there was no reason to keep any of them alive.
He would just have to create personalized nightmares for each of them and play with them until they broke.
‘How long has it been since my last slaughter…’
He counted on his fingers the number of war heroes he had killed, coming and going between the Imperial Palace and Clarice. Of course, the number was too high to be counted on the fingers of his created form.
“Kek… kekekek!!”
Now, the only active war heroes left in the empire were Dustin and Scarlett. It was Belial who had killed their colleague, Umberto, along with many other war heroes.
“Ah, Scarlett, that cunning bitch. I vowed to gouge out her eyes and use them as ornaments…”
The empire, weakened by a short period of peace. It wouldn’t be long before he brought judgment upon these foolish humans.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Equivalent exchange. Talent and penalty distribution was a common system in character creation in many games. Simply put, if you chose a beneficial trait, you had to choose a detrimental one, like a disease, to balance it out.
This was a kind of balance. You could choose a small talent and a small penalty, according to your playstyle, or you could gain a superior attack stat at the cost of crippling penalties in other areas.
“Add penalty.”
“Add penalty.”
“Add penalty.”
And if anyone asked if such a system existed in the closed beta of Reincarnated Hero, it was this one perk. In return for indiscriminately adding penalties, I was able to create a perk with explosive power that only I could use.
Ding.
“1050%…”
If I could kill a Great Demon in one shot with just this perk, it would be an insult to Belial’s prestige. I had struggled so much to kill each Great Demon. This wasn’t nearly enough.
‘Add penalty.’
So I kept adding penalties.
Ding.
“Add another one.”
Ding.
“Add more.”
Ding.
I was blocked.
“Hmm… then I should increase the activation criteria?”
I set the activation conditions for this perk to the worst possible. And what appeared before my eyes was…
Ding.
“Incredible.”
The distance between Seoul and Busan was 400km, but the ‘minimum’ condition for using this perk was a whopping 500km. And to achieve the phenomenal damage multiplier of at least 6400%, all attacks below that were sacrificed, dealing zero damage.
‘Even I think it’s absurd.’
If someone asked me if an arrow that could fly 500km existed…
“No.”
…I could say with certainty. Even with the Sharpshooter trait correcting my accuracy, it was physically impossible. At that distance, the arrow’s power would be greatly reduced due to various variables like wind and obstacles.
It was ridiculous. But, if it was just for sniping Belial, it was a different story.
Belial, disguised as the old dean, will tour all the magic towers in the academy.
Belial’s goal is to close all the dimensional gates without arousing suspicion.
He’ll slowly tour the magic towers and cast a delayed magic on the dimensional gates, then close them all at once to isolate Clarice from the outside…
‘500km, or even more, is possible for him…’
As Yellody had said, he had exposed a huge weakness to me. The perfect one-shot was guaranteed.
Haa.
I sighed, looking at the ceiling, to calm my tired mind.
“Right, I just have to do it somehow… this time too.”
Andras, Bune, Marchosias… I had defeated countless monsters. I just had to do well with Belial and the next one too.
The method to remove Yeriel’s Fallen Angel curse, uncovering the author’s identity… finding and finishing the Demon King…
“It’s really endless.”
But I knew I couldn’t stop. As the story accelerated compared to the original, to protect what was precious to me, I had to run without a break.
…Then, will the day come when I can go back? Of course, the game-end button was active, so I could return to my original world right now. But, Yeriel and Aria… how should I tell them…?
“Huh…?”
Suddenly, I felt my mind drifting. My body was as heavy as lead.
‘When was the last time… I properly rested…’
The world turned upside down. My body wouldn’t listen. And so, with a dizzying sensation, I lost consciousness.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Yeriel’s main concern these days was… Lev Denec.
After the dean’s visit…
‘Dean! Would you like to sleep in my room?!’
…she had been worried about his unusual behavior. And just as she had feared, she heard a crash from his room.
“Lev!!!”
When Yeriel found him, he was lying on the floor beside his bed.
.
.
.
“Lev, are you okay…?”
Yeriel wrung out the wet towel on his forehead and carefully placed it back. A few hours had passed… Aria was still away, so Yeriel had to take care of him. He had a high fever.
“Really… why did you pretend to be okay all this time…”
It was impossible for Yeriel not to notice the change in him. Since his surprise return as a small fox, Lev had seemed obsessed.
During mealtimes, in lectures, while moving… he always seemed to be thinking about something.
“Aren’t you sleeping…? Lev?”
“Yeah, Lily’s sound asleep today… and I was going to sleep after seeing Aria come in…”
“She said she’d be late today because of practice…”
“That’s right, but…”
At the end of the day, he would always guard the first floor of Seraphi Hall until everyone was back. In a way, it was the opposite.
While the four women of Seraphi were watching him, afraid he might disappear again, he was relieved to see them. Like a child who kept checking on a precious thing he had hidden in a small box.
“Lev, I still don’t know you…”
This time too… he was overworking himself because of a demon that hadn’t shown itself. He didn’t seem interested in fame or fortune.
The credit for defeating the demons was publicly attributed to Yeriel, Edwin, and Aria, and he had donated most of the rewards and prize money.
Then, why… did he go to such lengths for others? Why was he so kind and warm to her, who wasn’t even his lover and was even cursed as a Fallen Angel?
She thought back to when she first met him. He was a little colder then, but… he was definitely not a bad person. His actions… and the gradually changing surroundings proved it.
Even when he went through a difficult time, even when everyone was worried about him, he would smile at the end. He would even comfort Yeriel and Aria. In the end, what he wanted to protect was always the same.
“Lev. Do you like me?’
“…Yes.”
“And Aria?”
“I like her.”
Therefore, she thought she understood a little now. Lev Denec… had a disposition where he couldn’t help but pick up a stumbling block on the path of a passerby. He was a person who was more accustomed to giving than receiving.
Always, for Yeriel and Aria…
“…!”
As Yeriel’s eyes welled up with tears, she noticed that Lev had regained consciousness and was looking at her.
“Yeriel… why are you crying.”
“…I don’t know, I don’t know…”
She wanted to persuade him a little. She couldn’t bear to watch the person she liked continue to push himself to the brink. How long did he have to sacrifice himself?
Lev was also a first-year at Clarice. He didn’t have to stop all the demons.
“What, is it because Aria declared that we’re dating?”
“……”
His voice was a little hoarse. And yet, his pained smile, as if to say not to worry, tormented her even more.
“Yeriel?”
“…”
In the end, she made up her mind.
“Lev.”
“Yes?”
“You said that if I sorted out the misunderstanding with Aria… you’d give me an answer to my confession, right?”
“Uh… right?”
“Do you… still like me, Lev?”
“Of course…”
“Then… please go out with me. Lev Denec.”
“……”
With those words, Yeriel and Lev’s forms completely merged.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Why are the chapters not updated on novelupdates?